Demonic image magic in Ms. Douce 116

 Daniel Clark has done it again, and sent me a real jewel: Bodleian Library Ms. Douce 116. It`s a late 17th century magical miscellany with everything you can imagine: Agrippa and Heptameron material, spells and experiments, seals, talismans, characters and just about every occult curiosity possible. 

For now I`d like to pause over two anthropomorphical images: one is widely distributed, one is new to me: Oberion and Astaroth. 

KING OBERION

The image of king Oberion is very well attested in a lot of British manuscripts, one of the most famous being Folger V.b.26, recently edited by Clark, Harms and Peterson.

On page 176 we have the well-known diagram of this king of spirits, together with 5 seals: one of his own, two of the governing angels of the Sun and Moon and two of his counselors:

We might only assume that the dress is contemporary, his head is crownless, his feet are bare and his right hand is holding a scepter. I will ommit the experiment itself, as it is a bit irrelevant to our study. 

The image of Oberion in the Folger manuscript (one of several), page 185, is similar, but strikingly different:

The king still has a contemporary dress, but with stockings, a gold crown and a sword, also noting the abundance of seals that appear now in his proximity.   For the sake of comparison, I ve taken the liberty to isolate the five major seals and the names attributed to them in both works: 

 

KING ASTAROTH

The Second image (p.32) belongs to the demon Astaroth and his ministers, and the experiment (p.30-31) is new to me so I will try my best to transcribe and translate it:

This image belongs to the experiment half before

Emanuell

De imaganibus Tractatus Pro amore

The seals:

Aretz / Astarote

Gninon

Godras

Guinon 

Godras

After writing a few articles on it I ve decided to hold their publication, because this is the very manuscript Daniel Harms has been working on transcribing and editing in his editorial endeavor ”Book of Four Sorcerers”. And quite a proof of sportsmanship to be ok with publishing this! Thank you, Dan!

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