An earlier essay entitled Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia, which was published in Crowley's periodical The Equinox during 1913, is included here because it deals with the magical practice of expanding consciousness to the stars and planets. The word 'Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia' is made up of the Greek words for Frog Mind Ox World Battle, and is a play on the title of the Homeric epic, the Batrachomyomachia or 'Battle of the Frogs and Mice.' The idea behind the use of this barbarous name—that is, in pronunciation or vibration—is that it is supposed to create a sense of vertigo in which the mind is freed from its ordinary bounds. Consciousness—so the theory goes—is exalted to infinity by this method.
Also included in this volume is a little-known essay of Crowley's entitled 'How Horoscopes are Faked', which appears here for the first time in book form. It was written in 1917 under the name of 'Cor Scorpionis', the heart of the scorpion, a name probably chosen because of the stinging nature of the author's remarks. The essay was published in The International, a monthly New York periodical which, along with its stable-companion, The Fatherland—of which Crowley was the editor—was disseminating German propaganda in these war years.