I learned one thing for sure

[sugarmagnolia]

I live in Oklahoma City. The last time I was in the library I was doing a research paper on charles manson and the libriarian got all huffy when I ask for books abotu him and ask me what I needed them all for... so annoying.

Try going to a different library branch.

I don't really know much about the City, except that when my home terminal was OKC, people seemed a whole lot more tolerant there than they were out in the boonies.

[Jenett]

Ok - I've had a chance to do some searching for you. It looks like Oklahoma City actually has a pretty decent collection, all things considered, and they've done some useful (relatively recent) updates to their catalog terms. It's not a huge number of titles, but it's got some reasonable variety.

Cataloging is a complicated thing, but basically, librarians assign one or more subject terms to every book, and the terms are technically mostly supposed to come from a standardised list. Until mid-2007, that list did *not* include Wicca, but did include related terms like Goddess religion, Neopaganism, and witchcraft. Usually once you find some books on your topics, you can find others by clicking on subject terms in the catalog.

Terms I usually try are
- Wicca
- Goddess religion
- Neopaganism
- Witchcraft

Plus searching for authors I'm fairly sure will be in there - Scott Cunningham, Starhawk, Margot Adler - and seeing what terms show up for their books.

Now, the one thing I can't tell from here, is how many of these books are actually available. For a variety of reasons, books about Wicca, witchcraft, etc. are one of the most common categories that go missing. (Some of this is people who disapprove of the subject 'losing' books. Some of it is people who are interested in the subject taking them and not bringing them back, as far as anyone's been able to tell.) So a book might be listed as being on the shelf, but not there.

What you will likely need to do, though, is request books from other branches of your library system. To do that, when you find a book you like, you click on the "request this book" and enter your name and barcode. You select where you'd like the book sent (usually your nearest branch, but you can pick any library you like in the system) and submit the request.

The book will get sent to that branch, and you pick it up. I don't see specifics on the Metropolitan Library site, but any library staff person you see at an information desk should be able to tell you the basics.

(Most library systems, it takes 3-5 days if the book is on the shelf at another branch, and you pick it up either from the circulation desk, or from a self-serve set of shelves in the library, marked with some sort of identifying tag. Some places, it's a non-identifying combination of your initials, some places it's a unique assigned number.) If you know lots of people at your local branch, or they know your family (and you've got any concerns about people seeing you with a particular topic), you might want to pick a different branch than your usual one. Librarians are supposed to keep who checked what out private, but some people are more careful of this than others, or some library setups make it easier to see what someone's checking out as you walk by.)

So, books I'd suggest taking a look at:

Using the subject header "Wicca"
- Deborah Blake's _The Goddess is in the Details_ - nice general overview of deepening practice and experience.
- Chas Clifton's _Her Hidden Children_ which is about the history of Wicca in the US and its various offshoots

Under the subject heading "Goddess religion"
- Margot Adler's _Drawing Down the Moon_ (get the 2006 edition) Classic early history of the community
- Starhawk and Hilary Valentine's _Twelve Wild Swans_
- Phyllis Currot's _Book of Shadows_ also has some interesting bits, but you have to remember that she's relaying the history she was taught in the late 70s/early 80s, not what's currently understood to be the history.
- Her _Witchcrafting_ also has some useful bits.

Under the subject heading "Neopaganism"
- Various titles of possible interest, most of which I have not yet read. I understand the Helen Berger titles have a lot of interesting bits of "what people are doing where" data.
- Ravenwolf has been discussed lots 'round here. There's better stuff out there these days.

Under the subject heading "witchcraft" (which has long been the standby for both things like Wicca and historical witchcraft, like the Salem trials, but also includes some of the "why people are turning to witchcraft, and what We Good Christians can do about it" titles.)

Titles I'd recommend include (besides the stuff mentioned above.)
- Raymond Buckland's _Complete Book of Wicca_ is a classic, though a lot of it is not as well explained or handled in ways that are no longer current practice. Still worth reading from a historical perspective, though, I think.

- Ditto Laurie Cabot's _Power of a Witch_

- Thorn Coyle's _Evolutionary Witchcraft_

- Scott Cunningham's works (again, for historical reasons)

- Lots of people like Ellen Dugan for hearthwitchery/garden witchery stuff.

- The Farrar's _A Witches' Bible_ is also a classic.

- Amber K's _CovenCraft_ is aimed at group work, but there's a lot of other interesting tidbits in the mix.

- A number of people like Christopher Penzack's Temple of Witchcraft books.

- Thea Sabin's _Wicca for Beginners_ is one of my current standard first books recommendations: I like her approach a lot.

There are a bunch of other books in there, but you get the idea.

[SatSekhem]

I get most of mine from Amazon and Half, like Asch mentioned. But we also have stores where I live called Half Price Books. They are a wonderful used bookstore chain. Despite the fact that where I live is pretty conservative and mainstream bookstores and libraries do not have much to offer, the used bookstores always do.
...

Not to get OT, but... HALF PRICE BOOKS! I loved that place. It's where half of my pagan collection came from.

[Chatelaine]

I have to start reading more. I am in a circle and I do ritual on my own and with them and I have been practicing for about 8 years but I have no idea of what most of you are talking about when it comes to books... where do yo find them all?? llewellens doesnt have that many i dont think... and i live in oklahoma so i cant just go to the library. can anyone recommend sites where I can buy books ? I love religion in general and learning about all of the different kinds of Pagan would be wonderful!

Jonanna

Late to the party, but you can look up books you see mentioned here on GoogleBooks. A lot of them have generous preview functions (often more than 100 pages) that allow you to make up your mind if you want to buy the book and get the rest as well.

I buy (when I have money) on Amazon Marketplace. I like the broken-in feeling of used books, and I can certainly put up with a bit of scruffiness in exchange for paying a few pennies plus postage, rather than full price.