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Crucial Books for the Occult Seeker
A short list of metaphysical greats actually intended to be read
I was recently asked for my crucial picks of occult books. I devised this short list based not on completeness (the occult is an ancient and morphing philosophy — no list is ever complete) but on selections that I believe can alter your practice and point of view within a fixed period of time, perhaps as little as one year.
My criteria for inclusion are, in varying measure: 1) historical importance, 2) applicability of ideas, and 3) likelihood of being read (rather than being talked or written about but not read — a problem I’ll cover another day).
I define the occult simply as an unseen dimension of life whose forces are felt upon us and through us. The occult is traditionally characterized as existing outside common religious structures, which is why is it not subsumed within congregational spirituality.
My reading order is somewhat anarchistic though also purposeful. You can alter it if you like.
THE SECRET DOCTRINE by HP Blavatsky (1888)
You may or may not accept Madame Blavatsky’s cosmology but this is the book that impacted generations of modern occultists, and you should know the ground you stand on. Blavatsky…
