Lon Milo DuQuette - The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema

The Tree of Life. (Source: Crowley: Magick Without Tears, 777 Revised, and The Book of Thoth; reproduced by Hymenaeus Beta, copyright 1993 O.T.O.)

The Magick of
Aleister Crowley

A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema

Lon Milo DuQuette

This edition first published in 2003 by
Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
With offices at:
665 Third Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94107
www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 1993, 2003 Lon Milo DuQuette
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser. Reviewers may quote brief passages. Originally published in 1993 as The Magick of Thelema: A Handbook of the Rituals of Aleister Crowley by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

DuQuette, Lon Milo.

[Magick of Thelema]
The magick of Aleister Crowley : a handbook of the rituals of Thelema
/ Lon Milo Duquette.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57863-299-4
1. Magic. 2. Occultism. 3. Crowley, Aleister, 18751947. I. Title.
BF1611.D87 2003
133.4'3dc22
2003015150

ISBN: 978-1-57863-299-2

Photographs on pages 59, 60, 61, and 62 copyright 1993 Paul Maska.
Cover and book design by Sky-Peck Design
Typeset in Adobe Garamond
Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

To my wife of thirty-five years,
Saint Constance of the Well,
Our Lady of Perpetual Motion,
this work is lovingly dedicated.

There is no bond that can unite the divided but love.
LIBER AL VEL LEGIS, I. 41.

CONTENTS

Chapter Eight: Knowledge and Conversation
of the Holy Guardian Angel

FOREWORD

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

A leister Crowley possessed far too much technical knowledge of magick to readily understand the problems of ordinary students. He frequently asked his younger colleagues to help make his teachings more accessible, and once explained that it's the sort of thing I can't do myself, not knowing the scope of the mind of the gentle reader.

Like other gentle readers who have delved into Crowley's system on their own, Brother DuQuette found many of the gaps and pitfalls in the system by the time-honored method of falling into them, scrambling out, and trying again until he crossed them. The present work incorporates many of the results of his personal work.

What is true of science holds true for scientific illuminism. DuQuette is the first to allow that while some of his findings may be replicated by future experimenters, others are subjective personal interpretation. But even the latter are invaluable as suggesting other lines of investigation, and as examples of the kind of personalization of the system that enables the magician to make it his or her own.

DuQuette also drew on recent research by other students that will be formally published in the forthcoming one-volume edition of Crowley's Book Four. Speaking of Lon Milo DuQuette's mythical eponym, Crowley wrote in Part II of his Book Four that Milo began by carrying a newborn calf; and day by day as it grew into a bull, his strength was found sufficient. It is not stretching the metaphor too far to suggest that the present work will be useful to many students as an introductory guide to those portions of Crowley's magnum opus dealing with ceremonial magick.

Occultism frequently gives ample grounds for criticism to its detractors by making insupportable claims for vaguely defined powers, the whole compassed by nonsensical theory. As Israel Regardie did before him, DuQuette avoids this by writing from his own experience, with a healthy leavening of common sense and a refreshing sense of humor.

Love is the law, love under will.

Hymenaeus Beta
Frater Superior, O.T.O.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish first to thank Hymenaeus Beta, Frater Superior of Ordo Templi Orientis, for allowing me access to the Order's archival material and for his fraternal encouragement, counsel, and criticism.

My thanks also go to Soror Meral, of the College of Thelema, Christopher S. Hyatt, of the Israel Regardie Foundation, James Wasserman, Clive Harper, Frater E. A. O. A., Rick Potter, Latin scholar, David Coe, D.G., Bill Heidrick; and to Paul J. Maska for his excellent photographs, and Ed Sentowski for his makeup artistry.

It gives me profound pleasure to thank the dedicated and talented Thelemic ritualists of Heru-ra-ha Lodge O.T.O., and 93 Lodge O.T.O., with whom I have labored, and from whom I have learned for more than fifteen years; especially LeRoy Lauer, Doug James, Karen James, Steve Abbott, Judy Abbott, Jim Kababick, David P. Wilson, and Constance DuQuette.

Lastly, unto them from whose eyes the veil of life hath fallen, Grady L. McMurtry (Caliph Hymenaeus Alpha X), Francis I. Regardie, Gerald Yorke, and the prophet of the lovely Star, Aleister Crowley, I offer my perpetual thanks.

The quoted material at the beginning of each chapter is from the works of Aleister Crowley. In case you would like to explore these passages further, the following reference list will be of interest.

: The Poet, from The Stone of the Philosophers, Konx Om Pax, Originally published in 1907 in a limited edition of 500 copies. First facsimile edition, with introduction published in 1990 by The Teitan Press, Inc. Chicago, IL. 1990 Martin P. Starr. p. 108.

: Magick in Theory and Practice (New York: Magickal Childe, 1990), p. xii. This work was originally published in Paris by Lecram Press in 1929.

: The Pentagram. From Thumbs Up! Five Poems by Aleister Crowley, p. 2. This book was privately printed by the O.T.O. in 1942 for free distribution among the soldiers and workers of the Forces of Freedom.

: This quote is from The Class A Comment of The Book of the Law (reprinted in its entirety in this work).

: The Equinox, Vol. I, no. 1 (London: 1909; reprinted York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1992), p. 17.

: Liber LXV, in The Holy Books of Thelema (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1990), p. 59.

: Liber DCCXII vel ARARITA in The Holy Books of Thelema (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1990), pp. 217, 218.

: Chapter 108 in Liber Aleph (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1991), p. 108.

: Magick in Theory and Practice (New York: Magickal Childe, 1990), p. 11.