From: ba@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (B.A. Davis-Howe)
Subject: Re: The Magical Philosophy
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 16:53:08 GMT
Keywords: magick, philosophy, practice, western tradition

mdouglas@netcom.com (Mike Douglas-Llyr) writes:

>	It appears to me, after reading this newsgroup for a while, that
>the primary focus on suggested reading material here is on Crowley and his
>circle and a few other authors who, while not necessarily involved
>with the Western ceremonial magick tradition, have valuable material
>for both the practicing and wannabe magus.
>	I would like to suggest that both segments of the magickal
>"community" check out a series of books that were originally
>published in the '70s, but have, I believe, since been reprinted.
>The books were originally published as a 5-volume set titled, "THE
>MAGICAL PHILOSOPHY", by Llewellyn Publications.  The authors are
>Melitta Denning and Osborne Phillips, who claim to be adepti minores
>of a living magickal order called the Aurum Solis or Ordo Sacri
>Verbi. 
>	The five volumes are individually titled:
>	I. ROBE AND RING (Philosophy)
>   II. THE APPAREL OF HIGH MAGICK (Symbolism)
>  III. THE SWORD AND THE SERPENT (Qabalah and Magical Art)
>   IV. THE TRIUMPH OF LIGHT (Psychology and Magick (sic))
>   	V. MYSTERIA MAGICA (Rituals, Techniques, et alia)
>   	What is remarkable about the series is the lucid,
>non-obfuscatory treatment of the art and science of High Magick as
>practiced within the context of the Western mystery tradition. The series 
>comprises a *complete* magickal curriculum, delving deeply and
>comprehensively into the practice of magick as art, science,
>philosophy, and psychology.
>	Of particular interest is the attention paid to the practice of
>traditional Western High Magickal modalities *outside* of the
>seemingly (judging by most works on the subject) all-pervasive
>Judeo-Christian framework.  The student working with this series is
>given the choice of working within this framework or within any
>other of his or her choice. 
>	I recommend this series highly to any who are serious about the
>practice of magick.  I purchased the first volume in 1974.  After
>almost 20 years, I find that the series is still fresh and potent in
>its exposition and application of the art and science of magick
>practice. 
>	Please note that this series predates Llewellyn's descent into
>new age fluff publishing.  The material here, and in a couple of
>other of the works of Denning and Phillips is, IMNSHO, some of the
>last decent, useful material that Lewellyn published.
>	Comments, experiences, etc? are *most* welcome.

The series was republished in three volumes.  Vol 1, _The Foundations of High
Magick_, contains Books I and II.  Vol 2, _The Sword and the Serpent_, contains
Books III and IV.  Vol 3, _Mysteria Magica_, is Book V.  There has been some
revision and rearrangement to make the series more usable.  (Whether or not this
is the actual result, I don't know.  I've not seen the first edition.)

I concur that this is an excellent, lucid, series.  I do find the rituals *way*
too verbose for my tastes, but I learned a great deal from reading Vol. 1 and
3.  I haven't bothered with Vol. 2, since it is exclusively Kabbalah, and I
won't work with Kabbalah for ethical reasons.  Most of the rest of the material
is useful whether or not one works with Kabbalah, even though that is the basic
model.  It is probably essential to understand the basics of Kabbalah to be
able to get much from the series, but one can get a lot without having to
actually use Kabbalah.


              Merry meet, merry part, merry meet again,
                               Br'anArthur

Queer, Peculiar, and Wyrd! :-)

******************************************************************************
Newage is hypoallergenic spirituality--
it's for people who are allergic to the word religion.
                                   --Jon Jay Obermark