The Book of Ceremonial Magic

What It's About

Originally published in a limited run in 1898 under the more provocative title The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts, this work was reissued more widely in 1910 as The Book of Ceremonial Magic. It is Waite's attempt to bring together the major grimoires of medieval and early modern magic - among them the Key of Solomon, the Lemegeton (Lesser Key of Solomon), the Grimorium Verum, the Grimoire of Honorius, and the Black Pullet - into a single synthesised system. Alongside this, Waite sets out the history behind these texts, challenging many of the legends that had grown up around them, and considers the theological questions their rituals raise, such as why holy names and angels would be invoked to compel evil ends.

Key Concepts

The book covers the rites and mysteries of goetic theurgy, sorcery, and infernal necromancy: the drawing of magic circles, the preparation of pentacles and talismans, the evocation and exorcism of spirits, and the making of pacts with infernal powers. Waite approaches all of this as a sceptic rather than a practitioner - he questions the authenticity and efficacy of the rituals throughout, and is known to have deliberately altered or omitted details from several of the rites, apparently to render them unworkable.

About the Author

Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) was an American-born British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occultism and esotericism. He became a Freemason in 1901 and joined the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia the following year, going on to found his own esoteric order in 1903.