Magick and Occult Books discussion

I'm one of the main moderators. A practising occultist since my childhood, but a Thelemite since 2012. I'm studying for a BA in English Literature, which means I spend an awful amount of time devouring texts of all natures.

Welcome to the group!
Sy, 93s

Hi Sy and others! I follow Sy's blog. Found her since her youtube Wiccan days.

Me, I'm 39 and been on a long 'seeker' journey. Through Buddhism and Liberal Christianity, to now being a member of Druid Groups since 2007 and shortly after in various Wiccan groups. I've studied the Correllian stuff, at Magicka School, read the books, and now half way through a course called Black Rose Witchcraft (Feri Trad stuff) and doing the Modern Conjure course.

I'm not a big fan of Crowley and Ceremonial Magick stuff, but don't mind chatting and learning. I do however dig things like Kabbalah and the LBRP (and other pentagram rituals). Solomic Seals etc. But I wouldn't call myself a Ceremonial Magician type.

I've returned to University and studying a Bachelor of Info tech.

Davin wrote: "Hi Sy and others! I follow Sy's blog. Found her since her youtube Wiccan days.

Me, I'm 39 and been on a long 'seeker' journey. Through Buddhism and Liberal Christianity, to now being a member of ..."
Hey Davin! Nice to see you here + long time no chatty!
We've all gone through various life lessons, and for me it's pretty amazing to hear about others experiences. Post and discuss! =]

Hi everyone! I'm Dale. Been exploring the occult since 2011 and I love reading about all different paths and systems of magic. If I had to put a label on my path at this stage, I don't think I could. My top interests at the moment are Crowley/Thelema and Chaos Magic. I hope to meet other occult friends out there, this island gets a little lonely at times!

Ooops, joined a few days ago and neglected to introduce myself.

I'm Alex. I've had an interest in the Occult etc since I was a teenager. Whilst I flip-flop through religion and spirituality (Buddhism, Hinduism, Quakers, Other Christianity) I tend to always gravitate back to other things. I'm currently mostly interested in Thelema, and I'm assessing it's suitability for myself.

I'm Andrew. I'm working my way through the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn's curriculum, and I'm around six weeks away from completing the Bardic grade work and beginning the Druid grade work. This curriculum is found in John Michael Greer's book THE CELTIC GOLDEN DAWN, which I've been 'reading' for more than a year and a half. My other interests are hermetic magic, traditional astrology, and lyric and epic poetry. I teach Latin, and computer programming, for a living.

Hello my name is Leah. I found this group through Sy's blog as I've been watching her YouTube videos being a woman thats studying Thelema. I came to Thelema through the Thoth tarot when I was getting into tarot in general about a year ago. I'm very new so would love any beginer book recommendations. Also, I live in Australia and I've not been able to find anything in the way of a community here that focuses itself on Thelma so having somewhere online to discuss books is a great help to me.

Gosh! Nice to meet you all! I must say your paths are pretty intriguing and interesting to me :)

Hi, I'm Dillon... and I'm an alcoholic.
(Not really) However, I've been compelled to occultism since childhood. I've studied a variety of subjects, though my current main focus is on hypnosis, having become a certified hypnotist. Blending magic into this is an easy task.
(It's nice to meet you all as well, by the way).

Hello

My name's Arturo. I'm a visual artist from Mexico City. interested since I can remember in all things Magickal. Currently working the one year foundational Hermetic Qabalah course from Ordo Astri. I found Sy's blog last year doing research on Liber Resh and been following her online writings since. Nice to meet you here! Looking forward to your recommendations.

Hello everybody! Seems like a lot of you have spent a lot of time into your occult studies. I only recently got interested in the occult and I would say psychedelics led me on my path. I'm currently into learning about Theosophy and Thelema, and would be interested to hear what you all think about those kinds of topics or what you would recommend to read.

Hi Chris,

Both have a lot to offer! Most folks have their personal roots into both. I wouldn't recommend Regardie, D. Fortune and a few blogs and 'Liber ABA' :D

Would or wouldn't? =P
I actually have Liber ABA on my amazon wishlist so I'll definitely get into that as soon as I can haha. Also have some Regardie books on my wishlist but unfortunately haven't read anything by him. I just finished half of Magick Without Tears Unexpurgated/Commented by Crowley & Motta. Motta's comments are not very flattering of Regardie's [and if memory serves right, Fortune's] character, but I'm not yet convinced that his books aren't worth reading. I'm curious about the lawsuit and scandal concerning the OTO and Motta. Anywho, thank you for the suggestions, I have a good feeling this group will have lots of interesting conversation!

Learn what you can and be objective. A lot of people will read these things and believe so much that they'll bypass authors because Crowley didn't like them at one point in his life XD. There is always something to learn :D

Welcome Chris! I would HIGHLY recommend you buy Liber ABA, despite the price lol. It sat on my wishlist for about two years, but I just recently bought it and I'm so glad I did. It's my first Crowley book, but it's packed with so much information, I don't think I'll be needing another one for a while.

Makes sure to discuss it =] and other books!

Sy wrote: "Learn what you can and be objective. A lot of people will read these things and believe so much that they'll bypass authors because Crowley didn't like them at one point in his life XD. There is al..."

Indeed, my sentiments exactly. I try to be as objective as I can ha. Motta's comments are revealing of his own character too.

Dale wrote: "Welcome Chris! I would HIGHLY recommend you buy Liber ABA, despite the price lol. It sat on my wishlist for about two years, but I just recently bought it and I'm so glad I did. It's my first Crowl..."

I'm so tempted I really am. It's already at the top of my list now. I told myself that Magick Without Tears Unexpurgated/Commented was an early bday present to myself ha. It cost me a pretty penny. What's another $65? Ha.

Hello everyone, my name is Jose, I am from Mexico. I got interested in occultism when I discovered the occult roots of the Third Reich and also the work of Aleister Crowley. I've got experience with psychedelics and Yoga, currently looking to expand my learning in Hermeticism, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Alchemy, Magic(k), etc.
I'm hoping this group is still active and if you could give me any hint or suggestion to where to take my search next I would like to hear from you.
Feel free to add me and message me for whatever reason or motive. Thanks!

Welcome to the group! It's still active, we just don't have a lot of users yet.

Pertaining to Crowley etc I would recommend Liber ABA. Plus anything by Israel Regardie and Franz Bardon.

Anyone else?

Nice to meet you Christopher!
Spare is awesome!!

I love his art and how those came to be. I've only seen and heard excerpts of his written works through my bf as he's a fan too. Spare was someone who didn't seek others approves or need organisations to be a magician, he just worked hard on his own. Highly underrated I'm my opinion.

I'm not sure, copyright and royalties will need to be used. If you're commenting on sections then you can reference them throughout your work, but I'm not sure about the legalities of that. You could possibly look into writing a separate "guide" book, much like those written about reading Infinite Jest.

@Jose Personally, I think Qabalah is one of the most important aspects of Occultism, I would check out some books on that. I recommend Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, one of the best; also Dion Fortune's The Mystical Qabalah is really good. Further, I hear the Hermetica is a good book on Hermeticism, but I haven't read it, but definitely get the Kybalion if you haven't read it already.

Thanks for the reply guys, it looks I have homework to do :).
Open question: does occultism has a principal role in your lives, your spirituality and view of life or do you take it as a kind of side hobby sort of?

@Jose To be honest, I only have time to make it a "side hobby," but it takes up as much or more time I spend with friends or family; unfortunately, wage slavery has kept me from studying more in-depth, and lack of discipline has kept me from actually putting to practice what I study. I have a feeling I'll be studying Occultism the rest of my life.

Since I started researching on the subject it seems to me like I am just taking off layer after layer on what I think occultism is really about, and I think every time I am just getting "closer". The deeper you go, the deeper the understanding you come into, gaining a bigger perception in the scheme of things. And somehow all this reflects in my lifestyle and my life search, even when I am not completely aware of it, it seems.