Ararita - An Enaboration on the Star Saphire by Anonymous
Description
Second hand / Antiquarian.
Hardback edition, published by Exploration-5 Publishing, 2009. Limited to 250 copies only.
Condition; Fine, unmarked copy.
Gorgeous purple cloth boards with gilt device & title. Crisp & Tight Fine condition! From the publisher at time of release: Hardback 104pp Some diagrams. Printed to archival quality using the Giclée process (usually used for reproducing fine art prints) on 148gsm Mohawk paper chosen for its pleasant “feel” and texture. The sheets of the book are folded by hand, hand sewn, and finally hand bound, the front board being blocked with title and symbolic design using genuine gold, rather than an imitation gold coloured shiny foil. Given the subject matter, the use of a pretend gold would seem inappropriate. The cloth used is a subtle purple/blue, which harmonises with the violet-plum endpapers and the restrained and occasional use of purple in diagrams, all appropriate to the kabbalistic resonances of the book. Given its central importance to Crowley’s exposition of OTO sex magick, it is curious that chapter 36 of the Book of Lies, the Star Sapphire has received relatively little attention. It is interesting that Crowley wrote the text before he was initiated into the Sanctuary of Gnosis of the OTO. Ironically, the author of this new volume makes it clear that he or she has not, nor has ever been, an initiate of any OTO. He, or she, does succeed in making the deeply enigmatic text comprehensible, and describes the magical symbolic processes referred to, using their representation in the trumps of the Crowley Thoth tarot. He (or she) also gives detailed and practical advice (with diagrams) as to how these principles may be realised in acts of physical sexual magic that enflesh the ritual and that allows preparation of the sacrament. The book is clearly written and eschews mystification. As already mentioned the author clearly states that he or she is not party to any secret or initiated teachings – a position shared by Crowley when he wrote the Star Sapphire – so no oaths of secrecy are being broken. Care has also been taken not to infringe any Crowley copyrights.
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First US edition hardcover, limited to 500 hand-numbered copies. Quality red cloth with gilt Sri Yantra design on upper board, and gilt titling to spine.
Condition: Fine, unread copy. Dustwrapper protected with plastic sleeve which itself has some minor marks, but both dustwrapper as well as interior pristine condition.
The Secrets of the Kaula Circle was not only one of the first books to introduce the secret Indian rituals associated with the Kaula or "Tantric" family to a Western audience, but it was also almost certainly the first book of its kind to be written by a woman. Elizabeth Sharpe was already well known for her studies and translations on Indian history and religions, but chose to write of the Kaula path as a novel, perhaps as it allowed her more dramatic effect, and in part at least she wanted it to serve as a warning, particularly to women, not to be drawn into the web of practice that she described. Her misgivings had been heightened by the apparent adoption of some of the practices by Western occultists, notably Aleister Crowley, whose person and activities she described in most unflattering terms. Although The Secrets of the Kaula Circle did not achieve a wide circulation, a copy did find its way into the hands of "the Beast, " who professed outrage at the thinly-veiled and unflattering portrait of himself, and considered suing the author. This Teitan Press edition of The Secrets of the Kaula Circle includes the complete text of the original 1936 edition, along with a new index, and an Introduction by Dr. David Templeman.
Scales of the Serpent by Edward Gauntlett
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Antiquarian / Second Hand
First edition limited to 400 copies. Published by Von Zos, 2017.
Deep blue cloth, custom endpapers designed by the author, sewn binding, dustjacket.
Condition: Fine, unread copy. Dustwrapper has some minor marks, but interior is completely unmarked.
Scales of the Serpent draws its primary inspiration from Kenneth Grant’s Nightside of Eden and the exploration of those realms analogous to what Michael Bertiaux refers to as Universe B.
book comprises the sigils of the cells of the qliphoth from Liber CCXXXI (with commentary) presented in a form intended to facilitate meditation and visionary work in accessing the back of the Tree of Life, the nightside, which prior to Grant’s work had been ignored or denied.
A separate and substantial text explores threads leading towards the void which is the gateway to the reverse of the Tree, that noumenal nothing of which the phenomenal something is but the illusory reversed reflection, and gives some indications as to the methods employed and routes taken by earlier explorers, intentionally or otherwise.
These particular threads have been picked up and followed as a result of the author’s workings within the Ordo Typhonis and, more specifically, within the Lamal Lodge.