Source books

Books

Start by searching for a title or author. Open Filters to narrow the list by tradition, the role a book played, whether a free edition is available, or how much public attention it receives. Last, choose date or name order. Every choice stays in the address, so you can bookmark the result or send the same list to someone else.

All 336 books · showing 251–300 · oldest first

  1. 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 Twentieth-century magic and The Golden Dawn

    No free edition

  2. 1939

    Jewish Magic and Superstition

    Joshua Trachtenberg

    Secondary source Unmeasured also Jewish scripture and tradition

    Read at sacred-texts.com ↗

  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 Thelema and Tarot

    Read at hermetic.com ↗

  4. 1944; English translation 1953

    Psychology and Alchemy

    C. G. Jung

    Jung's reading of alchemical imagery as a projection of psychic processes, and the book through which most twentieth-century readers met alchemy at all.

    Secondary source Notable also Alchemy

    No free edition

  5. 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 also Traditionalism

    No free edition

  6. 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 Thelema and Twentieth-century magic

    No free edition

  7. 1948

    The Reappearance of the Christ

    Alice A. Bailey

    Anticipates a renewed manifestation of a universal spiritual teacher.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Theosophy and its descendants

    No free edition

  8. 1949

    The Book of Antichrist

    Jack Parsons

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

    Primary source Unmeasured also Thelema and Twentieth-century magic

    No free edition

  9. 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 also Modern witchcraft

    No free edition

  10. 1949, posthumous

    In Search of the Miraculous

    P. D. Ouspensky

    Probably the clearest systematic account of Gurdjieff's early teaching.

    Formative source Notable also The Fourth Way

    No free edition

  11. 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 also The Fourth Way

    No free edition

  12. 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 Thelema and Twentieth-century magic

    No free edition

  13. 1954

    Witchcraft Today

    Gerald Gardner

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

    Primary source Notable also Modern witchcraft

    No free edition

  14. 1959

    The Meaning of Witchcraft

    Gerald Gardner

    A broader defence and historical interpretation of modern witchcraft.

    Primary source Minor also Modern witchcraft

    No free edition

  15. 1963, posthumous

    Meetings with Remarkable Men

    G. I. Gurdjieff

    Semi-autobiographical narratives of his search for wisdom.

    Primary source Minor also The Fourth Way

    No free edition

  16. 1969

    The Satanic Bible

    Anton Szandor LaVey

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

    Primary source Landmark also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  17. 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 Late-modern and chaos magic and Thelema

    No free edition

  18. 1972

    The Satanic Rituals

    Anton Szandor LaVey

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

    Primary source Notable also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  19. 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 also Modern witchcraft

    No free edition

  20. 1974

    Kabbalah

    Gershom Scholem

    Scholem's one-volume survey of Kabbalah: a historical essay on the basic ideas followed by encyclopaedia entries on texts, figures and terms.

    Secondary source Unmeasured also Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah

    No free edition

  21. 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 also The Fourth Way

    No free edition

  22. 1975

    Natural Magic

    Doreen Valiente

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

    Primary source Unmeasured also Modern witchcraft

    No free edition

  23. 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 Late-modern and chaos magic and Thelema

    No free edition

  24. 1978

    The Book of Results

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

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  25. 1978

    The Complete Enochian Dictionary

    Donald C. Laycock

    A linguist's dictionary and grammatical description of the angelic material, and the standard reference for it. Laycock counts about 250 words in the corpus, over half of them...

    Secondary source Unmeasured also Renaissance magic and Christian Cabala

    No free edition

  26. 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 also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  27. 1978

    Witchcraft for Tomorrow

    Doreen Valiente

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

    Primary source Unmeasured also Modern witchcraft

    No free edition

  28. 1982

    Psychonaut

    Peter J. Carroll

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

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  29. combined edition, 1987

    Liber Null & Psychonaut

    Peter J. Carroll

    The combined edition, and probably the defining textbook of chaos magic.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  30. 1989

    The Rebirth of Witchcraft

    Doreen Valiente

    Her memoir and internal history of the twentieth-century witchcraft revival.

    Secondary source Unmeasured also Modern witchcraft

    No free edition

  31. 1992

    Liber Kaos

    Peter J. Carroll

    Pushes his magical theories in increasingly mathematical and cosmological directions.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  32. 1993

    Prime Chaos

    Phil Hine

    Moves beyond beginner sigil magic toward ritual construction, group work and more developed practice.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  33. 1994

    Outer Gateways

    Kenneth Grant

    A late synthesis of Typhonian magic, dream, fiction and extra-human intelligence.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic and Thelema

    No free edition

  34. 1995

    Condensed Chaos

    Phil Hine

    Probably the most accessible introduction to chaos magic.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  35. 1995

    PsyberMagick

    Peter J. Carroll

    A playful, compressed collection of advanced chaos-magical ideas.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  36. 1996

    The Pseudonomicon

    Phil Hine

    Applies chaos-magical thinking to Lovecraftian imagery — illustrating the willingness to use a fictional symbolic system without requiring belief that it is historically or...

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  37. 2001

    Secrets of Nature: Astrology and Alchemy in Early Modern Europe

    edited by William R. Newman and Anthony Grafton

    The collection containing Principe and Newman's “Some Problems with the Historiography of Alchemy”, the essay that argues the spiritual reading is a Victorian and...

    Secondary source Unmeasured also Alchemy

    No free edition

  38. 2008

    The Apophenion

    Peter J. Carroll

    Continues his later speculative system.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  39. 2010

    The Octavo

    Peter J. Carroll

    Further development of the same speculative cosmology.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Late-modern and chaos magic

    No free edition

  40. undated

    The Book of Gates

    ancient Egyptian funerary text

    Primary source Landmark also Egyptian religion and magic

    Read at sacred-texts.com ↗

  41. undated

    Primary source Landmark also Egyptian religion and magic

    Read at sacred-texts.com ↗

  42. undated

    The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary

    Karl von Eckartshausen

    Primary source Unmeasured also Christian theosophy and Swedenborg

    Read at sacred-texts.com ↗

  43. written 1471; printed 1591

    The Compound of Alchymy

    George Ripley

    A verse treatise that divides the work into twelve gates, one to a chapter, from calcination to projection.

    Primary source Unmeasured also Alchemy

    Read at archive.org ↗ and 1 more edition

  44. undated

    Primary source Unmeasured also Egyptian religion and magic and Greek and Roman mysteries

    Read at sacred-texts.com ↗

  45. undated

    A Discourse of Fire and Salt

    Blaise de Vigenère

    Primary source Unmeasured also Alchemy

    Read at gutenberg.org ↗

  46. undated

    The Discoverie of Witchcraft

    Reginald Scot

    partially sceptical book published by Reginald Scot in 1584, intended as an exposé of early Modern witchcraft; contains a small section intended to show how the public was...

    Primary source Notable also Witchcraft and demonology

    Read at gutenberg.org ↗

  47. undated

    The Discovery of Witches

    Matthew Hopkins

    Primary source Unmeasured also Witchcraft and demonology

    Read at gutenberg.org ↗

  48. undated

    Esoteric Christianity

    Annie Besant

    Primary source Unmeasured also Theosophy and its descendants and Christian scripture and mysticism

    Read at gutenberg.org ↗

  49. undated

    The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy

    Attributed to Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

    Primary source Unmeasured also Grimoires and ritual magic and Renaissance magic and Christian Cabala

    Read at esotericarchives.com ↗

  50. undated

    Primary source Unmeasured also Modern witchcraft

    Read at sacred-texts.com ↗