Greetings fellow Wizard-Priests!
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Years and years ago, back in my early days of study into Biblical history and the Qabalah, I gathered a set of awesome texts concerning Babylonian magick and religion. (Sadly I did not own them, but had checked them out from the local library – remember those?) Before I dove head-first into the Solomonic grimoires, I quite regularly invoked the Annunaki (Gods) of Sumeria and Babylon. I got outstanding results though Them – and that was before I knew how to properly build altars or work with them in a more traditional Pagan manner. (At the time, I was invoking them through a basic Qabalistic framework.)
In time, I left the Annunaki behind. It was largely out of respect, as I discovered that I didn’t know how to work with Them properly and that I should probably be focused more on the “Gods” of my own time and culture – that is the Archangels and Angels found within the Qabalah and the Solomonic texts.
Yet, I don’t think I said goodbye to them forever. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know that I’ll return to Them again. That point was driven home a few years ago when Tabatha Cicero created her own Babylonian Tarot (for which, I am proud to say, I handed over to her all of my own research on Sumer-Babylonian language, myth and magick).
Now, the Annunaki have reached out once more to remind me They are there, and that They haven’t forgotten about me (or – that they don’t want me to forget about Them, as if I could!). Just recently, I stumbled across a website that offers many of the old books I used to create my own Babylonian practice – all of which remain to this very day some of the best books ever published on the subject. They are in PDF format and you can download them for free. I’ve created this blog post to archive the links for myself, as well as to share them with you. 🙂
Babylonian Magic and Sorcery: Being the Prayers of the ‘Lifting of the Hand’ – L.W. King:
(http://archive.org/details/babylonianmagics00kinguoft)
The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia – R.C. Thompson
Also, going beyond just Sumeria and Babylon, these are some of my favorite books on Middle-Eastern magic:
(http://archive.org/details/semiticmagicitso00thomuoft)
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities of Ancient Israel – Mark S. Smith
(http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Early_History_of_God.html?id=1yM3AuBh4AsC)
The Hebrew Goddess – Raphael Patai
(http://books.google.com/books?id=VfAX_wkMM4IC)
A History of God – Karen Armstrong
(http://books.google.com/books?id=7J_vp4X28JAC&dq=armstrong+the+history+of+god)
This list is by no means complete, but should be a great start for anyone interested in these subjects. I’m sure I”ll be expanding this post over time. So stay tuned!
In the Light of Shamash,
Aaron
Ananael (The Secrets of Wisdom) 