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writing-and-rebloging · 11 months

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WHB Lesser key: Avisos

Did you wonder how much inspo they drew from the descriptions of the different demons of the Ars Goetia to create their characters and what that could point towards in terms of personality and powers? I did. You can find each character with it's respective descriptions here, divided by their respective factions.

The main link is this helpful little list of the 72 with summarized descriptions, so it's not an exhaustive list, just an organized one.

Bael

According to the Grand Grimoire, Baal (or Bael) is the head of the infernal powers. He is also the first demon listed in Wierus' Pseudomonarchia daemonum. According to Wierus, Bael is the first king of Hell with estates in the east. He has three heads: a toad, a man, and a cat. He also speaks in a raucous, but well-formed voice, and commands 66 legions. Bael teaches the art of invisibility, and may be the equivalent of Baal or Baalzebub, one of the Seven princes of Hell. The Lesser Key of Solomon describes him as appearing in the form of a cat, toad, man, some combination thereof, or other "diverse shapes", while the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and the Dictionnaire Infernal state that he appears with the heads of a cat, toad, and human simultaneously.

Jacques Collin de Plancy wonders if Bael is the same as the Canaanite deity Baal, a reasonable assumption.

Ouch

Stolas

Stolas (also known as Stolos, Stoppas and Solas) is a Great Prince of Hell, commands twenty-six legions of demons. He teaches astronomy and is knowledgeable about herbs, plants, and precious stones. He is often depicted as a raven or a crowned owl with long legs.

Amon

Aamon (or Amon, Nahum) is a Marquis of Hell who governs forty infernal legions. He appears as a wolf with a serpent's tail who can breathe fire, or as a man with a raven's head, sometimes depicted with canine teeth. He tells of all things past and future. He procures feuds, and reconciles controversies between friends and foes.

Naberius

The demon Naberius (also Naberus, Nebiros and Cerberus, Cerbere) was first mentioned by Johann Weyer in 1583. He is supposedly the most valiant Marquis of Hell, and has nineteen legions of demons under his command. He makes men cunning in all arts, but especially in rhetoric, speaking with a hoarse voice. He also restores lost dignities and honors, although to Johann Weyer he procures the loss of them. Naberius appears as a three-headed dog or a raven. He has a raucous voice but presents himself as eloquent and amiable. He teaches the art of gracious living. He is depicted as a crow or a black crane. Concerning his name, it is unclear if there is an association with the Greek cerberus. It is said that in 1583, Johann Weyer considers both of them to be the same demon.

#what in hell is bad #prettybusy what in “hell” is bad?#Stolas #Bael #Amon #Naberius

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wurcuburcu · 2 months

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Zima-24

Heta, napeŭna, najlepšy anime-sezon za apošnija hadoŭ piać.

Ao no Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati-hen. Druhi sezon mnie prosta nie zajšoŭ, a woś treci pryjemna ździŭlaje, ciapierašniaja arka dosyć cikawaja.

Bokuyaba S2. Majo zachapleńnie hetym tajtłam praciahwajecca i ŭ druhim sezonie. Ka-ka-KAWAII!!

Bucchigiri?! Hladžu čysta dziela fajnaj animacyi. Na žal, ani siužet ani persanažy nie čaplajuć.

Dungeon Meshi. Nie padzialaju zachapleńnia, ź jakim mnohija stawiacca da hetaha tajtła, ale jon niebłahi – dakładna above average.

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. My beloved. Druhaja častka nawat cikawiejšaja za pieršuju.

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa... Zwyčajna hladžu takoje prosta, kab prabawić čas. Hladzieć možna, ale ničoha asabliwaha.

Majo to Yajuu. Dziŭny tajtł. Patencyjał jość, ale niečaha jamu ŭsio ž taki brakuje.

Mashle S2. Heta ŭsio opening – jon wymusiŭ mianie dać šaniec druhomu sezonu. Pakul što nie paškadawała. I'm not saying it's good, I'm saying it's watchable.

Ore dake Level Up na Ken. Pieršyja epizody byli cikawyja, nawat wuścišnyja. Ciapier pačało "pryjadacca". Ale animacyja fajnaja.

Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata, Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha, Saijaku Tamer wa Gomi Hiroi no Tabi wo Hajimemashita. Usio ŭ adnoj kučy, tamu što zwyčajna ja takoje kidaju paśla pary epizodaŭ abo ŭwohule nie pačynaju; usialakija fentezijnyja świety z pryhodami, hildyjami i awanturystami – nie majo, ale apošnim časam ja ŭ humory j starajusia nia stawicca da ŭsiaho nadzwyčaj krytyčna, dyj peŭnyja dobryja momanty tut majucca.

Momochi-san Chi no Ayakashi Ouji i Sengoku Youko. Słabieńkija tajtły, treba kidać.

Sousou no Frieren. Tajtł, jaki adnawiŭ maju wieru ŭ anime. Apošnija hady nadzwyčaj redka sustrakałasia niešta, što ŭ maim razumieńni mahło b choć krychu nablizicca da statusu šedeŭra; a kali hodnaje isnuje tolki ŭ prošłym – stanowicca sumna: nibyta napieradzie ničoha dobraha j świetłaha nie čakaje. Pačynała hladzieć z peŭnym skiepsisam – nu, pryhoža i pryhoža – ale nieŭzabawie zrazumieła, što ŭ sercajka jano ŭsio ž taki zapała.

Undead Unluck. Jašče adzin dziŭny tajtł, jaki nie taki ŭžo j cikawy, ale časam čaplaje asobnymi epizodami.

Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern. Bang bang bang bang BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BRAVERN!!!! Jano takoje paciešnaje. Jak padumaju, što mahła prajści mima… Ale los sam mnie jaho padkinuŭ: na, wiesialisia, ty hetaha zasłuhoŭwaješ. I was destined to watch it. It's my definition of fun.

#ahlad sezonu #hladžu anime #zima24

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prvcoska · 9 months

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Asmodeo viene considerato, oltre che il demonio della distruzione, anche il signore della cupidigia, dell'ira, della discordia, e della vendetta; è raro, dunque, che ad un uomo venga imposto questo nome.

Il celebre demonologo olandese Wierus lo collocò come un potentissimo re degli inferi, quasi al pari di Lucifero e Satana. Fu associato a Lucifero soprattutto per il suo carattere ribelle e la sua scelta definitiva per le tenebre. Per altri, Asmodeo è lo stesso serpente che sedusse Eva[5]. Altre tradizioni simili lo associano anche a Lilith, la leggendaria moglie ribelle di Adamo prima di Eva, che, condannata all'esilio dall'Eden, si unì appunto con questo demonio.

#crossfit #knife skills

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johnellysmere · 6 years

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The Ruling Hierarchy Of Hell

Below is given the Ruling Hierarchy Of Hell as worked with within The Ebon Book Of Satan, there have been varying Demonic Hierarchies put forth over the centuries by the likes of Wierus, Dukante and many others ~ but from many years of Communions with Satan and other Demons I am as certain as I can be that the one put forth here is one of great authenticity devoid of certain Spirits which I believe have been misunderstood and wrongly classified throughout history mostly due to the constant mistake of writers loyal to Abrahamic Religions considering anything not connected to their God being Demonic. Many will notice that the below Hierarchy does not contain Names of Spirits known well from the Texts of the Goetia, the reason for this is that I have a firm belief (one I know is shared by others) that the Goetic Spirits are not actually Demons but Djinn, Spirits of Smokeless Flame. Also omitted are Beings often included in Demonic Hierarchies such as Azazel, Azaziel, Raniel, Gadreel, Heramael etc . . . it will be noted that the Names of these Spirits all end in ‘el’ as do the Names of Angels such as Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael and Michael. In Hebrew the ‘el’ means ‘of God’ and denotes that those Spirits bearing these Names are connected to or created by the Abrahamic God of Monotheistic Religions. While it is widely perceived that Demons were once Angels - now Fallen Angels - I refute this belief wholeheartedly offering forth the belief that Satan nor the Demons of Classical Demonology were never Fallen Angels but ancient primal forces in their own right adverse to the forces of God and the Angelic Hierarchy. Satan is the Anti-Thesis of God, the Anti-Force of the Abrahamic Deity representing chaos, creative will, liberation and primal carnal evolution ~ the adverse of the confining, orthodox orderly stagnation of the creative current of God . . . the Demons are emanations and creations of Satan as the Angels are of Abrahamic Tyrant. Spirits such as Azazel, Raniel and Heramael are Angels, but Angels who have fallen from God’s favour due to an instinct to seek beyond the confines of the order in which they find themselves, but they are not Demons, merely Fallen Angels suffering castigation and punishment by a tyrannical God! The below Hierarchy has been forged from Communions with Satan and the Demons Agaliarept, Asmodeus and Sargatanas and is to my mind one of pure Unholy Darkness gestated from the primal sea of Chaos the current of which is the Leviathanic current. The Names of the Demons are given of this Hierarchy along with notification of their gender and areas of command concerning spheres of power.

THE RULING HIERARCHY OF HELL

SATAN (M) Governs Knowledge, Power, Occult Wisdom, Majesty, Black Arts, Seduction, Learning, Creation, Desire, Lust, Creative Will. LILITH (F) Governs Seduction Of Men, Infertility, Infant Death, Seership, Black Arts, Incubi, Succubi, Psychic Vampirism, Destruction Of The Pious. BEELZEBUB (M) Governs Power, Authority, Wisdom, Strength, Command, Rulership, Bravery, Conflict, Victory, Protection, Warfare, Military Strategy. ABADDON (M) Governs Death, Destruction, Misery, Hatred, Perversion, Torture, Violence, Violation, Fetishism, Sadness, Deviation. ASMODEUS (M) Governs Lust, Wisdom, Seduction, Sexual Possession, Protection, Ouija Conjuring, Magickal Knowledge, Infidelity, Desire. AGALIAREPT (M) Governs Gateways, Portals, Divination, Initiation, Knowledge, Study, Seership, Black Magick Teachings, Mysteries. ASHTAROT (A) Governs Love, Seduction, Friendship, Alliances, Reconciliation, Bonds, Pacts, Egregores, Psychogones, Homunculi, Golems. LUCIFUGE ROFOCALE (M) Governs Wealth, Finances, Promotion, Prosperity, Inheritance, Success, Employment, Riches. BELPHEGOR (A) Governs Love, Seduction, Love Bindings, Invention, Creativity, Inspiration. SATANACHIA (A) Governs Protection, Astral Protection, Magickal Protection, Seducing Women, Magick, Safe Travel, Astral Projection, Purification. SARGATANAS (A) Governs Psychic Self Defence, War Strategy, Protection, Banishings, Lust, Power, Safe Travel At Sea, Cleansing. NAAMAH (F) Governs Seducing Men, Fornication, Seduction, Fertility, Lust, Debauchery, Desire. ADRAMALECH (M) Plague, Sacrifice, Destruction, Discord, Disease, Catastrophe, Illness, Death, Bloodletting. MAMMON (M) Wealth, Avarice, Tyranny, Greed, Superiority, Money, Selfishness. BEHEMOTH (A) Greed, Sloth, Avarice, Obsession, Compulsion, Luxury, Immorality, Exhibitionism. EURYNOME (M) Death, Misery, Pain, Loss, Isolation, Melancholy, Depression, Defeat. MEPHISTO (M) Pacts, Death, Revenge, Empowerment, Magickal Knowledge, Protection, Conjuring, Justice. MELCHOM (M) Management, Finances, Savings, Rulership, Command, Riches, Position, Influence Over Authorities, Strength. ARIOCH (M) Revenge, Retribution, Wrath, Justice, Vengeance, Reprisals, Truth, Arbitration, Karma. ALASTOR (M) Death, Destruction, Assassination, Execution, Torture, Termination. UNSERE (F) Childbirth, Fertility, Beauty, Feminine Beauty, Nature, Healing, Child Protection. RIMMON (M) Healing, Medicine, Health, Pharmacists, Science, Vanquishing Disease. BALTHAZAR (M) Cruelty, Death, Punishment, Torture, Perversion, Sexual Deviation, Destruction Of Love Ones, Disruption, Discord. MULCIBER (M) Architecture, Invention, Creativity, Plans, Study, Mastery, Skill, Craftsmanship. ASAFOETIDA (F) Love, Lust, Compassion, Relationships, Peace, Reconciliation, Arbitration. BAAL (M) Wisdom, Knowledge, Power, Magickal Knowledge, Command, Authority, Learning. UKOBACH (A) Fire, Pyromancy, Death By Burning, Immunity To Burning, Destruction By Fire. MOLOCH (M) Wealth, Ambition, Power, Influencing Leadership, Machinations, Business, Pacts, Commerce, Defiance. LEONARD (M) Black Magick, Voodoo, Death, Hexes, Curses, Military Success. NYBASS (A) Nightmares, Insanity, Illusions, Spellcraft, Visions, Portents, Augury, Destroying Will, Hexes, Prophecy. PICOLLUS (A) Blood Sacrifice, Necromancy, Mediumship, Oracles, Death, Passing. RAHOVART (A) Miserliness, Hate, Immorality, Temptation, Communication, Trickery, Possession. RIBESAL (A) Storms, Lightning, Weather Manipulation, Snow, Defends Paupers, Guardian. XAPHAN (A) Destructive Fire, Catastrophe, Invention, Creativity, Inspiration, Rebellion. ABYZOU (F) Infertility, Infant Death, Possession, Psychic Attack, Vampirism, Altering Mindstates, Influence, Sin. VERDELET (M) Astral Projection, Pathworking, Insanity, Possession, Delirium, Illusions, Phantoms. PYTHIUS (A) Tortures, Deceit, Servitors, Cunning, Inlfuence, Control, Conspiracy. ARPHAXAT (A) Possession, Violation, Sexual Violation, Torture, Deviation. BAALZEPHON (A) Knowledge, Wisdom, Authority, Power, Dictatorship, Wealth. MERIHIM (M) Pestilence, Plague, Famine, Chaos, Poverty, Disease, Death. SHABIRI (A) Inflicts Blindness, Insanity, Mental Fatigue, Hexes. SUCCORBEMOTH (A) Jealousy, Envy, Possessions, Miserliness, Vendettas, Punishment. DELIPITORAE (F) Seducing Men, Adultery, Fascination, Enchantment, Temptation. LUITHIAN (M) Teaching, Learning, Study, Scholarship, Literary Skills, Literature, Occult Knowledge. VERRINE (F) Healing, Health, Medicine, Vanquishing Malady, Cures, Fertility. PROCULO (A) Sleep, Dreams, Rest, Comfort, Healing, Dream Prophecy, Divination, Seership. ROSIER (A) Obsession, Possessiveness, Fixation, Obsessive Love, Enchantment, Demands. CAMBION (A) Incubi, Succubi, Infernal Offspring, Psychogones, Paranormal Activity. CARNIVEAN (A) Obscenity, Shame, Depravity, Temptation, Decadence, Blasphemy, Sin. CRESSIL (A) Impurity, Laziness, Slovenliness, Sorcery, Sloth, Apathy, Luxury. VERRIER (F) Herbalism, Healing Others, Health, Vanquishing Disease, Healing. OLIVER (A) Pestilence, Pandemic, Disease, Imprisoning Souls, Torture. ANCITIF (M) Possession, Sin, Depravity, Decadence, Blasphemy, Inversion. SONNELLION (F) Hatred, Discord, War, Wrath, Division, Separation, Dividing Lovers, Wickedness. OEILLET (A) Cruelty, Temptation, Greed, Excess, Lust, Torture, Pain.

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#demonic hierarchy of hell #demons #demonology #the ebon book of satan #satan #satanism #theistic satanism #traditional satanism #devil worship #dukante #wierus #anti-thesis #demonic #fallen angels #primal chaos

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thegrandgrimoireofhell-blog · 6 years

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The Grand Grimoire Of Hell ~ THE INFERNAL HIERARCHY OF HELL

Below is listed the Demonic Echelon of Hell . . . the Infernal Hierarchy governing alongside Satan the Legions of Infernal Spirits that reside in the dark realms of shadow, the Lesser Demons, Servitors, Incubi, Succubi, Lilin and Wraiths. The Demons that populate Hell are indeed Legion and many of the lesser Infernal Spirits are sent to Earth to carry out the Possession of pious or aid Initiates of the Black Arts in Satan’s Great Work. Later in the Grimoire descriptions, profiles, Evocation, Invocation and areas of power shall be given on each of the below Demons, this in the Texts immediately following The Rites detailing Evocation and Invocation. The Hierarchy given below is known as the Mendes Hierarchy and was utilized by the High Priest of the Satanic Cabal that Initiated me many years ago . . . there will be Demons within this list unknown to some and others will not that some Demonic Names are missing. There have been many Hierarchies given over the centuries such as The Dukante Hierarchy and that put forth by Wierus, they often differ but the Demons of Hell are many and all are of great power . . . I myself have worked with four different Hierarchies over the years but this one seems the most viable to me and was sanctioned by the Demon Asmodeus.

Satan Lilith Beelzeboul Abaddon Asmodeus Lucifuge Rofocale Belphegor Behemoth Agaliarept Naamah Adramalech Rimmon Ashtarot Leonard Sargatanas Arioch Alastor Unsere Balthazar Verrier Mulciber Asafoetida Verrine Ukobach Mephisto Nybass Picollus Rahovart Ribesal Xaphan Verdelet Pythius Arphaxat Merihim Shabiri Succorbemoth Delepitorae Proculo Rosier Cambion Carnivean Ancitif Sonnellion Oeillet Mastema Pruflas Satanachia Bechard Frimost Mersilde Guland Huictiigara Baal Surgat

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#demons #demonolgy #the grand grimoire of hell #black magic #satan #lilith #the demonic hierarchy #the infernal hierarchy of hell #satanic #the black arts #agaliarept #dukante #wierus #theistic satanism #classical satanism #asmodeus #grimoire #servitors

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blogdual890 · 3 years

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Satanachia Sigil

Sigil of Lucifer wall decor from wood, Wooden Art, Hanging Sign, Seal of Lucifer, Satanic Seal, Church of Satan, Pentagram, Key of Solomon IgniteINC. 5 out of 5 stars (72) $. A sigil (/ ˈ s ɪ dʒ əl /; pl. Sigilla or sigils) is a type of symbol used in ritual magic.The term has usually referred to a type of pictorial signature of a Jinn or other entity. In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner's desired outcome. Agaliarept, also known as Agalierap, Agalierept, Agalieraps or Agaliareps, is a Great General of Hell alongside Satanachia and one of the demons to directly serve under Lucifer. He is one of the Six Great Officers in Hell, the others being Lucifuge Rofocale, Satanachia, Agaliarept, Fleurety and Sargatanas. He is purported to command the Second Legion of Spirits for the glory of the emperor.

The first list is from the Pseudomonarchia daemonum by Johann Weyer (aka Wier, Wierus), which he included in his De praestigiis daemonum in 1583, and in 1584 Reginald Scot included the same list in The Discoverie of Witchcraft. The second list, the seals, and engravings are from the Goetia at sacred-texts.com - 1904 translation edited by S. MacGregor Mathers.

Goetic seals from the Lesser Key of Solomon

A sigil (/ˈsɪdʒəl/; pl. sigilla or sigils) is a type of symbol used in ritual magic. The term has usually referred to a type of pictorial signature of a Jinn or other entity. In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner's desired outcome.

History(edit)

72 seals from the Lesser Key of Solomon

The term sigil derives from the Latinsigillum, meaning 'seal'.(1)Skype.

In medieval ceremonial magic, the term sigil was commonly used to refer to occult signs which represented various angels and demons which the witch might summon.(1) The magical training books called grimoires often listed pages of such sigils. A particularly well-known list is in The Lesser Key of Solomon, in which the sigils of the 72 princes of the hierarchy of hell are given for the magician's use. Such sigils were considered to be the equivalent of the true name of the spirit and thus granted the magician a measure of control over the beings.(2)

An excerpt from Sefer Raziel HaMalakh featuring various magical sigils (or סגולות, segulot, in Hebrew).

A common method of creating the sigils of certain spirits was to use kameas (magic squares) — the names of the spirits were converted to numbers, which were then located on the magic square. The locations were then connected by lines, forming an abstract figure.(3)

The word sigil.. has a long history in Western magic. The members of the Golden Dawn were perfectly familiar with it (″combining the letters, the colours, the attributions and their Synthesis, thou mayest build up a telesmatic Image of a Force. The Sigil shall then serve thee for the tracing of a Current which shall call into action a certain Elemental Force″) and it was used in the making of talismans. The sigil was like a signature or sign of an occult entity.(4)

Satanachia Sigil

The use of symbols for magical or cultic purposes has been widespread since at least the Neolithic era. Some examples from other cultures include the yantra from Hindutantra, historical runic magic among the Germanic peoples, or the use of veves in Voudon.

Austin Osman Spare(edit)

Satanachia Sigil

The artist and occultist Austin Osman Spare developed his own unique method of creating and using sigils, which has had a huge effect on modern occultism. Essentially, Spare turned the Medieval practice of using sigils to evoke entities on its head, arguing that such supernatural beings were simply complexes in the unconscious, and could be actively created through the process of sigilization.(5)(4)

The big difference with Spare's method was that he dispensed with pre-existing esoterica and external beliefs, so the sigils were no longer for controlling traditional demons, angels and what-have-you, but instead for controlling forces in the unconscious psyche of the individual operator.(4)

Spare's technique became a cornerstone of chaos magic.(6) It also influenced the artist Brion Gysin, who experimented with combining Spare's sigil method with the traditional form of magic squares:

Calligraphic magick squares were one of the techniques most commonly applied by Gysin. He would reduce a name or an idea to a 'glyph' and then write across the paper from right to left, turn the paper and do the same again, and so on, turning the paper around and around to create a multi-dimensional grid.. The same techniques and consciously driven functional intention also permeated his paintings. In a very real sense, everything he created was an act of sorcery.(7) Home alone 3 on amazon prime.

Chaos magic(edit)

A modern personal sigil.

In chaos magic, following Spare, sigils are most commonly created by writing out the intention, then condensing the letters of the statement down to form a sort of monogram. The chaos magician then uses the gnostic state to 'launch' or 'charge' the sigil – essentially bypassing the conscious mind to implant the desire in the unconscious.(8)(6) To quote Ray Sherwin:

The magician acknowledges a desire, he lists the appropriate symbols and arranges them into an easily visualised glyph. Using any of the gnostic techniques he reifies the sigil and then, by force of will, hurls it into his subconscious from where the sigil can begin to work unencumbered by desire.(8)

After charging the sigil, it is considered necessary to repress all memory of it: in the words of Spare, there should be 'a deliberate striving to forget it'.(5)

Grimorium verum sigils. In modern chaos magic, when a complex of thoughts, desires and intentions gains such a level of sophistication that it appears to operate autonomously from the magician's consciousness, as if it were an independent being, then such a complex is referred to as a servitor.(9)(10) When such a being becomes large enough that it exists independently of any one individual, as a form of 'group mind', then it is referred to as an egregore.(11)(12)

Later chaos magicians have expanded on the basic sigilization technique. Grant Morrison coined the term hypersigil to refer to an extended work of art with magical meaning and willpower, created using adapted processes of sigilization. His comic book series The Invisibles was intended as such a hypersigil.(6) Morrison has also argued that modern corporate logos like 'the McDonald's Golden Arches, the Nike swoosh and the Virgin autograph' are a form of viral sigil:

Corporate sigils are super-breeders. They attack unbranded imaginative space. They invade Red Square, they infest the cranky streets of Tibet, they etch themselves into hairstyles. They breed across clothing, turning people into advertising hoardings.. The logo or brand, like any sigil, is a condensation, a compressed, symbolic summoning up of the world of desire which the corporation intends to represent.. Walt Disney died long ago but his sigil, that familiar, cartoonish signature, persists, carrying its own vast weight of meanings, associations, nostalgia and significance.(6)

See also(edit)

Look up sigil in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sigils.

References(edit)

Footnotes(edit)

^ abWeschcke, Carl Llewellyn & Slate, Joe H. The Llewellyn Complete Book of Psychic Empowerment

^Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis: The Lesser Key of Solomon, Detailing the Ceremonial Art of Commanding Spirits Both Good and Evil; ed. Joseph H. Peterson; Weiser Books, Maine; 2001. p.xi-xvii

^Greer, John Michael (2003). The New Encyclopedia of The Occult. Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 438. ISBN1-56718-336-0.

^ abcBaker, Phil. Austin Osman Spare

^ abSpare, Austin Osman. The Book of Pleasure

^ abcdMorrison, Grant. Pop Magic!

^P-Orridge, Genesis. Magick Squares and Future Beats

^ abSherwin, Ray. The Book of Results

^Hine, Phil. Prime Chaos

^Marik. Servitors

^Rysen, Fenwick The Fluid Continuum

^Emerson, Gabriel. Egregore Definition Compilation

Sources(edit)

The Book of Pleasure. Austin Osman SpareISBN1-872189-58-X

Liber Null and Psychonaut. Peter CarrollISBN0-87728-639-6

Baker, Phil (2011). Austin Osman Spare: The Life and Legend of London's Lost Artist. Strange Attractor. ISBN9781907222016.

Emerson, Gabriel (1997). 'Egregore Definition Compilation'. Chaos Matrix. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

Hine, Phil (1998). Prime Chaos: Adventures in Chaos Magic. New Falcon Publications. ISBN9781609255299.

Marik (1998). 'Servitors: Part Two of Sigils, Servitors, and Godforms'. Chaos Matrix. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

Morrison, Grant (2003). 'Pop Magic!'. In Metzger, Richard (ed.). Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult. Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN9780971394278.

P-Orridge, Genesis (2003). 'Magick Squares and Future Beats'. In Metzger, Richard (ed.). Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult. Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN9780971394278.

Peterson, Joseph H. (ed.), The Lesser Key of Solomon: Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis (York Beach, ME: Weiser Books, 2001). Considered 'the definitive version'

Rysen, Fenwick (1999). 'The Fluid Continuum --or-- What the f***'s an Egregore?'. Chaos Matrix. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

Sherwin, Ray (1992). The Book of Results. Revelations 23 Press. ISBN9781874171003.

Spare, Austin Osman (2013). The Book of Pleasure: The Psychology of Ecstasy. Lulu Press. ISBN9781105502996.

Weschcke, Carl Llewellyn; Slate, Joe H. (2011). The Llewellyn Complete Book of Psychic Empowerment: A Compendium of Tools & Techniques for Growth & Transformation. Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN9780738729862.

White, Gordon (2012). 'Magic Secrets as Taught by Robot Fish'. Rune Soup. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

White, Gordon (2010). 'Shoaling: Making Sigil Magic more Awesome Since 2010'. Rune Soup. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

El, Moorpheus (2011). 'Secret of Secrets: Reality is Programmable'. Matrix-Five. Retrieved August 28, 2011.

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sigil&oldid=1015300196'

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purgatoryapotheca · 4 years

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BEELZEBUB

BEELZEBUB is also known as BAALZEBUB, ENLIL, BEL, “PIR BUB”* BAAL ZEBUL and BEELZEBUTH

He is also known as the Goetic Demon “BAEL”

History of Beelzebub

Beelzebub was a prince of the Seraphim, just below Lucifer. Beelzebub, along with Lucifer and Leviathan, were the first three angels to fall. He tempts men with pride and is opposed by St. Francis of Assisi

Beelzebub was also known as Achor by the Cyreneans, which probably meant ‘Lord of the High House’, referring to the Canaanite chief god ‘Baal the prince’. This title could only properly apply to Solomon in his temple, so the Jews changed the name to Beelzebub which translates as ‘Lord of Flies’, possibly because of his supposedly role as creator and controller of the flies in the Philistine city of Ekron.

One of the oldest and most famous demonic figures, Beelzebub also had command over disease — flies congregate around the corpses of the dead, and spread disease from the dead to the living — and his role is to tempt men with pride. He was called the prince of devils by the Pharisees.

According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, Jesus gave Beelzebub dominion over Hell in gratitude for helping remove Adam and other pre-Christian, unbaptized ‘saints in prison’ and bringing them to Heaven, over Satan’s objections. In those early days, Satan outranked Beelzebub. By the sixteenth century, however, demonologist Johann Wierus was listing Beelzebub as supreme chieftain of Hell, with Satan below him.

According to demonology’s lore, when Satan first rebelled, he recruited several very powerful seraphim, Beelzebub among them, to fight at his side. Once he took up his new residence in Hell, Beelzebub learned to tempt men with pride. When summoned by witches or sorcerers, he appeared in the form of a fly, because “Lord of the Flies” was his nom de guerre, as it were. He’d acquired it by visiting a plague of flies upon the harvest of Canaan, or, perhaps, simply because flies were once believed to be generated in the flesh of decaying corpses. Another tale suggests that God created every creature, except the fly — which was made by the Devil.

Those who are close to Beelzebub know he is Enlil. This is from him personally. Enlil was the original “Bel” which later evolved into “Baal.” “Baal” means “Lord,” “Master” “Baal the Prince.” Beelzebub/Enlil was a very popular and well-known God who had cities named after him with the prefix “Baal” all over the Middle East.

Most people who have studied the occult know he is very close to Satan and they both go back to the “beginning of time” here on earth; Enlil and Enki. He is Father Satan’s half-brother. Along with his brother Ea/Satan and Astaroth, he wound up in the grimoires as one of the Crowned princes of Hell and was labeled as “evil,” as were our other Pagan Gods.

“Baal Zebub, the Healing God of Ekron, later became one word–Beelzebub–which came to represent evil and idolatry in the New Testament of the Bible.”

-Excerpt taken from- “Syria” by Coleman South, 1995

Satan and Beelzebub

Beelzebub is best known as the God of the Philistines, He ruled over the city of Ekron. He is second in command to Satan. The Ancient Philistines worshiped Him under the name “Baalzebub.” Beelzebub is “Lord over all that Flies”. Wherever he was worshipped, he was known as God of the weather and meteorology. He also controlled the airways when the Nephilim came to Earth. His name was perverted by the Hebrews to mean “Lord of the Flies.”

Beelzebub takes care of in-fighting between dedicated Satanists. Satan wants unity and Beelzebub enforces this. He can be very strict as Satan does not approve of dedicated Satanists cursing each other.

APPEARANCE

He appears as a giant fly if you summon him.

NOTES

Beelzebub appears several times in the New Testament, but only once in the Old Testament, and never in apocalyptic literature.

Beelzebub is the Patron of all of the Orient, Martial Arts and Asian Culture. He was Prince of the Seraphim and He has a raspy voice

Beelzebub/Enlil is the God of storms, atmospheric conditions, the wind, the rain and the element of air. He is also the God of Entomancy. Entomancy is a method of divination by interpreting the behavior of insects. Beelzebub is also a Master of Astrology and the Zodiac.

The name Beelzebub is sometimes associated with the Canaanite god Baal.

His ziggurat of Nippur was called, “Fi-irn-bar-sag.” He is the God who hurls his thunderbolts and lightning against the enemies of Satan. [More than one Christian church has met with disaster on occasion]. He is considered to be a gracious life-giving and life-sustaining God, taking care of his people, the beasts of the field, the fowls of heaven and the fishes of the sea. “Enlil [Beelzebub] is both a God of war and God of peace; a destroyer and protector, defender, restorer, upbuilder; inimical, hostile and most gracious.” [6]

WARNINGS:

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE CONDUCT THIS EXPERIMENT.

IT MAY BRING GREAT PAIN AND SUFFERING. IF YOU CONDUCT THIS

EXPERIMENT, IT IS BY YOUR OWN WILL.

SUMMONING OF Beelzebub

Draw a pentagram.

Put the black candles around the points and the red candle in the middle.

Take a piece of string and tie all three together and say: I invite you, Oh prince.

When you feel his presence, throw the limestone at the red candle. [5]

Invocation of Beelzebub

This would be used when Opening the Nine Locks of the Abyss

Beelzebub, I invoke thee.

Beelzebub, I summon thee.

Beelzebub, I conjure thee.

Come forth, Beelzebub, and manifest thyself

Within this body, this temple which I have prepared.

Come forth, Beelzebub, and manifest thyself.

(Drink from chalice then say:)

The fourth lock is open. [1]

SPELLS/CONJURATIONS

First print out a copy of this magick square:

CASED

AZOTE

BOROS

ETOSA

DEBAC

Then get yourself rather drunk on alcohol, because evil spirits work better on people that are rather intoxicated. Then wait until midnight… during a full moon would be even better.

Play some Christian Death music in the background. Turn off the lights, light a candle and some incense. Get rid of any

crosses, bibles or other Christian symbols from the room.

Spend 5 minutes meditating on the square. Notice what the words say both backwards and forwards.

Then take the symbol, and draw some blood from your finger.

DON’T CUT A VEIN. DON”T WANT ANYONE TO KILL THEMSELVES.

Then place the droplet of blood on the square and while doing so repeat the following 6 times.

“Oh BEELZEBUB, LORD OF FLIES. ENTER MY SOUL. SHOW ME THE OTHER SIDE. OPEN MY EYES SO THAT I MAY SEE THE DARK RECESSES OF HELL.”

Do this ritual several times. Then give yourself some time. You probably won’t see an immediate change. It can happen immediately, or it might take up to a year.

Demonic Dark Lord … Lord (King) Beelzebub (Night Demon)

(This information comes from our Priestess’s seeking council with him)

Direction: North

Planet: Jupiter

Metal: Titanium

Element: Earth

Color: Muted Dark Red, Black, Grey, Silvers and Blues

Incense: Frankincense, Myrrh, Oud

Rank : King, Dark Lord, Imperial Royal Demon Commander

Species: Lowborn Demon

Realm: Noble and Lowborn Realms of the Outer Spiritual World

Attributes: Strong warrior and one who has a curious mind, one who is wise and brilliant he knows much and has much to reveal. He also has powerful casting abilities when it comes to death curses and death magicks.

Demonic Mantra:

Demonic Hymn:

Beelzebuth (Beelzebub) Demonic Enn – “Adey vocar avage Beelzebuth (Beelzebub)”

Adey vocar avage Beelzebuth

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Zodiac Position: 0-4 Degrees of Aries

March 21st-25th *[March 21-30]

Tarot Card: 2 of Rods [From Azazel]

Candle color: Black

Plant: Fern

Planet: Sun [From Azazel]

Metal: Iron *[Gold]

Element of Fire

Rank: King

Bael is a Day Demon and rules over 66 legions of spirits. [6]

By Black Witch Coven

#beelzebub #baal #bael #demons #demonolatry #satanism #rituals #witchcraft #demonic #lord of the flies

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magaprima · 4 years

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Book stuff (Beelzebub related)

The Philistines were traditional enemies of the Israelites. They do not appear in flattering terms in the Old Testament. The word philistine remains a synonym for uncouth barbarian. So perhaps it is no surprise that their primary male deity, Ba’al Zebub appears in even less flattering light in the New Testament.

In the context of Philistine Ba’al Zebub, flies are emblematic of the eternal human soul. In the context of demon Beelzebub, flies are emblematic of putrefication, death and decay.

The original Ba’al Zebub was a spirit of fertility and rebirth. In the Gospels, Beelzebub, as his name evolved, is chief of demons and prince of devils. In Christ’s time, Beelzebub seems to have been incorporated into controversial shamanic technique, disapproved of by the general Jewish public. Accoding to the Gospel of Luke, when people witnessed Jesus successfully expel demons from the bodies of the ailing, they accused him of doing so with assistance from Beelzebub. Luke records that Jesus was insulted by the suggestion.

Beelzebub and Satan were once considered to be distinct beings. According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, Jesus gave Beelezebub dominion over Hell in gratitude for helping remove Adam and other Pre-Christian, unbaptised “saints in prison” and bringing them to Heaven over Satan’s objections. In those early days, Satan outranked Beelzebub. By the sixteenth century, however, demonologist Johann Wierus was listing Beelzebub as supreme chieftain of Hell, with Satan below him.

The distinction between the two was eventually erased. Dante equated them in his Divine Comedy, Beelzebub appears in John Bunyan’s Pilgram’s Progress and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. His name was frequently evoked during witch trials and demon possession hysteria, including at Salem Village. Many now believe that Beelzebub is the devil’s name.

Medieval demonologists perceived Beelezebub as a powerful demon to conjure, command and control. They classified him as a fallen angel and Founder of Hell’s Order of the Fly.

#beelzebub facts

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lettererumorose · 5 years

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Segnalazione: Il Negromante

@Segnalazione: Il Negromante

Dalla penna dell’autore di Lande Percorse il nuovo fantasy tutto dedicato al personaggio più controverso e amato. (more…)

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#Astro edizioni #blog #blogger #book #books #Diego Romeo #epic #Fantasy #Lande Percorse #leggere #Libri #libri da leggere #magia #negromante #negromazia #reading #segnalazione #segnalazione il negromante #wierus

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tipsycad147 · 5 years

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Famous Witches - Johann Weyer (c.1515 - 1588)

Johann Weyer (or Johannes Wier or Ioannes Wierus or Piscinarius), was a Dutch physician, occultist and demonologist, and the disciple and follower of Cornelius Agrippa. He was among the first to publish works against the persecution of witches, and also produced an influential grimoire.

He was born around 1515 in Grave, a small town in the Duchy of Brabant in the Habsburg Netherlands. His father was a hop merchant and, as a boy, he attended the Latin schools in 's-Hertogenbosch and Leuven.

In 1529, at the age of fourteen, he became the live-in student of the German occultist Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in Antwerp. When Agrippa was forced to leave Antwerp in 1531 or 1532, he and Weyer settled in Bonn, under the protection of the prince-bishop Count Hermann von Wied.

From 1534, Wier studied medicine in Paris and later in Orleans, before moving back to the Netherlands and practising as a physician in his native Grave and then, in 1545, in Arnhem. In his capacity as the appointed town physician of Arnhem, he was asked for advice on witchcraft in a 1548 court case involving a fortune-teller.

In 1550, when Arnhem was no longer able to pay his salary, Weyer moved to Cleves, near the German-Dutch border, where he became court doctor to Duke William “the Rich”, through mediation by the German humanist, Konrad Heresbach, where he remained for the next 28 years. Here, he published his major works on witchcraft and demonology: “De Praestigiis Daemonum et Incantationibus ac Venificiis” (“On the Illusions of Demons and on Spells and Poisons”) in 1563, “De Lamiis Liber” (“Book on Witches”) in 1577, and the “Pseudomonarchia Daemonum” (“The False Kingdom of the Demons”, an appendix to “De Praestigiis Daemonum”) in 1577.

In his “De Praestigiis Daemonum et Incantationibus ac Venificiis” (“On the Illusions of the Demons and on Spells and Poisons”) of 1563, Weyer defended the idea that the Devil's power was not as strong as claimed by the Christian church, but he also defended the idea that demons did in fact have power and that they could appear before people who called upon them. He was careful to refer to “magicians” and not to “witches” when speaking about people who could create these illusions, indicating that they were heretics who were using the Devil's power.

His grimoire “Pseudomonarchia Daemonum”, which first appeared as an appendix to a 1577 edition of the "De praestigiis daemonum", catalogued all the major demons, and gave their descriptions and the conjurations to invoke them (in the name of God and the Trinity) in the appropriate hour, as well as advice on how to avoid certain perils, tricks to employ if a demonwas reluctant to do as commanded or was a liar, and advice on how to oblige them to carry out the conjurer's will.

Weyer bravely criticized the “Malleus Maleficarum” and the witch hunts of both the Christian and civil authorities during a time of a great number of witch trials and executions, and he sought to derogate the law concerning witchcraft prosecution. He is said to have been the first person to use the term “mentally ill” to describe those women accused of practising witchcraft, and when speaking of those who invoke demons (which he called “spirits”) he carefully used the word “exorcist”.

His careful language throughout (and even his use of the title “The False Kingdom of the Demons”) suggests that he may have been attempting to disguise the fact that he was a practitioner as well as just an investigator. Certainly, his work influenced and inspired other later grimoires, such as “The Lesser Key of Solomon” (or “Lemegeton”).

He retired from his post in Cleves in 1578, and was succeeded by his son, Galenus Weyer. After retirement, he completed a medical work on a subject unrelated to witchcraft. He died on 24 February 1588, at the age of 73, in Tecklenburg, Germany.

Title page of a 1564 edition of "De Praestigiis Daemonum" by Johann Weyer (from http://www.wierus.com/ catalog/praestigiis4/)

https://www.witchcraftandwitches.com/witches_medieval.html

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prvcoska · 9 months

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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Asmodeo viene considerato, oltre che il demonio della distruzione, anche il signore della cupidigia, dell'ira, della discordia, e della vendetta; è raro, dunque, che ad un uomo venga imposto questo nome.

Il celebre demonologo olandese Wierus lo collocò come un potentissimo re degli inferi, quasi al pari di Lucifero e Satana. Fu associato a Lucifero soprattutto per il suo carattere ribelle e la sua scelta definitiva per le tenebre. Per altri, Asmodeo è lo stesso serpente che sedusse Eva. Altre tradizioni simili lo associano anche a Lilith, la leggendaria moglie ribelle di Adamo prima di Eva, che, condannata all'esilio dall'Eden, si unì appunto con questo demonio.

#1950s #crossfit #knife skills

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theladyinthegraveyard · 6 years

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How many demons?

In 1467, Alfonso de Spina asserted that the number of demons was 133,316,666. The idea was that one third of the angels turned into demons (Book of Revelation 12:3–9)

Fromenteau in his book “Le cabinet du Roy de France” (1581) claims that sorcerers have counted the number of demons at 7,409,127 with seventy-two princes.

Johann Wierus claims that there are 7,451,926 demons divided into 111 legions of 6,666 demons each and that each legion is ruled over by the seventy-two demonic princes of hell. His Pseudomonarchia Daemonum ( 1583) estimates the number of demons to be 44,435,622. They are divided into 666 legions, each legion consisting of 6,666 demons. The legions are ruled over by the 66 infernal dukes, kings, and princes. In later editions of this book he changes these numbers, now claiming that there are 6 legions with 66 cohorts each, which are divided into 666 companies consisting of 6,666 individuals, for a total of 1,758,640,176 in all. In this breakdown the legions are led by one emperor, seven kings, 10 counts, 11 presidents, 13 marquis, and 23 dukes. Talmudic tradition states that there are 7,405,926 demons.

Gregory of Nyssa said that demons fathered children with mortal women, thereby continuously adding to the number of existing demons. The cardinal bishop of Tusculum (fifteenth century) estimated the number of fallen angels to be 133,306,668. According to the Book of Revelation, one third of the angelic hosts fell, an event that took place over nine days.

Source: Theresa Bane - Encyclopedia of Demons in World Religions and Cultures

Image: Gustave Dore - Satan holds a meeting for his legions of demons

#demon #demons #hell #gustave dore

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skepticaloccultist · 7 years

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The Vagaries of Occult Book Buyers

There are benefits to having made a pact with a spirit who procures books as its very nature. The sideways of having something appear that you never were looking for, but indeed wanted, is particularly helpful.

As it was I have been thinking about the role of the occult bookseller down through the ages. How, from Roman times until now one could purchase a manuscript, and later printed books, of occult lore from a professional seller. In times of suppression there were still those who dealt books of forbidden knowledge, keeping a copy under the counter for those who inquire directly. Booksellers in London have carried the works of Dee and Agrippa for centuries, no less in the 16th century than today.

What a wonderful book it would make, a history of those actual historic persons who sold occult books. A well written story of the occult publishers and bookshops that have existed from the middle ages until the late 19th century would be fantastic. Something very accurately written, well footnoted, and with an extensive bibliography.

So I mused for several days on this day dreamed book until, after having ordered a volume of the first edition of "Folk-Lore volume 5" 1887, I received something altogether different. Instead of a book of folklore, I received a copy of "Book-Lore, vol 5 1887". In it I found plenty of stories of booksellers, occult and otherwise, but even more so stumbled onto this absolutely fantastic portrayal of occult book collectors. Its such a perfect and spot on assessment of those who would be occultists, yet find the collecting part much more enjoyable than the actual practicalities of magic. As true today as it was 130 years ago when it was written.

I reproduce the full short piece below. I am still waiting for a concise history of occult booksellers to appear, but in the meantime this laugh will do.

+++

"The Vagaries of (Occult) Book Buyers - III " from Book-Lore, a Magazine Devoted to Old Time Literature - 1887

Lord Lytton, in that curious and mysterious novel, Zanoni, mentions an old bookseller who, after years of toil, had succeeded in forming an almost perfect library of works on occult philosophy. Poor in everything but a genuine love for the mute companions of his old age, he was compelled to keep open his shop, and trade, as it were, in his own flesh. Let a customer enter and his countenance fell; let him depart empty-handed and he would smile gaily, oblivious for a time of bare cupboard and inward cravings. A purchaser was indeed a deadly enemy to the old man, for every proffered coin was scorching hot, a miserable and inadequate exchange for one drop of purple blood.

It is astonishing what a deep interest some people take in weird and obscurely written books. They will gloat over the mysteries of Hermes, and nervously finger the pages of Agrippa, - that foul magician whose judgment of himself and all his labours is so eloquently portrayed in his Vanitie of Arts and Sciences. No matter, says the devotee, Agrippa was mistaken; he was afraid of the Inquisition, and recanted. He could not have invented the sigils, triangles, and magic circles, without which congregated with horrid eyes the spirits of the Moon and Paymon, the King of the West Wind. Agrippa was afraid of the spectres he had raised; afraid of his own black dog, and of the hell to which it pointed.

The amateur occult philosopher is, however, not afraid - as yet - and every spare moment is occupied in ferreting out the names of ghostly men, who either suffered on the rack or at the stake, for leaguing themselves with the powers of the air, or else tumbled headlong into the talons of besieging hosts of devils, all screaming, as Paracelsus says they sometimes do, " Thy pentacles and thy circle are wrong, thy words are false; come thou with us."

The old bookseller was a type, and, as we think, a type only, of Lytton's own creation; perhaps a reflection of the soul of Lytton himself, ever groping through mists of tale and fable, and ever unsatisfied.

The purchaser of works on occult philosophy is usually exceedingly enthusiastic, so much so that he persists in his so-called studies, notwithstanding the fact that nine-tenths of his books are in Latin, a language of which he knows little or nothing. In a few words, he would become a disciple of Jannes and Jambres, and to this end sets about accumulating materials in the form of huge folios, conscientiously intending, no doubt, to read them when time and opportunity offer.

His course of reading so far has been confined to the Strange Story, which first riveted his attention on fiends and spectres, and to Barrett's Magus, which, being in English, and adorned with a number of weird plates, has proved an excellent stimulant to further exertions. The Bible is ransacked, and the "Witch of Endor and Simon Magus duly weighed in the balance, while such phrases as " Now the magicians of Egypt they also did in like manner with their enchantments," roll off the tongue with unctuous volubility. Presently the aspirant to " horrors fell and grim " stumbles across the treatises of Raphael and Sibly, and sighs to think that his ignorance effectually cuts him off from the delightful contemplations of those obscure authors upon whose diatribes their works are founded.

At this point the average student comes to a full stop, and turns probably to astrology as being a more tangible study, and apparently much easier. His little library swells with the treatises of Lilly, Raphael, Placidus de Titus, and the great Ptolemy, while he rejoices to think that Flamsted believed in the reality of the science, and that old Burton, the "Democritus Junior," hanged himself rather than admit that his own horoscope was out of gear.

The next step is the purchase of a planisphere, which conveniently dispenses with abstruse calculations in spherical trigonometry; and finally the student erects a horoscope all out of his own head, showing plainly enough that he was born when Mercury was retrograde, and at the square of the moon - a never-failing sign of idiocy, proved up to the hilt, be it said, when he is at last actually persuaded to go a-horse-racing with his slender capital, merely because the "quesited" - the famous "Flying Scud" - is in a trine aspect with Jupiter, Lord of the Seventh, and therefore cannot lose. The horse, however, breaks down, and is scratched four-and-twenty hours after the money is staked, and henceforth astrology is a Will-o'-the-wisp that will never again lure our bibliophile to his ruin.

Out of every twenty persons who take up the study of occult philosophy, nineteen are supremely ignorant of the most ordinary branches of knowledge, but the twentieth is a man of very different composition. He, too, began, perhaps, in the same way as his less gifted brethren, and has followed the same paths, and pored over the same books, and would like also to rival the deeds of Albertus Magnus, who had power over the elements; or of Peter of Abono, who raised terrible forms as easily as a market gardener raises cabbages.

He speedily discovers that Barrett's Magus is, in part, at least, a mere translation, and a very bad one, of Agrippa's fourth book, and that Raphael has mutilated the words of every author he quotes. There is no reliable work in English which can possibly be procured, and so he turns to the Latin, beginning with Iamblichus, and his famous book De Mysteriis, printed by Aldus in 1497. This rare and interesting specimen of typography loses, however, all its beauty in the absorbing nature of its contents; and the same observation is applicable to the author's Vita Pythagorae, published at Rome in 1556. These treatises are, it is true, mere introductions which every tyro who hopes hereafter to lift the veil of Isis must read if he wishes to fit himself to meet the petrifying gaze of the "Dweller on the Threshold" but they are also two most useful books, as from them can be gleaned a mass of information which, rightly understood, is declared by the initiated to point to the portals of the world beyond the grave.

With appetite whetted to a swallowing-point perfectly gluttonous in its magnitude, the student next turns to the treatise of the learned Jesuit, Martin Delrio, who, in his Disquisitionum Magicarum, examines the many different systems of magic practised by the professors of his day; to Bodin's De la Demonomanie des Sorciers; and in their turn to Boissardus, Jerome Cardan, Glanvil, Grillandus, Van Helmont, Wierus, and the Malleus Maleficanim of Sprenger and Institor.

All these works, comprehending as they do an assortment of wonders the like of which the world never saw, and perhaps never will see, support one another in a manner that would put a coterie of Old Bailey witnesses to the blush, so precise and seemingly accurate are the expressions used, so consequential the inferences. There is no mincing matters, no equivocation nor contradiction; everything is so orderly and precise that what is usually regarded, in this country at least, as a structure composed entirely of falsehood and fraud, becomes quite natural in appearance, so that, at last, the student finds himself accepting a statement, no matter how foolish, simply because Sprenger affirms it to be true, or Robert Fludd hints that it possibly may be.

All this time money is going out as fast as credulity, for works on occult philosophy are very expensive. The dealers are aware of their patron's feverish anxiety to obtain them when once bitten by the mania, and, as a matter of course, charge accordingly. Thus £3 is, as a rule, demanded for the Opera Omnia of Paracelsus, 1658, 2 vols., folio; seven or eight guineas for the collected works of Cardan, Lugd., 1663; and as much and more for those of Robert Fludd, Oppenheim, 1617-38. Respecting this last author, Isaac D'Israeh, in his Curiosities of Literature, states that in his time as much as £40 had to be given for a single volume, so great in those days appears to have been the anxiety to obtain copies of works of this and a similar class. We can imagine, therefore, how large must have been the value of the unique collection formed by the bookseller to whom Lytton so fondly refers, and we - or at least some of us - may almost participate in his disinclination to have such a splendid assortment broken in upon by the amateur peripatetic philosopher who in all probability cannot read one hundredth part of the treasures he longs to possess.

The modern world has now been revolving for nearly 1,900 years, and during the whole of that time repeated attempts have been made to lift the curtain that shuts out the invisible world. Some few persons - as, for example, Rozencrantz, who founded the Society of the Rosy Cross, and Paracelsus, who is "now living in his tomb, whither he retired disgusted with the vices and follies of mankind " - are credited with having peeped for a few brief moments behind it; but with these and some other exceptions the progress that has been made is admitted by the most ardent devotee to have been nil. Rumour, as chorus, has taken the place of fact, and dreams that of reality, but still the modern occultist cannot be brought to see that he labours in vain. And so he goes on purchasing ponderous volumes, ugly to look at and absolutely useless for every purpose, theoretical as well as practical, until either he is forced by repeated failures to admit that his favourite authors are impostors, or that he himself has, in spite of all his application, failed to reach the road that leads from this world to that which is to come. He and others like him - and there are many even in this century - would outstrip themselves in a desperate race through the darkness of Erebus; they spend a lifetime in learning to walk, only to be afflicted with total paralysis at the last; and when they awake to find their labour has been in vain, they are amazed to think of the fallacy which engulphed years of toil in the futile attempt to discover what they will learn in five minutes after they are dead.

However, be this as it may, the sale of books on occult philosophy goes on apace, and purchasers are very eager to part with their cash, a phenomenon which is observed in very few instances save the one under discussion. Some of these days enterprise may detect money in new editions and translations of Artemidorus on dreams, and Raymond Lully and Artephius on the philosopher's stone; but at present the trade is confined exclusively to old and battered copies which have served generations of investigators, which are now being read, and which will be read, in all probability, until they are thumbed out of recognition.

It is said of the Emperor Nero, that among other studies he ardently followed that of magic. He employed immense sums, wrung from the sweat of Rome, in this pursuit; searched far and wide for professors, - penetrating the remote regions of India and Africa, - and even prowled among the ruined towers of Chaldsea. Rewards were offered, and threats of cruel torture not only lavished but carried into effect, and with what result? Absolutely none, for all the power of Rome could not raise up another Witch of Endor, nor prolong the Emperor's life for a single second. And yet there are in England at this moment thousands of busybodies who think they can, with their limited resources, accomplish what Nero, with all Rome at his back, failed to perform; and so they go on, blinking like owls over distressing paragraphs that no one either in heaven above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the waters under the earth, can possibly construe into intelligible English. The only consolation is that these good people are out of harm's way, and may perhaps be laying up a store of patience which may serve their end when the fit is over. They are very good customers of the booksellers also, and rejoice exceedingly over one very small piece of silver which they persuade themselves they are on the eve of finding.

- M. A. G.

Find the rest of this fantastic 19th century magazine of book collecting here:

"The Vagaries of (Occult) Book Buyers - III " from Book-Lore, a Magazine Devoted to Old Time Literature - 1887

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