If you stopped in by The Raven’s Nest and checked out the last post called Fifteen Miles, you’d have seen that I essentially ran into a sort of wasteland when it came to our library system.

The outcome? I built my own library. I looked for titles and authors that had experience and systems that worked, I took time and looked at the modest shelf of books that I already had and started working with those. Thanks to a tax refund and AbeBooks.com, I was able to procure a bunch of these titles on the cheap and it was done over a period of weeks. Some books like Magick Without Tears were books that I will probably not get as Magick Without Tears wasn’t what I thought it was initially, I ended up finding what I needed in The Blue Equinox instead. That’s only one of many walls I hit compiling this list.

This was built by me for a project I’m no longer involved in but I’m not going to let it go to waste, this shit is too much fun so I kept the whole engine and just dropped it into my own fuckin’ whip and now here it is. Maybe it fits you, maybe only parts of it does, maybe none of it does, hell, even if it gives you a good idea on how to build one of your own, then do it. Look at what resonates with you and then be ready to be shaped by it. Here you go, one and all.

By the way, if you see any odd placements or titles listed twice, let me know. It took me a minute to get all of this together and even I can’t be sure I didn’t leave something out or miss something entirely. I also have a few books on the way that will be added in as time goes on…I am not updating the damn photos though.

Welcome To The Magnusson Library.

THE MAGNUSSON LIBRARY

A Functional Classification System

“The structure remains. The books change.”

TRACK 1 — THEOLOGY, COSMOLOGY & THE SELF

What is reality? What is the soul? Who am I?

Core Texts

• Family History Book — Personal Lineage Anchor

• The Ethiopian Bible (Edward Jones Translation, 2024) — Alternative Canon

• The Urantia Book — Alternative Cosmology

• Heathen Soul Lore Foundations (Winnifred Hodge Rose) — Heathen Soul Theory

• Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Based Religions (Joyce & River Higginbotham) — Comparative Paganism

• Letters to a Starseed (Rebecca Campbell) — Contemporary Spiritual Perspective

• A Book of Troth (Edred Thorsson) — Heathen Theology & Worldview

• Corpus Hermeticum (New Addition – Primary Cosmological Source)

TRACK 2 — TRADITION, HISTORY & WORLDVIEW

What tradition am I studying? What did its people believe?

Core Texts

• The Poetic Edda (Carolyne Larrington)

• The Poetic Edda (Jackson Crawford)

• The Prose Edda (Snorri Sturluson)

• The Wanderer’s Havamal (Jackson Crawford)

• Havamal: A New Translation (Ben Waggoner)

• Rigsthula: A New Translation (Ben Waggoner)

• Hammer, Oak & Lightning (Jeremy Baer)

• Circle of Frith (Rev. Maire Durkan)

• Under The Cloak (Jon Hnefill Adalsteinsson)

• Buckland’s Book of Saxon Witchcraft

Academic Support

• Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions (Terje Spurkland)

• Say What I Am: A Book of Old English Riddles (Ben Waggoner)

TRACK 3 — LANGUAGE, SYMBOLS & SACRED TECHNOLOGIES

How does this tradition encode meaning?

Core Texts

• Futhark (Edred Thorsson)

• Runelore (Edred Thorsson)

• Rudiments of Runelore (Stephen Pollington)

• Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions (Terje Spurkland)

• The Nine Doors of Midgard (Edred Thorsson)

• The Truth About Teutonic Magick (Edred Thorsson)

• The Kybalion (Three Initiates)

• The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune

• The Book of Lies by Aleister Crowley - (Caveat: This is a book that isn’t to be followed dogmatically, it’s one that Crowley used to test initiates and teach them to think in symbolic language. Some techniques can be extractive, proceed with caution.)

Advanced

• Rune Song (Edred Thorsson)

TRACK 4 — RITUAL TECHNOLOGY & APPLIED MAGIC

How do I build the machine?

Core Texts

• Modern Magick (Donald Michael Kraig)

• The Golden Dawn (Israel Regardie)

• Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft

• 777 & Other Qabbalistic Writings (Aleister Crowley)

• Magick in Theory & Practice (Aleister Crowley)

• The Blue Equinox (Aleister Crowley)

• The Book of the Law (Aleister Crowley)

• The New Magus (Donald Tyson)

• Magick for Beginners (J.H. Brennan)

• The Witch’s Way (Leanna Greenaway & Shawn Robbins)

TRACK 5 — SPIRIT WORK, ECSTASY & SHADOW

What exists beyond ordinary consciousness?

Core Texts

• Buckland’s Book of Spirit Communications

• Summoning Spirits (Konstantinos)

• Gothic Grimoire (Konstantinos)

• Nocturnal Witchcraft (Konstantinos)

• Hermetic Magic (Stephen Edred Flowers)

• The Mist-Filled Path (Frank MacEowen)

• Northern Magic (Edred Thorsson)

• Icelandic Magic (Stephen E. Flowers)

• The Galdrabók (Stephen E. Flowers)

• Norse Magical & Herbal Healing (Ben Waggoner)

Supporting Texts

• A Little Bit of Shamanism (Ana Campos)

TRACK 6 — DIVINATION, OBSERVATION & PATTERN RECOGNITION

How do I gather information?

Core Texts

• Intuitive Tarot (Brigit Esselmont)

• The Secret Language of Astrology

• Moonology (Yasmin Boland)

Reference Shelf

• A Little Bit of Tarot (Cassandra Eason)

• A Little Bit of Runes (Cassandra Eason)

• A Little Bit of Pendulums (Dani Bryant)

• The Crystal Bible

• A Little Bit of Chakras (Amy Leigh & Chad Mercree)

TRACK 7 — MYTH, STORY & CULTURAL MEMORY

What stories preserve the values of a people?

Core Texts

• Saga of the Volsungs (Jackson Crawford)

• Two Tales of Mythical Heroes (Jackson Crawford)

• The Hrafnista Sagas (Ben Waggoner)

• The Sagas of Fridthjof the Bold (Ben Waggoner)

• Say What I Am: A Book of Old English Riddles (Ben Waggoner)

Narrative Shelf

• Bulfinch’s Mythology

• Norse Myths & Tales

• Celtic Myths & Tales

• A Treasury of Irish Fairy Tales & Folklore

TRACK 8 — LEADERSHIP, SERVICE & COMMUNITY

How do I become useful?

Core Texts

• A Practical Guide to Pagan Priesthood (Rev. Lora O’Brien)

• Minister Service Manual (Samuel Ward Hutton)

• Solitary Coventry (Lady Adnor)

Leadership & Community Support

• Circle of Frith (Rev. Maire Durkan)

• Hammer, Oak & Lightning (Jeremy Baer)

• A Book of Troth (Edred Thorsson)

TRACK 9 — RESEARCH, WRITING & CONTRIBUTION

What am I giving back?

Required Outputs

• Essays

• Research Papers

• Ritual Designs

• Teaching Materials

• Public Writing

• Community Projects

• Curriculum Development

• Peer Review & Discussion

Capstone Requirement

Create something useful enough that another person can learn from it.

Disclaimer:
This curriculum is not intended as a prescription for all Heathens, Vitkar, or practitioners of Norse spirituality. It is simply the course of study I have assembled for my own development. Readers are encouraged to adapt, replace, expand, or reject any portion of it according to their own path, traditions, and goals.

LICENSE & ATTRIBUTION

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

You are free to share and adapt this material for any purpose, including commercial use, under the terms of the license.

Required Conditions of Use

If you reuse this material, you must:

• Give appropriate credit to Rev. Dr. Raven “Magnusson” Wulfgar (Magnusson Speaks)

• Provide a link to the license

• Indicate if changes were made

• Share any derivatives under the same license (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Notice on Derivative Works

This framework includes a defined structure known as the Magnusson Standard.

All adaptations, excerpts, or derivative works must clearly indicate that they are modified versions of the original material and must not be presented as:

• the official Magnusson Standard, or

• official Magnusson Speaks content

unless explicitly authorized by the original author.

Derivatives remain fully permitted under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, provided attribution and share-alike conditions are met.

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