Book Discussion WHAT IS THE FIRST BOOK YOU READ ABOUT MAGIC ?

[zyfrtheFirst]

Mine is the Golden Bough by James Frazer - a book about pagan magics and how modern religion might have evolved from totem spirits associated with hunting, fertility and the weather.
In it he describes the 2 laws of Sympathetic Magic: The law of Simulation and the Law of Contagion.

This was my first exposure to ritual magic. I had intended to learn about the history of religions of White People in my country, before they had been exposed to Christianity. What did the old Britons believe? As it turns out, those superstitions are very strange, like many of the indigenous people in the world! A rich and vibrant history worthy of study.

There is a section where he describes Diana of Nemi, and Rex Nemorensis, which to me might represent the 2nd Roman invasion.

I had not known at the time that this book was a GIANT; one of the most significant and respected books in all of paganism!
It's principles extend to Wicca, Houdou and even Solomonic ritual theurgy traditions!

 

[Morell]

Franc Bardon - Initation Into Hermetics
The first I got and in my country. At the time there were not many, also this one was already back then available for free online. (and that same file is still up on the page where I found it)

 

[Lucien6493]

It must have been really bad because I can't remember the name. It was one of those little books of maybe thirty pages given away at Shell gas stations back in the sixties, for free, and it had a fluffy white cat on the cover, a red candle, and a silver cup. It had all kinds of useful information in it like how to turn your husband into a toad and how to make a homunculus. Really! I must have been eight or nine at the time and simply read it to pieces, silly as it was.

 

[Morell]

It must have been really bad because I can't remember the name. It was one of those little books of maybe thirty pages given away at Shell gas stations back in the sixties, for free, and it had a fluffy white cat on the cover, a red candle, and a silver cup. It had all kinds of useful information in it like how to turn your husband into a toad and how to make a homunculus. Really! I must have been eight or nine at the time and simply read it to pieces, silly as it was.

Ah men, are they in the library? Would love to take a look!

 

[Lucien6493]

I so wish, but no. Novelty shops that sell first editions of batman comics, Ebay collections, vintage memorabilia emporiums, curiosity shops, dusty old book sellers that the world forgot that have portals to far Carcosa? Your guess is as good as mine. I looked. Never found.

 

[Morell]

Awwww, that's a shame.