Fans pick 100 books like Wisdom of the Ancients

The history of Ramptha by Ramptha himself, channeled through one of his descendant's bodies (author J Z Knight). Ramtha was a Lemurian warrior who fought the Atlanteans over 35,000 years ago.

I found this book after my Near Death Experience during which I was awakened to my memories of all my previous lives. While reading this book, my body shook uncontrollably with heightened vibrations, a sure sign that my soul recognized the history and I was part of it in a Past Life.

This book gives insight about the original world, of one of the times of humans and their fall, also about enlightenment and what it means. In this book I also discovered, and confirmed, who I used to be in that lifetime.

Along with the Lobsang Rampa series, as well as The Secret of the Ages, this book came into my possession after their owner passed over.

Working with the Law teaches the natural way of working with the energy of Creation to build the appropriate life for yourself. It laid a solid foundation for living life honourably I am still referring to on a daily basis.

I consider this book The Original "The Secret" just much more practical without any secrets at all.

I truly adore this book, referring clients who want to change their lives to study it and implement the lessons. It teaches the fundamentals of self-mastery, self-discipline and focus. The knowledge contained is basically a form of meditation you can use anytime in any situation.

Where The Alchemist is considered the beginner's book on esoteric wisdom, The Puppet Master's Secret is the PHD book about Fractals and what it means to be one, how it feels to be one, as well as the possibilities an awakened Fractal may consider after an incarnation.

This book hits home hard as I'm a Fractal of my Overself as well. The author is a personal friend who used some of our conversations in this book, making it a private biographical adventure for me. This book is meant to assist other Fractals on their journeys to decide if they want to become their own individuals.

This pick is for the history nerds like me. This book provides, in a single volume over ten selections from foundational tarot books from the last two hundred years. This book is definitely for the enthusiast who wants to go back to the study texts that are out of print or to go back to the beginning of occult Tarot. This book includes ‘old school’ fortunetelling techniques not seen in a long time. I love some old fashion fortunetelling techniques. This is also a recently published book, so you can show off a fresh hot big book on Instagram to make the followers go “ooooo.” 

This book is based on the series of articles that Dion Fortune (1890-1946) originally published in The Inner Light Magazine in 1939-1940. It was published in a book format with an added contribution by Gareth Knight (1930-2022), who continued and made more widely known Fortune’s work and ideas.

Fortune is mostly associated with championing the “Western Esoteric Tradition,” and she was critical of those Westerners practicing foreign spiritual systems, such as Indian Yoga, arguing that cultures should not mix. Nevertheless, this particular series of essays on “the circuit of force" displays her deep familiarity with Yoga, in particular as it concerns subjects such as the kuṇḍalinī and prāṇa. “I have tried both methods,” wrote she somewhat surprisingly, “and in my opinion, the Eastern method is incomparably the more efficacious.”

Knight’s comments benefit the book, as is usual, because they are based on his deeply personal experience with the subject matter… show more.

An atmospheric biography—a book you can curl up with—by British occultist King (not to be confused with the more ‘literary establishment’ Francis King, a respected gay novelist; our man sometimes called himself Francis X King to distinguish between them). King was a quietly eccentric character who had been traumatized by his experiences in the Korean War, and at one stage sold ice cream on Bournemouth beach. Steeped in the Golden Dawn tradition, his other books include works on alchemy, Western esotericism, tantra, and more, and he was a friend of Crowley’s friend Gerald Yorke, who also wrote on those subjects. I’ve always had a soft spot for their charmingly old-school, gentlemanly style of bygone British occult scholarship.

This is an unreliable but very readable book from occult writer Kenneth Grant. I used to find the title mysterious; it really means images and oracular worlds, and I remember seeing great heaps of this book remaindered in the 1980s, little knowing it would go on to fetch £300 a copy. Fortunately, Fulgur have since produced an affordable edition.

Grant’s depiction of Spare is heavily influenced by his reading of popular fiction writers like Arthur Machen, Sax Rohmer, and H.P. Lovecraft, and he gives us Spare, the black magician seduced in childhood by an elderly witch, who launches “an amphibious owl with the wings of a bat” into a conflict between magical groups. This is really the book that started the “Spare Mythos.”

This is an easy-to-read introduction to magic for people who don’t want to join organized groups or participate in spiritual traditions in order to learn. It allows readers to experiment with practices and techniques on their own and includes everything a beginner needs to know about the art and craft of magic, including visualization, ordinary ethics, ritual practices, and vital safety measures.

This is an excellent, yet brief history of the Black Arts and the famous (or infamous) people who practiced them. It was while reading this book, particularly the chapter on LaVoisin, that inspired the story of Christina Lafage, the main character in Widdershins. The book also describes other interesting practitioners, such as Dr. John Dee, Eliphas Levi, Nostradamus, Aleister Crowley, and many more. The chapters on Black Magic and Sorcery and Raising the Dead also contributed to my ideas for my book. I often find myself referring to this book over and over again for great source material.