Mysterious Ancient Magic: Incredible Spells, Incantations and Curses from Five Forgotten Texts
Since the shadows of pre history, humanity has had beliefs in higher powers, Gods and Demons,and strange magical forces beyond human understanding. The use of spells and incantations crops up again and again across cultures to summon these Gods, Demonic entities, and magical energies.
These special spells and incantation rituals are often discovered written down in ancient influential texts or secret “Grimoires” (books of magic). Many occult or secret organisations today in the twentieth century have knowledge of these fascinating ancient texts, and they are commonly used as the inspiration for their own belief systems and rituals.
Even just as a purely anthropological curiousity these forgotten books are fascinating; and to the trainee witch or wizard they can prove an invaluable source of esoteric knowledge- if you are prepared to dig deep enough into their meanings, and remember that they are of their time.
Here are Five Incredible Books of ancient Incantations, spells, curses, rituals and knowledge:
The Ars Notoria
The Book of Abramelin the Mage
Arbatel
Picatrix
Pseudomonarchia Daemonum
The Ars Notoria
The Ars Notoria is an ancient text which purports to bestow upon the practitioner the powers of a perfect memory and the mastery of Academia...Anyone taking exams right now? This may be the Grimoire for you!
Exams aside, this is actually a very serious text, part of a larger collection of ancient texts, known as The Lesser Keys of Solomon – an anonymous 17th Century work which was complied from other even older works and deals primarily with demonology. The texts appearing in the Ars Notoria are actually the oldest in the Lesser Keys collection, and may date back to well before the 1200's.So this is a very ancient work indeed!
Users of this book are offered great eloquence, wisdom, and a perfect memory. There are incantations and prayers in several languages, Hebrew, Greek,and Latin, all with the focus on strengthening and focusing one's mental prowess by asking the Gods to bestow intellectual gifts upon the magician.
Methods of visualisation, contemplation and incantations are described in great detail- promising Mathematicians, Philosophers and aspiring practitioners of all other academic disciplines mastery and renown in their chosen field.
Arbatel
The Arbatel de Magia Veterum, or, Arbatel: Of The Magic of the Ancients, is a textbook of magic written and complied in the Renaissance period. It was one of the most interesting and influential works of its time, and is an upbeat positive text, containg varied spiritual advice and guidance on how to live a good and honourable life. There are no dark curses or malicious spells in this manuscript, just sound honest wisdom, focusing on nature and man's relationship to it- and also our relationship with the celestial world and the interactions between the two.
The Arbatel is thought to have been written in 1575 AD,possibly by a man called Jacques Gohory, although this is not proven. If Jacques Gohory was the author then he was most likely a Paracelsian, part of a group who followed the medical teachings and therapies of Paracelsus.
The Pseudomonarchia Daemonum
Devils, Demons,and Dangerous creatures...I'm fascinated already...
The Pseudomonarchia Daemonum is also known as the False Hierarchy of Demons. It is an ancient 16th Century compendium naming the names of no less than sixty- nine demons!
This list of illustrious and devilish demons originally appeared as a mere appendix to a book about witchcraft and demonology by a man named Johan Weyer, a Dutch Doctor and practitioner of the occult. Weyer was a student of a famous Magician and theologian based in Antwerp called Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa.
It was whilst working with Agrippa that Weyer became fascinated with magic and the occult, and he actually tried to defend people on trial for witchcraft, stating that although he believed in real demons and magicians, the poor souls burnt at the stake were instead merely mentally ill. Unfortunately it seems that Weyers efforts to help the accused witches were predominantly ignored.
The Book of Abramelin the Mage
The Book of Abramelin the Mage is also known as the Esoteric Grimoire of Kabbalistic Knowledge. Written in the 14th- 15th Centuries it is essentially an autobiography of a magicians apprentice called Abraham of Worms. Abraham, a German Jew, writes the book to pass on his magical and kabbalistic knowledge to his son, Lamech, and tells the story of how he became a Mage.
The narration of The Book of Abramelin the Mage begins with the death of Abrahams father. Abraham describes how his father gave him instructions concerning how to aquire the knowledge of the Holy Qabalah” just before he passed away. Wishing to aquire this knowledge, Abraham travelled to Mayence, otherwise known as Mainz, to study under a Rabbi named Moses. He stayed with Moses and learned much wisdom from him over the course of four years, after which he travelled for six years and eventually ended up in Eygpt.
In Egypt Abraham met Abramelin the Mage, a powerful Egyptian Mage living in the desert outside of the Egyptian town of Arachi/Araki. It is said that Abramelin revealed to Abraham the secrets of his kabbalistic magic, and entrusted him with two manuscripts to copy and pass on to the world. The “Abramelin Operation” is one of the highlights of the Grimoire, an elaborate magical ritual which enables, it is claimed, a Mage to gain the knowledge of his or her Guardian Angel, and the ability to converse with them.
The secret manuscript of Abramelin the Mage is beloved by occult organisations such as The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and inspires Aleister Crowley's mystical Thelema System.
Picatrix
The Picatrix dates back to the 10th or 11th Century and is an ancient Arabian book of Astrology and Occult magic. This text was originally written in Arabic, and titled Ghayat al- akim, which translates roughly to “The Goal of the Wise” or “The Aim of the Sage”. Over time the original Arabic was translated into Spanish and later on it was translated once again into Latin in 1256 for Alfonso the Wise, a Castilian king.
The Picatrix is a truly enthralling read.It has spells and incanatations featuring almost every conceivable wish or desire, with many cryptic astrological descriptions to decipher. It is a notorious book, with many gruesome and shocking magical recipes in it – and probably for this reason it has proved quite popular in various circles- and has been translated into many languages and used by occult followers from diverse backgrounds across the world.
The text of the Picatrix has an astrological bent, combining magical spells and the stars. There are a whole variety of shockingly gruesome concoctions aimed at altering your state of conciousness, having out of body experiences, even killing yourself or someone else. Spell ingredients include such things as: Bodily excretions,blood,brain matter,opium,hashish, and other psychoactive plants. This is not a potion book for the faint hearted and should be “used” with caution!
An example of one of the delightful potions discovered within the Picatrix-
A spell for “Generating Emnity and Discord”:
“Take four onces of the blood of a black dog, two ounces each of pigs blood and brains, and one ounce of donkey brains.Mixall this together until well blended.When you give this medicine to someone in food or drink,he will hate you.”
No kidding! I'll hate you all right…Donkey brains indeed!!?
These five fascinating Grimoires of arcane knowledge contain the spells, incantations and curses of the Ancients. They are well worth further study!
