The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) · 135 of 175 · tr. Arthur Edward Waite
Page 65 (part 3)
The Spirit's Reply I cannot comply with thy request except thou dost give thyself Click to view PLATE IX: THE GOËTIC CIRCLE OF PACTS .
over to me in twenty years, to do with thy body and soul as I please .
LUCIFUGE ROFOCALE Thereupon throw him your pact, which must be written with your own hand on a sheet of virgin parchment; it should be worded as follows, and signed with your own blood:-- I Promise the grand LUCIFUGE to reward him in twenty years' time for all treasures that he may give me.
In witness whereof I have signed myself N.N.
Reply of the Spirit I cannot grant thy request .
LUCIFUGE ROFOCALE In order to enforce his obedience, again recite the Supreme Appellation, with the terrible words of the Clavicle, till the spirit reappears, and thus addresses you:-- Of the Spirit's Second Manifestation Why dost thou torment me further?
Leave me to rest, and I will confer upon thee the nearest treasure, on condition that thou dost set apart for me one coin on the first Monday of each month, and dost not call me oftener than once a week, to wit, between ten at night and two in the morning.
Take up thy pact; I have signed it.
Fail in thy promise, and thou shalt be, mine at the end of twenty years .
LUCIFUGE ROFOCALE Reply to the Spirit I agree to thy request, subject to the delivery of the nearest treasure which I can at once carry away .
Follow the spirit without fear, cast your pact upon the hoard, touch it with your rod, remove as much as you can, return into the triangle, walking backwards, place the treasure in front of you, and recite the Discharge of the Spirit, as given in the preceding Rite.
It will be seen from the wording of the compact that it is designedly evasive and the final response of the supposed spirit seems to recognise that it can obtain only by neglect on the part of the sorcerer.
But if there are Courts of judgment in the nethermost world, the sorcerer might find a certain difficulty in arguing such a case with the advocatus diaboli .
Lucifer and his deputies are accredited with an awkward skill in getting possession of the defendant when the time of the pact expires.
There were apparently more binding contracts, and better ways of over-riding them, for in the year 1678 the Abbé Eynatton published a Manual of Exorcisms which contains the following formal process for forcing the Demon to return any writing which constitutes an agreement with him:-- EXORCISM O most merciful God, Whose Power hath no limit, Whose dominion is supreme over all beings, so that nothing can possibly be estreated from Thy rule by apostasy; behold, we have sinned against Thee, we have provoked Thy most just wrath, when we have failed to obey Thy commands, above all when., forsaking Thy rule and Thy friendship, we have abjured Thee and have consorted with the impious demons, nor yet contented with Thy denial, have bound ourselves in writing to those demons, surrendering the document of our voluntary obligation against Thee into their custody.
But Thy mercies aye without number, O Lord of loving-kindness, and it is Thine to spare and to Pardon; look, therefore, with compassion upon this Thy creature, who, having formerly denied Thee and given himself in writing to the demons, but now, having returned to himself by the help of Thine infinite goodness, doth abhor his impiety, doth desire to be restored unto Thee his true Lord, and to be received with contrite heart into Thy favour.
Penitential sorrow for sin as the first movement of the soul's healing — Julian's first of three medicines ('by contrition we are made clean'), the Christian compunction tradition, Sufi tawba, Greek metanoia, Hebrew teshuvah; the wound of sorrow that turns bitterness into hope of mercy. Distinct from self_examination (the diagnostic practice), rejection_of_hypocrisy (critique of others' form), and dark_night (imposed aridity): contrition is the soul's own penitent turning.
The exorcism section explicitly describes the sinner's need to 'abhor his impiety' and return with a 'contrite heart' to be received into divine favour.
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The exorcism prayer addresses God as 'most merciful' and 'Lord of loving-kindness' who actively spares and pardons, contrasting with the demonic entity.
The maintenance of a state of cleanliness—physical, moral, or spiritual—required for encounter with the divine.
The requirement for 'virgin parchment' and specific timing ('between ten at night and two in the morning') implies ritual conditions necessary for the operation.
The grimoire-tradition practice of ceremonially commanding or binding a spirit through consecrated seals, circles, divine names, and prescribed instruments, compelling its appearance and obedience. Distinct from theurgy in the direction of the power relationship — theurgy is reverent engagement with the gods on the premise of the operator's own ascent, this is subordination of a lesser spirit to the operator's will — and from word_power_incantation and sacred_names, which name components (verbal force, name-power) this practice deploys rather than the ritual structure itself.
The passage details the ceremonial process of summoning, binding, and negotiating with a specific spirit (Lucifuge Rofocale) using pacts, circles, and appellation.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The text emphasizes the power of specific words ('Supreme Appellation', 'terrible words of the Clavicle') to enforce obedience and manifest the spirit.