Creating Trithemius

7/27/2019 Creating Trithemius

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CREATING TRITHEMIUS' TABLE OF PRACTICE

An excercise in magical handcraft

In late 2009 a friend and I had set out to perform the Arbatel rituals of conjuring the Olympic Spirits. A

lot of material has been published on this subject both offline and online and I have captured the most

important resources for our personal work below.

When approaching this project, however, I decided to take a slightly different stance: Rather than

performing the Arbatel rituals for reasons of personal material gain or spiritual support, my focus should

be entirely on understanding the nature of the Olympic Spirits themselves by use of direct ritual

communication. The series of rituals therefore was conceived as an exploration into the nature of the

Olympic Spirits through questions and answers.

It was in light of this context that we decided to use an evocative approach to these rituals - and

Trithemius Table of Practice as the centre of the operations. Our goal was to conjure the Olympic Spirit

into the crystal (or black magic mirror in my case) and use this magic device as the link for mental

communication with the Olympic Spirits.

My ongoing reports on theArbatel rituals can be found in the Circle section. This text is dedicated to

the description of how we crafted Trithemius Table of Practice to our best abilities over the course of

several months.

1) The Design

The design of Trithemius Table of Practice is described in the small volume The Magic and Philosophy

of Trithemius Spanheim: Containing his Book of Secret Things and Doctrine of Spirits. We used the

beautifully bound copy published by Hell Fire Club Books. However, the text most well known source is

as an appendix to The Magus from Francis Barrett, a copy of which can is also available online here on

Joseph Petersons Sacred Texts.

The actual description of the crystal table is relatively short:


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Procure of a lapidary good clear pellucid crystal, of the bigness of

a small orange, i. c. about one inch and a half in diameter; let it be

globular or round each way alike; then, when you have got this

crystal, fair and clear, without any clouds or specks, get a smallplate of pure gold to encompass the crystal round one half; let this

be fitted on an ivory or ebony pedestal, as you may see more fully

described in the drawing, (see the Plate, fig. I.) Let there be

engraved a circle (A) round the crystal with these characters

around inside the circle next the crystal; afterwards the name

"Tetragrammaton". On the other side of the plate let there be

engraven "Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael;" which are the fourprincipal angels ruling over the Sun, Moon, Venus and Mercury;

but on the table on which the crystal stands the following names,

characters, &c. must be drawn in order. First, The names of the

seven planets and angels ruling them, with their seals or

characters. The names of the four kings of the four corners of the

earth. Let them be all written within a double circle, with a

triangle on a table; on which place the crystal on its pedestal: this

being done, thy table is complete (as in the Fig. D,) and fit for the

calling of the spirits (...)

The illustration that can be found mentioned as Fig.D is the following

(right).


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On first reading it was clear we needed to amend this design to fit our budgets and purpose. In the

original description the whole device is made up of four elements: the crystal, the gold plate, the

ivory/ebony pedestal and the table. While we were committed to staying true to the essence of the

original, we had to amended the set up to match our limited handcraft skills. Neither of us is a goldsmith

nor a carpenter.

After several weeks of study we landed on a design that brought all the carvings together on a

horizontal wooden table onto which the actual crystal would be placed. As we had set out to design a

table each, we decided to create one fit for a crystal and the other fit for a black mirror.

The actual elements of the carvings are given as follows:

These 3 symbols inside a circle around the crystal:

The Tetragrammaton next to or around the three symbols

Then the names of the 4 archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael

On the opposite side of the table the names, characters, etc. (sic!) of:

the seven planets with their seals,

the ruling angels with their seals and

the names of the four kings of the four corners of the earth

We knew that the whole table had to fit on our altar in the middle of the circle of art at the end of the

day. After measuring the maximum space we could give to the table it turned out it couldnt measure

more than 13 inch (30cm) in diameter. Secondly, we knew we wanted to create the whole table from

wood and carve all seals, characters and names on it - rather than just painting or drawing them on.

Thus we tested carving magical seals into wood with a standard Dremel device and the finest drill

applicable. This allowed us to understand the maximum amount of elements in our design that would fit

onto a wooden disc of 13 inch diameter.

After these practical considerations we went back to the drawing board and came up with the following

design:


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We clearly took artistic freedom here and e.g. brought together the seals of the front and back of the

table as well as the table and the pedestal on one single surface. We also decided to leave away the

names of the four kings of the corner of the earth; it would have simply congested the design we had in

mind. However, we still felt confident in doing so as this created a full magical circle around the actual

crystal. This was a desired effect as the crystal would be used as the locus of manifestation and would

be place inside our circle of art on the altar. Thus any spirit materializing in the crystal would be bound

by the circle, names and seals on the Table of Practice.

Here is a schematic overview of the structure of the ritual space we had in mind when using the Table

of Practice in future rituals:


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2) The Materials

On the side of the materials used it was obvious that embedding our crystal into a gold plate wouldnt

be possible. Ivory on the other hand didnt come into question due to ethical reasons and - more

practically - we would not have had the means to craft a fitting pedestal from it.

After several weeks of study on the internet we did settle on two types of wood that seemed to be a

good compromise with regards to density, color, texture and our ability to craft a crystal table from

them. This was Pardouk as the base of the table and Ebony as the triangle embedded into it onto which

the actual crystal would be placed.


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3) The Production

The production process basically followed eight stages which each got tested before we applied it to

our tables.

1. Pre-cutting of table (Pardouk) and inset triangle (Ebony) wood

2. Excavating the inset triangle space from the ground table

3. Plane fitting of the ebony triangle into the ground table

4. Copying of design onto ground table

5. Drilling the design into the ground table wood

6. Filling the drillings with dry and opaque colors

7. Abrasive finishing

8. Excavating the hollow from the ebony triangle (Crystal version) / Screwing the black

magic mirror on top of the ebony triangle (Mirror version)

The pre-cutting was done by a professional carpenter for us. There was simply no way we could have

cut that size of Pardouk to a downright circle of 13 inches. Equally, ebony is very hard and dry wood.

Cutting it into the equilateral triangle that would be fitted into the ground plate of Pardouk had to be

done with professional machines. The results, however, were great.

Then we got out hands on the wood and started to excavate the space of the equilateral triangle from

the table base. Neither of us had done this work before and so we were extremely careful in order to

achieve the right shape and depths. The goal was to create an ebony inlay that was absolutely smooth

and plane. Here is the result from the third stage of the process.


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Copying the design onto this raw table turned out to be more difficult than expected. Mostly because of

the size of the design: it didnt fit on a single piece of paper and the circle on the outside of the table as

well as the circle around the triangle had to be very exact.

I still remember the day when we sat together in my living room - dozens of photocopies of the design

around us, all in different sizes matched onto two DinA4 papers stuck together, manifold paper

blackening our fingers... and very far away from the exact blueprint we needed for our tables.

Finally, however, it worked out and we were ready to take the tables back into the barn behind my

house to start drilling the design into the wood.


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Despite from the design and researching the material and tools to be used, it was this stage of the

process that took the lion-share of time. The carving of the hebrew names as well as the archangel

names was okay once we got used to it. It even started to be great fun after we realized we actually

would be able to do this and complete the table - at some point.

It was the more intricate design of the filigree circles and seals that gave us some sleepless nights. For

each seal we only had one try to get it right or to mess up the entire table. While we both didnt get it

perfectly right, we still avoided major errors that ruined the design.


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The next phase was easy compared to the previous one. Yet, again everything was the first time and

we didnt know how the colors would enhance or ruin the design. Ideally we wanted them to look like

inlays rather than colors. However, even after visiting multiple artist shops we werent exactly sure that

we had chosen the best possible solution...


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Once we applied the color things got worse. It was impossible to spot wether we enhanced the design

or just ruined the whole thing. So we went through the entire process patiently, applied all colors in

sequence and waited until they were fully dried. Only then did we polish all superfluous color off and

brought the even surface of the table out again.


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The final stage was to screw the black mirror on top of the Table of Practice. As mentioned above, we

built two versions. One for a crystal ball and one for a mirror; as mine is the later you only get to see

these pictures here.

I should also mention that I had to leave away the three symbols in the corners of the ebony triangle.

The wood simply proved to be so dry at that point that any further carving would have made it break.

Similarly I didnt want to paint them onto the beautiful black wood as this was against the entire spirit of

the project and wouldnt have done justice to the surface of the ebony.

Thus I decided less was more and finished the Table of Practice.


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Note: It might be worthy pointing out that the mirror was a different project itself. The surface is created

according to Franz Bardons instruction for physical condensers and then coated with black paint in

multiple layers.

It has been more than half a year since we finished our Tables of Practice. Meanwhile we have both

performed our first round of rituals with it in full use; including the first ritual of the Arbatel series.

It is hard to evaluate success of the design and device, simply because it is the only Table of Practice

we have put to use. I cannot speak to effects it would produce in case we had kept the full original

design or the differentiation between front and back of the Table. However, I can say that we are both

very happy with the results this version produces.


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If it doesnt work it is not worth pursuing, but if it does work then

it is worth pursuing thoroughly.

(Skinner & Rankine, The Keys to the Gateway of Magic, p.11)

Frater Acher, MMX

May the serpent bit its tail.

Selected Resources

Bardon, Franz, Die Praxis der Magischen Evokation, Hermann Baur Verlag, 1982

Bardon, Franz, Der Weg zum Wahren Adepten, Hermann Baur Verlag, 1982

Magian Rumination, Everything Arbatel - Digest of Internet Links

McLean, Adam (ed.), A Treatise of Angel Magic, Weiser Books, 2006

Northcote, Thomas, Crystal Gazing, The De La More Press, 1905

Peterson, Joseph (ed.), Arbatel - Concerning the Magic of the Ancients, Ibis Press,

2009

Runyon, Carroll Poke, The Book of Solomons Magic, Church of Hermetic Sciences,

2008

Skinner, Stephen & Rankine, David, The Keys to the Gateway of Magic:

Summoning the Solomonic Archangels and Demon Princes, Golden Hoard Press,

2005

Trithemius, The Magic and Philosophy of Trithemius Spanheim: Containing his Book

of Secret Things and Doctrine of Spirits, Hell Fire Club Books, 2008

Documents

Creating Trithemius