Occult Books
Non-Mythos works (generally real-world) are often mentioned side-by-side with fictional Mythos Tomes in work by Lovecraft and others.
Contents
Alchemical Texts
Emerald Tablet
The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table, or Tabula Smaragdina, (attributed to Hermes Trismegistus; Arabic 6th-8th Century, Latin 12th Century)
The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table, or Tabula Smaragdina, is a compact and cryptic piece of Hermetica reputed to contain the secret of the prima materia and its transmutation. It was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art and its Hermetic tradition. The original source of the Emerald Tablet is unknown. The layers of meaning in the Emerald Tablet have been associated with the creation of the philosopher's stone, laboratory experimentation, phase transition, the alchemical magnum opus, the ancient, classical, element system, and the correspondence between macrocosm and microcosm. In its several Western recensions, the Tablet became a mainstay of medieval and Renaissance alchemy. Commentaries and/or translations were published by, among others, Trithemius, Roger Bacon, Michael Maier, Aleister Crowley, Albertus Magnus, and Isaac Newton. The concise text was a popular summary of alchemical principles, wherein the secrets of the philosopher's stone were thought to have been described.
Picatrix
Picatrix, or The Aim of the Sage or The Goal of The Wise (10th-11th century)
Originally in Arabic, more likely to be found in Latin. Picatrix is the name used today, and historically in Christian Europe, for a 400-page book of occult magic and astrology originally written in Arabic under the title Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, which most scholars assume was originally written in the middle of the 11th century, though a supported argument for composition in the first half of the 10th century has been made. The Arabic title translates as The Aim of the Sage or The Goal of The Wise. The Arabic work was translated into Spanish and then into Latin during the 13th century, at which time it got the Latin title Picatrix. The book's title Picatrix is also sometimes used to refer to the book's author. A composite work that synthesizes older works on magic and astrology. The most influential interpretations suggests it is to be regarded as a handbook of talismanic magic and celestial magic.
Turba Philosophorum
The Turba Philosophorum or Assembly of the Philosophers (900AD)
Originally in Arabic, more likely to be found in Greek. One of the oldest European alchemy texts considered to have been written c. 900 A.D., translated from the Arabic, attempting to put Greek alchemy into the Arabic language and to adapt it to Islamic science. Nine philosophers take part in a discussion, being, once the text has been transcribed back to the original Arabic, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Archelaus, Leucippus, Ecphantus, Pythagoras and Xenophanes. The statements of the philosophers, whilst usually different from the known beliefs of the pre-Socratics, are usually recognisable as outgrowths of Greek philosophy. They discuss matter, how it acts, and relate this to cosmology, the gods, and the elements.
Liber Investigationis
Geber's Liber Investigationis, or 'Summa Perfectionis,' or 'Summit of Perfection' (1531)
Originally in Arabic, more likely to be found in Greek. The library of Joseph Curwen is said to have had a copy of 'Liber Investigationis' by Arabian scientist Geber (Jabir ibn-Hayyan). This is probably a Latinized version of the 'Summa Perfectionis,' or 'Summit of Perfection.' Geber's works provide a window into the Islamic Gnosticism of the late ninth century and shed light on classical Greek scientific texts, many of which do not survive in the original. Jābir’s alchemical works include descriptions of distillation, calcification, dissolution, crystallization, and other chemical operations that subsequently were used in the Islamic world and in Europe for centuries. Several works of the Jābirean corpus have been translated into Latin. The present work was written in three parts, covering the properties of metals, alchemical techniques, and the properties of the planets.
("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward")
Key of Wisdom
Artephius' The Key of Wisdom or Miftah al-Hikma or Clavis (Majoris) Sapientiae
Originally in Arabic, more likely to be found in Greek. This treatise describes the entire process of preparing the philosopher's stone. There are three separate operations described here: the preparation of the 'secret fire' (the catalyst or solvent which is used throughout the whole work, without which nothing can be achieved, but which is seldom if ever mentioned in any alchemical treatise), the preparation of a metallic vapor made from antimony and iron necessary in the preparation of the stone, and the preparation of the stone itself. These operations are not presented in sequence. The reader will note that the language is allusive and recondite, that several names are used to refer to the same thing and that one name is used to refer to several things. This is, however, an exceptionally clear alchemical text. Artephius is said to have written this in the 12th century. Numerous books over an incredible time span were attributed to Artephius; a Renaissance tradition held that Artephius had been born in the first or second century and died in the twelfth, thanks to having discovered the alchemical elixir that made it possible to prolong life. In his Secret Book, Artephius indeed claims to be more than a thousand years old.
("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward")
Albertus Magnus
Albertus Magnus' De Concordantia Philosophorum in Lapide, Compositum de compositis, and Liber octo capitulorum: De lapide philosophorum
("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward")
Ars Magna et Ultima
Raymond Lully's Ars Magna et Ultima, or Ars Magna, or The Great Art
Calatan writer Lully's most important work, the "Ars Magna" or "The Great Art," was a defense of Christianity against the teaching of Abu-Al-Walid Muhammad Ibn-Ahmad Ibn-Rushd (1126-1198), commonly called Averroes. Averroes was a Muslim Spanish-Arab philosopher, jurist, and physician who held the heretical view that philosophy was as important as religion. Spain was in a heated battle over the Christian religion versus the invading Arab religions crossing over from North Africa. This was an founding factor in the Spanish Inquisition. Joseph Curwen kept a copy of Zetner's edition of this work in his collection.
("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward")
Thesaurus Chemicus
Roger Bacon's Thesaurus Chemicus (1620)
Could be found in the possession of Joseph Curwen. This treatise on chemistry involved alchemical elements.
("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward")
Clavis Alchimiae
Fludd's Clavis Alchimiae, or Clavis Philosophiae et Alchimiae Fluddanae (1632)
The work discussed alchemy as a spiritual path, and attempted to defend the Rosicrucian brotherhood from its Catholic critics. In 1632, the whole edition of the work was destroyed in Frankfurt by the militia; but the work was reprinted the following year.
("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward")
De Lapide Philosophico
De Lapide Philosophico, or Opera Universalia et Vegetabilia, Sive de Lapide Philosophorum, or The Universal and Vegetable Works of Isaac and J.I. Holladus; or, On the Philosopher's Stone by Johannes Isaac Hollandus (1617)
In Latin. Consists of two treatises on metallurgy and the Philosopher's Stone. The first treatise seems to be a "hermetically sealed" and highly symbolic alchemical recipe book, in a fashion that was a huge success among seventeenth century readers. The details of their operations on metals are the most explicit that have been given, and because of this very lucidity have been discounted.
("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward")
Theatrum Chemicum
Theatrum Chemicum, or Chemical Theatre, or Theatrum Chemicum, præcipuos selectorum auctorum tractatus de Chemiæ et Lapidis Philosophici Antiquitate, veritate, jure præstantia, et operationibus continens in gratiam veræ Chemiæ et Medicinæ Chemicæ Studiosorum (ut qui uberrimam unde optimorum remediorum messem facere poterunt) congestum et in quatuor partes seu volumina digestum (1602)
In Latin. A compendium of early alchemical writings published in six volumes over the course of six decades. The first three volumes were published in 1602, while the final sixth volume was published in its entirety in 1661. Theatrum Chemicum remains the most comprehensive collective work on the subject of alchemy ever published in the Western world. A full account of the contents can be found here: (link)
Bestiaries
Omnium Fere Gentium
Omnium fere gentium nostraeque aetatis nationum, habitus et effigies, et in eosdem epigrammata (Almost All the Nations of Our Age; Their Conditions and Images; and Described in Poems), by Jacobus Sluperius, Latin, 1572 Antwerp
The book contains 135 woodcuts of various men and women of different exotic nationalities in carefully-detailed traditional priestly attire, with poems about each of them. Curiously, among them are a few monstrous peoples, including a "Sea Monk" and "Bishop-Fish", a hideous cyclops, and hair-covered wild-men.
Physiologus
Physiologus, Greek, Anonymous, 200-300(?) A.D.; translations in Latin, Ethiopic and Syriac date to 700 A.D.
Consists of descriptions of animals, birds, and fantastic creatures, sometimes stones and plants, provided with moral content. Each animal is described, and an anecdote follows, from which the moral and symbolic qualities of the animal are derived. Manuscripts are often, but not always, given illustrations, often lavish. It retained its influence over ideas of the "meaning" of animals in Europe for over a thousand years. It was a predecessor of bestiaries (books of beasts). Medieval poetical literature is full of allusions that can be traced to the Physiologus tradition; the text also exerted great influence on the symbolism of medieval ecclesiastical art: symbols like those of the phoenix rising from its ashes and the pelican feeding her young with her own blood are still well-known.
Books on Witch-Hunting
Dæmonolatreia
Remigius' Dæmonolatreia (1693)
In Latin(?) French judge Remigius (Nicolas Remy) wrote this essential work on witch-hunting, Dæmonolatreia, which was published in three books in Lugduni in 1595. Since there have been a German translation (1693) and an English one by Montague Summers under the name Daemonolatry (1930). Like the witch hunting works of Trithemius and Sprenger & Kramer (the infamous Malleus Maleficarum), the Daemonolatreia explains the horrors and dangers of the power of the witches, how to distinguish them, and how to torture and destroy them.
("The Festival" "The Dunwich Horror")
Saducismus Triumphatus
Saducismus Triumphatus, or, Full and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions. In two parts. The first treating of their possibility. The second of their real existence. by Joseph Glanvill (1681)
In English(?) The book affirmed the existence of witches with malign supernatural powers of magic, and attacked skepticism concerning their abilities. Glanvill likened these skeptics to the Sadducees, members of a Jewish sect from around the time of Jesus who were said to have denied the immortality of the soul. The book is also noted for the account of the Drummer of Tedworth, an early poltergeist story, and for one of the earliest descriptions of the use of a witch bottle, a countercharm against witchcraft. Strongly influenced Salem witch-hunter Cotton Mather.
Magnalia Christi Americana
Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana: The Ecclesiastical History of New England, or The Glorious Works of Christ in America (1702)
In English. Consists of seven "books" collected into two volumes, and it details the religious development of Massachusetts, and other nearby colonies in New England from 1620 to 1698. Notable parts of the book are Mather's descriptions of the Salem Witch Trials, in which he criticizes some of the methods of the court and attempts to distance himself from the event; his account of the escape of Hannah Dustan (one of the best known accounts to captivity-narrative scholars); his complete "catalogus" of all the students that graduated from Harvard College, and story of the founding of Harvard College itself; and his assertions that Puritan slaveholders should do more to convert their slaves to Christianity.
("Pickman's Model")
Wonders of the Invisible World
Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World (1693)
In English. With arguments largely derivative of Saducismus Triumphatus, this book was Mather's defense of his role in the in the Salem, Massachusetts witch-hunts, and espousing the belief that witchcraft was an evil magical power. Mather saw witches as tools of the devil in Satan's battle to destroy the colonies ("...An army of devils is horribly broke in upon the place which is the center, and after a sort, the first-born of our English settlements..."), and saw the prosecution of witches as a way to secure God's blessings for the colony.
("Pickman's Model")
Malleus Maleficarum
Heinrich Kramer's The Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of the Witches, or Der Hexenhammer, (1487)
In German or Latin. One of the most well-known treatises on the prosecution of witches. In 1490, three years after its publication, the Catholic Church condemned the Malleus Maleficarum, although it was later used by royal courts during the Renaissance, and contributed to the increasingly brutal prosecution of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries. Kramer wrote the Malleus shortly after being expelled from Innsbruck by the local bishop after a failed attempt to conduct his own witchcraft prosecution. Kramer's purpose in writing the book was to explain his own views on witchcraft, systematically refute arguments claiming that witchcraft does not exist, discredit those who expressed skepticism about its reality, claim that those who practised witchcraft were more often women than men, and to convince magistrates to use Kramer's recommended procedures for finding and convicting witches.
Treatises on Witchcraft
The Golden Bough
Frazer's The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion or The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (1890)
In English. A wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). It was first published in two volumes in 1890; in three volumes in 1900; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes. The work was aimed at a wide literate audience raised on tales as told in such publications as Thomas Bulfinch's The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes (1855).
Frazer offered a modernist approach to discussing religion, treating it dispassionately[1] as a cultural phenomenon rather than from a theological perspective. The influence of The Golden Bough on contemporary European literature and thought was substantial.
The Witch-Cult in Western Europe
The Witch-Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Murray (1921)
In English. Describes the theory known as the witch-cult hypothesis, described in further detail in The God fo the Witches, which suggests that the things told about witches in Europe were in fact based on a real, ancient, existing, secret, pan-European pagan religion that worshiped a horned god, which was influential on the witchcraft revival of the 20th Century, introducing many of the ideas that would be incorporated into witchcraft as a modern religion. Murray suggested that the secrets of this religion were originally handed down by oral tradition among a hidden human race of "little people" who were constantly driven deeper into the wildernesses by the encroachment of civilization.
("The Horror at Red Hook", "The Call of Cthulhu")
The God of the Witches
The God of the Witches Margaret Murray (1931)
In English. Continues describing the theory known as the witch-cult hypothesis first put forward in The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, which suggests that the things told about witches in Europe were in fact based on a real, ancient, existing, secret, pan-European pagan religion that worshiped a horned god, which was influential on the witchcraft revival of the 20th Century, introducing many of the ideas that would be incorporated into witchcraft as a modern religion. Murray suggested that the secrets of this religion were originally handed down by oral tradition among a hidden human race of "little people" who were constantly driven deeper into the wildernesses by the encroachment of civilization.
Occult Texts and Manifestos
I Ching
I Ching, or Classic of Changes or Book of Changes (1000BC)
An ancient divination text and the oldest of the Chinese classics. Possessing a history of more than two and a half millennia of commentary and interpretation, the I Ching is an influential text read throughout the world, providing inspiration to the worlds of religion, psychoanalysis, business, literature, and art. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou period (1000–750 BC), over the course of the Warring States period and early imperial period (500–200 BC) it was transformed into a cosmological text with a series of philosophical commentaries known as the "Ten Wings." After becoming part of the Five Classics in the 2nd century BC, the I Ching was the subject of scholarly commentary and the basis for divination practice for centuries across the Far East, and eventually took on an influential role in Western understanding of Eastern thought. The I Ching uses a type of divination called cleromancy, which produces apparently random numbers. Four numbers, 6 through 9, are turned into a hexagram, which can then be looked up in the I Ching book, arranged in an order known as the King Wen sequence. The interpretation of the readings found in the I Ching is a matter of centuries of debate, and many commentators have used the book symbolically, often to provide guidance for moral decision making as informed by Taoism and Confucianism. The hexagrams themselves have often acquired cosmological significance and paralleled with many other traditional names for the processes of change such as yin and yang and Wu Xing.
Hermetic Corpus
Hermetic Corpus, or The Corpus Hermeticum
In Latin. The term particularly applies to the Corpus Hermeticum, Marsilio Ficino's Latin translation in fourteen tracts, of which eight early printed editions appeared before 1500 and a further twenty-two by 1641. The Corpus Hermeticum are the core documents of the Hermetic tradition. Dating from early in the Christian era, they were mistakenly dated to a much earlier period by Church officials (and everyone else) up until the 15th century. Because of this, they were allowed to survive and we seen as an early precursor to what was to be Christianity. We know today that they were, in fact, from the early Christian era, and came out of the turbulent religious seas of Hellenic Egypt.
Zohar
Zohar (1558)
In Hebrew. Large folio containing complete system of Kabbalistic theology. The Zohar (Hebrew, lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five books of Moses) and scriptural interpretations as well as material on mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology. The Zohar contains a discussion of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of Ego to Darkness and "true self" to "The Light of God", and the relationship between the "universal energy" and man. The Zohar is mostly written in what has been described as an exalted, eccentric style of Aramaic.
("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward")
Simon Necronomicon
Necronomicon, or Simonomicon (1977)
In English. This is one of the hoax Necronomicons produced in the 1970's and later as a mass-market paperback book, purporting to by the revelations of an anonymous "Simon" that Aleister Crowley and Lovecraft had somehow conspired to secretly create their individual works based on a hidden Sumerian magical text. The book seems to contain some form of "real" ceremonial "Magick" inspired by a somewhat imaginative and silly jumble of vagely-researched Sumerian and Babylonian mythology, Crowley's teachings, in-name-only elements of Lovecraft's fiction filtered through the lens of August Derleth, and, no doubt, a healthy dose of "Simon"'s imagination.
(References might appear in Call of Cthulhu RPG scenarios for humorous effect as a shorthand for gullible amateur cultists, and in heavy metal music lyrics.)
