The Keys to the Gateway of Magic: Summoning the Solomonic Archangels and Demon Princes

«all creatures, both Divine, Super-celestial, Olympic, Terrestrial, Sub-terrestrial, Airy, Watery, & infernal, visible and invisible, to yield due obedience, with all readiness & submission unto us» — el octavo de los *Beneficial Aphorisms* del Janua Magica Reserata enumera así lo que el mago puede constreñir a servirle: la lista abarca de golpe lo divino, lo supercelestial, lo olímpico, lo terrestre, lo subterráneo, lo aéreo, lo acuático y lo infernal, sin distinguir entre criaturas buenas y malas. La introducción de Skinner y Rankine lo reproduce al presentar la Parte 1.

«those inferiors (as herbs, stones, metals &c) have their power subservient to the Heavens, the Heavens from the Intelligences, and the Intelligences from God, in whom all things persist in the greatest power; as in the Little world [of] Man [the microcosm], there is not a member for which hath no Correspondence with some Intelligence, Element, plant, &c; and in some measure & numeration, in the Archetype» — el decimoctavo aforismo del mismo tratado enuncia la cadena de mando que hace operable la magia: hierbas, piedras y metales dependen de los cielos, los cielos de las Inteligencias y éstas de Dios, y no hay miembro del hombre que no tenga correspondencia arriba. Los corchetes son glosa de los editores dentro de la cita, no del manuscrito.

«Other divines say that no Demons were created wicked but were cast down from the Heavens from the Orders of good Angels, for their prevarication, as all Hebrew divines, Assyrian, Arabian and Egyptian do confirm. Phererides the Syrian describes the fall of Demons, and Ophin, that is a Serpent Demoniac, that was the head of the rebellious army.» — el Janua Magica Reserata, en la sección de los órdenes de demonios malvados, niega que hubiera demonios creados malos: todos cayeron desde los órdenes de ángeles buenos, y remite la doctrina a los teólogos hebreos, asirios, árabes y egipcios. Los nombres van tal cual imprime el troceo, sin cotejo contra el facsímil. La introducción reproduce el pasaje.

«the sign of their appearance, most seemeth like a Veil or Curtain of some beautiful Colour, hanging in or about the stone, or Glass, as a bright Cloud, or other pretty kind of Hieroglyphical show, both strange & yet very Delightful to behold» — así describe la primera Introducción de la Parte 2 lo que se ve justo antes de que un espíritu o ángel se materialice: no la figura, sino un velo o cortina de color en la piedra o el cristal. Skinner y Rankine lo citan al presentar la Parte 2.

«Appear in fair and decent form, & in no wise hurtful Dreadful, Terrible, or Affrightful unto us, or this place, or to any other person or place whatsoever, but in all humility & Serenity, Visibly to the Sight of our Eyes» — fórmula de las invocaciones que instruye al espíritu sobre la forma exacta en que debe comparecer; la cláusula no pide la aparición sino que regula su modo, y se repite luego a lo largo de las Partes 2 y 3. Aquí la cita la introducción como ejemplo del aumento de precisión del siglo XVII.

«Exorcise, Conjure, Command, Constrain, & Call forth & move» — la serie de seis verbos con que las Llaves acumulan modos de obligar en vez de usar uno solo; Skinner y Rankine la aducen como muestra de que ya no basta con conjurar.

«To conclude Dr. Rudd's Doctrine of the Nine Hierarchies of Angels and the better to understand him, that although the glorious Methratton and Raziel may be invocated for some great signal and weighty matters [such as] to prevent ruin of states and kingdoms and persons in great authority, yet it is the opinion of Dr. Dee and Dr. Rudd, and Iamblichus that ancient magician, that it is rarely practiced since the Olympic powers are sufficient to be invocated and advised with.» — las Nueve Llaves Celestiales acotan su propio uso: los arcángeles más altos se reservan para asuntos de estado, y para lo demás bastan las potencias olímpicas. El texto respalda la reserva con tres nombres —Dee, Rudd y Jámblico— y la presenta como opinión, no como regla. Los corchetes son de los editores.

«He Created Man Also after his own Image, for as the world is the Image of God, So man is the Image of the world. We must Observe this by the way, that man is not Created Simply the Image of God, But after the Image, or the Image of the Image, therefore he is Called Microcosm or the Lesser world.» — el Janua Magica Reserata abre con una precisión que sostiene todo lo demás: el hombre no es imagen de Dios sino imagen de la imagen, y de ahí le viene el nombre de microcosmos. La transcripción sigue el Sloane MS 3825, ff. 3-96, según la nota al pie.

«There are in Man the four Elements, with the most true proprieties of their natures, And also an Ethereal Body, Likewise the Chariot of the Soul in proportion Corresponding to the Heaven.» — el mismo tratado desglosa qué contiene el hombre por ser mundo menor: los cuatro elementos con sus propiedades, un cuerpo etéreo y el carro del alma proporcionado al cielo.

«He Symboliseth with the matter in a proper subject, with the Elements in a fourfold body with plants in a fourfold Virtue, with animals in a sensitive faculty, with the Heavens in an Ethereal spirit, & in flux of the Superior parts in the inferior with the Angels in wisdom & understanding, with God in containing all things.» — la escala de simbolizaciones con que el Janua enlaza al hombre con cada grado del ser: materia, elementos, plantas, animales, cielos, ángeles y Dios, cada uno por la facultad que le corresponde.

«Whosever therefore, shall know him self, shall know all things in himself, and more especially he shall know God, according to whose Image he was made, he shall know the world the resemblance of which he Beareth, and he shall know all creatures with which he symboliseth, & obtain all the senses & fruits & understanding, that can be had from Angels, spirits, Heavens, Elements, Animals, plants, stones, & whatsoever else, & how all things may be ftxed for all & every purpose or purposes, in and according to their time placed, order, measure, proportion & Harmony.» — el Janua Magica Reserata convierte el conócete a ti mismo en método operativo: por ser microcosmos, conocerse es conocer a Dios, al mundo y a todas las criaturas, y de ahí sale el saber de cómo fijar cada cosa en su tiempo, orden, medida y proporción. El troceo imprime *ftxed* por fixed.

«By how much the more every one shall know him self, by so much he obtaineth the greater power of attracting the like qualities & virtues, & likewise operateth greater & more wonderful things, & so by consequence & course gradually ascend to so great perfection, that he is made the son of God, & is transformed into that Image which is God, & is united with him, a gift that is not granted to Angels, the world, or any creature, but to man only.» — el mismo tratado hace del autoconocimiento una escala graduada de poder, y remata con una prerrogativa exclusiva: la unión con Dios se le niega a los ángeles y solo se le concede al hombre.

«There are three things placed in man, thus distinguished according to their respective division, parts & qualities.» — el Janua anuncia la división tripartita del hombre que ordena toda su antropología.

«The Supreme, is that Divine thing which is Called the mind, or superior portion or Illuminated Intellect, also calleth it the breath of Life (that is) Breath from God, or his spirit inspired into us. The Lowest, is the sensitive soul, which is also called an Image, Saint Paul nameth it the Animal Man.» — los dos extremos de esa división: arriba el intelecto iluminado, que el texto identifica con el soplo de vida; abajo el alma sensitiva, a la que da el nombre paulino de hombre animal.

«The Middle is the rational spirit, knitting & tying together, both extremes, (that is) the Animal Soul with the mind, savouring of the nature of both extremes, yet it differeth from the Illuminated Intellect, the mind light & supreme portion, it differeth also from the Animal Soul, from the which the apostle teacheth us, that we ought to separate it by the power of the word of God, saying the word of God is Lively & powerful, more penetrating than a two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of the soul & spirit.» — el término medio: un espíritu racional que participa de los dos extremos sin ser ninguno, y cuya separación del alma animal el texto encomienda a la palabra de Dios con la imagen paulina de la espada de dos filos.

«The mind being the Illuminated Intellect is never damned, but (although its companions are to be punished) goeth away unhurt into its original; but the spirit, the reasonable soul, seeing it is by nature free, & can according to its pleasure, adhere to either of them, if it constantly adhere to the Superior portion, it is at length, united & beautified with it, until it be almost unto God, And if adhere unto the inferior Animal man, it is depraved & becomes vicious, Until it be made a wicked spirit.» — la consecuencia práctica de la tripartición: lo que se juega no es la mente, que vuelve intacta a su origen, sino el espíritu racional, libre de adherirse arriba o abajo, y que en el segundo caso acaba hecho espíritu malvado.

«The soul is a substantial number, Uniform, Rational & Conversive unto it self, for exceeding all bodies and material things, the perfection whereof is not according to the manner, nor proceeding from inferior and grosser things, but from the efficient Cause: neither is it a Quantative number, but removed from all corporal Laws, whence it is not divided nor multiplied by parts.» — definición del alma como número sustancial y no cuantitativo: el tratado usa el número para explicar por qué el alma puede tener proporción con todas las cosas sin ser divisible en partes.

«Through this Middle thing, by the Command of God, who is the Cause of the World, it is first infused into this Middle point of the Head, which is the centre of man's body, & from there it diffuseth through all the parts and members thereof, when it joineth his Chariot to the natural heat, being a spirit generated to the heart by heat, by this it plungeth it self into the Humours, whereby it enfireth in all the members, & to all these is made equally the highest, although it be Diffused through one to another; And thus it is manifest, how the immortal soul, by an Immortal body (that is to say) an Ethereal Vehicle, is included in a Glass and Mortal Body.» — mecánica de la encarnación según el Janua: el alma entra por el punto medio de la cabeza, se difunde por los miembros uniendo su carro al calor natural, y queda encerrada en el cuerpo mortal por mediación de un vehículo etéreo.

«Every Noble Soul is said to have a four fold operation, And that is thus The First Divine, by the Image of the Divine propriety. The Second Intellectual, by formality of participation with the Intelligence. The Third Rational, by the perfection of its proper Essential Essence. The Fourth Animal or Natural, by Communion with the body & those Inferior things.» — las cuatro operaciones del alma noble, cada una definida por aquello con lo que participa; el tratado concluye de ahí que ninguna obra del mundo le resulta imposible sin ayuda externa.

«Love is the Chariot of the Soul, of all faculties the most excellent, descending from the Intelligence above, so the most Inferior things: it Congregates & Converts our mind into the Divine Beauty, preserves us in all our works, gives events according to our wishes, and administereth power to our supplications.» — el Janua nombra tres guías —amor, esperanza y fe— antes de entrar en materia, y al primero le atribuye función operativa y no devocional: es lo que da poder a la súplica.

«Faith, the Superior, Virtue of all, not grounded on human fictions, but Divine revelations, wholly filleth all things through the whole world; for seeing it descends from above, from the first Light, & remains nearest to it, is foremost noble and excellent, then all the Sciences, & beliefs arising from Inferior things; by faith is man made somewhat the same with superior powers, and enjoyeth the same power with them, Faith is the Root of all miracles, by which alone we approach to God» — el tercero de los guías, y el que el tratado pone por encima de todos: la fe hace al hombre partícipe del poder de las potencias superiores, y es la raíz del milagro. El texto añade que quien falle en ella no hará nada admirable.

«For it is a Certain Maxim, and an observable rule, that whosoever doth the more exactly imitate the Celestial Bodies, either in Nature, study, action, motion, gesture, countenance, passions, of the mind, and opportunity of Season, is so much the more like unto them, and shall receive the larger Gifts & Benefits from them» — regla de imitación con que el Janua convierte la semejanza en canal de influjo: cuanto más exactamente se imita al cuerpo celeste en naturaleza, gesto y momento, más se recibe de él.

«Note, Every thing may aptly be reduced, from those inferiors to the stars, from the stars to their Intelligences, from thence to the first Cause it self, from the series and order whereof, all hidden philosophy flows, for every day, some natural thing is drawn by art, & some Divine thing is drawn by nature, in the attracting like by like, and of suitable things by suitable, and by such kinds of attractions, there is a mutual correspondence of things amongst them selves, of Superiors, and through this the Supreme in Self, whereby it receives from heaven that Celestial power, which is called the Quintessence» — la escala de reducción que el tratado da por fundamento de toda la filosofía oculta: de lo inferior a los astros, de éstos a sus Inteligencias y de ahí a la primera Causa, con la atracción de lo semejante por lo semejante como mecanismo y la quintaesencia como lo que se recibe.

«Note the fIrst Image of God is the world; of the world, man, of man, beasts; of beasts, plants; of plants, metals; of metals, stones.» — cadena descendente de imágenes con que el Janua ordena lo creado: cada grado es imagen del anterior hasta la piedra. El troceo imprime *fIrst*.

«Observe in things natural, stones & metals have a correspondence with herbs, herbs with animals, animals with the Heavens; the Heavens with the Intelligences, the Intelligences with the Divine properties & attributes; & so consequently with God himself; according to whose Image & similitude, man and all things inclusively were created. So in things Spiritual, the plant agrees with a brute in Vegetation: a brute with a man in sense: man with an angel in understanding, an angel with God in immortality.» — el mismo tratado da la cadena dos veces, en lo natural y en lo espiritual, y en la segunda nombra la facultad por la que cada grado coincide con el siguiente: vegetación, sentido, entendimiento e inmortalidad.

«Divinity is annexed to the mind, the mind to the intellect, the intellect to the intention, the intention to the imagination, the imagination to the senses, & the senses at last to things» — la misma serie recorrida por dentro del operador: la divinidad llega hasta las cosas pasando por la intención y la imaginación.

«Hence we may Conclude, thus: inferior are so successively joined to their Superiors, that there proceeds an influence from their Head (the first Cause) like as a certain string, stretched out to the lowermost things of all, of yet which string, if one end be touched, the whole doth presently shake & soundeth to the other end; even so, at the motion of the Inferior the Superior is also moved so which the other doth answer, like as strings of a well tuned instrument» — el símil de la cuerda tensada con que el Janua justifica que la operación de abajo mueva lo de arriba: tocar un extremo hace sonar el otro, como las cuerdas de un instrumento afinado.

«We ought to Labour, nothing more in this life, than that we Degenerate not from the Excellency of the mind, by which we come nearer to God, and put on the Divine Nature; lest at any time our Mind waxing dull, through a stupid vanity, should decline & yield to the frailty of our earthly body, becoming fleshly vicious: wherefore we ought so to order our minds, that it by it self, being mindful of its own Dignity & Excellency, should always both think, do & operate something worthy of it self.» — primero de los Beneficial Aphorisms: la obligación del operador no es un precepto moral suelto sino la condición de la operación, porque el poder viene de no degenerar de la excelencia de la mente.

«But the knowledge of the Celestial & Divine Science, doth only & very powerfully perform this for us, when we by the Remembrance of its Majesty, being always busied in Divine Studies, do every morning contemplate divine things, by a sage & diligent inquisition: And by all the degrees of the creatures ascending even to the Archetype itself» — el mismo aforismo prescribe la práctica cotidiana —contemplar cada mañana y ascender por los grados de las criaturas— y le atribuye el efecto de purgar la mente de errores y ahuyentar los engaños de los espíritus malos.

«Live to thy self, and the Muses; avoid the friendship of the mqltitude, be covetous of time, beneficial to all men, use the Angels & spirits given and attributed unto thee, as ministers» — segundo aforismo: el trato con ángeles y espíritus se define como uso de ministros, y el texto lo acota enseguida pidiendo que sea sin temeridad ni presunción. El troceo imprime *mqltitude*.

«All things are possible, to them that believe them, and are willing to receive them, but to those who are incredulous, & unwilling, all things are alike impossible; there is no greater hindrance than a wavering mind, levity, inconstancy, vain objections, and disobedience to the Divine Laws: therefore a magician ought to be a man that is Godly, honest, constant in his words & deeds, prudent in all his actions, covetous of nothing but wisdom, to guide & govern himself in all his proceedings; and if he firmly intend to have familiar converse with Angels & spirits, he must keep him self from all enormities, & pray to God for constancy in faith, & he shall bring to pass all things in due season.» — quinto aforismo: el Janua hace del carácter del operador una condición técnica, y nombra el estorbo mayor como una disposición mental —la mente vacilante— y no como un error de procedimiento.

«We properly Call that a Secret in Magick, which no man can attain by human industry, without revelation: the knowledge whereof lyeth, obscured, hidden by God in the Creation, yet notwithstanding, he doth permit to be revealed by spirits & Angels, to a due use of the thing it self, and these secrets are either concerning things Divine, natural or human» — definición de secreto mágico del sexto aforismo: no es lo difícil sino lo inaccesible sin revelación, y el tratado lo reparte en tres géneros.

«Be careful that you mix no experiments that are of contrary qualities or offices, but let every one be simple & several» — octavo aforismo, la regla que la introducción destaca como capital: cada experimento simple y por separado, sin mezclar cualidades ni oficios contrarios. Sigue la enumeración de criaturas que la introducción cita en la p. 12.

«He who would Know Secrets, let him first learn to know how to keep secrets secretly, & to reveal those things that are to be revealed, & to seal those things that are to be sealed.» — décimo aforismo: el silencio es requisito previo del saber, y el texto lo formula como reciprocidad, no como prudencia.

«it is a Verified maxim, amongst physicians, that a strong belief, and an undoubted hope & love, towards the physician and Medicine, doth confer much to health, yea some times more than the Medicine it self; for the same that the efficacy & virtue of the medicine works, the same doth the strong imagination of the physician work, being able to change the quality in the body of the sick; especially when the patient placeth much confidence in him.» — el duodécimo aforismo apoya la eficacia de la fe en una analogía médica: la imaginación del médico obra lo mismo que la virtud del remedio, y a veces más.

«Virtue is no Virtue, unless it have some like, in ruling whereof it may show and exercise its power, for, as victory cannot stand without virtue, so neither can virtue subsist without an enemy, which virtue no sooner had the Almighty endowed Man with all, but he forthwith added unto him an Enemy; lest that virtue should lose its nature, being stupefied with idleness» — decimosexto aforismo: el enemigo es parte del diseño, porque sin él la virtud se entumece; de ahí que el tratado exija al mago mano activa y guerra continua.

«The primum mobile of man is the will, which is the guide of all those powers & inclinations incident unto him, and being, joined to the Superior intellect, is always tending to God; the which intellect doth indeed, always strive particularly to the will, as a candle to the eye» — decimoséptimo aforismo: la voluntad es el primer móvil del hombre, y el intelecto la alumbra sin moverla, de donde el texto deriva el nombre de libre albedrío.

«Therefore will is defined to be a faculty of the intellect, whereby Good is chosen by the help of Grace, but grace not assisting then is Evil chosen, therefore Faith, Hope, Charity, Love & all infused Virtues, is in the Will, as the first mover, which being absent the whole consent falls into dissonance.» — cierre del mismo aforismo, y la razón por la que el tratado sitúa fe, esperanza y amor en la voluntad y no en el entendimiento: sin ellas el conjunto desafina.

«as in the Little world [of] Man, there is not a member for which hath no Correspondence with some Intelligence, Element, plant, &c; and in some measure & numeration, in the Archetype» — el decimoctavo aforismo en la transcripción de la Parte 1; la introducción lo cita en la p. 12 con un corchete más, el microcosmos, que aquí no aparece. Las dos lecturas se dejan como están.

«An Idea is a form above Bodies, souls or minds, & it is but one simple, pure, Immutable, Indivisible, Incorporeal and Eternal: Now the nature of all Ideas is the same.» — definición de Idea con que se abre la sección It is yet further to be Observed; el tratado la despliega luego en cinco asientos: en Dios como causa, en el alma del mundo, en las mentes, en la naturaleza como semillas y en la materia como sombras.

«Their importance can partly be judged by the number of times they were copied and recopied, and because they formed a key part of the core texts used by a magical group which formed round Dr Thomas Rudd, a 17th century angel magician and geometer of considerable skill.» — Skinner y Rankine miden la importancia de los tres textos por dos indicios externos: cuántas veces se copiaron y que fueran el núcleo de lectura de un grupo formado en torno a Rudd, a quien describen a la vez como mago angélico y geómetra.

«Our interest and emphasis is upon practice, technique, and results. If it doesn't work then it is not worth pursuing, but if it does work then it is worth pursuing thoroughly. The practice of magic, which is thousands of years old, deserves every bit as scrupulous research as the practice of physics or chemistry began to receive just 400 years» — el programa que los editores declaran para toda la serie es de resultado y no de doctrina: piden para la magia el mismo rigor de investigación que la física y la química recibieron desde el siglo XVII. La frase sigue en la plana siguiente.

«The first reaction of any modern reader to the first part of this book will be one of boredom at the mass of pious sentiment and the discussions on the nature of man's soul. In the days when this was written, such a preliminary would have been considered perfectly natural, but also it may have been a piece of insurance, as interest in magic (even angel magic) could easily get one into trouble with the ecclesiastical authorities. However persevere, and gradually the writer turns from piousness to practical advice» — Skinner y Rankine anticipan el efecto del preámbulo devoto de la Parte 1 y proponen dos lecturas a la vez, sin elegir: que era lo natural de la época y que pudo ser un seguro frente a las autoridades eclesiásticas.

«Most importantly, he warns the magician never to mix together experiments concerned with different types of spiritual creature.» — los editores destacan como la advertencia capital de los aforismos la prohibición de mezclar en una misma operación criaturas espirituales de distinto tipo; es la regla que el volumen repite en la Parte 2.

«In this section we have left the spelling of the Sephiroth and angels as it appears in the manuscript rather than changing it to the more currently accepted spelling.» — decisión editorial declarada de Skinner y Rankine para la sección de los nueve órdenes: conservan la grafía manuscrita de sefirot y ángeles en vez de normalizarla, y avisan de que las variantes entre manuscritos obligan a poblar la sección de notas al pie.

«The concept of Nine Choirs or grades of angels and of Guardian angels has deep roots going back to pre-Christian times. We can trace the transmission of this knowledge from Aristotle's 'Intelligences'to neo-Platonists like Porphyry through Iamblichus of Chalcis (c.245-c.325 AD), founder of the Syrian school of neo-Platonists, who wrote the important magical and mystical text On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians to Proclus (c.410-485 AD) who wrote on it in De Magica and Elements of Theology. His work was used in turn by pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c.500 AD) whose Celestial Hierarchies dealt with the angelic hierarchies in great detail, and established that there were Nine Hierarchies. His work was later translated in the 9th century by the Irishman John Scotus Erigena and commented on in his principal work De Divisione Naturae. From there the hierarchy of angels entered the theology taught at the new Universities of the day, and more practically became part of the emerging grimoires, with a matching hierarchy of demons.» — Skinner y Rankine trazan la línea entera por la que la doctrina de los nueve coros llega al grimorio: de las Inteligencias de Aristóteles al neoplatonismo, de ahí al pseudo-Dionisio que fija el número nueve, de ahí a Escoto Erígena y a la teología universitaria, y de ahí a los grimorios con su jerarquía demoníaca en espejo. El troceo pega *Intelligences'to* sin espacio.

«It concludes with the names of the four governors of the four quarters, the Demon Princes, Oriens, Paymon, Egin, and Amaymon,» — los editores identifican en la sección de los órdenes de espíritus malos los cuatro nombres que la Parte 3 usará como nombres de compulsión; en la lista jerárquica de la p. 23 el cuarto se imprime *Egyn*, y la ficha conserva las dos grafías sin arbitrar.

«This is a key passage and confirms the identity of demons as simply fallen angels, essentially the same kind of creature as angels.» — lectura de Skinner y Rankine sobre la caída de los demonios: el pasaje les sirve para sostener que demonio y ángel son la misma clase de criatura, tesis que gobierna todo el volumen.

«It should be noted that it is Diabolos alone who should have been translated as 'the Devil' in the Bible, which is quite a different word from 'demon'.» — objeción filológica de los editores a la traducción bíblica: solo Diabolos correspondía a *el Diablo*, y equipararlo con demonio borra una distinción de rango que el propio texto conserva. Añaden que el manuscrito lista a Diabolos en el octavo orden y que no ven por qué el adversario supremo quedaría tan abajo.

«This section also contains a more complete list of the different type of spiritual creatures and where traditionally they may be found, including Fairies, Hobgoblins, Elfs, Naiads, Potamides, Nymphs, Oreads, Hamedes, Dryads, Hamadryads, Satyrs, Sylvani, Napta, Agapta, Dodona, Palea, Feniliae, Gnomi, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders.» — inventario que los editores destacan de la última sección de la Parte 1: hadas, duendes y ninfas figuran en el mismo continuo que silfos y salamandras. Los nombres se transcriben tal cual el troceo, sin cotejo contra el facsímil.

«I think that this is probably the clearest description anywhere in print of the precise type and mounting of a shew stone or glass spirit receptacle.» — juicio en primera persona del singular dentro de una introducción que habla en plural: quien firma valora la descripción de la piedra de visión de la Parte 2 por encima de cualquier otra impresa.

«This section is not so much about the conjuration of the four Demon Princes as conjuration by the Demon Princes» — los editores fijan de entrada el sentido de la Parte 3: los cuatro príncipes no son lo invocado, sino los nombres con que se fuerza la obediencia de espíritus servidores menores.

«In fact it is highly significant that methods, and even specific wording used successfully to invoke spirits, remains constant and unchanged over centuries, as used by Trithemius circa 1500, by Dr John Dee circa 1600, by Dr Rudd and Peter Smart circa 1700, by Francis Barrett circa 1800 and by Frederick Hockley, and the early Golden Dawn founders circa 1900. This clearly shows an unbroken line of transmission of this magical technique.» — la tesis de continuidad que los editores sostienen para toda la serie: no solo el método, también la redacción concreta de las invocaciones se repite de Tritemio a la Golden Dawn a razón de un eslabón por siglo.

«If anything in this manuscription does, this shows that the underlying magic is Hebraic or Classical, with a thin veneer of Christianity overlaid.» — lectura de Skinner y Rankine sobre los lámenes del Sloane MS 3825: el cuadrado Sator y el León de Judá les indican que el estrato cristiano es superficial y que debajo hay materia hebrea o clásica. El troceo imprime *manuscription*.

«Although many invocatory passages may seem long, barely pausing for breath, it is their very length and seeming repetitiveness which is important to the technique. We have not broken down some invocatory sentences that sometimes run on for two pages, divided only by semi-colons and commas, because the point of the invocation is not to analyse their meaning, but to declaim the words to build up the right amount of magical tension to encourage the spiritual creature to manifest, in the Glass Receptacle or Crystal Stone.» — decisión editorial y a la vez tesis técnica: los editores no parten las frases de dos planas porque atribuyen la eficacia a la longitud y la repetición, no al sentido de lo dicho.

«It is not sufficient to simply read out a paragraph or two. To be effective you should take your time and initially be prepared for hours of work. You should not rush or gabble the passages as some modern practitioners do, or be embarrassed by any verbal errors, but take your time and enjoy speaking these elegant and sonorous invocations. Remember that repetition is to be encouraged.» — instrucción práctica de los editores al lector actual, con su límite dicho: los errores de dicción no invalidan la operación, y el resultado se acelera solo después de la primera manifestación.

«This additional precision in the language specifying what is required may well be attributable to the profession of many of the angel magicians of the period, that of lawyer or solicitor.» — hipótesis que Skinner y Rankine ofrecen como tal para explicar el estilo enumerativo de las invocaciones del siglo XVII: el oficio jurídico de muchos de sus practicantes.

«There is another more important reason for this increase in precision, and that is that spirits (and maybe even the angels) have a reputation for tricksy answers, which can be interpreted in a number of ways. By being precise they have less scope for this unsettling tendency.» — la segunda razón que dan, y a la que conceden más peso: la precisión no es formalismo sino defensa contra respuestas ambiguas, y los editores extienden la sospecha incluso a los ángeles.

«ther was to be observed, frrste, howe Mackbeth and Banck03 , two noble men of Scotland, ridinge thorowe a wod, thes stode before them three women feiries or nimphes 4, and saluted Mackbeth, sayinge three tyms unto him, HallIe, Mackbeth, King of Codons; for thou shall be a Kinge, but shall beget no kinds, etc. Then said Bancko, what all to Mackbeth, and nothing to me? Yes, said the nymphes, hallie to thee, Bancko, thou shall beget kinges, yet be no kinge; and so they departed» — relación de Simon Forman de la representación de Macbeth que vio en el Globe el 20 de abril de 1610, reproducida por los editores con su ortografía propia, que ellos advierten en nota que es de Forman y no de Shakespeare. El troceo arrastra dentro del texto los llamados de nota (*Banck03*, *nimphes 4*).

«It is interesting that Forman (who was viewing the play rather than reading it) saw the witches as fairies or even nymphs, but certainly not as witches or human.» — nota al pie de los editores sobre el testimonio anterior: que un espectador de 1610 llamara hadas o ninfas a las brujas les sirve de indicio de que las criaturas espirituales se veían como un continuo y no como un par bueno-malo.

«Magicians of this period did not make the same distinctions as are commonly used in modern magic, and would be as likely to work with fairies as they would be with angels, demons or Planetary spirits.» — resultado que los editores atribuyen a tres años de trabajo con los manuscritos: en el Renacimiento la invocación era un corpus unificado y el mismo estilo servía para arcángeles, demonios, gobernadores enoquianos y espíritus olímpicos.

«In due course the material in this book will no doubt be boiled down by later writers to a thin gruel, an instant magical fix, which will no doubt sell many more copies. But by publishing this source material here in full, we are satisfied that there will always be the possibility for practitioners to go back to the original working manuscripts of practicing magicians of the period to examine their full instructions and invocations.» — justificación editorial de publicar el material completo: los editores anticipan la reducción divulgativa y oponen a ella la disponibilidad del documento entero.

«Interestingly, within the grimoires the nine orders of angels have different names to those used in Qabalah, resulting in some confusion, as e.g. The Seraphim in the grimoires correspond to the Chaioth haQadosh of the Qabalah» — Skinner y Rankine señalan que las dos nomenclaturas de los nueve órdenes no coinciden y que el desajuste produce confusión: los Serafines del grimorio son los Chaioth haQadosh cabalísticos, mientras los Serafines de la cábala corresponden a las Potestades del grimorio.

«At the top of the Heavens are the 18 fiery regions - the Superior and Celestial Heavens wherein reside the 7 Great Archangels who dwell directly in the presence of the divine. Although this list differs from one authority to another, the usual is Metatron, Raziel, Tzaphkiel, Tzadkiel, Michael, Raphael and Gabriel.» — Skinner y Rankine arman para el lector la escala completa de criaturas, y declaran su límite en la misma frase: la lista de los siete arcángeles varía de una autoridad a otra y la que dan es solo la habitual.

«Below all these angelic regions are the infernal spirits. These are ruled by the three Kings of the infernal hierarchy - Lucifer, Beelzebub and Sathan.» — cierre inferior de esa misma escala: bajo las treinta regiones aéreas quedan los espíritus infernales, gobernados por tres reyes.

«Sathan rules the four Kings of the Air, better known as the four Demon Princes, each of whom has a subordinate demon bishop and numerous lesser demons. The demon princes are: Oriens in the East, under whom is the Demon Bishop Theltryon Amaymon in the South, under whom is the Demon Bishop Boytheon Paymon in the West, under whom is the Demon Bishop Sperion Egyn in the North, under whom is the Demon Bishop Mayerion» — los editores reparten los cuatro príncipes por punto cardinal y les asignan un obispo demoníaco a cada uno; esta plana imprime *Egyn* donde la p. 14 imprime *Egin*. Los nombres van tal cual el troceo, sin cotejo contra el facsímil.

«Dr Rudd knew Dr John Dee and was interested in the same things from alchemy to angel magic and the geometry of Euclid. It appears that Rudd carried on Dee's experiments in angel magic much further and formed the focus of a group of 17th century angel magicians.» — retrato de Rudd que dan los editores, con el matiz de probabilidad marcado: dicen que *parece* que llevó más lejos los experimentos de Dee, no que conste.

«According to Frederick Hockley, Denley gave much of the information to Barrett for his book The Magus.» — los editores adjudican a Hockley, no a sí mismos, la noticia de que el librero John Denley fue quien surtió a Francis Barrett del material del Magus.

«Traditional magic was predominantly concerned with the invocation of all types of spiritual creatures such as angels, demons, and spirits.» — primero de los cinco puntos con que Skinner y Rankine recapitulan su definición de magia, remitiendo al volumen 1 por los argumentos y advirtiendo que aquí van enunciados en seco.

«The origin of these methods is in the grimoires, which show little demarcation between invocation and evocation. The early grimoires treated of angels and demons interchangeably, and either or both might come from the same calling. There is a continuum of spiritual creatures from archangels through angels, elementals, to demons.» — segundo punto: los editores niegan que invocación y evocación sean operaciones distintas en los grimorios tempranos, y de ahí derivan su noción de continuo de criaturas espirituales.

«The line of transmission of practical magical methods was through a succession of scholar-magicians, not via the village cunning-man and witch tradition (which uses a different approach), or via secret societies like the Illuminati, Rosicrucianism or Freemasonry (with the single exception of the Golden Dawn).» — tercer punto, con su excepción declarada: la línea corre por magos eruditos y no por la brujería aldeana ni por las sociedades secretas, salvo la Golden Dawn.

«Practitioners of ceremonial and angel magic tended to be of one particular social class, with a disproportionate number of jurists and lords, in other words drawn from the Establishment of the day.» — cuarto punto: los editores adscriben la práctica a una clase social concreta, con exceso de juristas y de nobles, lo que enlaza con su hipótesis sobre el estilo jurídico de las invocaciones.

«The spiritual creatures invoked are not subjective, nor are they part of the psychological makeup of the invoker.» — quinto y más largo de los puntos de Skinner y Rankine, y el que sostiene la polémica del volumen: las criaturas invocadas no son contenido mental del operador.

«This is a fallacy introduced by Aleister Crowley's comments in 'his' edition of the grimoire the Goetia. 17 Demons are not, repeat not, psychological and definitely not anatomical 'portions of the human brain' as Crowley categorically stated in his introduction.» — los editores adjudican a Crowley el origen de la lectura psicológica de los demonios, y le disputan de paso la propiedad de la edición poniendo el posesivo entre comillas. El *17* del troceo es el llamado de nota.

«In fact Crowley had very little to do with the transcription of the text of the Goetia. This was done entirely by 5 L MacGregor Mathers. This fact can be easily verified by reading Crowley's introduction, where he speaks of the translation of the Goetia. If he had bothered to look at the relevant manuscripts, he would know that they are in fact in English, not a foreign language.» — nota al pie con el argumento que dan para retirarle a Crowley la transcripción: hablar de traducción delata que no vio los manuscritos, que están en inglés. El troceo devuelve la inicial de Mathers como *5 L*.

«It was not till the publication of the excellent edition of the Lemegeton by Joseph Peterson in 2001 that Crowley's partial and defective edition has been finally eclipsed.» — Skinner y Rankine oponen a la edición de Crowley la de Joseph Peterson de 2001, que califican de excelente frente a una parcial y defectuosa.

«Down through the ages the power and wonder of practitioners of magic have been recorded ... These people of power, wrapped in a cloak of secrecy, presented a striking contradiction to the common ways of dealing with the world. The spells and incantations they wove were feared... Whenever these people of power publicly performed their wonders, they would both shatter the concepts of reality of that time and place and present themselves as having something that was beyond learning.» — pasaje de 1975 que los editores citan de un par de psicoterapeutas —la nota los nombra Richard Sandler y John Grinder, autores de The Structure of Magic I— y del que dicen que hasta ahí no tienen objeción. Los puntos suspensivos son de la cita.

«In modern time, the mantle of the wizard is most often placed upon those dynamic practitioners of psychotherapy who exceed the skill of other therapists by leaps and bounds, and whose work is so amazing to watch that it moves us with powerful emotions, disbelief, and utter» — continuación de la misma cita, y el punto donde los editores dejan de seguirla: los psicoterapeutas se adjudican a sí mismos el manto del mago. La frase cierra en *confusion*.

«Such arrogation of the ancient and honourable term 'magic' to a recent and probably transient psychological practice moves us to disbelief, and undoubtedly many readers to utter confusion.» — respuesta de los editores, construida devolviendo las palabras de la cita anterior.

«Demons cannot be dealt with via the theories of psychotherapy, a supposed 'science' that is yet to be rigorously proved, which is but a hundred years old, or in the case of the above example just a few decades old. Demons may now be as rare as wolves or bears in the streets of a modern metropolis, but they are real nevertheless.» — el símil con que Skinner y Rankine sostienen la realidad de los demonios: como los lobos y los osos, escasean en la ciudad y abundan fuera, y su rareza no es prueba de inexistencia.