Crowleys Books

I was looking for something new to read and picked up on Crowley, but I'm not sure which of his books to read first and if I was to continue after that what would be next to read?

What is your focus? Magick, Cabbalah, Tarot, it all depends.

generally I'd suggest the Book of Thoth, since this is a Tarot site and you are probably into that.

Magick? Liber Abba - Book 4 is a must but a weighty serve.

Something 'wierd and obscure' - the Book of the Law.

General and personal? - His autobiougraphy.

Criptic - The Book of Lies.

I'm a big fan of his 'Rites of Eleusis' 7 planetary plays going down the Tree of Life. Easy to find, just google.

About A.C. 'Eye in the Triangle ' by Israel Regardie.

Have fun

Read a biography first; it will give you the background to understand his own books. Lawrence Sutin's is the best among those easily found. Then get The Law is For All, his commentary on The Book of the Law. You can't understand Crowley without understanding that key book. Then Magick in Theory and Practice and finally The Book of Thoth.

I would start with book four. I really like reading crowleys work ( just remember he is a joker) but would say that book for is not a book so much as a manual, so its not really a good read.

If you want to find out more about the man himself, ' the eye in the triangle', or 'confessions' , both are excellent and easy to get as torrents as I believe they are both out of solid print.

angus93 said:

I was looking for something new to read and picked up on Crowley, but I'm not sure which of his books to read first and if I was to continue after that what would be next to read?

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I would suggest that you start with a biography. Crowley's work is more easily understood if it is placed within the context of his life. If this were an ideal world I would recommend that you pick up a copy of Richard Kaczynski's, PERDURABO. But unfortunately it is out of print and used copies command a high price.

One book that you may be able to pick up on the used market at a reasonable price is The Legacy of the Beast by Gerald Suster. It's one of the first Crowley related books that I ever read. It's part bio, part examination of Crowley's ideas. Down to earth, factual, and free of sensationalism. As a general introduction to Crowley and his ideas it is unsurpassed IMHO.

Or you could get it straight from the horses mouth and check out Crowley's own autohagiography, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. It's currently out of print but used copies are reasonably priced. It's also available on online, if you can stand reading big books on a computer screen. Personally I prefer good old fashioned ink on paper.

The Eye in the Triangle by Israel Regardie is another good bio, but sadly out of print.

Biographies that are currently in print and readily available are:

A Magick Life by Martin Booth. A reasonable bio. Booth was a poet himself so he likes to portray Crowley as a literary figure, rather than an occultist.

Do What Thou Wilt by Lawrence Sutin. Another reasonable bio, except that Sutin does have a tendency to steer towards sensationalism from time to time.

MEGATHERION by Francis King. A good bio, but it is a little bit on the short side. Still worth a look though.

The Beast Demystified by Roger Hutchinson. In one word, TRIPE!!! Tabloid journalism and character assassination. Definitely a hostile bio.

The Nature of the Beast by Colin Wilson. Recently reprinted by Aeon books. Wilson let himself down with this one. It's a sensation mongering pot boiler written to pay the bills. Nuff said.

That's the easy bit over and done with. The difficult part is finding an entry in Crowley's work. The trouble with the Crowley corpus of writings is that they are kind of like an octopus. If you focus on one tentacle the other seven will probably strangle you.

I'll make an off-the-wall suggestion. Try starting with The Holy Books of Thelema. It represents the fruits of Crowley's spiritual attainment. Crowley himself said that the Holy Books were examples of the states of consciousness that could be attained through his system of magick and yoga.
Commentaries on the Holy Books and other papers is a good companion volume. It contains Crowley's own commentary on the sublime Liber LXV.

Other suggestions might be MAGICK Book 4. Parts 1-4. It's big, it's heavy going, but it will last you a life time. Part 1: Mysticism. Part 2: Magick (Elementary Theory). Part 3: Magick in Theory and Practice. Part 4: Thelema - The Law (The Equinox of the Gods - Crowley's account of the reception of the Book of the Law.) On top of that there is masses of stuff in the appendices.

The Book of Thoth. Practically Crowley's entire philosophy presented under the guise of a pack of Tarot cards.

Magick Without Tears [Out of print but available on online] A collection letters between Crowley and a student relating to various theoretical and practical aspects of magcik and mysticism.

I would like to Thank all of you for the help so far. From how it looks so far is that I would be best starting with a biography, then one of his books. Now as Aeon418 mentioned that Crowley wrote an autobiography, is this like his other writings or is it more of a book? Next thing would be so far Liber ABA Book 4, is the book I would be most interested in, but my question is where would be a good place be to obtain a copy of this? I ask because I normally buy my books from are local shop, but they don't carry this book. Also I know from googleing Liber ABA Book 4 is fairly easily found on the web, but for three reasons I would rather have a print copy. Those being I could always have the book, second I could read it when I'm traveling, and third I much prefer to read out of a book than a computer screen. But once again thank you for all of your help.

Brendan

angus93 said:

Now as Aeon418 mentioned that Crowley wrote an autobiography, is this like his other writings or is it more of a book?

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I'm not quite sure what you mean ??? But I'll have a stab at it anyway.
Crowley's autobiography is and isn't like his other books. (You're a great help Aeon ) Like any memoir it's informal and chatty. Now and then Crowley does delve into a few issues, but on the whole the book is definitely aimed at the general reading public.

One draw back with Crowley's autobiography is that, even though it's almost 1000 pages long, it doesn't cover the whole of Crowley's career. It ends rather abruptly on a sour note in 1923. As Gerald Suster points out in The Legacy of the Beast, "Crowley's autobiography consists of six volumes comprising 923 printed pages in one edition, yet ends in 1923 when there were twenty-four more years of bizarre happenings, productive work, enduring achievements, and salacious scandals."
Despite that it's still an essential read for anyone interested in Crowley.

angus93 said:

Next thing would be so far Liber ABA Book 4, is the book I would be most interested in, but my question is where would be a good place be to obtain a copy of this? I ask because I normally buy my books from are local shop, but they don't carry this book.

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If you can't get your local book store to order it for you I would suggest that you order it from www.amazon.com. They always seem to have the major Crowley works in stock. You can also buy used copies of out of print books through them too.

angus93 said:

second I could read it when I'm traveling

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Word of warning, it's a big, heavy hardback.

I always recommend Crowley's 'Little Essays Toward Truth' as the first book anyone should read... As a treatise on his philosophical outlook, it not only simply and concisely (only 84 pages!) speaks of what he believed, but humanizes him at the same time... All the crud that has been said about him can be looked at for what it is in light of this wee book...

Great list, Aeon418... will have to look a couple of those up, *vbs*

FaireMaiden said:

Great list, Aeon418...

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Yes, and I added this thread to the index, too.

FaireMaiden said:

I always recommend Crowley's 'Little Essays Toward Truth' as the first book anyone should read...

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An excellent suggestion!

One thing that makes Crowley so difficult to approach is his constant assumption that his readers are already up to speed with at least the jargon and basics of hermetic qabalah, astrology, tarot, magical symbolism, etc., etc. Little Essays Toward Truth is one of the exceptions though.

To move beyond that with any degree of comprehension you really need to lay a firm foundation. If the beginning student hasn't already got the basics down it makes it very difficult to recommend a starting point in the Crowley corpus beyond auto/biography.

Before beginning Crowley I would recommend reading:

1. The Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo DuQuette.
2. The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune. (or an equivalent introductory qabalistic text*)
3. The Tree of Life by Israel Regardie.

* A Garden of Pomegranates by Israel Regardie.
* The Sword and the Serpent by Denning & Phillips
* Qabalah: A Magical Primer by John Bonner
* A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism by Gareth Knight
* Q.B.L. by Frater Achad
* Other suggestions?