The most recommended books on Gnosticism

Who picked these books? Meet our 13 experts.

13 authors created a book list connected to Gnosticism, and here are their favorite Gnosticism books.
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Book cover of Reincarnation: The Missing Link In Christianity

Tina Proffitt Author Of Come Back: How Past Lives with Animals Changed the Way I Think about Death

From my list on reincarnation.

Why am I passionate about this?

Tina Proffitt is a former educator in love with writing romance novels, who believes there’s nothing more romantic than reincarnating with those she loves. After her first one-on-one past life reading with Dr. Doris E. Cohen, she was hooked and has never looked back. (Pun intended) She wants to share her passion for living a life free from fear and full of love. She writes reincarnation romance novels in the genres of mystery, science fiction, contemporary, and YA.

Tina's book list on reincarnation

Tina Proffitt Why did Tina love this book?

For those with a religious upbringing like mine, Elizabeth Clare Prophet’s book, Reincarnation: The Missing Link in Christianity, may prove a fascinating read. And for those many brought up in the Southern Baptist culture of fear and punishment like I was, the idea of living other lives can be a frightening one or a welcome one, particularly when seen as a second chance, instead of through the lens of the Biblical concepts of judgment and Hell. It is a scholarly read, in that the more you know about the Bible, the more you will get out of reading it.

By Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Erin Lynn Prophet,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Reincarnation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A long time ago Christians believed in reincarnation

“This is an extremely important book, a book providing profound insight and truth, a book which will open minds and remove fears.”―Brian Weiss, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of Many Lives, Many Masters

This groundbreaking work makes the case that Jesus taught reincarnation and traces the history of reincarnation in Christianity―from Jesus and early Christians through Church councils and the persecution of so-called heretics. Using the latest scholarship and evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Gnostic texts, it also argues persuasively that Jesus was a mystic who taught that our…


Book cover of Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief

Barbara Hand Clow Author Of Revelations of the Ruby Crystal

From my list on finding your soul and discovering ancient knowledge.

Why am I passionate about this?

I completed a Masters in Theology where I studied early Church theology (Patristics) and Jungian analysis. Next, I wanted to pursue a PhD in Patristics to discover how and why the Catholic Church had banished true spirituality for stifling dogma and randy sexual abuse, but I was the mother of four children and had to go to work. I became an acquisitions editor for a Catholic publishing house, which enabled me to continue my research on the building deviation from real spirit in Catholicism. I wrote the Revelations Trilogy instead of doing a thesis in graduate school. This trilogy is very hot and controversial because nobody could control me.

Barbara's book list on finding your soul and discovering ancient knowledge

Barbara Hand Clow Why did Barbara love this book?

John Lash’s deep study about the real truth about the Gnostics, an early Christian sect, reveals that true Christianity was hijacked 2000 years ago by Roman Catholicism.

He shows how Catholicism suppressed thousands of years of ancient spirituality that could benefit us now.

I believe that as we move into the Age of Aquarius, we need to access an entirely new spirituality based on ancient wisdom, and Lash and I think this is Gnosticism.

By John Lamb Lash,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Not in His Image as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Lash is capable of explaining the mind-bending concepts of Gnosticism and pagan mystery cults with bracing clarity and startling insight. . . . [His] arguments are often lively and entertaining."-Los Angeles Times

Fully revised and with a new preface by the author, this timely update is perfect for readers of The Immortality Key.

Since its initial release to wide acclaim in 2006, Not in His Image has transformed the lives of readers around the world by presenting the living presence of the Wisdom Goddess as never before revealed, illustrating that the truth of an impactful Gnostic message cannot be hidden…


Book cover of Valis

Anthony Metivier Author Of The Victorious Mind: How to Master Memory, Meditation and Mental Well-Being

From Anthony's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Mnemonics enthusiast Philosophy fanatic Occasional magician Memory expert Musician of sorts

Anthony's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Anthony Metivier Why did Anthony love this book?

I read Valis amongst several other Philip K. Dick novels for my research and found it incredibly compelling.

The struggle of the narrator to work out the meaning of his experiences is relatable, and the stakes are as high in fiction as they are in reality.

I have a feeling that this book will remain essential for a long time to come and wish I had read it sooner.

By Philip K. Dick,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Valis as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It began with a blinding light, a divine revelation from a mysterious intelligence that called itself VALIS (Vast Active Living Intelligence System). And with that, the fabric of reality was torn apart and laid bare so that anything seemed possible, but nothing seemed quite right.

It was madness, pure and simple. But what if it were true?


Book cover of Tarot Revelations

Cynthia Giles

From my list on revolutionizing modern Tarot studies.

Why am I passionate about this?

I began studying Tarot from a scholarly perspective, and that origin has shaped my interests ever since. But in those early years, I was also drawn into the possibilities of Tarot divination through the unique adventure of full-time Tarot practice. Then, after completing my Ph.D. in interdisciplinary humanities and writing my first Tarot book, I was lucky enough to meet the extraordinary thinkers who transformed our understanding of Tarot in the last quarter of the 20th century. I’ve chosen works from that exciting time, highlighting some deeper levels of Tarot exploration. 

Cynthia's book list on revolutionizing modern Tarot studies

Cynthia Giles Why did Cynthia love this book?

When this book was published in 1979, mythologist Joseph Campbell was not yet a media celebrity—just a noted scholar. But poets and artists had already begun to engage with his exploration of the “hero’s journey.” As a student of archetypal psychology, I was initially excited to discover that Campbell had written about the Tarot.

I say “initially” because I was soon put off by the fact that Campbell had placed the origin of Tarot around 1350—a hundred years too early. But since then, I’ve become enthusiastic about his commentary, which draws associations between Tarot and Dante Alighieri’s 1332 epic poem, the Divina Commedia. Although 1450 (the probable timeframe of the earliest Tarot) was a transitional space between the periods designated as the “Middle Ages” and “Renaissance,” my research and experience suggest that Tarot is most closely tied to a medieval worldview and best understood in that context.

The other…

By Joseph Campbell, Richard Roberts,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tarot Revelations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Tarot Revelations is an analysis of the mysterious philosophy in the ancient cards that became modern playing cards. Citing Dante, C.G.Jung, and early Gnostics and alchemists, Campbell and Roberts reveal a path that has spiritual meaning for everyone. Writing in collaboration with Richard Roberts, Joseph Campbell stated, "We have come to revelations of a grandiose poetic vision of Universal Man that has been for centuries the inspiration of saints and sinners, sages and fools, in kaleidoscopic transformations." According to Richard Roberts, "In the 22 cards comprising the Major Arcana, we have a genuine document of the soul's initiation into higher…


Book cover of Paradise

Jendella Benson Author Of Hope and Glory

From Jendella's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author British Nigerian Eclectic reader Nerd

Jendella's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Jendella Benson Why did Jendella love this book?

The opening line to this book is literally one for the ages – if there’s one thing that Ms. Morrison knew how to do, it was to keep you gripped right from the very beginning. And the intrigue that the opening inspires continues throughout the book.

I love a layered story – with different entry points, perspectives, and histories wrapped up into one beautifully written package. I felt completely entangled in the small world of the town of Ruby and it’s many inhabitants, the people felt real, they rose off the page (the audio-page) and spoke to me in my sleep.

Speaking of audio – Toni Morrison herself reads the audiobook. The most sublime experience. I finished the book and immediately wanted to go again.

By Toni Morrison,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Paradise as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Four young women are brutally attacked in a convent near an all-black town in America in the mid-1970s. The inevitability of this attack, and the attempts to avert it, lie at the heart of Paradise.

Spanning the birth of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, the counter-culture and politics of the late 1970s, deftly manipulating past, present and future, this novel reveals the interior lives of the citizens of the town with astonishing clarity. Starkly evoking the clashes that have bedevilled the American century: between race and racelessness; religion and magic; promiscuity and fidelity; individuality and belonging.

'When Morrison writes at…


Book cover of Kenogaia (A Gnostic Tale)

Tariq Goddard Author Of Nature and Necessity

From Tariq's 17-year-old's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Enthusiast Absolute beginner Publisher Good sport

Tariq's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Plus, Tariq's 9, 11, and 17-year-old's favorite books.

Tariq Goddard Why did Tariq's 17-year-old love this book?

Writing for "young adults" is fraught with difficulty. Are they children who think like grown-ups or borderline adults with children's taste? Bentley Hart evades the problem by writing a book that neither talks down to nor seeks to educate his potential readers, instead treating them with respect and assuming that they will find what he does interesting. Which in the case of my teenage daughter proved correct; the story was fantastical and the characters completely relatable.  

By David Bentley Hart,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Kenogaia (A Gnostic Tale) as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The “genre” of the modern Gnostic novel encompasses an especially eclectic range of works. With this book—a fantasy by turns dark, absurd, comic, frantic, and lyrical—David Bentley Hart joins a company that includes figures as diverse as Georges Bernanos, Anatole France, David Lindsay, Philip K. Dick, Patrick White, Umberto Eco, William Gaddis, Harold Bloom, Jorge Luis Borges, Vladimir Nabokov, John Crowley, and Philip Pullman. In Kenogaia, a clockwork universe, an oppressive global society of ever-present surveillance, and the coming of age of its protagonist, Michael Ambrosius, are all disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious child from beyond the stars.…


Book cover of Demian: The Story of a Youth

Viktoria Duda Author Of Twenty-Five Centuries Without You

From my list on spiritual adventure books to open new doors to your consciousness.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a writer, a hypnotherapist, and a consciousness researcher. Ever since I was a baby, I had the memory and the sense that there was more to our existence than meets the eye. Even though I started my career as a lawyer in Vienna, Austria, after a transformative illness and a series of spiritually awakening experiences, I left for Mexico to pursue my calling as a metaphysical explorer and writer. Ever since, I’ve spent my life mapping out various dimensions of the psyche. When I’m not traveling, I like to retreat into my small highland cottage with Marius, the border collie, and Kasiopea, the black magic cat.

Viktoria's book list on spiritual adventure books to open new doors to your consciousness

Viktoria Duda Why did Viktoria love this book?

I read this wonderful coming-of-age tale when I was in my teens, but its magical mood remained with me ever since.

Reading the story of Emil Sinclair meeting the enigmatic Demian at school–who not only freed him from bullies but showed him that there was another world usually invisible to the common senses–set me on a life-long journey in search of the miraculous. 

By Hermann Hesse,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Demian as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

2011 Reprint of 1948 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The main character of this classic novel, Emil Sinclair, is a young boy raised in a bourgeois home, amidst what is described as a Scheinwelt, a play on words that means "world of light" as well as "world of illusion". Emil's entire existence can be summarized as a struggle between two worlds: the show world of illusion (related to the Hindu concept of maya) and the real world, the world of spiritual truth. In the course of the novel, accompanied and prompted by…


Book cover of Invitation to a Beheading

Steven Sherrill Author Of Motorcycles, Minotaurs, & Banjos: A Modest Odyssey

From Steven's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Open (minded, hearted, etc) Scattershot Driven Epicurean Banjo-y

Steven's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Steven Sherrill Why did Steven love this book?

Invitation to a Beheading is almost indescribable. It is Kafka-like in its dizzying circuitry.

The narrative teases and denies and misguides us readers exactly as it teases, denies, misguides the main character, poor Cincinnatus. Nabokov cajoles and navigates a tale that pinballs between outrageous absurdity, exquisitely excruciating stasis, and incremental revelation. And Nabokov’s command of nuanced language is superhuman.

By Vladimir Nabokov,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Invitation to a Beheading as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Like Kafka's The Castle, Invitation to a Beheading embodies a vision of a bizarre and irrational world.

In an unnamed dream country, the young man Cincinnatus C. is condemned to death by beheading for "gnostical turpitude," an imaginary crime that defies definition. Cincinnatus spends his last days in an absurd jail, where he is visited by chimerical jailers, an executioner who masquerades as a fellow prisoner, and by his in-laws, who lug their furniture with them into his cell. When Cincinnatus is led out to be executed, he simply wills his executioners out of existence: they disappear, along with the…


Book cover of The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism: Origins, Magic, and Secret Societies

Nadia Choucha Author Of Surrealism and the Occult: Shamanism, Magic, Alchemy, and the Birth of an Artistic Movement

From my list on discovering magic through the arts.

Why am I passionate about this?

My fascination with magic and the occult emerged from growing up in Scotland, which has a long, rich history of witchcraft, fairies, and the 19th century Celtic Revival, which saw a relation between art and magic. For me, the occult is primarily about liberating the imagination and this is what surrealism does. I became enchanted by surrealist art as a teenager which then led me to study History of Art at university. After graduating in 1989, I wrote my book at a time when there was so little available on the relationship between surrealism and occultism, determined to share my passion with other readers. 

Nadia's book list on discovering magic through the arts

Nadia Choucha Why did Nadia love this book?

This well-researched and in-depth account has been translated from French and discusses the various occult movements which inspired the art and ideas of the surrealists. It covers a diverse range of topics including divination, astrology, myth, voodoo, Gnosticism, freemasonry, alchemy, secret societies, and Celticism and shows how various artists and writers took inspiration from these systems. The book contains a selection of images, copious notes, a substantial bibliography, and a good index making this an indispensable research tool for aspiring scholars of surrealism and the occult.  

By Patrick Lepetit,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A profound understanding of the surrealists’ connections with alchemists and secret societies and the hermetic aspirations revealed in their works

• Explains how surrealist paintings and poems employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, alchemy, and other hermetic sciences to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers

• Provides many examples of esoteric influence in surrealism, such as how Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers

Not merely an artistic or literary movement as many believe, the surrealists rejected the labels of artist and author bestowed upon them by outsiders,…


Book cover of The Lost Art of Resurrection: Initiation, secret chambers and the quest for the Otherworld

Karen Martin Author Of The Bringer of Happiness

From my list on writing about death, religion, and spirituality.

Why am I passionate about this?

Our history is spoken through the voice of the conqueror – notably white male. My work seeks to balance our narratives through insight from women’s perspectives. I support my creative writing with extensive research in history, archeology, and myths, and include in situ interpretations of the relevant landscape. There are many truths to be told, not simply one ordained story and I wish to shine the light on stories that have been hidden and/or silenced. The themed series title, Women Unveiled, pertains to this.

Karen's book list on writing about death, religion, and spirituality

Karen Martin Why did Karen love this book?

I chose this book for its interesting exploration of spiritual resurrections that were common throughout ancient civilizations including the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greek, Persian, and Indians. Silva says these mystical rituals lead initiates (including Plato and Socrates) onto a path of self-empowerment and spiritual awakening. Silva includes the gnostic teachings practiced by the Cathars, who claimed the literal resurrection of Jesus was a lie, and were persecuted by the Church to suppress such gospel teachings by Mary Magdalene and Phillip.

By Freddy Silva,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lost Art of Resurrection as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error,” states the once banned Gospel of Philip. For centuries, every esoteric and Gnostic sect was aware that the literal interpretation of the resurrection of Christ promoted by the Church was a fraud. And with good reason: thousands of years before Jesus, initiates from Egypt and China to Celtic Britain and North America practiced a mystical ritual, and its adepts — from Zoroaster to Plato —regarded the experience as the pinnacle of spiritual development: a life-altering awakening that disclosed insights into the nature of reality and the self.…


Book cover of Reincarnation: The Missing Link In Christianity
Book cover of Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief
Book cover of Valis

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