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Book Reviews
Review by Sr. Sphinx

New Aeon Magick
by Gerald de Campo

Luxor Press June 2000 Paperback $14.95

I’m fascinated by the idea of writing as a time capsule to carry your own ideas to your future self. The transpersonal psychologist Ken Wilber commented in an interview in Utne Reader that he had realized he would not attain enlightenment in this lifetime, so he hoped to find one of his own books in a library somewhere in his next lifetime to start him on the path. It makes for an interesting exercise: What would you write to yourself? What would you preserve from your own life experience to start yourself on your own path, and how would you communicate it to yourself?

Gerald del Campo’s book New Aeon Magick: Thelema Without Tears is such a time capsule. In the introduction to this second edition of his work, del Campo writes, “Does this little book explain Thelema in its entirety? No. These are my ideas, or rather, the ideas I want to convey to my three children.” He does an admirable job of conveying those ideas—ideas about the value of Thelemic philosophy and practices, drawn from the life experiences of one magician.

The book is arranged as a series of essays on topics such as “The Qabalah,” “The Great Work,” “Silence,” “Meditation,” “The Psyche,” and “Practical Exercises.” Most of the essays can be read alone without needing reference to the others; this does result, however, in some repetition of the same material in multiple places. Del Campo uses a considerable amount of space to set forth his personal set of Qabalistic correspondences. He even takes a stab at the ever-controversial placement of Thelemic deities on the Tree of Life (with the honest caveat that his arrangement is only one of many possibilities).

The practical exercises are a valuable part of the book. There is more than enough stuff here to keep a beginning magician busy for a year or more. Original material includes transliteration of the Greek in the Star Ruby into English pronunciation, line drawings of all the necessary signs, and a Latin variation on the LBRP.

New Aeon Magick is not exactly a primer, and it is not exactly a reference book for magicians. It is more like a STORY—the personal story of a man and his magick. Thank you, Brother Gerald, for sharing your story with us.