The mysteries and secrets of magic / by C.J.S. Thompson.

  • Charles Thompson
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The mysteries and secrets of magic / by C.J.S. Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    143/376 page 113
    In the library at Upsala there is preserved a written pad made by one Daniel Salthenius who sold himself to the devil. The methods, rites and ritual employed by necroman¬ cers are fully described in the books of ceremonial which will be dealt with later. A sorcerer was said to be one who practised the arts of magic and witchcraft, and who had acquired a supernatural knowledge by the use of enchantments which gave him command over evil spirits. The sorcerer made no pad with the evil one, which distinguished him from the necromancer. The objed of the sorcerer was therefore to constrain some evil spirit to appear, so that he might question him, the evocation being carried on with mysterious rites and ceremonies. In order to carry this out he had first to fix upon a place proper for such a purpose, which might either be a cave or vault draped with black hangings and lighted by a magical torch ; or it might be among the ruins of an ancient caStle or abbey, a churchyard or any other solemn place, between the hours of twelve and one in the morning, either when the moon shone brightly or when the elements were disturbed with Storms of thunder, lightning, wind and rain. When a proper time and place were seleded, a magic circle was to be drawn, within which the sorcerer and his associate were to Stand. A piece of ground was chosen nine feet square, at the full extent of which parallel lines were drawn, one within the other, containing crosses and triangles, close to which was formed the first or outer circle. About six inches within this a second circle was described,
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