Comments for Papers Falling from an Attic Window

Comment on On the Shelf Review – Our Ladies of Sorrow by Ancient History

Ancient History — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:32:52 +0000

It’s funny you should mention Fritz Leiber’s “Our Lady of Darkness”/”The Pale Brown Thing.” Aside from being a damn fine read, it’s a tribute story that ties in nicely to Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Arthur Machen.

For what it’s worth, there’s a nice interview with Ross about “Our Ladies of Sorrow” here: http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article1945.php

Comment on My Interview with Warlock Asylum on the Necronomicon by warlockasylum

warlockasylum — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:40:06 +0000

I was happy that an artist allowed me to update the Interview with one of his pieces.

Comment on On the Shelf Review – The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy by Pseudo-Agrippa by danharms

danharms — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:34:57 +0000

Phil,

It does indeed. I’m not sure he comes to the same results you do, but the technique with regard to the characters of the good spirits sounds similar.

Comment on On the Shelf Review – The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy by Pseudo-Agrippa by Phil

Phil — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:59:02 +0000

To repeat the question I asked while we stood outside Treadwell’s looking at Skinner’s edition:
Does Tyson try and explain the seals of good and evil spirits and also the material on astrological seals that precede this?

As I said at the time, a few years ago I made a note in my copy of the Fourth Book about a “1725 MS” that applied the letters of the Latin alphabet to the 24 signs for the good spirits, an approach which works well and which I think was intended. However, I’ve since been unable to turn up my source, which is rally quite annoying…

Comment on Thoughts on the Liber Spirituum by Alan

Alan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:22:34 +0000

Dan,
There’s only one other example conforming to this pattern that I’m aware of, which dates from the late sixteenth century and comprises the images and characters of seven spirits and their associated invocations.
I think the Liber Spirituum of the fourth book is a hybrid, containing elements of the Liber Consecrationum, which Phil has already referred to, the Liber Officiorum, devoid of images in every example I’ve seen, and the sort of individual experiments found in texts like the Thesaurus Spirituum. Most 16th – early 17th century magical texts I’ve seen tend to be compendia or more-or-less straight copies of, for want of a better description, canonical works, so perhaps there was a reluctance to deviate from ‘proven’ experiments.

Comment on Thoughts on the Liber Spirituum by danharms

danharms — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:42:50 +0000

Frater,

That might be an answer, but I think it’s insufficient. If someone didn’t want to spend long periods in purifying themselves and consecrating tools so they could draw a highly complex diagram and speak conjuration after conjuration, that’s one matter. But the rites of the Liber Spirituum – especially the one involving the buried book – are quite simple by comparison.

Comment on Fury of Yig Playtest Update by Robert J. Parker

Robert J. Parker — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:24:40 +0000

Thanks for keeping us updated. Anticipation for this campaign is at a fever pitch, at least for me.

Comment on Worlds of Cthulhu: The Worship of Tsathoggua through the Centuries by Robert J. Parker

Robert J. Parker — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:22:35 +0000

Lots of love here. The article was absolutely brilliant, one of the highlights of a great issue.

Comment on Thoughts on the Liber Spirituum by Frater Barrabbas

Frater Barrabbas — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:51:20 +0000

Dan -
I wonder if perhaps the reason there is no Liber Spiritum is because the grimoire tradition does not reflect the real tradition of magic as it was practiced in the Renaissance. I look at the Key of Solomon and other such books and wonder how anyone could have performed that kind of magic with all of its expensive equipment. I have a theory that the real tradition of magic used ordinary tools and wax talismans and other items not easily identified or easily destroyed. It would also have been a an oral tradition rather than a literary one. Just my thoughts on the subject and I am not a scholar.

Comment on Thoughts on the Liber Spirituum by Phil

Phil — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:46:33 +0000

Dan, the Liber Spirituum has been a particular interest of mine too and I’m also intrigued as to the lack of examples of this type of text. Agrippa also mentions two talismans set at the start and end of the Liber and examples of at least one of these do exist – see Ben’s recent Cyprianus’ Keys to Hell and the plate facing p.230 of Thompson’s Mysteries and Secrets of Magic (where the image is so crudely represented that Thompson that the meaning is lost on Thompson).

I had speculated that Hockley’s use of Agrippa’s Apocalyptic text in one of the CBoMS exemplars might have indicated his attempt to construct a Liber Spirituum, but ultimately I wasn’t convinced by this argument…

Obviously the Liber Spirituum would be a natural counterpart to works like the Liber Consecrationum, or the texts of pseudo-Bacon and pseudo-Solomon, but the question of why it is so diffucult to find a document conforming 100% to pseudo-Agrippa’s instruction is a good one… perhaps the general transmission of demonic material as self-contained experiments might have something to do with it? Or the lack of resources – would it not be easier to have all your material in one place (circles, consecrations, spirit lists) if paper and binding materials were scarce or expensive?

FWIW the Tuba Veneris ritual entails the construction of a Liber Spirituum very closely related to Agrippa’s description. The Apocalyptic talismans of Agrippa are replaced by a drawing and seal of Venus, but the method of strenghening the book by burying it ties in with Agrippa and (IIRC) the Key of Solomon.

Also, Scheible’s multi-volume Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis also very much has the feel of the Liber Spirituum… perhaps it might be worth investigating the German tradition and any antecedents of this particular Faustian work?