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Underground > Temple >

Some basic texts for beginners?

05:09 / 24.07.05

After having been enjoying quite a few serious inner and outer monologues about topics, I've found myself being led down a path of Buddhism, Discordianism, and Asatru, with quite a few other things coming in at points.

And I've found that I'd like actually to do some summonings and such. I know there are quite a large amount of PDFs in the PDF thread, but that's the problem - there are a lot of them, but I don't know which ones to start with.

So, are there any suggestions as to PDFs and books to take a gander at?

09:22 / 24.07.05

Ramsey Dukes has written two wonderful books:

Liber SSOTBME
and
Thundersqueak

They´re both very exciting to read and are both quite short (ca 130 pages each). Dukes describes his magical world view and especially Thundersqueak is about adapting a magical worldview in a scientific and materialistic world.

His style is witty, profound and easy to follow. Two of his important influences are Crowley/Thelema and Spare/Zos Kia. And where Crowley and Spare often are a pain to read, he´s a pleasure.

So, I´d say it wouldn´t hurt for beginners in magic to read these two books.

03:13 / 25.07.05

The Disinformation Book of Lies is excellent, I gave it to my younger sister and girlfriend who expressed a mild interest in my occult meanderings. It's a good introduction into many areas and ideas and gives you the option to further reasearch the topics of the many essays. Plus it's say's BOOK OF LIES in really big print with a big devil-head sigil/icon on the front so when you read it at starbucks everyone will think your some dark dude up to some weird shit.

Liber Null by Peter Carroll, always a pleasure, maybe my favorite, that bastard is an anarchist and I love it

THE GREAT: Cosmic Trigger (1) by Robert Anton Wilson, will make you horny for a good mindfuck, that bastard is an anarchist and I love it

The Book of Results by Ray Sherwin, I just recently read this one because of a 'lith thread and it was fantastic. Very clear, concise language. Good introduction to sigil magick but also offers insights that those more experienced will appreciate

Any of those will get you going.

16:19 / 02.08.05

Liber MMM, which makes up the first part of Liber Null.

Darumesten's second variety

20:55 / 02.08.05

I think there was some thread already for this, but I've been searching a pdf version of Liber Null over the net with poor results .. also looked on local libraries in my city and nothing .. if anyone could help, it would be very nice of him/her/whatever !

Unconditional Love

20:55 / 02.08.05

cities of the red night

the place of dead roads

western lands

william s burroughs, highly magickal fiction.

23:47 / 02.08.05

i second the burroughs recommendation. the red night triology is superb.

as for 'instruction manuals'. get a hold of steven mace's 'stealing the fire from heaven'. pretty much just spare and crowley like most, but very concise and very helpful for a beginner. much better than carroll IMO. also has a few nice spare graphics scattered throughout.

if you do decide to get stealing the fire order it from www.dagonproductions.com. doug is a great guy and he knew uncle bill (he gets mentioned in burrough's 'last words').

21:09 / 04.08.05

I will third the Burroughs recommendation and agree that the Cities of the Red Night trilogy are probably the most fully-realized of his unique style of fiction. Place of Dead Roads can be a little dull.

However, in the instruction manual vein, his books The Third Mind and The Adding Machine have a lot to offer anyone looking into magick, literature, art, etc. In fact, The Adding Machine is one of my favorite books of all time. It is a collection of essays that range from magick (via the cut-up), to F. Scott Fitzgerald, to the uselessness of women. It is, in my humble opinion, his most accessible, funniest, and straight-forward book. Alas, it has been out of print for years, but you can get a first edition hardcover on Amazon or Ebay for pretty cheap. The Third Mind however will cost you anywhere from sixty to one hundred bucks for paperback. But if you are the ultra Burroughs enthusiast, it is worth it because they are DAMN GOOD and DAMN RARE books. If you want to realize how rare they are, go to a good used book store and ask the clerk if these two books are in. They will laugh in your face. Yep the web is the best place to look for these classics. That's where I got mine... Wouldn't you?

12:37 / 05.08.05

Have any of you read Brion Gysin's "The Process?" I only recently became aware of it, but haven't read it. Sounds very much like an intro-to-magick book. A metaphysical quest of a black American in the Middle East, published in the late '60s.

13:29 / 05.08.05

THE Adding machine is available from Amazon and I have just ordered it

thanks for the recommendation, really looking forward to it

12:07 / 06.08.05

I'll second the 'Stealing the Fire from Heaven' recommendation. I would, cos I have a load to sell (from the UK). Nah, its a great book, well worth it.

So, if anyone wants a copy, tenner including postage. Or Im very happy to barter - books. PM me.

cheers.
MZ.

10:10 / 08.08.05

Re: The Third Mind. I saw a copy for sale in a bookshop off of Charing Cross Road. A lovely hardback edition - £45 though! If anybody wants it for that price, PM me and I'll tell you the shop name (I'm not being secretive here, I just can't remember).

Unecessary personal bitch: I hate it when people go on about getting books for free via PDF. Reasons thusly:

i) you're ripping off the author.
ii) you're much more likely to value a text if you've paid for it.
iii) books sit on shelves, look nice, and you can continually refer to it and annotate it. PDF's get lost in HD crashes etc and if printed out end up scuffed and pages fall out and so on.
iv) It seems that there's the equivalent of several libraries worth of occult books on the internet already. I wonder how much of this is ever even read thoroughly, let alone acted on and assimilated? Putting your hand in your bloody pocket would seem to encourage this process, raher than sticking on your HD and forgetting about it.

Buy the fucking thing already! If you haven't got the money, get a fucking paper round.

12:35 / 08.08.05

ii) you're much more likely to value a text if you've paid for it.
Questionable arguement to be honest. I tend to value all my books and pdfs, mainly because I either had to save up to get them or search hard for them. I know people who have way better jobs and pay than me, they tend to buy a book because they like the cover and it just sits on their shelves untouched.
And yes I am a very sad person I tend to keep pdf's in a folder and treat them as I would a book.

As for a good text for new magacians...... Book of Pleasure by Austin Osman Spare. I honestly have never seen the point in the chaos tendancy for re-explaining sigils and Spare's method of work when the man already has in a clear and concise way.

12:44 / 08.08.05

Fair enough. I am being a bit bitchy. It's just, I think, if you really want something, you'll find the money. Same as if you really want to practice, you'll find the time. If you're hanging around waiting to get something for free, you don't want it that much.

12:49 / 08.08.05

To actually answer the question, Jan Fries Visual Magick or Phil Hine's Condensed Chaos

13:03 / 08.08.05

As far as pdfs are concerned: if the author is dead, steal that shit. Or buy the book then set fire to the publishing company's building. That oughta teach those fatcats...

...books are awful nice looking though, particularly if pristine and unread.