What do you think?
Rate this book
The Aquarius Key: A Novel of the Occult
Nothing can prepare Bill and Sue Williams for the assault on sanity set in motion by those who seek the Qabalistic keys to the scripture of the new eon. Beset by nightmares, overwhelmed by acts of betrayal and ritual murder, their lives are changed forever by forces they cannot see or comprehend For Aaron Steen, the culmination of his lifelong quest for the Aquarius Key approaches. Manipulating the shadow power of the Qabalah, he sets in motion a sequence of events that will change the world forever, replacing the gods of Christ and Mohammed with a darker power, establishing a priesthood that will dominate humanity for the next two thousand years.But he has little time. The ceremonies of blood must be completed; the Key Bearer must yield up the Holy Key; the Key Bearer must die. And all the while his enemy approaches, desperately seeking the truth in a world of Magick long discarded and forgotten by modern humanity.Set in present day London and the stark beauty of North Wales, The Aquarius Key lays bare the history and practice of the ancient magical arts of Qabalistic Magick and the legacy of the West's greatest magician, Aleister Crowley.
296 pages, Paperback
First published August 24, 2006
2 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 2, 2018
Upon meeting Keith Rowley one cannot help being struck by his alertness, articulacy, and alacrity. He is a pragmatic, no-nonsense person, a good engineer, a successful businessman, and probably the last person one would associate with a novel of the occult. He doesn't keep a goat's head in the fridge (at least, I don't think he does), nor does he creep around at night wearing a hood with holes and sucking the blood of virgins. So where does this fascinating, sometimes frightening and shocking, book come from?
Despite the health warnings on the cover (words such as `Novel' and `Fiction'), Rowley admits that The Aquarius Key is `not wholly a work of fiction'. Does that mean that his descriptions of satanic rape, magical mind control, and astral travel are based on personal experience? I should be surprised if that were so, although he quite clearly takes a keen interest in the possibility of such things; if truth be told, so do most of us. However, Aleister Crowley — once described as the wickedest man in the world — was very real, and The Aquarius Key draws on the little that is known of this enigmatic character and his work for its key theme: he was the prophet chosen to usher in the new age of Aquarius, an alternative or successor to Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, or even Joseph Smith.
There is another way in which this book overlaps definitions: the extensive and informative appendices at the back of the book, which address issues such as `Magick' and the limits of science, the life and legacy of Aleister Crowley, `Magickal' theory, elementary cabbala (Rowley spells it with a `Q'), Tarot, and other esotericisms, lend the flavour of an academic paper to an otherwise entertaining yarn. Which is it to be: a story or a lecture? As it is, it is a mishmash of both: a tale that attempts both to educate and to entertain, as well as a thesis that masquerades as science. Not even Dan Brown presumed that he could make The Da Vinci Code into such an improbable creature.
Rowley's best writing is reserved for the appendices. That is not to say that his story is poorly written, but rather that I suspect that the reader is meant to treat it more seriously than he or she would a late-night horror movie. Rowley argues that since the average person has insufficient education to interpret or understand science he or she is forced into `believing' science as they would religion or the paranormal. It's a compelling argument, although I suspect he is mistaken in ignoring the possibility that most people `believe', not in science, but in the rigorousness of the scientific method, which keeps scientists honest in the withering crossfire of peer review and continual, Popperian attempts at falsification.
What should I recommend, then? The story is gripping, drawing on our human susceptibility to irrational fears, the very things that give breath and life to our major religions. Those who find a thrill in the possibility of a conspiracy of secret, mysterious, and powerful world leaders beyond the ken of the ordinary political elite will have much to think about. Appropriately, the dominant colours of this novel are dark — grey, midnight blue, and mahogany — and the feelings it invokes are similarly gloomy. After reading it, I was forced to reconsider my opinion of the occult, as well as wonder whether there really was anything to Rowley's implication that, with sufficient practice, we too could access the long-lost, frightening powers of our deep psyche. I made a nice cup of tea, walked into the sun, had a quiet lie down, and soon felt better.
Despite the health warnings on the cover (words such as `Novel' and `Fiction'), Rowley admits that The Aquarius Key is `not wholly a work of fiction'. Does that mean that his descriptions of satanic rape, magical mind control, and astral travel are based on personal experience? I should be surprised if that were so, although he quite clearly takes a keen interest in the possibility of such things; if truth be told, so do most of us. However, Aleister Crowley — once described as the wickedest man in the world — was very real, and The Aquarius Key draws on the little that is known of this enigmatic character and his work for its key theme: he was the prophet chosen to usher in the new age of Aquarius, an alternative or successor to Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, or even Joseph Smith.
There is another way in which this book overlaps definitions: the extensive and informative appendices at the back of the book, which address issues such as `Magick' and the limits of science, the life and legacy of Aleister Crowley, `Magickal' theory, elementary cabbala (Rowley spells it with a `Q'), Tarot, and other esotericisms, lend the flavour of an academic paper to an otherwise entertaining yarn. Which is it to be: a story or a lecture? As it is, it is a mishmash of both: a tale that attempts both to educate and to entertain, as well as a thesis that masquerades as science. Not even Dan Brown presumed that he could make The Da Vinci Code into such an improbable creature.
Rowley's best writing is reserved for the appendices. That is not to say that his story is poorly written, but rather that I suspect that the reader is meant to treat it more seriously than he or she would a late-night horror movie. Rowley argues that since the average person has insufficient education to interpret or understand science he or she is forced into `believing' science as they would religion or the paranormal. It's a compelling argument, although I suspect he is mistaken in ignoring the possibility that most people `believe', not in science, but in the rigorousness of the scientific method, which keeps scientists honest in the withering crossfire of peer review and continual, Popperian attempts at falsification.
What should I recommend, then? The story is gripping, drawing on our human susceptibility to irrational fears, the very things that give breath and life to our major religions. Those who find a thrill in the possibility of a conspiracy of secret, mysterious, and powerful world leaders beyond the ken of the ordinary political elite will have much to think about. Appropriately, the dominant colours of this novel are dark — grey, midnight blue, and mahogany — and the feelings it invokes are similarly gloomy. After reading it, I was forced to reconsider my opinion of the occult, as well as wonder whether there really was anything to Rowley's implication that, with sufficient practice, we too could access the long-lost, frightening powers of our deep psyche. I made a nice cup of tea, walked into the sun, had a quiet lie down, and soon felt better.
June 4, 2010
A strange and often brutal book, this independent work however is a clean and professional package, with an excellent flow. It is an education in the occult, and it can be a lot of information sometimes. But if you're into occult books, this one might appeal to you.
November 19, 2015
Made me cringe several times.... Surreal
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews