The Book of Treasure Spirits
A grimoire of magical conjurations to reveal
treasue and catch thieves by invoking spirits, fallen
angels, demons and fairies
Introduction and Commentary by David Rankine
Conjurations of Goetic spirits, old gods,
demons and fairies are all part of a rich heritage of
the magical search for treasure trove. During the Middle
Ages and Renaissance the British Monarchy gave out licenses
to people seeking treasure in an effort to control such
practices, and this is one reason why so many grimoires
are full of conjurations and charms to help the magician
find treasure.
Published here for the first time, from a long-ignored
mid-seventeenth century manuscript in the British Library
(Sloane MS 3824), is the conjuration said to have been
performed at the request of King Edward IV, with other
rites to reveal treasure, to have treasure brought from
the sea, and to cause thieves to bring back stolen goods.
Conjurations to call any type of spirit are also included,
recorded by the noted alchemist and collector Elias Ashmole,
as is an extract on conjuration practices from the Heptameron,
transcribed into English for practical use by a working
group of magicians, before its first English publication
by Robert Turner in 1655.
These conjurations demonstrate the influence of earlier
classic grimoires and sources, with components drawn from
the Goetia, the Heptameron, and Reginald Scot's Discoverie
of Witchcraft. The material includes spirit contracts
for the fallen angels Agares and Vassago, and the demon
Padiel, as well as techniques like lead plates for binding,
and summoning into a glass of water, which hark back to
the defixiones of Hellenistic Greece and the demonic magic
of the Biblical world.
This material forms part of a corpus of conjurations all
written in the same hand and style of evocation, linking
Goetic spirits and treasure spirits with the archangels
and planetary intelligences (Sloane MS 3825), and demon
kings and Enochian hierarchies (Sloane MS 3821), making
it a unique bridge of style and content between what are
often falsely seen as diverse threads of Renaissance magic.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(The Book of Treasure Spirits)
Introduction
About the Manuscript
Contents of Sloane MS 3824
SLOANE MS 3824
Prayer to call Spirits of Darkness
Invocation of Lucifer, Beelzebub & Sathan
An Operation for Obtaining Treasure Trove
The Invocation
A General Invocation
An Experiment to Cause a Thief to Return
The Prayer
The Consecrations & Benedictions
Experiment to call Spirits that Guard Treasure
Of Spirits and Fairies
Conjuration of Treasure Spirits
The Fairy Court and Treasure
Of Types of Treasure & Hauntings
Experiment to obtain Treasure Trove
Experiment with Bret
Conjuration of Birto for King Edward IV
Conjuration of Bealpharos
Of Evil Spirits
Experiment of Vassago
Experiment of Agares
An Experiment to Obtain Your Desire
Experiment of Bleth
Of the Demon Rulers
Appendix 1: The Spirit Contract for Padiel
Bibliography
Index
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PB, £14.99, 186pp, ISBN
978-1-905297-27-6
First published by Avalonia September 2009
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