Heathens, Pagans and Witches discussion

If you were only able to keep just one book of a pagan, or pagan-related nature, which would it be? Which book is it that you value most above others when it comes to your chosen path? Which is that one, essential book for you?

Why?

The Bible

The first one that jumps to my mind is the book that I consider the foundation for most of spellwork and is the most valuable to me mainly because of all the notes I've made in it is my copy of Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic.

Principia Discordia, Or, How I Found Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her: The Magnum Opiate of Malaclypse the Younger - haha. Or, maybe not.

To be honest, I do not have a non-fiction book that I value above all others. I have notes from many pagan/metaphysical books, both non-fiction and fiction, that I value greatly.

Hello Mawgojzeta,

I am not limiting the conversation to non-fiction books, as I know many value books like "The Way of Wyrd" by Brian Bates, so any one individual book that you would not like to be without whilst walking the pagan path, be it fiction or non-fiction.

Just one? Tough. I like different books fro different topics. If I must keep only one, today that would be The Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Wiccan healing by Sally morningstar. She has a good layout of the basics of Wicca and a lot of information on every aspect from astrology to herbs etc.

Judika Illes' Elemental Encyclopedia of Witchcraft. It has become my favorite source book.

Ancestral wrote: "If you were only able to keep just one book of a pagan, or pagan-related nature, which would it be? Which book is it that you value most above others when it comes to your chosen path? Which is th..."

Peace be with us,

I do not have any "one" or particular pagan book that I would have to have, but the one book that would keep me focused - and I could not do without - would be Journey of Souls by Dr. Michael Newton. Currently I am reading Maat Magick by Nema; however, despite the great potential I am encountering with this book already, I doubt that it will trump Journey of Souls.

In La'kech

Mircea Eliade's Shamanism would probably be it, but in all honesty, that wouldn't be enough.

Colin Wilson's 'The Occult'. Don't be fooled by the naff title (and even cheesier sub-heading - 'for those who would walk with the gods' or something). This is immensely readable and thought-provoking and is packed with information, history, personalities, et. The chapter on Aleister Crowley is amazing.

I have to correct my original entry. I would want "History of Magic" by Kurt Seligmann. I have two or three copies of it on my shelf, just in case I happen to lose one or two. It's that important to me.

Lol. That's some serious backup

I don't know. I have three copies of my favourite book as it is OOP and if one were damaged and another lost, I could not afford to replace it.

My one book would be " Art Of Conversation With The Genius Loci " by Barry Patterson because it's a reminder of how far going back to basics can take you; it's well written; and it obviously comes from experience.

Svana wrote: "It really depends how you define "pagan related", ... tc which I consider very useful to my path..."

Ancestral wrote: "so any one individual book that you would not like to be without whilst walking the pagan path..."

To my mind that is any book which you would not do without as a pagan. Others might not consider it a pagan book, but to you, treading your path, it is invaluable.

Does my personal book of shadows count? lol probably not....right now I'd say .All One Wicca

I would count your bos. It's your most important info

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

well, starting out self-taught and solitary on my path i would have to say for the moment, it would be Bonewits's Essential Guide To Druidism.

I'm not sure I could pare the library down to one book, but if I could, it might be Robert Graves "The White Goddess". Now, If I could only find a copy of the Cliff-notes version, or a copy of "The White Goddess for dummies"...lol. But in the end I would probably end up like someone in "Fahrenheit 451"...standing on my books while they tried to drag me out of my house.