Books that have been most influential on you
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This is embarrassing to admit, but "The DaVinci Code" made a big difference for me. Sure it was bubblegum, and just blindly followed the Pierre Plantard hoax down a rather pointless rabbit hole.
It was '03, I had just left the fundamentalist religion of my upbringing, and had zero knowledge of anything esoteric. Suddenly I had topics such as gnosticism and the apocrypha to explore. Within months I had read easily a dozen books on those subjects, and had taken my first communion ever - at a gnostic mass of the Ecclessia Gnostica (a pre-Nicene Christian Church). It was in searching for a similar gnostic mass in Southern California that I stumbled on the Thelemic version of the gnostic mass (which was more than a little different!) without really having any concept of magick or Aleister Crowley.
It would be nice to list all the other 'deeper' books I read and claim they influenced me dramatically, but the first eye-opener always takes the cake. Which is why I don't get huffy about the watered-down occult ideas spread through mainstream movies and books.
More recently (since December), Jung's "Memories Dreams Reflections" was hugely influential. For the first time, I had an understanding of why I was butting my head against the wall, psychologically, for so long, and an idea of how to fix it. It prompted some separate research into the archetypes, and once again, I had some major eye-openers.
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Witchcraft Today by Gerald Gardner. I had just turned 15, was a freshman in high school, and was at the house of a dude that my brother met through one of his classes. He had a whole book shelf on magick and I asked him what it was all about. He took that book off of his shelf and handed it to me. I sat down and read the whole book right there (it's not very long). I borrowed a few other books of his to take home with me. That's what started it all for me 13 years ago.
My Rosicrucian Adventure by Israel Regardie. Saw this at the library when I was 17. I had been practicing Wicca for the past 2 years but was exploring other things, such as buddhism. Ran into Regardie's book and read it and soon read his others, which inevitably led me to Crowley.
Magick Without Tears: First book I read by Aleister Crowley, again when I was 17. 12 years later I've got most of his published works
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Man, too many. Some have already been listed. Celestine Prophecy, loved that one and the follow up. My first book in Thelema, the one that tipped me over the edge, was Equinox III:10, then Liber 333(Book of Lies). Obviously Liber AL. 777. MTP, and Book 4. Practical Magick(?) by William Grey. Psychic Self-Defense by Dion Fortune. Strangely enough, one the big ones was a real simple book by the Ciceros; I think it was called The Tree of Life, or something along the lines. Experienceing the Kabbalah? I forget.
The Magicians Companion, from Whitcomb. The Golden Dawn, by Regardie. Many odds and ends, short Libers by Crowley or To Meta Therion. A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, by Scott Cunningham, one the first I ever picked up. Buckland's big blue book, the Complete Book of Witchcraft)ah, the hours of toil with that book, my teacher, etc).
The Rosicrucian Cosme-Conception, by Max Heindel, founder of the Rosicrucian Fellowship. To Light a Thousand Lamps, by Grace F. Knoche of the Theosophical Society, along with numerous HPB books I studied under them. Interesting stuff.
I have to agree with Avshalom, though without the "shame," I loved DaVinci Code. The movie and book made a strange impact on me in relation to the ideal of sacrifice and surrender, of life, what is considered holy, human blindness, etc. As did Anne Rice' Memnoch the Devil. They put into perspective certain ideas and emotions that I had previously been unaware of.
The Book of Thoth. Gemstones from the Equinox. Nietzsche's works on Zarathustra and the Overman. St. Thomas Aquinas, various papers by him--other philosophers too.
Liber Null, and a couple others on Chaoism. I went on a little tangent after Liber Null. The whole thing was just a tangent, but I did learn a good bit from it. Many things from it stick with me, including the whole C.H.A.O.S.(Confidence, Honor, Attentiveness, Organization, and Sensitivity), gnosis, etc.
I think I'll shut up there before my memory jogs loose any more. Lol. -
I have always been a voracious reader. My Mum read legions and legions of books to me, but I recall my fathers choices really got my juices flowing. He loved to read Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss did not just write books, he created new words, new worlds, new ideas (all in magickal verse too!) and made me understand that anything is possible, and what I expierence in my reality is just a fraction of what is out there.
I have always read fairy tales, folklore and mythology from all cultures and found a wealth of information and mental fodder (froth;) in them.
My very first occult book was The Black Arts by Richard Cavendish. Highly recommended. I recall I had been struggling with astrology as a teen and his chapter was just what i needed to fill in the blanks. But it was his chapters on numerology that really lifted the veil for me and showed another way to see.
After reading that book I found a copy of The Spiral Dance by Starhawk misfiled in the book store. I was looking for another book on astrology and found that. The idea of a balance, of The Goddess, and a womens spirituality "movement" was just what this teenager needed.
One thing I was taught when looking at a book, open it from the back first. I have been led to some great books by reading about them in a bibliography, footnote or appendix. In fact the book that I read from for years was Magic, Witchcraft, and Paganism in America. A Bibliography By J. Gordon Melton. Complied from the files of the Institute for the study of American Religion 1982.
This book does not get "into" each subject (just a cursory paraphrasing to introduce each subject) but gives (at the time of publication) a exhasutive listing of materials on each subject, some titles dating back hundreds of years. Appendix II is a listing of the curriculum of the A.A.I was able to get my hands on many many obsure titles due to the listing in this bibliography. So I would say that stumbling upon this book helped me the most grow magickally.
As a former member of The Church of All Worlds I would be remiss if I didnt share that Stranger in a Strange World deeply moved me. Of course the bi-monthly "GreenEgg" magazine was also immensly helpful to me to stay connected with CAW. I also ~always~ share Oberons piece " We are the Other People" original.caw.org/articles/otherpeople.html
very nice piece that shuts alot of flapping tounges.I have grown up a lot magickly. When I first started studying I wanted (and did!) spell work and rituals all the time.
I read lots and lots of magick books (I think i helped generate the boom in Llewellyn books in the mid 80's and 90's!). It wasnt until I started listening to what I'll call "Mother Earth Spirituality" that I was able to concider really working magick. The teachings of Tribal Lore, or Indegineous Peoples really woke me up, and spoke loud and clear to me.Daniel Quinn's Ishmael (and the 2 that followed) put a new perspective on where humanity had been, and where it was going. From this teaching I can pretty much wrap my mind around anything.
3 years ago I had a very real and magickal expierence with my printer and found on my harddrive a copy of a book called The Flower of Life by Drunvalo Melkiezediek. That book not only knocked my socks off, but really put a bug in my ear so to speak. While Drunvalo is an acquired taste, and pretty far out in many regards the science of the FOL is hard to dispute. I have been able to do more positive Work using the FOL and the Seed of Life then any other system (and Yes, the FOL has the blessed Tree of Life upon which the kabalah is based).
Bruce Lipton's the Biology of Belief is paradim blowing IMO.
Gregg Braden's books are wonderful and his newest (?) Fractual Time is right on.
Johnathan Goldman's book Sacred Sounds is a nice cursory of the ideas of vibration and resonace
(all 4 of these men work together from my understanding)Having worked in the fields of Library Science for 15 years or so, I have seen a lot of books go in and out. I have talked to tons of people about the books they are reading and have found that some books are worth letting the libraries purchase so you can just borrow them, and return them. Other books you will want to have a copy on your shelves.
Like most things in life, I have found that my reading topics have evolved and changed. I think that is a good thing. While I think Buckland and Cunningham do a great service to newbies, and Dion will never be far from my hands it is worthwhile, no estential to read all subjects. Crowley states that in his A.A. curriculum to seek the harmony in all works, and to guard against partisanship with a favorite author (even himself I am sure;).
Being that this is National Library Week (and last week was I am sure someother wierd week like National Pet your Dog Week) I will plug to all that libraries are a great resource, and that you will be able to get yourhands on many out of print, hard to find, ineresting works becuase of the cooperation between fellow book lovers.
When I started my Work I knew that while I had no teacher incarnate, that I would be guided and provided with materials, inforamtion, resources and contacts to help me Work. I have never questioned the books that fell to my feet, hit me on the head, or were referred by a total stranger at the bus stop. When the Student is ready.....
if I had read Ishmael years ago it would have meant the same, I wouldn't have gotten the some thing out of it....
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Here are some books that to some extent were pivotal influences.
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[:avd4cmi4]Dune - Frank Herbert[/
avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]Trance-formations - Grinder & Bandler[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]Voltaires Bastards - John Ralston Saul[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling - John Taylor Gatto[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]The Way of Zen - Alan Watts[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]Marriage of Heaven and Hell - William Blake[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]Christ Conspiracy - Acharya S[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]Secret Teachings of All Ages - Manly P Hall[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]A Treatise on White Magic - Alice Bailey[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]Mystical Qabalah - Dion Fortune[/avd4cmi4]
[:avd4cmi4]The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages - Paul Foster Case[/avd4cmi4] -
Rimbaud's 'Illuminations', is that all, honesty demands me that I didn't read that book yet, though have one question over, "is that all", I have no real business with your life, but I wish to know is there really not one book more that might have been a little elevating for you as well, just an honest question.
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"The Eye In The Triangle", "The Complete Golden Dawn System Of Magic", "The Tree of Life", by Israel Regardie, "Psychic Self Defense" by Dion Fortune, "The Law Is For All" by Crowley, these books were The Eyeopeners for me, ofcourse I read other books as well, though, do not yet know which place I have to give them in my life yet.
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Liber Legis
.....A.C. - Liber ABA
A.C. - Liber Aleph
A.C. - The Book of Thoth
J.A.E. - The Mystical & Magical System of the A.'.A.'.
Patanjali - Yoga Sutra
John Blofeld - I Ching/The book of Change (the first version of I Ching I encountered)
Swami Vivekananda - Raja Yoga; Jnana Yoga[ EDIT - Jun 30th 2010 --> ]
Israel Regardie's ''Middle Pillar''
I'm re-reading it now, and am suprised to see how years ago, when reading it for the first time, some of his words activated me to start doing regularly daily LBRP - and later to quit smoking, so I could breath properly (and later to do Pranayama etc)... - all in order to prepare myself for the MP exercise! this was the first serious book on magick I bought, without any reference or advice, I saw it on a street sale and just pick it up guided by pure intuition!.. and it was only couple of years after this that I encountered Crowley's works -
Interesting to see what bookish influences one has!
William Blake's Illuminated Works
Austin Osman Spare's Book of PLeasure
Sefer Yetzirah
Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript -
lol TinMan, I do hope you are referring to Bill Watterson's.
My son has devoured the entire collection this month,
he has learned more from those two characters then all of his grade school teachers combined.I have a great t-shirt with a Calvin running nude....Life is Short, Play Naked....
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Hmm, so many books ...
AC of course - mainly 8 Lectures on Yoga and Magick Without Tears, they're probably my favourites.
Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy - very inspiring to get you into philosophy, even though it's idiosyncratic as a history.
All the works of Daniel C. Dennett, Karl Popper, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche (my main fave philosophers)
Friedrich Hayek's works (re. economics and the structure of liberal society).
American comics were very influential on me as a child, and I still retain something of their sunny spirit and wild, liberal imagination.
I guess that's a pretty good cross-section, but there are tons of things that have influenced me, and new books keep influencing me too - for instance recently I've been very inspired by the work of the scholar/mystic Peter Kingsley (a book called Reality).
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@alysa said
"Rimbaud's 'Illuminations', is that all, honesty demands me that I didn't read that book yet, though have one question over, "is that all", I have no real business with your life, but I wish to know is there really not one book more that might have been a little elevating for you as well, just an honest question."
As far as influence is concerned, Rimbaud's method of rational derangement is most akin to my ideology, yes.
And yet this is no different than that selfsame process described by all great poets: the bycoming of Light by passage through Darkness.
As all true poetry proceeds from a single Source, 'tis a bit silly to make distinctions methinks.
"Nothing yet stirred on the face of the palaces. The water is dead. The shadows still camped in the woodland road. I walked, taking quick warm breaths, and gems looked on, and wings rose without a sound.
The first venture was, in a path already filled with fresh, pale gleams, a flower who told me her name.
I laughed at the blond waterfall that tousled through the pines: on the silver summit I recognized the goddess.
Then, one by one, I lifted up her veils. In the lane, waving my arms. Across the plain, where I notified the cock. In the city, she fled among the steeples and the domes, and running like a beggar on the marble quays, I chased her."
Sound like anybody we know?
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First off, let me say "hi" to everyone.
Mystical Quaballa
Tree of Life
ABA
Kybalion
Transcendental MagicLately I have been immersed into the Carlos Castaneda's, don Juan books. I am finding much value there now.
