Official GWF Recommended Reading & Authors
In Greenwood Fellowship we’re chiefly concerned with the practical, though there are some theoretical and philosophical authors listed. Theory only serves as a preparation for Purification, Illumination, Union—a preparation that transforms our idols of thought into icons to dis-cover God.
These works (that aid Depth Christianity) are not to serve a mere literary value, with that approach their knowledge becomes a decadent romanticism. We must act. Many friends in this ‘literature collecting mode’ are lost in spectred surface knowings and empty abstracted concepts, meanwhile they pray for 5 minutes a day, and move no closer toward union with God, no closer to His concrete Truth.
We must go forth toward the living waters, toward the living God, toward the Risen Christ, dear friends!
With that in mind, these works are to guide and impel you to get started and to give the Lord the time he deserves in your morning holy hour. We are here for the Lord to be disclosed as a fact of experience, to learn how to then discern his divine will and communicate for regular direct guidance. That is possible if we dedicate ourselves to depth prayer.
It’s best to read the first 4 books in order. After that use your own discernment. They are all great accompaniments to my lectures (which you will find in categories on the discord, and here in full at this link: https://x.com/scottmannion/highlights)
BOOKS
1a) Meditations on the Tarot, by Anonymous (Valentin Tomberg). Don’t be mislead by the title, this has nothing to do with ‘card divination’, the Christian symbolism of the cards is a point of departure for what the book is ultimalty about—the pathway of Purification, Illumination, Union, the praxis of theosis. Valentin was a catholic, and his book is one of the most important books on the subject matter in the last 200 years, it walks a pathway through the most difficult problems of our times and the deepest mysteries of philosophy and the spirit. [required reading]. It is a key guide for us through this whole process.
LINK: https://www.amazon.com.au/Meditations-Tarot-Robert-Powell/dp/1585421618
1b) Here is a link to Meditations on the Tarot on Audiobook, put it on your phone and start listening to it straight away. And if you don’t immediately understand, that’s okay. Keep listening. You will return to this again and again. Also be sure to read the book. This is a simple way to get started, listening to it on walks.
LINK: https://drive.proton.me/urls/HY2TVTN5YM#OEPx734XNRl2
2) The second book we are to get and read is The Way of the Pilgrim (the version that comes with The Pilgrim Continues His Way) another incredible book of Eastern Orthodoxy on the Jesus prayer and the Prayer of the heart.
LINK: https://www.amazon.com.au/Way-Pilgrim-Continues-Olga-Savin/dp/1570628076
3) The third book to read is The Little Russian Philokalia: St. Seraphim of Sarov Vol 1
While being from the eternal fount of wisdom, it deals more with an age closer to ours than the next recommended text. It contains the Life of St. Seraphim, his “Spiritual Instructions to Laymen and Monks,” his soul-saving conversation with Nicholas Motovilov “On the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit” (St. Seraphim’s patristic teaching--equal to the ancient Church Fathers)--and his “Diveyevo Mystery”--which, until now, has never been revealed in the English language since its disclosure in 1902.
LINK: https://www.amazon.com.au/Little-Russian-Philokalia-Seraphim-Sarov/dp/0938635301/
4) The fourth book is Unseen Warfare. This is an incredible book and guide and protection edited and revised by two orthodox saints, and written by a western priest. It contains great guidance on practice and the ways which aid in salvation, as well as the methods and tactics of the devil.
NOTE: this text is stark in terms of the analogy of war. We are to reject and not react to the devil, in a neutral manner, we are leading the lost sheep of our being to the Lord while rejecting demons. That is a neutral rejection—If one takes the analogy of war too far, one is distracted by and filled with the provoking sent by the devil in the first place in this ‘struggling’ mindframe. It is important to moderate this book with advice from the texts we have read above. But at the same time, simply read what this has to say, and let it wash over you. Don’t allow the ego to ‘reject’ things said here.
But don’t ‘freak out’ reading this book, thinking it’s not possible to do. As St. Seraphim of Sarov speaks of, through the practice the Lord fills us and joins us, he very slowly brings us upward toward Him so it’s not a over-burden or Kantian ‘duty’. His yoke is easy, you simply have to devote yourself to this holy hour concentration-without-effort-in-prayer.
LINK: https://www.amazon.com.au/Unseen-Warfare-Lorenzo-Scupoli/dp/B0C913FV9K/
5) The Philokalia
This is the incredible wisdom of the Greek monastics and fathers that the Way of the Pilgrim cites. It is helpful to get the digital version, so you can search terms such as “watchfulness” or “breath” and see what these incredible saints have to say on certain matters you are researching. You could get it in one volume, but this is quite heavy. Perhaps digital is best for this. Otherwise you could buy it one volume at a time.
LINK: https://www.amazon.com.au/Philokalia-Volumes-FULL-Text/dp/B0DNFZTTDD
DIGITAL VERSION: https://libgen.bz/edition.php?id=136236401
If you download it, be sure to donate to the church, or buy the text version as well because the digital isn’t available for purchase, but we should have access (piracy is theft though, if you don’t pay them for a volume or two!)
6) Lazarus Come Forth!, Valentin Tomberg
An incredibly important work written after Valentin’s masterwork, Meditations on the Tarot. Important to help understand him, and in a more Biblical context.
LINK: https://www.amazon.com.au/Meditations-Christian-Esotericist-Mysteries-Commandments/dp/1584200405
7) Personal Certainty, Valentin Tomberg
This book was written before Meditations, but contains many of the concepts rendered in more philosophical terms. This will likewise help you understand his later works. Another important one.
LINK: https://www.amazon.com.au/Personal-Certainty-Way-Truth-Life/dp/1621388972
The rest of the list beyond this point, other books and recommended authors, is paywalled, but if you can’t afford to join the fellowship, please email me at scott@greenwood.media or DM me on X and ill send the rest to you. God bless you, friend.