What do you think?
Rate this book
Roll Away the Stone: An Introduction to Aleister Crowleys Essays on the Psychology of Hashish
An Introduction to Aleister Crowley's Essays on the Psychology of Hashish with the complete text of The Herb Dangerous [by] Aleister Crowley.
249 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Israel Regardie
156 books313 followersIsrael Regardie (born Francis Israel Regudy) was considered by many to be the last living Adept of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. At an early age, Regardie worked as Aleister Crowley's personal secretary. In addition to his extensive writings, Regardie practiced as a chiropractor and as a neo-Reichian therapist. He taught psychiatry at the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic and contributed articles to many psychology magazines.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 21, 2010
Roll Away the Stone consists of a long essay by Israel Regardie that is mainly his thoughts on LSD and Aleister Crowley. Next there is an essay summarizing a pharmaceutical study from the early 1900s. After that Crowleys Psychology of Hashish, Charles Baudelaires Poem of Hashish and an excerpt from The Hashish eater by H.G Ludlow.
Regardies essay was decent but nothing great. The Pharmeceutical study repeated many of the same things that every new Cannabis study says but there are also a few fallacies and things that have since been proven to be not true. Crowleys essay was a huge disappointment. Baudelaire and Ludlows writings were greatly descriptive accounts of the Hashish experience which morphed into some sort of sensationalistic warning of the so called dangers of Hashish use. Ludlows account almost reads like a H.P Lovecraft story when he describes a bad experience he had with Hashish. I also found it amazing they all missed, or at least failed to talk about, the "pleasure enhancement" that Cannabis brings. Especially from Crowley given what a notorious perv he was supposed to have been. To summarize what I thought of this book its interesting and entertaining at times but still a disappointment.
Regardies essay was decent but nothing great. The Pharmeceutical study repeated many of the same things that every new Cannabis study says but there are also a few fallacies and things that have since been proven to be not true. Crowleys essay was a huge disappointment. Baudelaire and Ludlows writings were greatly descriptive accounts of the Hashish experience which morphed into some sort of sensationalistic warning of the so called dangers of Hashish use. Ludlows account almost reads like a H.P Lovecraft story when he describes a bad experience he had with Hashish. I also found it amazing they all missed, or at least failed to talk about, the "pleasure enhancement" that Cannabis brings. Especially from Crowley given what a notorious perv he was supposed to have been. To summarize what I thought of this book its interesting and entertaining at times but still a disappointment.
February 21, 2013
Even if you never smoked pot, this monograph opens an excellent window into historical attitudes towards the herbal drug & Crowley's own character.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews