Blue Equinox

The Equinox #3.01

by Aleister Crowley, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Contributor), Charles Stansfeld Jones (Contributor)

First published in Detroit in 1919, the legendary Blue Equinox was Crowley's first attempt to publicize the principles and aims of the magical secret society Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) and its allied order the A∴A∴. In it, Crowley laid out the esoteric, social, ethical, and philosophical ideas that he believed provided the framework for a new ethics and the liberated morality of the future. Upon publication, the book was threatened with suppression by the authorities of the day. Many of the papers in the Blue Equinox anticipated social liberties we tend to take for granted today.

Genres: Thelema, Occult, Magick, Nonfiction, Magic, Philosophy, Reference

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, proclaiming himself as the prophet destined to guide humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, Crowley published extensively throughout his life.
Born Edward Alexander Crowley in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, he was raised in a wealthy family adhering to the fundamentalist Christian Plymouth Brethren faith. Crowley rejected his religious upbringing, developing an interest in Western esotericism. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, focusing on mountaineering and poetry, and published several works during this period. In 1898, he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, receiving training in ceremonial magic from Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. His travels took him to Mexico for mountaineering with Oscar Eckenstein and to India, where he studied Hindu and Buddhist practices.
In 1904, during a honeymoon in Cairo with his wife Rose Edith Kelly, Crowley claimed to have received "The Book of the Law" from a supernatural entity named Aiwass. This text became the foundation of Thelema, announcing the onset of the Æon of Horus and introducing the central tenet: "Do what thou wilt." Crowley emphasized that individuals should align with their True Will through ceremonial magic.
After an unsuccessful expedition to Kanchenjunga in 1905 and further travels in India and China, Crowley returned to Britain. There, he co-founded the esoteric order A∴A∴ with George Cecil Jones in 1907 to promote Thelema. In 1912, he joined the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), eventually leading its British branch and reformulating it according to Thelemic principles. Crowley spent World War I in the United States, engaging in painting and writing pro-German propaganda, which biographers later suggested was a cover for British intelligence activities.
In 1920, Crowley established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily. His libertine lifestyle attracted negative attention from the British press, leading to his expulsion by the Italian government in 1923. He spent subsequent years in France, Germany, and England, continuing to promote Thelema until his death in 1947.
Crowley's notoriety stemmed from his recreational drug use, bisexuality, and criticism of societal norms. Despite controversy, he significantly influenced Western esotericism and the 1960s counterculture, and remains a central figure in Thelema.

Reviews

[Adam Ronin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This recent edition which is entirely thorough compared to the earlier editions of canonization, the excising and paralytical generation (editing included) makes this a profound edition to Crowley's already-going-extinct catalogue of selection lately, most of them are not that great and quite greedy with editions/editing in general. We all know Crowley despised real estate (perhaps Lord Bryon is a modern outlook on the typical bourgeoisie/gentrification endemic we have in westernized world now!)

Be sure to buy this in print from what I've seen the book is high quality, and Crowley's versatile use of verbs reminds me much of Ovid or earlier poets, about as good as I've read him beyond Equinox volumes. Do what thou wilt and Nothing/Everything of Law.

5/5!

[Selena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a magic book (literally), but I had to read it twice over --more than ten years apart. It is strange how magic is ineffable, like a current, sometimes alive to harkening and other times not so much and still other times it manifests by power of Chance. This book is that. Also, Crowley is a fascinating writer. The more I read the more I want to read even if I think the Master Therion was a bit much. That largesse is the point, after all, and is the genius of the method for those who can get their mind caught up with the philosophy.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all things that come out of Detroit -this collection is problematic for various reasons, but for the book review of L.U. Wilkinson's "A Chaste Man " alone well worth the read.
'but there is reserved for us a yet more terrible contemplation. if one had said " the girl escapes from intrigue with her married lover and is honorably married to a canadian." everyone would say, "what a wholesome story" the poison of puritanism has rotted through the whole of human thought. conventional morality is the syphilis of the soul... our trouble is rendered a thousand times more grievous because most of us do not recognize how foul is our disease. the words' married to a canadian' should be expunged from human language. people should be prosecuted for printing so foul and obscene a phrase.
yet these things happen everyday. the sun sickens in the heaven to behold them...'

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Secret order

Interesting, the book claimed as the secret revelation of order of Templar. A secret brotherhood now revealed itself and their brotherhood could be trace on many great figures in the previous period, now its sir Aliester Crowley turn.

[Fredstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Crowley! Foundational Thelemic thought.

[Χρήστος Δούκας · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book along with Equinox III:10 is fundamental reading for anyone interested in the OTO, A/A/, Thelema, Crowley or just 20th Century occultism in general.