Esoteric occult books

Hanegraaff is the head of Hermetic History at the University of Amsterdam. You'd be hard pressed to find someone with better credentials in the English speaking world.

What I got from it was a concise overview of the history of Western Esotericism – I knew much of it already, having studied the occult for several years, but he filled in many interesting details.

Tradition changes radically over time; it is not static. Newcomers always start out with texts from the 19th-21st century, naively thinking it is the same Esotericism as that of Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance – or Ancient Egypt, for that matter. It is not and we are blessed to have this high standard of scholarship to cue us in.

Manly P Hall

Seriously, it's all bullshit, usually. No wonder you're not getting any knowledge from it.
"Esoterism" is normally just self-improvement disguised as some astrology shit or whatnot.

If you're reading crowley you should start with liber aba and his lecture on yoga.

You probably read the book of the law which was his attempt to create his own cryptic scripture.

Is it a better intro to the more serious books, like the Corpus Hermeticum, than something light (but obviously distorted) like the Kybalion?

That's all I seem to be getting from it and it seems pointless as I've read a good few things on that subject over the years and worked on it my self that much there isn't a lot to improve on any more.

> I felt like it was written in another language

Thats because it is another language. Learn to walk before you run, Crowleys own advice was to start with pranayama.

bump

op here

So what about books on magic.

My basic understanding now is that for the most part people who practice magic are doing it like a prayer (or the book/theory "the secret ") it just reinforces their faith,puts the idea in there head then once something happens even by chance they put it down the the magic.

Maybe because they have put the effort into the magic they will subconsciously put more effort into what the magic is going to do.

i don't know but there seems to be more to it.

It's been going on for years and I want to know what the experts have got out of it and what there theory of it is on how it works.

I'm guessing if you do BELIEVE it it has so thing to do with energy.

>this made up bullshit reads like a bunch of made up bullshit

You don't say.

I have 5. Its great if you havent been exposed to hermes yet. He goes deep though so you got to be craving some gods demons and hermes

After writing that I have just found this video definition on what magic is.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=r3AYNa5bMzs&time_continue=487&ebc=ANyPxKqWQNGRVIz9VOfHFzCTQhHbNZTyfNYXblHnCxKIS_vKPFNsrDeE7jRvfpzTkxcBUh5gBfMDWpknfunQzl8HasZb5d-zJA

Basically says it's the manipulation of words to effect your conscious.

I remember am thinking that years ago.Words are just basically sounds but if you say them in a certain order you can provoke emotions from then or get people to do what you want with them.Which in a way is magic

Occultism is literally LARP-ing for special snowflakes.
If that's not what you're interested in you should spare yourself the time and just drop it.

I figured that was the case except for the Corpus Hermeticum. A few smart and otherwise well-grounded people think it's worth the read that wouldn't give any other occult stuff their time. I was wondering where to start on a patrician's quest for occultism. I'm thinking that history book cited earlier, the Corpus Hermeticum, and Julius Evola would a good idea. Dunno if that's the best order.

I guess that's all the masons do right.Go to meetings do some ancient rituals the. Sit dow. And have a laugh and a pint afterwards.

The Corpus Hermeticum is pretty much a generic religious text. It's fine enough, I suppose, but don't except any magical revelations.
As for Evola, his work is very much an exposition of his own personal beliefs rather than anything else. I wouldn't take it to be an accurate of representation of the subjects he writes about (Buddhism, Tantra, etc.).

It's literally an old people club, except for being united by playing darts, they're united by religious concepts.

Occult, religion, it's all about symbolic and secret knowledge about the spiritual and the supernatural. Didn't Evola write an introduction to magic?

ok what about the hidden esoteric symbols in music.

Pic related

Wow. This thread is shitty as fuck. Are you 12, OP? You certainly type like it.

I would stay away from modern magic books. Especially those written by no name practitioners. Stick with academics and classics.

The problem with most modern books is that they fall into the post-chaos magic psychcological model paradigm. This appeals mostly to normies who are brainwashed by science and unable to suspend disbelief and usually lead to a lazy new age practice.

Personally, I believe more in supernatural accounts rather than naturalist accounts. I've seen some crazy shit involving spirits and have encountered even more crazy "coincidences". Then again, my Christian mother says he same thing about Jesus.

The acid trip comparison is apt. You might be opening the doors of perception. You might be deluding yourself. But either way it's kinda fun to see things and experience things that few other people have. Maybe that makes me an edgy larper. Idk.

In addition to classics and academics. I suggest some philosophical background. Start with the Greeks. Meme but true.

I would also recommend taking notes and starting a basic practice. Crowley has an interesting comparison of kaballah to a filing system which is kinda true when you get deep enough. It's no coincidence that memory palaces and other such techniques were primarly practiced by occultists. Once you realize how occultism works you start seeing it everywhere. And you can then begin your own magnum opus.

If nothing else, knowledge of astrology tends to impress drunken hipster babes at bars. So ya. I got that going for me which is nice.

Kurt Seligmann – The History of Magic and the Occult.

It can be dense at times, but he fits a lot of material in a short enough volume. Difficulty is his bias toward the fantastical really shows, so there's hardly a sense of objectivity or contrived objectivity. He assumes the validity of almost every subject with a passion that's distracting at times.

It was my first real foray into the Occult. He wastes no time getting into the thick of Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome, the Egyptians, the philosopher's stone, alchemy, witchcraft, Hermetic Philosophy, physiognomy, etc., etc. That is, he assumes a base level of knowledge, but even without it you can learn a lot.

I guess he was a decent Surrealist painter as well.

Care to give examples of academic or classical works that discuss magic extensively? I myself have also had some weird occurrences/coincidences that are hard to explain with modern scientific models or contemporary thinking. Otherwise, I am currently reading Levi's book on the history of magic, it is interesting if not a bit exaggerating and deliberately vague at times.

What kind of basic practice do you mean? Where would be a good idea to find some more information on that?

Academic sources:
The Golden Thread: The Ageless Wisdom of the Western Mystery Tradition
The Occult: A Guide For the Perplexed
Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic
Techniques of Solomonic Magic
Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman World
Encyclopedia Goetica: Geosophia I and II
Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth
Philosophy and Theurgy in Late Antiquity
Orpheus and the Roots of Platonism
Magic, Mystery and Ancient Philosophy: Empedocles and the Pythagorean Tradition
The Secret Teachings of All Ages
Not to mention, Jung, Eliade, Evola, etc.

Classical sources:
Tetrabiblos (astrology)
Sefer Yetzirah (kaballah)
De Mysteriis (theurgy)

Later sources (but still good):
Three Books of Occult Philosophy (everything)
Transcendental Magic (another Levi)
The Dwellings of the Philosophers (alchemy)

Basic practice I would suggest would be some form of meditation and/or visualization. These are basically just some way of internallizing the knowledge from books. This isn't genee trash fiction which you read for fun and forget immediately after. To get the full benefits, you should be studying like you were at school and actively synthesizing your knowledge with the knowledge of the ancients.

Ok so I'm going to flip between this and How did you study this sort of material ?

Plotinus
Pseudo Dionysus
Marguerite porete
Maister Eckhart
Nicholas of cusa
Marsilio ficino
Paracelsus
Pico della mirandola
Giordano Bruno
Agrippa
Jakob böhme
Emmanuel swedenborg

Where do I start with Evola?

>Maister Eckhart
first thought this was some play on Eckhart Tolle and was met with a frisson of cringe

I enjoyed Jung's essay written just before World War II:

WOTAN

Apologies for the late response. Corpus Hermetica is a) heavily fragmented, b) employs specialized Greek philosophical terminology and c) borrows liberally from the Platonic tradition.

Hermes Trismegistus was more or less a mythological folk hero – he was sometimes considered a pre-deluvian prophet from the earliest dynasties of Egypt, other times a contemporary of Moses. In the 16th century, Isaac Causabon effectively debunked this myth, proving through a philological analysis of it's terminology that it couldn't be older than the 3rd century CE. However, interest in Hermeticism gained momentum again after Napoleon's expidition to Egypt. Besides, it wasn't the Corpus Hermeticum that was considered essential throughout the centuries, but a small passage on ensouling statues in a Latin treatise entitled Asclepius.

The Kybalion is New Age garbage. If you absolutely insist on studying modern occultism, I'd suggest the writings of Eliphas Levi, since he was the key figure in the Occult Revival of the 19th century.

This is a clear testament to the degree in which Western civilization is so deeply permeated in Cartesian dualism. The traditional worldview of the magicians was shaped by the Platonists – Pagan, Jewish, Christian and Muslim alike – but was ultimately disregarded during the Enlightenment.

The modern worldview of magic on the other hand has it's origin in 19th century Mesmerism, of which Levi was the greatest, albeit not the clearest, proponent. He gives due credit to his predecessors in his History of Magic, going so far as to say that "nature revealed all her secrets to Mesmer." As a direct offshoot of Mesmerism, Chaos Magick, Jungian Psychology and New Age emerged, which dominates our contemporary milleu.

Read Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous.

This copypasta is getting stale. Please deliver fresh OC.

Nah, I've been on a hiatus from life, just sloughing mindlessly through the days by entertaining myself with dank memes. I wont hang around much longer, so you'll be free from my shilling soon enough.

Well, good luck with whatever you decide to do next. I just recognized the bit about mesmerism. Would be interested to hear more of your thoughts.

fuck the way they write fucking confuses me to the point where some pages are taking 5mons to read.Then I go to the next pages and it feels like a repeate of the last just worded slightly different.

>Where do I start with Evola?
I haven't read everything by Evola, but most of his stuff is dense and reads like a textbook, with this I mean he immerses himself in depth into traditions and provides a ton of references. He is quite understandable so you can just read his books in a straightforward manner, or you can get all the books he references and spend a ton of time untangling what he's going on about in a single chapter

If haven't read it but if you are Op and want to get into magic you can probably try:
- Introduction to Magic: Rituals and Practical Techniques for the Magus

If you are interested in tantra and hiduism in general you can try:
- The Yoga of Power: Tantra, Shakti, and the Secret Way

If you are interested in learning the symbols used in hermeticism and alchemy this text will help to understand the original texts
- The Hermetic Tradition: Symbols and Teachings of the Royal Art

>As for Evola, his work is very much an exposition of his own personal beliefs rather than anything else.
This is true, Evola reads everything through a heroic, traditionalist, elitist, anti-modern lens. If you want the mainstream reading of those traditions Evola may not be a good idea.

It's not that I want to do magic I just want to see if there is any proof it works and why people continue to use it.

Haven't read that one sorry, so i can't say how accurate is the review.

The other books i mentioned on where more explorations of the hermetic-alchemical/tantric traditions and their worldview

about the LARPing thing, most occult authors will have a worldview that doesn't conform to the modern scientific western conception of nature, so i think you'll always find a certain degree of LARPing unless you restrict yourself to historical accounts or outsider accounts?

Some of the previous anons have mentioned some good intros:

Let me cite Kurt Seligmann's book (available online); 2 different editions, The Mirror of Magic/The History of Magic

Manly P Hall's works,

and Grillot de Givry's Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy.

Plenty of good info and illustrations on those 3 to keep you going for quite some time. After that you'll have a good grasp of the history, doctrines and practices and will be able to narrow in on what floats your boat.

That's another book, by Eliphas Levi (another classic) but not suitable for your purpose just yet. You want to read this one: archive.org/details/magicsupernatura00seli

Here's a link to my library, if it's not been posted, complete with Enochian manuscripts from Dee and Ashmole, as well as almost the entire unpublished Yorke Microfilms of the Warburg Collection and unpublished A.'.A.'. rites like ThROA and the Rite of the Equinox. Almost fifty gigs stuffed with academic editions from folks like Brill and uni presses, and source texts.

mega.nz/#F!AE5yjIqB!y7Vdxdb5pbNsi2O3zyq9KQ

>Crowley is normie tier reading
^This.
Most gripes I hear about him are simply issues with his diction, which was solidified before the turn of the century before last.

>I don't really like him because he doesn't excel at any of them.
What's your problem with, say Magick in Theory and Practice or Magick Without Tears?

>I don't really like him because he doesn't excel at any of them
Or, more likely, you don't understand him. I mean, what's an example of him "not excelling" at a manual style book (you can pretty much use ALL A.'.A.'. Class D texts for reference) or "not excelling" at what you call "acid trip style" (pretty much ALL A.'.A.'. Class A publications can be used for reference here)?

>you can pretty much use ALL A.'.A.'. Class D texts for reference
Also Class B, which is designated as "informed scholarship".

>"acid trip style" (pretty much ALL A.'.A.'. Class A publications
Don't forget Liber 418, written while under the ritual influence of mescaline, and sits in both Classes A and B.

Hymn related:
youtube.com/watch?v=m1GBrr7nB3U

Man what the hell just happened to this thread? I thought I was good on occult knowledge but now people are throwing out classifications and stuff... what's going on? I'm lost. I don't get it.

Crowley's Libri are broken down into classifications based on subject for use in the A.'.A.'. study program.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libri_of_Aleister_Crowley

youtube.com/watch?v=bpKachYTr-4

>Other exclusives I uploaded (though others may be passing 'em around).

Motta's Equinox 5:4, Sex and Religion
First english scan of Abhinavagupta's Tantraloka.
AFAIK the most complete Andrew Chumbley file on the net.
I should get around to uploading my Ebony Anpu files.
Most complete collection of the occult Sloane MSS (afaik).
Most comprehensive file on Uttara Kaula Trika
Used to have a copy of Secret School of Wisdom, the complete rites and doctrines of the Bavarian Perfectibilists (aka Illuminati) but it got DMCA'd. The originals are in the Freemasonry folder which are in their native German.
Pretty sure I've got the most complete M&M folders unless someone's uploaded more volumes of Collecteana.

>grand wizard of Veeky Forums casting pearls before swine

You know the average age of people who post here is 17 right?

Yes.

The True Mysteries have perfectly adequate guardians. They don't need my protection.

Don't you get tired of hearing the same terrible uninformed opinions and stupid questions over and over again? Not to mention the right wing Evola gag fest

i don't remember much about magick without tears but i remember his book 4 not being that thorough with explanations of the exercises / rituals? like it's a nice overview but if you'll have to go to read the references or have a master to guide you to get the details, you might as well go there directly? i didn't find anything that you could start practicing directly, so it may be a nice starting point, but you'll have to read more books the get a complete picture to start

as a comparison, I remember for example Regardie being clear with the details (and kind of boring)

haven't checked Crowley's book of thoth, i should at some point

777 is a great manual style book now that i think about it, so there's that one at least...

what's your issue with Evola?

Yes. Hence why someone else can babysit /omg/ threads for a month and a half.

>book 4 not being that thorough
You're gonna have to be clearer about which parts of Book 4, as M:TP is self contained and painstakingly detailed in terms of elements and words of power, mechanics, etc.

>you'll have to go to read the references
Uhuh, just like every other piece of academia. Crowley isn't light bathroom reading (for most people, I guess). If you read Crowley's breakdown of the GD system but never follow up on the full GD ritual scripts, yeah, you're gonna be lost.

> i didn't find anything that you could start practicing directly
There are literally a dozen practical basic libri (LBRP, etc.) in the index of M:TP.

Unironically Thanks

Most of these were explicitly written to be difficult to read and understand, with layers of hidden meaning. Crowley in particular deliberately put falsehoods and misstatements in his work, believing that anyone dumb enough not to avoid them deserved the consequence. Start with benevolent authors like Dion Fortune or "Christian Rosenkrantz". Crowley was a dick.

>Crowley in particular deliberately put falsehoods and misstatements in his work
Name two.

You know the way people say to is dumbing people down and making them forget their past well maybe all this stuff was done because they never had a tv to occupy their minds.

It's not enlightenment its entertainment

How is entertainment any different from enlightenment?
>to understand this read this other book I wrote
Why does Crowley always do this?

>Why does Crowley always do this?
To make money. He literally shilled his own books. You can safely disregard the opinion of anyone who does this.

Mantras and yeah Buddhist stuff can be pretty abstruse because it's most easily understood through meditation and mindfulness practices. Indeed there's actually an argument over whether mantras even have any meaning. Generally they work more as meditative aides.

bump

>Implying he didn't actually go into debt from the expense of publishing his work

But yeah, no, some random thing some guy just pulled out of his ass is probably more accurate and relevant than the man's actual records from the time.

>Name two.
?

mantras are tools to concentrate the mind, they're not supposed to be said with any meaning or intention as such

Said no Saivite who has read Paratriskavivirana or any initiated Vajrayana practitioner, ever.

Are you serious? I thought it depended on context. For example, "AUMGN Tat Sat AUMGN" is both a phrase and a concept to be kept in mind(?)

>what's your issue with Evola?

He's LITERALLY HITLER.

Feels>reals

i'm no varjrayana practitioner my man, i just use mantras to establish concentration

Then maybe you should look into traditional methods of mantra encoding and recitation.

He's not trained in mantra construction, mate.

I like a lot of Evola's political insights
*dodges brick*
I just can't take him seriously when he extrapolates them into his cosmogony; for example the assertion of a Lunar Hebrew race-soul when mystical texts like Hekhalot Rabbati are straight arrows into the Sun.

>ulysses
>greenpill
>ulysses
>esoteric
sure

>adorno, mcluhan, noam chomsky

???? ????

Start with the gnostics