Source books

Books

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296 books of 370 · showing 201–250 · oldest first

Astrology 1

  1. 1918; this printing 1919

    The Message of the Stars

    Max Heindel and Augusta Foss Heindel

    The second lookup table after Leo's, and the larger: chapters titled plainly SATURN IN THE TWELVE HOUSES, MERCURY IN THE TWELVE SIGNS, and so on through the planets.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Rosicrucianism

    Read at archive.org ↗

Freemasonry 1

  1. 1922

    The Meaning of Masonry

    W. L. Wilmshurst

    Primary source Unmeasured

    Read at sacred-texts.com ↗

Tarot 1

  1. 1913

    The Symbolism of the Tarot

    P. D. Ouspensky

    Primary source Unmeasured also The Fourth Way

    Read at sacred-texts.com ↗

Theosophy and its descendants 8

  1. 1922

    Initiation, Human and Solar

    Alice A. Bailey

    Describes a hierarchy of Masters and the stages of spiritual initiation.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    Read at sacred-texts.com ↗

  2. 1922

    Letters on Occult Meditation

    Alice A. Bailey

    Meditation taught as part of occult initiation.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  3. 1925

    The Masters and the Path

    C. W. Leadbeater

    On the Masters and the stages of the spiritual path.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  4. 1925

    A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

    Alice A. Bailey

    Her gigantic metaphysical cosmology of energies, rays, planes and cosmic evolution.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  5. 1927

    The Chakras

    C. W. Leadbeater

    An enormously influential Western reinterpretation of the Indian chakra system.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  6. 1934

    A Treatise on White Magic

    Alice A. Bailey

    A practical and theoretical account of spiritual development and magical service.

    Primary source Minor

    No free edition

  7. 1936–1960, later volumes posthumous

    A Treatise on the Seven Rays

    Alice A. Bailey

    A multi-volume system correlating seven fundamental energies with psychology, astrology and spiritual evolution.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  8. 1948

    The Reappearance of the Christ

    Alice A. Bailey

    Anticipates a renewed manifestation of a universal spiritual teacher.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

Thelema 6

  1. 1919

    Liber CXCIV

    Aleister Crowley

    The O.T.O.'s constitution as Crowley published it in the third volume of The Equinox: eleven degrees arranged in three triads, and an account of what a grade is for.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    Read at archive.org ↗

  2. written at the Abbey of Thelema; printed 1929

    Liber Samekh

    Aleister Crowley

    A long recension of the invocation Crowley had printed at the front of the 1904 Goetia, divided into lettered sections with a commentary that gives each of the barbarous names...

    Primary source Unmeasured also The Golden Dawn

    Read at archive.org ↗ and 1 more edition

  3. 1944

    The Book of Thoth

    Aleister Crowley

    Crowley's account of the Tarot system embodied in the deck painted by Frieda Harris.

    Primary source Notable also Tarot

    Read at hermetic.com ↗

  4. received/written February–March 1946

    Liber 49

    Jack Parsons

    Parsons regarded it as a divinely received continuation or complement to Crowley's Book of the Law.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Twentieth-century magic

    No free edition

  5. 1949

    The Book of Antichrist

    Jack Parsons

    A short manifesto announcing his magical identity and rejection of oppressive moral structures.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Twentieth-century magic

    No free edition

  6. essays, collected later

    Freedom Is a Two-Edged Sword

    Jack Parsons

    Essays on liberty, magic and society, gathered after his death.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Twentieth-century magic

    No free edition

The Fourth Way 4

  1. 1931

    A New Model of the Universe

    P. D. Ouspensky

    Connects cosmology, recurrence, psychology and esoteric traditions.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  2. 1950, posthumous

    Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

    G. I. Gurdjieff

    A vast and deliberately difficult allegorical cosmology meant to interrupt habitual thought.

    Primary source Notable

    No free edition

  3. 1963, posthumous

    Meetings with Remarkable Men

    G. I. Gurdjieff

    Semi-autobiographical narratives of his search for wisdom.

    Primary source Minor

    No free edition

  4. posthumous, 1970s

    Life Is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'

    G. I. Gurdjieff

    An unfinished third series concerned more directly with inner work.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

Twentieth-century magic 7

  1. 1913

    The Book of Pleasure

    Austin Osman Spare

    Spare's central statement on desire, the subconscious, sigils and the state he called neither-neither.

    Primary source Minor

    No free edition

  2. 1921

    The Focus of Life

    Austin Osman Spare

    An illustrated continuation of his magical and psychological system.

    Primary source Minor

    No free edition

  3. received 1923–24; published in parts from 1925

    The Cosmic Doctrine

    Dion Fortune

    An elaborate cosmogony which Fortune said was communicated by inner-plane teachers.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  4. 1930

    Psychic Self-Defence

    Dion Fortune

    Her best-known practical book, interpreting psychological and interpersonal danger through an occult model.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  5. 1932

    The Tree of Life

    Israel Regardie

    A systematic introduction to ceremonial magic written before his Golden Dawn initiation.

    Primary source Unmeasured also The Golden Dawn

    No free edition

  6. 1935

    The Mystical Qabalah

    Dion Fortune

    A readable synthesis of the Golden Dawn Tree of Life, Christian mysticism and Fortune's own psychological interpretation.

    Primary source Unmeasured also The Golden Dawn

    Read at globalgreyebooks.com ↗

  7. 1938

    The Middle Pillar

    Israel Regardie

    Connects a Golden Dawn body exercise with psychotherapy and helped make the practice one of the order's most widely adopted techniques.

    Primary source Unmeasured also The Golden Dawn

    No free edition

Traditionalism 9

  1. 1921

    Introduction to the Study of the Hindu Doctrines

    René Guénon

    Establishes his distinction between traditional metaphysics and modern Western philosophy.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  2. 1921

    Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion

    René Guénon

    A hostile critique of Blavatskian Theosophy.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Theosophy and its descendants

    No free edition

  3. 1923

    The Spiritist Fallacy

    René Guénon

    Critiques Spiritualism and mediumistic explanations of the dead.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Mesmerism and Spiritualism

    No free edition

  4. 1925

    The Esoterism of Dante

    René Guénon

    Interprets Dante through initiatory and symbolic traditions.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  5. 1927

    The Crisis of the Modern World

    René Guénon

    Diagnoses modern civilisation as spiritually inverted and cut off from traditional principles.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  6. 1927

    The King of the World

    René Guénon

    Traditions of a hidden supreme spiritual centre.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  7. 1931

    The Symbolism of the Cross

    René Guénon

    Uses the cross as a metaphysical symbol of multiple states of being.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  8. 1932

    The Multiple States of Being

    René Guénon

    One of his most rigorous metaphysical works.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  9. 1945

    The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times

    René Guénon

    His great critique of modern materialism and the reduction of quality to quantity.

    Primary source Notable

    No free edition

Modern witchcraft 6

  1. 1949

    High Magic's Aid

    Gerald Gardner

    A novel used to place ritual material into print before Gardner could write publicly about a living witch religion.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  2. 1954

    Witchcraft Today

    Gerald Gardner

    Gardner's first public nonfiction account of the religion he called the witch cult.

    Primary source Notable

    No free edition

  3. 1959

    The Meaning of Witchcraft

    Gerald Gardner

    A broader defence and historical interpretation of modern witchcraft.

    Primary source Minor

    No free edition

  4. 1973

    An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present

    Doreen Valiente

    An alphabetical introduction joining folklore, ritual practice and the history of modern witchcraft.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  5. 1975

    Natural Magic

    Doreen Valiente

    A practical account of magic using ordinary materials and local landscapes.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  6. 1978

    Witchcraft for Tomorrow

    Doreen Valiente

    Presents adaptable rites for readers without access to an initiatory coven.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

Late-modern and chaos magic 7

  1. 1969

    The Satanic Bible

    Anton Szandor LaVey

    The foundational statement of LaVeyan Satanism, combining polemic, ritual and an individualist ethic.

    Primary source Landmark

    No free edition

  2. 1972

    The Magical Revival

    Kenneth Grant

    The first of the Typhonian Trilogies, rereading Crowley and modern occultism through Tantra, dream and hidden correspondences.

    Primary source Notable also Thelema

    No free edition

  3. 1972

    The Satanic Rituals

    Anton Szandor LaVey

    A collection of group rites drawing freely on literary and historical sources.

    Primary source Notable

    No free edition

  4. 1977

    Nightside of Eden

    Kenneth Grant

    Develops a shadow-side reading of the Qabalistic Tree and the tunnels associated with it.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Thelema

    No free edition

  5. 1978

    The Book of Results

    Ray Sherwin's early practical account of sigils and results-oriented magic.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  6. 1978

    Liber Null

    Peter J. Carroll

    A stripped-down magical curriculum emphasising altered states or 'gnosis', sigils, belief manipulation and practical experimentation.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition

  7. 1982

    Psychonaut

    Peter J. Carroll

    Extends the approach into group magic, paradigms and broader magical theory.

    Primary source Unmeasured

    No free edition