The Grimorium Verum

A grimoire, or textbook of magic instructions, first published in 1517 and purported to be translated from the Hebrew. It is based to some extent upon the "Key of Solomon the King" and is quite honest in its statement that it proposes to invoke devils. It refers to the four elements, so these would appear to be elementary spirits. A part of the account it gives regarding the hierarchy of spirits is taken from the Lemegeton, or Lesser Key of Solomon.

The work is divided into three portions. The first describes the characters and seals of the demons, with the forms of their evocation and dismissal; the second gives a description of the supernatural secrets that can be learned by the power of the demons; and the third is the key of the work and its proper application. But these divisions only outline what the Grimorium Verum purports to place before the reader, since the whole work is a mass of confusion. The plates that supply the characters do not apply to the text. The book really consists of two parts—the Grimorium Verum itself, and a second portion consisting of magic secrets. The first supplies directions for the preparation of the magician based on those of the Clavicle of Solomon. Instructions are given for the manufacture of magic instruments and for the composition of a parchment on which the characters and seals are to be inscribed, as well as the processes of evocation and dismissal.

The second part contains the "admirable secrets" of the pretended Albertus Magnus, the "Petit Albert," and so forth. The work is only partially diabolical in character, and some of its processes might be classified as white magic.