Reading Books on Older Magic

[borealis]

I'm reading about some older magic lately. I am halfway done with this new translation of The Key of Solomon compiled by Dr. Stephen Skinner. The Key of Solomon is actually a tradition rather than a single manuscript; there are over 100 ancient manuscripts in various languages that explore it, the earliest known manuscripts dating back to the 15th century and written in Greek, though the tradition is expected to be much older and possibly have Hebraic origins. Other manuscripts are written in Italian, French, and a few in English. This new translation is made from a different set of manuscripts than the older Mathers translation, and is easier to read and has more complete information. It also starts with a very in-depth history section that I really enjoyed.

I'm particularly excited about the Greek Magical Papyri, or PGM, elucidated in Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic, also compiled by Dr. Stephen Skinner, who is awesome btw. (You can however easily find a free PDF of the PGM themselves.) These are a large collection of ancient Greek and Egyptian spells, charms, rituals, talismans, evocations, etc. They vary in difficulty of execution from very easy to hilariously difficult. My good friend Jacob is experiencing some amazing results lately from researching and practicing the contents of the PGM, and is slowly progressing to more difficult rituals. There's some great stuff in here for a huge variety of purposes, from mundane to bizarre to insanely powerful, and some is as simple as spoken word.

I also grabbed a copy of Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, which is a root of the western esoteric tradition. I think I'll save that one for last.

Also, have you ever looked under the dust covers of your hardbacks? The inner cover art is often way cooler. I included inner cover photos of the three books mentioned above, as well as Crowley's Book Four.

What older stuff have you been reading/practicing lately? (All magic has ancient roots, but stuff that hasn't been modernized is interesting to look at and work with.) Do any of you have experience with the PGM specifically? How about Solomonic magic? The startup costs in time, energy, and materials can be immense, but supposedly so are the payoffs.

Here's a PDF of the PGM for anyone interested: https://fewarethemystaidotcom.files.wor ... os-org.pdf

[Cerber]

Can't comment on the book, but thank you for the link.
My current hobby is mindless digital hoarding...

[Siren Song]

Haha. I can relate a lot to what Cerber says.

I very much appreciate this info on the material. I am working on correcting the mistake of being so slack in my studies, for many years. I am also finding I understand material much better than I thought I had, those years ago. Background like this, from those who have read certain works, actually helps me a bit in ordering my "to read" list.

Much appreciated!

[Cerber]

Slacking off is not necessary a bad thing. I find it all works better when it's done in a kind of cycles, in periods. Should have a period of perhaps few months or few years of theory, then few months or years of leaving all the books on the shelves and focusing mainly on practical work, and then need a period of just slacking around and wandering for a while away from all of it, and then back to again to some reading. And it doesn't even have to follow any specific order. Slacking for a bit is perfectly fine
Just as the body needs time to rest after a good meal, to digest the food, so does a mind often needs some rest to "digest" some knowledge that it has been consuming for a while.