The Red Goddess
(2nd Edition)
by Peter Grey
The Red Goddess is an ecstatic journey through the history of Babalon, the goddess of Revelation, a provocative vision of a very modern goddess coming into power. From the Revelation of St John the Divine, back through the Ishtar Gate and forward into a living modern magical current. This is more than a history, it is a passionate account of living magic and the transcendent power of Love.
The text takes us from Babylon to Jerusalem to Rome, and onwards to Apocalypse. It confronts us with the language and symbols of our own culture and the denied demonised divine feminine. It looks at the angelic work of John Dee and places it in a European eschatology. It delivers a devastating exegesis on the excesses of Aleister Crowley, and unlocks the secrets of ‘Waratah Blossoms.’ It explains the immolation of the Californian antichrist-superstar Jack Parsons and his relationship with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. There is also a full supporting cast of Solomon, Simon Magus, St John the Divine, Earl Bothwell, the Templars, Mary, the Magdalene and countless others. This is the missing history of the love goddess in the West.
Thirteen essays conclude the book on subjects including: roses, mirror magick, BDSM, aphrodisiac drugs, the information age, love and lust, and the meaning of apocalypse. The Red Goddess is for anyone with blood in their veins, regardless of tradition, background or experience.
Note on the Second Edition
This edition of The Red Goddess has been freshly typeset and is introduced with a preface by Alkistis Dimech.
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Table of Contents
EDITOR’S PREFACE
The work of the hierodule
BOOK I
A history of mystery
Revelations
Weeping we remembered Zion
How many miles to Babylon?
Time gentlemen please
Egyptian eyes
All goddesses are not one goddess
BOOK II
Words made flesh
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
Mary inviolate
Simon says
The bed of him that is fallen
Rhymes with holy
Jumping Jack Flash
Where Is Love?
BOOK III
Goddess of love, goddess of lust
Blood red roses
Babalon and beauty
Reflections on mirrors
Digital skin
The oldest profession
Sexual chemistry
Ravish me with kisses
Bridles, whips, needles and knives
Queen of the rose gate, queen of the throat of night
Divine retribution
The world made flesh
The unfurling of the apocalyptic rose
Bibliography
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Paperback Edition
256 pages. Sewn paperback, printed on 100 gsm paper, cover icon of Babalon by Christopher Conn Askew.
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Press, reviews, endorsements
“Everything about this book is symbolic and magickal, a Work of passionate love rather than (yet another!) rehashed work, which in recent years seems to have become the hideous obsession of the occult publishing world… The Red Goddess is a book for the coming century, a book which conveys modern ideas and practice without chucking out the old school necessities of magickal work. This book is about today and tomorrow, not about the past”
Sorita d’Este for The Esoteric Book Review - read the full review here
Book Review by Foolish Fish - watch on YouTube here
Interview with Peter Grey and Alkistis Dimech on the SittingNow podcast - watch on YouTube here
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About the Author
Peter Grey is a writer, and the co-founder of Scarlet Imprint. He is the author of The Red Goddess (2007), which has inspired the resurgence of interest in Babalon, the goddess of Revelation. His Apocalyptic Witchcraft (2013) has been called the most important modern book on witchcraft, placing it in the mythopoetic context of the sabbat and in a landscape suffering climate and ecological collapse. His collected writings, from 2008–2018, are published in The Brazen Vessel (2019) with those of Alkistis Dimech. His notable work, The Two Antichrists (2021), is a return to the Babalon and Antichrist workings of Jack Parsons and his eclipsed sodality The Witchcraft. His Lucifer: Princeps (2015) is a study of the origins of the figure of Lucifer; followed up by his most recent work; its second instalment Lucifer: Praxis (2025).
He has spoken at private and public events and conferences worldwide to both practitioners and academics. These have included Occulture, the Occult Conferences in Glastonbury and London, Treadwell’s Bookshop, the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle, Flambeau Noir in Portland, the Psychology, Art and the Occult conference in London, Here to Go II in Norway, the Trans-States conference in Northampton University, the Magic and Ecology conference for CRASSH at Cambridge University and Pagan Federation events. He can be heard on podcasts including Rune Soup, Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast, Right Where you are Sitting Now, Thelema Now, Spirit Box, Quarantine Sessions with Jake Kobrin, Against Everyone with Conner Habib, Grimerica, Witches and Wine, Thoth-Hermes, and Rendering Unconscious.
Peter lives with his lover Alkistis Dimech in Cornwall on the edge of the Lizard peninsula, where he surfs in the cold Atlantic, walks the ancient land and pursues his magical practice.
