It seems that there may be a CM system out there that resonates with me, but I don't have a clue how to find out.  When I have conversations with groups (or lurk where they post), it seems like they're speaking one or more foreign languages that I can't understand.  I don't know the terminology, and I quickly find myself feeling uneducated and out of my element.  I'm at a point where I don't even know what questions to ask, but it's obvious I'm looking for something.

I guess one way to go about this is to ask the Ceremonial Magickians that come by here: how did you discover your path, and how did you get started?  How and where do you find the books?  I know a lot of the recommended books go out of print and become rare, and I live in a small, conservative Christian town with no rare book store (the only used book store in town occasionally gets a witchcraft book in, and it's gone within 24 hours unless a friend of mine grabs it first - and when I say "conservative Christian", I mean the first question someone is asked upon meeting someone for the first time is "What church do you belong to?").  Also, knowing that Thelema and the writings of Crowley contain pitfalls for the unwary, how does the unwillfully ignorant aspirant avoid them?

These things, along with an elitist attitude when I've asked these kinds of questions, have been the stumbling blocks that have kept me off this path entirely, but something about it makes me curious and hungry for more at a level I can understand.

/rant

Thanks,

Phoenix Rising

Ahhhh...can I EVER relate to your dilemma! When I got into CM nearly 15 years ago, I lived in a rural Southwest Kansas town, pop. 1600. Had to drive 27 miles to get to ANY kind of bookstore, and that was a Hastings that actually didn't have such a terrible New Age section with even a few of Crowley's stuff now and again. (I grabbed them babies as soon as I saw 'em!)

I happened onto some of them nasty Thelemites via AOHell chatrooms, and the rest, as they say, became history.

That said, I suggest looking at Lon Milo DuQuette's books on Thelema since you are feeling drawn to The Ol' Beast hisself. Anything by DuQuette, IMO, is well worth the money and will become so well-thumbed it'll fall apart. His Chicken Qabalah is a diamond not to be bypassed if you're at all interested in getting into QBL. Consider his recommended resources, Hebrew dictionary, etc., as I've found them to be extremely valuable...also well worth the money. His "beginner's manual" to Thelema....hmmm...mine's called The Magick of Thelema, but I believe it has a different title since I got it. Anyway, it is priceless. Breaks down the arcane stuff in Magick, Book 4 (aka The Big Blue Brick) to terms that a reasonably intelligent human who is NOT of Aleister Crowley's degree of expertise can understand. Crowley had not Clue #1 how to write a textbook. He thought he did, but unless you fall into Thelemic magick more readily than I did, you will go with DuQuette. Besides, DuQuette is FUNNY. His books are a hoot here and there but lay out for you step by step how to do all this stuff, knowledgably and seriously. Also, get DuQ's Understanding the Thoth Tarot if you're intrigued by AC's deck at all. It is superb!

For something a bit more geared to the raw beginner, a very basic little intro that may be too elementary for you if you've done much work with meditation, chakras and such would be Futureritual by Philip Farber. Really covers the foundational work for becoming a CM without getting terribly involved in ritual stuff. Simply solid mental and intellectual preparation for doing ritual. Superb little book. Farber has a more advanced one recently out, I believe. Writes clearly and concisely without talking down to the reader.

Donald M. Kraig's Modern Magick is worth a looksee as a good "Betty Crocker" guidebook to all aspects of CM, no definite leanings toward any specific system of magick, IMO. Some notable flaws in it, but you'll either discover them for yourself or someone will point them out. Still a nice, comprehensive introductory work.

Do read Israel Regardie eventually. I personally dislike the newer editions edited and enlarged upon by the Ciceros, but if you can only get their editions of Regardie reasonably priced, they're better than none at all.

And finally, should you happen onto a copy--even one held together by rubber bands or string--of Crowley's Magick Without Tears, buy, beg, seduce the owner or simply steal the thing. It is the pearl of great price for the beginning Thelemite--the one time in his life that AC succeeded mightily in explaining magick and Thelema to the neophyte. Some truly wonderful essays in that book, now out of print although rumored that Falcon may reissue it sometime. {Just checked and abebooks.com, my absolute favorite online rare and OOP dealer, has copies of it for $32. I would definitely shell out the money for one, or a higher-priced one in better condition if you can. An absolute MUST-have for the beginning Thel, IMO.]

As for worrying about falling into traps with Thelema, Crowley built enough "blinds" into his texts that you're unlikely to do so unless you're foolhardy, as arrogant as he was and just plain stupid. You'll reach points where you go, "Now, what the f****** hell is that about?" and realize later that you can't even remember what or where it was. Really good blinds to keep a person from getting in over your head when using some discernment and caution.

These should keep you out of much conservative Xtian trouble and get ya into some of our own. < sassy wink & grin >

Every man and every woman is a Star,
Dot

DuQuette's intro to Thelemic magick is now entitled, The Magick of Aleister Crowley, I just found out. Readily acquired on Amazon.

HexPainter wrote:

The Book of Ceremonial Magicby A.E.Waite

Sorry to be contentious, but unless you want a curiosity to prop up your couch's broken leg, Waite is a complete joke where CM is concerned. Don't waste your money and time.

There were no "For Dummy" books or internet for that matter when I started.
Mail Order and pray the book you ordered lived up to the description...

Not so these days, THANKFULLY.

If you ever get to a Borders, they generally have a really quite varied and good CM section. Shop your little socks off. They carry far more than B&N even though I generally prefer B&N for most other stuff.

I bought rather slim "Book 4" early on in my ongoing Odyssey into Crowley. It was riveting; then I realized (or at least saw no alternative) I had to buy the huge "Magick in Theory and Practice", as the aforementioned "Book 4" only has the first few Parts. So... if you can find it, you may want to cut to the chase, so to speak, and get the big volume.

Magick without Tears, as my Friend Dot eloquently stated, is worth it's weight in gold, as it contains correpondence between Crowley and a rather slow learner. His language is very conversational and compellingly funny and interesting. I learned much from it. I got is used "As Is" for only $15. the circumstances surrounding how I came across it are very curious. "synchronicity" would be the best way in the least amount of words.

I'll let you in on something though; my reading marathon has evolved. As Frost wrote "Way leads unto Way".

I believe Crowley's Magick, which seems to have sprung from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, has its roots in Hermetic Mysteries, which themselves stem from Alchemy.

I feel like I've let a cat out of a bag, so to speak. But the cat belongs not to me, nor the bag. It's took me only a few months actually, though much reading, to track things this far back.

However, if you are dead set on Ceremonial Magick, my path will be for you quite a detour and a distraction. We probably have different ultimate objectives, though I don't really know what mine are.
Currently, I feel CM is one manifestation, a very very visual and symbolic one, of something much less concrete.
That it; CM concretizes or crystallizes ancient beliefs. It throws a robe upon an invisible framework. It casts magical salt (haha) upon an invisible bridge. It illuminates an omnipresent darkness with Light, which already is lluminated with Light, but the Darkness knows it not.

There's more than one way into the Woods.