Notes and Bibliographies

5.1 Scope of this chapter

This chapter covers the documentation of sources: the two systems of citation, notes and their short forms, bibliographies and reference lists, the elements of a citation, and the forms for the kinds of source this field cites. The texts of the Thelemic corpus and of the adjacent corpora are cited by the forms in chapter 6 (see 6.2–6.57).

In the examples, N marks a full note, S a short note, and B a bibliography entry. The author-date forms appear only in 5.2 and 5.54–5.57, where T marks a text citation and R a reference-list entry.

5.2 Notes or author-date

Use notes and bibliography: numbered notes keyed to the text, with a bibliography at the end of the work. Author-date citation, in which a parenthetical reference in the text points to a reference list, is also acceptable (see 5.54–5.57). A work uses one system throughout. A journal or series may require either.

5.3 Footnotes or endnotes

Either footnotes or endnotes are acceptable; use one kind throughout a work. A journal or publisher may require one. In a book, endnotes are grouped by chapter at the end of the book, each group headed by the chapter’s number and title.

5.4 Numbering notes

Number notes consecutively in arabic numerals through an article, and through each chapter of a book, beginning again at 1 in each chapter. In the text the number is a superscript; in the note it is set full size and followed by a period. A note on the whole article or chapter, such as an acknowledgment or a statement of earlier publication, is unnumbered and stands before note 1.

5.5 Placing the note reference

Place the note reference at the end of the sentence or clause it documents, outside a closing parenthesis, and after any punctuation except a dash, which it precedes. Do not attach a note to a heading, to the title of the work, or to an epigraph, whose source is set beneath it. Never set a reference beside a siglum, a verse reference, a Liber number, a grade notation, or a number in a gematria argument; move it to the end of the clause.

5.6 What a note carries

A note may cite a source, comment on the text, or do both. Where it does both, put the citation first and the comment after it. Where a sentence draws on several sources, cite them all in one note, separated by semicolons, in the order the sentence uses them. A reference to a received text stays in parentheses in the running text and is not moved into a note (see 6.17); a note may still discuss the verse. Delete a note that says only “see above.” A cross-reference to an earlier note gives its number and the short form of the source.

5.7 The first citation of a work

Give a full note at the first citation of a work in an article, and at its first citation in each chapter of a book. Use the short form after that. A full note gives the author’s name in normal order, the full title, and the facts of publication in parentheses, separates its elements with commas, and ends with the locator. A bibliography entry inverts the first author’s name, separates its elements with periods, gives the facts of publication without parentheses, and has no locator.

5.8 Short forms

A short note gives the author’s surname, a short title, and the locator. Shorten the title to no more than four of its key words, in their original order, and drop an initial A, An, or The. An article or chapter title keeps its quotation marks. A motto or office-name is never cut down to one of its words. A Liber title shortens as 3.49 directs. Where two works would shorten to the same form, lengthen one of them by its next key word.

5.9 Ibid. and other Latin forms

Do not use ibid. Repeat the short form, even for a source cited in the note immediately before. Do not use op. cit., loc. cit., or idem.

5.10 A work cited throughout

Where a work draws on one source throughout, as a study of a single book does, give the full note at the first citation and say there that later references appear in the text. Then give the page numbers in parentheses in the running text. A work that cites several sources constantly may use a list of abbreviations instead; abbreviations for the field’s texts, journals, and reference works are set in 8.29–8.39.

5.11 Citing a source found in another

Cite the source you read. Where you know a passage only as it is quoted in another work, cite the original as fully as that work allows, then quoted in, then the full citation of the work you read, and list both in the bibliography. An argument about the exact wording, layout, or hand of a document rests on the document or a facsimile of it, never on a quotation in another work (see 4.49, 6.26).

5.12 The bibliography

The bibliography lists every work cited in the notes, in one alphabetical list at the end of the work, under the heading Bibliography. It may also list works not cited that shaped the work. A list that leaves out some cited works is headed Selected Bibliography. Personal communications, posts on private forums and lists, oral instruction, and AI-generated material are cited in notes only and are not listed (see 5.51–5.53), nor are unsigned entries in general dictionaries and encyclopedias (see 5.41).

5.13 Dividing a bibliography

Keep the bibliography in one list. Divide it only where readers will look for different kinds of source in different places, as in a book that cites many manuscripts as well as published works. Then use these sections, in this order: Manuscript and Archival Sources, Primary Sources, and Secondary Sources. Received texts and the writings of the authors studied go under Primary Sources, and scholarship about them under Secondary Sources. List each work once.

5.14 Arranging the entries

Arrange the entries alphabetically by their first word, word by word (see 7.13–7.24). Repeat an author’s name in full in every entry; never replace it with a dash. List one author’s works alphabetically by title, ignoring an initial article, and put the works the author wrote alone before those the author edited or wrote with others. A received text is entered under its title as chapter 6 directs (see 6.4).

5.15 Authors’ names

Give an author’s name as the title page prints it, with its initials and spelling: Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Israel Regardie. A pen name that has become the usual form of an author’s name is that author’s name for citation: Dion Fortune. Where one person’s works appear under different names, cite them all under the one form that 3.24 fixes. In the bibliography entry, a different name on a work’s title page follows the author’s name in square brackets.

5.16 Mottoes and office-names

A motto or office-name on a title page is the author’s or editor’s name for citation, unless 5.15 gathers the person’s works under another name. Give a motto whole, with Frater or Soror as the title page prints it; give an office-name whole, never one word of it (Hymenaeus Beta, not Beta). In a bibliography entry, a motto that carries Frater or Soror is inverted so that it files under the motto itself; an office-name is not inverted. For the form of the motto, see 3.25.

Do not add a legal name to a motto or office-name unless 2.39 permits it. Where it is given, it follows the motto in square brackets, in the bibliography entry only.

5.17 Anonymous and collective authors

Cite a work whose title page names no author by its title, and file it under the first word of the title other than an article. Do not use Anonymous unless the title page does. A collective or descriptive byline is cited as printed and files under its first word. Where scholarship attributes such a work to a person, give the attribution in the text, not in the citation. A received text has no author in a citation; chapter 6 sets its form (see 6.3).

5.18 Editors and translators

Cite a book that has an author as well as an editor, translator, or compiler under the author, and give the others after the title: ed., trans., or comp. in a note, and Edited by, Translated by, or Compiled by in a bibliography entry. Cite a collection of pieces by several authors under its editors, followed by eds. For an editor who signs with a motto or office-name, see 5.16; for translations, see 5.34.

5.19 Titles

Italicize the titles of books, journals, podcasts, blogs, and other whole works. Set the titles of articles, chapters, episodes, posts, theses, and unpublished documents in roman within quotation marks (see 3.44). In a full note and a bibliography entry, give the subtitle in full, after a colon, whatever punctuation the title page uses. A main title ending in a question mark or an exclamation point takes no colon unless a closing quotation mark follows that mark. Capitalize English titles in title case. Keep the title page’s spelling, including British and older forms. A Liber title is italicized in full and takes the form set in 3.46, and a received title takes the form 3.47 gives it.

5.20 Non-English titles

Give a title in another language as the source prints it, capitalized in sentence case, except that the Latin title of a work of the Renaissance or later takes title case. A received title takes the form 3.47 gives it, and vel and sub figurâ stay lowercase in every Liber title (see 3.46). Where readers need its meaning, add a translation in square brackets after it, in roman and in sentence case. Where a work has been published in English, cite the edition you used. Romanize a title in a non-Latin script by the system the style sheet names for that language (see 4.4). Hebrew or Greek within a title otherwise in Latin letters keeps its script (see 4.17).

5.21 Editions and printings

Name the edition you used whenever a work exists in more than one, abbreviating the title page’s wording: 2nd ed., rev. ed., 2nd rev. ed., rev. and expanded ed. An abbreviation that begins with a word is lowercase in a note and capitalized in a bibliography entry, where it follows a period. Never infer an edition from a date. Where the date of a work’s first publication matters to the argument and you used a later edition, give the earlier date in the text. Do not cite a printing unless printings differ in text or pagination; then name the printing used and say how it differs.

5.22 Reprints and facsimiles

Cite the reprint you used: give the original date of publication, then the reprint’s facts of publication, introduced by repr. in a note and Reprint in a bibliography entry, and cite the reprint’s pages. A reprint that resets the text is a new edition and is cited as one (see 5.21). A facsimile reproduces the pages of the original: call it a facsimile and cite the original’s page numbers. An introduction added to a reprint or facsimile is cited under its own author (see 5.33).

5.23 Place and publisher

Give the publisher’s name as the title page prints it, without Inc., Ltd., Co., or Publishers, keeping Press or Books where it forms part of the name. A publisher that has changed its name is cited by the name on the book you used. Give the place of publication for a book published before 1970, and for a book of any date that was privately printed, published by its author, or issued by an order or lodge. Omit the place for other books. For a book published before 1900, the publisher may be omitted; a comma then follows the place.

5.24 Private and self-published books

Describe a book that its author issued as published by the author, in place of a publisher’s name, and keep the place of publication. Use privately printed where the book says so and does not name who issued it. An imprint of the author’s own devising, such as Crowley’s Society for the Propagation of Religious Truth, is cited as the title page gives it. Omit the name of a self-publishing platform.

5.25 Order and lodge publications

Where an order, lodge, or other body issues a book or document in its own name, give that body as publisher, in the form its imprint uses, with the place of publication. Where the body also stands as author, as in an official statement, name it in both places. How a body’s name is written is set in 3.30; a book that is also a number of The Equinox follows 6.35–6.36 for the number.

5.26 Missing publication data

Where a book gives no place or publisher, write n.p.; where it gives no date, write n.d. Where evidence supplies a date the book does not print, give the date in square brackets, with a question mark if it is uncertain, and say in the text or a note what the date rests on. Never supply a publisher from the website or library where a copy was found (see 5.49).

5.27 Locators

The locator is the page or pages cited, with ranges given in full. It follows the facts of publication in a full note and the title in a short note, and any URL or DOI comes after it (see 5.29). Omit p. and pp. except where a bare number could be read as something other than a page, as after the name of a part or an appendix. Cite a note by page and note number. Front matter keeps its roman page numbers.

Cite a work of the Thelemic corpus other than a received text by the page of the edition used, adding the work’s own division where it locates the passage more closely or across editions (see 6.18–6.19). The division stands alone only where the edition has no pages, and in a reference to the Comments on Liber AL (see 6.33). A received text is always cited by its own divisions, never by page.

5.28 Unnumbered pages and ebooks

Cite a foliated book or manuscript by leaf and side (see 8.15). Where a privately printed book has no page numbers, count the pages and give the number of the page cited in square brackets. Cite an ebook that reproduces the print edition’s pages by those pages. Cite one without fixed pages by chapter or section, and name the format at the end of the note. Never cite a Kindle location or any other position a device assigns. A PDF or scan of a printed book is that book; cite its printed pages.

5.29 URLs and DOIs

Give a work’s DOI, where it has one, as a URL beginning https://doi.org/, and give no other URL beside it. Give a URL for a work consulted online that has no DOI, using the stable link its publisher or repository supplies. Remove from a URL anything that ties it to one reader, such as a library proxy prefix, a session string, or tracking parameters. Give no URL for a book or journal consulted in print. Where a URL or DOI must run onto a second line, break it after a colon or a double slash, or before a single slash, a period, or another mark of punctuation, and add no hyphen.

5.30 Archived copies

Before submitting a work, make an archived copy of every online source you cite that has no DOI, using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine or Perma.cc, and keep a copy of your own. Journal articles and books listed in a national library’s catalog need no archived copy. Where the page has changed since you read it or has gone, replace the live URL in the citation with archived, the date of capture, and the archived copy’s URL.

Where a page cannot be archived, as behind a login, keep your own copy and give it to the editor on request. Privately circulated and oath-bound material is never placed in a public archive (see 2.34, 6.74).

5.31 Access dates

Give an access date only for an online source that shows no date of publication or revision. Where you cite an archived copy, its capture date takes the place of an access date. Put the access date before the URL, in the form accessed 1 October 2026.

5.32 Books

The forms in 5.7 serve for a book by one author. For books by several authors, by an organization, or in other ordinary arrangements, follow CMS chapter 14.

5.33 Edited editions of Crowley

Cite an edited edition of Crowley’s work under Crowley, with the editor after the title and the edition named. Where you cite the editor’s introduction, commentary, or notes, cite them under the editor. An introduction or foreword without a title of its own is named generically, in roman: lowercase in a note, capitalized in a bibliography entry. The bibliography lists the edition under Crowley and gives a cited introduction an entry of its own under the editor.

5.34 Translations

Cite a translation under the original author, with the translator after the title. Where the translation itself is the subject, or the original has no named author, the translator stands first, followed by trans. Where an argument turns on the wording of the original, cite the original as well. Translations of received texts follow 6.12.

5.35 Multivolume works

Cite a multivolume work as a whole by its general title and number of volumes, with the span of years. Cite one volume by the general title, the volume number in arabic numerals, and the volume’s own title if it has one, with that volume’s date. In a short note, give the volume and page separated by a colon. A work whose volumes are paginated continuously is cited by page alone. A later edition that gathers the volumes into one is cited as that edition, by its own pages.

5.36 Chapters in edited books

Cite a chapter or essay by its author and title, followed by in and the book, with its editors. In the bibliography entry, give the chapter’s full page range. A document reproduced in a modern collection is cited as that document, with the collection as its location, and never as the editor’s writing; Golden Dawn papers follow 6.48, and other documents of the adjacent corpora follow 6.47–6.57.

5.37 Works in a series

In the bibliography entry, follow the book’s title with the title of a numbered series in roman, then the book’s number in that series. Omit the series from notes, and omit an unnumbered series altogether. The Equinox is a periodical, not a series; a number of it published as a book is cited as 6.35 directs.

5.38 Journal articles

Cite an article by its author, its title in quotation marks, the journal’s title in italics, the volume and issue in arabic numerals, the year, the page range, and the DOI or URL. Omit the month or season when the volume and issue are given. In a note the page cited takes the place of the range. Give a journal’s title without its subtitle and in full: Aries; Correspondences; The Pomegranate; Nova Religio; Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft. Abbreviate a journal’s title only as 8.39 directs.

5.39 Periodicals and reviews

Cite an article in a magazine or newspaper by date rather than by volume and issue. Cite a newsletter or other periodical issued by an order, lodge, or other body by its issue number and date together where it prints both; the body is its publisher, and the article’s own writer is its author. Cite a review under the reviewer, with the review’s title if it has one, then review of and the reviewed work’s title and author, then the journal. A work under review is cited from the work itself, not from the review.

5.40 Theses and dissertations

Cite a thesis or dissertation by its author, its title in quotation marks, the degree as the institution names it, the institution, and the year, with the repository’s stable URL where it is held online. A thesis later published as a book is cited as the book, unless what you used was the thesis.

5.41 Reference works

Cite a signed entry in a reference work like a chapter in an edited book, with the entry’s heading in quotation marks as its title. Name the edition of any reference work that has been revised. Cite an unsigned entry in a general dictionary or encyclopedia in a note only, by the work’s title and under with the heading in quotation marks; it is not listed in the bibliography. An unsigned entry in a specialized reference work of the field is cited in full and the work listed in the bibliography.

5.42 The Equinox and received texts

Cite Liber AL vel Legis, the other received texts, the Comments, The Equinox, and the other texts of the Thelemic corpus as 6.2–6.46 direct; the adjacent corpora follow 6.47–6.57.

5.43 Archives and manuscripts

Cite a manuscript or archival document in a note by its writer, its title or a description, its date, and its location, from the most specific element to the most general: folio or page, box or folder, collection, repository, place. A manuscript identified by a shelfmark is cited instead by repository, shelfmark, and folio, in that order (see 8.41). Where a document in a collection has a shelfmark, its folio or page follows the shelfmark. Describe a document by its kind (holograph, typescript, carbon typescript, letter, diary) where its title does not show it.

In the bibliography, list the collection, not each document. Use the repository’s own name for the collection and its own form of shelfmark; the Yorke Collection at the Warburg Institute, for instance, divides its manuscripts into an old series and a new series, marked OS and NS. Abbreviations for repositories are set in 8.40–8.42. A document known only from another writer’s transcription is cited as that transcription (see 4.50, 5.11). A restricted document, or one in a collection closed to readers, is cited as 6.68–6.74 direct.

5.44 Letters and diaries

Cite a letter by its writer, its recipient, and its date, with the place of writing where it matters. A letter in a published collection is cited as a part of that book, with in and the editor; an unpublished letter is an archival document and follows 5.43, even when its writer and recipient are well known. Cite a diary by its writer, a description, and the date or range of dates of the entry. Crowley’s magical diaries and records follow 6.41.

5.45 Lectures, podcasts, and video

Cite a podcast episode by its host or speaker, the podcast’s title in italics, followed by podcast where the title does not say so, the season and episode numbers, the episode’s title in quotation marks, the network or producer where one is named, the date, and the URL. Cite a recorded lecture by its speaker, its title, the occasion or series, the date, the medium, and the URL or other location. Cite a video in the same way, with the creator or channel as author and the platform named.

Locate a passage by its time from the start of the recording, introduced by at: at 12:40, at 1:02:15. Cite a livestream from its recording; where none survives, give the speaker, title, platform, and date, and say that no recording survives. A recording made at a private gathering of an order or lodge is quoted only as 2.34 allows and cited as 6.68–6.74 direct.

5.46 Web pages

Cite a web page by its author, if it names one, the page’s title in quotation marks, the site’s title, the date of publication or revision, and the URL. Where the page shows no date, add an access date (see 5.31). A site’s title is set in roman unless it is also the title of a book or periodical. Where a page names no author, begin its bibliography entry with the site’s owner or sponsor, and omit a site title that only repeats that name.

5.47 Blogs and newsletters

Cite a blog post or newsletter issue by its author, its title in quotation marks, the blog’s or newsletter’s title in italics, followed by (blog) or (newsletter) where the title does not say which, the date, and the URL. Say in the note when a post is behind a paywall. A post revised after you read it is cited from the archived copy of the version you read (see 5.30). A comment on a post is cited as a comment, with the commenter’s name as displayed and the comment’s date.

5.48 Forums, mailing lists, and chat

Cite a post on a public forum or mailing list by the poster’s name as displayed, the thread title or subject line in quotation marks and capitalized as in the original, the forum or list, the date, and the URL of the post or of the list’s archive. Cite a message on a public chat server by the poster’s name as displayed, the server and channel, and the date and time with its time zone, and keep a copy of the message. A post in a private or members-only forum, list, or server is cited as a personal communication (see 5.51), whatever the platform. Whether such material may be quoted at all is decided under 2.34, and quoting a named living person under 2.37.

5.49 Documents without an imprint

Cite a document that circulates without an imprint, such as a PDF passed among practitioners or posted to a website, under its author as named and by its own title, italicized if the document is book-length and in quotation marks if it is shorter. Supply no author the document does not name. A website that hosts the document is its location, never its publisher: after the title and date, give the site, the format, and the URL. Use n.d. for an undated document. A scan or transcription of a printed book posted online is cited as the printed book (see 5.28). Where a document’s authorship or provenance is disputed, cite what you consulted and discuss the dispute in the text. A document that circulates under restriction keeps its kind when it is posted, and its URL is never given (see 2.35–2.36).

5.50 Pseudonymous online sources

Cite an online name as its bearer displays it, in the author position, without pseud. A display name that is a motto is cited as a motto (see 5.16). Do not connect an online name with a legal name unless 2.39 permits it. Where one person writes under several online names and has not published the connection, treat the names as separate authors. A source that gives no name at all is cited by its title.

5.51 Personal communications

Cite a conversation, letter, email, or direct message you received in a note only; it is not listed in the bibliography. Give the correspondent, the kind of communication, and the date. Omit an email address or handle unless its owner permits it. Cite an interview you conducted by the person interviewed, interview by the author, the place where it matters, and the date. A published or broadcast interview is cited as the article, episode, or recording it appears in. Name a living person only with the consent 2.37 requires; without it, describe the source without identifying it.

5.52 Oral and initiatory instruction

Cite instruction received orally or in an initiatory setting in a note only; it is not listed in the bibliography. Whether it may be used at all is decided under 2.40, and its citation form is set in 6.73.

5.53 AI-generated material

Say how you used a chatbot or similar tool, in the text, a note, or the preface, and cite any content it generated, quoted or paraphrased, where it occurs. A tool used only for spelling, grammar, or phrasing needs no disclosure (see 2.48). The tool is not the author. Cite its output in a note only, naming the tool and its version, the company that makes it, the date the content was generated, and the prompt or a summary of it; give the URL of a shared copy of the conversation where the tool provides one, and say if you edited the output. AI-generated material is not listed in the bibliography. A translation, transliteration, transcription, or gematria value a tool produced is disclosed in a note, checked against the sources, and cited to them (see 2.48).

5.54 What changes in author-date

In author-date, a parenthetical citation in the text gives the author’s surname, the year, and the locator, and points to a reference list at the end of the work. Everything else in this chapter applies unchanged: the elements of a citation, their forms, the treatment of mottoes and office-names, and the rules for unpublished and online sources. In the examples below, T marks a text citation and R a reference-list entry.

5.55 Text citations

Place a text citation at the end of the clause it supports, before the punctuation that closes it. Where the sentence names the author, give the year and locator alone. Separate two or more works in one citation with semicolons, in the order the argument uses them. Distinguish one author’s works of the same year by a, b, and so on, in the order of the reference list, and use n.d. for an undated work. In author-date, notes carry comment, and a source cited in a note takes the form of a text citation. Personal communications, AI-generated material, and oral instruction are cited in the text with the elements 5.51–5.53 give and have no entry in the reference list.

5.56 Received texts and mottoes

A received text is still cited by siglum and division in parentheses, never by author and year (see 6.3, 6.17). A work published under a motto is cited by the motto whole, with the year, and files in the reference list as in a bibliography (see 5.16).

5.57 The reference list

Head the list References. Build each entry as a bibliography entry with the year moved to follow the author’s name, and arrange the list as a bibliography is arranged (see 5.14), with one author’s works in order of year, earliest first. In a journal article, a colon follows the volume and issue and precedes the page range.