Typhonian Trilogies

Discussion on literature other than by the Star of Azazel.
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Smaragd
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Typhonian Trilogies

Post by Smaragd »

This is a topic where we can discuss and share thoughts on Kenneth Grant's Typhonian trilogies, that are being republished now. I'll begin with some thoughts on the first book.

Critique on The Magical Revival – Kenneth Grant

The first book of Grant’s Typhonian Trilogies begins with an overlook on the tradition the author comes from, that is Crowley’s Thelema, and seeks to draw through the occult currents in the Western world as links between the ancient tradition and Thelema with its ”magical revival” of occultism in their time. Illuminati, Templars, Freemasons, Theosophical Society, Rose Croix and OTO are mentioned and some historical links and people connecting them. Crowleys work are seen as a continuum of these ”manifestations” of the Great White Brotherhood – the source of all occult wisdom. While the book seems to do quite good job pulling some strings together, at the same time it does these sorts of over simplifications that has a tendency to miniscule the truly occult content: when inspecting at the real manifestations of the Great White Brotherhood (or what is called the central lodge in other sources) we might interpret such occult phenomena happening secretly inside an individual and the esoteric order one is part of, and thus what possibly follows, if the occultist answers to this manifestation in a way that is seen outwards in one way or another, is his interpretation of the real manifestation. Thus exoterical forms – even those of occult societies – are always interpretations that need to be individually decrypted in to living vitality within oneself, and thus can not be taken as straight up manifestations of the central lodge. The same loose use of heavy words are used when Grant straight up names high profile occultists as ”adepts”, even those who have themselves denied having such powers to justify the title.

A parallel is also pointed between Illuminati and Thelema with a page from Liber Oz written by Crowley. The page consists central ideas of Thelema and ideas discernable for an individual to gain access to the divine powers within a man. Thus those parallels and observations of currents and Thelema being some sort of part of the chain between the tradition seem to hold some truth in them. Well, it is rather obvious, but I can not avoid feeling the tone on the page is becoming outdated in its form. The provocative masculine tone is clearly pointed to the individuals still fighting to break the chains of the zeitgeist of its time, when more strict moral law in society had its cold grip on the individuals throats. As such problems seem to be turning more and more in to purely subjective illusions, the violent need for emansipation of the spirit seems out of place and thus possibly creates a bloated emphasis on instructions of the sacred work. This is admittedly the case with all written works, but there are differences to to the clarity and balance between them. An example of this unbalance and over emphasis of expression can be found between the Liber Oz page and an important quote from Crowley on the first page of the chapter where the sort of ”anything goes” attitude is spat upon: ”To practice black magic you have to violate every principle of science, decency and intelligence. You must be obsessed with an insane idea of the importance of the petty object of your wretched and selfish desires.” This is not ironic text, as someone might interpret given some of the decadent aspects of Crowleys output. He is here defending himself from accusations of black magic, which he denounces in the continuing quote.
I wonder how such timebound foundings of traditions/systems – their distortions and unbalances – are to affect the whole system from the basis, and is it preferable that outer societies dim out in time for this reason, while the current remains taking new forms (still I think the initial forms that found Thelema might remain relevant as long as those outer morals suffocate people, but there is ofcourse the danger that time bound method of cleansing sticks to to destroy the divine potential as the suffocation slowly becomes only a ghost of past trauma). Grant indeed points to Illuminati being first an occult order which formed links to all the Western orders of its time, supposedly vitalizing them, while the Illuminati as an order eventually stopped and continued as ”a current”. This is basic idea of the occult powers working and I interpret the esoteric and exoteric structures in SoA following approximately the same idea.

These were thoughts of only the first 12 pages. I thought I might write a critique on every chapter, but I’m not sure if I feel the need to. I started reading this book to have different type of reading to upkeep my concentration on more heavily loaded books. The negative sides of the book thus far I’ve actually found positive as the inaccuracies give nice dynamism to the reading experience. I very much appreciate Grant's effort to dig out out some thoughts and ideas to be brought further clarity by the reader. The light weight of the book also made this critique flow easily as it doesn’t feel like an outer obligation but just part of the dynamic process the imperfections of the book demands. It is also a nice change to the books that constantly overwhelm with so much pristine content that I easily feel like the information should be digested so long that it is then again hard to continue forward without loosing the bigger picture the text is swimming in.
"Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets”, Numbers 11:29 as echoed by William Blake
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