Perhaps an odd request.

[Darkshore]

In my free time I love to Read/Write as I'm sure almost everyone else here does aswell. I really like to have a sort of "backbone" or a solid realistic basis for my ideas and creatures or what have you that I put into my stories. That being said I love to read mythology and legends because to me that is my solid "realistic" basis for the contents of my stories. (I do change them to make them my own though of course.) Anyways I was wondering if anyone else does this and well where do you find your information? Can you recommend any books or other sources? I'm beginning to put Magic into my stories or at least a form of it but I'm not sure where to start the search for a solid basis of semi-realistic information on the subject. Thanks. Heres hoping that I worded my request correctly. Cheers.

[Sean 'Bjørn' Blackstone]

Wikipedia. Everyone says it isn't a viable source, but, people honestly dont mess with it much. Its all collected info, and theres link after link after link to more detailed info on the details of the subject. I <3 Wikipedia.

[Shecky]

Wikipedia is an incredible starting point. You tend to get good general information, which can then steer you towards more informative, reliable sources; oftentimes, the References links are all you'll need.

[Starbeam]

The validity of Wikipedia generally depends on what you're looking for and how much citation you have.  There has been a study that shows it's quite good for scientific sources, but the writing is very dry.  But like Shecky said--it's definitely a good place to start.  I can't use Wikipedia to verify stuff at work, but I do go there and follow the links to more legit places.  Though sometimes those links are just as unreliable as Wikipedia can be.

As for the OP, the best thing to do is to go to a library or bookstore and browse through the books in sections for religion, mythology, metaphysics, and similar.  I've found several decent dictionaries/encyclopedias of creatures, and that's where you'll find books about things like paganism, wicca, kabbalah, etc.

[Darkshore]

Thanks everyone. Wikipedia did seem to slip my mind lol. Now that you mention it though I do think I have seen some Wicca, Paganism, and other types of "magic" books in some local stores. I may get a few weird looks for having them but it's purely for resource material on my part . (Not that there's anything wrong with people that practice said things.) Anyways again thanks everyone. I would still really love to hear of any specific books if there is anyone out there that knows of any, just makes it easier to find them on my part heh. 

[Beefstew]

I don't know if it's still in print, but "Rune Magic" by Nigel Pennick is a decent introduction into norse type magic(with runes!).  I had a great book that was an intro to druid magic, I'll look around and see if I can find the title.  If you're interested in learning more about Wiccan type magic(magik, magick), you might consider googling for covens in your area.  I can almost guarantee that there is one somewhere nearby that would be willing to teach you.  You can play it however you want (telling them you're a writer, or telling them you're interested in learning magic) but they're usually pretty open.  In my experience most of the Wiccan books out there don't actually have any of the mechanics of magic, they have specific spells.  And while reading enough of them might be able to give you a solid background, wading through some of that material can get old fast.

I'm kind of like you, I like reading about mythology and magic and religions.  There are MANY magic systems out there, and MANY beliefs in that area.  If you really want to use something in your writing, I would focus on a certain area, or simply get an overview of all of them and make it up for yourself.  If you want to "borrow" a specific system let me know and I probably have more book recommendations for you.

[OZ]

I have a daughter that is a comparitive religions major in college. Because of this any time I am in a bookstore, at a yard sale, or anywhere else that books are sold, I buy anything that I can find regarding various religions especially those that are more rare in print. ( There is no way I could buy all of the books about the world's widely practiced current religions so I settle for a few.) I have bought religious encyclopedias, Time Life sets, text books, scholarly works and a few that I think were just works of fiction masquerading as scholarly works. The more you read (and I read some of them too though not as many or as thoroughly as she does) the more of a feel you get for the religions. What is fact, what is controversial, what is misrepresented. It is always good whenever possible to find both books written by those that practice the religion (obviously not always possible when you are talking about ancient, "dead" religions )and by those that do not practice it but have studied it extensively.

[Darkshore]

Thank you all for the great advice. The Coven idea sounds very very intriguing but I'm not so sure how well that would go over hehe. Also I'm not really focusing on one type of magic (magick) per say but touching on "everything" generally. Rune Magic is very very cool though. My main focus is more on Demons/Demonology at least for this novel.