Letters of Light: The Magical Letters of William G. Gray to Alan Richardson Paperback – 30 April 2015

This is a good quick read and it has some insight in to the occult book publishing world of the 1970's. William Gray is quite a funny character - i think he got a bit annoyed when Mr Richardson got a book of his own published. it looks like they had a falling out, though this is carefully glossed over in the book. My thoughts were that as Mr Richardson's star rose, Mr Gray began to lose interest in him - just a thought.

This is a very useful book if you're learning the Craft and are still only just beginning to understand the basic concepts, in particular, the kabulah.When I read some of Gray's letters and Alan Richardson's guide at the end of the book, some of the concepts that had previously been as clear as mud to me made more sense. It's also entertaining, as you can well imagine the somewhat grumpy Gray replying to the many enthusiastic queries of a youthful Alan Richardson, who is clearly going through the ups and downs of life! Highly recommended.

A must for students of the western mystery tradition !, having being fortunate enough to have met both Bill Gray and Alan Richardson, I highly recommend this book, Bill Gray was a bigot and an old sod ! But his knowledge of magic was next to none !As Dion would have said " Magic is the art of causing changes in Consciousness at will "Must buy book !

Fascinating insights into the minds of genuine adepts, men of different generations whose world views seem far apart and yet are able to create between them a dynamic and creative dialogue. Insightful and actually quite moving.

Although I’ve awarded this book five stars, I do have certain reservations. I cannot, with all honesty, join in the chorus of praise.Letters are often interesting, but they have always had a limited value in either providing insights into the correspondent’s character, or providing additional information concerning their ideas. In this case, I wonder who will read this collection and, if they do, what will they gain? If the material is intended for the knowledgeable practioner, it does not provide much that Bill Gray has not said before. The student, if unfamiliar with his work, will simply come away baffled.Alan Richardson’s comments do not say anything new either. That is unless the reader has never encountered his work on either Gray or magic before. Richardson’s approach in previous books - of being chatty while explaining quite complex ideas - has always worked well; here it just seems a touch lazy.Skylight’s publishing of this book could be seen as a comment on the state of the esoteric world in the C21st. Those who have a genuine understanding of occult practice have battened down the hatches and are loath to enlighten others. The New Age, meanwhile, carries on promoting its ill-informed and trivial ethos. I don’t think putting out Bill Gray’s old letters will do much to redress the balance.

This is a part of Alan Richardson's correspondence with the famous occultist William Gray, who's books I read in the '80s. To be fair, you do get something of a sense of the man, including some of his crazy political rantings about a thought control conspiracy, as well as a rather nice bedrock of humanity and compassion. However it's very unsatisfying to read - it ends just as the correspondence seems to be getting somewhere and refers to a later stage of letter-writing which isn't included. Also, only Gray's letters are included, so it's occasionally hard to work out what he's on about or what he's reacting to. I would say this is of historical interest only, to people who might be scholars of Western Occultism or some such, as it throws a little light on Gray's character. Otherwise no need to read it, I would say.

if you are interested in the English, Western mysteries. Get this book.