Thanks for the update. The photograph of Kenneth and Steffi in their dotage is poignant. Would it be okay to reproduce it in the Galleries here?

Steffi Grant lent me the photograph specifically for the new edition. I'll discuss it with her.

Yes, it's a beautiful image, though I wouldn't have considered the term "dotage" an appropriate one.

Best wishes,

Michael.

Michael,

  Will we ever see a volume devoted solely to Steffi's artwork?  Many of us have effectively grown up with it and it has informed our own work greatly.  I know from many conversations over the years with a diverse cross-section of interested people that I am not alone in the hope for such a volume.

Many thanks for your work.
I remain, &c.,
Jim

"dotage"...  careful there Paul, the rest of us aren't exactly spring chickens! The book looks great Michael!

Yes, I think you will see that someday. For the present, Steffi is focused on promoting Kenneth's work; but once the republication of the Typhonian Trilogies is firmly established, this is something that I'd like to prepare.

Mick and William,

My apologies for a very poor choice of word which I used in the context of its primary definition in The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English (2009): dot·age  / ˈdōtij/ • n. [in  sing.] the period of life in which a person is old.

I sincerely regret any offence, which was unintended. I meant no disrespect.

None taken, Paul.

Why, as soon as i can get up from this chair and put my teeth in, i'll have a word with you young man!

Yes, it's a beautiful image, though I wouldn't have considered the term "dotage" an appropriate one.

It's quite an unusual image...there is a real sense of vitality, partly due to the choice of clothes.

I agree, the photo is rather beautiful. It's always nice to see a picture taken from life, as it were, instead of a pose. On a further note, I see that Grosche (i.e. Gregorius) is cited as influencing the ophidian current. As far as I know, the contacts between Grosche and Grant were superficial at best, though they seem to have been quite sympathetic toward one another. Do the letters written by Gregorius to Grant still exist?

No need to feel spoken to, William. You're not in your dotage (yet), although you are - and you'll appreciate this word stemming from the same root - dotty 😉

I don't have access to the correspondence between the two, but I don't think their contact was superficial. Kenneth was of the opinion that his friendship with Grosche was a factor in Germer's furious reaction to The Manifesto of New Isis Lodge.

I've been given a delivery date to Starfire Towers of Wednesday 20th March for the standard edition of Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, and will be packaging and despatching pre-publication orders as soon as possible thereafter.

any super rough eta on the deluxe? 😀

It's likely to be towards the end of April, Chris.

It will be interesting to see how the new edition compares, I have the Muller and the Skoob; I do like the larger format of the Muller.

I agree, Michael; the Muller edition is quite luxurious, with the larger size, generous margins, and good quality paper. Interesting, though, that their subsequent volumes in the Trilogies series reverted to be uniform in format with The Magical Revival.

I guess I made a subconscious proper choice in my only first edition (muller obv) being AC and THG 🙂  I love the thick paper and the font as well... And now that you mention it when I compare it to TMR, the paper does seem better, and the size nicer.
And thanks for the eta on the deluxe mick.

I'm pleased to say that the standard edition was delivered from the printers this lunchtime, and the first few pre-publication orders went in the post this afternoon. The remaining orders will be despatched over the coming week.

The deluxes will be available sometime in April. There are still a few copies unreserved.

Details of the new edition and how to order are here:

http://www.starfirepublishing.co.uk/Aleister_Crowley_and_the_Hidden_God.htm

A large consignment will be prepared this weekend for JD Holmes, so customers in Canada and the USA will not have too much longer to wait.

Best wishes,

Michael Staley,
Starfire Publishing Ltd.

Great news, i await my copy with energized enthusiasm

Very much looking forward to receiving the deluxe edition!  I'm excited about the added material from Grant's personal copy that is incorporated into this new edition! 

The deluxe binding is under way, and the books will be delivered to me in April.

The material from Kenneth's copy of the book took the form of a few more errors corrected. The changes have been incorporated "silently", and will likely be noticeable only from a painstaking comparison of the latest edition with the Skoob reprint.

A review of the new edition has been published in their May issue by the Australian magazine Living Traditions, and can be found on the Starfire Publishing website here:

http://www.starfirepublishing.co.uk/HG_review.html

Michael Staley,
Starfire Publishing Ltd.

Michael,
I have some questions concerning PLATE 4: "A Fragment of a sarcophagus used in the Golden Dawn for establishing magical contact with the khu of an Egyptian priestess."  (the plate is beautiful, btw!) Which member of the Golden Dawn originally owned this?  Or was it property of the Order?  Do you know in which rites, specifically, this was used?  I assume Kenneth and Steffi and possibly yourself might own this now?  It is quite the magical artefact!  Its photograph in the book emanates a subtle yet powerful magical current! 

Yours in the Night of Pan,
N.O.X

I don't know the origin of this piece I'm afraid, beyond the mentions of it in Kenneth's work. The artefact remains within the family. Yes, a lovely object.

Greetings,

According to Gerald Yorke the item used to belong to the "Florence Farr circle of the R.R. et A.C. who consulted the astral Egyptian Priest (or Priestess), I forget which". Presumably the Grants received the item from Yorke.

/Henrik

Thank you, Henrik!

Further to the information supplied by PRCVL, I have decided that it is Fragment of Sarcophagus Day:

Kenneth Grant gives the details regarding the fragment in Hecate's Fountain, Ch.1 "Objets d'Art Noir", where he states that it was used as an item of psychic focus by a splinter group in the Golden Dawn led by Florence Farr, author of the 1896 monograph on "Egyptian Magic".  He says that it was subsequently given to the Grants in 1948 by a collector, who might well have been Gerald Yorke.

More information is to be found in Ellic Howe's The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, (1972).  In his Forward, Gerald Yorke mentions:
"Florence Farr ('Sapienta Sapienti Dona Date') and her 'Sphere Group' were controlled by a 'certain Egyptian astral form' first contacted through a piece of his mummy case - or so F.L. Gardner ('De Profundis Ad Lucem'), who was a member of her group for a time, once told me." (p.xviii).  He gives this as an example of his disillusion with what he regards as the 'Secret Chiefs' delusion within the Order (and beyond).

Annie Horniman had the following to say in November 1902:  "This group consisted of 12 members and the symbols were adapted from the star maps and Tree of Life projected on a sphere, whence they were sometimes called the sphere group.  The twelve members had astral stations assigned to them around this sphere and a certain Egyptian astral form was supposed to occupy the centre".
She was virulently opposed to the activities of the group, believing that their faulty use of symbolism was open to Qlippothic forces and that "the alien and hostile Egyptian astral" was "producing definite prejudicial affects upon" the Order".  (p.247)

The sphere group itself appears to have regarded the Egyptian as a (male) Secret Chief functioning on the higher planes.

At this point, I sense intimations of a foreshadowing of the Equinox of the Gods and the intervention of Aiwass via the psychic focus of the Khu of Ankh-af-na-Khonsu.

I am going to post this here and possibly continue further.

Now in his "Objets d'Art Noir" chapter, Kenneth Grant gives a fascinating account of a New Isis Rite involving the use of the sarcophagus fragment to make contact with the Khu of an Egyptian priestess; there is no doubting of that point.

Priest or Priestess: the artefact itself gives us little to go on.  Grant tells us that it is purportedly from the 26th Dynasty and describes it thus: "Remnants of the mummy swathings still adhere to its inner surface.  The images of the Ape of Thoth and of the jackal sacred to Anubis are clearly discernible".  It has to be noted that he is actually inaccurate here.  The images are in fact those of two of the four Children of Horus, notably the ape-headed Hapy and the jackal-headed Tuamutef; along with their brothers the hawk-headed Qebshenuf and the human-headed Meshtha they were guardians of the body of the deceased as well as being Gods of the Quarters.  (Hapy = N, Tuamutef = E, Qebshenuf = W, and Meshtha = S).  They are usually shown grouped around the coffin of the mummy, two at either side, although they would in effect be positioned in their quarters, rather like a modern guard of honour. Behind them is a funerary chest, or shrine, bearing a pedestal on which is perched what is probably a Bennu bird, (a grey heron symbolising resurrection).

Consult Ch.3 "The Draconian Cult of Ancient Khem" in Cults of the Shadow for an exploration of related themes.

The Egyptologists among you might be able to identify the style of the artwork of the fragment (if you are familiar with it at all); I would hazard the suggestion that it is certainly not earlier than the 26th Dynasty and probably co-eval with the Saite Recension of The Book of the Dead.  Unusually, Hapy appears to be wearing what looks like a fish on his head, if that is any clue.

The item was certainly one of Kenneth Grant's treasured possessions, it is to be seen on his personal altar on the cover photograph and the frontispiece of Grist To Whose Mill ?.  I doubt that Steffi (and her family) would be willing to submit such a magically charged talisman to scientific analysis at the British Museum.  Therefore, any expert opinions are welcome.

I was going to attempt to insert a picture of the Sons of Horus, but almost lost this post, so...

Love is the law, love under will.
Satans's Advocaat.

Received my standard edition this week. I have to say the reproduced images are top notch quality. I also like the endpapers with Grant's diary entries concerning the book. A really nice touch. The book came well packaged and thus in pristine condition.

SatansAdvocado 😉 said: 'She was virulently opposed to the activities of the group, believing that their faulty use of symbolism was open to Qlippothic forces and that "the alien and hostile Egyptian astral" was "producing definite prejudicial affects upon" the Order".  (p.247)

The sphere group itself appears to have regarded the Egyptian as a (male) Secret Chief functioning on the higher planes.

At this point, I sense intimations of a foreshadowing of the Equinox of the Gods and the intervention of Aiwass via the psychic focus of the Khu of Ankh-af-na-Khonsu.'

In all seriousness, I find this absolutely fascinating.  I am 'into' magick not just for what I regard as personal evolution and a gaining of 'skills' but also because I find the possible structure of the universe, as well as non human/astral influences on said physical universe especially, absolutely interesting. 

In my own work I have constantly felt the presence of entities who stay well out of the circle, and seem equally fascinated by me. If only I was discerned enough to find out 'who' they were.  In a similar and more apropos statement I can say regarding the idea of Qliphotic entities inhabiting the Egyptian 'astral plane'  , it is probable.  Qliphotic entities are everywhere.  I look forward as I become more mature and skilled in spiritual matters to be able to discern the 'real deal' from the shells, as they are so darn tricky.  Who is to say when a Probationer or Novice invokes Nuit or Babalon, despite their LBRP and circle or what have you, that they are not actually evoking something that is drawn like a dark moth to a flame?  I sometimes wonder...  Feel free to chime in anyone.

Thanks, Mick, Henrik, and SA, for answering all of my questions concerning the artefact!  This is why I love this place!

An interesting response, El Christo. "In all seriousness, I find this absolutely fascinating".  Fascination is the essence of it, I think, and when working with sentient entities on different planes of conscious awareness, I think that the willingness to interact is one of mutual fascination - but to what ends is the needful question.  The concept of the Qlippoth is a far less straight forward matter than most proponents of the White Light School would have us believe, which is why they still react so negatively to the Magick of Aleister Crowley, not to mention Kenneth Grant.

Not the place for a deeper discussion here, I think; mainly wanted to indicate that I took your observations in all seriousness.  🙂

Happy to oblige N.O.X

why they still react so negatively to the Magick of Aleister Crowley, not to mention Kenneth Grant

Who might that be?

Most occult people I know are absolutely obsessed with Crowley, Grant etc

Hi Michael, perhaps I expressed the point I was attempting to make badly, but seeing as you've taken exception to it...

In my time, I've encountered many esoteric groups and individuals who have reacted with horror to my casual introduction of even the name of Aleister Crowley and I don't imagine that they've all just faded away or changed their opinions in the meantime.

My local Pagan friends are not among these, but they are hardly "absolutely obsessed with Crowley, Grant etc" either, more a little bit undecided, maybe.

Found your use of words "absolutely obsessed" interesting - not the best choice of self-labelling do you think ?

a wee aside-  or if you like- steering towards the topic of Grant; just the quote you have provided reminds me how deep his books are.  In other words I have no memory of that information and I've read them all multiple times.  I know I have a poor memory, but I think the case can still be made for finding something new and awesome every-time you read them. Definite magickal objects those.