Books | Metaphysics | Esoteric

All books and tarots listed below are by Oliver St. John. Click on the images to view the cover art of the books at full size. All full colour and some hardbound books are now only available from Lulu. We recommend that our students and subscribers buy our books direct by the links on this page. Thank you for supporting Ordo Astri.

Books soon to be released:

Thirty-two paths of Wisdom
Key to the Hermetic Qabalah: Commentary on the Shining Paths of the Sepher Yetzirah and the Paths of Evil.

The first section of this book serves as an introduction to the Qabalah inclusive of the Hebraic tradition, from which the latter was developed, as well as the modern Hermetic tradition. There follows a new commentary on the Thirty-two paths of Wisdom from the most important Qabalistic source work, The Sepher Yetzirah or Book of Formation. ‘The Paths of Evil’ concerns the traditional Qliphoth of the first ten paths and those corresponding to the Zodiac. The last section, ‘The Tunnels of Set’, is a critical reappraisal of Kenneth Grant’s Nightside of Eden Part Two, revealing how Aleister Crowley and then Grant and others worked to invert symbolism, effectively removing all spiritual possibilities for those that would follow them. By placing this in the context of the neo-spiritualist and postmodern occult movement it is shown how the decline and intellectual collapse of an entire civilisation towards the final dissolution of our world is being supernaturally accelerated.

The book is hardbound, linen wrap, blue boards, with endpapers and gold folio stamp on the spine. It comprises 128 pages in all on white papers.

Books: The Way of Knowledge in the Reign of Antichrist

This book includes five chapters on the Holy Guardian Angel and five chapters on yoga, as well as some unique observations on the True Self and other matters of vital concern to the practitioner. Here we pass beyond the syncretism of occultism to the synthesis of the metaphysical gnosis. The sequel to Nu Hermetica continues the story where the latter left off, but there is greater focus on practicality, as indicated by the title. The metaphysical gnosis is necessarily the view from the ‘centre’, something that may be shown geometrically, for example the three-dimensional cross or Cube of Space. This is also symbolised in various traditions by the ‘holy city’, the summit of a mountain or its centre. In the Age of Kali Yuga there was effected a withdrawal or hiding of knowledge and initiatic rites were thus placed in caves or labyrinths, either symbolically or literally. All true initiatic paths lead to the same goal and only differ from the point of view of the outsider who only sees the appearance. The outward differences of paths owe merely to cultural or other modifications, as necessary, and none of that is of any consequence to initiation at all.

As was stated in bold terms in Nu Hermetica, we must deal with the conditions of the world that we now find ourselves in. While we will not avoid the subject, as is clear by the full title of The Way of Knowledge, it is necessary to point out that the book is not a comment on social conditions or the more or less extraordinary phenomena that is all part of the ‘signs of the times’.

The book is hardbound, with endpapers and gold folio stamp on the spine. It comprises 196 pages in all on white papers and is fully illustrated.

View/order book from the author’s website.

Books: Nu Hermetica—Initiation and Metaphysical Reality

The voices of the Egyptian neteru are as loud and clear today as they were in ancient history for those who are still able to hear them amidst the noise and tumult of a civilisation that has lost all heart. Thelema and the (Egyptian) Book of the Law are here placed in the context of the initiated metaphysical knowledge of the Primordial Tradition. The book addresses the difficulty of initiation in the twenty-first century—for the Way has not changed but the conditions we work under certainly have. Laws, news, facts and even history are updated, deleted, replaced and rewritten on a daily basis. So-called alternative movements, some of which even claim to be ‘spiritual’, only serve to reinforce profane, anti-spiritual notions. The Book of the Law veils the knowledge of a reactivated tradition. There is a need to pass on the real knowledge of the Law of Thelema to those few that are willing and able to receive it.

The book is hardbound, with blue linen boards, endpapers and gold folio stamp on the spine. It comprises 236 pages in all on white papers and is fully illustrated.

View/order book from the author’s website.

Ordo Astri Books: The Enterer of the Threshold
Revised December 2022 Edition

Initiation works through the formula called the Enterer of the Threshold. The Probationer enters the pyramid of Malkuth from ‘outside’ to become a Neophyte. The Probationer must define the circle of the place. Squaring the circle implies bringing to form or manifestation all that we are and can ever be. The 2022 Edition includes our Egyptian Yoga method, published here for the first time. Also included are Key Scale correspondence tables, expanded and corrected. As well as the primary Qabalistic Sephiroth, Gods and Angels, the tables cover everything needed by the practical magician: colours, magical powers, symbolic weapons, perfumes, precious stones, plants, animals and legendary creatures.

Content of the 2022 Edition includes:

The Three Holy Vows, The Order of the Star, The Circle of the Place, The Tree of Man: the Microcosm, The Intelligence of Luminosity, The Sacred Science, The Master of Duality, Esoteric Doctrine of Thelema, The Astrosome, Primary Mudras, The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, Comment on the Ritual of the Pentagram, Egyptian Yoga, Logos Method of Meditation, The Secret Serpent, Art of Recollection, Art of Invocation, Song of the Stele, The Keeping of the Record, Feasts of the Times, Tree of Life, Da’ath, The Orbicular Tree, Curriculum of the Golden Dawn, Temple of the Golden Dawn, Oaths and Tasks of the Grades, Key Scale Correspondences.

Read some of the content of this book here.

Format: 6 x 9 perfect bound paperback
View / buy book from the author’s website

Ordo Astri Books: Phoenix and other Stellar Rites of Initiation
Revised 2022

The Phoenix is the rite of admission to Neophyte, the first degree of the Order. The first degree is called the ‘Grade of Earth’ because it corresponds to Malkuth, the Kingdom. The ritual has its basis in the Golden Dawn Neophyte ceremony. Within it are the keys to forging the necessary inner plane contacts. We also include here the admission to the grade of Zelator and Liber 717 or Zain, a carefully adapted version of the Bornless Ritual for the Adeptus Minor. The three rituals of initiation each come with a full commentary. The ‘flashing colours’ are particular to the Magick of Light and have a special rôle in theurgical rites. The book is therefore printed on photographic paper and includes 35 luxurious full colour diagrams and graphic illustrations.

The Revised 2022 edition includes the Unicursal Hexagram Ritual of Stele Sophia. A hardbound collector’s edition of this book is now available from Lulu only, at a special reduced price. (Please note that the publication date is not the same as the date of the revised edition. This link is to the 2022 revised edition.)

View / order The Phoenix Special Edition at Lulu here.
Format 6 x 9 full interior colour, hardbound, dustjacket; blue linen boards; gold foil stamp lettering on spine; white end papers.

Books: Hermetic Qabalah Foundation—Complete Course
Fourth Edition Revised 2023

Herein is the key to spiritual alchemy, magick and yoga: the Tree of Life is seeded in the astrosome of the magician so the rituals and practices are a gateway to true knowledge.

Awakening the Serpent Power allows the development of possibilities required to transcend the perceptions of the mind and realise true knowledge. The Angel or supranatural power of divinity can assist in the conscious return to the Garden of Eden.

The Qabalah is the basis for meditation, magick, astrology and tarot, including the art of gematria, talismans, invocation and evocation, the pentagram and hexagram and symbolic weapons. All this is seamlessly integrated with the one-year practical coursework through ritual meditation. Preliminary work includes the Wisdom of Breath, Ritual Sonics, Assumption of the Godform and a variant form of the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. The student then moves, step-by-step, towards creation of an astral double by which the individual possibilities are extended.

Format: 6 x 9 paperback
View / buy book from author’s website

Liber 373 Astrum Draconis
2022 Revised Edition

The Initiate must study and practice the love of wisdom. The Lady of Love assumes seven different aspects, each associated with a chakra or ‘star’ in the cosmos. Various supporting rituals and methods are given here and explained, along with the planetary Kameas, Seals and Signatures of the Intelligences and Spirits. This is a course in advanced practical magick that includes knowledge lectures, rituals, yoga, meditation, invocation, skrying and tasks to perform.

Content includes: The Temple, Bhakti Yoga, Magick of Earth and Stars, Ascent of the Celestial Serpent, Gates of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, Ritual of the Gates of Babalon, Stella Sophia, Egyptian Tantra-yoga, Rite of Dedication, Mass of Hormaku with Litany and Collects, Signatures of the Spirits.

Format: 6 x 9 perfect bound paperback

View / buy book from the author’s website
(Please note that the publication date is not the same as the date of the revised edition. This link is to the 2022 revised edition.)

Ordo Astri Books: Babalon Unveiled! Thelemic Monographs

A Second Revised Edition of this book is in preparation. ‘Lapis Philosophorum’ redefines the Law of Thelema, liberating it from the accretions of the past as well as those of the modern age. Babalon Unveiled forms the centrepiece of this collection and is one of seven related studies on the mystery of the Scarlet Woman. Each shows an aspect of her oracular voice as it has been heard and recorded down the ages. ‘Angels of Sacred Dance, Love and Whoredom’ examines how the divine feminine of pre-religious antiquity was demonised, resulting in a host of ‘fallen angels’ whose identity is yet preserved, albeit under a heavy veil in traditional texts. The book is dedicated to the memory of Rose Edith Kelly, otherwise known as Rose Crowley or Ouarda the Seer. Rose was the medium and intelligence for the transmission activated through the Stele of Revealing in the Cairo museum in 1904.

Read the full description here at Ordo Astri.

Format: 6 x 9 hardcover, dustjacket; blue linen boards; gold foil stamp lettering on spine; white end papers.

View / order book from the author’s website here.

Temple of Babalon YouTube (podcast Series 2 is dedicated to this book)

Books: Egyptian Tarot of Thelema

In every true act of divination, in every true act of magick, something of the soul is born into the world. This book focuses on the structure of the Tarot and the system of Qabalistic correspondences that transform it from a card game or fortune telling device into a spiritual, intellectual and magical vehicle of the highest order. The major arcana cards each have a chapter to describe them; a complete method of divination is provided.

In creating the Egyptian Tarot of Thelema (see below for the Tarot deck), we have made full use of Ithell Colquhoun’s ingenius interpretation of the Golden Dawn colour correspondences. Colquhoun, when explaining her Tarot, or TARO, eschewed the notion of divination. Her abstract Surrealist Tarot was designed purely as a yantra for meditation. As ours is a figurative and symbolic Tarot, it lends itself to meditation, ritual or divination.

“The well-known occult association between the Tarot cards and ancient Egypt is by now commonly dismissed. This is because we live in a time where materialism now dominates the minds of the majority to such an extent that they no longer even think of themselves as materialists. All such arguments, based on ‘evidence’ and ‘fact’, miss the mark. It is irrelevant as to whether or not the ancient Egyptians might have used anything like playing cards or Tarot, whether for amusement, fortune telling or divination. The key to the knowledge is in the symbolism, which, even in the first deck printed from woodcuts, the Tarot of Marseille (late 15th or 16th century), is astonishing. Once it is known that Egypt was the source of all learning and civilisation, there is no longer any need to speculate on the origins of the Tarot. We are not speaking here of artefacts, we are speaking of mystical and magical symbolism that points to a timeless wisdom. This owes to a source far older than that even of the 1st Dynasty of Egypt.”

This book is available from the author’s website at Lulu only.

The book features 78 full colour illustrations of the Tarot. View/purchase:
6 x 9 Standard Edition | full colour interior; premium; paperback
6 x 9 Special Edition | full colour interior; premium; linen wrap hardbound; laid end papers

Egyptian Tarot of Thelema (Tarot Deck)

The Egyptian Tarot of Thelema is suitable for use in ritual, meditation and divination. In every true act of divination, in every true act of magick, something of the soul is born into the world. The system of Qabalistic correspondences transform the Tarot from a card game or fortune telling device into a spiritual, intellectual and magical vehicle of the highest order.

Unique to this Tarot is the use of British surrealist artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun’s interpretation of the magical correspondences. This enabled us to produce the first figurative Tarot that is fully colour-integrated as according to the Golden Dawn schema. The intuitive possibilities afforded by this mean that study and interpretation are taken to a new level. This is especially the case with divination, where colour plays a new and vital rôle in the every-changing dynamic interactions of the cards. To further assist interpretation, the symbols for all the zodiacal, planetary and elemental correspondences are placed on the cards, including the constellational court card assignments.

2.75” x 4.75” (70 mm × 120 mm)
78 cards: linen finish | tuck box

Preview and purchase the deck from Printer Studio:
Egyptian Tarot (USA and World)
Egyptian Tarot (UK)

View the 12 zodiacal trumps and their descriptions here at Ordo Astri.
Download the PDF manual: An Introduction to the Egyptian Tarot of Thelema.

Ordo Astri Books: Flaming Sword Sepher Sephiroth

The Flaming Sword consists of more than 1000 pages, in two volumes. In addition to the substantial Sepher Sephiroth there is an introductory guide to the use of the book, tables of Hebrew, Greek and Enochian values, prime numbers, and a complete set of Magical Kameas with corrected and redrawn planetary seals and sigils.

The Flaming Sword is the result of many years of practical work and research by the author. Greek words from the New Testament and Hermetica are included, in addition to the usual Hebrew words; the entire Enochian vocabulary of John Dee is included, as well as Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic and ancient Egyptian. Where appropriate, Gematria with detailed Qabalistic notes has been provided. The Flaming Sword provides multiple solutions to all of the riddles of Liber AL, as well as some of the most cryptic passages.

Ordo Astri Books: Hermetic Astrology

The primary aim of this book is to explain esoteric or magical astrology in a simple and concise way. The veriest beginner will quickly gain an understanding of their natal horoscope. Those already well-versed in the subject will find here magical and esoteric applications for the art that rarely, if ever, appear in textbooks on astrology.

Here is a complete course in astrology covering astrological symbolism, chart interpretation, the dignities of signs, houses and planets, aspects and astrological timing. Esoteric knowledge is revealed concerning the Part of Fortune, the Dragon Stars or Nodes of the Moon, the Egyptian Ka or double, the Holy Guardian Angel and the Evil Genius, Outer Gateways and the use of the natal chart as a Master Key of Life.

Format: 6 x 9 paperback.
6 x 9 Hardbound format: blue linen wrap; gold folio stamp; laid end papers.

View/purchase paperback
View/purchase hardbound

Ordo Astri Books: Magical Theurgy—Rituals of the Tarot

The Law of Thelema is an expression of timeless wisdom. The work of theurgy is to practice and understand this. Magical Theurgy presents a complete course in ritual magick and the Tarot. The book gives the extended use of elemental mudras or Godforms, meditation and Tantra-yoga plus simple and advanced magical rituals. The book includes a guide on how to make and charge magical talismans with illustrations of the Kameas or Magic Squares and sigils of the planetary spirits. Included in the Third Edition is a new compilation of the Qabalistic Key Scale magical correspondences: powers, potencies, perfumes, magical weapons, plants, gems, legendary creatures, vices and virtues.

Divination is a magical means of opening and extending lines of communication between the temporal and eternal worlds. The most important function of the Tarot is as an initiatory device. The core of this book is the Grand Tarot Operation, a 30-day theurgic operation aimed at mystical and magical initiation.

The book includes more than 20 photographs of the elemental mudras.

Format: 6 x 9 paperback or hardbound format: 6 x 9 dustjacket; blue linen boards; gold foil stamp lettering on spine; white end papers.

View / buy paperback book from the author’s website.
View / buy hardbound edition here (author’s website only)

Books: The Mystic Tarot and the Trees of Eternity

The Mystic Tarot and the Trees of Eternity is an advanced, visionary treatise on the Tarot. Each of the twenty-two chapters is divided into two sections, the Light-path and the Night-path, and is headed by a luminous commentary on the relevant Qabalistic text from the Sepher Yetzirah. The methods include Theurgic, Goetic and Enochian magick. Following Tantrik tradition, the book’s narrative is centred on the ‘Island’ to the west of St. Ives in Cornwall. The book thus has a distinctly elemental nature, reflective of changing weather and seasons as focussed through the lens of Tarot and Tree of Life correspondences. The book embraces the work of Aleister Crowley as well as the Nightside or Typhonian conjurations of Kenneth Grant, providing rare insights into the interior magical worlds of Thelema.

View / buy paperback from the author’s website.
View / buy hardback from the author’s website (only)

Format: 6 x 9 high quality paperback or hardbound format: 6 x 9 dustjacket; blue linen boards; gold foil stamp lettering on spine; white end papers.

Dreaming Thelema of Kenneth Grant and H. P. Lovecraft

This book presents an unusual perspective on the writings of Kenneth Grant. We know that American writer HP Lovecraft had no mystic pretensions, though he did say the dream that inspired the short story Nyarlathotep “might have been prophetic”. Grant made much use of Lovecraft’s work, using it to formulate his idiosyncratic, postmodernist notion of Thelema.

The book is primarily concerned with art and magick. It features seventeen full colour reproductions of Surrealist paintings created as part of this unique project. Also included are three complete short stories by HP Lovecraft: Nyarlathotep, The Crawling Chaos, and The Haunter of the Dark, plus a reconstruction of the Lovecraftian Necronomicon.

Read more about this book (article, illustrated)

6 x 9 Perfectbound; full colour interior illustrations on white photographic paper
View / purchase book

Magical Art of Surreal Romanticism

The book is an in-depth illustrated study that takes in the use of occult methods such as automatism in the arts and literature, and compares the results with the Left-hand path or way of retroversion of the senses as termed by Kenneth Grant and typified by the work of artist Austin Osman Spare.

True automatism is an inexorable condition of mind and soul that to all intents and purposes is exercised outside and beyond the will of the person, whether they are destined to become a master, a magus, or merely another victim swallowed up by an incomprehensible universe. Automatism was not an invention of the Surrealists, or of Sigmund Freud, but has always existed in magick and alchemy.

In many respects this book is a vindication of the work of English scholar and mystic, Thomas De Quincey, who spoke of a more sublime form of divination by which magnetism may call up from the darkness, “sentiments the most august, previously inconceivable, formless, and without life”, so exalting their character as to “lodge them eternally in human hearts”. The book includes six high quality full colour reproductions of fine art, including rarely seen drawings and paintings by Austin Osman Spare and Ithell Colquhoun.

6 x 9 Hardbound edition, only from Lulu and at a reduced price: casewrap with full colour illustrations view / buy

All books on this page can be ordered direct from the author’s website at Lulu by following the links given here. Proceeds of the sales of our books help to fund Ordo Astri.

Subscribe to our monthly Journal, Metamorphosis here. The Journal is free of charge and is delivered by email. Books in preparation are often previewed.

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