Crowley's Grimoire

Grimoire of Aleister Crowley by Rodney Orpheus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well I do not know if I would call this a grimoire per se of Aleister Crowley. A magician like that most likely had several grimoires. None the less if you bought the book you will probably still get a lot out it. After all you will now have a copy of his rituals. The rituals have been modified for group use and they are of the thelemic rituals. Of course Crowley himself modified his own rituals and this guy has enough experience so you know that what you are getting is something real and not faked. None the less rituals I feel probably much like this author should be modified based on current circumstances and what is good for the practitioners.

Perhaps even more valuable then the rituals is the essence of the book and the little whispering of wisdom that one gets on the in between. He has a nice little section on safety. Rather important and I imagine that in the past many magicians have been injured do to unsafe working conditions.

There is a nice section on Ritual leadership where in the author draws a line between someone leading a ritual or guiding the group as opposed to someone who is ultra tyrannical. A good breath of common sense. The common sense continues with him saying that under no circumstances should children be involved in ritual, no matter how innocent.

The book opened my eyes as to the nature of demons and why it is ok to work with them. I think we all know by that Heaven and Hell are not real places but rather metaphorical references. Demons live within our own subconscious and are evoked to come out of us. They get some karmic credits for helping humans do things especially if they are righteous.However if your acts are unrighteous then you will lose the respect of the demon. Demon can be hard to deal with and very dishonest which is why it might seem needed to constantly hammer them with divine quabbalistic energy.

Included are rituals likie mark of the beast, invocation of Horus, Ritual to invoke Hice, rite of isis, mithraic liturgy,Baccahanal andd a few chapters on Goetia. The Goetia is used to summoning a demon and getting some answers. I found this to be the strongest part of the book and the part I enjoyed the most. You will see or learn that Crowley went from complex Golden Dawn style rituals to more simplified rituals. You will enjoy the poetic language of Crowley’s rituals and even if you are not into Ceremonial Magic or do not want to tread upon the path of Crowley what you find here will definitely help your rituals.


View all my reviews