Voudon Gnosis.
UK: Scarlet Imprint, 2008. First Edition, First Issue. Hardcover. Octavo. 108pp. Black cloth blind embossed with an ophidian design in keeping with the cultus of La Coulevre Noire. Black endpapers. 3 colour plates of original artwork. Edition limited to 555 numbered copies - although fewer copies were apparently released. Most unusually the copy is SIGNED by David Beth, who has also drawn an eleven-fold cloth underneath his signature. It seems that a smaller number of copies of the first issue of Voudon Gnosis were circulated than the limitation suggests. Apparently the publishers hand numbered the copies and released the book, but then discovered that not only was the Index incorrect (an early draft had been inadvertently sent to the printers - so page numbers in the index do not always match those of the text) and also that a number of copies had bleeding on the colour plate, smudging to the text etc. For a short time the publishers went through the copies and released those that were free of the printing flaws (other than the index) however, they soon realised that relatively few copies were in good order, that they withdrew the first issue altogether. This copy is one of the "clean" copies that was released, prior to the book's withdrawal. A substantially different version of the work was published by Fulgur two years later.
The book is described as a clear exposition of the Voudon Gnostic system of Michael Bertiaux and the work of La Couleuvre Noire. "A fascinating and challenging glimpse into the Voudon system, it is both a gateway for students and an inspiration for those looking for a more creative occultism. This book is a perfect introduction to the complexities of that strangest of all modern grimoires, Bertiaux's Voudon Gnostic Workbook. Expanding upon the groundwork of his essay in "Howlings", David Beth guides us through this eclectic, syncretic and highly personal system of sorcery which nevertheless has come from a genuine Haitian lineage. Those looking for the wilder atavistic energies of sex magick, as we find embodied in the art of Austin Osman Spare, will find much of interest in this book. Voudon Gnosis outlines a more complex and highly developed system of sex magick than is found in the secret grade papers of the Western magickal tradition.
Voudon Gnosis covers: Las Prise des Yeaux, Points Chauds, Spider Sorcery and Time Travelling, Elemental Sex Magick, The Grimoire Ghuehde, with appendices on: Nganga and the Fetish, A-Mor, an initiated analysis of Love." The author, David Beth, is the Sovereign Grand Master for the international Voudon Orders and is the Presiding Bishop of the Ecclesia Aeterna. A lovely, clean copy in near Fine condition (no dust jacket as issued). Item #69984
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