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Wassail!

NOTE: YOU DO NOT NEED TO POST BOOKS ON JUST WITCHCRAFT. POST ANYTHING THAT IS GENERALLY OCCULTIC IN NATURE. THANKS!

Welcome to the Library of books. If you have any books that you find good and very informative please post them here. As I do not know if we have a book list or some sort I feel that one should be in place. If there is a book list, please take all books posted here and re-post it in the actual thread.

I shall start with Traditional Witchcraft, or the Crooked Path
This is a list that I took from a forum that I visit frequently. Not all of these I have read, a lot I have on order.

I'll * the books that you can find at the bookstore, usually. Most are found in the Poetry, Mythology, and Anthropology sections
The ones with (x) are considered the best.

NOVELS:
"Confessions of a Pagan Nun" Kate Horsley
"Harvest Home" Thomas Tryon (will have to buy used)
"The Spiral Dances" R. Garcia y Robertson (buy used)
"Pan's Garden" by Algernon Blackwood
"The White People" by Arthur Machen

MYTH:
"The Dark Spirit" by Bob Curran
"The Victorian Fairy Tale Book" (*) Michael Hearn
"Irish Fairy and Folk Tales" (*) WB Yeats
"Strange and Secret Peoples" Carole Silver
"The Secret Lives of Elves and Faeries" (*) John Matthews
"The White Goddess" (*) Robert Graves

HISTORY:

"The Triumph of the Moon" (x) Ronald Hutton
"Witches, Druids and King Arthur" Ronald Hutton
"Cunning-Folk" (x) Owen Davies
"Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath" (x) Carlo Ginzburg
"The Way of Wyrd" (x) Brian Bates
"The Real Middle Earth" (x) Brian Bates
"Dreamtime" (x) Hans Peter Duerr
"Hamlet's Mill" (*)(x) Giorgio de Santillana
"The Golden Bough" (*) (x) Sir James George Frazer
"The Sacred and the Profane" (*)(x) Mircea Eliade
"In the Dark Places of Wisdom" (x)Peter Kingsley
"Witchdom of the True" (x) Edred
"Witches, Werewolves and Fairies" Claude Lecouteux
"The Night Battles" Carlo Ginzburg
"The Lancashire Witches" Poole ed.
"Reality" (x) Peter Kingsley
"Wiccan Roots" Philip Hesselton

PRACTICE:

"The Witching Way of the Hollow Hill" (x) Robin Artisson
"Helsongs" (x) Robin Artisson
"The Horn of Evenwood" (x) Robin Artisson
"Mastering Witchcraft" Paul Huson
"The Crone's Book of Charms and Spells" (*) Valerie Worth
"The Crone's Book of Magical Words" (*) Valerie Worth
"The Pillars of Tuban Cain" Nigel Jackson and Nigel Pennick
"Call of the Horned Piper" (x) Nigel Jackson
"Masks of Misrule" (x) Nigel Jackson
"Secrets of East Anglian Magic" Nigel Pennick
"Compleat Vampyre" Nigel Jackson
"The Roebuck in the Thicket" (x) Robert Cochrane and Evan John Jones
"The Underworld Initiation" (x) RJ Stewart
"The Living World of Faery" (x) RJ Stewart
"Power Within the Land" RJ Stewart
"Earth Light" RJ Stewart
"Hedgerider" Eric de Vries

That's not a bad idea, actually. I think we have a list somewhere of resources, but this will also work.

It's not really witchcraft, but...

I loved Ficino's Three Books on Life, Kaske's translation. It's...historical...kind of. I'm not sure what it would be called. It's about healing through the humors, how to live a long life, and a lot of information about the soul and general well-being. It's "magic", to be sure. But it's also herbalism, astrology, philosophy, and medicine. ******** amazing read. Oh, and it was written in the 1400s.

Mm, I made a thread with a name along the lines of "PDF Whoring (deja vu)" which was a sticky for a fair bit of time, I don't know where it is now. I know I updated it in the last month or two for sites that have new addresses, or sites that aren't there anymore, it's newer then the newest post in the oldest thread in the guild, so I doubt it's been deleted from it's age. Though it was just a bunch of links (with some comments/descriptions) to online PDF and text sources. It didn't seem popular.

I have mixed feelings about you having "The Way of Wyrd" in your list, I'm glad it's not a totally ambiguous book, but I'm a bit jealous I didn't get to mention it. Good book.

"As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen - I think it's really a psychology book and I think it'd be hard to say it wouldn't be good for anyone into the occult to read. It's also really short, fairly clear, and alot of good comments like that...
"The Golden Dawn" by Isreal Regardie - (if you get a newer version with all the forwords and comments and revisions and stuff) Is kind of a behemoth to read, but fun, and I'd recommend reading it through once before commiting to, or practicing, anything in it, or it could take alot longer to finish.
"Light Emerging" and "Hands of Light" by Barbara Ann Brennan - Seem worthwhile, mostly about energy stuff.

Off the top of my head I can't think of any other books that aren't available as PDFs.

YAY!! They have another thread like this, but since no one really seems to check out the other forums it never gets viewed.

I don't really have anything to add. I have one by Crowley and many by Scott Cunningham. I'm glad you put this here Angus! mrgreen

First Degree initiate, broke his oaths, not worth the time I'm afraid. More Crowely there you go. Have fun razz

I wouldn't say Cunningham isn't worth the time. Maybe if you're talking about Wicca, but from what I've read of his stuff on natural and folk magic, it's pretty solid. And we also can't forget his Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. I imagine the encyclopedia on gems and crystals and metals is just as good, but I don't have it myself.

I try to avoid anything that claims to teach a particular path, like Wicca for instance, because you can't really know for sure if what they're saying has anything to do with that path. However, there are some good books on topics like astral projection and general magic published by Llewellyn, in my opinion. And of course the books that are better used as encyclopedic resources, like Cunningham's book on herbs.

The books published really aren't as bad as the rap they get, depending on the author of course. I'm speaking from an eclectic perspective and not from any hard and fast set of path rules though. I can understand how initiated Wiccans could get upset with some of those authors.

And I'll mention the most reviled author, Silver Ravenwolf, because I have one of her books. It's called "Book of Shadows for The New Generation" or something like that, but I've used it primarily as an encyclopedia, because as much as she has bastardized traditonal craft practice in the eyes of many, she does cite sources and based on what I've read in other books, her general information as far as symbolism, associations, astrology, etc. is fairly solid. I of course wouldn't take her as an authority on Wicca though.

I also have a book by Ed Fitch, who from my understanding, was an acquaintance of Gerald Gardner. Again, most of the exercises Fitch gives in his book I have seen in other sources. Makes me think there's something to it when I keep seeing it in several different places published at different times by different companies/people.

Crowley had a big, blue book? Where? I know Buckland does...are you confusing the two?

Anyway, Thelema was Crowley's path that is based around the rule: "Do what thou wilt." The Book of the Law explains it better than I can. It is truly fascinating.