DIY Magical Education Reading List

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DIY Magical Education Reading List

Post#1 » Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:28 pm

At the request that I make this its own post, here is one proposed "general magical education" book list. It's by no means the only way to do this or the only way to become a well-rounded practitioner. But maybe some of the titles will be inspiring and will motivate people to make their own self-education reading lists in the Western traditions. You're invited to propose your own book list in this thread, which I am going to make sticky.. ~ S+A

Being a well-rounded practitioner with a solid grasp of magical hygiene, a decent set of frame rituals, a sense of daily curriculum, knowledge of at least one tradition, the developed ability to exist in such a sub-culture, a workable cosmology, and a rich symbol set is not easily acquired on one's own. Let's say we were going to try to construct this from books. This would be one reading list for a possible modern-era Western esotericism-heavy "general magical studies" and "sorcery" seminar if it were going to be approached like a high-level university course in two parts.

*Historical Overview: knowing where it all comes from*
The Occult Book, Greer
Western Esotericism: A Concise History, Faivre and Rhone
Eliphas Levi and the French Occult Revival, McIntosh
Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order, McIntosh
Madame Blavatsky: the Mother of Modern Spirituality, Lachman
The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor: Initiatic and Historical Documents of an Order of Practical Occultism, Godwin
The Golden Dawn: the Original Account of the Teachings, Rites, and Ceremonies of the Hermetic Order, Regardie
Women of the Golden Dawn, Greer
Occult Paris: The Lost Magic of the Belle Époque, Churton
Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley, Kaczynski
The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Crowley
The Eye in the Triangle: An Interpretation of Aleister Crowley, Regardie
The Fraternitas Saturni: History, Doctrine, and Rituals of the Magical Order of the Brotherhood of Saturn, Flowers
Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons, Carter and Wilson
The Church of Satan, vols. I and II, Aquino
In the Center of the Fire: A Memoir of the Occult 1966-1989, Wasserman

*Ceremonial Magic 101: theory and practice*
Modern Magick, Kraig
Circles of Power, Greer
The Golden Dawn (black book), Regardie (no matter what GD ritual book you have, you should always have a copy of the black book for reference purposes, if nothing else)
Book 4, Crowley
By Names and Images, Wildoak
The Magus, Barrett
Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Agrippa

*Mysticism: getting to useful inner states*
Wisdom of the Mystic Masters, Weed
The Inner Guide Meditation: A Spiritual Technology for the 21st Century, Steinbrecher
The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism, Magee
The Signature of All Things, Boehme
Astral Dynamics, Bruce
Magickal States of Consciousness, Denning and Phillips

*Sorcery: getting paid, laid, and even*
365 Days of Hoodoo: Daily Rootwork, Mojo & Conjuration, Bird
Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo & Conjuring with Herbs, Bird
Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic: A Materia Magica of African-American Conjure, Yronwode
The Candle and the Crossroads: A Book of Appalachian Conjure and Southern RootWork, Foxwood
Backwoods Shamanism: An Introduction to the old-time American folk magic of Hoodoo Conjure and Rootwork, Hess

*Other: Witchcraft, Chaos, and a little weird shit to keep things interesting*
Liber Null & Psychonaut, Carroll
Advanced Magic for Beginners, Chapman
Stealing Fire From Heaven, Mace
The Voodoo Sorcery Grimoire, Brujo Negro
NAP, Gray-Cobb
The Mystical Grimoire, Malak (Gray-Cobb)
Mastering Witchcraft, Huson
Besom, Stang, & Sword, Orapello and Maguire
Six Ways: Approaches & Entries for Practical Magic, Wachter
THEE PSYCHICK BIBLE: Thee Apocryphal Scriptures ov Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Thee Third Mind ov Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, P-Orridge

With the above foundation, you could do anything. This means studying grimoires; going back to classical and archaic forms of magic (archaic goetia, Greek and Roman necromancy, ancient theurgy, etc.); delving into the Renaissance(s) of various countries to explore their magical revivals; specializing in the work of a particular magician from a highly defined magical movement, like Levi, Mathers, Crowley, LaVey, or Carroll; branching into demanding Enochian / Abramelin work; bridging East and West via tantra; learning transpersonal psychology and Jung; going full-on Temple ov Psychick Youth and becoming a crazy art-magician; and many other things.

This curriculum would be just the beginning. I left a lot of books off, too. And many of these have their own reading lists that you could use to branch out in your studies. A good order will give you 90% of this in some form or other by the end of your second or third year. *

Money-wise: most orders will charge about $50-$100 / year in dues, not including travel costs and all else. I'd say, if bought used and via ebooks, the entire reading list above would run you a couple hundred dollars. It would also be pointless to buy it all at once. So this is very doable.

I'm not saying this is the only way, but it's a way people don't often think about when they consider magical training.

* Perhaps with the exception of the sorcery, but even then, you could supplement with your own experiments / studies.
Aradia: Letters from the Dark Moon

If something is hard, do it more. Don't run away.

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