The Art of Cyprian’s Mirror of Four Kings:

An Early Modern Experiment
of Cyprianic Conjuration

Alexander Cummins

The Art of Cyprian’s Mirror of Four Kings

Copyright © 2021 Alexander Cummins

Seals redrawn by S. Aldarnay.

‘The Art of Cyprian’s Mirror of Four Kings’ printed with kind permission from Adam McLean.

All Rights Reserved.

Guides to the Underworld

Published by Hadean Press.

www.hadeanpress.com

This work is dedicated to the sorcerers, dead and alive,
who gather at the crossroads of the world’s cunning

who have granted their wisdom and their power

to bring clarity and strength in the darkness.

Salve Tata.
Salve Tata Nkulu.

Salve Bakulu.

Salve Kimbanda.
Salve Muloji.

Hail Saint Cyprian of Antioch.

I. By Lampblack, By Wax, and By Glass

Introducing MS Sloane 3850’s Art of Cyprian

MS Sloane 3850 is a seventeenth-century quarto manuscript miscellany containing around twenty works: mostly grimoiric treatises or sections thereof. Along with a version of the Heptameron, seu elementa magicae, it also includes, for instance, the latter part of De occulta philosophia libri quarti attributed to Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. It includes a (pseudo-) Baconian Thesaurus Spirituum and a ‘book of skulpting or graving of stones’, as well as diverse operations and experimenta. But of interest to us in this present study is a short work, the Art of Cyprian, containing instructions for the construction and use of a magic mirror attributed to that infamous saint of grimoire magic and necromancy, Cyprian of Antioch.

Along with the preparation of the mirror itself – which includes making and consecrating a particular ink for drafting certain figures of Solomon – come instructions detailing a conjuration of the ‘four worthy princes of the earth’, including a special appeal to the King of the East as their primus inter pares, and a dismissal of these same ‘four kings of the four parts of the world’. Such material should not surprise us. Saint Cyprian of Antioch, as he appears in the goetic conjuration and nigromancy of the early modern British Isles, has strong connections to the Four Regent Spirits of the cardinal directions (Cummins, ‘In the Manner of Cyprian’, Cypriana: Old World, 83–116). By the early modern period at least, these principal ruling spirits are most often called by the names Oriens, Amaymon, Paimon, and Egyn, as detailed in various manuscript ‘Books of the Offices of the Spirits’; see, for example, the spirit catalogues of the Folger Book of Magic (The Book of Oberon, 191–215). Perhaps the most well-known grimoire to specifically link the sorcerer saint of Antioch and the Four Regents is the Clavis inferni sive Magia Alba & Nigra (‘The Key of Hell, or White & Black Magic’), a manuscript dated to the eighteenth century said to be ‘of the Magister Ludi Cyprian’ which boasts some stunning images and seals of these ‘kings’ (The Grimoire of St. Cyprian, 39, 34, 44, 45, passim).

Francis Young has noted that ‘the idea of the four kings derived ultimately from a vastly influential twelfth-century (or earlier) text, the Speculum astronomiae’, as well as observing that ‘conjurations of the four kings are common in medieval and early modern necromantic texts’ (Young, Cambridge Book of Magic, 125 n. 26). The so-called Baconian Thesaurus Spirituum of the sixteenth century especially seems to have ‘employed well-known conjurations of the Four Kings’ (Klaassen & Hubbs Wright, Magic of Rogues, 4). Indeed the most infamous of such a ‘Treasury of the Spirits’, De Nigromancia, is said to have been written by Roger Bacon under a certain patronage of the sorcerer Saint Cyprian. Moreover, this text explicitly spells out that for knowledge of these ‘four Principal spirits’ – such as their powers, protocols, and so on – one should ‘look in the Book of St. Cyprian, which is called the book of the offices of the spirits; the which is divided into four parts, according to the four parts of the world, & thereby you shall know the Names of all those Spirits, & of their offices’ (De Nigromancia of Roger Bacon, 72). Our present Art of Cyprian illuminates further Cyprianic dimensions of these directional courts of the various cardinal kings and their messenger-king attendants in the grimoiric corpus.

Cyprian and Four Cardinal Kings

While the names of the principal spirits in the conjurations of the Art of Cyprian – Zorasaball, Zamfiziron, Rugidomos, and Fairipopi – do not match our most infamous Regent Kings, we have plenty of precedents for calling other cardinal spirits of the directions beyond resorting exclusively to Oriens et al. The directional kings called in another Cyprianic grimoire, the Book of the Dannel – named as Rommbalans, Ocerbidatonn, Lambracun, and a suitably eponymous ‘kynge of the est’ (Sloane MS 3853, f. 226r–229r) – are in fact specifically listed as both attendant ‘kings’ and ‘messengers’ of the cardinal Regents in our familiar Book of Offices of the Spirits. The bearer of the Book of Cyprian’s knowledge and authority over directional king-spirits extends to more than just the Four Regents themselves: subordinate spirits – still kingly in their own right and their particular governances – can be called forth for specific operations by their directional Regent. The four principal spirits of our present work are the cardinal kings of this mirror operation. It has been the experience of the present author that they come forth and answer after calls to Oriens, Paimon, Amaymon, and Egyn.

Why does this talk of directional kings matter? Put simply, the four cardinal princes form one basis of the earthly structure of early modern grimoiric goetia. The conjuration of such ‘unclean spirits’ is organised according to the direction one must face to call the spirit. Such concerns are evidenced in the Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke, which carefully logs the directionality of the spirits encountered as standard practice; as when ‘H.G. with his skryer did see on the 17th of March, ante meridian between ten and twelve, two black birds flying from the south to the north, without heads, which were two Angels called Ancor and Amulor who showed many good books to them’. Furthermore, the Excellent Booke instructs that one should ‘turn toward your quarter; and the other parts each of them to each other quarter of the world and turning your face accordingly’ when calling the Regents (Legard & Cummins, Excellent Booke, 125, 76). A call’s efficacy is partially determined – at its crux – by obtaining the attentions and approval of this senior who is considered to license, command, and send forth all spirits coming from that direction.

The centrality of the cardinal kings to early modern goetia has been undervalued until recent years. The Four Kings, their conjurations, and their operational necessity were removed in the course of textual transmission culminating in the Lemegeton as an undoubtedly deliberate act of sabotage on the part of Johannes Weyer to obscure the actual operative components of the demonology. Yet research conducted by manuscript specialists, scholars, and practitioners alike over even the last decade or so continues to demonstrate the importance of cardinal kings and their crossroad courts in pre-modern spirit conjuring. As Alkistis Dimech has noted, ‘the restoration of the hierarchy enables the operator to work effectively with the spirits listed in the Ars Goetia and Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia daemonum in which these details were deliberately redacted’ (Dimech & Grey, The Brazen Vessel, 163).

Approaching Saint Cyprian as a patron of working the Kings – as the very magi-scribe who penned their conjurations perhaps, and who may champion our work with these cardinal spirits – is therefore exceptionally helpful. That this art is said to be both ‘of Cyprian’, and originally framed ‘by the great king Solomon who was a most skilful workman in this science’ also raises further questions concerning the intersectionalities of Cyprianic and Solomonic grimoiric magics.

A Compass Rose By Any Other Name

Seniors often send forth intermediaries and working-spirits. They are also assisted in their works by the authority of the names of other powers. In recent trends of grimoiric study, a tendency has emerged both to usefully examine the concordances of spirit-lists and attendant lore and operations in ‘Books of Secrets’ and so on, and (less usefully) to speculate – without the work at the table of practice or tomes of research – about the shared identities of various spirits, asterisms, ancient deities, and so on. Let us address a little speculation then before pressing on with the practicable matters.

The specifically-named directional kings to which this Art of Cyprian appeals might simply be different titles for Oriens and the other Regents themselves: the King of the East in his work clothes rather than wearing his manager’s crown, if you will. Precedents for this sort of argument could be found elsewhere in the literature and records of practice. On the other hand, they may well be entities otherwise relatively independent of their directional seniors. Spirits are, after all, tricksy. This short present work does not seek to make definitive statements about any ‘true secrets’ of these ancient and powerful spirits; it merely seeks to note ways of working with them. At least practically it is certainly useful to treat Zorasaball et al as intermediary emissaries, messengers of the cardinal Regents, or simply the directional senior spirits of this mirror’s particular operations. This approach has emerged from working this Art of Cyprian within an established practice with the Four Regents, and does not seek to limit the Art’s kingly spirits so much as ‘connect up’ experimenta in order to call from an ever more stabilising and potent fulcrum of these crossroads. Indeed, just as they can be considered subordinates of the Regents, there is also explicit mention of their own retinues of servant-spirits…

The tensions of addressing a senior ‘king of the air’ in order to both make supplicatory appeal and yet also command authority may be seen in the shifts of language used of and towards such spirits. The Art’s Zorasaball and the ‘worthy princes of the earth’ are encouraged to appear ‘in the form of angels’. Far from precluding a devilish identity however, we should recall that at least one seventeenth-century magician noted ‘Egin, Amaimon… Paymon… and some others of the Hierarchy I will not name here’ – presumably including their ministering cardinal spirits – as originally among Lucifer’s ‘faction in the Heavenly Court scorning to attend this piece of clay’, who warred with the Almighty, lost, and Fell with Lucifer among ‘his Confederates… expel’d from light to darkness’. (Heydon, The idea of the lavv, 1660). Beyond academic intersections of angelology and demonology, we are perhaps well served as practical conjurers by bearing in mind that these aerial princes and fallen messengers may have their own complicated relationships with authority and agency…

Tensions between the sacred and the taboo inherent in such nigromancy – and, crucially, of the versatile switching between dominant and submissive modalities to achieve intended results – are absolutely present in the wording of the conjurations of the Four Kings themselves. But we even find evidence of disagreements in conjuring approaches in the edits made between historical conjurors in their books of calls. As has been pointed out by recent historians of necromancy:

[such conjurations] combine subservient and supplicatory language with outright commands and adjurations. The notion that magicians made implicit or explicit pacts with demons by worshipping or giving obeisance to them was a common criticism of necromantic magic. Unsurprisingly, the more typical posture in necromantic operations was one of domination, using the rhetoric of cursing and exorcism. [One text cited] apologizes for its obsequious language by implying that this approach was a formality for dealing with angelic (if fallen) and kingly creatures. This kind of respectful treatment of demons of high rank appears to be more common in the sixteenth century and in vernacular manuscripts, but it is also clear that such an approach continued to be regarded as quite problematic even by fellow necromancers. A subsequent owner of the manuscript from which [this source] is drawn crossed out the English prayers that took this approach and also tried to expunge the problematic phrases in the Latin prayers such as supplico te (I supplicate you), leaving the more imperious ones such as coniuro te (I conjure you) untouched.

Klaassen & Hubbs Wright, Magic of Rogues, 61.

Protocols for dealing with these cardinal spirits are clearly laid out in notae and further implied in the language and phrasing of the given calls in the Art, which certainly also present useful Cyprianic techniques and perspectives for those already working with the Four Regents and their retinues. What follows is an executive summary of the procedures and protocols of this Art of Cyprian.

The Dark Arts and Crafts of Cyprian’s Mirror

Firstly, upon ‘the first Monday that the new Moon showeth herself’ one must spend a week in a state of chaste piety and contemplation, during or at the end of which time one constructs several talismans of this Art on virgin parchment of kid or lamb: the Great Seal, the Pentagon, the Mortagon, the Ring, and the Girdle of Solomon. These pentacles are then used to both empower the operator and to contain spirits in the glasses or mirrors into which they are called. They are explained as containing godly names to command and bind spirits, and may be used to great effect provided proper timings are observed in their construction and use. They must also be kept ‘cleanly, honestly, and chastely’.

To write these pentacles one must make an ink of a lampblack derived from burning frankincense, myrrh, and thyme. It should be noted if you have never made lampblack that the process is an infamously arduous one, so give yourself far more time than you think you will need. Such work must also be conducted in ‘chastity and pureness’, presenting an endeavour that I have found requires as much actual patience, tranquility, and care as any observance of abstemious religious taboos. The present author can personally attest – from several frustrating attempts – to the inadequacy of inks prepared with a rushed insufficiency of this vital component.

Then one is instructed to obtain ‘a clear, fine and fair glass’ on a Saturday and to sculpt a border of wax around the perimeter of the mirror, divided into four segments of three rings, within which the names of power are inscribed. Once more, clean living and pious conduct are required. The mirror is then to be fumigated in frankincense, myrrh, and mastic, and kept wrapped in a fresh linen.

Working the mirror is also reserved for Saturdays. Preparation is mostly a matter of timing and devout prayer. One is instructed to rise before dawn and pray the Confiteor, and to ‘hear divine service devoutly’. Following this, one must asperge oneself with holy water, and then recite ‘the creed, the paternoster, and the Gospel of St John Primative, the litany and the collects throughout’.

The glass is then placed in the east, and further prayers are recited. The Gifts of the Magi – gold, frankincense, myrrh – are instructed to be placed under the tongue before beginning the formal conjuration of ‘you four worthy princes of the earth, you angels which have power to reveal secrets unto man, you which rule the four quarters of the earth’ whom you are expressly and explicitly gathering together. All four are summoned, along with their retinues of spirit-courtiers, and invited to ‘sit down in peace in your chairs’ before they are asked to send forth one of their number to answer the questions and demands of the conjuror. A formal conjuration of the eastern king, here called Zorasaball, follows. It seems implied that the conjuration could be adapted for the other three cardinal kings of this operation, depending upon who steps forth to answer specifically. Compulsions by the historiolae of Christ are adduced to ensure honesty and obedience from the spirits. Appeal to and by the Solomonic talismans is made.

Before license to depart is given, the operator is instructed – in typical grimoiric fashion – to make the final order that these kings put themselves at the beck and call of the magician, that such formal complexities of conjuration might not be necessary next time. Interestingly, a visual salute of acquiescence is required when one insists the spirits ‘be further ready to help me at all my necessities, for the performance whereof lay your hands on your heads swear to be obedient unto me whensoever I shall have need of you that presently you will appear unto me’. Such an order is made on some familiar authorities (‘by the great Seal of Solomon, and by all the holy names and characters written therein’) as well as some terms that further highlight an operative centrality of such kingly heads: ‘you will appear unto me by your heads, and by all the powers of the air’. Following this assent of the gathered kings, one signs the three crosses over forehead, mouth, and heart once more, and license to depart is given.

II. The Art of Cyprian's Mirror of Four Kings

First of the art of the Glass written by the great king Solomon who was a most skilful workman in this science. If thou wilt that any spirit obey thee and show thee the full truth of every doubtful matter, first thou art to prepare thyself as to thy work as it may take good effect and go forward, then thou wilt begin this secret and true experiment, then first thou must above all things arm thee as followeth.

This work is to be begun and taken in hand the first Monday that the new Moon showeth herself and in that day and the Friday and Saturday of that week following thou must fast with bread and water and keep thyself all that week chaste, quiet and gentle in words and deeds, and every day with all diligence and devotion hear the service of God throughout and read the first chapter of the Gospel of St John, in the beginning was the word, with the confessor very devoutly, and abstain from sin and all evil works, and when thou writest the characters and figures as the like as before: The first is called the Great Seal of Solomon, the second is called his Pentagon, the third Mortagon, the fourth his Ring, the fifth his Girdle.

Seal of Solomon

Pentagon & Mortagon

Girdle

These holy, mighty, venerable, and godly names have such strange virtues as whosoever hath them with him shall have power mightily to command all spirits and to bind them according to his pleasure, provided always that he observe due and appointed times of working. Then whatsoever he shall demand shall be answered with certainty. The worker shall call the spirits first and chiefly three times by their proper names and afterwards shall conjure them with the conjuration following, but first he must prepare the signs before mentioned and keep them about him cleanly, honestly, and chastely, and if he fail so to do his working may bring some peril.

The preparing of the Characters and Figures must be after this manner. And first of the Ink which the figures must be made withal, and if you will they shall prevail. Take Frankincense, Myrrh, Thymyam, and burn these three for they give a great and thick smoke if you do it under a basin that is fair and clean, so as the smoke may hang to the basin’s bottom, which black smoke reserve, then take myrrh and dissolve it in wine and with that wine temper the said fume, or smoke, or soot, so gathered and make an ink, and with this ink write the figures and characters and the conjurations on virgin parchment made of goat lamb, or vellum, and on no other. And if these things be done in chastity and pureness, they shall have good virtue and efficacy.

The virtue of this first is that if any spirit were in any glass, and any of these figures laid upon the said glass, that then the spirit should not depart till the figure were removed. And that when thou wilt bind or conjure any spirit, thou must bind the Seal of Solomon about thy right arm, the Pentagon and Mortagon about thy head, and the Girdle about thy breast. Thou hold a little myrrh and frankincense under thy tongue and call what spirit thou will and he will presently without delay come and obey thee in what he may.

But first thou oughtest wise and truly to weigh with thyself what thou wilt demand and that with great wisdom, and that thou fear not them. And thou no spirit can harm thee by any means, neither in body or soul. Of this assure thyself, as long as thou hast about thee those godly figures so prepared and consecrated. Now in the name of God let us go to this true and approved work. Go upon a Saturday and buy a clear, fine and fair glass and carry it home with thee into thy secret chamber and be there alone. Then take a new bodkin and divide the said glass into four equal parts, but first lay the glass about with virgin wax about two fingers broad and thou form and divide the same as followeth:-

In this manner must your glass be fashioned, and spread over with wax and divided into equal parts as is described in this figure, and their names orderly set down, as in this figure is before mentioned, and as is before mentioned be in clean life, fumigate the said glass with frankincense, myrrh and mastic, and then keep this glass in a fair new linen cloth till you need to use it.

When thou will learn to work by the said glass the truth of any question asked, rise on Saturday before the Sun, and say the confiteor and hear divine service devoutly, and sprinkle thyself with holy water, and say the creed, the paternoster, and the Gospel of St John Primative, the litany and the collects throughout. Afterwards, sign thyself with the sign of the cross first on thy forehead, then on thy mouth, last on thy breast, and every time say sigum sancti crucis dei inimicis nostris libria nos deus noster, Amen.

Then place the glass before thee towards the east and when thou wilt begin to read say first [Sunday] cross X marvellous, the purger of wounds, the restorer of health X God, which is the cross of thy son our Lord Jesus Christ hath taken away the sins of the world, assist us that we never be overwhelmed with the deceits of the Devil which have been redeemed by his precious passion, Amen.

Again say X the right hand of the Lord hath done mighty things X the right hand of the Lord hath exalted me X the right hand of the Lord hath done mighty things. I shall not die but live and show forth the works of the Lord X Amen.

Thus when thou hast said, and set the said glass towards the east with a loud voice pronounce this conjuration following, but first take gold, frankincense, and myrrh underneath thy tongue, saying X In the name of the Father X and of the Son X and of the Holy Ghost X Amen.

I conjure you four worthy princes of the earth, you angels which have power to reveal secrets unto man, you which rule the four quarters of the earth, I gather you together, I call you and adjure you whose names are written in the glass X by the Father Abba X by the Son Kuka X and by the Holy Ghost Pneumaton, that you have, understand and hear my voice and that presently you appear before me in this glass to obey and satisfy my desire. Again I conjure you by the Living God X by the true God X by the Holy God X and by his holy honour X that you quickly appear without delay and be obedient unto me X I conjure you by the honour of the commandements of our Jesus Christ, by the honour of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the honour of the blessed and everlasting virgin, and by the honour of all the Saints and chosen of God, I say unto you Princes; come, come, come, come, all, all, all, all, without any delay or slacking, with all your waiters, and appear unto me and us in the form of angels, and appear unto us in all gentleness with your full strength.

Which done look in the glass, and the spirits will appear meekly unto thee and to thy fellows. Afterwards bow down towards them, and say you are welcome hither to obey me. Then they will thank you; afterwards say, O ye four worthy Kings, sit down in peace in your chairs to obey unto me and choose out one amongst you that shall give to me and to my fellows true answer of every doubt to be inquired and show us the certainty of our demands without all falsehood or deceit. Amen.

I conjure the King of the East, Zorasaball, which dwellest in the East part because thou art the most worthy and noblest among the rest of thy fellows, and therefore I choose thee out to give me true answer of every doubt. I conjure and adjure thee and thy fellows X by God the Father X and by the most Holy God X by the King of might X by our Lord Jesus Christ who suffered for all people, by the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, by his holy nativity, by his circumcision, by his holy baptism in Jordan, I conjure you princes by his holy passion, and by bitterness of his passion, and by all the holy words which the body of our Lord Jesus Christ hallowed, by his holy resurrection, by his worthy and wonderful ascension X and by his sending of his Holy Spirit, and by all the holy words of the Gospel X which our Lord Jesus Christ both taught and preached X and by the fearful day of Judgement, and by the holy Virgin Mary, the mother of God X and by the invention and exaltation of the Holy Cross X that you obey me, fulfil my desire, that you show and declare unto me and my fellows the whole truth of all things that I shall demand without falsehood or doubtfulness.

Again I conjure, bind, and charge you by the holy invisible Trinity, and by the seven seals of God, and by the candlesticks that are always placed before the seat of Almighty God, and by the four crowns of God, and by the three children within the middle of the burning furnace singing praises unto the Almighty God, by the twenty four elders, by the twelve apostles, and by the prayers of all the holy martyrs, by the patience of the Patriarchs and Prophets, by the pureness of the holy Virgin, and by the devoutness of all holy widows and all the holy Confessors and servants of God, and by all the merits of all the Saints and chosen of God X that you obey me and fulfil my desire, and that you show and declare unto me and my fellows the whole truth of all things that I shall demand without falsehood or doubtfulness X and thus I command you by all the holy and glorious names of God X the Almighty and by the great Seal of Solomon, by his Pentagon and Mortagon and by his Ring and Girdle X by all the names of creatures which are printed and written therein, that without delay thou declare and show to me and my fellows present the truth of all that I shall demand X and this I command you by God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

And when thy works are ended according to thy request, proceed as followeth: O ye Princes and Angels of powers, you have for this time satisfied my requests and opened to me and my fellows by the help of the high God. Now I further require you, that you four kings of the four parts of the world be further ready to help me at all my necessities, for the performance whereof lay your hands on your heads swear to be obedient unto me whensoever I shall have need of you that presently you will appear unto me by your heads, and by all the powers of the air, and by the great Seal of Solomon, and by all the holy names and characters written therein, in this I command and conjure you. Amen.

Then give them licence to depart, but first make the sign of the cross on thy forehead with thy thumb and say X the right hand of the Lord hath done mighty things X on thy mouth, saying, the right hand of the Lord hath exalted X on thy breast, saying, the right hand of the Lord hath done mighty things, I shall not die but live and declare the wondrous works of the Lord. Amen.

Then say, O ye four kings depart in the virtue of our Lord Jesus Christ without hurting of any man or woman to your own places X Behold the sign of the Holy Cross X depart away you wicked spirits, the Lion of the Tribe of Juda, the root of Jesus. The Key of Daniel.

Allelujah.

III. Reflections

In the course of working with the material instructed in this Art of Cyprian, a number of facets worthy of some brief further study have presented themselves. These three appendices provide, respectively: some pragmatic material on tool-keeping from the wider Solomonic corpus; a brief synopsis of the required prayers, with additional incantations further honouring the Art’s latent magian techniques; and notes reporting some of the present author’s experimentation with talismanic assemblages as ‘spirit-chairs’ with which to more efficaciously and respectfully conjure the kings and courts of the four cardinal directions.

Linens of the Instruments

The Art of Cyprian frequently insists one work cleanly and chastely, and indeed recommends wrapping the glass in clean fresh linen. This instruction recalls the cloth in which to wrap one’s tools found in many Key of Solomon texts. While most often referred to as ‘panno serico’, silk or silken cloth, many Clavicula versions also offer an alternative, ‘overo de lino’; ‘or of linen’ (as in BnF MS Ital. 1524). Other versions of the Key directly instruct ‘de panno serico vel lineo’, ‘concerning the cloth of silk or linen’ (Coxe MS 25, 136; Ghent MS 1021B f. 50f). According to yet another (VSG MS 334, 112), if silk is not available, cotton may be used, and if neither of those are available, linen may also be used, provided it is ‘valde delicatum et preciosum’ i.e. the finest quality. (I am exceptionally grateful for the generous collegiate assistance of Joseph H. Peterson for his expertise and assistance in surveying this material for the present work.)

After divination and consultation with tutelary spirits, this linen cloth material was incorporated into my work with the Mirror of Four Kings, and has proved effective and empowering. I thereby present but one version of this Solomonic wrapping cloth as a further aid to conjurors wishing to work the Art and its mirror. Further longitudinal experimentation with consecrations of pen, ink, penknife, inkhorn, and so on are still somewhat in progress. At least in the case of the linens, however, it is proven.

The Cloth

When any instrument of the art is properly consecrated, it should be wrapped in silk and put away, as we have said. It may also be of linen, provided it is neat and clean, and it will be of greater effectiveness if kept untouched and undefiled. Take, then, silk of any colour except black or grey, whereon write the words and characters:

And the following words:

Adonay, Amasias, Anareton, Pneumaton, Agla Ensof, Cados, Auar, Amacor, Arcilor, Semamphoras, Lameleuana, Capteplseriod, Semiferos Eos, Bos, Elohim.

Perfume it with incense of good odour, sprinkle it, and recite these Psalms:

[8.] Domine Dominus noster (O Lord our Lord…)

[72.] Deus iudicium tuum Regi da (Give the king thy judgments, O God…)

[134.] Ecce nunc benedicite Dominum (Behold, bless ye the Lord…)

[65.] Te decet hymnus Deus in Sion (Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion..)

After this thou shalt put it aside for seven days with sweet spices; and thou shalt use this silk to wrap all the instruments of the Art.

Zecorbeni, or, the Key of Solomon,
Ch. XVII ‘De Panno Serico’ (‘Of the Silk Cloth’);
Aubrey MS 24, f. 20v-21r

(trans. Joseph H. Peterson)

Tongues of the Magi

Along with the Psalms outlined above, the Art of Cyprian lists three specific common prayers to be prayed by the operator preparing to perform its magic: the Confiteor, the Creed, and the Pater Noster. It should be clear these instruction are framed within a specifically Christian devotional setting:

‘When thou will learn to work by the said glass the truth of any question asked, rise on Saturday before the Sun, and say the confiteor and hear divine service devoutly, and sprinkle thyself with holy water, and say the creed, the paternoster, and the Gospel of St John Primative, the litany and the collects throughout.’

To put it plainly, the ideal preparations seem to involve actually going to church and not simply echoing or aping the rites of Mass in one’s chambers.

The Confiteor

The Confiteor (‘I confess’) is one of the penitential prayers said at the beginning of the Catholic Church’s Mass of the Roman Rite. Since at least the Middle Ages, it has been not only a confession, but also an incantatory appeal for particular angels and saints to incline their attentions and intercession to one’s petition. This technique has solidified institutional iterations: Dominican, Franciscan, and Benedictine forms of the prayer include confessing specifically to Saint Dominic, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Benedict, respectively. But it also seemed to be employed in far more dynamic and specific contexts formustering the audience of various protective and intercessory holy agents. Since 1970, the Roman Missal’s rather brass-tacks Confiteor confesses simply to God, one’s fellows, Mary, and ‘all the Angels and Saints’. I give these bare bones here to do with as you will:

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti,

et vobis fratres,

quia peccavi nimis

cogitatione, verbo,

opere et omissione:

mea culpa, mea culpa,

mea maxima culpa.

Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem,

omnes Angelos et Sanctos,

et vos, fratres,

orare pro me ad

Dominum Deum nostrum.

I confess to almighty God

and to you, my brothers and sisters,

that I have greatly sinned,

in my thoughts and in my words,

in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,

through my fault, through my fault,

through my most grievous fault;

therefore I ask blessed Mary

ever-Virgin,

all the Angels and Saints,

and you, my brothers and sisters,

to pray for me to the

Lord our God.

Creed

The statement of belief referred to as the Creed could in theory refer to the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed, perhaps even the Old Roman Creed. As with all liturgical and theological matters, you will find a cacophony of establishmentarian partisans holding forth any number of certainties about the history and validity of countless variant translations, edits, and amendments of ‘the’ Creed. Here is a Latin Catholic version from the Missale Romanum (Vatican City: Administratio Patrimonii Sedis Apostolicae, 2002) and an Anglical English version from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. I encourage you to conduct your own study, divination, and reflection on how the credo may be most effective for your work.

Credo in unum Deum,

Patrem omnipoténtem,

factórem cæli et terræ,

visibílium ómnium et invisibílium.

Et in unum Dóminum, Iesum Christum,

Fílium Dei unigénitum,

et ex Patre natum ante ómnia sǽcula.

Deum de Deo, lumen de lúmine, Deum verum de Deo vero,

génitum, non factum, consubstantiálem Patri:

per quem ómnia facta sunt.

Qui propter nos hómines et propter nostram salútem

descéndit de cælis.

Et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto

ex María Vírgine, et homo factus est.

Crucifíxus étiam pro nobis sub Póntio Piláto;

passus et sepúltus est,

et resurréxit tértia die, secúndum Scriptúras,

et ascéndit in cælum, sedet ad déxteram Patris.

Et íterum ventúrus est cum glória,

iudicáre vivos et mórtuos,

cuius regni non erit finis.

Et in Spíritum Sanctum, Dóminum et vivificántem:

qui ex Patre Filióque procédit.

Qui cum Patre et Fílio simul adorátur et conglorificátur:

qui locútus est per prophétas.

Et unam, sanctam, cathólicam et apostólicam Ecclésiam.

Confíteor unum baptísma in remissiónem peccatórum.

Et exspécto resurrectiónem mortuórum,

et vitam ventúri sǽculi.

Amen

I believe in one God the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth,

And of all things visible and invisible:

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,

Begotten of his Father before all worlds,

God of God, Light of Light,

Very God of very God,

Begotten, not made,

Being of one substance with the Father,

By whom all things were made;

Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven,

And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,

And was made man,

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered and was buried,

And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures,

And ascended into heaven,

And sitteth on the right hand of the Father.

And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead:

Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost,

The Lord and giver of life,

Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,

Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified,

Who spake by the Prophets.

And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church.

I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.

And I look for the Resurrection of the dead,

And the life of the world to come.

Amen.

Pater Noster

There is also a wealth of historical versions of the Our Father. I tend toward using the 1662 Anglican BCP English version, but also include the Roman Missal – the Lord’s Prayer most familiar to English-speaking Christians until the Protestant Reformation – for when the occasion calls for some Latin.

Pater noster qui es in cælis:

sanctificétur nomen tuum;

advéniat regnum tuum;

fiat volúntas tua,

sicut in cælo, et in terra.

Panem nostrum cotidiánum da nobis hódie;

et dimítte nobis débita nostra,

sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris;

et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem;

sed líbera nos a malo.

Our Father, which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name;

Thy kingdom come;

Thy will be done

in earth, as it is in heaven:

Give us this day our daily bread;

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive them that trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil;

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

Along with these specified common prayers, I have made good use of additional invocations centering a latent magian virtue and conjuring technique made known in the Art. I refer, of course, to the operator’s nota recommending conjurors place gold, frankincense, and myrrh under their tongues, scenting the words of their conjurations with the Gifts of the Wise. Such a technique of empowerment deserves particular commendation for illustrating a deep understanding of the affective virtues of magical speech acts.
Invocation of the Magi

In terms of practical applications, as well as simply tasting resin and metal (and there is plenty to be said for such a literal and uncomplicated approach) such materiae might be combined in a small medium (such as gum or clean wax) and placed under the tongue, or added to any number of waters, draughts, and philters for cleansing the mouth and empowering the words of the magician. Alchemical elaborations and experimentations naturally present themselves.

It is my conviction that a magian empowerment of prayer deserves itself some prayers. Thus I have adapted one of the invocations of Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior from the litany of conjurations given for the experiment of Bealphares, popularised by Scot’s Discoverie and found in many a working-book of cunning across the early modern British Isles.

A Prayer of the Magi

O Lord God Almighty, as thou warnedst by thine Angel, the three Kings of Cullen, Jasper, Melchior, and Balthasar, when they came with worshipful presents toward Bethleem: Jasper brought myrrh; Melchior, incense; Balthasar, gold; worshipping the high King of all the world, Jesus God’s Son of Heaven, the second Person in Trinity, being born of the holy and clean Virgin S. Mary Queen of Heaven, Empress of Hell, and Lady of all the world: at that time the holy Angel Gabriel warned and bad the foresaid three Kings, that they should take another way, for dread of peril, that Herod the King by his Ordinance would have destroyed these three Noble Kings, that meekly sought out our Lord and Saviour. As wittily and truly as these three Kings turned for dread, and took another way; so wisely and so truly, O Lord God, of thy mightiful mercy, bless us now at this time, for thy blessed passion save us, and keep us all together from all evil; and thy holy Angel defend us.

Let us pray.

Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior, who followed the Star, wherein was the image of a little Babe bearing a cross, if Longa legenda Coloniae lie not.

O Lord, King of all Kings, which containest the Throne of Heavens, and beholdest all deeps, weighest the hills, and shuttest up with thy hand the earth, hear us most meek God, and grant unto us (being unworthy) according to thy great mercy, to have the verity and vertue of knowledge of hidden treasure by this Spirit invocated, through thy help O Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be all honour and glory, from worlds to worlds everlastingly, Amen.

Reginald Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft (London, 1584: 1665)

Chairs of the Regents

This final appendix details some of the present author’s experiments with Cyprianic means of working with the Regents and their messenger-kings; specifically, the construction and suspension of four ‘Chairs’ – that is, four shewstones and appended talismanic bundles – for the Regents and their cardinal courts in which we find Zorasaball et al from this Art.

I have for some time been employing a quartet of dedicated shew-stones when authorising my works of conjuration by calls to the Four Regents Oriens, Paymon, Amaymon and Egyn. This working method was in large part inspired by my study of the Excellent Booke, which Phil Legard and myself have contended demonstrates this technique. My four calling-stones were hung on the walls of the room in which I was conjuring, and began to collect items, charms, and tokens of work.

By amassing and combining these offertory materiae and emblems I made available more tools and resources for my work with the Four Regents and their cardinal courts. It has been my experience that these overseeing regent-spirits, worked over time, begin to make known their heraldries of weather conditions, familiar spirits, and patterns of elemental forces, as well as the more typical correspondence-fodder of colours, stones, and so on. Under the guidance of various tutelary spirits, assemblages of such items began to cohere about the shewstones, constructed as hanging mobiles to befit these aerial princes of the spirits of the four corners of the world. Such assemblages – constructed by (and as) operations and their evidences – act as lenses by which the Regents and their courtiers can more easily be called, and themselves form perches at the corners of a conjuring circle upon which the Regents may oversee and overlook affairs and operations.

To make plain an underlying philosophy: the Regents and their messenger-kings in this method of working are to be called to – to be called in to witness, and so that other spirits may be called by their Regent’s names and ways – without any expectation that the working conjuror would actual bind such powerful rulers. As such, the materia and its stirring and deployment through such chair-shrines must be understood in terms of ‘alluring’ or even ‘delighting’ the powerful cardinal spirits in question rather than expressly binding, commanding, or coercing them. This pragmatic operating style should not be taken as evidence of an ideological rejection of aggressive techniques of conjurational binding. We are not simply ‘playing nice’ in the hopes of making friends with such ancient entities. Confident imprecations and stern maledictions at black-handled knifepoint are certainly sometimes necessary in works of conjuring unclean spirits. But we must know how and when to pick our battles.

My work with such hanging ‘chairs’ has highlighted how they can empower the operator to deal with the attentions of such Regents and their courts more efficaciously as suspended shrines, places of contact, as thrones for visiting forces at the place of the magical work, as ‘landing-pads’ or windows from which to peer out and down. Crucially, though, it is also as a matter of distancing and respect for their power that they are hung outside the circle. These assemblages are not badges or seals for the operator to wave in assumption of authority over these kingly princes of air and darkness, and should certainly not be treated as such. I stress again these tools have assisted my work with the Art’s Mirror of Cyprian, not been requirements of it.

While some of the specifics of my own ‘chairs’ are private matters of pact and promise, I have license to discuss the fundamentals with which one may begin such work, and by which individuated options and solutions should become clarified for each conjuror as they develop their work with the grimoiric courts of these cardinal crossroads.

The core of such chairs are undoubtedly the shewstones, specifically the use of one for each of the Regents. While I have come to favour agate slices for these particular shewstones, the suspended chair-assemblages – acting as mobile hanging shrines – built around these employed the goetic lapidary standards of ruby, emerald, and bloodstone, and were bolstered with beads of malachite, garnet, sodalite, amethyst, citrine, and various other stones and minerals.

Small bottles of particular dirts, waters, powders, and oils were sealed and bound into the constructions. Other powders were worked into wax from ritual candle-work and adhered inside small skeletal effigies I fashioned and bedecked in tattered robes and sepulchral crown charms. Switches of yew harvested from graveyard perimeters extend various attached emblems. The Regents’ seals from Clavis Inferni are painted on fabrics, ribbons, and playing cards: specifically, the court cards of Kings and Queens and their mediating messenger-courtiers. Other charms and depictions of regal insignia – crowns, scepters, and so on – also proved useful. Charms of heraldic animals – specifically, salamanders, snakes, rabbits, fish, birds, and others – were also hung in honour. Ritually washed thread, cord, and jewelers’ chains were anointed and used to assemble, combine, and suspend these components.

They are worked hanging in their appropriate directional corners about one’s circle of conjuration. Calls to Regents excerpted from the wider grimoiric corpus, especially Folger Vb26, were directed towards these ‘chairs’ along with suffumigations to initiate work with other cardinal spirits, such as the kings of this Art of Cyprian. I have also occasionally included the playing of musical instruments in the course of making these empowering fumigations, and encourage the reader to note the efficacy of ritually combining music, incense, and incantation.

Inspiration and the particularities of your spiritwork may lead you in different directions from this crossroads of cunning. Good luck.

Bibliography

Additional MS 3844

Additional MS 36674

Aubrey MS 24

Sloane MS 3850

Sloane MS 3853

Sloane MS 3885

Wellcome MS 2000

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