Black abbot

White magic
Johannes Trithemius & the Angelic Mind

F r at e r A c h e r

Black abbot

White magic

frater acher

Black abbot

White magic

Johannes Trithemius and the Angelic Mind

scarlet imprint mmxx

Black Abbot · White Magic was published by Scarlet Imprint in 2020,

and is bound in three editions: a fine edition of 70 copies hand bound
in full off-white morocco; a standard edition limited to 900 copies
bound in white bonded leather; and an unlimited paperback edition.

Black Abbot · White Magic © Frater Acher 2020

Edited by Peter Grey, copy edited by Paul Holman, designed &

typeset by Alkistis Dimech.

The hardback and paperback editions were printed and bound in the
United Kingdom by Gomer Press, and the fine editions were bound
by Ludlow Bookbinders.

digital edition

All rights reserved: no part of this book may be reproduced in any

form, without written permission from the publisher & copyright
holder.

s c a r l e t i m p r i n t.c o m
Contents

Introduction 1

Manuscripts & Analysis

Pelagius Eremita

Two Books · Of the knowledge and name of one’s good angel 11

Analysis of the Two Books 42

Libanius Gallus & Pelagius Eremita

The Tablet of Truth 73

Analysis of the Tablet of Truth 102

Johannes Trithemius

The General Key 129

Analysis of the General Key 136

The Powder of Pelagius 147

On Trithemius of Sponheim

Trithemius’ Life and Work 159

Trithemius and his magical master Pelagius Eremita 167

A map to the mystery 205

Selected sources 209

Whatever in the world is knowable, I always desired to know.

Johannes Trithemius
π

Johannes Trithemius was perhaps the central figure

in the evolution of the Western esoteric tradition.

Adam McLean

More so than Faust has this man moved the hearts of

contemporaries and posterity: the magician of the emperor and the
Rhenish Abbot.

Will-Erich Peuckert

It cannot be proved with absolute certainty that Trithemius was in the

habit of performing magical operations with

the help of planetary angels, but it is highly probable.

P. D. Walker

He [Trithemius] knows to give such an accurate account of the

demons it as if he had lived with them intimately for many years.

Wilhelm Schneegans

Trithemius fought like a true Pythagorean against

the passions of wrath, hostility, and impatience.

Isidor Silbernagl
π

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Anne Hila for her invaluable transcription skil s
and ceaseless passion for this project; Professor Klaus Arnold for his
generos-ity in offering his essay on Trithemius’ life and work for
translation; and Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal for bringing this work
to life visually. Finally, I thank Peter Grey and Alkistis Dimech for
their continued support and unmatched publishing skil s.

Frater Acher

Illustrations

Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal

Pelagius Eremita 10

Johannes Trithemius 130

Ramon Llull 193

‘The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony’ from Das Kloster (1846) 213–

214

Tables and figures

Manuscripts of Pelagius Eremita in Leipzig and Paris 46

Book I: Chapters 50

Book II: Chapters 51

Interspecies communication 52

Example of the calculation of the good angel’s name 60

Two Books (1480) · Ritual summary 71

The Work of ALMIEL · The Tablet of Truth 78

The layout of the Tablet of Truth 91

Tabula veritatis (1499) · Comparison of the reverse seal designs 106

Tabula veritatis (1499) · Rules of the operation 111

Tabula veritatis (1499) · Ritual summary 113

Third pentacle of Venus ( Key of Solomon) 115

Gematria: AIQ BKR version ·

116 ‫לאימלע‬

Francis Barrett’s table design from ‘The Art of Drawing Spirits into
Crystals’ (1801) 124

Comparison of the Tablet of Truth with the Table of Trithemius from

The Magus 125

The General Key · Example of a love philtre 141

Planetary animals according to Al-Biruni 143

The powder of Pelagius: Deciphered herbal ingredients 150–151

The powder of Pelagius Eremita: The recipe 155

Introduction

his is a book on Johannes Trithemius. This is also a book of

labyrinths and treasures. A book made from equal parts of cunning
deceit Tand genuine magic. A book with a worldly facade, and a
hidden chamber, patiently waiting to be discovered by a curious
mind. None of this should be any surprise, given the iridescent
nature of our protagonist: the original man behind many of the
legends now attributed to Dr Johann Faust, teacher of Heinrich
Cornelius Agrippa, magical role model to John Dee and Paracelsus,
and to this day one of the world’s most renowned cryptographers. In
entering his world – the world of this book – we should be careful.
We shall step warily into this man’s past and into the maze of stories,
lore and fables he seeded for us in countless letters and manuscripts
over the course of a lifetime. On a journey such as this, stepping
stones can turn into trapdoors, ink might be poisoned and
manuscripts are written in layers, each one containing its own hidden
leads and secret keys.

After his death people began to call Trithemius the ‘black abbot.’ His
enigma was as startling to his contemporaries as it is to us. Was his
infamous occult reputation nothing more than a deliberate act, a
daring life-long personal campaign aimed at gaining access to the
wealthy and powerful? Or was it the byproduct of a life lived in
genuine service to the arcane arts? Even three hundred years after
his death our protagonist’s name remains synonymous with
forbidden knowledge.

Throughout his life he dealt in secrets and keys – and consciously

kept the General Key away from the public. That Trithemius was a
powerful storyteller is best illustrated by one of his earliest memories,
of an incident which occurred when he was fifteen, which he
masterfully wove into several of his books. He included the episode
(speaking of himself in the third person) both in his posthumously
published biographical account Nepiachus (written 1507, published
1825), as well as in the great chronicle of the monastery of
Sponheim, Chronicon Sponheimense (1509).

It provides a fascinating insight into Trithemius’ origin story as a true

polymath: 1

For an entire year through intense fasting and praying, continuously

and with great forcefulness he desired but two things from God; one
was the knowledge of the scriptures, the other, he said, he had never
revealed to anyone. One night in his sleep he saw a boy in a white
dress standing before him, holding two tablets in his hands. One of
them was covered in writing, the other was painted with curious
images. And the boy said to him: Choose of these two tablets the
one you desire. For his love of the sciences – which at this point in
his life he didn’t even know – he immediately chose the tablet that
was covered in writing.

Thereupon the boy who had revealed himself to him said: Behold,
God has received your prayer and will fulfil both of your wishes – and
much more than you imagined. The next morning through a
miraculous serendipity the boy, who did not think of the vision
anymore, received access to the first principles of the sciences.1

Word by word, this episode was was delightedly copied by all of his
biographers.

This ‘vision’ is a colourful testament to Trithemius’ ability to design

and seed mythical narratives which would serve his own interests.
The black abbot’s skill of balancing on the razor’s edge between
spiritual truth and opportunistic fiction will accompany us throughout
this book, and emerge as his main character trait. However, one of
his earliest biographers, the anonymous ‘G--r,’ in his three part work
from 1784, suggested several ways of interpreting this
autobiographical account: A revelation (...) which is easy to explain.
It could have been a fabrication invented by the clever boy to lend
pious colour to his intellectual curiosity.

Alternatively, it could have been a vivid dream, as both day and night
his soul was filled with the same ideas. However, other people,
especially kindred spirits, might read the incident as proof of the
secret guardian spirit who was a companion to Trithemius throughout
his life and who instructed him in various secrets.2

In light of Trithemius’ own life-long desire ‘to know everything that is

knowable,’3

Arnold and others consider that his second wish was to gain access,
not only to the orthodox canon of scripture, but far beyond the
legitimate realm of knowledge 1 Chronikon Spanheimense (1969):
197f.

2 Anonymous, ‘Leben des Abt Tritheim,’ in: Scheible, Das Kloster,

Vol. 3: 1012f.

3 ‘Quicquidem in mundo scibile est, scire semper cupiebam.’

Trithemius, in Brann: 93.

black abbot · white magic

of his time. He sought access to all knowledge, with its infamous and
forbidden fruits.4

Mending the chain

While occult practitioners often place a premium on concepts such

as lineage and the historical validity of their favoured tradition, the
reality is that very few are trained historians, or invest the time to
research the chain of events that led to the modern expressions of
the art. For many contemporary practitioners their historical
understanding of the magical tradition begins with the Greek Magical
Papyri (100 bce–400 ce) and then breaks, only to resurface in the
early modern period with the record of John Dee (1527–1608/9) and
Edward Kelley (1555–1597/8). Between these milestones spans an
abyss of blackness. To mend the chain of magical memory, link by
link, from 400 ce to 1500 ce is a truly Herculean task; and one which
academia has done a tremendous job of tackling, especially over the
last thirty years. Trithemius, despite his temporal proximity to Dee,
and the critical impact of his work on Western magic, has to date
been largely overlooked. Thus the foremost intent of this book is to
mend and polish this particular link in the chain and to reinsert the
black abbot into the collective memory of our tradition.

Learning from ancestors

As a practicing magician, I will undertake the challenge not through
the lens of an academic scholar, but through that of a magical
operator. The fire that fuels this work is the intent to acquire more
skill and knowledge, and to be wel -rounded in our own practice.
Such travel ing back in time is not driven by nostalgia or historical
fetish, but is done in order to unearth the bones that are missing
from the skeleton of our craft. The life and work of Trithemius is an
especially rich textual excavation site – not only because of the
massive influence he exerted on Western magic, but because he
spoke from personal experience.

Trithemius admitted openly (and much to his later regret) that most
of the cryptographic masterpieces in his Steganographia were
revealed to him by a spiritual entity in his sleep. Problems he had
struggled with for months were suddenly shown to him in dreams.
Who this entity was, whether it was the same 4 Arnold (1973): 7.

introduction

youth he had described in his origin story, or whether he had used

any magical techniques to trigger such contact, he didn’t dare reveal.
Beyond the more well known works of Trithemius we will discover
rich new material that illuminates Trithemius’ own magical practice.
The manuscripts attributed to his magical teacher Pelagius the
Hermit of Majorca, as well as the mysterious intermediary Libanius
Gallus, are of critical importance.

In pursuit of white magic

The third motive of this book is to restore the practical details of the
magical programme Trithemius pursued for his entire adult life. He
aimed to break through the overly simplistic approach to magic that
had been established by such widely respected authorities as
Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE) and Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274
CE). Their dualistic worldview created an absolute antithesis
between divinely caused miracles and man-mediated magic.5 There
was neither space nor tolerance for any kind of practical, self-
directed spirituality (despite the wide-spread practice of folk magic);
spirituality was contained within the four walls of a church, under a
priest, or in the personal practices of praying, fasting and labouring
in service. Such a strict edict was directed less at hunters,
swineherds or farmers using folk magic, but rather was aimed at
learned magical practitioners.

The magician was the antithesis of the Christian saint; and thus the
former’s entire repertoire of art and craft had to be banned.
Obviously such a view not only dismissed, but actively condemned
the whole Western tradition of magic and its rich portfolio of spiritual
techniques.

Trithemius tried to cut through this Gordian knot and attempted to

reintroduce certain forms of magic into the curriculum of the
Christian Church. To have at least some chance of success with
such a provocative programme – and to not end on the pyre – what
was required was a way to clearly and simply distinguish forbidden
forms of magic from potentially beneficial ones.

The very term ‘angel’ in Trithemius’ time was deeply ambiguous,

indicating a certain rank of spiritual beings, yet not their ethical
nature or inclinations. Thus Trithemius’ own writings often
differentiate the terms ‘good angel’ and ‘evil angel.’

The black abbot did not believe that any form of spiritual cartography
could solve this theological dilemma – because the map was alive,
and we were trapped inside 5 Bann: 44; also Page (2017) Medieval
Magic.

black abbot · white magic

it. For him, the answer had to be found not in the spiritual territory
that surrounded the practitioner, but in the territory that stretched out
within them. Here is how the black abbot made his case for such a
dangerous proposition: 15th century Europeans lived in a world that,
just like nature itself, abhorred a vacuum; every place, object,
moment in time was a possible dwel ing space for spirits, and thus
an opportunity for spiritual encounters. There was, however, an
essential difference between these beings and man, irrespective of
the formers’ celestial or chthonic rank. Within the broader medieval
cosmos spirits held positions that were defined and fixed; mankind
alone did not have a fixed locus, as through the agency of free will
they had become both mobile and mouldable.

In a world where free will differentiated man from other beings, it was
(according to Trithemius) the same force that ultimately defined
whether one was at risk of consorting with evil demons or poised on
the threshold of the good angel’s presence. As we will see, possibly
the most essential premise of Trithemius’ magical writings was that
the practitioner had to assimilate their mind to the beings they
wished to commune with. Such a process of ‘becoming alike’ was
not only marked by spiritual activity, but possibly more importantly,
through everyday words and actions. The lifestyle one followed was
the key to the kind of magic one was able to perform. This explains
why Trithemius’ books that openly deal with questions of magic –
Steganographia, Antipalus maleficiorum, Liber octo quæstionum and
the incomplete De dæmonibus – delve into considerable detail on
seemingly demonic rituals. However, if a wicked mind performed
wicked magic, the social sanctions and repercussions could not be
strict enough! Such premises explain Trithemius’ life-long obsession
with ethical discipline, high moral standards and strict daily devotion.
According to his interpretation, demons or evil angels held little
power over humans by themselves; they only received access to
one’s heart or mind if they had been called upon in the first place.
However, in most cases that did not require ritual evocation,
mundane moral laxness sufficed. To Trithemius’

medieval mind the absence of strong and ethical devotion prepared

the demonic gateway. According to the abbot, ‘the indispensable
avenue into the world for demons is the debased wil .’6
This was his demarcation line, differentiating licit from il icit magic. If
the practice required one’s free will to continuously be directed
towards the Divine – as witnessed in its outer expression of a
rigorous lifestyle marked by withdrawal into 6 Bann: 35.

introduction

silence, pious devotion and philanthropic social acts – the practice

likely held little risk of putting one’s soul in jeopardy.

Already we can begin to understand the black abbot’s programme of

defining and establishing a corpus of white magic. First he sought to
rediscover and compile the body of Western magic in his vast library.
Next he would wrest from it the corpus of spiritual techniques of self-
empowerment and cleanse it of any unnecessary elements that
would deflect the practitioner’s intent from the one essential goal of
all white magic: to make the human and the angelic minds alike.

The structure of the book

The first part of this book will delve into the works of Trithemius’
magical teacher Pelagius Eremita. The English translation of the
original German or Latin texts will be given.7 Following each
translation is a close analysis of the text. The analysis of Pelagius’
manuscripts will allow us to unlock the mysteries that have
surrounded the black abbot to this day.

The sequential approach gives us an understanding and

appreciation of the intent, depth and pragmatism of 15th century
mystico-magical practice. Following the pathway of the original texts
avoids the risk of spinning out into orbits of speculative
interpretation. Thus over the course of this journey we will keep one
foot within Trithemius’ magical circle, the other in the historical
context.
Pelagius’ works contain long orisons directed towards the spiritual
entities involved in the particular operation. Whilst efficacious in their
own right, the practitioner should not regard them as part of a set
canon. In fact, as Pelagius explicitly directs at the end of his Two
Books, the experienced practitioner would weave their own way of
praying and creating intentional spiritual contact into each rite.

Some rites will therefore become shorter and more succinct in

practice, others will lengthen and gain in complexity.

Next we examine two texts attributed to Trithemius, the first likely

spuriously and the latter restored directly from his own writings. Both
manuscripts further illustrate the richness of the textual tradition
connected to Trithemius. Rather than centering on the mystical
experience of the devout hermit, these texts ride on the hedge that
separates the mage’s oratory from the witch’s kitchen. They
evidence the cross-weaving of so-called high and folk magic, and
connect the celestial intel-7 A critical side-by-side comparison of the
original manuscripts, their transcripts as well as further source
material can be found online at holydaimon.com.

black abbot · white magic

ligences leveraged in Pelagius’ writings with the chthonic force of

plant and animal based concoctions.

In the second part of the book we take a step back from magical
practice and rejoin the historic and biographical findings that
emerged in our study. We begin with an English translation of a
wonderfully succinct biography of the black abbot by Professor Klaus
Arnold, the leading scholar on Trithemius.8 Following this
biographical overview, we examine the relationship between
Trithemius, his master Pelagius and their intermediary Libanius
Gallus. Here the full complexity of Trithemius’ character appears, in
light of which a new vista on his work and impact on the Western
magical tradition is revealed. Finally, we include a 19th century map
for further adventures into the magical mysteries which enthralled
Trithemius all his days.

LVX,

Frater Acher

May the serpent bite its tail.

8 See also Arnold’s Johannes Trithemius ( 1462–1516): Abt und

Büchersammler, Humanist und Geschichtsschreiber. Würzburg:
Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, 2019.

introduction

Manuscripts

and analysis
Pelagius Eremita

Two Books
II Bücher von Erkändnüs und Nahmen seines guten Engels
Cod.mag.13 (Bibliotheca Albertina, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig) 11

Pelagii EremitÆ · II Books

[1r]

Of the knowledge and name

of one’ s good angel.

Num.63

[1v]

Chapter i · Book i

[2r]

How shall one acquire true knowledge of divination and wisdom?

ecause god almighty created two kinds of understanding

and science, the angelic and thereafter the human, thus the angelic
under-Bstanding of the creation of the world must be considered a
perfect science as it understands and knows all things in their
entirety from the beginning. Yet human science is not from the
beginning of creation so as to know or understand; it is as with
young children, who do not understand a thing until they are older.

But the angelic understanding is complete in all parts, and man with
the help of the angel can attain a knowledge of all future and present
things ¦ that can be per-

[2v]

fected, imparted and divined.

But if man wants to achieve this, he must unite himself with the
angelic mind and become alike. Now I want to announce such a
man, who aims to unite with the angel, who wants to gain experience
and knowledge thereof, either through the visible appearance of the
good angel who is leaning towards you, or through dreams caused
by intuition of the angel, or through lengthy secret experience.

Whoever wants to attain this must lead a chaste life, be without grief,
live without strife and quarrel, not gorging and boozing, but live by
themselves, not be desirous, not be niggardly, live as God-fearing,
and be a pious and holy man who avoids sin and prays diligently
every day. Who thus holds [to these things] and aspires to practice in
the manner described below, he can know of present, past and
future things.

13

[3r]

Chapter ii

Not any man can interact with the holy angel, and

through dreams have his desire or knowledge of it.

Everywhere in this book one finds wondrous things which none

before me have described, and no one can understand, unless he
possesses the mercy of our good Lord. Therefore the practitioner
firstly has to be God-fearing, and be united with their good angel,
even in their work and acts [they should] be diligent, and pray
without ceasing. Thus this book is not meant for the unworthy, those
who are not worthy of having contact with it, such as heretics, infidel
Christians, those who lead a swinish life, all gluttons, boozers, the
unchaste, hateful, lazy, rude, unsa-

[3v]
gacious, unread ¦ people, all scornful mockers, dispraisers, bandits,
murderers, thieves, extortioners, liars, deceivers, gamblers, dalliers,
adulterers, enchanters, black artists, all are incapable and unworthy
to possess knowledge of this. With such people the holy good angel
has no dealings, and it cannot abide or dwell close to them.

Chapter iii

How should one who aspires to have contact

with the holy angel conduct themselves?

He should be God-fearing and live alone so he is not hindered in

divine service, and he must pray often; the more he escapes the
concerns of this world the more the good angel wishes to be with
him, to talk to him or appear in his dreams. Yet not with a human
tongue [does the angel speak], but through a particular intelligence,
through intuitions in dreams, through visions or other knowledge.
And

[4r]

it is certain, that the more alone ¦ people are the more the holy
angels like to live with them. Whoever can leave behind worldly
things and has little hindrance will become more skilful in this art,
that is also how the minds of people turn to the good by means of a
pious, quiet life. When one wants to be taught by the good angel and
receive instruction in the art of divination, he has to serve God
almighty with a pure heart and have a righteous faith, live purely,
chastely and decently, be humble in moments of good fortune and
patient [in moments] of tribulation, 14

pelagius eremita

friendly in his speech, decent in his manners, patient in his scorn,

quick to forgive.
He has to show charity to the poor and moderation in eating and
drinking, harm or quarrel with no one, so that therefore the numbers
1, 2, and 3 may be separated from the number 4, that is, God [and]
the angel have to be united together in ¦

the soul of man, and may not be stained nor hindered by an impure
life which is

[4v]

[indicated by] the number 4. The number 1 is God, 2 is the angel, 3

is the soul, and 4 is the human body. If one desires to have
knowledge of something through the holy angel one should fast the
evening before, hear a mass, give alms, not sleep with women, and
should confess, take communion or hold a Mass oneself and lead a
Christian life. If during the first, second and third nights the visitation
does not occur, he should continue with the prayers until that which
he desires to know appears to him.

Chapter IV

How may this art be Christian and not magic ?

It is not without [likelihood] that these writings ¦ will be despised by

many

[5r]

scoffers, which is why one should not allow them to be seen or read
by everyone.

And [they] can be defended in the holy Christian Church, do not

represent a new teaching, do not contradict the holy scriptures, but
are a part of Christian, God-fearing practice, and are being applied
by pious people as a Christian doctrine. May the ignorant speak as
they wish, and even if I am the first who sets down this art in writing,
I am not the first to practice such an art. There is no doubt that the
ancient monks in the monasteries with their God-fearing way of life
have prophesied and brought to light many wondrous things. Which
is why we exhort, whosoever wishes to dedicate himself to this art
has to fear God before all other things and has to love with his entire
heart, uphold [God’s] commandments, despise worldly things and ¦
uphold the spiritual alone, pray daily, and ask his holy

[5v]

angel for the knowledge of truth. He shall also see and venerate God
in his angel, because I have known many people who considered
such a practice important and divine, and who have said that
whoever, in their particular petition, is not ready to search for the
knowledge about the matters that relate to their question through
God or through their angel, neither understands the power of the
human mind nor the exemplars given in the holy scriptures. Whoever
wants to accept and under-two books

15

stand it for the good shall act in the name of God and will not need to
draw from written evidence, because the truth exists in itself, that it is
not against the Christian faith but rather it is a true Christian
revelation.

[6r]

CHAPTER V

That the almighty God reveals secret knowledge to man

through the service of his assigned holy angel.

So that one does not doubt this, we will consult the word of the holy
scriptures and note how man gains knowledge in dreams through
the appearance or intuition of the angel. As the first example [we
give evidence] of how Jacob fled his brother Esau, and in his dream
saw a long ladder which reached from the earth up to the heavens
and upon which the angels ascended and descended, and the Lord
held the ladder and said, ‘I am God, the Lord of your father
Abraham, and I will give

[6v]

to you and your ¦ seed the earth upon which you are sleeping.’
[Genesis 28:10–13]

Second, Joseph dreamed that the Sun and Moon bowed before him
[Genesis 37:9], and this Joseph was an interpreter of dreams to
those who were imprisoned with him, for one of them [Joseph
divined] that he would be freed, and that the other would be
imprisoned [Genesis 40:9–19]. Just as he interpreted the dream of
the rich years to the king [Genesis 41:25–27], so Mordecai dreamed
how a small river turned into a torrent [Esther 1,11:10]. In Jeremiah
[23:28] the Lord says, ‘the prophet who has had a dream, let him tell
his dream’: likewise the dream of Daniel of the four winds, of the four
beasts who rose from the sea was a secret divine ¦

[7r]

revelation [Daniel 7:2–3]. It is written in [the Book of ] Joel [2:28]: ‘I

will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall interpret dreams, and your young men
shall interpret visions.’ Similarly, one finds in the New Testament how
the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and instructed him to
journey into a different land [Matthew2:13], the three wise men
similarly received a dream that they should not return to Herod, but
take a different path

[Matthew 2:12]. Moreover, the angels often appeared visibly and

allowed others to see them.

16

pelagius eremita

CHAPTER VI
Why more often during sleep than waking does

[7v]

the angel appear and become known to us?

That during our days one does not see angels anymore, as one did a
long time ago, stems from the fact that the good and pure angels
cannot align themselves to our impure conduct and nature. Our
minds are too mean and weak to come close to the angels and
become alike in union, therefore in our weakness we have become
separated from the good angels and are not deemed worthy of
seeing them. Yet, if we loved and feared God, and acted according
to the holy company, they would permit us to see them. And mortal
man is not worthy to see the spiritual ¦ angels:

[8r]

because if the soul is polluted in the body, it cannot have

conversation with the angel, yet if it was to converse, it ought to be
pure like the angels. That is why in the Old and New Testament the
angels were visible to the naked eye, yet in our times we are impure
sinners and do not live according to God’s commandment, that is
why the angels do not join us. Even if occasionally we act with piety
we have no perseverance. But only to the ones who persevere [in
their piety] is friendship with the angels granted. And they can see
them in their sleep because while we sleep our soul is free of
thoughts and knowledge can be imparted to it more favourably, even
though in like manner many sentimentalists are found who all claim
to have received dreams from the Holy Ghost.

This, however, is the lowest knowledge which they receive from their
dreams,

[8v]

because it is unintel igible and also highly dubious, because the

constitution of the body of the dreamer is imbalanced – sometimes
one has eaten too much, sometimes too little, sometimes one is
cheerful, sometimes sad, and often dreams come from preceding
thoughts; that is why a wrong understanding may follow them.
Alternatively, their dreams turn deceitful because they are prompted
by evil spirits which delight in deception, and this happens most
often to haughty people: Because God opposes the haughty and
raises the humble, for the Holy Ghost descends upon the humble.
That is why only pious, God-fearing people are worthy of such
knowledge and ¦ not any sentimentalist.

[9r]

two books

17

CHAPTER VII

How the good angel of any man gives knowledge

of prophecy and naught else.

All holy, pious angels have affection for man, and delight over man’s
condition when he is good; in particular these angels delight when
they are ordered to attend a particular man, for every man has a
good angel who leads them to the good and protects them from evil
and the enemy. Just as the good angels constantly move towards
the good, so the evil angels move towards evil, as St Paul witnesses
[in the

[9v]

Epistle] to the Hebrews in chapter 9, the angels are sent to us ¦ to

serve us and at all times to be around us, and behold the
countenance of God: therefore [Jesus]

says, ‘Do not despise anyone, for I tell you that the angels in heaven
behold the face of my Father.’ [Matthew 18:10] The holy angels
protect us in such a manner, are constantly of service to us and
remain close to us: that is why gaining knowledge can only be
achieved and attained through the angels who attend us. So one
should hold these rules as the highest secret and mystery to be
desired from the good angel, that he will reveal and make manifest
his good thoughts to us. Because it is the office of the angels to
assist in generating both divine and human under-

[10r]

standing in man. Pious, God-fearing people ¦ and good angels hold

an insoluble communion, and through the inspiration of the angel we
may at any moment have knowledge of all things, which is why we
need to control our desires. For God sits on his throne as a judge,
and all angels stand before God’s throne and serve God; humans,
however, are prostrate before God’s throne, and because of their
sins scattered below. It is reserved for the angels to stand and for
humans to lie because of their sins. That is why man shall rise and
become like the angels and come into communion. Whoever lies [on
the ground] has to rise through the help and mercy

[10v]

of God and whoever stands is reinforced by the grace of God, ¦

standing firmly.

Just as there is a difference between standing and lying: in like

manner the angels surpass humans, and the angels desire to dwell
with those who lead a pure life. I knew a man by the name
Alphonsus who lived in a forest not far from the city of Salamin
[Salamis, capital of Cyprus], who could neither read nor write, yet
served God by night and day, and led a blessed life. At night, when
he was asleep, an angel came to him and spoke to him: ‘Alphonsus,
why are you grieving?’ The hermit answered, ‘Because I cannot
understand the holy scriptures, and also cannot read them.’ The
angel said ‘Through my service, the Lord will teach you all arts and
18
pelagius eremita

grant you the understanding of all writing, so that the whole country
will marvel at you.’ When the hermit asked the angel who he was, ¦
the angel answered, ‘I am

[11r]

your good angel who awaits and guards you, and helps you, and am
called Philaxiel, if you would like to follow me you shall learn
wondrous things.’ But the hermit replied, ‘Watch out that you are not
a liar and a deceitful spirit, for I am a servant of God, and have
nothing to do with lies.’ The angel spoke, ‘I am an angel of God and
will teach you everything good,’ and he opened a golden book and
taught him how to read and understand all languages; from this
moment on he [the hermit]

became more learned than all the doctors in the country and when
he awakened he knew all languages. Another night the angel
returned and asked him if he still doubted his benevolence,
whereupon he [the hermit] said he acknowledged the truth [of what
the angel had said about his own nature]; then the angel spoke,

‘Keep to your Christian way of life and I will reveal and announce to
you whatever you desire.’ And so the hermit became highly skilled in
the arts and was he able to prophesy wonderful ¦ things, of present,
future and past, so that he came to be

[11v]

perceived as a great prophet.

CHAPTER VIII

That some people have many good angels and not only one, also
that dukedom is governed by many angels.
Just as every man has a good angel, so is it believed that a man
such as a duke or the king of France, according to their duty and
dignity, has many angels. Firstly, he has a good angel who guards
him personally. [Secondly, he has] a good angel who defends the
whole realm and country, as it is attested in Daniel [10:13] where his
good angel Seraphiel speaks to him: ‘But the prince of the kingdom
of Persia with-stood me one and twenty days: but, lo, ¦ Michael, one
of the chief princes, came to

[12r]

help me.’ [From this] everyone has to acknowledge that these were
good angels.

For God has assigned to each realm, each city, each vil age, each
house its particular angel, and by the order of the highest angelic
intel igences the whole world is ruled. Even mightier than the angel
Michael is the third who defends the royal office: and so it is in the
entire world with all realms and countries and the same amongst
humans: the mightier the man, the more glorious his angel, the lower
the man, the lower is his angel. For God created everything in order
and separated the firmament into seven circles, the first he assigned
to Saturn, whose angel is called two books

19

[12v]

Cassiel and who is a great duke who makes the world ¦ turn. The
next [angel] is called Sacquiel and is [of] Jupiter, and is a duke over
all kingdoms and countries of the kings. The third is Mars and his
angel is called Samael, [who] is a duke of war, the fourth is Sol and
his angel is called Michael, the fifth is Venus and [his angel]

is called Anael and is a president. The sixth is Mercurius and [his

angel] is called Raphael who is a duke of the legates; the seventh is
Luna and [his angel] is called Gabriel and is an ambassador and a
duke of the angels. These seven are the most noble archangels and
these seven angels rule over the world, one following the other, each
one of them governs for 354 years and four months. Following on
from these seven good angels are myriad spirits, each of which
holds a particular office and knows how to protect people. However,
not every man receives the benefit of his spirit; not having
knowledge of future things is through no fault of the angel, but is
because he [the man] is not living is not living in accordance with it
and knows not how to deal with it.

[13r]

CHAPTER IX

How the first seven angels rule the world.

There are seven good angels who are called mighty dukes amongst
the angels: the first, Saturnus’ Cassiel, has governed the world from
its beginning for 354 years and four months; Venus’ Anael ruled the
following 354 years and four months; the third, Jupiter’s Sacquiel,
ruled the following 354 years and four months; the fourth, Mercurius’
Raphael, ruled the following 354 years and four months; the fifth,
Mars’

Samael, equally governed 354 years and four months; the sixth,
Luna’s Gabriel, ruled likewise 354 years and four months; the
seventh, Sol’s Michael, also ruled 354 years and four months. After
this the first takes rulership again and lasts for the same time, all 354
years and four months, and every year of the Moon has 354 days

[13v]

and 1/32 according to ¦ this ancient calculation, according to this the

great flood during the time of Noah falls under the time of Samael or
Mars and was caused by the great conjunction in the sign of the
fishes. And during the time of Gabriel or Luna the 72 languages in
Babylon emerged. But as these things do not belong here, it is not
necessary to tell more of them.
20

pelagius eremita

CHAPTER X

Of the angels who govern the twelve celestial signs.

As there are twelve celestial signs so each is assigned a particular

angel which is called a good angel; therefore (1) Aries has the angel
Rechiel, (2) Taurus has the angel Zohiel; (3) Gemini has the angel
Heliel; (4) Cancer has the angel Barochiel; (5 )Leo has the angel
Ischiriel: (6) Virgo has the angel Hamiel; ¦ (7) Libra has the

[14r]

angel Bemiel; (8) Scorpio has the angel Uriel; (9) Sagittarius has the
angel Barchi-el; (10) Capricornus has the angel Adoniel; (11)
Aquarius has the angel Berolkiel; (12) Pisces has the angel Abdiel,
these good angels govern over the movement of the heavens,
similarly they govern the 12 houses of every man’s nativity, and
whoever carries the respective angel’s name and character with
them will experience particularly good fortune and good deeds, as
Cornelius Agrippa writes in his Philosophia about these things, and
according to the sign of the first house each man derives his angel.

CHAPTER XI

That it is very useful and necessary to know the name of one’s good
angel.

A number of books have dealt with this, and according to them one
takes the name

[14v]

of a man and his date of birth and from these calculates the name of
the angel; but that is not true and not accurate, one has to calculate
them from a man’s nativity, the respective ruler within it is the name
of your angel, from the ruler of the first house and sign.

CHAPTER XII

Once one knows the name of their good angel, its seal and sign,
they can do great and excellent things.

The philosopher Carolus Hispanus accomplished it and within just a

few months became such a scholar that he exceeded all the doctors
in the University of Paris, and Parisians deemed him a magician,
until he declared that this was the way in which he had achieved it.
On the island of Crete there once was a ¦ monk who, af-

[15r]

two books

21

ter learning about his king’s nativity, drew the sigil and character of
the king’s good angel on a sheet of gold, tied it with a silk ribbon in
the color of the planet and handed it over to the king to be worn
around his neck, from this time onwards the king conquered all his
enemies and performed great and excellent things, so that one didn’t
dare seek solace from him, and in trade he always encountered
success, and in all arts he received the most accurate responses to
his questions.

CHAPTER XIII

That one should keep the good angel in honour.

[15v]

In particular we should honour our angel, in order not to harm it with

our impure life. Above all we shall call on God and walk according to
his commandments, because the more one separates from the
world, the more one unites with the angel.
Man’s mind can be brought to spirituality: prayer is spiritual and you
should fast and give alms that the good angel may dwell with you: he
delights more in your good life than do your brothers or parents. For
the dear angels who await us stand before the face of God, like to
hear us pray and are with us in their presence, and if we desire to
know something they give us intuitions in our sleep so that we can
discern the truth.

[16r]

CHAPTER XIV

How humans who want to partake in the intuitions of angels should

behave.

It is rare to encounter such a man. He has to be pious by nature, and

in addition well and virtuously brought up, have a pure conscience,
keep company with holy and pious people, be upright, steadfast in
faith and prayer, of decent habits, and not frivolous [but] quiet,
gentle, and not stained by evil urges or carnal desires, and must also
live in chastity and sobriety. But a man who is by nature fierce,
troublesome, cruel and merciless cannot attain this knowledge, and
not draw near to it.

[16v]

An adulterer or whorer or an unchaste man cannot ¦ partake in this

art. A proud, arrogant, pompous man, a disdainer or mocker, a lazy,
sullen man, a niggard, an unsteady man, a grudger, slanderer,
quarreller, glutton, guzzler, tippler, boozer, an angry man, a peace
breaker, a despairer, a melancholiac, a scrubber, an obsti-nate man,
an infidel, a blasphemer, uncouth, imprudent, power-hungry, a glory
22

pelagius eremita

seeker, a fickle man, an infidel heretic, a sacramentist [German:

Sacramentierer, a 16th century term for people who spread heretical
beliefs about the ritual of holy communion], an erratic man and one
who does not like to pray, of these none can partake in this art.
Similarly, a magician or a cantankerous man: the good angel does
not like to dwell with such people, which is why this art is known to
very few and agreeable to even fewer and practiced or tried by the
very fewest.

CHAPTER XV

[17r]

How through long practice one achieves

the art of divination and knowledge of truth.

No one can master an art in a speedy manner, even less so the art
of coming into communion with the good angel and attaining the art
of divination and knowing of him, yet it has to be accomplished over
a long time and divine service and can only be done in three ways.
The first is to lead a God-fearing, pure life; once one has lost God
one cannot have communion with the good and devoted angel. The
other way is that one has a temper that [by nature] is always and in
all ways burning for God in ardent love, and burning [in such a
manner] that one thinks daily of the suffering and dying of Christ.
The third way is that we always keep to good and Christian
principles and ¦ practice according to the Christian rule and order.

[17v]

The first way to establish friendship with the good angel is to direct
our thoughts towards doing so for the sake of God’s glory and that
we will use it [contact with our angel] for just, honest things and will
only use it for good purposes. The next way is [to have a clear intent]
that we won’t use it for sinful and evil desire, neither for thirst for
revenge nor vain things. The third way is to bring pleasure and love
even to all the troublesome things [in life], and and pray for others to
know the same, and to also pray that the secret knowledge might be
granted to us.
CHAPTER XVI

Which dreams stem from good angels and which from evil ones.

As inspirations are given partly by the good angels and partly by ¦

the evil angels,

[18r]

one has to learn to recognise which one happens through good or

evil, and this can be understood from the following rules. If someone
has had unhappy thoughts two books

23

and has slept with a lazy, peevish temper and has not prayed
diligently, the dreams do not stem from a good angel. If someone
receives dreams that are against God, or that hinder one from the
service to God, or that prevent a good deed, the dream does not
stem from the good angel. If one is sad in the evening, the dream is
not deemed to be beneficial either. If one dreams about hate and
harm befalling their neighbour, the dream does not stem from a good
angel, if one initially has good thoughts [in their dream] but
subsequently receives bewildered thoughts, the dream is equally
deceitful. If something amorphous, ghoulish or abominable ap-

[18v]

pears in one’s dream, it is a ¦ deceitful dream, if one dreams of

paying honour to an idol, the dream stems from an evil angel. If,
however, one has had good thoughts from a pure, unhindered,
worthy soul and devotedly prayed to God the almighty, and put their
question forward from the bottom of their heart, and a good dream or
warning follows or is announced, the dream stems from good angels,
yet if the dream is evil and ghoulish and its warning or direction is
dangerous, so the dream stems from an evil angel and is a false
dream.
CHAPTER XVII

In which things one should desire insight to questions

from the good angel, and in which it is not to be known.

[19r]

One should not desire insight and instruction of the good angels if a
thing is against God and his commandments, such as thievery or evil
deeds or murder, or if one desires to harm [another] or place [them]
in physical danger, similarly

[one should not ask] about minor, childish and vain things or about
things one can know in other ways, because what man already
knows and understands does not need to be asked of an angel,
equally for anything dull or unnecessary or futile, neither of evil, false
opinion, nor to learn about other people’s secrets, nor about the
bawdy, unchaste things of adulterers or whorers, because the good
angel has no dealings with evil things, which is why he cannot speak
of them. Also based upon such insights and received revelations
nobody should be convicted or

[19v]

sentenced ¦ to death, also one should not aim to do others a favour

and seek for hidden treasures, or say in which country they can be
found, except if they are in one’s own house. One should also not
inquire about superstitious things, but only honest, befitting things
such as about your health, food, wealth, about your good fortune and
reputation, knowledge of things present or past, absent messengers,
24

pelagius eremita

the outcome of war or peace, faithful servants, matters of the law,

pregnant women, prisoners, navigation, peregrination and other
honest questions.
CHAPTER XVIII

During which time it is best to have communion with one’s good

angel & to ask for the truth, also according to which celestial motions
such should be done.

One becomes gay and eager to ask for the angel’s insight and
science if one goes to

[20r]

bed happily and in good spirits, and prays intently; such a time it
should be, and not if one is sad or inept or lazy or has lived
godlessly. Therefore pay attention to these three things: a pure,
devout temper, a healthy body and a fair, clear sky.

CHAPTER XIX

Of the key or main part of this art.

If one wishes to practice and to know something in regard to a

question, one can only gain knowledge when the celestial sign that is
assigned to your angel is rising

[on the horizon]. One can learn to identify this as follows: if one
ascends to a high place on a clear night or in the morning, and
learns to recognise a star or four within it when it rises, ¦ by that one
can at all times discover the same sign; or it is much

[20v]

easier to search this out by one’s astrolabe, when the sign of one’s
angel is rising; for this above everything else one has to know which
planet is associated with one’s angel, so that he may know to call his
angel and sign after his planet, which is the foundation of this art. If
one would have true knowledge and disclosure of his angel, he has
to look up during the hour and day of his planet, when the celestial
sign of his angel is rising and when it holds a good aspect with his
angel, so he shall kneel and pray to God, the holy Lord, and prepare
himself and call his angel by name afterwards, and to speak or read
out the question briefly, and petition God earnestly that he may grant
you to know what you desire in your sleep through the

[21r]

help of your angel, and you should be alone in your place, and walk
alone, so as not to be hindered by others. If one does not account for
such specific times when performing the operation, it won’t be
fortunate for communion with the angel, and inappropriate thoughts
or false or doubtful or indecent dreams will crowd in from which one
cannot judge correctly, and one will be easily deceived.

two books

25

BOOK II

Of the Consecration.

CHAPTER I

[21v]

In the name of God we want to ¦ begin the next book and especially
remark that it is no light [thing] to have communion with the holy
angel, and that the planetary hour and time deserves particular
attention as we explained in the previous chapter. When you go to
bed, your chamber should be clean and pure and quiet, so that one
shall not be interrupted by other people, and it should have an altar
with a crucifix and you shall light three wax candles in front of the
crucifix which have been consecrated on [feast] days of our Dear
Lady and you shall write on one of them ‘In the Name of the father π.
In the name of the Son π. In the name of the Holy Ghost π.’ and on
the other write, ‘In the name of my angel π, and in the name of the
seven planets in the celestial firmament π.’ And on the third write: ‘In
[22r]

the name of our Lord ¦ Jesu Christi Nazareni π: In the name of the
holy mother of God Mary π and in the name of dear Joseph and all
saints of God π.’ In case you are travel ing and you cannot have the
candles with you, this will cause no harm, yet at home in your house
you should have an altar as described, upon which a crucifix needs
to stand as well as the three wax candles, also a prayer slip shall lie
on it, which contains your plea, for example for a messenger that you
have sent and what he shall convey. So write ‘π In the name of the
Father of the Son and the Holy Ghost. I beg you my dear angel, who
was assigned to me by God, that you may wish to reveal to me this
night, where my messenger may be and what he

[wil ] convey when he shall return.’ However, if it is another thing [you

desire to know] you should write on the other side [of the paper note]
the following three

[22v]

lines and 15 words: ‘π. O Jesus, you Son ¦ of God π reveal to me

these matters’

secrecy π. π. O Jesus knower of all secrets π grant me to know the

truth in this matter π. π. O Jesus, blessed maker, enlighten me, π. In
the name of God Most High, during my sleep π.’ When this takes
place in front of your altar, you should sprinkle holy water in your
chamber and burn consecrated myrrh and fall to your knees and
speak this little prayer: Come Holy Spirit, Lord God, and further you
shall pray: To the Lord God who enlightens the hearts of your
believers through [ the force of ] the Holy Spirit, grant me the true,
fair wisdom through your Holy Spirit, that I may receive the truth to
my questions through the intuition of my holy angel, through Jesus
26

pelagius eremita
Christ our Lord, amen. After this one shall confess: O almighty God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, ¦ I confess to you and my dear angel,
that I have sinned hard against you

[23r]

and acted against the commandments, and have sinned in evil,

impure thoughts, words and deeds, have been arrogant and lazy,
and did not do good and did not guard against evil, but have lived
godlessly until this hour. That is my suffering, and that is why I am
unworthy of God’s benevolence, and that my holy angel may reveal
the secrets to me. O

Mary, mother of God, pray for me. O my holy angel pray for me, O
saints of God pray for me. Almighty Lord God, God the Son, God the
Holy Spirit, O Holy Trinity have pity on me and answer my prayers
through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, and of dear Joseph and
for the sake of all the saints. O Lord answer my prayer for the sake
of my dear angel, and for the sake of all the saints who honour and
call for you.

Have mercy Lord God, Jesus Christ for the sake of the suffering of
your birth and

[23v]

death, for the sake of your ineffable love, as you have redeemed us
through your holiness, hear my prayer, and reveal to me [ the answer
to] my question which I desire to know.

O great God, Lord of heaven and earth, have mercy on me, yours is
the kingdom, yours is everything, and nothing is without you, you
have created all things, you govern over and you maintain everything
that holds life. O wisdom beyond comprehension, for you are without
a beginning and an end, you I pray, have mercy upon me and send
your holy angel to me, so he may truthfully give me the revelation
and answers to my questions, so I may be able to derive the truth
through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. Amen.
Now you shall step in front of the holy cross, and standing you shall
make this

[24r]

prayer for the revelation to your question: O almighty God, for you
know all things, for you understand all things, and [ you] know the
hearts and the thoughts of men, you are within us, and we are within
you, for you have explored our hearts, and you alone know all of
man’s thoughts and none are hidden from you. O Holy Trinity, you
know what I am going to ask of you, you know I am not doing this
because of temptation or curiosity but because of pressing need, as
is known to you. O Lord, you know my devoted heart, you know my
cordial trust. O Lord I beg you, remember how you revealed
knowledge of secrets to the holy ancient Fathers through your holy
angels while they were in their sleep, and to know everything ¦ that
was fitting for them and you showed them all

[24v]

holiness. O Lord, do not refuse me, such a poor sinner, but have pity
on me in your great mercy, and if it is not against your will send your
holy angel N.N., who you have been assigned to me, who is around
me and present at all times, and with the help of my angel and
through clear, truthful understanding and bright, pure similitudes
show me the truth of my plea and question, which I desire to know.
At this moment one has to say the question and explain what it is.
For, my Lord, may this not happen in accordance two books

27

with my will but with your divine will, which alone is just, holy, certain
and truthful. I

[25r]

beg you, you may do as you have ruled and if ¦ it may come forth,
and if it may be good and fair, and if it may please your
unfathomable Divine Majesty, so take mercy on me and answer me,
let these pleas and demands be answered through our Lord Jesus
Christ, your only begotten Son, who lives and rules with you in the
Holy Spirit, from now on and in eternity, amen.

CHAPTER II

After this one shall kneel down, raise their hands and pray to God
the Father: O

almighty Lord God, eternal Father, creator of Heaven and Earth, for I
am a poor, miserable, unworthy creature who begs you with its entire
devout heart, because I am guilty, and I call you through your holy,
nameless name Jevoha, that no one can recog-

[25v]

nise, no one can understand, no- ¦ one can utter, and through all
your other holy names, that you may have mercy on me, you may
hear me, and accede to my plea, fulfil my desire, and show me
through your holy angel N.N. whom you have assigned to me, the
fair and proper knowledge and the true foundation of my question
N.N. I ask you Lord God, through your divine power and might, that
you pity me and hear me, and reveal to me tonight, through your
holy angel N.N., that in my sleep he may manifest and make known
the truth of my question and request to me. Lord God the Father, I
ask you for the sake of your infinite mercy, and through the holy
name of your only begotten Son, our Lord, and Saviour Jesus Christ,
in whose name you have promised to give us all that

[26r]

we may ask for. I ¦ ask and call upon you eternal, almighty God the
Father, have mercy on me and hear me and reveal to me through
your holy angel N.N. this night during my sleep the truth to my
question, that it may be given to me and revealed in clarity. O
merciful almighty Father eternal God, I believe firmly and do not
doubt that Jesus Christ is your only begotten Son and God and a
man and the truth and saviour, and that everything he says and
declares may be the clear truth, just as the Lord Jesus Christ can
never be deceived again so he does not deceive, he keeps every
promise, and for his sake I ask you, glorious Majesty. O Father,
creator of all things, [ I ask you] with all my

[26v]

desire, from the bottom of my heart, so far as the promise of your

only begotten Son ¦ is truthful, which I do not doubt, that in the name
of Jesus Christ your only begotten son, my lord and saviour, you will
reveal the truth [in response] to my question in my sleep this night
through your holy angel N.N., the truth to my question and allow me
to see the clear truth in the honour and praise of your holy name. O
Lord God, our Father, I ask you, through the incarnation, and through
the birth of your only begotten Son, our Lord 28

pelagius eremita

and Saviour Jesus Christ, through his circumcision and his flight and
return from Egypt, for the sake of his fasting and watching, for the
sake of his prayers, for the sake of his travels, for the sake of his
great work, for the sake of his teachings and preachings, for the
sake of all of his ¦ works, suffering, labours and for the sake of his
bitter sweat, for the

[27r]

sake of his great miracles and good deeds, that he has performed
for the sake of all of mankind. I ask you for the sake of his life, for the
sake of his devotion, mercy, obedience, patience, chastity,
innocence, and for the sake of all of his virtues, may you have mercy
upon me and hear me, and may you send your holy angel N.N. to
reveal to me the truth to my question and make it manifest, so I may
experience the truth. O highest God, almighty creator, for you are
beyond comprehension and ineffable, all things are within you and
through you, for you know and can do everything, for you are
omnipotent and omnipresent, for you are benign and merciful in your
Holy Spirit, for you are just, in your ¦ judgement and justice. O
humility beyond all humility, O reason beyond all

[27v]

reason, O being beyond all being, you surpass all human reason in
unmeasurable dimension, have mercy on me and hear me and
reveal to me tonight in my sleep through your holy angel N.N which
you have assigned to me, that he may reveal to me the pure,
unclouded and clear truth to my question: O highest, eternal divine
reason beyond all human reason, I am a poor, sinful creature calling
on the eternal reason of my Lord and creator, my only true God, I
laud, honour and praise you and ask you most humbly that you allow
me to see and reveal tonight in my sleep through the help of your
holy angel N.N. the truth to my question, and ¦ [ may you do this] for
the sake of the unbearable

[28r]

sadness of your only begotten Son Jesus Christ which he

experienced due to his incarnation and carried and felt in his
innocent heart and spoke weeping, ‘ O my soul is sad unto death. ’ O
holy almighty God eternal, for the sake of the power of your only
begotten Son, for the sake of his birth and for his ineffable love, have
mercy on this poor sinner and hear me and answer my request and
show me through your holy angel N.N. the knowledge of the truth to
my question, for may it be revealed to me in my sleep through this
angel. O you divine majesty beyond all majesty and
incomprehensible glory, I ask you for the sake of Jesus Christ our ¦
Lord, your only begotten Son, born as a human by

[28v]

the Virgin Mary, who became our mediator, may you have mercy on
me and hear me and answer my request and reveal to me in my
sleep the truth to my question through your holy angel N.N. I beg you
Father for the sake of the prayer of Christ, as it happened at the
mount of olives, and for the sake of his bloody sweat, and for the
sake of his obedient will, through which he willingly entered into
death, have mercy on me, hear me and reveal to me in my sleep
through your angel N.N. the answer to my question so that it may
come to me and manifest to me. O God almighty Father from whom
stems all two books

29

[29r]

fatherly love in heaven and earth, I ask you through your Son Jesus
Christ ¦ our Lord, for the sake of his opprobrium suffered in prison, [
during the] castigation, coronation, mockery and slaps to his face,
which happened to him in his bitter agony, and that he suffered
patiently for our sake, have mercy on me and allow me to see in my
sleep through your angel N.N. [ the answer to] my question. O Lord
Father merciful, I ask you in the love of Jesus Christ, and in the
bearing of the cross by Christ, which he carried on his holy back to [
become] a banner of our salvation and beatitude, may you hear me
and answer my demand, I beg you for the sake of the shame of
Christ as he stood naked

[29v]

in front of the cross and had been reviled, for the sake of his bitter
martyrdom, ¦ scorn and mockery, may you have mercy upon me and
reveal to me in my sleep through your holy angel N.N. the answer to
my question. I beg you, God most holy, for the sake of the bitter and
painful crucifixion of your dear son Jesus Christ, as he was nailed
through hands and feet to the wood of the cross, have mercy on me
and hear me and reveal to me in my sleep through your holy angel
N.N. that he may answer my question and relay the truth: O God the
Father, thing beyond all things, incomprehensible, eternal, for you
alone together with your Son and the Holy Spirit are the highest and
entirely intangible good, without beginning or end, and at all times
have mercy upon me and hear me and
[30r]

reveal to me in my sleep through ¦ your holy angel N.N. that he may

answer my question and relay the truth. O God the Father, thing
beyond all things, incomprehensible, eternal, for you alone together
with your Son and the Holy Spirit are the highest and entirely
intangible good, without beginning and end, and at all times have
mercy upon me and hear me and reveal to me in my sleep through
your holy angel N.N. that I may see and understand the answer to
my question. O God the Father, eternal light and reason, for you
alone are good, alone are holy, alone are the Lord, King, creator and
sustainer of all things, and an enlightener of all human reason, have
mercy on me and hear me for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ’s
pain, his five wounds, and for the

[30v]

shedding of ¦ his holy blood and for his innocent death, show to me
tonight in my sleep through your holy angel N.N. that he may reveal
to me the pure, clear truth to my question and may make it manifest.
O God the Father, creator and sustainer of all things, I beg you for
the sake of Jesus Christ your dear son, [ that] you may send to me
your holy angel N.N. whom you ordered to wait for me, may he make
me learn in my sleep just like the ancient Fathers, your dear
servants, and may he reveal to me the answer to my question
through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

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CHAPTER III

A prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ,

[31r]

to be performed kneeling with raised hands.

O Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, the Ἀ [alpha] and the Ω
[omega], saviour and redeemer of the human race, our mediator and
advocate with God, I call on you and look to you, the true, holy,
united God together with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, for you
live and rule in eternity and uphold justice, I am a poor, unrighteous
sinner who has been unworthy and ungrateful from the days of my
youth, I beg you to have mercy upon me and graciously pardon my
sins and iniquity. O merciful and benign Lord and Saviour, you know
that I do not call to you out of pride or levity, but because of my
present hardship, from the bottom of my heart I beg you and for the
sake of your

[31v]

boundless ¦ majesty and power, that you may wish to send to me this
holy angel N.N., for may he reveal to me and make me understand
in my sleep the answer to my question.

O Lord Jesus Christ, for you are the truth and the life, my hope and
consolation, my salvation, my redeemer and saviour. O Jesus Christ,
you alone hold the power to bless and to pardon sins, O Jesus
Christ, crucified God, I ask you for the sake of your mercy beyond
comprehension, for the sake of the power of your love, which you
have brought to the human race, to suffer and die for them, have
mercy on me and hear my request, and reveal to me through your
holy angel N.N. who may make me understand in my sleep the
simple, pure truth to my question, so that I truthfully may know about
what I inquired. O sweet Lord Jesus, who ¦ promised and said
yourself: ‘ Ask and you shall receive’

[32r]

[Matthew 7:7], and your happiness shall be perfect, therefore I ask

you for the sake of your name JESUS, in front of whom all angels
bend their knees, and all devils withdraw to hell, and all creatures on
earth are afraid, and all that is in heaven and hell trembles, in whose
name is our salvation, life and resurrection, during this very night in
my sleep through your holy angel N.N. may you reveal to me the
answer to my question. So help me Jesus with God the Father and
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit from now until eternity. Amen.

two books

31

CHAPTER IV

[32v]

A prayer to God the Holy Spirit.

O God the Holy Spirit, together with God the Father and God the
Son you are the united God, an indivisible lord, creator, life-giver and
sustainer of all things of the entire world, an eternal, indelible light
without beginning and end in eternity, an enlightener of the human
heart, a light of eternal beatitude and the third person of the
Godhead without beginning or end; O intangible majesty, ineffable
godhead, O highest power above all force, for you are present and
beyond comprehension everywhere, I call to you, I praise and
venerate you, I beg you through your divine power and might. For
you are God omnipresent, may you send me your holy angel who
you appointed over me as

[33r]

guardian and protector, to me ¦ and [ may you] command that he

address my question in my sleep and grant understanding of what I
have asked and report to me the truth. O

Holy Spirit, enlightener of all human hearts, for you grant all wisdom,
for you pour all prophecies into the hearts of man and grant
understanding, highest majesty on heaven and earth, a lord beyond
all lords, a wisdom beyond all wisdom, O being beyond
comprehension, O great mercy, I ask and call upon you, eternal God,
[ that] you may grant me my request and through your holy angel
N.N., relay to me in my sleep the real truth, and let him be sent to me
that he may teach me and reveal to me the foundation of truth

[33v]

and may communicate [ to me] all knowledge ¦ on doubtful matters.

O God the Holy Spirit come into my heart and fill me with your grace.
O Holy Spirit may your holy light consecrate and enlighten me, and
show me through your holy angel N.N. that he may reveal to me in
my sleep tonight the truth to my questions and demands or that he
may make it appear to me through visions. O divine Unity and Holy
Trinity, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have mercy on me; O
God the Father, creator, hear me and fulfill my request. O saviour
Jesus Christ fulfill my request. O enlightened and Holy Spirit fulfill my
request, for you live and rule in constant power from now until
eternity. Amen.

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pelagius eremita

CHAPTER V

[34r]

A prayer to the angel assigned to serve and watch

over us in our great and present needs.

Holy beloved angel of God, appointed over me to help and protect

me and to shelter me, I laud, praise and honour you, I witness that
God granted you to me as a companion and I delight in your
friendship and your service, for throughout my life you have
protected me from much misfortune until this present day and hour.
Dear, holy angel, I cannot repay you with any goods or deeds. O
holy angel N.N., blessed servant of God, you behold God’s ¦ face
and take delight in standing before the face of God; I commend
[34v]

myself to you dear angel, that you may dwell with me for the duration
of my life, and answer with truth the petition that I have for you. Holy
angel N.N., pious servant of God, I ask you for the sake of our dear
Father that in this very night during my sleep you relay to me your
knowledge on this question that I have for you, which is whether
such a thing will happen to me. I ask you dear angel N.N. in the
name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and for the sake of the
Trinity, may you willingly grant to me your insights on this question
and [ may you] not conceal the clear truth.

Another prayer to your angel

[35r]

for the attainment of knowledge in all questions.

In the name of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. O
holy angel watching over and helping me, I ask you and call on you,
may you reveal yourself to me in my sleep for the sake of the true
God, and [ may you] be with me and in this very night, without
obstruction or fright, reveal to me the answer to my question. And
this is my question, for I desire to know the person who did such a
thing to me. I ask you, call to you, witness and conjure you, holy
angel N.N., through the omnipotence of God, may you wish to come
to me as I called ¦ upon you and reply with truth to my question and
may [ you]

[35v]

not allow the evil angel to betray me. I ask you, call to you and
conjure you, good angel N.N., for the sake of the eternal prophecy of
God, come to me as I have called you, and show me the truth and
the clear knowledge of my question. I beg you in the most diligent
way, you holy angel, who helps to shelter me on this earth, for the
sake of the creation of the world, may you wish to be with me and
reveal to me the answer to my question.
I ask you, I beg you, I conjure you for the sake of the purity of all
angels which were created by God, may you reveal to me ¦ the
answer to my question. I ask you, I beg you, I

[36r]

two books

33

conjure you good angel N.N. for the sake of the entire heavenly army
and for the sake of the angels of the nine choirs, may you wish to
reveal to me the truth. I ask you, I beg you, I conjure you, good angel
N.N. for the sake of your perfected understanding, may you wish to
teach and instruct me in the proper and fair answer to my questions.
I ask you, I beg you, I conjure you, through the reason of the
Almighty who knows and understands all things, from whom you
received all knowledge, show me the answer to this question.

I ask you, I beg you, I conjure you, for the sake of the eternal joy, in
which all angels

[36v]

delight, for ¦ tonight in my sleep you will present and reveal to me the
answer to my question, and give to me the clear meaning in my
sleep. I ask you, I beg you, I conjure you, O

holy pure angel, for the sake of the heavenly secrets and for the
reward of the elect, may you grant me my demand and reveal to me
the truth of my question; I ask you for the sake of your holy service,
for you stand and dwell before God, may you disclose to me the truth
and make it appear to me. I ask you holy angel for the love of God,
through which

[37r]
He has redeemed the human race, ¦ may you reveal to me the
answer to my question.

I ask you, I beg you, I conjure you, for the sake of all patriarchs, of all
prophets, of all lights of God, and for the sake of the Law and the
Gospel, may you show me and direct me towards the proper answer
to my question. I ask you, I beg you, I conjure you, by the birth and
incarnation of Christ, that tonight in my sleep you may come forward
with the answer to my question. I ask you, I beg you, I conjure you,
for the innocent suffering and dying of our Lord Christ, may you
reveal to me my answer, that I may see the truth.

[37v]

I ask you for the ¦ sake of the five wounds and the shedding of the
rose-coloured blood of Christ, may you truthfully answer my
question. I ask you for the sake of the resurrection of Christ, may you
tell me the answer to my question and not allow the ploys of the evil
angel to deceive or seduce me. I ask you for the sake of the
worthiness of the human race who are ordered to the right hand of
God, may you show me the answer to my question.

I ask you, I beg you, I conjure you for the sake of the honour of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who will come forward to judge the living and the
dead, I ask you for the sake of the Last

[38r]

Judgement, when we will be judged according to our works, may you

reveal to me ¦ the answer to my question. I ask you for the sake of
the eternal salvation which all justified ones together with the angels
will experience due to their service and suffering. I beg, ask and
conjure you, pious good angel N.N. for the sake of the truth of the
Christian faith, may you open and announce to me the pure, clear
answer to my question. I beg, ask and conjure you for the sake of
the Holy Trinity and the omnipotence of God, may you dwell with me,
a poor, unworthy, sinner, and through your inspiration and apparition
in my sleep, make certain and signify, that I may ascertain the true
answer to my question.

34

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Chapter VI

[38v]

A prayer to the Virgin Mary for intercession

O Mary, Mother of God, pure, chaste virgin, no secret is hidden from

you, Queen of Heaven, ruler of the realm of Earth, renewer of the
world, most holy mother amongst all women, for the sake of the
Lord, who freed you from all sin, I ask you Mary, most chaste virgin
amongst virgins, for the sake of your perfected chastity, have mercy
upon me and hear my prayer, and petition your Son Jesus Christ on
my behalf, that he may illuminate my mind, O pure Virgin Mary, I ask
you for the sake of the holy crucifix ¦

that in my sleep the truth to my question may be revealed to me. I

ask you, have mercy

[39r]

on your unworthy servant, may you personally reveal to me, or

through the agency of my holy angel reveal to me in my sleep the
fair answer to my question. Hail, hail, hail Mary, most holy Virgin
Mary, I am not worthy to ask of your holiness, but most pure and
innocent, most holy Virgin Mary, may you want to ask on my behalf
your Son through whom you experienced grace. O Mary full of
grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you above all humans on
earth, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten son of God, who through your intercession ¦
answers my request in
[39v]

full. I ask you for the sake of the Holy Spirit and for the sake of the
wonderful chant of the Magnificat that you sang in praise of the Lord,
may you have mercy on me and hear my prayer. I ask you, holy
Mother Mary for the sake of your birth, have mercy on me and hear
me and grant my prayer. I ask you for the sake of the birth and
circumcision of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, our redeemer, for
the sake of his holy name; I ask you, intercessor, for the sake of your
flight from Egypt, for the sake of your great sorrow and travail,
answer me.

I call on you for the sake of the great pain and sadness while you
were searching for

[40r]

your Son for three days, help me and answer me, that my plea might
come true. I call on you, holy Virgin Mary, for the sake of the divinity
and humanity of your Son, for the sake of his deeds, of his divine
thoughts, and of his watching, of his praying, of his hunger and thirst,
for the sake of his miracles, answer my prayers. I ask you, heavenly
Queen and comforter, for the sake of the Lord’s supper which he
held with his disciples, and for the appointment of the sacrament and
the washing of the feet of his disciples, have mercy upon me, and
ask on my behalf and answer my prayer which I direct to you.

¦ I ask you, Virgin Mary, most holy mother, for the sake of the bitter
suffering and dying

[40v]

of your dear son Jesus Christ, for the sake of his bitter tears, may
you ask God on my behalf and answer my prayer. I ask you, Mary,
for the diligent prayers of your son, and two books

35
for the great sadness of his departure, and for the painful coronation,
for the painful, painful mockery and disgrace, which he bore in his
suffering, ask on my behalf and heed this, my plea. I ask you, chaste
Virgin Mary, through the bitter innocence and grief which you
received through the great torment and suffering of Christ. I ask you
for the sake of the great grief, which entered your heart, when you
saw Christ, our Lord, carrying his cross, I ask you for the sake of the
stripping of Christ, our Lord, when he stood exposed

[41r]

in front of the crowd of Jews, ¦ I ask you for the sake of the
crucifixion of our Lord Christ, for the sake of the pain of his wounds,
for the sake of the blood he shed, and for the sake of your grief over
the suffering of our Lord Christ, for your bitter lamentation over his
death. I ask you for the sake of the entombment of Christ, for the
suffering which was brought to your heart because of this, for the
sake of the resurrection of our Lord Christ, and for the sake of the joy
you received from this, for the glorious ascent into heaven, and for
the sake of humanity. I ask you, Mother of all Christians, for the sake
of your ascent to heaven, for the honour with which the angels speak
of you in all eternity, have mercy

[41v]

on me, and ask God on my behalf, and answer my prayer. O Mary, ¦

as you are my hope for God, my trust, my solace, my refuge, my joy,
my shield in all times of need, and my salvation from all my wants. I
ask for the sake of your heavenly dignity, have mercy upon me,
teach me, instruct me, illuminate and sustain and help me in my
prayer, that I may know the answer to my question. O most holy
Virgin Mary, remember that all devout Christian hearts honour you
and call you Mother of Grace, and petition you as an intercessor for
your dear Son Jesus Christ; which is why I, such a poor sinner, ask
you to show

[42r]
your mercy to me, even though I am not worthy to ¦ speak your holy
name. O blessed and holy Virgin Mary, ask on my behalf, that my
prayer might be granted, and that the Lord Jesus Christ through his
angel may reveal to me the answer to my questions.

Remember, pure Virgin Mary, you who became a mother for the sake
of human sin, which is why you can ask your dear Son on my behalf,
obtain forgiveness of my sins and make known [ my] heartfelt
repentence and sorrow, and sustain me in my enduring love, so that
I may become proficient and skilful to interpret the truth in [ regard to]
human

[42v]

questions. O Mary, comforter of all grieving and saddened humans, ¦

light of eternal bliss, who fills heaven and earth with your radiance,
have mercy upon me and do not depart from me. O Mary, most holy
amongst the holy, queen of mercy, ruler of the entire world, you who
take care of all pious Christians, listen to me and grant me my plea
for the sake of the love of your son Jesus Christ, for the sake of his
suffering and pain, which he bore and suffered on our behalf, hear
me and grant me this my prayer, for you are mighty and merciful and
can do this for the sake of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom
you conceived and gave birth to as a pure virgin, and as a pure
virgin you suckled 36

pelagius eremita

and fed him and still you remain ¦ a pure virgin in all eternity through
Jesus Christ,

[43r]

who rules together with the Father and the Holy Spirit and who lives
from eternity to eternity. Amen.

Chapter VII
A prayer to speak when one needs to know something on a
significant matter, so it may be revealed and made understood in
one’s sleep by one’s good angel who was assigned by the almighty
Lord.

Almighty God, creator, the beginning and the end, you alone are the
eternally blessed God, God and ruler of all things, ¦ unified, living,
truthful, ineffable creator, ruler and

[43v]

sovereign of heaven and earth and all that is contained within. I

strongly believe in you, I honour you, I call to you from the bottom of
my heart, I confess to you, Lord God, that I am not worthy of your
mercy and because of the extent of my wrongdoing [ I am] not
worthy to address you and [ I] am afraid to place such a great
petition in front of you, because I am an impure, evil man [ who]
deserves nothing but eternal agony due to my sinful life, I am
unworthy to call your name and to make my plea. But for the sake of
your great love and mercy, which from the beginning of the world you
showed to our ancestors, in revealing yourself through visions, and
in other ways ¦ allowing them to know

[44r]

all sorts of things, that is why I am confident to ask such a thing of

your divine majesty.

O Lord almighty and beautiful, as you spoke to our first parents in

paradise and as you revealed your divine will to our father
�
A raham, and as even after that you appeared visibly and revealed
yourself to other servants in their sleep, when they asked something
from you, as you spoke to your servants Noah and Abraham in their
sleep, just as a friend will speak to another, after that you also spoke
with the patriarchs and the prophets and revealed your will to them,
to King David, your servant, you have shown and revealed the truth,
not only in his sleep, but also in his adversity and his works, ¦ to
[44v]

King Solomon, your servant, you have revealed in his sleep the
highest wisdom so [ that]

he became the most wise and wealthy in the world. You have also
revealed to Father Jacob in his sleep that his seed would inherit and
possess the Promised Land. You also spoke to your servant Moses,
like one friend to another, and appeared to many holy fathers in their
sleep, who called upon you in their need, and you revealed to them
the truth [ of ] what they ought to do, and what would come of it, and
sometimes even visibly indicated this or let them know in some other
way, and especially to the dear Joseph you revealed in his sleep the
secret and truth ¦ of the matter. You also revealed to the three

[45r]

two books

37

Magi in their sleep through your holy angel that they should not
return to Herod, while you then, as the Holy Scripture gives witness,
revealed the truth through your holy angel to the Patriarchs in their
sleep on their hard disputes and questions. That is why I do not
doubt, Lord God, that you will hear my prayer and show me love and
mercy and reveal to me in my sleep through my angel N.N., who
awaits me, the answer to my question,

[45v]

so that I might experience the truth, so I ask you, eternal God, in the
true Christian ¦

faith. And may the temptations of the evil spirit be far from me,
because he is a liar and hates the truth: that is why I lift my eyes to
you, [ the] true God, and ask you to enlighten me. May you be the
truth, may you protect and shelter me and grant me to know your
truth, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. To you,
Lord Jesus, I call.

May you respond to my attempts to not go astray, as you are the true
God who grants wisdom to mankind and teaches and reveals the
mysteries, so they not wander from the truth. I ask, O God almighty,
for the sake of Jesus Christ, our redeemer and liberator,

[46r]

that you may hear me and grant my ¦ prayer, so [ that] I may

understand even occult questions and realise the truth thereof and
be able to interpret it. For you alone, God, are our strength, our
counsel, our hope. You alone we shall praise, love and fear, call
upon and have no other gods. For it is your will that we call upon you
alone and ask you alone for help in our concerns and needs. You
alone can counsel us. Your counsel is beyond all astronomic and
geomantic wisdom. And even though I am a poor sinner, may you
have mercy on your poor servant and through your great love and
mercy and for the

[46v]

sake of Jesus Christ, your dear Son, our Lord ¦ and redeemer, and
for the sake of his holy birth, his bitter suffering and innocent dying,
may you allow your holy angel N.N. in his invisible presence to dwell
with me tonight, so he may guard and protect me from all evil spirits
and ghosts, so they may not cheat nor ensnare my thoughts. May
you reveal to me through your strength and through your holy angel
N.N. the truth, so I may understand correctly the answer to my
question and may not be cheated by the evil spirits. O

almighty, eternal God the Father, for you are merciful and forgive all
sins, for the sake

[47r]
of the five wounds of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the shedding of his ¦
holy blood, may you hear me and reveal to me and suggest to me
according to your divine will and through your holy angel the truth
and the proper answer to my question. O Lord God, I call you, for
you know all things and nothing is hidden from you, and it is not with
levity but in great distress that I call for the truth from you and ask
you for the sake of Jesus Christ.

As you have said, whatever we ask for in his name will come to us;
so may you answer my prayer and for the sake of this veritable
favour, by whom no one is deceived, do not deny this plea but send
to me your holy angel N.N. so he may point out and reveal to me

[47v]

the truth. To you, ¦ Lord, I address my voice, for you are my God, my
hope, my redeemer, 38

pelagius eremita

my consolation, my trust. O Jesus Christ, veritable intercessor and

agent, veritable God and human, for you rule and govern in eternity,
you are the eternal truth, you teach the wisdom, you reveal the
mysteries, you are a master and teacher, from the days of my youth
you have instructed me in the path of truth and you know how to
reveal all things and you enlighten us in truth. I ask you with all my
soul, with all my heart, from my grieving and saddened mind and
with all my strength, may you answer my prayer and grant me my
prayer according to your will and pleasure, and not grant to me that
which displeases you, but may all come to pass ¦ according to your
divine will. O Lord Jesus

[48r]

Christ, I ask you for the sake of the pain of your wounds, for the
shedding of your blood, and for your innocent suffering and dying,
and also for the pain which the Virgin Mary felt over your suffering
and bore in her heart. Answer my prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, for the
sake of the shedding of the blood, the suffering and dying of all
martyrs, hear me Lord for the sake of the hope, love and faith of all
chosen saints, and fulfil my desire: Show me through your holy angel
N.N. the answer to my question so I may understand what I am
meant to do. I ask Jesus Christ for the sake of the majesty ¦ of the
Father and

[48v]

the Holy Spirit, may you fulfil my prayer. O Lord Jesus Christ, I ask
you for the sake of your name, that you will confer understanding
upon your servant this night in his sleep through your holy angel of
what should come to be in regard to my question, and impart to me
the reason and wisdom that I might know what should occur, and
grant me the reason and wisdom to know what shall occur. Answer
my prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, and make my petition be fulfilled and
come into effect for the sake of the great joy which the Virgin Mary
experienced when you were raised from the dead. O Lord Jesus
Christ, you who know all mystery, I ask you through your holy angel
and your glory, may you reveal the answer to my question to me.

It shall be noticed that this orison does not have to be said in full
every time,

[49r]

but only in matters of great importance. In these cases one should

repeat it not once but frequently and thus pray many nights until your
answer is revealed to you. Once the answer is explained to you, you
will know for certain that your prayer has been heard.

Chapter VIII

After you have prayed this orison you shall speak the Lord’s Prayer
and an Ave Maria and then say these words while kneeling: O Jesus
Christ, redeemer, show me the truth, then another Lord’s Prayer and
Ave Maria, then: Jesus ¦ Christ, who sent
[49v]

the Prophets, enlighten me [ also] with the spirit of truth, then

another Lord’s Prayer two books

39

and Ave Maria, then say and further pray: O Jesus Christ, you who
reveal all mystery, grant me the reason to understand the mystery of
my question.

Then recite another Lord’s Prayer and Ave Maria. If the question
relates to a small matter it suffices to speak three Lord’s Prayers and
Ave Marias, and each time say: O Jesus Christ, eternal truth, show
me the truth, and a Lord’s Prayer and Ave Maria, then O Jesus
Christ, redeemer of the world, then another Lord’s Prayer and Ave
Maria . O Jesus Christ, for you know all things, reveal to me the
mystery of my question.

[50r]

But if it is ¦ a great question one shall pray the three Lord’s Prayers
and Ave Marias all over again, and also include these words: O
Jesus Christ, King of all angels, may my wish be accomplished; O
Jesus Christ, ruler, command your angel that my request and
supplication be fulfilled. O Jesus Christ, highest force and power,
have mercy and heed my prayer. In a matter of great importance one
shall repeat for a third time the three Lord’s Prayers and Ave Marias,
after that one shall asperge with holy water and say: In the Name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit this place shall be purified
and hallowed and free and secure from all evil angels. Then one
shall turn

[50v]

towards the morning and the rising sun and with an undivided heart ¦
say: By the might and the power of almighty God the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit, the ruler over Heaven and Earth, I command and
order all of you and every impure spirit, that by virtue of the suffering
and dying of Jesus Christ, our Lord and redeemer, may you all be far
from this place and may you not pollute me tonight with errant and
false images and thoughts. Begone, therefore, far from here, in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Similarly, after this one shall turn towards the evening [West], noon
[South]

and midnight [North] and bid the evil spirits to be gone. Finally, one
shall kneel before the bed and speak the following prayers to your
holy angel: God’s holy angel

[51r]

N.N., appointed over me by almighty ¦ God, the guard and protector

to help, guard and protect me, you shall appear to me this very night
in a sweet vision, to teach and instruct me so I may experience the
clear and veritable truth of this my question. In the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thereafter you shall inscribe your question on a wax tablet, which

you have hallowed and blessed beforehand and which is also made
from consecrated wax, and place it under your head and so go to
sleep in the name of God. And when you lay down you shall make
the sign of the cross on your head, your feet, and to either

[51v]

side of you, and pray once more: ¦ God almighty and eternal, who
you have given inspiration to the three Magi through your holy angel
who appeared to them in dreams so they would not return to Herod,
you shall send me this holy angel N.N. and command 40

pelagius eremita

him to reveal to me the answer to my question and that he may show

to me with clarity the mystery that I desire, by Jesus Christ, our Lord,
amen.

After that you shall bless yourself again with the holy cross and
speak: The blessing of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
descend upon me, enlighten me and dwell within me and protect me
from all evil. Thereafter, fall asleep without having spoken to anyone
and not having taken up any other ¦ matter in your thoughts.

[52r]

And when you wake up, you shall say: O Jesus Christ, may your
holy angel reveal to me the truth.

One should also know that one need not perform the prayers at the
precise length written here, but that one should pray in brief words
and with burning passion in this manner. For those who pray aright,
pray in their spirit, and not by the number of the psalms. But if one is
idle and listless in prayer, one should so dispose one’s heart until it is
inflamed in the fervour of love and Christian devotion; only then the
actual orison follows and then in the proper way of praying. And
these little orisons are written down ¦ for those who are weak in their
prayer and

[52v]

do not know how to go about their prayer. And specifically it shall be

noted that if it will not manifest to one on the first night, one should
not slacken until some day it may be achieved through the practice
of these prayers, and one must not doubt if it does not come to pass
the first time as though it could not work later on, for one should
diligently persist in one’s prayers until they have been heard, and the
acceptation felt. One should adhere to the process if one desires to
know an answer and proceed according to the prayer and structure
as it is given, because in such a way one may finally arrive at ¦ the
truth. And everything rests on the diligent continua-

[53r]
tion of the prayers. On the other hand, if one wants to report to a
friend or a great lord about their question, one should continue the
prayers in the same manner, because by means of prayer one can
achieve anything. Herewith we conclude the book of knowledge and
mystery in the name of God; and one should be careful with this art
and keep it secret and not make it public.

The author of this book is Pelagius Eremita,

who slept in Christ on the 10th day of July in the year 1480.

two books

41

Analysis of the Two Books

Angelic existence cannot be proved by reason: but by experience,

which passes above all reasons, it can be proved. – Juan de
Maldonado, 1570.

his chapter contains an analysis of the complete text of Pelagius’

critical two volume work on achieving knowledge and commun-Tion
with one’s good angel (1480). A side by side comparison of the
original German manuscript stored in the Universitätsbibliothek
Leipzig, giving its German transcript as well as the English
translation, can be accessed online under holydaimon.com, as well
as an abbreviated version which omits several lengthy orisons
which, in Pelagius’ own words, were meant only ‘for those who are
weak in their prayer and do not know how to go about their prayer’
(f.52v). Before we proceed, however, we have to provide the
historical context of both the manuscript and its author, Pelagius
Eremita of Majorca.

Historic Context

The German manuscript, which dates to 1710 or earlier, is an

authentic copy of an Latin original of the late 15th century. The text is
exceptional for two reasons. First, it deals with a highly specialised
form of daimonic theurgy which cannot be traced back directly to
earlier sources. Secondly, the 15th century author was bold enough
to include his own name in the title of this original magical source
text.

Until the late Middle Ages, Western magic as a literary genre had
been domi-nated by what Julien Véronèse calls the ‘inheritance
situation.’ While there is no shortage of textual evidence, especially
from the late 14th century onwards, most of it relates back to ancient
traditions. As such the genre is characterised by compilations of
previously existing texts, and it is very hard to pin down original or
new contributions. Of course, the process of compiling a medieval
manuscript was 42

not a passive one. Scribes acted as critical curators, creative editors

and pseudepigraphic authors. Yet none of these roles would find
expression in their individual signature at the end of the creation
process; instead the work would blend into a continuously evolving
and expanding canon of related literature attributed to a particular
ancient authority.

Such a way of working conferred at least two significant benefits.

Firstly, it ensured the anonymity of all those who had contributed to a
manuscript. This was particularly important for magical literature as a
genre which was heavily sanctioned and persecuted by both the
worldly and spiritual authorities of the time.

Working under ancient patronage rather than one’s own name was
an essential pre-condition for survival. Secondly, omitting one’s
name from a manuscript was an expression of how people thought
about authorship up until the late Middle Ages. Textual traditions
were considered knowledge reservoirs. In fact, the situation was not
too different from our 21st century controversy about copyright in the
digital age. Just like younger generations today, medieval scribes
took networked creativity for granted and were deeply embedded in
a ‘remix-culture’ with Latin as its lingua franca, in which textual
traditions were spaces of shared co-creation beyond the boundaries
of one’s present time or location.

Curation, recompilation and pseudepigraphy were techniques that

provided the basis of an open-access system of knowledge. The
anonymous and highly organic evolution of once classical material
was not a flaw, but the mechanism by which an il icit genre of
literature was able to sustain itself even whilst it was being publicly
persecuted. Today we speak of the Hermetic or Solomonic traditions
of magic, or the Greek Magical Papyri, precisely because none of
the magicians who contributed to shaping and creating these critical
bodies of knowledge shared their actual names in the first place.

Pelagius represents a new breed of magician; one only known from

the late 13th century onwards and still relatively rare in the 15th
century.

(Within the field of ritual magic in the 15th century) new

developments are essentially due to one man, Pelagius of Majorca,
who in the second half of the 15th century does not hesitate to break
the common law of pseudepigraphic attribution (to Solomon,
Hermes, Toz the Greek and other old authorities) to indulge his own
speculations.1

1 Véronèse (2006): 2.

43

Nicolas Weil -Parot coined the term ‘liberation movement’ for the
break in literary tradition that we encounter in the writings of Pelagius
the Hermit. However, this trend of personalising magical practice,
and the records left thereof, was by no means linear or restricted to
our hermit alone; other protagonists would be John de Morigny,
Antonio da Montolmo and Thomas of Toledo.

Yet all of these authors – who we now know by name and who can
be associated with particular contributions to the genre – share
similar traits in their works.
They are audacious enough to break with the previously prevailing
idea of ritual orthopraxy, they innovate and focus their work on
achieving specific magical results rather than following a particular
path, and they do this deliberately and with a personal agenda, as
signified by using their own names in their work.

Not without pragmatism, [Thomas of Toledo] says that it is useless to

resort to the long and complex rituals revealed to the Hebrew king
(Solomon) when an identical result can be obtained thanks to a
compendium of some invocations.2

The works of John de Morigny and Pelagius the Hermit share

another characteristic. In addition to personalising their approach to
ritual magic they also aimed to forge a third path, next to those of
natural and demonic magic. Their aspiration was to reveal to the
reader a genuine genre of white magic, that is, a set of ritual
practices which did not rely on necromancy, evil angels, demons or
other practices deemed heretical by the Christian Church. Instead
they aimed to create works which were coherent with the Christian
faith and enabled direct personal contact with spiritual beings
besides the Holy Trinity or the body of Catholic saints.

And [these teachings] can be defended in the holy Christian Church,

do not represent a new teaching, do not contradict the holy
scriptures, but are a part of Christian, God-fearing practice, and are
being applied by pious people as a Christian doctrine. May the
ignorant speak as they wish, and even if I am the first who sets down
this art in writing, I am not the first to practice such an art. There is
no doubt that the ancient monks in the monasteries with their God-
fearing way of life have prophesied and brought to light many
wondrous things. (f.5r)

2 Véronèse (2006): 3.

44

black abbot · white magic

As mentioned by Julien Véronèse, in sharp contrast to how
unfamiliar the modern reader might be with the writings of Pelagius
the Hermit, their influence on later magicians is hard to overrate. Via
his student Libanius Gallus they found their way into the vast library
of the black abbot, Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516), thence into
the work of his famous disciple Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–
1535), and from both of them into the corpus of John Dee (1527–
1608). It should therefore come as little surprise that we find copies
of Pelagius’ manuscripts in the library of Edward Kelley’s personal
secretary, Karl Widemann (1555–1637).3

But the influence of Pelagius’ works, as well as the underlying

paradigm shift, extended far beyond the narrow confines of the
magical underground. A hundred and fifty years after the hermit’s
death, in 1629 a Jesuit Professor could publish a book of meditations
in the German vernacular, explicitly stating that the entire work had
been dictated by his own holy guardian angel, and sign it with his full
name without expecting public retribution.4

Characteristics of Pelagius’ Writings

Though the actual works directly attributed to Pelagius are few, as

expected with products of an underground manuscript culture, they
are found in multiple versions, as part of broader compilations and in
different languages across European libraries.5 The following table
provides a complete overview of the main works by Pelagius
according to the manuscript titles in Leipzig and Paris. We do not
have a definite chronology of the works of Pelagius, thus we cannot
put them into a confirmed sequence of origin. From a comparative
view, three striking yet thoroughly consistent characteristics of the
hermit’s oeuvre are foregrounded. First, even for a magical author of
the liberation movement, Pelagius’ writings are markedly self-
referential. While Pelagius points out references to his own earlier
works, he does not refer to earlier works of the tradition. In that
sense, Pelagius’ works can be read as decidedly non-
pseudepigraphic and non-traditional: 3 Gilly (2002): 288.

4 Jeremias Drexel (1581–1638) Schutz-Engels Weckuhr, 1629.

5 For the most recent overview on the precise document locations
we refer the reader to Jean Dupèbe (2002) ‘L’ermite Pelagius et les
Rose-Croix.’

analysis of the two books

45

Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig

catalogue no.

title

date

Cod.mag.13

Pelagii Eremitae II Bücher von Erkändnüs und Nahmen seines guten

1710 or earlier

Engels

Cod.mag.25

Magistri Pelagii Eremitae in insula Majoricarum circulus seu tabula

1710 or earlier

veritatis proscribente eam discipulo suo magistro Libano Gallo

Cod.mag.26

Drey Bücher Pelagii, welcher ein Heiliger und Einsiedler gewesen

ist, 1710 or earlier

von Offenbahrungen, dadurch alle Weisheit und der gantzen Welt

Heimligkeit von Gott können erlanget werden ( 1–3 Libri tres
praenotionibus somniorum/4 Epistola Libanii ad J. Trithemium)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
BnF Latin 7486a

Pelagii, Eremitae, ad Libanium, suum in philosophia naturali discip-

1401–1500

ulum, libri tres [ caractères grecs], sive, ut author ipse interpretatur,

de praenotionibus somniorum. ( Peri Anacriseôn) BnF Latin 7456

Pelagii, Eremitae, ad Libanium, suum in philosophia naturali discip-

1501–1600

ulum, libri tres [ caractères grecs], sive, ut author ipse interpretatur,

de praenotionibus somniorum : subjecta vocabulorum quorumdam
mysticorum interpretatio ( Peri Anacriseôn) BnF Latin 7869

120 Libanii, Galli, epistola de circulo veritatis

1501–1600

BnF Latin 7869

130 Compositio tabulae veritatis : authore Magistro Pelagio, Eremita

1501–1600

BnF Latin 7869

150 Pelagii, Eremitae, liber de proprio Angelo in somnis apparente

1501–1600

46

When the master of Mallorca refers to a text, it is always to one of

his own productions that he returns, as if from De proprio angelo to
Peri Anacriseôn, through the Ars crucifixi and Tabula veritatis.6

Second, Pelagius has a strong preference for including Greek

expressions in his Latin manuscripts. This habit reflects the hermit’s
particular interest in and significant knowledge of Greek culture.7
Finally, Pelagius’ limited oeuvre revolves around the central theme of
establishing communion with one’s good angel, or as we like to call it
holy daimon.

Through the aid of this spiritual being the practitioner is empowered

to perform acts of magical sleep incubation, divination and prophecy,
or even the conjuration of his magical companion to visible
appearance.

As Julien Véronèse points out, it seems likely that Pelagius based

his literary work upon an older ritual text which he does not reveal.
Building upon this foundation and following his own practical
experiments in his Majorcan conclave, he continued to refine this
text as well as the related practices of signs of traditional magical
rituals (such as seals and spirit names) and render it increasingly
mystical.

It is this last feature of Pelagius’ work which links it to the Ars notoria
and Liber florum. All of these texts aim to ‘purify’ techniques that
were originally transmitted in the West as part of the magical
underground. Similar to the paradigm shift that led from goetia to
theurgy in ancient Greece, these medieval works aimed to wrest
spiritual techniques from the darkness of a sinister tradition and to
bring them into the divine light of a dedicatedly mystical practice.
Their agenda was to shape a spiritual art that was consistent with
Catholic practice, and would help the practitioner to advance further
into its mystical depth.

it is in itself an important sign of the game that a magician of the

second half of the fifteenth century could engage with the traditions
he inherited; a game that consisted of respecting the structural rules
of magic (asceticism, secrecy, etc.) without giving a blank checque to
the procedures of the ancients, or to show them a sacred reverence.
By his manifest refusal to work as a compiler (even distanced) and
his art of letting believe that he is in his field a true autodidact,
Pelagius profoundly modifies the medieval canons of magic writing.
He even 6 Véronèse (2006): 8.
7 Véronèse (2006): 7.

analysis of the two books

47

pushes audacity further than many Magi of the Renaissance, who,

while den-igrating the traditions of the scholastic age, do not strive in
general to conceal the debt contracted vis-à-vis antiquity.8

Biographical Sketch

We only have one original source which mentions our hermit:

Johannes Trithemius, who considered himself an indirect student of
the master of Majorca through the mediation of their mutual friend
Libanius Gallus. It is in the letters of the latter to Trithemius that we
learn the spare details of Pelagius’ life.

According to Libanius, Pelagius Eremita was born an Italian of poor

origin in the Genoa region. With nothing but ‘alms and his talents’ he
made his way to Franconia (nowadays West Germany) where he
first learned about natural and talismanic magic. After falling out with
‘envious theologians’ in the North he traveled south to Africa, most
likely the Maghreb, where he spent time with and learned magic from
various Berber tribes. Libanius mentions that Pelagius had lived as a
hermit on Majorca for fifty years before he first met him in his exile.
He then trained with his master for sixteen months, before Pelagius
died on the 10th of July 1480. This would put Pelagius’ arrival on
Majorca at roughly 1429. Libanius confirms that Pelagius focussed
on a kind of theurgic magic dealing with the appearance of a
guardian angel in dreams, the creation of a tablet of truth as well as
(in the Peri Anacriseôn and Ars crucifixi) the incubation of revelatory
celestial visions. Libanius mentions the significant body of work
Pelagius had produced –

covering all sorts of magic from natural, divine to diabolical – none of

the manuscripts beyond those above mentioned seem to have
survived.9
Foundations

The manuscript we are about to examine is part of the grimoire

collection of the University of Leipzig. Bound as a simple hardcover
volume in marbled wax paper, the manuscript is executed in a single
hand, and has been dated to 1710 or earlier.

The book is not anonymous, its author’s name is given both in the
title and at its conclusion: Pelagius Eremita of Majorca, whose year
and day of death are also 8 Julien Véronèse, ‘La notion d’«auteur-
magician» à la fin du Moyen Âge: le cas de l’ermite Pelagius de
Majorque († v. 1480).’ Médiévales [en ligne] 51 (2006): 10.

9 Véronèse (2006): 4/5.

48

black abbot · white magic

given as 10th of July 1480. An earlier Latin version of the

manuscript, dated to the 16th century, from which the Leipzig
manuscript might have been taken, can be found in the French
National Library filed under the signature BnF Latin 7869.

The manuscript is divided into two books, with nineteen chapters in

the first and eight in the second.

Human Angelic Minds

As if taken from a series of instructional letters, the text starts with an

explanation of the difference between the human and the angelic
mind. Pelagius’ choice of words here seems very deliberate, and
actually quite modern. Instead of an angelic being, he speaks of an
angelic understanding and science in contrast to human
understanding and science.

As the original manuscript was written in Latin we can assume the

word used for ‘science’ was scientia, which expressed the idea of the
acquisition of knowledge, or knowledge itself. Therefore an
analogous translation would be the understanding and knowledge (of
the world) as possessed by the angels.

Pelagius explains that while the human mind has the potential to
grow and develop, as a child does, the angelic mind is perfected
from the beginning. It holds knowledge of all things past, present and
future. On the second page the hermit lays out the core premise of
the entire magical operation to follow: achieving communion with
one’s good angel is essentially a matter of uniting one’s human mind
with the angelic mind: ‘But if man wants to achieve this, he must
unite himself with the angelic mind and become alike.’ (f.2v)

Pelagius deliberately uses the non-individual form when referring to

the angelic mind. While the rest of the book is entirely focussed on
creating communion with one’s personal angel, these opening pages
speak of a collective form, evoking the idea of an angelic hive-mind,
or at least the notion that all angels can access the same reservoir of
perfected knowledge.

We then hear about the different methods that can be used to

achieve this goal: through uniting the mind with one’s angel, through
visible appearance of the angel, through dreams caused by intuition
of the angel, or ‘through lengthy secret experience’ (f.2v). The latter
method is not further specified. Thus the reader is not given an
indication if Pelagius refers to the secret experience he is about to
explain in Book II, or an alternative approach such as that given in
the Book of Abramelin or the Sepher Raziel.

analysis of the two books

49

Book I

i How shall one acquire true knowledge of divination and wisdom?

ii Not any man can interact with the holy angel, and through dreams
have his desire or knowledge of it.

iii How should one who aspires to have contact with the holy angel
conduct themselves?

iv How may this art be Christian and not magic?

v That the almighty God reveals secret knowledge to man through

the service of his assigned holy angel.

vi Why more often during sleep than waking does the angel appear
and become known to us?

vii How the good angel of any man gives knowledge of prophecy and
naught else.

viii That some people have many good angels and not only one, also
that dukedom is governed by many angels.

ix How the first seven angels rule the world.

x Of the angels who govern the twelve celestial signs.

xi That it is very useful and necessary to know the name of one’s

good angel.

xii Once one knows the name of their good angel, its seal and sign,
they can do great and excellent things.

xiii That one should keep the good angel in honour.

xiv How humans who want to partake in the intuitions of angels

should behave.

xv How through long practice one achieves the art of divination and
knowledge of truth.

xvi Which dreams stem from good angels and which from evil ones.
xvii In which things one should desire insight to questions from the
good angel, and in which it is not to be known.

xviii During which time it is best to have communion with one’s good
angel and to ask for the truth, also according to which celestial
motions such should be done.

xix Of the key or main part of this art.

50

black abbot · white magic

Book II · Of the Consecration

i [without title]

ii [without title]

iii A prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ, to be performed kneeling with

raised hands.

iv A prayer to God the Holy Spirit.

v A prayer to the angel assigned to serve and watch over us in our

great & present needs.

Another prayer to your angel for the attainment of knowledge in all

questions.

vi A prayer to the Virgin Mary for intercession.

vii A prayer to speak when one needs to know something on a

significant matter, so it may be revealed and made understood in
one’s sleep by one’s good angel who was assigned by the Almighty
Lord.

viii [without title]

Irrespective of the path chosen, the book continues to emphasise
that the key to the operation lies in the gradual assimilation of the
human mind to the angelic mind until they have become sufficiently
alike that they can hold a shared space.

Only then will the practitioner begin to perceive the presence as well
as the thoughts of their good angel.

So one should hold these rules as the highest secret and mystery to
be desired from the good angel, that he will reveal and make
manifest his good thoughts to us. (f.9v)

analysis of the two books

51

Interspecies Communication

Truly understanding what we are aiming to achieve in this operation

is more important than diving headlong into actions without clear
purpose. The essential question is quite simple: what are the key
requirements for humans and angels to enter into mutual dialogue?
The diagram below leverages some of the foundational insights of
communication science to explain the matter. After all, whether we
analyse intraspecies or interspecies dialogue, the essential
parameters for successful communication remain the same.

Noise

Information received

Information sent

daimon
Communication channel

human

Information sent

Information received

Daimon’s

shared

Human’s

symbol

symbol

symbol

set

set

set

Everything in Pelagius’ secret operation revolves around how to

receive an answer from one’s good angel to the particular question
we are interested in. The process begins with us, the human
attempting to send information to the daimon in form of a specific
question. For this to succeed we need a shared channel of
communication, that is, a space where information sent can be
received and vice versa.
According to Pelagius, humans open this channel by immersing
themselves deeply into a fervent state of prayer. Whether the prayer
is directed to God, Mary, Jesus, the Holy Spirit or the good angel
itself is less of a concern. Much more important is the quality of
prayer and how it activates us as whole human beings.

52

black abbot · white magic

One should also know that one need not perform the prayers at the
precise length written here, but that one should pray in brief words
and with burning passion in this manner. For those who pray aright,
pray in their spirit, and not by the number of the psalms. But if one is
idle and listless in prayer, one should so dispose one’s heart until it is
inflamed in the fervour of love ... (f.52v) Obviously this channel is not
established by a solid copper cable; rather, it is a fragile, ephemeral
state of mind, opened by the integrity of our heart’s intent as well as
our skill to temporarily unite our core magical tools – hand, heart and
head

– in a single act of devotional prayer.

In every act of communication, noise in the channel is a

troublesome, but unavoidable, reality. Noise enters from the human
side (being idle and listless in one’s prayers) just as much as from
the surrounding environment: all the way from simple disturbances in
one’s chamber to other spiritual entities interfering in the process
and intercepting the signal.

However, in addition to establishing a shared channel of

communication, there is a further requirement for successful
communication, a shared set of symbols.

Whenever we travel to a foreign country it is close to impossible to

communicate with the locals (and vice versa) unless we have
learned some of their basic vo-cabulary, become able to read their
non-verbal clues or have found an alternative language that we are
both fluent in. The channel is already there (we are standing in front
of each other and are both able to speak) but we have not yet
established a defined set of shared symbols.

The basic rules of interspecies communication are no different.10 In

the present context it shall suffice to exemplify how a shared set of
symbols is established by means of the operational methods given
by Pelagius:

through dreams

Spirits love to leverage this form of communication: using symbolic

images as well as firsthand emotional experiences to imprint new
patterns and ideas into our minds. However, deciphering these kinds
of prophetic dreams, as Pelagius explains, remains a source of noise
and error. So while the channel of our dream consciousness allows
spirits full access to the treasure house of images of our 10 For an
in-depth understanding of the complexities of such kinds of
interspecies dialogue, we recommend the works of Josephine
McCarthy (either the full free magical curriculum of quareia.com or
the Magical Knowledge trilogy, Mandrake Press 2012, 2013).

analysis of the two books

53

minds (Yesod), ensuring that the information sent truly matches the
information received is a game of chance. And for this reason
magicians have always attempted to set up methods which minimise
noise and sharpen the matching of shared symbols even further.

through visible appearance

Whether we encounter angelic spirits visibly in magical vision or with

our physical eyes, this method of communication has as many
problems as it has advantages. It is the most direct, unmediated and
intense way of interacting with another species.
To visibly perceive an angelic spirit overcomes almost all of the
barriers that normally exist to establishing a joint channel of
communication. Direct exposure to angelic beings can have all sorts
of unintended consequences on the human organism. Considering
we are speaking to an ancient species that has been essential in the
creation of the visible world, we should consider if direct exposure to
them is such a smart idea after all? Magicians have come up with
methods to work around this, confining the forces that accompany
the presence of such beings into mirrors, vessels, the triangle of art
or luminous stones. Each of these techniques may take a lifetime to
master, and each magician attempting it will need to throw their
entire life onto the scales in order to succeed.

through thoughts

Whilst by far the most easily overlooked, this form of interspecies

communication is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet.
Enabling the good angel to speak through one’s own mind, allowing
them to place their thoughts directly into the vessel of our
consciousness is the most efficient and gentlest method of
interspecies dialogue. It defuses the serious problems both of
misinterpretation and of negative unintended consquences to our
human organism. The Achilles’ heel of this method might seem to be
our human (in)ability to differentiate between our own thoughts and
the ones received through angelic mediation. However, if looked at
through a more practical lens, this concern turns out to be void: to
the person with a problem it doesn’t matter where the solution comes
from – either from their own ingenious free spirit or through the
mediation of another being

– as long as it solves the problem. Most accounts of practicing

magicians that we have on this matter, speak of a similar level of
pragmatism on the side of the spirits.

The fact that both philosophically and scientifically magicians remain

in ambiguous territory as to what enables their increased levels of
mental capability, creativ-54
black abbot · white magic

ity and learnedness, is of no matter whatsoever to the spirits who co-

created the very essence from which we are made.

Organic Attraction

After establishing the methods of the operation, Pelagius explains

what kind of practitioner will be successful on this path. The following
chapters go into great detail to contrast advantageous with
disadvantageous behaviour in regard to the operation. Rather than
being skipped over as pure moralising, these deserve careful
attention, as it is here that Pelagius provides some critical
background as to why this operation so rarely succeeds.

He should be God-fearing and live alone so he is not hindered in

divine service, and he must pray often; the more he escapes the
concerns of this world the more the good angel wishes to be with
him, to talk to him or appear in his dreams. Yet not with a human
tongue [does the angel speak], but through a particular intel igence,
through intuitions in dreams, through visions or other knowledge.
And it is certain, that the more alone people are the more the holy
angels like to live with them. Whoever can leave behind worldly
things and has little hindrance will find more skilful [access to] this
art. (ff.3v–4r) Aiming to escape not only the hectic business of the
world but also its seductive pleasures is the most important
requirement, one that cannot be omitted or sub-stituted with
alternative acts of devotion at a later stage. According to Pelagius,
the reason for this is not anchored in moral philosophy, but in organic
reality.

Our everyday way of life determines the polarity of our soul and thus
whether it can create an organic attraction to our good angel.
Conversely, the good angel has no choice (or free will for that
matter) whether to reside close by or far away from their assigned
human being, yet its proximity is determined by the level of
assimilation the human has achieved to their own higher nature.
Leading an upright, simple life and mastering the single most
important quality, moral integrity with head, heart and hand is not
solely an echo of the 15th century Catholic socialisation of our
author, but an organic necessity for our holy daimon to stay and
dwell close to us (f.3v).

When someone wants to be taught by their good angel and wants to

receive analysis of the two books

55

instructions in the art of divination, he has to (...) live purely, chastely

and decently, be humble in moments of good fortune and patient [in
moments] of tribulation, friendly in their speech, decent in their
manners, patient in their scorn, quick to forgive. He has to show
charity to the poor and moderation in eating and drinking, harm or
quarrel with no one ... (f.4r) It is rare to encounter such a man. (f.16r)

The Quaternary

Towards the end of chapter III Pelagius inserts a short section on

numerology, using the numbers one to four to provide an illustration
of how the assimilation of human and angel has to happen. A more
sophisticated explanation of the same numerological concept can be
found in Pelagius’ Peri Anacriseôn. For academic researchers today,
this characteristic use of the quaternary has become a way to trace
the influence of Pelagius on later authors who picked up this concept
without necessarily citing the source. Notable amongst these are
John Dee’s repeated speculations on the Monas, Binary, Ternary
and Quaternary.11 Yet others took from the same source:
Among the authors preferred by [Heinrich] Khunrath is first and
foremost Hermes Trismegistus (...). However, Pelagius Eremita
remains unmentioned, despite the fact that Khunrath (either directly
from the Peri anacriseôn ton hypnoticõn or indirectly from Trithemius,
Agrippa, Paul Skalichius and Gerhard Dorn) copied his fundamental
sentence ‘reiiciatur Binarius, et Ternarius, per Quaternarium, ad
Monadis reducetur simplicitatem.’12

In Two Books, we find the most straightforward explanation the

hermit ever gave on this key numerological concept, directed at an
audience of practitioners; whereas in his Peri Anacriseôn it is
immediately apparent that the explanation is aimed at a much more
learned audience.

11 Gilly (2002): 288.

12 If one rejects the binary, then the ternary can be converted to the
unity. Gilly, CP 6

(2014): 146; see also Schmidt-Biggemann, CP 10,2: 30.

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black abbot · white magic

so that therefore the numbers 1, 2, and 3 may be separated from the

number 4, that is, God [and] the angel have to be united together in
the soul of man, and may not be stained nor hindered by an impure
life which is [indicated by]

the number 4. The number 1 is God, 2 is the angel, 3 is the soul, and
4 is the human body. (ff.4r–4v)

In order to obtain a distinct revelation of the anacrises, it is

necessary that the seeker’s intention is firm and constant, and the
desire in asking as ardent as possible. The stronger the fervour of
the request, the easier it will be to obtain the results requested. That
is why each time the mind, thrilled by the intensity of desire, is
carried away, the secrets of the mystery are revealed at once, as all
experts of this art have testified: who know how to make the
Pythagorean Binary [= the angelic intellect] descend, have drawn the
Ternary [= mind, human soul] in the Monas [= divine mind], he will
not succeed in extracting the desired purity from the turbid wine. In
the Binary the unity is present only once and hardly is it subtracted
through the sacred Quaternary [= working of the mind] from the
straight line in the subsistent order, it liberates itself and returns to
the most pure and finest Monas.13

The Quaternary is identified as the ‘impure life,’ or more broadly the

‘human mind and body,’ and taken as the main obstacle to the
process of achieving communion with one’s holy daimon. Whether
Pelagius chooses an organic, psychological or philosophical lens, his
main point remains fully coherent: it is the weakness of the human
mind and subservience to bodily desires and urges that separates us
from the angelic realm. Mercy, good fortune or chance have nothing
to do with it.

Rather, it is the very pattern of our mind that we have to take control
of, consciously, and patiently shape it through observance of
deliberately chosen habits, slowly conditioning it to become a
working interface with the angelic mind. Anybody wanting to
encounter their good angel requires a strong mind and unwavering
moral integrity, spiritual perseverance and personal commitment,
‘because if the soul is polluted in the body, it cannot have
conversation with the angel’ (f.8r).

13 Pelagius Eremita, quoted after Gilly (2002): 289.

analysis of the two books

57

Evil Angels
In Two Books Pelagius repeatedly uses the term ‘evil angel’ in
contrast to the good angel assigned to each human. The
combination of the words ‘evil’ and ‘angel’

might seem much more unusual to the reader today than it would
have been to their 15th century counterpart. ‘Unlike our
contemporary English usage,’ writes Walter Stephens, ‘medieval and
early modern references to angels did not presume their moral
goodness; demons were merely bad angels, or rather angels gone
bad, not a different species.’14 Until the late Middle Ages, ‘angel’
was a broad term used to describe a class of spiritual beings; it did
not imply a moral quality. It was only in the late 16th century, as a
result of the Catechism of the Council of Trent that the idea of a
personal guardian angel as a ‘faithful friend’ was popularised.15

Pelagius gives a pragmatic illustration of the kind of care that is

expedient in contact with angels: on ff.10v to 11v he shares the story
of the hermit Alphonsus of Salamis and his holy daimon Philaxiel.
When the spirit first reveals itself to the hermit and offers his help,
the latter’s reaction is one of sober clarity and wariness.

Unless the spirit is wil ing to identify itself as an affiliate of God, the
hermit is not wil ing to deal with it. Once they are both identified as
servant and angel of God respectively, their student and teacher
relationship commences.

Even being in the presence of a particular spiritual being is often

sufficient to initiate a lot of irreversible consequences. Depending on
the kind of being as well as one’s means of protection, no additional
act, no pact, no signatures might be required to trigger significant
change. Pure proximity in shared consciousness is all that is
needed. Medieval practitioners knew this very wel ; and they knew
that it was especially true for contact with our good angel.

although magic texts treated conversations with spirits as

instrumental actions to further the goals of the operator (for example,
offering him increased knowledge of the cosmos), such
conversations were also desirable for their own sake and provided
possibilities of spiritual elevation, companionship, even friendship
and love.16

14 Walter Stephens, ‘Strategies of Interspecies Communication,

1100–2000.’ Raymond (2011): 24.

15 Raymond (2011): 37.

16 Page, ‘Speaking with Spirits in Medieval Magical Texts.’ Raymond

(2011): 125.

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black abbot · white magic

Above all, conversations with spirits were desirable for their own
sake.17

However, the intervention that a pure spiritual presence can

represent turns into quite the bittersweet fruit, once we remind
ourselves of the original neutral meaning of the term angel. The 20th
century magical novelist, and member of the Order of the Golden
Dawn, Gustav Meyrink (1868–1932) synthesised much of his deep
magical knowledge on this subject in his initiatory novel The White
Dominican (1921). In the guise of one of his characters, he explains
that people really have forgotten how to pray. Instead, they have
become careless in ‘shooting off the arrows of their prayers.’ The
problem is not that their prayers might not be answered, but the
reverse, all prayers are answered, but the hand that catches the
arrow in flight might not be the one it was intended for. Pelagius is
reminding us of this when he stresses that both evil and good angels
constantly surround us. And it is the way we choose to lead our lives
that determines which of them dwel s at our side.

In particular we should honour our angel, in order not to harm it with

our impure life. (f.15v)

The Good Angel’s Name

The second part of Book I is dedicated to more explicit astrological
and ritual instructions. In chapters VIII and IX Pelagius expounds the
names and hierarchy of angels according to the seven planetary
spheres as well as, following Pietro D’Abano’s cyclical approach, the
revolving system of their rulership according to a single planetary
year of 354 years and four months. Chapter X continues with a
discussion of the twelve celestial signs and their respective angels
as they pass through the twelve houses.

In chapter XI we learn the method of extracting the name of one’s

good angel from one’s radix. Pelagius states that the radix should
ideally be calculated according to the moment of nativity (i.e.
inception), rather than one’s birth. Once that moment is established
and the radix drawn up, according to the master of Majorca, the
angel’s name can be identified as the name of the angel who is the
ruler of the house rising in the ascendant.

17 Page, in Raymond (2011): 139.

analysis of the two books

59

♑
♐
ac

ix

♒
y

♏
xi

viii

♓ xii
vii ♎

vi

♈
♍
o

ii

♉
w

v
♌
iii

iv

♊
♋
Example of the calculation of the name of one's good angel Radix for
someone conceived in London, on the 20th June 2020 at 10:43 pm
Ascendant Capricorn

Ruling planet of the ascendant Saturn

Name of the good angel Cassiel

... so that he may know to call his angel and sign after his planet,
which is the foundation of this art. (f.20v)

60

black abbot · white magic

However, the instruction provided by Pelagius seem a little odd.

Previously, on f.12r, the hermit explained in great detail how every
object in creation had its own angel assigned to it. In fact, certain
people might have multiple angels assigned to and guarding over
them. Further, angelic protection is not restricted to organic objects,
but also includes manmade ones such as houses and cities.

For God has assigned to each realm, each city, each vil age, each
house its particular angel, and by the order of the highest angelic
intel igences the whole world is ruled. (f.12r)

Such a worldview speaks of strong pagan and neoplatonic

influences on our author. Correlating every single object in creation
with its designated spiritual guardian is more reminiscent of the
Zoroastrian fravaši than medieval Catholic orthodoxy.

This seems in conflict with the general instructions on how to extract

the good angel’s name from our radix. Pelagius’ instructions do not
direct us to any kind of personal angel at all, but assign one of the
twelve angels of the celestial houses to each human being.
Consequently, just as humans share the same celestial sign under
which they were born, so they would also share the name of their
good angel.

Everyone with the same astrological ascendant would have the

same good angel.

At this point we should consider several options. Firstly, that

Pelagius meant exactly what he wrote. Each person is assigned a
good angel from the twelve angels of the houses, according to their
ascendant.

Alternatively, we could assume the angel of one’s house acts as a

patron for the operation that follows. Whilst not identical with the
personally assigned good angel, this entity would take the role of an
intermediary and help the practitioner establish communion with their
individual good angel later in the process. Despite being a feasible
approach (based upon my own experience), nothing in Pelagius’

text hints at this scenario.

Thirdly, we should consider the option that the doctrine of chapter XI

represents a conscious compromise. From the outset, Pelagius aims
to portray an entirely white magic, a mystical art that (at least
theoretically) could gain the approval of Christian authorities. To
achieve this end, any suspicion of leveraging heretical practices –
such as the use of barbaric names, incantations or conjurations (as
opposed to prayers), magical seals, circles, mirrors or robes – had to
be strictly avoided. For instance, even mentioning Agrippa’s De
occulta philosophia could have analysis of the two books
61

been read as trespassing into the territory of a pagan góēs rather

than the Christian theurgist.18 Agrippa’s magnum opus represents
one of the most important sources for the calculation of the name of
one’s good angel. In Book III chapter XXVI, Agrippa explains in detail
various methods for identifying the personal angel’s name. None of
the methods presented by the pupil of Trithemius result in the name
of any known planetary or celestial angel, but instead create unique
names from a combination of letters.

Our author omits any form of angelic name creation – whether of

Arabic or kabbalistic origin – and refers to the twelve angels of the
astrological signs. Pelagius may have inspired Heinrich Khunrath in
the following century, who used the angelic hierarchy from Pseudo-
Dionysius the Areopagite’s De cœlesti hierarchia, Duns Scotus’s De
angelis, and Giovanni Pico del a Mirandola’s Conclusiones;19 in
contrast to John Dee who, in his system, included not only the
names of planetary angels but the tables for generating spirit names.

According to Peter J. Forshaw’s expert analysis in his 2011 study on

Khunrath, the underlying intent behind such a careful choice of
sources was to construct a magic that could escape the suspicion of
demonic affiliation and instead inspire a devoutly Christian path of
mystical practice:

The existence of a magical work so overtly Christian [such as the

work of Pelagius Eremita] must have literally seemed a god-send for
Khunrath. It must have seemed possible to imitate Luther’s return to
pure scriptural sources by reconstructing a divine magic grounded in
scripture’s original language, one stripped of any medieval
accretions and exorcised of all demons.20

The very same reasons might have led Pelagius Eremita, a hundred
years before Khunrath, to omit more specific instructions on how to
extract a personalised version of one’s good angel’s name. This
could have been read as coming dangerously close to the infamous
barbaric names of the grimoires.
18 f.14r. The reference to the work of Agrippa will be the focus of
further analysis in a later chapter; as the alleged date of death of
Pelagius Eremita (1480) obviously conflicts with the first publication
of Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia in 1531/33.

19 Peter J. Forshaw, ‘Behold the Dreamer Cometh’ in Raymond

(2011): 184.

20 Forshaw, in Raymond (2011): 184.

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black abbot · white magic

Ritual instructions

Book I

In the opening chapter Pelagius clarified that four approaches exist

for accomplish-ing communion with one’s good angel: through
uniting the mind with one’s angel, through visible appearance of the
angel, through dreams caused by intuition of the angel, or through ‘a
lengthy secret experience.’ (f.2v)

In chapter XIV Pelagius stresses again that all approaches to

achieve communion are by their very nature devout Christian
pathways:

No one can master an art in a speedy manner, even less so the art
of coming into communion with the good angel and attaining the art
of divination and knowing of him, yet it has to be accomplished over
a long time and divine service and can only be done in three ways.
The first is to lead a God-fearing, pure life (...). The other way is that
one has a temper that [by nature] is always and in all ways burning
for God in ardent love (...). The third way is that we always keep to
good and Christian principles and practice according to the Christian
rule and order. (ff.17r–17v)
From chapter XVIII onwards and leading into Book II, Pelagius gives
specific ritual instructions on how to establish angelic communion.
Such a deliberate preface on the explicitly Christian nature of this
path, before expounding its ritual details, served two functions. It
reaffirmed that the path was in harmony with Christian teachings;
and the phrase ‘Christian rule and order’ was general enough to be
an access point into Pelagius’ own ritualised approach. The Christian
rule referred to here was most likely not the one given by official
authorities, but the precise instructions the author-magician was
about to impart to his readers.

The first rule provided by Pelagius refers to the foundation for

successful dream incubation. For a successful operation one must
go to bed in a positive, curious mood, with a mind filled with prayers.
Three things specifically help with this. First, ‘a pure, devout temper,
a healthy body and a fair, clear sky’ (f.20r). The second ground rule
is that the operation is best achieved when the celestial sign of one’s
good angel is rising. This can be done by making calculations ‘by
one’s astrolabe’ (f.20v) or by accessing a high point and looking out
into the morning or night sky and identifying the constel ation.
Thirdly, the practitioner needs to know analysis of the two books

63

the planet of their ascendant ‘so that he may know to call his angel
and sign after his planet, which is the foundation of this art’ (f.20v).

These three instructions suffice to perform the operation in its basic

form. At the very end of Book I Pelagius provides a succinct
summary, before going on to give a much more detailed and
nuanced approach in Book II. By doing this the hermit ensured the
first book could stand alone.

If one would have true knowledge and disclosure of his angel, he

has to look up during the hour and day of his planet, when the
celestial sign of his angel is rising and when it holds a good aspect
with his angel, so he shall kneel and pray to God, the holy Lord, and
prepare himself and call his angel by name afterwards, and to speak
or read out the question briefly, and petition God earnestly that he
may grant you to know what you desire in your sleep through the
help of your angel, and you should be alone in your place, and walk
alone, so as not to be hindered by others. (ff.20v–21r)

The first book also explains how to craft the magical talisman of
one’s good angel.

In chapter XII Pelagius relates the story of a monk from the island of
Crete who performed such magic for his king. One has to draw the
sigil and character of one’s good angel on a small golden tablet, then
fold or roll it up, tie it with a silk ribbon in the colour of the planet of
one’s angel and wear it around the neck.

from this time onwards the king conquered all his enemies and
performed great and excellent things (...) and in trade he always
encountered success, and in all arts he received the most accurate
responses to his questions. (f.15r) Book II

Since academic interest in magic was spurred by Frances Yates’

original studies on the hermetic tradition, one of its major initial
limitations proved to be the cognitive bias that researchers brought
to the subject. While attempting to trace narratives of historic
continuity or sociological coherence, they overlooked that the very
cognitive paradigm with which they approached the subject was
inherent-ly opposed to the one of its late medieval and early modern
practitioners.

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black abbot · white magic

Sophie Page’s excellent introduction to medieval magic as well as

her ‘Speaking with Angels in Medieval Magic Texts’21 are excellent
examples of how far academic research has come in recent
decades. Page is one of the first scholars to acknowledge that for
the magical practitioner of the past, there was significant value to be
found in their practice beyond the operational goal of the ritual.
Establishing direct and conscious contact with spiritual beings was
much more than a (forbidden) route to personal power; instead ‘such
conversations were also desirable for their own sake and provided
possibilities of spiritual elevation, companionship, even friendship
and love.’22

The main barrier to this relationship was the difficulty of finding

common ground for communication, given the marked differences
between humans and angels: the former being corporeal, bound by
time and place, the latter being incorporeal and with a much higher
degree of temporal and spatial mobility. The solution to this problem
was sought in magical rituals. Their particular preparations, settings,
techniques and timings created doorways that allowed for temporary
mutual encounter.

Two primary methods were to increase the purity of the operator

(and hence detach him from corporeal things) or to increase the
impurity of spirits (and hence attach them to matter). A third solution
was to create a space or use a medium that was less attached to
earthly matter and therefore more amenable to spiritual beings.23

In ritual practice all three of the above methods were often leveraged
together: after an initial phase of purification, a space amenable to
the spirits was entered and here the spirit was asked (or often
forced) to immerse itself sufficiently into matter so that either direct
communication or visible appearance were possible. As Page points
out so wonderfully: the magic circle was a demarcated area that
constrained spirits within or outside it against their usual freedom of
movement. As a special space into which spirits could descend, it
was the spirit’s equivalent to human dreaming, a fragile and
ambiguous context for communication that was not firmly attached to
Heaven or Earth.24

21 In Davies (2017) and Raymond (2011).

22 Page, in Raymond (2011): 124.

23 Page, in Raymond (2011): 127.

24 Page, in Raymond (2011): 128.

analysis of the two books

65

Preparation

The second book is titled Of the Consecration. The root of the word
‘consecration’

derives from the Latin consecrare, meaning ‘to make holy.’ Thus the
second book deals with rituals and prayers for both the space of the
operation and the practitioner themselves. After a brief reminder of
the significance of the operation and the importance of attending to
the planetary time, Pelagius provides the following ritual instructions:

· The consecration is to be performed in the evening, before one

goes to sleep (thus the night hour of the planet should be respected).

· The practitioner requires a clean and quiet chamber that will not be
disturbed by other people.

· The chamber should be empty except for a bed, a table, a crucifix

upon the table and three wax candles before it.

· The wax candles should have been consecrated during the days of
our ‘dear women’ (German: liebe Frauen, a common folk expression
for the Virgin Mary, thus Pelagius is probably referring to the Feast of
the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, i.e. 15th of August).

· The wax candles should be inscribed with the following words: First
candle: In the Name of the father π In the Name of the Son π In the
name of the Holy Ghost π

Second candle: In the name of my good angel π and in the name of

the seven planets in the celestial firmament π
Third candle: In the name of our Lord Jesu Christi Nazareni π In the
name of the holy mother of God Mary π and in the name of dear
Joseph and all saints of God π

· Finally, a handwritten note with one’s prayer should be placed

before the cross.

On the reverse of the note the following words should be written in

three lines: In the name of the Father, of the Son and the Holy
Ghost. I beg you my dear angel, who was assigned to me by God,
that you may reveal to me this night, where my messenger may be,
what he will convey and when he shall return.

Before Pelagius shares the first prayer, he notes that should the
practitioner be travel ing and not have the candles with them, ‘this
will cause no harm’ (f.22r). At the end of the second book the hermit
declares that the incredibly lengthy prayers to 66

black abbot · white magic

follow are of no importance to the one who knows how to pray and
set their heart aflame. Similarly, here at the outset of the ritual we
see Pelagius’ hint that the following, detailed ritual instructions are of
little importance to the one who knows how to make themselves holy
(i.e. consecrate) through right conduct.

Opening & invocation

Once these preparations are completed, the practitioner is to

sprinkle the chamber with holy water and fumigate with consecrated
myrrh. Then they should kneel in front of the crucifix and speak the
first prayer: Come Holy Spirit, Lord God. After this prayer the
practitioner is advised to confess and another script is provided for
this. Contained in the confession is the appeal for the revelation of
truth at the hands of one’s good angel.

Next the practitioner is advised to rise, to stand in front of the cross

and to speak a passionate prayer for communion with one’s holy
angel (ff.24r–25r). It is important to note that in the entire second
book this is the only prayer to be spoken standing before the cross.
To understand the true significance of this we recall a particular
section of the first book:

For God sits on his throne as a judge, and all angels stand before
God’s throne and serve God; humans, however, are prostrate before
God’s throne, and because of their sins scattered below. It is
reserved for the angels to stand and for humans to lie because of
their sins. That is why man shall rise and become like the angels and
come into communion. Whoever lies [on the ground] has to rise
through the help and mercy of God and whoever stands is reinforced
by the grace of God, standing firmly. Just as there is a difference
between standing and lying: in like manner the angels surpass
humans, and the angels desire to dwell with those who lead a pure
life. (ff.10r–10v)

After having consecrated the place of the operation as well as

oneself, after having invoked blessing and spirits, and confessed
one’s unworthiness as a human, the actual magical act follows. The
practitioner, both in their physical and visionary body, assumes the
position of the angel, standing in front of the throne of the Lord. In
the synchronised outer and inner act of rising from one’s knees to
standing in front of the cross, the act of assimilation with the angel is
performed.

As a side note it should be mentioned that this symbolism has

remained con-analysis of the two books

67

stant throughout the last 500 years. A personal example is the logo
of I.M.B.O.L.C., my former teacher’s independent magical school.
The image is both a sigil of the word ‘Imbolc’ and represents an
abstract human being rising from its knees to stand tall. ‘Drawing out
our full potential and height from the seed placed within us’ always
was the North Star of my teacher’s work, as figured in this design.

The prayers

Having spoken the angelic prayer in front of the cross, the

practitioner is to kneel again, here the first chapter of the book ends.
Chapters II to VII are composed of repetitive devotional prayers, all
of which ask for communion with one’s holy angel and, through this
being’s help, the revelation of truth in regard to the practitioner’s
divinatory question.

The related prayers span from ff.25r to 49r. They specifically address
God and the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit and Mother Mary. The
underlying magical technique is one of active dream incubation,
asking the respective divine powers to intervene during the
practitioner’s sleep. Equally consistently, the prayers relate examples
of dream incubation from the Holy Scripture and use these as
precedents to be repeated (ff.44r–45r). The tone of the prayers often
changes from highly devotional and servile to firm and persistent.
The former tone is to highlight the unworthiness and humility of the
practitioner; the latter to emphasise the commitment and liability of
the divine hierarchy to support the practitioner’s demand in order to
uphold the integrity and efficacy of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for the
sake of all humanity.

The prayers in chapters II to VII are written in a modular fashion,

allowing the practitioner to select the one most fitting to their
purpose. Right at the very end of the second book, Pelagius
declares these long and repetitive orisons redundant and possibly
even counter-productive to the entire operation.

One should also know that one does not have to perform the prayers
in the length given here, but that one should pray in brief words and
with burning 68
black abbot · white magic

passion in this manner. For the ones who pray properly, they pray in
their mind and not according to the number of the psalms. Yet if one
is lazy and peevish with one’s prayers, so one shall arrange one’s
heart until it catches fire in the love and passion of Christian
devotion; only then the actual orison follows and then in the proper
way of praying. And these orisons are written down for the ones who
are weak in their prayer and do not know how to go about their
prayer. (ff.52r–52v)

Banishing dream incubation

Chapter viii, the final chapter of the second book, begins with
instructions on how to conclude one’s prayers. Still kneeling in front
of the cross, the practitioner is given a specific number of repetitions
of the Lord’s Prayer and Ave Maria, depending on the particular
situation. These orthodox prayers are interjected with short
invocations such as, O Jesus Christ, for you know all things, reveal
to me the mystery of my question. (f.49v). Once the last orison is
completed, the practitioner is instructed to sprinkle holy water and
speak the following blessing against evil spirits:

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit this place
shall be purified and hallowed and free and secure from all evil
angels. (f.50r) The practitioner then turns towards the four directions
of the sky, and speaks an even more explicit exorcism to each.

By the might and the power of almighty God the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit, the ruler over Heaven and Earth, I command and
order all of you and every impure spirit, that for the sake of the force
of the suffering and dying of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer
may you all be far from this place and may you not pollute me tonight
with false and wrong images and thoughts. Begone, therefore, far
from here, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
(f.50v) The practitioner then kneels in front of the bed and addresses
their angel directly.
God’s holy angel N.N., appointed over me by almighty God, the
guard and protector to help, guard and protect me, you shall appear
to me this very night in a sweet analysis of the two books

69

vision, to teach and instruct me so I may experience the clear and

veritable truth of this my question. In the Name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

(ff.50v–51r)

Still kneeling in front of the bed, a consecrated wax tablet is

inscribed with the practitioner’s specific wish and placed underneath
their pillow for a final rite of dream incubation. After laying down, the
practitioner is instructed to make the sign of the cross over their
head, feet, and to each side. A last prayer and blessing are spoken,
then one is to approach sleep without ‘without having spoken to
anyone and not having touched any other matter with your thoughts’
(ff.51v–52r).

because by means of prayer one can achieve anything. Herewith we

conclude the book of knowledge and mystery in the name of God;
and one should be careful with this art and keep it secret and not
make it public. (f.53r) The lengthy prayers found in chapters II to VII
could be inserted between the phases of invocation and conclusion;
depending on the ritual aim of the practitioner. However, as per the
author’s own advice, they remain completely optional.

Of critical importance is the emphasis that all of these ritual

preparations, prayers and acts of devotion will be null and void if the
practitioner has not adopted a way of life that allows the angelic mind
to come close to and thence continually dwell in proximity to their
human mind.

Closing
In this detailed analysis of Pelagius Eremita’s manuscript of
‘daimonic theurgy’ we discovered a wealth of relevant material for
the modern practitioner. Rather than relying exclusively on ritual, or
magical artefacts such as sigils, barbarous names or paraphernalia,
Pelagius reveals a theurgic path which pivots on the practitioner’s
entire way of life. Its goal is a gradual attunement, an increasing
assimilation between the mind of the practitioner and the mind of the
angel. The practice culminates in a sequence of ritual acts –
however, these are to be continued over long periods of time,
accompanying and affirming a lifestyle which is marked by
abstinence, seclusion, integrity, honesty, humility, and benevolence.

From a historical perspective, the magic portrayed in this manuscript

is deemed to form a bridge between ancient paganism and the
theology of Christ.

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black abbot · white magic

Pelagius Eremita · two books (1480)

Ritual summary

phase

task

Preparation

An initial preparatory phase of purity and abstinence is conducted,

particularly from alcohol, sex, and any form of excess.

Preparation

Several ritual objects are prepared; in particular three wax candles, a

hand-written note, a consecrated wax tablet, a ritual incense of
myrrh and a vessel of holy water as well as an aspergillum to
sprinkle it with.
Preparation

The ritual chamber is cleaned and prepared, including a simple bed,

a table and a crucifix.

Opening

Then, on the evening of the operation and during a positive

astrological constellation of the good angel’s planet and house, the
practitioner enters the ritual chamber.

Opening

The practitioner cleanses the chamber with holy water and the
burning of pure myrrh.

Devotion

Kneeling in front of the cross, the initial prayer is intoned (or sung)
until the practitioner’s heart has become inflamed: Come Holy Spirit,
Lord God.

Confession

Once inflamed, the practitioner makes a confession so as to purify

themselves before the divine.

Invocation

Synchronising inner (visionary) and outer (ritual) movement, the

practitioner is to rise before the table with the crucifix, and when
standing should speak the prayer that calls for communion with their
good angel.

Conclusion

Returning to kneel before the table, the practitioner concludes with

the Lord’s Prayer, the Ave Maria, and several short invocations.
Banishing

Sprinkling holy water at the centre of the operation as well as facing

the four quarters in sequence, the practitioner speaks the related
exorcisms to banish all evil spirits from the chamber.

Dream Kneeling in front of the bed the practitioner once again turns
to their angel with a incubation

prayer, then inscribes his demand onto the wax tablet and places it
beneath his pillow.

Dream Laying down in bed, a series of blessings are performed over

one’s own body, before the incubation

visitation of the good angel and the revelation of the truth to the
question in dreams.

Continuation

Upon awakening, the practitioner speaks a short prayer confirming

his intention to continue the ritual going forward: O Jesus Christ, may
your holy angel reveal to me the truth.

While still reliant on the planetary angels, the central idea of the
good angel is that of a personal guardian spirit, mediating between
the practitioner and the divine forces of the Holy Trinity. By
assimilating themselves to the purity of the good angel the
practitioner transforms themselves into a mediator of divine forces.

The magical act of integrating two minds into one – a human and an
angelic one

– forms the theological foundation for all subsequent acts of magic. It

is not the magician themselves who affects change or divines
secrets about the future, it is the angelic body and mind they have
attuned themselves to. This premise forms the foundation for the
demonological vision and magical writings of Trithemius and many
subsequent practitioners.25

The mind of a man which has been illuminated is able, without

impediment, to strike familiarity with, and to ascertain, marvels.26

I have learned these things neither from man nor through man, but
through a revelation.27

Whatever in the world is knowable, I always desired to know.28

25 Brann: 45.

26 Trithemius, Brann: 117.

27 Trithemius, Brann: 101.

28 Trithemius, Brann: 93.

72

libanius Gallus & Pelagius Eremita

The Tablet of Truth

Magistri Pelagii Eremitæ in insula Majoricarum circulus seu tabula

veritatis proscribente eam discipulo suo magistro Libano Gallo
Cod.mag.25 (Leipzig University)

73

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

[2r]

I commence writing on the blessed,

highly sacred and divine science, magic.

A letter of the master Libanius Gallus,

a man most experienced in magical things,

to one of his disciplines,

De Circulo Veritatis

hen I was with you at your wonderful residence, my friend, we had

good conversations on various ¦ topics and insights, of a natural

[2v]

as well as a spiritual nature, which was how we briefly touched, just

as we Wwere forced to part again, on the Circle of the Truth, from
which we can gain insight into the absolute truth, without any
question or doubt remaining, as long as we keep to the procedure
and rules which are necessary in its application.

After I had shown its method and principle of operation to Your

Benevolence and Magnificence, you asked me urgently, as you did
not trust your own memory, to explain, as soon as time permitted,
the whole concept of the experiment to you in writing. And as I have
received many honours from Your Most Famous Lordship and was
presented with many precious gifts, I have, of my own free will and
with the greatest pleasure, ¦ summarised everything I know for Your
Magnif-

[3r]

icence and not left out anything which, according to my estimate, you
will find useful. Because of all the men who dwell on earth in these
days, you are the only one who seems to me worthy, due to your
broad education, the predisposition of your natural gifts as well as
your natural privilege, for me to ungrudgingly share all the secrets of
magic – which means the natural as well as the spiritual and which
consist in the science of coercing spirits – all those which I have
learned over many years, with the greatest trouble and effort and at
the expense of my complete pater-nal inheritance which was more
than 6000 ducats.

75

After almost 30 years of education in the liberal arts I have learned

every kind of magic in the world – not only almost everywhere in
Europe, but also on remote

[3v]

islands, in Africa, and with other barbarian nations – through many

perils, with much effort and cost, with the highest expenditure; and
yet it was barely possible to penetrate to the core of this great and
holy mystery, which has been cloaked in riddles by the ancient
philosophers. Lo, how often did I think in desperation, after
tremendous exertions, travels, dangers and efforts towards the
completion of this research and my endeavour, to cease all studies
of magic, as I could not find a perfected master in this regard.

Yet, I don’t know under which stars’ influences it was – even though I
thought of my studies as foolish and believed I had to give up without
success what I had once committed to and yet which had now
become too complicated – when I remained unable either to attain
the desired mysteries of magic nor to turn to any other studies, as
honourable as they might be. When finally, with the help of God, I
ended up on a ship to the island of Majorca and my reputation began
to spread,

[4r]

I heard that in the wilderness, not ¦ far from the shore, there lived an
old man by the name of Pelagius who for almost 50 years had led
the life of a hermit. Rumour had it that he abstained from wine and
meat, and nourished his body only from leguminous plants, bread,
salt and water. People related strange things about him, the like of
which I had never heard in my life before, until, it seemed, he had set
the entire island in awe.
Once I had made my way to him and realised that his education in
both kinds of magic was perfected, I began to implore him to take me
as his student. He agreed and said amiably: ‘Congratulations,
Libanius, on seeking me out as a teacher, led by a prescient spirit.
For I hope I can soon turn you into the master of all Christian
magicians who currently live in this world, as I see you are well
suited to my teachings, not only because of your willpower but also
because of your natural worthiness. So do not doubt me, Libanius,
for the light of your sublime natural

[4v]

worth ¦ – I see that above all the people I know you are particularly
gifted in this –

it moves me to not conceal anything from you of what I have learned

about both kinds of magic over many years.’

So I stayed almost sixteen successive months with this hermit,

without leaving his side by night or day, and saw many wondrous
things, which you also beheld in part when I stayed with you. With
this highly educated man as a teacher I achieved almost everything
that I know of the two kinds of magic, and no one could convince me
that another man exists in this world who could judge, speak 76

libanius gallus & Pelagius Eremita

and teach more elaborately, precisely and effectively than my

master, the hermit Pelagius: on nature, the species and their
variations, on duties, names and places, on classes, rulers and titles,
on exorcisms, conjugations and coercions, on assign-ments,
prescriptions, service and obedience, on characters and sigils, on
good and evil, on alacrity and idleness, on ¦ dangers and
precautions, on commitments and

[5r]
freedom, on everything else, as well as on the characteristics and
differences of spirits and demons.

It was with Pelagius that I first realised how much in vain I had
struggled in [the art of] magic without a teacher, because in short it is
impossible to understand it without a teacher. For the one who
subjects themselves as a Novice to the instructions of magic, it is
imperative to acquire a kind of natural dignity, which elevates them,
so that they may force spirits of any kind to obey. My teacher was
radiant by means of a threefold virtue: that is of nature [ natura], of
merit [ meritum] and of art [ ars]. That is why he bound all spirits
which he desired at will and with perfect control. He did not make
them appear, like others, standing in a circle with exorcisms and
protective conjurations, but anywhere and at any moment in time,
with a single command he called them forth. ¦ Also in natural magic,
from what I can

[5v]

see, he had surpassed all the philosophers of the past. Because

whosoever achieves control over the spirits has realised all the
secrets of nature to the fullest. Pelagius, my dear friend, has
instructed me in detail on the method of the Tablet of Truth which I
have explained in situ and in speech, for your benevolence, as you
are worthy by nature and [as you] have moved towards the art
through merit, under the premise (as you have promised to me) that
you will not reveal my secrets, together with the other things I have
entrusted to you, to any human ever. Which is why the greatest
secret of this experiment is to know the cause [ causa] as well as the
active agent [ ratio movens], in the ¦ knowledge thereof no wrong can
ever lie.

[6r]

To fulfil your request, dearest host, I send you this booklet which was
written by the hand of my master. As you will see, it contains,
besides many other experiments, the Circle or Tablet of Truth. This
you must not pass on to any other person, unless you have written it
down in your own hand. Because soon I will come to you and will
give away and share with you, as promised, my books which have
been long with me unpublished. Meanwhile stay lively and remember
me to God. From the city of Treves, the 6th of April 1499, written in
my own hand and in the honour of ALMIEL.

the tablet of truth

77

[6v]

The Work of Almiel

The Tablet of Truth

ORIENS

‫ הוהי‬π

ΣΧ

ΡΙ

Veritas aeterna

‫ אלגא‬π

M
IO

IE

‫ והי‬π

‫ה‬

‫ה‬

‫הו‬

SU
‫י‬

ׁ ‫ַש‬

ostende Veritatem

‫ַּ ד‬

‫י‬

‫יהוה‬πΣΟΤΑ

SNEDICCO

By Master Pelagius, hermit in the realm of Majorca, under the office

and direction of the holy angel ALMIEL, who reveals the truth in
dubious and ambiguous matters. (Almiel is a peaceful angel and
friend of life, who abhors the shedding of blood).

78
libanius gallus & Pelagius Eremita

In the name of Almiel

[7r]

The composition of the Tablet of Truth by Master Pelagius Eremita in

the realm of Majorca to his disciple Libanius Gallus

I pass on to you, Libanius, the experiment of the Tablet of Truth, by

means of which we can realise the truth and which will never deceive
us. Through it[s help]

you can find the correct answer to any ambiguous question, as long
as you obey the rules, which I will explain at the end. Craft a tablet
from any kind of wood (though ¦ oak would be best), during the day
and hour of e, when it is not retro-

[7v]

grade but direct, and draw upon it everything which is drawn and
given here. The execution of the circle with its crosses and
inscriptions, which are given here, shall be done on the reverse side
of the tablet. Beneath the middle of the large cross

[you shall carve] a round or rectangular hole which, after its blessing,
can be sealed with wood and bitumen: within it, as I have mentioned,
a splinter of the holy cross or an Agnus Dei blessed by the Pope can
be kept, in order to exorcise the evil deceitfulness of spirits, who are
always envious of the efforts of the good [spirits] and thus aim to put
obstacles in their way.

You shall know, Libanius, that the creators of this experiment are not
evil angels, the enemies, opponents and persecutors of the truth, but
that through good angels [this experiment] follows the spirit which is
inside of us, which partakes of the divine and which is equipped with
power and ¦ spiritual piety. So that the
[8r]

truth- loving spirit who assists us may not be obstructed by evil

spirits, I will reveal to you how the tablet is to be blessed through the
service of a priest of devout faith.

On the benediction and consecration of the Tablet of Truth If you

wish to consecrate the tablet, seek out a good, chaste, pious and
faithful priest, who will hold the Mass of the Holy Spirit with contrition
and confession.

The tablet is placed under the altar stone, so that none but you know
of it, but do not put it between the altar and the lectern, because that
would be a great sacrilege. The first Collecta, Secreta and
Complenda of this Mass are as follows: the tablet of truth

79

Collecta

[8v]

Almighty, eternal God, who, with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, as
your ¦ only begotten Son had promised, with friendly kindness has
brought the truth into the hearts of the faithful, hear us graciously
and grant us that in the same spirit we shall seek the truth in all
matters and [ that we shall] find it, through the request to bless this
tablet, with the support of your holy angel always and everywhere,
through the same one, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives inside of you
and rules as one with the Holy Spirit for all eternity. Amen.

Secreta

Receive, holy Father, almighty, eternal God, the sacrifice of our

praise, which we offer to your greatness in the holy heights, piously
praying that through the apparition of the Holy Spirit you may
cleanse our hearts and our work, which is prepared for the
exploration of the truth, which you may bless and sanctify through
our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives with you and rules in eternity
together with the Holy Spirit as God in all eternity.

Amen.

Complenda

[9r]

We have received the heavenly food, the fresh gifts of the Holy
Spirit; allow us, as we believe in the teacher of truth, to find the truth
through our Lord Jesus Christ, always and everywhere, with his
support in all our purposes, etc.

Nobody is allowed to attend this Mass except for yourself and the
conducting priest (if it is possible); stil , faithful companions may not
be excluded, as long as they have reverence for this act, are quiet,
and do not disdain it. Because derision, contempt and abasement on
the part of the companions provokes disapproval of the spirits, the
good as well as the evil ones, and obstructs the effect of the
operation. Also pay attention that the priest who shall bless the tablet
is righteous and faithful and no mocker. He has to have firm intent to
sanctify the tablet, and not a

[9v]

pretended or feigned one ¦ and neither may he be driven by a

promised incentive, nor by fear, nor simply by the reverent desire to
please you; yet he shall match you in terms of faith and confidence
and hold the deepest intent to complete the assigned consecration.
Because if he does not share a firm intent with you, but in 80

libanius gallus & Pelagius Eremita

his heart is a mocker of your work, his consecration – even if he

performed what you have assigned to him, to please you, and even if
he lied while doing so and confirmed he held faith and felt like you –
will be void, despite him having said all the words which must be
said.

(Faith and intent are required for all magical and mystical things, and
especially for the mysteries [ coenae, i.e. literally ‘supper’ as in the
sacraments]).

Just as the one who speaks the words of consecration at the altar
does not accomplish the transubstantiation into the flesh and blood
of the Lord, if in his heart he is faithless, mocks the holy mysteries
and has no intent to conduct the sanctification, so one has to select
a knowledgeable and faithful priest, who shares the same intent and
faith as yourself. Only consecration by such a priest has an effect
and possesses the power to create miracles. At the end of the Mass
the tablet shall be placed on the ¦ altar, so that the priest, still
dressed in his holy regalia, may

[10r]

sanctify it in the following way. He shall (as mentioned) most of all

have a firm intent to conduct the consecration, and say on bended
knee in front of the altar: Antiphonia

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, etc.

Versiculus

Send your Spirit, Lord, and they will create and you will renew the
world. The Lord be with you, and with your mind.

Oremus

O God, who has educated the hearts of the faithful through the
apparition of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same spirit the right to
know and to always take delight in its solace, so that we may be
worthy to always find the truth in all matters and questions through
the effect of this tablet. Lord, we ask you, arrive on a favourable
breeze and stand helpfully by our work, and may this our ¦ work
always begin with you, and, as

[10v]

soon as it was begun with and within you, may it also end in your
Spirit, who alone is the truth. We ask you, Lord, offer us the hand of
heavenly aid, so that we may achieve the consecration of this tablet
for the revelation of the truth we seek, through the help of the Lord
Jesus Christ, etc. Our Father, etc. Ave Maria etc. I believe in God
etc. Salve the tablet of truth

81

Jesu Christi etc. including [ Versiculum] and [ Collecta] . Lord, protect

your servants, who trust in the aid of peace and the protection of our
Lord Jesus Christ, let us always return safely from our enemies and
grant us success in identifying the truth through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Amen.

After that the priest, kneeling on the ground, reads the seven
Penitential Psalms

[according to the Vulgate these are Psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129
and 142], including the litany, and when he comes to the words: For
it may please you to pour the mercy

[11r]

of the ¦ Holy Spirit into our hearts, he shall add: For it may please
you, to bless and sanctify this tablet, which was created in service of
the truth, we ask you to hear us.

Once the reading of the litany is concluded, the priest shall rise, walk
up to the altar with two burning wax-candles and read the following
blessing with the strongest intention:

First Prayer
To the Father

Lord, holy, almighty Father, eternal God, who created all things from
nothing and lead them into being, who planted the tree of life at the
beginning of the world in the midst of paradise, who saved your
servant Noah and his wife and children from the flood, so they might
not drown with the others, who mercifully protected mankind from the
doom of

[11v]

eternal death through your only begotten Son, who hung π on the
cross. To you we pray that you pur π ify, bless π and sanc π tify this
tablet, which has been prepared by the hand of its creator to reveal
the truth in ambiguous matters, with your benign grace, so that it
may be made fit and consecrated to fulfil the service of truth to the
benefit of your servant N. May your Holy Spirit send a sign upon his
request and [ may] you, Father, grant that the truth may be revealed
without bias. We ask you to have mercy, [ and] to assure N. through
our Lord Jesus Christ about everything he desires to know from you,
Father, at any time, at any place, in all activities and in all uncertain
matters, for himself as well as for others, under service and guidance
of his holy angel, into whose trust and

[12r]

aid you have committed him ¦ from his conception in the womb of his
mother. Amen.

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libanius gallus & Pelagius Eremita

Second Prayer

To the Son
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, only begotten Son of the
Father, God and Man, born by God the Father without a mother, both
eternal and alike to God the Creator in might and splendour in all
respects, born of a virgin mother without a father, earthly and sacred,
without sacrilege, without guilt, without sin, you who have saved all
of mankind who, deceived by the devil, had strayed and digressed,
blind and unknowing in the knowledge of truth, and was led back
through the knowledge of the Gospel to the highest knowledge of
truth, [ you have saved all of mankind] through your sympathy,
innocently and justly through your bitter death on the wood of the
cross: Hear our prayers and pur π ify, bless π and sanc π tify this
tablet and its inscriptions with your virtue, which you gained from the
sacrifice of your holy ¦ body and blood, for your power

[12v]

will sanctify and bless it for the revelation of truth, with your good and
holy angel, who you have assigned to your servant N. as a guardian.
Thus upon your command, Lord, may the truth guide us, under the
supervision of your visitation [i.e. the angel], onto the righteous path
to the prayers of the petitioner, and it may show to this your servant
N.

in all ambiguous matters and questions that occur, always and

everywhere, the unbiased truth. Redeemer of the world, who lives
and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit in all eternity. Amen.

Third Prayer

To the Holy Spirit

Life-giver and sanctifier of all living things, merciful God, Holy Spirit,
who emanates from Father ¦ and Son without beginning and end;
together with them you are God, one

[13r]
is the Lord, in glory, might and power all alike to the Father and the
Son, and equally eternal, in whose mercy all things exist in heaven
and on earth. To you, merciful Spirit, we pray devotedly; yes, you,
incomprehensible good, we worship: Hear our prayers, which we
pour out fearfully in the face of the Church and in your holy name,
pur π ify, bless π and sanc π tify this tablet and its inscriptions, so
upon the order of the Holy Spirit the unbiased truth is revealed to the
service of your holy angel, who has been assigned as a guardian by
your command, in all moments of doubt, and in all questions that
arise, for oneself or others, in all places and at all times, under the
conjuration of the tablet of truth

83

your name. Life-giver and acknowledger of all good deeds, God,

Holy Spirit, who lives

[13v]

and reigns with ¦ God the Father and the Son as one God in eternity.
Amen.

Fourth Prayer

To the Trinity of the Holy Spirit

O Holy Trinity! Inseparable Unity! Eternal Glory! Adorable Godhead!

Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sole God, beginning, ground and origin
of all things. Incomprehensible One, unchangeable One, highest and
only Good, sole and perfected sufficiency, which does not lack for
anything. Draw us towards you, eternal Glory, purify us, enlighten us,
fulfil us, support us, so we may recognise and love you, rest within
you and not think of anything but you. Hear our prayers, even though
we are entirely unworthy and miserable sinners, as we are creatures
inaccessible to your mercy. We believe in you, we worship you, we
pray to you, our Creator and Lord. Briefly turn, you who are
unmoving, with
[14r]

a swift motion ¦ towards our entreaties, as we are your servant,

hallowed in the service of your holy Church, pur π ify, bless π and
sanc π tify this tablet with its inscriptions in your Holy Name, in
honour of your truth and in service of your servant N., who asks that
it [the tablet], following its supracelestial anointing, may be of good
service in finding the distinct truth in every question and not to
experience any deception through falseness. We ask you, Lord and
God – ineffable Glory through your unchangeable Being – that you
may turn your Holy Angel, the good spirit, who you have assigned to
your servant N. as his faithful guardian, into the quickener,
companion, keeper and guide of the actions of this tablet, so the
truth may be found through it, and in all ambiguous matters and in all
questions occurring he [the angel], in accordance with the conju-

[14v]

ration of your Name, may move the thread and ¦ the needle with the
bread so that the truth may reveal itself without bias. Who lives and
reigns as threefold God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in all eternity.
Amen.

Fifth Prayer

To the Guardian Angel

Holy Angel, who guards the soul of this servant of God and
safeguards it on every path, best companion through God, the
Almighty Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit of the Holy Church, we
assign you and entrust you to hallow this tablet with its inscriptions,
84

libanius gallus & Pelagius Eremita

after it has been blessed by God, through your might, and [ that you
will] guard it and dwell in it with your supercelestial power; [ and] that
whenever this servant of God N.
desires to know the truth in [ regard to] any occurring doubts and
questions, after the conjuration of the Holy Spirit, you will guide this
thread and bread ¦ – in service of

[15r]

the showing of the truth and without delay and without hesitation and
without any falsification – in a straight and steady direction, as he
commanded, and [ we assign and entrust] that when you are
summoned by the highest truth, in which you are grounded and safe
in auspicious ways, you will show the one who seeks the truth in all
ambiguous matters the truth and you will assist him in his question
always with benevolence and favour! By our Lord Jesus Christ, the
only Son of God, who lives and reigns with God the Father in union
with the Holy Spirit, God for all eternity. Amen.

As part of the magical and angelic work [of ALMIEL] for the
exploration of the truth one also has to speak a prayer to the angel of
the respective day on which the operation is conducted.

Spirit of this day, coax and guide N. [name of the angel of the day],
stand by my side

[15v]

with your might and fulfil my prayer in the name of the Creator, and
reveal to me in all things the truth about my questions through Christ,
our Lord. Amen.

Once the prayers have been completed, the consecrating person

shall carefully wash the tablet’s surface with the last ablution of wine
which has been mixed with rosewater in its chalice, and while they
wash it, they shall say three times: May our Lord Jesus Christ wash
you through his blood and free you of any stain and any share in
falsity. May he make you, Tablet, pure and holy in the service of
truth.
Once the tablet has been washed and dried with a clean linen cloth,
it shall receive a splinter of the holy cross, or if not from the wood of
the cross ¦ he shall take

[16r]

an Agnus Dei, as they are blessed by the Pope in Rome. Then, in

highest awe, he shall encase it in the hole on the reverse side of the
tablet and seal up the hole itself most carefully. Once the hole has
been closed and the tablet turned over again, he shall say: With the
power and authority of the Almighty God, of the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, I banish you, lying demons, all of you and each one of
you, from daring to approach this tablet in order to deceive the
operator through it or to hinder the investigations of the operators, [ I
banish you] under [ threat of ] exile, excommunication and
punishment of eternal damnation, which I have firmly blessed and
sanctified in these writings as an official servant of the Church of
God.

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Once the tablet has been turned over again, the priest shall wash his
hands; then

[16v]

he shall wet his thumbs with anointing oil and coat the two outer ¦
circles and the space in between as well as the large cross which
goes through the middle of the circle. He shall also coat the four
crosses located at the endpoints [of the larger cross] with anointing
oil and say three times: May God the Almighty anoint you, Tablet.
And with his authority I anoint and sanctify you with holy oil for your
service, tablet and tool of truth, in the name of the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Once the blessing and anointing is concluded, he shall speak the
following prayer on bended knees:

Almighty, eternal God, who alone is wise, who alone is all-knowing.

Nothing can remain hidden from you and so you know of the
blessing, hallowing and application of this tablet for the service of
your servant N., which we have accepted and conducted upon his
plea – not to disregard or degrade your Holy Church, not to deride
your

[17r]

holy sacraments, ¦ not to try you, Lord, our God, not to challenge
your judgement, not to explore the secrets of your ineffable
splendour, but in honour of your adorable and praiseworthy name, as
you alone are the path, truth and life of all mankind and [ of all]

angels – so that it may find upon your command and under the
guidance of your Holy Spirit, through the help of the angels, the
unambiguous truth to any doubt and to each question. Thus we
implore you, Lord, our God, in the name of your ineffable mercy, that
you may appoint a good and holy spirit from your entourage or even
the guardian of this servant N., the keeper of his soul ALMIEL, or
another [ angel] who pleases you, faithful, truthful, and benevolent to
the operation of this tablet as the warden and quickener

[17v]

and [ that you may grant] it the power, might and rulership ¦ to always
and everywhere indicate the truth. [ We implore you], merciful God,
who alone is the unfathomable and eternal truth, that whenever your
servant N. demands to understand the truth in any kind of
ambiguous matter, and [ whenever he] requests the presence of the
spirit by calling upon your name, you may move this bread and
thread in a straight line through the help of your angel, and that you
will always and everywhere kindly reveal to him the soundest truth.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you, God, in all eternity. Amen.
After this cense both sides of the tablet (once the incense has been
blessed by the priest) with saffron, aloe wood, gum mastic,
frankincense and Easter wax, which

[18r]

have been blessed carefully, and speak thus while censing: ¦ We

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of sweet scent to you, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for the
perfected blessing of this tablet, and we implore devotedly, that you
may turn it into a worthy dwelling for the lover of the truth, for you live
and reign, God in all eternity. Amen.

As soon as this has been completed according to good custom, the

priest shall say: Our help exists in the name of the Lord, who has
created heaven and earth: and let my call reach you. The Lord is
with you! And with your spirit.

Prayer:

The blessing of God, of the almighty Father, of the Son and the Holy
Spirit shall come over this tablet, so it may remain sanctified forever.
Amen! ¦ Let us speak the blessing!

[18v]

Let us thank God, the Lord! May the souls of the faithful rest in
peace. Amen!

After that the tablet shall be sprinkled with holy water on both sides,
and after consecrated salt has been placed in the centre of the
cross, you should wrap it three times in a clean white cloth. Then, in
the manner of the cross, he is to put on both sides a thin long waxed
cord, which was consecrated at the feast of Candlemas
[ Purificatio Mariæ, i.e. the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin or
the Meeting of the Lord, 2nd of February, 40 days after Christmas],
so that no evil spirit can approach it. Then the priest should turn to
the operator, who in turn falls to his knees, and says:

Prayer:

Lord our God, Creator and Redeemer of mankind, who from the
beginning has formed man in ¦ your own image and in your own
likeness, have mercy on your servant N., who

[19r]

loves the truth and despises all falsity, and allow your Holy Spirit to
flow into his heart, so it may become a suitable home for heavenly
grace, so holy that through your bounty it may achieve rulership over
the spirits, in order to act upon this tablet through the agency of your
angel for the exploration of the truth. And thus we ask you to have
mercy, Lord, and that the angel, who is being called upon as the
ruler of this operation, may obey him without dispute and may show
him in all ambiguous things the truth of his questions! In the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen.

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87

After that the priest shall question the one for whom the tablet is
being sanctified

[19v]

as follows: ¦ Will you keep this tablet and its application secret all the
days of your life and not reveal it to any careless or unworthy
person? Will you use it in the honour of God? And not for profit? Nor
for indecency? Vanity? Arrogance or harm towards your neighbour?
Will you act in each operation with maturity? That is, you will not
perform the action out of recklessness, on a childish inclination, or as
a confused or insane soul?

Do you want to commit yourself under the vow of faith that you will
only use the tablet for your purpose if you have previously spoken on
bended knees three times the Lord’s Prayer and Ave Maria :|: :|: for
all the deceased who are in Purgatory and have no comfort except
the common prayers of the faithful?

And when he answers ‘yes’ to each question, the priest should say
to him: So

[20r]

pledge ¦ that you will live up to it. Then giveh him your hand and say:
I swear and vow, almighty God, that I will faithfully pay attention to it.
Then he should kneel and make confession ( Confiteor Deo etc.) and
after having received absolution, the priest should unite him with the
body of the Lord. Prior to that he should never-theless have made
confession in a pure form to either this or another priest. After the
Communicatio the priest should take the tablet (which, as explained
above, is wrapped in a white cloth) from the altar, stretch out both
hands holding it and say with great attention:

Under the authority of Almighty God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
as well as our collective Mother, the universal Church of faithful
Christians, we mediate, hand over and transfer to you, N., son of N.,
this Tablet of Truth, which has been sanctified and

[20v]

blessed by God ¦ in service of our humility, and with the power and
the charity of the union and love with which our Lord Jesus Christ,
when he hung upon the cross and was already close to death,
entrusted his beloved Mother, the Virgin Mary, to the chaste John,
and similarly we entrust you with the same authority and our priestly
power and apti-tude together with the rulership over the spirits, in
order to be successful through them in any kind of doubtful matter
concerning the exploration of the truth, in the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

After that you shall take a fresh needle, which never has been put to
use in any way.

The priest shall consecrate it in the following manner:

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Blessing of the needle

[21r]

LORD JESUS CHRIST! Son of the living God, redeemer of the

world, salvation of the faithful, Lord and liberator of the angels, Path,
Life, Truth. We ask you: answer our prayers with mercy, and sanctify
this needle with your heavenly blessing, so that it may be fit, blessed
and consecrated for the service of the truth in the hands of your
servant N., and that it may not absorb any evil spirit, as you live and
reign as God in all eternity.

Amen.

Hereupon he shall immerse the tip of the needle in a vessel with

blessed oil and speak: May God anoint you with the sacred oil, for
the work and in service of the truth!

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Then
you shall take a silk thread of yellow or ¦ white colour which has
never been used. The priest shall

[21v]

bless it thus:

Blessing of the thread

Lord Jesus Christ, mediator between God and man, true God, born
of a virgin, after you suffered and died you were resurrected,
ascended to heaven to the right of God, the Father, and poured the
Holy Spirit into the hearts of the faithful. Sanctify π and bless π

this thread, which has been prepared in the honour of your name, so
that your servant, supported by the mercy of your Spirit, may find the
truth in all ambiguous matters through it as well as through the
impulse of your holy angel; for you live and reign with the Father in
all eternity and with the same Holy Spirit as is in God in all eternity.

Amen.

Hereupon submerge the thread in holy water and then allow it to dry.
For this heavenly work you now need bread, and it has to be bread
from the supper ¦ of the

[22r]

Lord which has been blessed in public. In case you do not have
blessed bread from the Lord’s Supper to hand, the priest shall bless
bread in the following manner: Blessing of the bread

Lord, Holy Father! Almighty, eternal God, may you bless this π bread
with your holy, spiritual blessing, so that I may support your servant
in finding the truth for himself or any other person in any ambiguous
matter, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, your the tablet of truth

89

Son, the true bread, which descended from heaven and brought life
and salvation to the world, and who lives and reigns with you as God
in all eternity. Amen.

After that sprinkle the bread with holy water. Finally you shall take
the wax which

[22v]
has been blessed during the feast of Candlemas; also ¦ wax from the
Paschal Candle, frankincense and blessed salt shall be added. All of
this the priest shall mix in warm holy water so that it turns into a well
blended substance, and while mixing it he shall say often, or as often
as he can: May this mixture of blessed wax be perfected in the
service of the truth! In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.

Blessing of the substance

Finally, the priest is to make two equal-sized square pieces from the
mixed wax; as well as three pieces of the bread: two of equal size
and the third slightly larger so that it may stick [to the needle, as
explained further below]. Then he shall thread the needle and he
shall take measures that it might not slip out. Once he has
completed all of this, he shall hand over the wax together with the
bread, needle

[23r]

and the knotted thread ¦ and say: Receive the tools which have been
blessed and consecrated for the investigation of the truth; may the
good angel and the Spirit of the Lord always be with you as protector
and guardian and [ may they] reveal to you the truth to all questions
and doubts and [ may they] never permit that you may be deceived
on any question, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.

After it has been completed with due ceremony, you shall prostrate
yourself before the altar and the priest shall say over you: Most good
God: Look with mercy upon your servant N, who has submitted
himself to you in body and spirit, purify π, bless π and sanctify π him,
that he may receive forgiveness for his sins from you and [ so he

[23v]

shall] and be raised up to ¦ spiritual authority, [ so he shall] appear

worthy, fitting and well placed once your good and holy angel
encounters him after having been invoked, [ so that it] may support
him in all matters and protect him and may lead him with your help to
the complete truth, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in all eternity, together with the Holy
Spirit, God for all eternity. Amen.

Finally, the priest shall write on the bread and the wax with
encaustum [traditional purple red ink] the ineffable name of the Lord,
who is known to him, in Hebrew letters. For the bread to take on the
Tetragrammaton it must be hard and with a 90

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crust on its upper side. The layout and arrangement on the surface
[of the Tablet of Truth] is as follows: the smaller pieces of bread have
to be put on the crosses, one to the East, one to the West; but of the
wax [two pieces shall be put] one to the South and ¦ the other to the
North. The larger piece of bread, in which the

[24r]

needle is fastened with the thread, must be held for the investigation
of the truth above the centre of the cross, as I will explain later.

Here is a sketch of the layout:

ORIENS

‫הוהי‬

panis

‫ה‬

‫י‬

‫ה‬

‫ו‬
panis

IO

acus

acu filu ‫הו‬

‫הי‬

ce

‫ה‬

‫והי‬

‫הי‬

ra

‫הו‬

I
N

‫ ה‬ce ‫הי הו‬

‫הי‬

‫י‬

‫ו‬

‫ה‬

‫י‬

‫ה‬

nis

ap
‫יהוה‬

SNEDICCO

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91

[24v]

Once all of this has been conducted and completed, bring the tablet
wrapped in linen to your isolated and well protected chamber, where
nobody can enter except yourself, and place it in a secluded and
very clean place. Wait, keeping it secret for three days; under no
circumstances may you reveal it prior to that.

While the tablet with its paraphernalia remains secret for three days,
you shall listen to the Mass every day, whilst kneeling you shall
recite Our Lord, etc. and an equal number of Ave Marias etc. for the
souls of the faithful dead, who are being tortured in Purgatory and
who do not experience any particular support from their friends, but
only through the collective prayers of the faithful. The first Mass

[25r]

has to be celebrated for the ¦ invention of the Holy Cross, the second
for the angels, the third for the souls of all the faithful dead. During
each Mass you shall offer a silver coin. Also on this day you shall
offer food to a pauper at your table and give the coin, which you
have blessed during the Mass, to him. At the completion of the third
Mass, in the company of the priest you shall again kneel before the
altar whilst making confession, and the priest shall add after the
absolution: With the authority of the Almighty Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit and the entire Catholic Church, whose ( even though
unworthy) servant I am, I grant you competence, capability and
authority to explore the truth in any doubtful matter by use of this
tablet which I have blessed for you in service of the angels, and
through my voice I order and command with the same authority your
spirit ALMIEL, the overseer of this operation,

[25v]

to assist you whenever he is called upon, and to reveal to you the

truth ¦ always and everywhere, and not to allow you to be deceived
in any question, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.

Rules to be observed

As soon as this is completed, go to your chamber and follow these

rules, which you have to observe with utmost care, in order not to be
deceived: 1 Keep this tablet secret for all the days of your life (as you
promised the priest), do not reveal it to any human on the planet or
put it on display, and especially ensure that it is not touched by
anyone, or it will be profaned immediately.

2 Always keep it wrapped in linen and sealed with wax, just as it had
been handed over to you by the priest, well guarded in a secluded
and clean place; only open

[26r]

it to use it when necessary and ¦ afterwards seal it immediately

again.

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libanius gallus & Pelagius Eremita

3 Whenever you open the tablet in order to discover the truth with its
help, you must not allow anybody else to partake in it, but remain
alone in some secret place, as all good and evil spirits hate, avoid
and despise the tumult and gathering of many people.

4 For all the days of your life with extreme diligence you shall ensure
never to undertake the operation in the spirit of temptation: not for
trivial reasons, not for shameful purposes or unlawful acquisition, not
in public while others are present, not in rage and fury and not with a
wine-filled stomach, but on an [empty stomach?] you shall undertake
it and in good health and spirits, in honour of God and for honourable
private or public gain.

5 Never put this tablet to use for the kil ing of a human being, for
theft, robbery or any other crime by which the respective ¦ person
might be killed, for the

[26v]

spirit ALMIEL and his companions despise bloodshed amongst

humans.

6 Whenever you attempt to use it for a great and complicated matter,

prior to it you shall commune with the body of Christ, after you have
made confession of your sins in sincerity and sorrow to the priest. In
terms of smaller matters Communicatio and Confessio are not
necessary (even though it is always good when we perform them),
but it suffices to be mindful of the instructions given.

7 When you are posing a question concerning your own matters,

liberate yourself from an excess of involvement in your personal
desires and elevate your craving towards the perception of truth
beyond yourself. Should you not do this, but turn your desires to
other matters, you will easily be deceived.

8 Before you proceed with the operation, just as during the ¦ vow you
spoke in

[27r]

the presence of the blessing priest, kneel before touching or

revealing the tablet, recite the Lord’s Prayer three times and an
equal number of Ave Marias for the souls of the deceased who are
being tormented in purgatory.
9 When you perform the operation, face towards the eastern side of
the tablet where it says ‘Oriens,’ which is the direction of [equinoctial
east], where the sun rises on the day of St Gregory and St Lambert.
Because it is during Gregor and Lambertus’ day that the night is
equal [in length] to the day.

10 When performing, you should have a very strong intention in all

respects, and you shall speak all the words with the utmost attention
and a certain Pythagorean spirit – as you reduce the number three to
unity – with strong faith to achieve the effect, without hesitation,
without doubt; but still so that you do not act out of pride nor ¦ in the
expectation of accidental success, but in humil-

[27v]

ity out of trust in God.

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93

Additionally, you should take care not to attempt to inquire in pursuit

of the truth by means of this tablet, in cases when you are not in a
good mental state, if your head is not right, if you are not well
disposed, that is, in cases where you are sad, melancholic or
generally confused, when you are tired, lethargic, scowling, when
you have overly indulged in wine or food or are in disorder in any
other way, because under these circumstances you will not have
success in your work, but rather will experience illusion. You, dear
Libanius, have accomplished the work of the tablet in the service of
truth, through which, if you observe carefully what we have entrusted
to you, you will be able to know all things. You will not encounter a
question so difficult that you will not be able to immediately receive
the definite

[28r]
truth of it. Now, however, I want to explain to you sequentially the ¦
operation by which one produces results through the tablet.

The sequence and procedure for discovering the truth

in regard to any doubt or question by use of the blessed tablet.

In order to find the truth in any dubious matter or ambiguous

question for yourself or another, my dear Libanius, diligently follow
the instructions, and write your question or several of them –
however many you like – on a slip of paper, so you may not err, and
approach the tablet on your knees while reciting three Lord’s Prayers
as well as three Ave Marias, as explained earlier. Once the tablet
has been brought out, place it on the table which should be
orientated towards the East and,

[28v]

kneeling, speak the following: ¦ Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of
the faithful, etc.

Send your Spirit, Lord, and they will create and you will renew, etc.
Our help rests in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, from now and for all eternity. Lord,
hurry to my aid. Lord, hear my prayer and may my call reach you.
God, who taught the hearts of the believers through the appearance
of the Holy Ghost; grant me the right to know in the same spirit and
to find the truth in all my doubts and questions through our Lord
Jesus Christ, etc.

Then stretch out your whole body on the floor in front of the tablet
and make the following confession with all your heart and with a
repentant soul:

[29r]

I confess to you, almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the sole
indivisible Trinity, that I, an unworthy servant of your glory, a harmful
and unrighteous sinner, have strayed too far from the highest and
unchanging good, by following my carnal desires, 94

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that I plunged miserably into the abyss of sinners ( the shame of it),
pleading guilt in my thoughts, in pastimes, in speech, in judgment, in
intention and in my actions, through neglect and action have I sinned
against the intent of your instructions. Therefore, I am not worthy to
be heard by you, Lord, in all my prayers, for I have not kept your
words for all the days of my life. What I regret, Lord, my God, pains
me, and I will continue to suffer from it until my demise.

But as you are kind, ¦ gentle, and merciful, Lord, my God, I pray to
you by your

[29v]

inconceivable splendour, by your immortal glory. Yes, I pray to you

by our Lord JESUS

CHRIST, your only begotten Son, Holy Father, by the pain of his
wounds, by the shedding of his most holy blood, by the power of his
totally innocent death, and by the name of his Holy Spirit, of whom
he speaks to us in the Gospel, ‘ If you ask the Father in my name for
something, he will give unto you. ’ Show, sacred Father, the power
and truth of his words, for you are the truth, and have mercifully
taken away my sins: hear me, Lord, in the name of the same, your
only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom I pray, implore,
plead, ¦ and may it please you in that hour to send your Holy Angel
from Heav-

[30r]

en to me, so that he may correctly move thread and bread by your

power, revealing to me every time the most certain truth for all my
questions, without delay, without ambiguity and without deception.
Honour, Holy Father, your only begotten Son born of holy Mary.
Honour his faith, which he taught and in which I was formed and
taught. Honour the sacraments of His Holy Church, in whose faith
and trust I am initiated. Glory to His Holy Name, who brightens the
whole world, and command, Lord, your Holy Angel ALMIEL, to direct
this work in truth and to make the truth of the question which I ask of
you, Father, ¦

visible by moving the bread through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[30v]

God, be merciful to me, a sinner! [Luke 18:13] Hear me, O God, your
servant; show the truth to your servant Amen.

Then you should rise to your knees, with your face turned towards
the direction of the tablet [ Oriens æquinoctialis], and read the pslam:
God, have mercy upon me according to your mercy

Glory to the Father and the Son etc.

I believe in God etc.

Our Father

Ave Maria

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95

Lord, hear my prayer and may my call come to you! Lord Jesus
Christ! Wisdom of God the Father, power of the Holy Spirit, way of
salvation and truth, light that enlightens

[31r]

every man who truly believes in you, Alpha and Ὠ ; ¦ Beginning and
End, hear me, Lord, for I stand in the shadows of ignorance.
Enlighten me, guide me, vivify me, and teach me the truth about my
doubts and questions that I offer today to you, Lord, and to the
service of your holy angel, assure me of the truth to the specific
questions, as you live and reign for all eternity, amen.

Lord, Holy Spirit, benevolent comforter of the faithful, who has given
to your prophets the light of providence, who knows the future and all
doubtful things with the Father and the Son, I worship you, I call
upon you, I beg you with humble supplication to have mercy upon
me and show me through your holy angel, on this holy and sacred
tablet,

[31v]

the truth in regard to all my questions and doubts, ¦ as you live and
reign as God in all eternity, amen.

Hail, Queen of Mercy, our life, grace, hope, greetings, we call to you
from exile, to you we sigh wailing and moaning in this valley of tears!
O intercessor, turn your merciful eyes to us, and show us after this
exile the blessed fruit of your womb! O mild, O devout, O sweet
Mary! Ave Maria, full of grace!

Then rise from your knees and standing speak the following: Prayer
to the Angel

O Holy Angel, assigned to me from the highest as a guardian, I ask

that you suppress

[32r]

with your invisible presence the audacity of evil spirits, ¦ reduce their
powers to harm me, and give me the strength, to withstand their
false whisperings. I ask and implore you in the name of the One who
created you, and who fortified you through his goodness in glory,
who assigned you as a tireless companion and guardian unto me, as
you always look into the light of divinity and never, not for one
moment, are lost to his sight. I pray to you: pray for me, take care of
me, guide me so that, just as you always recognise and understand
the truth of the acts of God in the light of the truth, support me as a
benevolent guide and helper, and so move the bread hanging on the
thread in a way that will

[32v]

reveal to me the most certain truth ¦ t o all my doubts and questions

that I have submitted to your scrutiny. In the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

All the holy spirits who stand in the service of the praise of God the
almighty, for the benefit of the people and the power of our creator
and all his holy names, I ask you: be favourable to me in this
operation! As you, in the knowledge and love of the divine glory, 96

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can neither err nor deceive, nor be deceived, I humbly request your
most holy presence and support: let me, now and always, in this
operation through the holy ALMIEL, find the most certain truth to all
of my questions and doubts, every time, ¦ in the name of the

[33r]

Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

All the faithful souls of those who have died in Christ, who are
liberated from the pains of purgatory by the mercy of God and the
prayers of the Holy Church, and by the common prayers of the
faithful, and who [ have] become hallowed in glory: to you I pray and
plea for the mercy of the Creator! Stand by me through your
mediation and do not deceive me in this operation, so that I can find
the certain truth to all my doubts, in the name of the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When you have said all this, place the two smaller pieces of bread
on the crosses, one to the east, the other to the west, and the wax
pieces, one to the south, the other to the north, and place the ¦ larger
piece of bread, to which the needle is

[33v]

attached, in the middle of the circle on the cross and say: I conjure
you, creature of bread, blessed and sanctified in the name of the
Father π

and the Son π and the Holy Spirit π, by all the holy names of God,
by all the choirs of the angels, by the incarnation, birth, suffering,
death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; in the name of the
most sacred merits of his immaculate creator, the Virgin Mary, and all
his saints, and in the hope of salvation for faithful souls that exist in
the pains of purgatory: I entrust you, bread, with the authority of the
one who said ‘ I am the bread of life that descended from heaven, ’
that you submit to the influence of the good Spirit of God and my
prayers to God and quite truthfully reveal the truth to my question
without ¦ adulteration, in the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy

[34r]

Spirit. Amen.

O, Holy Spirit of GOD, good angel, my invisible guardian, ALMIEL, I

ask and call you, who always look upon the face of the Creator, I
pray to you with all the holy spirits of God, your fellow citizens in the
kingdom of heaven, with God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
as well as with the Blood of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, that you move
this bread with your great power, so that I may have knowledge of
my requests and operations, by your merciful aid, and the questions
and doubts that exist in my soul, with your work through GOD, I find
the most certain truth, in the name of the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit. Amen.

At the end of the prayer, add: You likewise (...). Now, kneel, clasp
your hands to-
[34v]

the tablet of truth

97

gether again and say those five holy words five times, as well as a
Lord’s Prayer and Ave Maria as I have told you, with the deepest
conviction. Again you must add: Come, Holy Spirit with Versiculo and
Collecta as above, and when you rise from the ground, take the
thread in your left hand, wrap it around your index finger and say: In
the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift the
thread with the bread a little above the cross and concentrating
speak: May this action be done in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, to discover the truth to the question or questions
presented. Amen.

[35r]

Lord JESUS CHRIST, eternal truth, through ¦ your death reveal to

me the truth, and when ( this or that) occurs, then this bread shall be
moved by the action of the Holy Angel, etc. towards the bread, if not,
then it shall be moved from wax to wax, in the name of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

JESUS, eternal truth, reveal the truth; with the most elevated intent it
shall be raised

[i.e. the bread to be set in motion]. O spirit N., principal and guide of
this operation, appointed by God, in whose name I ask you: Do not
allow me to be deceived, but show me the truth; when this will
happen, move the bread forcefully ( this way or that).

And such is the operation of the Tablet of Truth; once performed and
completed, it is capable of finding the truth to every doubt and to
every question, in all matters

[35v]
occurring in the present, past, and to come. ¦ Here are some notes to
be followed during the operation. If you follow all the rules carefully
and in the right way, you will see miracles that are undoubtedly true,
since the angel of the Lord will miraculously move the thread and
bread to show the most certain truth whenever you ask. However, in
addition to the ten prescribed rules, the following points must also be
noted and firmly remembered so that ignorance does not cause a
mistake.

1 Your hand must not tremble while holding the thread, and the
operation must not take place in even the lightest wind, nor may any
draught of air reach the thread; instead, it [i.e. the hand holding the
thread] should be supported by the other hand, if necessary.

2 Sometimes one has to change some of the inserted words, and

say one thing according to the nature of the doubts and questions, if
there are several doubts,

[36r]

and ¦ another, if there are one or a few.

3 Above all, care must be taken to ensure that there is no confusion

arising from the proliferation of questions, since two or three
questions suffice for one 98

libanius gallus & Pelagius Eremita

movement in a single pass, unless multiple questions are combined.

4 The place where the operation takes place should be secret, clean
and locked so that no creature obstructs you; there must be no kind
of noise, no one is allowed to knock on your door to be let in, no one
is to call for you; there must be no cat, no dog there, nothing that can
distract you.

5 As soon as you set to work, you should take holy water and
sprinkle your whole room and the tablet with it, censing it with aloe
wood, frankincense and saffron; then you should take a wax candle
which has been consecrated for the Purification of the Blessed Mary
[Candlemas], perpetual virgin, and light it so that it burns ¦
throughout your operation.
[36v]

6 If the rite is performed by a priest, then he should use the

consecrated stole during the process, because of the authority of the
Church, which has great power and which is very helpful to the
performer in this and similar actions.

7 There is no better or more effective place to use this Tablet of Truth

than a consecrated altar if you have one in your chamber, or in a
secret and hidden homestead without anyone seeing you.

8 If, out of a great need, you want to draw someone to attend the
operation of truths, (call your concubine and kiss her three times
from the deepest desire of your heart, but beware not to do anything
with her in this place, even though the longing for your desire may
glow inside you, and keep your distance from your beloved dear
lady, but after the action you can bring your yearning ¦ to the

[37r]

desired end, according to the longing of your flesh, and fulfil it

according to the wishes of your beloved as well as your desire) even
if it is not easy to arrange, you should keep an eye on the following
[instructions] before you let them in: You should secretly read your
prayers, which are necessary for the operation, perform the
sprinkling with holy water and the burning of the incense, light the
candle, and then if necessary let them in, but in such a way that they
are not a scoffer with a frivolous, malicious or haughty heart, since
the dignity of companions is useful in every work, while unworthiness
harms.

9 Whenever you see that the mind is sluggish and reluctant to

indicate the truth with the movement of thread and bread, pause the
operation until another time, since the timing is not favourable.

10 Whenever it [the spirit] is hasty and ¦ changeable with the

indication [of the
[37v]

direction of movement], be careful not to bother him with reckless

and useless questions; otherwise, the good spirit will retire insulted,
and a wicked one will come, deceive you with its lies, and weaken
the tablet by its presence.

the tablet of truth

99

11 The best time to unveil the truth is in the morning: sober and on
an empty stomach, and after prayers have been spoken and the
Mass has been heard. For when a man is full of food and drink, the
good spirits despise him.

12 Whenever the matter to which the question relates is very difficult,

you shall secretly confess your sins to your priest (as I have already
explained in Rule 6) and receive from him the body and blood of the
Lord, so that you are pure in your being, since the good spirits then
gladly follow the one who calls them; but if you have less difficult
questions, you can do it the way you want. There are many ignorant
and curious people who can only produce a copy of this

[38r]

operation by devising for the bread, the wax, ¦ or even coals, any
small incantations of their secret questions in order to inquire of this
tablet. The majority of them are still wrong. For the demons, who try
to imitate the actions of the good spirits in the manner of monkeys,
are fond of deception in these principles. Where else does this
misguided way of working by fools come from, if not because
somebody was admitted to watch the true operation, and although
they did not know its manner, they still wanted to imitate it, and
devised wrong things.

13 Once the operation for your questions is completed, you should

give the good spirit, the agent of the work, the following permission
in order to dismiss it: How to release the spirit after the operation of
the truth.

[38v]

After completing your investigation of the truth in every point, once

you intend to end it and to put the tablet back in its place, kneel, and
bring your hands together in front of the tablet or the altar while
facing west, and pronounce this thanksgiv-ing:

I thank you, highest Majesty, GOD, Creator and Redeemer of the

human race, for all the favours which you have allowed me, such an
unworthy sinner, to understand by your grace, and who sent your
holy angel from heaven, who supported my action favourably with
your strength and who revealed the truth, as I trust you, through our
Lord Christ.

Amen.

And also you, good spirit, holy angel ALMIEL, who faithfully assisted
me in this

[39r]

operation, was sent by God and revealed the truth to my questions

and doubts ¦ through your presence: you shall be honoured by me,
blessed by God, praised and glorified in God for honouring and
supporting me with your service. Therefore, with the request and 100

libanius gallus & Pelagius Eremita

obligation to return to me, as often as I desire, [ I give you] license to

withdraw and retire in peace, in the name of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit. Amen.

After you have removed the bread and wax and put the other things
one by one in a prepared place, wrap the tablet in its clean cloth and
store it, bound around in the manner of a cross and blessed, as
[explained] above, in its allocated purified, secret and locked place.
Remove it in this manner and do not touch it without its cover unless
you want to use it.

Final part of the hermit monk Pelagius, in which he invites Libanius

to give oath and testimony to reveal this work to no-one: Already
you, Libanius, have finished and completed the work of the Tablet of

[39v]

Truth, with which (as I have said) you can find and recognise the
certain truth to all questions and doubts, as long as you pay close
attention to the guidelines I have given you verbally and in writing.
But I beseech you, let you swear and testify, I assign and instruct
you by your own salvation, by the judgment of God feared by every
human soul, that you always treat this work of truth with the utmost
care and that you never show it to a person who is unlike us, for any
cause, prize, or reward, or that you reveal it due to bonds of
friendship or attachment. And if on any occasion it is necessary that
you must disclose to someone, even the smallest details of the
operation to effect truth by means of the tablet, you may not give
away the procedure of the operation: because many reasons exist
why it is not helpful for this operation to reach the ears of many
people. So keep secret what you know must be kept hidden.

End of the manuscript.

the tablet of truth

101

Analysis of the Tablet of Truth

he complete title of the manuscript is given as Magistri Pelagii

Eremitae in insula Majoricarum circulus seu tabula veritatis
proscribente T eam discipulo suo magistro Libano Gallo. As part of
the grimoire collection of Leipzig University (Cod.mag.25), the
current manuscript is generally dated to 1710 or earlier. According to
the text itself, however, it was written on the 6th of April 1499. In
contrast to most other magical manuscripts in the grimoire collection
its Latin text has not been translated into German. Another,
significantly older, manuscript is held in the French National Library
(BnF Latin 7869). Here the text is titled Compositio tabulae veritatis:
authore Magistro Pelagio, Eremita and it is dated to the 16th century.

In both versions the manuscript is presented in the form of a letter by

Libanius Gallus to his former host. In seeming recourse to a
conversation Gallus and his host had before the departure of the
former, Gallus offers the secret instructions which he in turn had
received from his teacher, the Majorcan hermit Pelagius.

Such a literary setting enables Gallus to begin his letter with an

introduction to his own magical biography, the considerable length
he went to acquire his magical knowledge, as well as an exposition
on the singularity and nobility of his teacher Pelagius. It is mentioned
that in its original form the manuscript was part of a broader
collection of magical experiments which Gallus had received from
Pelagius and passed on to his former host (f.6v).

While we do not have conclusive evidence, we can deduce that the

intended recipient of Gallus’ letter was none other than Johannes
Trithemius.1 As mentioned earlier, none of his other contemporaries,
except for Trithemius himself, mention the mysterious Libanius
Gallus and his even more reclusive teacher, the Majorcan hermit
Pelagius. Trithemius, however, had pointed out the significant
influence of 1 See also Arnold (1975): 251; or Kuper: 94.

102

Gallus on his own work and explicitly called him one of his most
important teachers.2 As we shall see in a later chapter, Trithemius
gave explicit testament of Gallus’

visit to his abbey in Sponheim ‘during the time when the Roman King
Maximilian I convened his assembly of sovereigns at Worms.’3 The
specific reference to the Diet of Worms allows us to locate Gallus’
visit at Sponheim to the spring or summer of 1495. We possess
another letter of Gallus’ to a seemingly anonymous recipient from
June 1496, in which he provides an overview of the works of
Pelagius. The current manuscript from spring 1499 would have
followed three years later, and Gallus at the end of his introduction
comments that he is already in the city of Treves and ‘soon I will
come to you and will give away and share with you, as promised, my
books which have been long with me unpublished’ (f.6r). The ancient
city of Treves in the West of Germany is located so close to the
abbey of Sponheim, that the connection to the famous residence of
the black abbot would have been striking, if not obvious, for
contemporary readers.

As we will see in the second part of this book, the year 1499 marked
a critical turning point in the life of Trithemius himself, the first
announcement of his mas-terwork, the Steganographia:

Until 1499 Trithemius’ reputation rested primarily on his monastic,

mystical and humanist writings. Then, in that year, his magical
notoriety burst onto the historical stage like a lightning bolt, signaled
by a 1499 letter to a Carmelite friend, Arnold Bostius (1445–1499),
announcing the birth of the art of ste-ganography, a form of
cryptography ostensibly invoking angels for the conveyance of secret
messages. Far from having himself invented the art therein
described, Trithemius assured Bostius, he had been instructed in its
principles through a divine revelation.4

The Composition of the Tablet of Truth

Following Libanius’ introduction, the text is titled ‘The Work of

ALMIEL. The Tablet of Truth. By Master Pelagius, hermit in the realm
of Majorca under the office and direction of the holy angel ALMIEL.
Who reveals the truth in dubious and ambiguous matters.’ After the
title page the text immediately begins with the 2 Schneegans: 185.

3 Arnold (2003): 36.

4 Hanegraaff: 1136.
103

instruction on the composition of the Tablet of Truth. The manuscript

is presented in the form of a letter by Master Pelagius addressing his
student Libanius Gallus. The composition begins with the creation of
a tablet ‘from any kind of wood’

(f.7r), though oak would be preferable, as Pelagius points out. It

should be noted that the Latin tabula can equally refer to the English
‘table’ as well as ‘tablet.’ The specific meaning in the text remains
ambiguous until much later, where we find the instruction to place
the Tablet of Truth on a table with a specific orientation.

From this we know that what is referred to throughout the text is a

wooden tablet, not a table. The tablet is to be created during the day
and hour of Mercury, and when the planet is not retrograde. The
design of the reverse of the tablet is given first. The copyist of the
Leipzig manuscript placed the drawing of the back of the tablet on its
title page, in between the headings. Upon comparison with the older
version of the text in the French National Library we see almost
identical designs; however, there are differences:

1 The Leipzig copyist changed some of the divine names given on

the outer circle from the original Latin to Hebrew and (slightly
misspelled) Greek forms.

2 The later document includes an additional outer circle, not part of

the original design, indicating the orientation of the tablet to the
cardinal directions.

3 The Leipzig copyist took the liberty of adding the four letter version
of the name of Jesus, IESU, in the quadrants of the central cross.
Thus, changing the sentence set into the outside of the four
quadrants – Veritas æterna ostende veritatem (Eternal truth show
the truth) – into a potential reading of Veritas æterna IESU ostende
veritatem (Eternal truth, Jesus, show the truth). This change is tel
ing, as we find the same saying in another manuscript attributed to
Pelagius in the Leipzig library. Here the full title reads Drey Bücher
Pelagij, Welcher ein Heiliger, und Einsiedler gewesen ist, Von den
Offenbahrungen, Dadurch alle Weißheit, und der gantzen Welt
Heimligkeit von Gott können erlanget werden.

Fundamentum. Bittet, suchet, klopffet an. Ostende Veritatem JESU

Veritas æterna!

( Three Books by Pelagius, who was a holy man and hermit, through
which all wisdom and the secrets of the entire world can be received
from God. The Foundation.

Ask, search, knock. Show the Truth, Jesus, eternal Truth! ) The text
remains ambiguous as to whether this design should be painted or
carved into the wood. It only states that the execution has to include
all the crosses and in-104

black abbot · white magic

scriptions. Next, the operator has to hollow out the central space of
the large cross, i.e. the circular quadrants where the Leipzig copyist
added the IESU lettering. At a later point in the consecration, into
this hole a splinter of the holy cross or an Agnus Dei is to be
inserted, blessed, and sealed with a wooden plug and bitumen glue.
Whereas the purpose of the front of the tablet is to attract the
presence of the angel under whose guidance the operations are
performed, its reverse is meant ‘to exorcise the evil deceitfulness of
spirits, who are always envious of the efforts of the good [spirits] and
thus aim to put obstacles in their way’(f.7v).

Pelagius then calls Libanius by name again, to highlight the

importance of the following remark, that this operation is not
completed through the work of evil angels, but ‘through good angels
[this experiment] follows the spirit which is inside of us, which
partakes of the divine and which is equipped with power and spiritual
piety’ (ff.7v–8r). The concept of the ‘spirit that is inside of us’ remains
ambiguous throughout the rest of the text. While the external angels
that are called upon are explicitly placed under the guidance of the
spirit ALMIEL, the concept of the inner spirit shifts between man’s
general participation in the divine Holy Spirit and a dedicated
guardian angel. Thus, the text implies that for medieval magicians
both ideas were ultimately one and the same: one’s personal
guardian angel was none other than the conscious spark of the Holy
Spirit residing in every human.

The design of the front of the tablet is given later in the text. Pelagius
goes on to cover the lengthy process of benediction and
consecration of the Tablet of Truth. For this the service of a faithful
priest is required. These instructions are testament to how deeply
the text’s identity is rooted in Trithemius’ life-long ideal of a Christian
theologia magica, or a white form of magic. The use of a Catholic
priest, a deserted church, a holy altar, and many other sacred
ingredients of Christian liturgy should not be read as acts of heretical
sacrilege, but precisely the opposite. All these aspects bestow the
virgin Tablet of Truth with its numinous qualities through its
participation in the Christian mysteries. Such respect for the liturgy is
expressed by Pelagius in his instruction to hide the virgin tablet
underneath the altar, but not underneath the lectern upon which the
Bible is placed, ‘because that would be a great sacrilege’ (f.8r).

The priest has to read the holy Mass, whereby the first Collecta,
Secreta and Complenda are adjusted to match the intention of
consecrating the hidden tablet underneath the altar (ff.8r–9r).
Pelagius specifically calls Gallus’ attention to the importance of a
firm and pious intent held by both the operator and the priest.

analysis of the tablet of truth

105

Tabula Veritatis (1499)

Comparison of the reverse seal designs

phase

1717 Leipzig
16th century Paris

North

‫[ הוהי‬IHVH]

‫[ הוהי‬IHVH]

North-East

ΙΣ ΧΎΡΙΟΣ [IS CHURIOS]

Ischuros (Mighty)

East

‫[ הוהי‬IHVH]

‫[ הוהי‬IHVH]

South-East

ΑΘΆΝΑΤΟΣ [ATHANATOS]

Athanatos (Immortal)

South

‫[ הוהי‬IHVH]

‫[ הוהי‬IHVH]

South-West

‫[ יּ ַד ַׁש‬Shadai]

Sadai

West
‫[ הוהי‬IHVH]

‫[ הוהי‬IHVH]

North-West

‫[ אלגא‬AGLA]

Agla

Veritas æterna ostende Veritatem

Veritas æterna ostende Veritatem

Cross-quarters

Eternal truth [Jesus] show the

Eternal truth show the truth

truth

Inside circle

IESU

106

Because if he does not share a firm intent with you, but in his heart is
a mocker of your work, his consecration – even if he performed what
you have assigned to him, to please you, and even if he lied while
doing so and confirmed he held faith and felt like you – will be void,
despite him having said all the words which must be said. (f.9v)

The emphasis on true faith and intent as critical components of any

magical act covers the better part of three pages. In Holy Daimon we
explored the differentiation of orthopraxy (correct practice) versus
orthodoxy (correct belief) in light of a restored ritual of the Greek
Magical Papyri. An ancient Greek would have strongly agreed with
the idea that actions speak louder than intentions. What mattered
was not the practitioner’s emotional experience but the correct
conduct of ritual action. In a world where no one doubted the
underlying spiritual premises of magic, rituals required neither
interpretation nor psychological validation. However, our ancestors
would have certainly taken great care to coordinate the inner and
outer performance of their rituals. That is, aligning and combining
acts of magic performed in vision with acts of ritual performed with
their physical bodies.

Pelagius’ text provides a wonderful late medieval example of the

importance of aligning one’s outer and inner practice in performing
magical rituals. Strong faith, firm intent, reverence, (spiritual)
confidence and highest awe are some of the words he uses to
describe one and the same thing. Pelagius makes it clear that the
magical outcome of the priest’s work depends entirely on the
alignment of his outer acts and his inner state. In our modern world,
we might refer to phenomena such as flow state, single-mindedness
or synesthesia to describe the desired mental state in which the
consecration of the tablet is to be performed. Elevating the
practitioner’s mind and spirit into such a state is the main intent of
the many prayers provided in our text. This also explains why they
cannot be shortened or left out in the modern use of the rite – unless
the practitioner has access to alternative ways to achieve the same
goal. Once fully trained and adopted, techniques of inner visionary
practice, combined with external ritual movement, touch and speech,
allow one to accelerate this process significantly. Unsurprisingly, in
this white grimoire the classical tools of Christian liturgy are applied.

After the Mass, the priest is to take the tablet from its hidden place,
put it on the altar and speak the Antiphonia, Versiculus and Oremus
(ff.10r–10v). Subsequently, he is instructed to kneel and read the
seven Psalms of Repentance, which according to the Latin Vulgate
are Psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129 and 142, as well as an analysis of
the tablet of truth
107

adapted version of the litany that focusses the blessing on the tablet.
Finally, the priest has to rise, approach the altar, holding a burning
candle in each hand, and recite the following six prayers:

First prayer To the Father

Second prayer To the Son

Third prayer To the Holy Spirit

Fourth prayer To the Trinity of the Holy Spirit

Fifth prayer To the Guardian Angel

Sixth prayer To the Angel of the day

In the following phase the body of the tablet is washed with a sacred
ablution, anointed with holy oil, exposed to the incense smoke and
sprinkled with holy water.

Washing While the tablet is still on the altar, the consecrating person
(the text leaves it open here as to whether this is the operator or a
priest) washes the tablet with a clean cloth and a mixture of wine and
rosewater, taken from a holy chalice, while uttering a further prayer.

Exorcism Once the tablet has been dried with a second cloth, the
splinter of the Holy Cross or blessed Agnus Dei is inserted into the
hole in the reverse of the Tablet. The hole is to be sealed with its
wooden lid and bitumen, turned over and an exorcism performed in
holy awe.

Anointing The operator turns the tablet over, and after washing their
hands, anoints his thumbs with liturgic oil, traces the circles as well
as the crosses marked on the wood, and speaks a prayer of
blessing. The operator is asked to kneel and to speak a long prayer
of consecration (ff.16v–17v).
Fumigation An expensive incense compounded of saffron, aloe
wood, gum mastic, frankincense and Easter wax has to be blessed
by the priest and burned in a censer. The tablet is held over the
rising smoke and another blessing and prayer are spoken by the
operator.

Asperging The tablet is asperged with holy water on both sides and
finally, consecrated salt is placed on the central cross.

Protection The tablet is wrapped in a clean, white cloth and bound

with a length of waxed cord in the shape of a cross. The cord has
been consecrated at the feast of Candlemas.

108

black abbot · white magic

As the priest turns to the operator, the latter kneels and speaks a
prayer of mercy.

Then the priest questions the operator with regards to their intent
and integrity in using the tablet. Once the operator has answered all
his questions, the priest asks for a pledge to live up to these criteria.
The operator seals the ritual with a vow.

Still kneeling, he makes the confession, receives communion from

the priest; then, while reciting a prayer, the priest solemnly hands
over the tablet.

Now the needle, thread, wax and bread are prepared, anointed and
blessed in a similar process to the one given above; after which the
pieces of bread and wax are inscribed with the Tetragrammaton.
Instructions are then given to store the tablet, together with the
additional blessed implements, away in a secret place for three days.
During these three days the operator must attend special masses
read for them and make dedicated offerings of blessed silver coins
and food from their own table to the poor.
Having gone through these fastidious, elaborate and costly
instructions for the composition of the Tablet of Truth, a practitioner
might spot a slight contradiction with the initial introduction of the
magical works of Pelagius. Libanius Gallus elevates his master to
the level of a magical adept, noting that Pelagius did not require any
conjurations but that the spirits followed him anywhere and at any
time, at wil : That is why he bound all spirits which he desired at will
and with perfect control. He did not make them appear, like others,
standing in a circle with exorcisms and protective conjurations, but
anywhere and at any moment in time, with a single command he
called them forth. (f.5r) The document at hand is presented as a
private instruction by Pelagius to his principal student Libanius. Why
then does the teacher choose to present such an elaborate
composition process for the tablet, when his own skil s allowed him
to enter communion with the spirits at any time and without requiring
magical implements? Possibly, the master had to acknowledge that
his student hadn’t reached the same level as himself, and still
required additional means to create spirit contact. Or alternatively,
the author of the document himself was not as advanced in their own
practice as Libanius had claimed. We will see in a later chapter that
an altogether different scenario might be the most probable solution
to this apparent dilemma.

analysis of the tablet of truth

109

The Operation of the Tablet of Truth

The rules of the operation

After the composition of the tablet, Pelagius lays out the ten rules to
be observed from now on. The following overview gives a summary
of the principles, the full text of the operating rules can be found in
the manuscript.

The first three rules all aim to preserve the spiritual qualities that
have previously been bestowed on the tablet. As with all other
liturgical paraphernalia, such as eucharistic bread, wine or even
relics, the underlying premise is that exposure to the presence, or
even touch, of common people pollutes their spiritual qualities. In this
case, the presence of the tablet itself becomes an intimate,
numinous and awe inspiring experience, reserved for the operator
alone.

Except for the instruction to use the tablet only in an eastward

orientation, the remaining operating rules aim to ensure the proper
presence and intent of the operator. The prerequisites are not only
good physical health, but also a stable mental disposition: freedom
from temptation, positive intent and a pure, un-stained
consciousness, with all one’s senses concentrated on the act of the
magical operation – such is the inner and outer atmosphere required
to allow one’s angel to speak unconstrainedly through the operation
of the Tablet of Truth.

Much of the medieval Catholic Church’s condemnation of magic

stemmed from the fact that its techniques broke the social monopoly
it aspired to extend over the experience of the numinous. Self-
curated acts of magic undermined its autocracy. Magicians were
thus considered gnostic pirates, renegade ritual operators sailing the
ocean of the numinous under their own flag, bypassing the official
routes and refusing to pay dues to the mediating body that had
placed itself between the divine and the individual.

110

black abbot · white magic

Tabula Veritatis (1499)

Rules of the operation

1 Keep the tablet secret; do not put it on display.

2 Keep it wrapped in linen and sealed with wax, stored in a secluded

place.
3 Keep it away from all other people and only use it when by
yourself.

4 Never use the tablet in the spirit of temptation or when not in good
health.

5 Never put it to use to harm or kill other people, as this would drive
out the spirit of ALMIEL.

6 When used for a complicated matter, ensure you have taken

Communion beforehand.

7 If you ask a question concerning your own matters, liberate

yourself from personal involvement and elevate your cravings for
truth beyond yourself.

8 Always kneel and pray before touching the tablet.

9 Always perform the operation facing towards the east.

10 Have a strong intention when using the tablet, speak all the words
with the utmost attention.

[11] Only use the tablet when you are in a good mental disposition
yourself.

111

The ritual procedure

You will not encounter a question so difficult that you will not be able
to immediately receive the definite truth of it. Now, however, I want to
explain to you sequentially the operation by which one produces
results through the tablet.

(ff.27v–28r)

In the following twenty-three pages (ff.28r–39r) Pelagius lays out the

specific details of the ritual procedure. The ritual follows a traditional
structure: an opening sequence, a conjuration, a confession in the
presence of the spirits, prayers to the spirits presiding over the
operation, an invocation of one’s guardian angel and ALMIEL, and a
license to depart. The procedure is further structured by the different
postures the operator has to assume, each in alignment with the
spiritual being with which they are interacting. The Operation of the
Truth is an act of dactylomancy, a very old form of divination which
we will examine later in this chapter.

If you follow all the rules carefully and in the right way, you will see
miracles that are undoubtedly true, since the angel of the Lord will
miraculously move the thread and bread to show the most certain
truth whenever you ask. (f.35v) It should be noted that the
manuscript inserts a second list of operating rules. The text in
parentheses in Rule 8 (ff.36v–37r) is likely to be an addition not
included in the original manuscript. The advice given stands out from
the rest of the text and contradicts the entire purpose of the
operating rules we have seen previously.

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black abbot · white magic

Tabula Veritatis (1499)

Ritual summary

Phase

Action

Preparation

Follow all the operating rules for the Tablet of Truth.

Preparation

Write your question(s) on a slip of paper, (as many as you like).

Opening

Step towards the place where the tablet is hidden and kneel.

Opening

Speak the Lord’s Prayer and Ave Maria, each three times.

Opening

Take the tablet out and place it on a table oriented towards the east.

Conjuration

Kneeling before the tablet, speak the Conjuration of the Spirit (f.28v).

Confession

Stretch out on the floor and speak the Confession (f.29r).

Prayer to

Rise to your knees and with your face turned towards the east in the
direction of the Trinity

the tablet, read the Prayer to the Trinity.

Prayer to Angel

Rise to your feet and speak the Prayer to the Angel (ff.31v–33v).

Invocation

Now place the two pieces of the bread on the crosses to the East
and West, and the two pieces of wax to the North and South. Then
speak the Invocation of the Angel.

Invocation
Kneel, clasp your hands, with deepest conviction say the five holy
words five times as well as another Lord’s Prayer and Ave Maria.
Add ‘Come Holy Spirit!’ with Versiculo and Collecta.

Operation

Rise from the ground, take the thread in your left hand, wrap it
around your index of Truth

finger and say, ‘In the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.’

Operation

Lift the thread with the bread a little above the cross and
concentrating, speak the of Truth

Prayer of Instruction. (Repeat this step until all the questions are
answered).

Permission

Kneel, bring your hands together in front of the tablet while facing
west and pro-to Release

nounce the Thanksgiving Prayer.

Closing

Remove the bread, wax and other things and return them to their
prepared place.

Wrap the tablet in clean cloth, tie and bless it in the shape of a cross,
return it to its designated place. Do not touch it again unless you
want to use it again.

ALMIEL & The Angelic Prayer

The Prayer to the Angel (ff.31v–33r) deserves specific attention.
Here we find the operator turning to three seemingly interdependent
entities. The first appeal is directed towards their holy daimon, the
‘holy angel, assigned to me from the highest as a guardian’ (f.31v).
The text makes it clear that this being has a threefold function in the
operation. Firstly, it acts as a bridge towards divinity, ‘as you always
look into the light of divinity and never, not for one moment, are lost
to his sight’

(f.32r). In this function the holy daimon presents an individualised

access point to the ocean of knowledge that is the light of divinity;
secondly, the holy daimon appears in its classical function as a
personally assigned spiritual custodian, ‘a tireless companion and
guardian’ (f.32r) constantly watching over the operator, specifically
with regards to the necessary protection from evil spirits that might
interfere with the magical operation; and thirdly, the holy daimon is
asked to actually ‘move the bread hanging on the thread in a way
that will reveal to me the most certain truth’ (f.32r).

Obviously, much care was taken in the composition of the tablet (and
the consecration of the bread, wax, needle and thread) to assimilate
the nature of these physical objects as much as possible to the
spiritual realm. Thus we recognise the previous phase of the
composition as a magical act of thinning the liminal border between
the visionary and physical realms. All the effort taken to wash, dry,
anoint, fumigate and consecrate the physical bodies of the
implements now reveal themselves to be acts of spiritual
transformation, with the aim of weaving physical substances into a
spiritual texture that is fully aligned to the nature of the spirits
required to perform this operation. It is through such spiritual
composition that the spirits are enabled to smoothly move between
their realm and the physical, even if they are still confined by the
boundaries of the magical objects and the holy space maintained by
the operator’s own spiritual presence.

After the invocation of the holy daimon, the operator now turns to the
spirit presiding over the rite:
let me, now and always, in this operation through the holy ALMIEL,
find the most certain truth to all of my questions and doubts, every
time, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(ff.32v–33r) 114

black abbot · white magic

The angel ALMIEL appears in the Key of Solomon on the third

pentacle of Venus.

This was first published in an English translation from a Latin original

(dated either to the 14th or 15th century) in 1889 by S. L. MacGregor
Mathers. However, whilst the text gives the name as ‘Ægalmiel’ this
is a mistranslation of the actual Hebrew spel ing found on the amulet
itself: Ayin-Lamed-Mem-Yod-Aleph-Lamed, or in its correctly
Latinised version: ALMIEL.

‫׃הש‬

‫לאימלע‬

‫נוץ‬

‫חור‬

‫לאי‬

‫ראה‬

‫הלא םתא ךרביןינדא‬

‫־‬

‫לנד הוהי‬

‫ת‬
‫י‬

‫א‬

‫ם‬

‫ו‬

‫ןיא‬

‫םדיחא‬

‫אלמ‬

‫מ ר ל לאיחנומ כ ו ו‬

‫הםאלהיםפרוור‬

The Key of Solomon represents an amalgamation of influences from

Jewish kabbalists, Arab alchemists and the gnostic magic of late
antiquity. The historic proximity of the first appearance of the Key of
Solomon and our present manuscript (self-dated to 1499) is certainly
thought-provoking. As we will see, Trithemius’ lifelong quest was to
gain firsthand access to authentic books of ritual magic, and then to
strip their techniques of suspicious demonic influences, to purify
them, and to provide broader access to an evolved corpus of white
magic. The correlation between Pelagius’ manuscript and the Key of
Solomon might provide a first hand example of such process. If this
is true, we have to inquire further into what made Pelagius choose
the Venusian angel ALMIEL – as the Key of Solomon contains many
more prominent and higher ranking angels that could have proven
beneficial to the present rite of theurgic divination. One conjecture
would be that our author had access to manuscripts related to the
Key of Solomon, which today are lost and which put a stronger
emphasis on the angel ALMIEL.

analysis of the tablet of truth

115
A second source that gives the name ALMIEL is the Chronicles of
Jerahmeel, first published in a modern English edition by Moses
Gaster in 1899. In this apocryphal document Almiel is given as one
of the eleven sons and eleven daughters born to Adam.

A more magical aspect of the patron angel can be revealed through

the AIQ

BKR technique of kabbalistic gematria, in which the root of ALMIEL

translates to the value of 150 (see table below). This is the same
word-value as for the Hebrew for magician or soothsayer (‫ִנוֹעדי‬
ִ ‫)י‬,
literally ‘the one who knows.’ Such a kabbalistic correspondence is
of critical importance for any grimoire, and cannot be read as
coincidence, as it is likely to have passed through the hands of
Trithemius, an avid student of kabbalistic techniques and the father
of modern cryptography.

Gematria · aiq bkr Version

‫לאימלע‬

hebrew

‫ל‬

‫א‬

‫י‬

‫מ‬

‫ל‬

‫ע‬

Transliterated

Lamed
Aleph

Yod

Mem

Lamed

Ayin

Explanation

‫לא‬

‫ימלע‬

suffix for angelic names

root word

AIQ BKR values

10

40

30

70

total

150

AIQ BKR values

10

50
6

70

10

Transliterated

Yod

Nun

Vav

Ayin

Daleth

Yod

hebrew

‫י‬

‫נ‬

‫ו‬

‫ע‬

‫ד‬

‫י‬

116

Following the operator’s holy daimon and the angel ALMIEL, the
prayer calls on the dead to support the present rite with their
ambiguous powers: All the faithful souls of those who have died in
Christ, who are liberated from the pains of purgatory by the mercy of
God and the prayers of the Holy Church, and by the common
prayers of the faithful, and who [ have] become hallowed in glory: to
you I pray and plea for the mercy of the Creator! Stand by me
through your mediation and do not deceive me in this operation, so
that I can find the certain truth to all my doubts, in the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. (f.33r) Employing the
dead in divinatory rites is a very ancient practice, and known to be
highly ambivalent. The knowledge of the dead, while it extends
beyond the realm of mortals, is often unsound. In light of this, the
appeal of the operator makes sense. The dead are asked to be
present for the operation, yet not to deceive. The operator thus
expresses their respect for the realm of the dead; they also
differentiate them from the intervention of evil spirits – as the latter
are kept at bay through the guardian angel as well as by the
exorcism performed over the tablet during the composition phase.

An act of dactylomancy

After the conjuration and appeals for col aboration are made, we
proceed to the divinatory act. The operator holds the blessed thread
in his left hand, at the end of which is the needle, which is stuck in
the larger piece of consecrated bread. While uttering his prayers and
interpolated question(s), he observes the movement of the bread.
For a positive answer he requires a movement in the East-West
direction (from bread to bread), for a negative answer he requires a
movement in the North-South direction (from wax to wax).

The divinatory use of a pendulum is a technique of significant

antiquity. It is often referred to as dactylomancy, i.e. using the
movement of a magical ring suspended from a thread. Gustav
Gessmann in his 1892 Catechism of Divinatory Arts ( Katechismus
der Wahrsagekünste) provides a comprehensive review of the
history and practice of dactylomancy. His summary is strongly
informed by the book Divination from the Movement of Lifeless
Objects, under Influence of the Human Hand ( Dactylomancy) ( Die
Wahrsagung aus den Bewegungen lebloser Körper, unter dem
Einflusse der menschlichen Hand ( Daktylomantie) . ) which had
been published in analysis of the tablet of truth

117

1862 by Ernst Ludwig Krause under the pen-name Carus Sterne.

Both draw upon the standard Renaissance work on divination,
Caspar Peucer’s (1525–1602) massive 700 page tome
Commentarius de praecipuis divinationum generibus (1553). As
neither of these works is available in English, I will provide extensive
quotations here: Dactylomancy was the kind of prophecy that was
performed by means of metallic rings, consecrated through magical
rites and engraved with secret symbols, and held over a plate with
letters by a person with a shaven head and entirely hidden in a
cloak. The letter symbols were arranged in a circle on the plate; the
ring had to be held above the plate – while ritual conjurations were
uttered – until the ring, silently moving, would touch the letters in
sequence from which the prophecy could be pieced together.
Usually the operator held a sprig of verbena in their hands – a plant
often used in magical procedures.

The origins of dactylomancy derive from the famous Oracle of Zeus

in Dodona, where people believed the pendulum’s swinging over a
circle of letters (engraved into a basin) was directly influenced by
Zeus.

In another instance, Sterne reports that Fenestel a, an author from

the first century CE, refers to large silver cauldrons which were
called ‘magidae’ and had been used in magical procedures in
ancient times.

In Caspar Peucer’s work on the divination methods of the ancients,

published 350 years ago (...), we find reference to the fact that the
magical pendulums used in acts of dactylomancy are themselves
related to divination from bowls and cauldrons filled with water.
Sterne goes on to explain: The divination from water (hydromancy)
was performed in multiple ways and was neither restricted to the
observation of spring and river eddies, nor to the observation of clear
water from its movement and changes in a glass bowl (gastromancy,
the act of divining from water). It was common to float small silver
bowls in a cauldron, each one carrying the names of the people
whose fate should be determined, and to divine from their
movements, rotation and especially their col isions; also nut shel s
were set with small flames and their flickering and dying out was
used to divine future events. Amongst the Chaldeans and the
Assyrians one threw gold or silver tablets, inscribed with characters,
into the water filled cauldron while reciting conjurations, and the
god’s message would be read from the waves (lecancomancy); the
pouring of smelted lead into a water basin, and divination from the
quickly setting metal, is still a folk practice enjoyed today on New
Year’s Eve.

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black abbot · white magic

Another form of divination, according to Peucer, consisted of half fil

ing a glass with water and suspending a ring on a thread above or
slightly into the glass. Then one had to say certain prayers over the
ring and explain the matter in question, suggesting the numbers,
names and answers one anticipated.

As soon as the correct answer was uttered, the ring would move by
itself and chime against the glass. The benefit of such a method was
its simplicity (...).

One only had to read out loud to the ring a list of names, amongst
whom one suspected an unknown thief, murderer or future husband,
or other people of interest; and if the intended person was included
in the list the ring would indicate them with a bright chime. Generally
the chime was considered to indicate a positive answer; thus
dubious endeavours, journeys or operations were not undertaken in
cases when the ring remained silent.5
While Gessmann’s summary is incredibly rich, it is not without
problems. It is unlikely that the practice of dactylomancy can be
traced back to the oracle of Dodona in ancient Greece. Yet, the
mention of the oldest site of ancient Greek oracular practice can help
us understand more about the evolution of Western divination from
ancient to late medieval times.

Located in the far west of Greece and exposed to the steep Tomaros
mountain, the ancient site lies in an open valley, that once was
marked by a sacred oak grove. H. W. Parke, in his The Oracles of
Zeus (1967), provides an extensive study of the historic sources and
their context, referencing this place of unique oracular practice.
Briefly, there were four phases to its cultic development. The earliest
references to it as a place of prophecy are in Homer’s Iliad and
Odyssey. The practice is described as centring on a sacred oak, an
unusual tradition for classical Greece.6

Odysseus claimed he could hear the tree speaking to him directly. At

a later date, as related in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the oak has
seemingly lost its ability to talk to humans (or vice versa!) and now
prophetesses interpret its omens ‘by the sounds of its branches.’7 A
third stage recognises Dodona as a fully established oracle where
the source is no longer the sounds of a sacred tree, but the
interpretaion of sounds being produced by a brazen vessel. The
great antiquary Polemon (270/269 BCE) provides further detail of the
practice at this phase:

5 Gessman (1892): 99–101

6 Parke (1967): 20.

7 Parke (1967): 28.

analysis of the tablet of truth

119
At Dodona two columns stand in the open, parallel and near to each
other, on the one is a small bronze vessel, like a modern cauldron,
on the other a little boy with a whip in his right hand which is the side
on which is the column with the cauldron. Whenever, then, the wind
happens to blow, the thongs of the whip (which are of bronze, but
like real thongs), are lifted by the wind and happen to touch the
bronze vessel and do this constantly so long as the wind lasts.8

In the later Byzantine era – likely because the thongs on the rod held
by the statue of the boy had long been lost – the oracle of Dodona
was considered to centre on the brazen vessel alone. Christian
writers, such as Clement of Alexandria, mention it amongst other
instruments of heretical practice, such as ‘the mouths of caverns full
of sorcery or the cauldron of Thesprotia, or the Cirrhaean tripod, or
the Do-donaean bronze vessel.’9 In the minds of these later authors,
both sacred trees and daimones had lost the ability to communicate
directly to humans.10

With the transition from archaic to classical to Christian times, the

voice of the daimones has grown more and more foreign to the
human ear. What was once a direct communication across species –
from god, nature spirit or daimon to man

– over centuries became a culturally curated technique, which

required particular instruments, skil s and setting, reserved for the
few who were sufficiently gifted and trained to perform on behalf of
the society.

Thérèse Charmasson in her entry on the divinatory arts in the

Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism describes the essentially
utilitarian character of Western oracular techniques:

It must be emphasized that neither in the Middle Ages nor in later

periods divination consisted of an established and coherent body of
doctrine; rather, it consisted of a collection of ‘arts,’ or techniques,
some of which are attested from the High Middle Ages onwards, and
may appear to be legacies from classical antiquity, whilst others did
not develop until after the 12th century, with the diffusion of treatises
translated either from Arabic or, much more rarely, from Greek.11

8 Polemon, in Parke (1967): 87.

9 Clement of Alexandria, in Parke (1967): 89.

10 Parke (1967): 89.

11 Hanegraaff, (2006): 313.

120

black abbot · white magic

Ernst Ludwig Krause (aka Carus Sterne) in his 1862 book on the
subject, gives a fascinating account of a form of dactylomancy,
attesting to the fact that divination takes its unique shape in the hand
of each practitioner: In the witch-trials we hear of old prophetesses
who oscil ate a pierced piece of coal over a wooden plate. Porta in
his Magia naturalis (1597), Schott in his Physica curiosa (1667) and
Kircher in his De mundo subterraneo (1673), all mention the oscil
ating ring and its application to discover hidden things, yet they do
not trust the wonder and observe many doubts.12

Perhaps the earliest evidence for the use of a pendulum is in an

account given by Ammianus Marcel inus (c.335–c.395 CE) in his
description of a conspiracy against the Eastern Roman Emperor
Flavius Julius Valens Augustus (378 CE). Ammianus provides us
with an unusually detailed account of a dactylomantic ritual.

O most honoured judges, we constructed from laurel twigs under

dire auspices this unlucky little table which you see, in the likeness of
the Delphic tripod, and having duly consecrated it by secret
incantations, after many long-continued rehearsals we at length
made it work. Now the manner of its working, whenever it was
consulted about hidden matters, was as follows. It was placed in the
middle of a house purified thoroughly with Arabic perfumes; on it was
placed a perfectly round plate made of various metallic substances.
Around its outer rim the written forms of the twenty-four letters of the
alphabet were skilfully engraved, separated from one another by
carefully measured spaces. Then a man clad in linen garments, shod
also in linen sandals and having a fillet wound about his head,
carrying twigs from a tree of good omen, after propitiating in a set
formula the divine power from whom predictions come, having full
knowledge of the ceremonial, stood over the tripod as priest and set
swinging a hanging ring fitted to a very fine linen thread and
consecrated with mystic arts.

This ring, passing over the designated intervals in a series of jumps,

and falling upon this and that letter which detained it, made
hexameters corresponding with the questions and completely
finished in feet and rhythm, like the Pythian verses which we read, or
those given out from the oracles of the Branchidae.13

12 Carus Sterne (1862): 49/50.

13 The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus, Loeb Classical

Library edition 1939, xxix: 29–32 |
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Ammian/29.ht
ml analysis of the tablet of truth

121

The richness of the description of the divinatory practice is

reminiscent of the instructions in the Greek Magical Papyri.
Furthermore, the rite shows significant similarities to Pelagius’ Tablet
of Truth. Both rituals centre on a magically designed table (or tablet);
the latter is not an active agent in itself yet requires specific
consecrations and activation through incantations. Once these are
successfully performed, it can be operated only in a sacred space
and by someone who has

‘full knowledge of the ceremonial.’ The rite is conducted via a

magical pendulum
– a ring on a thread in Marcel inus’ account, and a consecrated
piece of bread in Pelagius.’ Where these differ is in the sophistication
of the pendulum’s reply to the question. In Pelagius’ version the
bread on a thread can only indicate simple yes/

no answers by swinging along the two axes of the cardinal

directions; with Marcel inus’ description, however, we find possibly
the earliest literary reference to a much more advanced technique.
Here the pendulum has all 24 letters of the Greek alphabet, spel ing
out entire words and ‘hexameters (...) completely finished in feet and
rhythm.’ So, in this 4th century account we come across a
sophisticated divinatory practice which survived for millennia and
finally hit the mainstream in late 19th century America in the form of
talking or ouija boards.

Comparison to FrancIs Barrett’s

‘Table of Trithemius’

If modern practitioners refer to the ‘Table of Trithemius’ they are

referring to the fourth part of the second book of Francis Barrett’s
The Magus (1801); an operation spuriously attributed to Trithemius,
as a comparison quickly shows that there is little consistency
between the two tablets.

Despite this, there are some interesting parallels between Barrett

and Trithemius. Both documents give detailed instructions on a
divinatory practice. While the older manuscript falls into the category
of dactylomancy, Barrett’s version is a classic example of scrying, i.e.
divination by use of a reflective surface. Therefore the Tablet of
Truth, whilst largely forgotten today, could well be the reason why we
see Trithemius’ name given as the supposed author or a possible
patron of divinatory practice in the early 19th century.

The seven planetary angels take a prominent role in several of

Trithemius’
magical writings, most prominently in De septem secundeis ( Of the
Seven Secondary Causes), written in 1508 and published in 1511.
Seeing the seven planetary intel igences taking a central position in
Barrett’s seal design is therefore of little surprise.

122

black abbot · white magic

Even the structure of the chapters under Trithemius’ name in The

Magus reveal parallels. The section titled ‘The Magic and Philosophy
of Trithemius of Spanheim’ (sic) consists of an introductory letter to a
friend from Barrett, followed by

‘a caution to the inexperienced in this art,’ and instructions on how to

prepare the scrying crystal stand and the magical tablet to place it
upon. Its opening mirrors the introduction to the Tablet of Truth, in
which the reader is introduced by a letter of Pelagius to his dear
friend. The back story, of how Libanius gained the secret knowledge
of the magical operation from his teacher Pelagius, served to include
the following caution to the inexperienced reader:

For the one who subjects themselves as a Novice to the instructions

of magic, it is imperative to acquire a kind of natural dignity, which
elevates them, so that they may force spirits of any kind to obey.
(f.5r)

The text then assumes the voice of Pelagius himself, and the reader
is instructed in the creation of the Tablet of Truth. Such an abrupt
switch from warning to plain instruction is paralleled in The Magus.
Despite these similarities, no direct relationship between the two
texts can be securely assumed. At the same time it might be wise
not to dismiss this possibility prematurely either. Texts of practical
magic have been part of a ‘remix culture’ since their earliest
emergence. The boundaries between genuine creators, textual
authors, compilers, curators and copyists have always been fluid and
permeable. If a direct link between the Tablet of Truth and the text
contained in The Magus could be proven, we would be faced with a
most ironic inversion. Trithemius’ life mission was centred on
establishing a Christian magic, a theologia magica. If the original text
from which Barrett took his ‘Magic and Philosophy of Trithemius of
Spanheim’ was rooted in Trithemius’ writings, we would absolutely
not see the classical planetary spirits, the replacement of the
cardinal directions with the names of the four kings, or the
counterchange of the blessed needle, thread and bread for a scrying
stone.

Our comparison of the Tablet of Truth with the Table of Trithemius

above all confirms a central topos of Western magic: Not only has
this living current managed to subvert and survive Christian
orthodoxy for millennia, but even within its own tradition it has always
avoided any kind of orthopraxy. Any attempt to define, lock in and
preserve a supposed ‘one right way’ to perform magic is destined to
fail. The magician has at heart always been a solitary soul. It is their
individuality that is expressed in the particular way that they choose
to perform magic, more analysis of the tablet of truth

123

Oriens

T R APHAEL

AEL π

AB
R

S AN

πL

my H

C
C

A
M

πLEIH

nygE

Francis Barrett’s table design from ‘The Art of Drawing Spirits into
Crystals’ (1801), for comparison with the design on p.78.

124

Comparison of the Tablet of Truth with

the Table of Trithemius from The Magus

Table of Truth

The Magus’ operation

Conclusion

centre IESU i.e. four letter version of

Blank triangle of the art i.e.

In both designs the centre of

Jesus’ name divided into four

classical shape defining the

the seal is reserved for the focal

quarters of a cross with the

space reserved for the entity to

point of the operation. Both

conjuration ‘Eternal truth, Jesus, be conjured and contained in.

designs also represent appeals

show the truth.’ Cross at the

Place for the crystal stand (i.e.

to the spirits in question (one to

consecrated double axis for the

the actual scrying device) to be

draw in, one to constrain). The

pendulum to be held over.

placed inside.

nature of the designs, however,

are polar opposites: the former

devoted to Jesus, the latter de-

voted to constrain traditionally

chthonic or dangerous spirits.

inner Eightfold structure, a single

Sevenfold structure, evoking

As in all classical seal designs,

circle Hebrew Tetragrammaton at the the agency of the seven

classical the inner circle ‘ringfences’ the four ends of the double axis
as

planetary spirits as well as

whole operation. It defines the

well as Greek and Hebrew divine including their particular seals.

particular entities under whose

names in the respective quarters. (Note these seals are sometimes

guardianship the operation is represented as their symbols,

conducted. The two seals take

sometimes as the seals derived

markedly different spiritual

from their kameas.)

sponsorship though: the classical

planetary spirits vs. Greek and

Hebrew divine names.

outer Fourfold structure calling out

Fourfold structure calling

Of all the design elements of

circle the four cardinal points in their

the four classical kings of the

both seals, the outer circle shows

Latin names. No explicit magical grimoire tradition. Possibly the most

similarity. Given the

connotation, except for correct

inspired by engravings from

use of the cardinal names to

orientation of the tablet during

Robert Fludd’s Utriusque Cosmi

ensure correct orientation of the

operation, i.e. east-facing. (Outer Historia (1617–21).

Tablet of Truth, it has to be con-

circle missing in the Paris docu-

sidered if the names of the kings

ment).

were intended primarily for the

same practical use. Such tactical

use of names would also explain

why they appear surrounding the

seven planetary spirits, which

does not correlate to cosmologi-

cal hierarchy.

than any eternal law as to how magic must be performed. Whether

we murmur our invocations over a swinging piece of bread, or stare
into a polished stone, it is to find a crack in the surface of everyday
reality for our consciousness to slip through.

Luckily, it turns out there are myriad cracks in every particle of dust,
more than enough to find a way through for each of us.

Conclusions

We have identified the operation of the Tablet of Truth to be part of

an ancient tradition of divination by use of a pendulum, whether
made of bread, coal or a magical ring. By examining the oracular
practices at the ancient site of Dodona, we discovered resonances
between Pelagius’ manuscript and the magical use of the brazen
vessel and ancient forms of hydromancy. By looking at Ammianus’
fourth century CE account of a dactylomantic ritual, we found the
Tablet of Truth was far exceeded in complexity by a practice more
than 1100 years older.

Beyond its ties to our ancient magical past, we also discovered more
recent echoes; Francis Barrett’s instructions on the creation of the
‘Table of Trithemius’

being by far the most famous example. We know also that John Dee
was an avid reader of Pelagius’ as well as Trithemius’ works.14
Whilst not an instruction on the art of scrying per se, the current
manuscript can be regarded as an important precursor for a
divinatory practice employing a magical table with specific emphasis
given to the four cardinal points; aspects that play a critical role in
Dee’s own system of angelic magic.

Our present manuscript passed through the hands of Trithemius, a

story we will explore further in the second part of this book. As a life-
long reformer of magic and master cryptographer we can surmise
that he would have known how to conceal in plain sight a heretical
teaching in the periphery of a work focussed on a much more
straightforward operation.

Though praised by Libanius as one of magic’s deeper secrets, the

Tablet of Truth is written in a way that does not require any prior
practical magical knowledge. But what if, by going into extensive
detail to train the student in the arts of creating, cleansing and
consecrating, the manuscript provides a broad range of the essential
skil s required for most acts of magic? Pelagius’ insistence on
silence, remoteness and secrecy, as well as establishing a personal
sacred space, provide a 14 Hanegraaff: 302ff.

126

black abbot · white magic

thorough introduction to medieval (white) magic. After successfully

performing the Tablet of Truth, the operator has not only learned a
valuable divinatory technique, but perhaps more importantly, can
compose, cleanse and consecrate any kind of magical talisman or
amulet.

The function of the Tablet of Truth as a truly comprehensive training

manual of white magic would have held significant value for its
contemporary readers.

Gaining access to the essential techniques of magic was of the

utmost importance, and yet such practices could easily land one on
the pyre. This remained true for several centuries to follow, as
illustrated by the next manuscript we will examine.
analysis of the tablet of truth

127

johannes trithemius

The General Key

Der General-Schlüssel zu allen Wissenschaften

und Geheimnüssen Trithemii des Apts zu Spanheim

Cod.mag.118 (Bibliotheca Albertina)

129
The general key to all sciences and secrets

[1r]

of Trithemius the Abbot of Sponheim

[1v]

Preface to the reader

[2r]

most blessed reader, you are honoured to see this docu-

ment, as all the secrets hidden from us by the ancients are to be

discovered here. Pay attention that you not wickedly abuse such a
rich and Omagnificent treasure, for if you were to, sooner or later you
would feel heaven’s revenge. All the secrets which the ancients have
left to us in books in great numbers are either wrongly understood or
badly applied; that is why most have been ridiculed or understood as
vain rumours, despite the fact that they rest on firm foundations. Yet
whosoever virtuously recognises them will experience the truth
therein. Now as I have frequently been pondering this, it came to my
mind to provide the following rules ¦ in relation to these secrets, so
you may understand what

[2v]

has remained in darkness, and so nobody may scold me for having

tried to hide these great secrets and to take them with me to my
grave. This little document will be a key for you to many great
secrets.

The key to all secrets rests on these grounds

1 One must believe in the one unified God who is in three persons,
and of one Nature, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a unified God; and
whosoever does not believe this will not achieve or discover these
secrets.

2 One must believe that the stars have particular intel igences, or
secondary causes [ causa secunda], which, in a natural way, have
their own causes before them and affect an influence on all known
things.
131

[3r]

Only if they are coerced by divine magic can they carry out many
extraordinary things. f is of an entirely malevolent nature, causes
havoc, sickness, hate, sadness, incarceration, death and such
things; however, it is benevolent in farming and mining. c is entirely
benefic in health, wealth, courts, the mercy of princes, religious
salvation, safety and greatness of mind. d is malevolent, causes
discord, war, bloodshed, violent death, audaciousness, impudence,
conditions for fighting and fear. a is benevolent, causes purity,
sovereignty, victory, honour, wealth, and blessedness. g is
benevolent for men and women, and causes love between them,

[3v]

even amongst animals, [as well as] friendship, joy, adornment and
beauty. ¦ e is mixed malevolent and benevolent, causes erudition,
eloquence, shiftiness, gaining of wealth, thriftiness in commerce,
theft and lies. b is benevolent, gives fortunate travel, attainment of
truthful wisdom, invincibility, theft, deceit, rain and navigation on
waters.

Under each star belongs

An angel, a fish, a heavenly sign, a metal, a precious stone, a tree, a

herb, a bird, an animal, a colour, a scent, a number, a measure and
a human limb. So behold the steps upon which one has to rise from
the lowest to the highest. Everything is explained by an example
which shall be given at the end; and it is through this ex-

[4r]

ample ¦ that one may reproduce all other secrets and things which
have their roots in sympathy and antipathy, and this by entirely
natural means; because each thing has its particular attribute, e.g.
the dog loyalty, the rooster alertness.
Rules of the operation

1 If one undertakes an operation, on each day one has to call for and
pray to God from the depths of one’s heart.

2 The one who attempts to perform this shall be chaste in advance

of the operation as well as on the actual day of the operation.

3 The operation has to take place in a secret location where one will
not be disturbed.

4 The operator shall wash and bathe in pure well water, as often as
remarked before.

5 The operator has to be secretive and silent about their science,

because a prat-er cannot effect anything good.

132

johannes trithemius

6 The operator shall have a dedicated receptacle for each planet, in

which they

[4v]

place incense, colours, etc. and store it in a secret place.

7 All things employed during the operation shall be unused, such as

the parchment, feather, ink, colours, receptacle, needle, thread, cloth
and other things which are necessary for the purpose of each planet.
These things shall not be seen or touched by a woman or a maiden
who is menstruating, otherwise they lose their power.

8 All things shall be written on virgin parchment, which shall be cut

into pieces, with as many corners as the star [of the planet] has in its
circle.
9 The angular figures, and the things which are meant to be kept
together and other things alike, shall correspond in weight, number
and measure with the planets.

10 One has to take the limb or suchlike of a living animal, or one that
is about to die.

11 In case one makes use of fire, one has to use a wood in

sympathy with the re-

[5r]

spective planet and aligned to the operation, and the ashes have to
be buried.

12 The entire operation has to take place during the day and hour
that relates to the work; for instance, if one intends to operate under
g so one has to choose the hour of g in the morning when the a
rises; and that is also how it relates to the other operations.
However, in case one cannot complete [the operation] within the
hour, one has to stop once the hour has passed, and wait for another
day and the equivalent hour and day to continue and complete the
operation.

After dealing with the theory we now shall approach the practice.
Before this, however, one should know that I do not intend to teach
the devil’s work, but that one has to differentiate evil from good. And
that is why I do not talk of the dangerous things that can be
accomplished under the planets of f or d; also note those things ¦
which may offend, such as the ones performed under e. The
following

[5v]

example may suffice for all of them.

To cause love between a man and a woman

Such experiments can be performed with rings, medals [
Schaupfennige], pentacles, dreams and love potions, as well as with
many other things, all according to our rules. For our example, we
will choose to make a love potion, and create a powder the general
key

133

which if drunk to the health of the person [will ensure] that person will
be in love with you incessantly until their death.

Preparation of the philtre

Take note of the heavenly sign before you and observe which animal
sympathises with g; you will find it is the dove. Therefore, if you want
to make a person love

[6r]

you, if ¦ female take a female dove, if male take a male dove, and
say the following prayer over it: In nomine Omnipotentis Dei Patris,
Filii et Spiritus S. quem efficacissime in adjutorium meum imploro, ut
ejus auxilio opus meum feliciter in honorem nominis ejus perficiam,
per Christum Dominum nostrum, amen.

After this go to a secret place and with a g knife open the belly of the
dove, take out the heart, burn it while it is still quivering, turn it into a
powder, take some of the blood which poured from the dove and
collect it in a vessel. Pluck valerian together with its root, press the
juice from its leaves and burn the root into a powder.

Mix the two powders, of the heart of the dove and of the root, with
the juice of ¦

[6v]

the leaves, add a little of the powder of ambergris and juice of myrtle
and put it all into a special vessel. After this take a g needle, prick
yourself in the mount of g on your right hand until a few drops come
out, and say six times: Anael. Moisten the powder with it [the blood],
mix them well with each other, dry [the mixture] and turn it into pil s.
Once this is done, take of black amber [ Agtstein], feathers from the
belly of a dove, and hair from the belly of an animal, place them in
the vessel in which you also keep the blood of the dove, and form
little pil s from it of six grams each. After that light a fire of myrtle
wood, throw one of the latter pil s into the fire, hold the former
powder above it in a green pouch and suffumigate it [in the smoke of
the pill] and while you smoke it say six times: O pulcher Anael, qui
gaudes hisce odoribus, veni ad accipiendum eos, et his benignus et
favens, et dignere istum pulverem benedicere et consecrare ut vim
habeat convertendi et ligandi omnes mulieres in amorem meum, per
Jesum Christum, amen. [ O beautiful Anael, you who delight in this
incense, come to receive this offering, be benevolent and merciful,
and may you offer yourself up to bless and sanctify this powder, so
that it possesses the power to bind all women in love to me, through
Jesus Christ, amen. ]

[7r]

Additionally one has to burn the body and the remains of the dove,
and ¦ collect its ashes in a vessel and bury it six feet deep in the
ground. From then on the powder can be called the universal
materia, and yet cannot attain anything in itself as it lacks soul and
form. But as for writing down how to grant these to the powder, 134

johannes trithemius

my spirit resists revealing such a thing; however, the desire to serve

conquers and coerces me to disclose it. Therefore take a virgin
parchment of unborn calf skin, draw a figure with six angles on it with
a quill from the feather of a dove, in green ink, and within it write your
own name together with that of the person who shall love you, in
your blood, and connect them to each other with the name Anael, as
you can see in the example with the names ‘Caesar Anael Julia.’
After that burn the figure to powder and mix it with the universal
powder, so that combined it weighs six grams, and drink it to the
health of the person whose love you desire, mixed into whichever
liquid you prefer.

[7v]

Cæsar §nael Julia

Now this is the great secret which many have used to gain the love,
not only of human females, but even of wild beasts.

End.

the general key

135

Analysis of the General Key

uring his lifetime, Trithemius gained an infamous reputation as a man

well versed in the dark arts. Yet, it was Dr Faust whom later ages
Dwould remember as the epitome of the morally ambivalent goetic
mage of the Late Middle Ages. Nevertheless, during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries a not insignificant number of writers
appealed to occult authority and lineage by invoking Trithemius’
name on their title pages. Examples of these include Tractatus
chymicus, Veterum sophorum sigilla et imagines magicae . . ,
Philosophia naturalis de Geomanita and, as we saw in the previous
chapter, ‘The Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals’ from Francis
Barrett’s The Magus (1801).

The spurious attribution of the General Key to Trithemius places it in

this genre. The abbot of Sponheim was never shy about expressing
his passion for all species of knowledge, he even referred to himself
as a philomagus, a lover of magic.1

Yet, the abbot’s own magical writings are either of a highly complex
nature, as in his Steganographia, blatantly incriminating as in his
Antipalus maleficiorum, or marked by a deep and pious mysticism.
However his magical ideas are presented, Trithemius’ texts are
never brief, unlike the General Key. The most curious aspect of the
General Key is its highly condensed nature. Rather than presenting
a sequential ritual process, it provides a concise summary of the key
premises of Western magic. As we will see, even magical textbooks
written two hundred years later still have a similar structure and are
aligned to the same core principles. At least in this respect its title
holds true: this short eighteenth century treatise indeed provides a
general key to the art and science of sympathetic magic.

1 Arnold, Addittamenta: 249.

136

i Title

Trithemius did write a short treatise called The General Key. But his
key was intended to unlock the cryptographic practices hidden in his
Steganographia.

For the understanding of the first two books [of his Steganographia]
Trithemius himself crafted a threefold General Key. The head of
each chapter features the name of a spirit, representing the principal
of the secret ciphers contained in it, who is followed by several
subsequent spirits representing names and syl ables.2

The original Latin title of this treatise is Clavis generalis triplex in

libros steganograph-icos Joannis Trithemii. Whilst written by 1500 it
was first published in 1621. In his introduction to the third book,
Trithemius points out that he had learned the art of combining and
overlaying magical and cryptographic techniques into a single text
from an ancient master called Menastor. The latter employed the
seven planetary spirits, their corresponding seven angels and 21
subordinate spirits. We now know Menastor never existed and what
we encounter in this highly complex text is Trithemius’ own original
creation, much of which he received through visions.
In terms of complexity, the General Key of 1750 by no means
resembles Trithemius’ text of the same name. However, both texts
are magical rulebooks that aim to decipher a genre of texts that were
famous for their inaccessibility: ‘This little document will be a key for
you to many great secrets’ (f.2v).

Ii Preface

The short preface contains a general warning not to use the secrets
revealed in the text for wicked purposes, as otherwise the
practitioner would ‘feel heaven’s revenge.’ Furthermore, it points out
that the essential principles given on the following pages are crucial
to unlocking and avoiding misunderstanding of ‘all the secrets which
the ancients have left to us in books in great numbers’ (f.2r).

Somewhat in passing, the preface offers possibly the most important

key to all operations of magic: to perform them with virtue. Read
through a historical lens such a warning can be understood as part
of the common disclaimer of late medieval authors on magic:
insisting that their texts were part of a natural or theurgic 2
Silbernagl: 102.

137

rather than a goetic tradition of magic. More specifically this placed

responsibility into the hands of the practitioner.

Spirits are non-corporeal beings, which is why, when approaching

human beings, they do not see their physical bodies first. Instead,
their initial perception is of the moral make up of the practitioner who
is calling them. Many kinds of spirits simply cannot convene and
commune with practitioners, unless the latter have attuned their
spiritual state to that of the spirit. Such a process of atunement is not
performed inside the magical circle, but outside of it, through diligent
preparatory phases of withdrawal and ascesis. Directing the
practitioner to renounce the vices and perfect their virtues was not a
peripheral adornment or Christian medieval addition; it was the heart
of the magical process itself, accomplished on the spiritual plane.
Unsurprisingly, as we discovered in our analysis of the Two Books of
Pelagius Eremita, Trithemius was familiar with this key requirement
and repeatedly emphasised it in his own magical writings.

iii The Key to all Secrets

The following chapter provides a summary of the magical premises

given above. It states that none of the magic it aims to reveal can be
achieved through the operator alone. Instead, magical agency
resides in these critical forces: the one unified God and Holy Trinity,
and the fixed stars. Pagan astral magic is integrated into a Christian
paradigm by assigning it the same role as traditional angelic forces.
That is, by positioning them as ‘secondary causes’ ( causa secunda),
i.e. mediating agents between the heavenly Creator and his earthly
creation.

The differentiation of first and secondary causes has formed part of a

philosophical (and later theological) debate since Aristotle. It
wrestles with the premise of free will and the thorny subject of
theodicy, i.e. how a benevolent creator god admitted evil into the
world. By assigning multiple spheres or stages of causation, a
continuous degradation and diversion of the original divine will was
surmised.

Thus, gnostic techniques of elevating one’s soul to reconnect with

realms closer to the prima causa make up the main body of the
Western mystical tradition and informed much of its iconographic
expressions.

The author then clarifies that the seven fixed stars have to be
‘coerced by divine magic’ so that they can positively effect many
prodigious things. The German for

‘coerced’ ( gezwungen) leaves no doubt about the forceful nature

implied. Seeing the word in this context is slightly unusual, as the
expression is traditionally used 138

black abbot · white magic

to describe goetic practices and specifically the coercion the
operator applies to dangerous chthonic spirits.

The choice of word becomes clearer as we read on: the planets are
now described according to their principal qualities and rulerships.
They are either malevolent ( böse), benevolent ( gut) or mixed (
gemengt). Unusually for such a short treatise, the text does not
oversimplify the agency of the stars, but presents them as being like
the classical four temperaments, each of them ambiguous in itself
and dependent upon the context and intent with which it is
approached.

It is in light of the ambivalent astral nature of the stars that the term
‘coercion’

can be unlocked: the word is a combination of the Latin prefix co-,

together, and arcere, to restrain. Very similar to the etymology of the
German zwingen (derived from ninth century twingan), it describes
the process of forcefully containing something or someone in a
confined space, a process of narrowing, compressing and ultimately
taming an unruly force or being.

The magician is presented as a tamer of celestial spirits, operating

not according to their own ego, but in accordance with the divine wil .
Approaching magical practice from such a vantage point necessarily
introduces a strong mystical emphasis. The mage is as much
changed by the process as the spiritual being they are working in
partnership with. Coercion in such context is not a term implying the
application of brute force, but of mastership in the craft – which can
only be gained by coercing oneself just as much as the forces, or
beings, worked upon.

The author then indicates the true effect of working magically with
the stars:

‘behold the steps upon which one has to rise from the lowest to the
highest’ (f.3v).
Rules of the Operation

The text gives a clear twelve-point summary of operational rules for

all works of astral magic. Unsurprisingly, the list contains the general
rules of ritual devotion, purity, chastity, isolation and secrecy.
However, in the second part of the list we come across concepts that
seem much more like modern magical primers. The author
establishes the principle of keeping the planetary paraphernalia
isolated and stored according to their astral sympathy. All the
elements that contribute to the creation of the magical potion,
talisman or ritual are treated as virgin, natural substances. These
can be quickly diluted in power and purity if exposed to substances,
or even at times, not aligned to the planetary sympathy they are
intended to evoke. Like the sensitivity of photographic film to light,
these magical materia analysis of the general key

139

are understood to be reactive to whatever they are exposed to, and it

is the job of the practitioner to ensure they are only touched by
influences aligned to the astral sympathy under which they operate.
These materials, if used in combination, can induce a state of ritual
synesthesia. Colour stimulates our sense of sight, parchment,
feather and needle our sense of touch, the smoke of burning incense
our sense of smell and the angular shape of the talisman stimulates
our cognitive mind.

Today the term synesthesia is used to describe a relatively rare

neurological phenomenon where, for example, people hearing a
certain sound immediately see a particular colour, or people exposed
to a certain type of touch simultaneously perceive a certain smel . In
the liberal arts, however, synesthesia describes the simultaneous
perception of multiple stimuli in one gestalt experience. In other
words, it describes the stimulation of as many of our senses as
possible in an aligned and congruent way, triggering a deliberate
experiential response. Think of each of your senses as a lock on a
door to a distinct reservoir of power. By unlocking all of these doors
at the same time, access is granted to all the reservoirs of sensual
power. It is in this sense that ritual synesthesia has been used for
centuries to consciously create and trigger peak ritual experiences.

Activating a state of ritual synesthesia by combining a unique set of

shapes, colours, incense, incantations and timing has to be
considered the most important core principle of Western magic, and
yet it is rarely ever described explicitly in grimoires before the second
half of the 19th century.

The Ritual Example

The Venus ritual given in the grimoire comprises half of the entire
text. It is intended as an exemplar, that is, alternative rituals for the
other six planets and their rulerships can easily be derived from it.

The ritual can be divided into seven distinct steps or phases, as

shown in the table opposite. It should be noted that the process of
creating the love potion from its various ingredients is in itself a ritual
act. As such, our text is much closer to the practical traditions of folk-
magic or witchcraft than classical ritual magic where the preparation
of a planetary talisman would be distinct from the elaborate ritual
practice of consecrating and activating it at a later stage.
Unsurprisingly, except for the mention of a knife attributed to the
planet in question, the General Key includes none of the Solomonic
paraphernalia such as a magical circle, chalice, robe, etc. Assuming
the right time and ‘tuning-in’ of the operator are respected, the 140

black abbot · white magic

The general Key

Example of a love philtre

phase

action

title
I

Preparation of an astrological chart.

Planetary time

II

Choice of animal to be sacrificed.

Animal sacrifice

III

Preparation of a magical powder made from (1) the ashes of the

burnt heart Powder pills of the sacrificed animal, (2) the juice from
the leaves and the ashes of the root of a plant, (3) powdered
ambergris and (4) myrtle juice. These are compounded with drops of
one's own blood, drawn with a needle from the planetary point of
one's right hand while invoking the planetary angel. The resulting
powder is rolled into small pills and dried.

IV

Preparation of a second magical powder from (1) the blood collected

from Blood pills

the animal sacrifice, (2) powdered ambergris and (3) hairs or

feathers from the sacrifice. The substance is to be formed into
several small pills and as many large ones as indicated by the
planetary number.

Consecration of the pills in the smoke from a fire of myrtle wood to

which Universal materia

one of the blood pills is added. The consecrated powder pills should
be carried and cured in a pouch of the colour sympathetic to the
respective planet (e.g. green for Venus), while the operator is
speaking an incantation to the respective planetary angel. [The rest
of the sacrificial animal has to be burned to ashes and buried].

VI

Creation of a planetary figure (i.e. talisman) from virgin parchment,

pure Planetary figure

ink, and writing tools sympathetic to the planet in question. The

figure should be in the shape of a star with as many points as its
planetary number; inside of it are written the names of the people to
be affected by the magical act, united by the name of the planetary
angel. The figure is then to be burnt and mixed with sufficient
universal materia so that its total weight is equal to the planetary
number in grams.

VII

This final powder consists of the universal materia plus the ashes of
the Love potion

planetary figure. This is added to water or wine, and swallowed by

the operator whilst thinking of the desired magical effect, or the
targeted person.

141

General Key works on the implicit assumption that the spirits are
already present amongst men. Three things are needed for a
planetary spirit working: a suitable carrier substance into which to
impress their influence, a conscious address to the operator; and a
fair deal struck between both parties. They do not require the mage
to be dressed in a particular way or to be equipped with baroque
levels of paraphernalia.

After determining the appropriate astrological timing, an animal

attributed to the planet is killed. For the modern reader it would be
easy to misunderstand the sacrifice as evidence of a rather sinister
or unethical motivation. However, to better understand the context in
which this action takes place, it is important to know that home
slaughtering was a common practice in most European cities until
the mid nineteenth century. The reason it was abandoned was not a
question of ethics, but considerations of hygiene and the ongoing
nuisance caused by the stench of slaughtered animals. Our text was
written at least 200 years earlier. In the late seventeenth century the
domestic kil ing and preparation of a small animal such as a chicken
or lark was not considered offensive, but was a basic household act.

Therefore, the instruction to include animal parts in an act of 17th

century sympathetic magic should be read as no different from the
instructions to include certain parts of a plant or particular minerals.

The first of the two powders is crafted from the ashes of the
sacrificial animal’s heart, the juice of the leaves and ashes of the root
of the correct plant, some myrtle juice as well as powdered
ambergris. Authentic ambergris would have been very expensive,
even during the late 17th and early 18th century when whaling
became a major economic factor across European industries.
Ambergris was often confused with amber, and it is thus likely that
the powder mentioned is that of pulverised amber.

The second powder is compounded of gagate, feathers (or hair) from

the belly of the sacrifice and its blood, cured in a myrtle wood fire
and with a pill made from the first powder. The most obscure
ingredient for today’s reader is gagate. The word used in the
German text is Agtstein which is ambiguous, as illustrated by this
vernacular dictionary entry from 1793.

Agtstein, a name given in some places, especially in Upper

Germany, to amber.

Wachter thinks it must be called Achstein, of Ach, water, because it

is found in the water, or Augstein, eye stone, because it is healing to
the eyes. Yet it seems certain that this name stems from the
outdated aiten, to burn, Greek αιθειν, and 142
black abbot · white magic

Planetary animals according to Al-Biruni Planet

Animal

Black animals, and those living in holes in the ground; oxen, goats,
horses, sheep, ermine, sable, weasel, cat, mouse, jerboa; black
snakes, scorpions and other poisonous insects, fleas and beetles;
aquatic and nocturnal birds, ravens, swallows; and flies.

Man, domestic animals and those with cloven hooves such as

sheep, oxen, deer; those which are speckled and beautifully
coloured, and edible, or speaking or trained, such as lions, cheetahs
and leopards; birds with straight beaks, grain eating, not black,
pigeon, francolin, peacock, domestic fowls, hoopoe and lark.

Lion, leopard, wolf, wild pig, dog, destructive or mad wild beasts,
venomous serpents; flesh-eating birds with curved bills, nocturnal,
water hens, bats, all red birds, wasps.

Sheep, mountain goat, deer, Arab horse, lion, crocodile, nocturnal

animals which remain concealed during the day; eagle, ring dove,
turtle dove, cock and falcon.

All wild animals which have white or yellow hooves, such as gazelle,
wild ass, mountain goat; also large fish; ring dove, wild pigeon,
sparrow, bulbul, nightingale, locusts and inedible birds.
e

Ass, camel, domestic dog, fox, hare, jackal, ermine, nocturnal

creatures, small aquatic and terrestrial animals; pigeon, starling,
crickets, falcon, aquatic birds and nightingales.

Camel, ox, sheep, elephant, giraffe, all beasts of burden obedient to

man and domesticated; ducks, cranes, carrion crows, herons,
chicks, partridge.

143

therefore it means Brennstein (burn stone), which seems to match

the term Bernstein amber, as used in Lower Saxony. In older times
one also finds the term written as Aidstein; which refers to Eiter (pus)
and Eiternessel (pus nettle, Latin urtica urens). Various writers, who
were ignorant of the mineral kingdom, were misled by the similarity
of the names, called the agate as well as the gagate Agtstein,
however all three are quite different. Often one also calls the gagate
the black, amber and yellow Agtstein.3

So which translation of Agtstein is intended, gagate or amber? Two

sentences earlier the author used ‘ambra’ to indicate the tree resin
amber. Thus, if he had intended the use of amber again in the
second powder, it is likely that he would have used the same term.
As he chose Agtstein instead, we think it is probable that he used the
latter term to refer to gagate. This would lend stronger polarity to the
two powders created, as the first included yellow amber whereas the
second used its opposite, black amber. So what exactly is black
amber?

Gagate is better known as jet, a compact carbon fossil. It is found as

a lustrous, relatively soft stone which is easy to shape and engrave.
The word ‘gagate’ stems from an ancient river in Lycia where it was
once mined. It was known to the ancient Egyptians, who created
polished black mirrors from it, as well as the ancient Greeks, who
fashioned it into amulets, bracelets and rings. In medieval times it
was thought to possess softening and dissipative healing powers,
being effective against migraine, toothache, stomach pain and
epilepsy. Jet was a popular and affordable material to create
talismans with, and was believed to ward off demons, break spel s
and disempower the devil. Powdered gagate was mixed into potions
to be swallowed or applied externally, a predecessor of modern
alternative tar therapies, e.g. for psoriasis.4

The final step in the preparation of the universal materia is to expose

the second powder to smoke from a fire of myrtle wood and a pill of
the first powder. The second powder is not exposed directly to the
smoke, but held in a green pouch.

From the accompanying prayer to the planetary angel (Anael in our

case), we understand that the first powder, which contains the ashes
of the heart of the sacrifice, is offered as ritual food (in the form of
smoke and scent) to the angel itself.

3 Adelung, Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen

Mundart, Band 1.

Leipzig 1793, S: 183.

4 Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens,

Vol.3: 253.

144

black abbot · white magic

The operation provides what the author of the General Key calls the
universal materia of the respective planet. However, this magical
substance still ‘cannot attain anything in itself as it lacks soul and
form’ (f.7r). After explaining his hesitancy in revealing how to perform
this powerful and critical step, the author provides instructions for the
creation of a magical pentacle. Following the ritual use of fire, blood,
plants and minerals, the written word is revealed as the ultimate
magical agent. This last step is what places a spell on the target.
The universal materia created the body of the magical agent, the
pentacle now enlivens it with a specific will and direction.

Finally, the parchment pentacle is burned, its ashes mixed with the
second powder. This final powder – the body and soul of the
operation – is then drunk by the operator. Through the living body of
the operator, the magical potion returns to nature. The magic has
become flesh.

Conclusions

‘Lose your mind, and come to your senses.’ – Fritz Perls The
General Key is a grimoire that emerges out of everyday life. It is not
born from the oratorium of the scribe, nor the circle of a mage, but
from the stained hands of the witch. Looking at each step in detail,
we recognise that the operation would have taken place in a well
equipped kitchen, rather than a temple or church. We witness the
incinerating of animal parts, the bottling of blood, the pressing of
leaves, the powdering of roots, the embroidering of charm bags, and
preparation and use of virgin parchment. No classical magical
paraphernalia is mentioned or needed, except for what can be found
in a medieval kitchen.

Whereas Trithemius’ General Key draws its virtue and power from
the splendour of the human mind, our grimoire draws on the raw and
deeply rooted forces of the corporeal realm. Whether the bodies of
plants, minerals, animals or that of the operator themselves, all are
put to use, confined, combined and aligned into a single universal
materia.

The General Key draws out the forces of the corporeal realm, then
draws down the forces of the astral bodies and finally pulls those
forces into the body of the operator themselves. Our human senses
– sight, sound, touch and taste – have to be woven into such a
process, in order to integrate all aspects of the physical world into a
single magical process. Besides giving a succinct overview of
general magical analysis of the general key
145

operating principles, the true value of this little gem might reside in
weaving these back into the realm of the senses. Magic thus is best
accessed through the gate of the body, and the General Key is a
wonderful reminder of that simple truth. The following chapter will
take us even further down this sensual path, into the garden of herb
and folk magic, and further from the sterile temples of male, learned
magic.

146

The powder of Pelagius

he powder of Pelagius Eremita is mentioned several times in

Trithemius’ Antipalus maleficiorum, published in 1605 but written in
1508.

TSpecifically, the powder itself or key ingredients thereof are

mentioned in the following three sections: Book II, chapter V, pages
326 and 327; Book III, page 333; and Book III, page 389. The goal of
its preparation is to create a ‘talismanic concoction’1 that can be
used as a protective measure against all evil spirits, as well as a
powerful agent to employ in exorcistic rites.

The recipe is of particular interest to our current study because it

contains many ingredients that required blessing as part of the
official Catholic liturgy, such as pulverised blessed candles from the
Easter Mass. Trithemius’ mission was to establish a theologia
magica, a form of magic purified of heretical adornments which could
exist alongside the orthodox liturgy of the Catholic Church. However,
to provide a detailed exorcistic recipe – meant not exclusively for
representatives of the Church, but equally for lay exorcists – and
which involves pulverised cemetery earth was unusual, to say the
least. Here we find a wonderful example of the paradox Trithemius
wrestled with all of his life: whilst wanting to establish a purified
magical programme in relation to the Catholic Church, he constantly
placed himself under the suspicion of being a magician.
Antipalus maleficiorum was intended as an anti-magical screed,
much in the same spirit as the recently published Hammer of the
Witches, the Malleus Maleficarum (Speyer, 1486). Yet, as Joseph H.
Peterson observes, to this day it remains

‘one of the best resources on the subject of Renaissance magic.’2

Not only does the Antipalus contain a wonderful bibliography of
grimoires and magical books, but on account of its practical nature it
ran the risk of being turned into a handbook for heretical
practitioners.

1 Brann: 111.

2 http://www.esotericarchives.com/tritheim/antipalus.htm 147

the abbot’s Antipalus (...) in effect placed in the hands of the laity
techniques of demon expulsion that might otherwise be considered
to be in the exclusive province of clerical exorcists.3

And Wil -Erich Peuckert in his liminal Pansophia (1956), after going
through detailed descriptions of several of the recipes in Trithemius’
Antipalus, concludes: As strange as this all is, it seemed necessary
to be mentioned here. Not only to depict Trithemius’ position against
black magic; not only to highlight again the proximity of Magia
naturalis and black magic, and that magic and counter magic are the
very same and only differ in their alignment – which our farmers still
know; in the man who knows how to perform magic they also see the
man who knows counter magic. I am also laying all of this out here,
because these things have remained alive, and they still exist
today.4

Preparation

The herbal body

Trithemius specifies the exact herbal ingredients of the powder in the

third book of his Antipalus on page 333. Here we can read the full list
of nine, or ten ingredients. The difference depends on whether we
choose to read ‘solsequium’ as an old term for chicory, or as a 50/50
mixture of chicory and common heliotrope: ‘Red mugwort, hen-and-
chicks, Solsequium, mastic gum (?), hyssop, sage, pennyroyal,
elderflower leaves and flowers and, if you can acquire it, also the
herb which is called Holy Maria or in the vernacular wolgemut or
tosten (...).’5

While we leave it to the reader to delve deeper into the magical

herbal lore related to each of these potent plants, the many
medicinal benefits of the powder are immediately obvious. It is also
clear that it was possible to use the mixture of all these pulverised
herbs both internally as well as externally, as no indigestible or
poisonous substances are part of the formula.

3 Brann: 75.

4 Peuckert (1956): 75.

5 ‘Arthimesia rubea, barba Iouis, Solsequium, Lenisticus, Hysopus,

saluia, pulegium, fo-lia sambuci cum floribus si possunt haberi et
herba qua dicitur sanctae Mariae vulgariter wolgemut vel tosten (...)’
Antipalus: 333
148

black abbot · white magic

The completed body

Obtain as much as you desire, of the substance of candles blessed

at Candlemas, of Paschal wax and incense, of herbs ground into
powder on the feast of the Assumption, of pulverised offertory bread
blessed in the Lord’s Supper, and from powdered cemetery dirt,
adding to these holy water and salt. Put these substances through a
sieve until they are finely ground. Then place the mixture made from
these powders and from the wax into warm water which has been
blessed, until all the constituents are as thoroughly compounded as
possible into a single mass. After this, standing over the product,
proceed to utter the Lord’s Prayer, the Ave Maria, and the Apostle’s
Creed.6

To complete the body of the Powder of Pelagius, Trithemius adds

substances charged with apotropaic powers, according to folk
magical belief: salt, blessed pulverised offertory bread, graveyard
earth, and a few drops of holy water. Note that the wax is only added
to the powder later, and acts as the carrier substance.

All of these ingredients, both herbal and apotropaic, could be

acquired without venturing too deeply into magical waters; with one
possible exception. Many European churches, especially the ones
close to sacred springs or the ones that had become dedicated
centres of pilgrimage, offered holy water to their visitors.

Such blessed water was intended to be taken home and used as

spiritual medicine, or as a general apotropaic. Blessed hosts,
however, were an entirely different deal.

These were intended to reside in a dedicated shrine in the church, to

be handled by the priest alone and used exclusively during the
Eucharist. It is not initially clear whether Trithemius refers to blessed
hosts, or to a layman’s offertory bread which had been blessed
during the Eucharist at Easter.

Application

The exorcist’s crosses

According to Trithemius, as a result of the operation one was

supposed to receive

‘tiny crosses’ ( cruces parvulas). As we will see later, in the Antipalus

he specified that these crosses were meant to be manually formed
from the substance while it was still warm. As a form of protection
against evil angels and demons these 6 Antipalus: 326/327; also
Brann: 76.

the powder of pelagius

149

The powder of Pelagius:

Trithemius’ recipe

Ratio Latin name

German name

English name

Medicinal benefit

Arthimesia rubea

Artemisia vulgaris, rubea Roter Beifuß

Red mugwort

Antibacterial, antifungal, appetising, calming, improves circulation,

antispasmodic, menstruation and labour inducing, strengthening,
digestive

Barba louis

Sempervivum globiferum Fransenhauswurz

Hen-and-chicks

Gout (outwardly), bruises, burns, inflammation, ulcers, shingles,

(Beard of Zeus)

haemorrhoids, insect bites, wounds, cracked skin

0.5

Cichorium intybus

Zichoriwegwort

Chicory

Supports gallbladder and pancreas, vermifuge

Solsequium (Sonnenwirbel)

0.5
Heliotropium europaeum Schweitzersonnwende

Common heliotrope Calming, sleep inducing, nervous conditions,

insomnia, anxiety, contracted muscles, acne

Lenisticus

Pistacia lentiscus (?)

Mastix

Mastic gum

Antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial, antimicrobial, stomach,

inflammation of the skin, mucous membranes, rheumatism, wounds

Hysopus

Hyssopus officinalis

Ysop

Hyssop

Chronic bronchitus, bronchial asthma, gastrointestinal catarrh,

bloating, anti-inflammatory, antiperspirant, mestruation inducing,
promoting bile, mildly laxative

Saluia
1

Salvia officinalis

Salbei

Sage

Astringent, antibacterial, haemostatic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic,

antispasmodic, toning

Pulegium

Mentha pulegium

Poleiminze

Pennyroyal

Astringent, uterus stimulating, diaphoretic, digestive

Folia sambuci cum floribus

Sambucus

Holunder,

Elderflower & leaves Stimulating, blood purifier, haemostatic, anti-

inflammatory, emollient, Blüte und Blatt
diuretic, antispasmodic, fungicidal, expectorant, diaphoretic 10
Sanctae Mariae vulgariter

Origanum vulgare

Oregano/Dost

Oregano

Antiseptic, antiviral, loss of apetite, coughs, menstrual cramps, gum

wolgemut vel tosten

inflammation, pharyngitis, cellulitis, eczema, psoriasis, indigestion

Deciphered herbal ingredients

Trithemius’ recipe

Ratio Latin name

German name

English name

Medicinal benefit

Arthimesia rubea

Artemisia vulgaris, rubea Roter Beifuß

Red mugwort
Antibacterial, antifungal, appetising, calming, improves circulation,
antispasmodic, menstruation and labour inducing, strengthening,
digestive

Barba louis

Sempervivum globiferum Fransenhauswurz

Hen-and-chicks

Gout (outwardly), bruises, burns, inflammation, ulcers, shingles,

(Beard of Zeus)

haemorrhoids, insect bites, wounds, cracked skin

0.5

Cichorium intybus

Zichoriwegwort

Chicory

Supports gallbladder and pancreas, vermifuge

Solsequium (Sonnenwirbel)

0.5

Heliotropium europaeum Schweitzersonnwende

Common heliotrope Calming, sleep inducing, nervous conditions,
insomnia, anxiety, contracted muscles, acne

Lenisticus

Pistacia lentiscus (?)

Mastix

Mastic gum

Antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial, antimicrobial, stomach,

inflammation of the skin, mucous membranes, rheumatism, wounds

Hysopus

Hyssopus officinalis

Ysop

Hyssop

Chronic bronchitus, bronchial asthma, gastrointestinal catarrh,

bloating, anti-inflammatory, antiperspirant, mestruation inducing,
promoting bile, mildly laxative

Saluia

1
Salvia officinalis

Salbei

Sage

Astringent, antibacterial, haemostatic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic,

antispasmodic, toning

Pulegium

Mentha pulegium

Poleiminze

Pennyroyal

Astringent, uterus stimulating, diaphoretic, digestive

Folia sambuci cum floribus

Sambucus

Holunder,

Elderflower & leaves Stimulating, blood purifier, haemostatic, anti-

inflammatory, emollient, Blüte und Blatt

diuretic, antispasmodic, fungicidal, expectorant, diaphoretic 10

Sanctae Mariae vulgariter
1

Origanum vulgare

Oregano/Dost

Oregano

Antiseptic, antiviral, loss of apetite, coughs, menstrual cramps, gum

wolgemut vel tosten

inflammation, pharyngitis, cellulitis, eczema, psoriasis, indigestion

crosses, together with holy water, would then be scattered around

one’s house, yard and stables.7 For clarity I wish to highlight that the
actual powder of Pelagius Eremita consists of all the ingredients,
except for the blessed wax taken from the Candlemas and Paschal
candles. The essential ingredients are the salt, soil from a cemetery,
the ten pulverised herbs, pulverised offertory bread and a few drops
of holy water. The blessed wax is the carrier substance required to
give the powder solidity and shape.

The witch’s bath

An alternative to the proactive, talismanic application presented in

Scenario 1 is offered by the instructions for a so called witch’s bath.
Such a bath should be used in situations when more immediate
spiritual purification is required.8

The instructions in the Antipalus – including all its prayers and

blessings –

cover more than sixty pages. For Trithemius, such exorcising baths
were essential ingredients in a healthy folk magical culture that was
being lost, even in his time.

In his correspondence with the Margrave Joachim of Brandenburg,

Trithemius explains that it was precisely such baths that not only
took effect against illnesses and bedevilments, but were a blessing
and boon for all man’s needs. They offered purification of one’s body
and soul.

It is during the extensive instructions for the witch’s bath that we

come across the details of the herbal mixture of the powder of
Pelagius. The efficacy that Trithemius ascribed to this magical
substance is evident when we read that it is to be added to the
bathwater, is prescribed to be taken in combination with a series of
baths and, only if necessary, used to exorcise the house of the
afflicted individual.

However, despite its superior effects, the abbot did not provide
complete instructions in a single place on how to compound this
powder. In his second book, as quoted above, we find guidance on
the required apotropaic substances; yet the herbal ingredients are
not given. In his third book, as part of the witch’s bath section, we
find the details of the necessary herbs. Stil , the text remains
ambiguous and possibly intentionally so. If indeed this powder
possessed the superior exorcistic qualities that the abbot ascribed to
it, he might not have wanted to share its recipe openly. Instead, he
scattered the elements of the complete recipe across 7 Antipalus:
327; see also Peuckert, Pansophia: 74.

8 Antipalus, Book III: 333; or Schneegans (1882): 232.

152

black abbot · white magic

multiple sections of his Antipalus, thus ensuring that only the faithful
student who had read his book in full would be able to prepare this
occult substance.

Leaving out all the related orations, blessings and prayers, the
general instructions for the witch’s bath are as follows. The
practitioner is directed to find a safe and secure space for their
operation and to use fresh pure river water. The praci-tioner must
assemble the ingredients, including the ten herbs of the Powder of
Pelagius, yet in this case they are not naturally dried, but in ‘good
quality and slightly cooked.’9 The text is written for a scenario in
which a priest is present to perform the necessary rites on behalf of
the afflicted person who is sitting in the bath tub.

However, the ritual can be customised f0r solo practice.

Here is an abbreviated version of the ritual procedure – in its first

English translation – from W. Schneegans’ biographical study of
Trithemius:10

Before the rite the bewitched must make a general confession,

receive the sacrament from the altar, attend a mass for the Holy
Trinity, to which specific prayers have been added.

The place where the bath is prepared has to be properly secured so

that the witch who caused the damage will not sneak into it. The
bathtub has to be new and unused.

The bath has to be prepared with fresh, pure river water. The
required ingredients are: a pouch full of cemetery soil, blessed ashes
and sanctified palms, holy water and blessed wax and salt,
furthermore nine herbs, which are identified by name, of good quality
and cooked lightly, which, after they have been exorcised and
sanctified, are mixed into the bath with proverbs and prayers.

After everything has been arranged according to the instructions, the

ill person undresses and steps into the bath; men naked, women in a
chemise. Then the priest sticks a Candlemas candle onto the top,
bottom and side of the bathtub, and prepares a dough from the
blessed earth, of which he has kept back a little for the purpose,
together with the blessed salt and holy water, which he then places
onto the sick body part and affixes it with a linen strip – all the while
uttering certain proverbs and prayers. After the patient has been
questioned about the purity of their faith and sufficient replies given,
the priest washes the sick part of the body, and if it cannot be
touched, he washes the patient’s back.
9 Schneegans (1882) Der Abt Johannes Trithemius und Kloster
Sponheim ( The Abbot Johannes Trithemius and the Sponheim
Monastery): 233.

10 Schneegans (1882): 233–235.

the powder of pelagius

153

While the poor bewitched person, constantly calling for divine help,
sits in the bath, the actual exorcism takes place. The priest, facing
towards the bathtub and looking East, courageously addresses the
evil demon and, by means of a long and powerful conjuration,
coerces it to stay away from the servant of God N.N., as well as to
take away all afflictions caused by the witch’s malice, otherwise it is
threatened with the punishment of eternal damnation and exile from
all places accessible and hospitable to men. The priest then does
the same, standing at the opposite side of the bathtub, looking west,
then facing north and finally towards the south. In like manner,
according to the four directions of the world, he walks around the tub
in the form of a cross, yet now he faces away from it. Once he has
done all of this and read out a long conjuration, he sprinkles holy
water onto the sick person with an aspergillum made of hyssop, and
then washes the sick body part one more time.

Next the priest blesses the wine, which the sick person has to drink
over nine days, and then prepares from the aforementioned
sanctified things thirty-eight

[small portins of] powders, next to thirty-eight [small portions of

pulverised]

red coral in an admixture of wax and warm holy water. From this he
prepares a substance called the blessed, perfected wax. Once all of
this is completed, the patient leaves the bath when he can endure it
no longer.
The priest now forms a small cross from the aforementioned wax,
places it into a walnut shel , and, after sealing it carefully with more
wax, sews it into a cloth, which he hangs around the patient’s neck.
The remaining small crosses formed from the wax are hung upon the
doors, bed, table and other places.

The bewitched has to take this bath, with all of its appropriate rites,
on nine consecutive days, only drink the blessed wine during this
time, and take the blessed powder of the hermit Pelagius in wine or
broth each morning and night. In case the bewitchment is powerful,
or the patient a person of status, the priest shall celebrate the Mass
for them on each of the nine days. In case the bath does not improve
the condition of the sick person, the apartment must be changed or
disenchanted by use of the holy composition of the hermit Pelagius;
furthermore, one should fast, multiply prayers, take vows, give alms,
and make pilgrimage to proven holy places. Thereafter the bath shall
be repeated, but with intensified exorcisms and conjurations.

154

black abbot · white magic

The recipe11

The powder of Pelagius Eremita

Ingredient

Ratio

1 Salt

Apotropaic

2 Soil from a cemetery

1
ingredients

3 Offertory bread (dried)

4 Holy Water

5–10 drops

5 Red mugwort

6 Hen-and-chicks

7 Chicory

0.5

8 Common heliotrope

0.5

Herbal ingredients

(pulverised on

9 Mastic gum

Assumption Day)

10 Hyssop

1
11 Sage

12 Pennyroyal

13 Elderflower & leaves

14 Oregano

15 Wax from candles blessed

14

Carrier substance

at Candlemas and Easter

(only required if formed

into solid shape)

11 Used for apotropaic and exorcistic purposes by Johannes

Trithemius, early 16th century; reconstructed by Frater Acher.

the powder of pelagius

155

On Trithemius

of Sponheim

Trithemius’ Life and Work

ohannes Trithemius was born on the 1st of February 1462 in
Trittenheim on the river Mosel and died on the 13th of December
1516 in Würzburg am Main. It seems, at least in Bad Kreuznach in
the year 1985, that Jthere is no immediate reason to recall the life
and work of this man. During his lifetime, however, the humanist and
historian Trithemius was at least as appreciat-ed as his fellow
countryman Nikolaus of Cues; and he was known throughout his life
as Abbas Sponheimensis, the abbot of the Benedictine monastery
Sponheim, close to the city of Kreuznach. In the 19th century the
following words were engraved on the stone monument to him at the
Mosel bridge in Trittenheim: ‘Johann Trithemius was an ornament of
the German people, one of the greatest amongst the scholars of his
time.’ Yet times have changed, and it seems important to prevent
one of the most exceptional exponents of humanism from vanishing
into oblivion. In the most recent general survey by Eckhard
Bernstein, German Humanism, published in 1983, Trithemius is only
mentioned in two footnotes, as the abbot of Sponheim and as the
author of a bibliographic work; Nikolaus of Cues is not mentioned at
all. My approach is to present Trithemius as a someone born in the
Mosel region, as a monk and abbot of Sponheim, as a scholarly
humanist and author, as a magician, and not least as a human
being.

‘Everything I have despised for the sake of Christ ... I am no longer

your son; I have forever devoted my life to God; no longer worry
about me ... ’ So writes the already highly esteemed abbot and
scholar in 1506 in a rather stylised letter to his mother, who still lived
in Trittenheim (and who certainly was not capable of reading the
language of the letter addressed to her). At this point he had been
away from the vil age of his birth and youth for more than two
decades. He had been born on the night of the 1st of February 1462
– roughly half an hour before midnight, the child of a family of
insignificant vintners. His parents, Johannes de Monte gentili, which
translates into German as Heidenberg or Heidenberger, and 159

Elisabeth aus Longuich (or Longuicher) were poor, but, as he would

emphasise, not serfs.
Rising through one’s skil s and education from a simple farmer’s
family to the height of scholarship, or even power and property, was
something that had always been possible; however, towards the end
of the Middle Ages it happened strikingly often. The majority of the
German humanists originated from the poorer classes or the
peasantry. The flourishing of community schools and universities
marked a general upsurge in education in the 15th and 16th
centuries. For example, one could point to the exemplary German
humanist Konrad Celtis, who was a close friend of Trithemius and
was born, three years to the day before him, in Wipfels am Main.
Both were born into a century of cognitive awakening, and of
enduring political, social and ecclesiastical crises. Since the time of
the plague, the danger to individual lives and the stark need for
reforms to governmental and clerical institutions had become
apparent. These dynamics found their expression in the monastic
renewal movement, in a heightened level of folk piety, in the
persecution of heretics and peasant revolts, leading to a tipping point
in the form of the Protes-tant Reformation and the rise of the
common man.

These imminent transformations could only be predicted by small

signs; yet none noted them more diligently than Johannes
Trithemius. Countless speeches by him scourge the licentiousness
of the monks, just as much as that of the secular clergy, for whom he
urges a return to values. He records the general belief in miracles of
his time – without being entirely free of them himself – provides a
detailed account of the pilgrimages to the Pauker von Niklashausen
and of the revolt of the Bundschuh movement at the Upper Rhine.
Despite all his exhortations for reform, the abbot remained an
advocate of ancient tradition, of Benedictine monasticism, of the
Roman Church and of the Imperial Majesty. His death on the eve of
the Reformation spared him from taking a firm position on the
changes that would disrupt the status quo.

Trittenheim was positioned on the periphery of the political and

ecclesiastical centres; its administrative ambit encompassed parts of
Kur-Trier, the dukedom of Manderscheid as well as the abbey of St
Matthias in Trier. The vintners lived in this region according to a
firmly established order, ruled over by manors and judges, only the
change of the seasons and public holidays offered a respite from the
uniformity and hardship of everyday life. The news which reached
people here was limited, at of most the accession of a new pope,
emperor or high lord, the appearance of preachers of repentance or
of the failure of reform councils.

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Despite all this, a boundless love for the sciences awoke in this vil
age boy. At the age of one, Hans Heidenberger lost his father; from
his mother’s second marriage seven years later to Johannes Zoll (or
Zeller) only a stepbrother survived. Trithemius describes his
stepfather as a ruffian, trying to beat the desire for knowledge out of
him. However, the boy was inspired by an amor litterarum, a love for
knowledge. He learned to read and write at the age of five, with the
help of a neighbour and the vil age priest. He left his home to pursue
his studies, but throughout his life he retained the memory of his
childhood vil age in his name, Trittenheim, and from 1486 onwards
as Johannes Trithemius.

We know little of his studies in Trier, Cologne and Heidelberg.

Though he seemed destined for a scientific career, his path was to
take a significant turn.

Towards the end of January 1482, shortly before the end of his 20th
year, when returning home from Heidelberg with a friend, they visited
the monastery of Sponheim in Hunsrück. Shortly after their departure
the next morning, close to the neighbouring vil age of Bockenau,
they were caught in a heavy snow storm.

Advancing further had become impossible. ‘We have to turn around,’

he said ominously to his companion, ‘but you will see, I will stay ...’
And stay he did. He remained a monk for the remaining 34 years of
his life.
Eighteen months later, Trithemius was elected abbot, just ten months
after taking his monastic vows. Such a quick ascent speaks to the
hopes that centered on this young member of the monastery, which
turned out to be justified, as well as to the desolate condition of the
monastic community at the time.

The monastery of Sponheim, founded in the twelfth century by the

earl of the same name, was handed over to the archdiocese of
Mainz, and like many other monasteries experienced a significant
economic decline in the late Middle Ages; this was coupled with a
loss of monastic discipline. The Abbot of Trittenheim described this
process in his chronicle and reported the derision of the peasants:

‘In the monastery of Sponheim there are two abbots and one monk,
of whom one part also represents the congregation.’ In 1466 an
abbot resigned from the abbey, leaving behind 2500 gulden of debt,
‘giving way to the hardship and because there was nothing left to live
on.’

Even after Sponheim had affiliated itself with the reform movement
of Bursfeld, poverty still ruled and abbots had to resign early; they
capitulated to economic hardship and the hostile attitude of the
remaining monks, who were no longer wil ing to acquiesce to
monastic discipline. That the new abbot would ultimately fail had not
been obvious from the outset. The subsequent years were of
economic Trithemius’ Life & work

161

consolidation and the maintenance and renovation of the

monastery’s build-ings. Evidence of this are Trithemius’ coat of arms
on the sacramental shrine of Sponheim abbey from 1487, as well as
the surviving written records in the general archive in Karlsruhe. The
grape as the personal glyph of Trithemius, a memorial to his
birthplace, can also be found on the cover page of the Polygraphia
and on his tomb in Würzburg.
He dedicated himself to theological studies as well as to the
Benedictine rule.

In it he found the abbot’s duty, to serve the monks in their spiritual

and intellectual training. Trithemius saw it as desirable to give all
kinds of educational opportunities to his monks. Sponheim, due to
his efforts, turned into an academy which was open to monks and
interested laymen, and ultimately became the home of famous
humanistic scholars.

Often the abbot worked far from the cloister, for the benefit of the
Benedictine reform congregation which emerged in Bursfeld and to
which Sponheim had belonged since 1470. Trithemius devoted his
full energy to the interests of this monastic renewal movement. Often
we find his name amongst the participants at the annual gatherings
of the Bursfeld congregation, and more than once he was the
secretary or co-president of these conventions. A dozen addresses
he gave on such occasions to the Benedictine abbots, speeches that
focussed on the monastic life, its demise and renewal through the
reform of Bursfeld, oftentimes appeared in print within the same
year. These orations show him as a gifted speaker, an author of
remarkable erudition with perfect Latin, inspired by an all embracing
piety. A large literary corpus began to emerge, composed of
sermons, monastic admoni-tions, letters, liturgical instructions,
biographies of saints and exegetic writings.

Such efficacy in word and deed, dedicated to the reformation of the

Benedictine order, did not exhaust the strength or intellectual interest
of the abbot. His fame amongst his contemporaries, and as a lover
and collector of books, rested on the completeness and rarity of the
library which he assembled in Sponheim and wil ingly opened up to
scholars, who would often spend days or months in the monastery.
Just as no visitor to Germany in the early 19th century would have
failed to visit Goethe in Weimar, scholars of the late 15th century
would have visited the remote cloister of Sponheim at least once.
There were a mere 48 volumes in the abbey library when Trithemius
took his position; it grew to more than 2000
under his abbotship. Today the majority of them have been lost,
along with the catalogues; the largest remaining inventory, some fifty
codices, is in the University library of Würzburg and still displays the
ancient covers and shelf marks.

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Trithemius was a bibliophile: he was able to describe manuscripts

that he had once seen in detail decades later, or refer to their
specific locations. Whenever he encountered a codex or rare print on
his travels, he used all possible means to buy or trade for it.
Borrowed manuscripts were eagerly copied in the scriptorium of
Sponheim. The abbot also wrote, roughly twenty volumes in his pin
sharp hand have survived in European libraries.

In De laude scriptorum ( In praise of the scribe), he defended the

importance of the manual writing process, of the necessity to copy
books by hand even in the era of the Gutenberg press. In 1494 he
even had the book printed to increase its circulation, whilst
somewhat paradoxically writing of the transience of print, ‘The
printed book is a thing of paper, and consumed in a short time.’ In
contrast, vellum would endure, and should therefore be used for the
holy scriptures as well as the ancient classics.

The young abbot’s craving for learning had not been satisfied by his
university studies. What he brought to the cloister was his knowledge
of Latin, which he used exclusively in his own writings, and his
perfect mastership in reading and writing, which came from
immersing himself in classical as well as Christian authors. The
educational ideal of the humanists of the Renaissance was
trilingualism, the mastery of Greek, Hebrew and Latin. As teachers in
the former two languages Trithemius had two famous and amicable
scholars from the first generation of humanists: the first poeta
laureatus north of the Alps, Konrad Celtis, and the scholar of Greek
and Hebrew, Johann Reuchlin. We still find evidence today of the
linguistic competence of the prelate, in a bricked-up lintel in the
former working apartment of Sponheim, in Greek and Hebrew
manuscripts, inscriptions on prints and translations, as well as in the
remaining correspondence of more than 250 letters, interspersed
with citations in both languages.

Through a constant influx of visitors, both learned and thirsty for

knowledge, as well as through the far reaching correspondence of its
abbot with almost all his important contemporaries, including
emperors and popes, the cloister of Sponheim, became a centre of
vivid intellectual exchange. Trithemius was a member of the Rhenish
society of scholars, the Sodalitas Litteraria Rhenana, which had
gathered in Heidelberg around Celtis and Johann of Dalberg. When
Dalberg, the bishop of Worms, returned from a visit to Sponheim he
was under the impression that everything there had been Greek: the
abbot, the monks, the stones and books, even the dogs! The cloister
seemed to be located in the middle of the Ionian land.

The Greek dog was not an exaggeration; his name was Eris, and the
abbot had Trithemius’ Life & work

163

trained him to perform tricks upon commands given in Greek or

Hebrew. Celtis and another travel ing poet even dedicated an
epigram to the animal.

Humanists are normally associated with a purely secular mindset,

orientated towards antiquity. Without a shadow of a doubt, Johannes
Trithemius was a humanist; first and foremost, however, he was a
monk and eager to reform his cloister into a scholarly academy. For
this first generation of humanists the term

‘monastery humanism’ ( Klosterhumanismus) has been coined and

emphasises the particular importance of the religious community in
spreading humanistic ideals.

The representatives of the new spirit, who adhered to the religious

renewal without being part of the clergy or monks themselves, have
been rightly called Christian humanists. They converged in their
reverence for the Holy Family, for St Anne, Joseph, Mary, Mother of
God, and her Immaculate Conception, coupled with folk piety. The
abbot of Sponheim produced a work in praise of St Anne, which was
printed in Mainz in 1494 and provoked a contrary response from the
Dominican Wigand Wirt of Frankfurt. During the ensuing literary
feud, centering on the question of the immaculate conception, which
was only elevated to a dog-ma in 1871, Trithemius was supported by
his circle of friends, which by now had reached significant
proportions.

The fame of the abbot of Sponheim stemmed from a work, first

published in 1494, De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis: a catalogue of
almost a thousand authors and their works, the first literary history
and bibliography in world literature, and a much needed reference
work. He reworked the book several times, aided by the growing
inventory of the Sponheim library, as well as newly acquired
information.

The focal point of this literary history – and this is characteristic of

the mentality of its author – comprised Benedictine authors on the
one hand, and authors writing in the German language on the other.
Consequently, Trithemius later devoted separate editions to both
groups; his 1495 Catalogus illustrium virorum Germaniae and his
bio-bibliography De viris illustribus ordinis sancti Benedicti.

If contemporaries rightly held the literary historian Trithemius in high

esteem, his repute as a historian is on shakier ground today.
Posthumous fame, and critical responses, arise from the historical
works which during his lifetime, and long after, were only available in
manuscript form. Most of them belong to his latter years, which the
abbot spent in Würzburg, where he also finished the chronicle of the
monastery of Sponheim. The Chronicon Sponheimense could be
understood as a series of well intentioned forgeries made in the
interest of his cloister. Equally, in the early history of his Annales
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black abbot · white magic

Abbey of Hirsau in the Black Forest and German empire – its author
fil s an exiguous frame of the cloister’s early history with records of a
flourishing – and obviously freely invented – monastic life. He
employs a fictitious author, Meginfried, who also appears as a
witness in other historical works by Trithemius.

Much more questionable is the entanglement of astrological

elements in history – the Chronologia mystica – as well as his
genealogical speculations on the origin of the Franks in his
Compendium. The impetus for this was Emperor Maximilian, whom
the abbot attempted to serve, all too coquettishly and vaingloriously.
Again, Trithemius took refuge in the products of his fantasy: the
monk Meginfried had come first, and now came the fictive
chroniclers Hunibald and Wastald as his sources of information.

How did the faithful Benedictine abbot and commendable literary

historian turn into a forger of history? How can a theological and
monastic author, whose work comprises ten volumes in folio format,
take refuge in such dubious constructs and steadfastly maintain
them in the face of rising doubts? The explanation can only be
sought in a crucial turning point in his life, his expulsion from the
cloister by means of an alliance between his own insubordinate
monks and the local lord; a crisis at the height of his fame. The
consequence was a fracture in the personality of the 43 year old.
After months of itinerant life, including a long stay at the court of
Brandenburg in Berlin, in October 1506 Trithemius withdrew to the
insignificant abbey of St Jakob in the former Scottish Monastery in
Würzburg.

This abbey became his retreat for the next ten years. He complained
ceaselessly in his letters of the fate that forced to him to abandon
Sponheim and his famous library.

Yet his fame did not recede; his reputation as an author endured and
his friends and benefactors stood by him, in particular the Emperor
Maximilian to whose circle of humanists Trithemius belonged.
Maximilian was mainly interested in the history of the house of
Habsburg, but also hoped to get answers from the learned abbot to
questions that emerged from his belief in miracles and his general
curiosity. Thus Trithemius, in his Octo qnineuaestiones, had to
address the existence of witches and demons, and confirmed their
existence, in total alignment with the zeitgeist and the recently
printed Malleus Maleficarum.

Gazing upon his portrait by the master H.B. (the artists Hans
Burgkmair and Hans Brosamer both used this signature), nothing
hints at the Benedictine abbot’s reputation amongst his
contemporaries as a magician; a rumour which he did not deci-sively
counter, yet which seemed to help him gain the esteem of
benefactors such Trithemius’ Life & work

165

as the Emperor, or the elector Joachim of Brandenburg. And this

was the reason why, although he never encountered Dr Faust, he
regarded him as a competitor in terms of magical reputation.

Trithemius’ reputation as a magician stems from two specific works

which, whilst they contain secrets, are not diabolical. Speculation
over the contents of his Polygraphia and Steganographia was stirred
by dark insinuations made by the author himself, his own secretive
behaviour and the kabbalistic double encryption of their content and
method. In truth, both treatises deal with quite workable approaches
to encrypting messages. Without a shadow of a doubt, these
cryptographic studies are the most original works of the abbot. From
the 16th century until the First World War, Trithemius’ coding system
with its double cipher made cracking the code by statistical means
impossible, and was actively used in diplo-matic and military circles.

On the 13th of December 1516, Johannes Trithemius died in his

cloister in Würzburg, aged 54. Despite suffering from repeated
illnesses in his final years, he remained full of plans and, until the
very end, tirelessly served both his order and his own literary
projects. Students and successors, biographers and admirers
emerged from within the Benedictine order. His lasting achievements
are as a monastic author, book collector, friend of the humanists,
literary historian and historian, as well as being the first theorist of
cryptography. His monastic contemporaries consistently described
him as a man of cheerful character and unquestionable integrity. If
we were to recognise just one of his many ideals it would be his
independent thirst for knowledge. His vision was not the
Enlightenment one of ‘knowledge is power’ – ‘knowledge’ Trithemius
recognised, ‘is love.’

166

Trithemius and his magical master

Pelagius Eremita

More so than Faust has this man moved the hearts of

contemporaries and posterity: the magician of the emperor and the
Rhenish Abbot.1

ohannes trithemius, early humanist prodigy, abbot of

Sponheim, student of Johann Reuchlin, legendary teacher of

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, scholarly role model for John Dee,
author of the infamous J Steganographia, father of bibliography and
forger of historical codices: the Western magical tradition would be
quite different without this giant on whose shoulders we stand. And
yet, while his name still marks a collective reference point for modern
practitioners, knowledge of his actual works or of his biography is
superficial, if not entirely absent. No critical edition of his most
important literary, historical or magical works exists. The only attempt
at a critical biography dates to 1971, was never translated into
English, and compresses the survey of his magical studies and
impact to a mere twenty pages in a book of more than three
hundred.

Despite his importance – and with the exception of Klaus Arnold,

Noel Brann and Michael Kuper – Trithemius has largely escaped the
academic limelight as well as the attention of modern occult
practitioners.
If this is the state of our knowledge of Johannes Trithemius, the
situation is even bleaker for his most important magical teacher, the
arcane Majorcan hermit, Pelagius Eremita († 1480). In his own
works Trithemius goes so far as to admit that his entire magical
knowledge stems from the tradition of the ancients, his own practical
experience and the works of Pelagius Eremita;2 this makes the
Majorcan hermit the only explicit source he mentions. One of the few
scholars who took up the challenge of retracing his steps towards
this obscure, liminal, magical figure, 1 Will-Erich Peuckert,
Pansophia.

2 Silbernagl: 151.

167

Julian Véronèse came to a pointed conclusion about the importance

Pelagius holds in our Western magical tradition:

Within the field of ritual magic in the 15th century new developments
are essentially due to one man, Pelagius of Majorca, who in the
second half of the 15th century does not hesitate to break the
common law of pseudepigraphic attribution (to Solomon, Hermes,
Toz the Greek and other old authorities) to indulge his own
speculations.3

In this chapter we will turn from the writings of Pelagius to his historic
persona.

From a broad review of the existing material on the Majorcan

hermit,4 it became apparent that this mysterious figure can only be
studied by studying Johannes Trithemius himself. For, not only is
Trithemius the only confirmed literary source we have for the works
of this 15th century hermit, but in fact Pelagius Eremita never
existed. This surprising hypothesis can be validated through a
careful analysis, first of Trithemius’ own life and then of the works
ascribed to Pelagius. The only conclusion to draw is that Trithemius
invented this pen name in order to share his own magico-mystical
teachings under the secure disguise of an occult authority.
Part of this delicate literary sleight of hand was not only Pelagius
himself, but also his equally important magical heir and messenger
Libanius Gallus.

Before we set out on the journey, we should ask the essential

question: What is to be gained from such an exploration of the
biography of Trithemius, the works of Pelagius and our late medieval
magical past? If I can provide sufficient evidence for the hypothesis,
the position and impact of Trithemius on the tradition of ritual magic
will have to be thoroughly re-examined. Beyond his unquestionable
influence on such figures as Agrippa of Nettesheim or John Dee, we
would need to account for him as an original contributor to the genre.
As Julien Véronèse put it, reigniting the genre of ritual magic in the
15th century would no longer be down to the apocryphal hermit, but
to his much more famous literary inventor, Johannes Trithemius.
Such a re-evaluation of Trithemius’ historic impact would also bring
to the fore his influence on the emergent Rosicrucian movement.
This will become clear in the final section of this chapter, when we
shine a light on the historical Pelagius, the heretical fourth century
theologian.

3 Véronèse (2006): 2.

4 See Selected Sources for details.

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black abbot · white magic

This book is in no way an attempt to bridge the gap modern

academia has left in understanding the life and work of Trithemius,
nor is it our purpose to highlight the comprehensive impact of the
abbot’s work since the 15th century on the Western magical tradition.
Instead, our focus is first to extract from Trithemius’

biography the likely motivation for the literary invention of Pelagius

Eremita and Libanius Gallus; and second, to map the outlines of
Trithemius’ explorations.
Critical appraisal

Trithemius was working at the frontiers of knowledge in the late

medieval period.

And, like all innovators, he had learned to live comfortably with

paradox and contradiction. In fact, he had not only learned to
appreciate dual truths, double mean-ings and ambiguities, his own
life and literary work embodied these very qualities.

He emerges from the Middle Ages, he praises and conserves (...)

medieval calligraphy, and yet he recognises the advantages and
benefits of the newly invented book printing technique. He loves and
studies the ancient church fathers and authors of the Middle Ages,
yet at the same time he is a friend and supporter of humanistic
studies, which is why he not only writes and supports Latin, but also
turns to Hebrew and Greek, Byzantine works and already shows
appreciation for old works in the [German] vernacular. He recognises
and fights the weaknesses of his contemporary Church of the
Occident, yet always remains loyal to it. He rejects sorcery, magic,
astrology and alchemy, and yet he cannot withstand the influence of
the occult sciences. He claims and attempts to become a truth-
loving, diligent historical and bibliographical author, and reveals (...)
an extraordinary knowledge of original sources, fed from his own
library as well as his many library trips; yet he is often uncritical, errs
and is hasty, he even forges, confuses and invents texts.5

In light of Professor Arnold’s wonderful introduction to his life and

work, we can highlight four critical contributions Trithemius made to
Western magic. Firstly, his role as an original author of magical
grimoires, as displayed by his Steganographia. Here Trithemius’
daring, innovative spirit as well as his congenial creativity and
learning shine the brightest. Secondly, as an agent and conveyor of
authentic 5 Lehmann: 4.

trithemius & his magical master

169
works of magic, exemplified in the letters and manuscripts attributed
to Libanius Gallus and Pelagius respectively. Thirdly, his role as a
critical link and teacher in the Western magical tradition, notably to
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in the years 1509/1510. Without his
mentoring, encouragement and guidance, Agrippa would arguably
have not produced his own opus, the three-volume De occulta
philosophia.

Fourthly, we acknowledge his role as a proponent, and possibly an

instigator of the witch hunts in the 16th and 17th century. As we see
from his Antipalus as well as from the outline of his unfinished work
De demonibus these later texts are magical manuals on the one
hand and anti-witchcraft polemics on the other. Here we see a sharp
distinction between Trithemius and Agrippa, who famously opposed
the witch hunts.

Any attempt to understand Trithemius’ contribution to Western magic

has to recognise the paradoxical positions the abbot himself held.
Noel Brann, in his Trithemius and Magical Theology (1999), argues
that these different positions have to be understood as the various
attempts Trithemius undertook throughout his life to achieve a single
goal: to establish a theologia magica.

Guarding his occult operations with many caveats to keep them free
of possible diabolical intrusion and contamination, Trithemius joined
Cabalistic to Pythagorean and Hermetic principles in such fashion as
to furnish himself – and those deemed to be worthy of instruction in
his art – with a continuous magical road from the finite constraints of
the material world to the infinite expanse of the supermundane spirit.
Indeed, it was to facilitate the passage from the finite to the infinite,
so Trithemius expressly testified in his various theoretical
justifications of his magic, that he had invented his cryptographic
languages in the first place. The practical applications inherent in the
arts of steganogra-phy and polygraphy, he maintained, were but
secondary rewards of a primary impulse to the infinitely divine.6

Whether the abbot was promoting planetary demon conjurations, as

he did in his Steganographia, whether he ritualised exorcistic witch
baths as in his Antipalus, or whether he was instructing his students
in private in the art that should not be openly shared, Trithemius
remained fixated on re-establishing magic as a licit form of spiritual
practice.

6 Brann (1999): 247.

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black abbot · white magic

Whilst Trithemius leaned heavily on classical authors as well as on

the works of Marsilio Ficino, his own magical writings are highly
pragmatic in nature and most likely had been worked by the author
himself. They employed planetary and angelic intel igences, and
pursued a mystical agenda in so far as they aimed at the perfection
of the moral integrity of the practitioner. The works of Pelagius the
Hermit play a salient role in his mission of promoting a theologia
magica.

Three incidents

In order to unlock the relationship between Trithemius and his

magical master Pelagius, we will examine three particular incidents
in the life of the abbot: his expulsion from the monastery at
Sponheim; a madcap letter the abbot sent to a friend to praise his
unfinished Steganographia and its dire consequences; and the well
known literary forgeries Trithemius committed in his historical works.

I The Expulsion from Sponheim

On the 29th of July 1483, as a twenty-three year old, and only a year
and a half after his decision to enter monastic life, Trithemius was
elected 25th abbot of Sponheim. On the 12th of October 1506,
Trithemius was elected as the abbot of the sleepy and insignificant
cloister of St James in the suburbs of the city of Würzburg.7
It would be easy to see the years Trithemius spent at Sponheim as a
total success.

Not only had he reformed the monastery economically and renewed

monastic discipline, he had gone far beyond the aspirations of the
abbots of his time. Trithemius had turned the remote monastery into
the home of one of the most unique and famous libraries of the time,
and as a humanist academy it was open not only to the powerful and
learned, but to everyone seeking knowledge. What were the events
that lead to the abandonment of the beloved monastery by its most
distinguished abbot?

The answer to this question is to be found both in the personality of

Trithemius as well as the politics of his time. It is important to
understand the consequences Trithemius’ relentless humanist
mission had on everyday life in Sponheim.

The significant effort during his early years as an abbot to rectify the
economic situation of the monastery had indeed been successful.
Yet, growing the almost 7 Nordmann: 185.

trithemius & his magical master

171

non-existent library of Sponheim, from 48 books upon his arrival to

more than 2000 works, devoured most of the monastery’s hard
earned income.

So within 23 years, not without labor and significant costs and under
pressure to maintain the highest accuracy, I have acquired and
collected up to 2000

manuscripts and prints for the library of Sponheim which cover all
the disciplines and sciences known among the Christians.

For the acquisition of the books of the library, with the exception of
the ones I had copied by the monks and not a few other people, I
spent an amount of money of more than 1500 gulden. Even if such a
sum would rightfully seem not insignificant even to rich people, it was
extremely high and almost unbearable to me given my poverty.8

Trithemius made the monks work hard. They were to fulfil a mission
they had never signed up to, copying by hand and candlelight a vast
number of manuscripts during a time when book printing was on the
ascendant. Furthermore, the constant stream of visitors put an
additional burden on the monks, as it was they who needed to
prepare the monastery and host their often illustrious guests for what
could easily turn into extended research retreats in the constantly
growing library of Sponheim. Trithemius was consistently absent
from his post, engaged in the higher politics of the reformatory
movement of his Church; or he vanished into other monastic libraries
only to spend huge sums of money, that weren’t his own, on
acquiring new manuscripts.

The German humanist, Konrad Celtis, who remained a close friend

of Trithemius throughout his life, referred to the latter’s monastery as
a ‘Druid’s refuge.’9

This is particularly interesting, as Trithemius himself had described

the Druids in the following way:

among the gentiles in our Belgian Gaul existed a celebrated body of

monks, the devotees of which antiquity called the Druids. Some of
these dwelled in cities and vil ages, whereas others inhabited the
mountains and forests. But all philosophised concerning the
knowledge of natural things.10

8 Trithemius in his Nepachius, quoted in Arnold (2003): 34

9 Druidenherberge, Arnold (2003): 21.

10 Brann (1979): 16/17.

172
black abbot · white magic

His expulsion from Sponheim is probably the most significant break

in the abbot’s life. The personal reasons which led to this tragic
event were his obsession with his learned mission and his craving
for admiration, not from his fellow monks but an elite circle of
humanists. This was not simply monastic politics, but can only be
properly understood from a political perspective.

Trithemius lived during a time that was filled to the brim with military,
political as well as ecclesiastic conflict and intrigues. Once one had
garnered sufficient fame to appear on the political stage, forging (or
ruining) one’s affiliations or alliances was often a matter of sending a
letter at the right time to the right person, or of carefully choosing a
powerful patron to whom one dedicated a new manuscript.

Trithemius was a man deeply invested in this early 16th century

game of thrones.11

Trithemius had affiliated himself early on with Philipp, the Elector of

Palatinate (Kurfürst der Pfalz, 1448–1508). After his voluntary retreat
from Sponheim in 1506

several of the abbot’s friends, among them Johannes Virdung, had

campaigned with Philipp on his behalf, hoping for Trithemius’
rehabilitation and return to Sponheim. Despite the fact that
Trithemius had resigned from his office voluntari-ly, Philipp was in an
immensely difficult position. The Roman-German King, who later
became the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, considered Philipp to
be the

‘leader of all enemies of the King.’ Not only had Philipp thrown the
king from his saddle during Maximilian’s own coronation festivities,
but he had also continued the aggressive expansion of his
ancestors, rejected Maximilian’s domestic politics and made a deal
with his arch enemy, the French King Charles VII. All of this had
turned Philipp not only into a significant enemy and competitor to
Maximilian, but also into a threat to most of the other sovereigns in
the region.

Even though Trithemius the abbot was known to be close to Philipp,

Maximilian I still showed significant interest in the exchange of ideas
with Trithemius the scholar and historian. The fact that the king was
able to differentiate his philosophical discussion with the abbot from
the latter’s political affiliation with his enemy speaks volumes about
the interest Maximilian had in the scientific and theological
knowledge of Trithemius. Unsurprisingly, many of the king’s allies
were not as sophisticated. Thus in April 1505, when Trithemius was
again absent from Sponheim, Johann I, the aggressive and anti-
intellectual Count Palatine of Simmern, occupied the monastery and
declared his rights over it. Despite later signs of compromise 11 For
a full account of the political details that led to his expulsion from
Sponheim, we recommend Nordmann’s wonderful article referenced
above: ‘Des Johannes Trithemius’

Lebenskrise von 1505 bis 1508 und sein “Faust-Brief” vom

20.August 1507.’

trithemius & his magical master

173

offered by von Simmern to Trithemius, the abbot perceived this act

as such a significant violation of his ecclesiastical rights that he
refused to negotiate or even communicate with the Count Palatine.

Nordmann provides a clear assessment as to what might have

motivated Trithemius’ stubborn position on the matter. Essentially the
abbot had to make a strategic choice: either he could fight to regain
control of his beloved monastery at Sponheim, or he could focus on
further strengthening his affiliation and position with Maximilian. In
the end, Trithemius chose political influence over his residence at
Sponheim. Thus he was wil ing to offer up his beloved ‘Druid refuge’
as part of a bargain which bought him continued access to and
favour from the king, and a new quiet and politically undisturbed
home in the monastery of Würzburg.

The huge amount of letters Trithemius wrote following his retreat

from Sponheim, their deeply defensive and self-justifying tone, speak
to the significant scar this incident left on the abbot, and reveal
critical aspects of Trithemius’ character; on the one hand his
irrepressible drive to execute his somewhat egotistical mission, to
become one of the foremost scholars of his time, on the other, a
strange mixture of political slyness and extreme shortsightedness.

II The Steganographia Incident

This means that, in his simultaneous roles as magician and

demonologist, Trithemius was faced with the daunting task of
persuading his princely patrons to take up some kinds of magic while
avoiding other kinds at the peril of their souls.12

Whatever in the world is knowable, I always desired to know.13

Of the many hundreds of letters that Trithemius wrote during his

lifetime, he sent the most momentous in the Spring of 1499. It was
addressed to Arnold Bostius, a Carmelite in Ghent and revered
scholar, who had inquired about what the abbot was currently
working on. Requests like this had previously resulted in significant
accolades for Trithemius, such as being called a ‘shining sign of his
time’ or an ‘ark of knowledge.’14 So, unsurprisingly, the abbot
complied with Bostius’ request all 12 Brann (1999): 59.

13 ‘Quicquidem in mundo scibile est, scire semper cupiebam.’

Trithemius, in Brann: 93.

14 Arnold (1971): 182.

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too wil ingly and shared a detailed account of his current project.
Trithemius did not know that Bostius was already in poor health and
in fact died only days before his letter arrived in Ghent. Thus instead
of his trusted friend, the prior of Ghent received and opened the
letter, and began to spread word of the infamous and possibly
heretical things it contained. In the ominous letter to Bostius,
Trithemius in less than humble terms, had announced an important
book that he was in the process of finishing: the notorious
Steganographia, possibly the strangest book on earth. Here is the
relevant passage from Trithemius’ ominous letter: The first book
specifically contains more than a hundred cryptographs by means of
which, without suspicion or permutation of letters, one can entrust
one’s intent to a letter so that no one, who is not initiated into this art,
can guess the content of the letter which consists of the most
innocent and amiable words. The second book will contain even
stranger things, namely the art of conveying my thoughts to the
initiate over any kind of distance, be it a hundred miles or more,
without words, writing or signs by whatever kind of messenger

– in fact, in such a way that if such a messenger was caught and

even pressed for an answer by torture, he would not be able to
confess anything of the message which is entirely unknown to him,
and none of the people in the world would be able to descry it.
Further, the art to convey my will to the initiate even without a
messenger, even if the latter languished in a dungeon three miles
deep.

And it explains how all of this can be done when and how often one
desires, without the help of superstitious means and without the
assistance of spirits.

The third book will teach a man, who only knows his mother tongue,
to perfectly master the Latin tongue in word and script within less
than two hours, and this is with his own understanding of Latin. The
fourth book will contain many wondrous and yet entirely natural
experiments; amongst many others the art of conveying my will
without words or cues to one who is initiated into it, whilst being at
dinner or sitting in the company of others, even while talking,
preaching, playing the organ, or singing, without the slightest
obstruction to anyone, and even with closed eyes.

Many learned men to whom I have declared this, marvelled at it and

believed it was impossible; yet I explained to them and say to you as
wel , so that you may know me as a philosopher and not as a
sorcerer, that many things are possible in natural ways which will
seem impossible or supernatural to the one who do not know the
forces of nature. Because, as it happened to Albertus Magnus, that
he trithemius & his magical master

175

was perceived as a magician by the rabble because of the wondrous

things he effected through the secret forces of nature, so it could
also happen to me.

By the way, I learned none of this from a human, but through some
kind of – I even don’t know myself – revelation. For during this year,
when I was contemplating these wondrous things in my mind and as
I began doubting them as impossible, and as I had sunk to sleep
exhausted, in my dream someone appeared to me and spoke:
Trithemius, what you have on your mind are not idle matters, even
though they are unattainable by you, and neither you nor anybody
with you could devise them. And I replied to him: So if they are
possible, please tell me how, I implore you. And upon this he spoke
and taught me every single thing in order, and he showed me how
easily these things could be accomplished, which I had
contemplated for many days in vain. By God, I tell you the truth and
am not lying: I have taught this to no one yet, except for a prince to
whom I write, even though I could teach all of this in every language
of this world, even those which I have never heard before.15

As we can see from Trithemius’ own words, humility was not a

quality close to his heart. Instead, they reveal a man who, like many
of his learned contemporaries, consciously crafted every letter as a
document to further his reputation as the most prominent living
advocate of a theologia magica.

It is in the context of Trithemius’ personal ambition and hunger for

fame that the central confusion about his Steganographia emerges,
and has remained unre-solved until today. If the abbot had indeed
invented, or received through revelation in dream, the most
innovative cryptographic techniques of his time, why then code them
into a grimoire of seemingly heretical magic? Trithemius could have
chosen any type of innocent text to hide his cryptographic keys and
message in: a long poem, a historical record, even a legendary
account of a saint or famous emperor. Yet, Trithemius deliberately
chose the most infamous and dangerous genre of his time in which
to conceal his message.16 Thus the debate amongst scholars has
remained alive to this day. Did the abbot of Sponheim write a
cryptographic masterpiece and hide it beneath a thin veneer of
theurgic magic in order to ridicule 15 Silbernagl: 97.

16 To be precise, most researchers today agree that the first two

books of the Steganographia contain cryptographic instructions in
disguise; it is the unfinished third book, however, that stands out as it
does not seem to contain cryptographic code, yet rather
concentrates on the actual angelic magic described in it in detail, e.g.
Walker: 87

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the latter genre and show how vain it was? Or, was the opposite the
case, did he use his cryptographic techniques to gain implicit
permission to share a newly developed grimoire, disguised as the
medium for his cryptographic science? The most likely answer is
both.

Trithemius’ Steganographia is partly a treatise on cryptography in

which the methods of encipherment are disguised as demonic magic
and partly a treatise on demonic magic.17
Irrespective of which part of the innovative Steganographia was the
focus of its author, the cryptographic or the theurgic, we have to
presume the unfolding furore that followed the unintended
publication of his secret letter to Bostius, at least initially, was not
entirely negative.

In no time at all the letter through its many copies became known to
and was discussed by the secular as well as the spiritual princes of
Germany and even more so in France. To evaluate the rumour of
[the mysterious Steganographia’s]

veracity and to get to know its author, a stream of visitors began to

besiege Sponheim; those who happened to live too far away would
instead send messengers or letters.18

In the following year Trithemius finished the first two books of his
Steganographia; Book I on the 27th of March, Book II on the 20th of
April. The revisions in both books, as well as in the unfinished third
book, already show a response to the curious, yet possibly
dangerous, public reaction to the work. Some of the topics with the
greatest risk of being construed as demonic magic, which the abbot
had originally promised to cover in the second book, were shifted to
the last book. Furthermore, Trithemius distanced himself from this
third book by inventing a magical authority by the name of Menastor,
from whose apocryphal work about the seven planets, their seven
angels and their 21 subordinate spirits his final methods had
allegedly been taken.19 We shall return to the persona of Menastor
when we discuss Trithemius’ literary forgeries.

During the years following Trithemius’ momentous letter to Bostius

the Steg-17 Walker: 89.

18 Arnold (1971): 183.

19 Silbernagl: 102.

trithemius & his magical master

177

anographia had increased the abbot’s reputation in equal measures

of fame and in-famy, but the truly damaging incident was not to occur
until ten years later in 1509.

On a trip to Germany in 1504 the widely respected Parisian

mathematician, philosopher and theologian Carolus Bovillus (1475–
1566) paid a visit to Sponheim. During his two week stay at the
abbey, in addition to their having many learned discussions together,
Trithemius had wil ingly offered him insights into his most ominous
work, and allowed Bovillus to inspect the original manuscript of the
Steganographia in private. Trithemius did not, however, provide the
key for deciphering the cryptographic messages, nor did he initiate
Bovillus verbally into any of the secrets contained in the three books.
Despite leaving on friendly terms, and even a subsequent letter in
which Trithemius recalled fond memories of their time together,
Bovillus soon began to agitate against the abbot of Sponheim. The
motives for his guile are unclear; it is most probable, however, that
Bovillus’ accusations of heresy came down to something as
mundane as envy. Michael Kuper in his concise biography points out
that Bovillus himself had been experimenting with natural magic –
most likely less successfully than Trithemius – and thus had been
disappointed at not receiving any kind of initiation into the deeper
secrets of the art, or those of the abbot’s much discussed cryptic
book during his extended stay at Sponheim.20 Later in his life
Bovillus published books on the myth of Prometheus, the mystical
aspects of numerology and the kabbalah of Ramon Llull.

Yet unbeknown to his friendly host, upon his return to Paris he did
not hesitate to vilify the work of his brother in spirit.

How exactly these intrigues against Trithemius unfolded following the

visit in 1505, we do not know. None of the existing biographies
contains a timeline specific enough to allow for a precise
reconstruction of the events. However, in the years that followed,
both in letters and in his published works, we find Trithemius on a
crusade against the libellous accusations of his former guest. Almost
all of the significant works of this last and most prolific period of his
life contain defences against the calumnies of Bovillus. For example,
in his biographical Nepiachus, written and printed in 1507, in the
preface to his Polygraphia, written in 1508 and first printed in 1518,
and in the Annales Hirsaugiensis, written from 1509 to 1514 and first
printed in 1690.21 Trithemius wrote two further treatises specifically
directed against Bovillus ( Contra Carolum Bovillum libr. II), both of
which are lost.22

20 Kuper, Johannes Trithemius: der schwarze Abt (Zerling 1996): 76.

21 Arnold (1971): 241.

22 Silbernagl: 100 & 238.

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The peak of this literary war over the abbot’s reputation can be dated
to 1509 and survives in a now famous letter by Bovillus. It is
addressed to the well known law-yer, theologian and patron of
learning Germanus de Ganay, then bishop of Cahors and later
bishop of Orleans, who had played an important role in connecting
Bovillus and Trithemius in the first place. In this letter the Parisian
records the most condemnatory verdict on Trithemius as a person as
well as of his work.

I took myself to Trithemius; who I encountered entirely as a sorcerer

and in no manner whatsoever a philosopher. A book he has written
and titled Steganographia, which to my surprise I was not able to
read more of than a few chapter openings and did not hold it in my
hands for longer than two hours; then I cast it from myself appalled
and filled with horror, because of the conjurations and such barbaric
and unusual spirit names, well devils I’d prefer to say, which
according to my opinion are taken from foreign languages [such as]
Arabic, Chaldean, Hebrew, Greek (more so than Latin of which few
or none are to be found): and a myriad of symbols can be found in it,
to describe the respective conjurations. (...) If he [Trithemius] claimed
to achieve all these things without the support of spirits, he is a liar;
yet if the good angel of the Lord still exists, as I believe, so may he
cut him in two, right down the middle and resolve the wicked pact he
had formed with the evil angels.23

As intended, Bovillus’ letter rapidly found its way into the

scriptoriums of his powerful and learned contemporaries. To fully
appreciate the Steganographia incident we have to consider that it
occurred during Trithemius’ expulsion from Sponheim, at a time
when he was already publicly exposed over the loss of his famous
abbey, and when he had staked everything on the continued
benevolence and patronage of Maximilian I. How this incident
shaped the abbot’s view and approach to magic, as well as
publishing in general, cannot be over estimated. By 1507 he had
stopped work on the unfinished third volume of the book, and given
up all hope of publishing his magnum opus. In a letter of the same
year, he openly admitted defeat as well as the lessons he had
personally learned from the matter. Three things in particular kept
him from continuing work on the Steganographia and the aim of
publication (the book only saw print some 99 years later in 1606).
Firstly, because of the harm that its techniques could inflict if used by
evil men; secondly, because 23 Bovillus to Ganay in 1509, ref.
Kuper: 75; Silbernagl: 99.

trithemius & his magical master

179

of the slight reward Trithemius would receive despite the huge

amount of effort it would take to complete the book, and thirdly
because of ‘the opinion of the un-learned rabble, who attribute
everything they cannot understand to the evil arts.’24

The Steganographia was by far Trithemius’ most daring attempt to

enter the ranks of the medieval ‘author magicians’ for whom he held
such deep admiration.
His attempt had failed spectacularly. Only through the expenditure of
all his wit, political prowess and personal relationships did he escape
the imminent danger of irretrievable defamation inflicted by both
letters. Thus by 1509, Trithemius had not only been disappointed
twice, but significantly damaged by people whom he mistakenly
considered to be part of his inner circle.

Yet 1509 also marks the year in which Trithemius encountered the
young man who would become his most famous disciple, Agrippa of
Nettesheim. Much of the inspiration and design of Agrippa’s De
occulta philosophia is owed to the latter’s visit to Trithemius’
residence in Würzburg and the long conversations between these
two men who had so much in common. When Agrippa finished his
magnum opus in the following year, the clear advice of the black
abbot was: Only this one other piece of advice I’d like to pass on to
you: that you may give the common to the commons, however, the
higher secrets, only reveal to pre-eminent men and familiar friends.
‘Give hay to the oxen and sugar to the parrot!’ Test the spirits so you
may not be trampled by the hooves of the oxen, as happens to so
many. Live happily, friend ...25

Trithemius chose his words carefully, and included a cryptographic

hint in his advice, the latin word for oxen, bovi indicating the name of
the man who had taught Trithemius his own hardest lesson, Bovillus.

III Trithemius the Forger

Overstepping and deliberately blurring the lines between fact, fiction

and forgery, is at the heart of the Western magical tradition, whether
one appreciates or is appalled by it. In a territory where myth and
mystery are as important as pragmatism and practical results,
maintaining a clear line of demarcation between the subjec 24
Silbernagl: 101.

25 Trithemius to Agrippa, 1510, ref. Kuper: 115.

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black abbot · white magic

tively experienced and the objectively measured is an inherent

problem, and often an obstacle to progress.

Trithemius lived with paradox, embraced opposing views, and thus

was able to appear on the literary stage both as an early monastic-
humanist, as well as a re-actionary witch-hunter. Where he utterly
failed was in anticipating how he would be judged by others. His bold
literary manoeuvres, whether they consisted of his magical
innovations or his historic annals, often seemed to observers to be
more motivated by pride than scientific curiosity. Nowhere is this
more apparent than in the literary forgeries Trithemius committed in
his later works.

Early in the year 1510, and after professional negotiations,

Trithemius agreed to resume work on the extensive Annals of
Hirschau Monastery ( Hirschauer Annalen/

Codex Hirsaugiensis). When the previous sponsor unexpectedly

died, the work had stalled; but with a fresh contract on his desk, the
abbot was now able to employ the significant body of research which
he had already brought together on the topic. By 1511 Trithemius
had finished the first part of the monastic history, covering the years
from 830 to 1256. Only three years later he had managed to finish
the second part, bringing it up to the present. In the introduction to
the Annals, Trithemius did not shy away from making grandiose
statements about the unblemished integrity of monastic
historiographers:

The first principle of the historian is to be led by the unfalsified truth. I

am capable and desirous enough to fulfil this requirement. Because
the monastic vows, just as much as the Christian faith, oblige me to
abhor the lie and command me to love the truth. A mouth that lies kill
the soul; and an author who mixes the imagined with the genuine
brings confusion to history.26
It is all the more regrettable that Trithemius believed himself broadly
exempt from these rules. It was almost ten years since he had
sacrificed his beloved monastery in Sponheim to the mission of
finding lasting favour and renown with Maximilian: only now would it
become clear how far he was prepared to go to cement his
reputation. Or was it the opposite? And was Trithemius’ ageing heart
filled with cynicism and misanthropy? Either way, it is this final
incident that left the greatest stain on Trithemius’ reputation as a
respectable literary scholar.

26 Schneegans (1882): 176.

trithemius & his magical master

181

In the second volume of the Annals, Trithemius lays out the ancient
roots of the noble stock of Emperor Maximilian’s family, the famous
Habsburgs. According to Trithemius’ research, an ancient source
existed that had reconstructed the genealogy of the Franconian
tribes. This source was a certain Hunibald who, in boastful tone and
in no less than 18 books, had traced the origin of the Franconians all
the way from ancient Troy to the legendary king Antenor (440 BCe),
thence to king Faramund (403 ce), and finally to king Clowdig (514
Ce). Unfortunately, neither of these last two kings, nor the historian
Hunibald himself, ever existed outside of Trithemius’ imagination.27

Such crude forgery is not limited to the second volume of the Annals.
In the introduction to the first part, Trithemius declares that one of his
major sources was the 24 volume De temporibus gratiae by one
Meginfrid, a monk from the town of Fulda. Yet, despite Trithemius’
significant praise for the literary fame of Meginfrid, neither the latter
nor any of his works are referenced by any other historian.
Trithemius chose to omit Meginfrid from his compendium of famous
historical German men, and provides conflicting reports about his
death.28 Ironically we even find biographic parallels between
Meginfrid and his inventor Trithemius; it was the poor Meginfrid, who
according to the former abbot of Sponheim, lived like a ‘rose
amongst thorns (...) as a studious and learned religious man
amongst the carnal and lazy monks of his monastery.’29

Writing something new was not a virtue during his time; whatever
was new resembled the lie, only the ancients held the weight and
importance of tradition.

That is why Trithemius had to somehow come up with these

names.30

Why did the black abbot gamble away his literary reputation in his
final years? Of course, the alleged works of Hunibald sparked
significant interest from Maximilian. The king inquired in letters and
even sent several messengers to Trithemius in Würzburg demanding
to see the ancient books for himself. Trithemius was hard pressed to
provide an answer, derailed the inquiries, and led the messengers on
a wild hunt through several dusty archives and libraries, including the
now disman-tled library of Sponheim.

27 Schneegans (1882): 172.

28 Schneegans (1882): 169.

29 Schneegans (1882): 170.

30 Borchardt, in Auernheimer: 69.

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black abbot · white magic

The ‘curse’ of Hunibald created a furore and pursued Trithemius

doggedly for the remaining years of his life. His final escape from
further inquiries and accusations by the king, margraves and fellow
historians was not an admission of the lie, but his own death on the
13th of December 1516.31

In 1508, two years before Trithemius signed up to resume the fatal

work on the Annals, his close friend the humanist Konrad Celtis
published the following epigram.32 Its obvious cynicism speaks to
the unabashed desire of the powerful to trace, by any means, their
genealogy back into a mythical past. And yet, as unlikely as it may
seem, it could also be read as a testament of the silent alliance
between Celtis and his now famous and wealthy friend Trithemius.
United by lifelong friendship, the stout monk and the sly humanist
might after all have pursued the same goal by different means. What
Celtis denounced overtly in his epigram, Trithemius might have
aimed to exemplify in an even bolder manoeuvre –involving the king
and the entire Franconian lineage in an absurd historical hoax.

De evocatione daemonum 33

Scire volens, quali fuerit genitore creatus,

rex quondam magno fultus in imperio;

forte venit vita defunctos reddere doctus

quique animam tetro carceri restituit.

Rex se sperabat genitorem cernere regem,

sed monachus magno corpore visus erat.

The demon invocation

Once a king wanted to know, a mighty ruler,

Who his father might have been, that once brought him forth; A man
approached him, an experienced necromancer,

Who returned souls into their despicable dungeons.

The ruler hoped to see a king as his father,

Yet he gazed at nothing but a pot-bel ied monk.

31 Kuper: 127.
32 Below, Kuper: 127.

33 Hartfelder, Karl (ed.) Fünf Bücher Epigramme von Konrad Celtes.

Berlin, S. Calvary & Co. (1881): 31/32

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183

The Magical Teachers

Pelagius Eremita & Libanius Gallus

He [Trithemius] is able to provide such an accurate report on the

demons it is as if he had intimately lived with them for many years.34

Deceived and disappointed by his monastery, entangled in schemes

and socially isolated on account of his Steganographia, one would
think that during his final years the black abbot would have
considered his options carefully. Yet the opposite was the case. His
daring character, his restless intellect, his naive rashness, none of
these ingredients made for a man who would retreat from the
mission that had shaped his life since the ominous winter storm
which had made him return to the abbey of Sponheim. Trithemius
pushed forward, exhausting all of his physical and mental forces,
feverishly working on many literary projects at once, sacrificing even
the time needed to proofread his own work, constantly attempting to
forge new pathways in a literary tradition that aimed to heal the
growing fissures between the brittle present and an (imagined)
golden past, shaped by mythical ancient historians and wondrously
learned magical hermits on foreign isles.

Trithemius has been called a representative of the genre of

edificatory literature in light of the significant literary body of work he
left behind, such as his books on Mary’s mother Anne (1494), St
Joseph (1507) and the Virgin Mary (1511). Whilst this is certainly true
for many of his works, it risks obscuring the essential motive of the
abbot. Born into a time torn between medieval tradition and the
onset of modernity, scourged not only by the Black Death but also by
the constant infighting of principalities which had not yet been united
into nations, Trithemius with pristine clarity realised a truth that even
today, 500 years later, seems incredibly modern. If there was any
hope of an end to the self-destructive ways of man it could not be
imposed from the outside, but had to be ignited within. It was this
realisation that inspired Trithemius’ theologia magica. He wished to
open a path for any man or woman, a lay path that would mend the
broken pieces within them, and return the nobility to their souls. In a
world that fought with tooth, claw and poison, such courtly goals
would not be easy to accomplish; instead the weapons had to be
matched to their adversary. And that is why Trithemius spent much of
his life not at his own monastery, but in dusty libraries, discovering
old magical 34 Schneegans (1882): 179.

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black abbot · white magic

manuscripts. He was scouring the archives of the enemy for ritual

magic, divinatory and necromantic manuals, in order to extract their
raw gold, in order to spin all that he found into a new gnostic-
mystical discipline. A discipline that was founded on the faculties of
moral virtue and human wil -power, and that when pursued
passionately and persistently would achieve its highest goal: the
alignment of the human to the angelic mind.

Establishing a purified magico-mystical programme which leant

heavily on the practices of the medieval grimoires was not something
Trithemius could expect to get away with unblemished. Despite the
fact that an increasing number of original grimoires by author-
magicians had been distributed since the early 14th century, the
public reaction to his Steganographia had taught him a hard lesson.
Attempting to follow in the footsteps of Pietro d’Abano or John de
Morigny was no longer an option. Instead of presenting his magico-
mystical programme as a uniquely innovative approach to induce
individual gnosis, he decided to style it as a rediscovery from the
past. Rather than pseudoepigraphically attributing it to the likes of
Apol-lonius of Tyana, Trithemius decided to invent an entirely new
lineage for it. And this is where we encounter his distant magical
master, Pelagius of Majorca.

Literary Location

Evidence of Pelagius in Trithemius’ writings

the strangest teacher of Trithemius, however, appears as a man

whom he calls Libanius Gallus. Libanius is found only in connection
with Trithemius himself, on whom he appears to have had great
influence.35

the Gaul Libanius, a learned and pious doctor, was the teacher of
Trithemius.

The former had dealings with Pelagius, a hermit on the island of

Majorca, inherited his books and learned many secrets from him in
the fields of philosophy and the Christian faith, about the nature of
good and evil spirits and on the secret forces of nature. Attracted by
the fame of Trithemius he had come to Sponheim in 1494 and
having found a friend in the abbot, unsealed everything to him which
he had learned from Pelagius, from Johann Giovanni Pico del a
Mirandola, and from many others.36

35 Arnold (1971): 80.

36 Schneegans (1882): 185.

trithemius & his magical master

185

As we have seen, Trithemius was not shy about introducing fictitious

characters and lineages, dreaming up whole bookshelves of source
material if it advanced his personal agenda. In light of this, it is tel ing
that the only literary source we have for the persona of Pelagius
Eremita as well as his messenger Libanius Gallus is the work of
Trithemius himself. We find them mentioned in several letters, dated
between 1500 and 1507, as well as in his autobiographical
Nepiachus and the Malleus Maleficarum inspired A ntipalus which
notably refers to the exorcist’s preferred substance, the mysterious
Powder of Pelagius. The most important sources on Libanius and
Pelagius can be clearly stated and dated:37

· [c.1500] – a letter by Libanius Gallus

· 6th June 1505 – a letter by Libanius Gallus

· 20th August 1505 – a letter to Libanius Gallus

· 6th October 1507 – a letter to Libanius Gallus

· Nepiachus ( lucubrationum mearum recapitulatio) 1507

· Antipalus maleficiorum ( libri V) 1508

The personal consequences of the ‘ Steganographia incident’ centre

around two critical events, Trithemius’ leaked letter to Arnold Bostius
in 1499 and the intrigues following the visit of Carolus Bovillus in
1504. If the figure of Libanius Gallus is a literary fiction, it is these
dire experiences which contributed to his invention and the
subsequent shift in Trithemius’ tactics. It therefore makes sense to
place the historical locus for the invention of Pelagius Eremita in the
years 1505–1509. Such timing would not only coincide with the
events of the Steganographia incident but also with the actual letters
to and from Libanius. Furthermore, it would coincide with the initial
period of exile from Sponheim, during which Trithemius began to
immerse himself more deeply in the study of previous magical
philosophers, such as Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus and Psellus.38

The obvious exception to this timing would be the first letter by

Libanius, which we only know of from a reference in an appendix to
an oration by Trithemius printed in 1500, ‘De vera conversione
mentis ad deum.’ This appendix introduces Libanius as a ‘man most
learned in the Platonic philosophy’ and as an important teacher of
Trithemius. However, the more important character of the magical
master Pelagius Eremita is not yet introduced.

37 Arnold (1971): 260.

38 Arnold (1971): 206.

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black abbot · white magic

Further evidence can be found beyond these references to Libanius

and Pelagius in Trithemius’ own works and letters.39 Among these
are the following:

· Pelagius Eremita, Two books of the knowledge and name of one’s

good angel (Cod.

mag.13, Bibliotheca Albertina) dated before 1490 due to the date of

the Majorcan hermit’s death indicated at the end of the manuscript.

· A letter by Libanius to an unknown pupil containing an overview of

the works of Pelagius, dated 6th of June 1496.

· Another letter by Libanius to an unknown pupil,40 including a

magical treatise, dated 6th of April 1499.

· A copy of two treatises by Pelagius dated 23rd of May 1504, one of

which is dedicated to his pupil Libanius.

Had these manuscripts originally stemmed from the hand of

Trithemius, he could have easily backdated them in order to provide
further historical depth to the account of his magical teacher and his
mysterious messenger. Indeed, Carlos Gilly, Paola Zambel i and
Michael Kuper expect this to be true, at least in part: For example,
the freely invented purported letter which Trithemius’ alleged teacher
Libanius Gallus wrote on 6.4.1499. This fiction has deceived
scientists until today about the inauthenticity of the imagined
authority Gallus.41
Two important details make this even more likely; in the purported
1496 overview on the works of Pelagius given by Libanius, he fails to
reference the Peri Anacriseôn and Ars crucifixi, which survive today
in multiple copies. This is surprising, as the treatise, similar to other
magical writings of the hermit, takes the form of a letter in which
Pelagius addresses Libanius directly.42 Secondly, the above dates
are certainly spurious in regard to the Two Books of Pelagius.
Towards the end of this treatise the author directly references
Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia: These good angels govern over
the way of the heaven in its movement, similarly they also govern the
12 houses of every man’s nativity, and whoever carries 39 Arnold
(1975): 251; and Bibliotheque national de France, BnF Latin 7869.

40 Most likely Trithemius himself, ref. Arnold (1975): 251.

41 Kuper: 94.

42 Véronèse (2006) : 5.

trithemius & his magical master

187

the respective angels’ names and characters with them will

experience particular good fortune and good deeds, as Cornelius
Agrippa writes in his Philosophia about these things ...

Even in manuscript form this book did not exist before 1510; thus the
dating of Pelagius’ treatise on angel magic to 1480 or earlier is
obviously false. A closer examination of the literary sources of
Libanius and Pelagius yields further elements that deserve our
attention. Julien Véronèse highlights Pelagius’ habit of sprinkling a
Latin text with Greek terms, reflecting his deep interest in Greek
culture.43 Such a habit might not be a coincidence at all, but rather
an expression of Trithemius’

own love of all things Greek, as witnessed by his many visitors and
in the significant amount of Greek works he collected for his library in
Sponheim.44

The works of Pelagius are marked by an exceptional level of self-

referentiality, whilst failing to cite or provide links to an older tradition
of ritual magic. Whenever Pelagius gives other sources, he only
refers to his own works.45 There are several possible explanations
for this: Pelagius Eremita was meant to represent a mysterious
authority which gave historical credibility to Trithemius’ invention of a
tradition of white ritual magic. Such a tradition would be marked by
the absence of the standard ingredients of medieval grimoires,
complex magical paraphernalia, barbaric names or calling heretical
spiritual authorities outside of the divine Christian and angelic realm.
Instead, such a tradition would be marked out by the simplicity of its
ritual instructions, its mystical tone and the importance placed on
living a pious Christian life.46 Whilst such a practice might have
existed for centuries amongst select monastic communities or
individuals – such as John de Morigny, whose work Trithemius knew
at least since 150847 – it did not exist as a literary tradition. Thus,
Trithemius’ invented authority, Pelagius Eremita, simply lacked the
broader body of texts to fall back on. References to older sources
such as Iamblichus, Proclus or even Psellus were to be avoided in
order not to trespass onto territory that was deemed heretical by
Catholics at the time. Referencing more mystical Christian authors
was not an option either, without compromising the unique and
peerless nature of Pelagius’ own work.

43 Véronèse (2007): 7.

44 Arnold (1971): 79.

45 Véronèse (2007): 8.

46 Véronèse (2007): 7

47 Silbernagl: 139.

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black abbot · white magic

The final literary characteristic relates to the surviving letters of

Libanius to Trithemius, and their unabashed flattery and gushing
over each other. During a time when the sword of Damocles hung
over Trithemius’ reputation, nothing came in more handy than a
literary authority who compared the wisdom of the abbot of
Sponheim to Hermes Trismegistos himself:

Behold with bril iance the thrice great: Christ through the imitation of
Christ, a monk through contempt of the world, and philosopher by no
admittance of desire; so you may be thrice great and blessed in the
love of Christ.48

With the invention of the mysterious messenger Libanius Gallus and

the magical master Pelagius, Trithemius achieved two things
simultaneously: he established an authority for a purported tradition
of white magic, and with the invention of Pelagius created a
mysterious figure – enmeshed in hermetic secrecy and monastic
learning – under whose name Trithemius could publish his practical
magical writings while avoiding the damaging rebukes he had
experienced over the Steganographia.

Among the surviving magical treatises of Pelagius, which exist in

various versions among European libraries, in particular Paris and
Leipzig, are the following:

· Libri tres de praenotionibus somniorum ( Three books on dream

divination).

· Libri Pelagii heremitae ad Marcellum presbiterum de proprio angelo

in somnii apparente ( Books of Pelagius the Hermit to Marcellus the
elder on making one’s angel appear in dreams)

· Circulus seu tabula veritatis ( The circle or tablet of truth)

· Ars crucifixi ( The art of the crucifix)

· Peri Anacriseôn (or Anacrisis: On the questioning of dream-beings)
48 Libanius Gallus to Trithemius, ref. Silbernagl: 234.

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189

Physical Location

The historic context of Pelagius Eremita

From the beginning of its existence until our present day Christian
Majorca had been designed, expanded, reformed and battled
against, overridden and conserved as a monastery island.49

At the dawn of the 16th century the island of Majorca was a place as
remote from northern Europe as the windy temples of Lhasa in the
early 20th century. Indeed, Blavatsky’s invention of Tibetan
mahatmas bears more than a passing resemblance to the invention
of Pelagius some four hundred years earlier. Both served the
purpose of advancing a personal spiritual agenda, both seemed
mysteriously discarnate, magically giving their teachings through
letters and writings, and both provided their students with an aura of
high esteem and reverence from the holders of an ancient tradition.
Of course, neither of them ever existed outside of their creators’
imagination.

Following the Christian conquest under King James I in 1231,

Majorca experienced a period of growth and prosperity. Often
referred to as its Golden Age (1276–1344) the island saw a flowering
in agriculture, industry and navigation.

Several new cities were founded and many Christian monasteries

and hermits’

chapels were secreted away in its remote hinterland. This was also
the age of the island’s most famous philosopher Ramon Llull (1232–
1316). Born into a wealthy family, Llull grew up in a multicultural
society with Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities living side by
side. After spending his first thirty years in the privileged environment
of medieval Christian nobility, repeated visions of the crucified Christ
disrupted his life, convincing him to abandon family and friends and
to dedicate himself wholly to faith. A period of nine years of intense
study followed during which Llull, entirely self-taught with the
exception of Arabic, immersed himself in the arts of theology,
philosophy, law and medicine.50 Then in 1247 Llull had a second
divine vision which granted him direct insight into an entirely new
method of arranging any kind of knowledge in a way that revealed its
underlying divine harmony and pattern of meaning. Llull worked
feverishly to develop this divine combinatory art in theory and
practice and published it across several sig-49 Costello (2010)
loc.25.

50 Hanegraaff: 694.

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black abbot · white magic

nificant works ( Liber contemplationis magnus, Ars, Ars generalis

ultima, Ars brevis).

At the age of forty, already an old man by medieval measure, Llull

began extensive travels throughout Europe and North Africa,
spreading the knowledge of his newly developed divine method,
aiming to overcome barriers between the major monotheistic
religions by means of illustrating the divine patterns which
underpinned all human language and knowledge.

Llull’s Art, on which his thought centres and to which he constantly

refers his readers, is a generative system based on a small set of
concepts acceptable to all three religions – one God who has a
series of positive attributes (He is good, great, eternal, etc.), the
three Augustinian powers of the soul (memory, intellect, and wil ),
and the world picture inherited from Greek science (four elements,
seven planets, etc.). He then sets out rules and methods for
combining and comparing these concepts so as to be able to
produce demonstrations.

The foundational concepts and relational methods of his Art were

almost always presented graphically in the form of wheels and
charts.51

Llull’s method attracted the mistrust of scholars and Christian

theologians alike.

Not only was the assumption that all monotheistic religions shared
the same divine patterns of knowledge and creation heretical in
itself, but, furthermore, the practice of Llull’s art was performed by
means of several rotating discs, fixed on paper, with multiple layers
of symbols and words. The appeal of these devic-es seemed overtly
magical and related to the occult circles, sigils and characters known
from the demonic arts.

What people did not see was that Ramon Llull, leaning heavily on
Socratic and Neoplatonic sources, had devised the first
metascience, ‘a science general to sciences.’ The strict Catholic
censorship of Llull’s work, only sixty years after his death in 1376,
shines a light on how powerfully medieval orthodoxy dismissed his
groundbreaking science, and how prevalent, indeed revered, it was
by the scholars whose students would form the early nuclei and
circles of Renaissance thought.

Despite their similarity to kabbalah, Llull’s own writings do not deal

with that subject explicitly; yet works on alchemy, magic and
kabbalah attributed to him soon emerged after his death, and by the
early 15th century these had grown into a flood of manuscripts.

51 Hanegraaff: 695.

trithemius & his magical master

191
The canon of his works, authentic and pseudoepigraphic, had a
significant influence on Pico del a Mirandola. Giordano Bruno was
deeply impressed by the mag-nitude of Llull’s mind and considered
him an important role model for the much younger Paracelsus. Both
Bruno and Agrippa of Nettesheim wrote commentaries on Llull’s
work, and in his De vanitate Agrippa counted him as an equal of the
great medieval natural magicians, such as Al-Kindi, Arnoldus de Vil a
Nova, Roger Bacon, Pietro d’Abano or the anonymous author of
Picatrix.52

Llull’s critical contribution to the evolution of the Hermetic tradition

did not escape Trithemius, who was often attacked as a practitioner
of Llull’s art;53 an inev-itability given how much the abbot’s
cryptographic writings owe to the combinatory art of Llull.

Given that Llull and Trithemius were kindred spirits, we suggest that
the latter adopted the former as an archetype for the literary double
act of Pelagius and Libanius. Such a hypothesis is further
underpinned by the biographical parallels between Ramon Llull and
Pelagius-Libanius. The biographies of Llull and Libanius are marked
by thirty years of study. Both complained that even after this they
had not achieved their goal; for Llull the completion of his
combinatory art, for Libanius penetrating the deeper mysteries of the
magical arts. Both Llull and Pelagius visited European universities
where their teachings were rejected and considered as potentially
heretical. All three men, Llull, Pelagius and Libanius, travelled
extensively during their studies, and all three made their way to
Africa before arriving (or returning) to the island of Majorca, where
Llull and Pelagius died.54

There is an even more important link between the lives of Llull and
Trithemius; both explicitly state that they were set on their path by
divine intervention, in the form of a spiritual vision. Even more
specifically, both of them received the most unique and complex
aspects of their work – the method of combination for Llull, the
cryptographic methods for Trithemius – in their dreams, directly
mediated through divine messengers.55
Llull’s vision occured at the hermitage on Puig de Randa in Majorca;
the result of which was the complete revelation of the book he was to
write about the combinatory art that was to become his life’s work.
For Trithemius, the dream vision happened in his beloved monastery.
Here we read his own account of it: 52 Zambelli: 131,134,206.

53 Zambelli: 87.

54 Hanegraaff: 695; Véronèse (2006): 4.

55 Silbernagl: 2; Schneegans: 190; Hanegraaff: 695.

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Now I still have to tell you, that I have learned these things not from
humans, but by revelation from whom I do not know. Because when I
pondered on it and had begun to despair about the execution of it, I
was suddenly overcome by sleep and, smiling tiredly on the
foolishness of my undertaking, I went to bed. During the same night,
however, someone appeared to me and spoke,

‘These are not vain things you have pondered, however impossible
they are to you and even though neither you nor anybody working
with you can invent them.’ So I said to him, ‘But if they are still
possible, show me how, I implore you?’ Then he opened his mouth,
taught me about each thing in turn and revealed to me how that
which I had pondered for many days in vain could be easily done.56

Obviously, the abbot of Sponheim was astute enough not to model

Pelagius too closely after Ramon Llull. Whilst the island of Majorca
formed the major stage for both of their lives – Llull was born and
raised there, Pelagius allegedly spent

‘at least 50 years’ there before his encounter with Libanius in 1480 –
Trithemius invented a longer backstory for Pelagius and placed his
origin in the region of Genoa. Furthermore, Trithemius in his
Antipalus offered the false lead of identifying Pelagius Eremita with
Fernando de Córdobera. The latter was a 15th century mythical
prodigy, astonishing European scholars with incomprehensible levels
of learning, who had a very patchy biography, providing the ideal
cover for Trithemius to not only insinuate, but boldly declare that
during his phases of long absence from the European stage, the
man had lived as a magical hermit in Majorca under the pen name
Pelagius. Here is a condensed summary of Córdobera’s biography
and the impression he left in the European historical record, provided
by one of the most respected scholars on 15th century Roman
humanism, John Monfasani: Part charlatan, part Wunderkind, and
part learned scholastic, Fernando of Cordova burst upon the
European scene and into the historical record in 1444–1446 when he
traveled to different parts of Europe disputing de omni sci-bili. He
astounded audiences with his command of the subject matter in all
the university faculties, his mastery of oriental languages, his skill in
painting, mu-sic, and instrument making, and his expertise in knightly
warfare. Viewed by contemporaries as a preternatural wonder and
even the Anti-Christ – and more 56 Trithemius in his letter to Arnold
Bostius on his Steganographia, Schneegans: 190.

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recently as a Giovanni Pico del a Mirandola ante litteram – Fernando

patently possessed a prodigious memory and, just as obviously, a
flair for self-adver-tisement. In the standard accounts, he disappears
from sight after 1444–1446, when he was supposedly about twenty
years old, only to return comet-like twenty years later in 1466 as a
Roman curialist active in several controversies.

He passed from the scene, in almost periodic fashion, with his death
twenty years later in 1486.57

Tempting as it was to weave such an enigmatic character into the

backstory of Trithemius’ tradition of white magic, the abbot
overlooked that even the rare hints he gave about Pelagius’ past
began to contradict themselves. It was impossible for the man who
was Pelagius Eremita to simultaneously be from the Genoa region in
Northern Italy as well as from Córdoba in Southern Spain.
Surprisingly, the ruse remained unchallenged until Carlos Gilly, in his
seminal essay ‘Between Paracelsus, Pelagius and Ganellus:
Hermetism in John Dee’, pointed out the obvious discrepancy and
that Pelagius ‘must not be confused with Fernando de Córdoba.’58

Rather than the biography of Fernando de Córdoba, it is the actual

island of Majorca which provides the physical locus of our narrative.
Not only did it give birth to one of the most important contributors to
the early Hermetic tradition, Ramon Llull, but, by the end of the 15th
century Majorca had long left its Golden Age behind and sunk into
the shadows of more recent events, such as the discovery of
America, a pope from the Borgia bloodline and the dawning of the
Reformation. As most things do when contemplated through distant
memories, their edges become soft and smooth, like polished stone,
and on their surface we begin to see visions and versions all of our
own. For Trithemius, Majorca had turned into such a place on his
own spiritual map.

57 Monfasani: 1.

58 Carlos Gilly (2002) ‘Between Paracelsus, Pelagius and Ganellus:

Hermetism in John Dee’: 288.

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195

Spiritual Location

But if man wants to achieve this, he must unite himself with the
angelic mind and become alike.59

For the final stage of this journey we need to recall some of the
biographical context that led to Trithemius’ expulsion from Sponheim.
The late 15th century was a time of social change and disruption that
seemed of tectonic scale and included the experience of the Black
Death, the Hussite wars, the end of the Byzantine Empire,
Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, the discovery of America
and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Probably the most drastic
impact on Trithemius’

life was made by the state that his own monastery, together with
large parts of the Roman Church, had fallen into. The once pure,
disciplined and ascetic lifestyle of monastic tradition had fallen into
decay and disarray; monks were caught in a vicious circle of dire
economic conditions and the self-created habits of ignorance,
idleness and neglect. We recall how hard Trithemius had worked as
a young man to bring back economic stability to his remote
monastery and how he had been robbed of the fruits of his labour in
old age.

All of this bitter experience was deeply engrained within Trithemius

during the years in which he invented his magical master Pelagius
Eremita. It is of little surprise that Trithemius chose a particularly
fitting pen name for his mystical alter-ego.

The historic namesake of Pelagius of Majorca was a British monk

who lived in 4th century Rome and rose to renown. He did not live as
a hermit, but acquired a considerable following and fame as a
heresiarch. In fact, the heretical doctrines which the original Pelagius
(c.350–420) promoted turned out to be so revolution-ary to the
young Christian Church, that some still consider them amongst the
most dangerous ideas which the newly emerging religion ever
encountered. ‘There has never, perhaps, been another crisis of
equal importance in Church history,’

Harnack wrote of the Pelagian controversy.60

Understanding the details and motivation behind Pelagius’ 4th

century doctrine is a fascinating story in its own right. In fact, we
should presume this is precisely the track Trithemius wanted to lead
us down by choosing such an infamous 59 Pelagius, Two Books:
f.2v.

60 Brown (1968): 93.

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black abbot · white magic

namesake for the founder of his own tradition of white magic. I will
therefore give an overview of the core tenets of Pelagius’ writings
and then move on to highlight the historic parallels between his and
Trithemius’ circumstances and time.

At the heart of 4th century Pelagian doctrines lay an answer to the

loaded question as to whether divine grace was a necessary
precondition for man to live a moral life, or whether man was able to
live ethically entirely of his own free wil .
While the young Church under the leadership of Augustine of Hippo
strongly promoted the former view, the British heretic boldly
promoted the latter.

According to Pelagius every man was born with free wil . Thus, by
denying the idea of original sin, every man was again placed in the
same state as Adam in the Garden of Eden, with the choice whether
to pursue sin or perfection. For Pelagius what separated one from a
good life ( beata vita) was not a collective Fall, but a ‘thin wall of
corrupt manners.’61 Redemption and the reversal of sinful behaviour
was not something that required a passive plea for divine grace, but
the very opposite, an active stance of exerting one’s free wil , of
embracing personal responsibility and acting in accordance with
one’s personal ethics. Pelagianism, as the teachings of Pelagius are
called today, presented Augustine and the emerging orthodoxy of the
Church with a fundamental problem. According to the British heretic,
the Church’s role in individual redemption was peripheral at best;
instead, every man had the capacity of self-determination and the
possibility of achieving sinless perfection in this present life through
their own actions.62

The rite of baptism played a central role in Pelagius’ doctrine, as it

denoted an act of free will by the individual to break with their corrupt
past, and to pursue an ethical, ascetic and deeply devoted life. It was
the ritual act that restored the positive anthropology of man,
empowering him over his own being.

For Pelagius (...) habit remained essentially external to the

personality: it was a rust that could be rubbed off. Hence, the great
emphasis placed by Pelagius on baptism and on the experience of
conversion. For in such an act, habit could be broken; the past of a
man could be sloughed off; from that time onwards, the exhortations
of Pelagius would be devoted to creating – by a highly judicious
ascetic discipline – the good habits that would perpetuate a state of
regained innocence – the innocence that came from abandoning the
past.63

61 Brown (1968): 105, 107.

62 Pelikan (1971): 308, 313.

63 Brown (1968): 104.

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197

For a better understanding of the social friction and explosive agency

which Pelagius’ teachings brought to the early Christian world, we
recommend Peter Brown’s essay ‘Pelagius and his Supporters: Aims
and Environment.’ For our current exploration we will only borrow a
few observations from Brown’s excellent analysis.

The 4th century was a time of upheaval that would have seemed like
the endtimes: Christianity was first banned, only to become the state
religion of the Roman empire and persecute paganism, large parts of
Greece were destroyed by a huge tsunami, the powerful Huns
emerged from the East and attacked the Sassa-nid Empire, the
Roman army was defeated by the Visigoths under Alaric I, and
ultimately the ancient empire broke in two.

Focussing on Rome, where Pelagius spent his most influential years,

we find the Roman aristocracy in a similar state to the monastic
tradition of the 15th century. Beneath a thin veneer of claims of
discipline, grandeur and fame the reality was very different:

This aristocracy was, as always, a heterogenous and, in part, a

nondescript body of men. (...) They passed their life in the manner of
many ineffective and affluent nobility: they ate too much, they read
light literature, they gambled, they fell in love with actresses; the
more enterprising risked their necks at adul-tery and the black
arts.64

This had a not insignificant effect on Christianity itself, which at the

end of the fourth century had to deal with a rapid transformation from
a relatively close-knit, ascetic fellowship into a state religion.
Converting to Christianity, including the rite of baptism, was at risk of
losing its significance and spiritual power. Not unlike our own time,
people remained the same, irrespective of which churches they
visited, or which family lines they married into. As Brown pointedly
observes: The problem of what was Christian behaviour, indeed, had
reached a crisis in late fourth-century Rome. Too many leading
families had lapsed into Christianity – by mixed marriages, by
political conformity. Among such people, no discontinuity existed
between the pagan past and the Christian present. The conventional
good man of pagan Rome had imperceptibly become the
conventional good Christian ‘believer.’65

64 Brown (1968): 95, 96.

65 Brown (1968): 101.

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black abbot · white magic

Pelagianism pushed back against this trend. Pelagius strongly

opposed the baptism of children; becoming a Christian, according to
Pelagius, had to be the most critical turning point in a person’s life. It
was the moment when people accepted full responsibility for their
actions and their present situation in life. It was a merciless gazing
into the mirror, confronting all the man-made (not God-given) flaws
that remained. According to Pelagius, perfection was the unwavering
Christian promise, and his followers called for a return to the state of
Adam, through sheer human will and determination. In his spiritual
manifesto, we hear Pelagius speaking to us, just as Trithemius would
have:

‘Do all things,’ he [the Apostle] says. Not as if we were bound to

choose just some of the commandments at our own inclination, but
to fulfil them all, as a whole. (...) [But] with hearts full of scorn and
slackness, like proud and worthless servants, we shout in God’s face
and say, ‘It’s hard! It’s difficult! We can’t! We are but men,
encompassed by the frailty of the flesh!’ What blind folly! What rash
profanity! We make the God of knowledge guilty of twofold
ignorance: of not knowing what He has made, and of not knowing
what He has commanded. As if, forgetful of human frailty, which He
made, He had laid upon men commandments which they could not
bear. (...) Why do we shuffle to no purpose, and confront Him who
places His commands upon us with the frailty of our flesh? No one
knows better the measure of our strength than He who gave us our
strength; and no one has a better understanding of what is within our
power than He who endowed us with the very resources of our
power.66

The self-description of Pelagians was as ‘integri Christiani,’ authentic

Christians.67

Pelagianism, as we can see, was a markedly elitist movement. Not

through excluding certain groups from joining, but by maintaining
such incredibly high standards that staying true to its philosophy,
walking its path with total integrity, was by definition not for the
masses.

As he was inventing Pelagius of Majorca, Trithemius’ own dire

experience with his convent in Sponheim weighed heavily upon him.
His own Pelagian mission, to reform his spiritual collective into an
elite monastic circle, had failed miserably, ending in his personal
expulsion. And that is precisely why Trithemius’ fifteenth century
Pelagius appears on the literary stage, not as a public Christian
mission-66 Pelagius in his letter to Demetrias.

67 Brown (1968): 101.

trithemius & his magical master

199

ary, the role Trithemius had himself failed in, but as a hermit
withdrawn into the wilderness, evangelising in secret letters not for a
broad public movement, but an elite form of white magic.
Thus this book is not meant for the unworthy, those who are not
worthy of having contact with it, such as heretics, infidel Christians,
those who lead a swinish life, all gluttons, boozers, the unchaste,
hateful, lazy, rude, unsagacious, unread people, all scornful
mockers, dispraisers, bandits, murderers, thieves, extortioners, liars,
deceivers, gamblers, dalliers, adulterers, enchanters, black artists,
all are incapable and unworthy to possess knowledge of this. With
such people the holy good angel has no dealings, and it cannot
abide or dwell close to them.68

Through scars and disillusionment, Trithemius understood that the

vision of his fourth century spiritual role model had never been within
the reach of large parts of the Church, let alone lay society. So
during his last decade Trithemius reversed his approach. Instead of
openly pushing an elitist doctrine into public view, he scattered hints
like breadcrumbs leading towards the occult manuscripts of Pelagius
Eremita, which were only to be found and read by the few.

His reversal went further: it was the spiritual technique itself that had
to be changed. Thus, in the writings of the 15th century Pelagius, we
no longer find the original emphasis on the communal rite of baptism
as the turning point in people’s lives. Instead, the orthodox public rite
was replaced with a magical one, aimed at the lone practitioner: the
rite of communion with one’s good angel.

When the voices of the original Pelagius and Trithemius blend into
one, they speak of the essential requirements necessary to lead an
authentic ( integri) Christian life. Volition, values and verity are the
three tools every man is given to chisel themselves out of the raw
stone of their lives. In the writings of ‘Pelagius the elder,’

God assists us on this path through the seminal experience of

baptism, offering a personal, divine bond with the individual. In the
writings of ‘Pelagius the younger’

(Trithemius) this bond is brought into the realm of the self-

actualisation of each individual. No religious community is necessary
to forge this bond. With Trithemius the bond becomes the direct and
personal relationship of every man and their angel. And with this final
elitist turn, all responsibility rests entirely with each 68 Pelagius, Two
Books: ff.3r–3v.

200

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individual. Gaining access to an occult teacher, enflaming their

volition through practice, discovering their values through failure,
rising in their verity through courage is achieved through the
practitioner’s work alone. Only when they stand firmly in full spiritual
integrity might they find themselves sufficiently worthy for their own
good angel to dwell with them. In stark contrast to the Solomonic
tradition, what is central to Trithemius’ tradition of white magic is not
an act of demonic command and coercion, but a continuous effort
from the human side towards angelic assimilation.

For God sits on his throne as a judge, and all angels stand before
God’s throne and serve God; humans, however, are prostrate before
God’s throne, and because of their sins scattered below. It is
reserved for the angels to stand and for humans to lie because of
their sins. That is why man shall rise and become like the angels and
come into communion.69

Before we close, one more allusion, secretly embedded in the name

Pelagius Eremita, shall be drawn out into the light. I am grateful to
Carlos Gilly for pointing out this important reference in a personal
note. Not only because this is a final piece in the puzzle Trithemius
prepared for us but, possibly more importantly, because it leaves us
with a ray of hope and confidence as we stride out on our own path
of angelic assimilation. In 1494, while still ascending towards the
pinnacle of his power in Sponheim, and most likely long before the
black abbot devised plans for the creation of his Majorcan magical
master, Johannes Trithemius published the volumi-nous bibliography
Liber de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis.70 On f.55 of this weighty book
he references the famous Codex Calixtinus (‘De miraculis sancti
Jacobi: li.i Calixtus epūs feruus’). Originally attributed to Pope
Callixtus II (1060–1124), today this codex is considered to be a
collection of manuscripts compiled by one Aimeric Picaud in the first
half of the 12th century. Since its rediscovery there, the treasured
book has been kept in the archives of the cathedral of Santiago de
Compostela (except for a short involuntary excursion in 2011 when it
was stolen and llater re-covered from the garage of a electrician who
had been laid off by the Church). The miracle stories contained in
the codex about the apostle St James were essential to establishing
the significance of Santiago de Compostela as a spiritual centre of
Catholic faith during the times of the Spanish Reconquista. For,
despite its historic 69 Pelagius, Two Books: f.10r.

70 Arnold (1971): 245.

trithemius & his magical master

201

implausibility, it was this codex that first attested to the discovery of

the remains of the apostle St James († c.44 CE) in Santiago de
Compostela. And this discovery itself is attributed to no one other
than a pious hermit whose name the codex gives as ‘Pelagius the
Hermit’ (Pelayo el Ermitaño).

The related legend tel s us that in the 9th century CE a hermit called
Pelagius lived in the forest called Libredón, which was situated close
to a hil , roughly 23

kilometres from the ancient settlement of Iria Flavia. One night

angels appeared to the hermit, and instructed him to follow the lights
he would see in the sky. When he awoke, he indeed saw wondrous
celestial lights that shone down on the hilltop close by. Following the
lights through the trees, he arrived at a clearing on top of the hil side,
where he discovered the tomb of the apostle St James. According to
this legend, the very name Compostela is derived from Pelagius’
vision – who followed the celestial lights to discover the tomb on the
‘Campus Stel ae,’ i.e. the field of lights.71 This legend marks the
beginning of one of the most successful Catholic marketing
campaigns, establishing the small town Santiago de Compostela as
a major site of Christian pilgrimage in the West.

The biographical relationship between the hermit Pelagius of our

Spanish legend and the late black abbot can be easily traced. Where
the former found the tomb of the lost apostle St James, the latter in
1506 became the spiritual head of a convent dedicated to the same
apostle upon fleeing his beloved Sponheim. To see this link, we only
need to clear up the confusion that exists between the English and
the German and Latin denomination of our saint. The English St
James the Great is Jakobus der Ältere in German and Sancti Jacobi
in Latin. The Scottish Monastery in Würzburg where Trithemius
spent the last decade of his life is dedicated to none other than this
saint. Thus the abbey is called St Jakob zu den Schotten in German,
yet is translated as St James’ Abbey in English, or S. Jacobi
Scotorum Herbipoli in Latin.

With this link established, we have further reasons to presume that

Trithemius did not begin to design, execute and spread his Pelagian
writings before 1506.

Whilst we know from his biography that the ideas for his programme
of a theologia magica were much older than this, the puzzle of the
mysterious teacher Pelagius Eremita is only complete when we take
into account the personal parallels Trithemius saw between his own
fate and that of the hermit in the Spanish legend. Both of them had
been guided by angels, by celestial lights, to rediscover and spread
the 71 Melton (2008): 293.

202

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message of a most holy spirit: one bound in ancient bones, the other
bound in paper and ink. Such was the hope the legendary hermit
brought to the black abbot’s audacious project. Trithemius invoked
his presence again, gloriously expanded into a mythical ancestor
who combined the characteristic traits of Pelagius the Roman
heretic, the medieval prodigy Ramon Llull, and the black abbot
himself.

Pelagius was to become the personification of a holy current of

magic inaugurated in the West. Behind the literary figure of Pelagius
Eremita, we can see the shadow of an appropriate patron saint for
this divine mission, as according to the New Testament it was St
James who witnessed the uncreated light at the mystical mountain
and saw the transfigured Christ commune with Moses and Elijah.
And it was James and John who Jesus called Boanerges, the ‘Sons
of Thunder,’ for their mighty speech that entered into the hearts of
man like thunder. Finally, it was St James who paid the highest price
in the pursuit of his divine mission, knowingly going to death by the
sword. The secret invocation of St James, who lent his patronage to
Trithemius during his last decade in Würzburg, was indeed the
perfect aegis for the spiritual journey outlined by the black abbot.
Half human, half divinised, to this day the saint embodies the perfect
qualities emerging from the gnostic’s path

– a Son of Thunder, epitomising the triad of human volition, values

and verity leading to mystical communion with the divine.

Finitis modum dedimus ad infinita. 72

72 ‘We show a way to the infinite.’ Trithemius, Polygraphia, from

Brann: 131.

trithemius & his magical master

203

A map to the mystery

here is a final step to take on our journey together, a

journey that has led us into late medieval monasteries, amongst

crowds of Trebelious monks and through labyrinths of political
intrigue. We knocked and were admitted, we found our way up the
winding stairs to Trithemius’

spectacular library, filled with treasures, and out through the window,
riding the arrow of imagination, all the way over the Alps to the
remote island of Majorca, and into the safe haven of its mystical
hermit, Pelagius the wise.

From here our ways will part and you will continue on your own. Turn
the page, unfold the print and take a long look at the image before
you. Gaze deeply at its many mesmerising symbols and chimeras; it
is a personal map to the mysteries we have discussed.

It first appeared in print in 1846 in the third volume of Johan

Scheible’s gigantic 12 volume Das Kloster ( The Monastery). It
resides between pages 1012 and 1013, and opens a long
biographical chapter on our black abbot, Johannes Trithemius (G--r,

‘Leben des Abt Tritheim’; Scheible, Kloster, Vol. 3: 1012–1064). This

biographical account does not name its author, and yet it is one of
the most important sources on the life of Trithemius. Both the
essential later biographies on Trithemius make extensive use of it
(see Silbernagl, 1868 & Schneegans, 1882.). Our print is bound at
the end of the book right. It is a silent map, one without a legend,
one that needs to be explored by being travelled in vision.

We will observe its command, and not dissect the living whole
through a detailed analysis of each emblem and element. Rather, we
recommend you cut it from this book and sleep on it. Or burn the
page and drink its ashes. Or fold it carefully and slip it under the
foundations of the house you are about to build.

Treat it with care and gentleness as you would do with any spirit
companion. For it might, one day, prove to be most welcome and
show you the way forward when you are lost.

205
Only a general description will be given here: the print alludes to
Basilius Valentinus’ The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony ( Currus
Triumphalis Antimonii, 1646). As we can see from the direction of the
chariot’s travel, it is a journey that leads from right to left, or more
precisely, from east to west. The print unfolds into three large
sections. On the far right we see Mother Nature in her fool’s
costume, bearing the emblem of the ass over her chest and womb.
So we are given the suggestion to start our journey where Apuleius’
Golden Ass started his, a place of childlike ignorance, neither
knowing himself nor the world he finds himself thrown into.

Next to Nature we see nine men, chained hand and foot. A swarm of
bees rises from them. Both men and bees move against the tide of
our map, they take the wrong direction. The nine men represent the
raw materials of the alchemical work.

And while they are laborious and hard working, they remain
inefficient, having their hands tied behind their backs. Their forces
remain fragmented, like a hive of bees without a home.

Next comes the chariot, carried on the four wheels of the alchemical
elements, hosting a triad of wise men in its centre, and culminating in
two towers, each crowned by a serpent and a phoenix, the divine
figures of the planets at their base.

The three mystics on the chariot are Johannes Trithemius of

Sponheim (left), Basilius Valentinus (middle) and Pseudo-Dionysius
Areopagita (following Hilduin von Saint-Denis’ erroneous
identification of the Areopagite with Dionysius of Paris). Notably, next
to our black abbot, at the front of the chariot, we find a head with two
faces, both breathing fiery flames. The one planetary spirit missing
from the base of the two towers is Mercury or Hermes. We
encounter him at the head of the chariot, riding a winged chimera
with three heads: a lion, a dog and an eagle.

Then comes the noble self. Behind a crystal sphere that rests on fire,
and within which we see the secrets of the alchemical world unfold, a
master of the royal art is seated. His gaze is fixed upon the sphere,
he holds a key and a laurel crown, his shoulders balance the forces
that hold the powers of dissolution ( solve) and bind-ing ( coagula).
No longer does he need the old tomes and alchemical flasks
scattered at his feet. For he is the one that has united the two lions
who now wear the unified planetary crown. More importantly, the
mage is sat within a fire himself, a wondrous fire that does not burn
his clothes or skin. Yet it is a fire whose flames cauterise nine
demons from the man. The liberated spirits are lifted up by thick
clouds of smoke to disappear amongst the stars.

206

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