It may be suggested that there have so far been three leading theorists of modern Western magic. The first was Alphonse Louis Constant, alias Eliphas Levi, in the mid-19th century, who established that in order to work magic, it is necessary first to change oneself and ultimately to understand the universe. The second was Aleister Crowley, in the early 20th century, who drew on both Eastern and Western traditions to provide conceptual frameworks within which both aims might be achieved. The third has been Peter Carroll, in the late 20th century, who placed the same aims within an ultra-modern, or post-modern, context of cosmology and morality. -- From the foreword by Ronald Hutton, author of The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft and other works Peter Carroll has successfully broken down many of the patterns that so many magicians cling to. Liber Null and Psychonautwritten not only for students of chaos magic, but to separate the necessary from what may be the unnecessary formula of magickcovers much new territory. Carroll has taken methods from Austin Osman Spare, shamanism, paganism, and Chaos science and synthesized them into a new system of practice. * The Portal *
