Grimorium Verum Paperback – October 29, 2007

5 stars because it includes the Italian and French renderings.However...as a practitioner of the arts for over 21 years, I must inform anyone interested in the craft...much of the instructions and rituals are written to dissuade non-initiates from performing the spells. Anyone familiar with the works, know that we will add unnecessary information (abstinence/fasting/etc) into our books as a way to make others not want to bother doing it (out of sheer laziness most will not).As for the spells, if it calls for a human skull...you must use a human skull. If it calls for your blood, you must use your blood. It's as simple as that.There are things that can be substituted, such as roots, herbs and stones. But, one must be familiar with which substitutes what or else you will either fail at the spell or it will have an adverse affect (opposite of what your trying to achieve).Honestly...magick will not work for everyone. Many authors state that "magic is in everyone", this is simply not true and only a way to save face, or more likely to Sell More Books. Perhaps those who can't perform the works need to go through the rigorous efforts of abstinence and fasting and so forth.Overall, this was a good read and a good edition to the collection.

It really is like the text of an old spell book. I guess medieval European magic? Based on Solomon’s works. It’s crazy what people will do to get what they want. I mean it’s very specific, like need the left eyeball of a 4 year old crow and all this crazy stuff. Some of the intentions are random, or maybe I should say outdated (because it’s an old book): stuff like how to stop hail, how to recover from rabies.I was disappointed the book is way shorter than I expected, it’s just translated in 3 languages so it appeared thicker.My favorite part was the beginning. They go into detail about foundational setups for magic making. Like how to make a wand, how to consecrate items, that was very cool to read about. It has a bunch of sigils and super old charts for planets based on time or something. Many illustrations. I love old stuff like this

good book i love it

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.