Treats
It is our pleasure to provide our customers with signed copies of new titles where possible. We are happy to have books inscribed for you if we have a book launch too.
We sometimes get quite limited editions in or books from tiny publishing houses and will let you know about them.
Bali is happy to gift-wrap for a small fee. She does it well, Geraldine is famously bad at it as books tend to look like pies tied up with ribbon.
Visiting authors will often agree to doing a workshop for us or an evening of questions and answers. Some read Tarot and we will arrange readings if possible.
We celebrate Crowleymass on 1st December every year. It is the Great Beast’s death day and a good excuse to be a little wild on a work-night and receive a present from us.
Gods and Goddesses
We are spoilt for choice nowadays as Gap years have opened our eyes to the reality of the religions of the indigenous people of so many lands.
We cover Greece, Rome, Egypt, South America, Africa, Europe as we have always done. What has expanded are the deities associated with the British Isles and the books reflect work that is being done with them.
Northern Tradition
Freya Aswynn brought the runes and so the Northern tradition back to life here in London in the 1980s.
We are very proud to have produced her Runes of Yggdrasil rune pack for her. This section encompasses folklore and religion of Northern Europe and has a good selection of books on the runes too of course.
Practical Magic
If your heart is pure and your intention is good, the Gods and Goddesses will smile on you so you need never fear ‘getting it wrong’. They have had thousands of years of new people stumbling about not having a clue but wanting to do magic. It makes perfect sense for them to encourage rather than scare.
We have books from the simple to the amazingly complex.
Tartarus Press
Tartarus started off producing limited editions of old classic supernatural fiction. Their books were stylish and had great charm. They still do; they have already become an imprint to lay down like a fine wine and the number of prizes they have collected is growing almost monthly.
We have always supported them and are seen as their London outlet as we have the occasional out-of-print title as well as the new stock.
Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded in 1888 by MacGregor Mathers. You can see his portrait hanging in The Atlantis Bookshop. It was painted by his wife Moina who was the first ‘real’ person to be initiated into this important magical Order. We also have some original Golden Dawn Working tools on display.
Aleister Crowley and Thelema
Crowley is a man everyone has an opinion of even if what they are saying is 100 years out-of-date. Love him or loathe him, the intellect of the man cannot be disputed and his influence on society in the 1960’s hippie days, on Punk and beyond continues as his famous Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will is very empowering.
He was a friend of our founder who also published him – which is something we still occasionally do. We always have fairly much whatever is in print in stock.
John Dee
Queen Elizabeth I’s court astrologer and the original 007. He spoke with the Angels and gave the world Enochian Magic. Some of his scrying tools are on display at the British Museum and the ethically sourced obsidian we stock is the same authentic stuff as used by Dr. Dee all those years ago.
Alchemy
Which sort would you like? Physical, spiritual or historical?
We have plenty of books on practical alchemy and the results the contemporary alchemists are getting are impressive. Spiritual alchemy – where we perfect ourselves and transmute from base lead into golden spiritual beings – is a very rewarding road to travel. The armchair historian will be really spoilt for choice as the biographies alone make fascinating reading.
Tarot
It costs the same to have a good tarot reading as a bad one so choosing a pack you like and working with it is worth doing. We stock about 100 tarot and Oracle packs and as many books on Tarot. So many people will ‘recommend’ a pack and an equal number will say it is rubbish.
A superstition is that you should always be given a pack of cards and never buy your own. Make up your own mind as you wouldn’t let them choose a a pair of shoes for you, why should they dictate something as personal as your deck? If you have a friend kind enough to want to pay though…
