A grimoire is a book of knowledge and magic. Most specifically, the forbidden knowledge of raising demons and such like. The word comes from the same root as the word Grammar.

There are many Grimoires that don’t contain specifically demon commanding, but some do. You can find a bunch of Grimoires over at https://sacred-texts.com/grim/index.htm

I know I promised my grimoire musings over in the Book of Shadows article and here it is. Grimoires are the prevue of ceremonial musicians and highly educated sorcerers. These people aren’t witches. Witchcraft comes from struggle. Despite the modern gentrification of Witchcraft, it has historically been the tool of the oppressed. It is a way for those without power to have some power. Most witches, historically, didn’t have much formal learning. Many couldn’t read or write but learned from their families and the land. They helped the helpless.

Grimoires are written by highly educated men with lots of leisure time. The spells and ceremonies described within took a lot of time and costly ingredients that would have been beyond the reason of most witches. The purpose of most of these spells was to aggrandize the caster, not help the helpless. These historical grimoires formed the basis of the ceremonial magick of the early 20th century which, admittedly, had a huge impact on the witchcraft movement of the mid-20th century. But witchcraft is folk magick. Not ceremonial magick.

Thus, I have a hard time with the idea of calling my book of spells a grimoire. It’s a spell book. Whatever.

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