The Book of ceremonial Magic
The Book of ceremonial Magic
The Book of ceremonial Magic
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process for the evocation <strong>of</strong> evil spirits to obtain the enforced surrender <strong>of</strong> hidden<br />
treasure. In the second part the magician is certainly expected to give himself, body and<br />
soul, to the demon who serves him meanwhile, and there can be no hesitation in<br />
admitting that this creates a sharp distinction, not only between the Grand Grimoire and<br />
all the Composite Rituals, but also between the Grand Grimoire and the other Liturgies<br />
<strong>of</strong> Black <strong>Magic</strong>. It is only a palliation to say that the compact is worded as a subterfuge,<br />
and in reality gives nothing to the demon, who here, as so frequently in folklore, is<br />
bamboozled, receiving the shadow in place <strong>of</strong> the substance. 1<br />
Footnotes<br />
101:1 This alteration <strong>of</strong> the fallen Light-Bearer into Fly-the-Light does not seem to occur<br />
in magical literature preceding the Grand Grimoire. It was afterwards adopted by Lévi,<br />
by whom it has been made popular among occultists, who are, for the most part, quite<br />
unaware <strong>of</strong> its source, as they usually are in such cases.<br />
103:1 Compare the droll history <strong>of</strong> the Devil and his Dam, and that concerning the course<br />
<strong>of</strong> Black <strong>Magic</strong> delivered by the Prince <strong>of</strong> Darkness at the University <strong>of</strong> Salamanca.<br />
§ 4. <strong>The</strong> Grimoire <strong>of</strong> Honorius<br />
Despite the iniquities <strong>of</strong> the Pacta Conventa Dæmonum, the Grand Grimoire has failed,<br />
however, to invoke upon itself such severe condemnation as the Grimoire <strong>of</strong> Honorius<br />
the Great, otherwise Honorius the Third. It is scarcely too much to say that almost every<br />
accusation preferred against this remarkable work is false generally and specifically, the<br />
chief distinction between them being that some are the misrepresentations <strong>of</strong> ignorance<br />
and others the false interpretations <strong>of</strong> prejudgment. <strong>The</strong> French occultist, Papus, alone<br />
seems to take the middle view, though he speaks with some vagueness when<br />
p. 104<br />
he says that the sorcery <strong>of</strong> this Grimoire is more dangerous for weak experimentalists<br />
than for the enemies <strong>of</strong> the sorcerer. Éliphas Lévi observes that the work is not without<br />
importance for the students <strong>of</strong> occult science. 1 At first sight it seems to be nothing but a<br />
tissue <strong>of</strong> repulsive absurdities, but for those who are initiated in the signs and secrets <strong>of</strong><br />
the Kabalah, it is said that it becomes a veritable monument <strong>of</strong> human perversity. <strong>The</strong>re<br />
was seldom a statement for which there was less foundation; there was never a magical<br />
work which less connected with Kabalism; the relation in so far as it exists, and it is<br />
confined to a few words which occur in the Conjurations, is common to all Ceremonial<br />
<strong>Magic</strong>, and this is the one Grimoire which is most permeated with Christian elements.<br />
Those, however, who are well acquainted with the principles <strong>of</strong> interpretation which<br />
obtain in the writings <strong>of</strong> Lévi, will not take a charge seriously which depends upon the<br />
significance <strong>of</strong> Kabalistic words or signs, for it is notorious that with the French occultist<br />
they meant many things according to his humour, and that he did not know his subject.