From: Raven <JSINGLE@MUSIC.LIB.MATC.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.magick
Subject: RE: Okay, I'll try this group...
Date: 19 JUL 94 19:53:53 EST

Giles Christie (giles@wizard.etsu.edu) writes:

>I am interested in learning more about the spiritual world (or whatever)

At the top of the reading list my wife and I have distributed for the
past three years are five books we label as good "General Advice":

Marion Weinstein,     POSITIVE MAGIC
Dione Fortune,        PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE
                      SANE OCCULTISM
                      THE TRAINING AND WORK OF AN INITIATE
Robert Anton Wilson,  PROMETHEUS RISING

Becoming familiar with those -- especially with what Weinstein calls
the "Inner Bell" in her "Ten Foot Pole" chapter -- should help keep
you from many of the worse mistakes.  This does NOT mean that I agree
with everything in those books, and in fact one thing you should learn
quickly is NOT to believe too much of what you read anywhere, but
these at least are on the side of a sane and healthy approach to
occultism.

Other books you might then want to study:

Margot Adler,         DRAWING DOWN THE MOON
Adam Smith,           POWERS OF MIND
Robert Anton Wilson,  COSMIC TRIGGER
                      ISHTAR RISING
Hans Holzer,          THE NEW PAGANS
P.E.I. Bonewits,      REAL MAGIC  (see the Cult Danger frame in back)
Pauwels and Bergier,  THE MORNING OF THE MAGICIANS
Colin Wilson,         THE OCCULT

Charles G. Leland,    ARADIA:  GOSPEL OF THE WITCHES
Robert Graves,        THE WHITE GODDESS
Margaret Murray,      THE WITCH-CULT IN WESTERN EUROPE
                      THE GOD OF THE WITCHES
Lucius Apuleius,      THE GOLDEN ASS
Sir James Frazer,     THE NEW GOLDEN BOUGH (ed. Theodor H. Gaster)
Munro S. Edmonson,    LORE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF FOLKLORE..
Robert Eisler,        MAN INTO WOLF
Joseph Campbell (ed), THE MYSTERIES
Israel Regardie,      RITUALS OF THE GOLDEN DAWN
Eliphas Levi,         TRANSCENDENTAL MAGIC
A.E. Waite,           THE BOOK OF BLACK MAGIC AND CEREMONIAL MAGIC
Gerald B. Gardner,    WITCHCRAFT TODAY
                      THE MEANING OF WITCHCRAFT
Vivianne Crowley,     WICCA:  THE OLD RELIGION IN THE NEW AGE
Stewart Farrar,       WHAT WITCHES DO
Starhawk,             THE SPIRAL DANCE
Z Budapest,           THE GRANDMOTHER OF TIME
                      HOLY WOMEN'S MYSTERIES
Michael Harner,       THE WAY OF THE SHAMAN
Eden Gray,            MASTERING THE TAROT
R.G.H. Siu,           THE PORTABLE DRAGON  (I Ching for Westerners)
Paul Huson,           MASTERING WITCHCRAFT  <<caution!>>
Aleister Crowley,     MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE  <<extra caution!>>


That should keep you busy for a while!

"Raven"    (JSingle@Music.Lib.MATC.Edu)    Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA