BOOK REVIEW - Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune: The Logos of the Aeon and the Shalti of the Age
Mike
Shalti of the Age by Alan Richardson © 2009 Llewellyn ISBN:
978-0-7387-1580-3 Paperback 211 pages $18.95 (U.S.) $21.95
(Canada)
I suspect that this book is going to anger (or at least upset) more
people than it pleases. It offers a biography of two of the most
powerful and influential magicians of the 20th Century. The
supporters of each of these individuals, and they are legion, will
most likely object to the portrayal of their favorite.
Dealing, as it does, with highly unusual individuals, it is written in
an unusual style – beginning with their deaths and working back to
their earliest days. The author draws on unpublished sources to flesh
out the accounts with which most of us are familiar.
This overview is a balanced presentation of the lives of two very
different magicians during the opening years of the 20th Century.
Many modern readers will have difficulty relating to the attitudes of
that time. Imagine being able to have your wife committed to an
insane asylum because she became an alcoholic; imagine seeing the “sex
problem” as being curable through monogamy and celibacy. I’d say
“imagine being subject to magickal attack because you had a falling
out withy your superiors in a magickal lodge”, but that is still
fairly commonplace today.
There isn’t a great deal of depth to the biographies in this book,
since each of the subjects could be, and has been, the subject of
separate books dealing with their lives and magickal activities. In
spite of the lack of depth, this book provides an engaging and
interesting perspective on a time and a world which had an important
influence on the world we live in today, and not just the magickal
world, either. Crowley’s attitudes presaged those which became part
of the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
I learned a lot about Dion Fortune which I did not know before, and
more than few items which had escaped my notice regarding the Great
Beast himself. I’m sure that others will also benefit from the
information contained herein.
While the average Wiccan won’t find a lot if information in this book,
and devoted followers of either Crowley or Fortune will probably be
familiar with most of the information Mr. Richardson has provided, the
book provides insight into the relationships of the individuals to the
society in which they functioned which should be interest to anyone
who interested in the working the magickal societies in the early 20th
Century, since those organizations provided a great deal of the
underpinning of the modern magickal movement.
It is an excellent overview and is well worth the price. You won’t
learn anything about magick, but you will learn about magickal
personalities.
Mike
> Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune: The Logos of the Aeon and the
> Shalti of the Age by Alan Richardson © 2009 Llewellyn ISBN:
My bad. I mistyped the title of the book - it should read "Aleister
Crowley and Dion Fortune: The Logos of the Aeon and the Shakti of the
Age"
Evergreen
> Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune: The Logos of the Aeon and the
> 978-0-7387-1580-3 Paperback 211 pages $18.95 (U.S.) $21.95
> (Canada)
>
> I suspect that this book is going to anger (or at least upset) more
> people than it pleases. It offers a biography of two of the most
> powerful and influential magicians of the 20th Century.
No. They were the ones chosen by the Media because they were flashy
and utterly devoid of demonstrable magickal skills.
Crowley couldn't even cure a disease that turned him into a junky.
Together they have wasted more people's time with their useless
psuedo-magickal ramblings than anyone else on the planet.
[delete]
Sid
--
Sidney Lambe
Wiccan Priest and Apprentice Magician
http://tinyurl.com/7vs9zb
usenet4444 (at) gmail (dot) com