Magical Texts and Grimoires
Here lie the sacred manuscripts of the magus and mystic — from Solomon’s seals to the Picatrix’s celestial maps, from medieval conjurations to handwritten Books of Shadows passed through generations. This archive decodes the evolution of the grimoire: equal parts prayer, diary, and laboratory notebook.
Each text offers a window into how different eras defined power, divinity, and danger. Some are warnings, others are invitations — all are mirrors of humanity’s hunger to touch the unseen.
🜏 CLASSIC & CANONICAL GRIMOIRES
The Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis)
A medieval manual of ceremonial magic attributed to King Solomon — filled with planetary seals, angelic conjurations, and sacred purification rites.
The Lesser Key of Solomon (Ars Goetia)
A companion to the greater Key, detailing the seventy-two spirits of Solomon — their names, sigils, and the ritual methods of evocation.
The Picatrix (Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm)
An Arabic astrological grimoire blending philosophy, magic, and cosmology — a celestial textbook of Hermetic science.
The Heptameron
Attributed to Peter de Abano; a manual of planetary angels, conjurations, and ritual timing. Simpler than the Solomonic texts yet deeply influential.
The Red Dragon (Le Dragon Rouge / Grand Grimoire)
A notorious French text on summoning spirits and forging pacts with infernal forces — equal parts myth, morality tale, and grim curiosity.
📜 EUROPEAN & FOLK TRADITION TEXTS
The Black Pullet (La Poule Noire)
A Napoleonic-era grimoire promising secret talismans, wealth, and invisibility — equal parts fantasy and coded esotericism.
The Grimoire of Pope Honorius
A hybrid of church and sorcery — blending psalms and exorcisms with forbidden conjurations. The paradox of holiness and heresy.
The Sixth & Seventh Books of Moses
Folk magical texts from Germanic-Christian roots — widely circulated in the Americas, merging biblical imagery with practical spellcraft.
The Book of Abramelin
The legendary ritual for attaining the “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel” — foundation of modern Western ceremonial magic.
The Munich Manual of Demonic Magic (15th century)
A Latin compendium of necromancy, conjurations, and scrying — academia’s uneasy ancestor.
🔮 WITCHCRAFT & OCCULT REVIVAL
The Book of Shadows
A living grimoire tradition within modern witchcraft, handwritten and personalized — part spellbook, part diary, part devotion.
Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899)
Charles Leland’s controversial collection of Italian witch-lore, blending myth, magic, and rebellion under the moonlit eye of Diana.
The Witches’ Pyramid (To Know, To Dare, To Will, To Keep Silent)
Not a book but a maxim passed through grimoires — a fourfold creed of magical mastery and ethical restraint.
The Grimoire of Aleister Crowley (Liber ABA / Magick in Theory and Practice)
A sprawling synthesis of occult philosophy, Kabbalah, yoga, and ritual — the 20th century’s most influential (and infamous) magical text.
The Three Books of Occult Philosophy (Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa)
The Renaissance cornerstone of Hermetic magic — merging astrology, alchemy, angelology, and natural philosophy.
🕯️ RARE & OBSCURE TEXTS
The Sworn Book of Honorius (Liber Juratus)
A medieval grimoire of angelic invocations and visionary ascent — intended only for the pure-hearted magician.
The Testament of Solomon
An ancient text blending Jewish mysticism and demonology — the earliest narrative of Solomon commanding spirits through divine sigils.
The Hygromanteia of Solomon
Greek Byzantine cousin to the Key — preserving older magical formulae that bridge Christian and pagan worlds.
The Simon Necronomicon
A modern myth born of Lovecraftian fiction — proof that stories, too, can become rituals if enough people believe.
Personal Grimoires & Fragmented Books of Shadows
Unpublished notebooks, family spellbooks, and digital grimoires — the living continuation of the magical tradition, unique to every practitioner.
Every grimoire is a conversation across centuries. Some secrets are best approached with humility; others beg to be rediscovered. Study them not to mimic the past, but to understand how magic was documented, debated, and dared. Knowledge is sacred — so is discernment.
Discovered a rare text or fragment worth including? Add your note below — this archive thrives on shared discovery.
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For related articles on historic grimoires and book magic, browse the Blog Archive.
Study wisely, witch-scholar. The ink remembers.
