Item #66423 The Grimoire of Raphael (from a document in the archives of the Magickal Order T.'. O.'. T.'.). Fra. Zarathustra Illustrated, aka Nelson White.

The Grimoire of Raphael (from a document in the archives of the Magickal Order T.'. O.'. T.'.).

Fremont, CA: The Technology Group, 1991. First Edition, Fourth Printing. Softcover. Quarto. 11 x 8.5 inches. viii + 94pp (+ xii adverts). Pale green card covers lettered in black on upper cover, black plastic strip binding, b&w illustrations and index by the author. A new edition of "The Grimoire of Raphael", transcribed and with notes, comments and an index by Frater Zarathustra (Nelson H. White: 1938 - 2003), co-founder of the "Hermetic/Gnostic Magickal Order, the 'Temple of Truth' (T.'. O.'. T.'.)." The work in question was first published in 1879 by the astrologer Robert T. Cross (1850-1923), who wrote under the psedonym "Raphael", and who published it under the title "The Art of Talismanic Magic: Being Selections from the Works of Rabbi Solomon, Agrippa, F. Barrett etc." According to the editor, in the course of transcribing the work he found numerous mistakes, mistatements, etc. in the text, as well as significant differences between the Raphael grimoire and "The Greater Key of Solomon" from which he originally thought it was drawn. However, on nearing completion on the task Frater Zarathustra realised that the great majority of the Raphael grimoire could be found in Barrett's "The Magus." This is in contrast to other recent thought which suggests that the Raphael grimoire is for the most part taken from a manuscript translation of "The Key or Clavis of Rabbi Solomon" that had belonged to Ebenezer Sibly. As such it perhaps suggests a closer link between the Sibly "Key" and "The Magus" than was perhaps previously realised which might be worth of further investigation. In addition to the transcription and notes in the text, Frater Zarathustra has provided a 2 page Introduction, 8 pages of notes and comments and an 18 page index. Frater Zarathustra and his wife Soror Veritas (Anne Nelson) were active in the Southern California occult scene for over 20 years, and were instrumental in the formation and operation of several Esoteric Churches and Magickal Orders. For a time they were associated with Poke Runyon's Ordo Templi Astarte and in 1973 founded their own magical Order, the 'Temple of Truth' (T.'. O.'. T.'.), based in Pasadena, where they also ran the Magick Circle bookstore. In 1974 they began publishing the "White Light" - the Order's journal focused on ceremonial magic, which ran quarterly for some 15 years. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s they edited, wrote and published dozens of different books on ritual magick, the Kabbalah, and the occult in general. They were innovative in the use of technology: copying, word-processing, computing etc. and its application to the occult, preparing indexes to previously unindexed works like Barrett's "The Magus", Waite's "Book of Ceremonial Magic" etc. as well as in the production of facsimiles of grimoires, which probably explains the choice of the name of the imprint under which they published: "The Technology Group." The various editions and printings of The Technology Group's publications were tiny, so despite this being a "fourth printing" it is, like almost all their publications, genuinely uncommon. The production values are quite basic, with simple typography and layout, and reproduction by xerox, so in terms of presentation it is only a little better than a modern "fanzine." Very light signs of wear else a tight, clean VG+ copy. Item #66423
ISBN: 9780939856718

Price: $125.00