Occult book recommendations?

[Fresh Prince]

After reading wikipedia entries I'm looking for any in-depth books on the occult, gnosticism etc more about their philosophy, beliefs or communities. Not really looking for any magik/spell books. Any fiction novels would be great as well.

[demi]

Harry Potter

[Oblivion]

Goosebumps.

[jiji]

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco covers a lot of ground in this area. It's ostensibly kind of a detective/conspiracy novel, but at the same time it's a history of the Templars and a survey of a lot of different occult topics.

[Joe Molotov]

[TVC15]

The previous 2 posts are full of win.  I have read Foucault's Pendulum so many times.  It is super duper super awesome.

[drozmight]

Hardy Boys

Get the whole series.

[VALIS]

I've read a lot of Crowley, Thelema and the Golden Dawn and... pffft! The biographical stories of him and other people in that scene are far more interesting than the teachings, which I've found to be arcane and impenetrable mumbo jumbo. But maybe I'm just a big dummy.

This is an awesome occult overview book: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Teachings-All-Ages-Readers/dp/1585422509/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1

This is a page turner of an occultist/rocket scientist's biography: http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Angel-Otherworldly-Scientist-Whiteside/dp/0156031795/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230967484&sr=8-2

[Fresh Prince]

Thanks for the recommendations. Foucault's Pendulum sounds good.

[TVC15]

I've read a lot of Crowley, Thelema and the Golden Dawn and... pffft! The biographical stories of him and other people in that scene are far more interesting than the teachings, which I've found to be arcane and impenetrable mumbo jumbo. But maybe I'm just a big dummy.

This is an awesome occult overview book: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Teachings-All-Ages-Readers/dp/1585422509/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1

This is a page turner of an occultist/rocket scientist's biography: http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Angel-Otherworldly-Scientist-Whiteside/dp/0156031795/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230967484&sr=8-2

Thanks for the recs.

I dig Crowley and Thelema, but most of [the coherent portions of] Crowley's Thelema is basically ripped from other religions and philosophies, so it's generally a better idea to go to their original sources.  Crowley is pretty awesome.  I'd let him fuck me.

[Fresh Prince]

This is an awesome occult overview book: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Teachings-All-Ages-Readers/dp/1585422509/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1

I think I'm going to pick this up. It's on google books here: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=jjEkEGbyhTEC&dq=The+Secret+Teachings+of+All+Ages&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=P1IcS0bXwx&sig=svW5uN5m-wpIdI4aIlHtRA2HA0w&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result

[TVC15]

If you end up digging Foucault's Pendulum, check out The Name of the Rose by Eco.  Note that Eco's books are not breezy reading.  The dude is full of ideas and an eloquent writer, but he deals with pretty heady material.  The writing is excellent, but be prepared to be reading some paragraphs a few times before you grok them.

The Name of the Rose is set in a Christian monastery in the 1300s, so it's not exactly gnostic or anything, but the setting presents an opportunity for Eco to explore many esoteric ideas that are kinda tangential to the thing you are sort of looking for.

It would also be on my short list for best postwar novel of the 20th century.

[TVC15]

Also, if anyone has recommendations on Paranoid Conspiracy novels (Crying of Lot 49, Foucault's Pendulum, Illuminatus! to a degree), hit me up with some recommendations.  Those are three of my favorite books and I wish there were more attempts at greatness in that genre.

[Fresh Prince]

If you end up digging Foucault's Pendulum, check out t by Eco.  Note that Eco's books are not breezy reading.  The dude is full of ideas and an eloquent writer, but he deals with pretty heady material.  The writing is excellent, but be prepared to be reading some paragraphs a few times before you grok them.

I'm not a great reader so I've become accustomed to that quickly.

[VALIS]

Also, if anyone has recommendations on Paranoid Conspiracy novels (Crying of Lot 49, Foucault's Pendulum, Illuminatus! to a degree), hit me up with some recommendations.  Those are three of my favorite books and I wish there were more attempts at greatness in that genre.

This only kind of fits the conspiracy angle but I think you'd enjoy it anyway, Tony Vigorito's "Just a Couple of Days."

http://www.amazon.com/Just-Couple-Days-Tony-Vigorito/dp/B000WPMUDS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230971601&sr=1-3

Kind of equal parts R.A. Wilson, Vonnegut, Pynchon, Tom Robbins and PKD. And it's on sale for four fiddy! I started reading it in bed on a work night and ended up staying up through the night reading it until 7am because it was so entertaining and clever.

[TVC15]

Consider me interested.  Maybe I should try writing this sort of thing since it's what I like and there's not much of it out there.

Crying of Lot 49 is one of my all time favorite books because it accomplishes so much in so few pages.  FP and Illuminatus! strike similar keys, but they spend many more pages doing so.  Crying is one dense little book, and I don't think Pynchon has ever topped it.  But since he apparently doesn't like the book very much, he probably hasn't tried.

[Eric P]

the golden bough

[Brehvolution]

I've been watching this series on the History channel called "Banned from the Bible".

[Great Rumbler]

Call of Cthulhu.