Acknowledgments p. xi Encountering the Scarlet Goddess p. 1 Western Esotericism, Occultism, and Magic p. 6 Notes on Methodology p. 8 Technicalities and Demarcations p. 10 Outline of the Book p. 12 Divine Women, Femmes, and Whores: The Theorization of Multiple Femininities p. 17 Feminism and Sex: Passion, Prostitution, and Pleasure p. 18 Difference, Divinity, and Multiple Femininities p. 19 Fem(me)ininity and Vulnerable Subversion p. 23 "The Sex That Is Not One": The Concept of Plural Femininities p. 26 The Scarlet Goddess and the Wine of Her Fornications: Crowley, Babalon, and the Femmep. 35 Fatale 1898-1909 Good, Bad, and Scarlet: Femininities of the Fin-de-Siècle p. 36 Scripture and Scourging: The King James Bible and Pariah Femininities before Babalon p. 39 "Fresh Blossoms from the Heart of Hell": Jezebel and the Influence of Decadence p. 39 "The Work of Wickedness": The Scarlet Woman in Liber AL vel Legis (1904) p. 43 "Into Unguessed Abysses": Lola of the Infernal Bliss p. 46 "I Was Really Being Married": Pain and Erotic Submission in Crowley's Early Work p. 49 The Dancing God and the Pyramid Gateway: Babalon in The Vision and the Voice p. 51 Dancers, Bulls, and Amphoras: Babalon below the Abyss p. 52 Enter the Mother of Abominations: Babalon above the Abyss p. 55 The Daughter and the Blasphemy: Babalon beyond the City of the Pyramids p. 58 Enthroned in Eternity: Babalon in the 2nd Aethyr p. 63 Erotic Destruction and Pariah Femininities: Blood, Receptivity, and Reframed p. 65 Whoredom Yielding Peaches and Women with Whips: Babalon, Crowley, and Magical Systematizationp. 81 1911-1947 Cup, Grail, and Eucharist: Babalon 1913-1918 p. 87 High Priestess of the Goddess: Crowley and Leah Hirsig at the Abbey of Thelema p. 94 "Whore to Herself": The Cephaloedium Working p. 100 "I Expect a New Semiramis": The "New Comment" p. 102 Babalon in Magick, The Book of Thoth, and Magick without Tears p. 107 Dissolution and Danger: Babalonian Femininity and Ambivalence in Crowley's Work p. 110 Her Banner Is Unfolded: Babalon and Scarlet Femininities in the Writings of Jack p. 125 Parsons From Childhood Loner to Occult Enfant Terrible: Jack Parsons 1914-1945 p. 125 "Flame Is Our Lady": The Babalon Working p. 127 The Speaking Goddess: The Daughter of Babalon and the Covens of Old in "Liber 49" p. 128 Beautiful and Horrible: Finalizing the Babalon Working p. 132 The Speaking Babalon: Heterosexual Sacrifice and the Goddess in the World p. 136 Into the Sunset with Her Sign: The Black Pilgrimage and the Rise of the Antichrist p. 137 Babalon as a Feminist Revolutionary p. 140 "An Ancient Garden and a Secret Call": Babalon and the Witch p. 143 Divine Women, Witches, and Feminine Agency p. 145 Kundalini, Kalas, and Qadeshim: Babalon and Femininity as Other in the Writings of p. 157 Kenneth Grant Biographical Overview p. 158 An "Onslaught of Compulsive Weirdness": Deciphering Grant's Magic p. 159 From Typhon to Thelema: The Primordial Sex Cult p. 162 Subtle Emissions and Crowleyan Omissions: The Magical Function of the Kalas p. 165 Ophidian Others: Gender and Femininity in Grant's Writings p. 167 Blood-Drenched Harlot of Choronzon: Babalon and the Scarlet Woman p. 169 Chalice of the Kalas: Babalon as Tantric Priestess p. 169 "The Blood Is the Life": Menstruation as a Magical Gateway p. 172 The Scarlet Harlot: Grant's Interpretation of Whoredom p. 175 Babalon, Choronzon, and Qliphoth: Uneasy (Non-)Duality p. 177 Annihilation and Manifestation: Transforming Femininities p. 178 Scarlet Difference and Trickster Femininity p. 181 Intermezzo: Contemporary Occultism and Thelema p. 195 Demographics, Values, and Practices p. 196 Gender in Contemporary Occultism and Thelema p. 199 "It All Goes in the Cup": Receptivity and Unstable Polarities in the Contemporary p. 203 Babalon Discourse Open Circulation: Babalon beyond Passivity and Birth-Assigned Sex p. 207 Receptivity as Openness? Changing Perceptions of Femininity in the Babalon Discourse p. 211 Degendering Polarity? Dialectical Magic beyond Masculine and Feminine p. 216 (Re)Active Vulnerability: Receptivity and Agency p. 220 Feminist Difference: Babalon and the Hope of an Alternative Femininity p. 229 Reclaiming the Complete Divine Feminine: Babalon Straddling Dichotomies p. 229 Sword-Wielding Warrior: Babalon as Empowered Woman p. 236 Redefining Babalon: Conceptualizing the Authoritative Female Magician p. 239 Goddess of Gender Trouble? Babalon Challenging Heteronormativity p. 249 Babalon and Feminist Femininities: Difference, Divinity, and Subversive Spaces p. 254 Inhabiting the Uninhibited: Babalon, Sexual Politics, and the Liberation of the p. 263 Desiring Feminine Subject Babalon as the Liberator of Feminine Sexuality p. 263 Availability and Independence: Babalon's Sexual Limits p. 274 The Call Girl and the Whore's Heart: Reworking Whoredom in the Babalon Discourse p. 276 Sex Worker Rights and Spiritualized whoredom p. 282 Babalon and Feminine Sexuality: Some Reflections p. 283 Possession and Dispossession: Embodiment, Ecstasy, and Erotic Destruction p. 291 "Procession of Babalon" by Aisha Qadisha p. 292 Freyja p. 299 Soror Syrinx p. 302 Peter Grey and Alkistis Dimech p. 304 Feminine Matter(s): The Body in the Contemporary Babalon Discourse p. 310 "Like Fire and Powder": Erotic Destruction and the Eloquent Blood p. 321 Danger, Delight, and Feminine Positionalities: Babalon in Crowley's Writings p. 322 Fire, Blood, and the Avenging Harlot: Babalon in Parsons's Writings p. 325 The Other Woman: Babalon in Giant's Writings p. 326 The Goddess Who Is Not One: Babalon in Contemporary Esotericism p. 328 Lived Religion and Bodies of Power: Babalon and the Study of Esotericism p. 331 Feminine Resistance and Hopeful Figurations: Babalon, Gender, and Femininity p. 333 Studies Engendering Dispossession: The Violent Delights of Babalonian Femininities p. 340 Bibliography p. 345 Index p. 369 Table of Contents provided by Blackwell's Book Services and R.R. 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