What books do you find most inspiring to the Pagan Path? What about this book moves you? I'm not talking about most Pagan books, here. Just the ones you would call "Pagan Inspirational Literature" My personal favorite is The Golden Donkey (which isn't actually the title, but Yahoo is stupid, and censors certain words arbitrarily -- but the book is about a guy who gets turned into a donkey, and finally breaks down and turns to Isis for help. It is an inspiring story of hardship and faith from a Pagan perspective.)
2007-12-19 06:26:57 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
So many good answers here! I wish I could pick all of you as "best," but since I can't, I'll just leave this question open, and let it go to voting.
2007-12-21 06:38:57 · update #1
thank you, all. I'll be adding some of these books to my personal reading list.
Personally, I like the Greek Magical Papyri, the Homeric Hymns, the Orphic Hymns, and Crowley's Book of the Law
2007-12-21 06:40:08 · update #2
I am inspired by the Sagas and Eddas of the Germanic and Nordic people. I am inspired by Beowulf. (The Seamus Heaney translation) I am inspired by many modern Sci-Fi Fantasy novels, by Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan and even Marion Zimmer Bradley. I don't know that all of these are Pagan, but they inspire me in a way few *actually* pagan books can.
2007-12-19 06:34:10 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
I have an Eastern/shamanic leaning. I love, A Pagan Book of Prayers By Ceisiwr Serith. It is full of Pagan devotion and poetry.
I'll have to check out The Golden Donkey. There are so many great suggestions here for this question.Thanks for the question.
2007-12-21 09:53:25 · answer #2 · answered by Lo Lo Mai 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wow, that's quite a long list...
Almost every book I've ever loved (and there have been many) has ended up inspiring me somehow.
Madeline L'Engle's Time Quartet...Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials...quite a lot of Piers Anthony and Douglas Adams...good grief, I can't even begin to sum them all up.
Edit: Rats, I was in a hurry when I answered this one and forgot to mention Eve Forward's novel Villans By Necessity. It's about a bunch of bad guys who save the world, and made me think very hard about the difference between good and evil and right and wrong. Plus, it deftly and quite hilariously skewers practically every fantasy storeotype and convention.
2007-12-19 15:56:57 · answer #3 · answered by Jewel 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
My favorite is "The Hermetica: Lost Wisdom of the Pharohs" translated by Freke and Gandy. Now *that's* some beautiful pagan literature. For a taste - check out my profile. There is a short snipped there from the poem - Man is a Marvel.
2007-12-19 14:39:20 · answer #4 · answered by swordarkeereon 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
My favorite is "for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuff" a Choreopoem by Notzake Shange it is poem that is performed with dance & music. For example the last line of the poem is "I found god in myself & I loved her/ I loved her fiercely"
I am also inspired by the Poetic edda, specifically Runismal or the last section of Havamal I like Neil Gaiman's take on it in American Gods, but my favorite overall translation is the Larrington translation.
I find Terry Pratchett enlightening and inspiring as well, especally anything with Granny Weatherwax and her use of "headology"
2007-12-19 14:43:52 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am more into watching Movies then reading books
Now for Learning purposes I like the Keys of Solomon And the necernomocon
2007-12-20 08:25:38 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks. It's what I turn to in times of stress, trouble, or when I need to read something inspirational. Rumi was a Sufi mystic, very interesting perspective!
2007-12-19 14:39:58 · answer #7 · answered by TEM 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
It may not be in a book but I like it the story of Romulus and Remus. It is a story of two brothers Saved by a She wolf and ends in a fight to the death over the name of the worlds first super power
2007-12-19 14:35:34 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Liber ABA, Book of Thoth, Magick without Tears are among my favs. Diary of a Drug Fiend was good for reading though if I am just in a reading mood.
2007-12-19 16:22:52 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Eddas. It's the purest form of lore we have and I love how it opens a window into not only how my ancestors lived but how they thought. :) I like getting to know the gods. What better way then through lore?
2007-12-19 14:44:59 · answer #10 · answered by ~Heathen Princess~ 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋