Llewellyn Worldwide will be releasing Sepher Raziel: A Sixteenth Century English Grimoire, by Don Karr today, September 1st, 2010.

From the description on the publisher’s website:

Sepher Raziel—also called Liber Salomonis—is a full grimoire in the Solomonic tradition from a sixteenth century manuscript. It contains seven books: the Clavis, concerned with astronomy and star configurations; the Ala, outlining the virtues of stones, herbs, and animals; the Tractatus Thymiamatus, which determines perfumes and suffumigations used in the Art; a treatise on times and hours of the day; a treatise on preparations, ritual purity, and abstinence; Samaim, a treatise on the different heavens and their angels; and finally, a treatise on the figures and properties used in invocation and their ordinances.

Also includes material on consecration and working with orisions, a book of magical directions, a version of Liber Lunae, and more.

I’m unfamiliar with this grimoire, though it seems to be well known in certain circles. Check out “The secret tradition of the Book of Archangel Raziel” by Bob Zuker, and this version, edited by Joseph H. Peterson for EsotericArchives.com.

It’s a hardcover with dustjacket; the suggested retail price is 65$US, but Amazon.com currently lists it at 40.95$US.

Another grimoire. Could be neat?

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After more than forty years, Llewellyn Worldwide is re-releasing The Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G.B.G.: Being the Entire Study, Curriculum, Magick Rituals, and Initiatory Practices of the G.B.G., by Louis T. Culling.

The new edition has been edited, revised and expanded by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, and, according to Donald Michael Kraig, is almost three times larger than the first edition, which was fewer than 130 pages. (This edition is 360 pages.)

From the book’s description on the publisher’s website:

Founded upon the revolutionary premise that High Magick can be distilled to a few powerful and efficient steps, Louis T. Culling’s original edition of this classic magick book broke all the rules. [...]

Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, publisher of Culling’s original edition of this book, offers illuminating commentary, definitions, and discussion points to render these profound magickal philosophies and practices even more accessible and relevant for contemporary magickal practice. This new edition is also an interesting philosophical commentary, answering a number of questions about historical occult orders and figures like Aleister Crowley.

The in-depth description offers more information on the last point: Continue reading »

Popularity: 8%

Brother Curwen, Brother Crowley is the latest title from Teitan Press which features correspondence between Aleister Crowley and David Curwen.

The book is edited, annotated and introduced by Henrik Bogdan. Tony Matthews, David Curwen’s grandson, also provides a biographical foreword.

From the Teitan Press description:

In September 1944, a fifty-one year old Londoner named David Curwen wrote to Aleister Crowley, initiating a correspondence that would last several years. While Curwen approached Crowley with deference, the relationship that evolved between them was a complex one that defied the accepted parameters of the student-teacher nexus. For David Curwen was no newcomer to the study of the occult, and Crowley soon discovered that the flow of knowledge would not be simply one way. In particular Crowley was tantalized by the deep understanding of the principals of tantra that Curwen had acquired during the course of many years study under a mysterious guru.

At Crowley’s urging Curwen joined the O.T.O., but he remained skeptical of many of “the Beast’s” claims, and the two ultimately parted company on strained terms. However, Curwen retained his interest in the occult, and in later life he devoted himself to the study of alchemy, publishing the results of his researches pseudonymously in the book In Pursuit of Gold, a work that many believe to be the most significant study ever published of practical alchemy.

For the first week copies purchased through Weiser Antiquarian will come with a book-plate signed by Bogdan & Matthews and will be shipped free of charge in America or at reduced rate for international customers. For more information on this offer see Weiser Antiquarian.

The book is limited to 777 copies (of course), and retails for 45$US.

Popularity: 11%

Back in 2007 I reviewed Sacred Land: Intuitive Gardening for Personal, Political and Environmental Change, by Clea Danaan for SpiralNature.com.

I gave it a favourable review (it was a great book), but I also mentioned my disappointment that it seemed solely geared for women.

Ms Danaan must have stumbled upon the review recently, because she posted an explanation in her Intuitive Gardening Blog, writing that:

When I originally wrote the book, it was intended as part of a series of books called the Goddess Guides. The first was called Goddess’ Guide for the Magical Bride and became my book Magical Bride. The second was about healing, and I haven’t written it yet. The third became Sacred Land. If you have read both Sacred Land and Magical Bride, you will know that I profile goddesses related to pertinent topics in each book. The series was meant to be geared towards women, on normal topics we deal with every day like marriage, gardening, raising children, and health. I wanted to include goddesses and women who inspire me on each given topic.

Danaan goes on to explain that it was retitled several times and all references to goddesses and sisterhood were removed from the title, but not from the text itself, which contributed to the odd female-centric feel of the book. It was, in the end, unintentional.

Another cool thing about the Internet: you can learn the stories behind books straight from the authors themselves.

Thanks for the clarification Clea Danaan!

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Khephra directed me to a recent episode of Greg’s Occult of Personality podcast in which he was interviewed.

It’s subject was the Occult Digital Mobilization, or Digimob for short, a community of occultists which gathers ebooks and other files for distribution in quarterly digests via BitTorrent.

While there is a selection process, its ins and outs weren’t discussed in detail, nor were copyright issues or the moral implications in a wider sense, and they displayed a superficial understanding of how the artist/writer/creator is affected and what the impact is for the larger culture.

Though danced around, arguments for piracy tend to run the same way:

The argument is that a pirated good rarely substitutes for the authentic original. Instead it allows the product to reach populations that can’t afford the original or otherwise wouldn’t have bought it.

The above excerpt is from a book I recently picked up, Chris Anderson’s Free: How Today’s Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing, a marketing book on how companies are using the concept of free to build their customer base, and how it works. Continue reading »

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