Book Discussion Your first occult book

[Wannabewizard]

My first book of note is Manly P Halls Magic: A Treatise on Natural Occultism.
It is not a grimoire as such, more a moral guide to the consequences and effects of all magic (power) applied.
I had most of this inside me anyway and needed some verification about what I suspected all along.
He basically says that all religions today, are a fragement of the original religion. False beards and all.
Remins me of...Egypt/Sumaria.

If you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear, it covers esoteric abuse and the literal vampire.
He absolutely roasts the Christians, not out of hate or spite, but ought of their willful ignorance to learn their own mysteries. It helped me break free from the bondage of wonky, unfounded, (superstitious) Pentecostal Christian nonsense in to a much better all round view of the spiritual, including neo-Christianity.

Remember, this was written in the 20's before freaky anti-social media could sully it.
I find it ironic that Hall's line about the seething power of Lucifer, was used by Christians to me to put me off 'the occult' whilst helping to break masonic curses, doubly ironic, that ultimately led me back to the truth about what that really is.
You have to consider the Occult Christ, and when you do, you must also consider everything else.
All driven by a fear of hell, the fear of being punished, which ultimately is a crystallization (hardening) from the extreme cold, which applies to everyone, every where, all the time.
The true freedom in Christ, is the same in all contructive religions, and religion is a structure for magic, weather natural or perversion.

It has naturally also given me more questions about what your supposed to do when your recoving from abuse and truama, and the perps are still magically hostile and will never relent.
Halls work does seem to be idealist and I have found my experinces to be far from ideal.

I recommend anyone intersted in taking responsibility for there life, or that of others, get this.
Very interesting, especially when the perspective is shifted to the contemporary politicians (policy magicians) and there Police (policy enforcers) they all look like back magicians to me.

 

[Flavius]

Unfortunately I forgot though I'm not sure if it was necessarily occult, however I think there may have been degrees in what was exposited. I have been trying to recall this book I had also read on the Kabbalah around that time as well where I'm sure Abraham (formerly Abram) played a significant part. One thing I am sure of is that they were from the public library.

 

[MinaAnd23as]

It was either one of these (to be fair, I was 13. I remember them being very fun, and I still possess the Fortune Telling book. I may gift it to my niece):

 

[ROL13]

From childhood I felt an attraction to this world. I saw my first book in an old bookstore when I was 13 years old (1987). It was called "Zohar and the Forbidden Ancient Knowledge." It was extensive and had everything (scrambled writing, tarot, gematria, numerology, etc.). My father bought it for me since he never forbade me anything that encouraged my reading habit.

 

[Zelator2148]

When I started in occultism in 1972, I went in the direction of the Hermetic Qabalah and not magic (until later). Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah is the first one that left a lasting impression, followed by many others in the same vein. Crowley also came later, some time after I discovered his Book of Thoth.

 

[annfwn]

My very first occult book was the Lesser Key of Solomon. I believe it was edited by Joseph H. Peterson. Unfortunately, I later donated it to a thrift store when I moved house, along with my old copy of Witchcraft today by Gerald Gardner and a few others.

 

[Lu_CiD]

The first book I bought was part of a set I never could find the rest of.

It's called the sword and the serpent

The copy I had was much older though.

 

[akenu]

For me, it was Magie v historii, teorii a praxi (Magick and history, theory and practice) by Milan Nakonečný.

 

[Conrad Loreseeker]

The first book I bought was part of a set I never could find the rest of.

It's called the sword and the serpent

The copy I had was much older though.

I have that book, and the other two in the series. The Magical Philosophy was one of my early books, but not my first. They were a difficult read when I was younger (I was around 18), but I find them much easier to read now, and have a lot of interesting concepts as a Golden Dawn alternative.

My first book was Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magick. I found it in a bookstore around the age of 15. I used to avoid the New Age section because I thought it had meant "Born Again Christian". Randomly glanced at the shelves as I walked past, saw the title, and stopped dead in my tracks. Picked it up and flipped through it, and was enthralled immediately. Convinced my dad to pick up the book for me, and my sister got the Modern Witch's Spellbook.

Modern Magick definitely had a huge impact on my practice, although I have branched out greatly since then.

 

[nunaphael]

I remember when I was around 13 or 14 and first started taking this journey seriously, I went to a bookstore named "Waldenbooks" (they went out of business unfortunately, along with copperfield, borders, and many others), and I was intent on picking out a book from the occult-metaphysics section of the store to start reading. Initially, the only thing I had even heard of besides satanism was wicca, so I grabbed a bunch of books labeled "witchcraft" or "wicca" or whatever, and one of them was Buckland's complete introduction to witchcraft. I remember skimming that one and thinking it was the best out of the bunch I had grabbed, but I went back for one more book, something "different", and that brought me to Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter J Carroll. At first, I just thought the artwork on the cover looked edgy and cool, and the name "liber null" sounded cool to me, so I went back to the reading couch with my witchcraft manual as well and skimmed it.

Liber Null & Psychonaut ended up being the first book I ever completely read cover to cover on occult and esoteric stuff. Even the moment I got home, Buckland's book just kind of sat on my bookshelf for months before I ever got around to actually reading it. I was obsessed with Chaos Magick Theory and started calling myself a "chaote" in my freshman year of highschool. Very cringe, I know, but hey, I grew out of it eventually thank goodness.

 

[Magdalena🥀]

Initially, the only thing I had even heard of besides satanism was wicca, so I grabbed a bunch of books labeled "witchcraft" or "wicca" or whatever, and one of them was Buckland's complete introduction to witchcraft. I remember skimming that one and thinking it was the best out of the bunch I had grabbed,

Reading this also reminded me that the first book I read was about wicca; I might think it was perhaps some Buckley’s too(?) but I can’t say for sure that it was. Although I don’t even remember why I had that book downloaded on my phone! Like no clue jajaja.
However, what was most impressive was the setting in which I read it. I vividly remember reading it while I was staying with my grandmother, for two weeks, in a humble ranch in the sub-Andean forest, with no internet or electricity at night. I’d read it at night while listening to Bathory, and everything I read about rituals and initiation into covens seemed so incredibly interesting to me.
I’m not a follower of wicca, but I have a lot of respect for their view of nature. Imagine, add to that the days spent far from any trace of civilization and the nights when all you could hear were animals and the only light came from the moon… chills— was a great experience.

 

[pointwithinacircle]

Holy Kabbalah by A E Waite. I sent away for it when I was 14. I read it but didn’t really understand what it was.

 

[Hasuna]

I think that this might be interesting.

So, what is the first book you've read on occult and what of it's teaching still remains with you?

For me, the first was Initiation into Hermetics by Franz Bardon, one of few book then available in my language, just under little different name. Back then I was pretty surprised that books on magic actually exist and I didn't yet learn English.
I think I still keep some common sense advices for keeping oneself in good condition and in fact I think it was good advice to keep oneself in good condition, including daily physical exercise.

My first introduction to the occult was the book "O9A: Naos, A Practical Guide To Modern Magick" . I was in a Satanic group and someone gave me this book.