Crowley & Fortune book

Has anyone read Alan Richardson's new book yet?
"Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune: The Logos of the Aeon and the Shakti of the Age."
http://www.amazon.com/Aleister-Crow...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258891169&sr=1-1

It hasn't been released in the UK yet, so I'm eager to hear what it's like. There's a good chance the Thoth might get a mention, as Fortune began meeting with Crowley around the same time as the deck and book were being worked on.

Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune were two of the most controversial and powerful occultists of the 20th century. Crowley was regarded by many as a creature of the night, albeit one whose soul was streaked with brilliance; Fortune was viewed as one of the Shining Ones, who nevertheless wrestled with her own darkness. Between them they produced some of the best books on magick ever written, and their influence upon contemporary magicians has been profound.

Written by occult scholar Alan Richardson, this unusual and provocative book draws upon unpublished material to reveal little-known aspects of Crowley and Fortune’s relationship, and their role as harbingers of sweeping cultural changes—foreshadowing the women’s movement, the sexual revolution, and 1960s counterculture—as well as other surprising influences upon our present culture.

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Llewellyn's site and correction: Amazon US now has it

http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738715803

Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune
The Logos of the Aeon and the Shakti of the Age

By: Alan Richardson
Specs: Trade Paperback | 9780738715803
English | 216 pages | 6 x 9 IN
Pub Date: December 2009
Price: $18.95

I haven't seen it yet in the U.S.

Correction later as of Sunday November 22, 2009 after 5:00 pm:
It's listed as available on Amazon.com US--thanks for the update and correction!

But I also came trotting back to this forum, as I could not mentally quite put the two thinkers' paths in connection or crossroads other than...they might have lived in the same time periods, had heard each other's names and was perhaps not in the mainstream? The book has aroused my curiousity as well!

Your mentions of their crossroads during World War II, I found at Supertarot.com

http://supertarot.co.uk/adept/dion-fortune.htm

But afterward:
Dion Fortune, I think subsequently of her fiction and then people such as Gareth Knight/Delores Ashkroft Norwicki and the 'Servants of Light'...and with Josephine Gill, the associated thinkers did develop a tarot...(Servants of Light) and Gill Tarot...

I would be very interested if we would see discussions of Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot either in echoes of imagery or parallels in how he developed his tarot imagery in this book...? Haven't seen anything in the write-ups yet, but I am also hoping as well as you!

Hope the link helps find an ISBN number in the U.S., etc...

Cerulean

This is the first I have heard of this book. I am so excited to read it now! Hope we can get it soon in the states...

OOnaOwl said:

Hope we can get it soon in the states...

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The link I posted was from the American Amazon site. According to them it's in stock and available in the USA already.

Super! Thanks, I will go there now.

Thanks for the update!

For some reason earlier today, I didn't notice it was available through Amazon.com U.S.--thanks for the linking and update!

I'll keep an eye on this thread to find out if anyone finds Thoth Tarot information in this book.

Regards,

Cerulean

Alan Richardson's book on DF & AC

Thanks Aeon, I have the book on order. Hopefully I will get it before Christmas.....

It's not tarot or detail related to 'collaborations' as far as I can see.

But it is in my opinion a creative reworking of Alan Richardson's previous knowledgeable outline on Dion Fortune's life in his Priestess: The Life and Magic of Dion Fortune with a generious helping of parallels occuring in Aleister Crowley's life at the same time--the Crowley material is recognizeably attributed to Lawrence Sutin's wonderful biography Do What Thou Wilt.

Richardson says the brief glimpses in this book "Aliester Crowley and Dion Fortune" doesn't do justice to both and doesn't attempt to cover all aspects of their lives. His compare and contrast of their differing life episodes in the same time period and suggestions of how their magical slants might be looked at doesn't seem to pinpoint extensive collaborations. Maybe my early look is not fair, but I'm seeing he's creatively suggesting something else...Some gossip is noted, creative ideas are swirled in and his thesis is that Fortune or Crowley or both in their separate ways have provided magical 'tones' or templates for modern priest or priestesses and magical thinking. That probably isn't fresh news, but his approach is to tie in parallels of their life stories.

Richardson notes he is not a member of any occult society and that Gareth Knight's work on Dion Fortune has more access to the Society of Inner Light material if you were interested in her work that way. Richardson's own earlier biography of Fortune in the 1987 volume uses the Rider Waite tarot to creatively illustrate shades or stages of her life--the Crowley Thoth was not mentioned nor seems to be referenced. Richardson does mention his earlier biography and work studying Dion Fortune's life more than a few times.

In Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune, you will see the usual mentions of The Tree of Life, Golden Dawn, Mathers,...they are mentioned and given reference appropriately in these brief glimpses and outlines. But if you are looking for lots of detail on tree of life, tarot and Golden Dawn workings, I believe Decker and Dummett's works are better and more appropriate.

If asked, I myself would prefer to check information for Crowley out by rereading Laurence Sutin's great biography of Aleister Crowley--and for Thoth fans, I would recommend the site Supertarot.com above for more definitive, better and free information on the Crowley Thoth.

Hope that helps--remember it's me looking from pages 3 on through the appendixes ending 190 and the bibliograpy on page 193 and glancing at every chapter hoping for "Thoth Tarot" and other relational crossroads...

Cerulean

Good read

Thanks Cerulean. I got a copy 2 days ago and started reading straight away. Whilst I would agree with your overview, I have found the essays to be very readable. It's not bad.

Hi Chriske,

How does Richardson treat Crowley in the book. I haven't read much of his stuff before, but I get the impression that he's a bit "white light". I suspect that Dion Fortune will get a fair hearing, but Crowley ....

18. So also the light that is absorbed. One absorbs little and is called white and glistening; one absorbs all and is called black.
19. Therefore, O my darling, art thou black.
20. O my beautiful, I have likened thee to a jet Nubian slave, a boy of melancholy eyes.
21. O the filthy one! the dog! they cry against thee. Because thou art my beloved.
22. Happy are they that praise thee; for they see thee with Mine eyes.

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