Customer Reviews

Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century (Magic in History)

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I consistently maintain an up to date collection of the Magic in History series, which I consider to be top notch for the occultist wishing to peruse past traditions. The series is as important for one's bookshelf and reading as Agrippa's Occult Philosophy series, in my opinion, or the Key of Solomon. However, unlike the two mentioned, most books in the series are historical suveys of theory and less practical (aka: grimoires). This particular text, however, is the exception, and is therefore by far my favorite. The book begins with summaries, in english, of various key experiments and practices outlined in the ritual handbook, followed by a full text, in Latin, of the manuscript. At the very end of the book are copies of the pages of the text itself. The manuscript is a bit of an enigma, in that the first two sections of it are missing, its authorship and ownership is uncertain, and even its date of origin cannot be verified. However, given the overlap between Agrippa's masterwork, one can see variations on magickal theory of the 15th and 16th centuries. While Agrippa dealt mostly with high magick, this manual, mislabeled necromancy, tends to stray into what is truly black arts. What is truly fascinating is that the fundamental theory and, indeed, basic practice of both the "divine" and "infernal" arts remain relatively constant, despite supposedly different sources of influence. To the modern occultist, this is a given. However, in the context of the period at which this text was supposedly written, this insight is profound and surprising. It strongly supports my personal belief that the concept of "God" and "Devil" are literally two perceptions of the same entity, and are only divided in the fragile and limited human psyche.

People who are interested in works in the Latin language ought to take a special note of this book. It is one of the more curious and obscure things in print, and we're thankful for it.

This reproduces in its entirely a fifteenth century manual containing someone's collection of magic spells. Unlike the fabled Necronomicon, this one's real. The spells themselves, as Prof. Kieckhefer's commentary points out, fall into a number of predictable patterns.

Their basic premise seems to be that by using a mish-mash of sacred names in Hebrew and Greek, or invoking an even more unrecognisable congeries of infernal spirits, we can invoke the power of God to summon demons and make them do our bidding. Putting this unlikely theology into practise, though, seems frequently to require the sacrifice of a hoopoe, making the spells somewhat difficult to use for the North American reader. Good luck.

What makes this book stand out is that, unlike similar collections of magical material, this one reproduces the entire original text in fairly easy mediæval Latin. I would have some nits to pick with the editing (it seems unlikely the fellow really meant to write "eciam" so often), but having this fascinating and obscure material to peruse in the original more than compensates for any such minor flaws. Original pages are often reproduced, showing the all-important sigils and arcane symbols.

Serious diabolists may find this a must-read. Folks like myself, just interested in late Latin literature, will find it a hoot. Hope you're not a lip-reader, though.

Analyzing a 15th-century necromancer's book of experiments doesn't sound like gripping reading. Actually, it's quite fascinating reading, though this is definitely a geekbuy for the scholar of magic, mysticism, and religious trends.

Simply, this book takes a largely complete necromantic manual and analyzes it in context of the time, history, and what the owner may be like. The manual in question thus becomes a touchstone for understanding a period in time, traditions, and ideas - and how they came to be.

It does so quite well. There's a myriad of marvelous insights, informative information, and catalogues information, all tied together in comprehendible ways.

If there is a flaw, its that the manual is included in the book - but with no translation! It's clearly aimed at scholars in that regard, but I have to wonder if a translation would have made it more useful in general.

Despite this flaw, even if a near half of the book is in latin, it's really quite an interesting buy for a scholar of such things. If one has read the other books in the series, then this one is definitely worth it for its well-done contuinuing scholarship.

Professor Kieckheffer is one of the greatest authorities on medieval magic. It is especially ceremonial magic that he has placed firmly on the map of medieval intellectual history. The necromancer's manual is a fascinating text accompanied by Kieckheffer's high quality scholarship regarding social and intellectual contexts. I highly recoomend for anybody interested in the history of medieval and Renaissance magic.

This is a very interesting and a very well done Grimoire.

Besides a translation, it also includes the original Latin

Version, and photos. from the text illustrating the various

Magick Circles being used. What I especially liked about this

Grimoire is that includes a large amount of Magickal material

that is unique to this book and not available from other sources.

Also the book gives the reader a close sense of the original

author of this interesting grimoire in the manner that it is

written, you almost feel the presence of the original author

in the same room as you are reading this book.

A fine study of a specific manuscript of renaissance magic, and also of the place of grimoires in general. The book includes the full text, in latin, of a German grimoire, full of spells and summonings of various types. A number of these are described in some detail in the book itself, but it would take a skilled practitioner (or a latin translator) to make practical magic out of them. Authentic and interesting, nevertheless.

Very good chapter on the idea of the 'magical book', the book as talisman or book as entity. The grimoire also includes a detailed rite for consecrating such a book.

For those interested in scolarship on goetia, summonings and renaissance occultism,this book is a must.

First, a few of the reviews point out the confusion that this work can generate, so it is important to state immediately what this book is and who the target audience is.

The book is a philological study of the Munich Handbook on Necromancy, seeking to place the spirit summonations within the famework that the magician had. This is an academic work, exploring the the viewpoing of the magician in this work,

The second part of the work is a transcription of the manuscript, in Latin (untranslated) so that those who are interested in further study can do so from the original text.

The third part of the work is a reproduction of each of the pages which contains diagrams or figures so that the relationship between these and the text can be further studied by students.

This is an extremely well done work, but folks might get the impression that it is a practical handbook (which it could be if you know Latin), but is fundamentally a book about magic in the late middle ages rather than a book of magic.

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.

A must have for the scholar, the practitioner, very good notes with much usefull information I recommend it for every reader interested in the occult. One thing I didn't liked though, although the translations of the original text are very accurate and well organized in the first part of the book, the images of the seals and circles for every spell are shown in the end of the book where the original latin text is. Overall a very good book.

This is first of all an academic work; the practical utilization of the document was not planned when the book was written. It contains real insights on the practice of magick and necromancy in the middle Age. Astonishing enough, the use of magick was proposed by clercs and even probably priester or monks to lay people. Now, in this book, necromancy doesn't mean summoning the Deads, but summoning spirits ! It has also nothing to do with a kabbalistic or goetic magick. This is why the book is unique and give detailed and accurate informations on the magick of this period of time. Did the magicians use afterwards a solomonic magick in priority to impress their clients ? Who knows...?