Llewellyn Worldwide recently released a new book enigmatically titled: Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune: The Logos of the Aeon and the Shakti of the Age, by Alan Richardson.

Richardson is the author of several other esoteric books, including one on Dion Fortune called Priestess: The Life and Magic of Dion Fortune, published by Thoth Publications.

So, what can we expect from this new book exploring the lives and works of two of the most…differently oriented people, shall we say? – of their time?

From Llewellyn:

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Written by occult scholar Alan Richardson, this unusual and provocative book draws upon unpublished material to reveal little-known aspects of Crowley and Fortune’s relationship, and their role as harbingers of sweeping cultural changes—foreshadowing the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.

I’m intrigued.

Popularity: 2%

Last year saw the re-release of Outside the Circles of Time, and earlier this year a new Typhonian musical was released based on Grant’s work.

Now, on LAShTAL.com, Starfire Publishing has announced the reprinting Kenneth Grant‘s The Magical Revival in December 2009, a deluxe edition of which will be released in January 2010.

The Magical Revival is the first volume in Kenneth Grant’s Typhonian Trilogies.

From the press release:

When the original manuscript of this book was submitted for publication, the author was told he had provided “too much material for one book”. This proved to be correct. The work here presented – in an enhanced edition – became the first volume of three Trilogies. It provides a detailed analysis of certain occult traditions which existed long before the Christian epoch, survived its persecutions and anathemas, and reappeared in recent times with renewed vigour.

The continuity of this magical current as reflected in the work of Aleister Crowley, Austin Osman Spare, Dion Fortune and others is here traced through the Tantrik Tradition of the Far East, the Sumerian Cult of Shaitan and the Draconian, Sabian, or Typhonian rites of the ‘dark’ dynasties of ancient Egypt.

The new edition will be limited to 1500 copies, with a new frontispiece, seventeen plates (some of which are new to this edition), and illustrated endpapers. The book will retail at £30.00.

The first 118 copies will comprise the deluxe edition, and will be individually numbered and signed by Kenneth and Steffi Grant and will retail for £120.

Both editions can be ordered direct from the publisher.

For full details please see the press release and LAShTAL.com.

Popularity: 8%

Saturday Signal: sifting the signal from the noise of the Internet’s occultural cacophony.

Today was Pagan Pride Day at the Pagan Harvest Festival in Hamilton, Ontario.  I was set to leave Toronto at 7 am, but I had a heck of a time getting there due to a “trespasser” on the train tracks which turned into a “fatality” according to intermittent updates from conflicting sources.  Instead of arriving before the festival began, I got there five minutes before my workshop was set to start at 11.  Continue reading »

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