Recommendations for Books on Paganism for the Beginner

[Ruin Feri]

Hey everyone! So I'm fairly new and interested in Witchcraft and Paganism. So like all things that I'm not familiar with, I go to the books to find out more. However, as you might imagine, I've had...little success at best. So many books seem to claim that Wicca and Paganism are interchangeable terms, but I've heard that that's not true at all.

So honestly at this point, what books would you recommend for the beginner like me? Preferably with accurate information of course!

Currently my reading list has been including:

Scott Cunningham "Living Wicca" and whatever his prequel book to it is.
Christopher Penczak "The Inner Temple of Witchcraft" and "Ascension Magick"

Are these decent authors? What should I be looking for that might point that books might not be as accurate?

Thanks a bunch!  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

From what I've heard Cunningham is good as long as you keep in mind that its not about Wicca. People have re-named what he teaches to be the Standing Stones tradition.

I haven't read or really heard much on Penczak so I couldn't tell you anything there.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Penczak gives me the creeps so I haven't touched anything he's written. I've heard good things from some people and from others that he's.... less than stellar on subjects of GLBT relevance.

The Higginbothams have a couple of books that are more general. They have some issues, but they're not bad. There's "Beginner's Guide to Paganism" and "Pagan Spirituality".

In general terms you're best off working out what sort of things interest you and then looking into them specifically. You're not sort of pledging yourself to any particular path in doing so, so if it doesn't appeal you can just go and look into something else later.

There's not too much on witchcraft. Most stuff is entrenched in religion.  

[Ruin Feri]

Sanguina Cruenta

The Higginbothams have a couple of books that are more general. They have some issues, but they're not bad. There's "Beginner's Guide to Paganism" and "Pagan Spirituality".

What type of issues do you mean?

Also, I'm looking for books about the dieties, as I know that there are so many out there that I've never heard of. I'd like to know more than just the popular greek ones, a few celtic and a few egyptian gods. But I have no idea where to find more of a list of pantheons and the gods/goddesses in each. Would you have any recommendations?  

[Morgandria]

http://www.witchscauldron.net/cauldron/booklist.htm

That's my own list. It's small, but there's so much crap out there it's for a reason. It is aimed fairly heavily at Wicca or Wicca-flavoured eclectic neo-paganism, because that's what I practice.

If you want to learn more about pantheons and deities, look up their myths - they're better for learning about the Gods than the vast majority of neo-pagan literature. Online, the Encyclopedia Mythica can be a decent starting place for learning about deities. If you're seriously interested in the Greeks, theoi.com is the place to go.

Also bear in mind that there's a lot of debunked theories that still roam freely in neo-pagan writing. This is partly because older authors are still holding onto the ideas they encountered when they began their paths and have not acknowledged their lack of basis in historical or anthropological fact, and partly because these older pagans have taught younger generations of pagans who reiterate these ideas uncritically.

For example, I've included Graves' The White Goddess on my list, because it's beautiful and inspiring. But it has a basis in debunked theory that leaves it wanting on a factual level.  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

If you're looking for Egyptian mythology there's Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Pinch.

I can get you some more titles but I'm a little pressed for time at the moment so I'll have to get them when I get back.

Edit: A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses by George Hart  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Hikari_Saito

Sanguina Cruenta

The Higginbothams have a couple of books that are more general. They have some issues, but they're not bad. There's "Beginner's Guide to Paganism" and "Pagan Spirituality".

What type of issues do you mean?

Also, I'm looking for books about the dieties, as I know that there are so many out there that I've never heard of. I'd like to know more than just the popular greek ones, a few celtic and a few egyptian gods. But I have no idea where to find more of a list of pantheons and the gods/goddesses in each. Would you have any recommendations?

It's been ages since I read Pagan Spirituality so I can't remember. I think in one of their books they refer to Paganism as a religion and the different religions within it as "sects", which of course is insane and wrong. But generally they're not bad for working out what it is you find interesting.

You need to look at books keyed to particular mythologies. Books that talk about every pantheon aren't likely to be useful. Case in point, the Farrars' "Goddess of the Witches", in which they spend one sentence on Frigg and say Freyja is a moon goddess.