Item #57166 The Graveyard Wanderers, The Wise Ones and the Dead in Sweden. Tom . JOHNSON, Ben Fernee, and.

The Graveyard Wanderers, The Wise Ones and the Dead in Sweden.

[England]: Society for Esoteric Endeavour, 2013. First Edition. Hardcover. Quarto (Approx: 25cm x 20cm - 10 x 7 3/4 inches). (viii) 106pp (+iipp: colophon). Black "leather cloth," (a composite material that is 85% leather) over heavy boards. Inset into each board is a copper sheet, with a life-sized representation of a skeletal hand stamped in high relief. Title stamped in white across the top board, with white skull devices and publisher's imprint stamped between blind raised bands on the spine. Printed on 180 gsm Fabriano Ingres laid paper. Handmade decorated pastepaper endpapers, imprinted with "chaotic swirls" and skeletal fingers. Some illustrations in text, bibliography. Edition limited to 180 hand numbered copies. The book collects together charms and rituals dealing with spirits of the dead and human bones, translated by the author from 37 Scandinavian manuscript grimoires known as "Svartkonstbuchs" ("Black Art Books") dating from the 17th - 20th centuries. The texts reveal a straightforward and unusual system of folk-magic, described by the publisher as comprising: "A ritual of initiation to commence dealings with the spirits of the Dead after which, by taking bones and leaving payment, they may be called upon to:- Take pain from the living as they are now beyond suffering; Torment or transfix thievers - setting upon them the stillness of death; Communicate the stillness of death to animals or humans; stopping them from moving; Send the bane of death to a victim; Protect the living and their possessions; Predict chance, beyond time, and assist the gambler; Assist with shooting, conferring lethality to ammunition and guiding aim." He further observes that: "A spirit of the Dead can be held in a box or bottle, or exchanged for a rune stone, so as to be handy to assist the practitioner [and that] ... By passing through Death in the form of a belt made of a corpse's skin or sinew, the practitioner may transform into animal form. [in return] The practitioner must always return the bone, and therefore the spirit, to the churchyard." The text is footnoted, and followed by the author's Afterword, in which he discusses the rituals, and their practitioners, who were commonly known as "Wise Ones" or - when performing bone magic - "Graveyard Wanderers." The physical aspects of the book's production are obviously talismanic, and relate specifically to the text. A short discussion of this relationship, and a synopsis of the text, are printed on a single sided sheet produced by the publisher, which is loosely inserted. The coloration of the copper inserts varies from copy to copy, some are almost silvery, some have darker patches or spots, etc., so that each copy is unique, and will of course age differently as the copper acquires a patina. But for a few tiny "faults" to leather - the book is "as new" and thus in about Fine condition. Item #57166

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