SELECTED EXCERPTS AND ENTRIES FROM STRAUSS VON KILLMER’S “OCCULTISM AND APPLIED USES OF DARK MAGICKS” (1990).
ON THE NECESSITY OF PROHIBITION & SELECTIVE STUDY
The selected excerpts I have prepared for you are a exploratory in nature; efforts on my part as the author of these sections have been taken to keep definitions and concepts as succinct yet informative as possible. You will also notice that I have neglected to include sources within the confines of this booklet—you will however find my credentials included in the back of the aforementioned booklet.
I will in passing, however, explain to you the capacity of my expertise, which I will begin with an introduction: I am Strauss von Killmer, a tenured professor of occult research at the Brinehaven College of the Arts and at the time of writing. Prior to my professorship I served as the Dean of the Singhel School of the Occult for fifteen years, and prior to serving the school administration, I was briefly employed as an arbiter for the Commonwealth of Brinehaven, where I utilized my expertise in demonology to complete various arbitration notes and contracts. To that end, I have a great deal of both academic and professional experience, and both will be used in tandem to inform the variety of terminologies that you will be made familiar with upon reading.
To begin with, we will briefly discuss what occultism is, and why it has been subject to various controversies throughout recorded history. Occultism is defined as any form of learned magic (or, the Arts) that relies on sources separate from primacy, the intrinsic force which arcanism relies on in order to perform various functions. But nothing is given freely, and the practices categorized as occult by today’s standards—demonology, thaumaturgy, and witchcraft1—have been and still are considered to be taboo due what their uses entail.
The occultist, then, has been subject persecution, execution, and a great of prejudice. Indeed, history paints a very particular picture of the occultist, due largely to the great deal of crossover between occultism, criminal enterprise, nefarious activity, and otherwise unsavory acts of horror. These stereotypes are not entirely unfounded; the barrier to entry for occultism is considerably less difficult than arcanism. Certainly, both forms of the Arts are based in practical knowledge and applied uses of said knowledge, but where years of practice and use make an excellent arcanist, it is patience and diligence that separates the reckless occultist from the useful one.
Occultism, at least within the confines of the West (Western Europe, the United States, and Canada, that is) has always been under some manner of prohibition. Broadly speaking, the use of occultism was punishable by way of execution regardless of where one might be using it, and the notion of selective study2 was not introduced until the founding of the Brinehaven College of the Arts, circa 1712, which may appropriately claim credit for being the first institution of higher learning to teach occultism due in part to the Commonwealth’s built-in legal protections. The notion of selective study, then, may best be described as an academic pre-screening. Occultism is delicate, easily abusible, and liable to attract the over ambitious who might use it in a nefarious capacity. Selective study is meant to ensure that only certain individuals of particular dispositions are granted access occult knowledge. It is not a foolproof method, but it has proved useful in curtailing further instances of problematic occultists since its implementation.
SOURCES & SIPHONS: FUEL(S) OF THE TRADES
In my earlier section, I called attention to the fact that occultism is separated from arcanism primarily due to the fact that it does not make use of primacy as a source of power. It instead utilizes sources, which differ greatly and are as follows:
- Demonology: demonic power (via the grimoire)
- Thaumaturgy: soul essence
- Witchcraft: connection to the Threshold & the Nether
You will note that witchcraft boasts four sources; I will state here that witchcraft is not my expertise, nor could it ever be, given that I am not, in fact, a witch. The witch, however, in comparison to both the demonologist and the thaumaturgist, benefits greatly from their access to a multitude of sources (refer to the prior footnote I have written if it is your intention to learn more about witchcraft).
Demonic power as source, at least within the scope of the demonologist, is a fickle thing. Wielding it is dependent on the demonologist’s access to their grimoire—a particular type of tome which they themselves must construct. We will explore the grimoire more thoroughly in later sections more closely associated with demonology in particular. At the very least, it must be understood that the way in which a demonologist harvests and utilizes demonic power is entirely different from, say, how the demonic contractor or hexling utilizes demonic power. That is to say that it is not inherent; but rather, but dependent entirely on the grimoire itself as a means of procuring power.
The source of thaumaturgy, soul essence, is easily the more volatile out of the two. Unlike the demonologist, who is tied to the grimoire as a proxy for the wielded demonic power, the thaumaturgist relies entirely on siphoning their own soul as a means of procuring energy for their spells. The thaumaturgist, then, is capable of producing especially powerful results, which are molded and shaped by their incantations. The thaumaturgist without patience, however, is a thaumaturgist who does not live for very long at all. Soul essence, as far as it is generally understood, does not regenerate itself easily. To regain what has been lost is timely; the incantation itself may impose a debt of sorts, where the thaumaturgist spends days, weeks, months, or even years paying off—so to speak—the soul essence they have expended. There are, however, contingencies and methods in which the thaumaturgist can make use of to supplement their thaumaturgy, which will be discussed in later sections.
DEMONOLOGY: OCCULT RESEARCH, GRIMOIRES, AND THE POWER OF NAMES
The demonologist, in essence, is a summoner and a linguist.
To become a demonologist, one must first construct a grimoire. The grimoire is the conduit in which the demonologist summons demons; a requirement and a non-negotiable. Without the grimoire, the demonologist is as mundane as any other human. Now, unlike the curator, the demonologist is not soul-bonded to the grimoire. But in creating their grimoire, they are perhaps damning their souls regardless. The creation of the grimoire is known, appropriately, as the Assembly of Pages: the process in which a prospective demonologist creates what are known as necromatic pages and binds them to a book of their own making.
Allow me to explain further. First, the prospective demonologist must have some of two things before they make an attempt at the Assembly of Pages. First, bookbinding, and second, tanning. It is only after having some understanding of these two things can one begin the process. Each page inserted into a grimoire must be human leather tanned from a corpse (generally speaking, the more recent the corpse, the better), hence the term necromatic page. Without a necromatic page, there is no grimoire. I will elaborate further, now, and explain to you precisely why this is a necessity. For every demon, a tether is required—a human whose mind, body and spirit serves as an anchoring force to a demon who has arrived via a shattering incident. The necromatic page, then, when ritually binded, becomes the perfect canvas for the grimoire itself. It acts as tether material without needing to be a tether itself. Now, the Assembly of Pages is not done overnight. It is itself a form of art. It takes days, if not weeks, to complete a functional grimoire. Diligence and attention to detail are rewarded insofar as the actual summoning is concerned as well; the higher the quality, the more stable the summoning of the demon will be.
Once a demonologist has acquired a grimoire, they are then capable of adding names to their necromatic pages. Indeed, the demonologist is only capable of summoning a demon once they have: 1) learned the name of the demon and 2) recorded that name onto a necormatic page.
The demonologist can achieve this in two ways.
The standard approach is the via Concession Liturgies, which we will discuss first.
The Concession Litrugy requires three things: occult research, offerings, and time. To begin with, the demonologist must become familiar with the name of the demon that they wish to summon, often by means of occult or historical reference. The typical manner in which this is done is by referencing the Ars Goetia, known also as the Lesser Key of Solomon, which provides a comprehensive list of demonic names up until a certain point in history.3 Crucially, not all demon names are cited or listed in the Ars Goetia; many such demons to this day have either been replaced or vanquished.
The demonologist, then, must partake in occult research and dedicate an appropriate amount of effort to locating demonic entities across different mediums; a name must be found. Notably, human-based language does not aptly describe or define a demonic name, at least not fully enough to grant it any sort of basis. A simple recital of a demonic name as interpreted through, say, English, is not sufficient grounds of summoning. It is merely a starting point.
Beyond that, they must also isolate in what capacity that demon has appeared throughout history: in tangible records, Biblical verses, in written, sung, or illustrated pieces of art. Through trial and error, the demonologist must then find appropriate offerings. Demons are prideful things, and very often, are not liable to reveal their names in their native tongue until enough time has passed and offerings have been presented in a consistent manner. Hence, the demonologist is discouraged from prematurely making use of the Nominati Summoning Ritual until they have provided an adequate amount of offerings over a long enough period.
A demon is incapable of ignoring the Nominati Summoning ritual—no more than simple ritual circle, wherein the demon’s English name is drawn out to mimic a pentagram—and must always answer the call. A shattering incident is thereby guaranteed; but the demon’s name revelation is not. The demon will only reveal its true name in its native tongue once it believes the demonologist has earned it. When this occurs, the demon itself will write the name into the grimoire in its own language. It is only after it has done this will the demonologist be able to read it, and call upon said name to summon the demon.
Beyond the standard approach (that is, Concession Liturgies), is the act of Pagebinding.
Pagebinding is both a situational endeavor and far riskier than the Concession Liturgies. It first requires a named demon to be present via a prior shattering incident, and it then requires that named demon in particular to be considerably weakened already—which typically involves reducing its available tethers to only one singular tether. Any attempt to perform the Namebinding Refrain, a particular chant which entraps the demon, without first weakening the demon would be utterly useless. The Namebinding Refrain, then, forces the demon in question to both reveal their name and write it within the confines of the demonologist’s grimoire. Pagebinding is not encouraged given the extreme risk it poses, but it is an exceptionally effective means of acquiring further names to necromatic pages, time-wise, compared to the Concession Liturgy.
Regardless of how the demon’s name has been recorded into the grimoire, when they are summoned, the are tethered to the necormatic page itself. Similarly, there exists what demonologists refer to as the Edict of Limited Pronouncement. A demon’s name may only be called upon sparingly, else the demonologist risks angering the named demon in question, often resulting in their untimely demise.
The only known means of suppressing the Edict of Limited Pronouncement is by dedicating a grimoire wholly to a singular demon; wherein the demonologist prompts the demon (at the time of summoning via the Nominati Summoning Ritual, or via the Namebinding Refrain) to enter its name on every necromatic page of the grimoire. Demonologists who utilize this method are known colloquially as ‘name hoarders‘.
DIABOLIC LITIGATORS
Especially well-studied and learned demonologists are known a diabolic litigators, or, more commonly as litigators. Litigators, while rare, serve a vital role and provide potential demonic contractors with the ability to negotiate the terms and conditions of their demonic contract.
What separates the litigator the vast majority of demonologists is their exceptional fluency in the demonic tongue and language. They boast the capacity to utilize their grimoire as a tool for contractual addendums and alterations, wherein the litigator will present a necromantic page of their own to a summoned demon, and thereby define the specific terms and conditions in which they will accept human souls for exchanged power. Classically trained litigators (which accounts for the vast majority of them, as self-taught diabolic litigation is almost entirely unheard of) are often required to pursue additional education in rhetoric given the level of argumentation and persuasion which accompanies their negotiations with demonic entities.
PRINCIPLES OF THAUMATURGY & ADVANCED APPLICATIONS
Where demonology does indeed pose its risks of general usage, thaumaturgy is an art of delicacy. It requires a level of invariable patience, which ought to be served as both the baseline and the foundation for all practitioners; urgency is not the friend of the thaumaturgist, but rather, it sworn enemy. Quickness and rapidity have no place in this occult art, which, much like the demon whose name has been translated into a grimoire, ought to be respected.
The thaumaturgist, by way of thaumaturgic attunement, is capable of utilizing their own soul essence as a source for their spells and conjurations.
Where the kineticist draws in remnant and surrounding primacy and becomes a catalyst for which that primacy to be channeled, the thaumaturgist draws from within in order to accomplish something similar. Where the two fundamentally differ, is that the kineticist requires no additional steps in order to create tangible uses for their arcanism, only intention and bodily gestures.
The opposite is true for the thaumaturgist, who must recite their intended function through an incantation. The incantation is itself a shaping tool, and merely the thaumaturgist’s means of defining the parameters of what their spell; the spell simply being the result of the incantation, the physical effects which occur once the incantation has been uttered.
Thaumaturgy, as a practice, is framed by three principles:
- Principle of Explicit Definitions: all incantations must be in Latin, and all incantations must preclude the spell itself
- Principle of Soul Debt: expended soul essence is proportionate to the function and scale of the incantation and spell utilized
- Principle of Bodily Repudiation: rapid soul essence extraction or general overuse of thaumaturgy results in physical symptoms
What thaumaturgy is may best be considered highly offensive school of occultism and spellcasting in general, what thaumaturgy is not is a means of utilizing incantations to create non-specific effects, overreaching effects, or effects that are otherwise non-correspondent to its source. Thaumaturgy, then, is the explicit use of soul essence (which, yes, can be used to fuel all manner of things) precisely for the create and deployment of offensive spells. Furthermore, the notion of Soul Debt in particular may be rather straightforward, what is not always clear is the manner in which an incantation may then extract such soul debt. Shorter incantations may indeed yield more powerful effects compared to longer incantations, depending in particular on what they are describing, and vice versa.
Notably, making use of one’s own soul essence is a delicate, volatile, and especially dangerous process.
The third principle, cited as the Principle of Bodily Repudiation, states this rather explicitly. Bodily Repudiation, then, manifests in the following ways: gradually paling skin, blackened and bulging veins around the eyes and face, blackened eyes, and shortness of breath. What makes such side effects especially difficult to manage is that they remain largely the same in how they are expressed, regardless of much Soul Debt has been incurred. This makes it difficult for the thaumaturgist, then, to understand just how close to death they might be, given the lack of symptoms that manifest as overt pain, which might otherwise deter a thaumaturgist from continuing to incur Soul Debt.
Bane Seals, then, are widely considered to be the only means of averting such side-effects.
Within thaumaturgy is a rather advanced application of the practice personified through the Bane Seal itself. Each thaumaturgist is capable of applying such a mark onto another human (willing, or non-willing) who then becomes a conduit; an individual who partitions their soul essence to the thaumaturgist in order to fuel their incantations and spells.
The conduit, once marked, cannot be unmarked unless the thaumaturgist who originally applied the Bane Seal reverses it themselves. Similarly, the conduit need not be close to or even in the general proximity of the thaumaturgist in order for them to make use of the Bane Seal as a means of procuring soul essence. Much like the thaumaturgist themselves, however, the conduit is subject to the Principle of Bodily Repudiation.
While the use of conduits is not explicitly banned, it is considered to be in poor taste, and otherwise illegal unless certain procedures have been followed. Legal regulations at the time of writing require that the thaumaturgist and the conduit undergo a written contract wherein the conduit receives monetary compensation each time their Bane Seal is activated, with further stipulations often added based on individualized legal agreements between two consenting parties. In previous eras, thaumaturgists were often armed with phylacteries, artificed objects that entrapped human souls into gemstones to be utilized as a rapidly available fuel source without requiring a conduit. To this day, phylacteries remain banned in the Commonwealth of Brinehaven.
- These excerpts will not cover witchcraft, which, while technically categorized as occultism, is itself a very nuanced and complicated practice; further investigations should be directed to Melinda Rostavich’s Witchcraft: Identities and Inherited Havoc. ↩︎
- ‘Selective study’ means that only a certain number of applicants are granted access to the Singhel School of the Occult. Pre-screening includes psychological examination, situational pressure testing, and consent to memory probing via a college-assigned mesmer. Applicants must pass all three pre-screening procedures in order to be considered for selective study. Once admission has been granted, the prospective student is then automatically placed into the Civic & Occult Authority Registry. ↩︎
- The Ars Goetia (or Lesser Key of Solomon) is one of the few books that serves as an exception to Suspensionis Nomina (or Suspension of Names), an edict banning the recording of demonic names that emerged prior to the Schism of 1054, in which the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church officially split into two congregations. Numerous other compendiums of demonic entities exist in all corners of the world; some lost, others under lock-and-key, and fewer still lining shelves in obscure libraries and personal studies. ↩︎