My review of Aleister Crowley: A Modern Master, by John Moore is now up on SpiralNature.com, you can read it by clicking this link.

I was really excited when I got the book. It was published by Mandrake of Oxford, who’ve put out many excellent books over the past decade, but unfortunately this wasn’t one of them. I really wanted to like this book, read the review for an analysis of why it didn’t end up happening.

In other, closely related news, Weiser Antiquarian has announced that they have three new Crowley titles available for sale, all signed by the author.

They are as follows: The Magickal Essence of Aleister Crowley, by J. Edward Cornelius; Aleister Crowley and the Aeon of Horus, by Paul Weston; and The Wickedest Books in the World: Confessions of an Aleister Crowley Bibliophile, by Blair MacKenzie Blake. Each sounds interesting in their own way, particularly Cornelius’, which contains reworked material originally published in the Red Flame.

So many new being published about Crowley lately. A new trend?

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The Occult Reliquary will be released in March 2010 by Three Hands Press.

Introduced by Graham King, the book largely consists of more than 200 illustrations, 80 of which will be in full colour.

The images are selected from from the Richel-Eldermans Collection, an occult archive of some 2,000 images and artifacts housed in the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall. For a sample, check out the images available for viewing on the website.

From the book’s description on Three Hands Press:

Situated at the crossroads of erotic magic, ceremonial angelic conjuration, and witchcraft, the images comprise, in part, a pictorial cipher of the rituals of Ars Amatoria, a European magical order using sex magic, and the lesser-known M∴M∴, based in the Hague and Leiden. Also referenced among the collection are materials relating to A∴A∴ of Aliester Crowley. [sic]

The transfixing procession of images, charms, magical seals, and ritual objects in the Collection is the work of multiple artists, and displays a high degree of magical insight and creativity. It will be of interest to students of witchcraft, Freemasonry, the Goetia, sex magic, and early twentieth century occultism.

Three editions will be available, a special edition (already sold out), a deluxe edition (£130, 220$US) and a standard edition (£65, 110$US). All editions are limited.

See Three Hands Press for more.

Book’s cover image taken from the notice of publication found in the Museum’s blog, the Museum of Witchcraft Diary.

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Bought Crowley books that is.

An order came in today bearing a few of the books that are still in print that I didn’t already have. Including: Diary of a Drug Fiend (pictured right), White Stains, and the Sutin biography, Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley.

From the out of print market I also picked up The Revival of Magick and Other Essays (Oriflamme).

It’s great to see that Moonchild is in print again, even if it is a limited edition (I’ve already pre-ordered a copy), but with so many titles going out of print, I feel like I have to rush to fill the gaps in my library while I still can.

Whatever polarization there is amongst readers of Crowley, we’re not “beyond the books” (there is no such thing). This OOP situation needs to be rectified. I still can’t find a decently priced copy of Confessions.

Also, thanks to Joseph Thiebes who, on Plutonica.net’s Facebook page, let us know that Buying Crowley Books isn’t just a Facebook group and a Twitter account – it’s also a blog! Complete with an “Anti-Boycott” manifesto.

Final point, unrelated to Crowley (for now), but still on a bookish theme: the Esoteric Book Club is up and running. Check in and let us know where you’re at.

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Plutonica.net has always had a special focus on books and occult publishing in amidst the links and commentary on occulture.

We’ve now taken that a step further by creating a dedicated space to tackle one book a month with the Plutonica.net Esoteric Book Club.

What’s the deal?

I’ve created an About page for the book club with more info on the history of the idea and how it came about, but here’s the gist:

The Plutonica.net Esoteric Book Club isn’t just another general occult forum. It’s a space dedicated to esoteric and occult literature and what people do with it.

It tackles the same themes our blog is focused on: philosophy, spirituality, magick and occulture, with a little biography and occult lit tossed in for good measure.

The real focus will be on engaging in what we’re reading, as we’re reading it. Sharing thoughts, asking questions, hopefully going deeper into material together than we might have the opportunity otherwise, alone.

How it will work

We’ll gather suggestions Continue reading »

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September seems to be the big month for releasing new fiction, but occult publishers seem to be putting out nifty stuff each week these days. The latest being The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon: From an Original Talismanic Grimoire in Full Colour by Ebenezer Sibley and Frederick Hockley, edited with extensive commentary by Joseph Peterson.

The Clavis contains a full-colour facsimile of a hand-painted, handwritten magical notebook and eight separate magickal texts.

The book is published by Ibis Press and distributed by Weiser Antiquarian. The descriptions differs on each site, offering different details about the book and its history, so I’ve reproduced them both here below. Continue reading »

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