demons

Gather 2019: Overview

A few weeks ago I attended Gather 2019, a “pan-spiritual” conference. I never know how to classify it, but pan-spiritual seems to work, it’s not really a pagan conference, though many attendees might fall into that category, nor is it really an energy worker conference, though many attendees might fall into that category. You have pagans, Buddhists, Catholics, and Satanists; monotheists, polytheists, atheists; energy workers, spirit mediums, sorcerers; psychic vampires, otherkin, and other fringe freaks (said with true love). I have never attended a magick oriented conference that manages to actively encompass so many diverse backgrounds.

I’ve been attending Gather almost as long as they’ve been occurring, I missed a few at the beginning, but this was the 19th year of Gather, and I continue to be impressed by it. Now, I will admit my bias, I am associated with the organization that arranges Gather, House Kheperu. If you’re familiar with their system, I’m the Ally Guardian, if you’re not, it’s easiest to say I’m allied with them, and while not a member of the House, I work with them in most ways a member might. This year I co-headed programming, meaning I sorted through all the class submissions, made the very difficult call of what classes to accept and decline, and helped set up the schedule. So I’ll admit, I’m in a place to be biased about Gather, but I’m also tied so closely with the House and Gather because how much the early Gathers impressed me.

This year the theme was Unleashing Your Potential, and I think Gather itself has been doing that in the last two years. Gather is held at The Hotel at Oberlin (that’s the actual name), in Oberlin Ohio. It’s a beautiful hotel, in a remarkable town, and I’d yatter more about the community but this entry will be long enough as is.

We were very excited to have Ivo Dominguez Jr. as our featured presenter. In fact the first class I attended this year was Ivo’s class “Energy Fitness and Conditioning Practices.” I enjoyed this class immensely, the basic concept being that energy work is work, magick is work, and just like with physical exercises that you need to actively do energetic work to keep yourself in good form. At events like this, it’s not unusual to see someone burn themselves out, doing too much beyond their normal limits (like running 5km when you might only jog 1km every week). The class dealt with exercises that you can do to help prevent that and strengthen yourself.

On a slight aside, I just want to say if you ever get the chance to attend one of Ivo’s classes do it, and if you ever get the chance to actually talk with him, do it. He is a genuine pleasure to talk with, a fascinating person, and I’m lucky I got to spend so much time with him. Also he is approachable and grounded. I’ve been to conferences where the guest presenter is there just to sell books; they teach their class, they sit with their books, and they vanish. Ivo wasn’t like that, he attended classes like anyone else, he stayed for the after Gather lunch. As much as he was our guest presenter, he was also like the rest of us, enjoying a weekend of great conversations and classes.

The second class I attended was my own, “Tantric Tech and the Tarot” focusing on the Chariot, Death, and the Moon. This is the fourth (!) time I’ve offered a form of this class, each year dealing with a different set of cards. In this class I explore the deeper esoteric meanings of the cards as used in the BOTA and Golden Dawn outside of divination. I also offer the rough equivalent of a jenang, a basic Buddhist Empowerment, using the figures of the cards, rather than traditional deities. This is an extension of, and now a driving force, behind my own deep personal esoteric work with the tarot.

That was the last class of the night, but as usual I was up until around 0500 talking with friends I haven’t seen for months, and interesting new folks I just got the chance to meet. As much as I love the variety of scope of classes at Gather, it’s these in between and after hour conversations that really make it a great event.

Despite being up until 0500, I woke up and attended a 1000 class: Oneironautics 101 by Duende. It was an introduction to dream work, and the hypnopompic and hypnogogic states. Despite being early, it was an enjoyable class I’m not sure how much I’ll manage to make use of, because as folks might know dream work just seems to be beyond me, despite trying everything forever. (Perhaps a bit of hyperbole) But nonetheless it was interesting and has me rethinking some of my dream issues.

Then I had the second class that I taught: Dealing with Your Demons. It was a redux of a class I did years ago on how to use magickal techniques for working with demons and spirits, and how to apply those techniques to our “personal demons,” our psychological structures and baggage and all the internal stuff that makes our life difficult. It was well received. It was also one of the classes that was recorded, so if you’re interested in the class but didn’t attend you can purchase access to the recording (more on that below).

The next class I attended was Integrating Initiations with Dani and Hrafn. It is a class I wish was better attended, because conversations after Gather showed how much it was needed. The class looked an initiatory experiences, spiritual awakening and emergence, both informal, and formal, how they impact the individual and societal group, and how to navigate the upsets, mental, energetic, social, and otherwise. It had some good solid advice and perspectives, both presenters have been part of initiatory magickal traditions, and one presenter is a licensed therapist. If you’ve never been to a large event like Gather you might not realize it, but in a lot of ways if you’re open they’re initiatory experiences, and there are always people who have issues getting back into the swing of things afterwards.

The second Ivo class I attended was Castings & Containers: Choices In Creating Sacred Space. This was one of the two classes I was most excited for. I greatly enjoyed, and recommend, Ivo’s book Casting Sacred Space. In fact one of the techniques from that book was used during a ritual at Gather several years earlier that I was one of the ritualists for. This class was less on specific techniques for creating space, like in his book, and more on the different types of space, how to make it in different ways, and why would you want space that is more a fortress than a crossroad or a lense.

Cat’s Minor Meta-Surgery class was the other class I was very excited for. Meta-Surgery is a phrase we use for intentional alterations to the energy body. In this case the class covered the basics, what it is, why would you do it, how do you do it. This class focused on making a very simple augment for the finger. We had an experiment of sensing three items concealed in fabric or a box with our hands, then creating this extension to our finger, and then using that longer appendage to reach into the wrapping/box around the items and sensing again. While the class was nothing particularly new to me, I really enjoyed it because Cat is a blast (the only person I know who refers to an energy ball as “that motherfucker” and check out her amazing energy body artwork) and meta-surgery isn’t really talked about a lot, so was curious to see her present on it.

The last class I attended was Ivo’s third class on Sunday morning, The Consequences of Magickal Action: Aftercare and Healing. A great class to finish Gather with, looking at all the different issues that can arise in magickal work (especially intense and closely grouped workings, like at a conference like Gather…). Very practical, down to earth, take care of yourself advice, but needed.

I was a minor part of the closing ritual at Gather, where I spoke about the Questions of the weekend, and challenging others with them. The theme was unlocking your potential, and for me, the question that I kept coming back to in that regard is “Who are you?” We think of ourselves in relationship to other things, we’re children, siblings, lovers, we identify as our job, our hobbies. When all of these things are gone, when you take away all these supposedly defining traits: who are you? Want to unlock your potential? Know who you are.

Then, suddenly, Gather 2019 was over. I’ve already booked off the dates for Gather 2020. As I have stated, and I’ll state again, Gather is my favourite magickal conference/convention/event, and the only such event that I will rearrange and fight everything in my life to make sure I make it down. If you were unable to attend, you can buy digital access to the recorded classes here.

To the folks I met at Gather this year and came to my blog, welcome!

To folks reading this who are interested or curious in Gather, I hope to see you there for Gather 2020.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick

Review: The Witch’s Book of Spirits, by Devin Hunter

The Witch’s Book of Spirits – Devin Hunter

Llewellyn, 2017, 9780738751948, 306pp

The Witch’s Book of Spirits is a refreshing book on spirit work and magick. Devin Hunter leads you through a theoretical tour of spirit realms, introduces you to spirits along the way, and teaches you how to work with them.

Spirit work is the cornerstone of most witchcraft traditions, but what Hunter presents is both applicable to most magickal traditions, but also distinct in and of itself. That’s one of the main things I appreciated, Hunter’s system is its own thing, it’s fresh and new, not a rehash of older grimoires or Books of Shadows.

The book starts with a look at the history of spirits and magick, the importance of spirit allies, and explaining the spirit realms. The book felt almost like a spiral, rather than a linear book. Instead of being a straight progression from topic to topic, it felt like topics were introduced, explored, and returned to a while later with greater understanding. From a teaching perspective this is a great way to keep the information fresh and relevant in the reader’s mind.

The book spirals out, looking at familiars, protections, spiritual flight, returning to the various spirit realms, and methods of conjurations. While I might disagree with some of Hunter’s delineations of spirits and realms, they do make a useful model to work from. If the worst thing I can say is that I disagree with some definitions, then I’d say that this makes this a fairly solid book on spirit work.

It’s the last half of the book that really shines in my opinion. Hunter gives us nine “Keys of Hecate” which are a combination of sigils and energy work. These Keys are symbols of power, each one with a different purpose and method of use ranging from establishing authority and protection to helping spirits manifest on our level. I found these really interesting because while the origins and symbols are different, the underlying principle and method is very similar to work I’ve had revealed to me by my spirits, just as these Keys were revealed by Hunter’s work with Hecate.

Now that the reader is equipped with the Keys to handle spirits the book spirals back into a deeper look at the classification of spirits, from angels and demons to the dead and the fae. The book ends with a grimoire of 33 spirits, spirits of the Vexna-Kari. They’re an interesting mishmash of spirits of different types and different origins. Several apparently were spirit familiars to witches in the past, but for whatever reason even after their witch died the spirits remained, brought back into the fold by the Vexna-Kari. The abilities or domains of the spirits are the standard fair: help learning, drawing love, protection, financial aid and so on. The head of the spirits, the Vexna-Kari, are three spirits, progenitors of witchblood, angels who walked the Earth. This section, like the Keys, had a few eerie similarities to my own work, and considering much of that comes from spirits who also claim themselves as bloodline progenitors and angels on the Earth I think it’s good confirmation having similarities arise. I suspect those who follow paths connected to the Crooked Path, Sabbatic Craft, TradCraft will probably find Hunter’s work very resonant with their own.

While I would recommend the book in general, for anyone wanting to improve the connection and work with spirits, I will say it probably will have an extra “layer” to those who walk paths connected with Hecate, the Bene Ha Elohim, and TradCraft. Even if you’re fairly developed in your spirit work, I would recommend the book for the Keys of Hecate and the Vexna-Kari grimoire.

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The Secrets of the Summoning Circle – Resurrected


 

This was my second most popular piece on my old site. Though it had barely more than half the views of Sex With Angels, which I think says a lot about the internet…

This is just an introduction to summoning circles in grimoiric magick, and an interpretation of them, rather than just “here draw this, it works.”

This article was originally written for a “flavour” article in a friend’s Dictionary of Demons book. The format of the book changed and my articles got cut, though some the information was still incorporated into the book. I’ve slightly edited it from the original format to be a bit more personal and experiential rather than just cold theory.

The Circle is probably one of the most important, and misunderstood tools in the arsenal of a magickian who works with Demons. Anyone who has flipped through a text on summoning Angels or Demons has come across a Summoning Circle, but probably with no more explanation than the method of drawing it, and that the circle is important to use.

Over the course of time the design of the circle has changed, and the importance of it has shifted. In modern magick, more than ever, the circle is being deemed unimportant, or simplistic. The Summoning Circle is being replaced by Psychic Shields, or ritual belts, or a simple visualized bubble. This shows, among other things, a tendency to interpret the Summoning Circle as merely a form of protection when dealing with Demons, when in fact it is far more than just that in some interpretations.

(Continued)

The rest of the article is available here

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Iuratus: Christian Elements, the Depth of Knowledge, and Authorship and Audience- Conclusion- Works Cited


Start at the beginning
See the previous instalment in case you missed it
The faith and devotion of the practitioner are constantly referenced throughout the text. In the introduction it is said the book can only be given to a man “both Godly and faithful, whose Godly behavior had been tried for the space of a whole year.” He is to be not just a devout person, but observed and tested for a year to prove himself worthy. When actually performing the rituals the practitioner is to be clean, to fast, and pray with devotion. That he must be “very penitent and truly confessed of all his sins.” Very similar requests appear throughout the text. Anyone undertaking this practice must attend Mass and take communion daily for a period of at least a month, which indicates the level of faith and devotion the practitioner must have. Coming at it from another angle it is warned that undertaking parts of the ritual “for an evil purpose” would lead to “death unto him.” It makes a case for the notion that the practitioner truly must be, not just a Christian, but a devout and Godly practitioner, undertaking the rituals in the text for only the highest ideals.
The Christian nature of the text and practitioner is repeatedly highlighted by the idea of divine authority. From the introduction it is said that “it is not possible that a wicked and unclean man should work truely [sic] in this art, for men are not bound to spirits, but the spirits are constrained against their wills to answer men that are cleansed or clean, and to fulfill their requests.” This is internal justification through the practitioner’s own holiness, it is saying that for this to work the practitioner must be cleansed or holy, and that the art of this book cannot work for those who are not holy. It is not just a personal devotion that enables the practitioner to commune with angels and spirits; it is asserted that such an ability is through the grace of YHWH. The ritual prayers say that they are completed “through God’s help” or “through … [God’s] mediation” . These rituals are framed that it is through the power or permission of YHWH that they have any effect. Contrasted with the earlier notion that the text cannot successfully be used by pagans or Jews it further supports the idea that the text is meant to be used by a Christian, and is dependent on their Christian faith and devotion.
When considering the author and audience of Liber Iuratus Honorii it becomes clear that the most likely candidate for both is a member of the clergy. The practitioner is required to be very devout and pious, and the author is highly skilled in Latin, knowledgeable in Greek, Hebrew, very familiar with Church prayers, rituals, scriptures, and Christian writings. On its own this suggests a priest or another member of the church. Such education would be largely the domain of the clerics, the scribes, and the nobility, limiting potential authors and audiences. The depth and breadth of knowledge, along with the literacy and devotional requirements leave very few potential authors or readers, but a priest would be on the top of that list.
This isn’t as unlikely as it initially seems. Despite being linguistically inaccurate the practice of summoning spirits was regarded as necromancy, regardless of the purpose of the summoning, or the nature of the spirit. To repeat a question and answer of Richard Kieckhefer “Who were the necromancers? Both in legend and before the law it was clerics above all others who stood accused of necromancy.” He goes onto explain that “cleric” is a hard word to define, for it can include anyone who has any level of ordination which includes doorkeeper and acolyte. The training was not through a seminary, but more of an apprentice relationship with another priest. Sometimes their ordination was not about a holy calling, but a way of getting an education, and one of the lower orders of ordination was that of exorcist “and in the ordination ceremony he would receive a book of exorcisms as a symbol of his theoretical function.” They were given the book as a “symbol” of office; it wasn’t something they were trained in, but more something if needed they would turn to the text for. This is another peculiarity, as one might assume these rituals would require training, but the Liber Iuratus Honorii was also passed on at the time of the master’s death , meaning the practitioner also received no training in the use of the text. Kieckhefer suggests there was a “clerical underworld” which is not really defined in terms of structure (if any) or purpose (if any), but that to some extent there was a collection of priests who studied and practiced this type of conjuration. Considering the amount of knowledge displayed all throughout the formation of Liber Iuratus Honorii, and the proposed existence of the clerical underworld it is reasonable to assume that the author of Liber Iuratus Honorii was a priest.
Concluding Thoughts
The Christian identification of Liber Iuratus Honorii is evidence of a complex process of religious thought and religious exchange. Initial readings reveal seemingly contradicting ideas: summoning angels to stir up war, devotional prayers and confession to Jesus, condemning the pope as a puppet of demons. Yet each of these contradictions are a thread in a complex textual and ideological tapestry, evidence of Jewish Qabalah and Islamic conjurations, intensely devotional Christian worship, and anti-Church sentiments. Individually these threads conflict and confuse, but if the reader slows down and reads the text as a whole from a distance, than the picture begins to become clear. Liber Iuratus Honorii becomes hard to conceptualize as anything but a thoroughly Christian text, written in such a way that makes it inaccessible to the laity, but perfect for a priestly audience. Clerical in origin and Christian in nature, Liber Iuratus Honorii shows the detailed and complex currents of medieval Christianity through an unusual but devout text.
Works Cited (In order of reference)
Joseph H. Peterson trans. Liber Juratus Honorii, or the Sworn Book of Honorius. Esoteric Archives. http://www.esotericarchives.com/juratus/juratus.htm (accessed February 25, 2013)
Robert Mathiesen. “A Thirteenth-Century Ritual to Attain the Beatific Vision from the Sworn Book of Honorius of Thebes.” in Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic. ed. Claire Fanger. (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998. 143-162.)
Richard Kieckhefer. “The Devil’s Contemplatives: The Liber Iuratus, the Liber Visionum and Christian Appropriation of Jewish Occultism.” in Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic. ed. Claire Fanger. (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998. 250-265.)
Katelyn Mesler. “The Liber Iuratus Honorii and the Christian Reception of Angel Magic.” in Invoking Angels: Theurgic Ideas and Practices, Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries. ed. Clair Fanger. (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012. 113-150.)
Owen Davies, Grimoires: A History of Magic Books (New York: Oxford Press, 2009)
Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, trans. James Freake, ed. Donald Tyson (Woodbury: Llewellyn Publications)
Clair Fanger. “Covenant and the Divine Name: Revisiting the Liber Iuratus and John of Morigny’s Liber Florum.” in Invoking Angels: Theurgic Ideas and Practices, Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries. ed. Clair Fanger. (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012. 192-216.),
Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989)
Philip T. Weller, trans., The Roman Ritual (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1964)

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Iuratus: Christian Elements, the Depth of Knowledge, and Authorship and Audience Continued


Start at the beginning
See the previous instalment in case you missed it
To reiterate and expand an earlier point, a variety of Christian texts are incorporated into or referenced by Liber Iuratus Honorii. A partial list drawn from Mesler’s work on the text includes: “passages from scripture, the baptismal rite, the preface for Easter, the Ave Maria, the Salve Regina, the Apostle’s Creed, the Pater Noster, the Sanctus, and the Creed of Athanasius” as well as Jerome’s letters and Pseudo-Augustine. It is obvious that Honorius is very well read in matters of Christianity, and educated in general. Mathiesen attests “the Sworn Book is clearly not a translation from Arabic, Hebrew or Greek, but an original composition in Latin by a person who was fully conversant with the liturgy and ritual of the Roman Catholic Church” and more than that “it is clear that the author had some knowledge of the liturgy of the Greek Orthodox Church.” We are dealing with an author who knows Latin, Catholic and Greek Orthodox ritual, Greek, and at least some Hebrew. His knowledge is not just appropriated; it permeates the text in overt uses of prayers, to subtle references and even hidden messages. When the pope and his cardinals decided that books like Liber Iuratus Honorii had to be eliminated, Honorius said that a council of 811 “masters” came together to decide what should be done to preserve the tradition. The idea that there were 811 masters using texts like this seems odd, as well as the specificity of the number, but 811 is the numerological value of IAO (ΙΑΩ), a Greek name for God, the equivalent of the Hebrew YHWH. This, Mathiesen suggests, is a mirroring to the Council of Nicaea having 318 members, as that is the same numerological value as “the name of Jesus and his Cross.” The author is trying to validate the nature of the book as coming from God himself by having as many masters as the value of IAO. Knowing the Greek numerical value of a name though is not a matter of simple information or appropriation, but seems to show more understanding and a broader knowledge base as well as an ability and desire to integrate this knowledge into the text.
Having looked at the knowledge of the author, the character of the practitioner should be examined. The text itself recognizes that there are “three kinds of men that work this art: Jews, Christians, and pagans.” Honorius asserts that only Christians can use the rituals of this book properly. The pagans do not “constrain or bind” the spirits, and the spirits pretend to help the pagans but are in actuality deceiving them farther away from Christianity. The Jewish people are in the same predicament. The spirits will not obey them for they are not Christian, for they are not “signed with the sign of God…the cross” which is another way of saying they are not baptized . Even worse they are accused of not using the text for Divine vision, and are barred from entering Heaven for not recognizing Jesus. It seems unusual to condemn Jewish people more heavily than pagans, but perhaps the author is responding to the atmosphere of the time, or perhaps Honorius is trying to hide his connection with Judaism and Jewish sources evidenced earlier in the paper. It is made clear that only a devout Christian can make the rituals in the text work properly. Pagans and Jews can use it, but unsuccessfully. While the pagan usage of the rituals is left open, Jews are accused of using it not for Divine vision, but rather the other goals listed .
It is claimed that Christians would “only [work] truely [sic] to come to the vision of the Deity.” For the Christian the only purpose of the text is this “vision of the Deity” and all the other goals mentioned are to be taken as superfluous, though their inclusion is likely evidence of the attitudes and actions drawn from Honorius’s source text.

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Iuratus: Christian Elements, the Depth of Knowledge, and Authorship and Audience


Start at the beginning
See the last instalment in case you missed it
Christian Elements, the Depth of Knowledge, and Authorship and Audience
Though the Christian identity of the text is well supported at this point, the Christian elements should be examined to support this idea, and to further the argument that the author and audience of the text was not just Christian, but of the priestly orders, part of what Kieckhefer terms the “clerical underworld.”
In contrast to the adoption of Hebrew god names, the divinity in Liber Iuratus Honorii is referred to as the “Alpha and Omega,” “the father, son, and holy ghost,” and “the destroyer of death.” The references to the trinity and the Alpha and Omega mentioned in the Revelation of Saint John are both common naming conventions in Christianity, but the destroyer of death is a bit more obscure and is possibly a reference to 1 Corinthians that states “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” This part of the naming convention could possibly show the “sincerity” of the Christian nature of the text, as “destroyer of death” is a more obscure reference and shows a greater familiarity with the Bible than referring YHWH as the Alpha and Omega. Throughout the text common names and titles from Christianity are used repeatedly to refer to YHWH as well as the more uncommon names.
jur1[1]Another element of uncommon knowledge shows up in the ritual structures explained in the text. Part of the work on summoning the angels involves the creation of a complex seal. The creation of the seal includes a set of prayers to say over some blood which is used as ink in the process. The first prayer is the same as “The Blessing of Salt” used by Catholic priests to exorcise salt before putting it in holy water , only the word salt is replaced by blood. The prayer is currently contained in the Rituale Romanum –the ritual handbook of a Catholic priest– which was only standardized in the 17th century. (While predecessor texts have existed since the 15th century they tended to be more regional and temporary. ) After the compilation of the Rituale Romanum anyone who could read Latin and obtain a copy of the text could find “The Blessing of Salt.” Though the text currently sits at more than 700 pages it would be a lot to go through if they were not aware of what they were looking for. Liber Iuratus Honorii was written in the 13th or 14th century though, before these texts existed, at that time such prayers and rituals would have been part of the training of a priest, possibly part of an oral tradition. So the question is how would the author of Liber Iuratus Honorii know the prayer? It is possible they learned it from the local priest, or that it was something the laity might know, but it also opens up the possibly that the text was written by a priest, if not for a priest. Continuing this thread the format of the ritual for conjuration even has some loose similarities to the ritual of exorcism. In both cases the practitioner/exorcist is to attend confession and mass , then they move into prayers of adoration and beseeching divine aid in their task , which finally moves to include the calling of the spirits and commanding their obedience. One of the lower orders of the priestly hierarchy at that time was the exorcist, so the details and structures of the ritual of exorcism would be available to many lower priests . The blood used to consecrate the seal is the prayer said over salt for holy water, while the prayer used to consecrate the magic circle for the ritual is the same used by the priest to consecrate the host in communion. The ritual preparation includes finding a “wary and a faithful priest” who will perform mass and prayers for the practitioner all the while inserting prayers from Liber Iuratus Honorii into the mass service. While this could mean the practitioner himself, it could also be another priest who has the same interest. This builds the case that the author was a member of the clergy, or somehow familiar with their ritual structure and prayers. The requirement of another priest suggests that the author may not be alone in his interests.

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Iuratus: Uncovering Christianity through the Internal Logic of Liber Iuratus Honorii Continued


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The previous instalment in case you missed it
Another place this circumvention of Church authority occurs is in the promise of releasing three souls from purgatory. Again this was part of the classic authority of the Church; souls in purgatory could be eventually released (or released sooner) through the performances of masses in their name. In the final prayer of the first section of the text, just before the vision of the divine is granted there is a request to “breakest the brazen gates and deliveredst thy friends out of the dark places of hell.” Now here the text says hell, but before, and after this section it says purgatory. Regardless, freeing souls from hell or purgatory is quite a claim for an individual to make. Even the priests of the Church could not just release a soul from purgatory. It took continued prayers and rituals to gain that release, but Honorius claims this ritual can offer just such a release immediately.
Twice there is this circumvention of the Church authority, or the Church monopoly, through the personal forgiveness of sins and the release of souls in purgatory. Earlier in the ritual it is required for the practitioner to attend mass and confession, but by the end through prayer, devotion, and ritual they have become an authority of forgiveness unto themselves. Again I feel this should be framed not as a challenge to the Christian nature of the text, but more of a personal liberation and challenge to the structure and monopoly of the Church in such regards. The domain of forgiveness was that of the priests, so this text could be seen as a threat to that domain, or possibly an extension of the priestly authority and power which connects to the idea addressed later that the author was a priest himself.
The text can be conclusively identified as Christian based on the contents. The oaths that prevent the text from being wide spread, coupled with the danger of the text being discovered, suggest that the text’s contents are genuine as there is no need to hide or disguise a text that no one will read. There are also the elements that are contrary and inflammatory to the Church which would have been excluded in a non-Christian text in disguise. Since a non Christian text hiding in Christian imagery and language would strive to be palatable to the Christian masses as a safety precaution, it can be concluded from the statements challenging the Church’s authority and the threat and oaths that Liber Iuratus Honorii was written as a genuinely Christian text.

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Iuratus: Uncovering Christianity through the Internal Logic of Liber Iuratus Honorii


Start from the beginning
Last instalment in case you missed it
Uncovering Christianity through the Internal Logic of Liber Iuratus Honorii
Part of the challenge in understanding the Christian nature of Liber Iuratus Honorii is knowing what to take at face value and what may be a blind, something to throw an unwanted reader off track, such as hiding a non-Christian text in Christian imagery. To do this we must consider the text as falling into one of two major possibilities: either it is a highly unorthodox Christian text, or it is a non Christian text that uses Christian elements as a disguise to protect the owner in case someone managed to read the text. Remembering the church’s attitude toward magic, and the supposed judgement of the pope, it makes sense that a non-Christian magical text would pretend to be Christian in an attempt to protect the owner. Consider the name and nature of the text. It is called Iuratus or Sworn, because the book was to be held and received under an oath. According to the introduction, it is included in the oath that the text would only be passed on when the previous owner is dying, to a man who has been tested for a year and found holy. No copies can be made save for those passed on at the deathbed, the owner should die rather than betray the person who gave him the text, and if no worthy man is found, the text is to buried either by the owner while still alive or with him at the time of death. Considering the pope’s condemnation and “judging [practitioners] to death” it seems that between the oaths and the fear of execution anyone who owned a copy of Liber Iuratus Honorii regardless of its religious origin would be unlikely to share the text.
If this is assumed to be the case, then the inclusion of very specific Christian prayers —from priestly prayers like the Blessing of the Salt, to prayers more likely to be known to the laity like the Hail Mary, the Actiones nostras, the Athanasian Creed, and many others— would seem to be a sincere inclusion. If this was a non-Christian text, under the same oaths and restrictions there would still be the same threat of execution and thus need for secrecy, therefore there would be no need to reframe it in Christian contexts. If Liber Iuratus Honorii was really passed on at death, and under the oaths and threats, then it is not unreasonable to assume that the Christian elements are not there as a disguise, but are part of the system. If no one would ever read the text, save whom the owner approved of and passed the text to at death, then there is no need to disguise the text in Christian theology and language for protection. Under such conditions the Christian nature of Liber Iuratus Honorii would be genuine.
Continuing to look at the internal logic of the text, we must look at the framing narrative, which explains the supposed reasoning for the book being written down and oath bound. The text says the pope and his cardinals , having decided this art is of the Devil, must “pluck up and utterly to destroy this deadly root, and all the followers of this art.” The text has to be hidden and protected because the pope and the Church has decided it is evil. While this is not shocking nor inflammatory the author of Liber Iuratus Honorii continues to claim that “wicked spirits were gathered together, intending to send devils into the hearts of men… sowing hypocrise [sic] and envy, and rooting bishops and prelates in pride, even the pope himself and his cardinals” and this is what led them on this quest against books of magic and spirit conjuration. It was not because the texts were unholy, but because the pope and his cardinals have been coerced by demons, or “wicked spirits,” to this end. Returning to the idea that Christian prayers and symbolism were added to protect the owner if the book was ever accidentally discovered, as a palatable disguise, then the first paragraph would not accuse the pope of being under a demon’s influence and remove that palatable disguise. This again shows the sincerity of the Christian elements. If the text is oath bound and no one will read it there is no need to hide it in Christian terms, and if the Christian terms were a disguise they wouldn’t attack the pope, so it suggests that the text really was Christian.
There are other aspects of the text which support this reading of its internal logic. For instance, divine vision is the goal of the first book, yet several other effects happen in the course of the ritual, either as steps along the way or “side-effects” and one of them is the “forgiveness of sins.” One of the prayers used in the working itself says “this prayer aforesaid … doth obtain remission of sins” and later prayers continue to request and attest that “inward sins may be washed away.” At this time the Church was seen as the sole source of forgiveness, that through confession to a priest and their recommendations and blessings a sin could be washed away. Yet here the text is offering the practitioner the chance to do just that without the intervention of a priest. This should not be read as anti-Christian or non-Christian, but anti-Church as an establishment. The text is asserting the power of an individual to be forgiven through other means than the Church, even if it is a complex ritual. So while still Christian it does display some issues with the hierarchy and policies of the Church.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick

Iuratus: Analysis of Non-Christian Elements and Their Integration with Liber Iuratus Honorii Part III


See the initial post of the series
The last instalment in case you missed it
Non-Christian elements are not always as easy to locate as Hebrew, Greek, and Chaldaic names, or Islamic ritual pattern: they are sometimes subtle and easy to pass over. For instance, the text begins with a set of oaths (which will be addressed more later) indicating that if the book cannot be passed on to a suitable man it was to be buried to protect the practitioner and the person who gave him the text. When put into context this seems unusual. The context in this case is the dominance of Christianity and the criminalization of magic and witchcraft and loosely related ideas. Liber Iuratus Honorii was written at a time just preceding the witch trials of Europe, when charges of magic were common and dangerous. According to the introduction of the text, the pope and his cardinals have made statements condemning “the art” (as the practice of these rituals is called within the text) and “judging [practitioners] to death.” A text as “dangerous” to the owner as Liber Iuratus Honorii would be better off destroyed, in a fire for instance, since a buried text can be recovered or discovered which would go against the spirit of the oath. Burying the text could allow a practitioner to be discovered, or an unworthy person to find the text. If the text was really to be protected the only real method would be its destruction. While this might seem odd, interpreted from a Jewish perspective it makes sense as it is a Jewish tradition than any holy text, or text containing the name of God, cannot be destroyed. When a text is no longer useful or usable it is to be buried in a cemetery rather than destroyed in any other way. While there is not enough said about burying the text in Liber Iuratus Honorii to conclusively say it is borrowing the Jewish custom of burying texts with the name of God in it, it does seem to be a parallel especially when contrasted with the issues of burying a text for reasons of security and secrecy.
These non-Christian elements could be seen as detracting from the argument that Liber Iuratus Honorii is really a Christian text, but I think it is more useful to interpret them as supporting and supplementing the text. At this time there is no real parallel to the form of angel communication of Liber Iuratus Honorii in Christian mystic traditions. On the other hand a great deal of the Qabalah at the time was centered on divine communication (despite Honorius’s protest otherwise ) so it is reasonable that the author of Liber Iuratus Honorii would borrow and steal from that tradition. The gaps existing in Christian mysticism could be filled in with Jewish mysticism to make a complete system, in an analog to using frog DNA to complete the sequence of dinosaur DNA in Jurassic Park. Taking from Jewish and Islamic sources doesn’t detract from the Christian nature of the next, but instead is merely evidence of the author seeing an element lacking in his system and deciding to appropriate the elements from another in order to make a more complete and potentially functioning system.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick

Iuratus: Analysis of Non-Christian Elements and Their Integration with Liber Iuratus Honorii Continued


Start with the initial post of this series
The last instalment in case you missed it.
A case has been made by Katelyn Mesler that there is even some evidence of Islamic thought running through Liber Iuratus Honorii. In a later part of the text, when the practitioner is to summon spirits related to the planets and the days instead of conjuring them as before, it is done in a question. “Where is Barthan the king? where are Thaadas, [Caudas], and Yalcal his ministers? Where is Formione the king? where are Guth, Maguth, and Guthrin his ministers?” This is a very different tone from standard conjurations in Liber Iuratus Honorii and other grimoires. Earlier in the text when calling an angel, the oration is given “I humbly invoke and beseech you, that you may condescend to come down and appear here before this circle … I order you through the virtue of that one, whose name is marked.” This is a more traditional conjuration; the iron hand in the velvet glove, a humble call to the spirit backed up by spiritual authority from God. This questioning call is not something that appears in Christian systems, nor is it something that appears in Jewish systems, but as Mesler states it is “found with some frequency in Islamic magical texts.” While it is a minor point, amidst a complex combination of Christian and Jewish influences, this does seem to indicate that the author of Liber Iuratus Honorii had some familiarity with, and access to Islamic texts related to conjuring spirits, making the religious combination of the text just a little more complicated.
There is another reference in the text that is neither Jewish nor Islamic, it is either Greek or evidence of a pre-existing grimoire system drawing on Greek mythology. It only appears once in the text, like the Islamic questioning, so cannot be considered a major part of the thought behind the text, but can again suggest the broad base of traditions that the text was built from. When discussing the appropriate incenses to use, the author explains what Solomon suggests. This is not surprising as Jewish and Christian grimoires often validated themselves claiming connections to Solomon, but it then also contains the suggestions of Hermes that disagree with what was previously said by Solomon. This may be a reference to a person, coincidentally named Hermes, or more likely a reference to the god himself. A form of Hermes, known as Hermes Trimegistus (The Thrice Great), is a similar figure to Solomon in the grimoire system and Judeo-Christian magic systems with a variety of grimoires, alchemical texts, and magical books attributed to him. This section is unusual for this is the only time Hermes is mentioned in Liber Iuratus Honorii, and the inclusion of him disagreeing with Solomon on what incense to use only confuses the matter, rather than clarifies. It would seem that this is an extrapolation from another text; another grimoire or magical book that was patched into Liber Iuratus Honorii without much effort to synthesize or harmonize the texts. The fact you have two figures disagreeing in this way serves no purpose within the text, and the only plausible reason is scribal errors in the creation of the text; adding in different elements without bringing them into line with each other. This shows that this text was part of a tradition; it wasn’t a standalone creation written in solitude by Honorius, but part of something more, an evolution of something within a tradition.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick