Symonds, who was Crowley’s literary executor, describes Crowley’s various magical methods and the extraordinary results he achieved. Crowley experimented with every aspect of magic, Eastern as well as Western; with ceremonial magic (as taught in the Golden Dawn); and with sex and drugs, which gave him his reputation as a “black magician”. Having access to an unpublished Crowley typescript, Symonds documents in great detail the Paris Working, a series of 24 operations of sexual magick, with Victor Neuburg, which took place in early 1914. In addition there is an account of the Abuldiz working, with Mary Sturges (Soror Virakam) acting as Scarlet Woman, which eventually paves the way for the writing of Book 4. Following this is a brief account of the Amalantrah working, and a more in-depth account of the Call of the Tenth Aethyr (ZAX) from the Vision and the Voice; where Crowley sits in the triangle outside the protective circle and lets the demon Choronzon possess him. What could possibly go wrong? The dust jacket design is taken from an original painting by Crowley entitled ‘Four Red Monks carrying a Black Goat across the Snows to Nowhere.”

This copy is from the collection of Thelemic author Robert C. Stein (1931 – 2024), who wrote "The Mystery of the Letters and The Tree of Life" and other works. Stein was a Professor Emeritus of Biology in the New York State University System, whose involvement in the study and practice of Thelema spanned three decades and travels in five continents.