Inventing a Modern Ritual Magic Text: Assembling and Dis(a)ssembling Liber Israfel

Summary

Liber Israfel, an invocation of the Egyptian god Thoth, is a key text in Aleister Crowley's literary corpus. It forms the basis of a theory of magical invocation in his work Magick in Theory and Practice and was used extensively in his personal magical practice. A precursor to Liber Israfel played a role in the events leading to the reception of The Book of the Law, the founding text of Thelema. Despite its significance, the text has received little scholarly attention.

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Abstract

Abstract:Liber Israfel, an invocation of the Egyptian god Tahuti or Thoth, is arguably a key text in Aleister Crowley's literary corpus. Not only does it form the basis of a complete theory of magical invocation in his seminal Magick in Theory and Practice, but Crowley made extensive use of it in his personal magical work. That a precursor of Liber Israfel played a role in the events leading up to the reception of The Book of the Law, the founding text of Crowley's religio-magical philosophy of Thelema, only adds to its significance. However, Liber Israfel has thus far received little by way of scholarly attention. And whilst it is widely recognized that Liber Israfel is highly indebted to a ritual of evocation composed by Crowley's magical mentor, Allan Bennett, a comprehensive analysis of the iterative creative processes to which it owes its composition is lacking. Such analysis can arguably tell us much about how modern ritual magic texts are constructed and therefore give us a glimpse into how key ideas in the history of modern ritual magic originate and develop. Additionally, we can gain valuable insights into the key role this particular text plays in the development of Aleister Crowley's religio-magical system of Thelema.

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