The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Complete A–Z for the Entire Magical World. Judika Illes
part of the book.)
The Munich Manual of Demonic Magic
This book, written in Latin and dating from the fifteenth century, offers instructions for conjuring and dismissing demons using magic circles and words of power. Roman Catholic ritual is heavily incorporated although hardly in an approved, orthodox manner. Spells are included to obtain a woman’s love when other methods aren’t working, to attain invisibility, and to cause enmity between people who currently like each other.
Mystery of the Long Lost 8th, 9th and 10th Books of Moses
The Mystery of the Long Lost 8th, 9th and 10th Books of Moses is not a medieval grimoire but is based upon the traditions of the genre. It was first published in 1945. Its author and compiler, Henri Gamache, was a mysterious, albeit highly influential folkloric-scholar He collected the material for The 8th, 9th and 10th Books from medieval Arabic, Aramaic, and Coptic grimoires. Gamache’s work doesn’t evoke the same passions as does The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses (see page 129)—it is considered neither diabolical nor inauthentic. The general consensus is that Gamache’s work is based on genuine sources.
Henri Gamache’s book consists of three parts. The first two include his analyses of Moses, whom Gamache describes as “the great voodoo man of the bible” and of how and why these magical texts were lost. (Basically these two parts are Gamache’s explanations of why conventional wisdom regarding the Bible is wrong.) Gamache links ancient Egyptian and Jewish magic and spiritual traditions to those of sub-Saharan tribal Africa.
The third part is called Curiosa or 44 Secrets to Universal Power and contains various seals, nostrums, and sigils.
Rather than commanding and compelling demons, the focus is upon “practical magic” such as “seals for love between a man and his wife” or “seal for whoever wisheth for a woman and her father will not give her.”
The Picatrix or the Ghayat al-Hakim (“The Aim of the Wise” or “The Goal of the Wise”)
The Picatrix is highly unusual because it is a survival of an Arabic book of magic in Europe. Because it was translated into Latin at an early stage, The Picatrix remained accessible to Europeans when almost all other Arabic metaphysical knowledge was not.
The Picatrix was apparently composed in Andalusia in approximately 1000 CE at a time when most of what is now Spain was under Muslim rule. Although the book is attributed to the Andalusian mathematician al-Majriti who died c. 1005, there is little indication that this attribution is any more reliable than those of other grimoires. Some believe that the book was actually composed and/or compiled in the twelfth century. The book now popularly known as The Picatrix was translated into Latin in 1256 for the Castilian king Alfonso the Wise.
The Picatrix is substantially larger than other grimoires. It is a compendium of four books and may offer the most complete magical system of any grimoire. It is mainly a compilation of astral, sympathetic, and talismanic magic, grounded in Arabic and classical magic, with reference made to Hermes Trismegistus. Among the stated aims of the book’s spells are the acquisition of love and longevity, healing, escape from captivity, and gaining control over one’s enemies.
Although it was always rare, it was also highly influential. Latin, French, Spanish, and German translations are available. The first two books of The Picatrix were finally translated from Arabic into English in 2002 and published by Ouroborus Press.
See HALL OF FAME: Ficino; Trithemius.
The Red Dragon
If you’ve read The Grand Grimoire, you’ve read The Red Dragon. Some versions of The Grand Grimoire (or The Red Dragon) are in fact published as The Grand Grimoire or The Red Dragon, although each may also be published independently. Confused? Apparently that’s what a publisher wanted. The Red Dragon is believed by many to be nothing more than a retitled, slightly different version of the earlier Grand Grimoire. Allegedly when a publisher wished to sell a new grimoire but lacked a new manuscript, the new title was simply tacked onto a version of the old book. An alternative explanation suggests that The Grand Grimoire was retitled to sound similar to The Black Pullet, which was then considered more stylish and nouveau than diabolical older texts like The Grand Grimoire, which had earned an evil reputation. (A certain cynicism may be at play here. It’s been long rumored that a good percentage of those who purchase grimoires do so because they want to own something notorious and diabolical, not because they ever plan to put the book into practice or even have the capacity to read it.) The Red Dragon was published in 1822, although information contained in the text claims that it was really written in 1522. Again, who knows?
The Sacred Book of Abramelin the Mage
Aleister Crowley described this book as both the best and most dangerous book ever written. Dion Fortune claimed Abramelin’s magical system was the most potent and complete.
The Sacred Book of Abramelin the Mage may best exemplify the mysteries, frustration, and beauty of the medieval grimoire genre. The grimoire was allegedly written by the magician Abraham ben Simeon in 1458 for his son, although whether the book itself was actually authored in 1458 or whether the date indicates when a copy was made of an earlier work is unclear. According to the story given in the grimoire, Abraham, a magician and Kabalah master from Wurzberg, spent years traveling through Europe, the Middle East, and Egypt in search of mystic wisdom before meeting his teacher, a Jewish magician in Egypt called Abrahamelim or Abra-Melin. Abra-Melin taught Abraham a magical system which he now allegedly sets down on paper for his son.
Three surviving manuscripts of this work exist, each one written in a different language: French, German, and Hebrew. They are all slightly different; it’s unclear which is oldest. S. L. MacGregor Mathers first translated The Sacred Magic into English in 1900, using the fifteenth-century French manuscript.
Whether the story that explains the grimoire is true has been subject of deep, heated debate. There is no documentation that either Abraham, his son or the mysterious Abra-Melin ever existed, although there is also no proof that they didn’t. A number of Christian references and themes in the work have lead some to believe that the author was a Christian and that the work is a forgery attributed to a Jewish magician either as defamation of character (the stereotype of the Jewish magician encouraged diabolical associations) or because in certain circles, Jewish magic was perceived as glamorous and mysterious, similar to the manner in which Egyptian magical traditions are still perceived. Others believe that later Christian interpolations were added to a book that is at heart exactly what it claims to be. Traditional Kabalah scholars have also studied this work to debate its authenticity. No consensus has been reached. No less an authority than the Kabalah master Gershom Scholem changed his mind about The Sacred Book of Abramelin several times. (By contrast, there is general consensus among Kabalah scholars that the grimoire known as The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses has no basis in true Kabalah or ancient Jewish magic.)
The Sacred Book of Abramelin the Mage is not just a collection of seals, spells or rituals but an entire magical system. Think you’ll bring the book home and knock off some spells this weekend? Think again. Abramelin’s system involves months of purification. The book had tremendous influence over ceremonial magic. Once the system has been learned and the practitioner initiated, it promises mastery of the invocation of benevolent and malevolent spirits for material purposes, including acquiring romance and treasure, raising armies from thin air, and magically traveling through air or underwater. (Regardless of who actually wrote this text, this was centuries before submarines or airplanes.) The system is based on a series of magic squares, however the book makes it clear that the system won’t work for anyone who is not an initiate.