(Quote) Israel Regardie - The Art and Meaning of Magick

"In common with all schools and sects of Buddhism, the Mahayana is directly antagonistic to the ego idea. The whole of its philosophy and ethical code is directly concerned with the elimination of the "I" thinking. It holds that this is purely a fantasy bred of childish ignorance, very much as the mediaeval notion that the sun circumambulated the earth was the result of imperfect knowledge. Therefore the whole of its religious and philosophic scheme is directed towards uprooting this fantasy from the thinking of its disciples. This is the Anatta doctrine, and its importance to Buddhism is grounded in the belief that from this fantasy spring all sorrow and unhappiness.

European Magic, on the other hand, owes its fundamental doctrines to the Qabalah. Whilst having much in common with the broad outlines of Buddhism, the metaphysics of the Qabalah are essentially egocentric in a typically European way. Nevertheless, the terms of its philosophy are so general that they may be interpreted freely from a variety of angles. Whilst decrying the ills and limitations that accompany the false ego sense, it emphasises not so much the destruction of the ego as, with true Western practicality, its purification and integration."

(Quote) Israel Regardie - The Eye in The Triangle

"His devotion to the Great Work did not modify or eliminate his powerful sexual drives, any more than it changed his gourmet inclinations. If he cared for oysters and chateaubriand before his Samadhi, the same liking persisted afterwards." (Regardie 346)

"In one chapter of his book, Symonds comments - again with the intent to deride - that Crowley appeared to regard all sexual acts - be they hetero-, homo-, or auto-erotic - as religious acts, as magical acts, as equally divine." (Regardie 346)

"I put it to you to decide which is the more noble, and which the more corrupt. The view that sex is a dirty business, pleasurable certainly, but somehow not quite proper or clean; that it is to be indulged in secretly and passionately, but to be hurried through and gotten over quickly. Any reference thereafter to it is either in cold, highly intellectual terms as in a pseudo-scientific study, or pornographically with jokes and snickers. Compare this with the utter simplicity of the attitude that Crowley believed. Sexual ecstasy, thought Crowley, is akin to divine ecstasy. Both are there for us to take as we will.
Crowley accepted the one simple fact that sex - sex in any shape or form, the emergence of instinctual, that is, divine tendencies - is not to be thwarted or warped. So long as no one is hurt or injured, it is a private matter between any two people as to what form or practice of sexuality they wish to indulge in.
His interpretation of sex is then clear. You have the right, the divine right in his opinion, to express sexuality in your own particular way. "Take thy fill of love where, when, and with whom thou wilt - but always in the love of Me! [the divine]" (Regardie 347)

(Quote) Israel Regardia - The Eye in The Triangle

"Crowley once said that if a man wanted to begin the study of Magic because he wished to evoke a demon to kill his enemy, that would be all right too. For the student would soon discover the hierarchical structure of the world of magic. That is to say, the demon in question could not be controlled or ordered until the student had made contact with the entity immediately superior. And this entity would only be beseeched to function in terms of his superior - and so on. Very shortly, then, the student would be constrained to invoke, in a direct line, the God or spiritual force ruling over all such operations. In that case he would have to unite his consciousness with that of the God. By that time, so many transformations in consciousness would have taken place, that the original malefic intent would have disappeared and been replaced by other more worthy and higher aspirations."