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Oct092013

RECOMMENDED BASIC READING LIST - A little something for everyone

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

PREFACE:

 

These books are suggested as tools to promote critical thought, study and dialogue for those who are interested in the subjects represented here, which include Paganism (including various traditions of it), Shamanism, Witchcraft (including various traditions of it), Magick and Sorcery (and trads that practice various forms of it), religion in general, philosophy, cultural anthropology and resources for clergy, especially Pagan clergy, various reference books and some relevant fiction.   You will notice many Italian books listed and these are for students of Stregheria.   There is also some interesting reading suggested for students of comparative religion.

 

There are dozens of authors of Pagan and Wiccan “classics” - Wiccans, Pagans and Witches who have been around for many years now - and if their works are not listed here, it is not a slight, it is because there are already too many listed here and we have to draw the line somewhere.   There are thousands of books on these subjects available.  These are among the most highly recommended, for various reasons, in our opinion.

 

None of us always personally agree with everything we read in any book, even when we may love the author and have recommended the book.  This is surely the same with most people.  Various books are recommended for various reasons.  Students will have the opportunity to discuss controversial authors and subjects during Groves.  If you have questions, feel free to ask.  We may not have the “answers”, and don’t pretend to and admit when we don’t, but we will offer our opinions and experiences and will also refer you to others who may know more than we do on any given topic whenever possible.  You can call Lianna at :  828-331-8688 or e-mail her at: liannacostantino@yahoo.com.    She can refer you to other clergy, educators or ritualists, here and elsewhere.  I.e., her contact information is given here as a primary point of contact.

 

Where books are very old, the most recent publishers and ISBN, etc., have been provided along with original publication dates wherever possible.   Where books are out of print we have noted “OP”.  OP books can often be found on EBay, at Amazon, Abe books and used book stores, and many through various libraries or library loans.   After many titles we have provided some personal remarks or jacket commentaries and reviews.  For others we did not elaborate as they seemed fairly self-explanatory.  “HB” means the ISBN refers to the hard cover version. 

 

Our spiritual library at Sylvan Hearth is fairly extensive, and covers most of the world’s religions and spiritual paths, especially the pre-Abrahamic indigenous spiritual traditions and practices of the world, although we have a large selection of books covering all the Abrahamic traditions and their history as well.  We also have a large language section, including Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Basque, Gaelic, Elven and other languages and translation resources.   ;o)   So if you are looking for something in particular feel free to ask, and if we can suggest a title, we’ll be happy to.   We have Pagan books, magazines, films and music.

 

We occasionally open up our Temple for an entire day and evening of reading, research and documentary films which we call our “Library Days”.   At these events, members are free to peruse titles and jot down ISBNs and find a corner to read for the day, do research,  request the assistance of one of our clergy, educators or ritualists in finding or explaining something in particular and sharing some of their own favorite books with others which they are encouraged to bring with them for the day.  Pagan book club is encouraged here.

 

Our library, with some exceptions, is mostly a reference library at this point, because we have only one copy of most books and we try to keep them all available for everyone here.  Donations of Pagan materials are gratefully accepted. 

 

Books are precious gems that many of us treasure but they can never take the place of personal experience.  They serve their purpose, which is very important, but the old caveat of always being a critical reader and thinker is a crucial one and there are also very good reasons for having oral traditions too.  Pros and cons to both, of course….

 

We do have a copy of each of the books listed here in our library. 

 

Reading suggestions for our students at Sylvan Hearth:

 

Whenever you have time, it is often very enlightening to try to discover something about the author of a book, such as:

 

Where are they coming from, personally?  

What religious or spiritual tradition, if any, and in what culture, were they raised?

How did that influence their world view?

What are their biases? 

Do they have a personal agenda they are trying to promote, whether it is hidden or open, that may skew their scholarship?

What is their area of expertise? 

Where did they receive their education? 

What sort of practical experience do they have in the area about which they write?

Are they respected in their own community or field of study, or within the communities about

           which they have written?  (“It’s not about whom you claim, but who claims you”….)

What books have they read?  (Read their bibliographies, sources, try to read some of the books      listed there and ask these same questions of those authors, etc.)  

What are the flaws in their research or theories? 

How do they deal with their own assumptions?  (This is a biggie, as many do not even realize they are making assumptions, although most scientists start with nothing but assumptions and then try to prove them right or wrong, etc.)

Then take what is meaningful to you, and file the rest away.  :o)

 

We also recommend that students read some of the more controversial works, as well as those which people consider “dribble”, otherwise how can you have an informed opinion about it, or discuss it with others with an informed opinion?  There are required reading lists for students at Sylvan Hearth and they vary according to the different traditions and educators here.   If you have an interest in a particular tradition and Hearth here, contact Lianna and she will connect you with the right folks. 

 

Happy reading!

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

100 ANNI DE MAFIA

Giuseppe Guido Loschiavo, 1962 Vito Bianco ISBN: NA

 

777 AND OTHER QABALISTIC WRITINGS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY 

Edited by Israel Regardie, 1912 (1955, 1973), Samuel Weiser, ISBN: 0-87728-670-1  PB

 

776 1/2: TABLES OF CORRESPONDENCES FOR PRACTICAL CEREMONIAL

James A. Eshelman, 2010, College of Thelema, ISBN-10: 0970449623, ISBN-13: 978-0970449627

 

ABC OF WITCHCRAFT PAST AND PRESENT, AN

Doreen Valiente, 1973, St. Martin’s Press, ISBN: 0919345778

A classic mini encyclopedia by an Initiate of Gerald Gardner and a great HPS in her own right whom many say outshone him.  Contains a lot of history and very good information.  Highly recommended.

 

ADAM, EVE AND THE SERPENT

Elaine Pagels, 1988, Vintage Books, ISBN: 0679722327

“How did the early Christians come to believe that sex was inherently sinful? 

When did the Fall of Adam become synonymous with the fall of all humanity?  What turned Christianity from a dissident sect that championed the integrity of the individual and the idea of free will into the bulwark of a new imperial order – with the central belief that human beings cannot choose not to sin?”  Pagels considers these questions and more. 

 

AGE OF REASON

Thomas Paine, 1993 (1796), Gramercy Books, ISBN: 0517091186  (HB)

Thomas Paine was a deist who was opposed, really, only to organized religion.  He was born in England to a Quaker father and an Anglican mother.  He emigrated to America at the urging of Benjamin Franklin in 1774.  He served in the American Army in the Revolutionary War but then returned to England.  Later he went to France and became involved in revolutionary politics during which he was imprisoned in 1793.  He worked on this book during his incarceration.  He was a pro-women’s rights, against slavery, a humanitarian and a revolutionary, all of which he was very vocal about. 

 

AGRICOLA AND THE GERMANIA, THE

Cornelius Tacitus (56-c.120 CE), Harold Mattingly translation, 1948, Penguin Books,

ISBN:  0140442413

 

ALONE OF ALL HER SEX – The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary

Marina Warner, 1976, Vintage Books, ISBN: 0394711556

          

AMAZON   (fiction)

Barbara Walker, 1993, Harper Collins, ISBN: 0062510037

Story of an Amazon woman who has travelled forward in time and how she deals with the way women are now viewed and treated.  She meets some modern Pagan women who help her.  Great story.  May be out of print....   If so, worth looking for a used copy.

 

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY, MYSTERY AND MAGIC:  Empedocles and Pythagoren Tradition

Peter Kingsley, 1995,  Oxford University / Clarendon Press

 

ANCIENT WAYS – Reclaiming Pagan Traditions

Pauline Campanelli, 1991, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN:  0875420907

 

APOLOGIA DEL CONGRESSO NOTTURNO DELLE LAMMIE

Girolamo Tartarotti, 1751, Kessinger publishing (reprints of O/P books and rare manuscripts), ISBN:  9781161872902

 

APOPHENION, THE:  A CHAOS MAGIC PARADIGM

Peter Carroll, (2008) ISBN 1-869928-65-2 

 

ARADIA, or The Gospel of the Witches

Charles G. Leland, 1990 (1890), Phoenix Publishing, ISBN: 0919345107

I recommend the new translation by:

Mario & Dina Pazzaglini, 1998, Phoenix Publishing, ISBN: 0919345344

First published in 1890.  Accounts of Leland’s encounters with an Italian Witch and the lore and incantations, etc., she shared with him.  Controversial because there is much speculation and doubt as to whether or not she gave him truly esoteric material, or just what she though he wanted to hear, as he was financially generous with her and her family.  At any rate, it’s a classic, and full of Italian Pagan folklore.

 

ARCHAIC ROMAN RELIGION  

Georges Dumezil  1996  John Hopkins University Press

 

ARTS OF THE NIGHT

 Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold, Chadezoad Publications, 2010, ISBN:978-0-557-15143-1 

 

BARDDAS OF IOLO MORGANWG, VOL. II     [1874]
Iolo Morganwg was one of the first to revive Druidry in the 18th century; however, it is doubtful as to whether these texts are as old as they claim to be. His writings were once considered primary source material for the modern Druid revival however he is now a known forger and all materials by him are now suspect.  This book is here as more of an example for comparison of what not to read/believe/quote, lol, however, some have found tidbits of use, keeping in mind that it is necessary to be a very critical reader and know your history and fact from fiction.

 

BECOMING THE ENCHANTER – A Journey to the Heart of the Celtic Mysteries

Lyn Webster Wilde, 2002, Penguin Putnam Inc., ISBN:  1-58542-182-0  (HB)

“For anybody who treasures the myths and messages left by the Celts, here is the story of a woman’s Initiatory odyssey into the native spirituality of the British Isles.”  

 

BETWEEN THE GATES: LUCID DREAMING, ASTRAL PROJECTION, AND THE BODY OF LIGHT IN WESTERN ESOTERICISM

Mark Stavish, 2008 Weiser Books ISBN: 9781578633968

          

BEYOND GOD THE FATHER – Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation

Mary Daly, 1973, Beacon Press, ISBN: 0807015032

 

BIBLE MYTHS AND THEIR PARALLELS IN OTHER RELIGIONS

T.W. Doane, 1882, Kessinger Publishing Co., ISBN: 1564599221

“A comparison of the old and new testament myths and miracles with those of Heathen nations of antiquity considering also their origin and meaning.” 

 

 

BOOK OF FALLEN ANGELS, THE

Michael Howard, 2004, Capall Bann Publishing, ISBN:  1861632363

 

BOOK OF PAGAN RITUALS, A

Herman Slater, 1978, Samuel Weiser, ISBN: 0877283486

 

BOOK OF SHADOWS – A Modern Woman’s Journey into the Wisdom of Witchcraft and the Magic of the Goddess

Phyllis Curott, 1998, Broadway Books, ISBN:  0767900545 (HB)

Phyllis Curott is a high priestess of Wicca and an attorney in New York, and this is the story of how she discovered Wicca, her journey towards eventual initiation as a high priestess and what it meant to her along the way. 

 

BOOK OF THE HOLY STREGA, THE

Raven Grimassi, 2009 Old Ways Press ISBN: 9781467993142

Brilliant, really, and great scholarship.

 

BOOK YOUR CHURCH DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ, THE

Tim C. Leedom, Editor, 2003 Truth Seeker Books ISBN: 0939040158

GREAT BOOK!

 

BUCKLAND’S COMPLETE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT

Raymond Buckland, 1992, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 0875420508

One of Gerald Gardner’s students.  He brought Gardnerian Wicca to the U.S. in the early 1960’s.  A classic author of Witchcraft.  He later founded the tradition of Seax-Wica (Saxon Witchcraft).  He is also an expert (and has authored a book) on the Rom, as he is half Romany (“gypsy”) on his father’s side and has had the privilege of living and traveling with this side of his family.  This book includes lots of stuff for beginners.

 

CALL OF THE HORNED PIPER

Nigel Jackson, Capall Bann Pub, 2001, ISBN-10: 9781898307099

 

CAT MAGIC (fiction)

Whitley Strieber & Jonathan Barry, 1987, Tor Books, ISBN: 0812515501

A very thought provoking book.  When I recall reading it, the things that come back to me the most are:  the exploration of the idea that we create our own heaven and hell; karma; the meaning of death, rebirth, and sacrifice in the shamanic traditions; religious persecution; some empathy for those persons so disturbed that they would persecute another for being “different”; and the memory of the “Witch Village”, where I often wish I lived....

 

CAULDRON OF MEMORY, THE

Raven Gramassi (2009) Lewellyn Publications,  ISBN: 9780738715759

 

CELEBRATING ITALY: The Tastes and Traditions of Italy as Revealed Through it’s Feasts, Festivals and Sumptuous Foods

Carol Field, 1990 Harper Books ISBN: 0060977221

 

CELESTINE PROPHECY, THE

James Redfield, 1993, Warner Books, ISBN:  0-446-51862-X (HB)

An excellent book, and an even better movie, because it illustrates concepts having to do with energy work, the in breath and the out breath, sharing energy rather than just taking it, recharging from Source instead of vamping energy from others, and a new way of looking at things, especially “coincidence”.  Gives insights for these things.  (Also by James Redfield:  The Tenth Insight.)

 

CEREMONIAL MAGIC AND THE POWER OF EVOCATION

Joseph Lisiewski, Christopher S. Hyatt & S. Jason Black, 2004, New Falcon Publications, Tempe, AZ, 1-56184-197-8 

 

CHALICE AND THE BLADE

Riane Eisler, 1987, Harper Collins, ISBN: 0062502891

“The Chalice and the Blade tells a new story of our cultural origins.  It shows that war and the “war of the sexes” are neither divinely nor biologically ordained.  And it provides verification that a better future is possible – and is in fact firmly rooted in the haunting drama of what actually happened in our past.”  Eisler’s book “The Partnership Way” is the accompanying workbook.

 

CHANGING OF THE GODS – Feminism and the End of Traditional Religions

Naomi R. Goldenberg, 1979, Beacon Press, ISBN:  080701110-X

 

CHEESE AND THE WORMS, THE: The Cosmos of a 16th Century Miller  (Italian title:  Il Formaggio ed I Vermi:  Il Cosmo di un Mugnaio del ‘500

Carlo Ginsburg, 1976 Johns Hopkins Press ISBN: 080184387

 

CHICKEN QABALAH OF RABBI LAMED BEN CLIFFORD: Dilettante’s Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist

Lon Milo DuQuette, 2001, 1-57863-215-3 PB

 

CHILDREN OF CAIN

Michael Howard, 2011, Three Hands Press

The definitive history of Traditional Witchcraft and its key operatives in Britain and the United States.  Key players include Robert Cochrane, The Regency, Cecil Williamson, George Pickingill, Victor Anderson, Alaister Clay-Egerton, and Andrew Chumbley.

 

CHRISTIANITY, SOCIAL TOLERANCE AND HOMOSEXUALITY:  Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century

John Boswell, 1980, University of Chicago Press, ISBN: 0226067114

John Boswell (1947-1994) was the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History at Yale University and the author of “Same Sex Unions in Pre-modern Europe”.

 

CIMARUTA, THE:  And Other Magical Charms from Old Italy

Raven Grimassi, 2012 Old Ways Press OSBN: 9781479114009

Wonderful!

 

CIRCLE ROUND – Raising Children in Goddess Traditions

Starhawk, Diane Baker and Anne Hill, 1998, Bantam Books, ISBN:  0553378058

(Has a music CD of Pagan children’s songs that I have and can copy for you if you provide me with a blank music CD.)

 

CLINICAL HANDBOOK OF PASTORAL COUNSELING VOLUME 1 (EXPANDED EDITION)

Edited by Robert Wicks, Richard Parsons, and Donald Capps, 1985(expanded edition 1993) Paulist Press ISBN: 0809133512

A thick tome. Christian, but very good for anyone studying Pastoral Counseling. It can be adapted to Pagan needs.

 

CLINICAL HANDBOOK OF PASTORAL COUNSELING VOLUME 2

Edited by Robert Wicksand Richard Parsons, 1993 Paulist Press ISBN: 0809133253

(Same comments as above)

 

COMING UNITED RELIGIONS, THE

William E. Swing, 1998, CoNexus Press, ISBN: 0963789759

Bill Swing is the Episcopal Bishop of California and founder of the United Religions Initiative, of which I am a very active member.  “An emerging “global ethic”, initiated at the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions, invites the consensus of religions and spiritual traditions, but also needs a permanent forum for its expression.”  A grassroots effort to end religiously motivated violence in the world and encourage dialogue and peace.

 

COMPENDIUM MALEFICARUM – The Montague Summers Edition

Francesco Maria Guazzo, 1988 (1929; 1608) Dover Publications, ISBN:  048625738-X

An Italian Witch hunters guide.  Originally written in 1608 by Francesco Maria Guazzo, an Ambrosian monk, writing about the Witches of Milan and originally in Latin. 

 

CONDENSED CHAOS

Phil Hine, 1995. ISBN 1-56184-117-X 

 

CONFESSIONS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY, THE – An Autohagiography

John Symonds & Kenneth Grant, editors, 1969, Penguin Group, ISBN:  0140191895

 

CORPO È FATTO DI SILLABE, IL:  Figure di Maghi in Sicilia 

Elsa Guggino  1993  Sellerio, Palermo, Italy  (and all her books) (CL 17-1080-X)

 

CRAFTING THE ART OF MAGIC

Aidan Kelly, 1991, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN:  0-87542-370-1

Controversial.  Discusses some history regarding Gardner and Sanders and others.   

          

CREATIVE MYTHOLOGY – The Masks of God series

Joseph Campbell, ISBN: 0140194401

“The whole inner story of modern culture, spanning our entire philosophical, spiritual, and artistic history since the Dark Ages and treating modern man’s unique position as the creator of his own mythology.”

 

CRIMSON ELF, THE:  Italian Tales of Wisdom

Michael J. Caduto, 1997, Fulcrum Publishing, ISBN: 1555919952

 

CROSSING TH EBORDERLINES

 Nigel Pennick, Capall Bann Publishing, 1998, ISBN:1861630352

 

DAEMONOLOGY
by King James the First. [1597] With Newes from Scotland [1591]
Two texts, one an essay on demons and other denizens of the night, the second a broadside with an account of a famous witch trial from the same period.

 

DANCE OF ANGER, THE – A Woman’s Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships

Harriet G. Lerner, Ph.D., 1985, Harper and Row, ISBN: 006091565-X

She also wrote “The Dance of Intimacy” and “The Dance of Deception”.  This one explores women’s anger, what’s healthy, what isn’t, and techniques for coping. 

 

DARK SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY

Helen Ellerbe, 1995, Morningstar & Lark, ISBN: 0964487349

“By denying evil we do harm.  By denying darkness we obscure the light.”   Over a period of almost two millennia, the Christian Church has oppressed and brutalized millions of individuals in an attempt to control and contain spirituality.  This book reveals in painstaking detail the tragedies, sorrows and injustices inflicted upon humanity by the Church.  This exposé is a compelling and passionate cry for human dignity and spiritual freedom.  At a time when the so called “religious right” asserts that Christian values will save society from it’s rampant sins, the ordinary citizen should know exactly how the Christian Church has attempted to “save” societies in the past.  It is a grim lesson, but one that it is imperative to absorb.  Doing so could save lives.”

 

DAUGHTER OF FIRE – A Diary of a Spiritual Training with a Sufi Master

Irina Tweedie, 1986, The Golden Sufi Center, ISBN:  0-9634574-5-4

Irina Tweedie was born in Russia in 1907 and was educated in Vienna and Paris.  Following WWII, she married an English naval officer, whose death in 1954 led her on a spiritual quest.  With a background in Theosophy, she traveled to India where she met a Sufi Master,    She returned to England after his death in 1966.  He told her she should keep a diary of her training, and this book is the result.  She was the first Western woman to be trained in this ancient yogic lineage, and was the first woman to whom the line was passed onto after the death of it’s master, Radha Mohan Lal, a Hindu Sufi Sheikh from the Naqshbandiyya-Mujadiddiya Sufi Order, whom she called Bhai Sahib (Elder Brother), her teacher.  Peter studied with Irina in London for several years.  She died on August 23rd, 1999, at 92 years of age.  Controversy surrounding her authenticity. 

 

DAVINCI CODE, THE   (fiction)

Dan Brown, 2003, Doubleday, ISBN: 0385504209  (HB)

A great story based on two real organizations:  The Priory of Sion and Opus Dei.  The story is about the search for the Holy Grail, and deciphering codes. 

 

DEAD SEA SCROLLS UNCOVERED

Robert Eisenman & Michael Wise, 1992, Barnes and Noble,  ISBN: 156619623-X  (HB)

“The first complete translation and interpretation of 50 key documents withheld for over 35 years.  Placed in caves almost 2,000 years ago and not discovered until 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide a unique insight into Jewish and Christian origins.  The discovery of a tiny scroll fragment of six lines referring to the execution of or by a messianic leader plunged scholars into a long-running debate.  Scholars previously controlling access to the Scrolls had been publically contending that there was nothing interesting in the remaining unpublished Scrolls and nothing throwing further light on Christianity’s rise in Palestine.  The conclusions of Professor Eisenman and Professor Wise gainsay and challenge these views.  This book is the result.”

 

DEL CONGRESSO NOTTURNO DELLE LAMMIE LIBRI TRE:  SAGGI UNGONO DUE DISSERTAZIONI EPISTOLARI SOPRA L’ARTE MAGICA

Girolamo Tartarotti, 1749, Nabu Public Domain Reprints

 

DELLA SUPERSTITIOSA NOCE DI BENEVENTO TRATTATO HISTORICO DEL SIGNOR PIETRO PIPERNO BENEVENTANO: FILOSOFO & MEDICO E DELLA GRAN GIURISDITTIONE DI S. SOFIA DI  ESTA CITTA PROTOMEDICO

1640 Arnoldo Forni  (2010)

 

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: WHAT EVERY PASTOR NEEDS TO KNOW

Al Miles, 2011 Fortress Press ISBN: 9780800697556

I listened to a sermon by him and attended his workshop for ministers at Riverside Church in New York City in 2013 and it was excellent.  A lot of what is in the book can ABSOLUTELY be applied by pagan, and all, chaplains.

 

DRAWING DOWN THE MOON – Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today

Margot Adler, 1979, Beacon Press, ISBN:  0807032530

Margot Adler is a high priestess of Wicca, and was a reporter for National Public Radio.  She is the daughter of the renowned psychiatrist Alfred Adler.  In this book she interviews several noted Pagans and talks about religion, Paganism, women, ritual and history. 

 

EASTERN BODY – WESTERN MIND – Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self

Anodea Judith, 1996, Celestial Arts press, ISBN-13:  978-1-58761-225-1,   ISBN-10:  1-58761-225-9

Anodea Judith explores the chakras through “Jungian psychology, somatic therapy, childhood developmental theory, and metaphysics. She has a Ph.D.in health and human services, an M.A. in clinical psychology, and training in “bioenergetics, trauma recovery, yoga therapy and shamanism”.  This is a very excellent and comprehensive book on the chakras.

 

ECSTASIES – Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath

Carlo Ginzburg, 1991, Random House, NY  ISBN: 0394581636 (HB)

Originially published in Turin, Italy, as “Storia Notturna” by Giulio Einaudi, Editore, 1989.  

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CELTIC WISDOM – A Celtic Shaman’s Sourcebook

Caitlin & John Matthews, 1994, Element Books, ISBN: 1852305606

 

EPIC OF GILGAMESH, THE

N.K. Sandars, 1960, Penguin Books, ISBN: 014044100-X

The Epic of Gilgamesh dates from the third millenium BCE.  It is one of the finest surviving epic poems in world literature.  Miraculously preserved on clay tablets deciphered only in the last century tells of Gilgamesh, the great king of Uruk in Mesopotamia, and his adventures.  Includes the first written account of a global flood. 

 

ESOTERIC ORDERS AND THEIR WORK    

Dion Fortune, 2000,  Weiser, ISBN: 157863184-X

 

ETRUSCAN CIVILIZATION:  A Cultural History

Sybille Haynes, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005, ISBN-10: 0892366001, ISBN-13: 978-0892366002

ETRUSCAN LIFE AND AFTERLIFE: A Handbook of Etruscan Studies

Larissa Bonfante, 1986 Wayne State University Press ISBN: 0814318134

 

ETRUSCAN MYTH, SACRED HISTORY AND LEGEND

Nancy Thomson de Grummond, 2006, Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, ISBN-10: 1931707863, ISBN-13: 978-1931707862

 

ETRUSCAN ROMAN REMAINS          

Charles G. Leland, 1892, Phoenix Publishing, ISBN: 0919345298

A collection of Italian Witch lore, Etruscan spirits and deities, incantations, divination, medicine, amulets, mythology and history from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.  Charles Leland (1824-1903) was a scholar, folklorist and author. 

 

ETRUSCANS, THE

Graeme Barker, Wiley-Blackwell, 2000, ISBN-10: 0631220380, ISBN-13: 978-0631220381

 

EVIL EYE, THE:  An Account of This Ancient and Widespread Superstition

Frederick Thomas Elworthy, 1894, Bell Publishing Co., ISBN: 0517679442  (HB)

 

EVOKING THE GODDESS

Gareth Knight, 1993, Destiny Books, ISBN: 0892814039

 

FAITH AND INTERFAITH IN A GLOBAL AGE

Marcus Braybrooke, 1998, CoNexus Press, ISBN: 0963789724

 

FIFTH SACRED THING, THE

Starhawk (Miriam Simos), 1993, Bantam Books, ISBN:  0-553-37380-3

Fictional novel about a futuristic society.  The back jacket says:  Imagine a world without poverty, hunger or hatred, where a rich culture honors its diverse mix of races, religions and heritages, and the Four Sacred Things that sustain life: Earth, Air, Fire and Water, are valued unconditionally.   Now imagine the opposite:  a nightmare world in which an authoritarian regime polices an apartheid state, access to food and water is restricted to those who obey the corrupt, official religion, women are the property of their husbands or the state, and children are bred for prostitution and war.  The best and worst of our possible futures are poised to clash, and the outcome rests on the wisdom and courage of one clan caught in the conflict.”A Pagan classic.

 

FABLE AND SONG IN ITALY

E. M. Clerke, 1899 University of California (Better Reprints) ISBN: M0D1005264102

 

FIRE IN THE HEAD – SHAMANISM AND THE CELTIC SPIRIT

Tom Cowan, 1993, Harper Collins, ISBN:  0-06-250174-7

“In ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus’, William Butler Yeats refers to the ‘Fire in the Head’ that characterizes the visionary experience.  Tom Cowan has pursued this theme in a lyrical cross-cultural exploration of shamanism and the Celtic imagination that examines the myths and tales of the ancient Celtic poets and storytellers, and outlines techniques used to access the shaman’s world.” 

 

FOLKLORE BY THE FIRESIDE:  Text and Context of the Tuscan Veglia 

Alessandro Falassi,  1980  University of Texas Press, ISBN:  0292724306 

 

FOLKLORE, HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY:  An Egg at Easter

Venetia Newall, 1989, Indiana University Press, ISBN:0253319420

 

FORGOTTEN BOOKS OF EDEN – The Lost Books of the Old Testament

Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. (editor), 1980, Gramercy Books, ISBN: 051730886-X

 

FORGOTTEN TRUTH: THE COMMON VISION OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS

Huston Smith, 1976 Harper Collins ISBN: 0062507877

 

FOUR TREATISES

Philip Theophrastus von Hohenheim, called “Paracelsus” (Edited, with a preface, by Henry E. Sigerist), c. 1541, Johns Hopkins University Press (1941, obviously this new edition), ISBN: 0801855233

 

FROM WITCH TO WICCA:  How Did Yesterday’s Witch Become Today’s Wicca?

Leslie Ellen Jones, 2004, Cold Spring Press, ISBN: 1593600089

 

GARDEN OF POMEGRANATES, A – Scrying on the Tree of Life

Israel Regardie, 1999 (1932), Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 1567181414

Edited and annotated with new material by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabitha Cicero.

 

GERALD GARDNER AND THE CAULDRON OF INSPIRATION: An Investigation into the Sources of Gardnerian Witchcraft 

Philip Heselton (2003), Capall Bann Publishing, ISBN 1-86163-164-2

 

GERALD GARDNER AND THE WITCHCRAFT REVIVAL: The Significance of His Life and Works to the Story of Modern Witchcraft  

Philip Heselton  (2001)  I-H-O Books. ISBN 1-872189-16-4

 

GERALD GARDNER:  WITCH

Jack L. Bracelin, 1960, I-H-O Books, ISBN: 187218908

A biography of Gerald Gardner, actually written by Idries Shah.  Jack Bracelin, a close friend of Gardner and Shah, agreed to allowed his name to be used as the author.

 

GIULIANA LEGACY, THE  (fiction)

Alexis Masters, 2000, Health Communications Inc., ISBN: 1558747850

A novel about a Strega (an Italian Witch).  Before the prologue, there is a quote and a remark:  “And Circe bore in love to steadfast Odysseus Agrios and Latinos, faultless and strong, and Telegonus by the will of golden Aphrodite and these far away in the bays of the Isles of the Blest lead all the famous Tyrsenoi...” (from Theogany by Hesiod [lines 1101-1016], 8th century BCE).  Then Emaline Richardson, in her book The Etruscans: Their Art and Civilization, (1964), comments:   “This, by one of the most ancient Greek poets, is the earliest literary reference to the Tyrsenoi, called Tyrrhenoi by later Greek authors, Tusci or Etrusci by the Romans, and by us Etruscans...    The name Turan (the Etruscan’s Aphrodite) is particularly interesting linguistically; it is very likely related to the non-Greek (probably Lydian) word “turannos”, meaning “lord”...  Turan, then, is the lady...  the Great Goddess, and the very name Tyrsenoi may mean “the People of the Great Goddess”.    A very wonderful novel.

 

GNOSTIC GOSPELS

Elaine Pagels, 1979, Vintage Books, ISBN: 0679724532

Based on the Nag Hammadi Library.

 

GOAT FOOT GOD, THE  (fiction)

Dion Fortune, 1971, Weiser, ISBN: 0877285004

 

GOD AGAINST THE GODS, A

Allen Drury, 1976, Doubleday and Co., ISBN:  Not listed anywhere in the book…..

A novel about the very true story of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the Egyptain pharaoh who, by all surviving accounts, tried to impose a monotheistic religion on his people and his wife, and the results.  A fictional story based on the real pharaoh and his wife and what they apparently tried to do.

 

GODDESS MEDITATIONS

Barbara Ardinger, 1999, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN:  1567180345

 

GOD OF THE WITCHES

Margaret Murray, 1933, Oxford University Press, ISBN-10: 0195012704, ISBN-13: 978-0195012705

 

GOLDEN ASS, THE

Apuleius, circa 120 CE (translated by P.G. Walsh), 1994, Oxford University Press,

           ISBN:  0192824929

About the book:  “The “Golden Ass” is a unique, entertaining, and thoroughly readable Latin novel (translated into English by P.G. Walsh).  It is the ONLY work of fiction in Latin to have survived in it’s entirety!  It tells the story of Lucius, whose curiosity and fascination for sex and magic result in his transformation into an ass.  After suffering a series of trials and humiliations, he is ultimately transformed back into human shape by the kindness of the Goddess Isis.” 

 

About the author:   “Lucius Apuleius was apparently a priest of Isis.  His family was wealthy and he traveled extensively in search of education and insight into religious mysteries.  As a priest of Isis, he shows both sides of the cult of the Moon Goddess, the Right- and Left-Hand paths.  He recognizes Isis as the Queen of Heaven, yet identical in Her dark aspect with Hecate and Proserpine, the Queen of the Underworld.  The roses which redeem Lucius from the shape of an ass are the symbol of the mysteries; an idea which in later years was repeated in the occult emblem of the Rosy Cross.”  (per Doreen Valiente in “An ABC of Witchcraft”)    

 

“Lucius Apuleius was born in the mid-120s CE in Madauros (N. Africa, now modern Mdaurusch in Algeria).  His father was one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman colony of Madauros, and Apuleius received a superior education at Carthage and then at Athens.  He lived in Athens for several years and traveled widely in Greece.  Later he lived long enough in Rome to obtain recognition as a literary figure amongst men of social standing.  In 155 CE Apuleius began a journey to Alexandria, but fell ill and had to rest with the family of his friend Pontianus on Oea (modern Tripoli).  After his marriage to Pontianus’ widowed mother he was indicted on a charge of magic, and in a famous speech, his “Apologia”, he secured his acquittal.  (Because she was rich and older than he, her family was jealous and said he bewitched her into marriage.)  

 

His “Apologia” (“Apulei Apologia sine pro se de Magia Liber”) was published under the title “A Discourse on Magic”, with introduction and commentary by H.E. Butler and A.S. Owen, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1914.    He returned to Carthage and there became famous as a writer and lecturer.  It is clear that he was still in Carthage during the 160s CE, but nothing can be established about his life after that.” 

 

GOLDEN BOUGH, THE – A Study in Magic and Religion

Sir James George Frazer, 1922, Macmillan Publishing Co., ISBN: 0020955707

This book “describes our ancestors primitive methods of worship, sex practices, strange rituals and festivals.”  It discusses many things, including:  taboos, sacred kings and sacred marriages, sympathetic magic, tree veneration, sacrifice and propitiation, scapegoats, and the soul. 

 

GOLDEN DAWN, THE

Israel Regardie, 1971, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 0875426638

 

GOSPEL OF THE ESSENES

Dr. Edmond Szekely (editor and translator), 1976, C.W. Daniel Co. Ltd., ISBN-10: 0852071353,              ISBN-13: 978-0852071359

According to Dr. Szekely, this text contains the actual words spoken by Jesus and His beloved disciple John. Following "The Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ", Szekely has completely translated the original manuscript from the Aramaic of the once lost Gospel of the Essenes.  Original languages:  Aramaic and Hebrew.

 

GREAT COSMIC MOTHER, THE:  Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth

Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor, 1987, Harper and Row, ISBN: 0062507915

EXCELLENT!

 

GREAT FAIRY TALE TRADITION, THE

Edited by Jack Zipes, 2001 W.W.Norton and Company ISBN: 9780393976366

 

GRIMOIRE OF LADY SHEBA, THE

Lady Sheba (Jessie Wicker Bell), 1972, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN:  0875420761 (HB)

A controversial book because she allegedly published Gardnerian material written by Doreen Valiente. 

 

GRIMOIRE OF SHADOWS, A

Ed Fitch, 1996, Llewellyn Publishing, ISBN: 1567186599

 

GRIMOIRES: A History of Magic Books

Owen Davies, 2009, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 9780199590049

 

GYPSY SORCERY AND FORTUNE TELLLING

Charles Godfrey Leland, 1891, Carol Publishing Group, ISBN:  0806511982

Charles Leland was founder and 1st president of the Gypsy Lore Society and was a friend to the Rom (“Gypsies”).  He spoke Romany and several other languages.

 

GYPSY WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC

Raymond Buckland, 2001 Lewellyn Publishing ISBN: 1567180973 

 

HEALING THE WOUNDED KING – Soul Work and the Quest for the Grail

John Matthews, 1997, Element Books Ltd., ISBN: 1852309555

 

HEBREW GODDESS, THE  (3rd edition)

Raphael Patai, 1967, Wayne State University Press, ISBN: 0814322719

“The Hebrew Goddess demonstrates that the Jewish religion, far from being pure monotheism, contained from earliest times strong polytheistic elements, chief of which was the cult of the Mother Goddess.  Lucidly written and richly illustrated, this third edition contains new chapters on the Shekhina.”An excellent book!!

 

HIGH MAGIC’S AID  (fiction)

Scire (Gerald Gardner), 1996 (1949), Godolphin House, ISBN: 0963065785

Fictional story written by Gerald Gardner.  This came out just before he did (came out of the “broom closet”, that is) and contains much ritual, although in a purposefully veiled form.  A Wiccan classic.

            

HIGHEST ALTAR, THE – The Story of Human Sacrifice

Patrick Tierney, 1989, Penguin Books, ISBN: 0670828092 (HB)

Human sacrifice in Peru.  An in depth study of the practice and rationale.

 

HISTORY OF HELL

Alice K. Turner, 1993, Harcourt Brace, ISBN: 0156001373

 

HISTORY OF MAGIC, THE

Éliphas Lévi, (translated by A.E. Waite) 1860 (1913), Rider and Co., Ltd. (the Hutchinson Publishing Group), ISBN: 0090307615

 

HISTORY OF PAGAN EUROPE

Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick, 1995, Routledge, ISBN: 0415158044

 

HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans

Jeffrey Burton Russell, 1980, Thames & Hudson; 2nd edition (March 26, 2007), ISBN-10: 0500286345, ISBN-13: 978-0500286340

 

HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL – Do Ancient Parchments Found in France Reveal

the Startling Truth?

Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln, 1982, Dell Publishing, ISBN: 0440136482

Asks the questions (and argues that these things are likely true): Is it possible that Jesus did not die on the cross?  Is it possible that Jesus was married, a father, and that his bloodline still exists?  Is it possible that parchments found in the South of France a century ago reveal one of the best-kept secrets in Christendom?  Is it possible that these parchments contain the very heart of the mystery of the Holy Grail?  

 

HOLY KABALLAH, THE

Arthur Edward Waite, 1960, University Books (NY),  no ISBN appears in book    (HB)

 

HORNS OF HONOR: REGAINING THE SPIRIT OF THE PAGAN HORNED GOD

Frederick Thomas Elworthy, Edited and Introduced by Raven Grimassi, 2013 Weiser Books ISBN: 9781578635436

 

HORSE IN THE FURROW, THE

George Ewart Evans, Faber & Faber (December 1986, ISBN-10: 0571081649

 

HOW CAN I HELP? – Stories and Reflections on Service

Ram Dass & Paul Gorman, 1985, Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN: 0394729471

A wonderful book for anyone with inclinations towards helping others.

IAMBLICHUS ON THE MYSTERIES OF THE EGYPTIANS, CHALDEANS AND ASSYRIANS 

 Iamblichus  c. 250-330 CE   Translated from the Greek by Thomas Taylor (1821) Cambridge University Press  first published in 1821   ISBN:  978-1-108-07304-2  PB

 

IN THE DARK PLACES OF WISDOM

Peter Kingsley  Published in North America by The Golden Sufi Center (Inverness, CA, 1999) and in the UK by Duckworth (London, 2001) ISBN: 9781890350017

 

IN THE GROVE OF THE DRUIDS – The Druid Teachings of Ross Nichols

Philip Carr-Gomm, 2002, Watkins Publishing, ISBN:  1-84293-032-X

Ross Nichols was Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids until his death in 1975. 

 

INANNA – Queen of Heaven and Earth; Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer

Diane Wolkstein & Samuel Noah Kramer, 1983, Harper and Row, ISBN: 0060908548

 

INCIARMATORI, MAGHI E STREGHE DI BENEVENTO

A. Forni (editore), ristampa da Piero Edit., Napoli, 1900

 

INITIATION

Elisabeth Haich, 2000, Aurora Press, ISBN:  0-943358-50-7

The author’s spiritual autobiography, recounting her past life memories of Initiation into the priesthood of ancient Egypt. 

 

INITIATION INTO HERMETICS

Franz Bardon, 2001 (1962, Osiris-Verlag, Germany)  ISBN: 1885928122   Merkur Publishing Inc.  

Translation by G. Hanswell and A. Gallo

 

IN LIVING COLOR:  An Intercultural Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling

Emmanuel Y. Lartey, 2003, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, ISBN:  9781843107507

 

INNER ORDER TEACHINGS OF THE GOLDEN DAWN 

Pat Zalewski   978-1-870450-48-52006  Thoth Publications, UK

 

INVOKE THE GODDESSS – Visualizations of Hindu, Greek and Egyptian Deities

Kala Trobe, 2000, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN:  1567184316

 

ISHMAEL

Daniel Quinn, 1992, Bantam Books, ISBN: 0-553-37540-7

“TEACHER SEEKS PUPIL. Must have an earnest desire to save the world.  Apply in person.”  This was the ad a teacher put in a paper.  Ishmael tells the story of an unlikely teacher and an unlikely pupil, and the ideas it has spawned have captivated many, and these ideas are still being

discussed on Ishmael websites and groups all over the place.  A very thought-provoking book.  

 

ISIS UNVEILED – A Master Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and theology

Helena P. Blavatsky, 1877, Theosophical University Press, ISBN:  0-911500-03-0

“H.P. Blavatsky’s first major literary effort, “Isis Unveiled” is a critique of materialism in both scientific and religious thought.  Supported by extensive documentation, the work is an attempt to “aid the student to detect the vital principles which underlie the philosophical systems of old,” and to affirm that “by combining science with religion, the existence of God and immortality of man’s spirit may be demonstrated.”  In Volume I the scientific and spiritualist theories of the time are balanced against fundamental concepts of the “anciently universal Wisdom-Religion,” making plain that Isis – Nature personified – still veils realms of consciousness and substance unapproached by modern knowledge.  Volume II examines many of the world’s sacred traditions and philosophies, encompassing a variety of themes:  cosmogonies and pantheons of East and West, origin of Pagan and Christian rites, gnosticism, masonry, and alchemy, as well as Hindu, Chinese, Tibetan, Mexican, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Greek Mystery teachings.  Throughout, the author strikes at the roots of dogma and breathes new life into ancient myths and symbols, showing the universality of spiritual inspiration and the importance of the ageless Quest.”

 

ITALIAN-AMERICAN FOLKLORE

Frances Malpezzi and William Clements, 1992 August House ISBN: 0874832780

 

ITALIAN FOLKTALES

Italo Calvino, 1956 Harcourt Publishing ISBN: 0156454890

 

ITALIANS, THE

Luigi Barzini, 1964 Macmillan Publishing ISBN: 0689705409

 

ITALIAN WAY, THE

Mario Costantino, 1996 Passport Books ISBN: 0844280720

 

ITALIAN WITCHCRAFT: THE OLD RELIGION OF SOUTHERN EUROPE

Raven Grimassi, 2000 Lewellyn Publications ISBN: 1567182593

 

JESUS AND THE LOST GODDESS – The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians

Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy, 2001, Three Rivers Press, ISBN: 1400045940

An outstanding book!

 

JOURNEYS OF SOCRATES, THE

Dan Millman, 2005, Harper Collins, ISBN:  0-06-075023-5  (HB)

The story of Dan Millmans’ mentor, “Socrates”, and how Socrates became a man, how the man became a warrior, and how that warrior found peace.   The prequel to “Way of the Peaceful Warrior”, which was actually published first about 25 years ago, also by Dan Millman (it tells Dan’s story).

 

KABBALAH FOR HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Mark Stavish, 2007, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 9780738709772

 

KABBALISTIC HANDBOOK FOR THE PRACTICING MAGICIAN: A Course in the Theory and Practice of Western Magic

Joseph C. Lisiewski & Christopher S. Hyatt, 2005  ISBN:  978-1-935150-88-6   The Original Falcon Press, Tempe, AZ

 

KEEPERS OF THE FLAME: Interviews with Elders of Traditional Witchcraft in America  

Morganna Davies and Aradia Lynch, 2001 Olympian Press ISBN-13: 9780970901309

 

KEY OF SOLOMON THE KING – (Clavicula Salomonis)

1972, Samuel Weiser, ISBN: 0877286981

Translated and edited from manuscripts in the British Museum by S. Liddell MacGregor Mathers; Foreword by Richard Cavendish.   (King Solomon  - 10th century BCE)

 

KEY OF THE MYSTERIES, THE

Eliphas Levi, translated by Alistair Crowley, 1861 (1959) Weiser Books ISBN: 0877280789

 

KEY TO SOLOMON’S KEY, THE  

Lon Milo DuQuetter2010  ISBN-13:  978-1-888729-28-3   The Consortium of Collective Consciousness (U.S.)

 

KING JESUS

Robert Graves, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1981, ISBN-10: 9780374516642

 

KYBALION, THE – The Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece

“Three Initiates”, 1912, Yogi Publication Society, (revised, 2004, The Book     Tree),

ISBN:  1-58509-243-6

 

LADDER OF LIGHTS – A Step-by-Step Guide to the Tree of Life and the Four Worlds of the Qabalists, Including the Angelic and Archangelic Realms   

William G. Gray    1968,   Samuel Weiser   0-87728-536-5

 

LANGUAGE OF THE GODDESS

Marija Gimbutas, 1989, Harper Collins, ISBN: 0062512439

Archaeology and art of Goddess images.

 

LANGUAGE OF BIRDS, THE

Dale Pendell, Three Hands Press, 2010, http://www.threehandspress.com/language_of_birds.php

 

LAW ENFORCEMENT GUIDE TO WICCA

Kerr Cuhulain, 1989, Horned Owl Publishing, ISBN: 0969606605  (See “Wiccan Warrior”)

 

LEAPING HARE, THE

George Ewart Evans and David Thomson, Faber & Faber, 2002, ISBN-10: 9780571106301

 

LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN NATION

Sam Harris, 2006 Alfred A Knopf ISBN: 0307265773

 

LEYLINES – A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

Philip Heselton (1999). Hodder Arnold. ISBN 0-340-74316-6 

 

LIVING IN THE LAP OF THE GODDESS

Cynthia Eller, 1993, Crossroad, ISBN:  0824512456

 

LOST GODS OF ENGLAND, THE

Brian Branston, 1993 (1957), Thames and Hudson, ISBN:  0094733406

 

MAGIA E MEDICINA POPOLARE IN ITALIA 

Gatto Trocchi  1982  Newton Compton, Roma, Italy  (“Popular [folk] Magic and Medicine in Italy)

 

MAGIC:A HISTORY OF ITS RITES, RITUALS AND MYSTERIES

Eliphas Levi, translated with a preface and notes by Arthur Edward Waite, 1860 (1913) ISBN:0486447669

 

MAGICAL BATTLE OF BRITAIN, THE

Dion  Fortune, 1993, Golden Gates Press, ISBN: 1898260001

How the Witches fought magically against Hitler.

 

MAGICAL GUARDIANS:  EXPLORING THE SPIRIT AND NATURE OF TREES

Philip Heselton  2nd revised edition. (1999). Capall Bann Publishing. ISBN 1-86163-057-3

 

MAGICAL RITES FROM THE CRYSTAL WELL

Ed Fitch and Janine Renee, 1984, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 0875422306

 

MAGICAL RITUAL METHODS

William G. Gray, 1969, Weiser Books, ISBN:  0877284989

 

MAGICK OF ALEISTER CROWLEY, THE – A Handbook of Rituals of Thelema

Lon Milo DuQuette   1993  ISBN-10:  1-57863-299-4  PB

 

MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS

Aleister Crowley  1973  1-56184-018-1  New Falcon Publications, Tempe, AZ

 

MAGICKAL YEAR, THE – A Pagan Perspective on the Natural World

Diana Ferguson, 1996, Samuel Weiser, ISBN:  0887288828  (HB)

 

MAJOR TRENDS IN JEWISH MYSTICISM

Gershom Scholem, 1946, Schocken Books, ISBN: 0805210423

 

MAKING MAGIC WITH GAIA – Practices to Heal Ourselves and Our Planet

Francesca Ciancimino Howell, 2002, Red Wheel/Weiser, ISBN: 1590030087

This is “the book where ecological warriors, soccer moms, and Witches from many traditions meet.  Francesca’s persuasive, warm style and ability to make complex ideas and histories accessible make this book a wonderful introduction to the spiritual practice of taking care of Mother Nature so Mother Nature takes care of us.” 

 

MALLEUS MALEFICARUM – The Witches Hammer

Heinrich Kramer & James Sprenger,  1971 (1928, 1486) Dover Publications,  ISBN:  0486228029

           Edited by Montague Summers

A Witch hunters guide written in Germany in about 1484 and first published in 1486 by two Dominican inquisitors, Heinrich Kramer & James Sprenger.  Outlined the use of torture to extract confessions from heretics.  Used by many countries during the Inquisition. 

 

MARY MAGDALENE, BRIDE IN EXILE

Margaret Starbird, 2005, Inner publications, ISBN:  1591430542

The many faces of Mary Magdalene, from the historical woman who walked with Jesus, to the mythic and symbolic Magdalene who is the archetype of the Sacred Feminine.

 

MASTERING ASTRAL PROJECTION

Robert Bruce and Brian Mercer, 2004 Lewellyn Publishing ISBN: 0738704679

 

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT:  A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks and Covens

Paul Huson, iUniverse Books, 2006, ISBN: 0595420060

          

MEANING OF WITCHCRAFT, THE

Gerald Brosseau Gardner, 1959, Magickal Childe Publishing,  ISBN: 0939708027

“The final work of “the Grand Old Man of Witchcraft”, this is a complementary volume to his earlier “Witchcraft Today”.”  It discusses Gardner’s theories about the origins of Witchcraft and Witchcraft itself.  “Originally published in 1959, it was written by an avowed Witch, shortly after the last of the infamous “Witch Laws” was finally repealed in England in 1951.  Unique in it’s day, it has remained the subject of heated controversy among Craft people, anthropologists and historians.  Gerald Gardner (1884-1964) is universally credited with being the ‘father of the modern Witchcraft revival’.” 

 

MEDEA

Euripides(ca. 485-406 B.C.E), Rex Warner Translation, 431 B.C.E.  Dover Books ISBN: 0486275485

 

MEDITATIONS

Marcus Aurelius Emperor of Rome, ca. 170-180 C.E. published 1991 Prometheus Books ISBN: 0879757027

 

MERLIN – Priest of Nature

Jean Markale (translated by Belle N. Burke), 1995 (1981), Inner Traditions Intl., ISBN:  780892815173

 

MERLIN THROUGH THE AGES – A Chronological Anthology and Source Book

R.J. Stewart & John Matthews, editors, 1995, Blandford Publishers, ISBN:  0713724684 (HB),   0713724668 (PB)

 

MIDDLE PILLAR, THE – The Balance Between Mind and Magic

Israel Regardie, 1998 (1938), Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 1567181406

Edited and annotated with new material by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha  Cicero.

 

MINISTRY IN THE SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY OF HEALTH CARE:

Increasing the Competency of Chaplains

Robert Anderson, 2004, Routledge, ISBN-10: 0789025574, ISBN-13: 978-0789025579

 

MISTS OF AVALON   (fiction)

Marion Zimmer Bradley, 1982, Random House, ISBN: 0345350499

Four books in the series.  This is the first one.  Story of the lives and times of priestesses of Avalon circa King Arthur’s time, primarily told from the points of view of the women in the story, both Christian and Pagan, but mostly Pagan. 

 

MITHRAS – Mysteries and Initiation Rediscovered

D. Jason Cooper, 1996, Samuel Weiser, ISBN:  0877288658

 

MODERN MAGICK – Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts

Donald Michael Kraig, 1988, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 0875423248

 

MODERN WICCA:  A HISTORY FROM GERALD GARDNER TO THE PRESENT

Michael Howard, 2009 Lewellyn Publishing ISBN: 9780738715889

 

MOON MAGIC (fiction)

Dion Fortune, Weiser, ISBN: 1578732897

 

MOON UNDER HER FEET  (fiction)

Clysta Kinstler,  Harper Collins,  ISBN:  0062504975

Story of Jesus (Yeshua) told from point of view of Mary the Magdalene (“the” Magdalene, i.e., the high priestess of Isis-Asherah).  Very thought provoking and a great story.   Discusses the true nature of sacrifice.

 

 

MYSTICAL ORIGINS OF THE TAROT

 Paul Huson, Destiny Books, 2004, ISBN: 9780892811908

 

MYSTICAL QABALAH, THE

Dion Fortune, 1935, Weiser Books, ISBN: 9781578631506

 

MYTH OF THE ETERNAL RETURN – Or, Cosmos and History

Mircea Eliade, 1991 (1949), Princeton University Press, ISBN: 0691017778

Originally published in 1949 in French.  “Eliade’s thesis is that ancient man envisaged events not as constituting a linear, progressive history, but simply as so many creative repetitions of primordial archetypes.”  He was born is Romania and lectured at the Ecole des Hautes-Etudes of the Sorbonne in France and was chairman of the Dept. of History and Religions at the University of Chicago.

 

NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY

James M. Robinson (general editor), 1978, Harper Collins, ISBN: 0060669357

The fourth-century manuscripts discovered in Egypt in 1945 in one volume in English.  Also originally referred to as the “Coptic Gnostic Library”.

 

NATURAL MAGIC

Doreen Valiente, 1975, Phoenix Publishing, ISBN: 0919345808

 

NIGHT BATTLES – Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries

Carlo Ginzburg, 1966, Penguin Books, ISBN: 0140076883

Carlo Ginzburg was the professor of modern history in the Istituto di Storia Medioevale e Moderna at the University of Bologna in Italy.  This book is “based on official Inquisition archives from the 16th and 17th centuries and is a unique study of an isolated Italian peasant culture deeply rooted in early European fertility cults.  Ginzburg’s account of the heresy trials of the Benandanti, literally “good walkers”, who in their dream states ritually battled Witches to safeguard the harvest, meticulously reveals a culture through the experiences of simple people.” 

 

OCCIDENTAL MYTHOLOGY – The Masks of God series

Joseph Campbell, 1964, Penguin Books, ISBN: 014019441-X

“A systematic and fascinating comparison of the themes that underlie the art, worship, and literature of the Western world.”

 

OCCULT CONSPIRACY – Secret Societies: Their Influence and Power in World History

Michael Howard, 1989, Harper and Row, ISBN: 0892812516

Michael Howard is a treasure-trove of scholarly information and real-world experience, a true Elder.  Anything by him is recommended.

 

OLD WORLD WITCHCRAFT

Raven Grimassi, 2011 Weiser Books ISBN: 9781578635054

This Elder is also a treasure. 

 

ON DEATH AND DYING – What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and Their Own Families

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D., 1969, Touchstone Books, ISBN: 0684839385

A classic on the subject of death and dying, life and transition.  In this book she first explored the now famous five stages of death:  denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  “Through sample interviews and conversations, she gives the reader a better understanding of how imminent death affects the patient, the professionals who serve that patient, and the patient’s family, bringing hope to all who are involved.”  Another must for any type of clergy, in my opinion.

 

ON PAGANS, JEWS AND CHRISTIANS

Arnaldo Momigliano, 1987, MacMillan Publishing, ISBN: 0819562181

 

ORIENTAL MYTHOLOGY – The Masks of God series

Joseph Campbell, ISBN:  0140194428

“An exploration of Eastern mythology as it developed into the distinctive religions of Egypt, India, China and Japan.”

 

ORIGIN OF SATAN

Elaine Pagels, 1995, Vintage Books, ISBN: 0679731180

 

OUT OF THE WOODS:  The Origins of the Literary Fairy Tale in Italy and France  

Nancy L. Canepa  1997  Wayne State University Press

 

PAGANISM: AN INTRODUCTION TO EARTH-CENTERED RELIGIONS

Joyce and River Higginbotham 2003 Lewellyn Publixhing ISBN: 0738702226

 

PAGAN CLERGY’S GUIDE, THE: FOR COUNSELING, CRISIS INTERVENTION AND OTHER WORLD TRANSITIONS

Kevin Gardner, 2010 Waning Moon Publications ISBN: 9780982354919

Seems to be a very basic primer.  There is an exhaustive list of his credentials given, however we have not run across anything that says he has had any schooling / licensure / clinical pastoral counseling training, etc., as a therapist or counselor.   It seems he is self-trained in these areas, so it is highly recommended that this book be read with a very critical eye, knowing one’s limitations, boundaries, when to refer to professionals and with the rede of “harm none” in mind.  That said, he does have some very good insights and suggestions for Pagan clergy.   By many accounts he is a good man.  The best “counselors” are usually properly prepared, trained, experienced, skilled, licensed therapists.   But within the Pagan community, as within others, peer and pastoral counselors are of value as well, as long as we are honest about what it is  we can actually competently provide….

 

PAGAN SPIRITUALITY: A GUIDE TO PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION

Joyce and River Higginbotham, 2006 Lewellyn Publishing ISBN: 0738705748

 

PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CREEDS – Their Origin and Meaning

Edward Carpenter, (date unknown, but it’s older), Kessinger Publishing Co.  ISBN: 1564592146

 

PAGAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING – Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over

Starhawk (Miriam Simos), 1997, Harper Collins, ISBN: 0062515160

 

PAGAN CHRISTS

J.M. Robertson, 1966 (1903), Dorset Press, ISBN: 08802914419    OP

Argues that the alleged historical events on which Christianity is based never occurred and that the founder of Christianity never existed.  Discusses some of the 33+ other (Pagan) Christs and how their stories, which predate that of Yeshua, are almost identical, making His easy to relate to as well, since it was nothing new (this is the contention of the author).

 

PAGAN MYSTERIES OF HALLOWEEN – Celebrating the Dark Half of the Year

Jean Markale, 2000, Inner Traditions Int’l, ISBN: 0892819006

Jean Markale is a specialist in Celtic studies at the Sorbonne in France.

 

PAGAN PRAYERS

by Marah Ellis Ryan [1913]    Traditional spirituality from around the world.

 

PAGAN RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH ISLES – Their Nature and Legacy

Ronald Hutton, 1991, Blackwell Publishers, ISBN: 0631189467

 

PAGAN RITUALS III – Outer Court Training Coven

Herman Slater, 1989, Magickal Childe Publishing, ISBN: 0939708272

 

PAGANISM – An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions

Joyce and River Higginbotham, 2003, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 0738702226

This text has been adopted by the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPs) as a new curriculum for their adult religious education program.

 

PAGANS AND CHRISTIANS – The Personal Spiritual Experience

Gus di Zerega, 2001, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 1567182283

Gus di Zerega holds a Ph.D. in political theory.  He is also a Third Degree Gardnerian Elder, and studied six years with Brazilian shaman Antonio Costa e Silva.  “...a rich dialogue between the Pagan and the Christian approaches to the Sacred, pointing out, quite rightly I believe, that neither has the single correct approach to the Divine, but that both can be, and are, legitimate expressions of that ever-present Spirit which is the fountain of all genuine devotion, release, harmony and fulfillment.”

 

PAGANS AND CHRISTIANS – Religion and the Religious Life from the Second to

the Fourth Century A.D., When the Gods of Olympus Lost Their Dominion and Christianity, with the Conversion of Constantine, Triumphed in the Mediterranean World.

Robin Lane Fox, 1986, Harper and Row, ISBN: 0060628529

 

PAGANS AND THE LAW – Understand Your Rights

Dana D. Eilers, 2003, The Career Press, ISBN: 1564146715

Dana Eilers is a Wiccan and an attorney who graduated cum laude from New England School of Law.  She has been in practice for 17 years.  This book educates Pagans on the law with case studies and citations for reference.  Informs Pagans of their rights and discusses discrimination and what can be done about it.

 

PAGANISM IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Ramsay MacMullen, 1981 Yale University ISBN: 0300029845

 

PASSOVER PLOT, THE –  A New Interpretation of the Life and Death of Jesus

Hugh Schonfield, 1965, Element Books, ISBN: 1852308362

Dr. Hugh Scholnfield was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his services towards international harmony.  He was also one of the original Dead Sea Scrolls scholars.  “This book may shatter your faith or strengthen it.  But you will not be able to dismiss the evidence it presents or the message it delivers.”

 

PASTORAL CARE IN CONTEXT: AN INTRODUCTION TO PASTORAL CARE

John Patton, 1993 Westminster/John Knox Press ISBN: 0664220347

Christian slant, but good lessons.

 

PATTERN UNDER THE PLOUGH

G. E. Evans, Faber and Faber, 2009, ISBN-10: 9780571243792

 

PICKINGILL PAPERS, THE:  THE ORIGIN OF THE GARDNERIAN CRAFT

W. E. Liddell    1994,   Holmes Publishing Group LLC,  ISBN-10: 1898307105

ISBN-13: 978-1898307105

"George Pickingill (1816-1909) was said to be the leader of the witches in Canewdon, Essex, as described in "The Dark World of the Witche"s by folklorist Eric Maple in 1962. In detailed correspondence with "The Wiccan" and "The Cauldron" magazines from 1974-1994, E.W. Liddell, under his pen name Lugh, claimed to be a member of the 'true persuasion'’, i.e. the Hereditary Craft. He further claimed that he had relatives in various parts of southern England who were coven leaders and that his own parent coven (in Essex) had been founded by George Pickingill’s grandfather in the 18th century. One of the subjects discussed by Liddell was the origin of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows. It was alleged that Aleister Crowley had helped Gardner draft his BoS and that Crowley had been inducted into the Craft by Pickingill in 1899 or 1900. ... There is considerable interest in the material in the so-called Pickingill Papers and the controversy still rages about their content and significance with regard to the origins of Gardnerian Wicca. This book provides, for the first time, a chance for the complete Pickingill material to be read and examined in toto together with background references and extensive explanatory notes. It also includes new material on the Craft Laws, the New Forest coven, Pickingill’s influence on the Revived Craft and a refutation of the material on Lugh and his basic thesis in Aidan Kelly’s recent book Crafting the Art of Magic."

 

PILLARS OF TUBAL-CAIN, THE

Nigel Jackson and Michael Howard, 2000 Capall Bann Publishing ISBN: 1861630298

 

PLEASE UNDERSTAND ME – Character & Temperament Types

David Keirsey & Marilyn Bates, 1978, Prometheus Nemesis Books,  ISBN: 0960695400

The “Keirsey-Bates assessment” applies the Jung-Myers concepts of type, and is often used in counseling betrothed couples by both professionals and spiritual counselors alike.

 

POWER OF APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY, THE – A Practical Guide to Positive Change

Diana Whitney & Amanda Trosten-Bloom, 2003, Berrett-Koehler Publishers,  ISBN: 1576752267

“Appreciative Inquiry is a new approach to organizational change which dramatically improves performance by encouraging people to study, discuss, learn from, and build on what’s working, rather than simply trying to fix what’s not.”  Also teaches you to really listen and hear and comprehend and respect what others say, rather than just shutting up while others are speaking in order not to appear rude, even though the entire time another person is speaking, you are not

really listening, you are just thinking about what YOU are going to say the moment the other person shuts up...... See if you can catch yourself doing this, honestly, especially when the subject of discussion is controversial and/or impassioned.  This book will make you a more considerate person, among other wonderful things, if you practice it’s techniques.

 

PREACHER’S DEMONS,THE: BERNARDINO OF SIENA AND THE SOCIAL UNDERWORLD OF EARLY RENAISSANCE ITALY

Franco Mormondo, 1999 University of Chicago Press ISBN: 0226538540

Bernardino Da Siena, Saint 1380-1444

This is about Saint Bernardino and the persecution of witches and other heretics.

 

PRIME CHAOS

Phil Hine, 1993  ISBN 1-56184-137-4  

 

PRIMITIVE MYTHOLOGY – The Masks of God series

Joseph Campbell, 1959, Penguin Books, ISBN: 0140194436

“The primitive roots of the mythology of the world are examined in light of the most recent discoveries in archaeology, anthropology and psychology.”

 

PSEUDONOMICON, THE

Phil Hine, 1996  ISBN 1-56184-195-1 

 

PSYBERMAGICK: ADVANCED IDEAS IN CHAOS MAGICK

Peter Carroll (1995) ISBN 1-56184-092-0 

 

QABALISTIC CONCEPTS:  Living the Tree

William G. Gray, 1984, Weiser Books, ISBN:  1578630002

 

QUEST FOR THE GREEN MAN, THE

John Matthews, 2001, Quest Books, ISBN:  0835608255  (HB)

 

RACCONTI DI DOMANI, I

Sara Morace, 2008, Prospettiva Edizioni, ISBN:  9788880221395

 

REAL MAGIC

Isaac Bonewits, 1971, Samuel Weiser, ISBN: 0877286884

 

REBIRTH OF WITCHCRAFT, THE

Doreen Valiente, 1989, Hale, ISBN: 0919345395

 

RELIGION OF THE ETRUSCANS, THE

Nancy Thomson de Grummond and Erika Simon, 2006, University of Texas Press, ISBN-10: 0292721463,  ISBN-13: 978-0292721463

 

RELIGION WITHOUT BELIEFS

Fred Lamond, ISBN: 1857563417

“The author presents a convincing view of the Gods as independent energies whose moods can heal or destroy on a gigantic scale.  This book is also his personal record of a successful quest for religious integrity and truth.” 

 

RESCUING THE BIBLE FROM FUNDAMENTALISM – A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture

John Shelby Spong, 1992, Harper Collins, ISBN: 0060675187

 

RITES OF WORSHIP – A Neopagan Approach

Isaac Bonewits, 2003, Earth Religions Press, ISBN: 1594055017

 

ROBERT COCHRANE LETTERS, THE:  AN INSIGHT INTO MODERN TRADITIONAL WITCHCRAFT

Robert Cochrane & Evan John Jones, 2003, Capall Bann Publishing, ISBN-10: 1861632215,  ISBN-13: 978-1861632210

 

ROEBUCK IN THE THICKET

Robert Cochrane, Evan John Jones and Michael Howard, Capall Bann Pub, 2002

 

ROMAN RELIGION AND THE CULT OF DIANA AT ARICIA

C.M.C. Green 2007 Cambridge University ISBN: 9781107407534

 

ROTTING GODDESS, THE:  The Origin of the Witch in Classical Antiquity 

Jacob Rabinowitz,  1998,  Autonomedia, ISBN-10: 157027035X, ISBN-13: 978-1570270352  Discusses Hecate and the vilification of Hecate and Witches.

 

ROWAN TREE AND RED THREAD

Thomas Davidson, Oliver and Boyd, 1949, ASIN: B000E4C7W6

 

SACRED ART OF LISTENING, THE – Illustrated Meditations for the Heart

Kay Lindahl, 2000, The Listening Center,  No ISBN

To get a copy of this book, e-mail:  TheListenC@aol.com or check out the website:  www.sacredlistening.com.   The Listening Center was established to create a profound experience of listening.  Kay Lindahl is also a member of the URI.  This book is terrific.  It has wonderful meditations, all about the art of listening, with corresponding mandalas that you can color in yourself.

 

SACRED EMBRACE OF JESUS AND MARY, THE: The Sexual Mystery at the

Heart of the Christian Tradition

Jean-Yves Leloup (translated by Joseph Rowe), 2005, Inner Traditions, ISBN:  1-59477-101-4

Practiced and thorough with his extrapolation of the sacred texts, Leloup (founder of the Institute of Other Civilization Studies and the International College of Therapists and author of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, The Gospel of Philip and The Gospel of Thomas) addresses the current debate about the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Far from the popular fictional depictions of this relationship, Leloup's workapproaches the topics of love and sexuality with a lifetime of study, from the ancient Hebrew and Greek texts through the Christian Gnostic Gospels, before addressing the specifics of the relationship of Jesus and Mary. Leloup spends as much time dissecting the textual attitudes regarding sexual relations as he does examining the contextual sexuality of Jesus and the parameters of his relationship with Mary. This thoughtful and detailed discussion has a more academic tone than some of his other books and may seem daunting, but fans of Leloup and true seekers of the meaning of love, the holiness of sexuality and the deeper aspects of the relationship between Jesus and Mary won't be disappointed.   

 

SACRED FIRE, THE – The Story of Sex in Religion

B.Z. Goldberg, 1958, University Books (NY), ISBN: 1564595021

This has been out of print for a while, but is available as a “print on demand” book through Kessinger publishing, for $32.00.  

 

SACRED GEOMETRY – Philosophy and Practice

Robert Lawler, 1982, Thames and Hudson, ISBN: 0500810303

 

SACRED PROSTITUTE, THE – Eternal Aspect of the Feminine

Nancy Qualls-Corbett, 1988, Inner City Books, ISBN: 0919123317

Nancy Qualls-Corbett, Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst in Birmingham, Alabama.  She received her analytical training at the Carl Jung Institute in Zurich and her doctorate from the Union Graduate School.  This book “illustrates how our vitality and capacity for joy depend on restoring the soul of the sacred prostitute to its rightful place in our conscious understanding.”

 

SACRED RING, THE: The Pagan Origins of British Folk Festivals and Customs

Michael Howard, Capall Bann Publishing, 1995), ISBN-10: 1898307342

 

SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENT

E.O. James, 1962, Thames and Hudson, ISBN: none that I can find....  OP

“After a preliminary survey of the origin, nature and function of sacrifice and sacrament, and of the priesthood as principal agent, all types of sacrifice are reviewed, including blood offerings in human and animal forms, and sacrifices made for expiation, redemption and propitiation.  The book concludes with an analysis of the sacramental principle in its relation to sacrifice in Christianity and its recurrence throughout the history of religion.”

 

SALEM POSSESSED – The Social Origins of Witchcraft

Paul Boyer & Stephen Nissenbaum, 1974, Harvard University Press,  ISBN:  0674785266

 

SAME-SEX UNIONS IN PREMODERN EUROPE

John Boswell, 1994, Villard Books, ISBN: 0679432280

 

SANTA CLAUS, LAST OF THE WILD MEN

Phyllis Seifker, McFarland & Company, 2006,  ISBN-10: 9780786429585

 

SEA PRIESTESS, THE  (fiction)

Dion Fortune, 1978 (1938), Samuel Weiser, ISBN: 0877284245

 

SEASONAL FEASTS AND FESTIVALS

E.O. James, Barnes & Noble, 1963, ASIN: B003XGAZM6

 

SECOND SEX, THE

Simone de Beauvoir, 1952, Vintage Books, ISBN: 0679724516

Womens’ studies.  “An encyclopedic and brilliantlyargued document of inequality and enforced ‘otherness’.”

 

SECRET DOCTRINE, THE – The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy

Helena P. Blavatsky, 1888, Theosophical University Press, ISBN:  1-55700-002-6

A two part set.  Volume I, “Cosmogenesis”, treats of the birth and structure of universes, solar systems, comets, planets, and our own Earth and it’s life-waves; of force, matter and cosmic electricity; how the One differentiates into the Many and the nature and adventures of the atoms along the circulations of the cosmos.  Volume II, “Anthropogenesis”, describes the pilgrimage of man through a series of “races”; the dual evolution of spirit and matter; the “Fallen Angel” and Promethean myth; with testimony drawn from the sacred scriptures, traditions, symbols and legends of ancient and modern times.

 

SECRET DOCTRINE, THE: The Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy, Part III:

Occultism

Helena P. Blavatsky, unknown publishing date, ISBN: 1-56459-415-7, available via Kessinger Publishing’s Rare Mystical Reprints (www.kessinger.net and books@kessinger.net)

RARE BOOK.    Almost 100 chapters on the occult sciences (594 pages).

 

SECRETS OF EAST ANGLIAN MAGIC

Nigel Pennick, Holmes Pub Group, 2nd edition (August 30, 2005), ISBN-10: 1861632436

 

SECRETS OF THE MAGICKAL GRIMOIRES:  The Classical Texts of Magick Deciphered

Aaron Leitch, 2005, Llewellyn Publishers, ISBN: 0738703036

 

SHAMANS THROUGH TIME – 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge

Jeremy Narby & Francis Huxley, editors, 2001, Penguin Books, ISBN:  1-58542-092-3

The back jacket says in part:  “A collection of essays that traces Western civilization’s struggle to interpret and understand the ancient knowledge of cultures that revere magic men and women.”   A very good compendium.     Contains good info, but watch out for cultural biases and language out of cultural context.  That considered, this book is recommended.

 

SICILIAN LIVES

Danilo Dolci (compilation, 1955-1974; edited compilation and translation 1981) Pantheon Books ISBN: 0394749383

 

SIGN AND THE SEAL – Discover the Most Shattering Historical Secret of the Last Three Thousand Years – the Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant

Graham Hancock, 1992, Simon and Schuster, ISBN: 0671865412

 

SINS OF THE SPIRIT, BLESSINGS OF THE FLESH:  Lessons for Transforming

Evil in Soul and Society

Matthew Fox, 1999, Harmony Books, ISBN:  0-609-60087-7  (HB)

The jacket says in part:  “…about the Seven Cardinal Sins of the Spirit, and the compassionate blessings of the flesh, all in relation to the attributes of the seven chakras…”.    A thought provoking book by a very liberal Christian who is known for having revived the tradition of Creation Spirituality.  He is a man who has devoted his life to the pursuit of peace as well. 

 

SORCIÈRE, LA  (aka The Sorceress)

Jules Michelet, 1904; 1939, 1966 (1862), P Viallaneix

Print on demand by Kessinger Publishing, ISBN: 0766178609  $35.00

Translation by Alfred Richard Allinson [1939]
The story of witchcraft from the medieval to the 17th century, as a covert women's rebellion which led to modern science and medicine.

 

SPELLS OF ENCHANTMENT: THE WONDROUS FAIRY TALES OF WESTERN CULTURE

Edited by Jack Zipes 1991 Viking Books ISBN: 0670830534

 

SPIRAL DANCE

Starhawk (Miriam Simos), 1979, Harper and Row, ISBN: 0062508148

 

SPIRIT OF THE WITCH

Raven Grimassi, 2003 Lewellyn Publishing ISBN: 0738703389

EXCELLENT!

 

STATIONS OF THE SUN, THE – A History of the Ritual Year in Britain

Ronald Hutton, 1996, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 0192880454

Ronald Hutton is Professor of History at the University of Bristol.   “This book is a comprehensive history of the customs and beliefs which constitute the ritual year in Britain... and covers the whole sweep of ritual history from the earliest written records to the present day.  He challenges many common assumptions about the customs of the past, and debunks many myths surrounding festivals of the present, to illuminate the history of the calendar we live by today.”  Controversial among some Pagans for a variety of reasons. 

 

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND (fiction)

Robert Heinlein, 1961, Ace Books, ISBN: 0441790348

The story of a man born on Mars who is adopted and raised by Martians after his parents and the rest of the scientific team sent to study the planet die.  He is returned to Earth as a man, culturally a Martian, and the story is one of how our world, our morals and customs, etc.,  might be seen by an outsider, and what such an unattached and objective individual might be able to teach us.  Very thought provoking.  May you “grok” fully!

 

STRATEGIC PASTORAL COUNSELING: A SHORT TERM STRUCTURED MODEL

David Benner, 1992 Baker Academic ISBN: 9780801026317

Some Christian reference, but a good book to start with. Just insert your own theology.

 

STREGHE DI BENEVENTO E IL SIMBOLO DELL’ALBERO, LE – (“The Witches of Benevento and the symbol of the (Walnut) tree”)

Alberto Abbuonandi, 2000, Edizioni il Chiostro  (Italian language)

 

SUMMONING FORTH WICCAN GODS AND GODDESSES – The Magick of Invocation and Evocation

Lady Maeve Rhea (Barbara E. Vordebrueggen), 1999, Citadel Press, ISBN:  0806520396

As with any book discussing invocation and evocation, I suggest caution.

 

SYRIAN GODDESS
Translated by Herbert A. Strong [1913]  Lucian of Samosata's (c. 2nd century BCE) late classical account of Goddess worship, referenced by Robert Graves and other writers as a primary source of information on worship of the Ancient Near Eastern Goddess.   EXCELLENT.

 

TANTRIC THELEMA

Sam Webster, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9843729-0-4 

EXCELLENT!!

 

TARTAROS:  On the Orphic and Pythagorean Underworld, and the Pythagorean Pentagram

Johan August Alm, Winter Solstice, 2013, http://www.threehandspress.com/tartaros

 

TECHNIQUES OF HIGH MAGIC: A Manual of Self-Initiation

Francis King and Stephen Skinner, 1976, Harper and Row, ISBN:  0892810300

 

THEOGONY, THE (and WORKS AND DAYS)

Hesiod, M.L. West, ed., Oxford World classics, ISBN: 0192839411

This volume contains both classic works for $9.95.  When Jeff Daniels and Demi Moore in the film “The Butcher’s Wife” talk about Plato’s idea of the “split-apart”, or what some would call a “soul mate”, it was actually Hesiod they were referring to.  Plato references Hesiod’s Theogany in his Symposium. 

 

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION EQUIVALENCY

Sandra Lee Harris, 2012 Khalila Redbird ISBN: 9781481149648

Becoming a board-certified Chaplain requires a graduate theological degree from an accredited seminary or the equivalent. The author’s thesis develops the argument that her M.Div from an unaccredited Pagan Seminary meets this standard, along the way providing insight into the emerging pagan community and it’s history. Reverend Sandra Lee Harris, MDiv. Leads the Sacred Grove Community Circle of Sacred Well Congregation as ordained minister and cleric priestess. She is the first graduate of Cherry Hills Seminary with an M.Div. in Pagan Pastoral Counseling. She completed a year of clinical pastoral education at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. and went on to serve a second year there as chaplain. Her goal is to become the first pagan Board-certified Chaplain, opening the door for others to serve.

 

THREE BOOKS OF OCCULT PHILOSOPHY

Henry Cornelius  Agrippa of Nettesheim, edited by Donald Tyson, translated by James Freake,          1993 (1531; 1651 in English),  Llewellyn,  ISBN:  0875428320

           First published in 1531, translated into English in 1651. 

“The foundation book of Western occultism”.  Not necessarily a book for beginners....  I leave that to you.  Ceremonial magic. Discusses the Kabbalah, astrology, medicine, history, herbs, geography, animals, angels, charms, devils, Witches, Charms, the weather, and persons and their works such as Pythagorus, Pliny the Elder, Cicero, Ptolemy, Plato, Aristotle, and others.

This edition corrects many of the mistakes made in the original translation, and is full of drawings, dictionaries and notes.

 

TOADS AND TOADSTOOLS

Adrian Morgan, Ten Speed Press, 1996, ISBN-10: 9780890877777

 

TRAINING AND WORK OF AN INITIATE

Dion Fortune, 2000, Weiser, ISBN: 1578631831

 

TRANSCENDENTAL MAGIC 

Eliphas Levi (translated by A.E. Waite)  1896   0-87728-079-7  Samuel Weiser

 

TRIUMPH OF THE MOON – A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft

Ronald Hutton, 1999, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 0198207441 (HB)

“The first full-scale scholarly study of the only religion England has ever given the world: that of modern Pagan Witchcraft.” 

 

TURNING THE HIRAM KEY:  Rituals of Freemasonry Revealed

Robert Lomas, 2005, Fair Winds Press, ISBN:

 

TWELVE WILD SWANS – Rituals, Exercises & Magical Training in the Reclaiming Tradition

Starhawk (Miriam Simos) & Hilary Valentine, 2000, Harper Collins, ISBN:  0062516841

 

TWO MADONNAS, THE: THE POLITICS OF FESTIVAL IN A SARDINIAN COMMUNITY

Sabina Magliocco, 2006 Waveland Press ISBN: 1577663721

 

UNA CASA SENZA PORTE:  VIAGGIO INTORNO ALLA FIGURA DELLA BEFANA

Claudia and Luigi Manciocco  (A House Without Doors (note that “porte” is plural): A Journey around the figure of the Befana), 1995  Roma, Melusina, ISBN: 88-7697-046-0

 

UNDERWORLD INITIATION, THE

R. J. Stewart, Mercury Publishing (NC), Revised edition 1998), ISBN-10: 1892137038

 

UNKNOWN PHILOSOPHER, THE: THE LIFE OF LOUIS CLAUDE DE SAINT-MARTIN AND THE SUBSTANCE OF HIS TRANCENDENTAL DOCTRINE

Arthur Edward Waite, 1901 Rudolf Steiner Publications ISBN: (Library of Congress Catalog #: 70-130815)

 

UNSPOKEN DIALOGUE, THE – An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication

Judee K. Burgoon & Thomas Saine, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1978  ISBN: 0395257921  HB 

All about non-verbal communication/body language.

 

VERBAL JUDO – Redirecting behavior with words

George J. Thompson & Michael J. Stroud, 1984, The Verbal Judo Institute

           No ISBN, you must order this book directly from the Institute:

           POB 20760, Albuquerque, NM, 87154    505-884-0146

Written by a police officer and Judo practitioner.  “Verbal Judo is a series of techniques based on the principle of nonresistance.  Rather than *confront* another’s antagonism, Verbal Judo teaches us to turn aggressiveness aside and to use the other’s energies to achieve positive goals.”  An EXCELLENT tool for ANYONE who has a job dealing with strangers in general, especially those with whom an almost immediate need for some trust exists, and especially when there is the potential for conflict to arise. 

 

VESTIGES OF ANCIENT MANNERS AND CUSTOMS DISCOVERABLE IN MODERN ITALY AND SICILY

John James Blunt, 1823 Ulan Press ISBN: M0D1005745694

          

VISIONS OF ISOBEL GOWDIE

Emma Wilby, Sussex Academic Press, 2010, ISBN-10: 1845191803

 

WAY OF THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR

Dan Millman (same author as “The Journeys of Socrates”, this book tells Dan’s story).    Highly recommended.

 

WAY OF THE SHAMAN, THE

Michael Harner, 1980, Harper Collins, ISBN: 0062503731

“This classic on shamanism pioneered the modern shamanic renaissance.  It is the foremost resource and reference on shamanism.  Anthropologist Michael Harner (who studied with an indigenous shaman in Peru for years) provides the definitive handbook on practical shamanism – what it is, where it came from and how you can participate.”  Michael Harner, Ph.D., has practiced shamanism and shamanic healing since 1961.  He is the founder and director of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in Mill Valley, California.  (Read with a critical eye keeping in mind the modern phenomenon of labeling many things “shamanic” even when they are not indigenous.)

 

WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY – Recent Findings by Top Scholars Offer a Radical New View

Daniel A. Helminiak, 1994, Alamo Square Press, ISBN:             096247519-X

 

WHEEL OF THE YEAR – Living the Magical Life

Pauline Campanelli, 1995, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN:  0875420915

 

WHEN GOD WAS A WOMAN

Merlin Stone (Ms.), 1976, Dorset Press, ISBN: 0880295333  (HB)

“How did it actually happen?  How did men initially gain the control that now allows them to regulate the world in matters as vastly diverse as deciding which wars will be fought when to what time dinner should be served?”  This book is the result of the author’s reactions to these and similar questions.

 

WHEN RELIGION BECOMES EVIL:  Five Warning Signs

Charles Kimball, 2002, Harper Collins, ISBN: 0060556102

“The five warning signs of corruption in religion:  1) absolute truth claims; 2) blind obedience; 3) establishing the “ideal” time; 4) the end justifies any means; 5) declaring a Holy War.  Working across traditions and through history, leading religion and Middle East expert Charles Kimball shows how all religious traditions are susceptible to these basic corruptions and why only authentic faith can prevent such evil.”

 

WHEN RELIGION BECOMES LETHAL:  The Explosive Mix of Politics and Religion in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Charles Kimball, Jossey-Bass, 2011, ISBN-10: 0470581905, ISBN-13: 978-0470581902

 

WHEN SANTA WAS A SHAMAN – The Ancient Origins of Santa Claus & the Christmas Tree

Tony van Renterghem, 1995, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 156718765-X

Tony van Renterghem is a Holocaust survivor who was the technical advisor for the films “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told”.  The jacket says “a fresh and provocative picture of how Christianity, a relative newcomer in Europe, has failed to completely subjugate the Pagan “Olde Religion” of prehistory.  A learned, surprising and abundant feast of folklore, mythology, semiotics and anthropology.”

 

WHITE GODDESS, THE

Robert Graves, 1948, The Noonday Press, ISBN:  0374504938

A controversial book and a Pagan classic.  Most of the controversy, within the Pagan community, revolves around whether or not the “Celtic Tree Calendar/alphabet” he works with was factual or not.  Regardless, in my opinion, this is a must for most Wiccans, as it deals with poetry and ritual, mythology and symbolism, history and mystery, invocation and finding one’s muse.  It has much worth beyond its lack of scholarship.

 

WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN

Bertrand Russell, Touchstone, 1967, ISBN-10: 0671203231, ISBN-13: 978-0671203238

 

WICCA – The Old Religion in the New Age

Vivianne Crowley, 1989, The Aquarian Press, 0850307376

In my opinion, one of the best books for beginners.  Discusses: Wicca as a non-dogmatic religion; the roots of modern Wicca; the misunderstood concepts of black and white magic; why witches have initiations; the meaning of magic; the God and Goddess within us; sex and nudity; making sense of the life cycle; the future of Witchcraft.  Complete with an explanation of the relationship of Witchcraft to Jungian psychology.

 

WICCA FOR LIFE – The Way of the Craft from Birth to Summerland

Raymond Buckland, 2001, Citadel Press, ISBN: 0806522755  HB

“With the understanding of what Witches really are, this book studies the make-up of a Wiccan’s life, from birth to death, showing it as a model on which to build one’s own life.  It shows how positive energies are used to promote health and happiness, in the Witches themselves and in others.”

 

WICCAN MYSTERIES, THE

Raven Grimassi, 1997 Lewellyn Publishing ISBN: 1567182542

 

WICCAN ROOTS:  GERALD GARDNER AND THE MODERN WITCHCRAFT REVIVIAL

Philip Heselton (2000). Capall Bann Publishing. ISBN 1-86163-110-3

 

WICCAN WARRIOR, THE – Walking a Spiritual Path in a Sometimes Hostile World

Kerr Cuhulain, 2000, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN: 1567182526

Kerr Cuhulain, a former Air Force Officer in Canada, has been a police officer there for over twenty years and a Wiccan for thirty.  He has served on his department’s SWAT team, Gang Crime Unit, and hostage negotiations team.    He is the founder of the Officers of Avalon, an international group for Pagan and Wiccan law enforcement officers, paramedics and firefighters. 

 

WINGED BULL, THE (fiction)

Dion Fortune, 1976, Wyndham Publications, ISBN: 0352397209

 

WITCHCRAFT

Pennethorne Hughes, 1965, Viking Penguin (1952, Longmans Green), ISBN: 0140207457   O/P

          

WITCHCRAFT – The Old Religion

Dr. Leo Martello, 1974, University Books, ISBN: 0806510285

 

WITCHCRAFT FOR TOMORROW

Doreen Valiente, 1978, St. Martins’ Press, ISBN: 0919345832

 

WITCHCRAFT IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

Jeffrey Burton Russell, 1972, Cornell University PresS, ISBN-10: 0801492890, ISBN-13: 978-0801492891

 

WITCHCRAFT IN TUDOR AND STUART ENGLAND

A.D.J. MacFarlane, 1970, Harper and Row, No ISBN in book (there is a note that says “TB 1539”)

 

WITCHCRAFT TODAY

Gerald B. Gardner, 1954, Magickal Childe, ISBN:  0939708035

Describes the activities of contemporary covens in England and his first attempts to give his theories on the origins of Witchcraft and ideas of Magic. 

 

WITCHCRAFTING – A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic

Phyllis Curott, 2001, Broadway Books, ISBN: 0767908252  HB

Phyllis’ second book.   Delves more into magickal practice from Phyllis’ point of view and tradition. 

 

WITCH-CULT IN WESTERN EUROPE, THE

Margaret Murray, 1970 (1931), Oxford University Press, ISBN: 0766144550

The much debated classic.  Out of print but available through KessingerPublishing as a “print on demand” book.  $27.00

 

WITCHES

T.C. Lethbridge, 1962, Citadel Press, ISBN:  080650286-X

“The investigation of an ancient religion involving the worship of Diana – the Witch cult – laying as much stress on the consorts of the Goddess as on the Lady Herself.”

 

WITCHES BIBLE COMPLEAT

Janet and Stewart Farrar, 1981, Magickal Childe Publishing, ISBN: 0939708094

Contains two books in one:  Eight Sabbats for Witches and The Witches Way. 

 

WITCHES’ CRAFT, THE

Raven Grimassi, 2002, Llewellyn Publishing, ISBN:  073870265-x

 

WITCHE’S FAMILIAR, THE

Raven Grimassi, 2003 Lewellyn Publishing ISBN: 9780738703398

 

WITCHFATHER:  A LIFE OF GERALD GARDNER, VOL. 1:  INTO THE WITCH CULT

Philip Heselton (2012). Loughborough, Leicestershire: Thoth Publications. ISBN 978-1-870450-80-5

 

WITCHFATHER:  A LIFE OF GERALD GARDNER, VOL. 2:  FROM WITCH CULT TO WICCA

Philip Heselton  (2012). Loughborough, Leicestershire: Thoth Publications. ISBN 978-1-870450-79-9

 

WITCHY CRAFTS

Lexa Olick, 2013 Lewellyn Books ISBN: 9780738726182

 

WOMAN WITH THE ALABASTER JAR:  Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail

Margaret Starbird, 1993, Bear and Co., ISBN-13: 9781879181038, ISBN-10: 1879181037

Was Jesus Married?" Margaret Starbird’s theological beliefs were profoundly shaken when she read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, a book that dared to suggest that Jesus Christ was married and that his descendents carried his bloodline to Western Europe. Shocked by such heresy, this Roman Catholic scholar set out to refute it. Instead, as she researched the subject, she found new and compelling evidence for the existence of the bride of Jesus”the same enigmatic woman who anointed him with precious unguent from her “alabaster jar” as well as for the hidden “Church of the Grail.”" Starbird was becoming convinced that the wife of Jesus was indeed the “Sangraal,”the bearer of the holy bloodline”the mythical chalice, the Holy Grail." This work of consummate scholarship is a detailed summary of the author’s difficult and often painful quest for truth. " Starbird draws her conclusions form an extensive study of history, heraldry, symbolism, medieval art, mythology, psychology, and the bible itself." This provocative book is bound to ignite conversation and controversy.

 

WORSHIP OF NATURE, THE

James G. Frazer, 1926, Macmillan Books, ISBN: 1564595323

Out of print for a while now, but available through Kessinger Publishing as a “print on demand” book.  $48.00

 

YAHWEH AND THE GODS OF CANAAN – A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths

William Foxwell Albright, 1994 (1965),  University of London Press,  ISBN: 0931464013

 

YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND – Women and Men in Conversation

Deborah Tannen, Ph.D.,  1990, Ballentine Books, ISBN: 0345372050

She also wrote “That’s Not What I Meant”.  All about dialogue and conflict between the sexes.  A great book for counselors, very thought-provoking, offers some great suggestions.  The techniques work when used properly.