The Cauldron and The Cross
|
FEATURED: The Feminine Face of Christianity by Margaret Starbird; Starbird notes the early pattern of gender equality in the early Christian community, noting the “sister-wives” who accompanied male disciples on their missionary journeys, forging a new understanding of the “sacred marriage” at the heart of the Christian Gospels. She also gives us the rich heritage of stories about women’s generous service and encouragement for the inner journey, ranging all the way from little-known early saints to Mother Theresa. |
Jesus in Egypt: Discovering the Secrets of Christ’s Childhood
Years
by Paul Perry; A soon-to-be-released book that looks very interesting!
The Historical Figure of Jesus
by E.P. Sanders; A moderate’s view of the evidence
Jesus the Magician : Charlatan or Son of God?
by Morton Smith; What’s the difference between Magic and Miracle? Smith answers this question in the context of Jesus’ time and our own.
Jesus and The Zealots (Out of Print)
by S.G.F. Brandon; Did Jesus have a political agenda? This books makes and interesting case (extremely scholarly — half the book is comprised of footnotes in several different languages)
James the Brother of Jesus : The Key to Unlocking the Secrets
of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls
by Robert Eisenman; A tome of convincing, scholarly evidence that Jesus came from a revolutionary Jewish family and interesting details about the early Church in Palestine, lead by James
The Jesus Movement: A Social History of Its First Century
by Ekkehard Stegemann et al; This work by two New Testament scholars is the first comprehensive social history of the earliest churches. Integrating the historical and social data, they locate the ancient Galileans, Judeans, and the Jesus movement in their respective matrices.
The Messianic Legacy
by Baigent, Leigh, & Lincoln; The first third of the book contains some interesting evidence in regards to Yeshua’s earthly kingdom
Jesus Christ, Sun of God: Ancient Cosmology and Early Christian
Symbolism
by David Fideler; An introduction to the pagan sources of Christian ideas, followed by a detailed analysis of ancient Pagan-Christian numerology.
Jesus the Man : New Interpretation from the Dead Sea Scrolls
by Barbara Thiering; More evidence that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalen.
Jesus and The Lost Goddess
by Marko Pogacnic; Pogacnik discovered this new Gospel composed of separate messages woven into the text of the canonical Gospels. These offer perspectives sharply different from the usual biblical interpretations.
Christ Power and the Earth Goddess: A Fifth Gospel
by Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy; Two scholars of mysticism review the Gnostic texts and find the Goddess Sophia hidden at the heart of Jesus’ mystery teachings
The Sexuality of Jesus
by William Phipps; An in-depth exploration of the question “Was Jesus Married” in the context of his Jewish culture
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ :
The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
by Matthew Fox; A look at Christ’s role with Creation
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time :
The Historical Jesus & the Heart of Contemporary Faith
by Marcus Borg; A renowned scholar comes to personal terms with new evidence about Jesus
Stealing Jesus : How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity
by Bruce Bawer; A look at Christ both before and beyond Fundamentalism
In Search of the Christ-Sophia : An Inclusive Christology
for Liberating Christians
by Jann Aldredge-Clanton; This book presents an inclusive Christology based on this parallel between Christ and Sophia that will help Christians expand their horizons and rethink traditional beliefs.
The Complete Jesus
by Ricky Alan Mayotte; All the sayings of Jesus gathered from ancient sources and compiled into a single volume for the first time
The Lost Gospel Q : The Original Sayings of Jesus
by Marcus Borg, et al; All of the common sayings of Christ that the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of Thomas share
Prayers of the Cosmos : Meditations on the Aramaic Words
of Jesus
by Neil Douglas-Klotz; Matthew Fox’s feminine Gaia perspective brought to the words of Christ. Imagine the “Our Father” beginning with “O-Birther! Mother-Father of the Cosmos.”
Jesus and Buddha : The Parallel Sayings
By Marcus Borg; Remarkably similar sayings from the two Masters presented side by side.
Jesus in the Qur’an
By Geoffery Parrinder; A look at Jesus (Isa) as a central figure in Islam.
Jesus and the Essenes
By Dolores Cannon; This book presents channeled information, coupled with genuine 20th century research, on the origins of Christianity. Jesus’ teachings, as well as the lifestyle and learning of the Essene community, are brought into a whole new light.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
By Jean-Yves Leloup; Found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in the Egyptian desert, it is a short but complex Coptic text that appears to render the voice of Mary Magdalene. This volume contains English translations of Leloup’s French version of the original and Leloup’s extensive commentary, which discloses the theology that inspired the lost gospel.
The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy
Grail
By Margaret Starbird; A key resource that focuses on The Cult of Mary Magdalene and her role in the story of Christ and in early Christianity.
The Goddess in the Gospels : Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine
By Margaret Starbird; This books chronicles Starbird’s personal journey in writing
Woman with the Alabaster Jar, and demonstrates with more evidence that Mary Magdalene was understood to be the “Goddess” in early Christianity, and that the “Sacred Marriage,” embodied in Christ and Mary Magdalene, was once at the heart of Christianity.
Magdalene’s Lost Legacy: Symbolic Numbers and the Sacred Union in Christianity
By Margaret Starbird; A new book that looks at numerological evidence to further the theory that Yeshua and Mary Magdalene were wed.
Magdalen’s Way: A Journey With Mary of Magdala, Bride of Christ and Keeper
of the Way
By Arlene J. Colver ; ” I have written down the stories of Jesus and the Way so that they will never be forgotten. Teach from them, but do not forget that evolution must continue…all things change, but the truth of Love will never change… Above all, Love must be our great Goddess.” A moving fictional account of the disciple Jesus most loved.
The Church of Mary Magdalene: The Sacred Feminine and the Treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau
By Jean Markale ; The small church of Rennes-le-Chateau, in a remote village in southern France, may well hold the key to the proof of Mary Magdalene’s marriage to Jesus and the bloodline they founded. Maintains that Mary Magdalene was the high priestess who anointed Jesus into his priesthood, in accordance with ancient religious tradition.
The Moon Under Her Feet: The Story of Mari Magdalene in the
Service of the Great Mother
By Cysta Kinstler; Fiction. The story of Mother Mary, Mary Magdalen and Christ re-envisioned within a Goddess Culture. Based on careful scholarly research with extensive notes. This book changed my life!
Mary Magdalene: Beyond the Myth
By Esther De Boer; The author examines not only Gospel texts, but also writings discovered in the Egyptian desert during the last century, to present a vivid, fascinating, and attractive picture of Mary of Magdala–disciple, apostle, and human being .
I Remember Union: The Story of Mary Magdalena
By Flo Calhoun; A moving, first-person account.
Mary Magdalene, The First Apostle : The Struggle for Authority
By Ann Graham Brock; Brock shows that any given early Christian writing portrays authority as being concentrated either in Mary Magdalene or Peter, but not both. Mary Magdalene is consistently elevated is writings from which formal leadership roles are absent. Paul is involved in a tug-of-war between these two.
Let Her Keep It: Jesus’ Ordination of Mary of Bethany
By Thomas Butler; Butler proposes a “two story line” reading of the Gospel of John, in which chapters 11-13 are taken to be keys to Jesus’ inauguration of a new form of universal ministry. Mary and Martha are, the author concludes, included in this new form and intent of ordination for all of Jesus’ disciples.
Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor
By Susan Haskins; A fascinating journey through history and its texts (poems, plays, paintings, films) to see the many images of Mary Magdalen. What Haskins emphasizes as she reveals how each era has fashioned Mary Magdalen according to its own specific interests and desires, is that these differing representations consistently negate Mary Magdalen’s powerful position in Christ’s ministry.
The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion
in the Later Middle Ages.
By Katherine Jansen; Highly readable, learned, full of interesting material gleaned from primary archival research, and amply illustrated.
Mary Magdalene: The Image of a Woman Through the Centuries
By Ingrid Maisch; An interesting, informative study!
The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: Legends, Apocrypha, and
the Christian Testament
By Jane Schaberg; Schaberg moves from contemporary feminist concerns, through the vast array of legend, apocryphal writing, and biblical reverberations, back to the “real” Mary Magdalene. She concludes that Magdalene was denigrated because she was a powerful woman, close to Jesus and perhaps to John the Baptist as well.
The Secret Identity of the Beloved Disciple
By Joseph Grassi; The 4th Gospel named John is widely believed to have been written by an anonymous disciple, an eyewitness whom Jesus loved. Grassi presents evidence that this disciple may have been Mary Magdalene.
Daughter of the Shining Isles: Magdalen Trilogy, Vol. 1.
By Elizabeth Cunningham; Sheer fun, sheer fiction! A Celtic Mary Magdalen meets Jesus at the Druid college in Wales
The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine
By Nancy Qualls-Corbett; In antiquity, human sexuality and the religious attitude were inseparable. The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect Of The Feminine is solidly based on Jungian psychological principles and powerfully illustrates how our vitality and capacity for joy depend on restoring the soul of the sacred prostitute to its rightful place in our conscious understanding.
The Feminine Face of Christianity
by Margaret Starbird; Starbird notes the early pattern of gender equality in the early Christian community, noting the “sister-wives” who accompanied male disciples on their missionary journeys, forging a new understanding of the “sacred marriage” at the heart of the Christian Gospels. She also gives us the rich heritage of stories about women’s generous service and encouragement for the inner journey, ranging all the way from little-known early saints to Mother Theresa.
The Women Around Jesus
by Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel; A look at the biblical texts, artwork, and contemporary responses of Christian women to the women in the new testament through a freeing psychological point of view.
Mary Magdalene and Many Others: Women Who Followed Jesus
by Carla Ricci; Ricci addresses an overlooked but significant presence in the Gospels–that of the women who followed Jesus. Citing Luke 8:1-3, Ricci describes a group of women who unswervingly followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem, through his passion and death, to become messengers of the resurrection.
Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women
in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books and the New Testament
By Carol Meyers; This splendid reference describes every woman in Jewish and Christian scripture–with or without names– plus female dieties and personifications. Amonumental reference work that resurrects women from anonymity, this is essential for all public, academic, and seminary libraries
Ancient Sisterhood: The Lost Traditions of Hagar and Sarah
By Savina J. Teubal; In this scholarly feminist study of the Genesis stories of Sarah and Hagar, she explores the matriarchal tradition in the Bible, which may have been covered over by succeeding patriarchal traditions. Teubal also explores what the female led religious traditions were.
Sarah the Priestess : The First Matriarch of Genesis
By Savina J. Teubal; Recommended by one of our readers as an insightful look into Genesis and into Sara.
When Women Were Priests : Women’s Leadership in the Early
Church and the Scandal of Their Subordination
By Karen Torjesen; Torjesen examines multiple sources of ancient data to show evidence that women were preachers, prophets, pastors and patrons in the early Christian movement. Some of these can be found in the Bible itself.
Enduring Grace : Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics
By Carol Flinders; Reflections seven women mystics (Saint Clare of Assisi, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Julian of Norwich, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Catherine of Genoa, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Saint Therese of Lisieux), intimate yet objective.
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter:
A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine
By Sue Monk Kidd; The author takes the reader on her journey from traditional Christian wife and mother to a woman who argues for a feminine face of God. Kidd comes to the Goddess through Jungian practice instead of through Wicca, creating her own icons and rituals along the way.
Womanchrist: A New Vision of Feminist Spirituality
By Christin Lore Webber; The author leads us on her journey as she “re-envions and re-constructs a Christian spirituality of women’s mysteries.”
The Lost Books of the Bible : Being All the Gospels, Epistles and Other Pieces
Now Extant Attributed in the First Four Centuries to Jesus Christ, His Apostles
and Their Companions
A must-read for all students of early Christianity. Includes the Protevangelion of James with the story of Mary’s infancy, and much much more.
The Other Bible
By by Willis Barnstone (Editor); For the first time in one volume, a comprehensive collection of “alternative scriptures” including: The Gnostic Gospels, The Dead Sea Scrolls, Visionary Wisdom Texts, Christian Apocrypha, Jewish Pseudepigraphia, and The Kabbalah. A must for every serious scholar!
The Gnostic Gospels
By Elaine Pagels; Valuable commentary on and text from these “secret gospels,” including the Gospel of Mary.
Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas
By Elaine Pagels; Thomas shares with other teachings a belief that Jesus is not God but, rather, is a teacher who seeks to uncover the divine light in all human beings.
The Hidden Book in the Bible : The Discovery of the First
Prose Masterpiece
By Richard Friedman; Friedman uncovers a seamless “novel” that has been interspersed with other texts overtime. This novel is readily available in any Bible — if you know how to look for it! Convincing and lovely.
The Biblical Ciphers Unsealed: A Revival of the Hebrew Goddess
By Dale Robertson; It has long been believed that the Bible contains secrets that were encoded into it by its authors. Friedman believes this was to preserve subversive teachings or “wisdom” from censorship. Through the translation of the extensive name-lists found in the Bible, this book reveals the existence of deliberately encoded ciphers.
Psychic and Paranormal Phenomena in the Bible: The True
Story
By Ted Martin; Martin does a thorough and excellent job of taking us through the Bible and showing us, instance by instance, the many times when psychic and magickal gifts where used by god-fearing Jews and Christians with full approval from the Christian God.
Who Wrote the New Testament? : The Making of the Christian Myth
By Burton Mack; The author traces the New Testament’s sources from the earliest Jesus sayings, through various Jesus movements that grew up, to the gospel writers later on, believing only the teachings of Christ have historical accuracy.
Who Wrote the Bible?
By Richard Friedman; Friedman carefully sifts through clues available in the text of the Hebrew Bible and those provided by biblical archaeology searching for the writer(s) of, primarily, the Pentateuch. An exploration of “J,” “P,” “E,” and “D,” the names scholars have given to some authors of the Bible.
Let There Be Light: The Seven Keys
By Rocco Errico; The Bible is more than anything else a Near Eastern account of spiritual events and teachings. This book opens the door to the ancient Aramaic world from which the Bible emerged. Bypassing doctrinal creeds and rigid interpretations, Dr. Errico presents a broader understanding of Scripture without the restrictions of literal explanations.
And There Was Light
By Rocco Errico; Like it’s predecessor, Let There Be Light, this book takes us through the heart of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament by working with Aramaic—the language spoken by the Patriarchs, Jesus, his apostles and their contemporaries.
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
By Karen Armstrong; This scholarly tome includes evidence for Biblical borrowings from earlier (Pagan) texts. Especially recommended: Chapter 1, In the Beginning, Chapter 2, One God, and Chapter 4, Trinity: The Christian God.
The Book Your Church Doesn’t Want You to Read
By Tim Leedom, Ed.; This book serves as a basic introduction to the non-historical bits of the Bible and of Christianity. It is a bit offensive in tone and doesn’t provide many scholarly refererences, but it is valuable for someone new to facts like these: Christ wasn’t the first “crucified savior” in world religion; December 25th is a pagan holiday; Constantine worshiped The Sun not The Son; and so forth.
Holy Blood, Holy Grail
By Michael Baigent; An interesting read that links The Grail to a bloodline of ancient kings who may be descended from Christ
Genesis of the Grail Kings : The Explosive Story of Genetic Cloning and the Ancient
Bloodline of Jesus
By Laurence Gardner; In-depth scholarly look at The Grail and the Bloodline of Christ
Bloodline of the Holy Grail : The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed
By Laurence Gardner; A continuation of his earlier work
The Holy Grail : Its Origins, Secrets, & Meaning Revealed
By Michael Godwin; A beautiful art book that ties together all the divergent theories about The Grail. Highly recommended
The Crafted Cup : Ritual Mysteries of the Goddess & the Grail
By Shadwynn ; Highly recommended by one of our site visitors. One of the only books I know of that includes detailed ChristoPagan rituals.
Angels
By Billy Graham; One of the most popular and famous books on this topic, Angels gives ringing assurance that we are assisted and defended by a powerful order of invisible beings.
We Are the Angels : Healing Our Past, Present, and Future With the Lords of Karma
By Diane Stein; Highly recommended by one of our site visitors!
A Dictionary of Angels : Including the Fallen Angels
By Gustav Davidson; A complete reference work. Highly recommended for anyone works with Angels
Angels : Companions in Magick See Below
A Word to the Wise: Many of the books listed here advocate manipulative magick and other unethical practices, including the unethical use/treatment of animals. However, I still believe these books are valuable additions to any magickal library, and all of them do incorporate Christian elements in Magickal practice. So rip out a few pages or black out a few passages if you so desire, but don’t pass up these remarkable texts!
Magic in Late Antiquity : Pagans, Jews, and Christians (Religion in the First
Christian Centuries)
By Naomi Janowitz; Using in-depth examples of “magical” practice such as exorcisms, love rites, alchemy and the transformation of humans into divine beings, Professor Janowitz shows that “magical” activities were integral to late antique religious practice.
Ancient Christian Magic
Eds. Meyer and Smith; Literate and entertaining translations of a variety of early Christian magical incantations
Practical Candleburning Rituals
By Raymond Buckland; How to incorporate Psalms into your candle magick
Charms, Spells, and Formulas
By Ray Malbrough; A Lousianna-Catholic’s guide to magick with a section of Christian ritual at the back of the book
The Magical Power of the Saints : Evocation and Candle Rituals
By Ray Malbrough; A comprehensive guide to incorporating the saints into your magickal practice, again, Lousianna-Catholic style
Mountain Magick : Folk Wisdom from the Heart of Appalachia
By Edain McCoy; Folk magick often incorporates Christian elements, as seen here. This book focuses on an ancient Scottish heritage that survives in present-era Appalachia
American Folk Magick : Charms, Spells and Herbals
By Silver Ravenwolf; This book presents the Pow-Wow form of magick and healing which heavily relies on Christian elements
Angels : Companions in Magick
By Silver Ravenwolf; A complete how-to book of Angel Magick, including the popular Angelic rosary
Christian Influenced Tarot Decks
Connolly Tarot Deck
view it here
Master Tarot Deck
view it here
Masonic Tarot Deck
view it here
The Angels Tarot
view it here
Tarot of the Saints
view it here
The Alchemical Tarot
view it here
The following decks are not available through Amazon, but are available
elsewhere: