Well written and I agree on many fronts, Grant's work was certainly important and transformative to modern streams of magic that have run downstream from the Golden Dawn and Thelema. Having read and re-read his Typhonian Trilogy's twice now, I can say I have a rather nuanced opinion of his contributions. Personally I think he caused a lot of damage which has survived into the modern day, most especially in the dark-fluff streams of the LHP. Grant's syncretism was way too open and it lead in many instances to confusing word and number soup. His gematria often doesn't add up, and the leaps he makes are often fantastical and bewildering. You mention Nightside of Eden, as everyone who comments on Grant always does, probably being his most popular work, few ever tackle Outside the Circles of Time or Outer Gateways. Equally as important, although equally as wild in tone and assertions. My primary issue with Nightside is that Grant deliberately and wilfully ignores fully half of Liber 231, which was the primary inspiration for the book. He only presents half of the information and fails to explain the context to his readers. As a result, I find that all of his output suffers the same sly cherry picking of facts and ideas to weave a narrative which, ultimately, only existed in his own imagination, only to present these ideas as if they have any meaning or relevance, mundane or magical, to his readers.
On the flip side, his support for Spare and in propagating his art and writing absolutely contributed to the development of Chaos Magic (which unfortunately largely missed the point Spare was trying to make). Whatever your opinion of CM may be, we can't avoid that it was a vitalising and transformative phase of modern occulture which was desperately needed at the time. I would also add that Grant's conceptualisation of Spirits as independent intelligences was on point, and for that I am grateful, even if a lot of his other writings are more psychological in nature.
You write that Grant's work opened up the realm of Dreams to magic, despite dream magic being very well accounted for in the historical record, not only in the medieval grimoires, but as far back as the Greek Magical Papyri (and presumably much earlier). He may have popularised it, but blending hammer horror, aliens and Lovecraft into something doesn't really give it much more weight in my opinion. It's ultimately a spooky gloss over a subject that very few people actually understood during Grant's time. Creative and powerful to Grant himself, no doubt, yes. But what we should focus on is the technique of what he was doing, not the output he created, and then only if we are interested in experiencing a form of mysticism which functions on a form of psychological flooding whereby all things become meaningful and a direct communication with the divine.
Thank you for the well considered and thoughtful article.
Now that’s a comment. Thanks for that. I think you may have just explained to me why I said I’m not a huge fan of his actual writing but couldn’t really articulate why.
The Mauve Zone is a direct accessible realm that you can train yourself to enter through yoga nidra. I wish I could share an infographic I made years ago about it about it but essentially the mauve zone is a creative liminal destination accessible by artists and occultists alike. It’s an endless source of inspiration. Lots of artists’ work showcases the mauve zone. Tim Burton, David Lynch, Death Grips, Sabbath, once you are familiar with the imagery you see it everywhere.
So much of this is rooted in aesthetics and consumption. Is anyone interested in who KG's students really were and what exactly happened to all of them?
"This is a terrible defect in your outlook on life; you cannot be content with the simplicity of reality and fact; you have to go off into a pipe-dream."
- Crowley to Kenneth Grant
'The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. The refusal to see ourselves as we are develops a distaste for facts and cold logic. There is no hope for the frustrated in the actual and the possible. Salvation can come to them only from the miraculous, which seeps through a crack in the iron wall of inexorable reality. They ask to be deceived. What Stresemann said of the Germans is true of the frustrated in general: "[They] pray not only for [their] daily bread, but also for [their] daily illusion." The rule seems to be that those who find difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led.'
I’m not even a big KG person and I’m decidedly NOT a Crowley person and I think Thelema is retarded. What I do think Grant highlighted is a genuine state of consciousness. It’s not vibes, there is an ontology to what I’m talking about it’s just more than I can articulate with 4 little kids running circles around me while I’m writing to you. I’ll probably write about it myself at some point. I am not a KG Stan but I do think he incidentally opened a door to a very real thing even if his exploration of it was lacking. Pioneers rarely explore what they find as deep as people who follow after.
No one ever seems that curious as to what happened to all of KG's many students and adherents from back in the day. This lack of curiosity and interest I find fascinatng.
I didn't get involved in this discussion. It seemed like you guys were having a blast on your own, but I am curious...what did happen to his students and adherents from back in the day? I mean, other than being fairly influential on a slew of modern LHP traditions?
No clue, frankly I am uninterested in him but the fact that he named a very real state of consciousness, I’d say the mauve zone is like the Bardo of sleep, if Death is the Bardo of reality. A broken clock is right twice a day, that’s how I view all different sort of occultists and their followers. I follow no one, I am interested in what all have to say though.
Everybody says well he just made it up, it was all in his head but isnt that how all magic starts? He himself said he was creating a mythos. There were also other people around the world like bertiaux, nema, and others picking up on the same thing, and either David Lynch read the Typhonian Trilogies or he was picking up the same stuff because Twin Peaks looks like it came out of Grants head. The Tunnels of Set, the expantion on the Qliphoth, the Mauve Zone are all great additions to modern magic in my opinion.
I'm not a fan of Grant's work myself. I feel the left hand path can have some merit. That building up of self can be a worthy thing. Lovecraft is an odd way to go. But hey... Ia! Ia! Cthulu Ftaghn!
It's just one of those things, ya know? If you're really interested in the Tunnels of Set, read Nightside of Eden. It'll be referenced in later works. Overall, I feel like he's more important for his contributions beyond just his writing.
Well written and I agree on many fronts, Grant's work was certainly important and transformative to modern streams of magic that have run downstream from the Golden Dawn and Thelema. Having read and re-read his Typhonian Trilogy's twice now, I can say I have a rather nuanced opinion of his contributions. Personally I think he caused a lot of damage which has survived into the modern day, most especially in the dark-fluff streams of the LHP. Grant's syncretism was way too open and it lead in many instances to confusing word and number soup. His gematria often doesn't add up, and the leaps he makes are often fantastical and bewildering. You mention Nightside of Eden, as everyone who comments on Grant always does, probably being his most popular work, few ever tackle Outside the Circles of Time or Outer Gateways. Equally as important, although equally as wild in tone and assertions. My primary issue with Nightside is that Grant deliberately and wilfully ignores fully half of Liber 231, which was the primary inspiration for the book. He only presents half of the information and fails to explain the context to his readers. As a result, I find that all of his output suffers the same sly cherry picking of facts and ideas to weave a narrative which, ultimately, only existed in his own imagination, only to present these ideas as if they have any meaning or relevance, mundane or magical, to his readers.
On the flip side, his support for Spare and in propagating his art and writing absolutely contributed to the development of Chaos Magic (which unfortunately largely missed the point Spare was trying to make). Whatever your opinion of CM may be, we can't avoid that it was a vitalising and transformative phase of modern occulture which was desperately needed at the time. I would also add that Grant's conceptualisation of Spirits as independent intelligences was on point, and for that I am grateful, even if a lot of his other writings are more psychological in nature.
You write that Grant's work opened up the realm of Dreams to magic, despite dream magic being very well accounted for in the historical record, not only in the medieval grimoires, but as far back as the Greek Magical Papyri (and presumably much earlier). He may have popularised it, but blending hammer horror, aliens and Lovecraft into something doesn't really give it much more weight in my opinion. It's ultimately a spooky gloss over a subject that very few people actually understood during Grant's time. Creative and powerful to Grant himself, no doubt, yes. But what we should focus on is the technique of what he was doing, not the output he created, and then only if we are interested in experiencing a form of mysticism which functions on a form of psychological flooding whereby all things become meaningful and a direct communication with the divine.
Thank you for the well considered and thoughtful article.
Now that’s a comment. Thanks for that. I think you may have just explained to me why I said I’m not a huge fan of his actual writing but couldn’t really articulate why.
His work with the Mauve Zone changed my life fundamentally.
What about it did you find significant?
The Mauve Zone is a direct accessible realm that you can train yourself to enter through yoga nidra. I wish I could share an infographic I made years ago about it about it but essentially the mauve zone is a creative liminal destination accessible by artists and occultists alike. It’s an endless source of inspiration. Lots of artists’ work showcases the mauve zone. Tim Burton, David Lynch, Death Grips, Sabbath, once you are familiar with the imagery you see it everywhere.
So much of this is rooted in aesthetics and consumption. Is anyone interested in who KG's students really were and what exactly happened to all of them?
"This is a terrible defect in your outlook on life; you cannot be content with the simplicity of reality and fact; you have to go off into a pipe-dream."
- Crowley to Kenneth Grant
'The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. The refusal to see ourselves as we are develops a distaste for facts and cold logic. There is no hope for the frustrated in the actual and the possible. Salvation can come to them only from the miraculous, which seeps through a crack in the iron wall of inexorable reality. They ask to be deceived. What Stresemann said of the Germans is true of the frustrated in general: "[They] pray not only for [their] daily bread, but also for [their] daily illusion." The rule seems to be that those who find difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led.'
- Eric Hoffer
Incidentally I found the zone on my own without even knowing about Grant.
I’m not even a big KG person and I’m decidedly NOT a Crowley person and I think Thelema is retarded. What I do think Grant highlighted is a genuine state of consciousness. It’s not vibes, there is an ontology to what I’m talking about it’s just more than I can articulate with 4 little kids running circles around me while I’m writing to you. I’ll probably write about it myself at some point. I am not a KG Stan but I do think he incidentally opened a door to a very real thing even if his exploration of it was lacking. Pioneers rarely explore what they find as deep as people who follow after.
No one ever seems that curious as to what happened to all of KG's many students and adherents from back in the day. This lack of curiosity and interest I find fascinatng.
I didn't get involved in this discussion. It seemed like you guys were having a blast on your own, but I am curious...what did happen to his students and adherents from back in the day? I mean, other than being fairly influential on a slew of modern LHP traditions?
No clue, frankly I am uninterested in him but the fact that he named a very real state of consciousness, I’d say the mauve zone is like the Bardo of sleep, if Death is the Bardo of reality. A broken clock is right twice a day, that’s how I view all different sort of occultists and their followers. I follow no one, I am interested in what all have to say though.
Everybody says well he just made it up, it was all in his head but isnt that how all magic starts? He himself said he was creating a mythos. There were also other people around the world like bertiaux, nema, and others picking up on the same thing, and either David Lynch read the Typhonian Trilogies or he was picking up the same stuff because Twin Peaks looks like it came out of Grants head. The Tunnels of Set, the expantion on the Qliphoth, the Mauve Zone are all great additions to modern magic in my opinion.
The mauve zone is a real place 10000 percent
I'm not a fan of Grant's work myself. I feel the left hand path can have some merit. That building up of self can be a worthy thing. Lovecraft is an odd way to go. But hey... Ia! Ia! Cthulu Ftaghn!
I've been considering trying to read him for a very long time! Still not sure I'm going to embark upon that journey...
It's just one of those things, ya know? If you're really interested in the Tunnels of Set, read Nightside of Eden. It'll be referenced in later works. Overall, I feel like he's more important for his contributions beyond just his writing.