Occult Spells

Occult Spells, A Nineteenth Century Grimoire Compiled by Frederick Hockley, with an Introduction by Silens Manus ISBN 978-0-933429-17-8 Published by The Teitan Press (2009) This is one of two neat little books sent for review from Weiser's. Grimoires not exactly being my thing, but I'm always willing to know more, and with this in mind I especially enjoyed the introduction, although wished it were longer. From it I learned that Occult Spells is in effect a 'Book of Shadows' - ie Hockley's own compilation or edited highlights from rare and expensive books in the collection of the London bookseller John Denley. Nineteenth century magi were able to make a little extra cash by making fair copies of expensive printed grimoires, and this is Hockley's own pick of the crop. I thought the introduction a bit biased where is says "the crudest examples of folk and sympathetic magic jostle uncomfortably alongside the carefully considered lore of astrology and high magick". Hockley himself was a bit of a grump, criticising Barrett's "Magus" as "an unaknowledged compilation from other authors". As usually at these times I seek out my friend, the Cunning Man Jack Daw, whose caravan is parked up on 'The London Plain' nearby. "Ah just in time," he says, offering me some of his squirrel kabab. "No thanks," I say, "I've eaten already, tea would be nice." I show him Hockley's books and mention the author's strictures on Francis Barrett "Well" he said, tapping the contents of his acorn-pipe out on the bumper of my Modeo. "I'd say Barrett got rid of a lot of unworkable rubbish from those moldy old books and put together a sensible book of magick that actually had some chance of working". I nodded sagely, thinking it best not to mention the editors view about "crude folk magick" and its practitioners. The publisher's blurb says this is the first ever printing of Occult Spells, a work that until now has existed only as a manuscript in a private collection. It is part of a rich legacy of carefully written manuscripts, left to the world by the Frederick Hockley (1809-1885), an occultist and Freemason with an interest in Spiritualism who in later life was associated with the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Hockley's peers considered him to be one of the great occult scholars of his time: in fact he was held in such high regard by one of the founders of the Golden Dawn, W. Wynn Westcott, that he posthumously claimed Hockley as one of the Order's most outstanding Adepts. Occult Spells is a sort of esoteric "commonplace book" in which Hockley recorded material on different spells, talismans, charms and such-like that he came across in rare books and manuscripts in the course of his researches. Hockley started compiling the book at about the age of twenty, and added to it throughout his life: he still had it in his possession when he died at the age of seventy-six. The sources that he used ranged from "occult classics" such as Richard Saunders' "Physiognomie, and Chiromancie, Metoposcopie" (1671), John Heydon's "Theomagia, or the Temple of Wisdome" (1663); and Henry Cornelius Agrippa's "Three Books of Occult Philosophy" (1651), to relatively obscure works like Joseph Pettigrew's "Bibliotheca Sussexiana" (1827), and notorious grimoires like the "Petit Albert".

The spells and talismans vary as much as his sources: from sublime Enochian invocations, through folk magic, and on into the darker realms of necromancy. Thus it includes charms to determine "the name of the person you will marry" (useful only to virgins!), a quite poisonous-sounding "love powder," talismans for all sorts of purposes, and even a recipe for the creation of a homunculus. The book includes an Introduction and a typeset transcription of the text of the manuscript, prepared by Silens Manus, a scholar of Hockley's works who has studied literally dozens of his manuscripts. In addition to checking and restoring illegible words or phrases from the original sources that Hockley used, Manus has also added footnotes explaining many obscure terms, plant and deity names and such-like, as well as providing translations of most of the less common nonEnglish phrases and passages that appear in the text. Hockley had also left a number of blank spaces in the text of the manuscript in which he planned to eventually reproduce some of the tables and diagrams in the works from which he quoted. Where possible Manus has included these in the transcription. For those who prefer to consult the manuscript exactly as Hockley wrote it, an exact photographic facsimile, on special coated paper, completes the book. Occult Spells offers a rare insight into the occult preoccupations of this interesting figure, whose work arguably had a profound effect on the late nineteenth century 'Occult Revival'. Price at USD $60.00 plus shipping not cheap but there again with the pound rising in the exchanges, its a handsome edition to a good library. Order direct at: http://www.weiserantiquarian.com or email us at < [email protected] >