Visions & Voices

Barleywine

Thanks for posting Aeon, I'd not heard of this one. I've read V&V in the Regardie edition of Gems of the Equinox, though not gotten much past playing "spot the tarot card".

I have "Gems" too, Grigori. My brother has the full set of Weiser's Equinox reprint from the 1970s (advertisements and all), stashed away in a box somewhere, and he never looks at it. But he will never part with it either, nor with his elegant leather-bound edtion of Dee's "Actions with Spirits." Pity . . .

Regarding Regardie (pardon the alliteration :)), I think he did the world a service by paring down the sprawling (and relatively unavailable) set into a manageable length, and I haven't noticed much if any duplication between "Gems" and the other volumes of Crowley's writing I have (but I haven't really been looking). Does anyone know if The Vision and the Voice was substantially edited by Regardie? He always struck me as the "Moon" to Crowley's "Sun," (that is, "reflected light"), so I can't imagine he meddled with the text too strenuously. Not to put down Regardie, I've appreciated him as an explicator and a compiler, and I did get some value out of his original writing in the early going.

ETA: I do wish there was more of Crowley's poetry in it, though. That was his other calling. I understand there is a compilation of it out there somewhere.
 

Aeon418

Does anyone know if The Vision and the Voice was substantially edited by Regardie?
I can't check at the moment, but I'm quite sure that the version of V&V printed in Gems is identical to the one that originally appeared in The Equinox. I seriously doubt Regardie would have altered the text anyway.

The latest version edited by Hymenaeus Beta under the title, The Vision and the Voice and other papers, includes Crowley's notes.

The only thing that Regardie appears to have tampered with in 'Gems' is Liber XXV The Star Ruby. For some reason he edited together the Book of Lies and Magick versions of the ritual. I have no idea why he did that though. :confused:
 

Aeon418

Yes, that looks like the one I've seen before.
I've got the 3 volume hardback facsimile set published by the Yogi Publication Society. Most of it is poetry, but volume 2 contains rare essays that Crowley references frequently like Berashith, Science and Buddhism, Time, etc.
 

Aeon418

Does anyone know if The Vision and the Voice was substantially edited by Regardie?
After comparing the 'Gems' version to the one printed in The Equinox I(5) I am pretty sure they are identical.

One minor failing common to both versions is the lack of Enochian aethyr names. The names of the aethyrs often influence the content of the visions.
For example the first (30th) aethyr, TEX, is spelt with the Enochian letters: gisg, graph, pal. These letters correspond to Caput Draconis/II The Priestess, Virgo/IX The Hermit, Earth/XXI The Universe.

Lift up your heads, O Houses of Eternity: for my Father goeth forth to judge the World.
IX The Hermit is the Father(Yod) who 'goeth' forth to judge Atu XXI.

for my Father goeth forth to seek a spouse to replace her who is fallen and defiled.
Again the The Hermit-Yod/Father 'goeth'. He seeks a spouse - the purity of The Priestess - to replace her who is fallen and defiled.
This theme plays out throughout the entire vision where a new framework is unvelied in Malkuth in Yetzirah.
 

Owl Tarot

I know this is a kinda old thread, but I would like to know what your overall opinion about the book is Aeon, since it grabbed my attention and I am considering going for it if it's a good read!
 

Aeon418

It's a very good read. :)

As you would expect the book contains the complete text of Crowley's, Liber 418. But Eshelman has divided each vision into sections so that his own commentary can be added in between. (The text of the visions and the commentary are printed in different typefaces. This is handy if you just want to read the vision on it's own.)

Eshelman's commentary is both illuminating and insightful. It combines detailed qabalistic interpretation of the visions along with an astrological analysis of factors that may have influenced the content of the visions. I will be the first to admit that astrology is not my favourite subject, but I still got something out of Eshelman's astrological perspectives. The qabalistic commentary was the main hook for me though. This is aided by placing it within a particular interpretive framework that assigns each of the 30 visions to one of the sephiroth on the Tree of Life in the worlds of Yetzirah, Briah, and Atziluth.

The introductory chapters are good and cover a wide range of Qabalistic, Astrological, and Thelemic material that is designed to get the reader 'up to speed'. But even if you are fluent with this stuff I would advise you not to skip it. There's also a useful glossary at the back.

Another good point is that Eshelman suggests how to 'work' with the book by using the visions as a kind of guided visualization. Personally I found this very rewarding and would recommend it. But this does make the book a longer read, so take it or leave it.

I should also add that this is, in places, a fairly dense work and does make some demands on the reader. It's not your typical Lon Milo DuQuette primer. It's more or less in the same bracket as the books by J. Daniel Gunther.
 

Owl Tarot

It's 2 in 1 deal for me then. I only have Liber 418 in digital form, which is not how I enjoy reading such a deep text anyway. Guided visualizations I have no problem with personally, and added commentary is a nice bonus to work with, so I'm most likely going for it! By the time I get it I will see to it that other books I'm currently working with are over so that I can work with it alone until I finish it.
 

Aeon418

Best of luck to you if you should decide to take a plunge into the visions. It's wild ride. :)

Now that the Book of the Law study has ended Liber 418 may be a worthy replacement. After all it is a major source of symbolism for the Thoth Tarot. I'm fairly sure there would be few people interested. But it would probably need the 'green light' from Grigori first.