Liber 777 (revised) (pdf) - Holy Order of the Golden Dawn Canada

Endnotes
Notes to Crowley’s Preface
1 S.L. “MacGregor” Mathers.
2 A crude early attempt to tabulate the data of
Comparative Religion may be found in the table
which forms appendix IV of Rivers of Life by
J.G.R. Forlong (1883).
TRANSCRIBER’S ENDNOTES
3
The reference is probably to the Heptameron
seu elementa magica, a 16 th -century Grimoire of
planetary magick (published with the Fourth
Book of pseudo-Agrippa) deriving in part from
the Solomonic cycle and in part from the Liber
Juratus or Sworn Book of Honorius, a medieval
work on magick (not to be confused with the
early modern Grimoire of Honorius falsely attributed
to the third Pope of that name). Its
attribution to Pietro d’Abano (1253-1316) is
generally recognised as spurious. The
uncontested works of d’Abano do deal in part
with astrological images and the medical /
talismanic use of the same (vide Walker, Spiritual
and Demonic Magic and Yates, Giordano
Bruno), and he is occasionally cited as an
authority by Renaissance writers such as Ficino
and Agrippa; the material specifically attributed
to d’Abano in 777 is from the Heptameron,
although the images of the decans may be from
his genuine works.
4
A reference to the Golden Dawn. After swearing
a long and tortuously phrased Oath of Secrecy,
the Neophyte was issued a “Knowledge Lecture”
which consisted of the names and symbols of the
Elements, Planets and Signs along with the
Hebrew Alphabet and the names of the Sephiroth
in Hebrew.
5
The Lemegeton is a 17th-century compilation,
probably English, of magical texts attributed to
Solomon. The first book, Goetia, describes 72
“Evil Spirits” and gives instructions for evoking
them (it derives variously from the Key of
Solomon, the Heptameron, the Fourth Book of
pseudo-Agrippa and the Pseudomonarchia
Dæmonum published by Wier). Crowley
published an edition in 1904, from a text prepared
by Mathers which had circulated in MS. in the
145
Golden Dawn. In cols. CLV – CLXVI the spirits
are referred to the Decans by day and night.
The second book, Theurgia Goetia, lists 31
principal spirits, with an astronomical number of
subordinates of whom few are named; of the 31,
20 are referred to the points of the compass and
the other 11 are said to wander and have no fixed
place. They are said to be partly evil and party
good, hence the apparently oxymoronic title. It is
possible that the Theurgia-Goetia was based on
the Steganographia of Trithemius by someone
who did not realise that the latter was primarily a
work of cryptography.
The third book, Ars Paulina, contains a
catalogue of Angels for the 12 hours of the day
and night, and for the 12 signs and 360 degrees of
the Zodiac; they are also attributed to the seven
classical Planets.
The fourth book, Ars Almadel, is probably of
medieval origin: it divides up the powers it
summons into four “Altitudes”, seemingly
referred to the cardinal points of the Zodiac.
The “fifth book of the Lemegeton”, Ars Nova,
is rather a kind of appendix which appears in one
MS. where it occupies one and a half sides of a
single folio leaf: it contains an extended prayer
associated with the names on the circle and
triangle of the Goetia, possibly intended to be
spoken while drawing these, along with a short
and garbled conjuration containing some highly
corrupt Hebrew names, probably also connected
with the Goetia as it mentions the brazen vessel;
and finally, a lengthy curse targetted at anyone
who steals the book.
The Ars Nova is sometimes confused with the
Ars Notoria (Notary Art) attributed to Solomon,
which latter rather appears to be a medieval
magical derivative of classical art of memory,
based around the contemplation of images or
notæ while repeating prayers. The Ars Notoria
was condemned by Aquinas (cited in Yates, Art
of Memory) and various Renaissance writers such
as Erasmus and Agrippa (in De vanitate &c.);
Robert Turner produced an English translation
which was made less than useful by the omission
of the figures: this translation has been
incorporated into some later MSS. and printed
editions of the Lemegeton.