Bibliography and
Further Reading
I’ve been reading Pagan books for as long as I’ve been a Pagan. Most of them say very little about athames, but I found the following books useful during the writing of this book. They are listed in alphabetical order according to author.
Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1994. Updated and expanded in 2002.
I don’t agree with everything Buckland writes, but this book had a huge impact on me as a young Witch. As a training tool, there are few better books.
The Robert Cochrane Letters by Robert Cochrane and Evan John Jones, with Michael Howard (editor). Somerset, UK: Capall Bann, 2002.
Nearly all of Cochrane’s letters are now available for free online, but this edition contains some nifty notes by Howard that further illuminate them. Cochrane wrote to confuse, so take his letters with a large pentacle of salt.
Grimoires: A History of Magic Booksby Owen Davies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
The grimoire tradition and ceremonial magic had a huge impact on modern Witchcraft. Davies’s book doesn’t explicitly trace that history, but it’s easy to spot if one knows what one is looking for.
Wicca: Magickal Beginnings: A Study of the Possible Origins of the Rituals and Practices Found in This Modern Tradition of Pagan Witchcraft and Magick by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine. London: Avalonia, 2008.
Wicca contains the most comprehensive breakdown of Wiccan tools and ritual I’ve ever encountered on the printed page. This is a hidden gem of a book that should be on every Witch’s bookshelf.
A Witches’ Bible: The Complete Witches’ Handbookby Janet and Stewart Farrar. Custer, WA: Phoenix Publishing, 1996. Originally published in two separate volumes as The Witches’ Way (1984) and Eight Sabbats For Witches (1988).
The best and most complete introduction to British Traditional–style Witchcraft on the market. Some of the material they include lacks context, but overall this is a superb book.
The Forge of Tubal Cain by Ann Finnin. Sunland, CA: Pendraig Publishing, 2008.
Finnin takes Robert Cochrane’s material and adds her own spin to it, and she does a great job of breaking down his ritual and making it a little easier to digest.
High Magic’s Aidby Gerald Gardner. Originally published in 1949. Available today from a variety of publishers.
This book is significant for a number of reasons. The word athame first appears in its pages, but perhaps more importantly, Gardner spends more time writing about the athame in High Magic’s Aid than in his two nonfiction books about Witchcraft.
Witchcraft Today and The Meaning of Witchcraft by Gerald Gardner. Originally published in 1954 and 1959, respectively. Available today from various publishers.
Gardner’s two nonfiction books about Witchcraft are not all that readable today but are still noteworthy because of their historical significance.
Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed by Evan John Jones and Doreen Valiente. Custer, WA: Phoenix Publishing, 1990.
This is the best primer on Cochrane-style Craft ever written. Jones was a member of the original clan and, in many ways, Cochrane’s successor.
The Roebuck in the Thicket: An Anthology of the Robert Cochrane Witchcraft Tradition by Evan John Jones and Robert Cochrane, with Michael Howard (editor). Somerset, UK: Capall Bann, 2001.
Most of this is by Jones, and in it he breaks down Cochrane’s system piece by piece.
Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft edited by James R. Lewis. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996. Most notably the article “White Witches: Historic Fact and Romantic Fantasy” by James W. Baker.
Baker’s article touches on a number of fascinating things and might be the best part of Magical Religion. The entire volume is notable for being one of the first academic books almost completely about modern Paganism.
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View by D. Michael Quinn. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 1998.
Much of this book is of little interest to most Pagans, but Quinn’s history of magick and the occult in early America is unsurpassed.
The Mysteries and Secrets of Magic by C. J. S. Thompson. New York: Causeway Books, 1973. Originally published in 1927 and subsequently in many various editions.
Thompson’s book is mostly a how-to volume on ceremonial magic. It is noteworthy because of its use of the words arthany and arthana.
The Rebirth of Witchcraft by Doreen Valiente. Custer, WA: Phoenix Publishing, 1989.
Valiente’s book is one of the most important ever written on the history of the Craft, and the best chapter in it is on Robert Cochrane.