Back to the basics, for all the noobs out there...

so, i myself am a newb in certain perspectives,therefor lets all get together and name the basic textbooks for each occult category.

Ill list the categories as listed on theoccult.bz and for all you master mages in the fields of the category, list a good book to start with and if you want a few texts to help the beginner progress to succession.

Categories:

• African Traditional
  
• Alchemy
  
• American Indian
  
• Astrology
  
• Buddhism
  
• Chaos Magick
  
• Egyptology
  
• Enochian
  
• Entheogens
  
• Esoteric Christianity
  
• Everything Else
  
• Fourth Way
  
• Freemasonry
  
• Germanic Heathenry
  
• Golden Dawn
  
• Greek/Roman Mythology
  
• Grimoires
  
• Hinduism
  
• Lucid Dreams/Astral Projection
  
• Meditation
  
• New Age
  
• Paranormal
  
• Parapsychology
  
• Philosophy
  
• Qabalah
  
• Rajneesh
  
• Ritual Magic
  
• Rosicrucian
  
• Satanism/Left Hand Path
  
• Shamanism
  
• Sufism
  
• Taoism
  
• Tarot
  
• Thelema
  
• Wicca
  
• Yoga/ Tantra

CHAOS MAGICK
read "chaos: making a new science" by james gleick. its sort of deterministic, but the profound implications of chaos physics are good to contemplate, expanding awareness.

begin to read your own body and instincts.

read austin osman spare. learn everything you can about him and his madness. pay special attention to "the book of pleasure (self-love)."

any paradox and meandering illumination will help, even if subliminally, to process the new perspective necessary for successful psychic experimentation. zen koans, the gnostic classic "thunder"...write your own holy book and study it with scrutiny, allowing yourself to believe in its total authority while doubting the accuracy of accepted views about gravity, time, color, self-hood, reason, and then blaspheme your idolatrous pride...embrace the power of paradox and in this way free your thinking.

peter carroll: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_J._Carroll his published works are a frequent bond for parties interested in chaos magick otherwise left with no common intellectual ground because of the individualistic nature of the chaos current. "liber null and psychonaut" is a fine book delivering some reliable techniques on the practical end. i also enjoyed "the apophenion" and "liber kaos".

any point can be a good jumping off point. chaosmatrix.org is a website i recommend a lot, kind of like a shotgun blast from the recent past, has a lot of foundational works. keep things moving forward tho, continue having good ideas, learn a scholar's curiosity and a master's self-control, tend to your own notes and share your successes...

I'm looking for a start with Rosicrucian texts. Where should I begin? Thanks

Mr. Jack Owen,

I would recommend the actual Rosicrucian texts themselves. By which I mean both the Fama Fraternitatis... and the Confessio Fraternitatis... I personally enjoy the translation and exigetical analyisis of the same in Paul Foster Case's The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order, but I am sure that there are any number of translations available to you at this point.
Good luck in your studies.

Ben

For each:

1) The Golden Dawn Scrapbook: The Rise & Fall of a Magical Order -- R.A. Gilbert
2) The Rosicrucian Enlightenment --Dr. Francis Yates
3) The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft -- Ronald Hutton