Selections from the Munich Manual

The “Munich Manual of Demonic Magic” (CLM 849 of the Bavarian State Library in Munich) is a fifteenth century grimoire primarily composed in Latin.  The text focuses largely on demonic and necromantic magic, but contains sections on conjuration, astrological magic, and divination as well.  It’s a fascinating example of the medieval and Renaissance magical tradition, and is one of the few whole collections of spells that a magician might have used back in the day.

As a Latinist, and since the book is composed pretty much all in Latin, I’ve tried my hand at translating a few of the selections that might be useful or interesting to a person in my line of Work.  I base my translations off of Richard Kieckhefer’s Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the 15th Century which is itself full of annotations, a discussion of grimoiric magic, and the kinds of rituals the text contains.  In addition to translating the text, I’ll redraw and relabel any illustrations as necessary.

Some of the rituals have already been translated in the Kieckhefer’s book itself, and others might be found across the Internet.  I’ll give my own takes, notes, and translations on the texts here, though you should probably check out other translations, too, where available.  I’m only human, and Latin’s dead for a number of reasons, some of which are actually decent.