Anthony Testa - The Key of the Abyss.pdf

The Left-hand path is dangerous precisely because it works. But no
mistake, it is not the practice that is condemns so many of those who
have trod it, for we have already touched on Crowley’s distinction
between mere Black magicians and Brothers of the Left-hand. It is the
pitfall of easy success and the inflation, not destruction, of the ego.
The case of Frater Achad and the subject of this book, Jack Parsons,
however, should be sufficient to show that this danger is not one
merely of the higher grades, but of an aspirant at any point 142 .
142 Frater Achad, Charles Stansfield Jones, one of Crowley’s pupils, aciehved a remarkable
amount, according to Crowley, only o throw it away by rashly swearing the Oath of the Abyss
and then failing to achieve the Crossing. He was not, it should be noted, considered to have
been swallowed by the Abyss but was ejected back unto the lower tree.
Frater 210 was of course, Jack Parsons who has achieved a good measure of notoriety in later
days, amongst occultists and, interestingly, the critics of Scientology. Parson’s story is both
interesting and complex and is discussed in much more detail in The Morning of the
Magicians, Chapter.
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