PREFACE 
Xlll 
have been rearranged in such a way as to give the reader a 
more steady and gradual introduction 
to some highly 
complex and controversial issues. After due reflection 
however, I have decided to leave them in their present order, 
and allow the reader to work out his own approach to their 
contents. It is suggested that the reader first browse through 
the book as a whole in order to become familiar with the 
general nature of the material presented. Do remember that 
there is a table of contents and an index. Later, the reader 
could take one letter at a time, dealing with a certain topic, 
study it, and meditate on whatever sections of that letter 
seem to warrant it. In this way, I believe, he will obtain a 
great deal more from this very profound book than if he tried 
to read it straight through as though it were a novel, or an 
otherwise conventional textbook. 
Letters (divided here into chapters) 6, 7 and 8 are entitled 
"The Three Schools of Magick." They were written to 
expatiate upon a short quotation from Liber 418: The Vision 
and the Voice, a series of transcendental experiences based 
upon the Enochian system of Magick. Crowley states that 
they were written by a Mr. Gerard Aumont, and that he is 
quoting from that long essay. 
I met Gerard Aumont late in 1928. He was at that time a 
French journalist who lived and worked in Tunisia, though he 
came up to Paris every now and again to meet with Crowley. 
The entire content of this long essay bears entirely too many 
distinguishing features of Crowley himself for it to have been 
penned by anyone other than Crowley. It would appear that 
Crowley was quite willing to have written essays, etc., and 
where convenient to use either a pseudonym or to let another 
party take full credit for the writing. 
I state categorically that Aumont was incapable of writing 
this particular essay. Every phrase, most turns of expression , 
the very egocentricity of the point of view, the penetrating 
comprehension of Magick and history , are all Crowley's work 
and none other . If one has studied the numerous works of 
Crowley and absorbed the uniqueness of his particular