The Fiery Angel

by Valery Bruisov

  The first care of the invocator is always the magic circle, for it serves as defence against the attack of inimical demons from without, and that is why on the execution of this circle, according to the name of the invoked demon, the distribution of the constellations, the place of the experiment, the time of year and the hour—a great deal of attention is always lavished. We first drew the magic circle on paper, and transferred it in charcoal on to the floor of the closet only on the day of the experiment. It consisted of four concentric circles, the largest of a diameter of nine elbows and enclosing three perfect circles set one within the other, the outer, middle and inner of these three being set each a palm from the other. The middle ring thus formed was divided into nine equal parts, and in these houses was inscribed: in the first, turned straight towards the West, the secret name of the hour we had selected for the invocation, that is, the midnight of Friday, Nethos; in the second the name of the demon of that hour, Sachiël; in the third—the character of that demon; in the fourth—the names of the demon of that day, Anaël, and of his servants Rachiël and Sachiël; in the fifth—the secret name of the time of year, that is, autumn, Ardaraël; in the sixth—the names of the demons of that time of year, Tarquam and Guadbarel; in the seventh—the name of the root of that time of year, Torquaret; in the eighth—the name of the earth at that time of year, Rabianara; in the ninth—the names of the sun and the moon by which they are known at that time of year, Abragini and Matasignais. The outer ring was divided into four equal parts and in these houses, turned due West, North, East and South, were inscribed the names of the demon of the air who was in command that day, Sarabotes rex, and his four servants: Amabiel, Aba, Abalidoth, Flaef. The inner ring was also divided into four parts, and in these houses were inscribed the eternal divine names: Adonay, Eloy, Agla, Tetragrammaton. And, lastly, the space within the inmost circle, where the invocators were to stand, was divided into four sectors by a cross, and without the circles, at the four corners of the world, were drawn five-pointed stars.

  When the time of midnight approached, carefully locking all the entrances of our dwelling, and having once more ascertained that there was no one within it but ourselves, we entered the experimental closet. Here Renata and I robed ourselves in new dresses of pure white linen, specially prepared, long and concealing our feet, and held at the waist by belts made of the same material. On our heads also we placed linen headwear, resembling mitres, on the front part of which was written the Divine Name, our feet we left bare. While robing, we recited the established prayer: Anco, Amacor, Amides, Theodonias, Anitor, per merita angelorum tuorum sanctorum, Domine, induam vestimenta salutis, ut hoc, quod desidero, possim perducere ad effectum. In our hands we took each a magic wand, made of wood, unbranching, and with a metallic point like a tiny sword. Then, not yet entering the circle, we laid on a table, placed to one side and covered with a white linen cloth, a parchment with the sign of the pentagram and the name and character of the demon Aduachiël, for the sun was then at the sign of the bowman, and on a wooden tripod, placed at the very edge of the circle itself on its western side, we laid the librum consecratum, that is, the book in which were faithfully transcribed all the incantations we intended to pronounce that day. Near the tripod we lit two candles of pure wax, and, on the four five-pointed stars—four earthen lamps, filled with pure vegetable oil and with a burner made of vegetable fibre.

  When all had been thus prepared, I looked at Renata and saw that her excitement had reached its utmost limits—her hands shook, her face was pale and she could hardly stand. Then I turned to her like a magister to his socio: “Friend, remember the importance of this hour,” and hastened to begin the experiment. Having sprinkled all around with holy water, pronouncing the established words: Asperges me Domine, I firmly entered the magic circle from its western side through a door left by us there in drawing it, and, when I saw that Renata had followed me, I locked the door with the sign of the pentagram. In my soul at that moment there was coldness and sorrow, but I remembered clearly all I had to do.

  Turning to the four corners of the world, I called the twenty-four names of the demons on guard that day, six to each corner, then the names of the seven demons who govern the seven planets, then those of another seven to whom are entrusted the days of the week, the seven colours of the rainbow and the seven metals. In the meantime, Renata, having become accustomed to the duties of a disciple, sprinkled the lamps with the fumigators prepared by us, into the composition of which entered: lavender, the powder of bracken and verbena, the oriental resin of styrax, and, particularly, the ointment of the plant nard, dedicated to the day of Venus, and from the lamps there rose streams of aromatic smoke, which, gradually spreading, began to cloud the room with an indefinite bluish mist.

  Then I commenced the invocation proper, trying to speak in a tone of voice that should be welcoming, but yet commanding. First I read some church prayers that protect the invocator, and then I pronounced the summons to the demons of the air, which begins with the words: Nos facti ad imaginem Dei, dotati potentia Dei et ejus facti voluntate per potentissimum et corroboratum nomen Dei, El, forte admirabile, vos exorcisamus. I could hear the voice of Renata giving me the responses to my prayers. Soon I noticed, or it appeared to me, that in the swaying smoke of the incense there formed and flickered various shapes, probably lower spirits, attracted by the odour of the nard, and I directed at them the point of my wand, forbidding them to touch us. Believing then that the time for the extreme invocation had come, I pronounced the last of the preparatory words: Ecce Pentaculum Solomonis quod ante vestram adduxi praesentiam, and so forth.

  There blew into my face a cold wind, which lifted my hair, and at that moment I was convinced no less than Renata, of the success of the experiment. Glancing at her I saw that her trembling had not calmed and that she was nearly dropping with exhaustion. So, hastening, I began to walk round the circle from west to east, pronouncing the main invocation addressed to the demon Anaël.

  Audi, Anaël! ego indignus minister Dei, conjuro, posco, urgeo et voco te non mea potestate sed per vim, virtutem et potentiam Dei Patris, per totam redemptionem et salvificationem Dei Filii et per vim devictionem Dei Sancti Spiritus. Per hoc devinco te, sis ubi velis, in alto vel abysso, in aqua vel in igne, in aere vel in terra, ut tu, dæmon Anaël, in momento coram me appareas in decore forma humana. Veni ergo cum festinatione in virtute nominum istorum Aye Saraye, Aye Saraye, Saraye, differas venire per nomine æterna Eloy, Archima, Rabur, festina venire per personam exorcitatoris conjurati, in omni tranquillitate et patientia, sine ullo tumulto, mei et omnium hominum corporis sine detrimento, sine falsitate, fallacia, dolo. Conjuro et confirmo super te, dæmon fortis, in nomine On, Hey, Heya, Ia, Ie, Adonay, et in nomine Saday, qui creavit quadrupedia et animalia reptilia et homines in sexto die, et per nomina angelorum servientium in tertio exercitu coram Dagiël angelo magno, et per nomen stellæ quæ est Venus et per sigillum ejus quod quidem est sanctum—super te, Anaël, qui est præpositus diei sextæ, ut pro me labores. El, Aty, Titeip, Azia, Hyn, Ien, Minosel, Achadan! Va! Va! Va!

  I had time to make three rounds of the circle while pronouncing this invocation. In the bluish smoke around swayed devilish faces, and everywhere from the floor of the room rose streams of mist, in miniature resembling those I had seen at the Sabbath. But in vain did I wait to see appear before me in vision the image of little girls at play, that would serve as indication of the apparition of the demon of Venus. Passing Renata thrice I saw that she was in a state of extremest tension, with eyes opened as if in ecstasy and supporting herself with an effort by means of the wand, which she used as a staff. Knowing, however, that to attract the demon into one’s sphere whole hours of labour are often required, as yet I did not lose hope and I began to pronounce the more forcible invocations:

  “Quid tardas? ne morare! obedito præceptori tuo in nomine Domini Bathat, super Abrac ruens, superveniens. Cito, cito, cito! Veni, veni, veni!”

  A confused rumble was now filling the room
, as though wind or rain were coming towards us along the foliage of tall trees. The expectation of something as yet unseen and striking seized me with all its power; my flesh and my reason were taut and ready, either for defence or attack. But at this moment, while I was facing the tripod and staring into the swaying mist, there sounded behind me, where Renata was, a knock, as deafening and as sudden as if our house would split. With an involuntary cry, I turned round and saw that one of the lamps, the one near which Renata stood, had gone out. I flew there with the magic wand, pointed forward, for I knew that access within our circle to evil spirits had thus been opened, but it was probably already too late. Encountering Renata’s face, I hardly recognised it, for it was distorted and twisted, and it must be supposed that one or several demons, making use of the breach in the circle, had seized and possessed her. Renata, who a moment ago had hardly had the strength to stand up, suddenly pushing me aside with extraordinary force, rushed with her wand uplifted towards the other lamps. I had neither the strength of will nor means to stop her, and she, though of course her hand was guided by him who concealed himself within her, destroyed not only the other three lamps, but also the two wax candles with a few blows of the wand. We were plunged into complete and utter darkness and around us rose, if it were not a deceit of our senses, a wild howling, a roaring of laughter and whistling.

  In this moment of danger, I realised that the magic circle could no longer protect us, for in any case it was broken, and therefore, loudly repeating the words of release: Abi festinanter, apage te, recede statim in continenti!—I dragged Renata with all my strength away from the room. On the threshold, hurriedly unlocking the door, I pronounced the final exorcism, considered especially powerful: Per ipsum et cum ipso et in ipso. I think that never, not in the most ferocious battle with the redskins, did I stand in such danger as in that room, filled with inimical demons and like that cage of mad dogs and poisonous snakes of which Renata warned me. Probably only my extreme presence of mind saved us from death, for I just managed to open the door and lead Renata first into the fresh air of the corridor, and then into the moonlight that streamed into her room.

  But Renata’s face remained terrifying and quite unlike her, for it even seemed to me as if her eyes had become larger, her chin more pointed, her temples more prominent than normally. Renata threw herself furiously about in my arms, tore off both the mitre and the linen robe, and incessantly shouted words in a hoarse, almost masculine voice, not her own. Listening, I realised that she spoke in Latin, though, as I have already mentioned, she knew nothing of that language. The import of her words was terrible, for Renata heaped curses on me, on herself, on Count Heinrich, uttered furious blasphemies, and threatened me and the whole world with the most fearful calamities.

  Though I have never had much confidence in the protection of holy objects, yet, in this my horrible position, expecting at every moment that all the unshackled demons would hurl themselves at us out of the room of invocation, there was nothing better left for me than to drag Renata to the small altar in her room and there hope for God’s help. But Renata in her frenzy refused to approach the holy crucifix, shouting that she hated and despised it, and raising her clenched fists at the image of Christ, and at last she fell to the floor in that same fit of convulsion of which I had already twice been a witness. But never yet had I spent such hopeless hours bending over the tormented creature, and watching the rending of her body by the demons that had seized her, perhaps even by my fault.

  Little by little, my fears calmed down and I began to feel that we were already out of danger; in the same gradual, natural way, passed the torment of Renata, and the demon that was in her, shouting at me for the last time that we would yet meet, left her. And we two, prostrate on the floor near the crucifix, were like shipwrecked mariners, who have attained to some small rock, but have lost all and are certain that the next wave will wash them down and swallow them for ever. Renata could not speak, and silent tears rolled down her face, and I had no words to comfort or to cheer her. Thus we stayed, silent, on the floor, till dawn came and we had to take care to remove all traces of our nocturnal experiment. I carried Renata in my arms to her bed, for she could neither walk nor stand, and myself, not without some trepidation, entered the room of invocation.

  The smoke of the incense filled it, and the broken fragments of the lamps lay on the floor, but no other damage had been done and no agency hindered me in tidying the room and effacing from the floor the traces of the magic circles I had drawn with such care.

  Thus ended our experiment in operative magic, for which we had prepared for the length of more than two months, and on which first I, and then Renata, had set such rich hopes.

  After that day, Renata relapsed again into that black despair from which she had been raised awhile by her studies and her faith in their success; and this new fit of depression by far surpassed all the earlier ones in its strength. Previously she had found in herself the will and desire to argue and to prove to me that she had many reasons for sadness, but now she did not want to speak, nor to listen nor to answer. During the first few days, ailing, she lay in bed motionless, turning her face to the pillow, not moving a muscle, not opening her eyes. Later, still in the same state of indifference, she would spend hours sitting on a bench, her eyes fixed on a corner of the room, busy with her thoughts or altogether idle, not hearing when her name was spoken, like a wood-carving by some Donatello, at times, however, feebly sighing and only thus showing signs of life. Renata would have sat the nights through, also, in this posture, had I not persuaded her to lay herself down in her bed with the fall of darkness, but several times I had proof that, none the less, she spent the greater part of the time till morn sleepless, with eyes wide open.

  All my efforts to arouse in Renata any interest in existence remained fruitless. She could not glance at the magic books without a shudder; and when I broached to her a repetition of our experiment, she shook her head in refusal and contempt. At my invitation to come out into the town, into the streets, she only shrugged her shoulders silently. I also tried, not without ulterior motive, to speak to her even of Count Heinrich, of the angel Madiël, of all that was most sacred to her, but most often Renata did not even hear my words, or at last made painfully always one and the same reply: “Leave me alone!” Only once, when I had attacked her especially insistently with my prayers, Renata said to me: “Do you not understand that I want to torture myself to death? Of what service is life to me, when I have not, and never can have, its chiefest joy? It is good for me to sit here and remember—then why do you urge me to go somewhere where each new impression will be painful to me?” And after this long speech she fell once more into her state of lethargy.

  This recluse, immobile life of Renata, and the fact, moreover, that she almost completely abstained from taking food, soon affected her so that her eyes sank like the eyes of one dead and became woven round with a blackish wreath, her face became greyish, her fingers transparent like dull mica, so that I, trembling, felt that her last hour was definitely approaching. Sorrow tirelessly graved in the soul of Renata a black pit, deeper and deeper plunging its shovels, and lower and lower sinking its bucket in the shaft, and it was not difficult to foresee the day when a blow of its spade would hack through the thread of life itself.

  Chapter the Sixth

  Of my Journey to Bonn, to Agrippa of Nettesheim

  IT is no easy matter to stop a cart that has settled down to run along one road, and so I too could not immediately turn off that road along which, during the last months, I had been rushing full tilt. Even after the failure of this first experiment, I was still unable to force myself to think of anything but incantations, magic circles, pentagrams, pentacles, the names and characters of demons. … Once more, I carefully went through the pages of the books we had so often studied, trying to find out the cause of our failure, only to convince myself that we had performed everything correctly and according to the advice of science. I should certainly not have faile
d to repeat the experiment, even without the help of Renata, had it not been that I was deterred by the thought that, as I could import no new element into my methods, I had no right to expect any new result.

  In this my uncertainty there began to flicker, like the light of a beacon in a white shore mist, one scheme, which at first I dismissed as inaccomplishable and hopeless, but which later, when the idea became familiar, seemed perhaps accessible. I had learned from Jacob Glock that the writer whose work on magic was my most valuable find amongst all the treasure of books I had gathered, and who at last had presented me with that thread of Ariadne that led me out of the labyrinth of formulae, names and incomprehensible aphorisms—Doctor Agrippa of Nettesheim, resided a bare few hours’ ride distant from my place of habitation: in the City of Bonn, on the Rhine itself. And so, more and more, I began to ponder over the idea that I might turn, for the solution of my doubts, to this man, initiated into all the mysteries of the hermetic sciences, and knowing, no doubt, from experiment and from relations with other scientists, a great deal that it would not be proper to communicate in print profano vulgo. It seemed to me an impertinence to disturb the labours or repose of a sage with my private affairs, but, in my heart of hearts, I did not think myself unworthy of a meeting with him, and I did not think that he would find my conversation either ridiculous or dull.