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The Book of ceremonial Magic

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p. 65<br />

for seventy-two chief devils and their ministers, with an account <strong>of</strong> their powers and<br />

<strong>of</strong>fices. <strong>The</strong> second part, or <strong>The</strong>urgia Goëtia, deals with the spirits <strong>of</strong> the cardinal points<br />

and their inferiors. <strong>The</strong>se are mixed natures, some good and some evil. <strong>The</strong> third book is<br />

called the Pauline Art, for the significance <strong>of</strong> which name I am unable to account, it<br />

concerns the Angels <strong>of</strong> the Hours <strong>of</strong> the Day and Night and <strong>of</strong> the Zodiacal Signs. <strong>The</strong><br />

fourth part, or Almadel, enumerates four other choirs <strong>of</strong> spirits in a somewhat obscure<br />

manner. <strong>The</strong>re is one significant point about the entire work--the powers resident in the<br />

<strong>of</strong>fices <strong>of</strong> Infernal Spirits are minutely set forth, but the Ritual is almost silent as to the<br />

special benefits which may be expected from intercourse with the higher classes <strong>of</strong><br />

intelligence; it is, therefore, obvious to whom the magician would have recourse if he had<br />

a definite end in view. It is, indeed, by no means improbable that the first or Goëtic<br />

portion constitutes the true Lemegeton, and that the other sections, apparently unknown to<br />

Wierus, are additions <strong>of</strong> a later date. This division, in either case, is not only expressly<br />

connected with Black <strong>Magic</strong>, or rather exclusively devoted thereto, but it indubitably<br />

divides with the so-called Greater Key the forbidding honour <strong>of</strong> having been the chief<br />

inspiration <strong>of</strong> all the later handbooks <strong>of</strong> infernal <strong>ceremonial</strong>. Devoid <strong>of</strong> any doctrinal part,<br />

it has nothing which calls for citation in this place, but as no Grimoire can pretend to<br />

completeness without it, all its hierarchic tabulations and all its evoking processes will be<br />

given in the Second Part.<br />

I should state in conclusion that the Little Key is ascribed sometimes to Solomon the King<br />

and sometimes to a Rabbi <strong>of</strong> that name. It should be distinguished, however, from the<br />

Key <strong>of</strong> Rabbi Solomon proper, which is more especially concerned with<br />

p. 66<br />

the composition, consecration and use <strong>of</strong> planetary talismans. It pretends to deal only<br />

with "good Genies," but it includes the blood sacrifice, and there is the usual anxiety in<br />

respect <strong>of</strong> the form and aspect in which the intelligence may appear. It is, however,<br />

especially provided that no seal, pentacle or character shall be applied to the injury <strong>of</strong><br />

another, and more especially a student <strong>of</strong> the art. <strong>The</strong> art, in fine, does not involve any<br />

compact, "implicit or explicit." I suppose that this production is later than others <strong>of</strong> the<br />

cycle.<br />

Footnotes<br />

64:1 See Part ii. c. 1 <strong>of</strong> the present work.<br />

64:2 It is the Greek word γοητεία, i.e. Witchcraft.<br />

§ 3. <strong>The</strong> Pauline Art

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