EDGE
OF THE CIRCLE BOOKS
IS
PROUD TO PRESENT
THE
FOLLOWING NEW TITLES:
THE
BOOK OF THOTH:
Egyptian
Tarot
By
Aleister Crowley
(Hardcover)
304 pages
78
Illustrations and color plates
Publisher:
Weiser Books, September 22, 2017
List
Price: $60.00
FROM
THE PUBLISHER:
"If
any book in the world deserves to be enshrined in hardcover
immortality it is Aleister Crowley's magnum opus and magical
time-capsule, The Book of Thoth. The Weiser facsimile edition is
breathtakingly magnificent." --Lon
Milo DuQuette, Author of Understanding
Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot
"This
edition of The Book of Thoth, Crowley’s masterpiece on the Tarot,
is as well-constructed and weighty as its subject matter, with
full-color images as vivid as the original. It is an exceptional
edition of a controversial and critical work in the history of modern
Tarot that eloquently unravels the depths of this esoteric subject."
--Colin Campbell, Author of Of the Arte Goetia, The Magic Seal of
Dr. John Dee, and A
Concordance to the Holy Books of Thelema
Aleister
Crowley’s The Book of Thoth endures as one of the most definitive
volumes on the tarot ever written. This classic text describes the
philosophy and use of Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot, a deck designed
by Crowley and painted by Lady Frieda Harris. The Thoth Tarot has
become one of the bestselling tarot decks in the world. It is also
one of the most original interpretations of the tarot, incorporating
astrological, numerological, Egyptian, and Qabalistic symbolism.
While there are many other useful guides to this famous tarot deck,
there are no others that explain the deck in its designer's own
words.
This
new facsimile edition of The Book of Thoth is a faithful
reproduction of the Samuel Weiser Inc. 1969 edition, which in turn
was a facsimile of the original O.T.O. edition printed in 1944. The
text is digitally restored, printed on a heavy, coated stock, and
features revised color plates and black and white illustrations of
the Thoth Tarot based on new photography of the original art,
courtesy of the O.T.O. and The Warburg Institute. The book text block
is smyth sewn, with a rounded back, and headbands. Printed endpaper
reproduces the Egyptian motif from the board covers of the 1944
edition. The cover is quality cloth over boards with gold stamping on
the spine, and is wrapped with a jacket which again features updated
art while matching the original design. Weiser Books takes pride in
the release of this new hardcover reprint on the event of our 60th
anniversary in publishing.
“The
Book of Thoth is an indispensable companion to the deck and the most
authoritative and reliable guide to the Tarot in the New Aeon.”
—Hymenaeus Beta, Frater Superior, O.T.O.
Aleister
Crowley is one of the most renowned, controversial, and remarkable
figures to emerge from the Western Occult Revival era of the late
19th and early 20th centuries. His tradition lives on as his books
remain in print and popular, while the esoteric school he
founded—Ordo Templi Orientis, or O.T.O.—continues as a going
concern today, with lodges to be found around the world.
PLANTS
OF THE DEVIL
by
Corinne Boyer
Publisher:
Three Hands Press
Trade
paperback with color cover, limited standard hardcover with color
dust jacket, limited to 1,000 copies;
176
pages, printed offset litho on heavy stock.
List
Price: $19.50
FROM
THE PUBLISHER:
 |
| Click to enlarge:original illustration by Marzena Ablewska |
Plants
of the Devil examines the history and magic of herbs associated with
Satan and his minions, delving into the folklore of ancient Europe
and the British Isles. Included in the book are the diabolical
concepts of the Wild Adversary and the Devil’s Garden, Temptation,
plants that harm and curse such as Blackberry, Stinging Nettle, Briar
Rose, and Thistle, Poisonous Plants, herbs of evil omen, and herbs
for protection, or 'Plants to keep the Dark Prince at bay.' The book
will be of great interest to students of the occult, witchcraft, and
plant folklore. The book is illustrated throughout with original
illustrations of Marzena
Ablewska, known for her evocative characterizations of plants and
the sinister feminine.
EAST
ANGLIAN WITCHES AND WIZARDS
By
Michael Howard
Series:
Witchcraft of the British Isles
Trade
Paperback Edition, Limited to 2,000 copies. 185 pages
Publisher:
Three Hands Press - July 2017
List
Price: $19.95
FROM
THE PUBLISHER:
In
1643 several men and women appeared in court at Chelmsford, Essex,
charged with practicing the curious combination of ‘conjuration,
magic and lechery’. The chief witness was a servant woman, Martha
Hurrell, who claimed that she and a group of other people met
regularly in various country houses to practice magic, together with
a ‘conjuror’ or summoner of spirits described as a man ‘in
black apparel with brown hair and a blackish beard.’ She was
carried into the hall where the conjuror and other men ‘had the use
of her body.’ The man in black ‘took up their coats’ and the
women lay on top of him, saying afterwards that ‘he did them some
good’. Hurrell also described how the group conjured up spirits by
drawing a circle on the floor in their master’s hall and burning
three candles, after which the group feasted and danced to the music
of a fiddler. These rites, according to Hurrell, were ‘all of high
and low order mingled together.’
As
much as it was a place of witchcraft, East Anglia also produced some
of the more outspoken writers and authorities on ‘The Damned Art’.
The sixteenth century Essex lawyer William Smith described the figure
of the witch as ‘being deluded by a league made with the Devil
through his persuasion and juggling and who thinkest she can design
what manner of things so ever…’ This ‘manner of things’
according to Smith included the raising of storms to destroy crops
and fruit trees and to be carried to another place by her familiar
spirit who took animal form as a pig, calf or goat. Once at this
‘another place’ Smith said the witch spent the night hours
‘playing, sporting, banqueting, dalliance and diverse other
devilish lusts and lewd disports…’ This was a reference to the
so-called Witches Sabbath, a ritual more usually found in European
accounts of witchcraft.
In
his fourth book in the Witchcraft of the British Isles series,
Michael Howard examines the Craft of East Anglia, one of the richest
areas of historical witchcraft and folk magic in England. From the
private witch of William the Conqueror to the cunning men and women
of the marshes and fens, to the Toad-witches and the appalling deeds
of the witch-finders, the book is a trove of historical information
on the actual folk magical practices of East Anglia. Also examined
are the spirits of locality, such as Old Shuck, the spectral black
dog known to haunt country lanes, and a special chapter on Imps and
Familiars.
About
the Author:
Michael
Howard (1948-2015) was an Anglo-Irish writer, researcher, magazine
publisher and editor, and member of the Folklore Society. As a writer
and editor, his career began in 1974 when he launched the esoteric
magazine Spectrum. This ceased publication after ten issues in 1976,
when he inaugurated the witchcraft magazine The Cauldron, which was
published for 39 years. In the early 1970s he also began contributing
feature articles and book reviews to the US magazine Fate and the
British astrological journal Prediction. In 1975, his first book on
candle magic was published. Since then he has written forty books on
the runes, folklore, herbal remedies, faerie lore, traditional
witchcraft, Earth Mysteries and the Luciferian tradition. He has also
edited books by E.W. Liddell on the Pickingill Craft, and by Evan
John Jones on the Robert Cochrane tradition.
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