Alistair Coombs at Treadwells, London, on February 5th 2013.

Kenneth Grant: Dracula's Tantric Rituals
Alistair Coombs

In the work of Kenneth Grant provocative strands and themes come together in tantalising ways, and his inflluences diverse. 

He was affiliated not only with Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare, but also with Wicca's Gerald Gardner, Sri Haranath, and tantricist David Curwen. And the weird fiction tradition provides silhouettes too. In Grant, Advaita themes merge with Lovecraftian otherness, witchcraft given a tantric dimension - these and other dazzling juxtapositions are explored tonight. 

Lon Milo DuQuette will be forming an extensive, online Enochian working to coincide with the end of the Mayan Calendar and the "End of the World."

Now Available from Weiser Antiquarian Books:

Four New Releases (all of some Thelemic interest)

• [Aleister Crowley] Edited by Robert Buratti with essays by Marco Pasi, Giuseppe Di Liberti, William Breeze, Stephen J King, and Tobias Churton: The Nightmare Paintings: Aleister Crowley. Works from the Palermo Collection.
• Frater Shiva: Treatise on Naught
• William Wynn Westcott, Edited and Introduced by Dr R A Gilbert: A Magus Among the Adepts. Essays and Addresses
• Elizabeth Sharpe, Introduction by David Templeman: The Secrets of The Kaula Circle: A Tale of Fictitious People Faithfully Recounting Strange Rites Still Practised by this Cult

Read on for much more information and cover illustrations.

"Re-Creating the Abbet" is a satellite show currently held alongside "The Nightmare Paintings: Aleister Crowley" and presents new original work from a range of contemporary artists including Barry William Hale and Mitchell Nolte.

The only surviving record of the images which adorned Crowley’s Chamber of Nightmares was an essay by the artist written circa 1920. Written as a tourist's introduction to the Sicilian village, it contained a catalogue of his paintings on the walls of the Abbey of Thelema. The piece remained unpublished during Crowley's lifetime.

The selection of work in this exhibition is inspired by these writings.

This month's Fortean Times includes a substantial, illustrated article on Aleister Crowley's art, especially within the context of the current Gallery tour in Australia.

Jack Sargeant has done a good job, here, of introducing Aleister Crowley's painting style to a generally more appreciative audience.

ALEISTER CROWLEY “DARK HALO” PRINT WITH ORIGINAL (HAND-WRITTEN) PROSE-POEM

ALEISTER CROWLEY "THIRST" PREMIUM QUALITY TEE SHIRT

ALEISTER CROWLEY COCKTAIL GLASS SET WITH ORIGINAL 'BEASTLY' DRINK RECIPES

Another list from Weiser Antiquarian, this one focusing on The Book Of The Law, and it's once again a treasure house of delights. Many remarkable items at reasonable prices...

Weiser Antiquarian Books Catalogue No. 103
Aleister Crowley and The Book of the Law

Weiser Antiquarian Books is pleased to announce the release of the one hundred-and-third of our on-line catalogues, this being another of our specialised Aleister Crowley lists, now on-line at:

http://www.weiserantiquarian.com/catalogonehundredandthree

This catalogue is focused on Crowley's Liber AL vel Legis, The Book of the Law and begins with a stunning gathering of different editions of the work that have been assembled from several significant collections. Some of these editions are genuinely rare, having been produced in quite tiny print-runs. The variation in production values that they evidence is quite extraordinary, and they range from the rare first separate UK hardcover edition of 1938, printed on handmade paper and bound in buckram, to some truly awful cyclostyled or photocopied stapled booklets of the 1980s. Yet all were in their own way probably labours of love, and give silent commentary on the development and spread of Thelema. The sheer number of different editions gave us pause to consider the best order in which to list them. Ultimately we concluded that there was no "obvious" method and decided to make the listings roughly chronological, although where it seemed appropriate they are grouped around specific publishers (thus the various Xeno Press and Thelema Publications editions are kept together). Although far from complete, the collection is almost certainly the most comprehensive group ever to be offered at one time.

The second section of the catalogue is devoted to various editions of The Equinox of the Gods, Crowley's first major exposition of the history of The Book of the Law and the first significant publication to contain a clear facsimile of the manuscript. The penultimate section of the catalogue comprises a series of works that include The Book of the Law either in facsimile manuscript form (Liber XXXI) or as typeset text (Liber CCXX), some of which are interesting association copies inscribed by their editors. The final section is devoted to an assortment of commentaries and studies of The Book of the Law, and range from the handsome and important 93 Publishing Magical and Philosophical Commentaries on the Book of the Law to the spectacularly shoddy parody, The Book of the Outlaw.