Book 4
by Aleister Crowley
In this classic work on magick, Aleister Crowley lays out the foundation upon which all further magical work is based.
First published in 1913, the book is widely considered to be without equal in occult literature due to its simplicity, clarity, and depth. In his foreword to this Weiser Books edition, first published in 1980, the famed occultist and ceremonial magician Israel Regardie (1907-1985) writes that “a thoroughgoing comprehension of this smaller work is required” to truly understand Crowley’s magnum opus on magick, Magick in Theory and Practice.
The second part of Book 4 offers a concise encyclopaedia of magical symbolism, the working tools in practical magick. All of the paraphernalia employed in ritual magick are carefully explained in both psychological and mystical terms. The Wand is the human will. Wisdom is the word. The Cup is understanding, the vehicle of grace. The Sword is reason, the analytical faculty. And the Pentacle is the body, the temple of the Holy Ghost, the great storehouse from which the Magician draws. All phenomena are sacraments, writes Crowley.
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Table of Contents
Preface by Israel Regardie
PART I : MEDITATION - The Way of Attainment of Genius or Godhead considered as a Development of the Human Brain
CHAPTER I - Asana
CHAPTER II - Pranayama and its Parallel in Speech, Mantrayoga
CHAPTER III - Yama and Niyama
CHAPTER IV - Pratyahara
CHAPTER V - Dharana
CHAPTER VI - Dhyana
CHAPTER VII - Samadhi
SUMMARY
PART II : MAGICK
CEREMONIAL MAGICK - The Training for Meditation - Preliminary Remarks
CHAPTER I - The Temple
CHAPTER II - The Circle
CHAPTER III - The Altar
CHAPTER IV - The Scourge, the Dagger, and the Chain
CHAPTER V - The Holy Oil
CHAPTER VI - The Wand
CHAPTER VII - The Cup
AN INTERLUDE
NOTE BY SORROR VIKARAM
CHAPTER VIII - The Sword
CHAPTER IX - The Pantacle
CHAPTER X - The Lamp
CHAPTER XI - The Crown
CHAPTER XII - The Robe
CHAPTER XIII - The Book
CHAPTER XIV - The Bell
CHAPTER XV - The Lamen
CHAPTER XVI - The Magick Fire; with Considerations of the Thurible, the Charcoal, and the Incense
Glossary
Notice
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Paperback Edition
136 pages. Printed card cover.
ISBN: 9780877285137
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About the Author
The late Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) was an occultist, ceremonial magician, prolific writer, philosopher and mountaineer. In his youth, Crowley joined the occult organisation The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (1887-1903), where he received much of his training in theurgy and ceremonial magic. In 1904, Crowley established his own religion, Thelema (Greek for "the will”), for which he had reportedly received a divine revelation from an angel. Crowley believed that humans should strive to overcome both their desires and their socially-instilled inhibitions in order to find out the true purpose of their respective lives. Crowley had been dubbed “the wickedest man in the world” and “a man we’d like to hang” by the British press during the first half of the 20th century. A controversial figure, nevertheless, his influence on Western occultism cannot be easily overstated.
