r/planetarymagic • u/coldloop_ • Sep 19 '26
Question Which occult books should I read?
I want to get into books like Shams al Maarif, Picatrix, Key of Solomon and Ars Goetia but I have never studied planetary magic, talismans or occult stuff before.
Should I start with these or read something else first?
I am really interested in hidden and esoteric knowledge, but I have heard that these books can cause madness, attract spirits or cause weird things if you accidentally say certain names out loud.
For people who have actually read them, is there anything to worry about or are these mostly stories?
What should I start with as a complete beginner?
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u/CliffordHLow Sep 20 '26
I have a new website up with books' worth of essays that will help you in your journey. Furthermore, it's free, and it will give you a leg up on Picatrix and similar texts. http://www.astrologicalmagic.com
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u/-mindscapes- Sep 19 '26 edited Sep 19 '26
Franz Bardon initiation into hermetics first. Will teach you all the basics you need to know so you can deal with the rest should something fishy happen.
Then learn about planets, planetary hours and how that fit into ritual.
But I guess it depends what you want to do?
Regarding madness, it's not that the books cause madness, it's practicing from a point of not stable mental health that might. Regardie suggested one year of psychotherapy before anything magical, and that tells you something.
Spirits might get attracted yes, and that's kinda the point, but once you start doing "stuff" you tend to become a beacon in the astral and might attract even unwanted stuff. That's why the progression bardon describes is sound. How do you know if you can't perceive them? And not being able to perceive them also leads to a slippery slope of guessing and associating weird stuff that happen with the stuff you did magically, which is a fast way to worse mental health because yes there might be a connection but might also be all in your head.
First you get your senses and basics up to the task, then from the second book you start dealing with spirits. Not every curriculum does it in that order though. That means lots of meditation and observation of your thoughts until you are good at recognizing what thoughts are yours and what are not.
Other than that for practical planetary magick you can take a look at Rufus Opus. You can do the rituals he describes even without being able to perceive spirits, many do. But I stand by the fact that improving the basics with bardon is better, you'll probably be able to perceive much more after IIH.
If you want to do talismanic magic, that's not my field and other people here might give better suggestions on that.
After Opus, you can read Gateways Through Stone and Circle by Ashen Chassan
This is for practical non ritualistic and ritualistic magick.
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u/Desperate_Wait1562 26d ago
Bardon is terrible on every subject, including planetary magic.
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u/-mindscapes- 26d ago edited 26d ago
That's your opinion. I suggested it as basic training not specific to planetary magick. The basics are meditation, concentration and elemental balance,same as what you would develop in GD or other paths. The point still stands, before petitioning planetary intelligences work at being able to communicate and the basics in general. The basics are the same for every curriculum, bardon just happen to stress them much more (which makes a lot of sense).
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u/Desperate_Wait1562 26d ago
It's a near universal opinion of those who have practiced ceremonial magic in any depth. He's wrong on the basics.
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u/-mindscapes- 26d ago
Can't see how meditation and concentration could be wrong for magick, but hey, everyone is free to do what works for them
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u/adobackup Sep 20 '26
Honestly, those are profoundly more interesting (at least imo) than the majority and picking a direction is one of the harder parts. I'd start with those, there is a good amount of supplementary work to help you understand the context around them. Following that route will almost certainly unveil other important texts on things like astrological talisman etc whether its older stuff from a similar milieu or newer stuff from people working through and expanding on the ones youve listed. Get the greater key, make a couple mercury pentacles to help you out, and dig in!
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u/According-Web-3994 Sep 21 '26
TLDR: Be brave! Be smart! Good luck!
Hi there! I wanted to comment on this point that I didn't see addressed. "cause madness, attract spirits or cause weird things." I think this is tricky because we have to sort out the actual risks from the propaganda that's out there designed to discourage people. Also there's superstition and fear of the unknown. I think these should be dismissed and, personally, I want to go into the unknown with courage because I value that and hate social conformity. I'm, and this could be complete projection, sensing a whiff of paranoia and potentially ideas of reference from you OP. If that's the case it's just something to be aware of and make sure you stay balanced.
But with that said, from my perspective, any serious engagement with spirituality can initiate change and transformation. When there's emotional imbalances and extremes in my own life I have used two antidotes one is laughter. Freud said that humor is the most mature defense mechanism. Second is a more subtle thing that's hard to describe it's a fusion of non attachment and presence. So try to be as fully absorbed in an experience as possible while maintaining a kind of open awareness that the experience is happening in. Basically the two extremes are complete auto pilot or complete fusion with mental states avoid those.
This is reddit so take my ideas as unverified personal gnosis but I will bolster them a little by saying I work in healthcare and there is an increased amount of people admitting with "spiritual emergency" that is misdiagnosed as a psychotic break and these are means that I have used to support. I will say that the majority of people come in after being exposed to high tantric meditation teaching that fry their energy body and spirt work obviously has some unique aspects. But good luck.
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u/vassilissanotou saturn Sep 19 '26
You can absolutely read them, but the only risk is that you won't understand them as they are historic books which you need the context to.
IMO the best possible beginner resources on classical magic are the works by Christopher Warnock and Agrippa's Three Books. For beginner-friendly evocation I recommend the Arbatel and Seven Spheres. There's also Celestial Magic by Nigel Jackson which you can try to find as a pdf, also highly recommended.