This book represents an updated and expanded version of Gregory Peters’ previous volume “The Magickal Union of East Meets West”. I really enjoyed that book and having reviewed his work on the Blog, I was excited to see how the evolution of his magical practice was reflected in this new work.
The book begins with a new and substantial introduction by the legendary Michael Stayley of Starfire Publishing and Typhonian Order fame which in itself is worth the price of the book. He provides a clear overview of how the Thelemic current has sought to engage with the wide variety of religious expressions from Asia, highlighting both its successes and failures in trying to synthesise such a vast body of material. Stayley (and Peters within the main body of the book) highlight a process of bricolage in which the magician recombines an array of material in the light of their personal insight and genius in order to distil a new perspective.
Peters comes from a rich background of Thelemic ceremonial magic and various lineages of both Hindu and Buddhist tantra. In this work he seeks to outline some of the key ideas and practices that he and other magical colleagues have worked with, within the Ordo Sunyata Vajra (OSV) over the past 30 years. As is suggested by its English translation as an Order of the “Adamantine Void”, this is a curriculum that seeks to equip the magician with both philosophy and ritual technique for exploring dimensions of the “true” and “silent” self. For Peters these dimensions of self are vital to exploring key Thelemic concepts such True Will and work with the Guardian Angel.
Peters is an open and enthusiastic guide who offers the insights he has gained with a deep sense of gratitude to those teachers and currents that have informed his work. Whether it be the work of Kaula Nath lineage of AMOOKOS, Dzogchen or Chan Buddhist practices, he presents these approaches within an explicitly Thelemic world view. However much he has gained from these Eastern traditions, his work seeks to engage with them as means for getting to the deeper dimensions of Crowley’s work as it was carried forward by Kenneth Grant, and Greg’s own mentor Soror Meral (Phyllis Seckler).
Peter’s is deeply inspired Kenneth Grant and his form of Typhonian Thelema and clearly sees the focus of the OSV as being profoundly connected to the recovery of a perennial form of “Stellar Gnosis”. In contrast to Grant however, Greg (as a Tantric and ceremonial practitioner) provides us with plenty of guidance with regards things we can do. Malas can be blessed and altars can be created and there are plenty of ritual outlines that we are invited to explore and adapt depending on setting and inclination. We also spend time thinking about what it means to inhabit the “dragon seat” of meditation in order to explore the oscillating sense of being and non-being.
This updated volume provides new examples of ritual practice that provide the reader with inspiration and structure in order to promote the development of initiatory depth. The expanded sections on Mantra, Yantra and Mudra also help the less experienced aspirant to build a solid understanding of the key components of a spiritual practice that seeks to fully engage our senses and embodied self.
What I liked most about much of the newer material in the second half of the book was the way in which is brought into clearer definition the place of the Divine Feminine within his Order’s work. Whether through his tantric exploration of the Thelemic Goddess Babalon or the potency of the Yogini’s within lunar magic (which he describes more fully in his 2022 title Yogini Magic), this volume has a greater emphasis on what the Goddess orientated Shri Vidya traditions might mean for the contemporary magician.
I feel that this updated work brings a greater focus on how the interweaving strands of Thelema and Tantra can connect and hopefully strengthen our magical work in a way that avoids either superficiality or self-obsession. If we adopt a psyche-centric focus for work, are we seeking to reinforce concepts like ego-strength or are we pursuing the dissolution of our self-concept? In seeking to simultaneously deepen our engagement with both True Will and the formlessness of the Void, Peters seems to be acknowledging the inevitable spiralling movement of the self as it dances between such poles.
I would highly recommend this updated book to those magicians interested in how the Aeon of Horus can shake-off some of its dustier, pseudo-masonic origins. In the spirit of Grant’s Typhonic work and Nema’s Maat magick, the work of the OSV provides some highly helpful guidance as to how we as contemporary practitioners can work with both Eastern and Western magical currents in a manner that feels at once respectful, deep and innovative, as Peters summarises in his conclusion:
“Ultimately, the essence of tantra transcends elaborate ritual or esoteric knowledge. It resides in the direct experience of our inherent divinity. Traverse this path with courage and conviction, honouring the sacred trust bestowed upon us – to discern and enact our True Will in perfect harmony with the cosmic dance of existence.”
Steve Dee
Coming up this month…
Breaking Convention, the mother of all psychedelic conferences, begins on the 17th of April.
For more details and to buy tickets, including Saturday only tickets which have just gone on sale –
https://breakingconvention.co.uk/ Hope to see you there!
The Blog of Baphomet 