Tag: Occult

“Don’t touch that! You don’t know what forces you could unleash!” – Aleister Crowley to Grady McMurtry, attributed by Lon Milo DuQuette, in his Forward to The Book of Abramelin: A New Translation [i]

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Cover of D&D module X2 – Castle Amber [ii]

In this article we will examine the occult source material of dungeon encounter #46 in the 1981 Dungeons & Dragons module X2 – Castle Amber.  We will not venture to explain any occult significance of the encounter, neither do we presume any occult intent in its design choice other than as thematic ‘dungeon-dressing.’

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Portrait of Clark Ashton Smith in 1912 [iii]

The influence of Clark Ashton Smith, Roger Zelazny, and Edgard Allan Poe in the module is readily evident. Other literary influences must include Baudelaire, “Flowers of Evil” (#22); Robert E. Howard, the narcotic black lotus (#50); and even a Norwegian Folktale, in the ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’ encounter (#16).

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From a Swiss (1JJ) Tarot deck [iv]

A surreal weirdness permeates the module, and it includes several generic occult-themed encounters, such as the Demon of Death (#53) and the Card Room (#38).[v]

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from X2 Castle Amber

The Magic Letter Square (#46), the first room of the dungeon proper, presents a rather more unique and interesting encounter.

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from X2 Castle Amber

The room description attributes several powers to the letter square, which may be ‘invoked’ either by traversing or standing on the square.[vi] In the encounter, the basic power of the square itself is lunacy, and, among beneficial effects, there are a couple of other possible ill effects, classified as curses, either blindness or lycanthropy.

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from The Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage [vii]

The form of this magic square is taken from The Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage, most likely S.L. MacGregor Mathers’ edition, which has been the only English-language translation available until quite recently. It is possible that there may have been another collection or encyclopedia of the occult used for reference as an intermediary text, but not necessarily so.

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Pages from a French manuscript c.1750 at the Bibl. de l’Arsenal; and from the 1725 Peter Hammer edition

Mathers worked from an imperfect French manuscript—dated circa 1750—rife with errors, of which he was painfully aware.[viii] In his edition he reproduced the letters spelling GOHEN, although he commented in his notes that it should likely read COHEN. An earlier, German printing of the complete text—dated 1725—does give COHEN as the proper reading.[ix]

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from the Dresden SLUB manuscript N 111 (c.1700)

An even earlier, circa 1700, German manuscript also appears intact and gives the spelling as COHEN for this square.[x] The earliest German manuscripts extant—no digital scan available—date from 1608 and are held at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel. [xi]

George Dehn, in his contemporary, critical edition, proposes that the attributed author, Abraham von Worms, is a pseudonym of the historical Rabbi Jacob ben Moses ha Levi Möllin, which would support an early 15^th century composition.

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Half-title page from The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage

The Abramelin text presents the magic word squares for use in dealing with spirits, and access to these abilities being earned only after great work. The COHEN or GOHEN square is intended for creating ‘visions in the moon.’ This textual association with the moon appears to be the only theme in common with the module’s assignment of the square’s powers to lunacy and lycanthropy.

Of course, the theme of traversing the magic square and running its risks to obtain some benefit suggests some similarity to traversing the Pattern in Zelazny’s Amber novels.[xii] As indicated at the beginning of this article, the module draws upon a wealth of literature, a testament as to how cultured and read was its designer.

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“Nobody is born as a master—everyone needs to learn and to become a master—this is what happened to me and to everyone else. Engage yourself deeply in this study and you will be rewarded with experiences; the most shameful and disgusting title is ‘ignorant.’” – Abraham von Worms to his son Lamech, from the preface text to the 1608 manuscript, in Dehn’s edition

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“The focus of interest in this study is more special: to trace man’s evolution as an artist and designer and to do this through the signs, seals and symbols he has left as his record.” – Ernst Lehner, “To the Reader,” Symbols, Signs & Signets

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Covers of module B3 Palace of the Silver Princess [Orange] [i] and [Green] [ii]

In this article we will trace and identify the sources of some of the more obscure symbols used in illustrating the D&D module B3 – Palace of the Silver Princess. We will not venture to explain any occult significance of the symbols; and we presume there is no meaningful, occult intent behind choosing to include them in the module’s artwork. Neither will we be discussing the module’s history, which may be read over at the Acaeum.[iii] For our purposes, it’s enough to remark that the module underwent a complete revision from its original Orange-covered to its Green-covered form.

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from B3 Palace of the Silver Princess [Orange]

At first glance, it is evident that a preponderance of the smaller symbols on the walls and floor of this illustration have been derived from Lehner’s Symbols, Signs & Signets.[iv]

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A selection of figures from Symbols, Signs & Signets

Collections of the kind were frequently mined for inspiration or material, literary or artistic; and Peterson has documented the influence of Lehner’s Fantastic Bestiary in Eldritch Wizardry (1976).[v] Here, the symbols are largely of a recognizable alchemical, astrological, and religious type.

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from B3 Palace of the Silver Princess [Green]

Of more interest is the change in illustration from Orange to Green versions of the module. In its original Orange-cover form, the chamber was an exterior-facing room of the palace with windows; and for the revised Green-cover form, converted into an interior room. The accompanying in-text descriptions are different. And, among other alterations to the artwork, the windows have been replaced with a couple of prominent symbols.

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from Symbols, Signs & Signets, captioned BRINGS SUCCESS, WEALTH, LONG LIFE

Textual evidence indicates Lehner’s Symbols, Signs & Signets [vi] as the primary, immediate source here again, rather than his similar collection, The Picture Book of Symbols (1956)—namely, the absence of these two illustrations in the 1956 publication.[vii]

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from Symbols, Signs & Signets, captioned THE HOLY MAGIC CIRCLE

Lehner’s bibliography is generally vague, more of a list of ‘works consulted,’ and the captions he has assigned to these two items, factitious at best. We can however trace their intermediate and ultimate sources.

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from The Book of Talismans, Amulets and Zodiacal Gems [viii]

Captioned as “Brings Success […]” by Lehner, he appears to have drawn it from William Pavitt’s Book of Talismans, Amulets and Zodiacal Gems, where Pavitt accurately identified the provenance of the figure with John Dee, though he in turn interpolated a significance of the AGLA acronym—i.e. use of the acronym as a medieval charm against Fever—alien to its usage by Dee.

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from Sloane Manuscript 3188f.10 [ix]

First recorded on March 10, 1582 in John Dee’s diaries, the ‘Seale with the figure of a Crosse […] made thus’ seems to be unique to Dee.

While there may be another intermediary source between Pavitt’s Book of Talismans and a printing of Dee’s notes, e.g. Mysteriorum Libri Quinque, Pavitt only appears to mention the AGLA acronym’s sometime use as a charm as an historical aside rather than as a specific description of Dee’s figure as illustrated.

In any case, the figure as eventually reproduced in Ernst Lehner’s collection ultimately originates with John Dee, who intended it to be used on the reverse of a large wax seal.[x]

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from Das Kloster [xi]

A twelve-volume collection of folklore, occult texts, and more, volume five of Johann Scheible’s Das Kloster contains a number of Faustian Höllenzwang.[xii] Ernest Lehner drew from this volume in particular, and his Symbols, Signs & Signets reproduces several figures from its pages.

The illustration above, drawn from the section entitled “Doctor Faustens dreyfacher Hoellenzwang,” is captioned as “Der heilige Creyß,” which Lehner would later rephrase as “The Holy Magic Circle.”

Scheible records the text as having been printed in Passau in 1407, somewhat before the historical Faust was born (c. 1480), and before the advent of Gutenberg’s printing press (c. 1436).

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from Doctor Faustens Dreyfacher Hoellenzwang [xiii]

Narrowing our search, we find the earliest publication of this text—its use being still internally attributed to a Bishop Albrecht—in the collections at Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf. Its catalog entry is titled Doctor Faustens Dreyfacher Hoellenzwang […].[xiv]

The archivist has identified a 1704 printing for the book, and the work’s typography supports an early 18^th century printing. Some of the other, more complex illustrations within the text, later printed in Scheible, are here hand drawn.

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John Dee, from Casaubon’s A True and Faithful Relation […] [xv]

And so, their provenance obscure, their meanings muddled over time as each successive author has reproduced or repurposed these illustrations, we have traced their descent from occult origins to D&D module B3 – Palace of the Silver Princess.

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