Grihestha
(See India.) Grimoire A text-book of Black. Magic. The three best known grimoires are the Grimorium Verum, the Grand Grimoire, and the Grimoire of Pope Honorius. Black magic (q.v.) is of course an ignorant and superstitious perversion of the true science, and the grimoires well illustrate this-their most noticeable feature being their utter futility. The grimoires, in fact, cannot be taken seriously, and the diabolic practices contained in their pages are more absurd than fearsome. Before entering upon them, the rites of the church are practised as a preliminary and fasting is observed. The great object of the grimoires is to invoke the infernal powers, and at the same time to trick them. The fiends are treated as imbeciles. In the grimoire, the magician is instructed how, when selling them his soul, he may deceive them by a play upon words. One of the chief desires of the sorcerer of the middle ages was to discover hidden treasure by means of Satanic agency, and having found it to devote himself to good deeds and the distribution of his wealth among the poor.
Abstinence from every species of impurity is strongly insisted upon for the space of an entire quarter of the moon, and the sorcerer most solemnly promises the grand Adonai (q.v.), the Master of all Spirits, that he shall not eat more than two meals per diem, and that these shall be prefaced by prayer. The operator must change his apparel as seldom as possible, and sleep only on occasion, meditating continually on his undertaking, and centring all his hopes in the infinite goodness of Adonai, who is 66 Grossetete undoubtedly the supreme deity, and not as might be thought a master-fiend. But the grimoires teem with mystifications, and it is frequently difficult to discern their real meaning. In the three grimoires alluded to, the infernal hierarchy is described at length-(See Demonology); but the principal contents of these works are evocations and spells for the gaining over of the diabolical powers to the purposes of the sorcerer. That they were employed by veritable professors of the art of black magic is rather unlikely, as the real black magician had very much higher aims than the mere unearthing of buried treasure, and it is most probable that they were for the most part in use among amateurs of the art, who dabbled in it merely in the hope of enriching themselves.
Grimoire of Honorius, The: A magical work published at Rome in 1629, and not, as is generally thought, connected in any way with Kabbalistic magic. The work is indeed permeated with Christian ideas. It is extremely unlikely that it is the work of the Roman Bishop known as Honorius. The work has been called a malicious and somewhat clever imposture," since it pretends to convey the sanction of the Papal Chair to the operators of necromancy. It deals with the evocation of the rebellious angels.
Grimorium Verum, The: This magical text-book was first published in 1517, and purported to be translated from the Hebrew. It is based to some extent upon the Key of Solomon (q.v.), and is quite honest in its statement that it proposes to invoke "devils," which it refers to the four elements, so that these would appear to be of the type of elementary spirits (q.v.). A part of the account it gives regarding the hierarchy of spirits is taken from the Lemegeton (q.v.). The work is divided into three portions: the first describing the characters and seals of the demons, with the forms of their evocation and dismissal; the second gives a dsecription of the supernatural secrets which can be learned by the power of the demons; and the third is the key of the work and its proper application. But these divisions only outline what it purports to place before the reader, as the whole work is a mass of confusion. The plates which supply the characters do not apply to the text. The book really consists of two parts-the Grimorium Verum itself, and a second portion, which consists of magical secrets. The first supplies directions for the preparation of the magician based on those of the Clavicle of Solomon. Instructions for the manufacture of magical instruments, and the composition of a parchment on which the characters and seals are to be inscribed, as well as the processes of evocation and dismissal. The second part contains the "admirable secrets" of the pretended Albertus Magnus, the "Petit Albert" and so forth. The work is only partially diabolical in character, and some of its processes might claim to be classed as White Magic. Grossetete, Robert: Bishop of Lincoln from 1235, and generally known as Robert of Lincoln. Among his many accomplishments he is said to have numbered some proficiency in the art of magic. Born of poor parents, he was early compelled to earn his own living, and even at times to beg for bread. He was at length "discovered" by the Mayor of Lincoln, who was attracted by his appearance and the shrewdness of his remarks, and had him sent to school, where his remarkable capacity for study so helped his advancement that he was enabled to complete his education at Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris. The illustrious Roger Bacon characterised him and his friend, Friar Adam de Marisco, as the most learned men of their time. He was well skilled in the sciences of mathematics and astronomy, and a master of Greek and Hebrew. As a member of the clergy he distinguished himself chiefly by his vigorous denunciation of the abuses in the court of Rome, and particularly of the pope, Innocent IV., whose rule added but little lustre to the church. Grossetête did not hesitate to point out the misdeeds of the ecclesiastical dignitaries, many of whom had never even visited their various sees. And he openly pronounced Innocent to be the Antichrist.
His essays in necromancy include (Gower tells us) the making of a brazen head, which would answer questions and foretell the future. However, this would appear to be no unique accomplishment, as both Pope Silvester II., and Roger Bacon are credited with it.