The (, ''Book of Magic'') is an Icelandic
grimoire
A grimoire () (also known as a book of spells, magic book, or a spellbook) is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divin ...
dated to . It is a small manuscript containing a collection of 47
spells and sigils/staves.
The grimoire was compiled by four people, possibly starting in the late 16th century and going on until the mid-17th century. The first three scribes were Icelanders, and the fourth was a
Dane working from Icelandic material. The various spells consist of
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and
runic
Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a ...
material as well as
Icelandic magical staves,
invocations to Christian entities, demons, and the
Norse gods, as well as instructions for the use of
herbs and magical items. Some of the spells are protective, intended to work against problems such as trouble with
childbearing, headache, insomnia, previous incantations,
pestilence, suffering, and distress at sea. Others are intended to cause fear, kill animals, find thieves, put someone to sleep, cause
flatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion of gas from the Gastrointestinal tract, intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swal ...
, or bewitch women.
The book was first published in 1921 by Natan Lindqvist in a diplomatic edition and with a Swedish translation. An English translation was published in 1989 by
Stephen Flowers, and a facsimile edition with detailed commentary by in 1992. In 1995, Flowers produced a second retitled edition of his book and with the assistance of Sæmundsson corrected many translations and added many more notes and commentaries.
In 2024, a new illustrated English-Icelandic edition of the ''Galdrabók'' by Icelandic folklorist Kári Pálsson was published with the previously unpublished ''Jarðskinna'' manuscript, a small Icelandic grimoire.
Notes
References
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Grimoires
Germanic paganism
Icelandic folklore
Icelandic literature
Runology
Witchcraft in Iceland
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