Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Generally speaking, I dislike “Beginner Books”. By calling itself a primer, 93 places itself in that category. However, this book is closer to what I want to see.
Let me start with what I dislike about the book. First, its presentation is lacking. The book itself is visually unimpressive. I got it at the same time as another book which was double stitched and had all the other bells and whistles that I have come to expect from a limited edition book. I realize that 93 was priced as a standard book (i.e., $31) so this is a quibble. However, my initial impression was not favorable.
Next is the font. The font on the cover and elsewhere in the book reminds me of the font I used in my Anarcho-punk zines in the 1980s. This also detracts, in my opinion, from the impact of the book. Even though I acknowledge that these are rather piddly concerns, I feel it makes the book look a bit sad and dated.
As always, I find the lack of an index to be disappointing. While it is less of a concern given the question and answer format of this book, an index would still be beneficial.
A final complaint, if you are going to put a word in over-sized font, make sure it is spelled correctly. I have been unable to find a definition for the word “Aherant”. I can only infer that it is a misspelling of the word “Adherent”, which is discussed in some detail earlier in the book. Perhaps I missed this word, “Aherant”, being defined elsewhere in the text, but I do not recall it, nor did I find it anywhere near the text in question. Having complained about this, I will no doubt introduce a glaring typographical error in this essay.
So, what do I like about the book? First off, it isn’t another beginner book where the author just gives us a simplified version of what Crowley wrote. DuQuette’s The Magick of Thelema is useful because it actually puts the god-names for the Hexagram ritual as a footnote to the Hexagram ritual. For some reason, Crowley did not. Useful, yes. Ground breaking, no. Even Shoemaker’s Living Thelema engages in some of this. That is not the case for 93. The book is a discussion of Thelemic thought, not a collection of recipes with the chef’s notes in the margins.
Being more akin to Magick Without Tears than Liber O, we get several questions with their answers. As it explicitly points out, this is from the Grady McMurtry school of the A∴A∴. Jerry has a rather fascinating history of his own in the Thelemic community. I will not claim I agree with him on everything, but I will give him a fair hearing. If I agreed with someone on everything, I would need to assume they were lying to me.
There are 116 questions (assuming I can still count), and six non-questions (including the preface et al). As I have been a Thelemite for three decades or so, I already had answers for some of the more basic questions — “What are the Secret Chiefs?” or “What is a Kaaba?” — though it is important to read these as one needs to know how the author is using the term. Various A∴A∴ lineages can have divergent meanings for the same terms. This doesn’t mean any of them are wrong, per se. It does mean that you can get tripped up when you assume they mean X but they actually mean Y.
I really enjoyed where they start discussing the Tunis commentary and various trends within the present day Thelemic community. They also discussed some of the flaws of the prophet. While I may not agree with all of their assessments, or the ramifications deriving from those assessments, it is refreshing to hear something a bit deeper than “he fails to meet up with the modern western moral values, so he is bad and wrong”. Objectively speaking, Crowley failed some of his charges as the prophet of the new aeon. Denying this will lead one into falsity and error.
So, all in all, this book is worth the money I spent on it. It is also worth the time I spent reading it — this being a more significant evaluation these days. I look forward to re-reading portions of this book and seeing if any other insights arise. I do plan on discussing a couple of portions of the book, so look forward to those videos.
Truth is found in the rubble of falsehood.
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