My books
Our CDRecommended reading etc.
Top 20
| In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Turks, ending the Byzantine empire. This date also marks the beginning of the Renaissance, since the waves of Greek refugees spread knowledge of Greek throughout Europe. Included with the newly available Greek manuscripts were the Corpus Hermetica, Plotinus, and the works of the Neoplatonists.
Shortly thereafter in 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand expelled the Jews from Spain. This sent waves of Jewish refugees throughout Europe, spreading knowledge of Hebrew and of the Kabbalah.
Renaissance philosophers sought to integrate these traditions with the view of unifying the rapidly disintegrating religious factions and also ending the constant political strife. Thus they are the forerunners or prophets of the Rosicrucian and Illuminati movements.
Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516) Master cryptographer and magician, Trithemius was the mentor of Henrich Cornelius Agrippa.
Heinrich Agrippa The most influential writer of renaissance esoterica.
Athanasius Kircher
| Dr. John Dee (1527-1608) Another influential Renaissance figure, Dee was Queen Elizabeth's scientific advisor. In later life, he became disillusioned with pure science and started experimenting with occult techniques of the day. Many of his esoteric writing were kept secret and only discovered by accident long after his death.
| Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) Bruno was one of the most original and colorful thinkers of the Renaissance. The Inquisition considered him a dangerous heretic, and had him burned at the stake in 1600.
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Classical magic texts (aka Grimoires)
- Abramelin, Book of the Sacred Magic
- Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor (edited and translated by Jane Kupin, 2014. Used with permission)
- Agrippa,
- Albertus Magnus (Pseudo-), Egyptian Secrets for Man and Beast
- Almadel
- Arbatel of Magic (1575) (English+Latin) (Deutsch)
- Ars Notoria This medieval Grimoire is closely related to Liber Juratus. It centers around orations which can impart instant knowledge of divine and human arts and sciences.
- Book of Protection, Hermann Gollancz (1912)
- Armand Delatte: Anecdota Atheniensia: Containing the text of a large number of magical manuscripts, including the Magical Treatise of Solomon (in GREEK)
- Folger MS. V.B.26 Book of Magic(ca. 1577-1583)
- Honorius of Thebes: Liber Juratus, or the Sworn Book of Honorius. This thirteenth century Grimoire is one of the foundation works of European magical practice. It was one of Dr. Dee's sources for the Sigillum Dei Aemeth.
- Key of Solomon This is the most famous and influential handbook of magic. Mathers' edition.
- The Key of Knowledge. A Sixteenth-Century English translation of the Key of Solomon.
- The Clavicle of Solomon, revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian. (Sloane 3847)
- Clavicules du Roi Salomon, Par Armadel. Livre Quatrieme. Des Esprits qui gouvernent sous les Ordres du Souverain Createur.(The Key of King Solomon, Book 4: The Spirits which govern under the Orders of the sovereign Creator.) (Excepts, French)
- The Veritable Clavicles of Solomon, Translated from Hebrew into the Latin Language by Rabbi Abognazar (Lansdowne MS. 1203).
- The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton): All five books. This famous 16-17th century grimoire was compiled from earlier texts. It was considered important by Crowley, Mathers, Waite, and others. The scrying methods correspond closely with Dee's.
- The Magical Calendar(Calendarium Naturale Magicum Perpetuum) by Johann Baptista Großchedel. (excerpts)
- Paracelsus: Archidoxis of Magic(excerpts, English)
- Petrus de Abano, Heptameron, or Magical Elements (Latin with English translation)
- Picatrix (The Goal of the Wise)pseudo-Majriti. (Summary)
- Reginald Scot's collection of magical texts A fine example of Elizabethan English
- Romanus-Büchlein Little Charm-book of the Roma (Gypsies). One of the main sourceworks for Hoodoo and American Folk magic. (German and English)
- A. W. Greenup: Sefer ha-Levanah -- The Book of the Moon (Hebrew)
- Sefer Shimmush Tehillim - Book of the Magical Uses of the Psalms
- Ebenezer Sibly, A New and Complete Illustration of the Occult Sciences, Book 4. (1795?)Methods used for raising up and consulting Spirits are laid open, including a general Display of the Mysteries of Witchcraft, Divination, Charms, and Necromancy. Also includes an alchemical process for raising the form of plants from their essences (ala Borelli).
- Mafteah Shelomoh / Clavicula Salomonis, A Hebrew Manuscript Newly discovered and now described, by Hermann Gollancz (1903)
- Sepher Maphteah Shelomoh (Book of the Key of Solomon) An exact facsimile of an original book of magic in Hebrew, ed. by Hermann Gollancz, (1914)
- Sepher Raziel (excepts from Sl. 3846)
- Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. This has already become one of the most requested documents at this site. If you are interested in discussing this text, I have set up a forum on Yahoo Groups. Click to join.
- Sword of Moses Tenth century Hebrew handbook of magic
- Testament of Solomon One of the oldest magical texts attributed to King Solomon, dating First to Third Century A.D. Includes a catalog of demons summoned by King Solomon, and how they can be countered by invoking angels and other magical techniques.
- Theosophia Pneumatica [pdf].
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Black Magic
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Sigillum Dei Aemeth
- Ganell's Summa Sacre Magice, Kassel 4° Ms. astron. 3, fol. 104r.
- My reconstruction based on description in Liber Iuratus and Ganell's drawing
- Athanasius Kircher Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652) Kircher's discussion of Sigillum Dei Aemeth (Latin)
- Leipzig mag. cod. 16, p. 175, from uni-leipzig.de
- BNF ms. 14783 f6r
- Sloane 313, fol 4r.
- My reconstruction based on Sl. 313
- Sloane 3850, fol 70v
- Sloane 3853, fol 127v
- From Faust, Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis
- From an Italian manuscript of the Key of Solomon in the Bodleian Library, MS. Mich. 276, fol 13r.
- Redrawn but based on Mich. 276.
- From a Latin manuscript of the Key of Solomon in the Bodleian Library, MS. Aubrey 24, fol. 60r
- Kircher
- John Dee
- From Will Erich Peuckert, Pansophie (Berlin, 1956)
- La Véritable Magie Noire ("Rome", "1750")
Miscellaneous
- FONTS
- Occult symbols and esoteric GIF's
- Angel Registry: Index of Angel names, magical words, and names of God
- Theodore Besterman, Crystal-Gazing
- Chaldaean Oracles of Zoroaster(W.W. Wescott, 1895)
- Chaldaean Oracles (Stanley, 1661)
- Images from Bartholomeus Cocles, Chyromantie ac phisionomie anastasis (Bononie 1504)
- Dionysius the Areopagite: Mystical Theology
- Dionysius the Areopagite: The Celestial Hierarchies
- E.S. Drower: Peacock Angel (1941)
- Magical Psalter
- Magic wand lore
- Pseudo-Psellos, On the Operation of Daemons.
- Solomon and the Ars Notoria: From Lynn Thorndike, Magic and Experimental Science, 1923-58, Chapter XLIX.
- Iamblichus: Theurgia, or the Mysteries of Egypt
- Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Of Being and Unity
- Pico: Conclusiones sive Theses DCCCC (Latin)
- Proclus: Metaphysical Elements
- The Sphere of Sacrobosco
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