The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus: Of the Virtues of Herbs, Stones, and Certain Beasts, Also a Book of the Marvels of the World

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Summary: Secrets Revealed of Our Natural World
Review: A wonderful text for the magician and the student of occult texts. Michael Best and Frank Brightman who edited and translated this edition give a scholarly intro and many footnotes along the way which are insightful and accurate. The Book of Secrets which has been translated many times in many languages throughout the years. Totaling 5 books: herbs; stones; beasts; marvels and planets. Each giving their mysterious compenents and each elements use in magic. I speculated the use and reality of some of these 'potions' in which one can make dogs stop barking at you, or turn invisible. However, one cant help but be intrigued and curious about some of these findings. I would guess that, due to its alchemical nature of the volume, that, like alchemy itself and the language of alchemy, it is written in a similar format, one of which is written in code and metaphor than for literate meanings and intents. Each one laid out in a clear and simple formula, what the potion does and what to do to achieve those results. Best and Brightman both argue the authenticity of the book, in that is was probably not written by Albertus Magnus himself who lived in the 1200's, but rather speculated to have been written sometime in the 1600's by a follower, based on the colloquial language of the text, where many books have been attributed to Albertus Magnus for the purpose of selling the book with a popular author. Definately a good book to add to anyones occult and magick library, as well as those that study witchcraft.

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Summary: Just because it's ancient doesn't mean it's useful.
Review: Sure, it's an ancient tome, with a bestiary and everything. Normally that's enough to keep me all squee for several weeks, but I was sorely disappointed. This one's bestiary is all about what you can presumably do with bits of chopped-up animals. Same goes for the stones and marvels and herbs and stuff. Albertus is an alchemist, obviously. Damn near everything in this book is so blatantly not going to work if you tried it, without even some kind of reasoning behind it like most bestiaries have, that it makes me wonder how he got away with writing it at all. Or how people felt when they gathered together dog liver and various rare herbs, burned them at a party, and were bummed when they found out it didn't create an illusion of everybody in the room having a dog's head like Albertus said it would for some reason. There's also an alchemical thing for how to make everybody in a room appear to have a donkey's head, too, or a woman's head in another entry, and so on. Why? I don't know. It never explains anything, or seems to be particularily useful for modern alchemy and/or magic.