The Kybalion was published in 1908. It was written by âThe Three Initiatesâ who talk about cryptic knowledge of how to control the human mind.
Kybalion book cover (Image to the left), Page: a study of the hermetic philosophy of ancient Egypt and Greece. Image credits: amazon.co.uk, wikisource.org
Published in 1908 by the Yogi Publication Society, the Kybalion is an anomalous piece of information written by âThe Three Initiates.â The book has served as a foundation of the Hermetic doctrine and its seven ancient principles. The principles described in the book are great secrets that have been passed down from lip to ear. Hermes Trismegistus was an ancient sage who first received this knowledge from Egyptian gods.
The knowledge in the book has always been maintained with strict secrecy and has always been a piece of the âoccult.â The word âoccultâ here doesn’t mean it has anything to do with religion or black magic, it simply means âkept secret.â In the book, âthe three initiatesâ describe the knowledge and principles related to mentalism and human experience. It explains how to influence the mind and change it according to your will. The Kybalion has a great deal of information on the underpinnings of the universe that are still not known by most of humanity. (source)
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7Codex Seraphinianus
Codex Seraphinianus was published in 1981. The book is an encyclopedia of an imaginary world with illustrations of surreal impossible things.
Codex Seraphinianus book cover (Image to the left), a page from book. Image credits: amazon.in, wired.com
Codex Seraphinianus is a weird encyclopedia created by Italian architect Luigi Serafini. He constructed the book in the late 1970s and it was originally published in 1981. The 300-page book itself is shrouded in mystery and is a guide to an alien world with descriptions and explanations for an imaginary existence. The work in the book is surrealistic art where heads are sliced and turned into other objects.
The book is full of illustrations of plants, animals, maps, machines, humans, foods, games, buildings, and humanoids. It has hand-drawn engraving such as a bleeding fruit, trees that uproot themselves and migrate, strange flowers, surreal variations of animals, bizarre games, and much more. People search for a hidden code behind the unusual language written in the book, but Serafini himself says that there is no hidden meaning behind the book. He just wanted to create a unique book that will create a sense of wonder in every readerâs mind. (source)
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8 The Greek Magical Papyri
The second century BCE spellbook, the Greek Magical Papyri, is the guide for spells, rituals, and divinations.
The Greek Magical Papyri book cover (Image to the left), The deity Set portrayed in the Book. Image credits: amazon.com, Greco-Roman mystics/joanlansberry.com via wikimedia.org
The Greek Magical Papyri is a second-century BCE book written mostly in ancient Greek. The material inside the papyri dates from the 100s BCE to the 400s CE. The book is a complete guide to magic spells, rituals, formulae, divinations, and hymns. Papyri consist of instructions on how to summon a demon, open the doors to the underworld, protect oneself from wild beasts, and a way to gain a supernatural assistant means an entity from another world who does your bidding. The most well-known spells are divination spells in which you can have a view of the future. The manuscript came to light in the 1700s through the antiquities trade. The best-known text from the Magical Papyri is the Mithras Liturgy. The book is a bible for occult followers. (source)
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9Codex Gigas
The largest medieval manuscript, Codex Gigas, is a 92-cm- long book also known as the âDevilâs Bible.” It was written throughout one night.
The worldâs largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript, Codex Gigas, was created in the early 13th century by a monk from the Kingdom of Bohemia. This 92-cm-long book is popularly also known as the âDevilâs Bibleâ due to its giant size and a highly unusual full-page portrait of Satan. The beauty of this book is that the whole text was completed in a single night.
According to the legend, a monk broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In return for his life, he promised that he would create a book to glorify the monastery. He started writing the text but was sure that he wouldn’t be able to complete it, so he asked for the Devilâs help. The Devil helped the monk to complete the giant book in just one night in exchange for the monk’s soul. People say it would take 20 years of non-stop writing to recreate the manuscript and not even the entire book, only the calligraphy part. (source)
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10The Picatrix
The Picatrix is a grimoire in the Arabian language. The book was written in the 10th or 11th century, it contains knowledge about astrology and occult magic.
The Picatrix is an ancient Arabian grimoire about astrology and occult magic. These 400 pages of astrological theory date back to the 10th or 11th century. It was originally written in Arabic and titled the Ghayat Al-Hakim, which translates to âThe Aim of the Sage.” The book covers spells, notorious magic recipes, and incantations to channel occult energies.
Its cryptic astrological descriptions and spells have been translated into different languages and used by many cultures as well as occult followers all over the world. The ingredients that are included in these magic spells are blood, bodily excretions, and brain matter mixed with opium and psychoactive plants. The book is also referred to as a âhandbook of talismanic magicâ and ârigorous exposition of celestial magic in the Arabic language.â