Leo,

To add to Aaron’s good suggestions, I would also recommend the Testament of Solomon (which probably dates to earlier times, but circulated a great deal in medieval times), and the invocation in Rankine’s Collection of Magical Secrets (Avalonia) to turn a ghost into one’s familiar.  The use of spirits as familiars might also be relevant (especially in Abramelin), as might procedures for binding a spirit to a treasure to protect it – I think I’ve seen such a rite, and though I can’t recall its location, the use of spirits for these tasks is well established in the literature of ceremonial magic.

Sincerely,

Dan Harms

Instructional Services Librarian and Bibliographer

SUNY Cortland Memorial Library

(607) 753-4042

From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dr Leo Ruickbie
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2010 1:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Capturing Spirits/Souls

Hi Dan,

I've been looking into the concept of 'the external soul', so to speak, in folklore, which could involve both human and nonhuman externalisers. In these instances the soul/spirit is externalised on what is intended to be a permanent basis. So, no, I wasn't really thinking along the lines of the temporary 'capture' that is involved in ritual invocation. Aaron reminded me that there was a passage in The Goetia regarding Solomon's legendary brass vessel and he'd already made the connection to the Palo nganga. And I'd also been looking at shamanic ideas of extracting souls to safeguard them during critical moments in life, e.g., childbirth, illness, etc. What I was looking for were hints that this shamanic conception had entered/persisted in the grimoire tradition. But I fear Christianity may have firmly nailed the soul to the cross of the body until one's hour cometh, although that still leaves room for magicians to fix the spirits of other things into various forms, one might suppose.

Best wishes,

Leo

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Dr Leo Ruickbie, PhD, MA, BA (Hons), AKC
Author:

Witchcraft Out of the Shadows (Robert Hale, 2004; 2nd ed. forthcoming)

"Witchcraft Out of the Shadows is an engaging book which deserves to be the benchmark for all future analyses of the Craft." - Alan Richardson

Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician (The History Press, 2009)

"Dr Ruickbie has re-evaluated and contextualised the sources of the Faust tradition from a position of authority. The result is a work of meticulous scholarship that can be read as a gripping page-turner." - Professor Osman Durrani