Grimoires are books containing descriptions of and instructions for performing magical rituals.

The earliest Grimoires were written in the Middle Ages by esoteric Christians (I know, sounds weird, but I didn’t make it up).  The books, of course, were considered heretical so they generally existed as hand written volumes carefully protected by their authors.   They were meant to be copied by a select few apprentices.  The careful and time consuming copying was part of the training for the young magicians.

It is believed the oldest of the Grimoires is the Key of Solomon, which was a manuscript originally written in Greek.  Dated to the thirteenth century (and maybe earlier), this Grimoire is the base of information for all other Grimoires.  It is also accepted without saying, that the information in the Key of Solomon is much older, ancient even, dating back to the beginning of the battle between good and evil.  Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for the human race, the modern Grimoires hold watered down information.  All magical rituals today are incomplete.  Ask any practitioner, and all but the ones with egos the size of Manhattan, will tell you magic as we have it today is imperfect, and that is because the original manuscripts to these magical books were separated and kept apart for the protection of the Nether and also our physical world.

Look, let’s face the fact that the magical knowledge in Grimoires is knowledge no human being should ever possess.  The rebellious angels in their arrogance and perhaps believing themselves in some way superior to God, decided they would give this forbidden knowledge to man.

And now you may ask, why would God not take back the knowledge?  Why not erase it from our minds and from the human experience?  Well, two words my friends—free will.  The deed has been done and now man has the knowledge that heaven has (or at least part of it).

As I’ve said before, the original manuscripts were broken up into several books, no one knows exactly how many, and those books were then sent out to all corners of the earth.  Do they remain on the earth, or in our physical plain?  The possibilities are small.  Most, and at this point in time, perhaps all, have been taken in to different parts of fairy to be protected; protected from falling into the hands of unscrupulous beings, whether human or from the Nether.

Now, we must understand that given the full knowledge of the original magic, only a human can wield the power to its apex.  Why is this?  Well, let me use a story some may consider to be fictional, some a parable, and some actual fact, as an example to demonstrate what I mean.  The story is that of Adam and Eve.

Here we have two exquisite beings created in a way no other being has been created.  The human being is made from all the elements—earth, water, fire, air—as we know.  But, they also contain a fifth element—the Divine Spark.  That is what makes the difference.  It is what we all have in common as human beings.  No matter the color, the race, the language, the religion, nor the geographical location, we are all connected by the divine spark—literally—the breath of God.

So, I won’t get religious on you because you are entitled to your own beliefs, but we must all come to the understanding that when we harm our fellow man, we harm ourselves, and when we harm ourselves, we harm all those human beings around us.

Let’s put aside our religious an cultural differences, and let us for a moment reflect on this story—briefly. 

Remember that Satan wanted the power over the earth man (humans) had been given.  Why didn’t he just take it by force?  Why didn’t he just challenge Adam and Eve to some cosmic smack-down?  Why did he have to convince Eve to take of the forbidden fruit (i.e, knowledge) instead of forcing her to take it?

The answer is that he couldn’t.  The simplicity is almost mind boggling and we have to tell ourselves that—no—there has to be much more to it.  But there isn’t.  He had no power on the earth.  He needed the human being in order to gain access to our physical world.  He did not possess the divine spark.  And the more power man gave Satan along with his rebellious angels, the stronger they became.

At some point the power balance shifted and these spirits came to be regarded as gods—and they liked it.  And what better way to win the favor of those who worship you than to give them knowledge and power beyond their wildest dreams.  Can you imagine the power one human being could yield if he or she possessed the original knowledge?  I in truth don’t want to be around the day that happens.

So, as much knowledge as these Nether creatures possess, they still need the human being and the divine spark to make the spells found in the Grimoires work.  In order to function and manipulate our physical world, they need a being that is part of the physical and the spiritual—us, you and I.  Just as the poltergeist needs the energy to move things in the physical world, the power in the Grimoires needs the human being.  Realize that the Nether creatures, not all, but those who thrive on disorder, are chasing after these books.

The magical books we have today only contain part of the knowledge.  I’m not talking about the books by the crackpots or the charlatans, but the books by those who have experimented with the magical, sacrificing everything, even their lives, to write down the scraps of the sacred.  With that said, be careful in what you dabble because all those little demons and beings who you think you control with your watered down incantations, are actually manipulating you.

by Corbin Silverthorn