Greetings!
> If you consider various early modern grimoires of goetic magic, some
>of them present ritual actions that, should they work, would to my mind
>be reprehensible;
> I am thinking in particular of some of the spells to bring a chosen
>woman to the circle ready and willing to perform sexually, which
>amounts to a kind of magical rape.
I to am exploring an accuracy / sympathy dynamic though in a different
way. My original posting was rather simplistic.
You are absolutely right about some of them being reprehensible if
effective. Some are also reprehensible if ineffective. One I am working
on at the moment involves the sacrifice of a piglet which to me is
abhorrent. However I do find the world view that encompasses the act
fascinating. To give you an idea. Daemonic forces are invoked to
protect the secrecy of the working, Christian forces are called upon to
then summon a Daimonic Genius Loci who is then takes possession of the
pig and thus brought into the centre of the circle where the pig is
killed to release the Daimon who is then compelled to sign a book that
has been created during the ritual. The book is then baptised as a child
to give it life. I think what allows me to present this text
sympathetically is that the text states that someone can partake of the
power of the original magical working and the original grimoire without
having to repeat the ritual. It states that if you have the original
grimoire or one like it and read out the conjurations then the original
Daimon has undertaken to send one of his minions. Various aspects of the
grimoire are specified, such as binding, number of pages, nature of
paper etc. and these specifications are being followed so it is a
talismanic publication rather than academic. Certainly it is sympathetic
to the world view of the writer - though I do not share that world view
as it requires belief that Christian powers command the Universe
Some other manuscripts that I publishing I am reproducing accurately
though in a different way than you mean. I have disbound the original,
each sheet is reproduced and then the printed sheets are rebound in the
same manner as the original in a case sympathetic to the period of the
manuscript. Thus I have created a true facsimile that actually looks and
feels like a manuscript. Aesthetically and Introduction written from any
early 21st Century viewpoint would jar.
One text coming up some time in the future I go beyond reproducing
accurately to add something to the text which is in sympathy with it.
The texts gives instructions for invoking angels into ones dreams to
give guidance. Unlike the Goetic texts this repeatedly emphasises that
this must only be done for the benefit of oneself and ones neighbours,
and never a harmful manner. I will be creating the talismans that are
described in the text so that, if people choose they can follow the
texts instructions and place them under their pillow or, rather
quaintly, inside their night caps. Curiously most of the text is very
Protestant-Christian though there is ambiguity as to whether these
prayers are actually to be used. They may be a disguise.
Other publications will be relevant to folk magic, witchcraft,
late-Medieval clerical underground, Rosicrucianism, proto-Golden Dawn
and folklore. All are either otherwise unpublished, or variant from
previously published versions or, at the very least, difficult to
otherwise obtain. The idea is that all should be elegant and striking
objects in themselves.
If anyone reading this is interested in receiving information about my
publications then best thing to do is email me off-list. I will add your
email address to the list of people who receive notification as they
come out.
I am also on the look out for suitable texts to publish. It occurs to me
that academics may well come across suitable texts in their work. I pay
finders fees, translator's royalties (I do wonder what texts may be out
there in other languages which could usefully be brought to the
attention of the interested English reader).
With my best wishes
Ben
--
Ben Fernee
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