The Book of Ceremonial Magic
The Book of Ceremonial Magic is a book by English occultist Arthur Edward Waite, first published in 1913. Subtitled, 'The Secret Tradition in Goëtia, including the rites and mysteries of Goëtic theurgy, sorcery and infernal necromancy', this book explores the procedures of all of the famous Grimoires, including the Key of Solomon, the Grimorium Verum, the apocryphal Fourth Book of Cornelius Agrippa, and, the Black Pullet. It includes the rituals of ceremonial magic, the literature, the rituals of black magic, as well as the complete grimoires. This book is the second edition of a work first published in 1898, and which was originally called The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts.
Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers
Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers is a book by British mystic Arthur Edward Waite, first published in 1888. The subtitle of which is: 'Based on Materials Collected in 1815 and Supplemented by Recent Researches; With a Philosophical Demonstration of the True Principles of the Magnum Opus, or Great Work of Alchemical Re-Construction, and Some Account of the Spiritual Chemistry. To which is added a Bibliography of Alchemy and Hermetic Philosophy'. The author, who wrote extensively on occult subjects, here gives accounts of the lives of famous and not-so-famous alchemy philosophers, such as Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, Arnold de Villanova, Nicholas Flamel, Basil Valentine, Paracelsus, John Dee, Eirenæus Philalethes, and many more.
The Real History Of The Rosicrucians
The Real History Of The Rosicrucians is a book by British mystic Arthur Edward Waite, first published in 1887. Waite provides complete translations of all the texts associated with the Rosicrucians, including the Fama Fraternitatis, the Confessio Fraternitatis, and the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz. The Chemical Wedding, the most extensive of the texts, is an alchemical allegory that reads like a fever dream. Although the authorship of these documents is uncertain, they are believed to have been written by Johann Valentin Andreas, a German theologian and writer. Waite also examines Rosicrucian literature from various centuries, including the works of authors like Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, Thomas Vaughan, and John Heydon. Heydon's work, Voyage to the Land of the Rosicrucians, which describes an expedition to a far-off land inhabited by Rosicrucians, is included in its entirety. Waite concludes his study with a look at a 19th-century organization that claimed to be affiliated with the Rosicrucians, a group that included Hargrave Jennings as a member. Jennings wrote a book titled The Rosicrucians, their Rites and Mysteries, which Waite critiques thoroughly, given its misleading title and focus on phallicism. Jennings' work contradicts the notion of the Rosicrucians being celibate, a fact that Waite highlights. Additionally, Waite debunks two 'historical' stories cited by Jennings, namely the subterranean sepulcher and the immortal Venetian, which have been used by other authors as factual accounts.
The Turba Philosophorum
The Turba Philosophorum, also known as the Assembly of the Philosophers, is one of the oldest European alchemy texts. It is considered to have been written c. 900 A.D. Nine philosophers take part in a discussion, being, once the text has been transcribed back to the original Arabic, Anaximander, Anximenes, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Archelaus, Leucippus, Ecphantus, Pythagoras and Xenophanes. The statements of the philosophers, whilst usually different from the known beliefs of the pre-Socratics, are usually recognisable as outgrowths of Greek philosophy. They discuss matter, how it acts, and relate this to cosmology, with three theses presented by Xenophanes in his closing speech, being, 1) The creator of the World is Allah, the God of Islam; 2) The world is of a uniform nature; 3) All creatures of the upper as well as of the lower world are composed of all four elements.
