Book picks similar to
Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary by James Wasserman
thelema
magick
occult
esoterica
The Game of Life
Timothy Leary - 1979
From famed psychologist and Harvard professor to LSD Guru, to stage and film star, computer junky, and more. Tim leaves no stone, or for that matter, person unturned. As an unrepentant advocate of personal freedom and development, he was on a mission to wake humanity up, to encourage us to use our brains and open our minds up to different ways of thinking. One of his favorite mottoes was "Think for yourself and question authority." The Game of Life is an organic computer, (although when Leary wrote it he wasn't yet into hyper-interactive computer intelligence.) In this book he updated the meaning of Medieval Tarot Cards and Chinese I Ching Triagrams and used the symbology to express his fascinating theories within a multi-dimensional structure. With a unique intelligent wit, he expresses
Jesus the Magician: Charlatan or Son of God?
Morton Smith - 1978
68). The charge that he was a magician didn't originate with Smith. It was previously voiced by the philosopher & critic Celsus (The True Word c. 200 CE) as we know from the rebuttal authored by the Christian apologist/scholar Origen: “It was by magic that he was able to do the miracles” (Contra Celsum 1.6). Clearly, for Celsus to have repeated the story, it must have had long currency before he came to write his book. Hans Dieter Betz (1994) observes that "from early on even Jesus of Nazareth was implicated in that he was said to be mad or a magician possessed by Satan" & R. Joseph Hoffmann writes (1987) that "that the early Christian mission was advanced by the use of magic is well attested." Discovery News reported in 2008 the discovery by French marine archeologist Franck Goddio of a bowl dating "to between the late 2nd century BC & the early 1st century AD" which refers to Jesus as a magician: "DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS," which, the article tells us, "has been interpreted to mean either, 'by Christ the magician' or, 'the magician by Christ.'" Assuming this references Jesus, this is the earliest known reference to Jesus as a magician.
Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic.
Lisa Lister - 2017
Yet for so long the word “witch” has had negative connotations. In this book, third generation hereditary witch Lisa Lister explains the history behind witchcraft, why identifying as a healer in past centuries led women to be burned at the stake, and why the witch is reawakening in women across the world today. All women are witches, and when they connect to source, trust their intuition, and use their magic, they can make medicine to heal themselves and the world. This book is a re-telling of Herstory, an overview of the different schools of witchcraft and the core principles and practices within them. Discover ancient wisdom made relevant for modern witches: The wheel of the year, the sabbats, the cycles of the moon.Tools to enhance your intuition, including oracle cards and dowsing, so that you can make decisions quickly and comfortably.Understanding the ancient use of the word “medicine”.How to work with herbs, crystals, and power animals so that you have support in your spiritual work.How to build and use a home altar to focus your intentions and align you with seasonal cycles, the moon cycles, and your own intentions for growth.Cleanse, purify, and create sacred space.Work with the elements to achieve deep connection with the world around you.In addition, Lisa teaches personal, hands-on rituals and spells from her family lineage of gypsy witch magic to help you heal, manifest, and rediscover your powers. Above all, Lisa shows that we really are “the granddaughters of the witches that they couldn't burn”.
Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions
Joyce Higginbotham - 2002
Based on a course in Paganism that the authors have taught for more than a decade, it is full of exercises, meditations, and discussion questions for group or individual study.This book presents the basic fundamentals of Paganism. It explores what Pagans are like; how the Pagan sacred year is arranged; what Pagans do in ritual; what magick is; and what Pagans believe about God, worship, human nature, and ethics.For those who are exploring their own spirituality, or who want a good book to give to non-Pagan family and friends A hands-on learning tool with magickal workings, meditations, discussion questions, and journal exercises Offers in-depth discussion of ethics and magick
Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Elaine Pagels - 2003
This book explores how Christianity began by tracing its earliest texts, including the Gospel of Thomas, rediscovered in Egypt in 1945.When her infant son was diagnosed with fatal pulmonary hypertension, Pagels' spiritual and intellectual quest took on a new urgency, leading her to explore historical and archaeological sources and to investigate what Jesus and his teachings meant to his followers before the invention of Christianity. The discovery of the Gospel of Thomas, along with more than 50 other early Christian texts, some unknown since antiquity, offers clues. She compares such sources as Thomas' gospel (which claims to give Jesus' secret teaching and finds its closest affinities with kabbalah) with the canon to show how Christian leaders chose to include some gospels and exclude others from the collection many call the New Testament. To stabilize the emerging church in times of persecution, church fathers constructed the canon, creed and hierarchy - and, in the process, suppressed many of its spiritual resources.Drawing on new scholarship - her own and that of an international group of scholars - that has come to light since the 1979 publication of The Gnostic Gospels, she shows that what matters about Christianity involves much more than any one set of beliefs. Traditions embodied in Judaism and Christianity can powerfully affect us in heart, mind and spirit, inspire visions of a new society based on practising justice and love, even heal and transform us.Provocative and moving, Beyond Belief, the most personal of her books to date, shows how the impulse to seek god overflows the narrow banks of a single tradition. She writes, "What I have come to love in the wealth and diversity of our religious traditions - and the communities that sustain them - is that they offer the testimony of innumerable people to spiritual discovery, encouraging us, in Jesus' words, to 'seek, and you shall find.'"CONTENTSFrom the feast of Agape to the Nicene CreedGospels in conflict: John and Thomas God's word or human words?The canon of truth and the triumph of JohnConstantine and the Catholic Church AcknowledgementsNotesIndex
Grimorium Verum
Joseph H. Peterson - 2007
People have long sought the aid of non-physical beings; the biblical king Solomon in particular had a reputation since ancient times for commanding demons. There are many texts purporting to reveal Solomon's methods, but most are extremely complicated and difficult. Grimorium Verum is one of the easier texts, but also one of the most sinister. It includes a catalog of specific demons and how to draw on their powers. This new critical edition includes a fresh translation based on all the major sources, complete French and Italian texts, and 5 other appendices.
The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life: Volume 1
Drunvalo Melchizedek - 1999
Now a new dawn is streaming through the windows of perception. This book is one of those windows. Drunvalo Melchizedek presents the Flower of Life Workshop, illuminating the mysteries of how we came to be.