Les Klinger’s enormous volume has earned critical praise from Neil Gaiman, Gahan Wilson, Peter Straub and Harlan Ellison; the book is big enough to stun an (eldritch demon)
ox, and is introduced by none other than Alan Moore.
In addition to being extremely illuminating on the subject of Lovecraft,
this book is flat-out gorgeous, an instant drool-inducer.
The Book of Pleasure contains a unique method of obtaining control of the subconscious energies latent in the human mind in the form of primal atavisms. It is evident that if such energy can be…
Oh my twice-great master Thoth,
The Only One,
Who has no equal,
Who sees and hears whoever passes,
Who knows whoever comes,
With the knowledge of everything that happens!
You have made my heart walk upon your waters,
He who walks on your road will never stumble.
Oh people living on this Earth,
And those yet to be born,
You who come to this mountain,
You who see this tomb and pass by it.
Come, I will guide you on the Road of Life,
You will sail with a favorable wind, without accidents,
And you will arrive at the abode of the City of Generations.
The road of the man who obeys God is straight,
Happy is he whose heart urges him to follow it!
(p. 42)
To walk on the road of God is to be filled with light,
Great are the advantages gained by those who
Discipline themselves to follow it.
It’s a monument raised by them on this Earth,
Those who follow the Paths of God,
Those who cling to the Ways of God,
Spend all their lives in joy,
Gathering riches without equal.
(p.43)
Thoth, the God of Knowledge, rewards every act according to its own merit.
(p.88)
As you act so shall you be treated.
To speak a good word is to build a monument.
(p.89)
Happiness is to be found in observing righteousness (Maat).
(p.124)
The West is the dwelling place for he who has not transgressed the Rule.
Happy is who reaches there!
Nobody can reach there unless
Their hearts have conformed exactly to the Rule.
Down there there is no distinction between rich and poor,
Unless it is in the favour of he who is found to be righteous
When weighted in the scales of justice before the master of Eternity.
(p.152)
Quoted from: Christian Jacq, “The living wisdom of ancient Egypt”
Inscriptions from the tomb of PetOsiris (…High priest who sees the God in His shrine, who carries His Lord and follows His Lord, who enters into the Holy of Holies, who performs his functions together with the great prophets, the prophet of the Ogdoad, chief of the priests of Sekhmet, leader of the priests of the third and fourth orders; the royal scribe who reckons the property in the Temple of Khmun)
And this brings up something else. Asking gods to do things for you. This can be tricky. Asking Kali to blat the guy in the next flat who plays his stereo too loud when you’re trying to meditate is a bit like using a tac-nuke to swat a fly with. It is said by some that gods have a different sense of time than we do and our sense of ‘now’ is a lot different to theirs. I got the impression, when doing some work with Isis a few years ago, that she wouldn’t actually get round to doing anything for a few thousand years at least. Elementals are easier by far. Though again, they can be tricky. I blame all this magical psychology. It lessens the impact of all the entities and let’s face it, it someone came up to you and said “you’re only a subpersonality of me, so do this sharpish mate” would you go for it? No, you’d punch them in the face (hopefully) and half the time I think that entities feel the same way about all these jumped-up magicians saying “do this, do that” without so much of a please, thank you or a decent sacrifice.
