Occult Knowledge

Under construction.

Traditions

Spiral Dance, by Starhawk, is generally regarded as the “Wicca 101” introductory tome. The more recent edition, published ten years after the original, is a very interesting read: it is not edited from the original, but she has added a great number of footnotes that illuminate her new perspectives after a decade of maturation. It is a well-written introduction to modern Wicca.

Thomas Cleary’s The Essential Tao presents the Tao Te Ching and Chuang-Tzu in a clear English translation, with thorough footnotes in the back, and is the best introduction to Taoist philosophy that I have yet seen.

No matter how many deranged things the more extreme followers of Islam may perpetrate, the Sufis will always be around to show the cool side of the religion. Tales from the Land of the Sufis, by Mojdeh Bayat and Mohammad Ali Jamnia, is a delight to read.

Akira Sadakata’s Buddhist Cosmology is an interesting look at the Buddhist view of the structure of the universe. I suspect it is not the best introduction to the views of Buddhism itself, but I’m still looking for a good starting point.

Mythology

Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces is a fascinating look at the common patterns of human myth; it isn’t a casual read, but is not as heavy going and academic as Jung’s Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious.

Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths is my usual reference for the Greek mythos, as it relates the tales of the Greek titans, gods, and heroes with extensive footnotes on their historical context; I am more apt to turn to it than Bulfinch’s Mythology. Graves’ The White Goddess is an intriguing look at the currents of myth, though very heavy going.

Divination

Sallie Nichols’ Jung and Tarot is an insightful look at the Major Arcana from the perspective of Jungian psychology. I have found it to be valuable in getting a grasp on the symbolic nature of the Tarot, which helps to pick up a gestalt of the Tarot without hitting the reference books.

Reference

Nigel Pennick’s Magical Alphabets is a good reference, giving details on the Hebrew and Greek alphabets and their correspondences in Qaballah and gematri, Norse runes, the varieties of Ogham, and symbolic connotations of all of these and more.

The Tarot Dictionary and Compendium by Jana Riley is a collection of other authors’ views on various Tarot cards; I usually pull it out when I’m doing a reading at home. I still find Waite’s original Pictoral Key to the Tarot quite helpful, even though I know Waite was putting some deliberate disinformation in there, and use a modified Rider-Waite deck myself. I personally use the Universal Waite deck, which follows the original Rider-Waite pattern but has finer lines and more delicate coloring, taking advantage of improvements in printing technology. I’ve enjoyed looking at the Tarot of the Cat People (which I may use as source material for an area in a high fantasy world sometime) and got a big laugh out of the Alice in Wonderland deck, but am hesitant to perform divinations where the Chariot is drawn by giant tabbies or the suits include Oysters, Flamingoes, and Peppergrinders.