Grimoire

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Title page of the Grimoire du Pape Honorius (1760)

A grimoire [ gʀiˈmwaːʀ ] or magic book is a book of magical knowledge. The heyday of these scripts was between the late Middle Ages and the 18th century . With the beginning of the Renaissance , ancient sources were reprocessed on the one hand and new knowledge from the natural sciences processed on the other. Grimoires can contain astrological rules, lists of angels and demons , spells and instructions for summoning magical beings or for making talismans and potions.

In the second half of the 20th century, individual works such as the Simon Necronomicon achieved success and a certain level of awareness and related personalities such as Aleister Crowley or HP Lovecraft had a lasting influence on pop culture.

The word grimoire comes from the old French gramaire and has the same root as the words grammar (in today's French grammaire ) and glamor . A grimoire is a guide to combining magical symbols into formulas.

history

Magical escape board with Greek-Latin inscription (3rd - 4th century AD)

Ancient and early Middle Ages

Already in antiquity , priests in ancient Egypt , Mesopotamia , Israel , Persia , the Empire of China , the Andes or Central America ( Maya ) used magical signs and symbols, formulas as well as instructions and rituals on papyri and kept them on stone walls of temples, wood or clay tablets firmly. Even in these epochs it was about moving the gods and demons to bring happiness, wealth, love, fertility, victory over enemies etc. The books of the dead of different cultures contain incantations, protection from demons , how to transport the soul of a dead person to the afterlife, and the production of magical amulets or fetishes . In spite of the magical treatises of these books of the dead, one cannot yet speak of grimoires. From late antiquity nor Coptic magical texts and the writings of the Neoplatonists handed. The actual pre-form of the grimoires, however, are collections of magic writings , initially in the form of the Greek magic papyri from Egypt (150 BC to 500 AD). The writings of the Gnostics and their Christian opponents, the heresiologists, are also known . The Hebrew Sefer ha-Razim appeared as a codex as early as the 3rd century AD .

Both sorcery and its prohibition are mentioned several times in the Bible. The best known is the episode of the Witch of Endor or Necromancer of Endor from the 1st book of Samuel . This refers to the biblical place En Dor , just as the English writer  JRR Tolkien names his fictional continent Middle-earth as Endor and the story The Hobbit contains a necromancer. In the biblical story, after his ban on sorcery , King Saul went to the Witch of Endor to get advice from the late prophet Samuel on how to deal with the Philistines . In fact, she prophesies the downfall of Saul, the defeat in the war against the Philistines and the rise of the future King David .

Before the Christianization of Europe, little written evidence of magical knowledge has survived. From the time of the transition from paganism to Christianity there are the Merseburg magic spells , the testament of Solomon (approx. 4th century AD) and spells that are contained in the Eddas . The sword of Mosis in the Hebrew original is mentioned as lost in contemporary literature of the time. Mostly the Bible , like the Koran in the following centuries , was used for magical purposes. From the 10th century instructions on the magical use of the psalms appeared . B. in the Schimmusch Tehillim (German translation 1788) or the Gertrudenbuch were written down.

High and late Middle Ages

Title page clergyman shield (1647)

Despite the prohibition of sorcery in the true sense of the word, the church also promoted writings that, according to today's understanding, contained teachings similar to magic. In addition to the illegal grimoires, numerous legal prayer books with prayer, blessing and incantation formulas were circulating, such as the Enchiridion manuale Leonis papae and its German translation of the clerical shield or Colomanus booklet , the Romanus booklet , the Christoph prayer etc. These books always contain a saint , which is intended for hearing the prayers and for protection against evil forces, but also numerous demons up to Satan and Lucifer . Many writings have been published by or under the name of Popes in order to confirm the credibility of the content. The popes were also regarded as the owners of grimoires, just as legends about their black arts and devil's pacts grew around a large number of popes; some of it was more an outgrowth of the largely illiterate people's superstitious fear of literacy rather than truth. Also Walther von der Vogelweide sings about the pope:

"Nû lèr etz in sîn swarzez buoch, daz ime dem hellemôr / hât, and ûz in les er siniu rôr"
(Free translation: "Now his black book, which the hell Mohr gave him, teaches him, and they read from it now" ).

Nevertheless, the possession of so-called magic scripts has been forbidden at all times. Defendants were accused of witchcraft and heresy by secular courts, later also by inquisition courts, and ended up at the stake . The grimoires were confiscated or publicly burned along with other prohibited writings. The New Testament already describes a (voluntary and spontaneous) book burning :

"But many who had practiced magic brought their magic books together and burned them publicly and calculated what they were worth and came to fifty thousand silver groschen". ( Acts 19:19) .

This legitimized the later church book burnings ( see Destruction of Magic Books ). The witch theorist Martin Anton Delrio heavily condemned these books. The magic books were said to contain demons and simply opening the cover of the book summoned them. Another vehement opponent of these books was Jean Bodin , who wrote about it in Vom Aussgelaßnen Wütigen Teuffelsheer .

Whenever religion lost weight in the course of history (e.g. because of the plague , famine or war), the grimoires developed further as a popular belief and superstition . Therefore, magic literature increased considerably from the 13th century. This is followed by the Almadel Salomonis , the oldest form of the Clavicula Salomonis , the great Grimoir of Pope Honorius , the Latin version of Picatrix or the Heptameron of Peter von Abano . These magic books mainly contain evocations of demons and necromancy , based on the Holy Mass . During this time the so-called magic recipe books developed among the people. So through these instructions z. B. conjured rain, averted catastrophes, cured diseases, produced ointments and love potions, spirits graciously tuned or seen into the future. Well-known philosophers, clergymen and scientists were increasingly engaged in researching magic scripts. Even Ekkehard IV. Mentioned certain Libri nigri . However, Albertus Magnus was the first to publish a list of grimoires that he had read, and Johannes Hartlieb describes the Liber Consecratus ( The Blessed Book ), the Picatrix , the Ars Notoria , and the Sefer Raziel, and counts some in his book Von der Verpoten Kunst Magic books on:

“The masters of this art use books (full of) figures and characters for such tasks. They call the one Sigillum Salomonis, the second Clavicula Salomonis, the third Hierarchia, the fourth Schemhamphoras, and they also have a multitude of characters. ”(...)

Chapter 26: Of other books on black art :

“There are other books in this art that teach how to use herbs, stones and roots to banish and conjure up the devils. For example, the book of Kiranides teaches how to mix herbs, stones, fish, and poultry together in a suitable metal vessel. With that one should get great things from the devil. However, this is all superstition; the devil (himself) interferes and leads all those who believe in it astray. For truly know: all forces of nature are in truth small compared to the forces of the devil, let alone (compared to the forces) of the good angels (because) as Job says: “There is no power on earth. which equals the devil. «You might reply: One reads in the book of Tobit like the liver of a fish, laid on a glowing coal, which casts out devils, etc. To this end, ask the true postil of Nicholas of Lyra or St. Thomas . There it says that it was not the smoke of the liver but the devout prayer of the young Tobias that drove the devils away from Raguel. "

Trithemius later published a list in his Antipalus Maleficiorum , including well-known grimoires such as the Clavicula Salomonis , Picatrix , Sepher Raziel , Corpus Hermeticum , Schemhamphoras or the Almadel . Trithemius divides the magic books into two classes and further describes books that deal with the production and use of images, figures, rings and seals under certain star constellations. These lists show how great the interest of the scholars of the time was in magic.

Early modern age

Title page Le Grand Albert (1755)

In the time of the Reformation and humanism , the Grimoires deal primarily with Jewish and Arab religious philosophies, as well as Kabbalah . Above all, the kabbalistic writings of rabbis from the ancient Hebrew scriptures became the model for magic remedies and rites. In 1565, the first part of the nine-part magic book Arbatel was printed and published under the so-called fourth volume of the writings of Agrippa von Nettesheim . A collection of writings that did not come from Agrippa himself, but which were either printed with Agrippa's name for economic reasons by the publisher at the time or were actually from Agrippa's library estate. Johann Weyer or the Inquisitor Delrio published works in which they wrote about the black books, the so-called Libri Nigri . By dealing with these documents, the scholars themselves were always exposed to the charge of heresy and heresy .

From the 16th century the younger Clavicula Salomonis , Salomonis et Semiphoras and the Grimorium Verum followed . However, in the course of time, the original content of the grimoires degenerated more and more into pure protection and treasure magic books . A corruption from this time are the compulsions of hell that Dr. Faust were ascribed to ( Dr. Faust's great and powerful hell-compulsion , Dr. Faust's fourfold hell-compulsion , Dr. Faust's miracle, art and wonder book or the black raven , Dr. Faust's great, powerful sea spirit and Faust's triple hell-compulsion ). Likewise the French Dragon Rouge and the German translation, the True Fiery Dragon .

The grimoires were passed on from generation to generation and revised depending on the era and needs. Recipes were changed and supplemented and new instructions were constantly being added. In the 18th century the Egyptian secrets of Albertus Magnus , the black hen and the sixth and seventh books of Moses appear .

Starting in France during the Napoleonic era, grimoires spread increasingly to other European countries. The Philosophical Merlin published in 1822 is the first modern English grimoire. Its authorship refers to Napoleon Bonaparte , works mainly on French sources and also offers an astrological system similar to the Chinese I-Ching .

Industrial age

Book of Shadows from the estate of Gerald Brousseau Gardner

From the 19th century onwards, collections of various magical manuscripts and grimoires are published, which are merely reproductions of the old magical books, but have thus been made accessible to a broad public and preserved for posterity: Horst's magic library , from Scheible-Verlag, among other things, the collection of the greatest secrets of extraordinary Ancient people and the volumes The monastery . Well -known people such as Aleister Crowley and William Wynn Westcott emerged from occult associations such as the Ordo Templi Orientis or the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn . Some works by these occultists can also be assigned to the grimoires, such as B. Crowleys Liber Samekh .

In Germany, between the two world wars, the publication of grimoires rose again, mostly with heavily modified texts. Due to political turmoil, inflation and mass unemployment, those affected grabbed the newly published magic books, which were brought onto the market in large numbers by enterprising publishers. The newly written 8th to 13th books of Moses and the collection of magical writings, the Book of Jezira (not to be confused with the Sepher Jezirah from the 9th century) appeared in the early decades of the 20th century . With the new religions, also in the 20th century, the concept of the book of shadows emerged among the Wiccan witches . Mysterious books hold a special position, such as B. the Necronomicon , a fictional grimoire by HP Lovecraft . Sometimes the Voynich manuscript , which has not yet been deciphered, is also referred to as a grimoire.

post war period

The second half of the 20th century in particular shows a resurgence of interest in grimoires. The best-known representative of this direction is the Simon Necronomicon, which processes the works of HP Lovecraft and Aleister Crowley , but presents itself as an ancient script. The Simon Necronomicon tells the story of a "mad Arab" who turned away from Islam in order to find the traces of the Sumerians and their gods in the desert . Embedded in this framework story, the book sheds light on incantations and seals that reveal clear references to earlier works, which is why the work is viewed as controversial despite its high popularity. He is denied authenticity in the sense of a genuinely rediscovered ancient script.

Less known and part of the traditional English tradition, if not Wicca , is the Azoëtia by Andrew D. Chumbley. In contrast to other works such as the aforementioned Simon Necronomicon or the older Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis , it does not present itself as a rediscovered ancient script, but as a modern grimoire.

meaning

The Grimoires can be divided into the following categories, in addition to being divided into black magic and white magic books:

  • black magic grimoires: often anonymously or under a pseudonym, writings that contain magic spells , demon summoning , necromancy or the summoning of Lucifer , such as B. the Clavicula Salomonis , the Grimorium Verum , or The Grand Grimoire .
De Occulta Philosophia (1533)
  • magical prayer books: these grimoires ascribed to the Church are very numerous. Published under the names of popes or clergymen, these books contain invocations to saints, magical prayers, numerous invocations of protection as well as invocations of angels, but also of spirits ( clerical shield , Romanus book , the Christoph prayer, etc.).
  • Grimoires of popular belief: Mostly Christian-magical grimoires mixed with popular superstitions. Mostly invocations of demons and protective prayers to God and saints, so that one can attain wealth, destroy the enemy or maintain health ( The golden fountain , Habermann , the St. Corona treasure prayer etc.).
  • magical recipe books: books with curious magical recipes against illness, for protection from enemies, for wealth, love etc. ( The sixth and seventh book of Moses , Egyptian secrets , mysterious heroes' treasure , secret art school of magical miraculous powers etc.).

Almost all magic scriptures have in common the desire to protect themselves from impending disaster and dangers, to gain strength and health, to see the future and above all to achieve wealth. It is noticeable that no author can be found in many of the works. One reason for this is that writers had to expect to end up at the stake since magic was banned by the Inquisition. That is why many grimoires were published under well-known names such as Albertus Magnus or Paracelsus . Fictitious names, such as a certain Alibeck (alleged author of the Grimorium Verum ) or JA Herpentil , were also used for self-protection. To emphasize the importance of the work, legendary characters such as Faust , Solomon or Moses were also used. Many of these grimoires are works by clergymen of the well-known church orders. B. is evidenced by the works of the clergyman Éliphas Lévi . By Helena Blavatsky are adepts , necromancers and rituals described as the image of the priest and his ritualized actions arises. Many rituals are based on the Holy Mass .

Sixth and seventh books of Moses (1853)

Almost all grimoires are structurally comparable and mostly follow a scheme:

  1. The preparation of the magician (fasting, praying, smoking, ablutions, etc.)
  2. Making the magical instruments ( wand , robe, knife, etc.)
  3. The magic circle
  4. The Book of Spirits / Liber Spirituum
  5. Ranking of the demons, their seals, incantations and dismissals
  6. Magic recipes as an attachment: love spells , treasure spells , divination etc.

Physically and mentally, the magician must be cleansed of everything, and the instruments must be newly made and used unused. After preparation through ascetic rituals, the magician can summon the various demons , devils or angels . The protective circle protects the magician from the powers that have been summoned. Often a pact is drawn up in which all conjured spirits must sign a signature for obedience next to their seal and portrait.

The demons are always subject to a fixed hierarchy (emperor, king, prince etc.). In the grimoires there are different versions of these hierarchies, which act as counter-designs to the angelic structures. The differently specified lists of demons are explained by the fact that the lists correspond to the social structure of the time in the respective epochs. The number of lords of hell in magic literature also varies. Some of the hell constraints only include the treasure bringer Azazel , the Faustian and Jesuit hell constraints first have a four-order, others then often a six-order and further a seventh-order, which goes back to Kabbalistic and Neoplatonic roots.

See also

literature

  • Alfred Lehmann : Superstition and Magic. From the oldest times to the present , Gondrom-Verlag, 5th edition: Reprint of the Stuttgart edition, 1908. ISBN 3-934673-61-9 .
  • Kurt Benesch : Magic of the Renaissance , Fourier Verlag, Wiesbaden 1985, ISBN 3-921695-91-0 .
  • Stephan Bachter: How to make princes of Hell hands-on. Magic books and the transmission of magical knowledge . In: Achim Landwehr (Ed.): History (s) of Reality. Contributions to the social and cultural history of knowledge . Augsburg 2002. pp. 371-390, ISBN 3-89639-361-8 .
  • Stephan Bachter: Magic for everyone! About magic books and the popularization of magical knowledge since the 18th century . In: Exhibition catalog Basler Papiermühle : Magic! The secret power of signs . Basel 2002, pp. 58–67, ISBN 978-3-7965-1926-0 .
  • * Adolf Spamer : Romanus booklet. Historical-philological commentary on a German magic book , (from the estate) edited by Johanna Nickel, Berlin 1958 (= German Academy of Sciences in Berlin: Publications of the Institute for German Folklore, 17).

Web links

Wiktionary: Grimoire  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Grimoires  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karin Christina Ryding: Critical Languages ​​and Critical Thinking: Reframing Academic Arabic Programs . In: Reem Bassiouney, Graham E. Katz (Eds.): Arabic Language and Linguistics (=  Georgetown University Round Table on Languages ​​and Linguistics Series ). 1st edition. Georgetown University Press, Georgetown 2012, ISBN 978-1-58901-885-3 , pp. 193 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed July 27, 2012]).
  2. ↑ for example: sixth u. seventh book Mosis or The magical-sympathetic house treasure, that is Mosi's magical spirit art, the secret of all secrets, literally according to an old manuscript with astonishing illustrations. Without a place and without a year; Reprint Berlin 1976; Reprint of the new edition without a year, also Bohmeier-Verlag, Leipzig, 2003; ISBN 3-89094-376-4 ; further grimoires included:
      • The seven times sealed book of the greatest secrets or magical-sympathetic household treasure in tried and tested means against many diseases and ailments of the body, along with miraculous secrets to achieve the most diverse purposes (with a preface by the editor)
      • Secret Art School of Magical Miracle Powers, or The Book of True Practice in Ancient Divine Magic, as communicated through the sacred Cabbala and through Elohym [...]
      • Romanus book or God the LORD keep my soul [...]
      • Angel help for protection and protection in major emergencies (with appendix miraculous holy blessings [...] ) and from p. 21 The holy sales booklet or Die Glücks-Ruthe (printed by CR Hülsemann, Leipzig)
      • The true fiery dragon [...] According to a manuscript from 1522 found in France, together with a postscript from the large book of King Solomon, with some delicious receipts, found at Peter Michel, the last Karthauser in Erfurt (with a foreword by the author and a preface by the translator).
  3. ^ Harms, Dan and John Wisdom Gonce III: The Necronomicon Files . Boston: Red Wheel Weiser, Boston 2003, ISBN 1-57863-269-2 .