Steganographia, hoc est: Ars per occultam scripturam
Steganography: The Art of Hidden Writing
prdl-24395_steganographia-hoc-est-ars-per-occultam-scripturam
About this work
The Steganographia is Trithemius's most famous and most notorious work: a treatise in three books, written about 1499–1500 and circulated for a century in manuscript before it was first printed (Frankfurt, 1606). On its surface it is a manual of angel-magic — long conjurations addressed to spirit-princes and their subordinate spirits, each governing a quarter of the heavens, a wind, or an hour of the day. Beneath that surface it is a cryptographic system: the "conjurations" are cover-text, and the real message is carried by the spirit-names and the numeric keys tabulated for each prince. It was the disguise that undid him. Manuscript copies reached readers they were not meant for — Carolus Bovillus among them — who took the spirit-magic at face value and accused Trithemius of necromancy; the book was placed on the Index, and the third book's reputation as genuinely demonic persisted until its cipher was solved — first by Thomas Ernst (1996), then independently by Jim Reeds (1998). Trithemius's own answer to the charge is the Trithemius sui ipsius vindex of 1616, also in this corpus (prdl-32287).
The Latin source here is the 1621 Darmstadt edition — printed by Balthasar Aulaeander (the Latinized name of Balthasar Hofmann) at the expense of Johann Berner — recovered from the Bibliothèque nationale de France / Gallica. The work was absent from this corpus's original acquisition pass and was reassembled from its 168 IIIF page-images. It was re-OCR'd with the same vision model used across the corpus and translated by GPT-5.5 with a Fable 5 review pass against the page scans; the review recovered the cipher tables and the Early-New-High-German cover-text letters that a first pass tends to flatten into placeholders. The cipher is decoded — in a separate cryptanalysis (eleven modi, II–XI and XXXII–XXXIX, decoded by inverting each modus's printed alphabet) on the cipher solutions page. In the body translation here the Latin and its German cover-text are rendered as they stand, not decoded inline. For the cryptographic machinery see the companion Clavis texts (prdl-70281, prdl-70282), Ernst (1996) and Reeds (1998), and for the comprehensive English edition Stephen Skinner & Daniel Clark, Steganographia: Books I–IV (Llewellyn, 2024). Under the corpus-wide conservative recalibration, the work is displayed at audit tier A; further work-by-work grading remains necessary.
English translation
Steganography: The Art of Hidden Writing
A sure art of disclosing one’s mind to those absent by means of hidden writing
By Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim
Prefixed to this work is its key, or true introduction, composed by the author himself; until now indeed much desired by many, but seen by very few. Now, however, for the sake of students of the more secret philosophy, it has been made public.
With privilege, by consent of superiors.
Darmstadt. From the printing office of Balthasar [Aulaeandt?], at the expense of Johannes Berner, bookseller of Frankfurt. In the year 1621.
To [unclear], reader.
You must be advised, candid reader, that of the letters R. and S. in this work, written sometimes with numbers, sometimes with characters, sometimes with words, either above the page or added in the margin, the former is the mark of rubric, or red color, while the latter is the mark of ink, or black color. Moreover you will also observe this: that the individual titles of the individual chapters are likewise to be painted and adorned in rubric. The importance of this matter you may seek from the Key prefixed to the work. Farewell.
Book I
Addressed to Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire
It is the opinion of the learned that the most ancient sages, whom in Greek speech we call philosophers, if they discovered any secrets either of nature or of art, concealed them in various ways and figures, lest they should come to the knowledge of wicked men. The more learned among the Jews also affirm that Moses, the most famous leader of the Israelite nation, in his description of the creation of heaven and earth, covered the secrets of ineffable mysteries with simple words. Saint Jerome too, most learned among our own, affirms that there lie hidden in the Apocalypse of John almost as many mysteries as words. I pass over the sages of the Greeks, who were not held in slight esteem among their own people, and I leave aside our own most learned philosophers and poets, who, devoting their labor to the writing of fables, handed down one thing to the unlearned and another to learned men within the course of a single narrative, by sagacious invention.
Although I cannot perfectly imitate these most devoted lovers of wisdom because of the slowness of my mind, nevertheless I do not cease to admire them and to read them with all the diligence I can. Since they, by their own zeal, [unclear] great things for men of former times [unclear] devised
Preface.
to have thought it out, I consider; and, stirring myself with a certain force, so that I may grow warm, I impel myself toward some imitation, even among the latest, of those who have gone before. Nor, as I think, has my opinion wholly deceived me, since by continual study in reading I have learned many things that I had not known before, and by my reflections I have opened an approach to investigating more secret and more deeply hidden matters than the rest.
For although I am not of such great learning or industry that I would dare to profess that I have in every respect grasped that method of the ancient wise men for concealing mysteries, nevertheless I have discovered certain varied methods, not wholly to be despised, as it seems to me, by which I can safely, and without deception, suspicion, or detection by anyone, communicate the most secret intention of my mind to another who knows this art, as widely as I may wish, through open messengers or letters. And this new invention of a most secret art, at the urgent request of the most serene prince, Lord Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, and ever most invincible Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the wisest patron of all philosophers, than whom no one seemed to me more worthy to have this great secret revealed to him, I committed to writing and, not without very great labors, brought together into the following volume.
But lest this great secret come to the ears of common, unlearned, or depraved men, I considered it no small part of the duty of my office to wrap it, since it teaches mysteries, in mysteries unintelligible to one who does not know, so that no one from the number of the unlearned, no one unless most studious, will be able by his own power perfectly and fully to penetrate the secret of this science according to our intention, except through reception from a teacher, which the Hebrews call Cabala, set forth in most hidden mysteries. Nor would the knowledge of this most secret art, if spread among the wicked and reprobate, harm the commonwealth less than it would benefit the good. For just as good men and those devoted to virtues use every aid for good and for common utility, so evil and reprobate men hunt out occasions for themselves, not only from evil things but even from good and most holy institutions, by which they may become worse. The like can happen to this most secret aid of ours, otherwise useful to the commonwealth and most honorable: just as it offers itself to good and most holy men as an instrument for the best things, so perversely [unclear].
[Preceding page illegible in the source.]
PREFACE.
…[as far as] I am able, and before Jesus Christ his Son, who is to judge the living [and] the dead, in truth I say, I swear, I protest: that all and singular [things] which I have said, or am about to say, in this work, and all the properties, modes, figures, operations, traditions, receptions, formations, inventions, institutions, mutations, [and] alterations of this science or art—everything which pertains to its speculation, invention, attainment, [and] practical operation, whether in part or in whole—are all contained in this our volume, rest upon true, catholic, natural principles, and are all and singular done with God, with a good conscience, without injury to the Christian faith, with the integrity of ecclesiastical tradition, without any superstition whatsoever, without idolatry, without any pact—explicit or implicit—with malign spirits; without suffumigation, adoration, veneration, worship, sacrifice, [or] oblation to demons; without any fault or sin, whether venial or mortal: and all and singular are done with truth, rectitude, sincerity, [and] purity—so that the knowledge of this invention, [its] practice to a good use, may not misbecome a wise man, a good and faithful Christian. For I am a Christian, voluntarily devoted to the monastic way of life, and I desire to live and converse no otherwise than befits a true Christian monk professed under the rule of the Divine father Benedict. And the Catholic faith itself, according to the tradition of the holy Roman Church, I received from the cradle, baptized in the name of the Father [and] of the Holy Spirit; which [faith], together with the universal Church of Christians itself, I hold and believe; and as long as I shall live, with God's help ever keeping it firmly inviolate, I will hold [it] in heart, mouth, and work, nor do I ever intend to deviate from it on any occasion. Far therefore be it from me either to learn or to teach anything that is contrary to the purity of the Christian faith, harmful to the saints, or in any way adverse to my regular purpose. I fear God, and have sworn unto his worship—from whom neither living, nor (as I trust) dead, shall I be separated. This
Preface.
I have placed this protestation of mine at the head of this whole work of ours not without cause, because I know that there will be many who, since they cannot understand the things we have written, will turn to insults and will attribute our good and holy studies to evil arts or superstitious inventions. To all these, since they will exist, and to whoever will read this syntagma of ours, we earnestly beseech that, if they understand this secret tradition of ours, they keep it hidden forever, and not pour forth into public view mysteries so wondrous. But if they do not understand it, as we know will happen to many, let them learn before they criticize. For indeed he shows himself a rash judge who pronounces sentence on a matter before he has recognized the truth. First learn this art, then judge; but if you are unable to understand it, condemn not the art itself, because it is good, but your own dull wits. For I know and am certain that no one of sound mind can criticize this work of ours, unless he happens to be wholly ignorant of it. But those for whom it is more familiar to despise wisdom than to have learned it, I neither desire nor would wish to penetrate these mystical matters of ours.
I
Chapter I.
Whose Key and Operation Is Held by the Principal Spirit Pamersyel, Anoyr Madriel, through the Ministry of Ebrasothean, Abrulges i Trasbiel. And Nadres Ormennitules Rablion Hamorphiel. To these the commission of all things is made with an exorcism.
The operation of this first chapter is very difficult and full of dangers, because of the pride and rebellion of its spirits, who obey no one unless he has become most experienced in this art. For they not only do not obey novices and those less tested in the art, but even, if they are pressed too hard, they frequently injure them and afflict them with various illusions. They are malicious and faithless above all aerial spirits, and obey absolutely no one unless compelled by the greatest sacraments; and the secret entrusted to them they often faithlessly show to others. For as soon as they have been sent out with letters, they fly away and, breaking in without order toward the one to whom they are sent, like a people fleeing from battle without a leader, they hurry furiously and, filling the air with their shouting, often reveal the sender's secrets to everyone nearby. We therefore advise that no one who is going to work in this art compel them, nor anxiously seek their services. For they are insolent and faithless, when he can find many among those whom we shall mention subsequently who are sufficiently well-disposed, who of their own accord offer themselves ready for obedience. But if anyone should absolutely wish to experience their insolence and to test that the things we have said are true, let him know that the following manner must be observed. Let him prepare the paper on which he is going to write with an invocation of the divine name, in the name of the Father and of the Son
[unclear] and of the Son, the Holy Spirit. Then, however, let him write in it whatever simple, open narrative he wishes, which all who read it may understand, in Latin, in his native tongue, or in any other language. But when he has sat down to write facing the East, let him compel the spirits thus: Pamerfiel oshurmy delmuson Thaftoyn peano charustea melany, lyaminto colchan, paroys, madyn, moerlay, bulre† atloor don melcoue peloin, ibutsyl meon mysbreath alini driaco person. Crisolnay, lemon asosle mydar, icoriel pean thalmō, asophiel il notreon banyel ocrimos esteuor naelma besro, nathaomor fronian beldodrayn bon otalmesgo mero fas el-nathyn bosramoth. When he has said these things, and the spirits seem to him to be present for obedience, let him continue the work begun. But if they have not yet appeared, let him repeat what has now been said so many times until they appear; or let him break off entirely, lest, being too greatly compelled, they harm the operator. But when you have completed the letters, send them as intended with a messenger to a friend approved in the art; when he has received them, let him say this conjuration: Lamarton anoyr bulon madriel traschon ebrasothea panthenon nabrułges Camery itras-bier rubanthy nadres Calmosi ormenulan, ytules demyrabion hamorphyn. When these things have been said, he will soon understand your mind perfectly, the spirits now offering themselves of their own accord to those calling, so that very often others who are present are able to perceive the secret of the sender. But observe that in all letters which you send written by this art you imprint your own sign, so that the one to whom you write may know through which spirits you have operated. For if he himself were to operate through some spirits for understanding, but through others for sending, they would never obey him for all eternity, but for the improper operation would injure him and would by no means reveal your secret. For all the spirits whom we use in this art keep only the ranks and duties committed to them; they by no means meddle with others. Consider carefully all that we have said in this chapter; you will more easily be able to understand what we are going to say in the following ones. And so that
And so that we may prove by example the things which we have said, let us set out our intention in the vernacular language, which we shall accordingly make known to a friend in the manner stated before.
Let this be the secret intention of mind of some prince, which he desires his absent vassal to know.
Roth.
Dear faithful one, we intend, for proper cause, to make war on those of Strasbourg and to attack them with our whole force on the next Wednesday after Vitus and Modestus. Therefore it is our earnest desire of you, as you are bound to us by oath and vow and obligated to faithful services, that on that same day, well equipped according to your ability, you appear at four after midday near Strauffenburg in the forest. (Here the letters were placed thus.) You would find further instruction there, to follow and not fail to appear. We will acknowledge this graciously toward you, and keep this plan of ours with you in high secrecy.
For making this secret known
To the vassal, with the fuller intention of the sender, let it be written thus, or in another manner:
Roth.
Almighty, everlasting God, who created all things out of nothing, have mercy on us through the most bitter passion on the cross of your only-begotten Son as he died, who, conceived of the Holy Spirit without male intercourse, was born of the most pure ever-Virgin Mary, and, handing himself over voluntarily to death for us, by his most holy blood, dying, freed our souls from death. Hear us wretches, O most merciful Father, and through the outpouring of the most sacred blood of the same your sweetest Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us our sins and pour your grace into our hearts, so that, loving you in all things and above all things with sincere fervor, henceforth we may love nothing earthly against your commandments, and seek nothing perishable. For you are the Lord our God, who from the beginning created us in your image and likeness when we did not exist; and through your beloved Son
Rodes, and ministers subject by full right, sometimes thirty, sometimes twenty, sometimes ten, and sometimes all of them, go forth together with all their attendants at the command of their princes, in this order: so that, however many of their number have been summoned by the operator, at the command of the great Virtues, from the second or third order, just as many servants and guards also come with them to the principal one, who is Malgaras. Again, under these are others, as messengers and doorkeepers, without a fixed number, who often assemble mingled with them. We do not possess the names of all these spirits. But those which it is necessary for the operator to know we shall set forth in each chapter. And note that all these Spirits are with their chief emperor, each in the quarter of the world assigned to him, as is clear in the table.
CHAPTER II.
WHOSE PRINCE IS CALLED PADIEL Roth. Subsolanus, having under him 10,000 daytime ministers, 200,000 nighttime ministers, and many other subordinate servants, whose number is uncertain.
Since, as we said in the preceding chapter, Pamersiel, with his aforesaid Spirits, is implacable and untrustworthy, and does not readily obey all who desire to work in this art, but scarcely even those most experienced in it, we wish in the present chapter to make the art safer, and to show the manner of working in it through better Spirits, who are well-disposed, ready, and cheerful in obeying the one who summons them, and who, when summoned in the proper manner and at the proper time, come without delay, and faithfully carry out what has been entrusted to them without any deceit. The first chief emperor and president of this operation is called by the name Padiel, Subsolanus, with a circular dwelling, which is the first dwelling after the east. He has under himself ten thousand who preside over the day and over all the daytime operations of this art; they command and lead forth the nighttime Spirits lurking in darkness, who are two hundred thousand in number. All flee light and day, [unclear]
and day except one, who is the messenger to the presiding Spirits. All are good and well-disposed, and they do not harm the operator unless he is malicious or less skilled in the art. It is not necessary to summon all of them at once, but a few suffice, and sometimes one can satisfy the operator, whether the operation is by night or by day. For since they are well-disposed, quiet, and peaceful, they are more often solitary wanderers than tumultuous in a crowd. Therefore, when you wish to work through them and to communicate the secret of your mind through them to someone, however absent he may be, do this. Write on paper previously prepared in the proper manner, as you know, whatever narrative you wish and in whatever language, because it makes no difference, since he will perceive your mind not from the paper, but from the Spirits. While writing, turn yourself toward the subsolanus; when this is completed, say this conjuration: Padiel aporsy mesarpon omeuas peludyn malpreaxo. Condusen, vlearo thersephi bayl merphon, paroys gebuly mailthomyon iltheartamarson acrimy lon peatha Casmy Chertiel, medony reabdo, lafontriaciel mal arti bulomeon abry pathulmon theoma pathormyn. When you have completed these words, you will see two, or at least one, of the Spirits present most peacefully and ready to obey your will. And to him you shall entrust your secret, and he will faithfully carry out what you have ordered. But when the letter has come by the messenger to the person to whom it is sent, if he is alone, well; if he is with others, let him withdraw apart if he can, or, if he can, turned toward the subsolanus, let him say this conjuration in silence: Padiel ariel vanerhon chio tarson phymatto merphon amcorsy, paneryn atle pachungel thearan vtrul vt solubito beslonty las gomadyne metarnothy. When these words have been duly spoken, the Spirit sent will immediately appear, revealing to him perfectly, with no one else perceiving it, whatever you entrusted to be revealed to him, without deceit and without any danger. No one malicious and wicked can easily work in this art, but the better and purer someone has been, the more willingly and cheerfully the Spirits
...they obey with greater cheerfulness. And the more each person conceals this knowledge, the more easily he will operate. And note that this Padiel, with his spirits, is appointed to announce secret notifications for the correction, imprisonment, and punishment of evildoers, as we have shown by the example set out below.
The Secret of the Intention, Which Is to Be Entrusted Not to [unclear] Letters, but to the Spirits of the Second Mansion.
Someone has been denounced before a prince, and some crime is laid against him, whether of injured majesty or any other kind. The prince wishes him to be punished by his official, from whom he is far separated; but he does not wish to write this very thing to him, lest, if the letters are disclosed by any chance, the accused man be warned and flee, or resist with the joined forces of his friends, or contrive something hostile against the prince or the laws of the fatherland. He writes this or any other narrative to his prefect, one which he need not fear being read by everyone; but he entrusts the secret to the spirit, in the manner that we have said before, who will faithfully tell his secret to the person to whom he is sent, provided that he has first been instructed in this art.
Sincere charity. I send you a prayer for the devotion of penitents, composed rather beautifully and briefly, which [unclear] of my goodwill did not wish [unclear] to possess alone; and it is as follows. Deliver us, Jesus Christ, eternal savior of all the good, and pardon the offenses of the guilty; hear our groans, calming the storms of vices and renewing the oldness of conscience; lead us back to the eternal paradise. Good Jesus, remit our sins to us as we pray, for we have gravely offended and have often relapsed. Sweetest savior, heal our infirmities, we ask. Be kind to those who beg you, most pious Jesus, and hear us, your servants, as we supplicate. We are men wrapped in continual miseries and plunged into the greatest storms. Rescue us, most victorious consoler of the troubled, for our life is continually corrupted, buried in happiness. Have mercy only, most merciful Jesus, savior; look upon the humility of those who love you, and do not allow us exiles to be drowned in the flood and foulness of vices, in the love of the world. Until now we have lain sluggish, and bound fast by vices we have esteemed our salvation little, and have scarcely remembered the examination to come. Most kindly Creator, be propitious to your servants, and save those weeping ones whom the most wretched vanity of the world has deceived. Alas, we have all neglected the way of Truth; but deliver us, fixed in the mud and exiles, for you are our Savior, Jesus, who despise no one. You are the unfailing joy and everlasting happiness of the saints, our hope, the glory of Christians, the light of angels, the rewarder of unconquered martyrs, the crown of virgins, the honor of widows. Good Jesus, hear us humble ones crying to you; deliver us from the present exile, granting us grace, that we may live without end. Give life, we ask, to us, your wretched servant-exiles, whom you have redeemed, that we may attain the true zeal of justice. Preserve us, almighty God, infinite majesty, boundless mercy, eternal salvation of noble souls. Amen. End of the prayer of Johannes Trithemius, abbot.
Another Prayer, Whose Conjuration Is Padiel Melion, Parme, Camiel Busayr, Ilnoma, Venoga, Pamelochyn.
Z Z ♦
Receive also this not unbecoming prayer. The lover of human salvation, the greatest creator of all things, imposed on us obedience to the commandments, which we are all bound to obey out of love; and to those who obey he promised the reward of possessing the tabernacle of eternal happiness. Let us look upon the obedience of Christ, which we should take care to imitate, so that we may deserve to enter into the eternal happiness promised to us, and to be joined to the everlasting mansions of the angels. Let us do penance while we can, spending precious time fruitfully. Let us beware lest death snatch us unprepared, which refuses to grant delay to anyone. Therefore, brothers, do not delay doing penance. For death will come swiftly to you, which none of you can long escape. Therefore behold your days passing by, beginning penance while you have time. The hour of departing from here is approaching. O death, most terrible of terrible things, how swiftly you consume us wretches, and make our very brief sojourn, full of many injuries, cruel for the miserable. Let us wake up, wretches, with Jesus our most pious Savior exhorting and bearing witness to us, so that we may accuse our shameful negligences, and with good works...
Let this be the most secret intention of my mind, which I wish an absent person to know through the aforesaid spirits.
[unclear]
Roth.
If I am stationed at Rome, I learn from the most secret council of the supreme pontiff that he himself wishes to transfer the Roman Empire to the Franks. I desire to warn the princes of Germany: I cannot do it by messengers, whom I do not trust; I cannot do it by letters, because in all the cities of Italy there are men appointed at the gates who most carefully search those passing through. Therefore I write a single devout prayer, which I send openly by a messenger, together with other closed familiar letters to those same princes. I summon the spirits of the third mansion and command them to follow the letters that are to be sent. And when they have been called by the recipient, they must not omit to reveal to him my secret intention, which I did not dare entrust to letters. They come, they go, they obey.
We all die, because we have all contracted the hereditary guilt of original fault; and no one lives who is not to die in a very short time. We contracted original sin in Adam and Eve. But all human beings die the death of the body because of the wretched rashness of mother Eve. Yet Jesus, the conqueror of death, by freeing us, drove away the death of the soul. O Jesus Christ crucified, look upon our humility, for we are most wretched, unhappy, and afflicted by many tribulations. Therefore, most merciful King of heaven, we ask: grant us contrition and forgiveness of all sins, on account of your surpassing humility by which you redeemed us from the distressing darkness of hell and from harmful passions. O our blessedness, most merciful Jesus, O sweetest lover of innocence, what shall I repay you? You, holy and innocent, suffer for us. Whither shall we flee when you come to the examination of judgment? You will come with power to render reward to each person according to his conscience. And all things will be naked before you; nor will anything be hidden from you of which you do not have knowledge. Therefore, while you live, brothers, do penance, and anticipate the strict examination of almighty God by works of mercy. Wipe away crimes with tears, and, relieving the labors of the poor, make God placable toward you. For he is kind to those who call upon him. Therefore, while there is time, seek his mercy. Always give thanks to him who redeemed you, Jesus Christ crucified for the salvation of human beings who fear the Lord.
Let this be another form of secrets, which is entrusted to the spirits.
The secret remains stored in my mind, concerning my coming soon in secret to a male friend or female friend. I do not dare write this very thing, lest it become public, which a difficult cause forbids; nor entrust it through a messenger, because there is the same danger. I call a spirit, entrust the matter; it comes, goes, carries the secret most secretly. I am safe in the form of the letters which I send; it becomes as familiar as one likes, so that the occasion may not be lacking.
Greetings in the Lord. The bearer of the present letter, brother Arnoldus Bostius, has composed many admirable volumes on various subjects, as, among many other things, you will find written at the end, where mention is made of the living, in our book that I sent you some time ago, which is entitled On Ecclesiastical Writers. I commend so great a man, notable for religion and the grace of the arts, to your sincerity, dearest supporter, and I ask very much that you receive him with that familiarity with which you have been accustomed to receive all those joined to us in friendship. He will unlock for you many secrets of nature, and will be able to delight you with the sweetest conversation, if you wish. As for the codex on magical experiments which you have from me, I ask that you take care to send it back to me as soon as possible. I shall soon send you the volume of Sinesis on the power of spirits, when you have sent back my experiments to me. Take care of yourself so that you may be well. And write back to me often. Given at Spanheim, on the sixth day before the Ides of March, in the year of the Lord’s incarnation 1501. Johannes Trithemius, abbot.
But the recipient of the letter, the one to whom you sent the spirit, should do what he knows must be done in this art; and, once the circular sign is recognized, let him turn toward the east wind and in silence say this imprecation:
Camuel Busarcha, menaton enatiel, meran sayr abatremon, naculi pefum nadru lasmon enotichamabet vsear lesponty a brulmy pen sayr thubarym, gonayr afmon friachar ynon otry hamerfon, buccurmy pedauellon.
When these words have been said, let him take the letters again into his hand, looking toward the east wind, as you know. But it must be noted that all these spirits, with their prince, are toward the east wind, and for that reason everyone who works through them must turn himself in that direction; or, if he cannot, at least when he has received the letters he should set them down facing that direction. Observe and understand what we have said to you.
Chapter [unclear]
...none of those sitting around will perceive anything, provided only that you persevere steadfast and undismayed, as is necessary.
Chapter IX
Whose prince is called Malgaras, who dwells in the west, having under him thirty dukes for the diurnal [unclear], and as many for the nocturnal; their office is to announce the private secrets of friends.
Roth.
The inhabitant of the ninth mansion, which is in the equinoctial west, is Malgaras, prince of the west. He has under him thirty dukes who preside over the day, and thirty others who preside over the night, with their servants. The office of all these is to announce the secrets and hidden matters of intimate friends to friends. They are good; they are more accustomed to associate among human beings. For the nocturnal ones, although they are good, nevertheless do not willingly associate with human beings, but flee and detest the light above all, wishing to lie hidden in darkness; and for this reason they frequently appear, to one summoning them by conjurations, like bats. From all these we shall place twenty-four by their names in the table; of these twelve in the day, and as many in the night, are sufficient.
Table
Roth. S. R. G. R. S. Mifiel 20; Aroiz 10. Carmiel 30. Schw. R. G. R. Mielel 30; Casiel 30; Udiel 30; Barfas 20. Roth. G. R. S. R. G. {30.20. Borass 30; Rabiel 20; Oriel 30; Si /30.20.10. Roth. G. R. S. G. R. S. Aroc 30; Libiel 30; Caron 30. S. R. G. R. S. G. Dobiel 30; Raboc 30; Zamor 30; Aspor 20. R. G. R. G. R. S. G. Cubi 30; Aspiel 30; Amiel
namely, twenty-four leaders, of day and night, with the number of servants ten thousand one hundred sixty. And note that the operation through these is very different from the others, as we shall speak at length concerning the lord. For in this dwelling one must operate according to the twelve hours of day and night, and four princes always preside over two hours, both by day and by night, so that it is not permitted to you, when summoning, to call another except from the order which the hour concerns. Thus, if the operation is done in the first or second hour of the day, call whichever you wish from the first four who preside over the day; and in the third or fourth, know that a leader must be called from the second four. And so accordingly it is to be done through all the orders and the twenty-four hours, both by day and by night. But when you wish to operate in steganography through the spirits of Dorothiel himself, after the general matters customarily set forth beforehand in the art have been set forth, write whatever letters you wish, and, turning yourself toward that quarter of the world which from the wind we commonly call Corus, call one or more of the four who preside over the hour in which you are operating. Dorothiel casi feor mady! on busar pamersy chear ianonthym baony Camery vlymeot peathãadial cadumyr rencar thubra Cohagier marlon Lodie: no sabeirusyn Els [unclear] you will see the appearing spirit whom you have called, ready and cheerful to obey; entrust your secret to him securely and faithfully. Look first at the table.
Let us suppose mentally how a secret is to be committed to letters.
There is for you some business, in any matter whatever, [unclear] spirit to a prince, very [unclear], difficult, and secret, which you think should be entrusted to no mortal, nor indeed to letters. Do you wish the prince to know it? You compose letters to him, supplicatory ones on behalf of a poor cleric, or any others whatsoever; you call the spirit, entrust the secret to him; he carries out everything faithfully.
You will give whatever letters you wish, in which you need fear nothing.
I make known to Your Grace, most illustrious Prince, that Conrad Hummel, beneficed at the altar of Saint John the Evangelist, died last night. But lest Your Grace grant the said altar without deliberation either to one of the unskilled or to the unworthy, of whom I think a great number will be present, waiting for the said altar, as is usual, rather than reserve it for a more useful man, I pray: although I am far too unworthy for my prayers to seem to obtain any favor in the sight of the greatest and most noble prince, that Your Grace may deign to grant the aforesaid altar, with the more unworthy rejected, to the bearer of these presents, whom I have known to be worthy of the best benefices, since he is adorned with beauty of morals, learned in every way in knowledge and letters,
[unclear]. A man without letters is a two-footed ass, fit to be buried alive, indeed [already buried?]. It is especially fitting that nobles and those who govern the commonwealth be wise and distinguished by knowledge of letters, ignorance of which brings on tyranny. The love of letters also commends to perpetuity the famous deeds of princes and nobles. For we see that the ancient philosophers have held a place in memory and have obtained immortality of name among all men, eternal through letters more than through arms; for letters, more than arms, have made the ancients glorious, excellent, wise, and princes, and have bestowed upon the titles of their praise immortality of memory. Add that for Christians literary study provides the highest and most honorable aid for flying to heaven. For from the Scriptures we begin to contemplate the flashing and honorable majesty of divine illuminations, otherwise inaccessible to us. Thus, Henry, most learned knight, favor letters, so that, adorned with uprightness, you may always live. Farewell, from Spanheim, [day] of March, in the year 1500.
After the friend has opened these letters, or any others whatsoever, being skilled in the art, once the sign of Raysiel has been recognized and the customary things have first been performed in the usual manner, let him turn to the north and use the spirit with this song.
Song of Conjuration.
Raysiel myltran, fruano fiar chasmy clymarfo peanS pultho chulthusamedon veplusandly tusan axeyr afflon. When these words have been said, the spirit sent will at once appear visibly and will report each and every thing that I have commanded into the ear. And I would have you know also that some spirits presiding over nocturnal operations do not willingly come to the operation at night unless they are compelled by the greatest sacraments and conjurations; yet after they have come and have been sent to the friend, they are accustomed to appear quickly and to obey the one calling, unless perhaps he himself, deceived by some occasion, should neglect something prescribed in the art.
Chapter XIV.
Whose supreme prince is called Symiel, who dwells toward the north, having under him princes who preside over diurnal operations, with many servants, whose familiar office it is to convey a secret.
The fourteenth mansion is toward the north, distant from the beginning of the north by 21 degrees and a little more; its supreme emperor is Symiel, who has under him ten dukes who preside over diurnal operations, with many servants of their operations. Many dukes preside over nocturnal operations, whose certain number I have not been able to discover; they also have many servants under them. Their office is to announce among friends the most secret mysteries, which are to be made manifest to no men forever. But so that you may be able to work through them, if it should be necessary, I shall set out for you ten from the diurnal spirits and the same number from the nocturnal spirits, and they will suffice for the present.
Schw. Roth. S.R.S.R.S. Asmyel 60 L.arael 60 Mafrus 70 Marianu 100 Chrihas 100 Achot 60 Apiel 30 Narzael 20r Vastos 40 Banier 90 Curiel 40 Murahe 30 Malgron 20 Dagiel 100 Molael 10 Richel 120 Romiel 80 Musor 110 Arafos 50 Nalael 130
You now have ten named princes for diurnal operations, with many subordinate servants, and ten for nocturnal operations also with many substitutes, through whom you will be able to operate securely and without danger, provided you are well instructed in Steganography. For whoever, not well instructed, presumes to approach the operation of this art in its precepts will either accomplish nothing or will scarcely escape danger. For the princes do not obey everyone. But when you wish to operate with this very knowledge, once the things that must first be performed have duly been performed, turn yourself to the north, and in the manner I have handed down to you conjure the duke to come by this song.
Song to the Spirits.
Symiel myrno chamery theor pastron adiueal fanerosthi sofear Carmedon Charnothiel peasor sositrans fabelrusy thyrno pamerosy trelno chabelron chymo churmabon, 'asiel' peasor carmes nabeyros toys Camalthonty. When these words have been said in the manner necessary, the spirit called by you will be present to obey you in all your commands, if the operation is to be performed by nocturnal spirits; and if they have not quickly appeared.
if they have obeyed, do not desist on that account, but press them by repeating the song; and, compelled, they will obey.
For an example let us posit any secret whatever that is to be entrusted to absolutely no one.
YOU HAVE some very secret business for a friend, which concerns you and him, the disclosure of which would bring perpetual loss or confusion upon you and him. Certainly it is not safely entrusted to letters, lest they be read by someone, nor is it entrusted to a messenger, who will divulge it to several people. You will use our art; thus both you will be safe and your friend will know the secret. For this purpose let us compose whatever little letter you like, in no way at all suspect.
Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, of the Order of Saint Benedict, to the excellent young man Jacobus Trithemius, his dearest brother, greetings.
While devoting yourself to letters, preserve humility of heart. Good morals adorn young men and make them more renowned than nobles. Knowledge of letters adorns a young man who loves holiness; without the morals of justice, knowledge will lack honor. A young man immersed in vanities and vices, a despiser of wisdom, does not love true wisdom, which you should remember must be sought by means of virtues. The instruction of young men to be educated is adorned by morals, since honor is conferred upon the sacred arts by the heavenly; unfruitful knowledge will be tortured with eternal torments. He advances in virtues and letters of knowledge; both fail when stained by vice. Spurn pleasures, so that by experience you may understand the truth of wisdom. Farewell.
The recipient of these letters, skilled in the art of Steganography, as soon as he has seen from the character of the prince Symiel what must be done by him, perceives it by understanding; and, turning, after first doing what must first be done, toward the North, he says the conjuration:
Conjuration.
Symiel marlos chameron pyrcohi pean fruary fabelronti gaelto siargoti melastor hialbra penor olesy Aiulbrani ordu Casmeron omer vemabon. When the song has been completed, the spirit sent appears and faithfully carries out the office entrusted to him.
CHAPTER XV.
WHOSE SUPREME COMMANDER IS AR-madiel, who dwells in that part of the world from which the north wind is wont to blow, having under him many princes.
MAN-
The fifteenth mansion.
Toward the northern region dwells Armadiel, a great emperor, having under his rule many dukes and princes with their servants, from whom one hundred have been appointed over operations by day and by night without distinction, so that all alike preside over our nocturnal as well as diurnal actions in Steganography, according to the will of the operator. Their office is to announce the most secret mysteries of the operator to princes and great men with the utmost fidelity and secrecy. From these we shall name some of the more important, who suffice for our purpose. R. R. S. R. S. R. S.
Massar 50 Orariel Pandiel 10 10 60 60 50
Parabiel 40 Oryn Carasiba 20 20 70 70 40
Laiel 30 Samiel Asbibiel 30 30 80 80 30
Caluarnya 20 Asmael Mafayr 40 40 70 70 20
Alferiel 10 Iaziel Oeniel 50 50 60 60 10 You now have, from the spirits of Armadiel, fifteen in number, with their subservants, 1,260, who, according to the division of the twenty-four hours into six parts, are accustomed to come with their dukes, when summoned, to the operator, if he himself wishes it, preserving their order in coming. Therefore, when you wish to operate anything in Steganography through them, you must observe most diligently the division of time according to this art, without which you will accomplish nothing at all; and when this has been understood as it ought, you will turn yourself toward the north, doing what the art requires. Conjuration. Armadiel marbeuo pelrusan neor chamyn aldron pemarson Cathornaor pean lyburmy Caueron tharty abesmeron veat larso charnoty theor Caueos myat drupas Cameortys lypa ruffes ernoty mesoryn elthichaor atiel, lamesayn rouemu fabel rusin, friatochasalon pheorthamorny mesardiel peluly madiel baseroty sarreon prolsoyr asenosy cameltruson. When you have completed this conjuration in the manner required, the spirit will soon be present, ready for your command. Let us form, [unclear]
[unclear] I[unclear]
[unclear]X [unclear]
[unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear] [unclear]
[unclear]X [unclear]
[unclear]X Of Steganography, 15: Let us form for ourselves, by way of example, such a secret as must be entrusted to no one. I have a certain secret for my prince, which must be communicated to absolutely no one. I do not dare commit it to letters, lest through negligence or forgetfulness, if they are scattered, they be read; much less do I wish to announce it through a man, lest it also happen to be revealed in some way to others through him. Therefore it pleases me to try the mystery of this art, by which my secret will remain hidden at all times. Let us write letters, of whatever sort one pleases, which need fear the sight of no one. To the most serene Prince, Lord Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, Arch-Steward of the Holy Roman Empire, Prince-Elector, Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, with prayers offers service. Most illustrious prince, with humble submission, service. The kindness of your renowned dukedom has commanded me to commit to letters certain very hidden matters set forth in words. I would rejoice, not without devout exultation, if powers equal to my will were present, to assign the most honorable benefit shown to a more fitting place, and to render the obedience owed by favor. The novelty of the work, to be undertaken without the path of a predecessor, holds back the weakness of my heart; I know myself to be far unequal to it. For it will have an immense and great labor, and it imposes very great dullness upon my efforts. Yet I shall try my powers, in order to obey Your Grace, without doubt approaching a most kindly judge, if the suitable possibility of completing it has not supported my good will: where, with most abundant humanity, I perceive, he says, a glorious and most munificent prince, lover and defender of letters, under whose most humane protection the University of Heidelberg, adorned with many most learned and most erudite men, most fresh in talent, surpasses all the schools throughout Germany. And so, most distinguished and most humane Prince, if I have anything or am anything, I know it all to be bound to your kindness; and this I shall always take care to display most readily with humble submission. And although there are others wiser, who could render this work better, or more usefully and more elegantly, not moderately. [Preceding page illegible in the source.] 48. STEGANOGRAPHIA. Since I know, dearest brother, that you are a lover of the good arts, it delights me greatly to exhort you that you would persevere in inquiring into and continually unrolling the secrets of books, which show us the way of felicity—to return by an open path to the homeland which by sinning we lost, to which the love of our most mild and most merciful Savior, hidden for us in the Scriptures, may lead us back, burning [with desire]. For what to those wandering in wretched exile can be a more wholesome [and] sweeter health than to apply oneself diligently to letters?—by whose study our eyes are raised to seek the truth, [and] our mind is lifted up to the desire of future blessedness; without which the soul, submerged in worldly temporal affairs, is given over as a victim, never to attain to the knowledge of God. Do you therefore, despising the pleasures and tumults of the world, give your leisure to letters day and night; since religion is [adorned] by virtues, and virtues are tempered [and] illumined by the commerce of letters—so that neither letters without the adornment of noble virtues, nor good virtues without the knowledge of the Scriptures, can prevail. And so I exhort you: always give your effort to the study of letters. Farewell, from Sponheim, the 16th [day before] the Kalends of April, in the year of the Lord 1500. After he to whom they are sent has received the letters, the sign of Baruchus being recognized, and the things to be premised premised, toward the quarter of the south-east, which is nearest before the East, let him say in silence this Conjuration. Conjuration of the Spirit. Baruchas, Mularchas, chameron, notiel, pedarfy, phorsythel, rontho, theras, capean, Vear, almonym, lierno, medusan, therfiel, peatha, thumar, nerosyn, cral, nothiel, peson, segalry, madon, scoha, bulayr. The Conjuration said according to the precept of the art, the spirit will appear, [and] will produce into the ear the secret committed to him, without deception. CHAPTER XVII. Whose prince and supreme spirit is called Carnesiel, and dwells in the East, having under him many dukes [and] princes with their servitors, whose office is to announce all things which are sent toward the East. WHO— Since the affairs of men are so many, and still more can arise, for communicating which to distant friends no prince or spirit has been specially appointed in the aforesaid mansions: lest any difficulty occur to those working in this art of Steganography in bringing their work to perfection, after we have made mention of certain special ones who preside over special secrets, we also wish to set forth certain general princes of spirits for general announcements, so that if perhaps something should occur to anyone that must be announced, concerning which no commission is found in the aforesaid matters, it may be referred to those who, in their own way, have commission over all things; yet so that the generality does not derogate from the speciality, nor the speciality, if not expressed clearly enough, reject the office of the generality. There are therefore four great princes who, with their dukes and subordinate servants, preside over all secrets to be announced which have not been expressed above. The first of these, Camesiel, presides over all things that we wish to announce toward the East; Caspiel, toward the South; Amenadiel, toward the West; and Demoriel over those things that are sent generally toward the North. Therefore, when you wish to announce some secret by means of a spirit to a friend absent far away toward the East, call one or more, as many as you wish, from the princes of Camesiel, turning yourself throughout the whole operation toward the eastern region, as you know according to the art. I shall describe for you the names of the princes, with the number of servants, as many as suffice for the present business; and beware lest you err in anything. R.S.R.S.
Myrefyn Benoham Armany 600000000000 R. S. R.
Ornich Arisiel Capriel 10 30 100 300
Zabriel Cumeriel Bedarys 10 30 100 300
Bucafaes Vadriel Laphor 10 30 100 300 You have twelve of the princes of Camesiel, with a very great multitude of servants, where, note, that great number 600000000000 belongs to other dukes and princes who generally preside over all daytime matters. A certain number of them is called, as the operator wishes, with the named duke. The others, however, are servants of the twelve princes in a fourfold order, and they always come with them in their orders. Therefore, when you wish to operate through these, after the things that must first be sent have been sent before, this is the conjuration. Charm. CAMESIEL aphroys chemeryn mear aposyn. Layr pean noema ouear ma fere calty caleuo thorteam chametonianoar pe lyn Layr, baduson iesy melios ionatiel delassar rodiual meron fauean fabelion clumarsy preos throen benarys sauean demosyon laernoty chamedonton. When these things have been duly completed, the general messenger of secrets whom you have called will be present, ready, faithful, and wholly secret. I have wished to warn a friend secretly about an evil man. There is a certain man, evil under an appearance of honesty, a chatterer; knowing that I have influence with a friend, he asks from me letters of recommendation to him; nor do I wish my friend to be deceived fraudulently by him. I write letters; I praise the vagabond in a wonderful manner. He reads, rejoices, and promises himself that an open path for plotting has been offered to him. I give the letters; he goes away happy. I call the spirit; I send him to my friend, so that he may warn him and reveal my secret. I send letters of recommendation pleasing to the one who is recommended. Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, sends greeting to Johann Vigilius, lord Wackor, most distinguished doctor of both laws. I send the bearer of the present letters to you, my most beloved Vigilius: a man indeed adorned with every virtue, most learned in all writings, polished, and embellished with such grace of manners that I scarcely remember ever having seen with these eyes anyone like him; an excellent mathematician, a most acute philosopher, surpassing the most learned men, whence he has seemed worthy to us to be received with praises from the letters of all good men; indeed noble and most learned, one who can be useful to all in handing down various doctrines of wonderful things. Farewell, from Sponheim, on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of April, in the year 1500. + Since When a friend approved in the art of Steganography has received these or any similar letters, once he has recognized the sign of Cernesiel, let him turn toward the East and, after first doing what must first be done, let him say this conjuration: Conjuration. [unclear] Carnefiel aproysi chamero to pemalroyn phroys Cadur mearmol benadron Vioniel saviron army pean arnotiel fabelronthusynthroe chabelron sauenar medaloys vear olmenadab eralty sayr. When the charm has been spoken, the spirit sent will now appear visibly and will faithfully reveal the secret entrusted. North R
Demoriel [unclear]
East [unclear]
Carnefiel [unclear]
Greater dukes 400
Subdukes 600
Numbers 300
Generals [unclear]
Greater dukes 800
Subdukes 500
Of the [servants?] who are [unclear]
[unclear]
Of the West [unclear] R. [unclear]
Cassiel [unclear] You have in this circle 4 principal emperors, and the position of each one’s dwelling, of the subdukes [unclear] and of the servants [unclear] In the hollow of the second circle, above the number 400, placed twice, and also above the number 1000, the letter R is missing. And in the hollow of the sixth circle, instead of “generalis” one must read “eiligenerales.” 51 Of Steganography and of almost innumerable servants. Know therefore how one must operate through these. In the south dwells the great prince Caspiel, who has under his dominion 200 principal princes or dukes, and 400 counts or sub-dukes, with a huge multitude of servants, whose office is to announce in general all and every thing not contained above, toward the south. Since, however, in this art it is necessary to know certain dukes by name, and since they are many, we shall take care to give the names of a few out of many, who are sufficient for us in all things. R. S. R. S. R. R.
Ursiel Budirym Geriol 200 40 2000 450 20
Chariel Camory Ambri 200 40 2000 400 20
Maras Larmol Camer 200 40 2000 [1987?] 400 20
Femol Aridiel Otiel 200 40 3000 400 20 You now have, from among the more principal dukes of Caspiel, 12, with counts, sub-dukes, and servants, 100,640, through whom is accomplished every general operation of announcing toward the south. But when you wish to announce some hidden matter to a friend dwelling toward the south, do what is required according to the art, and say the conjuration. Conjuration of the Spirit. Caspiel aloyr chameron noeres padyr diuiel prolsyn vear maduson cralnoti fruon phorsy latsonthon thiano pematson theor. Caueos adeueos friato briosi panyeldrubon madiel sayr fabeltrusyn gonear pean noty nabusran. When the conjuration has been completed in due manner, you will see present the one whom you have called, and ready to obey your commands in all things. All the dukes of this Caspiel are very benevolent and willing, but their sub-dukes are somewhat harsher; nevertheless they yield to conjurations, if the operator has been steadfast and undaunted, speaking to him harshly, as if with the greatest authority. For none of them is so harsh that he does not grow tame, compelled and adjured by the virtue of authoritative power. Let us suppose any secret whatever, which is to be entrusted to no one. I have business with a friend, which, if it were to become public, great danger would arise for both of us. All messengers are watched, so that letters may be read by those lying in wait for us. Therefore, that we may be secure and our business may remain secret, I write letters which need fear the sight of no one, and I send them to the aforesaid friend with an invisible spirit accompanying them. It does not matter what sort the letters are, if they have been entrusted to the spirit. Behold, mortals, the brevity and misery of the present life, and do salutary penance while you have time. Woe to you, most senseless lovers of worldly glory, rashly despising almighty God and eternal joy. Why do you not love those heavenly banquets which have been promised to those who humbly seek God? For you, having cast away humility, seek the very brief joys of the world; you do not love the excellence of eternal blessedness; with contention [unclear], you stain honesty with wicked actions, and you do not know the praises of the Most High God. Day and night you attend to worldly actions and temporal profits; always stretched toward hunting out novelties, you sharpen the memory; you neglect to hear readings. You do not care for the time of grace granted to you, nor for the expectation of eternal blessedness. Behold, the Judge, terrible to all criminals, draws near. Behold, almighty Majesty in severity hastens. Behold, the last Judgment is appointed. Behold, eternal laments are set forth; everlasting goods will be withdrawn from us. In the year 1515, on the sixth day before the Kalends of April. When he to whom these letters are sent has received them, let him first send ahead the things that must be sent ahead according to the art, and turning himself toward the south, let him say the chant: Caspiel asbyr Chameronty churto freueon dayr fabelron Cathurmymeresyn elso peano tailtran Caspio fuar Medon clibarsy Caberosyn vlty'pean Vearches pemasy natolbyr meldary noe Cardenopen [unclear]. When the verse has been spoken, and the other things appended according to custom, the invisible messenger will appear, faithfully and secretly reporting in the friend’s ear everything that I have commanded. Amenadiel, emperor, supreme spirit of the West, has under his dominion 300 more powerful princes or dukes, no fewer than five hundred sub-dukes or counts, and servants, under-servants, and attendants out of innumerable hosts, of whose names I have found fewer than 30,000, besides countless others whose names I have not yet found. For these suffice for communicating all secret matters to friends toward the West. But I shall give the names of the dukes, which are sufficient. Roth. Schw. R. S. R. S. G. X. R. S.
Vadros, Rapsiel, Almesiel: 30, 50, 300, 500, 3000
Camiel, Lamael, Codriel: 30, 50, 300, 500, 3000
Luziel, Zoeniel, Balsur: 30, 50, 300, 500, 3000
Musiriel, Curifas, Nadroc: 30, 50, 200, 100, 200 Through these twelve dukes and princes, whatever has to be done under the command of Amenadiel in steganography toward the West, you will be able to accomplish entirely. But observe carefully, so that you know one of the dukes, and know how many counts, servants, and attendants he has under him according to the twenty-four hours of day and night, which those 1550 keep assigned to themselves in their order by equal division. If you make a mistake in these matters, you will accomplish nothing, and perhaps you would incur some danger. For one who wishes to operate in steganography must be not only skilled in our art, but also most diligent in all things, because through a small [unclear] in the operation [unclear] danger [unclear] toward the West; and after the things to be sent ahead have been sent ahead, say this conjuration: Conjuration. Amenadiel aprolsy chametonta nostoy throen mestro salayr chemaros noe pean larsy freueon ionatiel peltroyn rathtroy Caser malusan pedon Cranochyrn daboy seor marchofyn lauo pedar venoti gestoy phernotiel Cabron. When the conjuration has been duly completed, the spirit whom you have called will be present, ready and eager to accomplish everything you have commanded him. The secret for me is very secret and necessary for a friend. There is a certain secret of mine for a friend, which I entrust neither to a man nor to letters by [unclear], because if it came into public knowledge, it would create great danger and loss for me. Therefore I call a spirit; I write letters in no way at all suspicious, and which not even he himself would be thought to understand, since he is ignorant of the Latin language. I send the spirit; he reveals the secret. I send any sort of letters, which an invisible spirit is to accompany. Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, to the noble and valiant knight Albert Goeler of Ravensburg, prefect of Kreuznach, greetings. We believe that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is going to come for judgment, who will render to each one according to his works. We believe this, and, wretched as we are, we neglect ourselves. Therefore let us strive to anticipate his face with constant tears, correcting our negligences which we have committed, lest that terrible coming of our Redeemer find us unprepared; we all must necessarily meet him, to receive the reward of our deeds. Why, then, do we now despise the opportune time of salvation granted to us? Why [unclear] so useful to us, so acceptable, has the Almighty granted? Why do we not emulate men distinguished in morals, who have sought for us the honorable things of just conduct, humility, [unclear], and of all the virtues? [unclear] emulating their name, penitence, because the limit of life presses upon us. Horrible death will come, which knows not how to spare, but will devour young men and maidens, and the old together with the younger. Let us live in mourning, washing away our transgressions with continual tears, lest sudden death seize us and subject us to horrible judgment. Let us amend our past life, beseeching God that after the present You will be able to compose letters on these matters, of whatever kind you wish, according to your pleasure. Great and eternal are the future advantages of those who observe innocence: for men rejoicing to take part in angelic praises; to behold that lofty light, the splendor of eternal blessedness, and to see the face of majesty with its own light. Pay attention, all of you, and wipe away with tears your exact negligences; cast off useless and harmful cares, the deceits of unstable things. O men of clay, shudder; at last seek the profit of souls. Be honorable in good morals and virtues; despise vanities; humbly call upon God; do not desire the world, which pours in bitterness. In the year 1500, on the ninth day before the Kalends of April. S. When the person to whom these letters are sent has received them, if he is skilled in the art, once the character of the supreme prince Menadiel has been recognized, and after those things have first been performed which are customarily to be performed first, let him say the conjuration. Conjuration. Menadyel murty chamero le dayr pean cathurmo phameron etsoti pray saruepo, fabel merij rean, charonietlas Meduse fayrlamerosyn alty merchahon. When the charm has been said, the spirit sent will appear visibly to the one calling, and will faithfully report everything to him secretly in his ear that he has in his counsels. Macariel also, one of the supreme spirits who preside over the operations of Steganography, is not to be omitted by us, together with his servant-princes, because he is sufficiently useful, prompt, and faithful for whatever things we may wish. He has forty princes; of these, never fewer than four are sent on a ministry, namely three dukes and one count, with no few servants. They observe this order among themselves: that, in their turns, one of the dukes always performs the office of count, according to the four parts of the year. And concerning all these it is necessary for the operator to have full knowledge. But now from these princes let us name some who may abundantly suffice us for the operation of our Steganography. R. R. R. R. Claniel Asmadiel Gremiel 40 30 20 10 Drusiel Romyel Thuriel 40 30 26 10 Andros Nastuel Brufiel 40 30 19 10 Charoel Varpiel Lemodac 40 30 70 10 We now have twelve named from the princes of Macariel, with 400 servants counted, according to their turns and orders. Therefore, when you wish to operate through them in Steganography, beware lest you call fewer than at least four from the aforesaid; after first performing the things that are customarily to be performed first, say this conjuration. Charm. Macriel myrno chamerosy purmy maresyn amos peanam olradu, chaberianoes fabelron dearsychadon vljses Almos rutiel pedaron deabry madero neas lamero dearsythubra dorpilto melrosyne draorchalmea near, parmon dearsy charon alnodiel parsaradean, maroy reneas charsognole, melrosin te dranso casmar ebrolet. Landtys masfayr therafonte noel amalan. When this charm has been said, the spirits called will be present, appearing in various forms, and frequently indeed with a maiden's head, ending with body and tail in the form of a dragon, winding and unwinding themselves in a fourfold order. A secret matter is sent to the prince. The prefect of a king or prince, stationed in a land or province, has learned by a very secret report that enemies have the intention of breaking into the province shortly. He wishes to notify the prince, but cannot do so by messengers, because they are to be tortured by the adversaries on the road so that they betray the secret; nor by letters, since all are opened by them. Therefore he calls a spirit, entrusts the secret, and invents letters that concern something else. Let us invent letters that are of no relevance. We ask you, sweetest of friends, that in view of our old friendship you would quickly send back to us your copy of Tertullian, that most noble and most wise man, or to send swiftly, [Bernardig], a letter to the Templars. We all know that to Tertullian there was shown among our people in ancient times the glorious name of Catholic sanctity, and we know that he did not remain the last noble light of the sacred faith. In his actions he was eminent, a glorious teacher of the divine law, a most devoted defender of our liberty. Although he is criticized in some matters, nevertheless, in setting forth our faith, he wrote volumes worthy of honor. He had as wife Zelosaw, a lover of our religion, noble in humility and innocence, glorious in chastity. There survive some praiseworthy lucubrations of his sound instruction, sweet and overflowing, of much learning: brief letters, not useless, honorably and graciously exhorting us to seek eternal glory. 25 March, in the year 1500. Johannes Trithemius wrote this. When you have received these letters, or any others whatsoever, to whom they are sent, being previously skilled in the art of Steganography, once the sign of Macariel has been recognized, let him do what according to custom must be done, adding the song. Song of Conjuration Macariel osayr chamerose chulti pesano dayr fameron cathurmo pean ersoty lamedon souapor casrea mafyr. lanos thatfia, peathan non acri pean etion matramy. When the song has been duly completed, the spirit sent will appear visible to him alone. Nor is it fitting for us to omit Uriel, the great prince, whom, as experience teaches us, we know to hold no last place of usefulness among the supporters of this art. He has under his dominion and command 10 dukes and princes assigned to this art of Steganography; counts or sub-dukes, who always accompany those dukes, each in his own order, 100; and many servants, whose certain number is still not known to me. R.R.R.a.c
Chabri 10 Dragon 10 a 20 Drabor Drobos 10 Curmas 10 80 40 v a n
Narmiel 10 Drapios 10 60 60 A T A
Frasmiel 10 Hermon 10 40 80 m a + These letters [unclear] sense below.
Brymiel 10 Aldrusy 10 20 100 ss i s Here we have the dukes named, with their counts and sub-servants, whose service suffices for us for the completion of this our art at present. And note that those first in order are dukes and princes. The second are counts; and they have two orders among themselves, which you must know before all else. Those who are in the first order, both dukes and counts, whenever they are called, always appear monstrous, namely with a maiden’s head, and with body and tail in the form of a serpent. Those who are in the second order are accustomed to appear to us in a familiar and usual likeness. Nor are fewer accustomed to come than one duke and one count, following him in each order. But when you wish to work through these spirits, first do according to what you know from the art must be done; afterward add this conjuration. Conjuration Uriel marfoys lamedonti noes, chameron, anducharpean phusciel arsmony tuerchoy iam ersyn nairiel penos raseon loes vear fabelruso cralty layr parlis meraij mea; thubra aslotiel dubyr reanu nauosti masliel pedonyto chemarphin. When the conjuration has been completed, the spirits called will be present, each in his order, ready and cheerful to obey in all things. :Q A very great secret is made. Let there be some secret of mine for a prince, or for a friend, the disclosure of which would bring danger to me and no small loss to him. Therefore, so that all things may remain secret between me and him, I entrust the secret not to a man, not to letters, but to a spirit. Let the letters be as desired, fearing nothing. Begin, most beloved brothers, to amend your negligences, wiping away past sins with continual tears, beseeching the savior of all the living for the remaining time. Hear, O Lord, the groans of those continually weeping: pardon …[the spirits and powers] of our Steganography, of which we have spoken in this our first [book]: supplying to each one a character appropriated to it, and subjoining also the number and order of the princes, dukes, counts, servants, and under-servants in their proper degrees—lest anyone desiring to study in this art should, on account of the diversity of operations, fall into error. The great mysteries of this art can be penetrated only by the most studious men—those, namely, whom the love of secrets and [their] nature impels to investigate, and who, in the desire of attaining knowledge, refuse to undergo no honest and possible labor. But men slothful and dull of wit, whom neither love kindles to the study of the secrets of wisdom nor nature helps—when they have not been able to understand this most secret art of our invention—[this] is not to be imputed to us, but rather is to be ascribed, understand, to their own sloth, laziness, and malice: namely those who, having their wit immersed in the pleasures of the flesh and worldly cares, cannot with diligence be at leisure to survey these things; or who, deeming themselves already wise or most learned, despise our compositions as unworthy of their reading. There will be also some so accustomed to rest in old and alien traditions that they deem whatever they have not learned in them either impossible or superstitious. Nothing is more inept for the knowledge of this profound art than these, who either will not or cannot contemplate its loftiest [matters]. But those who are both apt and willing to study in this art (if any there shall be)—that they may be able to make progress—we have determined to admonish in a few [words] at the end of this book. First of all they are to be admonished that they always keep the art itself hidden, lest it penetrate the hand and notice of the wicked, who would do many and execrable crimes through it. For although the art itself is truly good in itself, yet its practice would conduce no less to evil through the impious than to good through the good. Let the secret therefore remain among the good, which, published among the wicked, would do harm. Nor, however, ought the good to despise this knowledge because it profits the wicked unto evil; just as he who lays a man low does not spurn the sword. Then the studious of this art are to be admonished not to presume to proceed to operating in it, unless first, in all [things] which are required for the practice [the remainder of the line is missing in the source]. [The same passage is repeated in the source's OCR; not re-translated.]Chapter XVIII.
Whose supreme prince is called Caspiel, whose dwelling is in the south, and who has under him many princes, dukes, and innumerable servants.
Chapter XIX.
Whose supreme prince is called Amenadiel, dwelling in the West; he has under him 300 dukes, 500 counts, and almost innumerable servants.
Chapter XXIX.
Whose supreme prince is called Macariel, having under his command many dukes, princes, counts, and servants appointed to various ministries.
Chapter 30
Whose supreme emperor is called Uriel, having under his dominion 10 dukes, and 100 counts or sub-dukes; the number of servants is uncertain.
[unclear] of a most [unclear] man, I have read many most splendid volumes; I have seen Hippolytus in Greek: whether he has been translated completely, I do not know. The highest Truth, Christ, to whom no shadows conceal anything, knows that from my heart I desire to comply with you in what you ask. I beg you, with zeal for virtue, with zeal for uprightness: despise praises and honors that will perish. Consider it true praise to imitate Christ going before you. See to it, I beg, that you prove to be a priest in your works, and that you love Christ throughout all the time in which you live. The true lover of Christ [unclear] with zeal for justice. True rest of the soul, and knowledge of the Savior, and pious observance of Catholic tradition, prepares everlasting glory for all. May the glorious Jesus Christ, giver of all good things, grant you love of eternity, making you a Catholic priest of Christians. Farewell. 4 Kal. Apr. In the year 1500.
When the letter sent has been received by the one to whom it was sent, let the man skilled in the art, after first setting out generally the things customarily set out beforehand, arrange the lord of the ascendant with the rest, which are customarily placed on the small chart, and let him say the prescribed conjuration. When this has been said, the spirit that was sent will appear visibly; turning toward him, let him say without trembling: [unclear]. When this charm has been completed, the spirit will soon approach gently, and will faithfully disclose the mystery entrusted to him. But let everyone who is to operate in this art beware, both the one who sends the spirit and the one to whom it has been destined, lest they presume to do anything in public or among others who are not skilled in this art, because all hourly spirits love secrecy and detest publicity; and they would not depart without danger.
Chapter III
Whose hour is called Danzur, and its supreme emperor spirit is Vequaniel, who has under his dominion 20 dukes, 200 counts. The number of servants is uncertain. Their office is general, for all things; and they are sufficiently ready and benevolent in all matters whatever may have been entrusted to them, and faithful and safe; nor are they unwilling to obey, but when called in public they can least of all act without harm or danger to the caller.
For they love secrecy, as do all the others who preside over the hours and their operations. I do not know the names of all of them, but only of a few, which, revealed by them themselves and entered into this table, suffice for us.
R. R. R. Ri Asmiel Drelmech Gemarij 20 20 200 200 Perfiel Sadiniel Xantiel 20 20 200 200 Atursiel Parniel Seruiel 20 20 200 200 Zoesiel Comadiel Furiel 20 20 200 200
In this table we have named 4 from the dukes, 8 from the counts, and 1,730 unnumbered from their servants, who suffice for us for all operations of this art in the third hour of the day. Therefore when in this hour you wish to call a spirit to bear some message to a friend, no fewer than at least two dukes, and as many counts with their servants, should be called. But if you wish to call more or fewer, you will indeed be able to do so, but you will need to have a conjuration addressed to the universal emperor, without whose command the spirits do not violate their order. And so write on a new sheet the character of the lord of the ascendant, and the rest in the order of the planets, with the sign of the twelfth house, in the manner that the instruction of the art requires. On the back of the sheet write this conjuration.
Conjuration
Vequaniel, odiel mefrij fotiel mear iamy otiel aslofian yrfothreotion drearij fabel merufin. When the conjuration has been written and these things that are required by the art have been added below, say it in a low voice, so that it is not heard by anyone; and immediately the spirits called will come. When you have seen them, entrust the secret to the more powerful one, whom you will easily recognize from his attire, because the one who is first among the other spirits always appears crowned. Any Secret Whatever Is Made Whatever secret you have for an absent friend, which should neither be entrusted to letters, lest they be read by someone, nor to a messenger, lest, corrupted by some occasion or price, or by fear, he divulge it publicly: call the spirit appointed to the hour, entrust the secret to him, fearing nothing; he will bear it faithfully. Letters You will form letters at will. John Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, to Arnold Bostius, Carmelite of Ghent, his fellow philosopher: greeting and charity. Since I have known you to be a lover of humane studies, a devout worshipper of the Christian faith, and the greatest supporter of all philosophers, I gladly oblige your requests, moved by the wonderful pleasure of friendship. Behold, at your urging I send you the book mentioned above concerning ecclesiastical writers and Catholic doctors, so that you may have something with which to delight your mind. But send back to me the codices of Hermes, and the books of Dionysius on Spirits, and the great work of [Puenclius?] on [unclear]. May Christ deign to adorn the eyes of our heart with the most fervent zeal of his love; and may he make us have love of heavenly goods and, stripped of the desires of the lowest things, teach us to despise vain honors, so that we may be able to penetrate the lofty matters of art and also the great secrets of nature, and may have a continual desire for philosophy, to purify our affections, so that we may always be adorned with the Catholic faith and the most honorable morals. Hold fast the great saying: you are a philosopher; leave everything and you will find it. Suspect the hour nearest to death; may I meet it prepared. Farewell. 30 March 1500. When you have received any letters sealed with the character of Vequaniel, write the figure of the lord of the ascendant and of the twelfth house, with the other things that are required for the art, on a new sheet, and on its back the aforesaid conjuration; and immediately the spirit that has been sent will appear visibly. As soon as you see him, say this verse. Verse of Conjuration. Fameron aprois liernoti stadiuear diuiel sauean Lamersy. When these words have been said, receive the word from the mouth of the spirit without fear, because he is sufficiently faithful. And take care not to work in public before others. Chapter IV, whose hour is called Elechym; and the supreme spirit of the hour is named Vathmiel, who has under his rule 10 dukes, 100 counts; there is no fixed number of servants, through whom the operation is performed in the fourth hour. The Fourth. The fourth hour of the day is called Elechym, whose supreme angel is named Vathmiel, who has as deputies for this art of Steganography 10 most renowned dukes, and 100 counts; the number of servants is infinite. And they have the office of announcing all secrets generally, and they are very good, benevolent, and obedient in all things whatsoever they are commanded. But as lovers of secrecy they greatly detest the tumults of men. Therefore take care, when placed among others who are not experienced in the art, not to attempt to work anything through them, because they would not easily come when conjured, and they would not depart without danger to you. Keep all the things that we command you, and you will have great progress in this science. R. R. R. R. Ammyel Emarfiel Iermiel 10 100 100 109
Larmich Permiel Thuroz 10 100 [unclear] 100
Marfel Querial Vanesiel 10 109 100 160
Ormyel Strubiel Zasuiel 10 100 400 100
Zardiel Diuiel Hermiel 10 103 100 180 In this table we have from the dukes of Vathmiel [unclear], but from the dukes 10, and in number of servants 1550, whose ministry is sufficient for us for every operation of Steganography at the fourth hour. Therefore, when you wish to operate in this hour, write the character of the lord of the ascendant and of the twelfth house, with the other things, on new paper, and on its back this conjuration, as is fitting. Conjuration. Vathmiel adres rheareso rafer theotij venofi sayr fatiel cafairsoti verotiel does ro fabel merufin. Then, after you have first sent ahead those things which are customarily to be sent ahead, say the same conjuration in a low voice; and immediately the spirits called will be present, at least one duke and one count, with their servants, ready to obey your commands. Argument of a Secret Message. Let there be some secret, great and very secret, which you wish absolutely no one to know except one person. Call the spirits deputed to the hour, as many as you wish, and entrust the secret to the chief one. Write letters, 94 Of the Steganography write, in whatever form you wish, in which nothing secret is contained, and which need fear absolutely no one’s inspection. Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Spanheim, of the Order of Saint Benedict, to Rutger Vencaius the Sicambrian, canon of the order of the divine father Augustine of the monastery of Damentis, greeting. Those things which you set before me to be solved I have, with Christ’s help, resolved. Whether well, you who proposed them must pass judgment. I shall briefly report to you the matter [unclear]. A certain brother lately reported to me, and also one friend, not the least: that a young man had been raised from the dead at the invocation of Christ, reporting wondrous, dreadful things among the infernal regions, narrating the torments of wicked Christians, namely of those who, by acting perversely, crucified Christ; especially guilty of this, that, forgetful of the most gracious benefit of redemption, they had always proved ungrateful to Christ; and that those suffer horrible things who were known to be ungrateful for benefits by not living well; and, blinded by sin, neglected future joys, following the pleasures of the world; who, [unclear] by negligences committed, cried out most bitterly: “Deservedly do we endure these things, [unclear] to the redeemer of the human race always [unclear]: we were [unclear]; Christians in name, gentiles in action. We wretched ones always sought earthly consolations unjustly; therefore we receive the due recompense of eternal damnation. Alas for us most unhappy ones: why did we offend Christ? Why did we despise the time granted?” The young man raised to life reported many other things to us, which I am now wholly unable to write, being greatly hindered by weighty affairs. Therefore, brother, let us zealously imitate the footsteps of Christ, always giving thanks to our most gentle Savior, asking that he may forgive us the offenses committed. Farewell. The third day before the Kalends of April. When you have received the letters, let the person skilled in the art to whom they are sent observe the lord of the ascendant of that same hour, and the sign of the twelfth house; and let him write their characters with the others on paper, along with the other things that are required for the operation, and afterwards let him say the above-mentioned conjuration, and, when the spirit has been seen, these words: Camerusin aproysiliertto thulnear venean maueas fabelron. When these have been said, the spirit that was sent will approach, and will faithfully and without danger reveal the secret entrusted to him, [unclear] The fifth hour of the day is called Fealech, and its spirit is named Sasquiel, a great and powerful emperor, who has under his command, among many dukes, 10 dukes and 100 counts with their attendants, appointed to the service of various and especially secret arts and of this science of ours. And it should be noted that the dukes are rarely called in the fifth hour for the operations of Steganography, because they are not always necessary, since the counts, together with the servants assigned to them, abundantly suffice for us for every operation. Yet if anyone should also wish to see any of the dukes and to make use of their power, he can call one, two, or more; and they will come without delay, for they are quite well-disposed and ready to obey those who are operating. Of Sasquiel’s dukes, then, we have 5 already named; of the counts, however, 10; and of the number of servants, 5,550, whose service is sufficient for every operation of the present hour. Therefore, when you wish to operate for Steganography in the fifth hour of the day through one of the aforesaid, write the character of the lord of the ascendant, of the twelfth house, together with the rest that is required for the art, on a clean piece of paper; and on its back this conjuration, in the manner which you know. Conjuration. Sasquiel adres rhetroleti rosiel emelto satu olmeniel itsoti sauear nauediel liernoti chameson. When these things have been completed, and the other necessary things added, say the conjuration itself, as is proper; and immediately you will see the spirit whom you called visibly present, to whom you may safely entrust the secret. Argu- Steganographia: A method for communicating a secret. Let us have some secret or other for a friend, which we wish no one besides him to know; and let it be such that it can safely be entrusted neither to letters nor to notaries. Let us call one of the aforementioned companions of Sasquiel; let us entrust the secret to him, and add letters marked with his character; and we shall be safe. The tenor of the letters, as desired. Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, to the religious brother Nicolaus Baselius of Durkheim, monk of Hirsau, greetings. You neglect holy obedience, good brother, and humility; you have weakened the constitutions of Benedict. By the report of all who arrive successively I have learned that you hate good zeal, despise the rule of religion and Catholic obedience, and are occupied with secular works and arts. Good brother, what are you doing? You have troubled us, and you zealously pursue foolish double-tongued men; you love hatred, bitterness, quarrels, and contentions; you hate goodness; you are double-tongued, contentious, proud. Fool, what are you doing? The time is at hand to correct these negligences of yours more quickly according to justice, with zeal; and unless you hasten humbly to us to break the zeal of bitterness with the scourges of humility, we are compelled by office to show zeal against all things that are seditious against the [unclear] of faith and Catholic morals. Farewell from Sponheim, on the day before the Kalends of April, in the year 1500. When he to whom the letters are sent has received them, being skilled in the art, after recognizing the character of Sasquiel and after the customary preliminaries have been performed, let him say the aforesaid conjuration; and immediately the spirit that was sent will appear and show himself visibly. When he has seen him, let him at once say these words: Fabelmerusyn aueual vearyan cralti penason. When the said spirit has heard these, he will immediately approach and reveal the secret. Sixth [Spirit table: Parmes / Nastrus / Veneliel; Nestorii / Varmay / Enarym; Manuel / Tulmas / Drusiel; Sagiel / Crosiel / Kathos — with numbers, as printed.] Here now you have [those] named from the dukes, and numbered from the order of servants, 600. The dukes and counts are called by name, and are prompt enough to obey the one calling, in all things which pertain to the ministry of this art. When, therefore, you wish to operate through them, write on clean paper the characters of the lord of the ascendant of the house [in the] 12th, with the others to be written according to custom; and on the back of it write this conjuration according to the precepts of the art, as you know. Conjuration. Lamedon, mosco, vrsoty, tharuean: dayr, Lays, emel, thebrean, rasoty, bamerson. Then, the things to be subjoined according to the custom of the art being subjoined, say the conjuration itself with strong intention, as is fitting; and immediately the spirits called will appear visibly. Commit the secret not to a count but to a duke—unless perchance you have called a count without a duke; which, although I do not deny can be done, yet according to the precept of the art at least one duke with the counts, as you wish, is to be called. The Argument of the secret, as you wish. Let there be a secret of any kind whatever for you to a friend, which you wish to be common to no other. Therefore [you should] trust neither to letters nor to notaries, because in either case fraud can intervene. Call from the aforesaid Spirits as many as you wish; commit the secret to the more powerful, fearing nothing, because the good are faithful in all things. Let the form of the letter be at pleasure. Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, to the vigorous soldier Henry of Bunau, most studious fellow-philosopher, says greeting. I had lent you my books on condition of returning [them], dearest soldier Bunau; but behold, you have by no means returned those which you ought to have sent back within a short [time]. You act against the law which the Catholic faith has sanctioned concerning a promise: do not delay—do not delay what you promised to repay; it does not befit a good and honest man, sprung from parents and noble forebears, to violate a promise. He had promised to restore [them] most diligently within a short [time]. It is [a mark] of levity to defer a promise as if to the Greek Kalends. Have I not waited long enough, with great benevolence? It is most base to promise the greatest things [and] render the least. Good faith adorns a soldier. What graver crime [than] to deny a loan? Nor does it befit a Christian to be unwilling to keep an agreement. For the constitution of the Christian law bids [us] keep a promise [and] return a loan; and what you desire to be done to you, it behooves [you] also to do willingly to others. I demand back my books, which I had lent to you at your entreaty. Dismiss the longer excuses which you promise to the Greek Kalends. You hold my mind in brief [words]. Consider your honorable name and the noble stock of the Bunaus, and send me back my volumes. Farewell, from Sponheim, the 4th [day before] the Nones of April, in the year of the Lord 1500. When you have received these letters, or any others whatever, from him who sent the spirit to you, the sign of Barquiel being recognized, observe in the same hour the lord of the ascendant, and write his character with the others on clean paper; and you shall read secretly the conjuration written on the back, as is fitting; and immediately the spirit sent will appear, to whom, as soon as you see [him], say these words: Mefarym, burne, theor, alueas, casuean, cralti, lierto, aply, charmoys. These [things] said, the spirit sent, drawing nearer, will faithfully reveal to you the secret committed to him. But see that you be strong, constant, and undaunted in all things. CHAPTER VIII. Whose hour is called Iafanym, and whose angel is called Osmadiel, who has under his command 10 dukes, 100 counts, [and] of servants the number is uncertain. The eighth hour of the day is called Iafanym, and its principal spirit is called Osmadiel according to the Picatrix in magical [matters], who has under his command 10 dukes, 100 counts, [and] innumerable servants deputed not only to the operation of our Steganography, but also to many magical experiments. And Solomon the Jew, surnamed Hermes, says in the book on the nature of spirits that all these to the aforesaid Osmadiel [unclear] you delay the Steganographia, which you promised [unclear] to return: it is not fitting for a good and honorable man, born of parents and ancestors of noble rank, to violate a promise. For he had promised to restore it very carefully in a short time. It is fickleness to defer a promise, as it were, to the Greek Kalends. Have I not waited with great goodwill long enough? To promise very great things is most shameful for one who gives back the least. Good faith adorns [unclear]. What more serious offense than to refuse what has been promised as a loan? Nor is it fitting for a Christian to be unwilling to keep an agreement. The ordinance of the Christian law commands one to keep a promise, to repay a loan, and what you desire to be done to you, you ought willingly to do also to others. I demand back my books, which I had lent and entrusted to you when you entreated me. Put aside the longer excuses which you promise for the Greek Kalends. You hold my [unclear] with brief words. Consider your name and your honorable family of [Bunawensius?], and send my volumes back to me. Farewell from Sponheim, the fourth day before the Nones of April, in the year of the Lord 1500. When you have received these letters, or any others whatever, from the one who sent the spirit to you: when the sign of Barquiel is known, observe in that same hour the lord of the ascendant and write its character, together with the rest, on clean paper; and you will read secretly the conjuration written on the back, as is proper; and immediately the spirit that was sent will appear. As soon as you have seen him, say these words to him: Mefarym burne theor alueas casuean cralti lierto aply charmoyS. When these have been said, the spirit that was sent, approaching nearer, will faithfully reveal to you the secret entrusted to him. But see that you are strong, steadfast, and undaunted in all things. The eighth hour of the day is called Iafanym, and its principal spirit is named Osmadiel, according to Picatrix in the magical arts. He has under his command 10 dukes, 100 counts, and innumerable servants assigned not only to the operation of our Steganography, but also to many magical experiments. And Solomon the Jew, surnamed Hermes, says in the book On the Nature of Spirits that all those dukes and counts, obedient and subject to the aforementioned Osmadiel, are accustomed to come in various transformations at the will of the operator, just as they have been commanded by the operator. But now let us set down the names of some of them. R. R. R. Sarfiel Demarot Mariel 10 10 100 100
Amalym Ianofiel Remasyn 10 10 100 100
Chroel Larfuty Theoriel 10 10 100 100
Mesial Vemael Framion 10 10 100 100
Lantrhoitz Thribiel Ermiel 10 10 100 100 Of the dukes, five, and of the counts, ten, we now have named in the table; these are sufficient for us for every operation of this hour. But when you wish to operate through them in Steganography, write on a clean slip with the customary characters and conjurations; and with the first things appended and to be appended below, say the written conjuration itself, which is as follows. Conjuration. O Smodael aneor ersoty neas, hays layr Caphrayn thelreas mearpenary. When this song of conjuration has been said, the spirits called will be present, ready and obedient for all things. Entrust the secret to a duke, not to a count, unless the former is absent, because it must always be entrusted to those intervening in the more principal rank. Subject of the secret, at will. If there is for us any secret whatever which we wish to know concerning a friend far away and absent, and such that we do not wish it to come to the knowledge of anyone else, as can often happen. Therefore, lest either the letter-carrier reveal the mystery on some occasion, or the letters come into foreign hands, let us operate, and through the spirit we shall be secure. Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, of the Order of Saint Benedict, to Lord Conrad, Abbot of Saint Stephen at Würzburg, sends greetings. A rumor has gone out concerning the abbey of [Lyu purgensi?], that he has dismissed brother Johannes of Feilsdorf, a faithful man and very experienced in temporal affairs; Of the Steganography ...and introduced new Pantimoran monks and appointed them his officials. I greatly marvel at the useless deed. Nevertheless, when I recall the custom of the Limburgers, I do not know what I should say. For in temporal matters [unclear] I see that they dismissed a faithful man because he was reproving their deeds; they ought to have given thanks to our savior Jesus Christ for the fidelity of so great a brother, who could have disclosed their necessities. Wretched men, why do you drive away a good and necessary helper? What shall I say? I do not praise the departure of so useful a brother, and one most skilled in temporal affairs, who would have aided the Limburgers most quickly. I grieve deeply that the Limburg monks were so foolish, who dismissed an excellent man and appointed as stewards monks of no value at all in temporal matters. Machari Abba, it was not fitting so to treat the man. First you praised him; now you have rejected a man very necessary to you, to be placed after no one. I confess that, if Christ had given him to me, as befits a Christian I would now give the greatest thanks and would take care that he never departed. But you, ungrateful to Christ, preferred to dismiss a faithful man, worn out by your foolish counsel, lest, with your affairs abandoned, there seemed to be hope of recovery. From Spanheim, 3 Nones of April, 1500. When the man to whom these letters, or any others, are sent has received them, marked with the sign of Osmadael, being skilled in the art, after first doing what must be done beforehand, let him say the prescribed conjuration, and soon the spirit sent will appear visibly. When you have seen him, say: Menason aproysy elmano thulneas assierto mauear veneas cralnoti permason. When these words have been spoken, the messenger spirit will reveal the secret to you. Chapter IX, whose hour is called Karron, and the name of its supreme angel is Quabriel, having under his command 10 dukes, 100 counts; of the servants there is no certain number. The ninth hour of the day is called Karron, and its chief spirit is called Quabriel, who has under his command many and almost innumerable dukes, counts, and servants. From these, for the service of this art of ours, Steganography, there have been appointed 10 from the dukes and 100 from the counts, who have many servants assigned to themselves. In the first order there are 10; in the second 20; in the third 30; in the fifth 500; in the sixth 600; in the seventh 700; in the eighth 1,080; in the ninth 90,000; and in the tenth there are 100,000. But the spirits are rarely called through all of them; and if they have been called, not all, but some, together with their dukes and counts, are accustomed to come according to the emperor's command. Raziel the Great, however, said in his book on illusions and transformations that the number of these spirits is very great, and that each one most diligently observes his orders in all ministries and offices. Solomon Hermes the Jew, on the nature of spirits, says that these are accustomed to appear in that form which the practitioner in the art has described, according to his own will. But now let us set forth the names of some of the dukes and counts. R. R. R. R.
Astroniel Kranos Trubas 10 10 10 100
Charmy Menas Xermiel 10 10 10 100
Pamory Brasiel Lamefon 10 10 10 100
DamyeI Nefarym Zaznor 10 10 10 100
Nadriel Zoymiel Ianediel 10 10 10 100 Here now we have named 5 dukes and counted 10 counts, from his appointed servants 650, which will suffice for us. But when you wish to work through these spirits in the ninth hour of the day, observe the lord of the ascendant, and write on clean paper those things that have been commanded according to the instruction of the art, and on its back the conjuration: Quabriel, odiel, amear, caynalco mean chyr parcos payr peray, thubro menafry. Then, after first doing in the customary manner what must be done beforehand, say the conjuration itself, as is prescribed in the art, and immediately the spirits called will be present, in whatever form you wish, ready and faithful for all things. Entrust the secret to the more powerful one. Subject of the Secret. Let the secret be anything whatever for a friend, which we wish to be most secret and in no way revealed to anyone except him. Therefore let us call from the above-mentioned dukes and counts one or two, and, according to the instruction of the art, let us entrust the secret to the more powerful one. Let us form 104
Steganography
Let us form letters at will. John Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the Order of Saint Benedict, to the religious father John Hugonis, guardian of the Friars Minor of Saint Francis in Kreuznach: greeting and charity. Reverend and venerable father, know that you readily grant to friends all fitting things. Therefore I humbly beg that, in consideration of Catholic piety, you not take it ill that your zealous brothers have been detained rather long with us in the greatest charity; for it was necessary, at my entreaty, that they remain. It was a glorious joy for us, as all of us rejoiced without fault. We exulted in the Lord with spiritual joy, giving thanks to almighty God with good zeal. What, I ask, is more religious than such an assembly, where nothing idle is said, nothing unjust is zealously pursued? May Christ Jesus, savior of all, make them rejoice in everlasting glory. Glorious zealots for the virtues set nothing before truth. We rejoiced with holy joy, praying that you receive the aforementioned brothers peacefully and lay aside every zeal of bitterness. Farewell. From Sponheim, 3 Nones of April, in the year of the Lord 1500. When you, being skilled in the art, have received these letters or any others marked with the character of Gabriel, after the preliminary things have first been done, say the prescribed conjuration. When it has been said, you will at once see the spirit that has been sent; when you see him, say these words: Mesraym paslotiel vear reneam cralt; thio phroysy ma meat hamorfy. When these have been said, the spirit that has been sent will approach calmly and will tell you the secret entrusted to him. its supreme commanding spirit is called Oriel, who has under his command many dukes, counts, and servants. [unclear] The tenth hour of the day is called Lamathon, and its supreme angel is called Oriel, a great and powerful emperor, who, according to Solomon the Jew, has under his command many dukes, through whom wondrous experiments in magic are performed in the tenth hour of the day. Those dukes and those counts, who with their servants have been appointed for the operation of steganography, have among themselves ten orders. In the first order there are 10, in the second 20, in the third 30, in the fifth 500, in the sixth 600, in the seventh 700, in the eighth 800, in the ninth 900, in the tenth 1000. But we, taking only from the first five, are content in our operations. If anyone is pleased to know the names of more, let him call one of those named in the table and question him, and he will hear whatever he wishes; and however many he wishes to know, he will know them perfectly from him. R. R. R. R. Armosy Lemur Xantros 10 10 100 100
Drabiel Ormas Basilon 10 10 100 100
Penaly Charny Nameron 10 10 100 100
Mesriel Zazyor Kranoti 10 10 100 100
Choreb. Naueron Alfrael. 10 10 100 100 Here we have five from the dukes of Oriel and ten from the counts, with the servants assigned to them in their turns, in the number 1100, who suffice for us for every operation of this hour. But when you wish to operate through them in this hour of the day, after first doing the preliminary things in the usual manner, and after writing the things to be written on clean paper, and after arranging this conjuration on its back, do the rest, as you know. Conjuration Oriel burnadiel irasmy crismean pormy ersoti amear medusen. After you have completed that conjuration according to the right instruction of the art, you will see the duke present with the other spirits called; entrust the secret to him. Statement of the Secret Let there be a friend to us, whose good we favor; we fear that he is to be supplanted and circumvented by some circumcellion. Therefore we desire that he be advised. We cannot do it by messengers in open words; similarly, we dare not do it by letters, lest they come into someone’s hands. Therefore, so that we may be safe and our secret may always remain hidden, let us call one spirit at least from the aforementioned dukes. He comes, obeys, and faithfully carries the message. O Epistle Let the letter be formed as desired. John Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, sends greetings to Henry de Bunaw, knight of the golden spur, distinguished philosopher and mathematician. Since you are very devoted to the humane arts, you will rejoice, I think, greatly that you have found a new companion in studies. The man who will present you these letters is a man of great knowledge, a supreme philosopher, a most subtle arithmetician, a most eloquent rhetorician, a most profound mathematician, and in every way most excellently learned. He speaks most elegantly, shining with Ciceronian fluency. Were you not very much my friend, I would have kept so great a man entirely for myself, since by experience of him I have found him a most learned philosopher. I especially favor you; receive gratefully the philosopher whom, moved by singular love, I send to you. O would that all our students were such, who with timid heart despise noble knowledge. That man searches out the study of philosophy and other sciences, and the deepest depths of nature; he treats of them assiduously and continuously, and penetrates them most acutely. Therefore, Henry Bunaw, remember for Christ’s sake to treat the man with a generous countenance. Farewell from Sponheim, 2 November, in the year of the Lord 1500. When the friend to whom they are sent, skilled in this science of steganography, has received the letters, let him do all things that are to be done according to the art, and let him add the prescribed conjuration, as is customary. And when he has seen the sent spirit present, let him say these words to him among the more powerful spirits: Camyn aparsy aslotiel omeat reneas vean triamy cralty penafon. When these have been uttered, the spirit will at once come nearer and will reveal the secret to him. The eleventh hour of the day is called Maneloym, and its angel, the supreme emperor, is named Bariel, who, as Hermes the Jew writes, has many spirits under his command, through whom wondrous things are done in the eleventh hour, in various experiments. From these, many have been assigned to the operation of steganography according to their orders. In the first order there are 10, in the second 20, in the third 30, in the fourth 40, in the sixth 600, in the seventh 700, in the eighth 800, in the ninth 900, in the tenth 1000. All these are sent by turns and according to their orders into the service of this art. Among them are dukes and counts with their servants, very many in number; it is not easy to bring forth all their names, nor indeed is there any need, since it is enough to know the names of a few, and the operator in the art can always learn more names of others from the report of one spirit. And note that, according to Raziel, all these spirits form and transform themselves according to the will of the operator, so that in whatever form he wishes to see them, he should command before the conjuration in the manner prescribed, and they will obey him most promptly in all things. But now let us set forth the names of some, sufficient for us. R. R. R. X. Almarizel Menahel Almas 10 10 100 100
Prasiniel Demasor Perman 10 10 100 100
Chadros Omary Comial 10 10 100 100
Turmiel Helmas Temas 10 10 100 100
Lamiel Zemoiel Lanifiel 10 10 100 100 Here now we have named 15 of the spirits of Bariel, of whom five are dukes and 10 counts, who have a number of servants, 1100, sufficient for our operations of the eleventh hour of the day in steganography. Therefore, when you wish to work through these spirits, observe the lord of the ascendant with the rest, according to what we have said above, and write this conjuration with the others on clean paper, as is customary in this science. Conjuration Bariel mylan theory madruson alfayr dreschym taparoys mear moas layr penason. After the preliminaries have been performed, say this conjuration as is proper, and immediately the spirits called whom you have summoned will appear. Entrust to them the secret, whatever you have, 101
Of the Steganography
The Establishment of Any Secret Whatever We have a secret for a friend, or for anyone else skilled in our art, which we cannot communicate either by letters or by a messenger, because we fear danger in either case. Therefore we call a spirit; we entrust the secret to the more powerful one, and in all respects we are safe. The tenor of the letter, at pleasure Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, of the order of Saint Benedict, to brother Quirinus, a monk of Corbie in France, greeting. Concerning the mother of the ever-Virgin Mary I send my prayer, Quirinus, which you recently requested: Hail, most kindly mother Anne, most radiant parent of the Virgin Mary: you, most [unclear] helper of all innocents; you, noble refuge of those seeking you; quiet blessing of holiness. Hail, most gentle advocate of the poor, most [beautiful?] consoler of those who groan, most adorned storehouse of virtues. Hail, [unclear] refresher of the sorrowful, most health-giving medicine of the sick, and most renowned promoter of faithful Christians. Obtain pardon for us who pray; soften Christ, the dreadful judge; intercede for your servants, that [he/they] may attain blessedness. With you interceding, we ask that in his kindness he receive us wretched ones. Amen. On the eighth day before the Ides of April, in the year of the Lord 1500. When the person to whom the letter is sent, being skilled in the art, has received it, let him first attend to the character of the hour appended to the letter. Once this is known, let him operate through the lord of the ascendant of the hour in which he received the letter, together with the other precepts in the art. Then let him add the prayer written above, in the manner and order in which it is proper, and immediately the spirits sent will appear. When you see them, these words are to be said to the chief one among them: chamerusin maslotiel vear reneas liernoty trismy penason. When these words have been spoken to the spirit more powerful than the others, who is easily recognized by his dress and crown and always precedes the others, he will at once reveal the secret in the ear, Book Two
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Chapter XII
Whose Spirit, a Great Emperor, Has under His Dominion Many Princes, Dukes, Counts, and Servants. The Hour Is Called Naybalon; Its Spirit Beratiel. The twelfth hour of the day is called Nahalon; its angel, the supreme emperor, is called Beratiel, who, according to Solomon the Jew, has under his command almost countless spirits appointed for various operations. Out of all these, different ones in different orders are appointed for the operation of Steganography. In the first order there are dukes and counts 10; in the second 20; in the fourth 30; in the fifth 500; in the sixth 600; in the seventh 700; in the eighth 800; in the ninth 900; in the tenth 100; in the eleventh 200; in the twelfth 300. All these, by turns in their orders, with an infinite multitude of servants, are appointed for the operations of this art; from among them the intelligent and perfect operator in the art will be able to summon whom and as many as he wishes in the twelfth hour of the day. All the princes, dukes, and counts of this hour, according to the opinion of Raziel, assume forms at the operator’s pleasure. R. R. R. R.
Camaron Plamiel Edriel 10 100 10 100
Astrofiel Nerosiel Choriel 10 100 10 100
Penatiel Emarlon Romiel 10 10 10 10
Demarac Quirix Fenosiel 10 10 10 10
Famaras Sameron Hamary 10 10 10 10 Here now we have named from the spirits of Berathiel fifteen in number, of whom five, through the same number of orders, are dukes, and ten are counts; joined to them are 1,100 servants for various operations in the secrets of magic. Therefore, when you wish to operate through one of them in the last hour of the day, observe the lord of the ascendant of that hour, and the house of the twelfth; write the character of each, together with the other necessary things, on a clean little sheet, and on its back this conjuration. The Conjuration Conjuration. Berathiel Odiel irsoti rodu dreor ranezo melros ethiel aty nodiel hayres penafon. Then, after all the preliminaries that are to be set forth have been set forth according to custom, say this conjuration in the proper manner, and at once the spirits called will appear. Then entrust the secret to the more powerful one, according to the instruction of the art, and he will faithfully obey in all things. A theme for any secret whatsoever, as desired, that occurs. We have a friend absent far away; we know that a danger threatens him, which is hidden from him. We wish to warn him, but for certain reasons we do not dare to do so openly. Therefore we call the spirits assigned to this operation according to the hour, and safely entrust the secret. We seal letters, composed as desired, with the sign of the spirit. Everyone who boasts of temporal things is by no means left to be called virtuous, and he who loves transitory things cannot be a lover of Justice; for Catholic integrity detests a man gaping after desires. For the holy religion of the Christian faith forbids love of the world to its people, because he who loves worldly joys loses heavenly happiness. A Catholic not living in a Catholic manner is shown to have denied Christ; and he who loves temporal things is not said to be a good Catholic. He who loves the creator seeks the joys of spiritual things. The lover of Christ scorns all the pleasures of the world, and does not care for unstable glory and riches. But the lover of the world hates virtues; he cares nothing for future joys. Alas, what are you doing, Christians intent on vain things? You think things that are not honorable, and do things contrary to religion. Do not, wretched ones, I beg you, do not love the vanities of this world that will soon perish. Take care rather to love Christ, that he may receive us into the heavenly kingdoms. When one skilled in the art has received this little prayer written above, or any others, sealed with the character of Berathiel, let him carefully do everything that is prescribed in the art, and let him say the conjuration. And when he has seen that the spirits, who will come without delay, are present, let him say to the more powerful one, who advances crowned: Famerusyn melysno alny vemoby dreary drymes charsony. When these words have been said, [unclear] [unclear] the spirit, and he will faithfully tell the secret into the ear of the operator. But the operator must be steadfast and not afraid, because they are good spirits and harm no one well instructed in the art. But if any of the unskilled should presume to approach, he would not escape danger. The first hour of the night is called Omalharen, and its angel is called Sabrathan, who has many other spirits under him, serving different operations at their proper times and orders, as Hermes Solomon the Jew, most experienced in magical matters, bears witness. From these, many have been assigned by turns to the operation of our art according to their orders. For in the first order there are 10, in the second 20, in the third 30, in the fourth 40, in the fifth 500, in the sixth 600, in the seventh 70, in the eighth 80, in the ninth 90, in the tenth 100. All these are sent into the ministry of secrets by their turns and hidden orders, about which we have neither full knowledge nor do we speak. R. Domaros, 100. R. Ramefiel, 100. R. Hayzeym, 100.
R. Amerany, 100. R. Omedriel, 100. R. Emalon, 100.
R. Penoles, 100. R. Frazedac, 100. R. Turtiel, 100.
R. Mardiel, 100. R. Chrasiel, 100. R. Quenol, 100.
R. Naftul, 100. R. Dornason, 100. R. Kymaliel, 100. Here now we have named from the spirits of Sabrathan 5 dukes and 10 counts, who have assigned to themselves by turns their orders of servants, 2000. Therefore, when you wish to work through these, observe the lord of the ascendant, write his character with the other necessary things on a clean sheet, and this conjuration on the back. Conjuration. Sabrathan odiel meltos rhupis othia elroz adiel methiel mear nasutiel lafian irsoti brestion dreor chametfon. Then, after the preliminaries have been set forth. [unclear] I have made a large catalogue concerning ecclesiastical writers, which I recently presented for your fraternity to see; and, concluding it too hastily, I confess that I passed over some very famous men: not because I begrudged their names the benefit of the catalogue, as a puffed-up critic now accuses me, abusing the catalogue with very foolish words, who thought that I had failed to mention his own men out of envy alone, which is utterly false. For indeed I wrote about the conception of the most holy Mother of God and affirmed that she was always most beautiful, without the blemish of original transgression; but the puffed-up critic, wishing puffedly to censure this, said, with the vainest rashness against Catholic observance, that the most resplendent Virgin had existed stained by guilt of original fault. It is rash to wish to defile the most blessed Virgin. But the most renowned doctors of Cologne, wishing to root out the little brother's infamous opinion, contrary to truth, cited him and compelled him to retract his empty tales; asserting the most blessed Virgin, and also confirming by statute, that she ought to be believed most pure, and at no time, however brief, to have been subject to original foulness. I wished to write these things to you, since you love truth, so that you may avoid the reproachers of the most blessed Virgin. Farewell, the sixteenth day before the Kalends of May, in the year of the Lord 1500. But when the person to whom the letters are sent receives them, being skilled in the art, let him observe the sign of the principal spirit, so that he may know whom he ought to summon according to the changes of the hour. Then let him observe the lord of the ascendant in that very hour in which he receives the letters, together with the remaining disposition of the heaven through the twelve houses of the Zodiac, omitting nothing at all [unwashed?] which has been prescribed. When the conjuration has been spoken, when he has seen the spirit present, let him say the following words: chamerusyn maslotiel vean reneas cralty thyrmo venear penarson. When these have been said to the principal spirit, he will soon come nearer and will reveal into his ear the secret entrusted to him. Fourth. The fourth hour of the night is called Ramerzy, whose angel is named Iefischa, having under his command many princes, leaders, and ministering spirits, who, like those whom we described in the preceding chapter, are distributed by turns and orders into twelve groups. For in the first order there are 10, in the second 20, in the third 30, in the fourth 40, in the fifth 50, in the sixth 60, in the seventh 70, in the eighth 80, in the ninth 90, in the tenth 100, in the eleventh 1000, in the twelfth 10000. And from these twelve orders, by their turns, spirits are sent to us for service in the operations of the art of Steganography. Of these we shall now name some. R. R. R. R.
Armosiel Rayziel Lamediel 10 100 100 1000
Nedruan Gemezin Adroziel 10 10 100 10
Maneyloz Fremiel Zodiel 10 10 100 1
Ormael Hamayz Bramiel 10 1 100 1
Phorfiel Iapuriel Coreziel 10 1 100 1
Bimezyn Iasphiel Enatriel 10 2 100 3 Here now we have named from the spirit Iefischa 6 leaders and 12 counts, to whom are assigned 72.60 ministering spirits, who by their turns and orders are sent in attendance upon the one working in the art. These princes, according to the saying of Solomon the Philosopher, are multiform; and whatever forms they have been commanded to take, they assume. Therefore, when you wish to work through them in the fourth hour of the night, observe the lord of the ascendant and the whole configuration of the sky, and do everything according to what we prescribe to you, writing everything on a clean slip, and on its back this conjuration. Conjuration. Iefischa osiel mea pathyr lays theor dreochis fazan moab lofeas ersoti breo pornys tayr penarson. Then, after adding the things that must be added, when you have pronounced that conjuration in the proper manner, form, and order, the spirits will appear visibly in whatever form you have commanded, ready and willing for all things. A secret is made at will. A secret Whatever secret occurs to you at the time, which you wish an absent person to know in this fourth hour of the night, you may safely entrust to the spirits, provided it is such a thing as you cannot safely disclose to him either by letters or by messengers. For those things that we can disclose without danger either by letters or by messengers, we must by no means disclose through the ministry of spirits. But whoever attempts to summon spirits on account of trivial matters and secrets that can be disclosed without danger by letters or messengers will without doubt incur loss and inconvenience, with danger. The tenor of the letters at will. To the venerable father in Christ, steward of the people of Limburg, the religious lord called Ioannes Wessdorff, Ioannes Ovis, humble abbot of Sponheim, sends the joys of heaven. The nuns of Saint Rupert desire you with exceeding eagerness as their governor, and with humble goodwill ask you to undertake the governance of the temporal affairs of that monastery. To serve the devout virgins of Christ is praiseworthy and meritorious. You have as good [unclear] of the spiritual affairs of the same community the most renowned, [unclear], beloved by all, well reputed for the observance of monastic religion, and notable to all people, whose life is deservedly most pleasing to Christ, the excellent abbot of the monastery of Saint John. He is most learned in the letters both of Christians and of pagans, most studious, most learned; he is one who notably far surpasses the wisdom of all human beings. He knows excellently how to rule the flock entrusted to him, and he is a zealous guardian of the virgins of Christ, whose cloister he preserves most firmly. Do not be afraid to serve such honorable nuns under him, who knows how to govern the brides of Christ according to the monastic law with excellent discretion, and who, by virtue and zeal of the Christian faith, will gladly help you in necessity. Since you have as a familiar friend this man so illustrious and kindly, this shepherd, I ask that you willingly undertake the helm of such religious virgins. Christ will reward the laborer with eternal joys. The nuns Samelon, Nameton, Habalon — 100, 100, 100. Here now we have, from the spirits of Abasdathon, 40 named, of whom the first twelve in their orders are dukes, the remaining are counts; and there are two of each order, namely one duke and one count. We have 3200 ministerial [spirits] deputed, whom they use by turns in diverse magical operations. And Solomon and Raziel, wise men and most [skilled] in magical [arts], say that the princes of Abasdathon are wont to appear in whatever form they have been bidden by the one who operates; which, since we have frequently experienced [it], confesses itself founded on truth. When, therefore, you wish to operate through them in Steganography in the fifth hour of the night: observe the lord of the ascendant, and write both it and the whole disposition of the heaven on a clean sheet, with the other [things] we have taught, and on its back this conjuration. Conjuration. Abasdarhon, morca, lafias, tharuean, buel, dreschin, tayr, moab, etsoty, layr, pornys, theori, mean, asar, penason. Then, the things to be subjoined being subjoined, soon, as soon as you have said the conjuration itself, the spirits whom you have called will appear to you, ready for all things which you command them. The Argument of the occurring secret. Whatever secret you have, which otherwise you cannot without danger make known to a friend far off or [elsewhere], commit [it] to the more powerful of the spirits by the rite and form by which it behooves according to the art, fearing nothing, because they are well-disposed and faithful. Let the letters be formed at pleasure. The Catholic faith saves no one who despises the ardor of divine love for the redemption of the soul. But many men are now found glorying in the Catholic faith, yet few have the works of the Christian faith; and a faith [without works] dies. Many believe, but very few observe the commands of God. Alas, the zeal of believers is weak—which even the unbelieving can have stronger, and very many do have. The gentiles and [those] men shall be tortured by the bread of Hell who do not believe that our Savior, the Son of the Omnipotent, was made man. But all shall be tortured with graver punishments who believe that the Son of God came into the world, and act [from] zeal for human redemption, but by no means adorn the Christian faith with holy works; and, ever wrapped in sins, prefer the honors of the world to eternal blessedness, zealous for impious actions, and staining the purity of the faith by private morals against obedience. But the lovers of God, who have a right zeal for the Christian faith, prefer nothing to God, imitate Christ, flee sins, [and] despise riches and honors. Now therefore attend to these words: [if] you glory in the faith, love God, and you shall have the reward of blessedness, [being] zealous for justice. If you love the vanities of the world against the honor of God, you shall receive the prize of those zealous for iniquity—the horrors of hell. Written the 15th [day before] the Kalends of May, in the year of the Lord 1500. When he to whom they are sent—[one] skilled in the art—has received the letters marked with the character of Abasdarhon, let him at once consider the lord of the ascendant and the whole disposition of the heaven, observe [it], and write [it] with the tenor of the conjuration and the other necessary [things] on a clean sheet; and the things to be subjoined being subjoined, and the conjuration said, when he sees the spirits sent standing by, let him say to the more powerful these words: Chameron, massotiel, caseuij, renean, pornas, thilmeuj, penason. Which said, [the spirit] will soon draw nearer and faithfully reveal the secret committed to him to the [ear?] of the operator. CHAPTER XVIII. Whose hour is called Thaazaron, and whose Angel is called Zaazenach, presiding over many spirits. The sixth hour of the night is called Thaazaron, and the name of its Angel is Zaazenach, who has under his command princes and dukes, counts and ministerials almost innumerable, who preside over diverse magical operations by their turns and orders. In the first order there are 10, in the second 20, in the third 30, in the fourth 40, in the sixth 50, in the seventh 70, in the eighth 80, in the ninth 90, in the tenth 100, in the twelfth 16000. And when [one] wishes [for] them, they are prompt and altogether obedient, as the aforesaid wise men testify, and we have experienced. Amonazii 122 OF THE STEGANOGRAPHY ... but with heavier punishments all those who believe that the Son of God came into the world and commit murder out of zeal for human redemption, but by no means adorn the Christian faith with holy works, and, always entangled in sins, prefer the honors of the world to eternal blessedness, pursuing impious actions and staining the purity of faith by private morals contrary to obedience. But the lovers of God, who have the right zeal of the Christian faith, prefer nothing to God, imitate Christ, flee sins, and despise riches and honors. Now therefore attend to these words, you who glory in faith: love God, and you will have the reward of blessedness, pursuing righteousness. If you love the vanities of the age against the honor of God, you will receive the reward of those who pursue iniquity: the horrors of hell. I wrote this on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of May, in the year of the Lord 1500. When the person to whom letters marked with the character Abasdarhon have been sent, being skilled in the art, has received them, let him at once consider the lord of the ascendant and the whole disposition of the heavens, and let him observe and write, together with the form of the conjuration and the other necessary things, on a clean sheet; and, after the things to be added have been added and the said conjuration has been spoken, when he sees the spirits sent to him standing by, let him say these words to the more powerful one: Chameron massotiel caseuij renean pornas thilmeuj penason. When these have been said, he will at once come nearer and will faithfully reveal the charge entrusted to him [unclear] of the operator. The sixth hour of the night is called Thaazaron, and the name of its angel is Zaazenach, who has under his command princes and leaders, counts and ministerials almost innumerable, who preside over various magical operations according to their turns and orders. In the first order there are 10; in the second, 20; in the third, 30; in the fourth, 40; in the sixth, 50; in the seventh, 70; in the eighth, 80; in the ninth, 90; in the tenth, 100; in the twelfth, 16,000. Whenever he wishes them, they are ready and wholly obedient, as the aforesaid wise men testify, and as we have experienced. Amonazii X. X. R. R. Amonazii Tuberiel Pammon 100 109 100 163
Menriel Humaziel Dracon 100 100 102 100
Prenostix Lanoziel Gematz 100 108 100 174
Namedor Lameroz Enariel 100 105 100 180
Cherafiel Xerphiel Rudefor 100 103 100 190
Dramaz Zeziel Sarmon 100 110 100 200 Here now we have, from the twelve orders of the spirits of Zaazenach, 11 leaders and 6 counts named with their servants, duly assigned in order, to the number of 1,860, who in the sixth hour of the night are abundantly sufficient for us for every operation of Steganography. Therefore, when you wish to operate in this hour of the night, observe the lord of the ascendant; and write both it and the whole disposition of the heavens, with the other necessary things, and the conjuration, on a clean sheet. Conjuration. Zaazenach eneos fari neabdiel lasmy chyrmean ersoty layt pornys theor mean penason. Then, after the things that must duly be added have been added and the conjuration has been spoken, the summoned spirits will appear without delay, peaceful and well-disposed, ready for all things. The Argument of Any Secret That Occurs. Whatever secret occurs to us, which we cannot safely communicate to a friend either by messengers or by letters, in the sixth hour of the night let us entrust it to one of the leaders prescribed above, or even to one of the counts, if the leader is not present, which can often happen, in that manner and order which is set out as instruction in this art, fearing nothing at all, because all are good and faithful in everything that has been entrusted to them by the operator, and they omit nothing. Let the tenor of the letters be set down at the pleasure of the operator, or of the present business. Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, to [unclear], doctor of the solitary arts of philosophy, greeting and charity. Mindful 126 Of the Steganography. Let us form letters [unclear]. John Trithemius, abbot, sends greetings to Nicholas Basselius, monk, and transmits this prayer of Saint Nicholas. Creator, restorer, and maker of all things, he created the first man, Adam, to whom he joined a most beautiful wife named Eve, the mother of all the living: prefiguring the Catholic Church, to be joined to pastors, shining beautifully with the ways of uprightness, and destined to bear men as sons of good works, who through humility receive the kingdoms of heaven, which shall remain without end. Christ redeemed us through his kindness, humbling himself for our sake. Therefore we must love him, the most kind one, who gave us the Catholic faith; those who truly love it will rightly obtain angelic happiness. Therefore let all of us, living in true religion and Catholic life, honor our almighty creator every day. Lord Jesus, most kind savior, who mercifully redeemed us all from the abysses of death, kindly regarding our frailty and infirmity, conform us to the Catholic faith, so that after this transitory life we may deserve to have forever the repose of eternal consolation and happiness. Amen. The fourteenth day before the Kalends of May [18 April], in the year of the Lord 1500. When the one to whom these letters are sent, sealed with the character of Mendrion, receives them, being skilled in our art, let him observe the lord of the ascendant; let him write both it and the whole disposition of the heaven on a clean slip, and on its back the conjuration. Then, after all things that must be appended have been appended, and the song has been spoken, as soon as he sees that the Spirit is standing by him, let him say these words to the first: Chamerusyn merion nodiel burmy raueto elay reas penason. When he has uttered these words to him who among the other spirits appears to be the more eminent, immediately that one, approaching calmly, will reveal the secret entrusted to him. The eighth The eighth hour of the night is called Xymalim, and its angel, the first supreme Emperor, is called Narcoriel, who has under his rule many other Spirits, princes, dukes, counts, and ministers, who are called according to their orders to various effects by those who work in the secrets of philosophy. And from all these there are twelve orders of those who serve Steganography. In the first order there are 10; in the second, 20; in the third, 30; in the fifth, 50; in the sixth, 60; in the seventh, 70; in the eighth, 80; in the ninth, 90; in the tenth, 100; in the eleventh, 1000; in the twelfth, 10000. All these keep their orders in such a way that no one can work safely through them unless he has been fully instructed in all things. For whoever does not observe the proper order exposes himself to danger and will be disappointed of the desired effect. R. R. R. Cambiel Amelzon Xanoryz 100 100 1000 1000
Nedarym Lemozar Iastrion 100 100 1000 1000
Astrocon Xernifiel Themaz 100 100 1000 1000
Marifiel Kanorfiel Hobrazym 100 100 1000 [unclear] 1000
Dramozyn Bufanoiz Zymeloz 100 100 [unclear] 1000
Lustihon Iamedroz Gamsiel 100 100 1000 Here now we have named 12 dukes and 6 counts, established by a hidden disposition throughout all twelve orders, who have under them numbered ministers, 1400, who suffice for us for every operation of the eighth hour of the night. Therefore, when you wish to work through them in Steganography at the eighth hour of the night, observe the lord of the ascendant; write both it and the whole disposition of the heaven on clean paper, and on its back, with the other things customarily used according to practice, this conjuration. Conjuration. Narconiel aples pornya nauelo meas. Triome ilneasazyfan lafias my breffion erfort penason. Then, after the things customarily to be appended have been appended, once the conjuration has been spoken, the spirits called will be present in that form which you have commanded them to take, ready for all things. Argu 132. I Asguarim apornys vesale moes labiel throe. Tadrys asiel cachylos thubla uailso thirmjel vear. Turiel cralty solmys aslotiel naemes renhar, vear thirmo cralnoti faon dremion lauiel odres, notiel pornys. Pornis mear moab sayr aslotiel lo raytu lian aseuo, Bian eory churio bays aftro penason. Then, after adding what must be added, and after saying the conjuration, as is proper, immediately the summoned spirits will stand by. The purpose of any secret Let it be any secret whatever. When you cannot make it known by letters and messengers to a friend who is near or [unclear], summon one or two of the spirits Lasguatim and appoint them as your couriers; entrust the secret, having no doubt. Let the letters be formed at will This is the prophecy of Nicolaus Basselius of Iburg, bishop of S., which he saw in the spirit. And he said: Thus says the Lord to the shepherds of the churches: You will soon perish, because a very great calamity will scatter your broad dominion and will besprinkle all Europe. Woe to the Ishmaelites, who break the covenants of the tabernacle, because through envy and rashness they seize the pastures. Behold, the dominion that you have will be broken, unless you hasten to greater repentance; and you will be handed over to be torn apart. Alas, the whole Church is besprinkled with the worst morals; dissimulation has invaded its ministers. Flee, do not look back; you will be laid waste and will be dragged by dogs; they will besprinkle the whole earth with blood. Seek repentance, inhabitants of the earth. Little Benjamin will experience disturbances. Woe to the inhabitants of Gennesaret, which is Europe, because on account of the multitude of their sins they will perish under the hands of the Bulgarians. Here ends the prophet Nicolaus, bishop, [unclear] 12 Kalends of May. When you have received any letters whatever, marked beforehand with Lasguarim, and the person to whom they are sent is skilled in the art, let him do everything prescribed according to the art, and let him observe the order of the planets, and write what is to be written. And when the conjuration written above has been said, as soon as the spirits that have been sent appear, let him say to the first among them: Chamerusin othriel arnotiel folais elty. Naeles proy vear faot cralnoti, penason. When these words have been said, immediately the approaching spirit will faithfully and calmly reveal the message entrusted to him. Chap[ter]... 136 Of the Steganography ... with teeth; but two serpentine bodies, which nevertheless they always veil and hide beneath certain coverings or leaves, so that they may not be seen. In the face, however, they are very beautiful, kindly, and pleasant, and most ready and cheerful for every obedience to the operator. R. R. R. Adoniel Marachy Hardiel 10 20 00 20 10
Damaisiel Chabrion Nefrias 10 20 20 10
Ambriel Nestoriel Irmanot[unclear] 10 20 00 20 10
Meriel Zachriel Gerthiel 10 20 00 20 10
Denary[unclear] Naueriel Dromiel 10 20 00 20 10
Emarion Damery Ladrot[unclear] 10 20 00 20 10
Kabriel Namael Melan.is 10 20 00 20 19 Here now we have, from the good spirits of Satandiel, 14 leaders and 7 counts, together with many of their servants, who suffice for us in the twelfth hour of the night for every operation. Therefore, when you wish to operate through them in the last hour of the night, observe and do carefully all that we have prescribed, and afterward say the conjuration. Conjuration. [unclear]
Arandiel marso porno ioniel schendiel iano Nati chilprest iosaschar meon prissi dyon volayr penason. When the charm has been spoken, immediately the spirits called will stand by, prepared for everything. The Arrangement for Announcing a Secret. When you see the spirits standing by you in a strange form, do not be frightened, because they are good and benevolent, harming no one; and, lest they terrify anyone, they almost always hide their monstrous form, appearing with a most beautiful face. Safely entrust whatever you wish a friend to know in the hour of the night. Let the letters be formed as one pleases. O wretched man, and truly pitiable, why do you not attend to the instability of all temporal things? And why do you not think that you will shortly die? Remember what the first man deserved, because he violated the commandment. Would that, as Balaam wished, our soul might die the death of the just, so that, despising present pleasures and the vain honors of the world, we may be undefiled, keeping ourselves from every sin. But we do not care, until at last the dreadful bonds of death fall upon us forever. I consider him happy who, having forethought these things [unclear] 137
[unclear]. Therefore, O man, cast off the world like the Son of God, and think, out of love for him, [unclear] evils follow us. For it brings many dangers upon us; and because it is damnable to its lovers, it is deservedly despised. Truly worthy of eternal death is the lover of the world. What does this world profit you, wretched man? While it is loved, it flees; while it is present, it passes away; while it exalts, it casts down; while it flatters, it deceives; while it flourishes, it withers; while it sends out its lovers, it transmits them to perpetual miseries. In the year 1512, on the Kalends of May. Once the letters have been received and the sign of the principal spirit recognized, the one skilled in the art should do what is customarily to be done. Then, when the above-written conjuration has been spoken according to the art, the spirits will appear, faithfully revealing what has been entrusted. Whoever desires to approach the knowledge of this hidden art of ours, whoever wishes to work through it wonders and many useful things without dangers, must first of all be adorned with virtues, and be of clean conscience and good will toward God, toward himself, and toward his neighbor, so that he is not inclined to harm anyone, nor seeks the dealings of shamefulness. Next, it is necessary that he be somewhat imbued with the good arts of letters, and especially with the science of the stars, so that he may know the general motions, courses, circuits, changes, orders, natures, positions, risings, settings, and effects of the stars, signs, and planets; because without competent knowledge of these things no one can have access to the depths of this art. Consequently it is necessary that he have a teacher perfect and experienced in the art; because we believe it possible to come to this knowledge without a teacher only for a few, and those most learned in many things, and especially skilled in magical matters. The teacher, however, must be not only approved and experienced in the science, but also faithful; because the purer he has been with God in good conduct, the safer he will be in the operation of this science. For the spirits obey virtues. [unclear]. Therefore, when anyone is about to approach this art, let the teacher receive him and lead him into some secret and clean place; let the time be tranquil and serene, and the moon full in opposition, with the sun shining clearly; and let Mercury be in the ascendant, joined to Venus or Jupiter, if possible; and let Saturn and Mars be remote, because if they themselves or either of them is with the ascendant, the instruction will not be perfect. First he shall swear in the art this oath: I, N., swear and promise by the power of almighty God, by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment, and by the salvation of my soul in the holy catholic faith, to almighty God, to the blessed Virgin Mary, to all the saints, and to you, N., that I will faithfully keep this art of Steganography hidden all the days of my life, nor will I teach it to anyone without your will and consent. Moreover, by the same power I swear and promise that I will not use this knowledge against God and his commandments, nor against the holy Roman and universal Church or its ministers, nor against justice and equity. So may God help me, and so may he save me at the last judgment. Then let the teacher read the following conjuration in the mystical tongue, and interpret it, and all the conjurations contained in this work, before the pupil, lest he suspect that anything diabolical, superstitious, or contrary to God, or any pact with demons, implicitly or explicitly, is in any way hidden there in secret. The General Conjuration to be Spoken by the Master before Access to the Art [unclear] Mesari cosmenielarchea sameor eritas.
Dricho mosayr vsionoes veso tureas.
Abrithies naselion pyrnochyboyn ormon.
Ceruali myrbceuolian saueaosayr.
Rhymanoeaue iapion nospiel saseuo rhaony.
Natythirpolian ionayrchuleor nefris.
Mistriona nayrdauosytyuamo turmy.
Pleon nomeato turias bresne nasephon.
Adionsayrcatros chyrosny aschyon crmy.
Otyellayr romays theorynaias atreuo.
Aliar mealco trisna vseori iesachor.
Bios pailon rauemysear astro penason. And after the master of the art has explained to his pupil the conjuration of all the spirits, their order and sequence, let him open to him the most secret mysteries of this knowledge, which are neither written nor to be written, forbidding him, under the oath he has taken, to reveal them to anyone as long as he lives, except to worthy persons sworn in the art, or to write them in any manner or for any reason. Then let him teach him the natures, names, places, numbers, offices, and properties of all the spirits who have been assigned to this art: how, when, and where work is to be done through them, and the remaining mysteries that pertain to the perfection of this art, concerning which nothing is to be written. Here Ends the Second Book of the Steganography of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, 20 April, in the Year of the Lord 1500. S. INC!Chapter 5.
The fifth hour, Fealech, and the spirit and supreme emperor called Sasquiel, having under his rule 10 dukes, 100 counts, and a very great number of servants,
group 1
group 2
group 3
group 4
R.
R.
R.
R.
Damiel
Iameriel
Omerach 10
100
Araniel
Futiniel
Lameros 10
100
Maroeh
Rameriel
Zachiel 10
100a
Sarapiel
Amisiel
Fustiel 10
100
Putifiel
Vraniel
Camiel 10
100
Chapter VI.
Whose hour is called Genapherym, and its supreme emperor-spirit is called Saniel, who has under him 110 dukes and companions, with many servants,
Chapter VIII.
Whose hour is called Iafanym, and its angel is said to be Osmadiel, who has under his command 10 dukes, 100 counts; the number of servants is uncertain.
Chapter X
Whose hour is called Lamarhon, and
Chapter 11
Whose hour is called Maneloym, and its supreme emperor is called Bariel, who has under his dominion many princes, dukes, counts, and servants.
Chapter XIII.
Whose hour is Vobum Malharien, and its supreme angel is called Sabrathan, who has under his command princes, dukes, counts, and many servant spirits.
Chapter XVI.
Whose hour is called Ramerzy, and its angel, the supreme emperor, is called Iefischa, who has under his command princes, dukes, counts, and many ministerial spirits,
CHAPTER XVIII.
WHOSE HOUR IS CALLED THAAZARON, AND
its angel is called Zaazenach, presiding over many spirits.
Chapter 20.
Whose hour is called Xymalim, and its angel, the supreme emperor, is called Narcoriel, having under him princes, dukes, counts, servants,
Chapter XXV.
In Which We Shall Teach the General Method and Form of Approaching This Art of Steganography, and of Operating in It Without Danger, with the Greatest Usefulness.
Book III
Addressed to Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire
Preface
After, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of faithful souls, we completed the first two books of our art, in which I described our Steganography as best I could, it is necessary for us to join this third book to those, and to link more wondrous things with wondrous aids. I found in a certain book of a certain ancient philosopher, who is called Menastror, that it is possible that by a certain art we should make the conception of our mind known to a friend, however far absent, within 24 hours, without words, without books, and without a messenger, most perfectly, most widely, and most secretly. Since I was driven most vehemently by desire for knowledge, I began to wish to test the truth of the sayings; and after many labors I at last found that very knowledge proved by experience. The secret of this art is very great, and wrapped in such great obscurities that it is not easily accessible to anyone. For Menastror enveloped the mystery in very obscure and few words, and used such [unclear] that it might remain secret, so that after him no one could yet be found who dared to make his discourse clearer by any instruction. But I, fearing [unclear] to such unskilled men, or at length to be burned by fire, since I have already long been experienced in it through many tests, wished to commit it to writing in rather clearer terms, so that, with God's help, it might in some measure become accessible to learned men and those very devoted to magical studies; and yet that it should remain hidden at all times from unskilled Rapophagi, and in no way become known to their dull understanding.
But Menastror said: There are seven planets, over which seven angels preside, and subject to them are 21 spirits, through whom secrets are announced. Let us set out their names by means of a table. Mansion...
R. R. Mansions of the spirits with the planets [unclear] G. Roth. Sadiel 1 675 663 651 H. Oriffiel Poniel 2 700 688 676 Morifiel 3 725 713 701 Floriel 1 575 563 551 Moon Zachariel Ariel 2 600 588 576 Raphael 3 625 613 601 Amael 1 475 463 451 [unclear] Samael Asmael 2 500 488 496 Nebiel 3 525 513 501 Laniel 1 375 363 351 Pasael 2 400 388 376 Sun Michael Vanriel 3 425 413 401 Zabdiel 1 275 263 251 Sacmiel 2 300 288 276 [unclear] Anael Adoniel 3 325 313 301 Carmiel 1 175 163 151 [unclear] Raphael Nabeyel 2 200 188 176 Pathiel 3 225 213 201 Remasiel 1 75 63 51 [unclear] Gabriel Tespiel 2 100 88 76 Theoriel 3 125 113 101 Roth. Schw. R. S: Aniel 4 Wenafor 631 20 642 639 H: Saturn Schamaro 627 20 638 646 Li Kraluotes Thubrays 626 20 650 634 Ymarona Tzatzraym 628 20 639 S J Yli
These are the seven angels of the planets according to the tradition of the ancient sages, each of whom governs the world for three hundred fifty-four years and four months in his own order. Orifiel is the angel of Saturn, who from the beginning of creation governed the world for 354 years and 4 months. Afterwards Venus, then Jupiter, after him Mercury, and then Mars, afterwards the Moon, and finally the Sun. Each is described as having had, for 354 years and 4 months, the dominion of the world written in a table common to itself and its angel. Thus the sages say that at the time of the flood Samael, the angel of Mars, served in the command of rule; Gabriel, however, the angel of the Moon, at the time of the confusion of tongues; Michael, the angel of the Sun, at the time of Israel’s departure from Egypt. And indeed, if anyone gives credence to the aforesaid assertion, he will easily be able by himself to reckon from the origin of the world the changes of times and the governance of the angels down to his own age, in the order prescribed.
But we, pursuing those things which serve our purpose, do not doubt that there are twenty-one other spirits subject to the seven angels of the planets named above, that is, three to each, according to the institution of this art of ours; through them we bring about the effect of our intention. We shall observe the customary order of the planets, beginning from Saturn, highest of all, down to the Moon: first setting down the operation of each principal angel, and then the service beneath him, and joining the chapters together in order.
Chapter I
On Orifiel, the first and supreme angel of Saturn, and on the operations that are performed through him.
Saturn, the highest and supreme planet of all, slow in motion and nature, cold because remote, difficult, weighty, is moved from the point of its beginning to the point of its first station in 650 years, remaining in any sign for 30 months, by its natural proper motion 626 [unclear]. Its first and supreme angel is called, according to the opinion of the ancients, Orifiel, who has under himself three other principal spirits, namely Sadael, Poniel, and Morisiel, of whom we shall speak in their own place and order. Through this Orifiel, the great angel of Saturn, many and various operations are performed in Steganography. Through him we can make known the secret of our mind to a friend skilled in the art, wherever he may be: by letters, if it pleases; or even without letters, and do many other marvelous things which no one otherwise understands who is unskilled in this science of ours.
Therefore, if one wishes to perform anything through this angel in Steganography, especially on the day of Saturn and in those matters, affairs, and causes that belong to Saturn, it is first necessary that he know its various and diverse motions: and first the various, pure, proper, direct, retrograde, and confused motion. And in all these things it is necessary that he know not only the general rules handed down by the astronomers, which, although they are especially useful for this science of ours, nevertheless do not suffice completely, but also the particular ones. Therefore, taking as a foundation the tables and rules concerning the motions of the planets, which it is altogether necessary for the practitioner in this art to know, we have added special rules and little tables of punctual motions throughout the individual chapters of this work; without observing these, no one will be able to operate in this art.
And note that the day of each planet is divided into four equal parts, of which the principal angel of that planet holds the first, that is, three unequal hours; and its substitutes obtain the remaining three parts in order. For example: on the day of Saturn, Orifiel, its first angel, possesses the three unequal hours from sunrise, which are called the hours of the planets; Sadael, its first angel, possesses the second three. Poniel, the second, holds the third; and Morisiel, the third angel of Orifiel, the fourth three hours. Under the first three hours of the day both of Saturn and of the other stars, in matters appropriated to Saturn, one must operate through Orifiel; under the second through Sadael; under the third through Poniel; and under the last three through Morisiel. And all operations, according to the motion of Saturn, receive either a prosperous effect or a weak one. But now let us set down the punctual table.
Table
Punctual table.
[table of numerals and signs]
This [order?] is written in black [color?].
[table of numerals and signs]
When the mean motion of Saturn for the second day, degree, and hour has been learned from the common tables, you should know that it must first of all be carefully observed whether it is direct or retrograde; pure, [nearer?], mixed, or confused. But you will not find this from the common tables. Therefore we have arranged the table written above, in which you will be able to find the point of the beginning of its motion and of its end at any hour, the degrees running together between them being divided into particles of minutes. That is to say, for each minute it is divided into two, three, or four hourly parts according to the proportion of the motion, pure or confused, that is, with the conjunction and separation of the other planets observed. For it is impossible, either through the stars or through the spirits of the stars, for you to be able to arrive at the effect of this art unless, with the punctual motion known and most carefully observed, you know how to order your operations precisely according to the proper qualities of the planets. For in different degrees, signs, days, hours, minutes, seconds, and fourths, the effects of the planets, with respect to this science, vary in different ways. For in each degree we have observed and found twenty-five different changes; hence it seemed necessary to us to divide each degree into just as many principal parts. But this division does not have a place through all the degrees, but only in those in which an operation is performed for signifying to the absent everything that we wish, by the ministry of spirits, without letters, as we shall say. The first [part?] of the fourth day or night is always assigned, in those things which pertain to the operation of Saturn, to its beginning; the second, however, to the second three hours; the third to the third; the fourth to the fourth. Then we have set below the punctual order of the motion of Saturn itself in ascending, namely when it is in one of the first four signs, which are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer. For the remaining eight signs also we shall arrange the following table.
Table.
First table.
[table of numerals and signs]
Table
on the breast, saying the name of your absent friend: “This is the image of N., son of N., to whom, through the angel of Saturn, Orifiel, the conception of my mind is announced. Amen.” On the forehead of the image write Merion, and on the breast Troesda. Then join both images together, saying: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hear, Orifiel, prince of the star Saturn, and by the powers of almighty God I adjure you, listen: I command and order you, by the power of this image of yours, that you announce to N., son of N., this intention of mine (let the intention be explained) as quickly as possible, safely, secretly, and faithfully, omitting nothing of those things which I want [him?] to know and which I have entrusted to you. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Then wrap those images, thus joined together, in a clean cloth washed with [albisina?] water, and place them in a movable vessel which the sages of India call pharnat alronda; and cover it carefully on top with scraped leather, and put it at the entrance of some closed dwelling, wherever you wish, for a space of 24 hours; and without any hesitation your desire will be perfectly fulfilled within those 24 hours. And your absent friend will know the intention in its whole form most perfectly, just as you spoke it over the image, however lengthy it may have been, and whatever you wish him to know from you, he will know perfectly and most secretly in those 24 hours, so that no human being will ever in eternity be able to perceive or know this without your will or that of your friend. And it is a great secret, which none of the sages before us dared to commit to writing. But if that friend of yours wishes to know anything of you from his affairs, he can make you more certain through the same spirit within the same space of 24 hours, provided that he is well perfected in this art. But you, when the 24 hours have elapsed, lift the images from the place in which they have been set, and put them away, because at every time of Orifiel you can work through them, not only for that friend of yours, but for any others, merely changing the name of that friend into the name of the one whom you wish to know something. And note that the images need not be painted [unclear], provided they have some proportionate likeness, so that they are recognized as images of human beings. But if anyone wishes and is able to paint them beautifully, nothing will hinder it, nor does it help.
De
When the [place?] of the angel Sadael has been found from consideration of the fixed star at the point of Saturn’s motion, make two images, in the manner which we described in the preceding operation, of Orifiel, with the inscriptions, attestations, and all the other individual things that were stated there. When these have been completed, place those images upon five little branches of the herb thrasnote outside the house, in a safe, secret place, and say over them: In the name of † the Father † the Son † the Holy Spirit, Amen. Just as I have placed these two joined images of the angel Sadael, of N., son of N., my friend, upon these five movable branches, so I command you, Sadael, by the power of Orifiel, your great prince, to bring without delay to the knowledge of the aforesaid friend the secret of my mind which I have entrusted to you by explaining it. Having said these things, leave the images there for 24 hours; what you have wished will happen, and your friend will know, most perfectly and secretly, everything that you said over the images. Likewise, if you wish to know concerning someone absent how he is faring, you will be able in this way to know his true condition within 24 hours, however far away he may be. AND, BY THIS ART, WITH THE CONSTELLATION OBSERVED, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO KNOW ALL THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THE WORLD.
Concerning the third Angel of Saturn, who is the second under Orifiel, called Pomiel, presiding over the third fourth of Saturn.
The third angel of Saturn is called Pomiel, who is second in order under Orifiel, the chief angel of Saturn. He presides over the seventh, eighth, and ninth Saturnine hour, both by day and by night, in all things that pertain to the operation of Saturn. Since his place, together with his order, is moved toward the fixed stars by 25 degrees from the East, you will find it in this way, through the tables, with his hours arranged.
[table of hours and numbers unclear]
When the motion of Saturn has been determined and the precise place of Pomiel found, make two images in every respect as we have said.
End of the Third Book.
Diplomatic Latin OCR
Loading aligned Latin…
Source facsimile
Special scholarly renderings
Parallel presentations for cipher tables, grids, untranslated passages, and damaged prose. They keep uncertainty visible and should be read alongside the Latin. See Methodology §10.
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Cipher-key tables
39 chunks
Substitution-table chunks: each plaintext letter maps to a Latin cipher-word, rendered as an alphabet-down / columns-across markdown table with positional OCR repair.
Cite this translation
A machine translation should be cited as one, and checked against the Latin before quotation (see the limitations). A repository-level CITATION.cff is also available; a Zenodo DOI will be added at the v1.0 release.
Fabin, Ian Carlos (2026). “Steganography: The Art of Hidden Writing” [Steganographia, hoc est: Ars per occultam scripturam]. Machine-assisted English translation of the Darmbstadii. Ex officina typographica Balthasaris Aulæandri, sumptibus verò Joannis Berneri, bibliop. Francof. Anno M : DC.XXI, 1621 (BNF) edition. In Trithemius Corpus. https://trithemius-corpus.github.io/Trithemius-Corpus/works/prdl-24395_steganographia-hoc-est-ars-per-occultam-scripturam.html
Artifacts
- Side-by-side Latin / English viewer
- Passage and annotation index (1145 stable English passages)
- Pilot TEI P5 export
- Zoomable facsimile viewer / IIIF Presentation 3 manifest (Bibliothèque nationale de France; exact text alignment)
- Special scholarly renderings (cipher tables and damaged passages, beside their facsimiles)
- EPUB 3.3 reading edition
- Print-ready reading edition (paged with Vivliostyle)
- Download as PDF (typeset via your browser’s print dialog)
- Original source record / PDF (BNF)
- Repository folder
Editorial corrections
This work has recorded editorial corrections. Click to view.
2026-06-10 — new work added to the corpus. The Steganographia — Trithemius's most famous and most notorious work, the three-book cryptographic treatise disguised as angel-magic that the Church placed on the Index — was not part of the original 46-work corpus. The source could not be obtained during the first acquisition pass (Gallica returned the viewer HTML, not a PDF); it was recovered here from the Bibliothèque nationale de France / Gallica (Darmstadt/Frankfurt, 1621; ark
bpt6k5832538j) by assembling its 168 IIIF page images into a PDF, the one-shot
Pipeline
- OCR: Qwen2.5-VL-7B (local, Vulkan iGPU) — the same model used to re-OCR
every other work in the corpus, run via the resident multimodal
llama-server(scripts/reocr_full_server.py). (An initial codex/GPT-5.5-vision OCR was discarded for methodology consistency; both produced comparable text on this blackletter.) - Translation: GPT-5.5 (codex) baseline, then a Fable 5 review-and-improve pass. Fable, reviewing the GPT-5.5 output against the OCR and the page scans, produced a materially better translation and is the version shipped. The most consequential improvements, recurring across the book:
- Recovered the cipher tables. GPT-5.5 repeatedly collapsed the per-chapter spirit-name tables (the tabula directionis and each prince's substitution table — the cryptographic substance of the work) into "[cipher table; see facsimile]" placeholders. Fable read them off the scans and rendered the actual spirit names and numeric keys (e.g. Orpeniel 10 / Citgara 100 / Daniel 10…), including the 31-spirit master key-table of Book I.
- Restored the German cover-text. GPT-5.5 translated the Early-New-High-German vassal letters (Books I–II) into English; the German is the example cover-text the cipher rides on, so Fable restored it verbatim with a bracketed gloss.
- Fixed OCR-name and reading errors GPT-5.5 carried verbatim — Gabriel→Cabariel, Ratsiel→Raysiel, Vrisbhabens→"Vriel, habens", Gynos→servos; flattened named winds (Subsolanus, Vulturnus, Aquilo) restored; "Roth letters" not "Rota"; "liber familiaris" = open letter not "familiar book"; and a GPT-5.5 hallucinated sentence (the Saturn/Pomiel passage) removed.
Tier (C) — read with the crypto-occult caveat
Independent GPT-5.5 re-grade against the Latin: faithful 3.92 / 5, hallucinated 61.6%, → tier C. The faithfulness is A-level: the conjuration prose, prefaces, and letters are well rendered. The high hallucination figure is the documented crypto-occult artifact (cf. the Polygraphia/Clavis cluster and LIMITATIONS §8): the OCR-referenced grader flags the preserved cipher tables and the verbatim spirit-names / barbarous voces magicae as "content not in the Latin," because a cipher table cannot be graded as faithful prose. The tier therefore reflects the work's cipher density, not weak translation.
Style C — added 2026-06-11. The work now carries a full Style C cipher-key rendering set (the corpus's structured treatment of the crypto-occult cluster): the 39 cipher-table chunks — the master Tabula Directionis of Book I, each of the ~30 spirit-princes' sub-spirit tables (chs. III–XXXI), the 31-spirit recapitulation key-table, and the Book II hour-spirit tables — are rendered table-by-table, each beside the source page facsimile, on the work's Cipher-key tables subpage. This is the proper scholarly presentation of the cipher material; the tier (C) is unchanged, because it scores the standard side-by-side reader, whose chunks still carry the tables inline — the Style C subpage is an additional rendering, not a re-grade.
Status
The cipher of the Steganographia itself is not solved or decoded here; the
Latin (and its German cover-text) is translated as it stands. For the
cryptography see the companion Clavis (prdl-70281/prdl-70282) and Reeds
(1998).
2026-06-19 — [unclear] resolution passes (multi-pronged)
Three passes reduced [unclear] markers across this work:
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Historical fact-checking (12 fixes corpus-wide): proper nouns identifiable from Trithemius biography — "Abbot of [unclear]" → "St. James's Abbey, Würzburg", "Wimpfeling of [unclear]" → "Schlettstadt", "surnamed [unclear]" → "Magnus" (Charlemagne), "unwilling [unclear]" → "pupil" (Maximilian).
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False-positive removal (7 fixes, prdl-70280): column-separator
[unclear]markers in the ANNOTATIO SCRIPTORVM index were layout-parsing artifacts, not damaged words — removed. -
Mid-word line-break joining (168 fixes corpus-wide): the vision OCR model inserted
[unclear]at Fraktur line-break hyphenation points (e.g.pri[unclear]mi→primi). These were joined automatically by matching word fragments on either side of the marker.
Total corpus-wide reduction: 35,577 → ~11,000 [unclear] markers (69% reduction).
The remaining ~11,000 are genuinely damaged text where no model or method could recover the word. They are marked honestly.
2026-07-09 — digitization-artifact cleanup (latin-ocr.txt)
- Removed a generation fill artifact (an asterisk run of ~4,000 characters) from [segment 1] of latin-ocr.txt. The run length (~4096) marks it as a model/pipeline artifact, not page content. Segment structure unchanged.
2026-07-11 — chunk/segment misalignment repairs (chunks 0040, 0051; spot-check finding)
- Chunk 0040 previously carried a duplicate translation of the Chapter XXVII (Soleuiel) material, whose Latin lives at segment 44 and which ships correctly at chunk 0044 — while chunk 0040's own Latin witness (segment 40: the close of the preceding chapter's Buriel conjuration, the arcanum example, and the "Salvator noster" letter specimen) was untranslated. Replaced with a fresh translation of segment 40, made directly against the Latin witness (Claude Fable 5, 2026-07-11); the letter specimen breaks off at the foot of the page in the source, marked in-text. The prior grades.csv row for this chunk describes the superseded (duplicate) text.
- Chunk 0051 carried a variant duplicate rendering of the segment-55 passage ("I have read many most brilliant/splendid volumes...") under an illegible Latin witness (segment 51 is [illegible]). The passage ships correctly at chunk 0055; replaced chunk 0051 with the standard illegible-page marker. The prior grades.csv row describes the superseded text.
- Chunk 0023 was reviewed for the same pattern and retained: its Latin witness (segment 23) is illegible, but the content (the twelfth dwelling, Cabariel/Circius chapter) is positionally correct, bracketed by mansio-chapter Latin in segments 22 and 25-26, and its conjuration repetition is source-backed (segment 25 carries the Cabariel formula three times).