J. Daniel Gunther

The Visions of the Pylons documents a series of magical operations undertaken in the 1970s by Daniel Gunther with the scribal assistance of Richard Gernon. Although the work was premised on the names and sequences supplied in a series of ancient Egyptian texts regarding the Duant ("nether sky"), the visionary results recorded here are very much in line with the conventions of modern hermetic occultism. Moreover, on multiple occasions the guardians, angels, or other speakers manifest a more forthright acceptance and declaration of the Law of Thelema than the human operator demonstrates (N.B. 37 including footnote 14).

In his 21st-century editorial framing, Gunther is at some pains to bracket the immature perspective he held as an initiate of A.'.A.'. "not yet fully a Philosophus" (129). He supplies a lot of explanatory notes, furnishing context as well as esoteric correspondences that might be lost on a lay reader. It is clear from the content that the magician was well immersed in Aleister Crowley's doctrinal writings, perhaps in some respects more than the later editor. For example, when the seer relates, "Thus it is said, Thou must slay the serpent," the editor opines that it "probably refers to the Hindu legend wherein Krishna commands Arjuna to kill the snake Ashvasena" (109). It seems more likely to me, though, that the allusion was to Crowley's Magick, where he cautions the practitioner thus:

"When you have killed the snake you can use its skin, but as long as it is alive and free, you are in danger. And unfortunately the ego-idea, which is the real snake, can throw itself into a multitude of forms, each clothed in the most brilliant dress." (Magick, 71)

Although the text is presented as "a magical record," there has been a curious editorial decision to assemble the visions in non-chronological order. Instead, they progress through the pylons in their given numbered sequence. In most instances, this does result in a chronological advance, but the "Second Skry" of Pylon Five is placed before the visions obtained for Pylon Six, both of which were in fact earlier operations. Gunther's editorial remarks make it clear that he came to the Pylons of the Duant with preconceptions about their relationship to the qabalistic sephiroth. Even if those preconceptions had to be revised (as they were) there is still a rigid adherence to the ascending sephirothic pattern. Editorial speculation about "a distinct analogy to the scientific theory of 'wormholes,' a hypothetical gateway through spacetime" is not only redolent of the confused effusions of Kenneth Grant, it comes worryingly close to the perspective of the "learned Qabalist" whom Crowley mocks for misunderstanding tantamount to having "maintained that a cat was a creature constructed by placing the letters C.A.T. in that order" (Magick, 141).

The effort to understand the Pylons in qabalistic terms results in an attractive set of color plates diagramming their relationship to the Tree of Life (between 144 and 145). These are similar to analytical work performed by Crowley on his own Liber CDXVIII, and reproduced in the 1998 O.T.O. edition of The Vision & the Voice with Commentary and Other Papers (Equinox IV:2, figures 15-17). Generally the format of The Visions of the Pylons exhibits direct modeling on Liber CDXVIII, although the content of Gunther's visions is understandably less exalted, with less numinosity and insight than even the early Mexican visions of Crowley's work in the Enochian Aires. Rather than the "Class A B" imprimatur of Crowley's book, The Visions of the Pylons is appropriately issued in Class C, which A.'.A.'. literature uses to designate "matter which is to be regarded rather as suggestive than anything else" (Magick, 458).

A set of appendices affords full procedural details for the method used in obtaining these visions. Of particular interest is the novel eucharist premised on ancient Egyptian sources and used as a magical engine for the work. This material stands as a clear exhortation and set of tools for further magicians to renew and extend the experimentation documented in this book. After all, Gunther himself only obtained visions for the first seven of twelve Pylons, and he repeatedly expresses his dissatisfaction with the integrity of his results. It may be that a complete exploration of the Duant on these lines would reflect attainment comparable to the full ascent to LIL recounted in The Vision & the Voice, and thus involve initiation to the grade of a Master of the Temple.

This edition also features a laudatory introduction from Italian O.T.O. Grandmaster Phanes, an index by subject matter, and frequent black-and-white illustrations and diagrams. It is as materially handsome as one could wish, and as one might have come to expect from Studio 31 book design.… (mais)

This sequel volume to Initiation in the Aeon of the Child reveals the larger structure of the "Inward Journey" to which it supplies the second and third parts. The first part, in the earlier book, was concerned with the Outer Order of A.'.A.'., treating themes considered in terms of the qabalistic paths in the lower reaches of the Tree of Life. In the second part, which is The Angel & the Abyss (constituting most of the second book), Gunther applies himself to concerns of the Inner Order, as bracketed by the two critical tasks by which aspirants are admitted to and matriculated from its ranks. These are the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel and the Adventure of the Abyss. In the third part, The Hieroglyphic Triad, the ultimate three paths that integrate the supernal triad (to which the grades of the Third Order are attributed) are treated in a set of single-page diagrams with cryptic text.

The book features a glowing introduction from O.T.O. Australian Grand Master Shiva X°. Throughout the body text, there are frequent illustrations pertinent to the symbols and history under discussion. The end matter features several appendices: one on Egyptian writing, one on the Thelemic sacred text Liber Trigrammaton, and finally the "Class D" (official ritual) paper on the ceremonial robes of the Outer Order. This last item features a new set of photo illustrations to replace the drawings that were in the 1996 edition in The Equinox (Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers).

As in the prior volume, Gunther takes a conservative approach to Crowley's doctrines. Here, though, he makes bolder to contradict the common reception of those doctrines, and he is actually dismissive of some of Crowley's earlier writings when he finds them superseded by later texts which differ in their understanding. Gunther is most decidedly not among those who believe Crowley to have overshot his mark in 1909 (a perspective variously represented by John Symonds and Alex Owen among others), and he points up the special conditions of the Cefalu period as cause for caution regarding Crowley's output of that time, while he emphasizes the late writings of Magick Without Tears as a doctrinal standard. Throughout the book, there are useful observations on hermeneutic method, and applications of these to the Holy Books of Thelema, The Vision & the Voice, and the images of the Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot.

In common with Gunther's earlier book and with other recent expositors of the A.'.A.'. system, this work emphasizes conceptual continuity with Jungian psychology. Despite my estimation of Jung as an adept, I feel like Gunther's references to "Archetypal perspective" tend to give too much credit to psychological theory for wisdom that was already demonstrated in Crowley's occult works. Still, Gunther does criticize Jung for selling short the conscious ambitions of traditional alchemists.

The Angel & the Abyss employs an unusual quantity of analysis rooted in the history of religion, when compared to other books professing to address Crowley's scriptures and initiatory processes. On the whole, Gunther emphasizes the conceptual distinctions between Thelema and historical religions, and he does an admirable job of calling out the redeployment of symbolic material from Egyptian, medieval Christian, and Asian mystical sources.

I was impressed, but not overwhelmed, with the previous part of this work. Seeing it now as a completed whole, I think it fully justifies its imprimatur, and it can be considered essential reading for those investigating the system of A.'.A.'., and valuable for Thelemites in general.… (mais)

This book is an overdue contribution from a man who has had a deep but quiet influence on the practice and development of Thelemic magick. It is not directed toward the merely curious but uninformed; it is rather aimed at sincere aspirants who already have some acquaintance with the nature and importance of Thelema.

Gunther is highly conservative in his exposition, stalwartly defending two of Crowley's most fragile and difficult positions: the khabs and khu readings of Liber Legis I:8-9, and the "heh-tzaddi switch" interpretation of I:57. In the case of the former, he nearly persuades me. His philology certainly takes advantage of more knowledge than Crowley could muster. He is not a hidebound orthodox however. Although in an early passage Gunther seems to accept a superficial reading of the aeons of Isis, Osiris, and Horus as positive history, he later points out (albeit in a footnote, 166 n. 13) that a scientific approach cannot validate and should not accept this narrative on that plane.

The dependence on theories from "depth psychology" was a bit dismaying to me. While I will happily admit the overlap in subject matter between that discipline and magick, I believe it is the proper role of initiates to explain profane theories in terms of esoteric principles, not the other way around.

There is a praiseworthy amount of original interpretation of passages from the non-AL Holy Books, and (most delightfully) The Vision and the Voice. But the great number of long quotes from the Crowley corpus means that there is even less of the author's own prose than one might at first suspect in this 222-page book. Some of the most provocative and original material for practical purposes can be found in an unremarked diagram showing ritual postures (74), and an appendix tabulating "Some Useful Attributions" (214).

Gunther's writing in his own voice concludes: "And with this, Speech is done with us for a while." And yet he seems to have been on a rather extended lecture tour in the many months following publication. More to the good, I think.… (mais)