Books on Esoterics??

Long Legged Mack Daddy

My brother has a burgeoning interest in esoterics and his birthday is coming up so I thought I might buy him a book on the subject. Can anyone recommend a suitable book? Also can anyone point me to a book shop in Dublin which is likely to have a good section for this kind of thing? What section would it be in? Spirituality? Occult?

acri

Chapters should have a lot of what you're looking for. But for the really good stuff, you may have to ask them to order it in, or maybe order online yourself. Find out who his favorite authors/lecturers are and ring up to see if they've got anything in. Not sure how long it would take for them to get the book, but Antonia's Bookstore in Trim had Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson in for me in less than a week.

Long Legged Mack Daddy

acri wrote: »

Chapters should have a lot of what you're looking for. But for the really good stuff, you may have to ask them to order it in, or maybe order online yourself. Find out who his favorite authors/lecturers are and ring up to see if they've got anything in. Not sure how long it would take for them to get the book, but Antonia's Bookstore in Trim had Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson in for me in less than a week.

Thanks for the info. I don't think he has any favourite authors or lecturers yet. As I said, it's a burgeoning interest. The only person I'm aware of that he has mentioned is Terence Mckenna, but I'm not sure if he would fall under the umbrella of esoterics. Would you recommend "Prometheus Rising" for someone who is only beginning to investigate this kind of thing?

acri

"Esoteric" is a very broad term, but I'll try to throw together a few suggestions when I get in from work this evening.

[EDIT] Prometheus Rising wouldn't really be for beginners, but I think I've an idea of whatcha might be lookin' for.

18AD

Toward Records off Grafton St. usually have weird, cool books in the back. (They're feckin' mad expensive though, as books go. Order online if you have the time.)

I'd recommned Christopher Hyatt.

Or Voodoo. Everyone likes Voodoo.

Long Legged Mack Daddy

acri wrote: »

"Esoteric" is a very broad term, but I'll try to throw together a few suggestions when I get in from work this evening.

[EDIT] Prometheus Rising wouldn't really be for beginners, but I think I've an idea of whatcha might be lookin' for.

Just to explain. He has a fascination with secret societies such as the Rosicrucians, Tall Cedars of Lebanon etc and this has led him to curiosity about esoteric doctrines / practices, secret sciences and the like. I know the idea of a generally available book about such matters is a bit of a contradiction in terms.

acri

(Sorry about the delay)

Right, here are a few people/books I've found interesting over the past few years:

Jordan Maxwell - Matrix of Power (Jordan tends to say a lot without saying much at all. By that I mean lots of words, and not a lot of substance, but still some very interesting themes beneath the sometimes stretched claims. A decent starter on the origins of religions and secret societies)

Jake Kotze - The Sync Book (Explores "magic" used by the powers that be through popular media. This leans more to the mind control side of things)

David Icke - The David Icke Guide to the Global Conpiracy (Yes, I know, you may see "David Icke" and think "nutter", but some outlandish claims aside, he has a thorough understanding of secret societies and their inner workings)

Christopher Knowles - Our Gods Wear Spandex (This might be a good birthday purchase. Less serious than other books, Knowles looks at the political beginnings of our most popular super heroes)

Alan Watt - Cutting Through (Now, I haven't actually read these books myself, but I've listened to the author speak about his research. Interesting stuff on secret societies such as Freemasons and The Knights Templar)

To be honest, I'm looking through my archive of stuff and I've absolutely no idea what to recommend as an introduction. The subject matter is so vast with a huge amount of information, not to mention a plethora of tangents. If I were to recommend one book in particular, it would be Perfectibilists by Terry Melanson as it explores the origins of contemporary secret societies. Probably a pretty neat starting point.

I'm sure there are others on this forum far more read on the subject than I am, but for what it's worth, I hope this helps.

Long Legged Mack Daddy

acri wrote: »

(Sorry about the delay)

Right, here are a few people/books I've found interesting over the past few years:

Jordan Maxwell - Matrix of Power (Jordan tends to say a lot without saying much at all. By that I mean lots of words, and not a lot of substance, but still some very interesting themes beneath the sometimes stretched claims. A decent starter on the origins of religions and secret societies)

Jake Kotze - The Sync Book (Explores "magic" used by the powers that be through popular media. This leans more to the mind control side of things)

David Icke - The David Icke Guide to the Global Conpiracy (Yes, I know, you may see "David Icke" and think "nutter", but some outlandish claims aside, he has a thorough understanding of secret societies and their inner workings)

Christopher Knowles - Our Gods Wear Spandex (This might be a good birthday purchase. Less serious than other books, Knowles looks at the political beginnings of our most popular super heroes)

Alan Watt - Cutting Through (Now, I haven't actually read these books myself, but I've listened to the author speak about his research. Interesting stuff on secret societies such as Freemasons and The Knights Templar)

To be honest, I'm looking through my archive of stuff and I've absolutely no idea what to recommend as an introduction. The subject matter is so vast with a huge amount of information, not to mention a plethora of tangents. If I were to recommend one book in particular, it would be Perfectibilists by Terry Melanson as it explores the origins of contemporary secret societies. Probably a pretty neat starting point.

I'm sure there are others on this forum far more read on the subject than I am, but for what it's worth, I hope this helps.

Thanks for all of the info and recommendations. I'll check some of those out. Interesting you mention Alan Watt. My brother references him all the time. As for David Icke and his humanoid lizards and all that, I reckon that, intentionally or unintentionally, he and others like him, serve the purpose of of providing a caricature which can be used by to mock and discredit the entire "truth movement".

Roger Buck

I have read hundreds of esoteric books, from Alice Bailey, Rudolf Steiner, the Theosophists, Western hermeticists, astrology etc.

Out of all of these the most important one was Meditations on the Tarot.

This is also a book that could conceivably appeal to Irish people who have not rejected their Catholic roots.

For the author is both a Catholic and a hermeticist ...

So two worlds are present in this book that do not usually interact: the esoteric and Catholicism.

The Church's response is striking. The theologian Balthasar elected a cardinal by John Paul II wrote:

"A thinking, praying Christian of unmistakable purity reveals to us the symbols of Christian Hermeticism in its various levels of mysticism, gnosis and magic, taking in also the Cabbala and certain elements of astrology and alchemy.

These symbols are summarised in the twenty-two so-called "Major Arcana" of the Tarot cards.

By way of the Major Arcana the author seeks to lead meditatively into the deeper, all-embracing wisdom of the Catholic Mystery."


If anyone is interested in more regarding this book, here is a review of it at my onsite:

http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2009/05/book-review-meditations-on-the-tarot-anonymous-with-an-afterword-by-hans-urs-von-balthasar/