Books for a beginner?, Beginner asking for advice on books Options

Hello,

I am new to this forum and new to magick in general. I would like to know if anyone could recommend any good books for a beginner on magick, either in regards to magickal theory or even an overview of magickal religions, maybe a good one about Kabbalah too.

All I really have is an ebook I bought from www.adrianaspells.com (no doubt you've probably seen the advertisements), and while it is a good collection of spells, I bought it in hopes of digging deeper into the theories and beliefs behind magick before blindly casting spells from a book.

Thanks,
SirBootleg

Check this one out for an overview:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books

-thief

Study the theories first - give about a year studying it before doing any spells. I'd suggest the Kybalion, Initiation into hermetics, Magick in theory and practise. Also, I posted some cosmic laws on Neophyte Hall along with other things where you can learn and ask questions.

Thanks to both of you. Both suggestions are helpful.

-SirBootleg-

Modern Magick by Donald Kraig is liked by many people

Modern Magick by Donald Kraig is liked by many people

But hated by most!

His endless ramblings about morality is quite offensive to the intellect of modern man(!)


-thief

This post has been edited by thief_and_a_liar: Aug 11 2005, 08:42 AM

I have the book myself and I was not offended by his stance, in fact, not sure I really noticed it - you have me interested now, I must go have another look at some point LOL

Magical Use of Thought Forms, Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki.

It gives theory and practical excises that a 10 year old could follow, but at the same time gives substantial insight into how our brains work and provides the basic tools you'll need in other disciplines.

A very recent book that I think would be excellent for beginners - especially young students who are interested in magickal work - would be:

Title: Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard
Author: Oberon Zell-Ravenheart et. al.

This is the kind of book that really provides a wealth of information, in the format of "Lessons", that might tickle the fancy of any reading and hungry student who wants to get an overview, and a lot of nifty (and effective) exercises.

The language is not too advanced. The formatting of the book is not the best (sometimes, the information seems somewhat crammed into it in a haphazard way). And each Lesson is written by a different Mage, so there are some continuity and repetition issues.

Yet, putting those critiques aside, I do suggest that this one be checked out because there is something wonderfully fun about this book, in just the right way.

Many books are offending one way or another. Best is to try to look past it and focus only on that which you truly need and brush the personal opinions of the authors aside. Not quite...use them as advice, but not as guidelines.

Also I advice to not begin with books by Crowley. His writing style is chaotic and can be confusing for beginners. He jumps from one topic to the next making it difficult to follow at times.

Personally I suggest to begin with the book The Middle Pillar written by Regardie and noted by the Cicero's. This book gives insight into aspects of magic and takes away many prejudice ideas away and also explains the symbolism and practice of basic rituals such as the Qabalistic Cross. Which could give you the basic experience needed while studying the theory.

Also I've compiled a book list which forms a great base from which you can grow further into a specialized direction yourself. From this long list I've read/studied most of it as well. See this as the basics that you need and you'll see that it takes 1-2...maybe even 3 years only to get that down before going to specialize in a certain direction.

here is the list:
1 Applied Magic and aspects of occultism, Dione Fortune
2 Ceremonial Magic, a guide to the mechanics of ritual, Isreal Regardie
3 High magics aid, Gerald Gardner
4 The history of Magic / Histore de la magica ?
5 Magic of Qabalah: visions of the tree of life, Kala Trobe
6 Magic Without Tears, Aleister Crowley
7 Magick: Lber ABA, Vol 4, Aleister Crowley
8 Magick in theorie and practice, Aleister Crowley
9 Magus: A complete system of occult philosophy, Francis Barrett
10 Modern Magick: eleven lessons in high magickal arts, Kraig
11 Psychic Self-Defense, Dione Fortune
12 Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple: The alchemy and crafting of magickal implements, Cicero
13 Techniques of High Magic, Francis King & Stephen Skinner
14 The book of the sacred magic of Abramelin the Mage, Abramelin
15 The book of Toth, vol 3, Aleister Crowley
16 The Goetia,
17 The Golden Dawn, Isreal Regardie
18 The holy books of Thelema, Aleister Crowley
19 The key of Solomon the King,
20 The mystical Qabalah, Dione Fortune
21 Transcendental Magic, Halevi

Titel auteur
22 777, Aleister Crowley
23 A kabbalah for the modern world, Migene Wippler
24 A practicle Guide to the qabalistic symbolism, Knight
25 Arbatel of Magick, Turner
26 Art & practice of talismanic magic, Ophiel
27 Aspects of Occultism, Dione Fortune
28 Astral projection, Magic and alchemy, Francis King
29 Clear Magic, Feldman
30 De Arte Magicka, Aleister Crowley
31 Dictionary of the tarot, Butler
32 Enochian Magic, Schueler
33 Foundations of practicle magic, Isreal Regardie
34 Garden of Pomegranates, Isreal Regardie
35 Gerald Massey's Lectures, Gerald Massey
36 Godwin's Cabelistic Encyclopedia, Godwin
37 Golden Dawn, its inner teachings, Torrens
38 How to make and use Talismans, Isreal Regardie
39 Illusions, the adventures of a reluctant messiah, Richard Bach
40 Index and reference volume to the lemegeton of Solomon, White
41 Introduction to the chakras, Rendel
42 Kabalah Ponce,
43 Kabbalah, Halevi
44 Kabbalistic Aphorisms, Sturzaker
45 King of the witches, Johns
46 Ladder of lights, Gray
47 Lemegeton, White
48 Magick, Aleister Crowley
49 Magickal Herbalism, Cunningham
50 Magickal states of consciousness, Denning
51 Mental and astral projection, Moser
52 New Dimensions red book, Wilby
53 Practicle techniques of astral projection, Baker
54 Practicle time travel, Bennett
55 Real magic, Bonewitz
56 Ritual magic in england, Francis King
57 Ritual magick, Conway
58 Sane Occultism, Dione Fortune
59 Sepher Yetzirah, W. Westcott
60 Sex magick, Culling
61 Sex secrets from china, Chan
62 Snapping, Conway
63 SSOTBME, Johnstone
64 Tantra of the great Liberation, Avalon
65 The ancient wisdom of rituals, Aima
66 The art and practice of astral projection, Ophiel
67 The book of the holy strega, Raven
68 The book of the tarot, Gettings
69 The book of ways, Raven
70 The Chakras, Leadbeater
71 The complete enochian dictionary, Laycock
72 The devils bookshelf, Mcintosh
73 The eye of revelation, Kelder
74 The Golden Bough, Frazer
75 The Grimoire of Armadel, Mathers
76 The grimoire of Lady Sheba, Sheba
77 The Hebrew Goddess, Patai
78 The Kabbalah Unveiled, Mathers
79 The Lost light, Kuhn
80 The magical Mason, Gilbert
81 The middle pillar, Isreal Regardie
82 The one year Manual, Isreal Regardie
83 The origin of letters & numerals according to the Sefer Yetzirah, Mordell
84 The painted caravan, Rakoczi
85 The qabalistic Tarot, Wang
86 The royal road, Hoeller
87 The secret rituals of the O.T.O, Francis King
88 The secret Temple, Wang
89 The soul of matter, Winkler
90 The tree of life, Isreal Regardie
91 The wheels of a soul, Berg
92 The witches speak, Crowther
93 The Zohar, Berg
94 Wheels of Life, Judith
95 Wisdom of the mystic masters, Weed
96 Witchcraft today, Gerald Gardner

97 21st Century Mage: Bring the divine down to Earth, Jason Augustus Newcomb
98 Druids and Druidism, Kendrick
101 Investigating the paranormal
102 How to be a ghosthunter
103 The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits
104 The complete guide to Psychic development
105 Understanding Chaos magic
106 A manual of white magic: Rituals, spells and incantations
107 The philosophy of natural magic
108 Excorcism: Overcome black magic with white magic
109 Pagan Theology: Paganism as a world religion
110 Awesta: Collection of Gathas Poems from Zarathustra
111 Daemonum Socrates
112 The book of Splendor
113 The Enchrydium of Pope Leon
114 Magus: Heavenly Intelligence
115 Mystical Kabbalah
116 Psychology and Alchemy, Jung
117 The Path to the real adept: Self innitiation/ Initiation into Hermetism
118 Sorcerers handbook: Real magick at your fingertips
119 Theosophy answers some problems of life, Geoffry Hudson
120 Key truths of Occult Philosophy, Marc Edmund Jones
121 The Wizard's apprentice Nelson, & Ann White
122 Unseen forces, Manly Hall
123 Wisdom of Ancient Masters, Joseph Weed
124 Grimoire of Chaos Magic, Julian Wilde
125 Magician's Companion
126 The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 spells, judike elles
127 Druid Mysteries: Ancient wisdom for the 21st century
128 Sjamanism: de basis van magie Ward Rutherford
129 De Kracht van bomen
130 The New Revelations, neale donald walsch
131 Unusual conversation with God, neale donald walsch
132 Mastering Astral Projection:90 day course to OOBE, Bruce and Mercer
133 Tarot Praktisch Toepassen, Jolanda bolt
134 Water weet het antwoord, Masaru Emoto
135 Akashic Records: Collective Keepers of Divine Expression, Lumari
136 Energetische Meditatie, Ton van Gelder

137 The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
138 Creatief Visualiseren, Shakti Gawain
139 Wat vertellen kleuren over ziek zijn: Chakra diagnoses, Margaretha Gieles
140 Kristalgids, Judy Hall
141 Boek der Alchemie, Melville
142 Before you cast a spell: understanding the power of magick, Carl McColman
143 The Universe and Multiple Reality: A Physical Explanation for Manifesting, Magick and Miracles, M. R. Franks
144 New Book Of Magical Names, Phoenix McFarland
145 The seven scrolls of the black rose
146 Modern Demonolatry, S. Connoly
147 Lessons in Demonolatry
148 Goetic Demonaltry
149 The art of creative magick
150 Summoning Spirits, Konstantinos
151 Liber Kaos, Peter J. Caroll
152 Condensed Chaos: Introduction to Chaos Magic, Phil Hine
153 Book of Lies: The desinformation guide to Magick and the Occult, Richard Metzger
154 Creating Magickal Entities: A complete guide to entity creation, Michael Cunningham
155 Ceremonial magick & The power of evocation: a system of personal power, Joseph C. Lisiewski
156 Familiar Spirits, Donald Tyson
157 The Psychic vampire codex: A Manual of magick and energy work, Michelle A. Bellanger
158 The Practice of Magical evocation, Franz Bardon
159 The Kybalion
160 Sabbats: A witch's approach to living the old ways
161 Tao Te Ching, Lao-Tzu
162 The book of Ceremonial Magic, Edward Waite
163 Practical Sigil Magic, Frater U.D.

This post has been edited by Sabazel: Mar 16 2006, 02:10 AM