Books, Books... And More Books

I have an inclusive yet concise library. Most of us do. Whether or not we like to admit it, the majority of us are not students of some mysterious individual with arcane knowledge that stretches back millions of years to the dawn of time. We are a people of the written word ( books, social media,blogs). Many of us are voracious readers, hungrily devouring as much of anything occult-related as we can possibly hold. This is both a good idea and a bad one.

The Good: We are open to new ideas and methods, which in turn fuel our creative spark.

The Bad: There are a lot of just plain awful books out there, badly written, containing questionable content from unreliable or historically inaccurate sources.

Our magickal education then becomes a matter of discernment: balancing reliable sources, and actual practice. Any serious student of the occult would benefit from exploring not only astrology,but also astronomy ( and mathematics!); alchemy and quantum physics; ancient history and ancient cultures. Have a basic understanding of how politics and religion meshed with the culture of those ancient  societies to be better able to understand their relationship to the Divine.(Check out fine art through the ages,to  help you frame your thoughts!)  The field of comparative religion is endless, so don't be afraid to sample outside the box- a lot can be gained by reading psychology (especially Carl Jung's archetypes). Geometry and geology; study herbs, but gain a basic knowledge of botany.  Invest in a c good encyclopedia of world mythology, like Bullfinch's.

But most of all...read, read, read. Distinguishing the good from the bad will become second nature.