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(you just have no idea how big your head is). The method of Science, the aim of Religion This is my first thread ever so any recommended edits to the OP are welcome. There are a ridiculous amount of books to cover and I am an uninitiated idiot so I'm sure I'll leave a number of essential works out (but you gotta start somewhere, right?) I'm going to limit this post to works that I have read or am comfortable enough in my knowledge of so I can provide a short synopses of its relative meaning/importance without pulling too much out of my rear end. Note: You're going to run into a lot of information in the occult world that is pulled out of asses which we all have to learn to navigate thru, but it's my personal belief that it's worth the trouble. There are very beautiful perspectives and ideas and Truths to be found within the occult world if one can swim through the bullshit. The nice thing is that what is Real and what is Bullshit is pretty much up to you to decide. You're equipped with a mind and a soul and within the occult you'll find a bunchof tools to help you experiment with those things. Take it all in with a grain of salt and an open mind. Let's start with the Classics: Tabula Smaragdina or The Emerald Tablet Author: Hermes Trismigestus from Thelemapedia.org: quote:The Emerald Tablet (or in Latin, Tabula Smaragdina) is a short text considered to be a cornerstone of the Hermetic movement and fundamental to the Art of Alchemy. Alchemical writings sometimes reference it by a variant title: The Secret of Hermes. Its putative author is Hermes Trismigestus (Hermes the Thrice-Great), a legendary Egyptian adept named after the Greek god of occult wisdom. The origin of the Emerald Tablet is lost in antiquity, and there is no recorded history as to its place of creation or the name of the actual author. Scholars and philosophers have been aware of it since the 10th century. Alchemy, while considered hilariously outdated to most, is a wide-ranging field in the occult that's shrouded in cryptic prose and symbols. The Emerald Tablet is probably its greatest and most central work. A lot of the language used in Alchemical texts for metals and such is generally considered to be metaphors for spiritual realities and processes. This gives Alchemy a very mystic quality when it's applied on a personal level. The Papyrus of Ani (The Egyptian Book of the Dead) Author: Unknown From Thelemapedia: quote:The Book of the Dead is the common name for the ancient Egyptian funerary text The Book of Coming [or Going] Forth By Day. The name was invented by the German Egyptologist Richard Lepsius, who published a selection of the texts in 1842. This is a pretty well known piece of history outside of occult circles, but to occultists it represents a process known as the Initiation into the Mysteries (not just a mythic guide for the soul after death, but a guide for the living dedicated to the journey of Truth and Knowledge). Sepher Yetzirah or The Book of Changes Author: Abraham (lol okay) from Wikipedia: quote:is the title of the earliest extant book on Jewish esotericism, although some early commentators treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed to Kabbalah. "Yetzirah" is more literally translated as "Formation"; the word "Briah" is used for "Creation".[1] The book is traditionally ascribed to the patriarch Abraham, while modern scholars haven't reached consensus on the question of its origins. If you're looking to get into the Qabalah this is where you should begin. I could write a million things about QBL but most modern magick is firmly rooted in its study and a cursory knowledge of it is necessary to understanding a lot of occult literature. The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage Author: Abraham the Jew From Wikipedia: quote:The Book of Abramelin tells the story of an Egyptian mage named Abramelin, or Abra-Melin, who taught a system of magic to Abraham of Worms, a Jew in Worms, Germany, presumed to have lived from c.1362–c.1458. The system of magic from this book regained popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries due to the efforts of Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers' translation, The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, its import within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and later within the mystical system of Thelema (created in 1904 by Aleister Crowley). This is one of the most influential and popular grimoires ever. I have the newest and most scholarly translation and it is a fascinating read. The gist of it is that this guy Abraham of Worms had two sons and before he died he passed on his knowledge of the Qabalah to one and this sacred text to the other. In essense this is a book of what would be considered by the vulgar as Black Magick but what is so interesting is the instruction it gives. Before you begin summoning demons and poo poo, you must undergo a tedious process of transformation into what is essentially A Holy Man. Abramelin insists that the magician must be of strong moral character and posses a number of virtues in order to reach a state of consciousness known as The Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. This is a pretty universal trait of mystical teachings across the globe but this one set the standard for the Western magick tradition. To some the Holy Guardian Angel is simply a subjective symbol of the individual's pure spiritual self. Others choose to view it as an objective entity. Either way you want to look at it, it's one of those beautiful concepts I mentioned earlier in the introduction and I could go on and on about it. And this brings us to what makes this book so great-- it's a wonderful representation of how the occult and esoteric teachings view duality and concepts like Good and Evil. Why would a holy and virtuous person be in the business of summoning demons? Well, the answer goes back to the ideas presented in the Emerald Tablet: As Above, So Below-- you have united your Will with the highest of highs, so now you must make right with the lowest of lows in your nature (lest they creep their way back into your life and ruin you). One cannot ignore the darkest parts of our consciousness or you're destined to succumb to their influences. Much like how King Solomon used the power of God to command demons to build his temple, you must face and master the infernal powers if you wish to commune with the celestial bodies. Which brings us to our next book-- The Lesser Key of Solomon Author: King Solomon (lol uh huh) From Thelemapedia: quote:The Lesser Key of Solomon or Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis (the Clavicula Salomonis, or Key of Solomon is an earlier book on the subject), is an anonymous 17th century grimoire, and one of the most popular books of demonology. It has also long been widely known as the Lemegeton, although that name is considered incorrect because it depends on faulty Latin. This is where an open mind is required if one is going to get anywhere with occult books (or get anything of value out of them). Now, you can certainly choose to look at this as a superstitious text about "real" demons and how to summon them or whatever. If this works for you, go for it. Before I began my journey into spirituality I considered myself an atheist and the idea of summoning demons sounded like such bullshit that I would've never come near this thing if it wasn't for several modern authors that opened my eyes to their interpretation of its real meaning. The modern take of Ars Goetia is that it is a bit of a medieval self-help book with lots of flare. In the time that this was written they didn't have the language of psychology and science that we have today. There simply wasn't a way for most people to talk about their issues without using the language of religion and myth, and so what you have here are demons that represent different aspects of the human subconscious and a method for labeling and objectifying these problems and instructions for facing them. Ritual has a powerful hold over the human mind and whether anything happens in "objective reality" as a result of these rituals isn't really important because the subjective reality of the magician who practices Goetia definitely becomes altered. This is a major misconception about Magick in general, is that it's a bunchof wand-waving theatrics with the goal of creating change or influence in the outside world. The truth is that magick is actually about changing the magician, dedicating oneself to spiritual transformation, and any "real results" in the objective world are only the result of the magician successfully changing an aspect of his or hers interior universe. Other notable classics: The Holy Bible The Torah The Koran The Corpus Hermeticum The Works of Plato: The Symposium Timaeus The Seventh Letter On the Gods and The World by Sallustius The Theogony by Hesiod Theurgia or The Egyptian Mysteries by Iamblichus The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz Resources: The Hermetic Library (lots of classics you can read for free!) Thelemapedia (great Wiki) Well, that concludes Part 1 -- The Classics. Later this week I'll put together Part 2 -- Modern(ish) Works which will be a lot longer and a lot more extensive as it's what I'm most familiar with. Lil Mama Im Sorry fucked around with this message at 03:01 on May 21, 2016 |
# ? Nov 11, 2015 03:05 |
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# ? May 3, 2024 11:36 |
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Yooo this is a cool thread
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 03:25 |
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I'll probably post some stuff in this thread at some point but I'm not going to yet and will instead say that that is a good OP and esoteric literature is the best literature.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 12:43 |
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here is a cool book: http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/45421/gallery.alchemy_mysticism.htm it is a huge compendium of imagery and symbols from manuscripts and other works by alchemists and occultists - mostly central European from the 15th-17th centuries (and especially a lot of work from Jakob Boehme and Michael Maiar in particular) but featuring a good amount of other material as well.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 17:02 |
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I have been eyeballing the gently caress out of that on Amazon for quite some time now. I really need to get it with my next paycheck. Another great compendium is The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall. It's pretty much the book that got me drawn into all this stuff.
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 17:55 |
"And with this incantation you make hard boiled eggs."
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# ? Nov 11, 2015 18:53 |
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Lil Mama Im Sorry posted:Another great compendium is The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall. It's pretty much the book that got me drawn into all this stuff. That one is available on sacred-texts.com, since like a lot of older occult stuff it's public domain: http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/index.htm Lots of good stuff on there related to occult subjects. I have a copy of the History of Magic by Eliphas Levi which I should really finish reading, Levi had a big influence on the Golden Dawn and on Aleister Crowley so he's quite important to 20th century occultism. Lil Mama Im Sorry posted:Alchemy, while considered hilariously outdated to most, is a wide-ranging field in the occult that's shrouded in cryptic prose and symbols. The Emerald Tablet is probably its greatest and most central work. A lot of the language used in Alchemical texts for metals and such is generally considered to be metaphors for spiritual realities and processes. This gives Alchemy a very mystic quality when it's applied on a personal level. The thing about alchemy is that it's a lot more interesting than the weird proto chemistry that it gets talked about as, because like you said much of the symbolism and language involved was metaphorical, and there's not even a clear idea of what the 'philosopher's stone' was actually supposed to be.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 01:35 |
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A human heart posted:That one is available on sacred-texts.com, since like a lot of older occult stuff it's public domain: http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/index.htm Lots of good stuff on there related to occult subjects. Levi is fascinating to me. I was debating on whether to put him in the Classics section but I figured I'd save him for Modern as he was part of the french occult revival. Levi is such an interesting figure since he pretty much remained a Catholic while being a ceremonial magician and all his esoteric knowledge ended up fortifying his faith.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 02:08 |
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Part 2: Modern(ish) Works I've decided that it is easier and will be more organized to break this next section up by author. Before moving forward I want to take this opportunity to define the two major schools of Magick and the Occult (no, not white and black silly) : Practical and Academic/Theoretical -- and there's a pretty simple distinction between them -- those who practice or apply occult teachings/knowledge and those who simply enjoy studying and learning the subject (I am currently in the transition of moving from the latter to the former). I suppose we should also quickly define this whole Magick business too, shall we? From Thelemapedia: quote:In the broadest sense, Magick is any act designed to cause intentional change. This term is often spelled with a terminal "k" to differentiate it from other practices, such as "stage magic". Magick is not capable of producing "miracles" or violating the physical laws of the universe (i.e. it cannot cause a solar eclipse), although "it is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature" (Book 4). Aleister Crowley saw magick as the essential method for a person to reach true understanding of the self and to act according to one's True Will. Crowley describes this process: Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the authors and their contributions: Eliphas Levi from Thelemapedia: quote:Eliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant, (1810-1875) was a French author and magician. Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie or Transcendental Magic I actually just picked this book up and it's pretty much a cornerstone of modern magick theory and practice. It's one of the first published works to make the connection between the Qabalah, Tarot cards, and ceremonial magick. To me, Levi is the bridge between the classic period of the occult and the modern movement that rose into prominence in the 20th century. Transcendental Magic is his most accessible work but his later stuff is extremely fascinating as it takes a more mystical Christianity theme. Imagine a more modern and weird Meister Eckhart. Really cool stuff. I guess we have finally reached the point of the most controversial figure of the occult in society's consciousness: Aleister Crowley from Thelemapedia: quote:Aleister Crowley (Oct. 12, 1875-Dec. 1, 1947) — however one judges him — was a fascinating man who lived an amazing life. He is best known as being an infamous occultist and the scribe of The Book of the Law, which introduced Thelema to the world. Crowley was an influential member in several occult organizations, including the Golden Dawn, the A.'.A.'., and Ordo Templi Orientis. He was a prolific writer and poet, a world traveler, mountaineer, chess master, artist, yogi, social provocateur, drug addict and sexual libertine. The press loved to demonize him and dubbed Crowley “The wickedest man in the world.” I've been almost dreading getting to this point for two reasons (A) the man has quite the reputation, and even though a lot of it is false there is a lot of not-so-flattering realities about Crowley and everyone has an opinion on him, and (B) it's also extremely difficult to discuss Crowley and his involvement in the occult and magick because he devoted his whole life to its spiritual practices and was a prolific writer as well. He simply overshadows everyone else because of his work and notoriety. A whole thread could (and should if there were enough demand) be made on Crowley alone but I don't want to derail this thread into being a Crowley debate battleground -- I'd rather just outline my favorite works of his and move on. I should stress though that if you have any interest in any of the works mentioned in this thread then you should spend some time reading Aleister Crowley and form your own opinion of him. It is my opinion that Crowley was a holy man and a genius, and like all geniuses, he was misunderstood and also an rear end in a top hat. People like Crowley simply don't get along well with others. Whether you love, hate, or are completely indifferent to the man, his contributions to modern spirituality are undeniable. Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX The Book of the Law as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI from Thelemapedia: quote:The religion known as Thelema was established with the writing of The Book of the Law. It was written (or received) by Aleister Crowley in Cairo, Egypt in the year 1904. It contains three chapters, each of which was written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on April 8th, 9th, and 10th. Crowley claims that the author was an entity named Aiwass, whom he later identified as his own Holy Guardian Angel. The teachings within this small book are clearly expressed in the Law of Thelema, expressed by these two phrases: This is pretty much a poem infused with religious and esoteric imagery and beauty. Whether you believe Crowley wrote it or that it was "transmitted" to him really doesn't matter. Read it for yourself as it is a wonderful work even taken outside the context of magick or the occult. Magick Book 4 Liber ABA from Wikipedia: quote:Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4 is widely considered to be the magnum opus of 20th-century occultist Aleister Crowley, the founder of Thelema. It is a lengthy treatise on Magick, his system of Western occult practice, synthesised from many sources, including Eastern Yoga, Hermeticism, medieval grimoires, contemporary magical theories from writers like Eliphas Levi and Helena Blavatsky, and his own original contributions. It consists of four parts: Mysticism, Magick (Elementary Theory), Magick in Theory and Practice, and ΘΕΛΗΜΑ—the Law (The Equinox of The Gods). It also includes numerous appendices presenting many rituals and explicatory papers. This baby is a brick and it's generally considered to be required reading for anyone who is going to pick up Crowley. I have only read sections of this so I don't feel comfortable elaborating too much more. Magick Without Tears from Wikipedia: quote:Magick Without Tears, a series of letters, was the last book written by English occultist Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), although it was not published until after his death. It was written in the mid-1940s and published in 1954 with a foreword by its editor, Karl Germer. I cannot recommend this enough. Since it's a correspondence of letters between Crowley and a Student it's a lot more casual and accessible than Crowley's other proper esoteric writings. This book has been extremely important to me and helping me understand a lot of bits about the practical uses of Qabalah and occult teachings. Crowley's brand of dry humor also shines through the writing in this work. Other notable works: 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley : Including Gematria & Sepher Sephiroth. The Book of Lies The Book of Thoth : A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians Eight Lectures on Yoga The Equinox[/i] Rudolph Steiner from Wikipedia: quote:Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 (25?) February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian philosopher, author, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published philosophical works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy; other influences include Goethean science and Rosicrucianism. If you're interested in any of this stuff -- occult, esoteric teachings, magick, spirituality -- then Steiner is a great author to start with. He's much more straight forward and "rational" in his approach to spirituality and thus it's a lot easier to digest especially if you're put off by mysticism. Steiner was trying to fuse Science and Spirit and direct the modern man back toward a more holistic view of the world and the self like the ancients. My favorite of his works is: The Way of Initiation: How to Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds (for free on Kindle btw!) from the Rudolph Steiner archive: quote:The first English version of this basic work by Rudolf Steiner, appeared in print in 1904 as two volumes with the titles: I can't recommend this enough and since it's free on Kindle atleast check out the first couple chapters. Other Notable Works: Theosophy: An Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos Fundamentals of Therapy: An Extension of the Art of Healing Through Spiritual Knowledge Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path, also published as the Philosophy of Spiritual Activity and the Philosophy of Freedom I'll continue the rest of Part 2 tomorrow or the next day. I completely underestimated how much time this was going to take and I have to be up for work at 5am. Thanks everyone for the encouragements about the OP!
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 04:07 |
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The bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings makes me tame.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 05:31 |
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I've got a copy of Crowley's diaries and it's funny to read because there's a whole period taking up like a quarter of the book where pretty much every entry is just a description of the woman(often but not always prostitutes) he did a sex magic thing with on that particular day.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 11:53 |
Say what you will about Crowley, the guy knew how to have fun.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 12:07 |
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This is a great thread. Some day when I have the time/money I'd like to enroll in some classes at the University of Philosophical Research here in Los Angeles which is run by Manly P. Hall's Philosophical Research society. I could probably spend years in their library.
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# ? Nov 12, 2015 18:11 |
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Part Two II: Gettin' Real Weird With It Before getting to our modern authors I would like to derail into general magick theory and western qabalah real fast. Western magicians like to use the diagram of the Qabalah Tree of Life as a sort of cosmic filing system. The Tree of Life is a representation of pure Godhead and its distillation as it moves down the Tree through different emanations and paths into its final form: matter and the physical universe. The very top is Kether -- The Crown and bottom (our world) is Malkuth -- The Kingdom: There are 10 emanations or Sephiroth and 22 pathways connecting them. Each pathway is represented by one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Hermetic Qabalists believe that God is quite literally everything, as everything was created by and thus is a part of the Supreme Being -- including you and I and the piece of dog poo poo on the edge of your sidewalk that your inconsiderate neighbor didn't pick up. Where the eastern mystic seeks to reach enlightenment by detaching and removing all obstacles inside him/her that block their path, the western qabalist seeks to connect everything in the universe, not only internally but externally as well. The idea is that this almost self-induced schizophrenia is a way of overloading the intellect and transcending it into a state of illuminated being, or enlightenment. The outer universe is a representation of the inner universe and vice versa. As above, so below. As within, so without. Everything is nothing and nothing is everything. The Tree of Life is the skeleton of the universe onto which the hermetic qabalist pins the flesh of reality. Everything that ever was or will be has its place on the Tree. The beauty of this philosophy is that every act, no matter how mundane, becomes a a magickal and exalted piece of the great All. Of course, this isn't easy. It takes a lot of work. So let's get back to business: Israel Regardie from Wikipedia: quote:Regardie was born Francis Israel Regudy (Франсис Израиль Регудий) in London to Barnet Regudy, a cigarette maker, and his wife, Phoebe Perry, poor orthodox Jewish immigrants from Zhitomir, Russia. His family changed their surname to "Regardie" after a clerical mixup resulted in Israel's brother being enrolled in the British Army under that name.[1] Regardie emigrated with his parents to the United States in August 1921 and settled in Washington, DC. He studied art in Washington, DC and Philadelphia, PA. With a Hebrew tutor he gained a linguistic knowledge which would prove invaluable in his later studies of Hermetic Qabalah.[2] With easy access to the Library of Congress, he read widely and became interested in Theosophy, Hindu philosophy and yoga. He also joined the Societas Rosicruciana in America at around this time. A Garden of Pomegranates Regardie often gets overshadowed by Crowley but honestly in the beginning of my studies I found Regardie much more accessible and eloquent than AC. I still always find myself using this book as a reference guide and is in my opinion pretty fundamental reading in the subject of hermetic qabalah. If you're able to find it, Regardie made a set of recorded guided meditations based on the Tree of Life and magickal rituals and I can't recommend them enough. Other notable works: The Tree of Life The Middle Pillar Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment The Golden Dawn Lon Milo Duquette from Thelemapedia: quote:Lon Milo DuQuette, IX° is one of a handful of individuals initiated (1975 EV) by Hymenaeus Alpha 777 (Grady L. McMurtry) after the death of Karl Germer and prior to McMurtry’s formal reorganization of the OTO. In 2004 EV, upon the death of his former teacher, Phyllis Seckler, DuQuette inherited the distinction of being in the OTO longer than any other living member. LMD is like the cool uncle of the occult. A former counter-culture hippie buddhist in the 60's he discovered the occult and ceremonial magick and never looked back. Any book you can find by this man is worth reading. His knowledge of even the most esoteric concepts is so deep that he easily translates this stuff for the modern reader, using language and cultural references that are relevant and easy to wrap my meat brain around. He is humble, never pretentious, and absolutely my favorite authority and writer on anything regarding western hermeticism. I once heard him in an interview use the movie Groundhog Day as an analogy for magick and it absolutely blew my mind. If you have any interest at all in occult teachings and still find some of their concepts just out of reach, then Lon Milo Duquette is the author you're looking for. I also own a deck of Tarot cards by LMD that combine Goetia, Yoga, Magick, Qabalah, Astrology and traditional Tarot which Duquette intended to work like flashcards for learning the esoteric sciences. I've found it to be a great interactive study tool. The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford: Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist from Amazon: quote:A unique and humorous -- and also practical -- approach to the increasingly popular study of Qabalah. This is a seriously funny book! Traditional Qabalistic (or Cabalistic, or, indeed, Kabbalistic -- read this book to find out what the difference is...we know you've always wondered) sources tend to be a bit, er, dry. DuQuette spices up the Qabalah and makes it come alive, restoring the joy of learning the fundamentals of this admittedly arcane system by using simple, amusing anecdotes and metaphors. This account, written psuedepigraphically (fictitiously attributed to a supposed authority), allows DuQuette as Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford to soar to outrageous heights and, when necessary, stand apart from the silliness to highlight the golden eggs of Qabalistic wisdom nested therein. Sure to be a revelation to those who think that learning about the Qabalah needs to be tedious and serious, DuQuette shows that great truths can be transmitted through the medium of laughter. * A Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist . Regardie was the author that opened the door to the Qabalah for me. Duquette pushed me through the doorway into a greater understanding of the practicality of the art. Homemade Magick: The Musings & Mischief of a Do-It-Yourself Magus from Amazon: quote:Sharing the lessons he’s learned from over forty years as a magician and family man, Lon Milo DuQuette reveals his unique point of view about magick—its ups and downs, ins and outs, and how his family and home are the foundation of his practice. Written in Lon’s humorous style that makes learning and discovery a joy, Homemade Magick will show you that everyday life events are, in fact, true magical adventures. You want to take all that theory and convert it into practice? That can be extremely overwhelming without someone to guide you and I don't know about you but I'm not a member of any secret societies or magickal orders. I don't have a master magus to show me the ropes. I have to feel my way through using my intuition and my heart as guides -- oh, and thankfully, this book too. This book has been integral to me getting out of bed, putting down the pen and notepad and finally getting to work. Actually applying thousands of years of knowledge to your life is a lot different than just reading it and pondering about it. Theory is great, but I cannot stress enough how important actually getting up and trying this poo poo has been for me. If you're looking for a change in perception or to obtain some form of higher consciousness, then practice is what you're looking for and this book can get you there. Other works: Tarot of Ceremonial Magick: A Pictorial Synthesis of Three Great Pillars of Magick: Enochian, Goetia, Astrology Angels, Demons & Gods of the New Millennium My Life With the Spirits: The Adventures of a Modern Magician The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema Enochian Vision Magick Low Magick: It's All In Your Head... You Just Have No Idea How Big Your Head Is Ask Baba Lon: Answers to Questions of Life & Magick ---------- Well that about wraps up the extent of what I can share from my own reading and experience. I've only been really getting into this stuff for about a year now so I don't have much to offer. There's a lot more out there and I encourage you to find what makes sense and works for you and go from there. I'll probably update this periodically with different mini-articles on some of the main concepts just because it's good for me in solidifying my understanding and it's also pretty fun.
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 03:36 |
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Can we all agree there's no k in magic
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 17:21 |
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Smoking Crow posted:Can we all agree there's no k in magic I would be cool with this if everyone didn't put a "k" on it and the word "magic" didnt immediately conjure up thoughts of card tricks and Criss Angel. It's really the best way to distinguish between the spiritual practice and entertainment.
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 17:53 |
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Regardie also wrote a biography of Crowley called The Eye in the Triangle and I found it to be a great read. Granted that Regardie's account of things is naturally biased, but his perspective on Crowley is fairly unique and the book is well written.
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# ? Nov 13, 2015 18:11 |
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I once tried to conjure up Satan when I was like 11 by drawing a bunch of sigils and pentagrams on the sidewalk with chalk. I tried it again when I was 13 or 14 by walking 7 times backwards around a church and whistling into the keyhole at the start/end of each circle. It didn't work but hail Satan anyway.
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# ? Nov 14, 2015 19:01 |
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I should probably post a lot here since this poo poo has been my bag for decades now. I think one of the best things Crowley wrote is Little Essays Toward Truth and am pretty surprised you didn't include it. On "Love", he writes: quote:The Formula of Tetragrammaton is the complete mathematical expression of Love. Its essence is this: any two things unite, with a double effect; firstly, the destruction of both, accompanied by the ecstasy due to the relief of the strain of separateness; secondly, the creation of a third thing, accompanied by the ecstasy of the realisation of existence, which is Joy until with development it becomes aware of its imperfection, and loves.
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# ? Nov 15, 2015 18:09 |
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precision posted:I should probably post a lot here since this poo poo has been my bag for decades now. I have not read this but it is definitely on my list now. If you wanna type up something on it I can add it to the OP.
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# ? Nov 16, 2015 00:35 |
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This morning I left my place to go get some pastries and coffee. On the walk back I saw that a pile of books had been dumped in front of a house. It was a set of brand new, mind condition volumes of the Zohar - "the first unabridged English translation" it said on the spines. I picked one up at random (it was volume 17) and looked at it without opening it, noted that there was absolutely no dirt or water damage (it had rained last night). I put the volume back in the pile and kept walking. I deliberately forgot which house it was.
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# ? Nov 16, 2015 06:15 |
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Earwicker posted:This morning I left my place to go get some pastries and coffee. On the walk back I saw that a pile of books had been dumped in front of a house. It was a set of brand new, mind condition volumes of the Zohar - "the first unabridged English translation" it said on the spines. I picked one up at random (it was volume 17) and looked at it without opening it, noted that there was absolutely no dirt or water damage (it had rained last night). I put the volume back in the pile and kept walking. I deliberately forgot which house it was. I'm pretty sure that you were meant to find those and mail them to me.
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# ? Nov 16, 2015 12:10 |
Oh neat thread, thanks. The closest I've gotten to reading any of this kind of thing is Alan Moore's Promethea.
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# ? Nov 16, 2015 14:27 |
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My favorite ominous warning regarding occult books is from Crowley and the Book of Abramelin, which Crowley warned to not have in your possession unless you truly intend to carry out of the process of the Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. Something about how the magic squares contained in the text have a way of "getting loose" and spreading havoc. (I think this was Crowley's way of scaring away the superstitious and those who weren't serious about the "Great Work".)
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# ? Nov 16, 2015 14:47 |
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Lil Mama Im Sorry posted:I have not read this but it is definitely on my list now. If you wanna type up something on it I can add it to the OP. Honestly there's not much to say other than "It's great". It's neat that it follows a progression, but otherwise it just feels like him putting down the simplest truths in the most concise way he could. I'm also a fan of the Book of Lies for being one of his most humorous works. That's the thing I wish more people understood about Crowley; he had a wicked sense of humor about everything, including himself. Well, I also wish people understood that he actively discouraged and detested black magickal practices, contrary to what almost everyone (even people who have read some of his stuff) believes. Another addition to the modern masters I'd consider is Robert Anton Wilson (who was, of course, an admirer of Crowley). His nonfiction essays on reality in particular.
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# ? Nov 16, 2015 16:40 |
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precision posted:Well, I also wish people understood that he actively discouraged and detested black magickal practices, contrary to what almost everyone (even people who have read some of his stuff) believes. I don't think Crowley himself would have wished for that. I'm pretty sure the fact that he was (and in some contexts continues to be) held up as some kind of "evil Satanic witch doctor" etc. in popular consciousness was something that pleased him. He'd probably be far more irritated with the wankers that claim "Thelema" is their religion.
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# ? Nov 16, 2015 16:45 |
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Earwicker posted:I don't think Crowley himself would have wished for that. I'm pretty sure the fact that he was (and in some contexts continues to be) held up as some kind of "evil Satanic witch doctor" etc. in popular consciousness was something that pleased him. That's true, no doubt - he was an agent provocateur for sure, but I've met so many people who profess to be experts on these matters who also still believe Crowley actually advocated black magick. They're usually the same ones who pronounce his name wrong.
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# ? Nov 16, 2015 17:31 |
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Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies is a great read if you want a decent overview of the development and spread of various occult books from ancient times up to the modern age.
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# ? Nov 16, 2015 19:30 |
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Earwicker posted:here is a cool book: I got this book and also this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Book-Symbols-Reflections-Archetypal/dp/3836514486 and both are really great and tho the second one is more to do with archetypes that come up across cultures than esoterica specifically it goes into the symbolism of loads of things and it's really cool!!
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# ? Nov 18, 2015 22:58 |
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My favorite thing about alchemy is that it shows how no one ever really got over greco-roman mythology and scientific thought.
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# ? Nov 22, 2015 03:37 |
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Was newton truly the last alchemist?
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# ? Nov 22, 2015 03:41 |
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Earwicker posted:here is a cool book: Go to love that angel: "Oh yeah? What do YOU want then?" She doesn't know he summoned her just to check her boobs out.
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# ? Nov 23, 2015 15:29 |
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Stravinsky posted:Was newton truly the last alchemist? No https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulcanelli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Cagliostro and that's of course without counting more modern people like Jung who made heavy use of many elements of spiritual or "philosophical" alchemy albeit in different and new contexts
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# ? Nov 23, 2015 15:36 |
Is there any one single book this thread would suggest for a BOTM nominee
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# ? Nov 23, 2015 19:02 |
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Is there any one single book this thread would suggest for a BOTM nominee Prometheus Rising: quote:Prometheus Rising is a book by Robert Anton Wilson first published in 1983. It is a guide book of "how to get from here to there", an amalgam of Timothy Leary's 8-circuit model of consciousness, Gurdjieff's self-observation exercises, Alfred Korzybski's general semantics, Aleister Crowley's magical theorems, Sociobiology, Yoga, relativity, and quantum mechanics, amongst other approaches to understanding the world around us, and claiming to be a short book (under 300 pages) about how the human mind works and how to get the most use from one. Wilson describes it as an "owner's manual for the human brain".
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# ? Nov 23, 2015 19:07 |
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Is there any one single book this thread would suggest for a BOTM nominee Since modern occultism has adopted Qabalah as its umbrella under which it has linked all the other arts, I would highly suggest: The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford: Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist from Amazon: quote:A unique and humorous -- and also practical -- approach to the increasingly popular study of Qabalah. This is a seriously funny book! Traditional Qabalistic (or Cabalistic, or, indeed, Kabbalistic -- read this book to find out what the difference is...we know you've always wondered) sources tend to be a bit, er, dry. DuQuette spices up the Qabalah and makes it come alive, restoring the joy of learning the fundamentals of this admittedly arcane system by using simple, amusing anecdotes and metaphors. This account, written psuedepigraphically (fictitiously attributed to a supposed authority), allows DuQuette as Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford to soar to outrageous heights and, when necessary, stand apart from the silliness to highlight the golden eggs of Qabalistic wisdom nested therein. Sure to be a revelation to those who think that learning about the Qabalah needs to be tedious and serious, DuQuette shows that great truths can be transmitted through the medium of laughter. * A Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist . It's an extremely light and short read and doesnt take itself as serious as a lot of other stuff (it's not dumb humor either, it's pretty drat funny). Despite this, it's jam packed with infortmation and spiritual depth. For anyone who has a passing interest in this stuff, The Chicken Qabalah is a pretty great place to start.
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# ? Nov 24, 2015 14:51 |
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I can't imagine a way of making a book on an esoteric tradition less appealing than stressing how light and funny the book is. Like if you didn't want to read dense tomes why the heck would you be interested in occult subjects in the first place.
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# ? Nov 25, 2015 02:56 |
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A human heart posted:I can't imagine a way of making a book on an esoteric tradition less appealing than stressing how light and funny the book is. Like if you didn't want to read dense tomes why the heck would you be interested in occult subjects in the first place. Because I would imagine that most people are not going to want to tackle a dense brick like Liber ABA or The Secret Teachings of All Ages for a web forum's book club? And maybe thats because of the nature of esoteric studies getting through one of the greater books on theory, that is meant to be studied and not just read,is pretty unrealistic. If you're picking up a giant tome and reading it cover to cover then you're missing the point. The Chicken Qabalah is a good introduction into occult teachings. The fact that it's able to retain a great amount of depth while also being simple and humorous is a plus. I can't think of anything worse than choosing a dense text on esoteric systems as a book of the month. And before you dismiss the book you should probably uhh, read it? Perhaps a better practical suggestion would be The Kybalion by the Three Initiates. It's a great commentary and presentation of the basic Hermetic principles. It's short, but it's heady material. Lil Mama Im Sorry fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Nov 25, 2015 |
# ? Nov 25, 2015 03:47 |
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I didn't say it was a bad book, it might well be good, the description just makes it sound bad. also I didn't actually see the part where you suggested it as a book club thing, it makes much more sense as that because trying to get this forum to read anything is an achievement in itself.
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# ? Nov 25, 2015 08:07 |
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# ? May 3, 2024 11:36 |
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A human heart posted:I can't imagine a way of making a book on an esoteric tradition less appealing than stressing how light and funny the book is. Like if you didn't want to read dense tomes why the heck would you be interested in occult subjects in the first place. Have you ever read any Robert Anton Wilson? Humor is the sharpest sword in the shed sometimes.
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# ? Nov 30, 2015 21:41 |