A 13th-century grimoire claims it can accelerate mastery of any subject through a combination of angelic dreams, geometric meditation diagrams, and a daily ritual tea — and this summer, we're testing it.

Abammon is joined by Dr. Stone to break down the Ars Notoria: its history, its controversies, and its surprisingly sophisticated ritual technology. Then we announce a two-month experiment: Abammon attempts to reach translation-level Arabic, Dr. Stone attempts translation-level German — each using a different interpretation of the same medieval text. The results come in a follow-up episode.

📖 In This Episode:

• What the Ars Notoria actually is — and why it's unlike any other grimoire in the Solomonic tradition

• Its condemnation by Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, and the Bishop of Paris almost immediately after it surfaced

• The purification ritual: two weeks of Lenten fasting, penitence, and prayer culminating in a dream visitation from an angel granting permission to begin

• Reconstructing a historical Lenten diet — what Christian fasting actually means and how Abammon is using it

• The pharmacology of the daily saffron and rosewater tea: why the ritual timing (morning preparation, afternoon consumption, evening practice) maps precisely onto the pharmacokinetics of crocin, crocetin, safranal, and PEA — and what BDNF, GABA, and the blood-brain barrier have to do with memorizing a grimoire

• The prayers and barbarous names: why Abammon doesn't think Latin carries magical weight, which languages actually do, and why the "prayers" in the Ars Notoria may actually be dense spirit conjuration hiding in plain sight

• Hacoronez — the name the Picatrix gives to Saturn — sitting inside a supposedly angelic prayer

• The Notae: what these extraordinary geometric diagrams are, the memory palace theory, and why Abammon is using them as objects of Zhine meditation instead

• The Arabic magical tradition of meditation as an "Indian science" and what that means for the text's origins

• The experiment: full ritual reconstruction vs. pure psychology — and what we're hoping to learn

📚 Editions Referenced in This Episode:

Mathias Castle — Ars Notoria: The Notory Art of Solomon

https://www.amazon.com/Ars-Notoria-Solomon-Medieval-Treatise/dp/1644115271

Dr. Stephen Skinner — Ars Notoria: The Grimoire of Rapid Learning by Magic

https://www.amazon.com/Ars-Notoria-Grimoire-Learning-Apollonius/dp/0738764523

Dr. Stephen Skinner — Ars Notoria: The Method (practical companion volume)

https://www.amazon.com/Ars-Notoria-Method-Mediaeval-Angel/dp/0738770302

🔗 College and Temple: collegeofmagicians.org

🔗 Occult App: livegrimoire.com

Abammon and Dr. Stone have spent years working inside the Lunar Sphere — conducting initiations, meeting its spirits, and receiving lore directly from Luna. In this episode they share what they've actually encountered, and map it against the classical associations of the closest celestial sphere.

Topics include the Moon as the soul's mirror and seat of the subconscious, the World Soul and the divine feminine principle, emotional sobriety as a lunar virtue, the Saturn–Moon axis and its relationship to death and the ancestors, the spirits of the sphere and their character, and the 28 Lunar Mansions and their talismans. This is experiential magical instruction from practitioners who've done the work.

College of Magicians: collegeofmagicians.org

Occult tools: livegrimoire.com

Dr. Stone and Abammon dive into the Greek Magical Papyri — the ancient collection of real working spells from Greco-Roman Egypt that quietly shaped the entire Western magical tradition. We break down the famous Headless Rite and Mithras Liturgy, crack the code on the PGM's bizarre ingredient lists, explore how to actually use the barbarous names and voces magicae, and trace the Egyptian mythology and priestcraft behind the spells. If you've ever picked up the PGM and felt lost, this is your way in.

🏛️ College and Temple: https://collegeofmagicians.org📱 Occult App: https://livegrimoire.com