Expansions to My Personal Library

I have gotten interested, again, in western mysticism and the occult. I have noticed some gaps in my library, mostly from losing books during moves (or perhaps recycling some to used bookstores).

In particular, I used to have the "Complete Golden Dawn" which was a reissue by Israel Regardie, through Falcon Press, of his original Golden Dawn book published by Lewellyn, with some updated materials. I don't know if Regardie had a falling out with Lewellyn, or just liked Hyatt and the others behind Falcon Press better, but generally if you like to collect this stuff you need to have both the Lewellyn (cheap) and Falcon Press (expensive) editions.

I am also thinking about getting another copy of "Gems from the Equinox" (where did my original wander off to?) and getting the second edition of Michael Kraig's "Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts." Michael Kraig started out by offering correspondence courses in practical magick, then turned his course into this book. I used to dislike it because it was not very...hmm...elegant, more like a cookbook (but of course the old grimoires or magical grammars suffer from the same lack of charm) but as I grow older I appreciate all the help I can get.

What is "practical magick" as opposed to the more glamorous "ceremonial magick?" Well, "practical magick" includes shorter ceremonies or simple rituals, like the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, which a solo practitioner can easily perform without a lot of temple furniture, robes, and ceremonial (symbolic) weapons. "Ceremonial magick" usually requires a setting similar to a Masonic temple, several practitioners,weapons, robes, etc.

When I talk about "magick" I mean the western practices and ceremonial derived principally from Westcott/Wynn/Waite/Mathers (the Golden Dawn) and Crowley (the OTO, the A`A`), with a healthy dollop of Mdm. Blavatsky's "Secret Doctrine" and other Theosophical Society works. I don't mean the modern pagan or witchcraft movements. I also don't mean the much maligned "black" magick although from the best I can tell, this issue lies more with the individual and less with the system; I have met great Christians, and frauds that hide behind evangelicism; I have met great magicians, and frauds that are looking for excuses to engage in dissipate behavior, drugs, and adultery.

I DO like a more Egyptian/Hermetic flavor to my magick, vs. the pretty heavily Christianized Builders of the Adytum approach. Still, one can't avoid the fact that the Golden Dawn was strongly influenced by the Rosicrucian movement, and Frater Christian Rosenkreutz was, after all, a Christ figure.