The Art of Dreaming by Carlos Castaneda

The Art of Dreaming
by
 Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda tells how, under don Juan's tutelage, he gained control over his dreams and used dreaming as a launching pad to a pervasive but unseen realm of ancestral spiritual forces, good and evil. He goes through tunnels, enters into the consciousness of trees, meets scouts, emissaries and form-changing blobs of energy. Aided by don Juan's companions and fellow apprentices, Castaneda penetrates a realm of "inorganic beings" who set traps for him and attack him, as if to illustrate don Juan's teaching that consciousness is compelled to grow through life-or-death confrontations. For believers, Castaneda's quest offers a tantalizing glimpse of alternate worlds beyond the rational parameters of our mundane reality. 

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The Book of Splendours: The Inner Mysteries of Qabalism: Its Relationship to Freemasonry, Numerology and Tarot - Eliphas Levi

The Book of Splendours: The Inner Mysteries of Qabalism:
 Its Relationship to Freemasonry, Numerology and Tarot
by
Eliphas Levi

This is the first part of Eliphas Levis's last great discourse on the mysteries of occultism that was continued and concluded in `The Great Secret'. In it, Levi examines with great precision and insight the inner meanings of Qabalism and their relationship to the occult sciences.

Part One is a commentary on the Siphra Dzeniuta by Simeon Ben-Jechal, which includes an examination of the affinities between Qabalism and Freemasonry. Part Two pursues the correspondences between Qabalism, Numerology and the Tarot.

This edition includes an appendix by Papus (Dr. Gerard Encausse) summarizing Levi's doctrines and teachings and supplying some fascinating information on some of the master's many disciples"

This is not an easy book to review, perhaps because there are so many topics discussed. However, if your looking for practical exercises or a how to, you wont find it here. The book has a lovely section comparing the story of Krishna to Jesus. Also, the Masonic legends of Solomon, Hiram and the building of the temple are also truly wonderful. I'd recommend the book on these points alone.

The first part of the book deals with Judaism struggling to come to grips with a God of wrath. The conclusion is that the God of love slept while God's shadow did not. This does not work for me. From reading this book you discover that Levi's belief is that masonry is a truer Catholic Church. I wonder what he would think of masonry in its present form?

Personally, I don't recall reading much on the Tarot as stated in the review on the back cover of this book. This book is 191 pages long. The appendix by Papus starts at page 143. However, I did find this next quote in the appendix, which is a true diamond, "As long as love is only desire and pleasure, it is mortal. To become eternal it must become a sacrifice,"

Pages 127-142 contain `The elements of the Qabalah in ten lessons'. These are letters of Eliphas Levi to one of his students. I don't really remember much of what I read in these letters. I could say that the Qabalah is really deep and that I need to further digest these pages. I'd rather say that I got a lot more out of reading Mystical Qabalah -- by Dion Fortune.

On the whole I did not mind reading this book, as it gave me further insight into Eliphas Levi's work, while also discovering some nice gems.

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The Paradoxes Of The Highest Science - Eliphas Levi

The Paradoxes Of The Highest Science by Eliphas Levi

By the time of his death in 1875, Eliphas Levi was recognized in both Europe and America as the greatest occultist of the 19th century. In life, his work was the inspiration for Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma, the most influential American Masonic book of its day, and in death, it proved to be a seminal influence on figures as diverse as Madame Blavatsky, A.E. Waite, and Aleister Crowley but during his lifetime none of his writings appeared in English. The Paradoxes of the Highest Science first appeared in 1883 in Calcutta as a pamphlet in the Theosophical Miscellanies series. In it, Levi makes an appeal for a balance between science and religion by addressing seven paradoxical statements including Religion is magic sanctioned by authority, liberty is obedience to the Law, and reason is God. Included in this edition are the extensive and illuminating footnotes that were added to Levi's text. Some of these are by the anonymous translator, and some by the 'Eminent Occultist' who seems to have been Madame Blavatsky herself. Levi could have asked for no better commentator upon his work.

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Do_OBE How to lucid dream, astral project and have out-of-body experiences By Donald J. DeGracia

Do_OBE How to lucid dream, astral project and have out-of-body experiences

By

 Donald J. DeGracia

DO_OBE teaches how to LEAVE YOUR BODY! Using straight forward, common sense language, DO_OBE is a guide to the inner realms of which our visible world is just the surface. Intelligent, fun and unpresumptuous, this book has been time tested and proven to be effective at teaching beginners the essential techniques to achieve the eluisive "out of body experience".

SEE FOR YOURSELF FIRST HAND:

Can you really leave your body? What can one expect to find in the inner realms of the mind? How do I do it??? It's all here!!!. This book is for all curious seekers who sense that there is more to reality than meets the eye, or the senses, or the world of our everyday life.

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Beyond The Physical - A Synthesis of Science and Occultism By Donald J. DeGracia

Beyond The Physical - A Synthesis of Science and Occultism

By 

Donald J. DeGracia

Beyond the Physical, A synthesis of science and occultism in light of fractals, Chaos and Quantum theory. The Western mind is enamoured -nay - hypnotized with what it perceives outside of itself. But for all its knowledge of the outer world, the inner world of consciousness is but a hazy, half-felt realization in the life of the so-called "modern" person. Beyond the Physical seeks to go inside, and shed light on the relation between the inner and outer worlds of our human experience. "Beyond the Physical reveals our insatiable curiosity with those profound questions of our existence: It's about our morality, our psychic nature and power, our science and art and literature and psychology. Beyond the Physical guides us in most illuminating ways along highly creative paths of interior and exterior discovery. This book is an excellent inquiry."

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The Mysteries of Astrology, and the Wonders of Magic By Dr. C. W. Roback

The Mysteries of Astrology, and the Wonders of Magic

By 

Dr. C. W. Roback

An fascinating book about astrology, chiromancy, necromancy, geomancy, witchcraft etc., written by author Roback, Dr. C.W., who was also a practitioner in the field. Includes sections on astrology, chiromancy, nativities, geomancy, physiognomy and metoposcopy. 

The final chapter is titled "Narratives and anecdotes in relation to witchcraft, magic, apparitions, visions, presentiments, and other supernatural phenomena." The book opens with an autobiographical sketch where the author describes his childhood in Sweden, his adventures in the Near East and in Europe, his studies in astrology and magic, and finally his emigration in 1844 to the United States.

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Applied Magic by Dion Fortune

Applied Magic

by

Dion Fortune

Dion Fortune has used her very rich, and illustrative discriptions once more, to help the aspirant in the magical arts. One draw-back though: It never ceases to amaze me, how bigotted she gets, every single time in her repeatative "Left hand path". She tends to assign homosexuals to it. There is a lot of invalueble information and practical technics. This is why the Sorrora Deo Non Fortuna, (as she was reffered to in the Alpha et Omega fraction of the Society of the Golden Dawn)could always be forgiven, however victorian her expressions..."Applied Magic" is a must-have classic book, for anyone interested in practical occultism. For anyone who wishes to serve the devine with high magic, this is one of the best guides available.

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Three Books of Occult Philosophy, or of Magick

Three Books of Occult Philosophy, 

or of Magick; 

Written by that Famous Man  

Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Knight,  

Now you can learn from the original, most important source for magic in the Western world that has ever been published, when you get Agrippa'sThree Books of Occult Philosophy.

This massive volume was originally published in 1531, and occultists have been drawing on it ever since. Now, Llewellyn is proud to produce the first complete reprint of the original English translation in the last 500 years. Donald Tyson edited this work and removed the hundreds of errors that appeared in the original translation. He also fully annotated the work, to make it understandable—and usable—by people today.

·Discover what the Renaissance scholar knew about astrology, medicine, history, herbs, geography, animals, angels, devils, Witches, charms, the weather, and a host of other subjects

·Gain immediate reference to a vast amount of arcane, but completely annotated, magical material

·Find corrected drawings of seals, sigils, and magic squares, and correctly represented geomantic figures

·Explore the practical Kabbalah, geomancy, the magic squares, the elements, the humors, and the Soul of the World

·Consult the new Biographical dictionary for background on each of the hundreds of writers and historical figures referred to by Agrippa

·Consult the new Geographical Dictionary for data on referenced rivers, mountains, nations, cities—many of which now carry different names.

The Three Books of Occult Philosophy is the most complete repository of pagan and Neoplatonic magic ever compiled. This book is packed with material you will not find elsewhere, including copious extracts on magic from obscure or lost works by Pythagoras, Ptolemy, Plato, Aristotle, and many others. Tyson's detailed annotations clarify difficult references and provide origins of quotations, even expanding upon them in many cases, in order to make Agrippa's work more accessible to the modern reader.

The Three Books of Occult Philosophy is the ultimate "how-to" for magical workings. It describes how to work all manner of divinations and natural and ceremonial magic in such clear and useful detail that it is still the guide for modern techniques. The extensive new supplementary material makes this wisdom practical for use today.

The Three Books of Occult Philosophy is an essential reference tool for all students of the occult

BONUS

The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, by Henry Cornelius Agrippa and unnamed others, is considered one of the cornerstones of Western magic, and the grimoires it contains are among the most important that exist in the Western tradition. For more than three hundred years, this mysterious tome has been regarded as difficult or even impossible to understand—until now.

Occult scholar Donald Tyson presents a fully annotated, corrected, and modernized edition of Stephen Skinner’s 1978 facsimile edition of the original work, which was six tracts published as one volume in 1655. For the first time, these classic works of Western magic have been rendered fully accessible to the novice practitioner, as well as occult scholars and skilled magicians. Tyson presents clear instruction and practical insight on a variety of magic techniques, providing contemporary magicians with a working grimoire of the arcane.

- Astrology 

- History 

- Geomancy 

- Ceremonial Magic

- The Nature of Spirits, Angels, and Demons

- Geomantic Astronomy

- Necromancy

- Invocation and Evocation of Spirits

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MAGIC IN ANCIENT EGYPT - Geraldine Pinch

MAGIC IN
ANCIENT
EGYPT
Geraldine Pinch

Magic in Ancient Egypt" makes a welcome reappearance in this revised and updated edition. The Egyptians were famous in the ancient world for their knowledge of magic. Religion, medicine, technology and what we would call magic co-existed without apparent conflict, and it was not unusual for magical and 'practical' remedies for illness, for example, to be used side by side. Magic was resorted to by everyone, from the pharaoh guarding his country with elaborate magical rituals to the expectant mother wearing amulets to safeguard her unborn child. The book examines the fascinating connections between myth and magic, and the deities such as Bes and Isis who had special magical importance. It discusses the techniques of magic, its practitioners and the surviving magical texts, as well as the objects which were used in magic: figurines, statues, amulets and wands. A chapter is devoted to medicine and magic, and one to magic and the dead. Finally, it shows how elements and influences from Egyptian magic survived in or were taken up by later societies, right up to the 21st century. 

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Cause, Principle and Unity: And Essays on Magic - Giordano Bruno

Cause, Principle and Unity:

And Essays on Magic 

Giordano Bruno

Giordano Bruno's notorious public death in 1600, at the hands of the Inquisition in Rome, marked the transition from Renaissance philosophy to the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. In his philosophical works he addressed such delicate issues as the role of Christ as mediator and the distinction, in human beings, between soul and matter. This volume presents new translations of Cause, Principle and Unity, in which he challenges Aristotelian accounts of causality and spells out the implications of Copernicanism for a new theory of an infinite universe, and of two essays on magic, On Magic and A General Account of Bonding, in which he interprets earlier theories about magical events in the light of the unusual powers of natural phenomena

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Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead

 

This is one of the most incredible books I've ever read. In this "translation" of the Book of Going Forth By Day (the original Egyptian name for the Book of the Dead) Ellis sings the world into existence and exposes the very depths of my soul like no other writer ever has. It is not a literal translation, but more of a contemporary reflection of what the various chapters mean, a very poetic, smoothly flowing meditation on "Becoming Osiris" and living life like the gods we are. If you've ever been interested in Egyptian thought or mythology, you will love this book!
I am Osiris. I walk between the two worlds. I am the maker of myths. I remember all that was and what will be. I am eternal, existing for the millions of years. When you see the sun, remember me, remember your Self. 

 

 

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BLOOD and GOLD by Anne Rice

BLOOD and GOLD 

by 

Anne Rice

Time heals all wounds, unless, of course, you're a vampire. Cuts may heal, burns vanish, limbs reattach, but for the "blood god," the wounds of the heart sometimes stay open and raw for centuries. So it is for Marius, Anne Rice's oft-mentioned and beloved scholar. We've heard parts of his tale in past volumes of the Vampire Chronicles, but never so completely and never from his own lips. In Blood and Gold, Rice mostly (but not entirely) avoids the danger of treading worn ground as she fills out the life and character of Marius the Lonely, the Disenchanted, the Heartsick--a 2,000-year-old vampire "with all the conviction of a mortal man."

Plucked from his beloved Rome in the prime of his life and forced into solitude as keeper of the vampire queen and king, Marius has never forgiven the injustice of his mortal death. Thousands of years later, he still seethes over his losses. Immortality for Marius is both a blessing and a curse--he bears "witness to all splendid and beautiful things human," yet is unable to engage in relationships for fear of revealing his burden. New readers to the Chronicles may wish for a more fleshed-out, less introspective hero, but Rice's legions of devoted fans will recognize Blood and Gold for what it is: a love song to Marius the Wanderer, whose story reveals the complexities and limitations of eternal existence.

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The VAMPIRE ARMAND by Anne Rice

The VAMPIRE ARMAND 

by 

Anne Rice

In The Vampire Armand, Anne Rice returns to her indomitable Vampire Chronicles and recaptures the gothic horror and delight she first explored in her classic tale Interview with the Vampire (in which Armand, played by Antonio Banderas in the film version, made his first appearance as director of the Théâtre des Vampires). The story begins in the aftermath of Memnoch the Devil. Vampires from all over the globe have gathered around Lestat, who lies prostrate on the floor of a cathedral. Dead? In a coma? As Armand reflects on Lestat's condition, he is drawn by David Talbot to tell the story of his own life. The narrative abruptly rushes back to 15th-century Constantinople, and the Armand of the present recounts the fragmented memories of his childhood abduction from Kiev. Eventually, he is sold to a Venetian artist (and vampire), Marius. Rice revels in descriptions of the sensual relationship between the young and still-mortal Armand and his vampiric mentor. But when Armand is finally transformed, the tone of the book dramatically shifts. Raw and sexually explicit scenes are displaced by Armand's introspective quest for a union of his Russian Orthodox childhood, his hedonistic life with Marius, and his newly acquired immortality. These final chapters remind one of the archetypal significance of Rice's vampires; at their best, Armand, Lestat, and Marius offer keen insights into the most human of concerns.
The Vampire Armand is richly intertextual; readers will relish the retelling of critical events from Lestat and Louis's narratives. Nevertheless, the novel is very much Armand's own tragic tale. Rice deftly integrates the necessary back-story for new readers to enter her epic series, and the introduction of a few new voices adds a fresh perspective--and the promise of provocative future installments.

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MEMNOCH the DEVIL by Anne Rice

MEMNOCH the DEVIL 

by 

Anne Rice

The fifth volume of Rice's Vampire Chronicles is one of her most controversial books. The tale begins in New York, where Lestat, the coolest of Rice's vampire heroes, is stalking a big-time cocaine dealer and religious-art smuggler--this guy should get it in the neck. Lestat is also growing fascinated with the dealer's lovely daughter, a TV evangelist who's not a fraud.

Lestat is also being stalked himself, by some shadowy guy who turns out to be Memnoch, the devil, who spirits him away. From here on, the book might have been called Interview with the Devil (by a Vampire). It's a rousing story interrupted by a long debate with the devil. Memnoch isn't the devil as ordinarily conceived: he got the boot from God because he objected to God's heartless indifference to human misery. Memnoch takes Lestat to heaven, hell, and throughout history.

Some readers are appalled by the scene in which Lestat sinks his fangs into the throat of Christ on the cross, but the scene is not a mere shock tactic: Jesus is giving Lestat a bloody taste in order to win him over to God's side, and Rice is dead serious about the battle for his soul. Rice is really doing what she did as a devout young Catholic girl asked to imagine in detail what Christ's suffering felt like--it's just that her imagination ran away with her. If you like straight-ahead fanged adventure, you'll likely enjoy the first third; if you like Job-like arguments with God, you'll prefer the Memnoch chapters

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The TALE of the BODY THIEF by Anne Rice

The TALE of the BODY THIEF

by 

Anne Rice

It's been said that Vladimir Nabokov's best novels are the ones he wrote after starting a failed novel. Anne Rice wrote The Body Thief, the fourth thrilling episode of her Vampire Chronicles, right after she spent a long time poring over that most romantic of horror novels, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, to research a novel Rice abandoned about an artificial man. Perhaps as a result of Shelley's influence, The Body Thief is far more psychologically penetrating than its predecessors, with a laser-like focus on a single tormented soul. Oh, we meet some wild new characters, and Rice's toothsome vampire-hero Lestat zooms around the globe--as is his magical habit--from Miami to the Gobi desert, but he's in such despair that he trades his immortal body to a con man named Raglan James, who offers him in return two days of strictly mortal bliss.

Lestat has always had a faulty impulse-control valve, and it gets him in truly intriguing trouble this time. On the plus side, he gets to experience romance with a nun and orange juice--"thick like blood, but full of sweetness." But Lestat is horrified by an uncommon cold, and his toilet training proves traumatic. He's also got to catch Raglan James, who has no intention of giving up his dishonestly acquired new superpowered body. Lestat enlists the help of David Talbot, a mortal in the Talamasca, a secret society of immortal watchers described in Queen of the Damned. The swapping of bodies and supernatural stories is choice, and there's even a moral: never give a bloodsucker an even break

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The VAMPIRE LESTAT by Anne Rice

The VAMPIRE LESTAT 

by

Anne Rice

After the spectacular debut of Interview with the Vampire in 1976, Anne Rice put aside her vampires to explore other literary interests--Italian castrati in Cry to Heaven and the Free People of Color in The Feast of All Saints. But Lestat, the mischievous creator of Louis in Interview, finally emerged to tell his own story in the 1985 sequel, The Vampire Lestat.

As with the first book in the series, the novel begins with a frame narrative. After over a half century underground, Lestat awakens in the 1980s to the cacophony of electronic sounds and images that characterizes the MTV generation. Particularly, he is captivated by a fledgling rock band named Satan's Night Out. Determined both to achieve international fame and end the centuries of self-imposed vampire silence, Lestat takes command of the band (now renamed "The Vampire Lestat") and pens his own autobiography. The remainder of the novel purports to be that autobiography: the vampire traces his mortal youth as the son of a marquis in pre-Revolutionary France, his initiation into vampirism at the hands of Magnus, and his quest for the ultimate origins of his undead species. While very different from the first novel in the Vampire Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat has proved to be the foundation for a broader range of narratives than is possible from Louis's brooding, passive perspective. The character of Lestat is one of Rice's most complex and popular literary alter egos, and his Faustian strivings have a mythopoeic resonance that links the novel to a grand tradition of spiritual and supernatural fiction

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QUEEN of the DAMNED by Anne Rice

QUEEN of the DAMNED 

by 

Anne Rice

Did you ever wonder where all those mischievous vampires roaming the globe in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles came from? In this, the third book in the series, we find out. That raucous rock-star vampire Lestat interrupts the 6,000-year slumber of the mama of all bloodsuckers, Akasha, Queen of the Damned.

Akasha was once the queen of the Nile (she has a bit in common with the Egyptian goddess Isis), and it's unwise to rile her now that she's had 60 centuries of practice being undead. She is so peeved about male violence that she might just have to kill most of them. And she has her eye on handsome Lestat with other ideas as well. If you felt that the previous books in the series weren't gory and erotic enough, this one should quench your thirst (though it may cause you to omit organ meats from your diet). It also boasts God's plenty of absorbing lore that enriches the tale that went before, including the back-story of the boy in Interview with the Vampire and the ancient fellowship of the Talamasca, which snoops on paranormal phenomena. Mostly, the book spins the complex yarn of Akasha's eerie, brooding brood and her nemeses, the terrifying sisters Maharet and Mekare. In one sense, Queen of the Damned is the ultimate multigenerational saga.

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PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE

PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE


After finding herself the subject of a powerful psychic attack, Dion Fortune wrote this detailed instruction manual for safeguarding yourself against paranormal malevolence. Fortune explores the elusive psychic element in mental illness and, more importantly, details the methods, motives, and physical aspects of psychic attack, and how to overcome this energy. The revised edition of this New Age classic includes an index and an additional explanatory note for contemporary readers

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THE MYSTICAL QABALAH

THE MYSTICAL QABALAH

The Mystical Qabalah, explores all aspects of the Qabalah, including the esoteric sciences of astrology and tarot, which form the basis of the Western Mystery Traditions. It provides a key to the practical working of this mystical system for both novice and initiate alike.

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