The Secret Lore of Magic
Encyclopedia
The Secret Lore of Magic, first published in 1957, contains within it all the major source-books of magical arts, in most cases translated from French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, Hebrew and other tongues, annotated and fully illustrated with numerous diagrams, signs and characters. The book’s title in itself signalled the fact that the bulk of material in this bibliographical study had never been published openly before.

Together with Oriental Magic
Oriental Magic
Oriental Magic, by Idries Shah, is a study of magical practices in diverse cultures from Europe and Africa, through Asia to the Far East. Originally published in 1956 and still in print today, it was the first of this author’s 35 books...

, which appeared in the preceding year, it provided a complete survey of fundamental magical literature, and thus a comprehensive reference system for psychologists, ethnologists and others interested in the rise and development of human beliefs. Both books also introduced the general reader to dependable information about what was a shadowy and confusing subject.

Commenting on these works, Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...

 emphasised that neither had relevance to, nor were written for, contemporary devotees of witchcraft and magic. “For too long people believed that there were secret books, hidden places, and amazing things. They held onto this information as something to frighten themselves with. So the first purpose was information. This is the magic of East and West. That's all. There is no more. The second purpose of those books was to show that there do seem to be forces, some of which are either rationalized by this magic or may be developed from it, which do not come within customary physics or within the experience of ordinary people. I think this should be studied; that we should gather the data and analyze the phenomena. We need to separate the chemistry of magic from the alchemy, as it were.”

In addition to the inherent worth of their content, The Secret Lore of Magic and Oriental Magic can also be seen as a ground-clearing operation by this author, before publishing over the ensuing years his many volumes of Sufi thought, ideas, and materials.

Content

Black magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

 and sorcery
Maleficium (sorcery)
Maleficium is a Latin term meaning "wrongdoing" or "mischief" and is used to describe malevolent, dangerous, or harmful magic, "evildoing" or "malevolent sorcery"...

 have been practised through the ages with the aid of certain jealously guarded writings, such as the Black Books of the Magicians. The Secret Lore of Magic includes the entire text of the four books of the Secrets of Albertus Magnus
Albertus Magnus
Albertus Magnus, O.P. , also known as Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, is a Catholic saint. He was a German Dominican friar and a bishop, who achieved fame for his comprehensive knowledge of and advocacy for the peaceful coexistence of science and religion. Those such as James A. Weisheipl...

, the Book of the Spirits, the Almadel, the Book of Power, the Clavicle and the Testament, the Grimoire of Honorius the Great, and the processes of the Black Pact as given by the True Grimoire and the Great Grimoire. Copies of these Grimoires (the 'grammars' of sorcery) were extremely rare, and although occult works based on parts of grimoires were continuing to appear, the actual sources had never before been made available for study and comparison.

Shah points out that all magic essentially outside religious rituals had been viewed by clerics as nothing less than the Black Art. That attitude shifted during the centuries of research in Arabian Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, as a result of which magic became officially understood as divided into the twin categories of Black and White. The Secret Lore of Magic reflects this division. Its pages contain both the most sublime, complex and important rituals and methods of white magic (The Key of Solomon), and also what was considered to be the most diabolical work on black magic ever written (The Grimoire of Honorius the Great).

Although the major part of The Secret Lore of Magic consists of primary sources, the author’s own informed commentary runs through it, often setting symbols, rituals and practices in a clearer light or wider context. Shah also states that the methods of making spells, charms and talismans, together with the rituals of raising spirits through the Magical Circle, all of which are contained in this work, between them comprise the whole gamut of supernatural power.

Reception

According to Mundilibro, (Nov-Dec 1974), commenting on Oriental Magic and The Secret Lore of Magic: “These basic works … serve to establish Idries Shah as an original, careful and reliable researcher in the field of human knowledge …”. It also stated that the two books “have not been superseded as links in the history of ideas.” The Book Exchange said that The Secret Lore of Magic was ‘essential reading for research in the fields of human beliefs, practices and ceremonies”. The Liverpool Post described it as a “mammoth survey, never before attempted in any language.”

External links

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