The Spellcaster's Source Hoodoo and Voodoo Witchcraft Blog of Talia Felix

There are a variety of grimoires attributed to King Solomon which date from the middle ages onward. They may even have their origins in a genuine ancient source. Such Solomonic grimoires have impacted hoodoo practice, partly through their dissemination into European magical traditions which were then absorbed into the American hoodoo tradition; and also through direct reprintings of the grimoires, such as those made by De Laurence, which were sold into the American hoodoo market. Even Lewis de Claremont, of Ancient's Book of Formulas fame and probable inventor of the 7 Holy Spirits Bath , composed his own guide to Solomonic conjuring called The Ancient's Book of Magic . Many of the grimoires instruct the practitioner to wear a certain ring while conjuring, with the designs sometimes varying quite wildly from manuscript to manuscript. Some common basic designs include the three above, going from left to right. Solomon's pentalpha. The version used in the oldest kn...

Talismanic magic is used all over the world. In the hoodoo tradition, certain popular European grimoires of the 18th and 19th century made a big impact upon which talismans were favored by American practitioners. The recognition that not everyone in the 18th or 19th century could read is an important consideration when relating how these talismans were used. Owen Davies in his history book Grimoires remarks that merely owning a grimoire was commonly believed to bestow special powers to the owner, even if he or she could not actually read its content. Even today, many magical talismans contain writing in languages that a practitioner might not be able to read or understand, yet they copy these foreign phrases to the best of their ability. Above we have the Fifth Pentacle of Mars, as put in L.W. De Laurence's 1914 edition of The Key of Solomon the King . (I choose this edition for being a traditionally popular one amongst hoodoo practitioners, even if many people are ho...