The Typhonian Trilogies

The Magical Revival-Kenneth Grant

Grant’s first book in his Typhonian trilogies concentrates on the esoteric traditions evident in humanity before the Christian epoch. It is an arguable cornucopia of hidden lore concentrating on elements as diverse as the chance of (re)union with the Sumerian tradition, Sexual magick and the relationship between drugs and the occult. Therein contains a wealth of knowledge of the often misunderstood occult systems of Aleister Crowley, the man himself and the events surrounding the translation of the the key to the Book of the Law(Liber al vel Legis)by Father Achad, Charles Stansfield

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 The Book of the Law was delivered to Crowley by his holy guardian angel Aiwaz in Cairo1904.According to Kenneth Grant Aiwaz is the,  "minister of Hoor-paar-Kratt or Set-the channel of extra-terrestrial energy permeating the Earth's atmosphere in the present Aeon of Horus."The crowned and conquering chylde who is ever ressurging and shall last till the end.Grant elucidates in terms of sacred numerology and aspects of Crowleys systems of ritual magick, more especially relating to his relationship with the scarlet woman, an avatar of the whore of Babalon. It is through the use of the scarlet woman as ritual conduit and muse that Crowley devised many of his Thelemic rituals and began one of his many quests to  (re)unite with the Hidden God or magickal chylde (relating to sexual magick).An interesting regression on this subject can be found in Crowley’s work of fiction “Moonchild,”my personal intiation into Thelema

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Grant also speaks objectively on the events surrounding the demise of the Golden Dawn the formation of Crowley’s Order of the Silver Star(Argentium Astram) and his relationship with the OTO(order templi orientis).Grant states that in the writing of this book he had at his disposal all of A.C’s writings both published and unpublished, the correlations and conclusions the author makes are profound and show an intense understanding of Crowley’s great work and its relationship to the larger magickal universe and both subjective and objective consciousness. 

Grants two chapters on South London Artist/Mage Austin Osman Spare(1886-1956) have had a great influence on me most especially concerning the “Death Posture” and the “New Sexuality” which is a part of Spares ethos that I was somewhat in the dark about before reading. It is quite a complicated topic and centres around the negation of thought and the definite Saturnalia of the Witches Sabbath.

As Spares literary executor,Grant has an intense understanding of Spares art, his systems of sorcery and magickal children, i.e sigil-making,alphabet of desire(sacred letters),his two chapters on Spare written long before the resurgence of popularity in his aesthetic and ethos perpetuated by chaos magic and fine press esoterica company Fulgur Limited.The chapters also inform his art in a way that other texts fail to do and makes tangible his concept of the Universal Woman,Witch Queen or Great Mother which elucidates the concept of inbetweeness which underpins the Spareian ethos 

As Alan Moore states in his “razor-sharp firestorm,” which appeared in the Summer Solstice edition of Abraxas, I paraphrase.

 Although Spares writings are an interesting accompaniment, nothing can compare to his visionary art and the immediate liminality of his line. Grant writes of Spare in a definite Thannoerotic context perhaps formed through many years of correspondence and drinks in Spares  South London stamping ground. Concepts such as the Witch Patterson who taught Spare the fortune-tellers argot are clearly on the edge of reality ,however the knowledge of those who knew him that Spare could actually make things happen without asking, possibly the central tenant of magic,is beyond doubt.

Grant demonstrates this through anecdotes regarding rainmaking and the transmutation of an elemental to visual appearance,these are fascinating to say the least.

 A lot of this material can be found in Grant’s Fulgur opus, “Images and Oracles of Austin Osman Spare.”

Therein is also an illuminating chapter on Dion Fortune who I knew little about and she is clearly an important person in the occultism of the twentieth century.