Illes - Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells

Magic is the ancient and absolute science of nature and absolute science of nature and her laws

A. L. CONSTANT, THE HISTORY OF MAGIC, LONDON, 1922

The image is so familiar as to qualify as an archetype. It appears in countless movies, television shows, and theatrical productions. If youre of a literary bent, youll find it in countless novels, too. Although there may be variations on the theme, the core image remains consistent: someone, usually but not always a witch or wizard, faced with a serious dilemma, reaches for a massive book of magic spells.

The contents of this book are rarely displayed. (An exception occurs on the television series, Sabrina the Teenage Witch. As befitting a twenty-first-century witch, Sabrinas edition is interactive.) Oversized, well-worn, and clearly used, this book is obviously no coffee-table book but a familiar companionin every sense of the word familiar. Sabrinas book makes almost as many appearances as her black cat, and consistently proves more reliable.

The books very presence transmits subliminal messages. If there were previously any doubts regarding someones identity, then the act of reaching for the book, mere possession of this book in fact, is usually sufficient to establish occult credentials. Consider depictions of Merlin or Morgan le Fay: their big books of spells are as much a part and parcel of their magical trappings as any animal familiar, crystal ball, or wizards robes. Millions of kitschy statues feature an elderly gray-bearded man clutching a massive book. He may or may not be wearing his peaked wizards hat but his identity is clear. How do we know hes a wizard? By the book that he holds.

This book thus signals that its reader is a metaphysician or is striving to be one. If the reader handles the book with comfort and ease, the implication is that he or she is a person of power. The book, however, can also compensate for the readers very lack of experience and knowledge. One frequent variation on the theme depicts a complete novice discovering sophisticated magical solutions within the books pages. Typically the novice is in way over his head in disaster. The very appearance of the book signals that salvation is at hand: the secrets of salvation are contained within the books pages, if only the novice will follow its directions. (Conversely, Mickey Mouses inability to use such a book for anything other than a flotation device in The Sorcerers Apprentice only underscores his magical ineptitude and general incompetence.)

This massive spell book thus possesses enormous transformative powers. It can transform anyone (well, Mickey excepted) into a magical adept. Its aged, well-worn appearance also indicates that this book is timeless: it never outlives its usefulness.

The appearance of this book within this scenario also underscores that the situation at hand is genuinely an emergency. Subliminally, it is understood that no matter how extensive the library, this is the real deal book, the authentic article brought out when there is no time to lose. In the image, the hand that reaches for the book never wavers. The gesture is always sure. Regardless how many books are crammed onto the bookshelf, the hand reaches for one and only one book. An extension of the core image often shows the seeker desperately turning pages to no avail. The book is thrust down in despair; the seeker is left to either yield to bitter fate or else to creatively conjure his or her own solutions. There is no suggestion that perhaps another book holds the key. If its not in the big book of spells, theres no point looking elsewhere.

This archetypal book is based on both fact and fantasy.

Collections of spells rank among Earths earliest written documents. Not only are magical texts among the oldest surviving pieces of literature, but many scholars and anthropologists suggest that it was the need to record spells and divination results that stimulated the very birth of writing. Magic, as we will see, is the true mother of invention. In ancient Egypt, the lunar god Thoth is credited as the inventor of both magic and writing. He is the patron of scribes and magicians. It was rumored that in addition to inventing the systems of spelling and writing, Thoth created the very first book, authoring no less than a sacred revelation of Earths most powerful secret spells and rituals. The legendary Book of Thoth was believed to hold the key to all the secrets of the universe. To possess a copy of the book enabled one to command and control destiny itself.

The ancient Egyptians loved stories featuring books of power. Several of their legends remain to us, including the original version of Walt Disneys The Sorcerers Apprentice. Egypt, at the time, was a theocracy: religion and government were one. The reigning pharaoh was simultaneously the child of the god, the living embodiment of the god, and the gods foremost high priest, and vast temple complexes, financed by the state, contained literary annexes known as Houses of Life.

These combination scriptoria/emergency clinics housed wizard priests, on the government payroll. For a fee, these professional magicians would consult their extensive library of magic texts to provide clientele with enchanted solutions to lifes many dilemmas. Perhaps, legend had it, the Book of Thoth was hidden in the depths of one of these magic libraries. Perhaps it was stashed in some priest or pharaohs tomb. Or perhaps it was eventually deemed so dangerous that, too powerful to destroy, the book had been locked into a chained, weighted iron box and thrown into the depths of the sea.

Access to occult knowledge bestowed power and prestige. The magical texts were hoarded and kept secret. Many were written in code, to prevent profane eyes from understanding what was read.

A few centuries before the dawning of the Common Era, the independent Egyptian nation was defeated, first by the Persians, then by the Greeks and Romans. Indigenous Egyptian religion and political structure degenerated. The Houses of Life were abandoned; the lucrative, respected profession of government-employed wizard-priest no longer existed. It was the last time in history that working with magic was a secure, respectable profession.

Although the profession ceased to exist, the big spell books survived, at least in fragments. Its difficult for modern readers, so accustomed to printed, standardized texts, to recall that until the invention of the printing press, every book was hand-written and frequently unbound. Copies of copies of copies were made, each perhaps slightly different than the next. In the chaos that ensued as Egypt was successively conquered, individual pages were either smuggled out of the now unguarded temple libraries as personal treasures or auctioned off, page-by-page, papyrus by papyrus for personal profit. When Alexandrias famed library, which boasted a copy of every book then in existence (the city stole them from arriving ships), was burned to the ground, the value of the few surviving manuscripts increased.