(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best mysticism & theology books

For reliable sources:

High Magic's Aid by Gerald Gardner

Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland

1: Witchfather: A Life of Gerald Gardner: Into the Witch Cult by Philip Heselton

Lid off the Cauldron by Patrica Crowther

The Triumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton

Foundations of Practical Magic: An Introduction to Qabalistic, Magical and Meditative Techniques by Israel Regardie

A Witches' Bible by Janet and Stewart Farrar

Witchcraft for Tomorrow by Doreen Valiente

Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts by Donald Michael Kraig

Magical Power For Beginners: How to Raise & Send Energy for Spells That Work by Deborah Lipp

Fifty Years Of Wicca by Frederic Lamond

For essential materials,

-An athame

-A wand

-A pentacle

-A chalice

-Incense and censer

> Would I be considered a true Wiccan if I hid it from those around me?

Yes, you would be considered a "true Wiccan." Most Wiccans since the inception of Wicca kept secret the fact they were witches. It's only in very recent times that people are so forward about the fact that they're witches. I myself keep it pretty well hidden. Only those in my coven and my closest loved ones know that I'm Wiccan.

>When choosing a patron/matron do you pick from literally any gods/goddesses?

The concept of a patron/matron deity is relatively new to Wicca. Originally, the Goddess worshiped by the Witches was the Lunar Goddess of Fertility - often called Diana, Aradia, Hekate, Isis, the Queen of Elphame, etc. The original God worshiped by the Witches was the Horned God of Death and Resurrection - often called Pan, Cernunnos, Janicot, etc. However, in recent times, Wiccans (myself included) have begun working with all types of Pagan deities. So in short, yes, you can pick any god or goddess you feel a connection with.

> Can you celebrate the Wiccan holidays and still celebrate things like Christmas?

Yes, most Wiccans still celebrate cultural holidays such as Christmas.

Thanks for the reminder. This book changed everything for me:

The Mystic Christ https://www.amazon.com/dp/0972931708/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_UZNjDbTCXQVPE

The Mystic Christ is an ancient tale of mystic union, salvation, and enlightenment. It is the careful uncovering of a lost treasure of immeasurable value, long buried in the suffocating darkness of conventional orthodoxy on one side, and blind fundamentalist extremism on the other. From the viewpoint of the world s mystical religious traditions, the brilliant light of the Master s way is revealed as a penetrating radical non-duality unifying all people and all of life. His path to this all-embracing unity is the spiritual practice of pure selfless love. Love God intensely, love our neighbor as our own Self, bless those that curse us, and pray for those that mistreat us. Love has been lost, becoming nothing more than a word in the dictionary and, yet, it remains the foundation of Jesus message.

The Mystic Christ is also a compelling story of the ego, the personification of ignorance, and how it has distorted and subverted the sublime sayings of the Master, twisting reality into unreality and light into darkness. The ego is the Antichrist in this ancient drama that has gripped every culture for all time in its talons of self-centered perception. The ego is anti-love. Adam and Eve were not the first people, the nature of man is good, scripture is not infallible, Jesus is one of the ways, all religions are paths to God, reincarnation is in the Bible, the resurrection as a personal spiritual awakening, and the error of eternal damnation are all carefully and lovingly revealed in the life and sayings of Jesus. The Mystic Christ is thoroughly punctuated with quotes from Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu and other masters of the mystical traditions. But, most importantly, over 230 scriptural references from the Old and New Testament are used to illustrate the harmony that exists between the life and teachings of Jesus and the world s great religions. The Mystic Christ removes 2000 years of ego-centered bindings that have hidden the brilliant light of the Master from the world. The Mystic Christ is at once profoundly fascinating, deeply historic and electric with the vibration of the mystical experience.

There is an online Yale course by Dale Martin on the New Testament which is fantastic and the best thing about it are some of his meta-comments. A good one was when he was speaking briefly about the second writing assignment and he said something like "do not go to the library and find some book and paraphrase the writer; there is more crap written about the Bible than any other book."

Something very similar could be said about the Zohar. The single best source about the Kabbalah is Gershom Scholem Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism.

> is it something that I can flip open to a random chapter and it will still make sense

The Zohar is not for beginners. It is for adepts. If you want to get much out of it you are looking at a big project.

I highly recommend The Life of St. Catherine of Siena as recorded by her Spiritual Director and The Dialogue if anyone is looking for a book to read.

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She is a Saint of the Eucharist and contributed to the Church greatly during a very difficult period in its history.

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“Pope Gregory XI…to content this longing of hers, published a Bull that granted her the right to have a priest at her disposal to absolve her and administer Communion to her and also to have a portable altar, so that she could hear Mass and receive Communion whenever and wherever she liked” (Capua, the Life of St. Catherine of Siena, p. 284).

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“For the seven year period prior to her death, Saint Catherine of Siena took no food into her body other than the Eucharist. Her fasting did not affect her energy, however. She maintained a very active life during those seven years. As a matter of fact, most of her great accomplishments occurred during that period. Not only did her fasting not cause her to lose energy, but became a source of extraordinary strength, she becoming stronger in the afternoon, after having received our Lord in His Eucharist.

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https://catholicexchange.com/st-catherine-of-siena-saint-of-the-eucharist

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St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us!

It's certainly the best interpretation of the Arthurian legend ever filmed.

I know nothing about the historical Arthur. I didn't know there were any reliable records. The story has passed from historical fact into the realm of myth. And around that central myth, there are many myths that emerged.

If you are so inclined to investigate the subject further, I recommend From Ritual to Romance by Jessie Weston. She offers a fascinating interpretation of the Arthurian legends.

You might also try reading some of the non-Bible books that are important to Christianity. These are some of the books we read in my university class on Christianity:

• The Interior Castle
  
• Waiting for God
  
• For the Life of the World
  
• Meister Eckhart
  
• The Life of St. Antony (Note this is actually kind of an action packed demon ass kicking adventure novel - its also one of the earliest accounts of the life of a Christian saint having been written around 300 C.E.)
  
• Why Christianity Must Change or Die
  
• The Blackwell Companion to Christian Sprituality (Note this one is very academic, probably more than most people would want)
  
  Another book I have that is interesting is the graphic novel version of the Book of Revelation its actually really well done in my opinion.

The True Dharma Eye on Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans by John Daido Loori.

I wanted to learn more about zen koans, and I figured 300 would keep me busy--lol.

Pointing Out the Great Way: The Stages of Meditation in the Mahamudra Tradition. I got because it's an in depth guide of Tibetan Buddhist practices.

There is a great book on religion and
religious iconography in comics called The Gospel According to Superheroes. It's a collection of scholarly journals on the subject. Might help. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0820474223?pc_redir=1405450859&robot_redir=1

I know we've had discussions before, and I feel like you are currently at a place I was a few years ago on some level (although you are in a different position considering you have a family).

This book I want to recommend to you is a bit heady, and has very little to do with Christianity (though there is a very interesting chapter on Cain & Abel), but it propelled me from sitting on the sidelines to wanting to finally throw down and begin my catechism.

The book is The Reign of Quantity by René Guénon, and it is really the book on metaphysics from a modern perspective.

If you want to take it to the next level after that, read this book by Jean Borella for the Christian response to Guenon. I have really come to feel that this 1-2 combo is a necessity for Christians who want to recover something of their heritage in the modern world.

You might enjoy this book: http://www.amazon.com/Mystical-Mind-Theology-Sciences/dp/0800631633/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413670113&sr=8-1&keywords=the+mystical+mind
There's also a lot of cognitive science research on vision that might be relevant (esp. optical illusions).
The "jump" that you mention is interesting. Maybe when the boundaries we usually draw are reconfigured in unusual ways, people start to feel that how boundaries are drawn is arbitrary, and therefore boundaries are illusory. I think that that is still a jump, but that could be what is going on.

Christianity has a long history of contemplation and mysticism. While you're reading about Zen, try reading The Cloud of Unknowing. Might give you some good insight.

The Cloud of Unknowing

Why choose? This book contains the CH in Greek and English, the Stobabeus fragments in Greek and English and the Asclepius in Latin and English!

[edit] Wait, there are four volumes. I only have the first and I remember it containing all that I mention, but what would be in the other three volumes then? (notes and appendices it seems, so volume 1 will do.) [/edit]

Why Buddhism is True

Feeling Good

Things I have lying around that I intend to read real soon, roughly in this order:

Streams of Living Water

Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail

Eckhart

Open Mind, Open Heart

Accidental Saints

All your 6 'flaws' are copy-pasted from a book by William Stoddart : Remembering in a World of Forgetting: Thoughts on Tradition and Postmodernism.
Google Books link : page 33. Same nonsense, in the exact same order.

You wanted an "honest" debate ? Maybe you could have disclosed the fact that you're parroting arguments you probably don't understand from a book you probably didn't even read.

Edit : /u/TooManyInLitter beat me to it.

I had a dream in which Jesus appeared and told me he was furious that all his followers had abandoned Judaism. James J. Strang spoke with Jesus. So does Warren Jeffs. And sooo many Catholics (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visions_of_Jesus_and_Mary).

If you want to actually take this kind of reasoning seriously, here's your homework: http://www.amazon.com/Visions-Jesus-Direct-Encounters-Testament/dp/0195126696