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Occult Traditions * Damon Zacharias Lycourinos (editor) 2012

Once upon a time there was a magazine called “Primordial Traditions”. The best articles were bundled in a book with the same title and then Primordial Traditions became a publisher starting a series with titles such as “Northern Traditions” and “Radical Traditions”. Whereas the initiative started with a (somewhat) Traditionalistic approach, this is less so nowadays and maybe this is one of the reasons that the publisher is now called Numen Books. (Another reason could of course be that Numen Books publishes more than just the “traditions” series.) The latest publication available is “Occult Traditions”. The book has the size and the look of previous book in the series, which is nice. The cover is strangely ‘rubbery’ and the number of pages (over 300 pages) makes a nice addition to the series. With this title you might not be surprised that there is not much Traditionalism to be found here, just a reference to Evola. What is presented is more an interesting collection of scholarly writings about occultism and magic, old and new and writings of or about contemporary occultists, both investigations of rituals and rituals themselves. I do not have a large interest in contemporary occultism, but a publication like this does show the state of magic of our day. The editor has a liking for the very interesting Papyri Graecae Magicae and we go from ancient rituals from that sort of texts to a day in the lives of contemporary Wiccas. Indeed, the variety is large. A prejudice against contemporary heathens is confirmed too by the way, since the pagan scholar Christopher -Heathen Journal- Plaisance contributed two essays. Pagans do practice occultism and not just an old religion. Now Plaisance’ texts are of course scholarly and philosophical and there is nothing to suggest that he practices the ritual magic that he describes, but the link between even the serious heathens of our time and the occultists is proven once more (and me reviewing this book of course doubles that). The large number of texts in “Occult Traditions” include Icelandic magic, much medieval magic, one author claiming that medieval and Renaissance magic are linked, inspite of what the Renaissance man wanted us to believe, Wicca, sex magic, the dark side of Buddhism (main woman Gwendolyn Toynton’s article is certainly the most interesting in this volume), necromancy and much more. Not my favourite literature, but a nice alternation between my usual books. Next up is Northern Traditions II, that will be more in my line.
2012 Numen Books, isbn 0987158139

Galdrabók, an icelandic book of magic * Stephen Edred Flowers (2005 rûna raven press)

GaldrabokFor a very long time I have wanted to have a look at the famous “Galdrabók”. I knew that Stephen Flowers of the Rune Gild and the Woodharrow institute had a translation, but it ran out of print and is impossible to get. Now there is a “second and revised edition”, not released by Weiser, but by Flower’s own Rûna Raven Press. However the first edition has a colour cover and 135 pages, this new edition is more like a photocopied (but well-bound) 100 page A5 booklet. I don’t know what happened in between.

Of the 100 pages there is only 16 pages Galdrabók. Flowers starts with a very interesting introduction into Northern European magic. The writer devides Icelandic magic in three periods: the pagan age, the Christian age and the age of the Reformation. It in in the latter that magic was forcefully suppressed, but most manuscripts written down. The introduction compares systems, points to currents (Christian, Eastern, etc.), gives the history and an idea of the practise of it. After this follow the 16 pages of the Galdrabók and then another few pages with magic from other sources.

I expected a bit of a ‘runic version’ of the famous Medieval grimoires, but this is only partly true. A few symbols my remind of for example the Lesser Key of Solomon, but many do not. Also there aren’t that many drawings involved, more like spells and curses, not quite unlike the short spells from the Papyri Graecae Magicae (see elsewhere on this site). Most spells, etc. are very simple, totally unlike the long and detailed instructions in Medieval sorcerers books. I guess that Flowers is right when he says that these are writings for ‘pros’ and not for ‘beginners’. Also there are not that many runic figures involved or ‘pagan deities’, many texts come straight from the Bible or Judaic or Gnostic spell-books. Interesting nonetheless, especially with the great introduction of Flowers.

Rûna Raven Books are not cheap, especially not when you live outside the USA. I ran into Europa ltd. who sent me this booklet for $ 32,- and a long wait. You may have a search a bit, since that webshop seems to be offline (26/6/2017).
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Necronomicon * ‘Simon’ (1980 avon * isbn 0380751925)

I saw this book in a local second hand bookshop. There is a lot to say about this famous little book. Some people say that the book was written by H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) and the history was invented by the same famous poet. Others take more credibility to Lovecraft’s story and say that “the Necronomicon was written in Damascus in 730 A.D. by Abdul Alhazred”. It found its way through the ages, was translated into Latin by Olaus Wormius in in 1487 (this is not Ole Worm the Dane about whom you can read in other places on Monas.nl), John Dee owned a copy and Aleister Crowley studied Dee’s copy. If the last is true, that is all before Lovecraft’s invention. On the other hand, with everything before Lovecraft, it is even more likely that the man invented the whole thing.
Then to the book itself. The Necronomicon reads like a bad copy of the famous Greater and Lesser Key Of Solomon, but then with the Hebrew(ish) names, replaced by Mesopotamian names. The images in the Necronomicon are quite cheap. There are actually only a few different symbols and they look like the Medieval magical seals, but not entirely. The references to numbers of demons (the fifty names of Marduk in this case) and their functions remind of the Keys. The summonings are strange and long strings of letters, supposedly ‘Mesopotamian’. It is clear that this little book had a vast influence on the minds of ‘occult youngsters’, for example in the black metal scene. I recognise many bandnames and album titles of music that I listened to in my metal period.
My judgement about the book. I don’t think that this is a serious magical work and not likely very old either. It is a fun read, but actually so are the Medieval magical books (I definately don’t plan to try and find out if something happens if I follow the instructions). Like I said earlier, in my eyes the Necronomicon is a fantasyfull rework of the famous Medieval grimoires and it is not unlikely that indeed Lovecraft (or at least someone in his time) fabricated it. I don’t know what this writer “Simon” that Amazon uses refers to. The book itself does not give an author. This version does have a lenghty introduction refering to Lovecraft, Crowley, etc.

The Secret Knowledge Of The Neophyte * S.L. MacGregor Mathers (holmes publishing group * isbn 1558183949)

“Sinterklaas”-presents from American relatives can sometimes be a pleasant surprise. This is a small photocopied book (but well-done) from a small publisher from small village near Seattle. “Holmes Publishing Group” has at least two series of publications, one with Golden Dawn texts (this one is 18 of 22) and one with other texts, The Hieroglyphic Monad of John Dee, The Divine Edda of Winifred Faraday and A Mithraic Ritual of G.R.S. Mead.

This book has Mathers on the cover, but is in fact a compilation of lectures of different early Golden Dawn officials to “neophytes”, people who want to join the order. These neophytes get instructions for everyday life, but also information about the Golden Dawn, its purposes, its goals, etc. This little book is very informative and (I suppose) also fairly inexpensive, so I think I will try to get my hands on other publications of Holmes.

Enochian Magic for Beginners * Donald Tyson (isbn 1567187471 * 1997)

Another wonderfull work by Donald Tyson. This time Tyson extensively treats the “Enochian magic” system received by John Dee and Edward Kelly. Tyson even manages to make it relatively understandable, even though it isn’t. There are gaps in the system as Dee got it and Tyson tries to fill them with his own theories. This is nice, but not everybody agrees that he got it right. Anyway, if you want to learn about Enochian magic or John Dee, get this fairly cheap ($ 14,95) book. More about the system in my article about angel magic.

Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual Eliphas Levi (isbn 1858913799)

Dogme et Rituel de l’Haute Magie

This is Levi’s (1810-1875) best-known book and one of the two large works that he wrote, together with The History of Magic. Levi was a Catholic priest who got interested in magic and the Kabbalah. However he was the worst historian ever (this book is notorious for containing nothing but historious errors) especially Dogme et Rituel de la haute Magie has made Levi into THE most influential writer on magic since the Renaissance. The book reads quite easily, is funny at times and is divided in two parts. The first is theoretical, the second practical. The first part reads a bit like Isis Unveiled of Blavatsky, much info from a lot of different corners and fairly chaotic and without much references, but still interesting. The second part is supposed to be practical, but this is not really the case. Levi reveals himself as a Christian speaking of “gnostic herecies” and who is quite anti-magical. The only few rituals he gives are to show how wrong or dangerous they are. The second part is rather boring. Overall this books proves to be most interesting from a historical point of view (everybody knows it), but not really to get to know the magical theories of a French Christian and/or his time.

Strange facts: Leer en Ritueel der Hoge Magie is one of the only two texts of Levi that is available in Dutch. It was published in 1984 and has had six reprints since. For some reason we don’t have History of Magic and in English the Doctrine and Ritual is much more less obtainable.

History Of Magic * Eliphas Levi (isbn 0877289298)

Histoire de la Magie

For only E 2,50 ($ 3,-) I bought a German translation of this book. History and Levi, this is an impossible combination which proves in this book. Levi starts with a history. The oldest kind of magic in the world of Levi is Kabbalah, but he calls the ancient tradition Kabbalah and does not necessarily refer to Jewish magic. Levi has a strange order: India, Hermetica, Greece, Pythagoras, Kabbalah. After this he speaks about some magicians, practises, mythology, freemasonry, etc. Alright, but I would not recommand this book if you are looking for a serious history of magic. Still, because of the name Levi, this book is a standard book about the subject.

The Golden Dawn * Israel Regardi (isbn 0875426638)

The main reason for me buying this book was to complete my ‘magical library’. I have magical texts from different times, so I thought I could not leave out Golden Dawn. Regardi compiled official papers to a massive book as a guide of Golden Dawn magic. After endless introductions, but book continues with theory (an extremely high level of information) and rituals. You can do a step-by-step course through the different grades of the order. My personal interest was mostly to see how much of the older magic I could trace back in the system of the Golden Dawn. I found less medieval magic than I expected and John Dee is only treated at the end of the book, in much detail again I might add. I didn’t study the rituals, let alone try them out, I am at best an ‘armchair magician’ interest in the subject of magic. The theoretical parts thrive mostly on Kabbalah and sometimes more Eastern/Theosophical theories. I didn’t find much obvious mistakes. All in all the early teachers of the Golden Dawn managed to build a very structured, original and rather organised magical system out of older systems and in this book you will find all/most information about it and your complete ‘how to guide’. The book comes with a gigantic index, because it is also intended to be used as encyclopedia for both users and investigators.
A book that belongs in every library of people interested in magic, also when you are not into the Golden Dawn.

John Dee’s Five Books Of Mystery * Joseph H. Peterson (ed.) (1578631785)

The second half of the magical diaries of John Dee. Peterson gave them in the original old-style English, which does not read very well. The very detailed discriptions of skrying-sessions aren’t even that interesting. What is interesting is that things become a lot clearer with Tyson’s book Enochian Magic For Beginners and you of course get all the details. Anyway, 475 pages of magic, too much to mention. More about the system in my article about angel magic.

Arbatel of Magick (fbn press)

This booklet caused me to find the FBN Ebay page. There are very luxery editions of this text, but here we have one of only $ 5,-. The “Arbathel” (in the Hebrew letters on the cover) “of the magic of the ancients”, “the greatest studie of wisdom” is of course a well-known late Medieval magical text. Here we have the 1655 Robert Turner translation who also wrote an introduction. In 7×7 aphorisms you get a theoretical lesson in Medieval magic with a thick Christian sauce.