Kāla

कालो ऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत् प्रवृद्धो
लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः .

"Lo, I am Time, that causes worlds to perish, grown mature, and come forth here to swallow up the worlds."

- Bhagavad Gītā, 11:32

The Book of the Spirits, Part I

Many moons have passed since I last left my words here in this blog, now finally I decided to pen down my latest post. Earlier, I had promised to translate le Livre des Esperitz, a 14th century French grimoire into English, and I did translate part of the book.

This Book of the Spirits, written by an unknown author, was published much later than the pseudepigraphical Testament of Solomon, but earlier than the Key of Solomon, and even earlier than Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, making it one of the earliest Solomonic grimoires. Unlike the Key of Solomon, this book does not contain any evocation ritual, but it is apparent that the author, whoever he was, was a practising magician.

So now, here it is the first part of the book, I will post the rest soon.

The Book of the Spirits

Here begins the Book of the Spirits, which was revealed to Solomon the sage, who compelled them on the earth and made them obey the will of man; for before this science was found, shown and revealed to Solomon, the spirits had caused much evil deeds and plagues on the earth and destroyed much good of the world, and they persecuted the children of man. For this the merciful God gave Solomon the benefits of this sacred science to compel the spirits and made them obey man, so that their wickedness will rule no more on the Christian land.

In the beginning of the Book, there are names of the spirits who are the rulers and masters of all other spirits, of the region and office of Lucifer; of the office of Bezlebut ; of Satan ; of the four spirits who are the rulers of the four regions and four parts of the world, know that the spirit which name is Orient, of Poymon, of Equi; of Veal, the great king; of Agarat, duke; of Barbas, prince; of Bulfas, prince; of Amon, marquis ; of Batal, count; of Gemen, king; of Gazon, duke; of Artis, prince; of Machin, duke; of Dicision, king; of Abugor, duke; of Vipos, count; of Cerbere, marquis; of Carmola, prince; of Estor, duke; of Coap, prince; of Deas, duke; of Asmoday, king; of Bitur, marquis of Beal, duke; of Forcas, prince; of Furfur, count; of Margotias, marquis; of Oze, prince; of Lucay, marquis; of Pucel, duke; of Jayn, count; of Suralet, duke; of Zagon, king; of Dragon, prince; of Parcas, prince; of Gorsin, duke; of Andralfas, marquis; of Flanos, duke; of Brial, king; of Fenix, marquis; of Distolas.

[1] Lucifer was very handsome and exalted, like other good angels, but he did not dwell in the heavens for more than an hour, for he looked and contemplated at his own great beauty, and became proud. All others that had evil thought with him were thrown into Hell in confusion. As for Lucifer, according to the doctors of necromancy, he presides in the Hell and all the spirits of Hell obey him as the lord of Hell.

[2] Gay, great and evil spirit, who is also known as Bezlebuth, and who was called Anthaon before the time of Solomon, is the greatest spirit in the Hell after Lucifer. Know that he rules the eastern quarters, and who ever wish to call him should face the east, and he will appear to him in beautiful form. He teaches all the sciences and gives gold and silver to he who compels him to come, and gives true answers to the questions asked, and reveals the secrets of Hell if asked, and teaches the truth of the concealed things on earth and in the sea, and reveals all the treasures hidden on earth, and safeguard from other spirits, he needs to be called in the right time.

[3] The third spirit is called Satan, who was created after Lucifer, and he converses in the air near us. Sathan appears in a graceful form and lives in the northern region. He who wishes to call him should face the north. There he will appear and he is capable to change into the forms of men and women if one commanded him to do so, and he does all evils if commanded.

Of the four principle spirits according to their offices and parts, the first one being:

Following from the first:

The first is called Orient and lives in the east. He holds the name of this part of the world.

The second :
The second is called Poymon and lives in the west.

The third :
The third is called Amoymon and lives in the south.

The fourth :
The fourth is called Equi and lives in the north.

(to be continued...)

Yogyakarta 23 Juni - 28 Juni 2009

(Photo taken by Garend)

Telah tiba masanya untuk ku melangkah ke bumi batara dewata...

Santih, santih, santih.

Turkish Delight

The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale at Dataran Hamodal yesterday did chomp off part my monthly saving, and I have to be more careful on spending now, but it was not at all an unpleasant experience going to the warehouse sale.

The books I bought are mostly concerning history and language, and a very delightful find is a set of Teach Yourself Beginner's Turkish, containing a 224-page coursebook and two audio CDs. The whole set costs only RM20 (approx. USD$5.2), an amazing bargain. Other language related books bought in the clearance sale include Teach Yourself German and Teach Yourself Beginner's Arabic Script, each costs RM8 (approx. USD$2.25)

I always want to learn Turkish, but always have problem finding suitable materials. Though I have a copy of Elementary Turkish by Lewis V. Thomas (bought from Payless Books), and it is undeniable a very useful and usable book, I still wished to look for a better introductory Türkçe course for beginner.

Teach Yourself Beginner's Turkish is just the right book. The 10 lessons are arranged systematically; each lesson contains short dialogues, basic (and non-threatenning) grammatical points, vocabulary lists, cultural information and exercises - all are essential parts of a well-organized language didactic book. The accompanied CDs are of satisfying quality as well, and they are certainly indispensable part of the whole package. I would say the whole set is çok güzel !
Perhaps after finishing the 1o lessons, I will continue to the good old Elementary Turkish.

Từ điển and more từ điển

It seems that there are always surprises hidden in the Internet Archive. Other than the previously mentioned Budge's Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, there are other dictionaries and language related material, for instance, the rare Nam-Hoa Từ điển (南華字典), published in 1940 in Hanoi, and edited by Nguyễn Trà̂n Mô. The title page of the dictionary contains the title in Chinese scripts and the Quốc Ngữ scripts, and also an incomplete hand written title in French, persumely Dictionnaire Chinois-annam(ite). The dictionary is arranged by Chinese radicals, the Sino-Vietnamese reading is given, followed by the meaning in Vietnamese.

For a more antique polyglot Vietnamese dictionary, there is Dictionnaire Etymologique Chinois-Annamite Latin-Français (增補漢字西譯), found in scribd.com. Edited by G. Pauthier and printed in Paris in 1867, and as its title implies, this dictionary gives the pronunciation of the Chinese characters in both Chinese and Vietnamese, and the meaning in Latin and French. In the introduction, Pauthier gave the readers a short history of Chinese dictionaries.

And for a modern, convenient online Vietnamese dictionary, there is always the very usable Vdict.com.

明使摩尼聖日

即是眾生倚托處，策持令安得堅固，

能與我等無生滅，豈不齊心稱贊札？

-《下部讚》

僅此紀念至聖光明使，保惠師先知摩尼誕辰（生於公元216年4月14日于巴比倫），《摩尼光佛教法儀略》讚嘆之為 “開兩元大義，示自性各殊；演三際深文，辯因緣互合。誅耶佑正，激濁揚清。其詞簡，其理直，其行正，其証真。”

New Project: A Demonic Pastime

The demon Belial at the Mouth of Hell, from Jacob de Teramo's Das Buch Belial, 15th century. Image source: Gode Cookery

Few weeks ago, out of boredom, I decided to translate a 15th century French treatise of demonology. I stumbled upon le Livre des Esperitz in a French website about Middle Ages, and is pleasingly surprised to see this rare work published online for the first time. The book is significant for being the first French treatise of demonology of this kind.

Like Johannes Wier's much more famous Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and the Goetia, le Livre des Esperitz is a catalogue of various demons, 46 in total, including some of the familliar demons in the Goetia, but unlike the Goetia, it merely gives short descriptions of each of the 46 demons, without any evocation rituas given.

I will post the full book here once I have finished translating it.