Europe's inner demons

It may seem paradoxical that anyone should hope for God’s help in finding hidden treasure, let alone in burning towns to the ground; but in the context of ritual magic it is not. At the heart of ritual magic was the belief in the irresistible power of certain divine words, and above all of the Divine Name. Strings of such words and names were built into prayers. When recited aloud in appropriate circumstances, these prayers were supposed to compel the obedience of demons: at the sound of the Divine Name the demons trembled and were subdued to the magician’s will. But how could any man invoke God or utter the Divine Name— at least with any hope of being heard — unless he were himself full of reverence and love for God? So it came about that even when his aims were thoroughly destructive, even when he was trying to work a maleficium, the magician felt himself a pious Christian or Jew.

In a sense, conjuring up a demon was one long exercise in religious devotion. Before embarking on a conjuration the magician was required to prepare himself by a period of chastity, fasting and prayer. Then the various strange instruments used in a conjuration — sword, staff, rod, lancet, hook, sickle, needle, white-handled knife, black-handled knife — had to be fumigated, asperged and consecrated. To be effective, the consecration had to include a recital of seven psalms, prayers to the angels, and a direct appeal to God. Next, as the time for the conjuration drew near, the magician washed himself in consecrated water and put on his ceremonial robes — including a hat of white leather bearing the names of God, such as El, Elohim, or else Jehovah, Adonay. Above all, the conjuration itself was carried out by invoking the power of God. Anyone interested can study the incredibly long (and tedious) formulae in Mathers’s translation of the Key of Solomon.⁽¹⁶⁾

Here a briefer example, from the Lemegeton, will suffice. If a demon obstinately refuses to appear after repeated invocations, the magician may proceed to the ultimate sanction — he may penalize the demon in God’s name:

Thou art still pernicious and disobedient, willing not to appear and inform me upon that which I desire to know; now therefore, in the Name and by the power and dignity of the Omnipotent and Immortal Lord God of Hosts, Jehovah Tetragrammaton,^** sole Creator of Heaven, Earth and Hell, with all contained therein, the marvellous Disposer of all things visible and invisible, I do hereby curse and deprive thee of all thine office, power, and place; I bind thee in the depths of the Bottomless Pit, there to remain unto the Day of Judgment, in the lake of fire and brimstone, prepared for the rebellious spirits.... ⁽¹⁷⁾

Stranger still, a magician could bind a spirit permanently to himself. by imprisoning it in a ring, mirror, crystal or other stone; and for this too divine assistance was indispensable. Here once more Reginald Scot may serve as a guide to the mysteries. Only after the magician had spent a day in fasting, and made his confession, and spent two further days in prayer, was he equipped to begin. A preliminary invocation of five senior demons, Sitrael, Malantha, Thamaor, Falaur and Sitrami, was carried out with a great display of Christian piety — in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, the Virgin Mary, all the saints, the angels and arch-angels, the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the evangelists, the martyrs “and all the elect of God”. The effect of such a conjuration, repeated five times, was infallible: “Then shalt thou see come out of the north part five kings, with a marvelous companie: which when they come to the circle, they will allight from their horsses, and will kneele down before thee, saieng: Maister, command us what thou wilt, and we will out of hand be obedient unto thee.” The magician was now in a position to achieve his aim: