Magick Without Tears

PREFACE XXI illuminating, to say nothing of being provocative, that I have ever seen anywhere at any time. I cannot help but feel that the beginner in these studies as well as the advanced student will discover in these letters a veritable mine of important information and an encyclopedia of occult learning not to be found elsewhere. Though the title of the book may be amusing, the contents are far from being so. Crowley's reputation as a writer and teacher of the greatest magnitude must be enhanced by these letters, which are thus strongly recommended to all who seek the Light. There are some magnificent flashes of profundity in this book as when Crowley examines the necessity of keeping a diary, a personal record of all practices undertaken. A great deal of what we know about him is due to the fact that he kept a diary throughout his life. Most of these are intact and have been preserved, thanks to the scrupulousness and care of Mr. Gerald Yorke, to whom posterity will have much to be thankful for. Only a few sections have been lost due to Crowley's constant moving from pillar to post, and the carelessness of those around him. Anyway, he offers some meaningful suggestions when he considers the diary in relationship to the magical memory. He is far clearer and more provocative on this subject than he has ever been before. Again, these insights are confined to no one particular letter but are scattered through all of them. The interested student could keep several notebooks, each devoted to some particular subject, such as the magical memory. In this way, he could prepare several very interesting notebooks on specific magical topics based on this particular work. Some reviewers in this country of The Confessions of Aleister Crowley have likened him to a Victorian hippy. Because he was unconventional in his sex life, experimented freely with drugs and dressed exotically at times, he has been pictured as the prototype of the modem hippy. There appears at first to be some justification for this identification-provided one does not examine the thesis too