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There are some folks who are involved in Magical-Religions such as the African Traditional Religions like Santeria, Palo Monte/Palo Mayombe or Vodu who have this notion that there is nothing to be learned from a book. In fact, many of them will up and up flat out either prevaricate about it OR worse speak out of sheer ignorance. Truth is, the best Metaphysical practitioners I've ever met - and I'm talking about professionals who work for clients - do indeed have a library, usually a large one!
My first suggestion is to first get away from those ignorant assholes and distance yourself from them. Second, remove yourself form lists that they are on because many of them speak falsely on purpose to try and confuse you OR they're just plain ignorant.
Books are a starting point and rarely is a book an end-all tome of knowledge in and of itself, especially mainstream Occult books. In fact, everyone of my own booklets are places for you to begin. Why? There is no possible way to download the sum knowledge and experiences of ONE practitioner let alone a whole society. Yes, yes I know such fantastic notions about Atlanteans downloading their knowledge into crystal skulls and all that is a popular idea (but EVEN IF THEY DID how does one retrieve it?) thus you cannot take these claims seriously.
What you find in a book is a starting point. The idea is to present a singular or group of concepts that will allow the reader to get some idea of what the author is trying to convey. What's important is to get the reader involved and THINKING and IMAGINING that s/he CAN indeed do this! At least that is what I try and convey in my writings but I realize sometimes authors just don't do a very good job of this.
Many of my books have scribbled notes in the columns, sticky papers with notes on them, bookmarks, highlights and so on. I treat a book I read as if it were a text book from college. Why? I challenge myself to try and get something out of it rather than just read it and sit it back on my shelf like so many are wont to do. Those folks are funny to me - they go, "Ok that was nice. What's next?" and regardless, they got nada from the book even if the book was well researched, well written and had exercises, these geniuses just read it and put it back on the shelf.
My aim here is to offer you a sampling of books I own and have read and why I think they're worthy of your time, money and efforts to procure, read and study. Every Sorcerer needs to have a good research library and well here's some ideas on what you need to get to add to your library. I may even have a spot for ‘duds' but we'll see.
Sorcerous & Magical Formulas
Moloch's Guide to Using Sorcery Formulas -Why shouldn't I add this here? I wrote it and while it's not an in-depth tome on herbal formulas, it covers the formulas I sell. Brief but it also has techniques, tips & hints that you can employ in your practices which if you study them, these can be applied with the formulas in any formulary. Highly Recommended!
Ancient Wisdom: Master Grimoire by Pat Kirven-Sawyer - this is a book that's composed of the exact same material from an old mail order Witchcraft course offered by Malcolm Mills back in the 1970's but with some modern updates. The book is primarily formulas for Sorcerous potions including incense, blended oils, washes, sprays & powders. How the author came about this material, I'm not sure but originally it was in Malcolm Mills course THEN later the formulas were stripped from the course and put into the Magickal Formulary Vols 1 by Horrible Herman Slater from the Magickal Childe publishing company. The problem is that not all of the formulas in Slater's Formulary were rom this course AND further Slater omitted the notes of Mills' from his course which helped to make sense of the reasons the formulas were put together properly. A wealth of information and worth the price to get. Highly recommended.
Magickal Formulary Vols. 1 & 2 by Herman Slater - these two books were out of print but are now back in print. Volume 1 is simply formulas with very little explanation and the latter half of the book is spells that Slater gleaned from Mills' Witchcraft course. Then Volume 2 is simply some (very little) of the herb & root lore that's found in Mills' course. Think of these as Readers Digest Condensed Versions of Mills' mail order Witchcraft course or the above mentioned book. Handy but you can live without them.
The Witch's Formulary & Spellbook by Tarostar - this little gem is rarely ever consulted and should be a staple of every Sorcerer's library. It has quite a bit of useful information in it along with some alternative formulas for popular oils such as Damnation, Double XX, High John, Uncrossing and more. Further the spell section is replete with good, old fashioned spells that are workable with the chants in rhyme. That's Tarostar's trademark is his penchant for creating damn nice rhymes for his spells. Here you'll find the famous Black Candle Tobacco spell for courtroom justice along with some spells by his former partner, Mama Phoebe, a Swamp Witch. This book could easily fit into a Swamp Witch's library for work out in the bayou or it can be used by someone living in downtown Montreal. Highly recommended.
Santeria Formulary & Spellbook by Carlos Montenegro - this has very little to do with actual Santeria but who cares? It's a treasure of RootWork style lore, recipes and formulas. There's a Nganga on the cover but that too has very little to do with the book's contents. Suffice to say that the chapter on oil formulas is quite interesting and I've experimented with the Intranquil oil as well as the Eleggua Money oil to very good effect! There are many other recipes worth exploring and I'd ignore the crap in the beginning about the Palos (re: tree sticks) and Orishas/Herbs because it's all bunk. Besdies if you want to use tree branches in your magics, there's plenty of power in the native trees that grow where you live. Realize many of those Palos come from Cuba and South America so they're often quite difficult to obtain. Overall not a bad book to have on hand.
The Modern Herbal Spellbook by Anna Riva - realize Ms Riva did not write this but rather she compiled it much like she did the rest of her books. She'd solicit practitioners for what works for them and then compile it all into her booklets without giving the original source any credit. However some of her herbal info kicks ass in this little booklet and that makes it well worth the money to buy a copy. Some of the information in it is quite potent and there are a number of Occultists who started out with their herbal knowledge using this book. I highly recommend you get a copy.
The Enchanted Formulary by Lady Rhea - this was originally meant as a companion to her candle burning book (see below) however it is worthy of your time to procure because she adds plenty of worthwhile anecdotes to give you an understanding how you choose a formula for a particular spell or working. From reading her material it is evident she is well taught & experienced. She has taught candle burning classes at Enchantments & the old Magickal Childe stores in New York City.
Candle Books
For a Sorcerer, there are few things as handy as candles. Here are some of my favorites and why I like them so much:
Practical Candle Burning Magic by Rayomnd Buckland - this is a great primer for those of you who wish to learn the arts of candle burning and have not had any practical experience with it. The spells inside are written from both a Christian & Wiccan point-of-view. Essentially the rituals ar ethe same except that the Christian versions use Psalms for the prayers and the Wiccan versions use Neo-Pagan prayers written from Buckland's own Seax-Wicca tradition. The spells work great too. My very first candle spell was his Prosperity spell and I landed a job within a week. My second spell was using the spell for Love and it worked as well.
The Book of Lights by Lady Sara - this book offers some great insights & terrific spells for the practicing Sorcerer. She offers some great advice on herbal Sorcery and it is hard to go wrong by obtaining a copy of this text. For the longest time it was out-of-print but now is back in print and farily easy to obtain. Get a copy!
The Enchanted Candle by Lady Rhea - another great candleburning book! This book offers some great home brewed Vevers (seals, sigils) by a practicing Witch. The book is highly practical with a section on Love Magic, Money Magic, Healing Magic and Miscellaneous. The Fast Luck Vever and spell is VERY usefl for those who are truly in need of a change of luck from bad to good! I've used her Vevers in some of my own candle rituals and they worked very well. You simply draw the Vever on paper, cut it out & tape it to the jar of the candle or lay it under a candle holder if using traditional taper or household candles & a candle holder. Highly Recommended!
The Magic Candle: Facts & Fundamentals of Ritual Candle-Burning by Charmaine Dey - this is a great little book that offers a LOT of practical knowledge not found in your regular candle burning books. Most books talk about how to cast the spell using candles BUT this book goes into more detail about timing, oil choices, engraving/carving, loading, Spiritual Seals, and so on. Get this to enhance your knowledge nad gie you some more things to think about. Recommended even though you can live without it. It's inexpensive enough that you can afford to have a copy in your library.
The Master Book of Candle Burning by Henri Gamache - this book is a classic! The spells are geared towards a more Hoodoo type of practice and it doesn't have the Wiccan or pagan versions of spells like Buckland's book above does. This is a great little companion as it gives you ideas on how to set up your altar and why use the candles in the configurations it recommends. Recommended.
Candleburning Magic: A Spellbook of Rituals for Good & Evil by Anna Riva - if you're in need of ideas for candle color selections, incenses to use, Psalms to use and altar layouts, you cannot do any worse than to have just this nifty little collection of spells ready to use. Ms Riva has done a fine job of collating over 250 spells for every purpose with many spells overlapping others (which is important so that you can have options in case one particular spell doesn't seem quite rite to you.) Highly recommended.
Seals, Talismans & Sigils
There are many books out there such as grimiores which are compilations of spells, Spirits and how to summon them with their Seals. Many times people water down the power of these Seals by wearing them on shirts, on keychains, on book covers and what not. It's first off disrespectful and secondly waters down the power that Spirit has. Thus reserve wearing a shirt with a Spirit's seal unless you plan on summoning that particular Non-Physical Entity!
The Key of Solomon by S.L. MacGregor Mathers (translated) - this is rightly a grimoire (re: grammar) from the Middle Ages & Renaissance period when practitioners were learned & most likely priests or monks. Mathers was an Occultist with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and he translated this text into English. it is by far one of the most used grimoires out there by practitioners. The seals are planetary & each has its own set of Spirits associated with it. Conjure practitioners have used this grimoire for a very long time in their practices including simple candle burning rites. Recommended.
The Sixth & Seventh Books of Moses by Joseph Peterson - this text is a terric source ofr seals that are Hebrew in origin and designed to work for many practical purposes as well as working with the Higher Spiritual Powers of the Jewish nation. The first seven seals from the Sixth book are often plenty for you to use. Simply hand draw them, and you can use them in JuJu bags, on or under candles and in lots of other instances like carrying the Seal of Great Fortune in your wallet or purse. Highly Recommended.
Secrets of Magical Seals by Anna Riva - this is essentially a compilation of all the seals from many grimoires & unique sources. The attributions of some of the seals and Spirit Vevers is way off base but if you need a quick, handy reference for the seals, this is an ideal booklet to have on hand. The title is misleading also as there are almost no secrets contained in it as the book is mostly an adjunct to Conjure practitioners.
Perfume, Oils, Candles, Seals & Incense by Aima - this is a useful little book that discusses how to use the seals contained in the Sixth & Seventh Books of Moses in a Conjure practitioner's way. Difficult to find. Out of print & usually costly. Handy reference though and recommended.
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