The Pagan Mysteries of Halloween: Celebrating the Dark Half of the Year


Jean Markale - 2001
    Every year on October 31, when the children of the world parade through the streets dressed as monsters, skeletons, and witches, they reenact a sacred ceremony whose roots extend to the dawn of time. By receiving gifts of sweets from strangers, the children establish, on a symbolic plane that exceeds their understanding, a fraternal exchange between the visible world and the invisible world. Author Jean Markale meticulously examines the rituals and ceremonies of ancient festivities on this holiday and shows how they still shape the customs of today's celebration. During the night of Samhain, the Celtic precursor of today's holiday, the borders between life and death were no longer regarded as insurmountable barriers. Two-way traffic was temporarily permitted between this world and the Other World, and the wealth and wisdom of the sidhe, or fairy folk, were available to the intrepid individuals who dared to enter their realm. Markale enriches our understanding of how the transition from the light to the dark half of the year was a moment in which time stopped and allowed the participants in the week-long festival to attain a level of consciousness not possible in everyday life, an experience we honor in our modern celebrations of Halloween.

The Secret Teachings of All Ages


Manly P. Hall - 1928
    Hall's legendary The Secret Teachings of All Ages is a codex to the ancient occult and esoteric traditions of the world. Students of hidden wisdom, ancient symbols, and arcane practices treasure Hall's magnum opus above all other works.While many thousands of copies have sold since its initial publication in 1928, The Secret Teachings of All Ages has previously been available only in oversized, expensive editions. For the first time, Hall's celebrated classic is now published in an affordable trade paperback volume. Literally hundreds of entries shine a rare light on some of the most fascinating and closely held aspects of myth, religion, and philosophy from throughout the centuries.More than one hundred line drawings and a sixteen-page color insert reproduce some of the finest illustrations of the original book, while reset and reformatted text makes this edition of The Secret Teachings of All Ages newly accessible to readers everywhere.

The Spirit Almanac: A Modern Guide to Ancient Self-Care


Emma Loewe - 2018
    The Spirt Almanac provides readers with potent, accessible rituals they will want to call on again and again throughout the year to feel more grounded, aligned with their purpose, and in touch with their own innate sense of knowing.Readers will be invited to practice and personalize dozens of routines incorporating science-backed techniques like breathwork, meditation, and aromatherapy, as well as more esoteric offerings like astrology, crystals, and tarot. Along the way, they will learn the fascinating history of ritual and trace these ancient spiritual practices through the ages to modern day applications from several true masters--from reiki healers to psychologists to sound therapists--who live and breathe this work. Divided by the four seasons, this book features dozens of ideas for spirit and soul enriching rituals including:- Honor the quiet of winter and the start of the year by setting new intentions with a seed planting ritual - Come spring, try a breathwork ritual to release blocks and move forward - Celebrate summer with a forest bathing ritual to clear your mind or a crystal ritual for an open, receptive heart - Wind down in fall with a self-soothing full moon ceremony to reflect on the yearThe Spirit Almanac will infuse your life with more joy, gratitude, and a deeper connection to yourself and our Mother Earth.

Sigil Witchery: A Witch's Guide to Crafting Magick Symbols


Laura Tempest Zakroff - 2018
    Tracing through history, art, and culture, this illustrated book offers an innovative and fresh approach to sigil magick that is accessible and intuitive. You don't need a degree in art or magick to make effective sigils!Learn how to manifest your will through your very own designs. Explore traditional and modern meanings of shapes, symbols, numbers, letters, and colors, while receiving guidance on how to add personal meaning to your marks. Sigil Witchery includes methods of application, tips for choosing materials, and important considerations for both temporary and permanent sigils. This book helps you improve your drawing techniques, use sample exercises to challenge yourself, and gain deeper metaphysical insight and inspiration--all to guide you to develop your own powerful sigil magick.

Holistic Tarot: An Integrative Approach to Using Tarot for Personal Growth


Benebell Wen - 2015
    The tarot deck has been used as a divination tool for more than two centuries; while the tarot is still most commonly thought of as "fortune telling," the true power of the tarot lies in its ability to channel a clear path for our deep intuition to shine through. Consulting the tarot can help clear creativity blockages, clarify ambitions, work through complex decisions, and make sense of emotions and relationships. Whether used for simple decision-making or an understanding of your life's purpose, learning tarot can be an indispensible tool for being more mindful of the factors that can assist or weaken your efforts toward success. In Holistic Tarot, author Benebell Wen provides a complete guide to using the tarot to foster personal development. Wen gives a comprehensive overview of the history of the tarot and a wide array of theories on its use (including its relationship to Jungian archetypal psychology and traditional Chinese divination practices) before digging deeply into one of the best-known tarot systems, the Rider-Waite-Smith. Beginners will find a complete guide to working with the tarot, including choosing and caring for a deck, how best to learn and remember the attributes of the major and minor arcana, the interpretation of cards and spreads, the role of meditation in a tarot practice, and how to use the tarot for improving relationships, professional development, and personal resilience. More advanced practitioners will appreciate nuanced theoretical discussions of the tarot as well as practical advice about reading others' tarot cards and setting up a practice. Containing over 500 illustrations and detailed information on each card as well as numerous spreads, Holistic Tarot is a complete compendium of tarot study that every practitioner should have in his or her library.“A modern alchemical achievement.”—Barbara Moore, author of Tarot Spreads “Will become one of the jewels in the crown of tarot literature.” —Anthony Louis, MD, author of Tarot Beyond the Basics “A tarot classic.”—Sasha Graham, author of Tarot Diva“A magnificent, intelligent, comprehensive overview and innerview of the Rider Waite Smith system of tarot! This is the only guide you need to have. Bravo!” —James Wanless, PhD, author of Voyager Tarot“A huge accomplishment … likely to become the essential guidebook for serious students of the tarot.”— Joan Bunning, author of Learning the Tarot“No tarot enthusiast should be without this book!”—Chic and Tabatha Cicero, authors of The Golden Dawn Magical Tarot“Arguably the most comprehensive guide to tarot on the market today. It's also innovative: it deftly combines Eastern mysticism with Western metaphysics. It's an impressive tome that presents a wholly modern, rational approach to tarot practice while preserving notable elements of tradition."—Corrine Kenner, author of Tarot and Astrology

How To Be A Wicked Witch: Good Spells, Charms, Potions and Notions for Bad Days


Patricia J. Telesco - 2001
    The next time you are downsized, dumped on, or jilted, or feel like a drudge, turn to this light-hearted but learned primer on the art of spellcraft. This witty combination of traditional rituals for finding health, wealth, and happiness will also show you clever ways to use magic for exacting just retribution, balancing karmic bank accounts, chastising a wayward lover, improving your personal image, or effectively dealing with a meddlesome mother. With incantations drawn from a variety of magickal traditions (as well as suggestions on how to customize them) and simple rituals that require nothing more than willpower and ingredients found in any household, Patricia Telesco explains transformational methods for handling both the big crises and the little annoyances of everyday life, including how to: Increase sexual potency and passion • Improve your luck • Lure a lover • Resolve a family feud • Increase personal charisma • Attract prosperity Filled with sane advice and sassy examples, How to Be a Wicked Witch will help you release the witch within.

Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle


C.G. Jung - 1952
    While he had advanced the "synchronicity" hypothesis as early as the 1920s, Jung gave a full statement only in 1951, in an Eranos lecture; the following year (he was seventy-seven) he published the present monograph in a volume with a related study by the physicist (and Nobel winner) Wolfgang Pauli. Together with a wealth of historical and contemporary material on "synchronicity," Jung describes an astrological experiment conducted to test his theory."The concept of synchronicity indicates a meaningful coincidence of two or more events, where something other than the probability of chance is involved. Chance is a statistical concept which 'explains' deviations within certain patterns of probability. Synchronicity elucidates meaningful arrangements and coincidence which somehow go beyond the calculations of probability. Pre-cognition, clairvoyance, telepathy, etc. are phenomena which are inexplicable through chance, but become empirically intelligible through the employment of the principle of synchronicity, which suggests a kind of harmony at work in the interrelation of both psychic and physical events."—The Journal of Religious Thought

The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells, Volume 1


Hans Dieter Betz - 1986
    to the fifth century A.D. Containing a fresh translation of the Greek papyri, as well as Coptic and Demotic texts, this new translation has been brought up to date and is now the most comprehensive collection of this literature, and the first ever in English.The Greek Magical Papyri in Transition is an invaluable resource for scholars in a wide variety of fields, from the history of religions to the classical languages and literatures, and it will fascinate those with a general interest in the occult and the history of magic."One of the major achievements of classical and related scholarship over the last decade."—Ioan P. Culianu, Journal for the Study of Judaism"The enormous value of this new volume lies in the fact that these texts will now be available to a much wider audience of readers, including historians or religion, anthropologists, and psychologists."—John G. Gager, Journal of Religion"[This book] shows care, skill and zest. . . . Any worker in the field will welcome this sterling performance."—Peter Parsons, Times Literary Supplement

Banish


Nicola Marsh - 2013
    and save her soul. After her ex-boyfriend commits suicide and her mum’s alcoholism sparks yet another psychotic episode, seventeen-year-old Alyssa Wood flees her small hometown of Broadwater and heads to New York City to stay with her bohemian aunt — a Wicca High Priestess.Alyssa revels in the anonymity of a big city and her new life. Her grades climb, she has a new best friend, and a new guy: the sexy geek Ronan — a saxophone player who prefers jazz to pop.But her newfound peace is soon shattered when she sees a dead body in one of Ronan’s music clips — and she’s the only one who can see it. Worse still, Alyssa recognises the body that has been murdered a week forward!Alyssa doesn’t believe in the supernatural...despite her family’s Wicca background. So how will she overcome evil when it’s closer than she thinks?

The Chaos Protocols: Magical Techniques for Navigating the New Economic Reality


Gordon White - 2016
    Study hard, work hard, buy a house, retire happy. It's all a lie, spun for the benefit of a tiny elite. The richest eighty-five people on earth have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion. Each month, the numbers change but they never improve.Magical and spiritual discourse has failed to keep up with this new reality. The Chaos Protocols aims to fix that.Join Gordon White as he shows you how to use chaos magic not only to navigate these trying times, but to triumph as well. Discover how to become invincible through initiation, and wage the mind war that will keep you moving toward what you really want. From sigil magic to working with spiritual allies, The Chaos Protocols helps you act on the unwavering belief that your life should matter and you're not going to let something as trifling as the apocalypse get in the way of it.Praise: Gordon White gives a master class on the hard economic realities and the kind of low down and dirty magic for which he has become famous. Pragmatic, sharp, and funny, The Chaos Protocols is a treasure of a book.--Peter Grey, author of Apocalyptic WitchcraftTake two parts Magick Without Tears, a measure of The Wealth of Nations, a pinch of Ian Fleming and a dash of Noel Coward and you have this almost promiscuously readable text. Whoever said books on magick can't be fabulously entertaining as well as eminently practical has obviously not read up on their Gordon White. Remedy that situation.--Chris Knowles, author of The Secret History of Rock n' Roll and Our Gods Wear Spandex

The Magus: A Complete System of Occult Philosophy


Francis Barrett - 1801
    The book contains a fascinating array of information drawn together by author Francis Barrett from several sources, such as Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Areas explored include Natural Magic, Alchemy, Talismanic Magic, Cabalistic and Ceremonial Magic, as well as biographies of important figures such as Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon and John Dee. Notable are the author's illustrations, derived from ancient and magical texts. This book remains much sought after by modern readers for the important source material it provides, and it continues to be drawn on heavily for information on many areas of occult philosophy.

Aradia: Gospel of the Witches


Charles Godfrey Leland - 1899
    What is certain is that this 1899 classic has become a foundational document of modern Wicca and neopaganism. Leland claimed his "witch informant," a fortune-teller named Maddalena, supplied him with the secret writings that he translated and combined with his research on Italian pagan tradition to create a gospel of pagan belief and practice. Here, in the story of the goddess Aradia, who came to Earth to champion oppressed peasants in their fight against their feudal overlords and the Catholic Church, are the chants, prayers, spells, and rituals that have become the centerpieces of contemporary pagan faiths. American journalist and folklorist CHARLES GODFREY LELAND (1824-1903) was editor of Continental Monthly during the Civil War and coined the term emancipation as an alternative to abolition, but he is best remembered for his books on ethnography, folklore, and language, including The Gypsies (1882), The Hundred Riddles of the Fairy Bellaria (1892), and Unpublished Legends of Virgil (1899).

Gothic Grimoire


Konstantinos - 2002
    Whether you are new to the practice of nocturnal magick, or a seasoned dark mystic, this companion to the popular Nocturnal Witchcraft is sure to bring new levels of power to your nights.Expand your connection to the dark ether and the unseen world with this collection of techniques and rituals taken directly from the author's personal magickal notebooks. Explore the Nocturnicon--a collection of rites designed to overcom the unique obstacles that appear in the life of the nightkind.Commune with the Dark Gods and Goddesses of the Night with nocturnal rituals for the sabbats. Examine advanced astral workings, including astral travel, working with thoughtforms, and banishing unwanted energies and entities. Connect with the positive side of the darkness within and without as you learn.Not for the meek, the magick you'll encounter in these pages will help you transform yourself, and change the way you perceive reality from this night forward.

The Black Arts: A Concise History of Witchcraft, Demonology, Astrology, and Other Mystical Practices Throughout the Ages


Richard Cavendish - 1967
    This text describes the practice, theory, and underlying rationale of black magic in all its branches - the summoning and control of evil spirits, necromancy, psychic attack, devil worship, witchcraft, evil charms and spells - as well as other branches of occult theory.

Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons


George Pendle - 2005
    ROCKET SCIENTIST KILLED IN PASADENA EXPLOSIONscreamed the headline of the Los Angeles Times. John Parsons, a maverick rocketeer who helped transform the rocket from a derided sci-fi plot line into a reality, was at first mourned as a scientific prodigy. But reporters soon uncovered a more shocking story: Parsons had been a devotee of black magic. George Pendle re-creates the world of John Parsons in this dazzling portrait of prewar superstition, cold war paranoia, and futuristic possibility. Fueled by childhood dreams of space flight, Parsons was a leader of the motley band of enthusiastic young men who founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a cornerstone of the American space program. But Parsons's wild imagination also led him into the occult- for if he could make rocketry a reality, why not magic? With a cast of characters including Howard Hughes, L. Ron Hubbard, and Robert Heinlein, Strange Angel explores the unruly consequences of genius.