Author: Skinner, Stephan Rankine, David

Between the worlds of the Renaissance magician and the modern witch lie the Books of Secrets. Bridging the complexity of Grimoires and the practicality of folk magic, A Collection of Magical Secrets is a treasure trove of simple charms made with easily available materials for healing, love spells, good fortune, gaining familiar spirits, making magical rings, regaining stolen property, and communicating with spirits and angels. A wide range of sympathetic magic techniques such as dreaming, poppets, using bread, herbs, mirrors and sieves, are utilised to ensure the success of the charms."A Treatise of Mixed Cabalah contains four parts, three of which fit together to develop a greater knowledge of the practical Qabalah. This includes a ritual sequence of prayers and actions for increasing knowledge, practical instructions for the construction, consecration and use of wax pentacles for absent healing, a technique for angelic dream incubation and a system of divination with 112 possible answers."The two parts of this book were previously bound together in a late eighteenth century French manuscript, Wellcome Ms 4669, with The Clavicule of Solomon and The Universal Treatise of the Keys of Solomon. These are reproduced along with The Keys of Rabbi Solomon, in the most significant grimoire publication of modern times, The Veritable Key of Solomon by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine. The inclusion in the beautifully copied manuscript of these two diverse parts captures the essence of a time when books about magic were starting to become more available to the masses. Despite their recent production date of 1796, both of these parts draw on techniques with their roots in the practices of the ancient world, reaffirming the continuity of practice over the millennia also seen in the Key of Solomon.