The Occult and Magick

A Goetia for Brother Enoch

2014-03-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

My favorite copy of the Goetia of Solomon has seen better days. So I recently decided to compile my own and have a copy printed through lulu. I drew up the outline and started making font choices.

I slept about three hours that night and dreamed of two warriors with spears. The dream was narrated. The narrator explained these two warriors were demons trying to scare me.

The next night I was visited in dream by a giant bird. The flapping of its wings made a hot wind that knocked me down. I tried to look directly at the bird, but had to shield my eyes from the light which was on it or maybe behind it.

On the third night I dreamed of green butterflies. I have a friend among the green butterflies now.

Then, a few days later, on Wednesday, March 14, 2014, I went for a walk. In a tree right outside my door there was sitting a large crow. I stopped and looked up at him. He looked down at me. He studied my face. I smiled. He said "hello". My rational mind tells me it was just a low warbling sound, but the rest of me knows it was "hello".

The next night I drank hundred-proof moonshine for the first time in my life and right as my vision began to get blurry, I saw the pentagram of Solomon from the Goetia and tried to force my eyes to focus and read the words. In this state I read:
BALLATON (BILETH)
BEL-LVN
ELI
ELIJAH
OBEDIAH
SOLOMON

It is now nearly 11pm and two crows have sounded an alarm outside my window. My roommate says she has never heard a crow at night. She just said, "I don't know how, but you summoned them here." She has no idea what I am working on. But she may be right.

Edward Kelley and Paul Waring Raising the Dead

2013-08-08T12:35:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I saw a picture come across my tumblr. It was an illustration of a scene showing Edward Kelley in a cemetery, calling up a ghost. The picture's description said it was Edward Kelley and John Dee performing necromancy. Of course I knew that was nonsense because John Dee stopped associating with Kelley because Kelley was practicing black magic. John Dee wanted to talk to angels, not dead people.

So I went to wikipedia and looked up necromancy. Yep, there's the illustration and the description reads:

"Engraving of occultists John Dee and Edward Kelley "in the act of invoking the spirit of a deceased person"; from Astrology (1806) by Ebenezer Sibly.

Going to google books and looking up Sibly's Astrology, we find it on page 1106 of the second volume. You can read about the scene depicted in the plate on page 1099. It seems Edward Kelley's companion in this picture is one Paul Waring.

Sibly got his story from John Weever's book on funeral monuments. Weever allegedly heard the story from Paul Waring himself.

If you were one of the many people who liked or reblogged the picture and caption I described, please make up for it by reblogging this post.

UPDATE:

I have been contacted about this matter in private message. There still seems to be some doubt as to the identity of the two men in the picture above. I am told I cannot prove that John Dee is not in the picture and therefore Wikipedia has to be right. I will now honor that abuse of logic with a short reply.

The story begins with Weever's book on funeral monuments. On page LXV, we find this story:

This story places Edward Kelley and a man named Peter Waring in the park of Walton in le dale. Peter Waring is Kelley's companion in deeds of darkness (not John Dee). Weever claims to have heard this from a gentleman who heard it from one of his servants. The servant claimed he helped dig up a dead body for this scene.

The story was later retold on page 1099 of the second volume of Sibly's Astrology:

Sibly spells Edward's last name differently and gives the name Paul Waring instead of Peter Waring. John Dee broke company with Edward Kelly because of Kelly's black magic and lack of morals. Edward Kelly and Paul Waring "went together to the church-yard of Walton Ledale, in the county of Lancaster."

If we look closely at the illustration in question, we see two men. One, with a book and wand who looks somewhat like other images of Edward Kelley. The other man looks nothing like John Dee. And the church in the background? As long as we are on wikipedia, let's go to the Wikipedia page for Saint Leonard's Church, Walton-le-Dale. Does that look like the church in the illustration?

After all of this I find that my anonymous critic still has a point. I cannot prove that the second man in the illustration is NOT supposed to be John Dee. I also can't see anything remotely suggesting it IS. As usual, I will now wait to be proven wrong (yes, it happens every now and then).

UPDATE:

Wednesday, June 18, 2014
A few days ago, on Fathers Day, I posted on the Solomonic Facebook page some information about a picture posted to the group. I said this illustration was from Sibly's Astrology. That doesn't seem to be true. The illustration is based on the one above, but appears in print at a much later date. The quality of the illustration is also much better than Sibly's.

Here it is in Raphael's The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century.

If you know of any other sources for this story or of illustrations of the story, let me know.

Friday, October 24, 2014:
This information has become quite popular on Tumblr. It is nice to see a little quality information in social media. The Headless Hashasheen has added another source for this information:

[Edward Kelly] … upon a certain night in the Park of Walton in le dale, in the County of Lancaster, with one Paul Waring (his fellow companion in such deeds of darkness) invocated some of the Infernal Regiment, to know certain passages in the life, as also what might be known of the Devil’s foresight of the manner and time of the death of a noble young gentleman, as then in wardship. The black ceremonies of the night being ended, Kelly demanded of one of the gentleman’s servants what corpse was last buried in Law churchyard, a church thereunto adjoining, who told him of a poor that was buried there but the same day. He and Waring entreated this foresaid servant to go with them to the grave of the man so lately interred, which he did; ad withal did help them to dig up the carcase of the poor caitiff, whom by their incantations they made him (or rather some evil spirit through his organs) to speak, who delivered strange predictions concerning the said gentleman. I was told thus much by the said serving-man, a secondary actor in that dismal abhorred business; and the divers gentlemen and others now living in Lancashire to whom he hath related this story.
- Christina Hole, A Mirror of Witchcraft. (Chapter IV: “The Fairies and the Dead”. P. 86.)

Notes on the Magickal Alphabets Section of "Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard"

2013-02-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

I mentioned Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard in a previous post. I have mixed feelings about the book. First off, I love the idea of a general magical text book for young readers. BUT, I see many things in the book that I would do differently. I also see many errors in the text. Although I could just move on and never write anything about the errors, I am bored. So, here's another post.

Being bored tonight, I opened the Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard and thumbed through. The table titled "Ancient & Magickal Alphabets" (page 145) really stuck out. I like the look of it. So I started reading the text.

Hermetic Alphabets: Chaldean; Malachim

Often called sacred or hermetic alphabets, these are used almost exclusively by Ceremonial Magicians, though occasionally you may find an individual Witch or Wizard using them on a talisman. The best-known scripts are: Passing the River, Celestial, and Malachim. Celestial is also known as Angelic or Enochian, and it is still used in the higher degrees of Masonry. It came from Dr. John Dee's work with Edward Kelly, who in 1581 produced a set of 21 symbols which he claimed had been revealed to him as the true alphabet of the angels, used to compose the names of the heavenly hosts. These symbols became the foundation of Dee and Kelly's Enochian system, used to invoke angels and demons. The figures of Malachim are said to be derived from the constellations--though which ones, it is impossible to say. Malachim is sometimes confused with the "Writing of the Magi."

Theban

The Theban script is also called Honorian in honor of its creator, Honorius III (Pope 1216-1227)."

This all sounds fine if you haven't done any reading, but breaks down on the slightest effort to check the facts.

If we open Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, we see several of the scripts mentioned by the Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard. Reading the text we see it is the Celestial script that is supposedly from the stars (thus the name), but is obviously based on Hebrew letters. It is the Malachim that is the writing of Angels.

The publication date of Agrippa's third book is 1533. What are the chances that Agrippa was referencing the work produced by John Dee in 1581?

The Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard credits Pope Honorius III with the creation of the Theban script. As I wrote about previously, this script was created by a man named Honorius who is from Thebes. Pope Honorius III was from Rome.

Triangle of Solomon (Take Three)

2012-05-22T04:24:00.000-07:00

I previously wrote about "reconstructing" Solomon's Triangle of Arte.

Here's my updated version

Founded on TETRAGRAMMATON.
Through the power of the first (PRIMEumaton) unto the last.
Representing the AZoTh.

The Mystic Eye (Game)

2012-03-08T19:31:00.001-07:00

Over the last twenty years or so I have experimented with Ouija boards, pendulums, automatic drawing, and other forms of automatism. I seem to have some sort of block against this type of thing, or maybe I just have not invested enough time to develop the skills required.

Earlier this week I ordered the "Mystic Eye Game" from Amazon. It arrived a few hours ago. It is a board with the words "YES" and "NO" along with numbers, the letters of the alphabet and various other words. The game comes with a pendulum that you hold over the center of the board. Then something odd happens... the pendulum will literally point to an answer.

I asked the Mystic Eye a few Yes/No answers to start out. It answered much more quickly than I expected. The first answer spun the pendulum around the circle three times in about a second and stopped abruptly on the "YES" section of the circle. It's kind of like a cross between a pendulum and a talking board except it is much more uncanny to look at. I still do not know if the answers to my first few questions were correct since they are still in the future.

My next questions required the Mystic Eye to spell out answers. For a few minutes I thought I was going to have to re-sell the game on eBay. The pendulum would spin and spin in circles in one direction and then spin in the other. Then the pendulum would move back and forth in arcs between sections of the board.

Then it spelled a name. It moved straight past plain pendulums and talking boards. You see, with all of my previous experiments I have not been able to get anything coherent out of a talking board (while using it by myself) and nothing other than binary answers (Yes/No, Day/Night, etc.) from a pendulum.

Like the Ouija and other talking boards, the Mystic Eye is sold as a game. I do appreciate the entertainment value of automatism, but I see much more potential in this "game".

Did I Make Up the Idea of Lesser Seals?

2011-12-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

I recently received a message which was not very coherent. The sender was upset about a couple things in my post about the Explanation of the Pentagram and Hexagram of Solomon. The first objection was my identification of the word Bellaton (from the Pentagram) with Beleth, the 13th spirit of the Goetia of Solomon. That's fine with me. I was just putting it out there.

The second objection was actually a statement. I'm not going to repeat it here because the rest of my audience is not playing the role of drunken sailor and also because I deleted the message faster than a cyberman. Basically, I was accused of making something up. In this day and age it is good to be skeptical, but it is still bad to be a blathering idiot. So, I have formed my accuser's statements into the question he should have asked: "Did you make up the idea of Greater and Lesser Seals?"

And now I will set myself to the task of answering that question.

I was first introduced to the idea of Lesser and Greater (or Noble) Seals at the same time I did my study of the Triangle of Solomon, back in the '90s.

I am not going to go into the way the Lesser and Greater Seals worked in 16th and 17th century magick, but I'll show you there was such a distinction.

In the Mathers/Crowley Goetia we see a type of spirit compass showing the directions to face when calling certain spirits.

This diagram actually belongs to the second book of the Lemegaton. These names can be found in many old books on magic.

In the book Elizabethan Magic by Robert Turner, there is something very interesting in the chapter on Simon Forman. Robert Turner reproduces a text, "typical in form and representative of Forman's Age." The text is called Operation by the Regal Spirit Usiel. It opens with "The Great Seal of King Usiel". This seal is almost identical to the seal of Usiel found in Theurgia Goetia.

Next to this Greater Seal we find another Seal titled "The Lesser Seal According to Trithemeus".

Where did that come from?

Well, let's dust off our Steganographia and take a look at page 6.

Do those names look familiar? That's right, they're the same names as on the spirit compass thingy above! And those squigglies next to the names? Those are Lesser Seals!

The text reproduced in Elizabethan Magic gives the names and seals of 14 diurnal dukes under Usiel and 14 nocturnal dukes. It also gives the number of attending spirits for each duke. These dukes and their seals can be found in Theurgia Goetia.

These Dukes and the numbers of attending spirits (and a few seals) can also be found in Steganographia.

The Operation used Seals from the Lemegeton and Trithemeus, referenced Dee's Liber Scientiae Terrestris, and used conjurations like those in The Key of Solomon. The magical synthesis is impressive.

But I've really gone off target. No, I did not make up the idea of Lesser and Greater Seals.

The Salus/Hygiea Ring

2011-11-28T23:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was on Amazon when I noticed a recommendation for something free. Since ya don't see that every day, I clicked through. It was for an interesting looking Kindle book. I don't have a Kindle, but I noticed the Kindle software was a free download as well. A minute later I was reading The Book of Talismans, Amulets and Zodiacal Gems. It's a very interesting book packed with a lot of curious lore. My kind of book. The reader is very handy on my laptop and includes the ability to bookmark and make notes.

THE PENTAGRAM WITH THE WORD SALUS

While skimming I noticed a neat looking ring. It has a Pentagram inside an Ouroboros. Between the points of the Pentagram are the Roman letters SALVS (Latin for "Salvation"). This is the ring of the Roman Goddess Salus. Salus is a Roman form of the Greek Goddess Hygiea.

THE PENTAGRAM WITH THE NAME HYGIEA

The paragraph on page 85 reads:

"Salus Ring (Illustration No. 112, Plate VIII) was worn by the devotees of Salus, or Hygiea, daughter of Æsculapius, who was worshipped as the goddess of Health. Several holy days were appointed in her honour and worship, and she was publicly invoked for the welfare of the rulers and for the general peace and prosperity of the community; also for an abundant harvest. She is usually represented with a serpent as a tribute to her attainments in the art of medicine, and her symbol was worn for Health and Success in all undertakings, as well as for general Good Fortune."

Thomas, William; Kate Pavitt (2009-12-12). The Book of Talismans, Amulets and Zodiacal Gems (Kindle Locations 847-851). Evinity Publishing Inc. Kindle Edition.

If you actually go to the Wikipedia page for Salus you see the statement:

"She is sometimes erroneously associated with the Greek goddess Hygieia."

It's a good thing someone put that on Wikipedia because a lot of silly Romans seem to have made Salus' statues, Name/Pentagram, symbols and general attributes the same as Hygiea.

Roman Salus Coin

Roman Hygiea Statue

The Testament of Solomon (The Source Material)

2011-11-13T00:54:00.001-07:00

One of the things I love about having blogger blogs is the "Stats" tab in the control panel. I get to see what sites link to what blog posts, what countries my blogs are popular in (Go, go, Germany!), and what search terms people use to get to my blogs.

Lately I have noticed people are coming to this blog in search of the Testament of Solomon and related material. Some include "Greek text" and "Greek codex" in their search string for the ToS. They have searched, found this blog and then gone away empty handed. Well, no more of that!

Here are some of my web links related to the Testament of Solomon. You're welcome ;)

McCown's English Translation of the Testament of Solomon
Includes texts with critical apparatus. Archeological finds since McCown's translation are against some of McCown's assumptions. Foremost for the readers of this blog? McCown assumes the pentagram on Solomon's ring to be a later addition to the text. As I wrote about previously, the pentagram seal on jars and other items was something the author of the Testament of Solomon probably saw with their own eyes. The magical nature of the jars is debatable, but their existence is not.

This having been said, McCown's is the most thorough and scholarly translation of the Testament of Solomon I have seen. More scholarly translations and updated critical devices may exist, but I cannot find them in google.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028957400

The Testament of Solomon translated by F. C. Conybeare
The Jewish Quarterly Review volume 11 (1899)
This is the translation most readily available in a google search.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ylkpAAAAYAAJ&dq=jewish%20quarterly%20review%201899&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Fleck's Greek Testament of Solomon
Wissenschaftliche Reise dur Deutschland, Italien, &c. (1837)
http://books.google.com/books?id=31UvAAAAYAAJ&dq=Wissenschaftliche%20Reise%20durch%20das%20s%C3%BCdli%201837&pg=PA111#v=onepage&q&f=false

Zeitschrift für die historische Theologie, Volume 14
Doctor Friedrich August Bornemann's German translation of Fleck's Greek Testament of Solomon
Das Testament des Salomo (1844)
http://books.google.com/books?id=Z9UAAAAAcAAJ&dq=bornemann%20zeitschrift%20f%C3%BCr%20die%20histor%20theologie%201844&pg=RA2-PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false

Conjectanea in Salomonis Testamentum
A German essay on the Testament of Solomon. This essay is also by Doctor Bornemann.
http://books.google.com/books?id=h5RAAAAAcAAJ&dq=Studien%20von%20Geistlichen%20des%20Konigr.%20Sachsen%201843&pg=PA45#v=onepage&q&f=false

Harley MS 5596
15th century Greek manuscript at the British Library. Contains parts of the Testament of Solomon along with the Magical Treatise of Solomon (a work related to the Key of Solomon) .
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=harley_ms_5596_f007r

Anecdota Atheniensia
French book. Presents Herley MS 5596.
https://archive.org/stream/MN40020ucmf_0?ui=embed#page/n226/mode/1up

Explanation of the Pentagram and Hexagram of Solomon

2011-10-21T02:45:00.000-07:00

I previously wrote about the "Explanation of Certain Names Used in this Book Lemegeton". I glossed over the portion of the "explanations" about the Hexagram and Pentagram of Solomon. After a forum thread at evocationmagic.com, I decided to look more closely at both the "explanation" and the Pentagram of Solomon.

In the following table you will see "The Explanation of the two triangles in the Parchment". The two "triangles" referred to are the Hexagram and Pentagram of Solomon. In the left column are the words from the Hexagram and Pentagram being "explained" by the words in the right column. Under the words as they appear in the manuscript I have included the words that appear in the Mathers/Crowley version. I have colored alternate rows for easier reading.

The Explanation of the two triangles in the Parchment
Alpha and Omega	Thou O great God who art the beginning and the end who was before all Eternity and ever shall be Mathers/Crowley version reads: Thou, O great God, Who art the beginning and the end:
Tetragrammaton	Thou God of mighty power be ever present with us to guard us and protect us and let thy holy presence be now and always with us Mathers/Crowley: Thou God of Almighty power, be ever present with us to guard and protect us, and let Thy Holy Spirit and presence be now and always with us:
Soluzen	I command thou spirit of what Region soever thou art to come into this circle Mathers/Crowley: I command thee, thou Spirit, of whatsoever region thou art, to come unto this circle:
Halliza	and Appear in human shape Mathers/Crowley: And appear in human shape:
Bellatar M/C: Bellator or Bellaton	and speak to us audably in our mother tongue Mathers/Crowley: And speak unto us audibly in our mother-tongue:
Bellonoy M/C: Bollonoy or Bellony	and shew and discover to us all treasures that thou knowest of or that is in thy keeping and deliver it to us quietly Mathers/Crowley: And show, and discover unto us all treasure that thou knowest of, or that is in they keeping, and deliver it unto us quietly:
Hallÿ Fra M/C: Halli. Hra.	and answer us all such questions as we shall demand without any defect now at this time Mathers/Crowley: And answer all such questions as we may demand without any defect now at this time.

Alpha and Omega

can be found in the Hexagram of Solomon. This is the Beginning and End of the Greek alphabet.

Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_and_omega

Tetragrammaton

is found in the Hexagram and Pentagram of Solomon. This is, as most people know, the unspeakable four-letter name of God.

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton

Soluzen

In Folger Shakespeare manuscript V.b.26, this word appears as Soluze with a line above the last two letters. That line means there are missing letters.

Can be found with its sigil in the center of the Pentagram. This is possibly a corruption of the name of Solomon or Jerusalem. Here you see the seal of Jerusalem

(Image snagged from HERE)

Although the seal directly above is dated to the second century, it was in use for several hundred years, including the second temple period. That's the period we start seeing stories of exorcisms and rings handed down by Solomon.

Jerusalem and Solomon contain the same root word, SLM.

NOTE:

Although the word SHAMIR does not appear in this "explanation" or the pentagram in this grimoire, it should be noted that if you omit the Lamed from the seal of Jerusalem above and read from the letter Sin, you will see why this word became part of this legend.

Jerusalem: Yud Resh Shin (Lamed) Mem
Shamir: Shin Mem Yud Resh

Halliza

is in the Pentagram with its sigil.

Bellatar

is spelled Ballaton or Ballator in the Pentagram of Solomon. With the grimoiric obsession with creating words with the "Aton" suffix, I am leaning in favor of Ballaton. Note the "name" begins with Bal or Bel, meaning "master".

This "Aton" is likely Beleth, the 13th spirit of the Goetia of Solomon. Of Belleth (or Beleth or Bileth or Bilet or Ballat) the Goetia of Solomon Says:

The 13 spirit is called Beleth, he is a mighty king and terrable, ridding on a pale horse w^th Trumpets and all other kinds of Musicall Instruments playing before him, he is very furious at his first apperance That is whilest y^e Exorcist allay his Courage, for to doe that, he must hold a hazel stick in his hand, streched forth towards y^e South & East quarters making a Triangle without y^e Circle, commanding him into it by y^e vertue of y^e Bonds & chaines of spirits hereafter following, & if he doe not come into y^e by your Threats, rehearse y^e Bounds & chaines before him, and then he will yeild obediance and come into it and do what he is commanded by y^e Eorcist [Exorcist], yet he must receive him courteously, because he is a great king & doe homage to him, as the kings and princes doe that attend him, and you must [also] have allwayes a silver Ring on the middle finger of the left hand, held against your face as they do for Amaimon, This king Beleth causeth all y^e love that possible may be, both of Men and women till y^e Master Eorcist [Exorcist] hath had his mind fullfilled &c. he is of the order of Powers and governeth 85 Legions of [102v] spirits, his Noble seal is this w^ch is to be worne before you in the Time of working.

Balath's Noble or greater seal is given in the text and his lesser seal appears in the Pentagram of Solomon.

The Hebrew of Dr. Rudd has the name Beth-Lamed-Aleph-Tau.

Bellonoy

is in the Pentagram with its sigil. This name is spelled Bellonoy in the "explanation" and Bellony in the Pentagram of Solomon. Bellony is more likely. As with Bellatar, Bellany's name begins with Bel. I believe that in Hebrew his name may be spelled Beth-Lamed-Lamed-Vav-Nun-Yud. If you use these letters to trace a sigil over the kamea of Mercury (use the one with the Hebrew letters!), you will get something like this:

Most sigils these days begin with a circle and terminate with a little cross-line. As you can see from the image above, Agrippa (and the creators of the grimoires) had no such strict rules. Compare the sigil I have drawn above to the sigil of Bellony as it appears in the pentagram:

Like the Lesser Seal appearing in the Hexagram of Solomon, Bellony's sigil has been degraded and reversed. Compare these two versions of this sigil (1,2):

UPDATE: Find out more about this "sigil" here: http://brotherenochsgoetia.blogspot.com/2015/03/this-sigil-is-not-sigil.html

Another manuscript shows the sigil of Bellony more clearly:

The sigil seems to not include the final 'Y' or Yud. That leaves us Bal-LVN (Lord or master of the Levites), suggesting a Lord and possibly a connection to the Levites or priests of the Temple of Solomon.

Alternately, LVN could be Lamed-Beth-Nun, which means "white".

Hallÿ Fra

is written (as Hally) in the Pentagram along with its sigil.

ABDIA

is written in the Pentagram along with its sigil. ABDIA does not appear in the "explanation". Abdia is another way of writing Obadiah. In V.b.26, the name is written Abdiah.

This post is more like notes for myself and I will probably return to it from time to time to see if I can make more progress.

An Explanation of the Explanations of the Diagrams of Solomon

2011-08-23T20:50:00.002-07:00

Within the Mathers/Crowley version of the Lesser Key of Solomon, titled "The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King" we find three "Explanations". These are actually more like prayers than explanations.

The first explanation is titled "Explanation of Certain Names Used In This Book Lemegeton". This title was made up by Mathers. This is like a prayer for the magic circle (figure 153).

The second explanation is titled "The Explanation of the Two Triangles in the Parchment". As the footnote points out, these words are in the Hexagram (figure 155) and Pentagram ( figure 156) of Solomon.

The third explanation is titled "An Explanation of Solomon's Triangle". As the title suggests, this explains the Triangle of Solomon.

These "explanations" only appear in Sloane 2731. Sloane 2731, like all the other manuscripts used by Mathers in this "translation", is in English. I know Crowley gives a list of languages, but it's just not true.

Mathers' footnote to the first "explanation" reads:

This explanation, or rather paraphrased prayer, only exists in one codex as far as my knowledge goes. The Qabalist will remark that the orthography of several of the Qabalistical names is incorrect. I give it, however, as it stands.

To this Crowley ads:

In any case it is worthless; the names mean nothing of the sort.

For Mathers to criticize the orthography of the "explanations" is almost as appropriate as criticizing Mathers for spelling Cabalist with a "Q". Most of the words Mathers corrects were correct at the time of writing (as you will see in a little bit). And Crowley's dismissal shows he needed to look a little bit closer since the "explanations" have a source and are a key to understanding the tools used in the Goetia.

When dealing with grimoires you find many languages mixed together and you also find many strange spellings of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin words. It is obvious that most grimoires were composite works, built up over time by several people of varying knowledge of the languages and lore involved. I believe the Lesser Key of Solomon began its life as a catalog of demons. To the catalog conjurations were added. And sigils too. Elements were added layer on layer from other manuscripts. In time errors crept in and were embellished. It is only natural. Do you have a mastery of English, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew as well as astrology, Cabala, correspondences, ritual procedures... If you think it's tough mastering all that in our time, just imagine you live in the 16th century. So we can forgive the author of the "explanations" for any corruptions and minor errors, right? As I have shown before, not even Agrippa is free of such errors.

Consider the word Tetragrammaton. It is a Greek word representing a Hebrew word written in Latin characters in an English manuscript. This is the nature of magic and old grimoires. Tetragrammaton has remained consistently spelled and defined in most books, but other words have not fared so well. You might find the word ANAPHAXETON spelled ANEPHEZETON, or ANAPHENETON.

So, can the words appearing in the "explanations" be traced to more definite sources? I believe they can. But before we get to the source, let's have a look at the first "explanation". The manuscript has planetary symbols and a formatting I will not try to emulate in this blog post. In place of the planetary symbol I will simply write the name of the planet. Also, I will place my comments in brackets [] and in red since there is no easy way to use footnotes on this blog. Numbers are placed for easier reference to the illustration appearing after the "explanation".

The Explanation of the Circle of Solomon

[1] Eheie [2] Kether		Almighty God whose dwelling is in the highest heavens
[3] Haioth		The great King of heaven and all the powers therein
[4] Metthraton [Mathers gives Methratton. Agrippa has Metattron]		And of all the holy hosts of Angels and Archangels
[5] Reschith		Hear the prayers of thy servant who put his whole trust in thee
[6] Tagallalim [Mathers gives Hagalgalim. Agrippa gives Hagallalim.]		Lett thy holy Angells command assist me at this time and at all times
	P:[rimum] M:[obile]	[Note that this sub-heading and all other sub-headings appears at the end of the section. This matches the order given in Agrippa's table.]
[7] Jehovah		God Almighty God omnipotent hear my prayers
[8] Hadonath		Command thy holy Angels Above the fixed stars
[9] Ophamim		To be Assisting and Aiding of thy servants
[10] Jophiel		That I may command all spirits of the Air fire water earth and hell
[11] Masloth		Soe that it may tend to thy glory and Mans good
	Z [Sphera Zodiaci]
[12] Jehovah		God Almighty God omnipotent hear my prayers
[13] Elohim		God with us God be always present with us
[14] Binah		Strengthen us and support us both now and forever
[15] Aralim		In these our undertakings which I doe as an Instrument in thy hands
[16] Zabbathy [Mathers gives Zabbathi and then adds the correction, "should be Shabbathii." Agrippa gives Sabbathai]		Of thee the great God of Sabaoth
	Saturn [Sphera Saturni]
[17] Hesel [Mathers writes "should be Chesed". Agrippa gives Hesed]		Thou great god governour and creator of all the Planets and host of heaven
[18] Hasmalim [Mathers "should be Chashmalim". Agrippa gives Hasmallim]		Command them by the Almighty Power
[19] Zedez [Mathers gives Zelez then notes "should be Zedeq". Agrippa gives Zedeck]		To be now present and assisting to us thy poor servants both now and forever
	K: S. Jupiter [Spera Iouis]
[20] Elohim Geber [Mathers notes Geber "should be Gibor"]		Most Almighty eternal and everliving Lord God
[21] Seraphim		Command thy Seraphims
[22] Camael [23] Modim [Mathers/Crowley edition correctly changes Modim to Madim without noting it]		To attend on us now at this time to assist us and defend us from all perils and dangers
	Mars [Sphera Martis]
[24] Eloha		O Almighty God be present with us both now and forever
[25] Tetragrammaton [The author's copy of Agrippa was probably not as clear as mine. This should be Tiphareth.]		And let thy Almighty power and presence ever guard us and protect us at this present and forever
[26] Raphael		Lett thy holy Angell Raphael wait upon us at at this present and forever
[27] Schemes [Mathers notes "or Shemesh".]		To Assist us in this our undertakings
	Sun [Sphera Solis]
[28] Jehovah		God Almighty God omnipotent hear my prayers
[29] Sabaoth		Thou great God of Sabaoths
[30] Vesah [Mathers corrects Vesah to "Netzah (or Netzach)". ]		All seeing God
[31] Elohim		God be preset with us and let thy presence be now and always present with us
[32] Haniel		Let thy holy Angel Haniell come and minister unto us at this present
	Venus [Sphera Veneris]
[33] Elohim		God be present with us and let thy presence be now and always present wth us
[34] Sabaoth		O thou great god of Sabaoths be present with us at this time and forever
[35] Hodben [Mathers writes, "should be Hod simply". I believe this is a result of the ink from the word Binah on the facing page along with the word bne (later prints of the table read ben) in the cell directly below it in Agrippa.]		Let thy Almighty power defend us and protect us both now and forever
[36] Michael		Let Michael who is under thee Generall of thy heavenly host
[37] Cockab		Come and expell all evil and danger from us both now and forever
	S. Mercury [Sphera Mercurii]
[38] Sadai		Thou great God of all wisdom and knowledge
[39] Jesal [Mathers notes "should be Iesod"]		Instruct thy poor and most humble servant
[40] Cherubin [Mathers has Cherubim]		By thy holy Cherubins
[41] Gabriel		By thy holy Angel Gabriel who is the Author and messenger of good tidings
[42] Zenanah [Mathers corrects to Levanah without note]		Direct us and support us at this present and forever
	S. Luna [Sphera Luna]

In the first "explanation" we see many Hebrew words. These fit not only the order found in the grimoire's manuscripts, but can be found in Agrippa (De Occulta Philosophia, Book II, chapter 13). The "explanations" were probably made while referencing a later version of Agrippa's table "The Scale of the Number Ten". Note that in the following illustration you can see where ink has bled from the other side of the paper and also transferred by way of contact from one page to another. This along with other characteristics of old books can explain the errors in the "explanations".

The second "explanation" lists the words found in the Hexagram and Pentagram of Solomon. These are spirit names and Greek terms which are known well enough not to mention. The variants listed are found in the pentagrams and hexagrams of several manuscripts.

I wrote briefly about the third "explanation" in the post Reconstructing Solomon's Triangle. I gave a theory on what Hebrew words I believed to be implied by the Greek words around the triangle and I gave my reasoning why. While working on the illustration above I noticed something interesting.

Although I'm still not 100% certain, I am now more convinced than ever that I have the meanings of the two mysterious words ANAPHAXETON and PRIMEUMATON. Did you notice there was another "ATON" born in the first "explanation"?

Die Karikatur und Satire in der Medizin: The Doctor's Cane and the Plague Doctor

2011-07-19T16:14:00.002-07:00

I found this cool little book on archive.org. The book is called Die Karikatur und Satire in der Medizin. Even if your German is as poor as mine, you should understand this book is about caricature and satire in medicine.

There are many great pictures in the book. There is a picture in the gynecology section that shows bunnies all over the floor and toward the end of the book are a couple funny caricatures of Anton Mesmer, but that's not the topic of this post...

There are some pictures of doctors with canes to their noses.

Imagine that the moment your doctor enters your home, he strikes his cane upon the floor and then holds the golden tip to his nose. The doctor keeps the cane to his nose, whenever possible, for the entire visit.

What's that about?

When he entered your home he struck his cane to disrupt the herbs and powders in the cane's tip. The effect of the herbs was twofold. First, the herbs probably smelled better than the patients. And second, the herbs were probably meant to keep the doctor from airborne infection.

The doctor's cane was probably an evolved form of the medicated rings of the ancient world.

The most extreme adaptation of this type of device was the mask worn by Plague Doctors. The plague doctors had a mask with a massive beak stuffed with herbs. I tell you what, if this was the only doctor that would come see me, I'd probably fling myself from a window.

But doctors were not the only people to get a cool cane. Whatever the patient had that killed them, it didn't get any better (or smell any better) once they were dead. Here is a picture called "The Company of Undertakers"

The Ring of Eucrates

2011-07-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I read Plutus by Aristophanes. A short while ago I found myself reading The Liar by Lucian.

Although I was amused by what appears to be the origin of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, that is not my main interest in this story.

The character Eucrates owns a very special ring:

'Do you suppose,' asked Eucrates, 'that he is the only man who has seen such things? Plenty of people besides Ion have met with spirits, by night and by day. As for me, if I have seen one apparition, I have seen a thousand. I used not to like them at first, but I am accustomed to them now, and think nothing of it; especially since the Arab gave me my ring of gallows-iron, and taught me the incantation with all those names in it.

These rings made of gallows-iron (nails or iron from a cross!), coffin nails, and other iron associated with the dead and graveyards gave the possessor the ability to command and dismiss spirits.

A little further in the story, Eucrates tells of a time he was confronted by a frightening entity (who he calls Hecate) three hundred feet high with the lower body of a dragon and the upper part and head of a Medusa! But, never fear! He's got a ring...

At the sight of her, I stood stock still, and turned the seal of my Arab's ring inwards; whereupon Hecate smote upon the ground with her dragon's foot, and caused a vast chasm to open, wide as the mouth of Hell. Into this she presently leaped, and was lost to sight.

The Ring of Eucrates, gotten from an Arab, was mighty enough to send Hecate straight to Hell!

Of course I know this is old Greek fiction, but the tall tales and ghost stories in The Liar were based on real stories and beliefs.

The Arab's ring was probably based on a ring or rings Lucian saw. The ring was made of gallows-iron, had a seal and was potent enough to send just about any kind of spirit down to Hades.

Later Arab stories attribute such a ring to King Solomon, but state that Solomon's ring was half brass and half iron with a seal on either side. You can see Lucian was aware of the power these metals have in the following quote:

apparitions, you tell me, take flight at the clash of brass or iron

King Solomon would never make his own ring of gallows-iron, but it is very likely he would have made it of iron. In an old book on rings (which I cannot find right now), I read about many such rings which were not just iron, but magnetized iron.

The Rings of Eudemus

2011-07-10T12:15:00.001-07:00

INFORMER

You are laughing at me. Well, then I denounce you as their accomplice. Where did you steal that new cloak from? Yesterday I saw you with one utterly worn out.

JUST MAN

I fear you not, thanks to this ring, for which I paid Eudemus a drachma.

CARIO

Ah! there's no ring to preserve you from the informer's bite.

A short comedic intermission is inserted in today's quest for the Ring of Solomon. The quote above is from Plutus by Aristophanes. Eudemus was a physician who sold medicated rings to treat or prevent snake bites and other ailments.

Wonderland Chess

2011-06-24T02:10:00.001-07:00

As some of you may know, I have gone through some changes lately. A couple nights ago, while unpacking some boxes, I came across two little boxes of what look like small playing cards. They are actually chess pieces.

Each piece is made of four cards. They are four of the same card and they are taped together and cut in such a way that they can stand straight up and be seen from all angles as the same card. From the top each piece looks like an X.

There should be four boxes of pieces like this; one for each suit. I can only find two.

I know, this is supposed to be about chess and those look like cards. So let me explain.

Back in high school I had these dreams about Wonderland. Actually, the dreams continued for several years past high school. The most memorable Wonderland inspired dream starred the White Rabbit and Mad Hatter driving a Ford Model T through the streets of Lake Havasu City. Of course they were going way too fast and overturned the car. I tried to talk to the Rabbit, but he kept tapping his watch. The two used the hand crank so vigorously that they righted the car and sped off.

There was often a chess theme in these Wonderland dreams. Floors were black and white or black and red and the cards would move about in what I thought to be random directions. Or that is what I believed after the first two or three of these dreams. Upon further reflection and more dreams I realized the cards were moving about Wonderland using the movements of the Kings, Queens, Knights, and pawns of chess.

One day I was about to leave a store when I saw party favors on sale. I reached into the bin with the tiny bicycle decks, and pulled one deck out. There was a furious spinning in my mind and then I could see my red and black folding chess board with the cards moving on it in place of my usual chess pieces.

I did the quick math and threw the four tiny decks in my cart (how many kids would appreciate playing cards anyway?). About an hour later I had my chess board all set up with my new pieces. I made a special game of chess with four players. I modeled Wonderland Chess after Enochian Chess.

I had read about the symbolism of playing cards. The four suits are the four seasons (four Elements) and the 52 cards are the 52 weeks in the year, and this amazing surreal game made much more sense to me than that convoluted Golden Dawn creation.

What I didn't realize until years later... I had recreated Four Seasons Chess. Four Seasons Chess is, ironically, the game Enochian Chess was based upon.

Now I want to make a new set of pieces using a four-color deck.

The Goetic Ring of Solomon

2011-06-21T17:12:00.003-07:00

After my recent post about the Triangle of Solomon, I remembered that there was another item in the Goetia that used the words Tetragrammaton and Anaphaxeton. That item is the Ring of Solomon.

The ring appears in the Mathers/Crowley edition of the Goetia. It is presented as a kind of disc with concentric rings.

Many people have used this design as a bezel on a ring or a disc that hangs as an amulet of sorts.

The illustrations of the ring which appear in the original manuscripts look like this:

I once saw a diagram like this used in a book describing finger rings. The diagram was laid out the same, but with different words. The description revealed that the diagram was of a plain band with writing on the outside and also the inside of the band. If we assume the Ring of Solomon shown here is a similar design, we see Tetragrammaton is engraved on the inside of the band and the words "Anapheneton (or Anaphaxeton) + Michael" are written on the outside of the band.

The Ring is to be made of Silver and worn on the middle finger of the left hand. It is to be held to the nose of the Master when confronted with the "stinking fumes of spirits".

Many people claiming to have great Goetic experience say the Ring is useless because the spirits have no odor. One could argue the spirits don't have bodies either. Yet we see them anyway.

Even if you are of the belief that spirits only affect the sense of sight, there is another, more practical use for the ring.

In The Key of Solomon, Book 2 Chapter 10, we read:

There are many kinds of Incense, Suffumigations, and Perfumes, which are made for and offered unto the Spirits; those which are of sweet odour are for the good, those which are of evil savour are for the evil.

The Key of Solomon and the Goetia of Solomon may be different, but they follow the same reasoning. In the GoS, when the spirit is being conjured, the exorcist goes through a series of appeals and threats. The exorcist starts with the first and second conjuration. If that fails, he reads a stern "constraint". If even that fails, the exorcist demands the spirit's boss (or King, as it were) send the spirit right away. If that fails, the exorcist recites the "Spirits Chaine" and threatens to send the spirit to the depths of hell bound "in chaines of fire and Brimstone unquenchable, unless you dost forthwith appear before this circle in This Triangle to doe my will..."

After the Spirit Chain the spirit had better be there with bells on. If the spirit still isn't there (or your scryer is no good), the GoS instructs the exorcist:

Then write his name and seal in [on] virgins parch [parchment] and put it into a black Box with Brimstone aquafateda [assafoetida] and such things that have a stincking strong smell and bind the Box round with a wire and hang it on y^e swords point and hold it over the fire of Charcoles...

There follows "The Conjuration of the Fire". With the spirit's seal in a black box bound with chains along with "such things that have a stincking strong smell", the exorcist holds the spirit over hot coals and threatens it with eternal suffering starting right about now.

If even this threat and torture does not work, the exorcist recites "The Curse" and drops the black box into the hot coals. That's right, 'it just got real up in the chamber. The exorcist is now making good on his promise to send this rebellious spirit to the fiery pit of Hell! If the spirit does not appear, I suppose he gets sent to Hell forever and crossed out of everyone's grimoires.

Luckily, the GoS tells us:

Here the Exorcist must put the box into the fire and by and by he will come. But as soone as he is come quickly quench the fire that the Box is in and make a sweet perfume and give him a kind entertainment shewing him the pentacle that is at y^e bottom of y^e vesture covered with linnen cloath, saying.

So, what does this have to do with the Ring of Solomon?

In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus writes:

God also enabled him (Solomon) to learn that skill which expels demons, which is a science useful and sanative to men. He composed such incantations also by which distempers are alleviated. And he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never return; and this method of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was this: He put a ring that had a Root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately, he abjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed. And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left the man; and when this was done, the skill and wisdom of Solomon was shown very manifestly: for which reason it is, that all men may know the vastness of Solomon's abilities, and how he was beloved of God, and that the extraordinary virtues of every kind with which this king was endowed may not be unknown to any people under the sun for this reason, I say, it is that we have proceeded to speak so largely of these matters.

As you can see, the exorcist's ring is treated with an herb (Root). The herb and the ring work together with incantations handed down from Solomon in order to command the demon. In the Goetia of Solomon, the Exorcist is to hold the Ring to his own nose. The powerful herbs on the Ring counters not only the odor of demons, but also the odor of the foul smelling substances used while conjuring demons. The exact words in my GoS are "This Ring is to be held before the face of the Exorcist to preserve him from The stinking fumes of spirits &c." I think this includes sulfur, brimstone, and assafoetida.

I have heard of crime scene investigators rubbing different salves and creams with menthol and similar substances on their nose and upper lip when investigating foul crime scenes. The menthol makes the odor more bearable. The herbs used on the Exorcist's ring may have a similar effect.

Now, I'm not saying to use Vicks VapoRub in place of the Ring of Solomon. I'm just pointing out the fact that the Ring of Solomon may need to be treated with a powerful herbal concoction to render it useful against foul suffumigations.

In closing this post I give you my version of the Goetic Ring of Solomon:

Reconstructing Solomon's Triangle

2011-06-18T18:48:00.002-07:00

I have been discovering occult blogs the last few days. You have the usual spells/home remedy type stuff. These have become more of a curiosity with all the over the counter remedies you can get these days. You have your harmonic alien chakra crystals. You have Thelemic treacle. There's the same introductory Runic lore you can find in old '80s paperbacks. And then...

Yesterday I read a blog post about the Triangle of Solomon. I highly recommend reading the post HERE.

The goal is to understand the Triangle of Solomon as it appears in the Goetia. The theory is that the original Triangle was in Hebrew.

While reading the blog I was reminded of a time back in the late '90s (on further reflection I believe it was '94 or 95) when I and a friend of mine decided we would attempt to reconstruct the original Magical Triangle of Solomon. Our reasoning was much like that in the article linked to, but with one difference.

For those of you who have clicked the link to read the article and comments, let me risk some redundancy.

We start the reconstruction of Solomon's Triangle with the word Tetragrammaton. Tetragrammaton is the unspeakable four letter name of God. Many books and websites detail this fact. Far too many sources to list here.

Since all three words around the triangle of Art have a similar ending, they probably represent three names of God.

Primeumaton is probably God's Prime (first or primary) name. The first and most commonly used name of God (in the Hebrew Old Testament) is Elohim.

This is the line of reasoning I followed and which seems to be the line of reasoning for the others who have tried to decipher the Triangle.

The last word of the Triangle is Anaphaxeton. Gilbert, in his excellent article breaks down the word Anaphaxeton into its separate parts and suggests AHYH as the possible original Hebrew name of God.

As I was in public high school at the time, and knew only the smattering of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew I could pick up from grimoires, I came to a very different conclusion about Anaphaxeton.

My only copy of the Goetia had a little section called "An Explanation of Solomon's Triangle". The line describing Anaphaxeton reads:

Anephezeton. Thou great God of all the Heavenly Host:

This implied to me that Anaphaxeton was related to the Heavenly Host. The one word that comes to mind is Tzabaoth.

The resulting Triangle of Solomon looks like this:

Back then I was using modern Hebrew characters, but thanks to Carroll "Poke" Runyon, I know to use older characters. When the words are substituted and read from the Tetragrammaton we have the words "YHVH Elohim Tzabaot". There is the ineffable Name and the Alpha and Omega (Aliph is the first letter of Elohim, and Tau is the last letter of Tzabaoth).

In The Key of Solomon the King (Clavicula Salomonis), Book 1, Chapter 5 there is a conjuration in which spirits are commanded by the many Names of God. After the list of names, the spirits are conjured

"by the troops of Angels who cease not to cry day and night, QADOSCH, QADOSCH, QADOSCH, ADONAI ELOHIM TZABAOTH"

In Chapter 9 of Book 1 there is an oration which reads in part:

Thou Who art seated upon the Kerubim and the Seraphim, in the high places, whereunto human understanding cannot penetrate: Thou Who hast created all things by Thine agency, in Whose Presence are the Living Creatures, of which four are marvellously volatile, which have six wings, and who incessantly cry aloud:

"QADOSH, QADOSH, QADOSH, ADONAI ELOHIM TZABAOTH, Heaven and Earth are full of Thy glory";

Both of these passages refer to Isaiah 6:1-4
¹In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD (YHVH) sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
²Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
³And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD (YHVH) of hosts (Tzabaoth): the whole earth is full of his glory.
⁴And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

The Adonai of the Key of Solomon is YHVH. You will notice the passage in Isaiah lacks the word Elohim while the Key of Solomon includes it, twice. I do not think that is a mistake. It is my belief that the magic circle is a symbolic representation of this vision of Isaiah.

The YHVH is in the center, surrounded by the Seraphim (four hexagrams). The 24 triangles (or wings) are the 24 hours of day and night (24 x 3 = 72).

Or that's the way I imagined it as a teenager. I still think it's a solid reconstruction. Let me know what you think.

UPDATE!
Since writing this post I came across a thread at www.evocationmagic.com
THIS post clearly shows a triangle strikingly similar to my own. I have conversed with the creator of this other Triangle. He also formulated his Triangle of Art in the '90s.

I also just found THIS cool picture of the Triangle at a blog I need to subscribe to. Very crafty stuff there.

I can now think of a couple slight changes that would make the Triangle even better. I don't know if or when I'll get around to drawing them up, but here's a quick explanation:
YHVH should form the base or foundation of the Triangle, opposite the K of MI-K-AL
ALHIM is now on the left with the A in some way highlighted so it stands out
TzBAUTh is on the right hand side of the Triangle with Th highlighted

This is your first and last, the ox and a cross (use the older letters).

All three names should be easily read from within the Circle.

Here's the updated version:
http://theoccultandmagick.blogspot.com/2012/05/triangle-of-solomon-take-three.html

Astrolabe Video on Ted.com

2011-06-01T03:14:00.000-07:00

While writing my recent article on Elemental Shields I noticed how out of touch people have become with the cycle of the year and even the progression of the seasons. We have come to such a point in social evolution that I even felt I had to explain why I chose green to represent spring and therefore the element of air. As you can see in the article, most people have become detached from the cycle of the year and the elements. They have removed themselves from the night sky and the elements so far that they cannot seem to name the seasons in the proper order or even point out polaris.

In my attempt to educate myself further on this subject I came across a book in Google Books written by Geoffrey Chaucer. The book is called Treatise on the Astrolabe. I started reading the book with the intention of building an astrolabe using cardboard and parchment. I have not gotten around to building the device yet, but I hope to get to it soon.

What struck me while reading Chaucer (I ended up reading more than the book linked to above) was that Chaucer knew the seasons, four winds, stars, constellations, and elemental attributes that confused Agrippa and Levi. Not only that, these things were better known by children in Chaucer's time than by so-called occultist today. While reading Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, bear in mind it was written for a boy who was ten or eleven years old (sources vary on this point).

I find I've written more than I planned to write. So, here's the video about the astrolabe on Ted.com. Hope you enjoy it.

After seeing the astrolabe in the video I now want to cast an astrolabe in clear or translucent resin.

Grimoire For The Apprentice Wizard: Elemental Shields

2011-05-20T18:37:00.003-07:00

One of the books I am currently reading is Grimoire For The Apprentice Wizard by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart. I'm not ready to give a full review of the book, but I thought I should mention a little something about the book's elemental and cardinal correspondences.

On page 120 of the book we are instructed to place four indicators in the cardinal directions. There are four small illustrations given as suggestion. They are four shields with astrological signs and the four alchemical symbols for the elements. When I first saw these I smiled because I was already making similar shields.

After looking over Oberon's shields I was confused. He placed Water in the West and has yellow for the color of Air. Oberon has, of course, used the four colors of the four houses of Hogwarts, so some license must be allowed for the use of color. And since modern people think of green as an Earth color, it makes sense that Oberon would assign it to the element Earth.

Oberon's Shields

	East
North		South
	West

But now, WHAT IF we were to try and make the four given colors, four elements, and twelve signs conform to the more ancient forms of Western Magic? This is the exercise at hand.

First we must note the attribution of the elements to the four cardinal directions that most people use today. The assignment of the elements to the quarters as used by the Golden Dawn, Oberon, and many Wiccans, can be traced to Eliphaz Levi's Transcendental Magic.

Since Eliphas Levi is not a real ancient source, maybe we should see what our GoTo man, Agrippa, has to say.

Agrippa's Shields

	East
North		South
	West

As you can see, Agrippa has Fire in the East, Water in the North, Air in the West and Earth to the South. I have to say I didn't see that coming. As for the colors, I have assigned the Hogwarts colors that I thought Agrippa would approve.

Looking at Agrippa's shields I wonder what he was thinking. Was his young brain just overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information he was exposed to? Did he just make a simple error? The world may never know.

How about those Rosicrucians and Alchemists (those guys that came before the Golden Dawn)? Should we make some shields representing their school of thought? Why not!

George Ripley's key as reprinted in Elias Ashmole's "Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum" looks like this:

As you can see, Ripley has assigned the elements and astrological signs to the four cardinal directions. All we have to do is assign the colors of the Houses of Hogwarts. And here they are...

Ripley's Shields

	East
North		South
	West

Of the three sets of shields produced so far, these shields probably conform most to the ancient arts of magic and alchemy. To make the shields more accurate, they should probably be red, yellow, black, and white. But then we wouldn't be sticking to the Harry Potter theme.

The assigning of green to Air is supported by the majority of sources that are more than 500 years old. If this assignment confuses you, just stop and imagine each shield represents a season. Moving clockwise from the spring Air in the East to the heat of summer in the South and then on through the dryness of autumn and wetness of winter. Also note the symmetry of the elemental symbols.

With this I conclude the exercise.

Resources:
Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
Transcendental Magic
Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy
Wikipedia Entry about Hogwarts
Oberon's Grey School

Lemegeton:

Charlemagne's Cipher

2011-05-05T13:46:00.001-07:00

While writing my recent article on the Theban Alphabet I was pleasantly surprised by something I recognized from my childhood. Like many young boys I was fascinated by Kings, knights, and crusades. This fascination sometimes crossed with my other interests, like codes and ciphers.

This cipher is the one Charlemagne used to pass messages to his generals. The cipher can easily be found in cryptography and cryptology books at your local library, but it may also be found in Johannes Trithemius' Polygraphia (1518).

The Theban Alphabet

2011-04-28T12:17:00.007-07:00

Entering high school I read and enjoyed Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft. I began writing notes in runes and then in the mysterious Theban Alphabet. All I knew about the Theban Alphabet is that it's used by many Witches AND IT LOOKS COOL!

This lasted only a few months and then I moved on to other things.

Recently, though, I have decided I should write my journals in some kind of alternate script. One script I am considering is the mysterious Theban Alphabet. So I thought I'd make a little blog post about the script.

And that's what it is, a script. It appears to be an alternate script for use with the Latin Alphabet.

The oldest known book containing the Theban Alphabet is Johannes Trithemius' Polygraphia (1518)

The Latin reads:

“Sequitur aliud alphabetum Honorii cognomento Thebani, cuius ministerio suas in magicis fatuitates abscondit, sicut Petrus de Apono testatur in suo maiore libro quarto" (Here follows another alphabet of Honorius surnamed the Theban, and the use thereof is for hiding the foolishness of his magic, as Petrus de Abano testifies in his greater fourth book.)

The 1561 edition shows the following forms for the letters:

Trithemius' student Agrippa would later include the Theban Alphabet in his Three Books Of Occult Philosophy (book 3 published 1533) (Read it online HERE)

Agrippa has the following to say of the origins of the Alphabet of Thebes:
"Ex horum itaque characterum genere sunt, quos notat Petrus Apponus ab Honorio Theba no traditos, quorum figura est talis ad nostrum alphabetum relata:"

“Of this kind of character therefore are those which Peter Apponus notes, as delivered by Honorius of Thebes, the figures whereof are such, being related to our Alphabet.”

Trithemius and Agrippa claim to have read about this alphabet in an older book of magic attributed to Peter Abano. In this book Peter Abano gives the alphabet and tells how its creator, Honorius the Theban, used the alphabet "for hiding the foolishness of his magic".

I wish I had Trithemius' library. It seems the book he and Agrippa cite has not survived down to the present day. So for now the source of the Theban Alphabet is Trithemius' Polygraphia.

The Theban Alphabet appeared in Francis Barrett's The Magus.

It is this form of the Theban Alphabet that was used by the Golden Dawn and from there passed down into Wicca by Gerald Gardner.

The last character of this alphabet contains the Alpha and Omega and is used as a period or full stop.

Source: http://histbest.ub.uni-leipzig.de/receive/UBLHistBestCBU_cbu_00000088