The Sorcerer’s Handbook: Dirt from the crossroads in the 13th-century

Posted by Emily Selove

November 28th 6-8 PM Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-sorcerers-handbook-dirt-from-the-crossroads-in-the-13th-century-tickets-462520740987

A sheep heart full of pins, a graveyard at midnight, a contract with Satan signed in a magic circle: these are the stereotypical images of magic found in folk-horror depictions of European witchcraft and sorcery. This presentation will find them in a collection of magical texts attributed to an influential scholar of the Arabic language, Sirāj al-Dīn al-Sakkākī (d. 1229 CE). Written in western Iran in the early days of the Mongol conquest, Sakkākī’s Book of the Complete (Kitāb al-Shāmil) stands at a magical crossroads, and creates a meeting point of cultures: a place from which to learn about the globally entangled Middle Ages, and the West’s profound debt to Arab and Islamic culture. The presentation will also link the contents of this Arabic grimoire to the RAMM’s own collection of magical artifacts.

Free entry, drinks and food

After-hours access to museum exhibits and special items from the archives