"I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. "Come unto me" is a foolish word: for it is I that go.” AL II:7

The Alchemical Dream ~ Rebirth of the Great Work

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Ego autem credo quod videam

Love is the law, love under will.

-Frater Terces  

"I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. "Come unto me" is a foolish word: for it is I that go.” AL II:7

Crowley was well aware of his tendency to write over the heads of his readers and he tried
out several different strategems for correcting this fault. His last and, to many people, most
successful tactic was simply to make a book out of correspondence with his students. This format
actually is one of considerable antiquity: for example, On the Mysteries by the fourth century
adept Iamblichus is ostensibly a letter from an Egyptian priest. The essential idea is similar to a
‘FAQ’ on the internet, except that Iamblichus and Crowley both run on for several hundred pages!
Magick Without Tears (the title seems to derive from a popular schoolbook called
Reading Without Tears from Crowley’s youth) was begun in 1943 and consists of Crowley’s
answers to questions from an unnamed female pupil. The primary correspondent was Anne Macky
of Hertfordshire, England, whose A\ A\ motto was Fiat Yod. Additional topics were proposed
by others from the old Agape Lodge of O.T.O. to help make the book as broadly comprehensive as
possible. The resulting collection ranges from profound philosophical issues, such as sex morality
or the existence of the gods, to a comparatively trivial account of what might have been Gnomes on
a Swiss glacier. A glance through the table of contents will give a fuller idea of the breadth of
subjects addressed. Here I will only note that the tone of this book is not just informal but
downright chatty: the reader sees Crowley at his most concerned, helpful, and on occasion brutally
honest about himself and his own failings. This alone is reason enough to interest the student, but
in addition the book is full of practical advice on everything from improvising your magical Temple
to astral travel— indeed it was originally going to be called Aleister Explains Everything!
Even if the Old Boy doesn’t quite do that he still comes about as close as he ever did.
The book did not actually see print until the 1950s, years after Crowley’s death. The
current edition, which first appeared in 1973, was edited by Israel Regardie, who made some
substantial cuts in the text. On the other hand, he gives us an index. There are plans to publish a
fully-restored edition in the future but, as usual in Thelemic publishing, there is no firm date.
So Magick Without Tears, Crowley’s last book, is by itself sufficient to show that his
mind was as sharp in his last years as it had ever been, despite the popular image of him as a
‘drug-ravaged wreck’. Even in the somewhat abbreviated form we presently have it is probably the
best place for the beginner to start investigating Crowley’s work.

READ MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS

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For I am the first and the last.
 I am the honored one and the scorned one. 
I am the whore and the holy one.
 I am the wife and the virgin....
 I am the barren one, and many are her sons.... 
I am the silence that is incomprehensible.... 
I am the utterance of my name.
The Thunder, Perfect Mind-  The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels