Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Temple >

The "What Occult Books are you currently reading" thread

Page: 1(2)3 4 5 6 7... 8

18:01 / 09.12.03

Now reading:
The Necromantic Ritual Book

Why?
Because much like some people love b-grade movies, I love b-grade occultism. Nothing makes me laugh harder than some of this stuff.

16:22 / 16.12.03

For me, the best book on the Occult and its practicle application is a book by Rev. Victor C. Klein, entitles, "Hermes & Christ: The Occult Unveiled". I live in New Orleans and it is a prety common book (except for theose "sweetness & light folk" ie, Wiccans) and I know him personally (He is a regular customer of mine at my bar) and the guy knows his shit!!

Anybody else familiar?

18:58 / 16.12.03

Just began the Disinfo Book of Lies. Some of it I've seen elsewhere (already have Breaking Open the Head and Cosmic Trigger I, and have read Erik Davis' essay on Lovecraft), but there's also a lot that I haven't read, like the Julius Evola material or the Phil Hine essay, among others.

I'm admittedly a novice when it comes to magick in general, so far I've used it for small things, like for self & household protection/wards, and for finding books and ensuring good luck/health for others, that kind of thing...

But I'm currently intrigued by the possibilities of hypersigils and various multimedia applications. Must investigate further.

02:56 / 17.12.03

I'm presently reading "Helrunar" by Jan Fries, and taking a trip down memory lane by re-reading the first book on magick that I ever read. The very first occult book that I ever read was, "Magic: An Occult Primer" by David Conway, many moons ago. I was 15, my mother found it and ripped it into tiny shreds. I was recently in California for a wedding, and found a copy of it in a used book store, (it's been out of print for a long time). So after all these years I'm rereading it. Ahhhhh..... sweet vengence. I'm going to visit her this Christmas, I intend to hold the book up and say, "Remember that book that you tore up when I was 15?" She'll get a kick out of that, she now has no problem with my magickal studies. When I stay overnight, though, should I wake her with any chanting or chaos language, she will kill me.

07:23 / 18.12.03

That David Conway book was first book for a lot of people, I think. A mate of mine told me that you used to see lots of copies of it for sale in newsagents for 99p! So maybe it spawned a generation of magi... well, don't think it did actually but it is certainly widely known.

I have taken a tip of of Absence of Gravitas, and am reading Encountering Kali edited by Jeffery Kripal and Rachel Fell McDermott which is quite amazing. It's a collection of 12 academic antroplogical essays on Kali, split into two sections, one looking at how Kali is constructed in India, the other looking at how she has been treated in the West. So for instance, we get a discourse on Kali in the psychoanalytic traditon (because, believe it or not, there have been a few encounters), alongside an account of day to day worship in a temple in Calcuttta, and how this combines Vaisnaiva (Visnu) and Sakti (Goddess)worship in it's daily business. One of the most fascinating chapters for me has been "Kali on the Internet" which comments on Western treatments of the Goddess, and how these are changing from an earlier Westernised post-feminist "angry" Kali (who is, strictly speaking, not to be found in traditonal Indian worship)to a form of worship which is beginning to engage with Indian ideas and discourse. There is a lot of material in here which would fit very well into the "Deities in Cultural Context" thread of a few weeks ago. It's an amazing book, very rich and pleasing very readable for an academic tone. Another thing I really liked is that some academics are now starting to "out" themselves as devotees, rather than detached scholars, in several of the essays here personal experience and devotion combines with an acadmic analysis. Seems to be a new trend emerging in Religous Studies, and about time too. This book is dedicated to the memory of David Kinsley, an ground breaking scholar of Hinduism, and big influence on the academics here, who passed away in 2000. It's fitting that his death is commerated here, after a lifetimes engagement with India's religous symbols, (Kali especially)as one of Kali's face is Merciless Time, or Death.

Nietzsch E. Coyote

11:02 / 18.12.03

I am reading Sexual Magick by Katon Shual and published by Mandrake of Oxford. It is quite good so far. It is dealing with tantra and the western tradition which the author believes derives from the indian tantrik traditions. It actively denounces or at least argues against the sexism and homophobia I have seen in other discusions of sexual magick. The author is thelemic or at least heavily influenced by Crowely and calls the book of the law, "almost akin to a new tantra, in the sense that it combines the form and content of a tantrik text with the characteristics of a western grimoire."

Before this book I was reading Disinfo's Book of Lies and I will likely return to it after I finish this work. The best test of a magick book is if it spurs ideas of ones own and I must say both books do that.

11:36 / 18.12.03

Just got myself a copy of "Book of Lies" so I'm gonna hammer into that puppy when I've got time! I've been reading a Stanley Robertson book called "Nyakim's Window" which is tales based around Scottish travelling folk - alot of supernatural shit in there, all written in Scottish slang and "cant". Good stuff - broaden yer horizons!!!! I've also just re-read "Demonflesh" on Creation Press which is a bit of a contraversial cookie, also derived from Indian practices but the co-authors are supposed to be fascists - I tend to blank political shit like that out, I've always thought the journey into the occult was about selves-liberation and not the propping up of corporate states???!!!!! People seem to place too much on so called ancestries that are creations of the Blavatsky's and the New Age (just like these lost tribes of Israel people - the falsification of a deluded racial group mind importance!!!!)

Unconditional Love

13:36 / 18.12.03

tales of power by castaneda, very good sense of humour and great for visualisation. before that the 7th world of chan buddhism which has a very irreverent sense too it mixed with a jungian view of the personality which i never understood until reading this text, this is a pdf file avalible for free i believe, also the the alchemist by coelho which keeps catching my eye so i finallly bought a copy and peace is every step by a vietnamese zen buddhist, got alot of crowley to catch up with white stains etc etc and a bit of spare also trying to get my hands on a copy of the vertigo tarot pack.

is mr porridge still writing anywhere?

18:53 / 18.12.03

The very first occult book that I ever read was, "Magic: An Occult Primer" by David Conway

That was one of my first as well, come to think of it. Didn't it have a funny section at the back on 'occult scripts' or something, all of these obscure magical languages that I've never once come across outside the context of that book. It seemingly did the trick as a primer though, as I'm still here doing stuff 14 years later.

Goodness Gracious Meme

23:40 / 18.12.03

That Kali book sounds absolutely fascinating, may have to grab that, will make interesting India holiday reading... (Ill, can you recommend somewhere in London to get it?)

01:01 / 19.12.03

I've been reading "Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot" by Lon Milo DuQuette. I recomend it highly if you are interested in this deck, it completely changed my way of looking at it.

Slowly going through "Angel Tech" and I don't think many books have changed me as much as it has (well, maybe a couple from RAW).

Just picked up three books on shamanism. Couldn't decide so I bought all three, though I might not keep all three.
"Shamanism and Personal Mastery" by Gini Graham Scott, PhD. This one is currently the most interesting.
"Shamanic Experience" by Kenneth Meadows. A little more "magical", a little more Native American-centric. Comes with a CD of shamanic drumming. Not really into the Native American thing too much but the cd is useful.
"By Oak, Ash, & Thorn: Modern Celtic Shamanism" by D. J. Conway. I thought I could get into the Celtic thing as a paradigm for working with shamanism but my initial gut feeling after skimming through it is that it's lacking something...not sure what yet.

If anyone has read any of these three and can give comments pro or con I'd appreciate it greatly.

05:37 / 19.12.03

hi guys. i'm kinda new here; i've been lurking. ;P

i figured this might be an okay place to introduce myself...

i'm currently reading:

future ritual- magick for the 21st century by philip h. farber
lots of reiki manuals
some short stories by thomas pynchon
rereading snowcrash by neal stephenson

nice to meet everyone. i'll be seeing you. -)

Nietzsch E. Coyote

09:12 / 19.12.03

Cool I am planning to go through Angel Tech and All Rites Reversed with a friend. The Angel Tech wasn't too big a shock to my system last time but I suspect that was mostly the RAW innoculation and a lack of effort on my part. With an innoculation free partner it might be more interesting this time.

13:09 / 19.12.03

What's the Vertigo Tarot pack like? I've had the H>R> Giger tarot deck for some time, am thinking of upgrading to another system. Divination is just cut-ups/masks of the whole I suppose?!!! Has anybody got the Nema Tarot deck??? 1st ever occult books I got were "Magick" by Uncle Al and "Psychic Self Defence" by Dion Fortune.

16:16 / 19.12.03

macrophage said

'I've also just re-read "Demonflesh" on Creation Press which is a bit of a contraversial cookie, also derived from Indian practices but the co-authors are supposed to be fascists'

If you mean 'Demons of the Flesh' by Nikolas and Zeena Schreck i read it a few months ago and thought it was terrific. Not sure about them being facists but they are Temple of Setians and live in Berlin so i guess the issue could be cloudy for some people. I didn't read anything in the book that was out and out fascist apart from the odd Nieztche quote but i'm not sure that counts. I thought it was one of the best books about what the authors call 'The Sinister Current' or Left hand path that i've read. It has a good introduction to Tantra and aspects of Western 'sex magick'. I really enjoyed the sections on lesser known magicians such as P.B Randolph and Maria de Naglowska. Also, like Sexual Magick mentioned above, it has a sensible section on homosexual sex magick. I'd definatly reccommend it...

18:22 / 19.12.03

A big thank you to Keggers for lending me his copy of the Illuminatus! Trilogy, which I am currently reading...and this time I will read all three parts, I promise...no flaking out after the first book.

Unconditional Love

15:43 / 20.12.03

some images of the vertigo tarot are here,not many thou

http://www.dccomics.com/dcdirect/index.html ,under other, towards the bottom it appears it finally got a second edition the first edition was limited to 5000 copies, which explains why it was so hard to find.

some other tarot images by dave mckean are here

particle tarot

http://www.dreamline.nu/theparticletarot/

i like the visual cut up style of some of the images, i particularly like the particle tarot magician card and also the empress.

mark

21:26 / 20.12.03

I'll have a look at the Vertigo + Dave McKean (one of my fave artists along with Bill Sincewitz, soz think I can't spell his surname!) tarot stuff. I like post-modern tarot images, as opposed to the old classic images. I don't know much about the Shrecks and whether they still run the Woden Lairs or whatever they're called. Astounding research though. There seems to be alot of borders sexualities wise within certain occult groups, seems silly - just like a microcosm of society as a whole. Personally speaking I find sexuality orientations to blur themselves. That is you couldn't really say people are 100% straight or 100% gay, we have reached the 21st Century this far!!
And a note for Sirius 23 - Philip Harber's stuff is good, he has a webzine called Paradigm Shift I think?!
On the Shreck book I was surprised to find about the Brotherhood of Saturn - as I used to own "Practical Sigil Magick" by Frater UD, and he was a member wasn't he?? Couldn't be arsed buying secrets of Western Sexual Magick though. Alot of things seem to ultimately be traceable to tantra or spiritism/shamanism don't they?!

07:59 / 21.12.03

File under 'whatever': I'm getting some really great ideas out of the Sons of Ether Tradition Book, a Mage gaming supplement from White Wolf. It's a good thing to read if, like me, you like your magic to have a heavy pseudoscience flavor; the Sons of Ether are basically the mad scientists of the Mage world. I've been wanting to rigor up my practices (hypothesis, test, reformulate), and having a fictional Enlightened Science complete with theories of Applied Parapsychology and Platonic Engineering to build off of is really sparking some ideas on how to be a mathemagician (see velvetvandal's thread on the Cartesian).

12:07 / 21.12.03

Gypsy Lantern wrote: Didn't it have a funny section at the back on 'occult scripts' or something, all of these obscure magical languages that I've never once come across outside the context of that book. about Magic an Occult Primer.

Yes it did. The two that I have never seen since were "Writing of the Magi" and "Passing the River".

Unconditional Love

22:59 / 22.12.03

think the bottom link may relate to the shrecks from this creation press web site, oragnisation called the storm.
http://www.creationbooks.com/frameset.asp?p=http://www.creationbooks.com/titles/184068061x.html

found this as well,which gave me a laugh.
http://www.anchoragepress.com/archives/document1af3.html

food for thought from zeena shreck
http://home.tiscali.se/dragonet/thepalace/introduk/zeena_artikel.html

14:29 / 15.02.04

Has anyone read:

Aleister Crowley - Magick: Book Four, Liber ABA

Havent read it myself and was wondering if it was worth it, since I'm skint, and dont want to buy loads of books that go on about the same things.

19:52 / 15.02.04

"By Oak, Ash, & Thorn: Modern Celtic Shamanism" by D. J. Conway.

Cool that's amazing, i have Celtic Magic next to me now by the same author and i find it really helpful. I'll have to order that book when i get the chance.

Another book that i always go back to and that is mentioned in this thread is The Way of Zen by Alan Watts. That proved to be a really good book aswell and ever since i got it it's been one of my faves.

18:09 / 16.02.04

I'm currently reading the Disinfo Book of Lies. Great stuff.

Akira, I recommend Crowley's Bk 4. As the subtitle suggests it's full of magickal theory, as well as a lot of practical descriptions about traditional magick (Crowley's update to Golden Dawn stuff). There are chapters about the astral, OM, yoga, etc... as well as descriptions of the Cup, Wand, Sword, Disk, Banishing rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram, etc... And the new HC edition looks cool on your bookshelf, to boot.

21:10 / 16.02.04

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer by PKD.
While not an occult book in the strictest sense, this novel is all about stripping away false belief systems, so I say it counts.

The Psychic Battlefield
I am distracted by all of the typos and grammar errors (as well as the author's decidedly pro-espionage tilt), but appreciate all of the major stretches this guy has to make to fill a book. PSYOPS are not PSIOPS silly (unless your paradigm makes them so).

21:44 / 16.02.04

The only magic related stuff I've read in ages are the manuals for the NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner courses. It works on so many levels that I haven't felt any need to dip into anything else since the course started. At the moment the manuals, course and my personal life are focusing on beliefs and identity. There's several threads in there once I've lived with what I'm processing a while longer.

01:11 / 21.02.04

Assorted Freemasonry things and re-reading Nigel Jackson's MASKS OF MISRULE and CALL OF THE HORNED PIPER Witchcraft stuff.

07:49 / 21.02.04

Voodoo Quantum Leap by Gerard Crossley.

Or it might be Voudoun, I guess I don't have it with me.

It's not so much a How To book, more a This Is Not Recommended, But It's Still Pretty Interesting, type of thing. Relates the Voodoo mythos to chaos theory, the basic idea being that the Voodoo gods live in the dark matter side of the known universe, and that you can cross over, if it seems like the thing. Really good stuff on the Philadelphia experiment, for example. As with reading something like Ulysses, you fell at the end like your mind's been to the gym - Gerard Crossley is a Haitian poet and a doctor, and just judging by his eyes in the back cover photo, you get the feeling he's been there, and just about made it back. It's not light going, but if anyone's bored of anodyne, quite lightweight, fairly new age material... well I've read some strange stuff, but as far as I know, it doesn't get weirder or stranger than this. Crucially, Crossley is not a magician, or even vaguely aspiring - this is just where he lives, what he's trying to make sense of, there's a real sense of urgency to what he's trying to explain. Almost frighteningly so. As with Divine Horsemen by Maya Deren, it's quite ironic how such a supposedly primitive magical system seems to attract these very intelligent, articulate and committed biographers. Plus, if you've got this, you'll be way too cool fer school.

16:05 / 21.02.04

Not that I'm saying that I'd otherwise feel that.

16:07 / 21.02.04

Or even feel like it now

18:22 / 21.02.04

21:16 / 21.02.04

I picked up the Telecult book a few months ago - cheers Fortean Library!!! Interesting when you juxtapose it with Remote Viewing books and such like - similar metaphors for exploration and experimentation! I'm currently re-reading Liber Null as I'm interested in trying to formulate my own Alphabet of Desire, any hints?! I got "Helrunar" (thanks The Fourth!!!) - good stuff!!!!

23:47 / 21.02.04

New here, been hiding in the shadows for a while.

Currently under my bed is "Magick: Book 4" by Crowley and two of his Scarlet Women, and "The Equinox 1.1". These are part of my studying of the A.'.A.'. student curriculum which can be found at The official A.'.A.'. website. Goiing to start the "Bhagavad Ghita" soon, will be a tough nu but interesting. Also reading Cosmic Trigger 1 by Wilson. All of the above are highly recommended for everyone, the wilson book in particular if you're not into Thelemic Magick but more of a maverick. Wilson is fantastic.

01:05 / 26.02.04

Hi everyone >

I'm new here. Just logged on last night. I think one of the best books on the Qbalah is by Jeff Love: "The Quantum Gods." It's chalk full of the mechanics of practical Qabalah. The first time I've read this, it turned me onto Qabalah.

Currently I'm reading Internet stuff and writing but I'll be picking up a book by Robert Baird soon called Diverse Druids. Looks like a good read.

11:47 / 03.03.04

I've just started "Understanding Thoth Tarot" by Lon Milo DuQuette and I'm loving it, he's such a great writer IMO, explains all the cards in detail but better than that he gives a nice history of how the cards came about and explains the theory behind them in a straight forward manner, highly recommended....

* disclaimer, I've only started reading it but I can't imagine him doing anything to spoil the read, unless maybe half way through he starts to talk about cheese *

Page: 1(2)3 4 5 6 7... 8