Browsed by
Month: July 2016

Passages (7-18-16) ?>

Passages (7-18-16)

Thundering sky god, dropping down like lightning into our presence– Distant, full of anger, Holder of the deadly fire, snapping the leather belt in your hand, The rod to enforce your will. Non-nurturer, unable to feed even yourself, Requiring much propitiation. Narcissus with a mirror, loving what you see, Pining away for some distant land, for accolades– Wearer of masks, Jovial public faces– Small, trembling in the storm gale, Afraid of life, of chances, of mistakes. Bodhisattva says, Just another…

Read More Read More

The Day After (7-28-16) ?>

The Day After (7-28-16)

The day after you died I ate nothing– The world, my world, every inch of it Had shifted subtly, irrevocably one half inch to the right It looked the same, but forever changed– All day, distracted by an almost-sound, almost within my hearing, By an almost-glimpse of something just out of sight The very first time since my very first breath In a world without you alive in it. I burned a white candle, offered the water, Bade you move…

Read More Read More

Times (7-23-16) ?>

Times (7-23-16)

The times you lifted me up From the carpeted floor Where I lay pretending to sleep So you would carry me Sleeping-­child­-weight To my bed­­– Tuck me in, safe from the storm. The times we drove out together Just you and I, front seat pick­up, No seat belts, just you and I­­ Escaping together giggling. The time I wrapped my legs around Your strong waist, in the blood-­warm Gulf waters­­ I laid my head back, floating, Secure in your anchor,…

Read More Read More

David Shoemaker’s Living Thelema ?>

David Shoemaker’s Living Thelema

Title: Living Thelema Author: David Shoemaker Publisher: Anima Solis Books Release Date: 2013 Pages: 260 David Shoemaker’s Living Thelema: A Practical Guide to Attainment in Aleister Crowley’s System of Magick is best described as handbook for those undertaking the A∴A∴ system of study. Two points that should not put off the reader are, first, that this book assumes you already know something about ceremonial magick and the Qabalah. Not that you need to know a lot, but enough to not get lost. For…

Read More Read More

James A. Eshelman’s The Mystical & Magical System of the A∴A∴ ?>

James A. Eshelman’s The Mystical & Magical System of the A∴A∴

Title: Mystical and Magical System of the A∴A∴ Author: James A. Eshelman Publisher: The College of Thelema Release Date: 2000 Pages: 282 James A. Eshelman’s The Mystical & Magical System of the A∴A∴ (The Spiritual System of Aleister Crowley & George Cecil Jones Step-by-Step) is a roughly 8.5 by 11 inch hardback published by The College of Thelema on paper meeting the Z38.48 standard (this is what used to be called “acid-free paper”). The first 170 pages start with a brief…

Read More Read More

Lon Milo DuQuette’s Low Magick ?>

Lon Milo DuQuette’s Low Magick

Title: Low Magick Author: Lon Milo DuQuette Publisher: Llewellyn Release Date: 2010 Pages: 206 Low Magick is another autobiographical work from Lon Milo DuQuette, written about 12 years after My Life with the Spirits. In this volume, each chapter starts with a quote, often one by Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, a very learned qabalist. We move from the Law of Attraction (see my review of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich for more on the Law of Attraction) through some serious Goetia and…

Read More Read More

Lon Milo DuQuette’s My Life with the Spirits ?>

Lon Milo DuQuette’s My Life with the Spirits

Title: My Life With the Spirits Author: Lon Milo DuQuette Publisher: Weiser Books Release Date: 1999 Pages: 191 My Life with the Spirits: The Adventures of a Modern Magician is an autobiography of Lon Milo DuQuette, one of the 21st century’s most famous magickians. DuQuette is a prolific author and lecturer, an Archbishop of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, and the United States Deputy National Grand Master of Ordo Templi Orientis. This is a fast-paced, enjoyable read, with DuQuette’s characteristic humor that begins with…

Read More Read More