The most comprehensive introduction available to the Golden Dawn system of initiation, and the numerous, complex and sometimes obscure mystical writings of Aleister Crowley.
Over fifty years ago Israel Regardie set himsefl the gigantic task of making acessible to the intelligent layman the root principles upon which Magic is built-principles which Aleister Crowley devoted his life to exploring and revealing. Drawing on his experience as personal secretary to Crowley and his involvement with the Golden Dawn system, Regardie skillfully unifies a waelth of diverse material into a marvelously coherent whole. The result is The Tree Of Life, a book which has become the definitive overview of the Western Mystery Tradition.
Have you ever heard of Elbert Hubbard? After being a soap salesman he founded the Roycrofters (part of the handicraft movement) and the Roycroft Press, which printed magazines and books filled with inspiration and information. He was popular in the early 1900s. Most people today have never heard of him.
On the other hand, you've probably heard of Israel Regardie. About his book, The Tree of Life, famous occultist Dion Fortune wrote, "...it is going to be one of the classics of occultism." She was right.
The Tree of Life was a book of its time. And just as poor Elbert is pretty obscure today, so, too, are many of the references in Regardie's book. It was time, not to change the book, but to update it for modern readers.
The ideal people to do this were Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, Senior Adepts of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and respected writers and lecturers. The actual changes they made were few — they Americanized some British spellings and carefully turned the transliterations of Hebrew into the modern system that Regardie used in his later books. But that was just the beginning.
Next, they made numerous explanatory notes for each chapter so that everyone can now fully understand the book. Then, to make it easier to use and more valuable they added a glossary, a bibliography, an index, and information on each chapter for the contents pages. To show its importance, they included a biographical preface giving information about Regardie and the book. And finally, to make it even more attractive, they've added over 100 illustrations. Now, this classic from the year 1932 is again a classic for the 21st century. Elbert Hubbard may be forgotten, but this book is fresh and lively. Again, if you get a book on real magic, this should be it!
