THEAGOGIA: EVOCATING THE GODS

Limited to only 80 deluxe copies. Divine Evocation in the Greaco-Egyptian Magical Papyri (Spells of Evocation, Necromancy & Eroticism) By Christopher Plaisance

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THEAGOGIA
EVOCATING THE GODS

Divine Evocation in the Greaco-Egyptian Magical Papyri
(Spells of Evocation, Necromancy & Eroticism)

By Christopher Plaisance

Limited to only 80 deluxe copies
Printed large format 104 pp with extensive notes and bibliography, hand bound in tan kid morocco leather, titles and front design stamped in matt black, black endpapers, black and gold headbands, pages folio sewn with black ribbon.
A masterful exposition of the praxis, literature and origin of Divine Evocation in the Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri and related texts (The Chaldaean Oracles, the Corpus Hermeticum, the writings of Iamblichus) encompassing the nature of Impious Magic, Love Magic, Binding Spells etc.
The Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri (PGM’s) are an extensive collection of magical literature from the ancient world and form one of the most important resources for the preservation and study of initiatic Egyptian Magic.
In this important monograph Christopher Plaisance explores the fine balance between ‘Goetia’ and ‘Theurgy’ suggested by the Divine Evocation spells, and explores the most complete example of ‘Evocation to Visible Appearance’ as it appears in the largest and most important of all ancient magical texts (PGM IV) and its relationship to coercive spells, necromancy and erotic magic.

Christopher Plaisance has a Masters Degree from Exeter University’s International Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO), he is a regular contributor to many academic journals and is currently engaged in research on Enochian Magic for a PhD at the University of Groningen.

Chapters include:

Methodology /Terms and Definitions

Spells of Binding and Constraint

Erotic Enchantments

Psychagogy and Necromancy

Evocating the Gods

A note on the ‘Greater Magical Papyrus of Paris (PGM  IV)  :

In the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris is an early fourth-century papyrus codex
(Ms. Supplement Grec 574) which contains a variety of texts, spells, hymns, etc. It is 36 folios in length – large for a papyrus, and contains 3274 lines and is commonly referred to as
PGM (Papyri Graeacae Magicae) IV

The manuscript was acquired in Egypt by the collector Giovanni Anastasi (No.1073 in his collection) and bought at auction in Paris by the BNF in 1857. It probably comes from Thebes (=Luxor).  Apparently Anastasi was told that his papyri were found in a grave there, perhaps sometime around 1825, although we cannot be sure of this. Anastasi certainly sold a larger collection of papyri to the Dutch archaeologist C. J. C. Reuvens, the founder and first director of the Oudheidkundig Museum in Leiden, sometime after 1825.

The codex seems to be the working handbook for an Egyptian magician, compiled from many sources.  It contains more than 50 documents, doubtless acquired from various sources, and is the single most comprehensive handbook of magic known from the ancient world.  The documents contained in it must all be 4th century or earlier — possibly much earlier — and each document has its own history prior to being copied into the codex.

The text was printed by Karl Preisendanz, Papyri Graecae Magicae, vol. 1, Leipzig, 1928, rev. 1973, as item IV (henceforth PGM IV).  An English translation was made by H.-D.Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in translation, 1986.

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