Do you banish before and after? Do you invoke anything beforehand? I hear that if the Demon doesn't write it's name then you could be talking to anything but they are happy to write their name for you to let you know it's them.
Banishings before and after, Headless as preliminary, test with sigil, pact written out beforehand for signing, including offers of payment for services rendered.
Besides the grimoires, I have also worked with Franz Bardon's Practice of Magical Evocation and with Aurum Solis's approach to Liber Scientiae.
they try to say every questionI have is a passive aggro one.
Where on earth would anyone get that idea about you, david? Just baffled here.
Where on earth would anyone get that idea about you, david?
Yes, "every question" is a stretch, as in stretching a few examples into a Universal Law.
I should mention I've also been assistant for a couple of evocations, but not the main operator.
, test with sigil,
What is that?
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
@david-dom-lemieux
visualize the sigil over the entity's manifestation, like when encountering entities on other planes.
@david-dom-lemieux
visualize the sigil over the entity's manifestation, like when encountering entities on other planes.
Oh yeah ok.
Here is some footage of Voodoo rites/possession 10:40 onwards then later 19:50 onwards. I think it's Cuba and Haiti.
Voodoo (full documentary) - YouTube
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
Here is some footage of Voodoo rites/possession 10:40 onwards then later 19:50 onwards. I think it's Cuba and Haiti.
Voodoo (full documentary) - YouTube
Goodness, thank you! I'll watch the entire thing later. I've seen such things in person but naturally that's a very rare thing for me and it's always interesting to see well-made sympathetic documentaries on the topic.
I must say, i am amused at a demon-evoking, Left Hand Path, tattooed, antinomian-advocate who says "Goodness!"
If exceptionally moved, might that became a "Goodness gracious!", or even a "Heavens to Betsy!"?
I must say, i am amused at a demon-evoking, Left Hand Path, tattooed, antinomian-advocate who says "Goodness!"
I was raised to be good, sweet, and polite. Some parts of that slip out sometimes. 😉
It doesn't help that I have a friend who is not all that different from me who also uses that word as an interjection.
If exceptionally moved, might that became a "Goodness gracious!", or even a "Heavens to Betsy!"?
lol, I will have to start using those too!
Sweet in this day and age could be considered a transgressive indulgence...of course there is fake sweet, and then there is that which is genuine and gracious, and possesses naturally sweet perfumes as the natural demonstration of disposition, not spoilt, nor indulged, but capable of love, and where eros and agape might intersect...
Goodness, thank you! I'll watch the entire thing later. I've seen such things in person but naturally that's a very rare thing for me and it's always interesting to see well-made sympathetic documentaries on the topic.
Ok if you can, let me know what you think of the possession footage.
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
Which "reality" was that again david?
Reality with a capital 'R' as spoken of by Buddhists in their Noble Truths.
I didn't use the term 'toxicity' for God-possession, I said 'intoxicant'.
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
Reality with a capital 'R' as spoken of by Buddhists in their Noble Truths.
Can you remind me of how it is that Buddhists speak of "Reality with a capital 'R'" in their Noble Truths, and which Pali word translated as "reality" they are capitalizing?
The only Buddhist Noble Truths of which i'm aware are dukkha, samudaya, nirodha, and magga.
Is there a fifth Noble Truth that speaks of this "reality" you mention, and may even imagine to exist?
I didn't use the term 'toxicity' for God-possession, I said 'intoxicant'.
That's okay. The root -tox- applies to all forms and applications of a poison.
An intoxicant is merely a poisonous sustance (such as alcohol, maryjane, opioids, psycho-delics, etc).
Reality with a capital 'R' as spoken of by Buddhists in their Noble Truths.
Can you remind me of how it is that Buddhists speak of "Reality with a capital 'R'" in their Noble Truths, and which Pali word translated as "reality" they are capitalizing?
The only Buddhist Noble Truths of which i'm aware are dukkha, samudaya, nirodha, and magga.
Is there a fifth Noble Truth that speaks of this "reality" you mention, and may even imagine to exist?
Reality in Buddhism - Wikipedia
Reality in Buddhism | SpringerLink ;
The concept of reality or rather the “ultimate reality” experienced by a Buddha – as opposed to the conventional reality commonly experienced by the world – looks back upon a long history in Buddhism. A little more than two and a half thousand years ago, Siddhārtha Gautama is said to have fully awakened to this true reality and spent the remainder of his life as a Buddha (lit. “awakened one”) pointing this reality out to others
.etc etc
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
OK, so you have abandoned your former silly claims: ie, the claim that Asian languages have capital letters to write words with, and the claim that the Four Noble Truths mention, or have anything to do with, the Western modern notion that quotidian sensory reality is in fact "real".
So now you take refuge in articles that refute your premise, and actually quote a paragraph that says
the “ultimate reality” experienced by a Buddha – as opposed to the conventional reality commonly experienced by the world
This leads me to consider this discussion very silly, and closed.
Review the concept of maya in Hinduism, and how it plays out in Buddhism. Or just actually read the articles you just posted.
Then review the scientific literature on the reliability of sense impressions, and the Western philosophic literature, to thoroughly dispel this idea that there is some objective entity/phenomenon called "reality".
Or take an adequate dose of psychedelics (without, of course, violating any local laws where you might be at the time); nothing like actual gnosis for these things.
Then get back to me. Do some work, son.
OK, so you have abandoned your former silly claims: ie, the claim that Asian languages have capital letters to write words with, and the claim that the Four Noble Truths mention, or have anything to do with, the Western modern notion that quotidian sensory reality is in fact "real".
I didn't abandon any 'claim'. The only thing that got abandoned was your silly triggered anally-retentive need to take everything literally....as per usual. I mentioned the Noble Truths and used the term 'Reality' I don't need a Doctorate in Philosophy to elaborate on that neither did a peasant such as George Gurdjieff, any illiterate Zen teacher or any reasonable human being who is not full of their own BS. Yep, conversation over.
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
Gotcha; you now admit that:
- the Four Noble Truths don't mention "reality";
- Asian languages don't have capital letters to mention "Reality" with;
- Buddhism, like me, and AC, and your former Goo-Roo Dr. Tim, and your other former Goo-Roo RTW, and yet another of your former Goo-Roos, the "other Wilson", and unlike you, denies that quotidian "reality" is in fact "real";
- You remain a person unwilling to do any work in the "occult"/"spiritual"/"mystical" arena, and are all talk, no action; but of course
- You didn't abandon any "claim".
You know, a thing a person caught talking out the side of their neck can do is say "Oh shit, fine, you got me there." The inability to do this simple thing speaks loudly, david.
Gotcha;
Nuff said..
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
Yup.
As they say, "Say what you want about willful ignorance, dude. At least it's an ethos."
Gotcha; you now admit that:
- the Four Noble Truths don't mention "reality";
Did you honestly think that I mistakenly thought the word 'reality' was mentioned in the Four Noble Truths? It's inferred therein.
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
... your silly triggered anally-retentive need to take everything literally....as per usual.
How rude of him. We all know that literality damages The Guidelines. Everything stated must be abstract or non-understandable, upon penalty of misunderstanding.
I don't need a Doctorate in Philosophy
Yes, you do. We just finished the Academic Requirements multilogue, and this subject was completely cleared out up.
Yep, conversation over.
It is my professional prediction the there is that which (still) remains.
It's inferred therein.
If you mean that the Four Noble Truths say that "The illusion that quotidian 'reality' is 'real' is a/the source of suffering (dukkha); understanding that this illusion is the source (samudaya) of dukkha is the beginning of nirodha, and entry on the path (magga)", why, yes.
By the way, Mr. "Reality Is So Real!", are you the same person who posted the following on the last page of this thread?:
I hear that if the Demon doesn't write it's name then you could be talking to anything but they are happy to write their name for you to let you know it's them.
By the way, Mr. "Reality Is So Real!", are you the same person who posted the following on the last page of this thread?:
I hear that if the Demon doesn't write it's name then you could be talking to anything but they are happy to write their name for you to let you know it's them.
Well y'know the cosmos works in a particular way and by doing certain things certain things happen.
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
Yes, and some learn that
The Abyss of Hallucinations has Law and Reason; but in Truth there is no bond between the Toys of the Gods.
This Reason and Law is the Bond of the Great Lie.
Truth! Truth! Truth! crieth the Lord of the Abyss of Hallucinations.
There is no silence in that Abyss: for all that men call Silence is Its Speech.
This Abyss is also called “Hell”, and “The Many”. Its name is “Consciousness”, and “The Universe”, among men.
But THAT which neither is silent, nor speaks, rejoices therein. [TBOL/Liber 333, "10 ΚΕΦΑΛΗΙ Windlestraws"]
the cosmos works in a particular way ...
For now (real-time now). That is, one does a thing a hundred times, and the result is always the same. So he/she makes a "law" about ir (for eample, "gravity sucks."
One day a yogi comes along and demonstrates the levitation siddhi. Oops! The Tibetans say that we must adapt to a Changing Reality. What way works today may not work tomorrow.
Yes, and some learn that
The Abyss of Hallucinations has Law and Reason; but in Truth there is no bond between the Toys of the Gods.
This Reason and Law is the Bond of the Great Lie.
Truth! Truth! Truth! crieth the Lord of the Abyss of Hallucinations.
There is no silence in that Abyss: for all that men call Silence is Its Speech.
This Abyss is also called “Hell”, and “The Many”. Its name is “Consciousness”, and “The Universe”, among men.
But THAT which neither is silent, nor speaks, rejoices therein. [TBOL/Liber 333, "10 ΚΕΦΑΛΗΙ Windlestraws"]
Silence? Yeah go for it.
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
I had to chime in on this OT thread...
For Belgians, Leffe is a favourite that is easy to find, and also of course Gulden Draak.
Have either of you tried Delerium Tremens? it's quite tasty. The drink not the 'action' 😉
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/180/1385/
These days I don't tend to handle a lot of malt so I am more into German and Dutch lagers but a good belgian from time to time is good.
Sun Myung Moon, not someone who I would see as any kind of spiritual authority, evidently believed that the woman on top position symbolized the triumph of evil.
How unfortunate for him...
Has anyone answered the question that if you have read all of Grant's books, as well as some others like Bertiaux, and Linda F. , this new book of Sean's is worth absorbing, in terms of new or useful information?
Have either of you tried Delerium Tremens? it's quite tasty. The drink not the 'action' 😉
YES! It's one of my favorites!
How unfortunate for him...
I believe there were a few unfortunate things about him.
Has anyone answered the question that if you have read all of Grant's books, as well as some others like Bertiaux, and Linda F. , this new book of Sean's is worth absorbing, in terms of new or useful information?
Nobody has addressed that yet.
Anyone holding their breath waiting for my review of @hoodoozendiq's book should probably exhale. I don't think he plans to actually send me a review copy as he said he would.
After he got in touch, we exchanged a series of ten emails, which concluded with him saying "Just wanted to let you know that tomorrow [December 6] I get back to the U.K. and will post you the promised copy of my book."
When nothing had arrived for more than 2 weeks after that, and i had not heard back from him, i emailed him on the 21st to wish him a happy solstice, and remind him to send the book along if he hadn't yet done so. I've had no reply, and nothing has arrived.
Maybe he has been distracted by the holidays, or maybe the book-rate mail from the UK is super-slow this year. Who knows?
I don't think he plans to actually send me a review copy as he said he would.
Aarrrgghhh and the Seven Agonies!
... nothing has arrived.
"Nothing is a secret key of this Law."
I regret disturbing anyone's pranayamic concentration that i may have disturbed the pranayamic concentration of by my advice to exhale because most likely no review would be forthcoming.
I have now heard back from Sean, who says "the UPS tracking says my parcel to you is still in transit from San Francisco … no idea why it would go to the west coast first!"
It is indeed true that the ways of shippers are often revealed as bizarre by tracking shipments- things go to distant states (never as distant as Caliphornia before though) and take very meandering routes, which would seem likely to be unprofitable to said shippers but what do i know.
So if you did not exhale before, keep holding your breath, and if you did exhale, well, my bad, i apologize for misinforming you. Review to follow after book arrives and i read it a couple times, which won't take long. I read very very fast as the result of three years of speed-reading training in junior high.
... still in transit from San Francisco …
Yes, a mutual consensus reality was created by all (?) those who exhaled. A true act of intentional Magick - and it included the one Key that folks sometimes omit. Any act of intentional Magick will not work properly, except by dumb luck, unless one releases it.
That is, one does their ooky-spooky mumbo jumbo, sets the whole deal in motion with a singular act (such as lighting a fire, smashing The Hammer of Thor upon the corpse of a dead beetle, sounding AUM, striking the Bell, etc) ... then forget it !
This, of course, was demonstrated by the announcement to exhale and give up hope, turning to something more productive.
shippers are often revealed as bizarre
Um. The "Shippers" have little to do with it these days. An item goes into reception by the delivery system, which tags it sticker-wise and in a Borg program. The Borg program is run/administered by some deficient sub-human AI twit meme algorithm.... which decides the route.
I have noticed this same deficiency in some spell-checking programs, in the functions of some commercial sites, and in offices everywhere where they don't want to pay people and they have robots talk to you on the phone. This is becoming like a bad sci-fi comedy where the robots are stupid.
and if you did exhale, well, my bad, i apologize for misinforming you.
No, no. The exhalation and release led to the remote contact that said it was on its way. Those who are still holding have turned purple; I see a sickly green corpse or two. While those of us who exhaled (who didn't really care) are now laughing.
Review to follow
... waited with bated breath.
It has arrived, after its en-route visit to San Francisco. After the recent debacle, i am reluctant to issue further pranayamic directives; breathe or not, as you will.
A nice looking, well-put-together book; it has an index and references list which makes an old retired pedant like me happy. Will report back post-consumption (and digestion).
It has arrived, after its en-route visit to San Francisco. After the recent debacle, i am reluctant to issue further pranayamic directives; breathe or not, as you will.
A nice looking, well-put-together book; it has an index and references list which makes an old retired pedant like me happy. Will report back post-consumption (and digestion).
So you're going to give us all a review on a book about practical magic? There's a problem in that you are overly cynical and dismissive about any paranormal activity, ESP and anything metaphysical. In fact you and Los were almost stable mates in that regard. Furthermore what I don't understand is how you (Mr material-science world view) tell us that your Mrs takes care of the sage-burning psychic attacks task in the 666 household. I take it that you think such rituals are silly?
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
you are overly cynical and dismissive about any paranormal activity, ESP and anything metaphysical. In fact you and Los were almost stable mates in that regard.
Ummm, no.
In fact, as you will recall, i spent years fighting with The Phallus Of A Goat, PhD over exactly these matters (with you serving as his enthusiastic fanboy-stooge).
I do indeed despise bullshit, woo-woo, pseudo-science, etc., and do indeed love to point and mock at those who claim to be "Enlightened", but are no more so than my plumber (mostly much less so, as he is a redneck Buddha; bad example actually). And i do like to make fun of those who invoke The Dogs Of Reason to justify their woo, only to reveal that they can't actually reason on a first-year university-philosophy-student level.
This is because i, like the person this site is devoted to, am indeed a partisan of skepticism in the Pyrrhic/philosophical sense (ie, i apply my skepticism not merely to the outre (a la your ex-Goo-Roo), but also to the quotidian (that means this "reality" thing that you are so fond of invoking, Mr Partisan Of The Paranormal)).
I, like the person this site is devoted to, also have considerable personal experience with what The Hand Of A Hanged Man, PhD, used to call "goblins", "spooks" and "spacemen", as well as that thing he could never acknowledge, "gnosis". I have certainly done at least my fair share of "practical magic" as you call it (is there some other kind? oh, the delusional/wack-a-loon kind), over my 50 years of muddling along The Path
And the wife does indeed burn sage in the corners and say words. We just picked some up last week at the outlaw biker/Wiccan store in town for her New Years Eve (EV) banishing rituals. And she used to banish the Evil Eye from the kid when he was a baby with a special macumba ritual that only women can do, that must be transmitted by another woman during the New Moon. You want your kid walking around crying with the Evil Eye? Be my guest, comrade. We preferred direct action; shit works.
So i would have to say that this recent post demonstrates that you are a confused person who needs further work on his reading comprehension skills, and his logic skills.
Mr [M]aterial-[S]cience[-W]orld[-V]iew
Can't believe i missed this poorly-punctuated attempt at invective; as you well know, young david, that's "Dr Material-Science-World-View" to you, sonny-boy.
So you're going to give us all a review on a book about practical magic?
Yes. This is his stated intention.
There's a problem in that you are overly cynical and dismissive about any paranormal activity, ESP and anything metaphysical.
Perhaps you missed the part about his wife, the egg, and the rain? He admitted fully that such things can be done because, in this case, he saw the proof.
In other matters, such as stories, claims, etc, all he asks for is proof (as opposed to mumbled jumbo).
I take it that you think such rituals are silly?
In my opinion, you are misreading the Ignant psyche.
So i would have to say that this recent post demonstrates that you are a confused person who needs further work on his reading comprehension skills, and his logic skills.
Well, yes, that about sums it up from your point of voyeur. Personality, I saw it as a hard and low strike against your hara. We all (including dom, if he's paid attention) have heard the tale of the mouse tattoo, the rain manipulation, and other stories in your experience, so we all [?] know you know that shit works because you have direct experience.
So I don't see why you should be excluded from assessing the tome. In fact, you are being withheld from performing this self-appointed task because you have to instead write a long auto-hagio-bio-graph-y in order to defend yourself against charges of preconditioned, irrevocable bias against magic.
Oh, please.
that's "Dr Material-Science-World-View" to you, sonny-boy.
U, there is an anti-doctoral sentiment floating around these days, held mostly by non-doctoral, um, persons. If you make them call you doc, this would be proper etiquette, grammar, and word usage, but it only gets worse when you/I/we upgrade their recognition factor. I include myself, for I have sensed the reaction in those whom I have upbraided - some of them. I've only made the "correction" a few times, and it's usually professionally-related, so it was proper, and it went okay - without internal gut-wrenching in the unfortunate, um, person who uttered Mr, Ms, or Mrs instead of Doctor.
It was some non-doctoral unfortunate who informed me that in Germany, if one has two doctorates, he/she is normally formally called "Doktor-Doktor."
I said, "I have three - what would they do to me?"
"You would be addressed as "Doktor-Doktor-Doktor." Attention unto The Supreme Being and the Three Emanations! This is a bit much. And it would not go over well here where our neighbors have farms and cows.
[I feel faint]
Thank you for the endorsement. It was actually my mother-in-law who made the rain stop with the egg and salt on the window sill "like we do at the beach".
My dad loved Germany, with the clicking the heels, and the "Herr Doktor Professor"; he probably only refrained from telling them he was really "Herr Leutnant Doktor Professor" because my mother already was amused enough as it was.
Have started reading. Not at all what i was expecting from the quoted text from the Introduction by Dr Bullshittum, or after reading the whole Introduction, which is just as vapid and pointless as the bit Sean quoted in the OP.
The book itself is deeply weird, kind of confusing, and reminds me so far of the later novels of William Burroughs. Off to google "Brompton".
Off to google "Brompton".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKlw1LLPvJo
No more esoteric than Love Itself.
I'd say;
it's more of a sprinkling than a cementing.
instead of a speed reading hat;
maybe get some rum a blunt as well as a lamp
sit by a moonlit swamp tree.
Listen to the croaking,
the opening of The Tunnel of Qulielfi;
and the coming of the Old Ones from unspeakable zones
through monstrous vessels.
The conception of humanity is at stake;
new pathways have opened up;
the fate of the children of Adam is no longer sealed.
May God have mercy
as the swirling maelstrom of Typhon
moves and shifts the sands
and the masquerade of shells.
Ok so the Doctor is not a woo-woo nut and he likes to keep belief suspended etc. @Ignant666
Doc, do you have any more 'maybe it was but maybe it wasn't' magic stories from back when you were a ceremonial magician skinhead?
I've already posted my black- eye curses in the past. I once saw a ghost also...well, appeared to anyway.
https://www.lashtal.com/wiki/Aleister_Crowley_Timeline
At any age, i've never felt much desire/need to do ritual magick to get money, obtain the love of a beautiful woman, curse anyone, or whatever.
If i needed money, i sold drugs or did other work; if i wanted the love of a beautiful woman, i would usually talk to them; no one ever did me any serious harm. The aspects of my needs that material-plane activity did not address was the purpose of my magick/mystical work. I wanted enlightenment/liberation/godhead.
I have never seen a ghost. My late, very materialist/reductionist/atheist father often did though, and was also often subject to poltergeist phenomena, both not uncommon on his side of the family. He did not believe in ghosts as "real", but would nonetheless see them. I have seen the aftermath of the poltergeists, who liked to cause books to shoot across the room off tightly-packed bookshelves, and throw furniture around in the attic.
Have now finished a first pass through Sean's book. Will do another read and then put pen to paper or fingers to electrons actually. Have figured out the Brompton business finally. A quite nice book actually, weirder than waltzing mice, but clearly Real Shit.
At any age, i've never felt much desire/need to do ...
... "low magic."
[post appeared twice, somehow!?!?]
Serial Poster Alert.
Well it would seem that the reviewer has not abused the magical planes such that a clean review can be assured....and with poltergeist activity in the family, a helmet in the library might be advised...
look forward to the review...
@dom
"I once saw a ghost also...well, appeared to anyway."
Did it propel you into a katabasis or was it just a pale reflection ?
The promised review:
Ok, so I will freely admit coming to this review expecting this book to be utter bullshit, after reading the quote from the Introduction* that Sean posted. It is not often that an old man like me is surprised, and it is good for me.
I said to him more or less "If you're not full of shit, send me your book, and i'll review it." I fully expected that either he would fail to send it, or that it would be crap. Preparing to savage this book, I prepared some killer lines, which I will store up for the upcoming April Fool’s Day RTC release. He sent it, i read it, and he isn't (full of shit), and it isn't (crap).
In fact, I quite liked it, at minimum. I don't think i understood it all that well, nor did anything in it bear much resemblance to any part of my Path, but it is clearly Real Shit that is the product of some sort of genuine Work. It even has tentacles**, just like i would expect of a "Typhonian" work! It reminds me quite a lot of late William Burroughs, which is high praise coming from me. Another possible literary antecedent would be Lovecraft’s The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath, and his “Silver Key” short story follow-ups.
Those shopping for “a book of practical magic” should continue shopping- this ain’t that. Well, it sort of is, or is framed as being one. There are four “rites” detailed. Each begins by describing the temple furnishings and libation, and then tells you what you will do there. But any semblance to any normal grimoire is soon gone as we are led on a wild series of dreamlike/nightmarish guided meditations (for lack of any better terminology) narrated in clear (though often purple (as is appropriate)) second-person prose:
You cross through the Mauve Zone via the New Moon, for it is not the light of our moon which falls upon the spine of Otz Chim, but that of the Other Moon, of Da’ath itself …. You look down and see your body returned to its male form, wrapped in a fine three-piece suit. [pp.48-9]
His writing is very clear in describing baffling things, that we do for baffling reasons- i kept asking myself, why are we doing all these things? I don't think there is any intent to obfuscate, but rather perhaps to dazzle, to enchant, to intoxicate with imagery. The limitation is perhaps mine. And one does keep reading, if only to try to figure out what the fuck is going on.
The text is also knee-deep with recondite references- the Crowley ones were no problem, and i've read every word HPL wrote many times over (my younger brother used to live in his old room in Providence), but the text presumes a considerable familiarity with Grant, and to a lesser degree Bertiaux. That i totally lack. Some occasional googling, and some second-hand knowledge of both enabled me to get more or less some superficial idea of what was going on, though i still won't claim to understand the book yet.
One source of my bafflement: It took me a long time to figure out the constant references to Brompton, and Brompton Cemetery. All i knew about "Brompton" starting the book was that it was the name of an expensive British folding bicycle that my wife would never let me buy. Reading the first rite, I looked up where Grant and Spare lived, and tried to find out where Nu-Isis Lodge met, but then thought "Well, with all those cab rides we are taking around 1950s London, we can't be time-traveling to Brompton Cemetery because it was near something."
I finally figured out the Brompton tomb/time machine reference. If, in trying to figure out what this “Brompton Cemetery time machine” business could possibly be about, i had simply googled "Brompton Cemetery time machine" right away, i would, of course, have found it immediately. But it never occurred to me to do so, simply because the notion was so occult/nutty/whatever, and i figured it wouldn't be a literal sort of thing i was looking for. I learned lots of interesting things not finding the answer though.
The many references to entities called "Voltigeurs" (in French, “leapers” or “jumpers” or “acrobats”) threw me at first, having been obsessed with Napolean's armies as a lad- "voltigeurs" were a category of light infantry, so-called because they were originally supposed to leap onto the ass-end of cavalry horses, to be transported to the front, where they, arriving refreshed, would slaughter enemy infantry fatigued from marching to that place. I knew it couldn't mean that, or the most common French meaning of "acrobat". Context and more reading made some sense of it. They are entities, apparently mostly female (although sometimes females-with-phalluses), who leap along pathways on the back/dark side of the Tree (including ones that don’t exist on the front), and also across terrestrial time and space.
Sean is planning to do a new edition with the extensive artwork (currently black and white) in color. I think that the already interesting and evocative artwork may well look spectacular in color based on the cover image (which is in color).
Reading this actually inspired me to want to read some Grant for the first time, after 50 years at this Crowley stuff. It appears to be (as reflected by this book) just as nutty as i imagined, but far more interesting/compelling. I at this point think AC over-complicates and baroque-ifies (if i may ape the good Dr Bullshittum and make up a word) the Path, and it seems to me that Grant/Bertiaux/Woodward do this even more so. But then i loved all that complex stuff and secrets and whatnot earlier on, so we must do whatever works, i suppose.
_______________
* Having read the full Introduction now, my reaction to the good "Doctor" remains unchanged: he is a bullshit artist, and writes long, turgid, unparsable, meaningless, non-sentences, full of all the fancy words he's ever heard of (whether he knows what they mean or not), and making up new ones whenever he runs out.
** For any of you kids sitting around with Abramelin talismans “To find a great treasure” in your pockets, or doing sex-magick for similar purposes, I offer free of charge this surefire, infallible “Get Rich Quick” scheme: market a line of tentacled dildo/vibrators in squinky, squishy, rubbery materiel, in lurid colors, under the trade name “Love-Craft”. Get off your duffs, and start solving material-plane problems with material-plane solutions! Wave to me from your helicopter after you make the big bucks.