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The Book of ceremonial Magic

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conjurations, all exceedingly brief. <strong>The</strong> third <strong>of</strong> these exhorts the Evil Spirit on the quaint<br />

ground that now it is the time <strong>of</strong> the Great Name Tetragrammaton. <strong>The</strong> purpose <strong>of</strong><br />

citation is not indicated; the formulæ are Christian, broken up by innumerable crosses and<br />

by names and terms which defy conjecture as to their significance. <strong>The</strong> hierarchy <strong>of</strong> the<br />

spirit is determined by the closing words: "I command thee, O Spirit Rumoar, even by<br />

Lucifer, thy mighty sovereign."<br />

Footnotes<br />

110:1 <strong>The</strong> modern reprint <strong>of</strong> Scheible reads Usiel throughout, as does also the MS.<br />

English translation. Supposing the latter to have followed the original edition, it would<br />

seem conclusive that the blunder--for such it evidently is--occurs also in that.<br />

111:1 Cornelius Agrippa died in 1535<br />

112:1 Part II. c. 9.<br />

§ 6. <strong>The</strong> Black Pullet<br />

<strong>The</strong> Black Pullet, the Druid <strong>of</strong> Menapienne, Red <strong>Magic</strong>, or the Cream <strong>of</strong> the Occult<br />

Sciences, with derivatives from the first <strong>of</strong> these works, such as the Queen <strong>of</strong> the Hairy<br />

Flies, the Green Butterfly, &c., form a class by themselves, and, with one exception, they<br />

are quite unserious publications, which can scarcely be called spurious, as they are almost<br />

without pretence. 1 <strong>The</strong>y belong to the late end <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth century. Dr. Encausse,<br />

the head <strong>of</strong> the French Martinists, suggests that they were all fabricated at Rome and<br />

infers--as seen previously--that we owe them to the industry <strong>of</strong> priests, which seems to<br />

follow somewhat loosely from the evidence, is characteristic <strong>of</strong> himself and his school,<br />

and is indeed <strong>of</strong> much the same value as the statement in Isis Unveiled, that the habitual<br />

practice <strong>of</strong> Black <strong>Magic</strong> at the Vatican could be "easily proved."<br />

<strong>The</strong> Black Pullet is far the most curious <strong>of</strong> its class and there is indeed sufficient<br />

individuality in its narrative to lift it much above the paltry impostures with which it<br />

connects. Its chief occult interest centres in the series <strong>of</strong> talismanic rings which it<br />

incorporates with the text, itself a species <strong>of</strong> magical romance. It makes no claim to<br />

antiquity, except that it embodies its wisdom, and it does not appeal to Solomon. In a<br />

book <strong>of</strong> Black <strong>Magic</strong>, as it certainly is, though the Goëtic intention is disguised, such<br />

modesty makes for virtue. Many <strong>of</strong> the Talismans seem to be original devices; at least<br />

they connect with nothing in occult symbolism known to the present<br />

p. 114<br />

writer. At the same time they are constructed in accordance with the rules laid down by<br />

the Fourth <strong>Book</strong> attributed to Cornelius Agrippa as regards infernal signatures.

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