Gegen das Licht: Eine nächtliche Erzählung

by Kenneth Grant

„Gegen das Licht gehalten“, so schlug er vor, „ergibt sich ein ganz anderes Bild.“ Innerhalb der Familie Grant gibt es ein wohlbehütetes Es soll ein Grimoire existieren, das die Pforten in jenseitige Bereiche aufstößt und Kontakt zu den dortigen Bewohnern ermöglicht. Der Autor macht sich zusammen mit dem Medium Margaret Leesing daran, die eigene Familiengeschichte in Séance-Sitzungen zu erforschen. Und er wird fü Er entdeckt ein Familiengeheimnis, dessen Ursprung im Jahre 1588 in den Wäldern von Rendlesham Forrest liegt und das die weiteren Schicksale der Familienmitglieder zu bestimmen scheint. Zudem gelangt er tatsächlich in den Besitz des geheimnisumwitterten Grimoire mit all seinen unheimlichen Zauberkräften. Schon bald kommt es zur Begegnung mit den cthulhu'schen Wesen aus anderen Welten, die sich in ihrer ganzen, grotesken Andersartigkeit präsentieren.

Genres: Fiction, Esoterica

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian 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/

Reviews

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it about five years ago originally and was happy to get the re-print. Got a lot more out of it as my "knowledge" has increased since then. Very enjoyable read..hard to describe a weird zone of dreams, dark magick and gnosis.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cryptic, fascinating wormhole weave of esoteric paths and potentials.

[Barry Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the most extraordinary hallucinatory dream fiction, an occult, pan-dimensional journey into the realms beyond. If you're struggling to understand Kenneth Grant's trilogy of trilogies about the 93 696 double current then start here. A fiction and a demonstration of occult dream-working in action. It's the key that unlocks the Typhonian mysteries.

[Acacia · Rating 3 out of 5]

read a while ago forgot to add onto here

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a recent binge-read of Kenneth Grant, I decided to revisit Against the Light again, his attempt at Lovecraftian fiction. This time around, the experience was far more enjoyable and rewarding. While Grant’s esoteric writings often tread a precarious line between brilliance and bewilderment, this novel stands out as one of his more coherent efforts in expressing the latter Typhonian themes without excessive obscurity.

The Lovecraftian elements in the book feel genuinely immersive. Grant’s signature merging of cosmic horror with deep occult philosophy lends a distinct eeriness to the narrative, making it an engaging read for those attuned to both traditions. While not necessarily a masterpiece of weird fiction, Against the Light succeeds in carving out a unique niche between horror literature and occult revelation.

[A Ojala · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Metsään oli astunut lapsi, mutta mitä sieltä poistui, ei näkijä kyennyt kuvailemaan."