for some strange reason i have started re reading moonchild by aliester crowley, a book i read when i was 17 that made an impression upon me, certainly made me more concious about ideas of conception and intention, but this time around i am getting a huge amount of supplementary information as the main characters divulge the tenants of esoteric philosophy and crowley himself is presented in a number of incarnations. simon iff the old taoist detective and the main character, the enigmatic cyril grey, ladies man and magickian. in fact all of crowley's crowd are in the book including alan bennett as the mysterious buddhist monk who says nothing but has everyones respect as a holy man and mentor. although the dialogue is dated the book is quite provocative, sexually and esoterically, for here are the real seeds of modern magickal philosophy. i can see how the linage of modern magickians  can be traced back to crowley, and i can understand how the extreme science of mind is applied via taoism and buddhist tradition. what's really interesting is the descriptions of the fragmented genius / secretary relationship which neurology is on the verse of defining now. then there's the explanation of the fifth dimension, which science went on to define as time, but crowley calls it the aether, perhaps what he means is astral dimension although it is certainly another dimension, however the semantics are not under scrutiny, as a story each chapter moves along a linear plane as our brave heroine finds herself under the glamour of the crowley figure and inducted into their order in preparation of creating an homunculus, however she is never lied to and always told the truth about her choices, in a way that would be quite liberating for any woman of that time, she is treated with respect and love, (under will) in fact the women are the males equals in this book and for the time that was quite radical. i have to say this is a very good read so far.