What do you think?
Rate this book
Typhonian Trilogies #9
The Ninth Arch
The Ninth Arch, comprising The Book of the Spider (OKBISh), is the final volume of a series of Trilogies which trace the emergence into historic times of an ancient body of occult doctrine known as the Typhonian Tradition.
In order fully to understand its purpose and content, The Ninth Arch should be scanned against the background of the larger canvas on which it is painted. Such an approach will facilitate insight into the Oracles of OKBISh and their accompanying comments. As an additional aid to focussing salient features of the Tradition, the author’s Nightside Narrative, Against the Light (Starfire Publishing, 1997) should serve as a helpful and explanatory ‘footnote’ to the circumstances existing at the time OKBISh was ‘received’.
The Oracles were communicated audibly, and occasionally visually, to various members of New Isis Lodge (1955-62) and at certain stages of magical ritual. The Current which generated the material began, sporadically, as early as 1939, with the initial movement of a transmission which developed over the years into the text known as the Wisdom of S’lba (see Outer Gateways, Skoob Books Publishing, 1994). In 1945, the Wisdom – then in its nascent stage – was recognized by Aleister Crowley as an authentic communication. From that time, the Informing Intelligence went on to complete the Wisdom, and proceeded to produce the massive series of Oracles presented in The Ninth Arch. The mode of reception has been described in the Introduction. The method of documentation confirms beyond cavil the validity of serial qabalah, as used previously in analyses of the Wisdom. The richly complex pattern of magical correspondences, in both cases, has proved of unparalleled value in determining genuine contact with occult forces possessed of Knowledge and Prescience concerning important terrestrial Events. That the pattern reflects direct contact with an indefinitely ancient yet ever new Typhonian Gnosis, is demonstrated by the application of relentless and rigorous qabalistic exegesis, as recorded in the comments.
For readers interested in significant relationships between Numerical (physical) and Magico-Mystical (metaphysical) concepts, The Ninth Arch contains an exhaustive thesaurus of the Typhonian Tradition. But beyond considerations of gematria, the Oracles of OKBISh adumbrate Events likely to overtake planet Earth within the lifetime of many of the book’s readers; and – for individuals who are able to interpret the Oracles in terms relative to their own magical universe – they issue warnings of the dangers that lie ahead of those unprepared to invoke the Sign of Protection against the oncoming wave of Outer Forces set to assume control of the planet. Now, at the turn of a millennium, it seems appropriate to release this Knowledge.
In order fully to understand its purpose and content, The Ninth Arch should be scanned against the background of the larger canvas on which it is painted. Such an approach will facilitate insight into the Oracles of OKBISh and their accompanying comments. As an additional aid to focussing salient features of the Tradition, the author’s Nightside Narrative, Against the Light (Starfire Publishing, 1997) should serve as a helpful and explanatory ‘footnote’ to the circumstances existing at the time OKBISh was ‘received’.
The Oracles were communicated audibly, and occasionally visually, to various members of New Isis Lodge (1955-62) and at certain stages of magical ritual. The Current which generated the material began, sporadically, as early as 1939, with the initial movement of a transmission which developed over the years into the text known as the Wisdom of S’lba (see Outer Gateways, Skoob Books Publishing, 1994). In 1945, the Wisdom – then in its nascent stage – was recognized by Aleister Crowley as an authentic communication. From that time, the Informing Intelligence went on to complete the Wisdom, and proceeded to produce the massive series of Oracles presented in The Ninth Arch. The mode of reception has been described in the Introduction. The method of documentation confirms beyond cavil the validity of serial qabalah, as used previously in analyses of the Wisdom. The richly complex pattern of magical correspondences, in both cases, has proved of unparalleled value in determining genuine contact with occult forces possessed of Knowledge and Prescience concerning important terrestrial Events. That the pattern reflects direct contact with an indefinitely ancient yet ever new Typhonian Gnosis, is demonstrated by the application of relentless and rigorous qabalistic exegesis, as recorded in the comments.
For readers interested in significant relationships between Numerical (physical) and Magico-Mystical (metaphysical) concepts, The Ninth Arch contains an exhaustive thesaurus of the Typhonian Tradition. But beyond considerations of gematria, the Oracles of OKBISh adumbrate Events likely to overtake planet Earth within the lifetime of many of the book’s readers; and – for individuals who are able to interpret the Oracles in terms relative to their own magical universe – they issue warnings of the dangers that lie ahead of those unprepared to invoke the Sign of Protection against the oncoming wave of Outer Forces set to assume control of the planet. Now, at the turn of a millennium, it seems appropriate to release this Knowledge.
- GenresThelemaOccultNonfiction
640 pages, Hardcover
First published December 21, 2002
3 people are currently reading
247 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/
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 4, 2023
This is a hard one to discuss. But after many years on my shelf, reading it mostly in small chunks before recently finishing it. I have now read all nine volumes of the typhonian trilogies and almost all of Kenneth Grants written work.
In many ways this is the ultimate cumulation of what people think of when they think of Grant: pages of geomatria, references to Lovecraft and other horror/weird fiction authors.
All these many things transported to Grant's garden and given a life together. I think there's a lot one can do with this book. With small passages or correlations between stuff. Ultimately thats up to the reader and to some it may just be a brick that goes on for too long. I had some interesting experiences come up from this book and maybe will have more in the future. There's a lot of books in the Bibliography that I plan on picking up (several that I've already read that feature prominently in this one).
Against the Light is clearly a companion piece to this, I've read it twice but not close to this..Suppose I'm due for a re-read of that in the near future too.
In many ways this is the ultimate cumulation of what people think of when they think of Grant: pages of geomatria, references to Lovecraft and other horror/weird fiction authors.
All these many things transported to Grant's garden and given a life together. I think there's a lot one can do with this book. With small passages or correlations between stuff. Ultimately thats up to the reader and to some it may just be a brick that goes on for too long. I had some interesting experiences come up from this book and maybe will have more in the future. There's a lot of books in the Bibliography that I plan on picking up (several that I've already read that feature prominently in this one).
Against the Light is clearly a companion piece to this, I've read it twice but not close to this..Suppose I'm due for a re-read of that in the near future too.
Displaying 1 of 1 review