The Book of ceremonial Magic

We come now to the Enchiridion of Pope Leo III., which, as already indicated, is not a
book of Ceremonial Magic; it is necessary, however, to include it in this notice, and to
analyse it at some length, so as to establish its true character. Misconceptions and
mistakes upon a subject so obscure as Magical Rituals are, speaking generally, excusable
enough, but in this case they are found where they are not excusable, namely, among
those persons who have undertaken to give account of the work. Catholic bibliographers
of the occult sciences, or at least the anonymous author of the occult encyclopædia in
Migne's great series, are very angry at the pontifical attribution, and stigmatise the
Enchiridion as an infamous storehouse of Black Magic. Éliphas Lévi, who may possibly
have read it--because occasionally he seems to have glanced at his authors--magnifies its
occult importance by stating that it has never been printed with its true figures. In the
absence of all evidence on this point, it is impossible to entertain it seriously. The
Enchiridion is assuredly not a book of Black Magic, nor does it lend itself to the
introduction of other figures than those which appear in it, and these are few and simple.
Finally, Alfred Maury, in La Magie et l'Astrologie dans l'Antiquité et au Moyen Age,
describes the Enchiridion as a work on Sorcery, bearing traces of Neo-Platonic, and even
older, influences. He also evidently had not read it, and is a personage
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of sufficient consequence to deserve severe censure for following such an evil principle
of criticism.
The legend of the Enchiridion is as follows. When Charlemagne was leaving Rome after
his coronation by Leo III., that pontiff presented him with a memorial of the visit in the
shape of a collection of prayers, to which wonderful virtues were attributed. Whosoever
bore the little work upon his person with the respect due to Holy Scripture, who also
recited it daily to the honour of God, would never be overcome by his enemies, would
pass unscathed through all perils, and the Divine protection would abide with him to. the
end of his days. These things took place in the year 800. In the year 1523 the Enchiridion
is supposed to have been printed at Rome for the first time. Thus broadly outlined, there
is nothing in this legend to offend possibility or to raise very serious objection to the
authorship. The reputed connection with occult science would indeed seem the chief
presumption against it, because there never was a literature so founded in forgery as that
of Magic, except the sister science of physical Alchemy. When we come, however, to
examine the work at first hand, the case against it assumes a different aspect, and it is
condemned out of its own mouth. While it is not a Ritual of Magic, it is also certainly not
a simple collection of devotions designed to fortify the person making use of them
against dangers of body and soul by the operation of Divine Grace; it is rather a
collection of charms cast in the form of prayers, and is quite opposed in its spirit to the
devotional spirit of the Church; furthermore, it is concerned with worldly advantages far
more than with those of a spiritual kind. The work opens with a characteristic
stultification in respect of its own claim, by pointing out that of all the sovereign princes
of past ages there was none more fortunate than Charlemagne, and the source
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