This is the masterful biography of the Magus Aleister Crowley, written by the one person most qualified to write it. Israel Regardie was a friend and student of Crowley, and served as his personal secretary for some time. In this book, Regardie manages to write a fair and balanced view of Crowley. It is an intelligent and insightful look into Crowley's life, Magick and Mysticism. Dr. Regardie interprets all this from the wisdom of experience. An initiate of the Golden Dawn, OTO and A A Regardie writes with deep insight and compassion, openly revealing his own feelings, and thus providing a unique insight into Crowley. This book is the classic biography of Crowley!
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Aleister Crowley was the greatest magus of the century
Aleister Crowley, the greatest Magus of the twentieth century, redefined the very basis of the Western Esoteric Tradition. His incalculably vast influence reaches through all modern occultism. Whether acknowledged or not, he is the father of the modern arts of ceremonial magick, western tantra, tarot, and wicca. His devotees ascribe even greater significance to his life, regarding him as the Prophet of the Modern Age. In 1928, at the age of 53, Crowley was living in Paris when Israel Regardie, a 21 year old disciple, nervously presented himself to become Crowley’s personal secretary. Thus began the most significant relationship of Regardie’s life. Although they were to have a bitter parting some time later, this experience caused Regardie to devote his next five decades to spreading Crowley’s message and tending the flame of his memory — at a time when that was an unpopular, unrewarding, and lonely task. This book provides an accurate, humorous and brilliantly insightful look into the man whom many still regard as the Wickedest Man in the World. Fasten your seat belts and get ready to enter the magical world of Aleister Crowley as seen through the eyes of Israel Regardie. My own life contains the singular parallel of a relationship with a man of vast spiritual development, wisdom and humor who has influenced me since the day I met him. That great man, Israel Regardie, shall forever live in my heart and soul. I am eternally grateful that our friendship extended to the last day of his life. — Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D., author of Undoing Yourself I avidly read this book when it was first published in 1970. What a joy it was to meet Dr. Regardie some years later and see the mischievous sparkle in his eye as he told his tales of Aleister Crowley. Regardie, a true man of action, braved ridicule and hatred in Crowley’s defense when most of today’s active proponents of Crowley’s teaching weren’t even born. — James Wasserman, author of Aleister Crowley’s Magical Diary
Aleister Crowley, the greatest Magus of the twentieth century, redefined the very basis of the Western Esoteric Tradition. His incalculably vast influence reaches through all modern occultism. Whether acknowledged or not, he is the father of the modern arts of ceremonial magick, western tantra, tarot, and wicca. His devotees ascribe even greater significance to his life, regarding him as the Prophet of the Modern Age. In 1928, at the age of 53, Crowley was living in Paris when Israel Regardie, a 21 year old disciple, nervously presented himself to become Crowley’s personal secretary. Thus began the most significant relationship of Regardie’s life. Although they were to have a bitter parting some time later, this experience caused Regardie to devote his next five decades to spreading Crowley’s message and tending the flame of his memory — at a time when that was an unpopular, unrewarding, and lonely task. This book provides an accurate, humorous and brilliantly insightful look into the man whom many still regard as the Wickedest Man in the World. Fasten your seat belts and get ready to enter the magical world of Aleister Crowley as seen through the eyes of Israel Regardie. My own life contains the singular parallel of a relationship with a man of vast spiritual development, wisdom and humor who has influenced me since the day I met him. That great man, Israel Regardie, shall forever live in my heart and soul. I am eternally grateful that our friendship extended to the last day of his life. — Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D., author of Undoing Yourself I avidly read this book when it was first published in 1970. What a joy it was to meet Dr. Regardie some years later and see the mischievous sparkle in his eye as he told his tales of Aleister Crowley. Regardie, a true man of action, braved ridicule and hatred in Crowley’s defense when most of today’s active proponents of Crowley’s teaching weren’t even born. — James Wasserman, author of Aleister Crowley’s Magical Diary
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By BHFC
Format:Paperback
This review is only about production quality of this New Falcon edition. Otherwise this is an important text and excellent book, but if you want to read it either get second hand copy or wait for alternative edition (I have not seen Original Falcon edition).
Over many years I have been enjoying Falcon books which include some of my favourite authors (Robert Anton Wilson, Israel Regardie, ...) I have these in old editions which I read regularly.
My problem is with production quality of the latest printed New Falcon paperbacks. I run reading groups where I propose and present books, which after reading we jointly discuss. To several of my members I have been ordering (here via Amazon.co.uk) several of their titles (ie Quantum Psychology, Prometheus Rising, Eye in the Triangle, ...). In presenting these books to my friends I found myself in difficult situation, as my enthusiasm for the content is dampened by me needing to APOLOGISE for poor physical quality of the book.
It is clear that the titles are printed digitally and 'on demand'. But digital printing quality has improved a great deal in the last 10 years and some of the technical problems with these books can relatively easy be dealt with.
1. Paper. Text paper use is a digital cartridge paper which for the smaller book sizes like these is rather inflexible. You could go for thinner or standard book paper with finer fibres.
2. Cover. Eye in the Triangle is one of the worst covers by lowest card quality, with low contrast printing and is not even laminated from the outside. (these leads that even new copies I received from amazon have chipped off printing).
3. Binding. As this book is a digital print they are machine glued (not stitched) and this makes them (partly because of paper used) inflexible, stiff and difficult to keep open and read. With over 500 pages, it makes you think how many times this book can be opened before the spine cracks and pages start falling out. In addition, page-setting is obviously done for stitched binding. With only gluing, this leaves book's inside margins extremely tight, which with the general stiffness makes the book difficult to handle and nearly impossible to read.
In conclusion, this publisher should make some effort in improving quality of their books as they have some very important titles in their catalogue.
Finally, I have complained directly to the publishers with few ideas on improvements... they only replied in two words... 'thank you' with no explanation.
Over many years I have been enjoying Falcon books which include some of my favourite authors (Robert Anton Wilson, Israel Regardie, ...) I have these in old editions which I read regularly.
My problem is with production quality of the latest printed New Falcon paperbacks. I run reading groups where I propose and present books, which after reading we jointly discuss. To several of my members I have been ordering (here via Amazon.co.uk) several of their titles (ie Quantum Psychology, Prometheus Rising, Eye in the Triangle, ...). In presenting these books to my friends I found myself in difficult situation, as my enthusiasm for the content is dampened by me needing to APOLOGISE for poor physical quality of the book.
It is clear that the titles are printed digitally and 'on demand'. But digital printing quality has improved a great deal in the last 10 years and some of the technical problems with these books can relatively easy be dealt with.
1. Paper. Text paper use is a digital cartridge paper which for the smaller book sizes like these is rather inflexible. You could go for thinner or standard book paper with finer fibres.
2. Cover. Eye in the Triangle is one of the worst covers by lowest card quality, with low contrast printing and is not even laminated from the outside. (these leads that even new copies I received from amazon have chipped off printing).
3. Binding. As this book is a digital print they are machine glued (not stitched) and this makes them (partly because of paper used) inflexible, stiff and difficult to keep open and read. With over 500 pages, it makes you think how many times this book can be opened before the spine cracks and pages start falling out. In addition, page-setting is obviously done for stitched binding. With only gluing, this leaves book's inside margins extremely tight, which with the general stiffness makes the book difficult to handle and nearly impossible to read.
In conclusion, this publisher should make some effort in improving quality of their books as they have some very important titles in their catalogue.
Finally, I have complained directly to the publishers with few ideas on improvements... they only replied in two words... 'thank you' with no explanation.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Roonil
Format:Paperback
I don't normally leave reviews, but felt I someone needed to provide an alternative perspective to the previous review.
Firstly, any book that deals with Crowley's multiple and varied personalities and philosophies is going to appear confusing or off-putting to many because it will typically contain:
- many metaphysical contradictions and paradoxes
- unprovable and unbelievable stories
- an almost endless number of Crowley's poetic attempts at expressing the inexpressible
as well as many other distressing, interesting, disgusting, refreshing, exhilarating, despicable and stimulating ideas, because Crowley was, if nothing else, a thought-provoking enigma. There are no answers, only questions; no facts, only opinions; no objectivity, only subjectivity.
As a result, for any writer to discuss Crowley in a manner befitting of the subject, he or she must perform the greatest sadistic act a writer can: they must force the reader to think.
And this means presenting as many different perspectives as possible, while treating none as the absolute truth.
Regardie gives a very broad, unbiased view (or certainly as relatively unbiased a view as possible, considering human bias is an inescapable and necessary evil of expression) by reserving judgment in favor of analyzing Crowley's actions, writings and influences from various perspectives.
He will often describe a single event in Crowley's own words, as well as in another biographer's words, and offers his own psychological analysis based on his own personal experiences with Mysticism, psychology and Crowley himself.
This is the true brilliance of Regardie's book, as it cannot all be interpreted as true. The contradictions and subjective biases of the various sources prevent one from accepting any one perspective as true and forces upon the reader a broader, multi-model, relativistic, mystical view.
And so, as with most mystical literature, the response of most readers, in general, will be characterised in one of a few ways:
- Those familiar with mystical writing, occult literature, etc. and who are comfortable with the process of allowing themselves to see as much as they are able to see (i.e. putting aside as many cultural and ego-based biases and prejudices as possible) will find this book, at the very least, interesting. They will be able to suspend their judgment of the book and Crowley himself long enough to receive some of his fascinating intuitions.
- Those not familiar with such mystical writing styles, or only beginning to familiarise themselves with the occult, may find that they are unable to properly process the information in this book using their traditional methods of reading and understanding. However, as often is the result of this, they may find that they are forcibly jolted out of their conditioned thinking and, for example, rise from a state of perceiving contradictions in the text to one of perceiving reconcilable paradoxes.
- Those not familiar with the writing and, at the time of reading, not able to "let" the literature perturb their mind, will react as most people have reacted to Crowley. They will see it in black and white; good and evil; true and false. They will see Crowley the sex-fiend, drug-addict, liar, devil and beast. Because that's the persona he created especially to irritate those unable to understand him. Transcending this judgment will help in understanding his teachings. The man was often a pure bastard, consciously and willingly, and made no attempt to hide this "fact". He seemed to be saying that he, in stark contrast to most people (because we all act selfishly and are prone to acts of cruelty at least some of the time) refused to be a hypocrite and hide his "negative" attributes and actions. How appropriate his behaviour was is debatable, but in order to understand him better, we must attempt to understand how he viewed his own public actions.
As for providing a balance to the previous review, I found this book interesting and relatively unbiased. Regardie refers to previous Crowley biographies, as mentioned in the previous review, but simply to offer examples of the kind of uninformed writing that tends to spring up around Crowley and his life.
He is far from "gushing" in his praise for Crowley! The stories about his friendship with Crowley illustrate, if nothing else, that Regardie is more interested in Crowley's teachings than the man himself. He found out firsthand that this mystical and intuitive genius had a highly cruel and despicable streak, and yet Regardie is still able to praise his teachings and writings. Why? Because he has seen through the evil beast persona that masks divinely inspired ideas. The challenge for the reader is to do the same.
This is a fascinating and fantastic book for anyone who is interested in Crowley. I first heard of it through Robert Anton Wilson's writing's, so a fan of RAW will also probably love this. In fact, the best way for me to describe what you find in this book is to borrow a phrase from Wilson:
"What the Thinker thinks,
The Prover proves."
Firstly, any book that deals with Crowley's multiple and varied personalities and philosophies is going to appear confusing or off-putting to many because it will typically contain:
- many metaphysical contradictions and paradoxes
- unprovable and unbelievable stories
- an almost endless number of Crowley's poetic attempts at expressing the inexpressible
as well as many other distressing, interesting, disgusting, refreshing, exhilarating, despicable and stimulating ideas, because Crowley was, if nothing else, a thought-provoking enigma. There are no answers, only questions; no facts, only opinions; no objectivity, only subjectivity.
As a result, for any writer to discuss Crowley in a manner befitting of the subject, he or she must perform the greatest sadistic act a writer can: they must force the reader to think.
And this means presenting as many different perspectives as possible, while treating none as the absolute truth.
Regardie gives a very broad, unbiased view (or certainly as relatively unbiased a view as possible, considering human bias is an inescapable and necessary evil of expression) by reserving judgment in favor of analyzing Crowley's actions, writings and influences from various perspectives.
He will often describe a single event in Crowley's own words, as well as in another biographer's words, and offers his own psychological analysis based on his own personal experiences with Mysticism, psychology and Crowley himself.
This is the true brilliance of Regardie's book, as it cannot all be interpreted as true. The contradictions and subjective biases of the various sources prevent one from accepting any one perspective as true and forces upon the reader a broader, multi-model, relativistic, mystical view.
And so, as with most mystical literature, the response of most readers, in general, will be characterised in one of a few ways:
- Those familiar with mystical writing, occult literature, etc. and who are comfortable with the process of allowing themselves to see as much as they are able to see (i.e. putting aside as many cultural and ego-based biases and prejudices as possible) will find this book, at the very least, interesting. They will be able to suspend their judgment of the book and Crowley himself long enough to receive some of his fascinating intuitions.
- Those not familiar with such mystical writing styles, or only beginning to familiarise themselves with the occult, may find that they are unable to properly process the information in this book using their traditional methods of reading and understanding. However, as often is the result of this, they may find that they are forcibly jolted out of their conditioned thinking and, for example, rise from a state of perceiving contradictions in the text to one of perceiving reconcilable paradoxes.
- Those not familiar with the writing and, at the time of reading, not able to "let" the literature perturb their mind, will react as most people have reacted to Crowley. They will see it in black and white; good and evil; true and false. They will see Crowley the sex-fiend, drug-addict, liar, devil and beast. Because that's the persona he created especially to irritate those unable to understand him. Transcending this judgment will help in understanding his teachings. The man was often a pure bastard, consciously and willingly, and made no attempt to hide this "fact". He seemed to be saying that he, in stark contrast to most people (because we all act selfishly and are prone to acts of cruelty at least some of the time) refused to be a hypocrite and hide his "negative" attributes and actions. How appropriate his behaviour was is debatable, but in order to understand him better, we must attempt to understand how he viewed his own public actions.
As for providing a balance to the previous review, I found this book interesting and relatively unbiased. Regardie refers to previous Crowley biographies, as mentioned in the previous review, but simply to offer examples of the kind of uninformed writing that tends to spring up around Crowley and his life.
He is far from "gushing" in his praise for Crowley! The stories about his friendship with Crowley illustrate, if nothing else, that Regardie is more interested in Crowley's teachings than the man himself. He found out firsthand that this mystical and intuitive genius had a highly cruel and despicable streak, and yet Regardie is still able to praise his teachings and writings. Why? Because he has seen through the evil beast persona that masks divinely inspired ideas. The challenge for the reader is to do the same.
This is a fascinating and fantastic book for anyone who is interested in Crowley. I first heard of it through Robert Anton Wilson's writing's, so a fan of RAW will also probably love this. In fact, the best way for me to describe what you find in this book is to borrow a phrase from Wilson:
"What the Thinker thinks,
The Prover proves."
11 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The book traces Crowley's quest for spiritual enlightenment. It focuses on the period from his initiation into the Golden Dawn (an occult Rosicrucian group), through dabblings in buddhism, yoga and magick and reaches a climax in an evoking of the fearful demon Chronzon (later though by Crowley to be a manifestation of a suppressed part of his psyche). Of the many repulsive facets to Crowley the one redeeming factor, made apparent in this account, is his steadfastness in following his, often offbeat, path and his honesty in expressing the inner workings of his mind. That apart one is struck by Crowley's rampant egotism, misogynous and snobbish attitudes. Regardie is gushing in his praise of Crowley's "colossal genius", placing him far above the pantheon of modern greats, and the flurry of superlatives soon becomes grating. Equally annoying is his many tirades against Symmonds (author of "The Great Beast" and executor of Crowley's literary estate). Sadly Regardie makes no attempt to anchor Crowley's central thesis of the will of the higher Self with the German romantic tradition. However his analysis of Crowley's writing is at times insightful and thoroughly researched.
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