I know there are a lot of people here who will say that there are no good or bad ways to go about studying paganism. I disagree.

I suggest that you avoid certain texts like the plague. Especially anything by Silver Ravenwolf. That is primarily for the "I love movies with wizards in them and I am an angsty teenager" type fluffy pagan.

Cunningham, Penzak, and Dugan are all very good. The only Ravenwolf book I suggest you buy is the Solitary Witch, but only for it's reference value.

Ancient texts on magick are good too, particularly the charts in The Key of Solomon.

Hope that helped.

Lucian

Jan 17, 2010 -- 12:21PM, Truebluescorpio wrote:

-0

Aug 15, 2009 -- 6:13AM, UU_Nirvana wrote:

I am interested in learning more about Paganism and I know that there are many different types of Pagans. My question is...do you know of any good books that go over the different types or maybe even a website. I have a bunch of books on pagan based religions and i have tried to do as much study as I can but I still feel I have learned nothing. Many of the books contradict eachother or I just don't understand what their talking about. I really have liked Silver Raven Wolf's books but after reading countless reasons on why I should not read her material i am a little confused on what I should read then. What attracts me to paganism is the ritual. A relationship with god(s) is very important to me and I find that I feel closer to the "Source/god(s)" when in ritual. The only thing that turns me off from paganism is some of the things I have read one must do in ritual (at least in some of the wiccan books I have) like casting a circle and these many steps one must take. I guess I just feel that one should not have to cast a circle because all places are sacred. It just seems like there is so many steps one must take during ritual that I find rather anoying and distracts me from what I am really setting out to do. Maybe thats only in wicca, I guess Im not sure. Anyways, my question is if you know of any good books or websites that could help me find the right pagan path for me. I would like a path that I can practice alone, I want a path that has more focus on the god(s) than on magick and a path with ritual that won't take me three hours to perform but instead will make me feel closer to the god(s) and strengthen my connection with them.

Ok, one more thing....I have read that many pagans believe in only one god that is both male and female and that when they speak of the different "gods" they dont really believe in many but that all these different gods are just different manifestations of the one supreme god. Is this true for most pagans? I'm asking because thats how I view it myself. I feel there is only one god and everything that is in this universe including the earth, everything on it and ourselves are manifestations of him/her. I feel we all are apart of the divine.

Thank you in advance for your help and for reading such a long post...thanx. :)

Here's a book for you to read then. It's called "Celtic Magic" by D.J. Conway. It focuses more on Pagan than Wiccan and easier to understand. It tells you the proper use of candles, stones and herbs, the proper set up of the alter with a picture of how it is to look like. It tells you what each tree is for (for example: Apple,Domestic. A Druid sacred tree. Cut an apple into three pieces. Rub the cut side on warts, saying "Out warts, into apple." Bury the pieces; as the apple decays, the warts will disappear. Use apple cider in any old spell calling for blood or wine.  Pink stones such as rose quartz and agate is used for healing, true love, and friendship. Candles can be used with the stones and herbs. Green candles are used for abundance, fertility, good fortune, generosity, money, wealth, success, renewal, marriage, and balance. There are several tables and simple spells). After you read it let me know if it helped you.

Ick!  Not Conway!  Never Conway!  Deborah Lipp is good and reliable, as is Christopher Penczak.

www.deborahlipp.com/

www.christopherpenczak.com/