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[Tutorial] ̷B̷i̷b̷l̷i̷o̷m̷a̷n̷c̷y̷ Bibliurgy — Doing Magick With Books: An overlooked and underrated magickal paradigm

Informative post.
Some months ago, I sort of hinted that I was planning to share some methods of sorcery that I personally use. Originally, I wanted to write a book, and that is still the plan, but lord knows when I'll ever get around to that, so I am going to write a series of threads about the topics I wish to discuss. Obviously, even that is pretty delayed. I was supposed to write this thread months ago. Also note, they may not appear in the order that they will appear in the book, or generally speaking not the most logical order to read chronologically. That's because I just want to get on with writing these threads when I get the time, motivation, and interest in writing them.

This one will probably be one of the shorter, more actionable, less philosophical ones.

Wikipedia defines Bibliomancy as:
Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination. The method of employing sacred books for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world.

However, as with other similar terms (Geomancy, Necromancy, Pyromancy) in modern times, we generally don't refer to them as purely divination, but more as just general magickal practice within the paradigm of the prefix. Typically, though, Bibliomancy would refer to performing magick using existing written books (like tomes, grimoires etc) but I think it's a good word to use for what I am about to outline. I couldn't think of a better word.

Let me first simply outline the process I use for Bibliomancy in a short bullet list, before I expand on them before. You can follow this skeleton outline and put your own twist on it. Or, if you want to follow my method explicitly, keep reading and you'll see what I do.

  1. Obtain a fresh, blank book
  2. Consecrate the book, to prepare it for magickal practice
  3. Identify yourself at the beginning of the book
  4. Identify/create an entity that will help manifesting the desires you input into the book
  5. Charging/offerings to the book
  6. Inputting your desires/requests/commands into the book
  7. Book storage/care
  8. Afterword

Obtain a fresh blank book​

Well, this (and many of the other steps) is pretty self-explanatory. When we think of magickal books, our minds usually conjure up an image like:
1683323887340.png
or
1683323830945.png

But it really doesn't have to be some fancy/expensive virgin parchment clad in leather. These are the books I use, I buy them in packs of 5 from Amazon. They are small, easy to store, inconspicuous:
1683324071496.png

Consecrate the book, to prepare it for magickal practice​

When I first started doing this, I actually skipped this step. Still worked fine. So it's optional, and basically depends on many factors like:
  • Your existing preferred method
  • What you have on hand
  • The purpose of this particular magick book
Generally, I recommend having one specific purpose per book. Also one specific entity if you will be petitioning one. Use a method of consecration befitting that purpose/entity. If the goal is financial, you could use some Alebaran materia, you could put a talisman between the cover and the first page, you could light a candle and leave it in front of the book (don't burn your house down), or if you want something general purpose, you can try these methods:



Identify yourself at the beginning of the book​

How I do this, is I write my name, DoB, and a thumb print using either the oil I am using to consecrate/empower the book, if I am using an oil as part of the materia, or else I use ink. You can use other methods of identification depending on your goals. For example, you can use your HGAs name for you if you are petitioning your HGA. Many of us also have our own personal sigils, feel free to use that.

The idea is that since this is more of a passive communication method, and you are not directly interfacing that which you are petitioning, you need to strongly identify yourself so that the petitionee is crystal clear about who it is serving. Some goals may not require this, but I highly recommend it anyway.

If you want to be really hardcore, use a blood thumb print, which may also suffice as an offering.

Identify/create an entity that will help manifesting the desires you input into the book​

This depends on the desired outcome. I use a wide variety of spirits/powers/entites for financial purposes. From Aldebaran, to Spica, to Nitika, to simple servitors created specifically for, and confined to using the book. I also use Hermes/Mercury often, for assistance in having items delivered to me from other parts of the world, where normally I would struggle with customs/import issues. I have to say, I have been greatly successful with those 2 goals. You have perhaps already seen my Thanks/Praise - Thanksgiving to Hermes/Mercury! in Journals, Thanksgiving & Success Stories.

I will use Hermes/Mercury for the pruposes of description in this thread, so in this particular case, I identify Hermes/Mercury on a per-page (per-petition) basis, by drawing out the following sigils on each page:
mercury.png1280px-Caduceus.svg.png
Again, feel free to use a method that you feel will work for you and your purpose.

Charging/offerings to the book​

There are several methods you can use for this. Generally, for financial stuff, I put a rare coin or bank note (dolla dolla bill) between the front cover and first page or last page and back cover. However, for the Hermes/Mercury stuff, when undertaking the petition itself, I promise to make a thanksgiving post on WF (you may laugh at this, but I found it actually works for me). Candles and food/drink offerings also work well depending on the entity you are petitioning.

For me personally though, I have great success when using rare items/attention based rewards (public thanksgiving after the deed is done). If you are putting something in the book, remember that is then property of the petitionee, so do not carelessly spend it later, or you might find yourself undoing what you achieved.

Inputting your desires/requests/commands into the book​

Considering this is the meat of the matter for this method, it's probably the easiest part. Just write down what you want. Be clear, deliberate, and specific.

For my Hermes/Mercury stuff, I simply write the following:

HERMES / MERCURY:
BRING ME MY PACKAGE
QUICKLY
RELIABLY
SAFELY
WITHOUT HASSLE
<INSERT TRACKING NUMBER>

And surround the page with the sigils mentioned above. You can use this space to also vow your offering. Something like:

AND I SHALL
BRING YOU
GREAT FAME
AND
MANY THANKS

Adjust according to your desire and offering.

If you are following my Hermes/Mercury guide, your page should look something like this:

hermes-mercury-tutorial.jpg

Make sure you're in the right headspace, and your intention and will are strong.

Book storage/care​

I like to make sure that my books are either on or around me personally at all times OR in a safe, secure locker where I store all my magickal artifacts. Another suitable place would be on or around your altar, if you have a permanent one. As mentioned before, do not disturb the offerings/identifications/other items you have put inside the book. Once you have written your petition, do your best to clear it from your mind, and let the petitionee handle the hard work. Only open this book to make new petitions, and do not linger on the old ones. That's the reason I haven't added photos to this thread, and rather recreated it.

Treat this as an item of great power, worthy of your respect and care.

I would say do not re-cleanse or re-consecrate this, if you must, make a new book.

Afterword​

This thread has already gone longer than I had hoped, so let me keep this fairly brief. I must apologize for taking so long to get this written up. I often struggle with how much free time I can dedicate to WF, and of course there are higher priorities than writing content which is ostensibly the only task the members of WF actually can contribute to. However recently, I have noticed only a few actual guides/tutorials such as the great ones from @Yazata so I thought I would pull my weight and contribute something more directly consumable.

I implore you to try this method, it's in my top 3 favorite of all time. It works great for me, for any conceivable short-term, tangible goal. Obviously don't go writing "make me a billionaire tomorrow" but try things like "grant me finances for this months rent/this party" or the package thing I outlined in the tutorial above, or even things like getting your boss to have a more favorable attitude towards you.

I think the five main points to keep in mind to ensure your success with this method is:
  1. Concise, acheivable goals
  2. Picking the right petitionee
  3. Identifying yourself correctly
  4. Preserving the book in good condition
  5. Having a powerful intention while writing your petition
Everything else is just a nice to have, just those 5 things will definitely have you seeing results.

I think I covered everything pretty clearly, but if you have questions, feel free to list them below, and I'd be happy to see your success stories if you try this method. Use it responsibly.
 

KjEno186

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This is great! At first I thought this would be about oracle books like the I Ching (Book of Changes). As you noted, Wikipedia calls Bibliomancy a form of divination. I ordered a physical copy of the I Ching just this week, due to arrive some time next week. But what you describe is quite actionable for magicians of any level. I need to integrate this into my own practice!
 

SkullTraill

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This is great! At first I thought this would be about oracle books like the I Ching (Book of Changes). As you noted, Wikipedia calls Bibliomancy a form of divination. I ordered a physical copy of the I Ching just this week, due to arrive some time next week. But what you describe is quite actionable for magicians of any level. I need to integrate this into my own practice!
Yeah, to be fair I didn't know Bibliomancy was an actual existing thing when I decided to call this as such. I was just like... biblio - book related mancy - magick. I am open to any other word that could adequately characterize this method 😂

Great stuff. Gonna get a blank book today 👍
Nice! Keen to hear how it goes!
 

Yazata

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Got a nice blank book with a turquoise hardcover. Consecrated it Sunday. Wrote my name on the first page before the consecration but hated how it looked and tore out the page before consecration. Wanted to use it for help with lucid dreaming as a matter of fact but I also want to work more with the lunar aspect of my birthangel so I rearranged the letters as if "invoking Luna". Found a feather from my duvet and included that in it and made a dark ink from Mexican dream herb yesterday and dedicated the book to "my lunar Angel" yesterday.
 
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Still working on my ritual diary using Modern Magick; The Golden Dawn; Kabbalah, Magic, and the Great Work of Self Transformation...then will add required info for consecration and consecrate my Ritual Diary. May work toward completion on Wednesday (Mercury-Thoth-Odin-Hermes).
 

Sally_Walker

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This is a great idea to create a personal journal. I also like the idea of printing out pages from books and augmenting them with spell work to create petition papers. I think I would also like to make a binder of pages from my favorite books to use in divination. The pages could be added to and shuffled easily in a binder. Thank you for the tutorial.
 

Friggasdottir

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I find this post very gratifying as I already do something like this. I employed what is called a Black Book (though of course it doesn't have to be black) that I read about in a book called Weaving Fate by Aidan Wachter. You consecrate the book and use road opening herbs such as Abre Camino and write your book as if the things you desire have already transpired. I write in it like it's a journal and sometimes I go back and take a peek at what I've written much later and am shocked it actually transpired just as I wrote it. Well not shocked. More like pleasantly surprised.
Your method is a little more detailed. I shall have to see what I can incorporate.
 

FatherOfEnigma

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This was an awesome read. I've been a member of WF all of 30 minutes and I feel like I found a place to call home. I've been Journaling, Drawing, Compelling, and Divining using books as long as I've been a man of the Occult practice. I will absolutely be putting these instructions into practice. Thank you so much for helping me find a light in the darkness.
 

haak0n

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Read Aidan Wachter's Weaving Fate for a different spin on journal magic
 

Yazata

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Read Aidan Wachter's Weaving Fate for a different spin on journal magic
Read Aleister Crowley for a different spin on the spelling of Magick.

Seriously though: if anybody writes a tutorial or makes another original contribution that they've spent time and effort on, it's a bit of a bummer to see a reply that promotes something else instead without acknowledging the work of OP.
If you have worked with and had results with the book you mention, then you are free to write a review / succes story in the appropriate sections 👍
 

Fogseason

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Interesting stuff. I've gotten answers from any randomn book holy or not, consacrated or not. Last time i got a very solid answer from a paperback mystery that just happened to be the closest book within reach.
My belief is that intent is everything.
 
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Fairly interesting take on a complex tool. Basically a book of manifestation. Personally though I'd do more consecrations to strengthen it's effect so you don't have to go crazy with what you have to write in it. I did have a similar idea at one point but at that time it was more trouble than it was worth for me personally. I might get around to making my own take on a book like this.
 

pixel_fortune

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Oh this is really neat!

I think it would be good to rename it if possible - I didn't read this post until now because I already know what bibliomancy is and didn't need a tutorial (and you can see from Fogseason's comment that they clearly didn't read the post and think it's the divination method). So, people are missing out on rad content for an easily fixable reason

Maybe "bibliurgy"? (The "urgy" in thaumaturgy and theurgy means "work" basically, so it would be book-work, but the connotation is magical)

If I was reading it fresh, I would expect bibliurgy to be a broad term that encompasses your practice, bibliomancy, hypersigils, and other forms of book magic not yet devised

My preference (not that it matters) is to drop the "mancy" because it is pretty much exclusively used for divination outside of fantasy books (geomancy, cartomancy etc) but if you're married to the "mancy" then an option would be "libromancy", using the Latin instead of Greek for book.

(You might be worried that that's mixing greek and Latin roots, but "mancy" is used in Latin as well as Greek so it's okay on that front imo)
 

SkullTraill

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Oh this is really neat!

I think it would be good to rename it if possible - I didn't read this post until now because I already know what bibliomancy is and didn't need a tutorial (and you can see from Fogseason's comment that they clearly didn't read the post and think it's the divination method). So, people are missing out on rad content for an easily fixable reason

Maybe "bibliurgy"? (The "urgy" in thaumaturgy and theurgy means "work" basically, so it would be book-work, but the connotation is magical)

If I was reading it fresh, I would expect bibliurgy to be a broad term that encompasses your practice, bibliomancy, hypersigils, and other forms of book magic not yet devised

My preference (not that it matters) is to drop the "mancy" because it is pretty much exclusively used for divination outside of fantasy books (geomancy, cartomancy etc) but if you're married to the "mancy" then an option would be "libromancy", using the Latin instead of Greek for book.

(You might be worried that that's mixing greek and Latin roots, but "mancy" is used in Latin as well as Greek so it's okay on that front imo)
Thanks for being pretty much the only person to give some better name suggestions. I really was struggling, that's why I gave up and relegated the name to bibliomancy. I do think if it wasn't for I-Ching people wouldn't be as quick to assume it was divination, since even outside of fiction on modern times we have words like Necromancy which aren't specific to divination anymore.

I'm of the belief that back in the day, ancient magick was pretty much either divination, prayer, or herbalism/brewing, and the act of actually performing magick (chaos/ceremonial) is a relatively recent development, and that lead to lines being blurred for the -mancy suffix.

In any case though, the fact is that calling this "Bibliomancy" is going to be confusing to most people, and a better name is certainly welcome. I'm partial to "bibliurgy" because "libromancy" somewhat feels to me as if you're using existing books to perform magick rather than creating new books. Plus, if we're changing the name might as well ditch the -mancy completely in favor of complete accuracy.

Thanks for this.
 

pixel_fortune

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Oh I'm happy that was useful!

Weirdly, I hadn't made the Neuromancer connection. It was probably in my head because Lux Occult podcast always does a "bibliomancy break" in their interviews.

A book I read had a "kleptomancer" in it - he would steal some important object, and then watch everyone's scrambling reactions to see where the lines of power and intrigue lay
Post automatically merged:

But back to the actual topic, the magic here:

Reading your post, it seems to me that a book is a sort of vessel (the story of, say, Neuromancer isn't the physical papery object itself, the book is a vessel that holds the story)

A pen is a directional tool like a wand, but a book is more like a jar spell or money bowl

A way of holding together various different elements so they interact and build power
 
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