The Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke is a particularly instructive grimoire of the sixteenth century teaching one how to summon spirits – from the ruler of the dead, to the kings of the spirits, to the ghosts of famous magicians – complete with prayers, conjurations, and various ‘nota’ of injunctions and advice for the aspiring conjuror. The purpose of these conjurations is to make powerful knowledge available to the magical practitioner, whether delivered by subordinate spirit, received text, or express empowerment.
An appended document, referred to simply as Visions, is a magical journal accounting the experiments and scrying sessions performed alongside the reception of the Excellent Booke between 24th February and 6th April 1567. These scrying records detail the unbidden appearances and teachings of saints, angels, and dead magicians, as well as evidencing the techniques and procedures involved in putting together the Excellent Booke itself. Read together, these interrelated documents are quite simply a unique record of early modern English necromancy, offering vital ‘behind-the-scenes’ perspectives on sorcery, magical texts, and spirits.
This lecture by historian of magic and contemporary cunning man Dr. Alexander Cummins analyses some of the techniques contained within this manuscript source: from ways of working with spirits, to the expressly necromantic components of the work, to wider implications for approaches to spirit tuition, texts, and taboos in early modern European conjuration. Learn more about Dr. Cummins online at https://www.alexandercummins.com/
