#magical text

Firstly, what is a Grimoire?

"The derivation of 'grimoire' is not entirely certain. In the early nineteeth century it was suggested that it came from the Italian 'rimario', a book of rhymes or Bible verses. It more likely derives from the French word 'grammaire', which originally referred to a work written in Latin. By the eighteenth century it was being widely used in France to refer to magic books..."

- Davies, Owen (2009). Grimoires: A History of Magic Books

A book of magic spells and invocations. Origin- Mid 19th century: French, alteration of grammaire ‘grammar’.

-Oxford English Dictionary

Despite its original derivation not being certain, it is known that the most common modern association is with the French word ‘grammaire’. It was during the 18th and 19th centuries that France allowed a way for Grimoires to become more available to the general public with the use of Bibliothèque bleue (blue library). This wider publication also increased the interest in occultism among the British following the publication of Francis Barrett's The Magus in the early 19th century, the term entered the English language in reference to books of magic( Davies, Owen (2009). Grimoires: A History of Magic Books).

It was because of these various factors that the word ‘Grimoire’ began to be used as a more general reference of magical books and texts, vs what it had been before as a word describing magical texts that were typically written in Latin.

And in the more modern sense, grimoire is certainly a word used to describe any book of magic.

That all said, there are certainly many magical books and texts that are similar to grimoires or that could easily be labelled as grimoires; however, not all magical books are grimoires.

Per Owen Davies, a grimoires is “...being based on the conjuration of spirits, the power of words, or the ritual creation of magical objects.”

A VERY Brief History

The history of grimoires can be laid out in the following: Ancient period, Medieval period, Early Modern (with a special note for the 18th and 19th century), and modern day.

The Ancient period constitutes as pre the Fall of the Roman empire.. It was during this long time frame that European Grimoires took great inspiration from. Specifically, it was the ancient civilizations that surrounded the Mediterranean and middle east, and countries within the middle east. Particularly, the religious traditions of various pagan practices, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were some of the greatest influences on Medieval European grimoires.

The Medieval period marked the period of what folks would label as the “classical” grimoires. Despite the rise of Christianity and the Church attempting to stomp out all pagan worship, it was never able to mark a clear line between religious worship and magical working, “ The use of such books on magic continued. In Christianised Europe, the Church divided books of magic into two kinds: those that dealt with "natural magic" and those that dealt in "demonic magic,” (Davies, Owen (2009) Grimoires: A History of Magic Books).

In the Early Modern period, grimoires had become more common place and known within society. The Renaissance had fueled the increase interest and pursuit of Medieval grimoires, as well as a rise of interest in Hermeticism, Judaic Mysticism, and the occult.

And with the rise and improvement of printing in Europe, which soon resulted in mass printing, allowed for more exposure towards the general populace.

Particularly during the 18th and 19th century, grimoires had become mass produced and widely available across western Europe (especially within France).

Due to this increase of interested in folklore, mysticims, and the occult, many historians took an interest in magic and in grimoires. Many even went on to publish snippets of grimoires within their own history books.

In the late 19th century, many famous grimoires (such as the Key of Solomon) were reclaimed by various magical groups, the OTO and Golden Dawn being some famous examples.

In Modern Day, we find that access to many ancient and more recent grimoires are far easier to access, than they ever have been before.

One can easily log into sites (such as sacred-texts.com) and view a number of different grimoires and magical texts for free. And even before the internet, many books and texts could be found in the local library or purchased.

This has resulted in the rise of many new magical groups, traditions, and societies (even the resurrection of old ones). There are many modern day grimoires that have become quite popular and influential to the magical scene, pulling from both historical information as well as new found knowledge and experience: such as Azoetia and The Dragon Book of Essex.

Here is a generalized interactive timeline of grimoires throughout the centuries

Famous Grimoires

There are dozens and dozens of grimoires out there (here have a list), way too many to mention all in one post. So instead, I will briefly talk about some of the more famous, influential, and well known ones. So please, do forgive me if I leave out a few important ones.

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The Keys Of Solomon (Greater and Lesser)

Perhaps one of the most influential and well known grimoires, The Key of Solomon is a 16th century grimoire which gives a thorough description of the process of summoning a spirit, with chapters on the various supplies the magician will require, and the tasks they must perform. -X

The Lesser Key is one of the best-known grimoires, primarily for the first section, the Goetia, which features charming descriptions of the 72 demons conjured by Solomon, along with illustrations of their sigils, and the tools required for summoning. -X

Unlike the Key of Solomon, the Lesser key contains content from multiple different books.

The original texts having been written in Latin, these are truly is the idea of what a grimoires is in every sense. Their influence is widespread both historically and magically speaking. Find yourself in a group with a random bunch of occultists, and you’ll easily find a dozen pulling from these books.

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Petit Albert

Le Petit Albert is an French grimoire that has gained some degree of fame or infamy. It lists a number of spells for results such as dental health and invisibility. -X

Though not quite as famous or influential compared to some grimiores. Petit Albert still had a large mark on the modern development of the grimoires and folklore of magic. It included instructions on making a Hand of Glorey.

But most of all, it marked a historical importance of the mass print. It was one of the first widely available grimoires in France.

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The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses

This grimoire is an important text of folk magic from the German tradition. It was first published by Johann Scheible in Germany in 1849, and in New York in 1880, although versions circulated in Western Europe in pamphlet form as early as the 18th century. -X

The Sixth and Seventh books of Moses had a particular influence in both Europe as well as America, used within Appalachian and Pennsylvanian Dutch magical practices. They even circulated within Scandinavia and Central Europe and were at times referred to as “Black Bibles.” Though with this one, I have not seen a valid source given, aside from “Versions of this work circulated throughout Scandinavia and Central Europe. In Sweden and Finland these books are compiled and published under the titles Den Svarta Bibeln and Musta Raamattu, respectively, meaning "The Black Bible". found on various sites like Wikipedia.

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The Magus

Francis Barret's The Magus is a compilation of magic, alchemy, and accounts of historical magical adepts, which copies extensively from Agrippa's The Books of Occult Philosophy, The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, and the Heptameron.

It is a foundation text of the occult revival, and is thought to have influenced the work of later occultists such as Eliphas Levi. -X

If Petit Albert marked the moment of cheap mass producing, The Magus marked the moment that grimoires were beginning to be translated into English and later being mass produced.

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The Book of Shadows

Not necessarily a single specific grimoire or text, the Book of Shadows is a book containing religious texts and instructions for magical rituals specific towards Wicca, a religious tradition of Witchcraft and Paganism.

I assume that a lot of people’s first interaction with a grimoire or mention of one is via a Book of Shadows. Today, Wicca, and its related traditions, are a lot of folks’ first step into the magical and occult communities.

Despite its name, a Book of Shadows is exactly the same as a Grimiore. Doreen Valiented stated in “The Rebirth of Witchcraft” that most likely Gardner adopted the term for his Witches' grimoire (The Book of Shadows) from an article found in The Occult Observer V1 N3 1949.

Applying this knowledge to your own Grimoire

So you know a thing or two about Grimoires, what now?

You can create your own of course.

How? I see this appear all over the place online, as well as get asked occasionally by folks in person.

At the end of the day, a Grimoire is a magical book containing information about a person’s personal practice. It can even be an instructional guide if desired.

Its looks how you want it to be, it contains what you want and need, and it acts for whatever purposes you need.

That said, this doesn’t help a lot when a person has no idea what to do or what to put in it. So, I will provide some more ample advice.

1. - Look towards other grimoires for inspiration and reference

A number of historical grimoires already do this, so why not you? Look at how these grimoires are organized. What do they contain? How are they framed?

As an example, lets take a look at the Lesser Key of Solomon

Opening invocation

Initiation

Definitions

Lists of Spirits (the 72 demons)

magical seals

specific rites

You might include an opening charm or invocation at the beginning of your Grimoire. In certain books, such as Long Lost Friends, the tome begins with a written charm of protection for the carrier of the book. Others might include a written hex or curse to ward unwanted readers.

You might include such rites as an initiation (if you have one), specific rituals of importance (such as a rite of banishment or cleansing), etc.

A page of reference for definitions and specific might also be helpful. Lets say you reference a recipe for oil often, but don’t want to write it down every time. You can have a page that has it once, then reference that other times.

Next, you might want to list specific about spirits and various entities. I’d suggest straying away from ones that tend to be common knowledge. Stick more to personalized things that you want to remember and can’t find from a quick google search.

Magical seals can include anything from privately created ones, or even well known ones. These can act as a reference for future use, or even as physically written charms in their own right. The Grimoire is not only a book of magic, it is a magical book.

2. - Decide how it will be written

Are you going to write it in a more factual and straight forward practical piece? Is it going to act as a teacher’s manual? Is it going to be vague and hard to read, so that only the writer can understand it? Is it going to be written as a story (Such as the Black Pullet)? Is it going to consist mostly of art and only a little bit of text?

Think about how it will be laid out on the paper. There is more ways to write a grimoire than simply a book of charms and spells.

3. - Avoid putting in common knowledge

Don’t put in something that you can easily search for online. Put in things that are personal to you, things you won’t find online (or at least easily), things that are secret.

In my experience, I found that I got disappointed with old magical journals that held a bunch of stuff, but all that knowledge I could easily find on my phone or in one of my books. It left me feeling unsatisfied and I often gave up finishing the journal completely.

When I started to put more personalized things, more secret things, things you couldn’t find anywhere else, I felt satisfied. The same could be said of others.

4. - Don’t worry about organization

A lot of the old historical grimoires were a strange conglomeration of information, lore, and art. They have no real rhyme or reason behind how they were organized (or maybe they did haha).

Don’t worry too much about being exact and perfect with your organization. I find that if I worry too much about that I will never end up writing anything down.

Get it down first. You can later reorganize by re-writing it, taking out the pages and putting them into a 3 ring binder, rebinding the book with a new order, or copying the pages and organizing them into a PDF or a separate copy.

Just get it down.

5. - Its for you. Make sure its useful

Having a grimoire is fun and wonderful, but if its not useful for you it will never get finished/used. Make sure you’re writing it for yourself.

I sometimes find it helpful to imagine that I will pass it down to my children or a student. How useful would they find it?

6. - Make it an act of magic

A grimoire is a book of magic, but it is also a magical book. Make the act of writing it magical. Make it apart of your ritual and practice. Infuse it with your power and desire. It’ll help make things easier.

Use it for automatic writing, use it for trance art. Allow your tradition to fuel its creation.

The Grimoire cultus and magical art is something that will easily continue onward throughout modern time, even with the push towards digitization. Its built from hundreds and hundreds of years of lore and reference. And, I imagine it will continue to grow as more people are creating their own, both for public use and private study.  

For further reading on Grimoires, I would suggest the following

Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Daives Owen

https://www.grimoire.org/