1001 Books for Pagans

Crossposted from the Wicca group because I didn't get much response there.

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I saw this over in another religion's thread and thought it would be fun.

What books would you put in "1001 Books for Pagans" and why?

They don't necessarily have to do with Wicca or Paganism. For instance, I would put books in about various natural sciences, psychology, leadership, community, folklore, mythology and comparative religion.

I'll put some of my ideas in later.

the selfish gene has to be on that list. 1001 is a huge list though - so you can probably get a few more of Dawkins' works on it too. Maybe some of Stephen Jay Gould s too as a counterpoint. The original Origin of the Species is a must.

A brief history of Time and maybe some of the more recent follow-ups.

I'm not so hot on the more social science side so maybe someone else can add some of these.

How about fiction Contact, Harry Potter?

I'd start out with Frazer's The Golden Bough.

Toss in Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces and The Masks of God.

My old favorite, This Believing World by Lewis Browne.

Man and His Gods by Smith.

A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom

The Malleus Maleficarum.

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Sagan.

(Wow. Takes some doing to persuade the touchstones to load.)

Voltaire (although he wasn't a pagan, or even atheist), Diderot (Encyclopedists in general), Helvetius... (Sorry, the touchstones aren't loading.)

The best anti-religion tracts are religious texts themself, though.

This is a repost from another Wicca thread.

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A couple of years ago I created the following list of the most recommended books for Pagans.

Compiled from the following fifteen sources:

Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler, Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland, The Wicca Sourcebook by Gerina Dunwich, A Witch Alone by Marian Green, Covencraft: Witchcraft for Three or More by Amber K, The Well Read Witch by Carl McColman, Amazon books at (www.amazon.com), Isaac Bonewits' web site (www.neopagan.net), Church of all World's website (www.caw.org), Covenant of the Goddess' website (www.cog.org), Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans' website (www.cuups.org), PanGaia's web site (www.pangaia.com), Pagan Educational Network's website (www.bloomington.in.us/~pen - PEN's and Pagan Leader's Recommended Reading) and The Witches' Voice website (www.witchvox.com).

*Fifteen recommendations

The Spiral Dance by Starhawk

*Thirteen recommendations

Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler

*Eleven recommendations

A Witches' Bible by Janet and Stewart Farrar
The Witches' Goddess by Janet and Stewart Farrar

*Ten recommendations

The Witches' God by Janet and Stewart Farrar
The White Goddess by Robert Graves
Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

*Nine recommendations

Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland
Wheel of the Year by Pauline and Dan Campanelli
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practioner by Scott Cunningham
Witchcraft Today by Gerald Gardner
To Ride a Silver Broomstick by Silver Ravenwolf
ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present by Doreen Valiente

*Eight recommendations

Wicca by Vivianne Crowley
The Golden Bough by James Frazer
Great Cosmic Mother by Monica Sjoo
Jambalaya by Luisah Teish

*Seven recommendations

Real Magic by Isaac Bonewits
Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Holy Book of Women's Mysteries by Z Budapest
Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
Earth Power by Scott Cunningham
Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler
Meaning of Witchcraft by Gerald Gardner
People of the Earth by Ellen Evert Hopman
Aradia by Charles Leland
Witch Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Murray
Family Wicca Book by Ashleen O'Gaea
Circle Round by Starhawk
Dreaming the Dark by Starhawk
Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
When God was a Woman by Merlin Stone
Witchcraft for Tomorrow by Doreen Valiente
Positive Magic by Marion Weinstein

*Six recommendations

The Truth About Witchcraft Today by Scott Cunningham
Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe by Hilda Ellis Davidson
The Pagan Path by Janet and Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone
Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe by Marija Gimbutas
Never Again the Burning Times by Loretta Orion
The Druids by Stuart Piggott
Pagan Celtic Britain by Anne Ross
Pagan Book of Living and Dying by Starhawk
Truth or Dare by Starhawk
Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara Walker

(Edited: Still trying to get the touchstones to work.)

I will dribble these in as they come to me...being of the non-scientific sort, my recommendations will be mostly philosophy and fiction.

The Mists of Avalon -- great pagan fiction about Morgaine, King Arthur's half sister. Well written.

Foucault's Pendulum -- conspiracy theory gone haywire. Notable for its (sane) treatment of Kabbalah, Templars, and Brazilian animistic rituals.

Stranger in a Strange Land -- Imagine a world where innocence reigns. Heinlein does. And does it very well.

The Fountainhead -- I hate Ayn Rand, and everything she stands for. But she makes an incredibly compelling argument, and methinks she must be taken seriously.

Cat's Cradle -- Vonnegut makes up a religion that is just as sane, and a bit more attractive than the other options available today.

The End of the Affair -- not neccessarily from a pagan standpoint, but it is one of the best and most disturbing novels that deals with spirituality.

Measure for Measure -- when bad religious people get to much power...and go really bad.

The Secret Teachings of All Ages -- my wife grew up a few blocks from the philosophical society, and I drove by it for years before I ever stopped in. Hall does a pretty job of giving you the esoteric roster over the years.

Artic, I hated The End of the Affair. Why couldn't she just tell him why? Was that supposed to vacate the "contract"? Was he supposed to have a heart attack and die if she ever just talked to him again? Do people really believe that God operates that way? Please, overwrought crapola.

just my humble opinion, folks!

I can see how people would not like this book, for the reasons you mention, but it had a powerful impact on me.

Personally I think she was ashamed of her contract, and did not want to say, "You lost out to God."

As to the "terms" of her contract, they are in fact what most people who commit to faith really face, if they are willing to take a hard look at it. God seems to smite with no regard to faith, so thumbing your nose at God will not bring down the wrath of the Almighty. (The whole heaven thing is another issue, but Greene thankfully leaves that out himself.) If that is the case, why bother with faith?

In other words, what was it in her that bound her to the contract? Greene, as a lapsed and haunted Catholic, was very familar with that question, but struggled (as I do) for the answer.

Maybe it was the season of life for me, maybe it was the Golden Palominos CD based on the novel, maybe it was just my introduction to Greene, but it blew my mind apart in many fruitful ways.

PS I am in no way refering to the incredibly awful movie of the same name.

I don't know of pagan, but The Myth of Evil disassembles the concept of the Devil in a nice and methodical way. Most of the books I'd recommend are swedish language only, so I'll skip those (mostly on how systems of belief etc. has been shaped in western society from a historical perspective).

In the fictionary department I'd add The Lions of Al-Rassan for a discussion on belief, loyalties and where those can lead you. Actually I'd thought only atheists could enjoy that book but I has been proved wrong - maybe the anti-religious theme is invisible to those who don't want to see it?
(Sorry Morph, I know you don't like Guy Gavriel Kay but maybe others do?)

Fiction:

Mary Renault's novels about Ancient Greece take the gods and myths seriously.

The King Must Die and The Bull from the Sea deal with Theseus, the Minotaur, the Amazons, and much more.

How about Julian (the Apostate) by Gore Vidal?

(P.S. This is nutty, but I'm finding lately that when the touchstone won't load, putting a space before the final bracket does the trick.)

Artic, part of what made it not make sense was that she had already "violated the contract" by commiting adultery. Somehow, sticking to her prayer spoken in the heat of grief was supposed to absolve her, but the only reason for the prayer was to save her lover's life. Doesn't that motivation say that she really does love the lover more than God?

This way of thinking about God makes God seem like he's caught in a machine as well as the people. Like he just set these "laws" in motion and everyone is now bound to them and there are no mitigating circumstances, no grey area, no appeals. Why do you even need God as ultimate judge at all, if he can't use his own discretion?

I can't believe that anyone really thinks a loving god could be that unreasonable, or ultimately, that powerless.

I dont know if we should take this discussion elsewhere or continue it here, but I will say you got exactly what I think Greene wanted you to get out of the novel.

Greene was not the most faithful of husbands, and both this and The Heart of the Matter center around adultry. (He uses the same theme in a different way in The Quiet American.) Green struggled with his Catholicism all his life, and I think he was asking, pushing actually, the same questions you are asking. On the one hand, he seemed to never shake his religious faith. On the other hand, he was, by his own admission, a poor practicianer.

Sarah is not supposed to be a heroine. There are no good people in the book. Her actions, her commitment to God, caused as much pain as did her affair, perhaps more if you consider the atheist she manages to convert. Maurice is certainly no hero.

Greene makes God the foil for evil and pain in the same way Anthony Burgess did in his Earthly Powers.

In short, I think your reading of the novel is right on the money. For people of faith, these are questions they would rather hide away from, but they are important questions.

Artic, maybe that's the thing, as a non-believer it all just makes me roll my eyes. It's seems like a waste of a good intellect to be picking rational/legal nits with God. It's supposed to be about "faith" (in other words, it's not supposed to be rational or make sense to us humans).

It's the point where the Zen master hits you on the head with his stick.

Touche!

Actually getting back to the topic at hand, I would recommend The Wee Free Men or other Tiffany Aching or Granny Weatherwax Discworld books. Pratchett really understands a witch's world view and presents it in a way Younger Self can understand. Invaluable.

In this thread, I'm looking for books for Pagans, not atheists or agnostics. But thanks for the thoughts.

Pagans have sometimes been defined as all those who do not believe in the religion of the ones applying the label. :-)

Sorry, I thought I was in "The Book(s) That Did It." I copied my entry over there and will delete the one here.

>19 myshelves: & 20 Yep, that's why I tried to clarify.

(Edited: Should probably have titled this "1001 Books for Neo-Pagans!)

Oh.
Sorry, I guess I started the suggestions down the wrong track.

Hmm. I still think you need a few alternative options though so maybe

Terry Pratchett - not all of them, but Small Gods, Wyrd Sisters, Hogfather or as #16 suggests the Tiffany three.

Then non-fiction (ish) there is The Wordsworth Book of Spells

Oh dear touchstones aren't happy today. I'll settle for 3 out of 5

Morph,

Most of the books I listed were intended to cover pagan beliefs.

The Malleus Maleficarum is, of course, the witchhunters' manual, and possibly of interest in that they are still at it, in one way or another. :-)

Actually, I really liked your suggestions. My belief is that neo-Pagans should have a well-rounded comparative religious education. If we are going to steal/take back from other religions, we really should learn about them first! And all religions have mythic structures, so add in mythology and folklore as well. And some psychology... a pinch of sociology... nature studies... oh heck... let's learn everything!

oh heck... let's learn everything!

There's an idea! :-)

If only there were enough time! And if we could remember it all. It horrifies me how little detail I remember from some of the college courses in which I was very interested.

#25 - "If only there were enough time! And if we could remember it all. It horrifies me how little detail I remember from some of the college courses in which I was very interested."

I have a friend who assures me all the info is still 'in there' - it's just getting harder to access. Sorta like lost data packets on a corrupted hard drive, methinks! ;o)

I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday, so I'm lucky that I remember that I even took classes in college, these days.

#26 I think it's all stored, like you friend says, clam. Over at Green Dragon when we discussed that ancient Adventure text game, all the memories of it came flooding back. I never gave it a thought in the last 30 years but now I remember the tiniest details.

I'd recommend Druids by Morgan Llywelyn. Fiction, but presents some good information both historical and spiritual all the same.

How about A. C. Grayling's stuff? The Meaning of Things, The Reason of Things, The Mystery of Things and now Against All Gods.

Try the Manly P. Hall Archive at http://manlyphall.org

On the fiction side, I'd suggest Orson Scott Card (not meant as an endorsement of his personal beliefs, but... )

The Alvin Maker set is alternate American revolutionary era history, with magic and spells and connection to the earth as paramount. Its a very well written view of nature-based religions.
The Memory of Earth set is 'epic' sci-fi (epic in the multi-generational world-spanning sense) with a family of "chosen people" following their Oversoul out of their normal lives to help avert the destruction of their world. A VERY good allegory of the Jewish and early Christian "how we are chosen and should live our lives" idea, and much more readable than say... Pilgrim's Progress.

(given people's comments, I'm not even trying to touchstone.)

Piece by Piece by Tori Amos is a book of conversations between the artist and a reporter. As you probably know, Morphy, Amos' work strongly references deities, nature, feminine divinity and cosmic connections. In the book she discusses the influence of her Native American grandparents on her spiritual development, the spiritual seeds that give rise to her pieces (e.g., the Magdalene) and the cyclical/seasonal pattern that her work life takes. Very instructive for any person seeking a connection between creative life and a no-holds-barred spiritual journey.

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. Great book.

The Golden Compass. A-duh.

The book your church doesn't want you to read, as its historical background on Christianity (i.e. the lack of uniqueness in the Christian savior myth) is amazing.

Elmer Gantry is a remarkably contemporary-feeling look at evangelical America.

Ishmael, for its take on the origins of the monotheistic religions, especially the Old Testament's Cain and Abel.

Islamic Homosexualities for its revelation of the hidden history of queer Muslims.

I could go on and on...

Anything and absolutely everyhting by Richard Dawkins,The Witch's Bible,The Only Wiccan Spellbook You'll Ever Need,and there was something else but I forgot the title and I'll probably remember it the moment my computer time is up.