Historical books, manuscripts and ritual texts associated with ceremonial magic, folk magic, occult practice, divination and culturally specific magical traditions. Entries distinguish documented textual history from later attribution, legend and modern occult interpretation.
The Sworn Book of Honorius, or Liber Iuratus Honorii, is a late-medieval Latin ritual-magic text framed as secret knowledge preserved by a council of magicians. Its highest stated goal is the beatific vision, alongside angelic, planetary and spirit operations. The attribution to Honorius of Thebes is legendary.
The Book of Abramelin presents the teachings of a magician named Abramelin, transmitted by Abraham of Worms to his son Lamech. Although the narrative is set in the fifteenth century, the principal surviving German manuscripts are seventeenth- and eighteenth-century witnesses. Its demanding devotional retreat and magical letter-squares profoundly influenced modern ceremonial magic.
The Heptameron is a compact Latin grimoire first printed in the sixteenth century and traditionally attributed to the medieval physician Pietro d’Abano. The attribution is spurious. Its day-by-day scheme of angels, winds, planetary hours, circles and prayers strongly influenced later ceremonial magic.
