Regardie Again

[Always Wondering]

I can't figure him out.
If I understand correctly. . .

He worked for Crowley and admired him.
Crowley didn't think much of him?
He rejected Liber AL vel Legis.
Used The Lords Prayer much.
Gained much admiration from DuQuette.
Wrote Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment then later revised it without Christain tones to the One Year Manual:Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment.
Sterilized The Equinox into Gems.

I like him. His body work is especially helpful for me. I'm one of those that has to learn to be in my body more and I will probably get the One Year Manual in case I missed anything in some of his other work. It hasn't become much of a collectors item as the original, so I can afford it. And I am curious as to why he would use 12 steps.


Any insights into the man?


AW

 

[Aeon418]

He worked for Crowley and admired him.

But after they split he completely rejected Crowley. It was only in later years that he started to reevaluate his attitude towards him. (I believe Regardie's, "The Eye in the Triangle" has recently been republished. If you want the mature Regardie's perspective it's worth a read.)

Crowley didn't think much of him?

I think Crowley thought that the young Israel Regardie hadn't really seen enough of life. He was rather timid and sexually repressed when he first met Crowley.

He rejected Liber AL vel Legis.

Not at all. Regardie's introduction to the now out of print version of, The Law is for all, shows how important he thought it was.

Used The Lords Prayer much.

No big deal. The closing lines are pure Qabalism and I very much doubt his invocation was addressed to the Christian god. By comparrison Crowley constantly recited verses from the Koran during his Enochian vision work in the Sahara, despite the fact that he didn't believe in the existence of Allah.

Gained much admiration from DuQuette.

Many of the early American Thelemites knew Regardie.

Wrote Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment then later revised it without Christain tones to the One Year Manual:Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment.

I don't own a copy anymore, but I remember him saying something about being pressured into adopting a Christian theme for sales purposes. It was later that he realised that it was a mistake, and he didn't particularly like the heavy Christian tone anyway.
(I still wonder why he didn't swap the Rose Cross ritual for the LBRP in the re-write.)

Sterilized The Equinox into Gems.

Condensed might be closer to the mark.

And I am curious as to why he would use 12 steps.

I don't know. Maybe he just thought it was a good way to present a set of useful techniques.

 

[Always Wondering]

But after they split he completely rejected Crowley. It was only in later years that he started to reevaluate his attitude towards him. (I believe Regardie's, "The Eye in the Triangle" has recently been republished. If you want the mature Regardie's perspective it's worth a read.)


Not at all. Regardie's introduction to the now out of print version of, The Law is for all, shows how important he thought it was.

All I can find is this without spending $800.00

"It really makes little difference in the long run whether The Book of the Law was dictated to [Crowley] by preterhuman intelligence named Aiwass or whether it stemmed from the creative deeps of Aleister Crowley. The book was written. And he became the mouthpiece for the Zeitgeist, accurately expressing the intrinsic nature of our time as no one else has done to date." --Israel Regardie 1970 (Introduction to The Law Is for All)

Maybe I will look for The Eye in the Triangle.

I don't own a copy anymore, but I remember him saying something about being pressured into adopting a Christian theme for sales purposes. It was later that he realised that it was a mistake, and he didn't particularly like the heavy Christian tone anyway.

I actually found the preface in Google Books and that is exactly what he said.

AW

 

[Barleywine]

Interesting topic, thanks for posting this. When I first encountered Regardie in the 1970s after immersing myself in Aleister Crowley's willfully (and some might say perversely) provocative rogue attitude for several years, I found him pedantic and a bit stuffy by comparison (as most anyone would seem). But I've since revised my opinion. His compilation, "The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic," published in hardcover by Falcon Press in the early '80s, is one of the prizes of my library (although I'm not really qualified to judge how faithfully he rendered the GD material, or how much personal bias crept in). I don't have much else by him: "The Eye in the Triangle," "The Tree of Life," "What You Should Know About the Golden Dawn," the booklet "How to Make and Use Talismans," and somewhere along the line I read "A Garden of Pomegranates" and "The Middle Pillar." I haven't re-read any of them in decades but now think I'll do so.

 

[Aeon418]

All I can find is this without spending $800.00

The One Year Manual: Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment.
http://www.amazon.com/One-Year-Manu...=1341004878&sr=1-1&keywords=one+year+regardie
[This is the same edition I used to own.]

Maybe I will look for The Eye in the Triangle.

The Eye in the Triangle.
http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Triangle-...04929&sr=1-1&keywords=the+eye+in+the+triangle

 

[Always Wondering]

I was refering to The Law is For All

http://www.amazon.com/The-Law-For-All-Authorized/dp/0972658386

And okay I was slightly exaggerating. There is only one for $800.00. Should have known better than to try that with you.

I will get the other two, and for a song, it seems.


AW

 

[Always Wondering]

Interesting topic, thanks for posting this. When I first encountered Regardie in the 1970s after immersing myself in Aleister Crowley's willfully (and some might say perversely) provocative rogue attitude for several years, I found him pedantic and a bit stuffy by comparison (as most anyone would seem). But I've since revised my opinion. His compilation, "The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic," published in hardcover by Falcon Press in the early '80s, is one of the prizes of my library (although I'm not really qualified to judge how faithfully he rendered the GD material, or how much personal bias crept in). I don't have much else by him: "The Eye in the Triangle," "The Tree of Life," "What You Should Know About the Golden Dawn," the booklet "How to Make and Use Talismans," and somewhere along the line I read "A Garden of Pomegranates" and "The Middle Pillar." I haven't re-read any of them in decades but now think I'll do so.

I like The Middle Pillar. I've taken it out recently just for brushing up on the art of relaxation, and his take on the Chakras. A Garden of Pomegranates has been very helpful for understanding The Paths.

AW

 

[Aeon418]

I was refering to The Law is For All

Ooops. Sorry.

 

[ravenest]

Any insights into the man?


AW

I like him. I think his work has merit and I think it is balanced. He probably did lead a sheltered life before A.C. That relationship would heave helped but then everything was modified back to balance , as I see it, by his work and study in psycholgy, psychiatry and work on himself. Something I am not sure Crowley was 'modified' by.

I recommend anyone wanting to get seriously into magick to compliment their own studies with those paths as well.

He blended the two quiet well, but, I believe, pulled his head in somewhat after seeing what became of Wilhelm Reich.

 

[Aeon418]

He probably did lead a sheltered life before A.C. That relationship would heave helped

I think life with Crowley was sometimes like shock therapy for the repressed Regardie.

In Regardie's own words he was "timid and callow and naive" when he first met Crowley in 1928. He also suffered with bouts of anxiety because he was afraid that Crowley would make some sort of homosexual advance towards him. (He never did.) And to top it Regardie indulged in quite a bit of projection onto the "guru". I think Crowley saw it too and occasionally tried to shock Regardie out of his projections. One of the most famous examples was where Regardie, Crowley, and his current Scarlet Woman (I can't remember her name at the moment.) were having a rather nice formal meal. Regardie was there worrying about which knife and fork to use and other such silly things. But as the meal ended Crowley and the Scarlet Woman started "getting it on" right in front of a horrified Regardie. Years later he said he wouldn't have battered an eye lash. In fact he would probably have poured himself a drink and watched the show. But at the time he said he just staggered out of the room in a daze. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.