What is your favorite Aleister Crowley book & why?

If Crowley had had a Smart phone and ATS, I doubt he would have gottten half as much written. I suppose the Book of the Law might be a favorite. I read a lot of the Equinox volumes and enjoyed them as well. KNOX OM PAX was an entertaining read, though some of it a bit far fetched. Magick in Theory and Practice is interesting. I don't see how one man wrote all the work that he is credited with, to be honest.

reply to post by therealnews


you do realise that noah sacrificed animals including baby goats and baby birds and the like to god after climbing out of the ark right?

i mean christianity is just as nasty as the common mans view of satanism!

www.sacred-texts.com...

[edit on 23-7-2010 by metalholic]

reply to post by frozenspark


you forgot "love is the law, lover under wilt" so actually what hes saying is love should be the will of everyone! hmm isnt that what the bible tries to teach?

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings


but if we evolved from apes doesnt that make us animal so why hide or deny the animal within? killers arent animals rapists arent animals...u dont see animals raping eachother and u dont see animals killign out of spite or hate...

so if we are above animals....or supposed to be doesnt this mean we are part alien b/c the things that separate us from animal is "god" and god is an alien who created us...if god was all powerful putting adam to sleep to remove his rib wouldnt of crossed his mind with mere thought eve would of appeared!

heres another thing some of u dont seem to understand the book of the law predicts future events for those that own it open it and you will see crowley wrote it in 1903 or 1904 in cairo egypt well as you read through it it tells and warns u there are things within the book that havent happened yet and things that already have... here let me help you out...for those that are blind NOTE A BOOK IN 1904 IS TALKING ABOUT (WIRELESS)

The study of these passages necessarily demands supreme human scholarship to interpret it needs years of intense application. A great deal has still to be worked out. But enough has been discovered to justify its claim the most sceptical of intelligence is compelled to admit its truth. On the other hand the language of the book is admirably simple clear and vigorous.

This book explains the universe the elements of space that is the total possiblities of every kind. Every event is a uniting of some one monad with one of the experiences possible to it. Every man and every woman is a star. That is an aggregate of such experiences constantly changing with each frsh event which affects him or her consciously or sub-consciously.

Each one of us has a universe of his own but it is the same universe for each one as soon as it includes all possible experience. This implies the extension of consciousness to include all other consciousness. In our present stage the object that you see is never the object that I see. We infer that it is the same because your experience tallies with mine on so many points that the actual differences of our observation are negligible.

For instance if a friend is walking between us you see only his left side I his right. But we agree that it is the same man although we may differ not only as to what we may see of his body but as to what we know of his qualities. This conviction of identity grows stronger as we see him more often and get to know him better. Yet all the time neither of us can know anything of him at all beyond the total impression made on our respective minds.

Each of us stars is to move on our true orbit as marked out by the nature of our position the law of growth the impulse of our past experiences. All events are equally lawful and everyone necessary in the long run for all of us. Only one act is lawful for each one of us at any given moment. Therefore duty consists in determining to experience the right event from one moment of consciousness to another.

The third chapter of the book is difficult to understand and may be very repugnant to anyone born before 1904 the date of the book. It tells us the characteristics of the period on which we are now entered. Superfically they appear appalling. We see some of them already with terrifying clarity. Certain vast stars (or agreggates of experience) may be described as gods.

This present period involves the recognition of the individual as the unit of society. Every event including death is only one more acceration to our experience freely willed by ourselves from the beginning and therefore also predestined. Observe for yourselves the decay of the sense of sin. The growth of innocence and irresponsibility the strange modifications of the reproductive instinct.

With the tendency to become bi-sexual or epicine the childlike confidence in progress combined with nightmare fear of catastrophe against which we are yet half willing to take precautions. Consider the outcrop of dictatorships only possible when moral growth is in its earliest stages. And the infantile cults like Communism, Fascism, Pacifism, Health Crazes, Occultism in nearly all its forms. Religions sentimentalised to the point of practical extinction.

Consider the popularity of the cinema, the wireless, the football pools, and guessing competitions all devices for soothing fractious infants no seed of purpose in them. Consider sport the babyish enthusiasms and rages which it excites whole nations disturbed by disputes between boys. Consider war the atrocities which occur daily and leave us unmoved and hardly worried. We are children.

Democracy dodders. Ferocious fascism cackling communism equally frauds cavort crazily all over the golbe. They are hemming us in. Liberty stirs once more in the womb of time.

Evolution makes it's changes by anti-socialistic ways. The abnormal man who forsees the trend of times and adapts circumstance intelligently is laughed at persecuted often destroyed by the herd. But he and his heirs when the crisis comes are survivors. Above us to-day hangs a danger never yet paralleled in history. We suppress the individual in more and more ways.

We think in terms of the herd. War no longer kills soldiers it kills all indiscriminately. Every new measure of the most democratic and autocratic governments is communistic in essence. It is always restriction. We are treated as imbecile children. Dora, the shops act, the motoring laws, sunday suffocation, the censorship they wont trust us to cross the roads at will.

Fascism is like communism and dishonest into the bargain. The dictators suppress all art, literature, theatre, music, news, that does not meet their requirements yet the world only moves by the light of genius. The herd will be destroyed in mass.

The absolute rule of the state shall be a function of the absolute liberty of each individual will.

If you read the rest of the book it reads more like a bible there are things un-known in 1904 that are hidden in the rest of the book through cipher, and cryptograms. You have to know what to look for or know what you've found when you come across it. For example:

4 6 3 8 a l g m o r 3 y x 24 89 r p s t o v a l. That code has yet to be still un-coded with certainty. Also there are more obvious things in there such as the name of a nebula that can only be seen through the hubble telescope. It's name is 418 and the description matches the picture as far as the color goes! Now remember this book was written in 1904 way before the hubble.



[edit on 23-7-2010 by metalholic]

Again the ATS chatters have decided to raise their heads on the first page of this thread.

"DO what thou wilt" Has been explained ad nauseum by "Old Crow". It refers to the true will of the individuated person.

Unless they are an adept or have had it carefully explained to them most people would not understand. Hence the rubbish sputed by some idiots.

Crowleys work is not based largely on the Abramelin system at all. Again this idea reflects gross ignoranc eby those who have neither read Crowley OR the Abramelin.

Crowley's work is based on Mather's work in the Golden Dawn.

Tiger5

[edit on 23-7-2010 by Tiger5]

Originally posted by hadriana

Originally posted by Shadowflux
All this evile "The Beast" "666" stuff was just to scare off the ignorant, pearls before swine as the Bible says.

It was also because he identified with the mountaineer, the tarot card 15...and probably to free those 2 lovers chained at the bottom.

I completely disagree. It was actually a gesture to his mother who was a plymouth Bretheren. He also makes mention of this in his books.

Some people need to read and study then criticise from an informed position. I have serious issues with Crowley simply because he left a trail of broken people behind him.

[edit on 23-7-2010 by Tiger5]

reply to post by metalholic


Been a while since I been on this site, but I read your entire response. I found it very interesting and intriguing, especially at the end where you say the code has not quite been properly deciphered yet with certainty. I've read lots of people in forums who claimed they figured out the code. But I guess what you are saying is that it still is not quite right? As I am sure these people have spent hours figuring out the code and what it means etc. I always thought their methods of figuring it out were too complex.

Yea, I gave it a few stabs a few years ago, I even played the letters and numbers in reverse to see if I could hear anything.. It was funny because as I was trying to figure out what it meant, at first I thought that it really had no meaning at all. I think it has more to do with the sounds of the letters and numbers somehow. As I began to decode it the way I thought was right, I got something that said "x Hi ". I thought that was kinda funny, and then I gave up shortly after. I found a strange website at that time, that had letters and numbers in a grid, but you can only visit the page once every so often before the page doesn't work properly. Good reply, I agree with all of what you said and with what was in the reply. In warrants a second read cause its that deep, meaningful, and important.

reply to post by thewheelturns


could it be binary or something? as the book was authored to crowley by an alien named aiwass if i remember right

[edit on 28-7-2010 by metalholic]

[edit on 28-7-2010 by metalholic]

Yup Crowley was clearly a 'great' man to be admired. That's why he died in poverty and in the thralls of a miserable heroin addiction. His magic couldn't cure that addiction, let alone his asthma.

The Bible says that "witchcraft is the sin of rebellion". That's because it is fallen angels who empower your spells. I'd stay far away, unless squirming in hellfire seems attractive to you.

reply to post by SevenThunders


clearly you are off topic,
you can join others and bash Crowley here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I think we sinners have the right to talk together about our favorite books,
by the way, what is your favorite book of Crowley?


[edit on 29-7-2010 by ProdigalSon]

Originally posted by metalholic


could it be binary or something? as the book was authored to crowley by an alien named aiwass if i remember right

Aiwass was not supposed to be an alien in the extraterrestrial sense. Crowley identified Aiwass as his "Holy Guardian Angel", abramelin-speak for his higher self or soul.

Originally posted by SevenThunders
Yup Crowley was clearly a 'great' man to be admired. That's why he died in poverty and in the thralls of a miserable heroin addiction. His magic couldn't cure that addiction, let alone his asthma.

Crowley was not a heroin addict at the time of his death, nor did he die in poverty, contrary to some reports. His last days were spent at a charming little cottage in Hastings, and he had enough money to leave the cash required to publish his last book, the Book of Thoth.

The Bible says that "witchcraft is the sin of rebellion". That's because it is fallen angels who empower your spells.

Crowley did not practice "witchcraft", nor did he empower any "spells." He was a Ceremonial Magician, in the lineage of the ancient oriental Magi.

93

Resurrecting a very old thread here, I know, but I wanted to add my current favorites, as I've been rebuilding my Crowley collection with hardcovers and first editions (when affordable).

I'm surprised no one mentioned The Book of Lies (my favorite of all his writings). He draws inspiration from so many philosophies and writes each short chapter with brilliance and good humor. The book is nearly inexhaustible as I always find something new with every rereading. It's filled with double, sometimes even triple meaning and more puns than I can usually stand ranging from the subtle and obscure to the most blatant (such as the title to Chapter 69). Even the full title of the book borders on the paradoxical and sets the tone for what follows (The Book of Lies, Which is also Falsely Called BREAKS. The Wanderings or Falsifications of the One Thought of Frater Perdurabo, which Thought is itself Untrue.)

Liber Aleph, or The Book of Wisdom or Folly is another one to look into, especially if you want to understand the Book of the Law, as he expands upon the themes found within that book in language a bit more accessible to someone without a strong background in Egyptian Theology, Taoism, Kaballah, Tantra and other the other sources that inspired his "holy book". He writes this in a decidedly antiquated style that takes a little getting used to, but it is very readable and very informative.

Honorable mention to Konx Om Pax, 777, The Book of Thoth (BEST book on Tarot I've ever read), Tannhauser, his translation of Tao Te Ching...

I'll stop there as I could review about a dozen of his books that I love.

I also wanted to add that I'm happy to see there are so many people on this forum who enjoy reading his works and know enough to see past all the horribly negative press and gross misinterpretations of his writings.

93/93

777 is by far my favorite.
When I first read it I was not ready for it.
15 years later when I read it again, I guess I was.

Some of his Equinox writings have brought similar ahas!

Originally posted by hadriana
Some of his Equinox writings have brought similar ahas!

Especially Equinox Vol 1 No. 3? Now I need to go reread Aha!.

The very first thing I read by Crowley was Magik in Theory and in Practice. I was so consumed by it all, I read it non stop even on my lunch break until I finished it. Somewhere in there I read Pikes Morals and Dogma the same way. Then I started into the Equinox vol 1. Somewhere and I can't remember where but I found a very difficult breathing exercise. I practiced it a while but times got hard, I got pissed and quit everything.

I don't even know where to find the exercise now. That Equinox vol. 1 might be a good read again.

am a 1=10 in A.'.A.'.

I'm reading "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley" right now. I'm more interested in how he grew up and how he became the way he was.. instead of pages and pages of seemingly mumbo-jumbo that I can't get my head around.

The way he describes his relationships with his uncle and other family are very interesting and revealing.

eta; Let me rephrase, I just started reading it.

I'm actually more into Israel Regardie than Crowley. It's the same thing, more or less, only much much much more readable. Regardie takes the time to explain even the most minute details of everything and he is the one I turn people to when they ask me about this stuff.