Books like Red Cactus — picked by fans

Although written as a play, it has a foreword detailing its subject—the life of Joan of Arc. Joan was the inspiration and much-admired heroine of Rebecca Roberts in my own book. Based closely on the Inquisition records, it has very moving moments, whether read or performed as a play.

This book deals with the life of probably the most intelligent person on the planet at the time-not a fanciful idea as she had the highest pass rate in all of her exams to be the first woman (medical) doctor there has ever been. Her best friend and lifelong supporter was Lady Caithness-direct descendant of Catriona of Caithness who features in my book.

As well as being the best Gothic style verses in the English language with the possible exception of some by Edgar Allan Poe-there are some way ahead of their time. "If Earth & Moon were gone" prefigures Mach's Principle, which was only formulated 4 decades after EJB thought of it. Anyone lucky enough to find an edition with EJB's Essays she wrote in Brussels will have a copy of her formulation of Evolutionary theory 2 decades before Mr. Darwin claimed it as his own.

The Tarot is littered with symbols and occult references. You do not have to go deep into esoteric corresponds if you do not want to, but if you do I recommend Tarot Deciphered. This book gets down and dirty into all the symbology of the Rider-Waite Smith Tarot, the Thoth Tarot, and other decks which share its symbols. This book is probably not for beginners unless of course, you want to dive deep into Tarot and occult symbology fast. 

Born Constance Lloyd and buried as Constance Holland, she is most widely known as Constance Wilde, wife of playwright and martyr Oscar Wilde.

For all that is written about Oscar and the trouble he found exploring his homosexuality in the 1890s, this fresh perspective on the obscured wife is invaluable. A daughter, sister, and mother, Constance was also an author, an activist, and (as suits the one name she never changed) a faithful friend.

Drawing on hundreds of unpublished letters, this book demystifies a woman overshadowed. Know the important work she did to free women of the confines and fatal dangers of the previous century’s dresses. Feel the heartbreak of a ruinous marriage—the man who betrayed her, and the children she couldn’t protect. Remember Constance, because she mattered too.

While designing and illustrating my own Sun and Moon Tarot, I followed the normal order of letters of the Hebrew alphabet and therefore also their values. And I respected the original Western Hermetic order of the cards on the paths of the Tree of Life and their corresponding Hebrew letters. This system is explained in detail in this book.

Rufus C. Camphausen describes in detail how the numbering of the tarot cards has been changed by different groups of people (Kabbalists, Astrologers, the Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn & Aleister Crowley, A. E. Waite of the Rider Waite Tarot). The same is true with the assignment of the planets and zodiac signs and the assignment of the numbers and the Hebrew letters on the paths of the Sefiroth (Tree of Life in Kabbalah).

Together with Van Leeuwen he also created ‘The Kabbalistic Tarot/Tree-of-life Tarot’. This tarot deck… show more.

I love this book; it is my all-time favorite nonfiction resource book for female tarot creators during the Victorian Age. I was totally absorbed reading about the art and artists that Mary Greer selected: Maud Gonne, Moina Bergson Mathers, Annie Horniman and Florence Farr.

These are four women who transformed the face of women in power in the occult and magical societies. I especially dote on a book with photographs and illustrations when talking about a historical topic, and there are fantastic images, many one-of-a-kinds, that are well-researched and noted. If you have any interest in tarot, female Magicians, and the struggles of these amazing Suffragettes and artists, this book is for you. 

The most popular tarot deck in the world is illustrated by the artist Pamela Coleman Smith, yet very little is known about her. She was a fascinating woman, born in 1878 in Middlesex, England, and raised in London, New York, and Kingston, Jamaica.

In London in 1903, she joined the Order of the Golden Dawn, and in 1909, under the guidance of Arthur Edward Waite, she created a series of 78 allegorical paintings that became the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Pamela Coleman Smith died penniless and unknown in 1951, unaware of the success of her tarot deck illustrations.

This 100 page book offers a wonderful view of Pamela's creativity in many fields, and is illustrated with her beautiful and whimsical illustrations that inspire millions to this day.

Anyone who follows India will be acquainted with the writing of Arundhati Roy. In this short and powerful book she focuses on two remarkable leaders of pre-independence India, Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar; the two clashed over the place of the Caste system – and Hinduism itself – in the future Indian nation. Ambedkar, an “Untouchable” (Dalit), believed that ending colonialism was not enough and the Untouchables could never be free until the “annihilation” of the entire Caste system. Gandhi believed that in building a national community there had to be a compromise with people’s strong attachment to Caste. Roy’s book is simultaneously a rediscovery of Ambedkar, a reassessment of Gandhi, and an indictment of Caste-based oppression in India today.