Mocata's Library of Magic, Religion, and the Supernatural

 After writing his very successful black magic-themed novel, The Devil Rides Out , Dennis Wheatley was asked by publishers to pen a reference book about the occult and black magic.  Wheatley advised that he did not feel he was up to that challenge, at least not at that time.  While Wheatley would eventually write such a book, he would not do so for multiple decades, when he published The Devil and All His Works in 1971.  However, back in the 1930s, when he was originally approached to write a nonfiction book about the occult, he recommended they go with a man named Rollo Ahmed. A more recent paperback edition of The Black Art Ahmed was an occultist who had also instructed Wheatley and his wife in some of the basics of yoga (not the modern stretching-in-tight-pants fad that goes by the name of yoga).  The result of this was a book called The Black Art , first published in 1936.  Wheatley also authored an introduction for the book, which, to my knowledge, h...

As the idea for this blog came from a Dennis Wheatley project, it is only fitting that I start with a Dennis Wheatley novel.  This was the first of his books that I ever read.  I found a paperback of it along with another of his books, The Ka of Gifford Hillary , at a local chain used book shop.  The name Dennis Wheatley jumped out at me, although I couldn't recall why I knew that name, so I picked up both books.  When I looked inside the books, where there was a list of other Dennis Wheatley titles published by the same company, I began to understand why the name was familiar to me-- I saw the titles The Devil Rides Out and To the Devil-- a Daughter .  I also realized that I had read his name in connection with the band Black Sabbath in articles citing his black magic novels as an influence on the band's lyrics.  Many years later now, I have picked up and read a great number of his books. 1960s era paperback edition from Arrow, featuring some excellent co...