The corpus of German grimoires attributed to the semi-mythic patronage of the infamous early modern sorcerer Faust were composed and re-articulated in popular circulation from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. They instruct on the ritual protocols for calling, pacting, and trafficking with a range of devilish and elemental spirits and shades; from circle casting and tool consecration to the spoken acts of conjuration, deployments of seals and sigil, and other such intricacies of these cunning nigromantic arts.

In this course series, we will examine four handbooks of such Faustian grimoiric magic. Each text is itself both rather distinct and recognizably part of this milieu of Germanic demonology and folk necromancy. We will consider the various protocols, shared ethos,  unique methodologies, and their uses of the material and immaterial components of magic in these Germanic forms of goetic sorcery and spirit conjuration.

Along the way, we will draw comparisons and contextualise these works alongside other European grimoires of the goetic sort: from the Grand Grimoire and Grimorium Verum to the collections of lore and craft attributed to the sorcerer saint Cyprian.

The four sessions of this series break down as follows:

Session 1: Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis
In our first session, we will investigate the Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis (or, Natural and Unnatural Magic), one of the more formal Faustian grimoires containing detailed spirit-catalogues, conjurational ‘citations’, and ritual protocols of Germanic demonology; analysing features both distinctly Faustian and shared with wider European nigromantic spiritwork and sorcery.

Session 2: Compendia of Unnatural Black Magic
In our second session, we will survey the family of shorter focused Faustian manuals of devilish conjuration collected as the Compendium of Unnatural Black Magic, comparing and contrasting both their shared methodologies and distinguishing details to examine the operable components of these grimoires of Germanic goetic magic.

Session 3: The Black Raven
In our third session, we will delve into Der Schwarze Rabe (or, The Black Raven), a recently-translated Faustian handbook of treasure-hunting and ghost-laying, to consider its streamlined and rather modular approach to conjuration, and its applications for expanding an extant goetic practice; as well as surveying the range of supporting planetary spiritwork and saint magic contained therein.

Session 4: Nigromantic Arts Book
In our fourth session, we will investigate the Nigromantishes Kunstbuch (or, Nigromantic Arts Book), a compendium of various experiments of Germanic goetic spiritwork and sorcery, to analyse the range of talismans, tools, and operations used in such Faustian nigromancy; as well as charting the presence and influence of Solomonic and even Cyprianic sorcery in the corpus of Faustian grimoiric magic.