Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Late Medieval Ritual Magic [Paperback]

Claire Fanger (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0271025174 | ISBN-13: 978-0271025179

Conjuring Spirits contains both general surveys and analyses of magical texts and manuscripts by distinguished scholars in a variety of disciplines. Included are chapters by Richard Kieckhefer and Robert Mathiesen on the "Sworn Book of Honorius," Michael Camille on the Ars Notoria, John B. Friedman on the Secretum Philosophorum, Nicholas Watson on the McMaster text, and Elizabeth Wade on Lullian divination. The work also includes Juris Lidaka's edition of the Liber de Angelis, and an overview of late medieval English ritual manuscripts by Frank Klaassen. This book will be invaluable for scholars and other readers interested in ritual magic in the later middle ages.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Well illustrated throughout and with a very useful bibliography and index, Fanger's volume adds considerable weight to the need to study magic as part of the broader religious and scientific discourses of the later Middle Ages. --Gary K. Waite, Sixteenth Century Journal

About the Author

Claire Fanger is a visiting faculty member at the University of Western Ontario. She is the co-editor of The Latin Verses in the 'Confessio Amantis' (Colleagues Press, 1991).

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press (August 31, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271025174
• ISBN-13: 978-0271025179
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,228,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, March 14, 2008

By 

Gregory E. Mendenhall (Arlington, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Late Medieval Ritual Magic (Paperback)

This is a fantastic book especially if you are looking from a historical perspecive. The book is very intellegently written, and it is very apparent the author spent a great deal of time researching the work. This is not just another rehash as so many other books are. Highly reccommended for any magicians library.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read, May 18, 2009

By 

Martin D Davis - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Late Medieval Ritual Magic (Paperback)

This is really pretty excellent. I'm surprised the history of magic isn't touched on more often in general European history classes that are required in high school and college. Not only is it generally interesting (more interesting than say, learning about the successions of popes and about petty civil wars - at least to myself), but it gives a rare insight into the way the minds of people worked at the time, their hopes, their desires, and their fears, as well as gives a different viewpoint on religion of the day as a whole.

This book is another great book in the Magic in History series. It contains many Latin originals (with translation) and the essays are superb. This armchair historian loves it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent work for the practicing magus, September 16, 2010

By 

A Magus (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Late Medieval Ritual Magic (Paperback)

While this title will not offer a step by step lesson plan as do some of the classical Grimoires, it does offer a wealth of information, previously unavailable, which can be built into the experienced magus' work. Hence it is highly recommended for the more advanced practitioner and for the occult scholar, but not for the aspirant, student or neophyte.