MAYBE QUARTERLY - Vol 3 / Issue 3 - Rare Crowleyana Review

Rare Crowleyana on CD-ROM At Affordable Prices

By Frater K .'. D .'. B .'.

Because of the low numbers of ceremonial magicians in today's world, the print runs on magickal textbooks remain low. This also means that once they are sold-out, the prices of used copies of these books often times climb to several hundred dollars for each book! And, that's even if you can locate a copy for sale!

To assist the individual who wants access to these important and oft-times outrageously priced magickal books, Black Flag-Naughty Nun New Media has published an entire series of Crowleyana multimedia CD-ROM and audio CD titles. I have the entire series as published thus far, and I have to say that they are very well done, and as such, represent a reasonable alternative to spending hundreds of dollars on a single book.

As one example, the book 'OTO Rituals & Sex Magick' by Theodore Reuss and Aleister Crowley, when one becomes available, presently sells for $400-$600 through Weiser Antiquarian Books. Even though I do own a copy of the original book, I hesitate to use it, just because it is worth so damn much money! But no fear, I can simply take out my copy of the book on CD-ROM and search through the book and the bonus features for what I want, without mucking up the actual book. The publisher has kindly sent me the titles as indicated below, and my overall impression is that he has done quite an impressive job in making these rare texts available at a reasonable price.

On each CD-ROM, the book contained on the disc is presented in both HTML and PDF formats, and sometimes as a DOC file. This is a great idea, simply because it allows the end user to decide the manner in which they would like to interface with the information as presented. Each disc is numbered and signed, and when it is loaded in the computer, the registrant's name appears on the main page as the licensed user. This helps to avoid unauthorized copies from being distributed, as they would be easily traced back to the source with the person's name on the disc's table of contents menu! It is a rather easy way to prevent illegal bootlegging, and the publisher here deserves to be reimbursed for his time and effort spent putting together these CD-ROM titles.

The default format for each CD-ROM is HTML, and everything is navigated through the browser window. Everything is well marked, and easily found through an index that appears when the index.htm page is loaded. Concerning the CD-ROM's aesthetics, the layout and design is easy on the eyes and all menu and presentation elements are well laid-out. It was immediately clear that these were not "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am" releases, and if they were, I would not be recommending that others check them out.

Black Flag Media also places some interesting 'Goodies' on each CD-ROM, and it is these bonus features that help to trace the lineage of each item contained therein. The publisher does extensive editing on each title to make them more presentable, and thus, more understandable. Their newest title, which is nearly sold-out, was a CD-ROM edition of the 1996 Peter R. Koenig book, 'Argenteum Astrum: How To Make Your Own Mc OTO.' Consisting of handwritten documents, the Black Flag presentation saw the page size increased and graphics editing was done on the entire book, to improve the readability. Because the book was presented in German (a language which I neither read nor speak), the bonus features for Mc OTO include translations of the German language documents, or instructions on where to locate the English translations. Because I am so interested in authenticity, I was very interested in seeing the original documents; written by Crowley's and Reuss' own hands, the annotated typescripts, and the hand-drawn diagrams of rituals and illustrations that accompany those ritual instructions. From a historical perspective alone, this is worth owning.

Black Flag Media released a single audio CD entitled 'Aleister Crowley: The Wax Cylinder Recordings.' This edition contains the highest quality version of this material available today. This was digitally remastered, restored, and presented in Simulated Stereo at 44Khz. Contained on this disc are the Enochian Calls of the first two Aethyrs, in both Enochian and English, a few short poems, and a two minute excerpt from the Gnostic Catholic Mass. Also, presented as bonus tracks, are four fragments of a ritual. Of course, the best part of this title is to hear Crowley's own voice. Somehow, by hearing the voice of Uncle AL, it helps authenticate and make real, everything that are on these discs. Beyond everything - the magician, the poet, the legend - Aleister Crowley was a man. And, hearing his voice is something that I certainly never expected to hear.

For comparison, Black Flag Media has included the original sound files, as they appear on a couple of alternate and inferior sounding titles. All told there are twenty tracks on this CD. Because these recordings are more than one-hundred years old, and were recorded on the best available recording technology of that era - the wax cylinder - it is a bit of a miracle that anything has survived at all! This disc is more for curiosity's sake, rather than for serious study. However, if one is a completist, then this is something that the completist will want to have for their own magick library.

If you've ever wondered about the Crowley title 'White Stains' (which sounds like it could be the title of the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky story!), and you don't have the $1,500 to $2,500 to pick up an original copy, then check out 'Crowley Classics Volume One,' which is a collection of Crowley's erotic poetry. Also contained on this disc is the equally rare 'Snowdrops From A Curate's Garden,' and 'Scented Garden.' A nice bonus feature on this disc is the Exhibition Catalog from 'The Art of Aleister Crowley,' which contains some nice scans of the artwork that was featured in that exhibition.

Likewise, 'Rough Diamonds Volume One' contains extensive documentation related to the OTO rituals, as well as the Caliphate OTO. In fact, it is the disc with the most content, nearly 3,400 pages in total. For those in the know, the whole episode involving the Caliphate and the lawsuits that sprang forth because of the Caliphate, detracted from Crowley's message, as all nasty lawsuits have a habit of doing. The Caliphate documents that Black Flag has brought into the public light, show a much different side of things, than does the carefully manicured image the current OTO leadership is propagating.

Incidentally, it was the entire matter of the Caliphate OTO which prevented me from becoming a member. Lodge politics got in the way of spiritual ascension and the path of true enlightenment, and I have been able to accomplish much more on my own, anyway. I could care less about issues related to lineages and all of that type of politics, which created some rather nasty in-fighting between the Hymenaeus Beta crowd, and those who really care about freeing themselves from the spiritual bondage of blind allegiance. That being said, however, there is an interesting glimpse into all this intrigue in the form of a document entitled 'The Black Lodge of Santa Cruz,' which was written by Satyr, and is available online as a downloadable PDF file. If the reader has ever wondered about what exactly it is that happens behind those locked Caliphate doors, the reader will be intrigued by the amazing goings-on that Satyr describes in lurid detail. I encourage all interested parties to seek out this document, as it truly is a fascinating read.

Whether the reader is a serious student of magick, or just someone who wants to check out some of the most rare and hard-to-find material of Crowley's - I would encourage all interested parties to investigate the offerings of this most interesting magickal multimedia publishing company.

Frater K .'. D .'. B .'.
Rating = Highest Recommendation

Sources:

The following sources were used in the writing of this review:

Black Flag Media Home Page:

http://www.tobew.com/SR/

Black Flag Media Catalog Page:

http://www.tobew.com/SR/SR2.htm

The Black Lodge of Santa Cruz - Satyr:

http://www.biroco.com/kaos/lodge.pdf

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes.