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Sepher Raziel: A Sixteenth Century English Grimoire by Don Karr and Stephen Skinner (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series, Volume 6: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) Sepher Raziel (also called Liber Salomenk) is not the same as the Hebrew Sepher Raziel ha-Melakh. It is a full grimoire in the Solomonic tradition from a 1564 century English manuscript, derived from Latin sources. As such it is one of the earliest grimoires produced in this series. It begins with directions for making the parchment, pen and ink of Art, required to write the names. It contains seven separate Treatises:

  1. Liber Clavis which is concerned with astrology and its correct use in magic, something long forgotten by modern astrologers, with the precise interactions between planets, Signs and Houses.
  2. The Ala outlines in four sections the magical virtues of stones, herbs and beasts, and words.
  3. The Tractatus Thymiamatus explains why incense is essential to magical operations, and the effect of various incenses on the spirits, with a list of the key perfumes and suffumigations. An Appendix gives the modern and botanical names.
  4. The Treatise of Times gives details of the correct hours of the day and night for each operation, with associated angels and the proper names of the Sun, Moon and planets to be used in each season. This is something left out of almost all other grimoires.
  5. The Treatise on Purity explains the exact preparations, and the reasons for ritual purity.
  6. Samaim is a treatise on the seven Heavens, with the names of their angels.
  7. The Book of Virtues and Miracles is a treatise on the Semiforas, the names of God, and how they are to be used in invocation to produce miraculous results.

Don Karr (RISD: BFA 1974; Cornell: MFA 1976) is the author of numerous articles on Jewish mysticism and its influence on the Western esoteric tradition; prominent among these is a series of bibliographic essays covering merkabah mysticism and hekhalot literature, Sefer Yetzirah, early kabbalah, the Zohar, later kabbalah including the Lurianic kabbalah, and Christian kabbalah. Other works include 'Knots and Spirals: Notes on the Emergence of Christian Cabala', `Approaching the Kabbalah of Maat: Altered Trees and the Procession of the Aeons' and 'The Methods of Maat: Sources for the Kabbalah of a Future Aeon.' Karr has also transcribed and edited several key works, making them available to the general public for the first time: Morton Smith's translation of Hekhalot Rabbati, British Library Sloane MS 3826, selected writings of Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont, and the Maatian writings of Ordo Adeptorum Invisiblum and 416. All of the works mentioned can be found online at Hermetic Kabbalah, edited by Colin Low, at: www.digital-brilliance.corn/kab/.

Don Karr's paintings can now be viewed at www.donkarr.net/index.html.

Stephen Skinner began his career as a geography lecturer. He wrote, with Francis King, the classic Techniques of High Magic in 1976, and later The Oracle of Geomancy and Terrestrial Astrology: Divinatory Geomancy. He edited Aleister Crowley's Magical Diaries and Astrology. Highly illustrated books on Nostradamus and Millennium Prophecies followed. He was responsible for stimulating the renewed interest in John Dee and Enochian magic by first re-publishing Meric Casaubon's True and Faithful Relation... in 1973. His recent books include two substantial reference books: The Complete Magician's Tables (also available from Llewellyn) and Guide to the Feng Shui Compass and the Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic series with David Rankine.  He has written more than 30 books, translated into more than twenty different languages.

Bibliographic Note

Note that despite similar names, the English grimoire Sepher Raziel: Liber Salomonis is quite different in content from the Hebrew Sepher Raziel haMelakh as edited by Steve Savedow in Sepher Rezial Hemelach: The Book of the Angel Rezial, Weiser, York Beach, 2000. The only thing they appear to have in common is the same source of angelic inspiration, and a few short passages. They represent two completely different 'Raziel' traditions.

Legendary Origins

The name of the Angel (or Archangel) Raziel means "secrets of God" and is therefore a most appropriate pseudepigraphical author for a book on magic. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Raziel's mission is as the "transmitter of secrets." Various spellings of his name include Raziel, Ratziel, Razial, Ratzial, Retziel, Reziel, and Rezial. The spelling of Sepher/ Cephar, will also vary.

The legend of the Sepher Raziel, or 'Book of Raziel', states that the book was originally inscribed on a sapphire stone.1 A copy was given to Seraph, then Metatron, then Adam. It is said that the angels (specifically the Cherubim) were upset that such knowledge was given to Adam, and so they descended to earth to steal the book back from him. This is an interesting echo of the idea that both angels, and their fallen brethren the demons, are unhappy that books of magic, containing formulae that can constrain them, have been made available to man. To ensure that the book would not be found again, the angels tossed it deep into the ocean. However, according to Jewish tradition, God ordered the archangel Raphael (or Rahab, according to some sources) to retrieve it, who then gave it to Noah to protect him during the flood. Eventually, after a number of adventures, it was given to King Solomon by a Babylonian prince (who is mentioned in the present manuscript on folio 2v). So much for the legend.

Hebrew Sources - the various Raziel Traditions

Because of this legend, the angel Raziel became a popular reference, and has generated a number of different pseudepigraphical books or Raziel traditions, which may be quite independent of each other:2

  • a) Sepher Raziel ha-Melakh, with sections drawn from Rabbi Eleazar of Worms (1160-1237) Sepher ha-Razim and Sepher ha-Shem.
  • b) Sepher Raziel (divided into chapters according to the Seven Heavens).
  • c) The 13th century rabbinical Sepher Raziel, with content from Rabbi Eleazar.
  • d) Cephar Raziel (containing Seven Treatises) - the present volume. Let us look at each of these separate Sepher Raziel books and traditions in turn:

a) Sepher Raziel ha-Melakh

The Hebrew Sepher Raziel ha-Melakh was published in 1701 in Amsterdam, and later reprinted nearly 40 times, probably because of the popular belief that the presence of the book in a house protected it from fire. This book has been translated into English by Steve Savedow as Sepher Rezial Hemelach, 'The Book of the Angel Rezial.' The present Raziel text and the one published by Steve Savedow are not closely related. The anonymous author of Sepher Raziel ha-Melakh acknowledges the fact that there are other Raziel books/traditions, although he claims (immodestly and probably incorrectly) to be their source:

"There are two [Raziel] books from other countries. I see mine is the original of all of them. They have all been copied from my book... Also included [in my Sepher Raziel ha-Melakh] is the smaller work of Eleazar [of Worms], son of Rabbi Judah who received the work of Merkabah [chariot] from the pious Rabbi Judah."

The Foreword explains that this book is in turn divided into 5 Parts:

i) Sepher ha-Malbush, the 'Book of the Vestment', gives the names of the seasons and of the Malachim (angels) ruling in every season, and every month, and every day. The names of the Heavens and Earth also change according to the season. This section also lists "every spirit and angel ministering over every sign of the zodiac, and the angels of the seven planets in every season, and days of the week." Book One page 7 of this Part has two paragraphs on the sacrifice of turtledoves, which are repeated in the present manuscript (37v-38r). Also pages 11-28 have a very similar structure to the present manuscript (44r-46v), but the names attributed are different.

ii) Sepher Raziel ha-Gadol, or 'Book of the Raziel the Great' is in 4 Parts and relates to Merkavah (chariot) mysticism. It draws a lot of its contents from the Sepher Yetzirah. Part 3 and 4 are concerned with the Kabbalah of Genesis, and the structure of the Universe. They have nothing in common with the present text.

iii) Sepher ha-Shem, or 'Book of the Holy Name' or Shem ha-Mephorash. This treats of 72 three letter divine names, but does not relate to the present Treatise on 'Semiforas', or to any other part of the present manuscript.

iv) Sepher ha-Razim, or 'Book of Mysteries' or 'Book of Magical Secrets.' Part 1: It seems much more likely that this section was taken from Eleazar of Worms' Sepher ha-Razim, rather than the other way around, as claimed by the anonymous author. 1 Anyway, only a subset of Sepher ha-Razim is incorporated here into Sepher Raziel ha-Melakh, and a much more cohesive, complete and useful version of the Sepher ha-Razim is that edited by Morgan.

Part 2: of Savedow's Sepher ha-Razim contains background Jewish cosmology.

Part 3: typically deals with the physiology and dimensions of god, drawing material from Shi'ur Qomah. Neither forms part of the present manuscript.

v) Sepher ha-Mazloth or 'Book of the Signs of the Zodiac' includes various charms, and the use of the 22-letter, and the 42-letter name of god. The illustrations which appear in this book, especially in this last section, do not appear in any of the other Sepher Raziels, but are often used as illustrations by writers on Jewish magic, like Joshua Trachtenberg, Gustav Davidson and David Goldstein.

b) Sepher Raziel (divided according to the Seven Heavens)

The sections in this particular group of Sepher Raziel manuscripts are divided up into chapters by the seven Jewish Heavens. This tradition is preserved in Italian manuscripts such as Alnwick MS 585 and Alnwick MS 596.

c) The 13th century Rabbinical Sepher Raziel

Perhaps the best Hebrew version of the Rabbinical Sepher Raziel is found in Additional MS 15299, a 13th century manuscript, beautifully executed in very clear Hebrew on large parchment folios. This particular manuscript was owned by Prince Augustus Frederick, the Duke of Sussex (1773-1843) who was the son of King George III. The Duke was also one of the early Grand Masters of Freemasonry, President of the Royal Society, and supportive of the cause of the Jews in England.

After the Duke's death the manuscript was bought by the British Museum in 1844. The second half of that manuscript (ff.133-153) also contains a commentary explaining the magical (rather than philosophical) uses of the Sepher Yetzirah by Rabbi Eleazar of Worms, material later thought relevant to Golem making.

Probably as a result of that inclusion, Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, in Legends of the Jews, attributed the whole of Sepher Raziel to Rabbi Eleazar of Worms (11601237), otherwise known as Rabbi Eleazar of Germiza, or Rabbi Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymus of Worms. He maintained that Eleazar had preserved some of the wisdom of the Geonic period 2 in this book. This assertion was repeated by Joshua Trachtenberg.3 This attribution is however probably only partly true; as one book by Eleazar called Sodei Razya (tit r1 "Tit 'Secret of Secrets') became part of the Sepher Raziel ha-Gadol published in Sepher Raziel ha-Melakh in 1701. The Sepher ha-Shem ('Book of the Name') on the 22-letter Name of god is also attributed to him, and has had some input into the Sepher Raziel. This version of the Sepher Raziel was probably compiled in the thirteenth century. We have no indication that the Sepher Raziel which Ginzberg and Trachtenberg refer to is related to the present manuscript.

It remains for further research to identify to what extent Rabbi Eleazar was responsible for each of the different Raziel traditions.

d) Cephar Raziel (containing Seven Treatises)

The present text is divided into seven Treatises. It is quite different in structure and content to the preceding three types of Sepher Raziel. It does however have an amount of Hebrew content, and even uses the Hebrew word for heavens, Samaim, as the title of one of its seven constituent Treatises. Repeated references to purity and chastity, and the description of the sacrifice of turtledoves, suggest Jewish roots. Having said that, the few examples of Hebrew writing in the present manuscript are execrable, and so it is certain that the English scribe did not know Hebrew. One Latin version from which the English version may have been translated, on the other hand, has quite competent Hebrew orthography. This suggests that the roots of the present manuscript were probably a Hebrew original, filtered through a Latin intermediary, to the present Middle English version. We will now just concentrate upon this last version of Sepher Raziel (in seven Treatises), which exists in at least seven manuscripts (see Bibliography).

Sloane MS 3826: The present manuscript of Sepher Raziel is in English. It has been translated from Latin, and is written in a sixteenth century hand, which is superficially like that of Edward Kelley.  Each subsection begins with an opening Latin tag line, which was designed to facilitate reference back to the Latin original.

The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon: From an Original Talismanic Grimoire in Full Color by Ebenezer Sibley and Frederick Hockley by Joseph H Peterson (Ibis) The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon is one of several notebooks from the estate of Ebenezer Sibley, transcribed under the direction of Frederic Hockley (1808-1885). Sibley was a prominent physician and an influential author, who complemented his scientific studies with writings on the “deeper truths” including magic, astrology, alchemy, and hypnotherapy. Both Sibley and Hockley were major inspirations in the occult revival of the past two centuries, influencing A.E. Waite, S.L. Mathers, Aleister Crowley, as well as the Golden Dawn, Rosicrucian, and Masonic movements. This collection reflects Sibley’s teachings on the practical use of celestial influences and harmonies. The Clavis contains clear and systematic instructions for constructing magical tools and pentacles for many practical purposes. It includes eight separate magical texts: The Mysterious Ring, Experiments of the Spirits, Birto, Vassago, Agares, Bealpharos, The Wheel of Wisdom, and the Complete Book of Magic Science. The manuscript reproduced here is the most accurate and complete known, very beautifully and carefully written complete with extraordinary hand-colored seals and colored handwritten text. 282 color pages with a color fold-out and a huge index.

 Most of the texts in this collection were probably obtained in 1799 by antiquarian bookseller John Denley (d. 1842) along with other items from Sibly's estate. Sibly had hoped that his collection would be preserved as a working library after his death, but it was quickly sold off. Fortunately Hockley, working for Denley early in the century, made manuscript copies of these and other texts for resale. At the same time Hockley was able to assemble a substantial collection of rare texts for himself. Both Sibly and Hockley were major inspirations in the occult revival of the past two centuries, influencing A. E. Waite, S. L. Mathers, W. Wynn Wescott, Aleister Crowley, as well as the Golden Dawn, Rosicrucian, and Masonic movements.

This collection includes eight independent texts. They generally reflect Sibly's teachings on the practical use of celestial influences and harmonies, although his undisputed writings denounce the commerce with spirits so prevalent here. The Clavis contains clear and systematic instructions for constructing magical tools and pentacles for many practical purposes. The Mysterious Ring gives directions for preparing magic rings. Experiments of the Spirits Birto, Vassago, Agares, and Bealpharos, show how to call upon angels and spirits, and crystal scrying. The Wheel of Wisdom gives concise directions for using celestial harmonies. The final text, the Complete Book of Magic Science, is closely akin to the Secret Grimoire of Turiel, but more complete; Hockley claimed authorship himself, drawing on a variety of sources.

The manuscript reproduced here is the most accurate and complete known, very beautifully and carefully written, with extraordinary hand-colored seals and colored handwritten text. Given the inclusion of the final text, it must have been copied by one of Frederick Hockley's friends from one or more of his autograph exemplars. He was known to have held this collection in high regard, and only rarely lent it and other texts to people he could trust so they could make copies, chiding them when they hurried themselves too much to make good copies.

Contents of the text.

Introduction. The introduction was purportedly written by Ebenezer Sibly. It quotes from a 1764 edition of Jakob Böhme, and also includes quotations from Arbatel.

Frontispiece. This page has various seals and ritual implements. These are all taken from Sibly's New and Complete Illustration of the Occult Sciences, Book 4 (1787, opposite p. 1102). Sibly took most of these from Reginald Scots's highly influential Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584, expanded edition 1665).

Clavis. The first text is The Clavis or Key to Unlock the Mysteries of Magic of Rabbi Solomon. John Denley's A catalogue of books & manuscripts . . . London, 1820, listed "the whole of the late Dr. Sibly's occult manuscripts." The Clavis is number 6 of the 17 Sibly manuscripts. It is described as an elegant quarto in calf, with 3 articles: "1st The Clavis, or Key to Unlock the Mysteries of Magick of Rabby [sic] Solomon, translated from the Hebrew into French, and from French rendered into English, with additions by Ebenzer [sic] Sibly, M. D. Fellow of the Harmoniac Philosophical Society at Paris, the whole enriched with Figures, Talismans, Pentacles, Circles, and Characters, &c.; 2nd An Experiment of the Spirit Birto, as bath been often proved, at the instant request of Edward 4th King of England; 3rd The Wheel of Wisdom, with its Key and Full Directions for its Use and Magical Operations, together with a Familiar Example for its Application. Hockley described the Sibley copy as dated 1793, and "exquisitely done by a profess!" (presumably meaning a professional calligrapher). Hockley apparently made a copy which appeared in Denley's 1822 catalog (for the considerable sum of £20). He made another copy in 1836.4 It claims to have been translated from an older French manuscript by Sibley himself. Various French and English versions of the text have been identified.5 It is evident from comparing the exemplars that the text was adapted and expanded during its history. Substantially the same is the printed Les Véritables clavicules de Salomon, tr. par Pierre Mora, Paris, H. Daragon, 1914, and the earliest version probably resembled this Mora edition in having only one pentacle for each planet, derived from Petrus de Abano's Heptameron. Later versions were reorganized somewhat, and the number of pentacles greatly increased. Many of these "supplementary" pentacles are found in the core exemplars used by Mathers in his edition of The Key of Solomon (1889). Many others are found in Lans. MSS 1202 and 1203; these manuscripts were heavily used by Mathers in preparing his edition, but he generally omitted pentacles that were not in the majority of manuscripts consulted. See table in appendix 1. The main text of the Clavis consists of ten numbered chapters, giving detailed instructions on the preparations. This is followed by unnumbered sections, giving the specifics and pentacles for each of the seven traditional planets (pages 53-182). The text refers to the latter part as the "sequel of this book." Hock-ley quotes from part of this text early in his collection of Occult Spells, which he began in 1829,6 as well as his Crystaliomancy.

Hockley also stated that Rabbi Solomon's Clavis was a major source of material (along with Heinrich Agrippa) for Francis Barrett's influential book The Magus, all the materials for which were lent to him by Denley. In spite of this assertion, I find no evidence that Barrett used Clavis directly, but rather quoted extensively from the same source materials, namely, Agrippa and Petrus de Abano. In fact Hockley's statement would be better applied to his own book The`Complete Book of Magic Science, on which see below. Wellcome MS 4670 is a French manuscript of a closely related text, though apparently not the direct ancestor of Sibley's Clovis.'

The Mysterious Ring. This text is also found in Pierre Mora (1914, pp. 69-79.) Although slightly obscured by the translator, the method serves for preparing rings consecrated to any of the seven traditional planets, and each can serve to help access the qualities attributed to that planet (such as Venus for love). A greatly simplified version is also found in Grimorium Verum.

Experiment of the Spirit Birto. The next four texts, Experiments of Birto, Agares, Vassago, etc. are known from older sources, as well as another Hockley manuscript (Wellcome MS 2842, dated 1829). They often are found together, but not always, and then not always in the same order. These experiments are also included in the sixteenth century British Library manuscript Sloane 3824.11 The experiment of Birto is found by itself in Bodleian MS Rawl. D254, where it is described as "an experiment sayd to be made by Roger Bacon, viz. Fryer Bacon, that a spirit, appere to thee & to be don in a wood or secret place, or in a cleere faire chamber with a window towards the East.

Vassago. Hockley also incorporated some of this text in his Crystaliomancy. Vassago is the third goetic spirit listed in the Lesser Key of Solomon, after Baal and Agares, but the sigil differs somewhat from that found here. Like many others, I was curious about the inclusion of a second version of the seal of Vassago in Waite's recap of the Lesser Key in his Book of Black Magic (1898, plate X). He described it as "seal of Vassago used in white magic," but gave little explanation. His earlier book The Occult Sciences (1891, pp. 103-8) provides the context though, for he includes extensive quotations, and cites Hockley as the source. Vassago is one of the very few goetic spirits that does not also appear in Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum.

Agares. Second spirit listed in Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, and Lesser Key. Spelled Agarat in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS 0.8.29, fos 179-182v° (sixteenth century) le Livre des esperitz, lequel fut manifesto au saige Salomon.

Bealpharos. A version of this experiment appears in Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, pp. 242 ff, but Scot's text is considerably different. It is obvious Sibley was instead following a text more akin to Sloane 3824. Hockley also recognized this difference in his preface to W3203, where he wrote, "This differs from the Conjuration of Bealpharos in Scot's Discovery [sic] of Witchcraft, Book XV p. 296 Edit 1657 — first published in 1584 BL."

The Wheel of Wisdom. Hockley made a copy of this "from the autograph of Dr. Sibley" in 1834; it is currently in the High Council library of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.). This is also found in a collection of manuscripts that Hockley had his friend Henry Dawson Lea prepare (Wellcome 3203). It is based on Agrippa. Interestingly, the diagram is also in the Italian manuscript Sloane 1307 (seventeenth century, fol. 118r), but without any of the explanatory text found here. See appendix 2. Sloane 1307 was one of the manuscripts Mathers used in preparing his edition of the Key of Solomon.

The Complete Book of Magic Science. The last text, Complete Book of Magic Science, was composed by Hockley himself. He wrote in a letter to his friend Major Francis George Irwin, that it was "one of my particular babes for at Denley's suggestion I made up the MS from other sources & made him several copies one after another." Hockley described copies of Clovis and Complete Book of Magic Science as having been correctly prepared by Mr. Fryer — presumably the bookseller Robert Fryar — and "worth the money he charges," 30/- and 15/- respectively." As mentioned above, it is closely akin to the Secret Grimoire of Turiel, but more complete. It is also substantially the same as the one recently published by Teitan Press. The version in the Weiser manuscript however has important differences:

  • Teitan title page claims it was "translated from an ancient Latin ms. in red and black 1519." As the editor Dietrich Bergman points out, the extent of the Latin corruptions makes this highly unlikely. The W manuscript claim is more modest: "transcribed from an ancient ms in red and chek. 1573." The obvious dependence on Arbatel rules out dates earlier than 1575. In any event Hockley claimed it as his own nineteenth century compilation.
  • The incenses in W closely follow those in the Clovis text, which in turn follow Agrippa. Those in the Teitan edition and Turiel have been incorrectly attributed to the planets.
  • The directions on sprinkling were probably taken from Scot 1584, which was in turn taken from the Ordinary of the Tridentine Mass.

Given these and other major differences in W, Teitan, MPH, and Turiel, it is obvious that the text underwent some evolution after the initial copies were produced. Based on the fuller text, closer agreement with earlier texts, and other differences described below in the notes, the version in W is probably closest to original version.

Manly P. Hall's Secret Teachings of All Ages also quotes a few passages from the Complete Book of Magic Science. His bibliography cites it as: "Complete Book of Magic Science (London, 1575). (Copy of British Museum Manuscript)", but I have not been able to identify a copy there. Hall also states that it is referred to in Francis Barrett's The Magus, but that also does not seem to be the case, and in fact is contradicted by Hockley's statement that he compiled the work himself.

Sibly and his involvement.

Ebenezer Sibly (1751-1799), was "one of the most influential occultists in modern English history.  His numerous publications were very popular and attracted "disciples to London seeking instruction." Although it seems certain that the prototypes for most of these texts came from Sibly's estate, and were in his handwriting, I am not entirely convinced that Sibly was directly involved in translating the text, or in authoring the introduction for that matter. One argument against it arises from the defective state of the Latin, and the awkwardness of some of the French translations. From what I can tell, Sibly was an accomplished translator, including a translation of Michael Sendivogius (Michal Sedziwój) from the French, Bernard Trevisan, and Heinrich Khunrath.

Several of Sibly's works deal explicitly with magic. Most have similar titles, are beautifully illustrated, and for the most part rework the same material. Much of the magical material in his printed works was drawn from the expanded 1665 edition of Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft.

Sibly's printed texts almost always use the "Sibly" spelling, not "Sibley," although the engraving of the magical instruments uses the latter (see reproduction in appendix 2). Hockley's frequent references to him almost always use the spelling "Sibley," as do A. E. Waite and W. B. Yeats. This may be an hint that these texts were widely known.

Hockley and his involvement.

As mentioned earlier, Frederick Hockley was widely known and respected by his contemporaries as an expert in occultism, and played a considerable role in its revival in the nineteenth century. Although his main source of income seems to have been accounting, he practiced astrology, and was part of an enduring network of astrologers. More importantly for us, however, was his lifelong passion for occult books and scrying. Both probably originated with his employment with bookseller and publisher John Denley (1764-1842). This employment apparently began when he was only thirteen or fourteen, for his earliest copy of Sibley's Clavis appeared in Denley's 1822 catalogue. One of his copies of the Wheel of Wisdom dates to 1824, and he went on to amass a large collection of manuscript copies that way. 1824 was also the year that he was given his first crystal, and began a lifelong obsession with scrying. His scrying records eventually occupied thirty volumes. Hockley employed a medium for his most successful experiments. He had various crystals and mirrors, some consecrated to specific spirits. He was known as a "maker of crystals and mirrors," and he supplied one to the famous adventurer Richard Burton in July of 1852. Hockley often lent out books from his considerable collection, and it became an important resource to his circle of acquaintances and successors. Waite specifically cites Hockley as an authority and "one of the most successful" practitioners of crystallomancy. He also quotes from him, and praised his collection and transcriptions, describing him as "a practical student of several branches of magic. Israel Regardie makes similar statements in his writings. According to one account, the foundational rituals of the Golden Dawn were based on Hockley's papers, via one of the founding members, Adolphus F. A. Woodward, who was a friend of Hockley's.

In publishing this collection of magical texts, we were faced with the dilemma of whether to try to critically establish a "reconstruction" of Hockley's prototype. One argument against it is the observation that Hockley evidently exercised a certain amount of license as he copied texts, often making minor changes in phrasing, word order, and punctuation. Fortunately it turned out to be relatively straightforward to resolve most of the significant (or "substantive") differences. In keeping with editorial trends of the last three decades, I have not attempted to modernize the text. For the most part the Weiser manuscript has been followed, except for substantive deviations that can be critically established from the limited number of available witnesses.

The situation is a little different with the Complete Book of Magic Science, since there are fewer exemplars, and the differences are more significant. For this text, I have mostly followed the W manuscript.

Volume 1 - Practical Angel Magic of Dr John Dee's Enochian Tables: Tabularum Bonorum Angelorum Invocationes as Used by Wynn Westcott, Alan Bennett, Reverend Ayto by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) Dr Dee's last book of angelic invocations, kept in Latin, developed by a 17th century magician into a fully working magical system. Much more material than in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Stephen Skinner has been interested in magic for as long as he can remember. He wrote, with Francis King, the classic "Techniques of High Magic" in 1976. He followed that with "Oracle of Geomancy and Terrestrial Astrology" which has become the standard work on Western divinatory geomancy. Books on Nostradamus and Millennium Prophecies followed in highly illustrated editions. Stephen is also the author of eight books on feng shui, including the first one written in English in the 20th century. In the 1970s he was responsible for stimulating interest in John Dee and Enochian magic by publishing the first reprint of Casaubon's "True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Yeers between Dr John Dee and some Spirits", and Dr Donald Laycock's key reference book on the angelic language "The Complete Enochian Dictionary". With David Rankine, he discovered what happened to Dee's most important manuscript, his personal book of angelic invocations which he kept in Latin, and how it was preserved and developed in the 17th century into a full working Enochian system. Only ten percent of this material reached the unpublished archives of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and even this was then suppressed by the chiefs of the Order, so it did not appear in Israel Regardie's monumental work on the Order rituals and documents. They have also traced the routes down which were passed the classic techniques of invocation and evocation from late mediaeval grimoires, through Dee's magic, via Ashmole, and the aristocratic angel magicians of the 17th century, and Frederick Hockley to the senior magicians of the Golden Dawn.

Volume 2 - The Keys to the Gateway of Magic: Summoning the Solomonic Archangels and Demon Princes by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine(Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) Dr Thomas Rudd's Nine Great Keys, a rare early 17th century grimoire detailing the invocation of the Archangels and the nine Orders of Angels, as well as the four Demon Princes.

This classic text of the Nine Great Keys details the invocation of the Archangels, the full hierarchy of spiritual beings (including Olympic Spirits and Elementals) and the evocation of the four Demon Princes.

Highly sought-after, this edition of a rare early seventeenth century grimioire has never before appeared in English. Occult scholar Stephen Skinner, along with magician and author David Rankine, trace the history of the Keys and offer full transcriptions of four key seventeenth century manuscripts in the British Library and in the Bodleian Library.

Volume 3 - The Goetia of Dr Rudd: The Angels & Demons of Liber Malorum Spirituum Seu Goetia Lemegeton Clavicula Salomanis  by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) The Lemegeton including Liber Malorum Spirituum seu Goetia, Ars Amandel, Theurgia-Goetia and Ars Paulina, as it was used by 17th century magicians, including the 72 Shemhamphorash angel seals.

The Goetia (Lemegeton) is perhaps the most famous grimoire after the Key of Solomon. This volume contains a transcription of a hitherto unpublished manuscript of the Lemegeton includes four whole grimoires: Liber Malorum Spituum seu Goetia Theurgia-Goetia Ars Paulina (Books 1 & 2) Ars Almadel This manuscript was owned by Dr. Thomas Rudd, a practicing scholar-magician of the early seventeenth century who knew Dr. John Dee. There are many editions of the Goetia, of which the most definitive is that of Joseph Peterson, but this volume shows how the Goetia was actually used by practicing magicians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, before the knowledge of practical magic faded into obscurity. For example, to evoke the seventy-two demons of the Geotia, or the many other spirits listed here, requires more knowledge than is included in the grimoires themselves. It was well-known in times past that invocatio and ligatio, or binding, was a key part of evocation, but in the modern editions of the Goetia this key technique is expressed in just one word "Shemhamphorash," and its use is not explained. This volume explains how the 72 angels of the Shemhamphorash are used to bind the spirits, and the correct procedure for safely invoking them using dual seals with the necessary angel seal and Psalm. Also, for the first time, the exact form and use of the breastplate and Brass Vessel is explained.

Volume 4 - The Veritable Key of Solomon by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine  (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) The most famous and significant of all Grimoires, including three complete manuscripts translated from the French, containing many pentacles, and a full description of the practices.

Completely new and richly detailed, this is perhaps the most comprehensive version of The Key of Solomon ever published. Based on one of the best-known grimoires of the Western world, The Veritable Key of Solomon presents all aspects of this revered magical system in one impressive source.

Based on the original Key of Solomon manuscript, this brand new text features never-before-published material and added detail. Over 160 illustrations beautifully complement the elements of this complete and workable system of high magic, from a broad range of talismans and techniques to magical implements and procedures.

Also featured is a commentary by two of the best-known scholar magicians alive—Stephen Skinner and David Rankine—who offer a full survey of all extant manuscripts of this famous grimoire and an exploration of how they interrelate.

Volume 5 - Grimoire of St Cyprian Clavis Inferni by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) A very rare grimoire allegedly by St. Cyprian, but including many Solomonic strands. 96pp, 7 colour plates.

There have been many grimoires attributed to St Cyprian of Antioch due to his reputation as a consummate magician before his conversion to Christianity, but perhaps none so intriguing as the present manuscript. This unique manuscript (unlike the more rustic examples attributed to St Cyprian called the Black Books of Wittenburg, as found in Scandinavia, or the texts disseminated under his name in Spain and Portugal) is directly in line with the Solomonic tradition, and therefore relevant to our present series of Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic. It is unique in that instead of being weighed down with many prayers and conjurations it addresses the summoning and use of both the four Archangels, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel as well as their opposite numbers, the four Demon Kings, Paymon, Maimon, Egyn and Oriens. The later are shown in their animal and human forms along with their sigils, a resource unique amongst grimoires. The text is in a mixture of three magical scripts, Greek, Hebrew, cipher, Latin, (and reversed Latin) with many contractions and short forms, but expanded and made plain by the editors. The title literally means 'The Key of Hell with white and black magic as proven by Metatron'.

 

other titles of note

The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon: From an Original Talismanic Grimoire in Full Color by Ebenezer Sibley and Frederick Hockley by Joseph H Peterson (Ibis)

Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic

by Stephen Skinner & David Rankine

Volume 1 - Practical Angel Magic of Dr John Dee's Enochian Tables: Tabularum Bonorum Angelorum Invocationes as Used by Wynn Westcott, Alan Bennett, Reverend Ayto by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) Dr Dee's last book of angelic invocations, kept in Latin, developed by a 17th century magician into a fully working magical system. Much more material than in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. See

Volume 2 - The Keys to the Gateway of Magic: Summoning the Solomonic Archangels and Demon Princes by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine(Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) Dr Thomas Rudd's Nine Great Keys, a rare early 17th century grimoire detailing the invocation of the Archangels and the nine Orders of Angels, as well as the four Demon Princes. See

Volume 3 - The Goetia of Dr Rudd: The Angels & Demons of Liber Malorum Spirituum Seu Goetia Lemegeton Clavicula Salomanis  by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) The Lemegeton including Liber Malorum Spirituum seu Goetia, Ars Amandel, Theurgia-Goetia and Ars Paulina, as it was used by 17th century magicians, including the 72 Shemhamphorash angel seals. See

Volume 4 - The Veritable Key of Solomon by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine  (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) The most famous and significant of all Grimoires, including three complete manuscripts translated from the French, containing many pentacles, and a full description of the practices. See

Volume 5 - Grimoire of St Cyprian Clavis Inferni by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) A very rare grimoire allegedly by St. Cyprian, but including many Solomonic strands. 96pp, 7 colour plates. See

Volume 6 - Sepher Raziel: Liber Salomonis - edited by Don Karr & Stephen Skinner (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic Series: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn Worldwide) Full 1564 century grimoire with original text and commentary. Not the same as Sepher Raziel HaMelach.

other works

The Complete Magician's Tables by Stephen Skinner (Llewellyn Worldwide) More than 800 tables, the most complete set of correspondences covering magic, astrology, divination, alchemy, Tarot, Kabbalah, Gematria, grimoires, angels, demons, pagan pantheons, plants, perfumes, incenses, religious and mystical correspondences ever published. 448 pages, 19 illustrations.

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