what are the best occult books for a beginner to read?
Perhaps you've also spent quarantine watching a lot of occult movies, listening to Kate Bush, and generally looking for a sign from the forest gods on when, and how, this pandemmy will end. All the more than reason to build upwards an esoteric library capable of humoring that aspiring, hermetic haus witch bender (or at to the lowest degree helping you decode all the Satanic references in the Richard Ramirez documentary). It's not that we don't own some chilling literature. But, heretofore, our occult libraries consisted of a Borders (RIP) check-out line guidebook to the zodiac, c. 2007, and a VHS copy of The Last Unicorn (bangin' soundtrack, just saying). While we fully support such household vibe staples, we're looking to up the ante with more adult selections. More than range. We're finally ready, at the ripe historic period of 496 vampire years, to invest in books that both challenge, and enrich what we already love virtually esoteric and spiritual traditions.
Just SHEESH my banshees, where to begin? Maxim you want to build out a solid esoteric library is like saying you want to kickoff baking. Baking what? Well, that depends on what y'all want to eat. Personally, nosotros are fuelled past a charbroiled blend of Flaming Hot Cheetos, option tarot decks, bucatini, intersectional witchcraft, and OId Hollywood/Church building of Satan gossip. While the following short-listing is hardly a definitive guide to the earth(southward) of the occult, it'south a tasty place to starting time. We're looking for a blend of classic books with staying power on our shelves; reads that challenge u.s.a. on interpersonal, psychological levels, and others that merely tickle our fancy for a tea-leaf-reading gimmick. We want the new, hot releases and the horny 1970s staples. We want everything necessary to keep our level-ix quarantine spirit, and our cauldron bubbles.
One that doubles as a gorgeous java-table book
Leave it to TASCHEN, masters of tome-y art books, to create such a cute and comprehensive guide to Western astrology. VICE recently spoke with the author, Andrea Richards, most both the power of astrology to brand us better 21st-century man beans, also as the importance of agreement astrology through its rich visual history. (Hot tip: pair this upwards this volume with TASCHEN's definitive guide to the tarot.) Astrology. The Library of Esoterica, $forty at TASCHEN
Stay-calm sorcery
We're all spending more than time indoors, so why not make your dwelling the focus—nay, star—of your witchcraft? Writer Arin Murphy-Hiscock will hold your hand through a bunch of cozy magickal practices in this book, which runs through the best witchy cookbooks, cauldron, crafting practices, and more than. The Business firm Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Dwelling house, $12.40 at Amazon
You've done all the puzzles; at present read the tea leaves
Learning to read tea leaves is the perfect quar party pull a fast one on for you and your roommate (or merely yous and yourself). The tradition of reading tea leaves and java grounds (eherm, Tasseomancy) goes dorsum at to the lowest degree a few hundred years, and this loving cup and saucer set is really a facsimile of a Victorian divination version —not to mention that will look great in your kitchen, whether you're using it for telling the future or simply caffeinating your veins. The Loving cup Of Destiny Book and Teacup Set $19.00 ($24.95) at Urban Outfitters
You love retro-spooky California history
...And y'all're also just here for the drama. Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey and Jayne Mansfield's relationship has gone downwards in seedy, occult-popular-culture lore (did he kill her? didn't he?) and while many have speculated nearly what went on in the ritual chamber, High german paparazzo Walter Fischer was really there, snapping all the action in photographs that have been assembled in this book, for your voyeuristic pleasure. California Infernal: Anton LaVey & Jayne Mansfield: As Portrayed past Walter Fischer, $23.88 at Amazon
Trace it dorsum to the Druids
Photograph: Amazon
A classique. In that location's nary a book that does as expert a job at retracing Paganism—and the 20th-century spiritual Neo-Infidel practices it inspired—as Margot Adler'due south 1979 guide (which fifty-fifty dips its toes into a trivial sci-fi context. Fun!). This is a swell explainer if y'all're confused about the differences between Wicca, Neo-Paganism, and everything in-betwixt. Scope some of the rare copies on Etsy with alternative, stunning 70s covers. Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America, $18.29 at Amazon
A crash course in Chinese Star divination
A reminder that the Western zodiac is merely one tip of a parallel iceberg, and that the study of Chinese astrology can also enrich our understanding of Chinese divination, homeopathic healing, and more. "I bought this volume together with author [Althea Southward.T. 'due south] Feng Shui book," writs one reviewer, "because to really acquire Feng Shui, one needs to know at to the lowest degree the basics of Chinese Astrology." A Course in Chinese Astrology: Reveal Your Destiny, Harness Your Luck with 4 Pillars, $30 at Amazon
A lesson in African diaspora goddesses
Function memoir and pan-African love letter of the alphabet, Luisah Teish's 1985 book is a classic. Alice Walker said it best: "[Jambalaya is] a volume of startling remembrances, revelations, directives, and imperatives, filled with the mysticism, wisdom, and common sense of the African faith of the Mother. Information technology should be read with the aforementioned open-minded love with which information technology was written." Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Applied Rituals, $xvi.99 $15.63 at Bookshop
The naughtiest psychoanalytic book in the West
"The most influential unpublished piece of work in the history of psychology" is essentially the illustrated, high-as-a-kite diary of the belatedly psychoanalytic icon/zaddy, Carl Jung (1875-1961). Once Sigmund Freud'due south BFF, Jung had a high-drama rupture with his pal once he started investigating dream psychoanalysis with a more than spiritual, esoteric bent (likewise, lol @ Freud). Consequently, Jung hid this volume in a Swiss vault for decades for fear of the buttoned-upwardly, bookish community'south vitriol. But in roughly the past decade has a gorgeous edition been released (with seriously psychedelic drawings that could've rolled out of the Haight Ashbury in 1967). The New York Times has called it "the Holy Grail of the unconscious," and NPR, a "window into Jung'south dreams." Nosotros suggest supplementing information technology with Human being and His Symbols by Jung, which is basically like an un-offish version of "Jung for Dummies" that makes everything easier to understand. The Red Book, $210.66 at Amazon
An intersectional feminist breakdown
Photograph: Bookshop
Missing Witches started out as a podcast past Risa Dickens and Amy Torok, who have siphoned down some of their wisdom into a volume of the same name. Slated for release this month, the book aims to reclaim the word "witch" from our often misconstrued, contemporary understanding (a.m.a. Spirit Halloween store displays) of witchcraft by exploring practices "from Harlem to Haiti, Oaxaca to Mesopotamia" and beyond. Missing Witches: Recovering True Histories of Feminist Magic, $16.51 ($17.95), at Bookshop
The OG restored Tarot
There are so many ballsy tarot carte decks out at that place, but if you don't know where to begin it'south perhaps best to kickoff at the most OG deck of all: the Tarot de Marseille. Cult (and occult-forward) filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky worked with an artist to create a deck as close to the oldest prepare of tarot cards nosotros humans have, and co-authored this handbook with Marianne Costa to guide you through the many (many) layers of the tarot. You lot volition dive non only into inter-menu relations, but selection apart the meaning behind every final line and color selection in the cards' blueprint. The Style of Tarot: The Spiritual Teacher in the Cards, $25.58 at Amazon
The one that volition print yer moving-picture show buds
Photograph: Amazon
Speaking of Jodorowsky, this is the venerated, tripped-out fictional novella past Rene Daumal that actually inspired everything from Holy Mountain to the ultimate hippie-meets-billionaire biosphere experiment in the 1980s. In sum, the book chronicles the journey of a group of people upward an inaccessible mountain—a mountain that can only be perceived when i has acquired certain knowledge… a mountain that is (gasp) a metaphor. Mount Counterpart: A Novel of Symbolically Accurate Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing, $xv.95 at Amazon
Magic in Mesoamerica
Equal parts archeological, spiritual, and anthropological gamble, this book should exist a household staple for anyone who has ever had the clue of wanting to learn more nearly the shamanic traditions of Mesoamerica (a.k.a. ayahuasca voyages) and draws helpful comparisons between other Greco-Roman cultures and then you become that big, Large picture history lesson. The Magic and Mysteries of Mexico: Or, the Arcane Secrets and Occult Lore of the Aboriginal Mexicans and Maya, $14.95 at Amazon
Annihilation by Doreen Valiente
While it's important to mention Wiccan and occult powerhouses like Aleister Crowley and Gerald Gardner when we talk about new age of witchcraft, there were soooo many BAMF she-witches out there who wrote extensively most their experiences. Doreen Valiente was one of them, and was kind of like the Julia Kid of Wicca. Everything she published was inviting and a great launching pad for beginners. Where Witchcraft Lives, $xiv.99 at Bookshop
On the link between Capitalism and the Salem Witch Trials
Photo: Bookshop
If you're into witchcraft aaaaand communism, Sylvia Federici is the author for you. The feminist powerhouse breaks downwardly the Salem Witch Trials and other instances in which the bodies of women and people with vaginas accept been vilified and used for uppercase. Basically, Caliban and the Witch presents a large ol' breakdown of how the patriarchy effed up and weaponized what witchcraft truly is (healing!), and provides new historical context that y'all never learned in schoolhouse or from watching The Crucible. Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Aggregating, $18.35 ($nineteen.95) at Bookshop
You spend your days on conspiracy theory subreddits
Lest we should forget one of the most successful cults of all fourth dimension, Christianity. This book looks at ancient religious psychedelic motifs and history to untangle the complexities behind Jesus' expiry, and the many, trippier offshoots of Christianity that didn't last (but made their mark) dorsum in ancient days. Henceforth, you volition telephone call Jesus "Mr. Holy Mushroom." The Mushroom in Christian Art: The Identity of Jesus in the Development of Christianity, $29.95 at Amazon We hope you've enjoyed this McSpooky-sized breakup. See you over in the art volume section of your next book-rampage bender.
Your faithful VICE editors independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Nosotros may receive a modest commission if you buy through the links on our site.
Source: https://www.vice.com/en/article/4adzaq/best-astrology-esoteric-books-for-your-occult-library
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