who are some of the best philosophers in the field of magick......is aleister?

Question

crowley still near the top of the list or have his ides been superceded by some young whippersnapper?

Answer 1

Crowley was one of the great showmen of magick.
His ideas have long been debunked as the delusions of a megalomaniac.Most of his noted theories were stolen.
When I was much younger I thought Aliester C.was THE authority.Now I have taken all his books of my shelves out of embarrassment.I have left the works Gardiner and Alexander out for reference.
There are many new faces, but no new theories.
Money has polluted The Knowlege.

Answer 2

Magic and philosophy?????????Eeek! Trouble is the two are almost never put together anymore. They certainly were in the past, especially during the Renaissance. From that perspective, I would rather read Giordano Bruno than Aleister Crowley any day:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno

In fact, I would class Aleister Crowley as more a magician and a practicing pagan than a philosopher... BUT you might want to take a look at a fairly new writer along these lines. Jason Augustus Newcomb. His work, called the New Hermetics has some interesting aspects to it. Take a look at:

http://www.amazon.com/New-Hermetics-Century-Magick-Illumination/dp/1578633052

Answer 3

Crowley was a charlatan that created the order of the Golden Dawn solely to exploit people,,,
MacGregor Mathers who stupidly initiated him into the mysteries was the real McCoy such as it was.......
I doubt that there is anyone today in the same league
as Mathers, Magik has changed a lot in the last 100 years.

Answer 4

Crowley was a nutter with a strong personality. He may have been a philosopher, but one of the best?? hardly!

Answer 5

I'd recommend the Farrars, Janet and Stewart. They helped me through some bad times ...

Answer 6

philosophy and magic are mutually exclusive fields.