THE BOOKS OF MAGIC
2. A Global History of Grimoires, Charms and Forbidden Knowledge
For the past several years, we have been researching and translating magical books from across the world, including manuscripts and printed works that circulated for centuries under a cloud of suspicion. The Books of Magic explores these texts not as quaint curiosities, but as evidence of the human desire to find knowledge beyond the limits of ordinary religion, medicine and reason.
The German-speaking world produced one of Europe’s richest traditions of so-called black books. Georg Conrad Horst’s vast Zauber-Bibliothek gathered together writings on magic, spirits, apparitions and occult belief, while The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses claimed to preserve secret Mosaic wisdom in the form of divine names, seals and magical diagrams. Alongside these works stands the extraordinary Compendium Rarissimum Totius Artis Magicae, a manuscript filled with demonic imagery and the unforgettable warning Noli me tangere, “Touch me not”.
Hovering over the entire tradition is the figure of Faust, the scholar who wanted knowledge no human being was meant to possess. This lecture explores magical circles, spirit conjuration, treasure hunting, divine names, strange alphabets and the peculiar power of the forbidden book itself. In many cases, the reputation of a manuscript became as potent as its contents. A book did not have to contain a terrifying ritual to become feared. Sometimes it was enough that people believed it should never be opened.
Speaker Bio
Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience, Lena’s New Book – Mythical Creatures in Scandinavian Folklore is now available on Amazon
Don’t worry if you can’t make the talk live on the night – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
