The Grimorium Verum
And the European Grimoire Tradition
While almost everyone interested in the subject of magic is familiar with the Ars Goetia of the Lemegaton, otherwise known as the Lesser Key of Solomon1, far fewer in the modern Anglosphere have as much understanding or knowledge of the Grimorium Verum. Fewer still have any understanding of the origins of this diabolic text or the influences which course through its pages.
This change in the appreciation for the Verum has developed significantly over the past two decades largely thanks to the publication of Stratton-Kent’s True Grimoire2 and Peterson’s translation of this grimoire’s source material3. With these in print form and readily accessible, sorcerers began to shift through the content, collectively coming to the steady understanding that it presents something far greater and much more workable than many of its contemporaries.
What’s more, in the past two decades there has been an explosion in the field of grimoire studies, both by the lay sorcerer, but also in blossoming new areas of academia. We now have access to a vast swath of once massively popular magical manuals and texts, thought lost or obscured by history, many of which have begun to reveal the hidden connective tissues which thread through their development. The collective translated works of Rankine, Skinner, Peterson, Kieckhefer, Harms, Clark, Cummins, Legard, Leitão, Lamba, Marathakis, Karr, Perdue, and many more, have thrown open the gates of our understanding of Magic and how it was perceived and practiced.
With this access comes a new understanding of the Verum’s place in what I consider to be the European Grimoire Tradition. This tradition is not denoted by consistency, nor is there a clear understanding of the manner in which certain texts evolved and developed. There is no one single set of dramatis personae among the various catalogues, nor even universally agreed upon tools. There isn’t even a singular source, as even our oldest example of a grimoire, the Summa Sacre Magice4, dated to roughly 1346, is itself a bricolage of other magical texts which were circulating prior to its formation. I myself have traced elements of this tradition, most notably the Four Cardinal Regents and their connection to the stars of the Zodiac, to the work of Cecco d’Ascoli, a lecturer of astrology at Bologna University who was burned alive for his heresies by the Inquisition on the 26th of September 1327.5 While this may seem like a confident place of origin, it is abundantly clear that d’Ascoli was drawing influence from both older European texts as well as the vast influx of Astrological, Hermetic and Magical material arriving from Greek Byzantium and the Arabic speaking world into Spain, Italy and France during the twelfth and thirteenth century.
All this said, we do find a consistent set of pseudoepigraphical characters attributed to specific streams of textual evolution. The most well known to English speaking peoples is the wise king Solomon, however we find the mythical St Cyprian to be the most well known in Iberia and Spanish-Portuguese speaking countries, and in Germany we find the name Faust most often appended to such scurrilous texts of black magic. While the attributed names differ from culture to culture, the core of the practice and many of its methodologies, remain consistent throughout.
Our Verum finds itself hailing from 19th century France, specifically the Alibeck version which is dated to 1817. In addition to this we have two Italian editions, Muzzi, published in 1880, and Bestetti, 1868. All three versions claim to have been written as early as 1517, a clear appeal to antiquity common to these forms of magical texts. This period of history is the home of many similar diabolic works of sorcery such as The Grimoire of Pope Honorius6 and the infamous Grand Grimoire, among many other smaller titles such as the True Black Magic, Dragon Rouge and the Le Petite Albert. Of course, none of these texts appeared from a vacuum, but were themselves each innovations and recensions of earlier works, themselves developing and adapting from prior forbidden texts of sorcery.
In 2018 Peterson published his translation of De Secretis, a notorious handbook of demonic magic worked by a group of sorcerers in Venice, confiscated by the Inquisition in 1636. This text, a clear precursor of the Grimorium Verum, pushes the date of this text back almost two centuries, and leaves us again with more questions as to its origin. Then in 2024 Lamba published his translation of ms 983: L’art Magique7, dated to 1709, which helped solves several mysteries, providing a great number of Seals and fleshing out many issues and missing sections of the Verum. In my own work in The Hours: The Καταρχαί of Hygromanteia8, I draw significant parallels between the upper hierarchy of the Verum with the earliest extant manuscripts of Hygromanteia, otherwise titled, The Treaties of Solomon9, most commonly understood to date to the thirteenth or early fourteenth century, while some scholars such as Torijano propose it’s entry into southern Italy as early as the sixth. While much of the content of the text has completely transformed by the time it is printed as part of the Bibliothèque bleue10, there are key elements which are preserved through this particular ‘river’ of the European Grimoire Tradition.
But why do I believe the Verum is of such value?
Firstly, the Verum possesses a concise and well laid out hierarchy while others have been either omitted or deliberately sabotaged. This hierarchy provides a map of the Underworld to the sorcerer, who, by understanding which Names hold power over each strata, may move and compel the Spirits into action.
The Verum details a specific Spirit, variously named Scirlin, Scrylin or Syrach, who acts as an Intermediary between sorcerer and the Spirits during the conjuration process. This role is conspicuously missing from many other texts, severely handicapping the sorcerer. Scirlin aids us in becoming familiar with other Spirits, teaching us the various necessities to establish relationships with those we would treat with.
While other grimoires describe something of the process of conjuration, they often stop short of describing how the sorcerer creates a long standing Pact. Indeed, the implementation of this Pact is fundamental to the process of creating the various Tools and performing the conjuration to a Spirit. Without it we are left adrift without any guarantees of the outcome of our work. The Pact-making process is somewhat involved, especially for a modern audience, but by following the steps we are naturally brought into an initiation.
The Verum also has a rather different take on the nature of the Tools and the materia it lists throughout its pages, striking a decidedly animistic tone with clear roots in pre-Christian magical practices. The understanding of the nature of astrological Time is assumed, and the Spirits of its catalogue are given to particular objects such as the Wands, Pen and Knife. The Pen is not simply a pen, but the Spirit-House of a Spirit, and the creation of this object is in itself a form of implicit Pact. This is where an understanding of the Greek Magical Papyri becomes of exceptional use to us, as we see direct parallels in the application of sorcerous techniques between the sorcerer and their enchanted World. The act of crafting objects under specific astrological conditions is not merely technical, it is to participate in the cyclic rhythms of the Cosmos. The Grimorium Verum then expresses a very material mysticism, wherein physical substances serve as focal points for our sorcery.
Finally, we know from the historical record that the Verum is but one stepping stone in a long transmission of magical handbooks that were actively worked by those that possessed them. The Verum then, has a very special heritage within the European Tradition as a book of worked magic and cunning, and is quite different from the more popular ‘gentleman’s grimoire’ which were often undifferentiated lists of names and seals with little to no information on how such Spirits could be interacted with.
To conclude, what I aim to present to you throughout the course of our Guide is not a recreation of some pure and unadulterated practice of the Grimorium Verum. I don’t believe that is possible. Instead, my goal is quite different. I intent to give you all the tools necessary to understand the mechanics which exist within the Grimoire, but which are left unspoken by its authors. This is, in effect, a birds-eye view of the tradition of sorcery which I have come to understand from my many years of study and practice. It is a new synthesis, not an attempt to recreate a pure practice from the past, but to forge something new. I want to give you all the knowledge to build your torch, light it, and stride into the future. We will be pulling from many sources, not just the Verum, but the entire host of the European Tradition and its precursors.
No worked grimoire remains static. We have the knowledge, we have the tools, so I say let’s develop what we have for the modern day and hopefully, for the eras to come.
To join our community and learn more about the sorcery of the Grimorium Verum, please follow this Link.
Mat Hadfield - ☉ 29˚♏︎ 2025
Host of the Hadean Press Podcast
Author of, A Wondrous Spell - Necromancy in the PGM,
The Hours: The Καταρχαί of Hygromanteia, and the upcoming,
An Exposition Upon The Sphere of the Cosmos - The Astrological Nigromancy of
Cecco d’Ascoli
Recommendations
Mat Hadfield’s fifteen-month-long Grimorium Verum guide is a treasure trove of practical sorcery and meaningful spirit work that prepares students for making direct contact with the spirits of the Verum. Rooted in ancient and grimoiric practices, historic ritual techniques, astrological lore, and magical timing, The Vault provides everything fledgling practitioners need to initiate their personal journey into grimoire magic practice.
Jae Krodel
I wholeheartedly recommend this guide, 100%
Throughout my experience with Mat and the Vault I was able to improve and kickstart my practice of magic in all aspects.
Met a lot of great friends, discovered new practices, and learned a lot.
If you’re looking for a course to initiate you into the work of the Grimorium Verum, build relationships with the spirts, and to widen your overall knowledge of magic this is the perfect course for you.
G.P.
I would urge everyone in this group to seize this opportunity. This course has been a truly transformative process and I cant recommend it highly enough! Thank you so much Mat!
A.H
Mat Hadfield’s Guide to Grimorium Verum is far more than a “do magic by numbers” follow-along course — it’s a deep and chthonic journey into Goetia, its living practice over time, and how to truly make it your own. You don’t learn by simply reading; you learn by doing — and, maybe, by burning a few fingers along the way. Through practice, you discover how to truly listen.
Throughout the course, you come to know the territory, the roads, the spirits, and the boundaries — and you learn when, how, or if you wish to cross them. It’s a treasure trove of knowledge and experience, shared openly and generously by a highly accomplished practitioner and goer.
After a year or so of genuine dedication and hard work, this course equips you with the tools to trust yourself, apply authentic practice, and enter into direct contact with the vast inhabited landscape contained within the Grimorium Verum and its side grimoires — and, more broadly, within the Goetic tradition as a living current rooted in ancient and grimoiric practices.
Sibeal
When I first came across Mat’s class, I joined almost instantly. I wasn’t entirely sure why at the time, only that something within me felt compelled to explore further. Before joining the Vault, I had already done some grimoire work, but my understanding was fragmented, like the scattered pieces of a jigsaw puzzle waiting to be assembled.
Since becoming part of Mat’s class, those pieces have finally come together, revealing a much deeper and more cohesive understanding of grimoire workings. Mat’s teaching style is both knowledgeable and patient; he welcomes every question with genuine care and insight. He has been a true guiding light, illuminating the path toward a richer, more profound connection with grimoire magic.
Anon
My practice has exploded in the most amazing way. Every single day more amazing things happen. More things line up. The magic is everywhere every day. Behind on some tasks but the daily practices, prayers, in/evocations, offerings communication and interplay is beyond anything I ever imagined.
Anon
Peterson. Weiser Books, 2001
Stratton-Kent. Scarlet Imprint, 2nd ed. 2022
Independently published, 2nd ed. 2023
Skinner & Clark. Golden Hoard, 2025
Hadfield. Hadean Press, TBA
Rankine & Barron. Avalonia Press. 2013
Lamba. Hadean Press, 2024
Hadfield. Hadean Press, 2024
Marathakis. Golden Hoard, 2012