Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard XI

for certain rituals with fasting and other purifications.

And these old grimoires also describe the various

“families” of gods, spirits, demons, and other magickal

beings that may be summoned and consulted by

following the instructions.

This particular Grimoire has been created

especially for you, the young Apprentice Wizard. In

it we of the Grey Council will be introducing you to

the basics of Wizardry and Magick. Through these

pages, you will become a Wizard-in-training just as

if you were sitting with me in my cluttered study—

filled with arcane instruments, occult secrets, and

mysterious volumes of forgotten lore. Here you will

meet weird creatures and grotesque monsters. You will

study ancient artifacts and strange contraptions. You

will brew foul-smelling potions, create awesome

spells, and conduct magickal rituals. And you will

learn to perform astonishing special effects and

magical illusions to mystify and amaze your friends.

How to Use This Book

Here are a few notes about my writing style. First,

you will notice that when I refer to some important

historical person, I will often list after their name their

dates of birth and death, like: (1475–1520). If such

dates are obviously during the common era of our

Western civil calendar (in which the current year I

am writing is 2003), I will often leave them at that. If

they are very early on, however, I may specify

“common era” by noting “CE” after the date—as in

“376 CE.” This means the same as when other writers

use “AD” (for anno domini—“year of our Lord” in

Latin—referring to the “Christian Era”). In the same

way, for dates before the common era, I will add

“BCE,” just as others might use “BC” (for “before

Christ”). You will find this same usage in many

magickal and scientific writings, so I thought you’d

like an explanation. I’ve done the best I could here,

but sometimes we just don’t have any precise records

of a person’s year of birth or death, so the following

customary notes have been adopted: “c.” stands for

circa, meaning “about”; “fl.” means “flourished,”

indicating the time during which someone was most

famous; “b.” and “d.” mean “born” and “died.” For

rulers, “r.” indicates the period of their reign.

Also, I would like to mention my pronunciation

guides. Like many who read a lot, I acquired most of

my vocabulary from books. In many cases, however—

especially regarding foreign words and names—the

written words gave me no clear idea of how to

pronounce them. So I will include simple phonetic

keys to pronunciation for words that might have

confused me when I was your age. Here is an example:

(pro-NUN-see-AY-shun). The syllable (SIL-a-bull) in

all capital letters is the one that gets the emphasis

(EM-fa-sis). And because many magickal terms come

from older languages than English (especially Latin

and Greek), I will frequently include a little translation

when I first introduce such words, such as polyhedron

(Gr. “many-sided”).

I have organized this entire Grimoire as a 7-year

course of study in Wizardry for Junior High through

High School level. Each of the Courses includes six

to eight Classes, and each Class contains a number of

Lessons. The Table of Contents provides a Study

Guide in outline form. When I need to refer to another

Lesson, I could do it the long way, like: Course 3:

“Practice”; Class VI: “Correspondences”; Lesson 2:

“The Magick Circle.” But this is far too complicated,

and will get old very fast! So instead I will abbreviate,

like so: See 3.VI.2: “The Magick Circle.”

Multiple Interpretations

As we go through all these teachings, it is

important to realize that in many cases there are

multiple and sometimes contradictory interpretations

of symbols. Because symbols represent things, different

traditions often have differing symbology. For instance,

although most cultures view the Sun as the very

quintessence of masculinity, the Sun is regarded as

female in Japanese Shinto (the Goddess Amaterasu).

In this Grimoire, materials have been gathered

from many sources, and the members of the Grey

Council, who are advisors and contributors, come

from a wide variety of backgrounds and traditions.

Although there is a remarkable unity among us

throughout all these teachings, occasionally there are

differences between our respective symbolic

associations. There’s nothing wrong or bad about this,

it’s just that people are coming from different

paradigms (models). An important principle widely

accepted among magickal people is that there is no

“One True Right and Only Way!” In many cases, I will

call such disagreements to your attention and indicate

key differences in symbology. For example, whereas

I associate the Wand with Air and the Athamé (knife)

with Fire, in Ceremonial Magick, the Wand is considered

a tool of Fire, and the Dagger represents Air.

Also, just because of space limitations, I have

had to make some tough decisions here. Wizardry is

a vast subject—encompassing every culture on Earth

and at least 4,500 years of history. Like many Wizards,

I have a huge library of thousands of volumes. I can’t

possibly cover all of it in this one book—or even a

passing mention of most of it. So I’m focusing almost

exclusively here on the Western Wizardry heritage.

I’m not teaching (or even recommending) you to

practice in Native American, African, Caribbean,

Asian, Tibetan, Hindu, Middle Eastern, etc. traditions.

After you complete the course of study I am offering

here, you will have the rest of your life to pursue

further studies in other areas of your choosing.

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