Pearls of Wisdom: Gems From the Journal Black Pearl Paperback – August 30, 2013

Back in the 70's and 80's James Eshelman launched a magixine called "the black pearl"It contained article based on Crowley's Thelemic philosophy as revealed to him by Aiwass while staying in Cairo. Many of the articles are accessible for the neophyte and newbie as well as article geared toward the more advanced practitioner. This book is a compendium of articles taken from that period. The article are informative and enlightening and I plan on reading more of Eshelman's works.The article inform the reader on the basics of philosophy regarding Thelema, instructions and history on how to perform rituals, Kabballah , sex magic. Tarot and personal anecdote .This is a great book for both beginner and advanced. I will advice the newbie to Ceremonial magic to also read Modern Magic by Donald Michael Kraig. The more advanced can use this book as a launching pad into higher spirituality as it reveals thing never before revealed.

I only have time for a quick review at the moment so that will have to be:If you have any interest at all in the subjects of Thelema, ceremonial magic, or the western mystical tradition, you owe it to yourself to read this book. I've been studying these subjects for well over two decades and yet the clear explanations and humorously honest personal anecdotes of this anthology have, chapter by chapter, given me new and exciting ways to view everything covered. If for nothing else, the introductory material in "What is Thelema?" is perhaps the best, clearest, most insightful writing I've ever seen on the subject.Eshelman is truly a treasure. A great deal of his writing is available for free online but, if this is the quality of what he has in him to put down on paper, I hope he continues filling up my bookshelf for a long long time.

This is an outstanding and wide reaching anthology of the living current of Thelema by an living Adept of the tradition!The subjects are varying and far reaching. This is the product of a life dedicated to walking the Path of initiation. My especial favorite is "One Bird in Flight!" Well Done James,well done!Paul A. Clark, Steward of the Fraternity of the Hidden LightThe Hermetic Qabalah

I liked the book for the following reasons:-Simplicity, the book is really easy to read.-Content, the book is quite large.It's always great to balance out you're thelemic perspective with other people's personal thoughts and opinions.It's nice to have something other to read than Crowley.You'll also find quite a few golden nuggets of wisdom here and there.

James A. Eshelman is the real deal--a longtime student of Soror Meral (Phyllis Seckler), who was herself a student of Sorar Estai (Jane Wolfe), who was admitted as a Probationer in the A'A' by Aleister Crowley himself. Eshelman is a co-founder with Soror Meral of College of Thelema, and he is the visible head of its initiating Order, Temple of Thelema, founded in service to the A'A'. His latest book, Pearls of Wisdom, is Eshelman's most far-reaching and approachable work to-date.In the introductory chapters, Eshelman reveals the basics of Thelema for a new generation of aspirants, but with a clarity that should impress even the most seasoned. He lays out three main principles of Thelema--Will, Love and Star--and identifies Thelema's primary "deities," including Nuit, Hadit, Ra Hoor Khuit, Babalon (the Scarlet Woman) and the Beast. The first 40 pages of this book are perhaps the most cogent and readable introduction to the Thelemic worldview that presently exists in print.What remains are gems. Eshelman has combined his most insightful contributions from College of Thelema's Black Pearl magazine--a publication he launched with Soror Meral in 1997--into a cohesive and thought-provoking treatise. Pearls of Wisdom covers a wide range of esoteric and occult topics, under the following section headings:1. It's in the Basics2. Magick3. Qabalah4. Thelema5. Sexual Mysteries6. The Holy Guardian Angel7. The PathThese sections are comprised of 42 separate articles, averaging around 9 pages apiece. The material covered can get pretty advanced, but the bite-sized presentation and Eshelman's breezy narrative voice make the concepts and the practices relatively easy to digest.Importantly, this is a practical book, not just a theoretical one. Eshelman's section on Magick tackles ritual and ceremony head on, and he shares deep insights concerning the very "obeah and wanga" of being a Thelemite. The book will make you a better magician. Eshelman provides precise descriptions and important instructions for correctly performing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, the Hexagram Ritual, Liber Resh vel Helios, the Star Ruby, and several more. He covers fundamentals of magical invocation and evocation, and his treatment of the Sexual Mysteries is unexpected.The book's section on Qabalah covers more than Tree of Life basics. His essay on Latin Qabalah Simplex makes a fresh contribution, including a catalog of Latin gematria that one can use to decode occult messages in Renaissance art. His concise descriptions of the the Thoth Tarot serve as a vivid keys for further meditation or divination. And his essay on the 32 Paths of Wisdom unpacks the classic 13th Century qabalistic text with the kind of insights available only to someone steeped in the Western Mystery Tradition--who also happens to have himself translated the text to English from the oldest and most authentic available Latin and Hebraic sources.My favorite passage in the book is called, "The Magical Record of Brother Proserpinus." This is Eshelman's magical diary--or at least parts of it--during the 93-day period he set aside to perform the Abramelin Operation (Liber VIII). It is a deeply personal story, which Eshelman shares with tremendous candor. I found myself excited by the description of events surrounding his approach to Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, and, after reading it, I felt like the attainment was real, that it was possible in this world, while working a job and managing relationships and all the rest of the complexity of life, for anyone who is dedicated enough to go through with it. And that got me excited about the Great Work in general, which is a pretty fabulous thing for a book to be able do.One other thing I will note is that the Appendix of the book contains a rendering of the Book of the Law, Liber L. vel Legis. (In a footnote, Eshelman explains that the title of the book was never really Liber AL!!). By publishing their own official version of Thelema's most important holy book, Eshelman and Temple of Thelema have decidedly weighed in on the recent textual dispute over the final line of the salutation in Chapter III, verse 37.Overall, I think this book makes a really valuable contribution to the Thelemic community. It would be a good text for anyone who delights in magick or the occult, for anyone who is encountering Thelema for the first time, and for anyone interested in the insights gained over 40 years of experience by one of Thelema's most passionate and dedicated teachers.This book is definitely worth the price. Plus, it has good paper, nicely stitched binding and it is really beautifully typeset.

Best book.Easy to understand alot to know.I could not put this book.Great author I want to read all his books.