In looking for new light on viable Hermopolitanism, we must realize that it was anciently cultic and ceremonial, as were the other denominations of Native Egyptian Religion.  The books of the Hermetic Gnostics of Alexandria drew upon Thoth’s system, but as Hermetism sometimes dwells in much the area of moral speculation, Golden Dawn type Hermeticism is more action oriented.  Yet, it is not without its philosophical core.  Aleister Crowley’s Magick Without Tears is a collection of replies to inquiries by one of his students, and is his final and most magisterial work.  It is a series of rather miscellaneous but often deep and extensive topical discussions of issues related to “magick”, as he dubbed western tantra (i.e., ritual procedures for specific effect).  Though its pages amuse us with the author’s caprices, they are also a showcase for his virtues.  That is, he not only was “a character” but also a man of character.  The menacing mask he wore for most of his life drops to reveal a concerned and well humored mentor. 

Through the kind of essence that it conveys, the tome perhaps resembles some of the Indian upanishads that help a mystic develop a perspective that can facilitate a more complete understanding of the occult path.  In this regard it is different from many witchcraft texts, as they are often padded out with loads of group-identity myth, affected terminology, and celebration lore.  It also differs from some purportedly serious but actually quite superficial treatments of sorcery that merely provide a collection of concepts and facts for recombination into arbitrary forms designed to help the credulous reader fall into orbit around the writer’s ego.  Such coarsely drawn and artificial distinctions were what our great magus spent his life debunking.  Crowley’s amazingly elevated viewpoint illuminates all manner of intellectual concerns to a remarkable degree, but in particular those of ritually active Hermeticism.  Its insights can help head off the catastrophes to which a lopsided education in mysticism or magick sometimes leads.  It is rich with the substance of Ma’at. 

There is no one treatment of post modern belief that today’s Hermopolitan need feel obligated to achieve intimacy with, but this is the finest and most scientifically minded collection of observations on High Magick (traditional Egyptian-Hellenic-Hebraic-European theomancy) that we may encounter, and it may be recommend simply on its literary merits and its quality of enlightenment.  For a general working knowledge of yoga and tantra, Harry Potter would start with Crowley’s Book IV, which discusses the physical and mental tools of the trade.  But if you are too old to begin at the beginning, then challenge yourself with Magick Without Tears for the spiritual essence of Hermeticism.  Its obscure clarity will help one to sift out the treasure from the rubbish when it comes to the sort of materials that lend themselves to the rebuilding of Hermopolis.  It is a modern standard of wisdom-based discipline.