THE METHOD FILES

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Twenty complete, free articles to explore a question, follow its sources and open up further reading. No registration or purchase required.

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Where to start? Three reading paths

How do you read a grimoire?

From method to dates and a particular edition.

  1. How to read an old grimoire
  2. THE PROBLEM OF IMPOSSIBLE DATES
  3. THE GRAND GRIMOIRE, BEYOND THE LEGEND

How do names change?

From the sources for a figure to its translations and interpretations.

  1. Lilith and the ancient sources
  2. Lucifer before he became the Devil
  3. When a translation creates a tradition

Where do these images come from?

From text to engraving and the history of its editions.

  1. Who decided what demons look like?
  2. LE BRETON’S 72 PORTRAITS
  3. FROM MANUSCRIPT TO CULT BOOK
A tiered composition of winged figures with Latin rank labels.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-01

HIERARCHIES

Weyer · Goetia · Dictionnaire Infernal

  • FIGURES
  • SOURCES
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Hierarchies and catalogues

WHO BUILT HELL?

How the hierarchies of Hell took shape: compare catalogues, manuscripts and editions of grimoires, and distinguish the authorities they invoke.

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A seated winged figure looking towards a bright star.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-02

LUCIFER

Vulgate · Doré

  • TEXTS
  • HISTORY
  • MANUSCRIPTS
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Figures and names

LUCIFER BEFORE HE BECAME THE DEVIL

What Lucifer means and how it came to be associated with Satan: Isaiah 14, Hebrew, Greek and Latin terms, and the interpretations of Origen and Augustine.

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A winged female figure with owls, a relief and a manuscript illustration.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-03

LILITH

Ancient sources · Collier

  • TEXTS
  • HISTORY
  • MANUSCRIPTS
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Figures and names

LILITH: WHAT THE ANCIENT SOURCES ACTUALLY SAY

Was Lilith Adam’s first wife? Compare Isaiah, Qumran, the Talmud and Ben Sira through a chronology of sources and their limitations.

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An open book depicting a crowned winged figure on a throne.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-04

BELIAL

Buch Belial · 1473

  • TEXTS
  • HISTORY
  • MANUSCRIPTS
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Figures and names

BELIAL: WHEN A WORD BECAME A KING

From a biblical term to a king in the grimoires: trace changes in Belial, his functions and his place in hierarchies through the sources.

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A sea monster amid waves beneath a radiant figure.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-05

LEVIATHAN

Bible · Doré

  • FIGURES
  • SOURCES
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Figures and names

LEVIATHAN: WHEN CHAOS HAD SCALES

Today, Leviathan often appears in demonologies, infernal hierarchies and occult systems as though it had always been a clearly defined demonic entity.

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An insect-headed crowned figure on a throne, surrounded by flies.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-06

BEELZEBUB

Dictionnaire Infernal · 1863

  • FIGURES
  • SOURCES
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Figures and names

BEELZEBUB WAS NOT BORN IN HELL

King Ahaziah of Israel falls through a lattice and is injured. He sends messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to find out whether he will survive.

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An armoured winged figure leaning against a rocky cliff.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-07

SATAN

Milton · Doré

  • FIGURES
  • TEXTS
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Figures and names

SATAN WAS NOT ALWAYS “SATAN”

Today, Satan seems an unmistakable proper name: the great enemy of God, tempter of humanity, chief of demons and central figure of Hell.

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A grimoire illustration of a crowned figure, with a key and seals.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-08

LUCIFUGE

Grand Grimoire

  • TEXTS
  • HISTORY
  • MANUSCRIPTS
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Pacts and ritual dismissals

THE PACT HAS A NAME: LUCIFUGE ROFOCALE

Who Lucifuge Rofocale is in the Grand Grimoire: examine his office, the pact and the riches, without confusing the text with the legend.

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A Dragon Rouge title page beside an old leather-bound book.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-09

GRAND GRIMOIRE

Le Véritable Dragon Rouge

  • TEXTS
  • HISTORY
  • MANUSCRIPTS
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Reading and dating grimoires

THE GRAND GRIMOIRE, BEYOND THE LEGEND

Read the Grand Grimoire through its editions and attestations: dates, authorship, hierarchies and the limits of legends about its origins.

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A plate arranged as six labelled portraits of demonological figures.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-10

ICONOGRAPHY

Dictionnaire Infernal · 1863

  • FIGURES
  • SOURCES
  • CONTEXTS
  • CONTINUITIES

THE METHOD FILES

Text and image

WHO DECIDED WHAT DEMONS LOOK LIKE?

How demons acquired their images: the texts, engravers and editorial decisions behind their bodies and attributes.

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A portrait labelled Johann Weyer beside The Discoverie of Witchcraft.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-11

FROM THE PSEUDOMONARCHIA TO THE GOETIA

The list changed

  • TEXTS
  • MANUSCRIPTS
  • TRANSMISSION
  • CONTEXT

THE METHOD FILES

Hierarchies and catalogues

FROM THE PSEUDOMONARCHIA TO THE GOETIA: THE LIST CHANGED

Compare the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and the Ars Goetia: names, order and changes that challenge the idea of an unchanging list.

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Overlapping grimoire title pages bearing different publication dates.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-12

THE PROBLEM OF IMPOSSIBLE DATES

Why some grimoires are attributed to centuries earlier than their known editions

  • TEXTS
  • MANUSCRIPTS
  • EDITIONS
  • ATTRIBUTIONS
  • REALITY

THE METHOD FILES

Reading and dating grimoires

THE PROBLEM OF IMPOSSIBLE DATES

How to check the dates of grimoires: compare title pages, manuscripts and catalogues before accepting a claim of antiquity.

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An open multilingual Bible with Hebrew manuscript fragments.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-13

WHEN A TRANSLATION CREATES A TRADITION

From hélél to lucifer and from ha-satan to diabolos

  • TEXTS
  • TRANSLATIONS
  • RECEPTION
  • CONTEXT

THE METHOD FILES

Figures and names

WHEN A TRANSLATION CREATES A TRADITION

Lucifer, Satan, demon and Belial: how translations and later readings turn words into figures within a tradition.

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Several grimoire title pages, including the Dictionnaire Infernal and Key of Solomon.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-14

HOW TO READ AN OLD GRIMOIRE

Seven questions before trusting the title page

  • DATE
  • ATTRIBUTION
  • EDITION
  • TRANSLATION
  • PROVENANCE

THE METHOD FILES

Reading and dating grimoires

HOW TO READ AN OLD GRIMOIRE

Learn to read an old grimoire: distinguish the title page, attributed authorship, date, catalogue entry and physical copy, and check what each source establishes.

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A printed ritual diagram beside two small figure illustrations.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-15

THE PACT IN GRIMOIRES

What “pact” means in different works and why it is not a single formula

  • TEXTS
  • FORMULAS
  • OATHS
  • VARIANTS
  • CONTEXT

THE METHOD FILES

Pacts and ritual dismissals

THE PACT IN GRIMOIRES

Compare pacts across grimoires: formulas, agreements and obligations left out of the popular image of a single kind of contract.

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A carved inscription, books and a magnifying glass over variants of a name. Modern notes: variant; transmission; Ekron?; Gospels; tradition; name?

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-16

BEELZEBUB, BEELZEBUL, BAAL-ZEBUB

How a variation in a name can change historical interpretation

  • EKRON
  • GOSPELS
  • VARIANTS
  • TRANSMISSION

THE METHOD FILES

Figures and names

BEELZEBUB, BEELZEBUL, BAAL-ZEBUB

Baal-Zebub, Beelzebul, Beelzebub and Belzébuth: compare names, contexts and functions to distinguish the stages of their history.

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A portrait and four grimoire title pages arranged behind an open book.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-17

INCOMPATIBLE HIERARCHIES

Four traditions, one problem

Different hierarchies. Different authors. The same names. And a map that never quite fits together.

A comparative analysis of Weyer, the Goetia, the Grimorium Verum and MS 4666.

  • HISTORY
  • TEXTS
  • CONTEXT
  • ANALYSIS

THE METHOD FILES

Hierarchies and catalogues

INCOMPATIBLE HIERARCHIES

Why the hierarchies of grimoires do not fit together: compare ranks and functions without inventing a universal system.

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The Dictionnaire Infernal title page beside three labelled figure illustrations.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-18

LE BRETON’S 72 PORTRAITS

What the engraver added and what actually came from the texts

  • 1863
  • ENGRAVINGS
  • TEXTS
  • VARIANTS
  • RECEPTION

THE METHOD FILES

Text and image

LE BRETON’S 72 PORTRAITS

Four comparisons of text and image in the 1863 Dictionnaire infernal, with page references, credits and the limits of the claim of 72 portraits.

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Goetia and Elucidation of Necromancy books with a circular letter diagram.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-19

RENVOI AND RITUAL DISMISSAL

The history and function of the closing or licence to depart

  • GOETIA
  • HEPTAMERON
  • RENVOI
  • DISMISSAL

THE METHOD FILES

Pacts and ritual dismissals

RENVOI AND RITUAL DISMISSAL

Compare renvoi and ritual dismissals in grimoires: their formulas, differences and the limits of treating them as a single universal ceremony.

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An open book of ritual diagrams on a desk with books and a pen.

THE ARCHIVE · ARCH-20

FROM MANUSCRIPT TO CULT BOOK

History, transmission and the construction of value in grimoires

  • MANUSCRIPTS
  • EDITIONS
  • COLLECTING
  • AUTHORITY
  • MYTH
  • POWER

THE METHOD FILES

Reading and dating grimoires

FROM MANUSCRIPT TO CULT BOOK

How a grimoire changes as it is copied, printed and reissued: from manuscript and catalogue entry to a book that comes to embody a tradition.

Read the article ↗