Talk:Book of Saint Cyprian

Legitimate?

This is odd. The three links are, well, one is a link to a site selling this 'famous book', the article reads like an advert, the two supporting links vaguely touch on the subject, and this has been somehow slipped into a crapload of occult articles in reference and had this page linked to. Ie: 'Which is outlined fully in The Great Book of Saint Cyprian' with a link to this article.

All seems a little .. odd to me. Anyhow, I'd like to see a crapload of references added here and the POV / pishposh cleaned up if anyone of the creators of this article is willing? Jachin 23:45, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Overhauled

I've overhauled the article based on what reliable sources I knew of. The previous version was based on one website's recollection of an article that I'm sure almost none of us have access to (not that makes it unreliable, but it does make verification more than unnecessarily difficult). I'm probably not going to add anything on/about/from Jake Stratton Kent's "The Testament of Cyprian the Mage," since it's goal is occultist historical revisionism. Wikignomes needed and welcome. Ian.thomson (talk) 21:57, 14 July 2016 (UTC)

Got a new source

I'm supposed to be looking for some temporary employment but when I get the chance, I will try to add info from:

• Maggi, Humberto (2016). The Book of St Cyprian. Nephilim press. ISBN 978-0-9905687-4-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

The introductory material by Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold discusses Cyprian's role in Kimbanda, and that by Felix Castro Vincente looks like it will largely reinforce what's covered in The Iberian Cyprian section. Maggi's own introduction compares the material with its probable sources and related material. Ian.thomson (talk) 22:33, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

de Mattos Frisvold:

• Cyprianic literature in general: connects Cyprianic literature to Solomonic literature (p.1), most using the Heptameron of d'Abano as a base, further modified with a focus on diabolism and divination.
• Cyprian in African Diaspora religions: refers to Cyprian of Antioch as "the prototype of the Haitian bokor" in that he "served with both hands" (i.e. worked with both benign and malevolent forces) (p.2). Identifies Cyprian as one of the most important saints in Kimbanda (p.2, while noting on p.3 that he is "rarely placated" in modern worship), which features Cyprianic literature "in direct or altered form." The Kimbanda Cyprian is described as a student and "bishopric twin" of Exú Meia Noite, his three failed attempts to seduce Justina are tied to the triple denial of Saint Peter and the three crosses of Cavalry, all of which are given astrological significance. (p.2) Cyprian's conversion is depicted as submission to Justina. (p.3)
• Scandinavian Cyprianic lit: mentions (but does not detail) a Norwegian text dated 1491 and a Danish text dated 1345. (p.3) Credits the difficult and half-completed conversion of medieval Scandinavia, the integration of older local traditions into folk Catholicism, and the Reformation causing people to miss the "Old Faith" with the popularity of Cyprianic literature in Scandinavia. (p.4)

Castro Vincente:

• Iberian Cyprianic lit: Primary purpose was finding and removing curses from hidden treasure, with its popularity in Northwest Iberia being due to the poverty of the region. Possession was regarded as "a grave sin" and presented potential legal and ecumenical trouble, though it was still often owned by priests and healers. (p.7-8) Not really "a" book but many books, or more properly a cycle (c.f. the Solomonic cycle, which the Cyprianic cycle is indebted to). Mere possession of the book was believed to lead to material gain, and material wealth was often attributed to real or imagined possession of the book. (p.8) Identifies orisons of St Cyprian to protect against evil spirits (of Eastern Europe, Africa, and Middle Eastern origins) as the foundation of Cyprianic lit, with additional material from other spellbooks on magical operations, treasure hunting, and infernal pacts. (p.9)
• Cyprian in general: refers to him as the prototype of Faust, along with Simon Magus and Solomon; still a popular saint in Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East since Antiquity. (p.9) Mentions that a sacristy in a church dedicated to Cyprian features in a legend of the Devil teaching necromancy to students of the University of Salamanca. (p.10)
• Explains the format of Maggi's edition: begins by combining the three mid 19th c. Portuguese volumes attributed to Victor Siderol, the late 19th c. edition attributed to Jonas Sufurino, and Enediel Shaiah's 1906 edition; adding elements from the 19th century Heptameron o Elementos Mágicos de Gran Cipriano, a 1885 publication by historian Bernardo Barreiro, and a 1874 publication titled "Cipriano el Temeroso" discovered by Castro Vicente -- all arranged thematically (e.g. "prayers, magical instruments, ceremonial, pacts, invocations, treasure hunt, magical recipes") instead of chronologically or by title. (p.12-13) The result is "canonical" in the sense that it collects the oldest printed material found and known until now (not "authentic" in the impossible sense of having been authored by Cyprian). (p.13)
• Cyprianic literature in general: The Iberian Cyprianic material we have now ultimately comes from 19th publications, though based on older manuscripts dating possibly as far back as the 17th and 18th centuries, lost due to poverty making it nigh impossible to protect these works against the "proverbial" humid weather and aggressive Inquisition campaigns during the 16th through 18th centuries. Loss of these works was further compounded by the Spanish Civil War, Francoist censorship, by academia's belief that the occult genre was not worth studying, let alone preserved. (p.13-14)

Maggi:

• Compares the spells with the Grimoirium Verum and the Grand Grimoire, notes probable derivation or relation. (p.18)
• Refers to Castro Vicente as "certainly the greatest authority on the Books of Saint Cyprian (p.21), settling any potential issue of the reliability of his post on Daniel Harms's blog
• Repeats that the Iberian Cyprian can be further divided into Portuguese (exemplified by Thesouro de Feiticeiro) and Spanish (exemplified by the 1874 Cipriano el Temeroso, based on French grimoires such as Veritable Magie Noire*). (p.21) Further elaborates that Port. version is source of all Brazilian Cyprians, essentially a hodge-podge of superstitions that were popular throughout the Mediterranean during Late Antiquity. Particular similarities that were pointed out were the use of dolls, animal parts, and necromantic formulae. The invisibility spells are comparable to those found in the Papyri Graecae Magicae and the Hygromanteia. Maggi points to the insertion of a magical material into the holes of a dead remains (be they exhumed human or sacrificed animal) as the strongest similarity. (p.21-22)
• Notes that even the Catholic Encyclopedia denies the historicity of Cyprian of Antioch. (p.23)
• Cyprianic magic can be divided into spells and conjurations from before the legendary magician's conversion and prayers and exorcisms from after said conversion. (p.31) Gives an overview of sundry other Cyprianic magics, including an 11th century Coptic work, a divinitory grimoire titled "Art of Cyprian" owned by Frederick Hockley, the Verus Jesuitarum Libellus, De Nigromancia by Pseudo-Roger Bacon (which I have a copy of and might cite for further detail in absence of an article on that), early modern Armenian scrolls, the Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet (again, I have and will try to cross reference), the Ethiopian Arde'et (have, will c.f.) and the works already mentioned here. (p.31-35)

Next section (starting page 35) is longer, covers. I have pizza coma and will probably not get any more done tonight. I've tracked down the Hermetic Journal article about Hockley's Art of Cyprian, and I seem to recall Arthur Edward Waite writing something about the Verus Jesuitarum Libellus in the Book of Black Magic. Looks like this article be restructured between the Iberian Cyprians (further divided between Portuguese and Spanish) and other literature (with possible subsections on Arthur Gauntlet, the Ethiopian Arde'et, De Nigromancia, Hockley, Verus Jesuitarum Libellus, Wellcome).

Ian.thomson (talk) 22:23, 18 July 2017 (UTC)

Wow, work has prevented me from doing as much as I'd like on here. Need to finish with the Maggi source, but I also got Fulger's translation of Wellcome MS 1766, "Compendium Rarissimum totius Artius Magicae", which quote Cyprian's Libri et Epistole p.138, in a conjuration otherwise lifted from Agrippa. It is not a Cyprianic work proper, however, but (skimming the intro) a piece of art that resembles a Faustian grimoire. Hopefully other sources on the Rare Compendium will pop up so I can do a proper article on that instead of trying to shoehorn it into other articles like this one (maybe an overhaul of Faustbuch, since that redirects to a single example of the genre). Ian.thomson (talk) 17:48, 14 December 2017 (UTC)