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Typhonian Trilogies #8
Beyond the Mauve Zone
Collectable Rare item.
380 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
8 people are currently reading
308 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth Grant
68 books196 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Kenneth Grant was the head of several important Thelemic orders and author of the influential “Typhonian Trilogies” series (1972–2002) that includes The Magical Revival, Nightside of Eden and Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God.
In 1939, Kenneth Grant chanced upon Crowley’s Magick in Theory and Practice and a few years later began a correspondence with the author (see Remembering Aleister Crowley, Skoob Books, 1991) that would lead to him joining the Ordo Templi Orientis. In 1946, he was initiated into the Argentum Astrum and was confirmed as an IX° in the O.T.O.
Shortly after Crowley’s death in 1947 Grant met David Curwen. Also member of the O.T.O. Sovereign Sanctuary, a keen alchemist and a student of tantra, Curwen initiated Grant into “a highly recondite formula of the tantric vama marg.” This experience further deepened Grant’s interest in oriental mysticism and he detailed his work with the Advaita Vedanta in a number of essays for Asian journals in the early 1950s (later published as At the Feet of the Guru, Starfire, 2006).
In 1948, Kenneth Grant’s wife Steffi (they were married in 1946) wrote to Austin Osman Spare and the couple began an eight-year friendship with the artist. The bookseller Michael Houghton had already introduced Grant to Spare’s opus, The Book of Pleasure, and Spare elucidated his theories with letters and enclosures of manuscripts, with Kenneth acting as amanuensis. In 1954, Spare and Grant co-founded the Zos Kia Cultus: not a cult in the objective sense, but a designation given to the creative nexus of personal magical experience (see Zos Speaks!, Fulgur, 1999).
In the same year Grant founded the New Isis Lodge, with the intention of providing a conduit for “the influx of cosmic energy from a transplutonic power-zone known to initiates as Nu-Isis.” The group ran until 1962 and various accounts of the experiences of the group may be found throughout the “Typhonian Trilogies”.
Coetaneous with the New Isis Lodge, Kenneth and Steffi Grant began work on the Carfax Monographs. This series of ten essays was issued between 1959 and 1963 with the explicit intention to “elucidate the hidden lore of the West according to canons preserved in various esoteric orders and movements of recent times.” It was the beginning of a unique 50 year contribution to Thelemic literature and art that spans poetry, biographical works, fact and fiction.
Copyright © Robert Ansell, 2007
http://www.fulgur.co.uk/authors/grant/
Kenneth Grant was the head of several important Thelemic orders and author of the influential “Typhonian Trilogies” series (1972–2002) that includes The Magical Revival, Nightside of Eden and Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God.
In 1939, Kenneth Grant chanced upon Crowley’s Magick in Theory and Practice and a few years later began a correspondence with the author (see Remembering Aleister Crowley, Skoob Books, 1991) that would lead to him joining the Ordo Templi Orientis. In 1946, he was initiated into the Argentum Astrum and was confirmed as an IX° in the O.T.O.
Shortly after Crowley’s death in 1947 Grant met David Curwen. Also member of the O.T.O. Sovereign Sanctuary, a keen alchemist and a student of tantra, Curwen initiated Grant into “a highly recondite formula of the tantric vama marg.” This experience further deepened Grant’s interest in oriental mysticism and he detailed his work with the Advaita Vedanta in a number of essays for Asian journals in the early 1950s (later published as At the Feet of the Guru, Starfire, 2006).
In 1948, Kenneth Grant’s wife Steffi (they were married in 1946) wrote to Austin Osman Spare and the couple began an eight-year friendship with the artist. The bookseller Michael Houghton had already introduced Grant to Spare’s opus, The Book of Pleasure, and Spare elucidated his theories with letters and enclosures of manuscripts, with Kenneth acting as amanuensis. In 1954, Spare and Grant co-founded the Zos Kia Cultus: not a cult in the objective sense, but a designation given to the creative nexus of personal magical experience (see Zos Speaks!, Fulgur, 1999).
In the same year Grant founded the New Isis Lodge, with the intention of providing a conduit for “the influx of cosmic energy from a transplutonic power-zone known to initiates as Nu-Isis.” The group ran until 1962 and various accounts of the experiences of the group may be found throughout the “Typhonian Trilogies”.
Coetaneous with the New Isis Lodge, Kenneth and Steffi Grant began work on the Carfax Monographs. This series of ten essays was issued between 1959 and 1963 with the explicit intention to “elucidate the hidden lore of the West according to canons preserved in various esoteric orders and movements of recent times.” It was the beginning of a unique 50 year contribution to Thelemic literature and art that spans poetry, biographical works, fact and fiction.
Copyright © Robert Ansell, 2007
http://www.fulgur.co.uk/authors/grant/
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 11, 2019
It had been a while since I've read Kenneth Grant, but this book was surprisingly easy to get into than some of his others. The jacket claims the book is about arriving to and exploring what he calls "The Mauve Zone." This zone is supposed to be the astral realm of Daath, the pseudo-sephiroth and entry way into the Tunnels of Set that make up the Nightside Tree. What the book is actually about is an examination of two instances where other magickians reached the so called "Mauve Zone" independantly of Grant's own magickal order.
The first part of the book, however, is an examination of the Kaula Rite of the Fire Snake and the Hindu Sri Chakra. Grant claims that the methods of his Typhonian O.T.O. are a direct descendant of these ancient Hindu rites, and goes on to site many ancient Hindu texts to support his claim. In the process, we the readers actually learn a lot about the Kundalini, and various ways it was stimulated in various ancient tantric practices. It is clear that Kenneth Grant is very well versed in Eastern esoteric practices and magick. This is not, however, a manual of practice. It is more of a philosophical and mystical exploration and comparison with western esoteric practices and symbolism. Some fascinating connections are made, though not all of them are necessarily valid. His corroborations are often hindered by his trademark use of Gematria, which as I've mentioned before in other reviews of his books are highly suspect. Part of the reason is that he jumps between different alphabets and values, and often equates words as being related when their values are off by a digit or more. These paragraphs of numbers and letters are always my least favourite parts of his books. And I feel that he over stretches the rules of Gematria to fit uncomfortably over his ideas.
The second part of the book was an analysis of the Liber Pennae Penumbra, a book that was channelled by Soror Nema. (A handwritten facsimile Liber Pennae Penumbra is included in this book as Appendix I.) This is not the first time he has examined this book, as he devotes a few pages to it in "Circles Out of Time." But this time around, he gives it a more rigourous textual analysis. Kenneth Grant hopes to prove that it is an authenticly channelled book that independantly coroborates with his Typhonian philosophy.
The third part of the book deals with the Ecclesia Gnotica Alba, an O.T.O. sect originating in Yugoslavia. It chronicles the creation of this sect by it's leader Zivorad Mihajlovic Slavinski, who went on to establish a channel of communication with cosmic entities, and perfected a method of doing so.
Grant uses Nema and Zivorad as means of proving the validity of his own magickal philosophies, and claims they share "The Mauve Zone" as a common source of their experiences. The book has lot of interesting ideas, but as usual for Grant's books, expecially in the latter trilogies, they should be viewed through a critical eye. There is certainly knowledge to be gained for those willing to sift through the silt for the gold. And in order to get the most of this book, it is recommended that you read at least a few of the earlier books in the series, as it makes constant reference to them.
The first part of the book, however, is an examination of the Kaula Rite of the Fire Snake and the Hindu Sri Chakra. Grant claims that the methods of his Typhonian O.T.O. are a direct descendant of these ancient Hindu rites, and goes on to site many ancient Hindu texts to support his claim. In the process, we the readers actually learn a lot about the Kundalini, and various ways it was stimulated in various ancient tantric practices. It is clear that Kenneth Grant is very well versed in Eastern esoteric practices and magick. This is not, however, a manual of practice. It is more of a philosophical and mystical exploration and comparison with western esoteric practices and symbolism. Some fascinating connections are made, though not all of them are necessarily valid. His corroborations are often hindered by his trademark use of Gematria, which as I've mentioned before in other reviews of his books are highly suspect. Part of the reason is that he jumps between different alphabets and values, and often equates words as being related when their values are off by a digit or more. These paragraphs of numbers and letters are always my least favourite parts of his books. And I feel that he over stretches the rules of Gematria to fit uncomfortably over his ideas.
The second part of the book was an analysis of the Liber Pennae Penumbra, a book that was channelled by Soror Nema. (A handwritten facsimile Liber Pennae Penumbra is included in this book as Appendix I.) This is not the first time he has examined this book, as he devotes a few pages to it in "Circles Out of Time." But this time around, he gives it a more rigourous textual analysis. Kenneth Grant hopes to prove that it is an authenticly channelled book that independantly coroborates with his Typhonian philosophy.
The third part of the book deals with the Ecclesia Gnotica Alba, an O.T.O. sect originating in Yugoslavia. It chronicles the creation of this sect by it's leader Zivorad Mihajlovic Slavinski, who went on to establish a channel of communication with cosmic entities, and perfected a method of doing so.
Grant uses Nema and Zivorad as means of proving the validity of his own magickal philosophies, and claims they share "The Mauve Zone" as a common source of their experiences. The book has lot of interesting ideas, but as usual for Grant's books, expecially in the latter trilogies, they should be viewed through a critical eye. There is certainly knowledge to be gained for those willing to sift through the silt for the gold. And in order to get the most of this book, it is recommended that you read at least a few of the earlier books in the series, as it makes constant reference to them.
October 10, 2015
Yes I do own the very rare collectable book
October 28, 2021
my favorite piece from the Typhonian series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews