The Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley, Rose Edith Crowley, , 1578633087 Search discount cheap book, Compare Book prices, Find Lowest Price
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The Book of the Law, cheap new, used books  The Book of the Law: Liber Al Vel Legis
Author: Aleister Crowley  Rose Edith Crowley  
ISBN: 1578633087   /   Hardcover
Publisher: Weiser Books   /   2004-03-01
List Price: CDN$26.95
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Customer Reviews:
The Law of the Now and the Future!     
THE PRESSURE IS MOUNTING AND IT WILL SOON BLOW. THIS BOOK IS THE FLAME FOR THE BOILER.

This is not a mere book that was writen by a man. NO! It is direct instructions for our evolution from The Higher Power. It instigates Magick! It instigates CHANGE! It instigates a change in our thinking, a change in our consciousness,a change in how we live. A change to help us unify ur efforts with nature and the universe at present. This law is not about witchcraft and magic of past. This law is concerned with correcting our seperation from the past and taking us forward into the future.

One must remember that this book is very hard to understand ... Even Aleister Crowley had no idea what some verses meant and some verses have and still do remain secret. One must read the commentary on this book which is found in "The Law is for All" and "The Equinox Number 1 volume 7"

Read this book and it will change your life. Even a partial reading will release forces into your life that will help you change along with evolution.

-The- Revealed Text for the 20th Century     
The Book of the Law is without a doubt the most important revealed text to be released to the public in the 20th Century. Crowley was a fascinating individual, and the Book of the Law was the pinnacle of his magical written work. If you want to see what a real revealed text looks like, definetely check this one out, you can't go wrong.
I recently read another revealed text, 'Memetic Magic' by Kirk Packwood, which I have to admit compared in quality to the Book of the Law. It may well turn out to be the 21st Century equivalent of the magical revealed text. Check this one out too.
My opinion on the Book of the law     
Various belief systems are meshed together in the Book of the law. Around 400 or so years ago we find francois rabalais
envisioned an abby of thelema as noted below with Do as thou wilt as a part of it's philosophy. Was Aleister Crowley impressed with the concept to the point of borrowing it.
Or was the book really written by aiswass.

Well my opinion is that IF crowley's story is as he represents it that the book probably came from his unconscious mind. Chapter 3 disappointingly sounds alot like the old testament which wouyld probably appeal to Crowley's at times delusional / grandiose personality. Overall interesting but i'm far from envisioning this as a divine text and question if aiswass was anything more then a concept personified.



The Abbey of Theleme

As excerpted from The Portable Rabelais: The Uninhibited Adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel, (Viking Press, 1960), in the lively modern version by Samuel Putnam and with his revealing introductory essay:

How Gargantua Had the Abbey of Theleme Built for the Monk

There remained the monk to provide for. Gargantua wanted to make him Abbot of Seuilly, but the friar refused. He wanted to give him the Abbey of Bourgueil or that of Saint-Florent, whichever might suit him best, or both, if he had a fancy for them. But the monk gave a peremptory reply to the effect that he would not take upon himself any office involving the government of others.

“For how,� he demanded, “could I govern others, who cannot even govern myself? If you are of the opinion that I have done you, or may be able to do you in the future, any worthy service, give me leave to found an abbey according to my own plan."

This request pleased Gargantua, and the latter offered his whole providence of Theleme, lying along the River Loire, at a distance of two leagues from the great Forest of Port-Huault. The monk then asked that he be permitted to found a convent that should be exactly the opposite of all other institutions of the sort.

“In the first place, then,� said Gargantua, “you don't want to build any walls around it; for all the other abbeys have plenty of those.�

“Right you are,� said the monk, “for where there is a wall in front and behind there is bound to be a lot of murmuring, jealousy and plotting on the inside.�

Moreover, in view of the fact that in certain convents in this world there is a custom, if any woman (by which, I mean any modest or respectable one) enters the place, to clean up thoroughly after her wherever she has been â€" in view of this fact, a regulation was drawn up to the effect that if any monk or nun should happen to enter this new convent, all the places they had set foot in were to be thoroughly scoured and scrubbed. And since, in other convents, everything is run, ruled, and fixed by hours, it was decreed that in this one there should not be any clock or dial of any sort, but that whatever work there was should be done whenever occasion offered. For, as Gargantua remarked, the greatest loss of time he knew was to watch the hands of the clock.

What good came of it? It was the greatest foolishness in the world to regulate one’s conduct by the tinkling of a timepiece, instead of by intelligence and good common sense.

Another feature: Since in those days women were not put into convents unless they were blind in one eye, lame, hunchbacked, ugly, misshapen, crazy, silly, deformed, and generally of no account, and since men did not enter a monastery unless they were snotty-nosed, underbred, dunces, and trouble-makers at home â€"

“Speaking of that,� said the monk, “of what use is a woman who is neither good nor good to look at?�

“Put her in a convent,� said Gargantua.

“Yes,� said the monk, “and set her to making shirts.�

And so, it was decided that in this convent they would receive only the pretty ones, the ones with good figures and sunny dispositions, and only the handsome, well set-up, good-natured men.

Item: Since in the convents of women, men never entered, except underhandedly and by stealth, it was provided that, in this one, there should be no women unless there were men also, and no men unless there were also women.

Item: Inasmuch as many men, as well as women, once received into a convent were forced and compelled, after a year of probation, to remain there all the rest of their natural lives -- in view of this, it was provided that, here, both men and women should be absolutely free to pick up and leave whenever they happened to feel like it.

Item: Whereas, ordinarily, the religious take three vows, namely, those of chastity, poverty and obedience, it was provided, that, in this abbey, one might honorably marry, that each one should be rich, and that all should live in utter freedom.

A book worth two looks     
I highly recommend this work to any Magick and/or Crowley enthusiast. Many of Crowley's slogans have found their origin in this peculiar little book (such as "Do what thou wilt..."). The bulk consists of three chapters dictated over a period of three days by a 'higher intelligence'(Aiwass)through automatic writing. Though on-line versions are available, this is a nice little gem to hold on to. This hard-cover edition also includes a rare copy of the original manuscript.

I also recommend the reader approach this book with a serious mind and draw their own conclusion. And PLEASE disregard the bigots, for ye shall deny yourself a wealth of information!

PURPLE PROSE FROM A PSEUDO SUMERIAN DEMON     
Aiwass sounds rather like the bad poet Crowley was. Also, the "Do what thou wilt" was done better by Rabelais in Gargantua and Pantagruel. Nothing really original here, but it never hurts to take strange drugs and drink wines that foam, and all of the other stuff Crowley did without having to become logos of the aeon. Crowley was a massive failure in three dimensions, so he cooked up some "credentials" for the credulous in the fourth dimension with the Book of the Law. Strange that this Sumerian demon just happens to speak English, with some Latin thrown in, and does it in the purple prose of the demon poet Crowley.
Every man and woman is a star? Ever been to a shopping mall, Aleister?
If you want the real deal in magick, get thee to Franz Bardon's Initiation into Hermetics, and P.E.I. Bonewitz's Real Magic.
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