Studies on Magic: Sigilla

A long time fascination of mine was Scheible's masterpiece of Faustiana called Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis.

Published in Stuttgart in the year 1849, Scheible compiled an enormous compendium of magic rituals, diagrams, talismans, seals and characters.

I always wondrered what his manuscript sources were and if I would ever get the chance to consult them.

I ve had the rare opportunity to consult one version of a Faustian Hoellenzwang due to the kind and generous nature of James Banner from Trident Publishing, with whom I've had quite a few discussions ranging from occult manuscripts to bookbinding (a discipline I also indulge in) and I've seen one such manuscript and analyzed its seals and diagrams.

But the Leipzig University Magical Collection far surpasses my expectations and I have found a great quantity of manuscripts that are in all possibility Scheible's sources or at least related to them. Why related? As you will notice from the examples below, the similarities definately point to direct inspiration, but there are differences that go far beyond the artistic freedoms the draughtsman took.

I submit for the public inquiry a set of seven seals dedicated to the planetary spirits as found also in the Arbatel. The work is called Regis Salomonis Septem Sigilla Planetarum ( The Seven Planetary Seals of the King Solomon).

As we see from these examples, the Leipzig manuscript is all in black ink, carefully drawn but not particularly artistic. Scheible's illustrator, whose name eludes me for now, was an excellent draughtsman, standardized the forms of the letters and of the seals as well and used black only for the circles, making the seals and mottoes red. I did my best to remove the yellow tinge of the poor quality scans, the paper grain, the specks and blots that were scattered about, without damaging the images in the case of Scheible, and on the manuscripts I tried to lighten the picture up to clear white without suppressing the black ink.

The order of the talismans varies from the manuscript to Scheible, a thing that increases my suspicions of other versions. In the manuscript, the pentacles are ascribed to different spirits, while the so-called Olypic Spirits of the Arbatel are still mentioned. The first seal leads us to believe that they are just alternate names for the same spirits. Summarizing the two lists and comparing them to the Arbatel, we have the following discrepancies:

	Arbatel 1575	Regis Salomonis 1750	Scheible 1849
1	SATURN: Aratron	SATURN: Aratron Archiatos	SUN: Och
2	JUPITER: Bethor	JUPITER: (Bethor) Nymphitros	JUPITER: Bethor
3	MARS: Paleg	MARS: (Phaleg) Aethnitros	MARS: Palec
4	SUN: Hoc Och	MERCURY: (Ophiel) Nomifaremtros	SATURN: Aratron
5	VENUS: Hagith	MOON: (Phul) Flagatros	VENUS: Hagith
6	MERCURY: Ophiel	SUN: (Och) Xenirephitros	MERCURY: Ophiel
7	MOON: Phul	VENUS: (Hagith) Phantasmator	MOON: Phul