Engraving from Speculum Sophicum Rhodostauroticum (“The Mirror of the Wisdom of the Rosy Cross”), 1618, an early manuscript on the esoteric order of Rosicrucianism by Theophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, a likely pseudonym of the alchemist, physician, and astronomer Daniel Mögling
Faust’s Höllenzwang, known as The Book of Hell’s Charms, is a legendary book kept in a church in Zellerfeld. If you’re unlucky enough to be able to read it, it summons the Devil. If he is summoned, pray that you’re able to read it backwards or he may take your soul.
The Ancient Egyptians believed that the soul was comprised of 9 parts, one being the human body that was left behind. This is partially the reason for mummification, to preserve this piece of the soul and act as conduit to deliver offerings to the rest of it. Photo: Gary Todd (modified)
Betel is a gentle demon described in the Grimoire of Armadel, who is best summoned alone in a forest or secluded garden. He can teach the knowledge that God imparted to Adam, and the virtues of all living things and the laws and uses of those virtues. Image: Eve Harms
The Book of Thoth is a name given to a number of books purported to be written by Thoth, the Egyptian God of Knowledge. One version of the book is described in the ancient story Setne I. In the story, the book contained two spells—a spell to speak to animals, and one to perceive the gods. The book was originally hidden at the bottom of the Nile, locked and guarded by serpents, until it was retrieved by Prince Neferkaptah. As punishment, he was driven to suicide and entombed with the book. Years later, Prince Setne Khamwas retrieves the book from Neferkaptah’s tomb. The prince is seduced by the illusion of a beautiful woman who convinces him to kill his children, and make a fool of himself in front of the Pharaoh. Prince Setne returns the book in fear of further punishment. Image: Hunefer’s Book of the Dead, detail with Thoth
In the mythology of the Woyo people of the Lower Congo, Bunzi is a goddess of rain who appears as a multicolored serpent, born of Mboze (and her son) who was killed by her husband for faithlessness when seeing Bunzi’s serpent form. Sometimes she can be seen in the ripples of water during sunset, or as a rainbow in the sky.
An Aludel, also known as Hermetic Vase, the Philosopher’s Egg, and the Vase of the Philosophy, is a tool used in alchemy to turn to solids such as mercury, sulfur into gasses. The device is place in a furnace and the condensation is trapped at the top. Image: Alchemiae Gebri, 1545
The Black Aggie is the unauthorized—and cursed—copy of the funerary sculpture for Clover Adams (of the presidentially famous Adams family) who died by suicide. Legends say her eyes glow at night and make men go blind, that her shadow causes miscarriages, that sleeping on her lap causes death, and even that she tore her own arm off, giving it to a local metal worker. After enough incidents, the statue was removed from the cemetery and sequestered in the basement of the Smithsonian. She’s currently installed in the courtyard of the Howard T. Markey National Courts Building in Washington D.C. Photo: dbking on Flickr
Heavenly bodies are essential in alchemy, particularly the sun, moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. Symbols of these planets are common in alchemical art along with their Greek god counterparts, and the success of operations were sometimes tied to zodiacal time. Beyond times of the month, day and hour, these heavenly bodies also corresponded to metals, parts of the body, cardinal sins, and cardinal virtues. Images: Clavis artis, Zoroaster, 17th century and De naturae…historia, Robert Fludd, 1680
Ulrich Ruosch’s Alchemical Manual, 1680, is a pocket sized manuscript containing an overview of alchemy and the meaning of planets, numbers, letters, and elements. Alchemical implements, philosophy, and symbolism representing each stage of the process are also found inside.
Boginki are minor deities in Slavic folklore that personify nature. They appear in many different forms and dwell in swamps, lakes, rivers, forests and mountains. They’re sometimes hostile and attack women during childbirth, switch babies with changelings and destroy fishing nets. Depending on the region, Boginki were thought to previously be women who committed suicide or died in childbirth. The babies taken by them and replaced with changelings could also be turned into Boginki. Images: Maria Apoleika, 1874
The Habergeiss is a hoofed demon with glowing eyes from Germanic folklore that appears in the form of a bird, a goat, or a combination of the two. The spirit is known to take children away in a basket, which is reenacted by costumed people at various festivals. Other versions of the spirit are vampiric and suck the blood of farmers and their cattle. Image: Wolfgang Sauber (modified)
