Magical Instruments and Accessories

An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)

In magical rites these were considered of the utmost importance. Indispensable to the efficacy of the ceremonies were the altar, the chalice, the tripod, the censer; the lamp, rod, sword, and magic fork or trident; the sacred fire and consecrated oils; the incense and the candles. The altar might be of wood or stone, but if of the latter, then of stone that has never been worked or hewn or even touched by the hammer. The chalice might be of different metals, symbolic of the object of the rites. Where the purpose was evil, a black chalice was used as in the profane masses of sorcerers and witches. In some talismans the chalice is engraved as a symbol of the moon. The tripod and its triangular stand was also made in symbolic metals. The censer might be of bronze, but preferably of silver. In the construction of the lamp, gold, silver, brass and iron must be used, iron for the pedestal, brass for the mirror, silver for the reservoir and at the apex a golden triangle. Various symbols were traced upon it, including an androgynous figure about the pedestal, a serpent devouring its own tail, and the Sign of Solomon. The rod must be specially fashioned of certain woods and then consecrated to its magical uses. A perfectly straight branch of almond or hazel was to be chosen. This was cut before the tree blossomed, and cut with a golden sickle in the early dawn. Throughout its length must be run a long needle of magnetized iron; at one end there should be affixed a triangular prism, to the other, one of black resin, and rings of copper and zinc bound about it. At the new moon it must be consecrated by a magician who already possesses a consecrated rod. The secret of the construction and consecration of magical rods was jealously guarded by all magicians and the rod itself was displayed as little as possible, being usually concealed in the flowing sleeve of the magician's robe. Magical Numbers The sword must be wrought of unalloyed steel, with copper handle in the form of a crucifix. Mystical signs were engraved on guard and blade and its consecration took place on a Sunday in full rays of the sun, when the sword was thrust into a sacred fire of cypress and laurel, then moistened with the blood of a snake, polished, and next, together with branches of vervain, swathed in silk. The sword was generally used in the service of Black Magic. The magic fork or trident used in necromancy was also fashioned of hazel or almond, cut from the tree at one blow with an unused knife, from whose blade must be fashioned the three prongs. Witches and sorceresses are usually depicted using the trident in their infernal rites. The fire was lit with charcoal on which were cast branches of trees, symbolic of the end desired. In Black Magic these generally consisted of cypress, alderwood, broken crucifixes and desecrated hosts. The oil for anointing was compounded of myrrh, cinnamon, galingale and purest oil of Olive. Unguents were used by sorcerers and witches, who smeared their brows, breasts and wrists with a mixture composed of human fat and blood of corpses, combined with aconite, belladonna and poisonous fungi, thinking thereby to make themselves invisible. Incense might be of any odoriferous woods and herbs, such as cedar, rose, citron, aloes, cinnamon, sandal, reduced to a fine powder, together with incense and storax. In Black Magic, alum, sulphur and assafœtida were used as incense. The candles, belonging solely to practices of Black Magic were moulded from human fat and set in candlesticks of ebony carved in the form of a crescent. Bowls also were used in these ceremonies, fashioned of different metals, their shape symbolic of the heavens. In necromantic rites skulls of criminals were used, generally to hold the blood of some victim or sacrifice.