In this landmark publication, scholar and Thelemic magician James Wasserman, offers an immensely useful instructional guide for keeping a Magical Diary. For his source material he has chosen excerpts from the diaries of two of the most accomplished and influential magicians of the twentieth century, Aleister Crowley, and Charles Stansfeld Jones (Frater Achad). The texts are drawn respectively from Volumes I and III of Crowley’s massive encyclopedia of occultism, The Equinox.

Crowley’s John St. John, first published in 1909, chronicles in exacting moment-by-moment detail his 13-day Great Magical Retirement and was considered by Crowley to be, “... a perfect model of what a magical record should be...“

Achad’s A Master of the Temple first appeared in 1919 and details the remarkable experiences of this one-time heir apparent to Crowley’s magical legacy. Crowley edited the diary and added his own invaluable commentary on the text.

Lucid and luminous, these texts constitute a one-of-a-kind contribution to the body of work Crowley called “Scientific Illuminism.” Intended for use by both student and adept, this introduction to the art of keeping a magical diary blends accessible instruction with examples and clear commentary drawn from Wasserman’s 35 years of experience and scholarship. This seminal source work can become the key to unlocking your own inner temple. 

“This collection is greatly enhanced with the Introduction by James Wasserman. His deeply personal and genuine account of his own experience not only bears witness to the importance of the magical diary, it is a testament to the relevance and continuance of a living tradition.”

From the foreword by J. Daniel Gunther