Hey everyone I wanted to make a thread to discuss books. Ones weāve read, ones we wished we hadnāt or had, maybe the origins of certain techniques or methodology. Let us know what youāre reading and if you find it interesting enough tell us why we might want to add it to our reading list.
Iāll start us.
Iām reading āAgainst the Lightā by Kenneth Grant. I got this title from an LHP practicioner on FB who was critical of Karlssen and his Dragon Rouge Order materials and itās take on Sitrah Achra and Qlippoth. I really am not thoroughly read with modern writers on the subject. My reading this far is mostly old Hebrew theological texts, and that is only gonna take you so far, itās like thinking you know something because of someone elseās experience or description. You may get some insights this way but youāre not going to really know whatās the distortions in perspective are until you can compare with your own experience. So I e started, gingerly with the modern pure LhP authors ideas on the matter and itās helping alot.
Now that was a mouthfulā¦I said all that to Segway to this. Grants āAgainst the Lightā has had me hooked from the first 50 pages. Itās not like his other books I e read that I couldnāt understand enough of to motivate me to more than skim of even finish. This is a great book. Itās not a theological text, or LHP UPG love fest Grant style, idk, itās really hard to describe what this is like. I actually kinda feel like Iām reading Dion fortune fiction or Crowley fiction, or even Lovecraft occult horrorā¦ itās good stuff so far. Like Crowley, Lovecraft and Fortune loved to weave spiritual truths, and even technique into their fiction, grant is kinda doing the same thing but with his own way. His other books were really hard to read without having a masters degree Kaballah, gematria, etc. This is smooth and goes down easy.
I recommend this book to other people.
Care to share?
Edit update:. Please share with me (us rather) any book youve read or are reading now that you think could benefit us, or be an enjoyable read.
Are we talking books about praxis, or books in general?
If the former, the last I read was Peter J Carrollās The Apophenion, which I loved 90% of. It is the perfect mix of metaphysics and quantum mechanics which I personally adore. Giving some scientific (or as some might argue, pseudoscientific) approach to Chaos Magick, or any metaphysical praxis in general, in a very well-thought-out and structured manner.
It is quite dense and takes a bit of willpower to read in entirety, but I do love Carrollās works, and I think it is absolutely worth reading.
I prolly should have specified that and Iāll update my OP. My intention is basically just any book ( occultist) that youve read or are reading that think others would benefit from or would enjoy.
Way cool! Chaos Magick in general is something Iāve had on my āto exploreā list of to dos for like ten years. I donāt know why or how it always gets back burnered by something else I got going on. I read the psychonaut and liked that alot and do have the basics of the A.O. spare sigil technique down pat. I probably could benefit from P.Carrolls book.
I like books that use a scientific approach or pseudo scientific approach to illustrate their points.
For the books I read at the momentā¦ There is a few lol, I always read multiple books at the same time (bad thing to do).
I want to learn sex magick lately, so Iām reading āSex, Sorcery, and Spiritā by Jason Miller. Itās very well explained so far, he gives some breathing methods at the start, ways to sense energyā¦ Iām still at the start, but so far I like it.
āWitch Queens, Voodoo Spirits, & Hoodoo Saintsā by Denise Alvarado, itās pretty interesting, explains some of the lore of New Orleans quite well.
And then Iām reading āArchetypes and the Collective Unconsciousā by Carl Jung. Do I really need to explain ?
There is a lot of other books I bought that I still havenāt read yet, probably over 10-20
Been years, so Iāve been inspired by this thread to reread it, but I do recall really liking it and finding it inspiring.
I do admit to having some of the same reservations to Eastern Taoist systems that I have towards Western Ceremonial magic, by-and-large. But I really liked this book.
Now, as with all things, this school is controversial (Mo Pai). Especially with the Western-Eastern divide. But I did like the book. It should be read more as inspirational material.
I think this was (close enough) to the first video that led me to look into it.
Edit - here is a video of one of his students explaining what some of the issues were.
