Western Esotericism
Bibliography
Compiled by Justin Sledge (excerpts) [1]:
Hanegraaff - Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed
Read through this text cover to cover. Then hone in on your specific interests and follow Hanegraaff’s bibliography and this list to consult further texts.
Foundational Primary Texts
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha (my Bible recommendation)
Layton - The Gnostic Scriptures
Salaman - The Way of Hermes
Dillon - Neoplatonic Philosophy: Introductory Readings
Linden - The Alchemy Reader
Meyer - The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook of Sacred Texts
Betz - The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation: Including the Demotic Spells
McGinn - The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism
Wakefield & Evans - Heresies of the High Middle Ages
Idel & Dan - The Early Kabbalah
Attrell & Porreca - Picatrix
Kieckhefer - Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century
Farmer - Syncretism in the West: Pico's 900 Theses (1486) With Text, Translation, and Commentary
Kaske - Marsilio Ficino, Three Books on Life: A Critical Edition and Translation
Agrippa - Three Books of Occult Philosophy
Levack - The Witchcraft Sourcebook
Fine - Safed Spirituality: Rules of Mystical Piety, The Beginning of Wisdom
Foundational Secondary Texts
Collins - The Apocalyptic Imagination
Hanegraaff - Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination
Wallis - Neoplatonism
van den Broek - Gnostic Religion in Antiquity
Brennan - Hellenistic Astrology
Principe - The Secrets of Alchemy
Bowden - Mystery Cults of the Ancient World
Edmonds - Drawing Down the Moon
Given - Inquisition and Medieval Society
Scholem - Kabbalah
Kieckhefer - Magic in the Middle Ages
Copenhaver - Magic and the Dignity of Man
Levack - The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe
Scholem - Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
Versluis - Wisdom's Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition
General Western Esotericism
Hanegraaff - Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed
Goodrick-Clarke - The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction
Hanegraaff - Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture
Versluis - Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esoteric Traditions
Magee - The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism
Jones - Philosophy of Mysticism
Biblical & Ancient Near East
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha
Dever - Has Archaeology Buried the Bible?
Smith - The Early History of God
Day - Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan
Coogan - Stories from Ancient Canaan
Simpson - The Literature of Ancient Egypt
Foster - Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature
Jacobsen - The Harps that Once...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation
Dalley - Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others
Allen - The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts
Scalf - Book of the Dead: Becoming God in Ancient Egypt
Allen - The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Nissinen - Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East
Apocalypticism, Merkavah and Dead Sea Scrolls
Collins - The Apocalyptic Imagination
Arbel - Beholders of Divine Secrets
Segal - Two Powers in Heaven
Schafer - Two Gods in Heaven
Schwartz - Scholastic Magic (Sar Torah Mysticism)
Vermes - The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English
Source and full bibliography at: https://www.justinsledge.com/esoterica-library