kaos

and compare its text against that of previous editions of the included material in my
possession. After filling a sizable sheet with errata, I left-off the endeavor as entirely
too infuriating an exercise.
I think the perpetrators of this heinous volume should be hauled in chains to some
sufficiently academic institution, there to be publicly stoned, to discourage others from
indulging in such editorial thuggery in the future. And thuggery it was, since I am
under the impression that one can no longer obtain those inexpensive Dover editions
of Magick In Theory and Practice because of their republication of this new and
authoritative volume.
But now you’ve tempted me, and I may have to order this new edition of 418.
Perhaps “lie” is too strong a word, and perhaps I have made much of something itself
no more than a mere ambiguity, that has been cleared-up in this latest edition of The
Vision and the Voice. I don’t know. As I say, I haven’t seen it. David Jones brought to my
attention that the text, as presented in The Equinox (Vol. I, No. V, “Special Supplement”),
did not explicitly state that Crowley sat in the Triangle when the demon was evoked,
though this is the only explanation that makes sense of the account. On p 93, it reads,
when outlining the “precautions for the scribe”:
Now, then, the Seer being entered within the triangle, let him take the Victims and cut
their throats, pouring the blood within the Triangle, and being most heedful that not
one drop fall without the Triangle; or else Choronzon should be able to manifest in the
universe.
And when the sand hath sucked up the blood of the victims, let him recite the Call of
the Æthyr apart secretly as aforesaid. Then will the Vision be revealed, and the Voice
heard.
Now, this is in agreement with what I was told, at least nominally, assuming that “secretly”
implies that he hadn’t left the triangle after murdering the hapless pigeons (one must
wonder what the Seer did with the knife after he was through. I can’t imagine a sane
operator under the circumstances allowing the medium to retain any sharp objects
whatsoever). But then on the page following, a parenthetical remark is inserted which
states: “Here the Spirit simulated the voice of Frater P., which also appeared to come
from his station and not from the triangle.” This seems to conflict with the idea that
Crowley was himself corporeally in the Triangle at that time, don’t you think? As I say,
if they’ve faithfully reproduced the diagram I’ve seen from the notebook, this ambiguity
should be cleared up straight away, since that drawing clearly showed the Seer’s station
to be in the Triangle of Art, and doubtless the editors of this latest edition have either
amended the original text, or at least noted this inconsistency.
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