Most people experience a similar reaction when they first sit down and actually read Crowley. The name is almost universally known, and somehow most of us have inherited a nasty association along with it; some vague idea of a wacky Satanist and evil-doer. My first thoughts upon delving into Crowley’s 8 Lectures on Yoga were I don’t understand half of what this guy is saying but damn, he is onto something. One is immediately struck by the cutting insight into the previously obscure, the elegant humour, the seductive use of language, and the sheer scale of his knowledge. A few of Crowley’s recurring topics include ceremonial Magick, mathematics, metaphysics, yoga, practical mysticism, Kabalah, Tarot, and one of the first scientific approaches to comparative religion and the attainment of genius, immortalised in the verse:
We place no reliance
On Virgin or Pigeon:
Our method is Science,
Our aim is Religion
To begin to understand Crowley usually requires personal research into many other inter-related areas, and the elucidation of modern sages. (Those familiar with New Falcon should read this for more on the unfortunate recent events since Dr Hyatt’s death.) I don’t propose to write anything more about Crowley because several books have struggled with that immense task.
Magick without Tears is one of the most accessible gateways to Crowley, Thelema, magick and the Great Work. It was also the last of Crowley’s works before he died. While you have to read a lot of other Crowley works to really begin to “get” what the hell’s going on, MWT makes for a good base camp. Wikipedia says:
Magick Without Tears was the last book written by occultist Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), initially written in the mid 1940s near the end of his life, and first published in 1954. The book consists of 80 letters to various students of magick. Originally to be titled Aleister Explains Everything, the letters offer his insights into both magick and Thelema—Crowley’s religious and ethical system—with a clarity and wit often absent in his earlier writings. The individual topics are widely varied, addressing the orders O.T.O. and A.’.A.’., Qabalah, Thelemic morality, Yoga, astrology, various magical techniques, religion, death, spiritual visions, the Holy Guardian Angel, and other issues such as marriage, property, certainty, and meanness. The book is considered by many as evidence that Crowley remained lucid and mentally capable at the end of his life, despite his addiction to heroin (prescribed for his chronic emphysema).
Unfortunately, the old New Falcon versions of this work seem to be out of print, and used versions are pretty expensive and rare. Fortunately, there is the free HTML version at Hermetic. As invaluable as this is, it’s not so great for printing and easy download. There is a complete PDF of MWT floating around, but it’s layout is beyond terrible.
Since I wanted to print MWT, I decided to make a single file Word version, and from that, a much sleeker PDF version. I haven’t done anything special: I basically copied each chapter from the Hermetic version into one Word file, expanded the page boundaries a little, made the fonts a little smaller, and then created the pdf using PrimoPDF. Unfortunately the footnotes do not sit neatly at the bottom of the pages so when you see a star or cross just check down the page, or the next page, for the explanation. I didn’t include the Index because all the page references are out. So here are the results, hopefully of use to some people! The PDF version is optimised for printing, while the .doc version is useful for the Document Map navigation.
Thanks for posting this, Dan. In the past two weeks, I have felt myself inexplicably drawn to paganism, Wicca, natural magic, Tarot, etc — ideas I would have dismissed outright even a year ago. And I still feel the need to be secretive about my exploration of these things, taking care that no one at the cafe sees me reading a book called “Green Witchcraft.” But the more I read, the more sense it all makes. The more I test the waters, the more I learn what many others already know: you can converse with the universe if you know the language.
Again, thanks for this. I dig the new site. Keep it up!
Yeah, your position sounds pretty similar to mine. Wouldn’t have gone near this stuff a while back! Now it seems to be a gold mine. Cheers, Dan
Likewise Dan, thank you for making this work available. I feel that AC’s writing is so rich and dense, sometimes obtuse. I find myself reading his works many, many times before understanding finally comes. Crowley has a special place in the continuum of spiritual and metaphysical understanding.