Ritual Magic

Occult knowledge and practice can be divided into three main branches: Astrology, which aims to guide human fortune by means of foreknowledge; Alchemy, which tries to secure power through the agency of the philosopher's stone; and Ritual Magic, which seeks to control the spirit world. In this classic book (first published in 1949), Butler explores ritual magic using a wide range of texts from the pre-Christian rites of the Akkadians and Chaldeans to the Solomonic Clavicles of medieval Europe. Throughout, there is extensive quotation from the documents themselves, providing the reader with an authentic sense of the richness and power of these texts.

Butler also examines the careers of noted magicians of the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, the history of ceremonial magic in England, the myth of Satanism, and the rituals involved in the Faustian pact with the devil. Ritual Magic is essential reading for all interested in the history of magic and in the way magic traditions have altered as they move from culture to culture and from century to century.

There are three main branches of occult knowledge and practice; Astrology, which aims to guide human fortune by means of foreknowledge; Alchemy, which tries to secure power through the agency of the philosopher's stone; and Ritual Magic, which seeks to control the spirit world. Elizabeth Butler's classic study of the traditions and practices of ritual magic uses a wide range of texts and sources - from the pre-Christian rites of the Akkadians and Chaldeans to the Solomonic Clavicles of medieval Europe - to create a lively, detailed and absorbing history of human attempts to achieve mastery over the spirit world. Throughout, there is extensive quotation from the documents themselves, providing the reader with an authentic sense of the richness and power of these texts.

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Studies the lively history of human attempts to achieve mastery over the spirit world through ritual magic, featuring extensive quotations from primary sources from the pre-Christian period through medieval times. Examines the careers of noted magicians of the 15th through 19th centuries, and considers the history of ceremonial magic in England, the myth of Satanism, and rituals involved in the Faustian pact with the devil. First published in 1949 by Cambridge University Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Elizabeth M. Butler (1885-1959) was Schröder Professor of German at the University of Cambridge.