[Wabun Wind]

A grimoire is a textbook of magic. Books of this genre, typically giving instructions for invoking angels or demons, performing divination and gaining magical powers, have circulated throughout Europe since the Middle Ages.

Magicians were frequently persecuted by the Christian church, so their journals were kept hidden to prevent them from being burned.
Such books contain astrological correspondences, lists of angels and demons, directions on casting charms and spells, on mixing medicines, summoning unearthly entities, and making talismans. "Magical" books in almost any context, especially books of magical spells, are also called grimoires.


Origin of the term

The word grimoire is from the Old French grammaire, and is from the Greek root "grammatikos", “relating to letters”, from which grammar, a system for language, and glamour, influential appeal, are derived. In the mid-late Middle Ages, Latin "grammars" (books on Latin syntax and diction) were foundational to school and university education, as controlled by the Church—while to the illiterate majority, non-ecclesiastical books were suspect as magic, or believed to be endowed with supernatural influence. The word "grimoire" came over time to apply specifically to those books which did indeed deal with magic and the supernatural.

Similar magical writings have existed from antiquity, and although these are not in the same genre of medieval magic, they are sometimes described as grimoires.


Medieval and Renaissance

The first grimoires appear in the High Middle Ages, growing out of earlier traditions, notably of medieval Jewish mysticism, which continued traditions dating back to Late Antiquity. Thus, the 13th century Sefer Raziel Ha-Malakh is significantly based on the Sefer Ha-Razim (ca. 4th or 5th century), which is in turn influenced by Hellenistic Greek magical papyri.


Notable 13th to 17th century grimoires include:

The Picatrix, or, Ghâyat al-Hakîm fi'l-sihr; also known as The Aim of the Sage (13th century)
Liber Iuratus, or, the Sworn Book of Honorius (13th century)
Sefer Raziel Ha-Malakh Liber Razielis Archangeli (13th century)
The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage (1450s)
The so-called Munich Handbook (15th century)
Libri tres de occulta philosophia by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1531)
The Greater Key of Solomon (16th century)
Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (16th century)
The Lemegeton, or, the Lesser Key of Solomon (17th century)
The Voynich manuscript has never been deciphered, and is difficult to date, but may also qualify as a 15th century grimoire.


18th to 19th century

The Black Pullet (18th century)
Le Grand Grimoire, The Grand Grimoire (19th century, allegedly 1522)

In the late 19th century, several of these texts (including the Abra-Melin text and the Keys of Solomon) were reclaimed by para-Masonic magical organizations such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Ordo Templi Orientis.

Many false or poorly translated grimoires have been circulated since the 19th century (many original texts are in French or Latin, and are quite rare), however faithful editions are available for most of the above titles.


20th century to present

A modern grimoire is the Simon Necronomicon, named after a fictional book of magic in the stories of author H. P. Lovecraft, and inspired by Sumerian mythology and the Ars Goetia, a section in the Lesser Key of Solomon which concerns the summoning of demons. The Azoëtia of Andrew D. Chumbley has been described as a modern grimoire.

Grimoire was the title selected by Michael Donaghy in 2003 for his poem reflecting on the Cyborg research of scientist Kevin Warwick.


(Source: Wikipedia)

[asylum_souljah]

huh cool! I had heard the term in movies and such but didnt really know what they were. The word almost sounds like it would be a type of faerie, not text book :)

[Tin Foil Princess]

The books must be very old ? Maybe some have been reprinted ? Like you said people print a
more modern version . Good information , I did not know about this.

[Wabun Wind]

Yes, you both are right. Those books are quite old but they are at least a part of them reprinted. I do not know of all. According to some even the reprint is already quite old. I myself own two grimoires. One of course in any case reprinted which is not mentioned by Wikipedia excerpt but I tried to find some info about it.

I own the last one described in the Wiki source: The Simon Necronomicon and the reprint of the 6th and 7th Books of Moses.

Concerning the latter I have found the following in the source of www.sacred-texts.com:

"The 6th and 7th Books of Moses
Two very mysterious grimoires. These two grimoires (originating from the same book) are often cited as being used by Vodun/Obeah practitioners. Although they claim to be Kabbalistic in nature, there is very little if any actual Kabbalah to be found in them. Rather this appears to be a traditional ritual magick system with incantations to summon and dismiss spirits to achieve worldly ends. Published in 1849, and translated into English in 1880, the 6th and 7th Books of Moses claim to include material from 1338, 1383 and 1501, including portions reputedly translated from the "Cuthan-Samaritan" language, which has been extinct since the 12th Century A.D., and about which very little is known. The most interesting aspects of this book are the unique illustrations of magickal seals, with letters in Hebrew and an unknown script; and the lists of names of demonic entities. Note: the images in this grimoire were originally printed in the 19th Century using very primitive printing technology. To prepare them for publication on the Internet, they were scanned from the best source available and then image-processed to bring out details. Unfortunately some of these plates have illegible portions. Note: the first five books of Moses are the traditionally the first five books of the Bible."

At least to say: It is not all one kind of a art but it is white mingled with black. At the beginning of the books you will find white Art and a lot of herbs knowledge and how to use them as medicine. Later on how to include them in spells for different purpose. At the end there are highly black Art practises like the Great Kabbalistic Magical Circle. It is really mixed. But someone new to the latter (black Art) should leave his/her fingers from it if never practised or without experience. You can easily harm yourself and other you do not want to harm.

No, grimoires are not fairy books. I would call them "books of three different kinds". Books for preparation for a ritual - Books for describing effectfull spells - Books for instruction of performing a perfect ritual.

Of course my books are German versions but the 7th and 6th Books of Moses originally were in German language but later on translated at least in English I found out.

Wabun Wind

[Wabun Wind]

Magic comes from evil, Vargr? So you must know that there are black and white magic. Black and white witches....I think that you must know best because was not the "White witch"-article/picture from you? Sorry, that sounds a bit like contradicting yourself. So Mrs. Palmer must have come from darkness? Probably, I do not know that lady.

These books are even partly biblic and originate from the time of Solomon (the lesser and the higher key).

By the way: That reminds me of just another person that haunted the world and burned all books in his eyes decadend/degenerated art.

Wabun Wind

[Tin Foil Princess]

the white witch was called white because she was the only "WHITE" woman on the island,in jamaica,duh!
and to compare me to hitler,is the most asinined comment i have ever received,ALL MAGIC IS EVIL,AND YOU WOULD KNOW THIS IF YOU TOOK TIME TO READ THE BIBLE!!!!!!
YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR PROBLEM IS,YOU TAKE BITS AND PIECES FROM DIFFERENT LITERATURE,AND TRY TO MAKE THEM WHAT THEYRE NOT.
GOD IS AGAINST MAGIC,THOSE THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN THE BIBLE WAS NOT MAGIC,BUT MIRACLES PERFORMED BY GOD!!!!
I USUALLY DONT GET UPSET LIKE THIS,BUT I AM SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE KNOCKING MY HEAVENLY FATHER,AND I WILL CONTINUE TO STAND FOR WHAT I BELIEVE,AND I WILL POST MY OPINIONS,CAUSE THAT IS MY RIGHT!!!!!
and if ppl here dont like it,then i guess they can ignore me,or ban me.

We all like you , please relax . We can learn so much from eachother . The Bible can and is taken
many ways - this is why we have so many Churches in this world. No one is Knocking you or
OUR Heavenly Father .

Please contact a Moderator - it seems you are very upset. We can talk about it , I do not want you
to get banned . Please do not yell - we are all adults . Sorry you are upset. Contact a Moderator please
when needed or anytime !

Thank you

[Tin Foil Princess]

WHY IS IT I'M THE ONE WHO HAS TO RELAX,I WAS CALLED "HITLER",YOU TRY TO BE CALM AND RELAX,WHEN YOU ARE CALLED "HITLER"

Please PM me again .. ????? Sorry at work and I must havew missed the Hitler part , who and when.

Sorry , I thought we/you were all OK now ?

[Wabun Wind]

Well, I see, in this case there arose a misunderstanding. I agree with Vargr that I have written this a little bit further above. With that I have not had mentioned Hitler, I had not even Hitler on my mind. As we were talking about religion, I had a religious person and procedure in my thoughts. Excuse, but not take it an offence: What has Hitler to do with religion....perhaps something with black magic...probably.

I was thinking of another German case but some 400 years earlier. In another thread for open opinion concerning church I described my dislike of Catholic Church and Inquisition things alike. Alfred Tetzel was the catholic counterpart of Martin Luther from the 1517s on. He arranged that Luther was excommunicated by the pope and banned by the emperor. All his Luther Bible translations were burned on heaps as works of heresy and blasphemy. As far someone does not know Luther: He was the founder of the protestant religion and a reformer.

So, I would like to say sorry for all misunderstandings occurred and apologize myself.

Wabun Wind

[Tin Foil Princess]

Well, I see, in this case there arose a misunderstanding. I agree with Vargr that I have written this a little bit further above. With that I have not had mentioned Hitler, I had not even Hitler on my mind. As we were talking about religion, I had a religious person and procedure in my thoughts. Excuse, but not take it an offence: What has Hitler to do with religion....perhaps something with black magic...probably.

I was thinking of another German case but some 400 years earlier. In another thread for open opinion concerning church I described my dislike of Catholic Church and Inquisition things alike. Alfred Tetzel was the catholic counterpart of Martin Luther from the 1517s on. He arranged that Luther was excommunicated by the pope and banned by the emperor. All his Luther Bible translations were burned on heaps as works of heresy and blasphemy. As far someone does not know Luther: He was the founder of the protestant religion and a reformer.

So, I would like to say sorry for all misunderstandings occurred and apologize myself.

Wabun Wind

That was very kind of you to apologize , we are all adults here - it is too bad a misunderstanding
had to go so far, we all have opinions and beliefs that we can share with eachother. Nicely

[Aanica]

A few of my personal favorites, I collect them to study...


Grimoires
------------


Grimores Verum



Grimore of Honorius



Grand grimore



Grimore of Armadel


The secret Grimoire Turiel

[GRAVEYARDHOUND]

Thanks for citing source. I appreciate it, plus it save me time looking the info. up, If you hadn't cited a source, I would have wonder about your ability to retain what you had read or just copying from a book(s) and citing nothing. Interesting I have copies of some of the workks cited, if I had originnals, They would be locked up and never enjoyed, so to speak..Since I'm new here, my comments might be taken at face value and nothing else, if so, so be it, but some of the works cited, even copies, one can get odd results from following various directions, no, one does not need to have a human sacrifice to summon anything, just the will power and the right words.