Grimoires are books that hold esoteric knowledge, such as magical spells or the names of demons. While the words Grimoire and Book of Shadows are often used interchangeably, they are not the same, with a Book of Shadows being a particular type of grimoire.
Read on to discover the history of grimoires and some of the most important surviving magical manuscripts, including the first Book of Shadows.
The History of Grimoires
A Grimoire is a manuscript that contains esoteric information such as spells, instructions for creating magical objects, information about supernatural beings, etc. The books themselves are sometimes considered to be imbued with magic, allowing them to be used as talismans or in rituals.
The term Grimoire emerged in the 18th century, coming from a French “grammaire,” but it has retrospectively been applied to magical texts throughout history. It is applied to written magical incantations from ancient Mesopotamia and magical texts used by the ancient Egyptians. These types of texts became popular in Hellenistic Egypt when the understanding of the hieroglyphics became less widespread, increasing their mystical aura. This also coincided with the emergence of Hermes Trismegistus, a combination of the Egyptian god Thoth, the god of the moon, writing, wisdom, and magic, and the Greek god Hermes, a divine messenger.
The belief that secret magical knowledge could be recorded in texts that themselves had magical properties continued throughout the centuries, with the Romans believing that the Persians and the Jews were particularly knowledgeable about magic. Famously, it was believed that King Solomon had important magical knowledge, granted to him by god, forming the basis for Christian mysticism.
While the Christian Church frowned on magical texts and even had some magical works burned, grimoires continued to be produced throughout the Medieval period. These can generally be divided into two categories: those dealing with natural magic and those dealing with demonic magic. The former were considered acceptable, and several natural magic grimoires have even been attributed to popes. The latter were considered heresy, dealing with necromancy and devil worship.
There was a proliferation of Grimoires in the early modern period, starting from around the 15th century, as the Protestant Reformation, Counter-Reformation, and Witch Hunts led to growing interest in the occult and ceremonial magic. From the 18th century onward, printed Grimoires became more widely available, though handwritten texts were still more highly valued. We started to see the publication of widely influential magical texts such as the Grand Grimoire, a black magic textbook originally written in the 16th century, which claims to record knowledge from the writings of King Solomon. It contains instructions for summoning demons, the creation of magical tools to control demons, and spells and rituals that can be done with the aid of demons.
Below is a list of some of the most famous and influential grimoires and magical books over the centuries.
Books of the Dead
The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text that survives from many burials in many different forms. An evolution of the earlier Pyramid Texts, which were written on the inside of pyramid walls and were the purview of the pharaoh and aristocracy, the Book of the Dead was written on papyrus from the New Kingdom onwards and was available to anyone with the money to commission the work.
It was a collection of magical spells designed to assist the deceased person on their journey to the afterlife, helping them avoid dangers on the journey and pass the test of the weighing of the heart ceremony.
Read a detailed account of the contents of the Book of the Dead.
Book of Honorius
This was a medieval grimoire from the 14th century, reportedly written by Honorius of Thebes. It is one of the oldest surviving Grimoires, containing spells and invocations to receive secret knowledge from God. The book was probably composed by a group of magicians who decided to condense their knowledge into a single volume, in 93 chapters. It covers topics such as how to save your soul from purgatory to catching thieves. Like many grimoires, it uses seals in many of its magical workings.
Greater Keys of Solomon
The Greater Keys of Solomon is a magical grimoire attributed to King Solomon, a king of Israel and Judah who probably ruled in the 10th century BCE. He is credited with possessing supernatural abilities bestowed on him by God, specifically controlling demons and spirits.
According to legend, a grimoire containing magical knowledge was written down by Solomon for his son Rehoboam. The son hid the book in Solomon’s sepulcher after he died, where it was later discovered by Babylonian philosophers. They originally could not decipher the book; however, an Angel revealed the knowledge to one of them, Iohe Grevis. He, in turn, placed a spell on the book that meant that the unworthy could not gain their desired result from using the book.
The book explains magical operations, called experiments, which are rituals that invoke God to complete the magic, so the magic can only be completed if it is God’s will.
In reality, the grimoire seems to have been created during the Italian Renaissance in the 14th-15th centuries and draws heavily on Christian magical practices from that time, as well as the Jewish kabbala and Muslim practices.
Read a detailed description of the contents of the Greater Keys of Solomon.
Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy
This book was attributed to the influential occult philosopher Cornelius Agrippa, but was published about 30 years after his death. It concerns practical magic and how to summon angels, demons, and the dead. It is more explicit in its magic than the three other works that do seem to have been written by Agrippa himself. This book led to criticism of Agrippa practicing diabolical sorcery, and his name became a magnet for the occult.
Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses
Attributed to the Biblical figure but composed in the 18th or 19th century, the grimoire contains pseudo-Hebraic mystical symbols and spirit conjurations. It is the founding text of Rastafarianism and other West African religious movements.
The text claims to contain two lost Biblical texts along with writings of those who had kept this knowledge and practiced their religion accordingly over the centuries. It says that it holds magical knowledge given to Moses by God and passed from father to son until King Solomon, who shared it more broadly.
It contains spells to summon spirits to do the bidding of the conjurer, such as defeating the Egyptian magicians and parting the Red Sea.
Le Petit Albert
Composed in the 18th century, this was one of the first cheap printed Grimoires. It spread quickly around France and its colonies with household spells and healing charms. It became so popular that even “good” Christians tried to have the book blessed in church by hiding it under the tablecloth of an altar. But it was also believed that it was too dangerous for most people to try and destroy the “devil’s” book.
It contains sexual magic, means to improve agricultural efficiency, means to avoid various common inconveniences, cooking recipes for things such as magical facial soaps, how to make people and horses move quickly without fatigue, how to make talismans, and how to turn lead into gold. It also contained instructions for making the “hand of glory.” This was the pickled head of a hanged man turned into a candle that could only be put out with milk. It had the power to unlock any door and render any person motionless.
The Book of St Cyprian
Attributed to the 3rd-century CE St Cyprian of Antioch, a pagan sorcerer who converted to Christianity, containing alchemy, astrology, cartomancy, conjuring, divination, exorcism, love magic, and more. It was composed in the 19th century in both Spanish and Portuguese, drawing on known occult texts from the previous three centuries.
Self-proclaimed as the “sorcerer’s treasure”, it became popular in Brazil among practitioners of Canbomble. It contains divination rituals, healing spells, prayers to guardian angels, information on exorcisms, love magic, and animal magnetism. It also contains sections on alchemy, astrology, cartomancy, conjuring devils, omens, palmistry, and ghosts.
Gardnerian Book of Shadows
The original Book of Shadows was the founding book of Wicca, the pagan religion founded by the British occultist Gerald Gardner in the 1950s. He claimed that the knowledge within it came from a secret coven of witches that continued to follow a fertility religion from ancient times. It was basically a cookbook of spells that had worked for those magical practitioners.
This spawned the modern Book of Shadows, which is like a Grimoire but less formal. Rather than claiming to record ancient magical wisdom, it is a personal diary in which witches and other magical practitioners can record the spells that they have developed or discovered and that have worked for them. It is believed that these books can be passed down between practitioners and added to over the generations.
Gardner’s original, handwritten, leather-bound Book of Shadows was found in his personal papers after his death and subsequently formed the basis of many published versions. Many subsequent Books of Shadows have been produced and published.
Discover more about the contents of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows.
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