Twack
BakaTulip
I was interested in Wicca and generic witchcraft and that interest was renewed by Willow on BtVS but it's so hard to tell the real deal from absolute bullshit
here is a recomended reading list from the Pagan Fluffy Rehabilitation Center:
The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy, by Ronald Hutton. An excellent overview of REAL Neolithic/Early British religion.
Witchcraft Today, by Gerald Gardner. Do I even need to give a reason to read this one?
The Elements of Ritual, by Deborah Lipp. An excellent overview of the theology and practices surrounding circle casting, with an emphasis on the place of the four elements in Wiccan ritual.
Before You Cast a Spell, by Carl McColman.
A Book of Pagan Prayer, by Ceisiwr Serith.
Hedge Witch, by Rae Beth.
Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England, by T.M. Luhrmann.
Anything by Joseph Campbell. His work in mythology is astounding.
Return to the Garden, by Shakti Gawain.
The Triumph of the Moon: a History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, by Ronald Hutton.
Kindling the Celtic Spirit, by Mara Freeman.
Anything by Scott Cunningham. He is well known for his books on solitary practice, and I haven't read a book of his that I didn't enjoy.
A Witches Bible, by the Farrars (first names currently escaping me... ). An excellent book covering many aspects of Wicca. Even though it is aimed at more traditional practitioners, any Wiccan can benefit from reading this book.
In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth, by Tikva Frymer-Kensky.
Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in America, by Cynthia Eller.
The Wiccan Book of Ceremonies and Rituals, by Patricia Telesco.
Anything by Raymond Buckland. He has tons of good stuff out there, but watch out for that ego. Sometimes he likes to reference his own works in the footnotes.
Modern magick by Donald Michael Kraig...The book has it's flaws and is somewhat lightweight, but still eminently useful as an introduction to the magick of the Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn.
Circles of Power and Paths of Wisdom by John Michael Greer, two books that should be read together covering both magick and qabalah in a masterly way. Greer is one of the few people that has grasped the heart of the Golden Dawn tradition and helped it develop and grow.
The Chicken qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford by Lon Milo DuQuette....without a doubt the best intro to Hermetic Qabalah written, funny yet extremly informative, the isingle chapter on Tarot contains more useful info on the subject than any given dozen of Books dedicated to Tarot.
The Ritual magic manual by David Griffin. For more advanced practitioners, the one book that goes really indepth into the standard rituals of the Golden Dawn, a treasure trove of information for those who want to get beyond simplified versions of the Lesser banishing ritual of the Pentagram.
Shining Paths by Dolores Ashcroft-Norwicki....an excellent collection of Pathworking meditations for those who wish a deeper understanding of the Tree of life.
3 Books of Occult philosophy By Agrippa....The source of a huge amount of Western Occult lore used by both Pagans and Ceremonial magicians.
The Complete Golden dawn system of magick by Israel Regardie (New Falcon Edition, not to be confused with the Llewellyn "The Golden Dawn" by the same author, which is an excellent book, but not quite as good as this later version) This is a must for anyone seriously dedicated to studying the Golden Dawn system .
Hermetica by Thoth, or so it's attributed.
The Magus by Francis Barrett.
the Lemegeton. Is there any author attributed to this?
Grimoire of Armadel by SL MacGregor Mathers.
The Great Liberation Through Hearing In the Bardo - Fremantle translation.
The Veil's Edge: Exploring the Boundaries of Magic by Willow Polson. I'll admit I haven't read it all yet, but I'm on my way, and from what I've read, it's a rather good book, though her Fae Blood, Fae Magic chapter has a lot of errors.
The Dark Archetype: Exploring the Shadow Side of the Divine by Denise Dumars and Lori Nyx. An excellent book for those who follow or work with the Darker Godforms.
The Psychic Vampire Codex by Michelle Belanger. The first book on Psychic Vampires, actually written by someone inside the community. A great book with many explainations and techniques on Energy Manipulation, valuable even if are aren't (or don't even believe in) Vampiric. It also covers ethical and emotional considerations for Psy Vamps.
The Medicine Way by Kenneath Meadows.
An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism by The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism. Not only does it help you make connections between myths and gods you never thought of before, it includes stories from all over the world, not just the standard Greek/Egyptian/Germanic mix with a bit of Hindu for flavor. Plus, it's got lots of pretty pictures.
Anything by Doreen Valiente.
Dark Moon Mysteries by Timothy Roderick.
Wicca by Vivanne Crowley. (be careful shes a real l3itch at times)
The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner, which although more than a bit "New Age" in content has some useful information for the beginner and compares and contrasts the shamanic experience in different cultures.
Mind Games by Masters and Houston, which although hard to find is an excellent resource on guided meditation, trance states, and creative visualization.
Tarot Decoded by Elizabeth Hazel.
An Introduction to Ritual Magic by Dion Fortune and Gareth Knight. It's short, illustrative, and extremely helpful.
Practical Solitary Magic by Nancy B. Watson. It's fairly straightforward and nondenominational.
The Second Circle: Tools for the Advancing Pagan by Venecia Rauls. Its primary emphasis is on doing things, and on giving you tools to learn more, rather than simply handing you recipes. It suggests means of research, discusses personal symbology, and exploring the interconnectedness of reality in many ways. This is a book that teaches you to fish instead of giving you a fish.
My personal Recomendation:
A Witch Alone By Marrian Green
Books to avoid at all costs, unless you're looking for a good chuckle.
Anything by Silver Ravenwolf. These books are chalk full of misinformation ond general crap. An educated Pagan may be a ble to find the occasional redeeming comment in them, but these books are otherwise useless. Except for maybe starting a campfire ^_^.
Ditto for Fiona Horne. As though the 'Wikkid Witch Kit" isn't bad enough to deter you on its own.
Anything by D.J. Conway. According to Godhi: "Compare other books by D.J. Conway and you'll discover that she just repeats material from other Llewellyn books while her rituals are pretty much the same rites invoking different deities, depending of course on which book she is writing at the time.
To make matters worse, I've found that a LOT of the material published in her books is either from questionable sources or was made up by her from whole cloth, so I'd take anything D.J. Conway says with a grain of salt."
I personly don't like starhawk eaither but that is just IMO and I find anything with the Authors picture on the cover of all of there books fluffy (fake or filled wiht lied)
*ORANGE- I warn you of they might not be gay frendly Gardener dosn't like gays too much
*BOLD - I personaly recomend for what you are looking for
Wooooow. Nice. I gotta do some withccraft book browsing next time I'm at a bookstore. Nothing worse than fluffbunnies...or as they call them in Buffy "Wanna-Blessed-Be"s
