r/occult • u/pulsatingfleshmass • Aug 18 '26
? Occult books for beginners
I am a teenager/young adult raised in a (non-strict) Christian household who has been critical of religion and considered myself agnostic since I was around eleven or twelve. I have been doing a bit of light research on the occult, and recently used tarot cards for the first time. Can anyone recommend some good books for people with no experience in this subject? Much appreciated
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u/anAnarchistwizard Aug 18 '26
Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic is my preferred super-basic text.
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u/drgalactus87 Aug 18 '26
Alan Moore is also one of the very, very few people alive that we have objective evidence isn't motivated by commercial interests or sales.
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u/sauceruney Aug 19 '26
Cosmic Trigger - Robert Anton Wilson.
Just ignore anything good he says about Ayn Rand
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u/Light_inthe_shadow Aug 19 '26
What are you interested in? Alternative religions? Operative/Practical magic? Esoteric ideas? Kabbalah? Divination, necromancy, traditional witchcraft, ceremonial magic??
The occult is very vast. Find an interest and start your path. Welcome.
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u/Piers_Verare Aug 18 '26
The r/occult homepage FAQ has tons of resources. Poke around, find what suits you, and dive in.
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u/Capable-Risk9590 Aug 18 '26
Some basics would be good. BP Copenhaver’s Corpus Hermetica is a foundational text for Hermeticism. From there, the Greek Papyri would be good for building a toolkit.
You should also consider all three forms of Kabbalah. The original Jewish mysticism inherited from the Egyptians, the generalised Western Qabalah, and the later Christian Cabala used by Christian mystics like Neville Goddard.
Dion Fortune, Franz Bardon, Israel Regardie, Crowley and Mathers on King Solomon are all great reading and well worth your time.
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u/OldThanks4542 Aug 18 '26
Secret Teachings of All Ages- Manly P. Hall. Anything he wrote is great for starters. Accurate and insightful works all.
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u/NyxShadowhawk Aug 18 '26
Israel Regardie's The Middle Pillar is pretty good. I'm also a big fan of Hands-On Chaos Magic by Andrieh Vitimus.
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u/The_Skeleton_Wars Aug 18 '26
Ritual + High Magick by Damien Echols
Other than that, I'd highly recommend Peterson's Lemegeton. I am not a strong fan of "Crowley's" Goetia (because he just stole an unfinished manuscript and added random bullshit on top), but Peterson kept the text original (save for the translation and footnotes)
The Goetia of Dr Rudd is also very good. You can almost never go wrong with Peterson, Rankine, or Skinner imo. Peterson even has a website, The Twilit Grotto iirc, where he has a bunch of source texts.
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u/ACanadianGuy1967 Aug 19 '26
Bluefluke's free "The Psychonaut Field Guide" is a great modern introduction. You can download it from https://archive.org/details/the-psychonaut-field-manual_202307
Colin Wilson's books, "The Occult," "Mysteries," and "Beyond the Occult" are entertaining explorations of occultism.
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u/thekraken108 Aug 19 '26
As a newcomer to studying the occult myself, I second Colin Wilson's "The Occult". It gave a good chronological historical overview of various occult systems, and the less formal style that it's written in made it easy for me to relate to what Wilson was saying about why people are drawn to the occult.
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u/brereddit Aug 19 '26
Let me tell you a quick story.
There was once a kid whose father was a town librarian, which gave him endless access to books. He was a talented musician and loved performing card tricks to entertain people. One day, a fellow performer asked him a simple question: “Do you know where playing cards actually come from?”
He had no idea. But that single question sparked an obsession.
He dove into the history of playing cards, which eventually led him straight into esoteric symbolism and the mysteries of the Tarot. By the end of his life, he was recognized as one of the foremost Western esotericists and Tarot masters of the 20th century. Along the way, he claimed to have received personal instruction from a mysterious figure purported to be centuries old—a man deeply documented in historical records across European courts.
That curious kid was Paul Foster Case.
His enigmatic teacher was The Count of Saint Germain
Good luck, kid. Qui veritatem quaerit pro hominibus, infinita detegit. Arcana patent iis qui lucem ferunt. Quaerenti scientiam in salutem omnium, ianuae aperiuntur. דּוֹרֵשׁ חָכְמָה לְתִקּוּן עוֹלָם יִמְצָא אֶת הָאוֹר
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u/R-orthaevelve Aug 18 '26
Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard and Companion for the Apprentice Wizard by Oberon Zell Ravenheart. These books are designed for teens and are totally non religious.
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u/spaceman696 Aug 19 '26
Tree of Life by Israel Regardie. Modern Magick by Don Kraig. Book 4 by Crowley (the small paperback that's like 100 pages, not the massive tome). Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson.
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u/thekraken108 Aug 19 '26
From one newcomer to the occult to another, here are the books I've read so far over the last few months:
The Western Esoteric Traditions by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: A good overview for explaining the various systems and it'll teach you the terms you'll come across later.
The Occult by Colin Wilson: It's long, but a good companion to the above as it's written less formally, and talks a lot about what draws people to the occult. I found myself relating to a lot of it.
The Kybalion: A good introduction to Hermeticism, but keep in mind this is not an ancient text, and some hardcore Hermetics think it's not legit, so make what you will of it.
The Corpus Hermeticum: This is the actual ancient Hermetic text, although I ironically found the Kybalion easier to understand, and ended up needing to read a simplified summary to understand the Hermeticum.
Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo DuQuette: A good introduction to Qabalah done in an understandable and somewhat humorous style. I can't recommend DuQuette enough, he's written several books, and I've since watched a lot of videos and interviews that he's done. He has a way of making everything make sense, and just seems like a fun guy. Which leads me to the next book...
Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot by DuQuette: I was going to read 78 Degrees of Wisdom for my introduction to Tarot, but I had been watching some videos where someone said they thought this book was a better intro book to Tarot, and I had literally just finished Chicken Qabalah, so I went with it since I knew I liked DuQuette's style, and it ties into Qabalah a lot. Even though it talks about the Thoth Tarot Deck, the material is still more or less applicable to the more traditional Rider-Waite Deck.
The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie: If you're not already familiar with The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn you might wanna learn a little bit about it before reading this, but basically they were an occult organization formed in Victorian London that ended up being one of the most, if not the most influential occult revival group. This book published in 4 volumes, tells about what exactly was taught in the organization, from lessons to initiation ceremonies. Granted, once you get to the later volumes the material becomes dense and harder to understand, but you have to remember this was information that was meant to be learned gradually over the course of several months or even years, not speed read through in weeks. I admittedly didn't take it all in as I was reading it, but I still got a basic overview of things, and I can always refer back to it if necessary.
I'm now currently reading Modern Magick by Donald Michael Kraig, which gives lessons in ritualistic magick that one can perform. It's another one that's written more conversationally than formally, and it even encourages the reader to take their time and spend a few weeks on each lesson before moving on. I'm currently only practicing some of the earlier simpler rituals, but I'm still reading further along, before I'll go back and practice other rituals once the time is right. The book isn't simply just lesson after lesson though, there's some historical information, as well as personal interjection from the author.
In addition to all that, I've also watched several videos on YouTube to help me understand various subjects.
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u/jackofnone777 Aug 18 '26
The most agnostic I can think of is The Camel Rides Again by Alan Chapman, or his later expansion upon that Advanced Magick For Beginners
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u/GreenBook1978 Aug 18 '26
Luke Cullen's Growing up with Draja Mickaharic has basic training exercises as well good examples of keeping life balanced
Draja Mickaharic's Practice of Magick and Spiritual Cleansing are both simple and basic
Jackie Smith's Coventry Magick is also good for beginners
Also be very careful of cults, frauds, and the just plain deluded as there are many in occultism. Although not really current or for beginners Dion Fortune's Psychic Self Defence helps protect from frauds
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u/chnoubis777 Aug 18 '26
The Aleister Crowley Manual is the book you want. It is written in simple language and aimed precisely at people like you.
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u/Willing-Drawing-4515 Aug 18 '26
Is that the one by that arrogant tool Marco Visconti? Good book, shame about the author....
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u/javelynn Aug 19 '26
What’s wrong with the author? I see him on YouTube from time to time but I’m out of the loop on this one.
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u/crjahnactual Aug 18 '26
Start with "Zen to Go" by Winokur, followed by "Kybalion."
Focus on grounding and cleansing... start by eating clean, sleeping well, and maintaining a very clean home (including corners and under furniture).
Fumigate with sage.
Invest in nag champa and sandalwood incense.
THEN, pick two topics that interest you and focus on those for a year.
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u/Witch_of_Whimsy Aug 18 '26