golden hoard press ltd london (35 results)

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Michael Constantine Psellus (1018-1178 C.E) was one of the most notable writers and philosophers of the Byzantine era. The Byzantine domain was effectively the eastern Greek speaking part of the Roman Empire centred on Byzantium (Constantinople, modern Istanbul) which split off from the Latin West in 364 C.E. Its intellectual legacies helped lay the foundations for the Italian Renaissance. It was the fall of Constantinople in 1453 that released a tide of Greek reading scholars into Western Europe, particularly Venice. With them came much of the magical and Hermetic knowledge which the Greeks in their turn had inherited from the Egyptians. The Key of Solomon was one such text. It is therefore essential to the understanding of such magical texts that one understands exactly how the Byzantines understood the nature of daemons. Psellus forms the bridge between the ancient world, Byzantine Greek, and the grimoire conception of the nature of daemons. Hailing from Constantinople, Psellus' career was an illustrious and practical one, serving as a political advisor to a succession of emperors, playing a decisive role in the transition of power between various monarchs. He became the leading professor at the newly founded University of Constantinople, bearing the honorary title, 'Consul of the Philosophers'. He was the driving force behind the university curriculum reform designed to emphasise the Greek classics, especially Homeric literature. Psellus is credited with the shift from Aristotelian thought to the Platonist tradition, and was adept in politics, astronomy, medicine, music, theology, jurisprudence, physics, grammar and history. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Jones, Stuart (illustrator). Paperback. Explanations of typical pages from the Chinese Almanac, the Tung Shu. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. Sepher Raziel (also called Liber Salomonis) is not the same as the Hebrew Sepher Raziel ha-Melakh. It is a full grimoire in the Solomonic tradition from a 1564 century English manuscript, derived from Latin sources. As such it is one of the earliest grimoires produced in this series. It begins with directions for making the parchment, pen and ink of Art, required to write the names. It contains seven separate Treatises: 1 - Liber Clavis which is concerned with astrology and its correct use in magic, something long forgotten by modern astrologers, with the precise interactions between planets, Signs and Houses; 2 - The Ala outlines in four sections the magical virtues of stones, herbs and beasts, and words; 3 - The Tractatus Thymiamatus explains why incense is essential to magical operations, and the effect of various incenses on the spirits, with a list of the key perfumes and suffumigations. An Appendix gives the modern and botanical names; 4 - The Treatise of Times gives details of the correct hours of the day and night for each operation, with associated angels and the proper names of the Sun, Moon and planets to be used in each season. This is something left out of almost all other grimoires; 5 - The Treatise on Purity explains the exact preparations, and the reasons for ritual purity; 6 - Samaim is a treatise on the seven Heavens, with the names of their angels; 7 - The Book of Virtues and Miracles is a treatise on the Semiforas, the names of God, and how they are to be used in invocation to produce miraculous results. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Ars Notoria: the Method is the practical key to the Ars Notoria. This key brings all the parts you need together so this ancient system can now be used to memorise and master subjects in the shortest space of time. Each operation has its own chapter which brings together the prayers, orations and nota needed for each subject. The Ars Notoria is a unique Mediaeval grimoire designed to assist monks (or anyone) to learn whole subjects in as short a time as a month, through the intervention of angels. It has procedures for vastly improving memory, learning speed and understanding, such that a single reading of a complex text will enable it to be absorbed and understood. The procedure consisted of orations or invocations which will assist the aspirant in these feats of memory. These are read or chanted whilst the aspirant looks at a nota, a complex design which encapsulates the essence of the desired subject. The oldest manuscript of the Ars Notoria dates from 1225. This volume allows you to actually use this amazing system. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. This manuscript is a grimoire, a manual of practical magic, a sorcerers handbook. It is a composite grimoire drawn from a number of different sources. It is not the sort of grimoire which has a complete method of calling up a set register of spirits, like the Goetia, nor does it have a wide range of pentacles or talismans like the Key of Solomon. It is however quite special as it was also was a practising Cunning man's grimoire, a very interesting blend of learned and local village magic. It also contains a lot of critical astrological information (including its own set of astrological tables) which are an important part of magic, but which dont feature to a large extent in other grimoires. It goes way beyond Planetary days and hours, to detailed aspects of timing and also contains magical operations connected with the 28 Mansions of the Moon and image magic, which were usually absent from Solomonic grimoires. The 28 Mansions of the Moon belong to a different magical tradition which owes its origins to Arabic and Indian roots, rather than the Greek roots of Solomonic magic. This manuscript literally stands at the crossroads of several different magical streams. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. The Ars Notoria is a mediaeval grimoire which was widely distributed and very popular in the 13th-16th century, but virtually unknown until recently. Version B (MS Bibliotheque Nationale Lat. 9336.) is a commentary on the Method which has never been published in English before. The present text is a reorganisation of that commentary into subject order without the loss of any practical detail. All the notae and the full invocations/orations are included, but most of the Latin prayers have been omitted as they do not contribute to the methods effectiveness. The Ars Notoria is still very relevant in the 21st century because it contains detailed techniques to enable the practitioner to absorb whole subjects very rapidly, and to understand very complex subjects on first reading, as well as remembering whatever has been read. Like many magic manuscripts this work was attributed to famous individuals including Solomon (who reputedly received the book directly from God via the angel Pamphilius), which was translated into Greek by the magician Apollonius of Tyana, along with input from Euclid of Thebes, the father of Honorius of Thebes the author of The Sworn Book of Honorius (Liber Juratus) and Mani, the prophet. Solomonic grimoires are concerned with the evocation of spirits or demons, but the Ars Notoria stands alone as angel magic concerned only with memory and the ability to understand and absorb whole subjects rapidly, making it a veritable student's grimoire, a key to obtaining knowledge rapidly. Despite its popularity and enduring history the Ars Notoria has never been printed in its complete form. After its early Latin appearance there was only one incomplete English translation by Robert Turner in 1657, and that omitted the most vital component for its operation, the notae, a set of complex pictorial illustrations, without which the system just does not work. It also abbreviated most of the orations/invocations. The present edition contains all the notae matched with all the complete invocations/orations, and instructions for their use. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. A record of all the books in Trithemius' secret library of grimoires and books of practical magic in 1508 and what happened to them.Effectively an almost complete catalogue of the classics of magic written by Trithemius, the mentor and teacher in magic of Henry Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelcus. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. This book is about the evocation of spirits and the cryptography associated with them. To date only Books I & III have been published in English but without the essential detailed Spirit Registers covering 32 spirits. This edition has rectified that deficiency, and has added a translation of Book II (containing a further 25 spirits) and Book IV which related the Steganographia to Paracelsus, the Almadel and the Shemhammaphorash of Solomon, Adam and Moses. So at last the whole Steganographia is available in English with full explanations by Stephen Skinner. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. This is the highpoint of calligraphic Victorian grimoires, full colour throughout. A very significant magical text with lots of detail not normally found in a grimoire Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Geomancy - divination by earth - ranks alongside the tarot, astrology and the I Ching as a major form of divination. Since the Renaissance it has largely fallen out of favour for want of generally available information on its practice. This is the first and most comprehensive book in English to cover the full historical background and practice of divinatory geomancy, and will therefore be invaluable to all those interested in divination, magic and astrology. It is the only complete history in any language, covering geomancy's various manifestations in different cultures, as well as being a practical manual showing how to cast and interpret geomantic figures.Drawing on material from Latin, French, German and Arabic manuscript and book sources, Stephen Skinner explores the roots of geomancy in the Islamic raml divination of northern Africa, which lead to Fa, Ifa and voodoo divinatory practices on the West Coast and sikidy in Madagascar. He examines the impact Islamic geomancy had on medieval Europe, where it rose to prominence and became, after astrology, the prime method of divination. It even resulted in the creation of an amazingly complex brass 12th century geomancy calculator. The part it played in Renaissance thinking and in the great astrological revival of the nineteenth century is followed by an examination of its use in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its declining influence in the twentieth century only to be revived again in the last decade. This western geomancy is not, and has nothing to do with, feng shui. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. This is the first book in English on Flying Star Feng shui which explains how it compatibly relates to Eight Mansion feng shui, and provides 216 giving lower kua Flying Star charts as well as all of the variant Substitution Star (ti Kua) charts. Although the Flying Stars were originally related to the stars of astronomical Big Dipper asterism, in their feng shui usage they are simply terms for changing types of subtle chi(qi) energy present in our living environment, our homes, and our workplaces, Flying Stars assumes there is a very reals link between the present time, the time a building was built, its directional orientation, the birthplaces of its occupants and the consequential changing of luck of its occupants. Contrary to popular mis-conception, Flying Star Feng shui is completely compatible with Eight Mansion feng shui. The effects of using Flying Star feng shui correctly can often be impressive and very rapid, often within then days. Flying Star feng shui is one of the components of Hsuan Kung (Xuan Kong), which is in turn part of the San Yuan School of feng shui, which relies upon the 8 Trigrams Kua (gua) and their combinations. By contrast San He (the other great school of feng shui) relies upon combinations of the 5 Elements (in their yin and yang forms) with the 12 Early Branches, forming 60 chia-tzu (jia zi) or dragons. Much of the knowledge in this book comes from the Chinese text of perhaps the most famous Hsuan Kung (Xuan Kong) master of the 20th century, Shen Chu Reng and his book on Flying Star entitled San Yuan Ti Li Tai Hsuan Kung. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. This grimoire dating from 1346 is the root of many other grimoires, and contains much practical magic that has been lost from later grimoires. It was owned and treasured by Trithemius and Dr John Dee, and was the root of Shemhamphorash, Solomonic and Enochian magic. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. There have been many grimoires attributed to St Cyprian of Antioch due to his reputation as a consummate magician before his conversion to Christianity, but perhaps none so intriguing as the present manuscript. This unique manuscript (unlike the more rustic examples attributed to St Cyprian called the Black Books of Wittenburg, as found in Scandinavia, or the texts disseminated under his name in Spain and Portugal) is directly in line with the Solomonic tradition, and therefore relevant to our present series of Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic. It is unique in that instead of being weighed down with many prayers and conjurations it addresses the summoning and use of both the four Archangels, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel as well as their opposite numbers, the four Demon Kings, Paymon, Maimon, Egyn and Oriens. The later are shown in their animal and human forms along with their sigils, a resource unique amongst grimoires. The text is in a mixture of three magical scripts, Greek, Hebrew, cipher, Latin, (and reversed Latin) with many contractions and short forms, but expanded and made plain by the editors. The title literally means 'The Key of Hell with white and black magic as proven by Metatron'. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Chapters: Liber Lunae, Sepher ha-Levanah, 28 Mansions of the Moon, the Hours of the day and night, Appendix. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.