Product Description

Grimorium Verum is one of the most notorious handbooks of black magic -- one of the few that deals openly with spirits of darkness. People have long sought the aid of non-physical beings; the biblical king Solomon in particular had a reputation since ancient times for commanding demons. There are many texts purporting to reveal Solomon's methods, but most are extremely complicated and difficult. Grimorium Verum is one of the easier texts, but also one of the most sinister. It includes a catalog of specific demons and how to draw on their powers. This new critical edition includes a fresh translation based on all the major sources, complete French and Italian texts, and 5 other appendices.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26222 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-29
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Joseph Peterson has translated many religious and esoteric texts, including John Dee’s Five Books of Mystery, The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton), and The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. He has contributed articles to Scriptures of the World's Religions (1998) and Document-Based Questions (World History/Ancient Civilizations, 2006). Peterson is an active member of the American Academy of Religion and the American Folklore Society. He has an extensive collection of rare esoteric documents, which he shares at his award-winning websites esotericarchives.com and avesta.org. He lives near Rochester Minnesota.

Customer Reviews

Another feather in Peterson's cap
Many collectors of occult lore may think they want to pass on this title, especially if they have a copy of A.E. Waite's "Ceremonial Magic". While I will not attempt to counter the argument of redundancy, I would say that for anyone looking for a definitive account of this work, it is Peterson and not Waite that delivers the goods.

Anyone who has read Peterson's working of the Lesser Key of Solomon will feel at home in his treatment of the Grimorium Verum. There is a herculean front-matter outlining the French and Italian sources for the current edition, as well as a lineage of the work as it relates to other pieces belonging to the "Solomon Cycle". Among other things covered, the preface is broken down into the following logical categories:

* Disclaimer: Please don't really use a human skull to perform these rituals, etc.
* Outline of the method: Tools of the trade, preparatory considerations, etc.
* Demonology: An outline of the "demonic theology" subscribed to in the work.
* Notes specific to this edition
* Explanation of the figures: Why the author resisted the temptation to re-execute the drawings and clean up the figures.
* Relation of textual sources: Contrasts between the French and Italian works. Peterson does a great job of laying out his theory of how the present work came to be, pointing out French elements still extant in Italian versions.
* A general curse: Peterson is probably best known for his hard work on his CD compilation of old magical texts. Here he pits the host of hell against IP trolls and those that have stolen his work for their own web-sites. Nicely played Mr. Peterson.

What follows is a compiled translation from the various editions listed in the front-matter. The page-by-page footnotes are rarely less than a sixth of the page as every editorial choice is justified, and alternate readings are given for the benefit of the reader. The author also mentions previous published editions, pointing out where missing seals have now been replaced, miss-identified seals set in their proper places, and of course the obligatory listing of alternate spellings of spirit names from the various sources.

One thing that makes this version indispensible to the collector is the insight into the culture of the time period in which the book was written. Here is a footnote to illustrate: "The word "proven" (Lat. probatum) occurs frequently in collections of cures, recipes, and charms to note that the editor has actually tested and verified its effectiveness three times."

This edition is the most complete you will find including the "Rare and Surprising Secrets of magic" and "Conjurations for the Other Days of the Week" from the Italian editions, "The Great Kabbalah of the Green Butterfly" as well as "Other Secrets" in their entirety. I am particularly charmed by the various methods used to win a lottery, and dice games, so complete versions of these sections was very welcomed in my library.

I will not tire you with a complete roll call of appendices, however there are roughly 150 pages of them, including an index of demonic names, alternate drawings and figures, as well as complete French and Italian versions of the work for your comparison. Barring scholars uncovering a new manuscript, this will stand as the definitive version of the Grimorium Verum.

Impeccable work as always
This book maintains the extremely high standards we have come to expect from Joseph Peterson, both in scholarship and clarity. Peterson provides a translation of this notorous grimoire, together with the original French and Italian texts for completion. In his Preface Peterson discusses the outline of the method given, emphasising the derivative nature of the Grimorium Verum from the Clavicula Salomonis. As I am currently finishing off our edition of The Veritable Key of Solomon with Stephen Skinner, it was nice to see verification of the information connecting the two which we had already uncovered. Peterson also discusses the demonology of the Grimorium Verum, including a useful index of angels and demons mentioned at the back of the book.

In the style we have come to expect, Peterson has taken the trouble to fill in any gaps where he could, such as by including copies of drawings which were missing or poorly executed, by using the originals from the manuscripts they were drawn from, such as Clavicula Salomonis, the Grimoire of Honorius and Le Grand Grimoire. The study of the textual sources and demonstration of the provenance of the respective texts is as thorough as you would expect.

The material in the Grimorium Verum speaks for itself, being a curious blend which reflects the late nature of this grimoire in the line of the grimoire tradition. If you have not encountered Peterson's work before, then this is as good an introduction as any. He is one of the premier magickal scholars today, and his books should all grace the shelves of any serious student. That his edition of The Lesser Key of Solomonis out of print is a crime which should be rectified immediately. Peterson's website [...] demonstrates the level of work he has put into the grimoire tradition, which many have chosen to pilfer. This has inevitably irritated him, as demonstrated by the malediction to such thieves he has included in the book. When you can buy the CD of his website, which contains much extra material, so cheaply, one can hardly blame him for his annoyance. Joseph Peterson deserves our thanks and appreciation for his contribution to the magickal revival, not to be treated like a candy store to steal from. Buy this book and you will enjoy and appreciate his work, which is at the top of the field.

Impressive Scholarship
I'm a sucker for anything that is well-researched, and this book is an example of some of the finest, extremely heavy occult scholarship. Every page has abundant footnotes, and with every page I became more impressed at the effort involved in assembling this book.

"Grimorium Verum" is a small, incomplete grimoire with most of its elements taken from (or based on) the Keys of Solomon. Several printed editions from the 1800s exist in French and Italian, as well as bits and pieces of it in older manuscript form. None of these editions are complete, and their content varies in greater or lesser degrees. Many of the names are inconsistent, and all of the 1800s editions are missing crucial illustrations which are mentioned in the text. Mr. Peterson has critically assembled all these sources in an effort to produce a "complete" English translation of the Grimorium Verum, with missing figures imported from other books. His scholarly conscientiousness extends to including the entire French and Italian texts as well .. which impresses me for its thoroughness, but also doubles the size of the book. If you don't read French or Italian, these sections are just a waste of paper. The actual English content of this book is only about 150 pages, including the introduction, bibliography, "Index of Angels and Demons" and subject index.

The Grimorium itself is not as scary as the cover illustration and promotional ad copy would have you believe. Sure, it mentions the use of human skulls, human fat, and blood in some of the rituals. It also instructs the sorceror to summon demons ... but all of this is done in the name of "the Most High" and the whole thing has an overtly Judeo-Christian veneer to it. Mr. Peterson himself states in the introduction "These should in no way be regarded in any other way than horror fiction." This is sound advice. The ritual instructions presented are not complete enough to hazard an actual attempt at trying any of them. I don't think working this magic would be a good idea at all.

Instead, regard this book as merely an entertaining curiosity, or a resource for writers trying to set a certain mood (I was pleased to see HP Lovecraft mentioned once in the footnotes!) Definitely worth having for people who are fascinated by matters occult. If you're not a fan though, don't bother.