From: cuddihy@cshl.org (Elisabeth Cuddihy)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: FAQ on Pagan Bookstores
Date: 11 Sep 92 15:36:27 GMT
Organization: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory


Huzzah!

I've been steadily lurking on this group since the pre-birth days back in 
talk.religion.newage (when do you all find time to post?! :-) and have seen 
quite a need for a good FAQ.  As for bookstores, the only one I have
visited in the NYC area is Herman Slater's place.... gosh, what is it called..
The Magical Childe.  I don't have the address with me -- I think it is on
W. 19th.  That place has just about everything you'd ever be looking for
in a long, dark, incense filled shop.  It's worth a visit for just the 
ambiance alone.  There are a whole bunch of other stores in NYC but I haven't
yet had a chance to visit them.  If no one else posts about them, I'll at
least dig up the addresses.

As for Long Island, I know of nothing other than Body, Mind and Soul on Rt110
across from the Walt Whitman Mall.  It's a new age mini-supermarket and not
really of much interest me -- I tend to avoid those sort of places like the
plague but, you never know...

As for the Western NY/Southern Ontario area:

Please stop in a say "Hi" at MoonCircles on Lexington and Ashland in Buffalo.
They should be celebrating their 3rd? 4th? birthday pretty soon and besides
being a really nice and homey pagan bookstore, they also run workshops and
have a bulletin board in the _back_ of the store to help people pass on 
news of interest and network.

Buffalo also has a number of other bookstores of interest -- East-West on
Main St. across from the UB campus (med school) which has a large selection
of eastern philosophy and a bunch of shelves on western traditions and 
women's spirituality.  MasterKey bookstore is somewhere outside of the
city -- maybe on of the UB-ARSA people will post about it?

Up in Toronto there are two really excellent stores -- 1) The Occult Shop
on 109 Vaughan.  It is pretty much an occult and pagan supermarket.  I
alway find *something* in there.  They also have a good selection of herbs
(well, at least last I checked :-) and a never ending supply of neat-stuff-
to-look-at.  2) Ben Abraham Books on 139 Robert St.  (call for directions
or consult a map -- this is NOT easy to find even though it is a block or
two of of a main road -- consult your nearest map and phone book).  This 
place has a really fantastic collection of used and old books and at times
can be quite a gold mine.  Of course, there are times when you fall in love
with an $800 book but then....  If you are looking for something out of
print or in first edition, it's worthwhile to talk to the people at this 
store.  

On a related note, if you are looking for a good herb supplier in Western
New York, try out Bi-Nutrients on Fillmore Ave (I don't have the exact address 
with me).


---


A FAQ with a booklist was also mentioned and I think this is really a great
idea.  Could we try to make it an annotated list?  True, it is more work
but it really is much more informative.  I have a rather happy library at
home and I've been meaning to make up an annotated list of my stuff (a number
of people have asked me to) -- maybe I'll start on it a little sooner an
post the pagan-related parts of it as I do them.

Also, there is an FTP site worth checking out that might have a few more
ideas for a FAQ: gcnext.gac.peachnet.edu [131.144.54.201]:/pub/wicca(2)
I've snagged their stuff a few weeks back but I haven't yet had a chance
to look through it.

Well, it is time to get back to work...

-Liz