- Grimoire
A grimoire (pronEng|grɪˈmwɑr) is a textbook of magic. Books of this genre, typically giving instructions for invoking
angel s ordemon s, performingdivination and gaining magical powers, have circulated throughoutEurope since theMiddle Ages .Magicians were frequently persecuted by the Christian church, so their journals were kept hidden to prevent them from being burned. [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=PoFV65rO59gC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=mediaeval+prosecution+magicians&ots=F_38yQdIbu&sig=kIzOpDmoVISf6azx__cHX0LC04k] Such books contain astrological correspondences, lists of
angel s anddemon s, directions on casting charms and spells, 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 Latinsyntax anddiction ) 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 withsupernatural influence.Fact|date=March 2007 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 toLate Antiquity . Thus, the 13th centurySefer Raziel Ha-Malakh is significantly based on theSefer Ha-Razim (ca. 4th or 5th century), which is in turn influenced by HellenisticGreek magical papyri .Notable 13th to 17th century grimoires include:
*ThePicatrix , 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-calledMunich Handbook (15th century)
*"Libri tres de occulta philosophia " byHeinrich 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
Key of Solomon ) were reclaimed by para-Masonic magical organizations such as theHermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and theOrdo 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 authorH. P. Lovecraft , and inspired bySumerian mythology and the "Ars Goetia ", a section in the "Lesser Key of Solomon" which concerns the summoning of demons. The "Azoëtia" ofAndrew D. Chumbley has been described as a modern grimoire. [Semple, Gavin (1994) 'The Azoëtia - reviewed by Gavin Semple', "Starfire" Vol. I, No. 2, 1994, p. 194.]The
Neopagan religion ofWicca publically appeared in the 1940s, andGerald Gardner introduced theBook of Shadows as a Wiccan Grimoire.Grimoire was the title selected by
Michael Donaghy in 2003 for his poem reflecting on theCyborg research of scientistKevin Warwick [ Crawford, Robert(ed.), "Contemporary Poetry and Contemporary Science", Oxford University Press, 2006] .Popular culture
The term "grimoire" commonly serves as an alternative name for a spell-book or tome of magical knowledge in such genres as
fantasy fiction . The most famous fictional grimoire is the "Necronomicon ," a creation of the author H. P. Lovecraft. It was first referenced in his story "The Hound ", and subsequently made appearances in many of his stories. Other authors such asAugust Derleth andClark Ashton Smith have also cited it in their works with Lovecraft's approval. Lovecraft believed such common allusions built up "a background of evil verisimilitude". Many readers and others have believed it to be a real work, with booksellers and librarians receiving many requests for the fictional tome. Pranksters have even listed it in rare book catalogues, including one who surreptitiously slipped an entry into theYale University Librarycard catalog . [L. Sprague de Camp , "Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers ", pp. 100–1. ISBN 0-87054-076-9.] Several authors have also published books entitled Necronomicon, though none have been endorsed by Lovecraft himself.The 2000
PlayStation gameVagrant Story makes heavy use of the term as items/scriptures found through the adventure to help the main character the learning of magical abilities useful during the game. The 2006PlayStation 2 RPGFinal Fantasy XII , developed by the same team of Vagrant Story, also makes reference to grimoires and magick.In the
MMORPG World of Warcraft , grimoires are the books or tomes sold by Demon Trainer vendors and used by Warlocks to teach their pets new abilities.The 2008
Nintendo DS gameFinal Fantasy Tactics A2 carries the subtitle "Grimoire of the Rift" and features a grimoire which the main character finds in a library and which opens a portal to the game's world.In
Final Fantasy VII Dirge of Cerberus ,Grimoire Valentine isVincent Valentine 's father.In
Final Fantasy XI , another MMORPG, the job class Scholar uses a Grimoire to cast certain types of magic.The Dutch
Black metal bandGod Dethroned has an album entitled, TheGrand Grimoire , and a song by the same name that was released in 1997.In
Charmed The Book of Shadows also has an evil counterpart known as the Grimoire. The Grimoire is a large brown book with an unknown demonic symbol of an upside down pentagram and skull on the cover. The pages of the Grimoire are said to be blackened by its evil. Much like the Book of Shadows, the Grimoire possesses the power to protect itself from its enemies or anything Good. Its spells and incantations are written in Latin. It makes only a few appearances and is later orbed under a mountain of rock in the West Andes by Leo.Bianca and her family of assassin witches possess a grimoire which contains their family's spells, although this is simply a grimoire and not the Grimoire. The book had a symbol of two snakes intertwined with each other added to its cover for the episode. The book was sold on eBay in late 2007 and reached a final bid of $405.00. In the episode Bride and Gloom, The Charmed Ones' Book of Shadows began to change itself into a grimoire once the girls turned to evil, even transforming once good spells into new dark spells.References
External links
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/ Internet Sacred Text Archives: Grimoires]
* [http://www.hermetics.org/ebooks.html Hermetics Library of Magical & Mystical E-Books]
* [http://athenaeum.asiya.org/ Magickal Athenaeum] - a collection of magical PDF files
* [http://www.esotericarchives.com/esotime.htm Timeline of esoterica]
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