Recommended Witch Books:

Tag: cosmology

Plato’s Complete Works

Complete Works

5 stars

Plato, ed. John M. Cooper & D. S. Hutchinson (Hackett, 1997)

Review:

You can learn more about magic and Witchcraft from a handful of Plato's dialogues than you can from a warehouse-full of popular modern books. *Diuvei recommends in particular the Republic, the Symposium, Timaeus & Critias, Phaedo, and the Apology.

Tags

Witchcraft Basics

Golden Bough, The

The Golden Bough: The Classic Study In Magic

4 stars

Sir James G. Frazier (1890 et seq.; this reprint by Papermac, 1990)

Review:

Magical myths, folklore, customs, and practices of cultures worldwide compiled by a Scottish anthropologist. While its material is sometimes scattered or specious, it remains a valuable resource. (Actual book cover not shown.)

Tags

Witchcraft Basics

Spiral Dance

The Spiral Dance A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess

3 stars

Starhawk (Harper-Collins Publishers, 1999)

Review:

An eclectic primer about ancient and modern Goddess-worship and Pagan cosmology; written by a contemporary magical practitioner and co-founder of the Reclaiming trad.

Tags

Witchcraft Basics

Goodly Spellbook, The

The Goodly Spellbook: Olde Spells for Modern Problems

5 stars

Lady Passion (Dixie Deerman) & *Diuvei (Steven Rasmussen) (Sterling Publishing, 2nd edition, 2014)

Amazon Smile: Choose Coven Oldenwilde

Review:

Illustrated, definitive, fascinating guide to Witchcraft that explains how everyone can use common ingredients to work effective magic to help themselves, others, and the planet; written by trained, experienced Gardnerians.

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Witchcraft Basics

Amazon Smile: Choose Coven Oldenwilde

Plato’s Republic

Republic

4 stars

Plato, translated by C.D.C. Reeve (Hackett, 2004)

Review:

A seminal tome by a Classical Pagan who argued that archetypal ideas govern matter and time, and explains magic’s philosophical bases.

Tags

Witchcraft Basics

Drawing Down the Moon

Review:

Craft history, information about diverse magical practitioners, groups, and Covens, and resources; written by a traditionally trained Gardnerian Witch; the author included information about Coven Oldenwilde in this 20th-anniversary update of her 1986 original edition.

Tags

Witchcraft Basics

Alexandria: The Journal Of The Western Cosmological Traditions

Alexandria 1: The Journal of Western Cosmological Traditions

4 stars

Vol. 1, ed. David Fideler (1991 Phanes Press)

Alexandria 2: The Journal of Western Cosmological Traditions

4 stars

Vol. 2, ed. David Fideler (1994 Phanes Press)

Alexandria 3: The Journal of Western Cosmological Traditions

4 stars

Vol. 3, ed. David Fideler (1995 Phanes Press)

Alexandria 4: The Order & Beauty of Nature

4 stars

Vol. 4, ed. David Fideler (1997 Phanes Press)

Alexandria 5: Cosmology, Philosophy, Myth, & Culture

4 stars

Vol. 5, ed. David Fideler (2000 Phanes Press)

Review:

Explorations of Pagan topics such as the Life of Hypatia, an Orphic Hymn to Artemis, the Sacred Geography of the Ancient Greeks, The Science & Art of Animating Statues, and Pythagorean Harmonics, etc.; written by academic researchers and magical practitioners.

Tags

Witchcraft Basics