Recommended Black Magick Grimoires and Books of Black Magick

Two common questions I am often asked by students and followers on social media are:

What is the best path to study black magick?

What books should I read to study black magick?

The answers to these questions lie within your own goals. What are YOU trying to achieve by studying magick? If you are completely new to the idea of practicing magick, you may believe that all magick is one and the same. This is not true. For example, the following list of practices are completely different to each other, in both principle and practice. Some of these can overlap, for example you could be a Witch that also is a Pagan or Wiccan, or that practices Chaos Magick. Or you could just practice Chaos Magick and NOT be a witch. If you’re practicing Ceremonial Magick, you may or may not desire to practice any form of witchcraft, spells, or Satanism. Therefore you need to spend alot of time deciding on what you want to PRACTICE and BELIEVE IN.

• Witchcraft
• Ceremonial Magick
• Paganism
• Wicca
• Houdou
• Voodoo
• Chaos Magick
• Demonology
• Satanism

How do I summon a demon?

If you want to find out “how do I summon a demon,” your best bet is probably with Thelema or a similar ceremonial magickal practice. Though I can assure you that your studies will not be easy – those well versed in occult lore have at least dabbled in a number of esoteric traditions including Hermeticism, Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Yoga, Zen Buddhism, and the like. There’s no incantation spell you can recite while lighting a few candles and some incense and expect to get real results.

The tradition of commanding demons goes back to legends about King Solomon, which is why many of the modern texts claim to be Solomon’s magick. According to the 2nd C. Testament of Solomon, Solomon used a magickal ring to command demons to build the Jewish Temple.

Magickal practice involves purging yourself of your own personal “demons” – all those underlying issues and misconceptions that have been holding you back from knowing and achieving your Will. You probably don’t even know what they are right now, but they’re there. Pick up some books by Aleister Crowley (like his classic Liber Aba) or The Goetia or a number of other texts in a similar vein for more info.

Recommended black magic books that I used and still use to study Black Magick are Arthur Edward Waite’s books like The Book of Black Magic or The Book of Ceremonial Magic or Richard Cavendish’s The Black Arts.

A good place to start looking is Twilit Grotto — Esoteric Archives for free books on ceremonial magic:

• Key of Solomon This is the most famous and influential handbook of magic. Mathers’ edition.
• The Key of Knowledge. A Sixteenth-Century English translation of the Key of Solomon.
• The Clavicle of Solomon, revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian. (Sloane 3847)
• Clavicules du Roi Salomon, Par Armadel. Livre Quatrieme. Des Esprits qui gouvernent sous les Ordres du Souverain Createur. (The Key of King Solomon, Book 4: The Spirits which govern under the Orders of the sovereign Creator.) (Excepts, French)
• The Veritable Clavicles of Solomon, Translated from Hebrew into the Latin Language by Rabbi Abognazar (Lansdowne MS. 1203).
• The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton): All five books. This famous 16-17th century grimoire was compiled from earlier texts. It was considered important by Crowley, Mathers, Waite, and others. The scrying methods correspond closely with Dee’s.
• The Magical Calendar (Calendarium Naturale Magicum Perpetuum) by Johann Baptista Großchedel. (excerpts)
• Paracelsus: Archidoxis of Magic (excerpts, English)
• Petrus de Abano, Heptameron, or Magical Elements (Latin with English translation)
• Picatrix (The Goal of the Wise) pseudo-Majriti. (Summary)
• Reginald Scot’s collection of magical texts A fine example of Elizabethan English
• Romanus-Büchlein Little Charm-book of the Roma (Gypsies). One of the main sourceworks for Hoodoo and American Folk magic. (German and English)
• A. W. Greenup: Sefer ha-Levanah — The Book of the Moon (Hebrew)
• Ebenezer Sibly, A New and Complete Illustration of the Occult Sciences, Book 4. (1795?) Methods used for raising up and consulting Spirits are laid open, including a general Display of the Mysteries of Witchcraft, Divination, Charms, and Necromancy. Also includes an alchemical process for raising the form of plants from their essences (ala Borelli).
• Mafteah Shelomoh / Clavicula Salomonis, A Hebrew Manuscript Newly discovered and now described, by Hermann Gollancz (1903)
• Sepher Maphteah Shelomoh (Book of the Key of Solomon) An exact facsimile of an original book of magic in Hebrew, ed. by Hermann Gollancz, (1914)
• Sepher Raziel (excepts from Sl. 3846)
• Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. This has already become one of the most requested documents at this site. If you are interested in discussing this text, I have set up a forum on Yahoo Groups. Click to join.
• Sword of Moses Tenth century Hebrew handbook of magic
• Testament of Solomon One of the oldest magical texts attributed to King Solomon, dating First to Third Century A.D. Includes a catalog of demons summoned by King Solomon, and how they can be countered by invoking angels and other magical techniques.
• Theosophia Pneumatica [pdf].

How do I learn Ceremonial Magic?

William Gray pulls all the “hows'” and “whys” of ceremonial magic together in one volume called “Magical Ritual Methods” and provides the student with practical means for its proper operation and study. People are drawn toward ritual practice because it fulfills a need on a deep spiritual level that nothing else will fill. Gray shows us how to arrange and direct our own studies, and gives us the basics to make magical ritual work for us. The reader learns about proper grounding and centering, constructing workable psychic shielding, the use of sound in chants and rites, and the proper construction and use of ritual tools. The various parts of a working rite of Magick are explained- even down to the postures of the celebrants. The book is oriented more towards the temple-style of practice, but its methods can be employed in Witchcraft, Paganism, Wicca and other paths, too. This book is not really for beginners, but it needs to be on the shelf of every serious practitioner and magickal teacher.

How do I learn old black magick?

The website http://www.esotericarchives.com/ lists many links to free black magick books. In the section for black magick books, they have many free links and suggestions – see list below:

Black Magic

• Clavicula Salomonis de Secretis (LATIN)
• Clavicules du Roi Salomon, Par Armadel. Livre Troisieme. Concernant les Esprits & leurs pouvoirs. (“Concerning the Spirits and their Capabilities”)
• Douze Anneaux (Lansdowne MS 1202)
• Le Grand Grimoire One of the most famous and outrageous Grimoires of black magic. (French and English)
• L’art de commander les esprits … du Grand Grimoire (1750?) Another edition. (French)
• Il Grand Grimoire (Italian) [pdf]
• Le Grimoire du Pape Honorius “Perhaps the most frankly diabolical of the Rituals connected with Black Magic.” (French, 1670)
• Gremoire du Pape Honorius Another edition, with quite different text and drawings. (French, 1800)
• Grimoire du Pape Honorius (French, 1760)
• Grimorium Verum: Called “par excellence the magical book of Europe.”
  • (Parallel Italian, French, and English edition)
  • (French 1817 edition with English translation)
  • (Italian, 1868)
  • (Italian, 1880)
• Le Petit Albert Secrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique du petit Albert
• Johann Weyer: Pseudomonarchia daemonum (Latin with English translation) This catalog of demons was perhaps the prototype for the Goetia.
• Verus Jesuitarum Libellus (Latin with Eng. transl.)