Book Discussion What Are You Reading (Occult)

[beardedeldridge]

Absolutely nothing that I haven’t read before at the moment. I’ve got some more academic stuff on Exorcism, Gnostics, and early esoteric Christianity that I’ve been meaning to read but I think I’m going to just enjoy the holidays before I dive into any of that.

-Eld

Never mind looks like I’m reading Gateways Thru L&S. Never really had much intention to read it tbh but it looks like I’ll be reading it during the holidays.

-Eld

 

[Romolo]

After Schulke & Fitzgerald’s (very interesting) “Via Tortuosa, an exposition on crooked path sorcery” I wanted to move on with the source text of the genre, namely Chumbley’s “Dragon Book of Essex”. Chumbley lacks modesty. He does not immediately gain my trust, not in the way that Jack Grayle got mine from the start in Hekatæon.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

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I can't really countenance downloading books without paying for them, so I bought it off Amazon. It's exceedingly interesting stuff.

 

[HoldAll]

Everything PGM, skipping from scholarly works to blog entries to journal articles to the Betz translation. The PGM are raw magic, often brutal despite all that exalted ancient language - awful materia involving animal mutilation and sacrifices (blinds, IMHO), dreadful curses, psychic rape, etc., interspersed with solemn theurgy and pious prayers combined with a liberal dose of barbarous words. I'm still struggling to get a handle on these ancient papyri. Gods are blackmailed and generally bossed around, anything to get a spell to work. Train-wreck fascinating.

 

[beardedeldridge]

Everything PGM, skipping from scholarly works to blog entries to journal articles to the Betz translation. The PGM are raw magic, often brutal despite all that exalted ancient language - awful materia involving animal mutilation and sacrifices (blinds, IMHO), dreadful curses, psychic rape, etc., interspersed with solemn theurgy and pious prayers combined with a liberal dose of barbarous words. I'm still struggling to get a handle on these ancient papyri. Gods are blackmailed and generally bossed around, anything to get a spell to work. Train-wreck fascinating.

All practitioners should spend some time with the pgm. It’s just a big practical hodgepodge from all over the place. And those old school spell-slingers for hire were not afraid to get their hands dirty. It’s like a dark Agrippa.

-Eld

 

[DiLoco_DelEted]

At the moment, two books: Kabalah, Magic and the Great Work of Self-Transformation (Lyam Thomas Christopher); Modern Magick:Twelve Lessons In The High Magical Arts (Donald M Kraig).
Several side readings.

Tomorrow continuing reading in Neophyte and Zelator chapters/lessons, then Mystical Qabalah (part three), a few chapters of Israel Regardie & The Philosophers Stone, and a few chapters of The Middle Pillar.

Post automatically merged: Jan 11, 2024

Not really occult, but crosses theoretical lines.....

Reading material for the Compendium:
Wikipedia
The Natural Genesis (Gerald Massey)
Understanding Planets in Ancient Mesopotamia (Kasak, Veede)
Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan (John Day)
Deities and Demigods (Lawrence Schick, E Gary Gygax)
Encyclopedia of World Mythology )Arthur Cotterell)
The Life of the Ancient Greeks (Charles Burton Gulick)
Practical Greek Magick (Murray Hope)
Magika Hiera (Faraone, Obbink)
The Sacred and the Profane (Mircea Eliade)
Greek Magic, Greek Religion (Robert L Fowler)
Ancient Aryan Gods (Mozhgan Yahyazade)
Ancient Man in Britain (Donald A Mackenzie)
Ancient and Modern Britons (Kegan Paul, Trench and Co)
The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egypt (Rosemary Clark)
The Sacred Tradition in Ancient Egypt (Rosemary Clark)
The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt (Richard H Wilkinson)
The Gods of the Egyptians (E.A. Wallace Budge)

Just for near East gods and goddesses compemdium part.

 

[Art Thurian]

Right now I am reading:
"Weston, Brandon - Llewellyn's complete book of North American Folk Magic... (2023)"

It is an interesting book about the history of North American Folk Magic. This collection of folk magic traditional teachers/practitioners is one of the best I've ever seen in a book like this. I'm proud to say I'm a part of this work but also very impressed with the writers and practitioners of the various traditions presented. If you are interested in AUTHENTIC North American folk magic, then you will find extremely credible information here; especially about traditions like Hoodoo, Powwow, Italian folk magic, and so many others.

This comprehensive guide to North American folk magic covers more than 20 diverse magical traditions that have taken root on the continent. You will discover the Northeastern maritime practice of "buying the wind," the Mexican Curanderismo method of energy cleansing with candles, the Irish-American custom of making fairy houses, and much more. Drawing on the expertise of 25 renowned practitioners, this book explores authentic magic from New England to the West Coast and everywhere in between. Learn about Appalachian folk magic from H. Byron Ballard, Voodoo from Lilith Dorsey, Ozark folk magic from Brandon Weston, and Brujería from J. Allen Cross. Filled with history, tools, and spiritual beliefs, this new entry in Llewellyn's Complete Book Series showcases the rich and varied magical traditions of North America.

Drawing on the expertise of twenty-four renowned practitioners, this book features contemporary folk traditions from all over North America. Diverse as the landscapes they thrive on, these authentic practices will expand your worldview and inspire you to enrich your spirituality. Explore the history, tools, and spiritual beliefs of many different paths of folk magic from Mexico, the United States, and Canada. You'll tour the continent's rich and varied cultures region by region, taking an insider's look at more than twenty traditions, including:

Appalachian Mountain Magic, Brujeria, Curanderismo
Detroit Hoodoo, Florida Swamp Magic, Irish American Folk Magic
Italian American Magic, Melungeon Folk Magic,
New England Cunning Craft, New Orleans Voodoo
Ozark Folk Magic, Pennsylvania Powwow & Braucherei
Slavic American Folk Magic, Southern Conjure

 

[Vandheer]

Taking a little break from Hermetic writings, I am gonna read Tao Te Ching now. Multiple translations are compiled into one pdf in this. Also The Only Way to Learn Astroloy. And a non-occult book.

 

[Art Thurian]

Taking a little break from Hermetic writings, I am gonna read Tao Te Ching now. Multiple translations are compiled into one pdf in this. Also The Only Way to Learn Astroloy. And a non-occult book.

Sometimes is good to take a break. This will allow you to reflect on your previous magical work and experiences. According to my own experiences, this will enhance the quality of your earlier experience in magick. You will find later that you will be more sharp with your concentration and if you meditate, you will find it much easier to be involved in this process. I definitely recommend people sometimes to take a break.

 

[neilwilkes]

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I can't really countenance downloading books without paying for them, so I bought it off Amazon. It's exceedingly interesting stuff.

Likewise.
The times I will download are when I either cannot find a physical copy for sale, or when a physical copy is exorbitantly priced

 

[Taudefindi]

Occult-wise:

• Occultism - It's theory and practice by Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah

Occult(ish):

• Magic and magicians in the Greco Roman world by Matthew W. Dickie
• The materiality of magic - An artefactual investigation into ritual practices and popular beliefs by Ceri Houlbrook and Natalie Armitage
• Magic in the ancient world by Fritz Graf

 

[Sajod]

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The Gospel of Judas by Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer and Gregor Wurst
Among other things, has a translation of the actual book unfettered by a lengthy textual analysis after every paragraph (though the footnotes are fat).

 

[DiLoco_DelEted]

Read the introduction to Raziel - Paths of Power by Jareth Tempest. Angel hour is up, onto Frater Albertus' The Alchemists' Handbook.

 

[art-vark2323]

Currently focusing on reading Edgar Cayce: The Sleeping Prophet by Jess Stearn and The Triumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton, and I just finished Doreen Valiente: Witch by Philip Heselton. I've also got a few witchcraft books on my reading list like Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed by Doreen Valiente and Evan Jones. I've been really into Traditional Witchcraft lately so all of the books I'm most interested in reading next are geared towards that.

 

[neilwilkes]

Edgar Cayce is a fascinating read - he is one of those who I really want to take seriously but who has got as much wrong as he got right. That said, some of the things he got right he should not have known and his success rate is well above that of blind chance, and the failures could easily be explained by reality taking a different path in the end.
Which brings me to the next point, and I freely admit this is a rabbit hole but AFAIK it's my own theory, not nicked from anyone else's work.
How does prophecy actually work? Are our lives pre-ordained? Or - and this is what I would like to discuss - are only sone people's lives pre-ordained and the vast majority of lives not. This has some really interesting implications though, not the least of which is the implicit idea that most people's lives don't matter for some reason, just because they are not one of those whose life is pre-ordained (or subject to something often called 'Destiny') then their lives are not important, or don't matter. This is of course a non-starter, as whilst I am absolutely certain as I can be that there are a small - vanishingly small - number of people who are here in their current incarnation for one purpose only and that purpose is not only pre-ordained but it is built right into them and they are probably incapable of doing it 'wrong', and that the vast majority of people currently living don't matter much at all - with one huge caveat:
The fact their lives are not pre-ordained/subject to Destiny (however you are happiest looking at it) does not necessarily mean their lives are inconsequential though - it simply states they are not 'pre programmed' if you will, and actually have free will to make a decsision whereas those who are tools of fate have no such freedom. It is the actions of this majority, I believe, who are responsible for screwing up prophets & their prophecies simply because their lives, and therefore their actions, are outside of beinmg predictable and they may well make a choice somewhere along the line that has a side effect no prophet could ever 'forsee'

I know this line of thinking is flawed and needs a lot of work if it is to even get to the point of becoming as much as a hypothesis as right now it certainly isn't that, never mind an actual theory. It's a stray thought, a random idea that has been niggling away at me for some time now.

 

[Xenophon]

Yukio Mishima's "Runaway Horses." It came reccomended as a work with "aeonic magickal implications." I'm only 8 pages in, so no Damascus road moments yet.

 

[theil]

Listening to the audiobook of "Subtle Energy: A Handbook of Psychic Energy Manipulation," by Keith Miller. Not new ageie but seems to be roughly grounded in hermetic thought. The narrator is speed reading, so slowed him down a bit.
Short book at 3hrs.
Text version is available for free as kindle unlimited subscription and the audiobook is at Everand with a subscription.

 

[fletflo]

I am just starting on The Cunning Man's Handbook: the Practice of English Folk Magic 1550-1900 by Jim Baker (2014)

 

[Xenophon]

I was looking into F. Paul Wilson's "Adversary Cycle," but can't recommend #1 "The Keep." Wilson sets a story in 1941 Romania without, it seems, checking out even a Wikipedia article about the land. He labors under the misapprehension that the populace is Slavic, that the language is written in Cyrillic alphabet, that the Iron Guard was in full flower immediately before the war with Russia (Antonescu had used the army to disband the Guard in January 1941.) We learn from Wilson, too, that Romanian nobles are called "boyars"---call Russia: they want their word back. He also has the notion that German troops were equipped with something called a "Schmeisser." The term was a Brit/Yank nickname for the MP-40 submachine gun and not used by the Germans themselves.

I know, I know. The story tries for a neo-Lovecraftian yarn. But it's distracting how Wilson is so damned lazy. At least Lovecraft could write with some reliability about the New England settings of his stories.

 

[Bluesoft]

Currently im reading man and his symbols, after 'the red book' is waiting for me.