Grimoires. Rumors and "legends"
There were a large number of the most incredible legends around the grimoires. According to some ignorant beliefs, only their owner can read grimoires, since the paper of these books has a crimson color that burns the eyes. The pages were changed only for the owner, but even then, even the owner was in terrible danger when reading the book, since it was capable of supplying a wide variety of demons, from small spirits to the supreme beings of the hellish hierarchy, who were not at all helpful, but on the contrary were rebellious and evil disposition It was enough just to open the grimoire on the right page, and the spirit would immediately appear, and if the book was opened by accident, then its owner, unprepared for the meeting with the demon, would be in great danger. According to another version, the witchcraft book is alive, it must be fed, of course, with nothing more than blood.
The source of such misconceptions could be not only human rumor, but also deliberate slander on the part of the church. It is not surprising that people believed that the grimoires contained recipes exclusively for “black magic”, that all witchcraft described in them was performed in the name of Satan. In fact, spells in grimoires are most often performed in the names of gods, mainly in the name of Christ and Jehovah, and the conjured spirits could be used to commit both evil and good deeds. In addition, the authorship of most magical texts was attributed to biblical characters (Enoch, Solomon, Moses), popes (Leo or Honorius), as well as various sages. The misconception that you just need to open a book on the right page to summon the right demon also does not stand up to criticism, since the rituals described in the grimoires are complex and, in practice, extremely tedious.
The Magic of Arbatel
This is a rather mysterious grimoire. Nothing definite can be said regarding its origin. The author promises the reader to reveal the secrets of magic in nine volumes, but there is only one book that gives a kind of “commandments” for the magician, and they are based on Christian morality. The only thing relevant to magic in this volume is the description of planetary spirits and the description of a very simple recipe for summoning them. The book was first published in printed form in Basel (1575).
Heptameron
The grimoire got its name because it describes spells for the seven days of the week, which allow you to summon the angels of the corresponding day. The book was first published in Latin in Lyon at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries.
Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses
These books were discovered at the beginning of the 19th century and published in 1849. The name obviously hints that the grimoires are a continuation of the Pentateuch of Moses. Although it is obvious that this is nothing more than a legend. The books contain seven seals and twelve tables of spirits.
Book of Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage
It is believed that the author of the book is a certain German Jew originally from Vors, who lived in the 14th-15th centuries. From the data given in the book and what is known from history, it can be assumed that the learned rabbi Abraham Jacob ben Moses ha Levi Moellin is hiding behind the pseudonym Abramelin, but this is only a hypothesis.
Guide of Pope Leo III
Guide of Pope Leo III - There is much debate regarding the authorship of this grimoire. In particular, many church ministers did not want and do not want to recognize the pontiff as the author of this book. The legend about the “Manual” says the following: Charlemagne received as a gift from Pope Leo III, who crowned Charles, a collection that had miraculous powers.
The “Manual” does contain prayers, but the form is not acceptable by the church. Rather, these are spells aimed at improving earthly life, but clothed in the form of prayers.
Subsequently, the “Manual” was modified, acquiring a pronounced occult character. Having reached the present day, it has received a very bad reputation, as has its author, who has been repeatedly accused of involvement in witchcraft and black magic.
Other grimoires
Of course, there are other grimoires that are less noticeable or seem to be some kind of falsification, since the data in them contradicts the occult tradition. For example, the symbols on the “Black Hen” mascots often have a contradictory nature. But upon detailed study, all of the above Jewish grimoires also cannot claim authenticity, since they are all related to Kabbalistic occultism, which arose, like Kabbalah itself, no earlier than the 14th-16th centuries.
Nick Perumov uses the word "grimoire" to imply some kind of cruel bloody ritual, ritual torture: for example, a "cat grimoire", often performed by necromancers. The reason for this is unclear.
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The term "grimoire" was originally used for all books that were written in Latin. But by the 18th century, medieval magical manuals began to be called this word. In many grimoires you can find descriptions of pagan rituals, magical traditions of Muslims and Jews. This review contains nine of the strangest and even creepiest grimoires that were created at different times.
1. Voynich manuscript
This codex is considered one of the most mysterious manuscripts in human history. The Voynich manuscript is written in an unknown language and contains many pictures of bizarre plants unknown on Earth, as well as original astronomical charts and strange bathtubs with tiny naked people inside.
Cryptographers, mathematicians and linguists have not been able to decipher this book for 600 years. Despite the unknown origins of the manuscript, scholars claim that it was written in medieval times (roughly between 1404 and 1438). The manuscript was named after the antiquarian book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who bought the book in Italy in 1912.
2. Codex Serafini
The Codex Seraphinianus is known as one of the strangest books of all time. It differs from the other books on this list in that Luigi Serafini wrote it as recently as the 1970s. The Serafini Codex is very similar to the Voynich manuscript in that the text is written in an unknown language, and there are also illustrations of unknown plants and animals.
3. Arabic grimoire
The largest grimoire in history is an 11th-century tome dedicated to Arab magic. It contains spells that explain “how to poison in a dream, with a look or a word,” how to gain the love of another person, escape from prison, heal from a scorpion sting, and much more.
4. The Teaching of Atlantis
This ancient Frisian book is believed to contain 4,000 years of wisdom, including the teachings of the mythical Atlantis. Unfortunately, this book was extremely popular among Nazi occultists and thus has bad associations. Some even call it "Himmler's Bible."
5. The Story of the Vivian Sisters (In the Realms of the Unreal)
“The Story of the Vivian Sisters” is an unprecedented example of “art brut” (“rough”, eccentric art). Like the Codex Serafini, this book is modern and its author is famous. After the death of reclusive American writer Henry Darger in 1973, it was discovered that he had composed a 15,145-page manuscript entitled The History of the Vivian Sisters in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, About the Glandeco-Angelinian War Caused by the Rebellion of Child Slaves. . The text was also accompanied by several hundred watercolor illustrations on various topics: from floral landscapes to child torture.
6. Heptameron (Seven days)
This grimoire was originally written as an imitation of the famous Decameron. Its author, Pietro di Abano, died in prison during the Inquisition for his belief in what he called planetary magic, by which the corresponding angels could be invoked on all seven days of the week.
7. “According to the Records of a Madman”
This book doesn't actually deal with magic or demons, and it's not a grimoire, but it might be the creepiest book on this list. Its author was Mackenzie Bacon, medical superintendent at the Fulborn Lunatic Asylum near Cambridge, England. “According to the Notes of a Madman” describes in detail the texts of an asylum patient who spent 2 years in a ward trying to fill every inch of a huge diary with his wild thoughts and crazy poems. Moreover, he did not write the text in the usual way, but arranged it in the form of strange diagrams. Shortly after leaving the clinic, this patient committed suicide by drowning.
8. "Necromancer's Guide"
The grimoire, known as the Necromancer's Manual, is the work of a 15th-century German magician who wanted to make a detailed guide to summoning demonic spirits. The manual contains instructions on three types of magic that can be found in grimoires: illusionism, psychological and fortune-telling magic. Illusionist spells are designed to trick people into seeing things that don't exist, such as castles or armies. Psychological spells are designed to increase emotional or political power over people.
Fortune telling is designed to extract information from the future or past. The Munich manual also contains passages that describe the sacrifice of mythological creatures, but the most chilling thing about this book is that it completely ignores "divine" folklore and talks exclusively about black magic.
9. Red Dragon (Grand Grimoire)
The Grand Grimoire, written around 1520 AD, and also called the Red Dragon or the Gospel of Satan, was discovered in Solomon's tomb in 1750. The book is written in Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. The 4-part book is today owned by the Roman Catholic Church and is kept in the Vatican Secret Archives, where it remains inaccessible to the public. It became known that it existed after the church declared that it had official ownership of it.
The legend of the Red Dragon book states that the manuscript was based on the apocryphal writings of Honorius of Thebes, who claimed to be possessed by Satan. In the book you can find detailed methods for summoning various demons and even Lucifer himself, as well as spells for all occasions. It is not surprising that the Grand Grimoire is still widely used by practitioners of witchcraft, especially in Haiti, where the book is called Le Veritable Dragon Rouge. Also, this book is rumored to not burn in fire.
And to continue the topic, a few more grimoires -.
The term " grimoire" comes from the Old French word "grammaire", which means "grammar", and was used to refer to all books that were written in Latin. However, by the 18th century, the word took on a new meaning: it came to refer to medieval European magical manuals. is a collection of spells, instructions given on how to create magical tools, as well as guides to summoning demons, angels and spirits. They often contain astrological dioramas, lists of mystical creatures, and even instructions for mixing substances. While in modern society the term “ grimoire» applies to all collections dedicated to magic, authentic grimoires were based on the magical traditions of Jews, Muslims, and medieval Christian rituals and texts. Therefore, usually in authentic grimoires does not contain pagan rituals or anything related to pagan magic. I have compiled a list of the ten most influential and historically significant grimoires. I set out to present them in chronological order. However, since the publication date of many grimoires is not known exactly, I took the liberty, nevertheless, to distribute them in a certain order. Also many grimoires have several names. Therefore, presenting this or that grimoire, I have tried to use the most important names of all that are attributed to them.
10. Sepher Ha-Razim / Book of Secrets / Book of Amulets (III century)
According to Kabbalistic tradition, "Sepher Ha-Razim" was given to Noah by the archangel Raziel, and then it passed into the hands of King Solomon, one of the main characters of the Old Testament, and thanks to her he gained wealth, wisdom and magical power. This text is the predecessor of other major Kabbalistic texts such as the Zohar and Bahir. This grimoire consists of seven sections, not including the preface, the number of sections reflecting the Seven Days of Creation and the Seven Heavens. Each section contains a list of angels and various spells. These spells can be used for healing, to attack enemies, to predict the future, and also to gain good luck. Spells are composed using various techniques: repetition, reading words backwards, using foreign words and names. The grimoire also contains instructions on the use of ritual instruments and animal sacrifice.
9. Picatrix / Ghâyat al-Hakîm fi’l-sihr / Purpose of the Sage (X-XI century)
The generally accepted opinion is that "Picatrix" is an essay on early Arab magic. "Picatrix" originally written in Arabic, it represents the first and most important text dealing with astrological magic. It is also recognized as one of the most voluminous grimoires ever created. Despite the fact that it is impossible to say exactly who the real author of this grimoire is, its authorship is still attributed to the Andalusian mathematician Ahmad Al-Mairiti. This grimoire was translated into Latin in 1256, it had a great influence on the development of the Western Magical Tradition, and was also used by Renaissance magicians such as Cornelius Agrippa and Marsilio Ficino. "Picatrix" contains a wide range of spells: from a spell designed to “destroy a city with a Ray of Silence” to spells that allow you to “influence people at a distance.” The text also contains magical images and detailed descriptions of methods for using them. Often this grimoire talks about the need to draw images of stars for certain purposes.
8. Liber Juratus / Book of Spells of Honorius (XIII century)
In the grimoire "Liber Juratus" it is stated that its writing is the result of a meeting organized by magicians to combine the knowledge of each of them into a single text, in order to protect this knowledge from the clergy. During that historical period, the Church tried to destroy all books on magic. In fact, the reason authentic grimoires are so rare is because the Church has been very successful in finding and burning them. The text is written in the form of a conversation with the angel Hochmel. The word "Hochmel" is derived from the Hebrew word "Chochma" (Wisdom). The book contains 93 chapters, which cover many topics such as conjuring and taking control of demons, how to find treasures, and saving the soul from purgatory. One of the main features of the grimoire "Liber Juratus" is a description of methods for achieving the “Blessed Vision” - contemplation of the Face of God.
7. Sefer Raziel Ha-Malakh / Liber Razielis Archangeli / Book of the Angel Raziel (XIII century)
"Sefer Raziel Ha-Malakh Liber Razielis Archangeli" considered one of the clearest and most important books on Jewish magic. This grimoire is supposed to contain all knowledge about the universe. This particular grimoire is based in part on the aforementioned grimoire, Sepher Ha-Razim. Both of them were given to prominent biblical figures by the archangel Raziel. However, if Sepher Ha-Razim was given to Noah, then this grimoire was revealed to Adam. Regarding this grimoire, it is said that when Adam was expelled from Paradise along with Eve, he began to pray to God for His guidance. Then God sent Raziel to teach Adam everything about nature through this text. This grimoire covers topics such as angelology, the zodiac, gematria (the system of assigning numerical values to words and phrases), protective spells, and talismans. Also in the grimoire "Sefer Raziel" there is a list of various Names of God. This text was of particular importance in the development of magic in Germany during the Renaissance, along with the Picatrix.
6. Key of Solomon / Clavis Salomonis / Mafteah Shelomoh (XIV-XV century)
"Key of Solomon" is one of the most famous, important and influential grimoires of all time. Despite the fact that its authorship is attributed to King Solomon, the time of its writing is approximately the XIV-XV century, it was written during the Italian Renaissance. This grimoire inspired many other grimoires, such as the Lesser Key of Solomon. The spells contained in this grimoire are extremely powerful. Before undertaking a Magical Operation, the practitioner must confess his sins and cleanse himself of evil, thus invoking the Protection of God. The text contains instructions for summoning, incantation, and curses to gain control over the spirits of deceased people and demons. Moreover, in the grimoire "Key of Solomon" various purification rituals, special vestments and mystical instruments that should be used during the described practices are described in detail.
5. “The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Magician” (1450s)
"The Book of Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Magician" originally was a collection of magical and Kabbalistic secrets. However, it gained particular popularity when it was later used by adherents Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn(a magical Order in Great Britain that existed at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries). The text itself is a kind of epistolary novel, in which Abraham of Worms describes his journey from Germany to Egypt, and the grimoire also contains the secrets that Abra-Melin bequeathed to his son Lamech. According to this text, Abraham met an Egyptian magician during his journey Abra-Melina, who taught him Kabbalistic magic. This grimoire contains a complex and well-developed ritual designed to connect with the Guardian Angel and receive magical secrets from him. In total, the ritual takes eighteen months. This grimoire also contains several other spells, including love spells, gaining the ability to fly, gaining invisibility, as well as ways to find buried treasures.
4. Heptameron (“Seven Days”) by Pietro d’Abano (1496)
"Heptameron" Pietro d'Abano was written by an outstanding Italian philosopher and astrologer Pietro d'Abano, who died in prison while being investigated by the Inquisition regarding his involvement in heretical and atheistic views. He lived approximately 1250-1316, but his "Heptameron" was never published until the 1400s. This grimoire is a guide to Planetary magic. It details the rituals for invoking angels for each of the seven days of the week. It also contains instructions for drawing Magic Circles, consecrating salt, water, incense, and also provides Planetary Clock. This grimoire had a particular influence on "Lemegeton", a famous book on demonology from the 17th century.
3. Munich Manual / Munich Manual of Necromancy / Munich Manual of Demonic Magic / Necromancer's Manual (XV century)
"Munich Guide"- an unusual grimoire that focuses on demonic magic and necromancy. It makes almost no mention of angels and the rituals of invoking them. Interestingly, it has become generally accepted among experts that this grimoire was written by a cleric. Many spells contain references to the need to sacrifice some mythological or folkloric creature, or animal. For example, in order to build an illusory feast, you need to sacrifice a hoopoe (a colorful bird that lives in Afro-Eurasia). This book is important not only because of the magical information given in it. This is the evidence by which it is possible to judge how the clergy and learned Christians understood magic and how they practiced it in the Middle Ages.
2. Grand Grimoire / Red Dragon (1522?)
"The Grand Grimoire" is a book of black magic that is said to have been written in 1522, but was probably created after the 18th century. It is considered the most evil and dangerous of all existing grimoires. The contents of this grimoire are aimed at evil purposes: it describes the method of summoning Lucifer, or Lucifuge Rofocale (the demon who rules hell) in order to make a deal with the Devil. This grimoire also provides a hierarchy of infernal spirits. In addition to describing the method of summoning demons, "Great Grimoire" spells, various formulas and secrets are given. For example, a spell with which you can make people dance completely naked, as well as an invisibility spell. However, be careful! The Grand Grimoire is considered so terrifying that even experienced magicians and practitioners of the occult warn against using it.
1. “Libri Tres de Occulta Philosophia” by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa / “Three Books on Occult Philosophy” (1531)
Were written by the famous German magician, astrologer and alchemist Henry Cornelius Agrippa. The book describes information on Elementary, Celestial and Divine Magic. These three types of Magical Art are divided into many other disciplines such as astrology, kabbalah, number mysticism, angelology, scrying and alchemy. "Three Books on Occult Philosophy" provided a reference point for the scientific and intellectual discussion of magic. They also contain a lot of information on pagan and Neoplatonic magic. This source is also of great interest for the reason that it contains references and excerpts regarding magic from obscure and/or lost works of such famous historical figures as Pythagoras, Ptolemy, Plato and Aristotle. Even by modern standards among occultists "Three Books on Occult Philosophy" Agrippa are considered authoritative texts on magic.
At all times, the world of the unknown has been an object of curiosity and research. You can penetrate it only with the help of special attributes and rituals. A grimoire is a book of witchcraft recipes. It contains descriptions of magical procedures for summoning good spirits and demons. Such a powerful attribute was not available to everyone, but only to select people initiated into magic. Today, grimoires are historical manuscripts that have become the basis for the development of the science of demonology.
Story
According to linguists, the word grimoire (grimoire-grimoria) comes from the French grammaire, which means “grammar”. In interpretation, grammar is a complex book - a book of rules. This concept was later transformed into a "book of spells".
When the first grimoire was created, experts do not know for certain. However, the oldest text that has survived to the present day dates back to the beginning of the era (approximately 1st-2nd centuries). All ancient magical manuscripts are divided into several types. Some describe calling or others - prayers and information about good and evil spirits, others contain recipes for fortune telling.
Each original of such a book is a very valuable historical artifact and museum exhibit.
Famous grimoires
More than a dozen grimoires have survived to this day. The most famous and ancient are the Testament of Solomon and the Key of Solomon. They are written in Greek and tell about many events that happened to the legendary Jewish king (for example, about his receiving a magic ring from the Archangel Michael for power over demons).
There are disagreements among historians regarding the time of creation of the manuscripts. Some attribute the texts to the 15th-17th centuries, others, based on vocabulary (the use of archaisms), date them to the 1st century. Regarding the “Testament of Solomon”, there is a version of its creation in the 4th century. This is supported by the similarity of the grimoire with Greek theological treatises of that time and the use of colloquial vocabulary “koine”, which was widespread at that time.
“The Key of Solomon” (spell grimoire) contains a description of 72 demons, tools for summoning them and prayers to God.
Heptameron
This copy is unique in its content. Its name refers to the description of the spells for each day of the week. Magical texts help to summon certain angels and spirits to help in finding or resolving difficult situations. For such penetration into the world of the unknown, special circles with great power are used. In addition, they serve as a kind of fortress for sorcerers against evil spirits. This ceremonial technique is reminiscent of the famous plot of Gogol’s “Viy”. Perhaps the latter was adopted in some way.
This book of magic was first found at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. The question of its authorship is still open. However, documentary sources mention the name of the French scientist Petru de Abano. But the dates of his life and the creation of the grimoire differ.
Books of Moses
The well-known “Pentateuch of Moses” in the middle of the 19th century was supplemented by two grimoires, officially called the Sixth and Seventh Books. The first volume contains the Great Mysteries associated with White and Black magic. The date of its creation is unknown. But there is a legend according to which the manuscripts were hidden from Solomon's father David because of the valuable knowledge contained in them.
There is also an unofficial version that since 330 the book of magic was in the hands of the first Christian emperor Constantine the Great, Pope Sylvester (for translation), Emperor Charlemagne.
The seventh book is a guide to working with otherworldly elements and planets). It also contains the formula of witchcraft cabala with an obvious reference to the Key of Solomon. A small place in the ancient manuscript is devoted to a description of the tablets that Moses, according to historians, used when performing magical rituals.
The Magic of Arbatel
The most mysterious today is the Magic of Arbatel (grimoire). This is a kind of magician's code, supplemented with information about planetary magic. Scientists were unable to accurately determine either the author, the exact volume, or the date of creation of the manuscript.
The first edition was made in the Swiss city of Basel in 1575. The book was published in Latin and contained many references to historical events of the Italian Middle Ages. This gave rise to scientists to assume that the author of the grimoire was an Italian.
The name of the manuscript probably comes from the name of one of the angels or spirits. Since the ending “-el” (or “-el” in Aramaic) is usually used in the names of higher powers. In the introductory chapter, the unknown author briefly lists the contents of nine volumes detailing the magical arts of all nations. However, only one book has survived to date.
According to the author, Arbatel is a black grimoire designed to reveal secret knowledge about communicating with otherworldly forces. However, according to experts, there are no dangerous structures in it, and the manuscript is classified as transcendental magic.
True Grimoire
In 1880, the Italian edition of The True Grimoire was published. This is a collection of recipes and prayers for teaching magical art. It is known for sure that the manuscript was first discovered and translated from Hebrew by a Dominican monk back in the 15th century. Later, the grimoire fell into the hands of Alibek the Egyptian and was published by him in Memphis (1517). Only two and a half centuries later, the book of magic reached Italy, and then was republished in France.
Legends
There have always been many legends around grimoires. One of the most widespread and false rumors is that only the owner can read magic books. For outsiders, the pages turned purple and burned their eyes.
There was also an opinion that a grimoire is a living book that needs to be fed with blood. In order to summon a demon, you simply need to open the book to the desired page and sprinkle it. Probably, all these speculations were the result of people's rumors and the reaction of the church to the word “magical”. Grimoires, according to experts, are ordinary books with spells or prayers, which are often associated with religion. And their authors are prophets or clergy.
- Russian science fiction writer Nik Perumov uses the word “grimoire” in a different interpretation in his works. This, according to the author, is not a magic book, but a cruel ritual or torture carried out by necromancers.
- A number of books describing occult traditions are mistakenly called grimoires. Experts call them falsifications, since the symbols they offer are mostly of a contradictory nature.
- With the advent of Tarot cards, such a concept as a “fortune telling grimoire” appeared. It is a training manual on the rules of layout and interpretation of card combinations.
(French grimoire) - a book of magical procedures and spells for summoning spirits (demons), or containing witchcraft rituals.
Grimoires are books of ancient magicians containing records of magical signs, rituals, angels, demons, gods and other entities and ways to summon them to complete a transaction. Few such books have survived to this day. Most of those that have survived are now hidden from public view. And those that are known contain a lot of errors, as they were retyped or written by hand. Many who tried to use them escaped with more than just mild fright.
Grimoires revived magic in the late 19th century, becoming a source of inspiration for modern occultists, artists, and writers.
Nowadays, few people know what a “grimoire” is, but the connection with this word is closely connected with the image of an old ancient book that contains secret knowledge and powerful spells; this is precisely the true meaning of this word. Where did this image come from?
Professor from the University of Hertfordshire Owen Davies, in his investigation, tried to reconstruct the history of magic books. He believes that the history of grimoires goes back to Ancient Egypt. The word “grimoire” originates from the distorted Old French grammaire, which was the name for books in Latin, and of different subjects and directions. In the minds of ordinary people, right up to the Middle Ages, the image of such books became so strongly fused with the concepts of the mysterious, enigmatic, dark and dangerous that for a long time almost all books whose contents were incomprehensible were considered grimoires.
Later, according to Davis, a substitution of concepts occurred. Interest in ancient traditions and lost knowledge began to grow, this led to an increase in the popularity of Kabbalah, Zoroastrianism and other ancient knowledge - thus, the “Small Key of Solomon” (or “Goetia”) became a real hit of the Middle Ages. Medieval demonology and theosophists greatly contributed to this. There was a need to draw a repulsive, bright and detailed world of hell, improving and complementing the images of Christian demons. Of course, books appeared that described the practice of magic and the control of these dark forces.
Esotericism and occultism gained renewed popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century, coinciding with mass education, the development of science and new technologies. Initially, at the dawn of the heyday of dark books, people in them tried to find magical ways to heal themselves and their relatives, get rich or bewitch. But in the twentieth century this lost its relevance. The logic of this was simple: why use a medicinal decoction if you can go to the doctor? Why summon a demon capable of finding treasure if there are no treasures left? As a result, the image of books not only did not lose its attractiveness, but, on the contrary, increased.
And this is no coincidence. The professor is sure: grimoires are a part of history that has become part of culture. As a result, the book as an occult object, closed, accessible to initiates, will remain an attribute of mystery, knowledge and power.
Probably one of the most famous magical grimoires, the grimoire contains valuable information about the preparation and implementation of magic. The manuscript is written in French, Latin, German and Italian. The oldest manuscript that the English editor worked with was written in Latin in the sixteenth century.
In 1216, one of the adherents of the Order of the Guardians of Death, named Honorius III (Latin: Honorius PP. III, in the world - Cencio Savelli, Italian: Cencio Savelli; 1148, Rome - March 18, 1227, ibid.) ascended the papal throne in 1216 ) - Patriarch from July 18, 1216 to March 18, 1227. Under his reign, the Inquisition began to develop rapidly.The Order of St. Dominic was even established, which included additional services, the main work of which was to fight heresy and provide support for the Inquisition. The Dominican Order became the stronghold and executive body of the Inquisition, and included many representatives of the Order of the Guardians of Death. The main work dating back to Honorius is the Grimoire of Honorius. The Manuscript of Honorius was published between 1628 and 1671 in Rome. Practicing Mages (including which and, he adored the spells from the Grimoire of Honorius) indicate the high effectiveness of the rituals, and, whoever its author was, the significance of this Grimoire in the magical tradition is comparable only to Lemegeton.
True Grimoire
Grimorium verum or the True Grimoire is a textbook and contains many spells, recipes, prayers, and recommendations for the magician. The Grimoire was translated from the Hebrew by Plaingiere, a Dominican Jesuit, together with the Collection of Curious Mysteries. It was originally published in Memphis in 1517 by Alibek of the Egyptians. The Italian version of The True Grimoire was published in 1880.
Arthur Waite wrote at the end of the 19th century: as for the origin of "The Magic of Arbatel", the authorship and even the volume of this book remains a mystery. There are no manuscripts of "Arbatel". The first printed edition lists the city of Basel and dates it to 1575. The grimoire is in Latin and numerous references to events in Italian medieval history allowed Waite to assume that the author of the book was Italian. Arthur Waite classifies this text as a “ritual of transcendental magic,” in other words, he believes that it contains no “dangerous structures” that could serve Black Magic. The author of "Arbatel" describes the contents of nine volumes and promises the reader a detailed account of the various magical arts of all peoples. However, in the original the book includes only an introductory volume, also the first, which contains a kind of “ethical code” of a magician and some information on planetary (“Olympic”) magic. Whether the remaining eight volumes were written is unknown.
The Grimoire Heptameron got its name because it describes spells for every day of the week. Spells allow you to summon the angels of the corresponding day. The book was first published in Lyon in Latin at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. The grimoire is attributed to Peter de Abano, an 18th-century French scholar. Arthur Waite claims that the book was written 300 years after his death. The book describes the principles of magical communication. And since circles have very great power (they are a kind of protective fortress for the operator, protecting him from evil spirits), the creation of a magic circle is studied first of all in the work.
The Grimoire covers all White and Black Magic or. The book was hidden from David (father) by the high priest Zadock because of the Great Mysteries contained in it. Only in 330 AD. e. The grimoire received a “rebirth” under Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor. The Emperor sent the grimoire to Pope Sylvester in Rome for translation. The next owner of the book was Emperor Charlemagne, and after the approval of Pope Julius II, it was published.
The grimoire provides instructions for working with the spirits of fire, water, air, earth, Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Saturn, the Sun, Mercury and the formulas of magical Kabbalah, along with extracts from. The work also presents inscriptions from tablets that Moses and his like-minded people used when performing magical rituals as an addition to the main attire.
In Paris, the Arsenal library houses an 18th-century manuscript, the author of which is considered to be Abramelin the Magician. It was first translated into English in 1898, and since then the “wizards” of modern times have been learning from the book. According to one hypothesis, there is an assumption that the author of the book was a certain German Jew from Vors, who lived in the 14th-15th centuries. In the given data of the book and what is known from history, it can be assumed that the learned rabbi Abraham Jacob ben Moses ha Levi Moellin was hiding behind the pseudonym Abramelin.
