PROGRADIOR AND THE BEAST
Keith Richmond
1st 2004 316pp Neptune Press h/b in d/w.
Progradior and the Beast recounts the story of Lancashire-born Frank Bennett (1868-1930),
one of Aleister Crowley’s more successful, if little-known followers. Whilst still
a youth Bennett embarked on a spiritual odyssey which eventually led him to the study
of ceremonial magic, and into contact with Crowley. Bennett, also known by his magical
name, Frater Progradior, migrated to Australia in 1911 where he founded A '.A.'.
and O.T.O. groups, and sought to promote Crowley’s law of Thelema. In 1921 Bennett
travelled to Crowley’s Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu, where he rapidly became one of
the Beast’s star pupils.
Progradior and the Beast is largely drawn from previously unpublished sources - letters,
journals, and other documents - and provides rare insight into the private and public
worlds of these two twentieth century magicians. It is illustrated with a number
of previously unseen pictures of Crowley and Bennett, and the dustwrapper and endpapers
include striking colour reproductions of two paintings by Crowley: one a portrait
of Frank Bennett, and the other a Cefalu landscape. The book is uniform in format
with its companion volume (see below). £37.50
THE MAGICAL RECORD OF FRATER PROGRADIOR
Keith Richmond (ed)
1st 2004 176pp Neptune Press h/b in d/w.
The Magical Record of Frater Progradior is a journal chronicling the visionary and
magical experiences which Lancashire-born Frank Bennett (1868-1930) underwent during
an intense retreat or Magical Retirement which he undertook at Crowley’s Abbey of
Thelema in Cefalu in 1921. Crowley himself was profoundly moved by Bennett’s visions,
which he described as “exalted and intense and intimate” and felt displayed a “kinship
of the soul” with John Bunyan. The Magical Record contains the text of Frank Bennett’s
Cefalu diary, with Aleister Crowley’s added comments, along with several other writings
by Bennett. It also includes the text of Crowley’s Liber Samekh, a ritual he prepared
especially for Bennett’s use during his Magical Retirement. The Magical Record has
a previously unpublished photographic portrait of Bennett as its frontispiece, and
the book’s dustwrapper and endpapers include striking colour reproductions of two
paintings of Cefalu by Crowley which he presented to Bennett. £32.50
THREE ESSAYS ON FREEDOM
John Whiteside 'Jack' Parsons
1st 2008 88pp The Teitan Press h/b in d/w. Black and white frontispiece portrait
photograph of Parsons. Striking black and white dustjacket featuring a seldom seen
photograph of Parsons on the front. Edition Limited to 418 numbered copies.
In addition to being a loyal devotee of Crowley's creed of Thelema, a pioneering
rocket scientist, and enthusiastic bohemian, Jack Parsons was also a staunch libertarian.
He vehemently opposed racism, the suppression of women, religious intolerance, sexual
repression and anything else that diminished the rights of the individual. This book
comprises three essays by Parsons: the never-before published "Freedom is a Lonely
Star," his better known work "Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword" (previously published
only in softcover) and a short piece entitled "Doing Your Will" (previously published
only in a limited-circulation journal).
The two "Freedom" essays were written in the early days of the Cold War and McCarthyism,
and display Parson's utter contempt for the politicians and their cronies who used
"national security" as a justification for the widespread destruction of civil liberties,
and his despair at the quiescent citizens who were persuaded to sacrifice their hard
won freedoms for the illusion of safety.
Parsons' essays are, however, not simply a critique of the times: they also allowed
him to explore at some length his own ideas of what an ideal society should be like.
This is particularly evident in "Doing Your Will," a piece that he originally wrote
as a lecture for Agapé Lodge. Not surprisingly the vision he presented is heavily
colored by Thelemic principles, and draws deeply from the text of Liber Oz, the short,
poetic statement of human rights and responsibilities that Crowley had promulgated
a few years earlier. Three Essays on Freedom not only delivers a blistering attack
on authoritarianism, but also offers a well thought out vision of a society in which
each was free "to do his or her will," in accordance with the higher ideals of Crowley's
Thelema.
The essays have been edited by Hymenaeus Beta, current Frater Superior of the O.T.O.,
who has also provided a thoughtful Foreword. £27.99
THE UNKNOWN GOD
Martin P. Starr
1st. ed. 432pp Teitan Press hardback in d/w. Illus.
The first documentary study of Aleister Crowley's contemporary followers in North
America , told through the life of their de facto leader, Wilfred Talbot Smith (1885-1957),
whose character now appears in the HBO® original series " Carnivàle ".
Smith emigrated to Canada where he met Charles Stansfeld Jones and through him, the
works of Aleister Crowley. Although Crowley and Smith met only once in 1915, their
twenty-year correspondence proved to be a major link to the "few and the faithful"
attracted to Crowley 's work. Smith's spiritual life centered first on of the Order
of the A.·.A.·., complemented by the emerging social plan of the Ordo Templi Orientis
(OTO). Smith followed Jones into several long-forgotten esoteric groups like the
Universal Brotherhood and the Psychomagian Society.
To promulgate the Crowleyan teachings, in 1934 Smith incorporated the " Church of
Thelema "--known to Los Angeles newspaper readers as the "Purple Cult." The following
year he initiated OTO activity in Los Angeles which attracted its own cast of occult
characters. Smith's life reached a strange conclusion when Crowley , taking a page
from Louis Bromfield's novel, The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg , which explored
"the twin mysteries of love and religion and the confusion that lies between" and
combining it with a reading of Smith's natal chart , sent him off on a retreat to
determine which God he was incarnating. It was a journey from which Frater 132 never
returned...
The Unknown God is an ultimately human story of the lives of Crowley's disciples
including C. F. Russell, Jane Wolfe, Max Schneider, Regina Kahl, Jack Parsons, Helen
Parsons, Sara Northrup, Roy Leffingwell, Ray Burlingame, Louis Culling, Joe Miller,
Frederic Mellinger, Karl Germer, Phyllis Seckler and Grady McMurtry; the post-Crowley
disciples Gabriel Montenegro and Marcelo Ramos Motta; occult teachers like H. Spencer
Lewis (AMORC) Paul Foster Case (BOTA), and Wayne ("Thane") Walker (Order of Melchizedek);
Hollywood actors such as John Carradine; and even the founder of the Mattachine Society,
Harry Hay. Students of 19th and 20th century esoteric movements, including the Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn, the Theosophical Society and the Crowley-derived organizations,
will find The Unknown God required reading. £29.99
THE EQUINOX: BRITISH JOURNAL OF THELEMA VII 9
2009 84pp Hadean Press. Printed on white 100gsm paper with black endpapers. Colour
cover 300gsm silk card. 4 colour plates & full colour throughout. Perfect bound by
hand with cloth spine.
The controversial, cutting-edge 9th issue of Volume VII of The Equinox: British Journal
of Thelema. Exploring English Qaballa, Goetic, Lunar and Enochian magick, myth and
folklore and including rituals, tables and sigils — a cornucopia for every serious
practitioner of magick. Including articles by Jake Stratton-Kent, Caroline Tully
and Ramsey Dukes and others, original art by Ars Alkhemeta, Aria Nadii and more.
Highly recommended. £11.00
