MOONCHILD by Aleister CrowleyMOONCHILD by Aleister CrowleySamuel Weiser, 1994. (Originally Mandrake Press 1929). ISBN 0-87728-147-5
| This
is a novel by Crowley about a magical war between a white
lodge ( led by Iff ) and a black lodge ( led by Douglas )
over an unborn child, the "moonchild" of the
title, with the action moving between London, Paris and a
villa in Naples. It was written in 1917 in New Orleans. Crowley keeps reappearing, first in the 1960's and now again in the jumble of ideas of the New Age movement. He was a mountaineer with expeditions to K2 and Kangchenjunga, otherwise "Brother Perdurabo" studying under "McGregor" Mathers, chief of the Golden Dawn movement, and also a good writer as this book shows. It switches between being surprising, humourous and stomach churning with Crowley showing his invincible English class prejudice along with the magical themes. The main thread of the story is a Taoist one with the plot twisting and turning nicely around this axis. Supposedly Crowley identifies with Simon Iff and the forces of light but the undercurrent(top) |
of
the book and the not so obvious ending suggest a darker
different conclusion.In any event it is probably a good
idea to read some of the Tao Te Ching to catch the
full flavour of the book. Crowley was persistently hunted by the press
and eventually bankrupted by legal actions but he didn't
do anything to discourage the speculation. He loved to
showboat ( the self-proclaimed Beast 666 ) and wanted the
publicity. However, the relevance of the story for today
is that strands of the New Age movement take the magical
aspects completely seriously which is surely a trend
worth watching. |
{Return to my Home Page and latest recommended book}{Return to other recommended books}