Recommended reading list?

This week, I've gotten (literally) a dozen requests for "recommended book lists".  Of course, the recommended book list will change dramatically depending on what the Seeking is looking to explore. Modern Paganism? Witchcraft? Wicca? Occultism and magic?

Here is the basic list that I recommend when I'm not quite sure exactly what someone is seeking:

The "**" are the ones that I really like given the topic that they cover.

• Spiral Dance – Starhawk (Modern feminist witchcraft) **

• Magical Kaballah – Dion Fortune (occult/magic)
• Psychic Self-Defense – Dion Fortune (occult/magic) **

• The Rebirth of Witchcraft – Doreen Valiente (BTW Style) **
• Witchcraft for Tomorrow – Doreen Valiente (BTW Style) **
• Witchcraft Today – Gardner (BTW Style) **

• Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today (reference) **

• Farrar, Janet and Stewart.
o ___. Eight Sabbats for Witches (BTW/Alexandrian Style) **
o ___. The Witches' Way (BTW/Alexandrian Style) **
o ___. The Witches’ Goddess (reference)
o ___. The Witches’ God (reference)
o ___. Progressive Witchcraft, (Farrar, Janet & Bone, Gavin (post BTW/BTW derived/Pagan Mystery Witchcraft) **

• Lipp, Deborah
o ___. The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle
o ___. The Way of Four: Create Elemental Balance in Your Life (Wicca based elemental work) **
o ___. The Study of Witchcraft: A Guidebook to Advanced Wicca (I haven't read this yet but it's on my list!)

• Sorita d'Este
o ___. Towards the Wiccan Circle - A Practical Introduction to the Principles of Wicca (reference)
o ___. WICCA MAGICKAL BEGINNINGS - A Study of the Possible Origins of the Rituals and Practices Found in this Modern Tradition of Pagan Witchcraft and Magick (reference)

• Cunningham, Scott

o ___. Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (Modern "Eclectic Wicca") **
o ___. Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (Modern "Eclectic Wicca")
o ___. Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (Reference)

FICTION:
• High Magic’s Aid – Gardner (fiction)
• Lammas Night - Katherine Kurtz (fiction)

• Fortune, Dion (fiction)
o ___. The Goat-Foot God
o ___. Moon Magic
o ___. The Sea Priestess1996.
o ___. The Secrets of Doctor Taverner

You might have noticed that I did not list any "bad books".  Even though I feel that there are some pretty horrid books available, I tend to NOT tell people to not read them.  Why?  If they have a clue, it should be apparent quite quickly. :-)  Besides, what I don't like someone else may love and find meets their needs perfectly. Who am I to criticize their reading choices?

For the folks interested in specifically Traditional Italic-American Craft, here is the beginning reading list that I offer:

·         Books on Sicilian Craft

o   Martello, Leo

§  Witchcraft: The Old Religion by Leo Martello

§  Weird Ways of Witchcraft by Leo Martello

·         Books on Italian/American-Italian Craft

o   Grimassi, Raven

§  Italian Witchcraft by Raven Grimassi (Originally printed as “Ways of the Strega: Italian Witchcraft: Its Legends, Lore, & Spells”, reprinted with new title and supplemental material.)

§  The Book of Ways, V1 & v2 by Raven Grimassi

§  The Cimaruta: And Other Magical Charms From Old Italy by Raven Grimassi

§  The Book of the Holy Strega. Second Edition by Raven Grimassi

o   Jonathan Sousa

§  Classical Polytheism by Nemesis (Jonathan Sousa)

·         Italian Culture and Myth

o   Calvino, Italo

§  Italian Folktales

o   Leland, Charles

§  Aradia, Gospel of the Witches

§  Etruscan Roman Remains

·         Anything regarding the history and/or culture of Sicily or the Italic people

So, what are your favorite books that you would recommend?

Benedizioni,

---Vinnie

If you can't summarize it in 3 decent sized paragraphs, then you don't know enough about the subject.

Ciao a tutti,

I've been stuck for blog topics.  Not because I don't have any. Because the ones that I do have seem to fit best with back-and-forth dialogue rather than the neat (sterile?) written word.  They're less about opinions and more about questions and trying to find answers.

For instance, here are some snippets of the types of conversations that I've had over the past week:

• Religion? Spiritual path? Umbrella term of related movements?
• Wicca, Neo-Wicca, Paganism - same or different? How so? Specific priesthood(s) of a religion? If so, which one?
• Paganism as an umbrella term - useful or confusing?
• If Paganism is a movement, what is the religion that Wicca and Neo-Wicca is a priesthood of?
• Initiatory Tradition vs Priesthood?
• Orthopraxy vs Orthodoxy? 
• When aspects of an entirely orthopraxic Path begin to run counter to values and ethics of modern practitioners (through cultural changes), what should be done? Anything?
•  Judaism (an orthopraxic faith) has the Torah* and the rabbinical commentaries to help modern day practitioners interpret the "correct practices". Does Wicca have something similar?

And the hardest one so far -

• There are many different religious movements within Judaism ranging from very orthopradix/conservative to very liberal and yet they all fall under the umbrella of "Judiasm". Wicca (Trad/BTW, Neo-, etc.) seems to not have a similar concept an instead insist on an "us versus them" perspective. Why?

Each time I try to address those questions in writing, I seem to get bogged down with going back to what I put a paragraph or two previously and changing what I wrote.  When discussing things over coffee, it's easy to circle around to further clarify what was said earlier but very difficult to put it in writing.

Someone once said to me that if you can't summarize it in 3 decent sized paragraphs, then you don't know enough about the subject.  Leaving aside the truth to that statement for the moment, I thought it might make a good exercise.  So, anyone want to take a crack at it? Pick one of the items above and write 3 paragraphs addressing it.  It's not as easy as it sounds.

Benedizioni,

---Vinnie

*The Torah consists of the foundational narrative of the Jewish people: their call into being by their God, their trials and tribulations, and their covenant with their God which involves following a way of life (halakha) embodied in a set of religious obligations and civil laws.