Please introduce me to books to discover a path.

[hang a left]

I am interested in Goddess, Pagan, or anything along these lines where I can investigate and search out a belief system that has depth and weight for myself.

Thank You.

[icymist]

1. Hi Hang A Left.

I fell in love with Wicca after reading Starhawk's book The Spiral Dance and found further background and resources in Margot Adler's Drawing Down The Moon. Both these books were written in the seventies so other than the resources being old, the information contained in them is still relevant. You could also try hanging around some Pagan blogs such as Wiccan Web or Witchvox where you can take your time and see what draws to you. Good luck and Bright Blessing on your search.

[Why Syzygy]

2. What is your background?

What will a belief system that has depth and weight for you accomplish? What will it DO? What will YOU DO? What is your expected outcome.

[knight_of_the_star]

3. Depends on the direction you want to go in

If you are looking at something that's heavier on mysticism and has a much more live and let live approach then go with Wicca, some good sources are already posted up here.

If you are looking at something that has more heavy scholarship (no offense to Wiccans, just an observation of both) take a look at the ADF they have an excellent booklist on their site here: http://www.adf.org

If you have something more hard-edged in mind the first one that springs to mind is Asatru, but just about any reconstructionist group tends to follow something that is while not as open and inclusive in terms of ideas (not to say they are intolerant about people, just they only focus on one thing) as Wicca the Hellenes, Asatru, Celtic Recons, and others have more of that harder edge but much less emphasis on mysticism. One good book about Asatru is Our Troth.

[blueDachi]

4. books

There is a book titled "Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions" by Smoley and Kinney that you might be interested in. It's broader in scope than you may want but has some nice overviews of Neopaganism, Wicca and Shamanism, among other things.

And on the fun side I'll mention Cunningham's "Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic" and "The Complete Book Of Incense, Oils and Brews" by the same author.