the book of ceremonial magic contents - Yankeeclassic.com

naked maid; a she-goat; a camel--possibly the atrocious demon of Cazotte; a dove; a
white or green garment; the herb savine. 3
The Spirits of Mercury appear commonly with a body of middle stature, cold, liquid,
moist, which sounds redundant, but
p. 88
the reference is to the properties of quicksilver--that is to say, the Mercury of the
philosophers was supposed not to wet the hand, but the Mercurial spirits of the sorcerer
apparently did. They are withal fair, affable in speech, of human shape and like unto
armed knights. They are comparable to silver-coloured clouds in their motion. Their sign
is that they cause horror and fear in the operator. Their special shapes are a king riding on
a bear; 1 a comely youth; a woman holding a distaff-it is difficult to understand how such
an apparition can be like an armed knight, an observation which, if it were worthwhile,
might apply to the remaining modes of manifestation; a dog; a she-bear; a magpie; a
garment of many changing colours; a rod; and a little staff.
Finally, the Spirits of the Moon have a large, soft, phlegmatic body, even as a dark cloud
in colour. Their countenance is swollen, their head bald, their eyes are red and rheumy,
their teeth like those of a wild boar. Their motion is like that of a great tempest sweeping
the sea. Their sign is a heavy shower of rain about the circle. Their particular shapes area
king like an archer riding on a doe; a little boy; a huntress with bow and arrows; a cow; a
small doe; a goose; a green or silver-coloured garment; an arrow; a many-footed creature-
-perhaps a centipede.
The imbecility of this muddled tabulation places the forged Fourth Book in a more absurd
light than it otherwise deserves. It really reproduces the manner of Agrippa's treatise with
a fidelity which is not unskilful and has quite as much claim to be taken seriously as any
of the composite Rituals. It is difficult to say whether it is more especially on the side of
the devil or on that of folly, except in so far as these two are one.
Footnotes
80:1 Compare the figures of the Lemegeton, Part ii. c. 4.
84:1 Alternatively, the image of a man, having the countenance of a hart and the feet of a
camel, a scythe in his right and a dart in his left hand. This also rode upon a dragon.
84:2 Also on an eagle or dragon. Another form was that of a naked man crowned, and yet
another a Man having the head of a lion or ram and the feet of an eagle.
87:1 Otherwise, on a lion, and armed with a naked sword, while in his left hand is a man's
head.