Reference · About
Further afield
Recommendations, which is to say opinions. Everything else on this site reports what a source says and labels how well it is attested; this page is simply what I have found worth the time.
Podcasts
-
The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast Earl Fontainelle
A chronological history of Western esotericism from the ancient Mediterranean forward, working through the primary sources with specialists and taking the ideas seriously as ideas. The closest thing in audio to the project this site is attempting.
Begins at the beginning and proceeds in order; the early episodes are the place to start rather than the newest.
-
Conversations on magic and the occult with practitioners and writers.
Baker is a practicing ceremonial magician and Golden Dawn temple chief with Martinist and Masonic initiations, so the channel blends history, theory, and hands-on practice from within the Western Esoteric Tradition.
-
Interviews across magic, the occult and the esoteric, wide in range and unbothered about where the boundaries of the subject are.
-
Magick Without Fears, Hermetic Podcast Frater R∴C∴
Hermetic and ceremonial practice worked through at length, episode by episode, by a host who is plainly doing it rather than reading about it.
One show under two names: the feed titles it HERMETIC PODCAST with Frater R∴C∴ and subtitles it Magick Without Fears. Frater R∴C∴ has a unique personality, and multiple interesting guests.
Video channels
-
Esoterica Dr Justin Sledge
Academic history of magic, Kabbalah, Hermetism and the grimoire tradition, read out of the primary texts and their scholarship. Where this site cites an edition, this channel is often the clearest explanation of what is in it. Dr. Justin Sledge is great at thorough yet engaging discussions. His lengthy seminar courses are free, and provide a very thorough context for the entirety of Esoteric/Occult practices.
-
Thelema and Crowley's material discussed and explored in depth by a long-standing practitioner, with a low tolerance for the received story and a unique perspective.
-
Western esoteric and ceremonial material worked through at length and in the open. Frater Eleftheria explores a lot of Enochian magic concepts very thoroughly.
-
Golden Dawn ritual and its history from an author who has spent decades in the orders and writing about their documents.
Newsletters
-
Essays on magical orders, their papers and their quarrels, from inside the tradition rather than at a distance from it.
Books
-
Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation Aryeh Kaplan
The translation and commentary this site leans on for the Gra arrangement of the Tree, with the variant texts set beside one another instead of merged.
-
Kabbalah Gershom Scholem
The standard historical account of Jewish mysticism, and the source behind much of what this site says about where the sefirot and Da'at came from.
-
The Golden Dawn Israel Regardie
The order's papers published in one place. This site cites it by page and never quotes it, because its copyright position is not settled — see the rituals section.
-
The Secrets of Alchemy Lawrence Principe
What the alchemists were actually doing, by a historian who repeats their procedures. The corrective to reading alchemy as nothing but psychology.