Book of Ceremonial Magic: Chapter IX: Concerning Infernal Necromancy: Chapter IX: Concerning Infernal Necromancy
IT is only within recent times that the attempt to communicate with the dead has been elevated to the dignity of White Magic. Here it is necessary to affirm that the phenomena of Modern Spiritualism are to be distinguished clearly from those of old Necromancy. The identity of purpose is apt to connect the methods, but the latter differ generically. To compare them would be almost equivalent to saying that the art of physical Alchemy is similar to mercantile pursuits because the acquisition of wealth is the end in either case. To appreciate the claim of Modern Spiritualism would be to exceed the limits of this inquiry; it is mentioned only with the object of setting it quite apart. It should, however, be added that occult writers--with the indiscrimination which is common to their kind--have sometimes sought ambitiously to represent the communication with departed souls by means of Ceremonial Magic as something much more exalted than mere Spiritualism, whereas the very opposite is nearer the truth. Ancient Necromancy was barbarous and horrible in its rites; it is only under the auspices of Éliphas Lévi and Pierre Christian that it has been purged and civilised, but in the hands of these elegant magicians it has become simply a process of auto-hallucination, having no scientific consequence whatever. The secret of true evocation belongs to the occult sanctuaries, by the hypothesis of those who are their spokesmen; it is not the process "It is also to be understood," says pseudo-Agrippa, "that
The ritual of Necromantic Evocation is indicated but not given by the authority just cited; we must seek it in Ebenezer Sibley and in the supplementary portions of the Grand Grimoire and the Red Dragon. The astrologer Sibley does not give account of his sources, but they were evidently not in printed books. The Sloane MS. numbered 3884 in the Library of the British Museum would appear to have been one. It is, in any case, not an invented process; it develops the principles laid down in pseudo-Agrippa and is quite in harmony with the baleful genius of Black Magic. It is here given verbatim. But if, instead of infernal or familiar spirits, the ghost or apparition of a departed person is to be exorcised, the Magician, with his assistant, must repair to the churchyard or tomb where the deceased was buried, exactly at midnight, as the ceremony can only be performed in the night between the hours of twelve and one. The grave is first to be opened, or an aperture made by which access may be had to the naked body. The magician having described the circle, and holding a magic wand in his right hand, while his companion or assistant beareth a consecrated torch, he turns himself to all the four winds, and, touching After these forms and ceremonies, the ghost or apparition will become visible, and will answer any questions put to it by the exorcist. But if it be desired to put interrogatories to the spirit of any corpse that has hanged, drowned or otherwise made away with itself, the conjuration must be performed while the body lies on the spot where it is first found after the suicide hath been committed, and before it is touched or removed. The ceremony is as follows. The exorcist binds upon the top of his wand a bundle of St. John's wort or Millies perforatum, with the head of an owl; and having repaired to the spot where the corpse lies, at twelve o'clock at night, he draws the circle and solemnly repeats these words:--By the mysteries of the deep, by the flames of Banal, by the Power of the East and the silence of the night, by the Holy Rites of Hecate, I conjure and exorcise thee, thou distressed spirit, to present thyself here and reveal unto me the cause of thy calamity, why thou didst offer violence to thy own liege life, where thou art now in being, and where thou wilt hereafter be. Then gently smiting the carcase nine times with the rod, he adds:--I conjure thee, thou Spirit of this N. deceased, to answer my demands that I propound unto thee, as thou ever hopest for the rest of the holy ones and ease of all thy misery; by the
The object of Necromantic evocations was much the same as the other operations of the Grimoires. If the sorcerer of old, like the modern magician, had ever dispossessed the shade of Apollonius of its eternal rest, it would have been upon a question of finance. The remaining process in Necromancy will be therefore an appropriate conclusion to our whole inquiry, as it is designed to raise up and expel a human spirit who is supposed to stand guard over a hidden treasure. It is from the Verus Jesuitarum Libellus, and is the ne plus ultra of Ceremonial Magic, however distributed according to the colours of the spectrum. The end of all things is money, says the sorcerer, and if asked to define Occult Science, he would answer that it was the method of obtaining concealed money. The testimony of the entire literature coincides with this definition. A CONJURATION FOR THE SPIRIT GUARDIANS OF HIDDEN TREASURE I cite, require and command thee, Human Spirit, who frequentest this place, and in thy life hast interred thy treasure I adjure and command thee, Human Spirit, to appear before me under the similitude of fire. By the ineffable Name JEHOVAH, by the ineffable and incomprehensible Fiat, by the power which created all things and sustains all things, I conjure and adjure thee to come visibly before this circle. By the good ness of God when He created man in His own likeness, by the power of His justice, which expelled the demons, enchaining them in the Infernal Abyss; by His infinite mercy when He sent His Son to redeem us; by all Divine Names and Attributes; by the omnipotence of our Saviour Jesus Christ, destroying the works of hell, blessing the seed of the woman and empowering it to crush the serpent's head--do thou answer me and obey faithfully. By the ineffable Name TETRAGRAMMATON, inscribed on this rod, answer me without deception or equivocation. By I conjure thee, Human Spirit, by the Ineffable Name of God, written on this sheet, but not to be Pronounced; by my blood, most excellently redeemed by the Lord of the Prophets, Jesus Christ; by His most Glorious Mother; by the insignia of His humility; by the great book of the judgments of God; by the angels, archangels and all the host of heaven. Be thou obedient unto me, a Christian baptized in the holy waters of Jordan. Answer me exactly, without enigma or pretence. Make known the power which aids thee. I command thee by the most holy Name of God, Who hath condemned thee to frequent this place wherein thou hast buried thy treasure. Amen. Amen. Amen. Citation COLPRIZIANA, OFFINA, ALTA, NESTERA, FUARO, MENUET. Charge ALIM, JEHOH, JEHOVAH, AGLA, ON, TETRAGRAMMATON. When the Spirit makes visible appearance, say:-- ADON, SCHADAI, ELIGON, AMANAI, ELION, PNEUMATON, ELII, ALNOAL, MESSIAS, JA, HEYNAAN, TETRAGRAMMATON. Add the following Conjuration:-- ADONAI, ZEBOTH. ADON, SCHADAI. ELION, TETRAGRAMMATON, ELOI, ELOHIM, MESSIAS, JA, HAGIOS, Ho THEOS. Amen. Say inwardly:-- ALLEY, FORTISSIAN, FORTISSIO, ALLINSON, ROA. OMGROMA, EPYN, SEYOK, SATANY, DEGONY, EPARYGON, GALLIGANON, ZOGOGEN, FERSTIGON. The most barbarous and unintelligible words are said by Picus de Mirandola to be the most powerful in Black Magic, and the affirmation applies everywhere, for the whole art is one of illiterate delight in unintelligible images. As those here cited from the Verus Jesuitarum Libellus seem in most cases fortuitous assemblages of letters, they are doubtless all that can be desired, but additional constraints and conjurations, should the spirit of the deceased miser refuse to appear, will readily occur to the reader.
324:1 The more intimate the knowledge possessed by the operator concerning the deceased person, the more easily he was supposed to call him up. 326:1 The process by which the soul was called back into the dead body prior to its interment constituted necromancy proper. The calling up of the shadow was sometimes termed sciomancy.Concerning Infernal Necromancy
