Book of Oberon
The Book of Oberon is the modern name for a sixteenth-century grimoire containing a compilation of spells, secrets, and invocations for performing ritual magic.
Content
The Book of Oberon contains a common collection of rituals and spells found in other grimoires of the period, such as the Key of Solomon.
- Formulas used in natural magic
- Methods for creating amulets
- Lists of spirits
- Instructions for working with Goetic demons
- One of the oldest known copies of the magical manual The Enchiridion
Fairy magic
Some of the spirits mentioned in the book which are not commonly found elsewhere include Oberion who is described as a king.
Seeking to capitalize on the similarity of the name Oberion to the Shakespeare character Oberon from A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Folger Library and publisher Llewellyn conflate these spirits into one entity.
Booke of pictures
The book itself is the primary magical tool described in its rituals. The manuscript is described as a booke of pictures which could actually reference a deck of tarot cards.
Original manuscript
The original handwritten vellum manuscript is listed as Manuscript V.b.26 in the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. The latest possible date for creation is 1583.
Its earliest known owner is Richard Cosway (1740 - 1821), an English occultist.
At some point before 1822, it had been split into two parts, each bound in calfskin. Several leaves, compromising pages 1-14 and 33,34 have all been lost.
Publication
Authors Daniel Harms, James R. Clark, and Joseph H. Peterson worked together to transcribe and organize the original manuscript into a viable book for a modern audience.
The book was published in 2015 by Llewellyn Publications in a 585 page premium hardcover edition retaining the manuscript's red lettering of important words and holy names. Its full title was The Book of Oberon: A Sourcebook of Elizabethan Magic.