January 8th

Saint of the Day - Saint Lucien de Goelle

Devil of the Day - Dagon

Man of the Day - Robert of Lincoln

Talisman of the Day - The crossbow

Book of the Day - The Lame Devil

Capricorn - Night falls at 16.12

8th January 1337 – Death of Giotto

8th January 1894 – Birth of Michel Simon in Geneva

8th January 1896 – Death of Paul Verlaine

8th January 1905 - Beatification of St. John Vianney

8th January 1905 - Birth of General Geoffrey in Paris

8th January 1960 - The marvellous hypertrichosis of Yul Brynner

The Warrior’s Talisman

The best talismans for men of war are: The bezoar of a rooster, a hen’s egg, a hyena’s skin, a leopard, a wolf, salamanders, a lion’s tooth, Usnea (greenish fungus that collects on old human skulls), the mandragora, instruments of torture and finally the pentacles of Mars and Mercury.

Secret of a sleepwalker

If you find one evening an old unfamiliar woman sitting silently near the fireplace, it is a sign that a resident of the home will die.

Council of a gallant apothecary

You will get a strong erection by rubbing your member with walnut oil in which you have dipped a magnetite stone.

Academic fact

Toad slime does not affect white ermine

Saint Lucien de Goelle died piously, as he had lived ,on the banks of the Scarpe. He was responsible for the invention of the halo.

Dagon, a minor devil, and Chief Baker of Hell. He has the body of a man, legs of a woman and the head of a woodpecker. He is the declared enemy of Saint Michael.

Robert de Lincoln was an English astrologer and celebrated alchemist.

Another day, another Artaud reference (Heliogabalus)...

January 7th

Saint of the Day - Saint Siege

Devil of the Day - Stratanael

Man of the Day - Heliogabalus

Talisman of the Day - The Rod of Moses

Book of the Day - The Enchanted World

Capricorn - Night falls at 16.10

7th January 1785 –Blanchard crosses the Pas-de-Calais

7th January 1815 –Executiono fMarshal Ney

7th January 1858 –Explosion of a calorifere in the Saint-Sulpice church

7th January 1899 -Birth of Francis Poulenc in Paris

7th January 1948 -Flying saucer in Dakota

Conjuration of Lucifer
This conjuration operates between the eleventh and the twelth hour and between the third and fourth hour. Draw a circle on the floor with a consecrated coal and write around it with a consecrated chalk: "I forbid you lucifer, by the name that you fear, to enter the circle."
Then recite the following formula: "I conjure you, Lucifer, by the ineffable names On - Alpha - Ya - Rey - Sol - Messias - Ingodiern - Thou hast to do (your demand) without harming me"

Council of a good fortune teller
If you want to avoid night terrors and cure your backache, wear a crystal around your neck.

Secret of a sleepwalker
According to the doctrine of the rabbis, the world should only last six thousand years. Two thousand years of futility, two thousand years of war, two thousand years of the messiah. After that, all things rest.

Saint Siege was a rich and beautiful adolescent from Almaque. He practiced, in a guilty and disorderly way, the pleasures of the flesh with a multitude of women and also a number of young men. Fearing he would set a bad example for the town, Heaven took pity on him and sent a shameful disease. His genitals fell to dust and his eyes stagnated in pestilential pus. Illuminated by grace, he gave his riches to monks and lived in penance and love of the Lord.

Stratanael, beautiful cherub, fell during the revolt of the Angels. His body is covered with eyes of ruby and opal. He arouses excessive pride in princes he wants to lose.

Heliogabalus Decadent Roman Emperor who mocked religion, priests and the Gods. He adored the Devil. He was suspected of pederasty.

January 6th

Saint of the Day - Saint Espine

Devil of the Day - Garache

Man of the Day - Frederic Stuffe

Talisman of the Day - Agate

Book of the Day - Metamorphoses

Capricorn - Night falls at 16.10

6th January 1542 –Death of Bernard of Orley

6th January 1568 –Birth of a monster with a head of a Bishop’s Mitre in Krakow

6th January 1840 –Rain of fire in Paris

6th January 1904 -Beatification of Joan of Arc

6th January 1906 -Birth of Oscar Dominguez in Tenerife

To transform heads

First pour sulphur powder and litharge into a full oil lamp; then make a candle with beeswax and the droppings of any animal; light the candle with the flame of the lamp and, holding it with one hand, offer wine to friends and all who drink will get the head of the animal whose droppings you use.

Council of a flying doctor

To cure an epileptic, slip on a ring made from the hoof of a white ass.

Secret of the Deacon’s cat

Guard from Devils and the evil eye in your home by painting the walls with water and alum.

Thoughts of Agrippa of Aubigne

“When truth puts a dagger to the throat, you must kiss the white though blood stained hand”

Saint Espine practised all his life very hard mortifications for the remission of sins of others. Having vowed never to eat bread, he ate only locusts and nettles. The Devil often tempted him in the form of a cabbage.

Garache is a headless demon, that encourages theft and swindling. Its fingernails are ingrown and its tongue mellifluous.

Frederic Stuffe Illustrious German Magician, a protege of Behemoth, called forth a multitude of soldiers by throwing handfuls of millet grain into the wind. With this army he ravaged the Rhineland, defeated Emperor Rudolph and seized the town of Cologne. Betrayed by a false apostate priest, a spy of Rome, he was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake.

First real struggle, the charm against Daemonia isn't right, need to look again at the weekend. First instance of synchronicity, a copy of Artaud's deconstruction of the book of the day "The Monk" just arrived...

January 5th

Saint of the Day - Saint Amelie

Deviless of the Day - Pertunda

Woman of the Day - Orcavelle

Talisman of the Day - Copper

Book of the Day - The Monk

Capricorn - Sun rises at 07.40am

5th January 1066 –Death of Edward the Confessor

5th January 1576 –Death in Bruges of the astrologer Pierre Van Bruhesen

5th January 1579 –Death of Catherine De Medici

5th January 1895 -Degredation of Captain Dreyfus

5th January 1900 -Birth of Yves Tanguy in Paris

To see an image of a friend

Mix the sweat of the four Passions contained in the four Humors of the Earth and then write the name of a woman or a man on this earth whilst pronouncing said name. You will see an image of the person before you.

Secret of a good fortune teller

If you wish to regain your virginity, dive into the Cantos fountain.

Council of a doctor of the poor

Against Daemonia

Chicory, scariale, lettuce in equal amounts, a stout handful each of florum Violarum, florum Nuphat, florum Rosarum rubearum Anna, one ounce succi Borragaginis, succci Fummeterre, Succi pomarum acetorum deputarum, Anna, two ounces acitisquilliti, Anna, a semi ounce Zucari albi quartis, make up to one litre of clarified syrup.

Saint Amelie never existed. She was venerated in the Middle Ages due to a copyist Monks’ error after being distracted by the Devil.

Pertunda is one of the demons of impurity. She knows all the gestures of sensuality and you will enjoy her skills. Some have mistakenly put her into the ranks of the Succubus.

Orcavelle was a celebrated magician in the Arthurian mythos. She is known for her extraordinary enchantments.

January 4th

Saint of the Day - Saint Rigolboche

Deviless of the Day - Anarete

Woman of the Day - Rosa Masher

Talisman of the Day - the mandrake

Book of the Day - The Almagest

Capricorn - Night falls at 16.07

4th January 1477 – Death of Temeraire

4th January 1711 – Apparition of the hand of Gauthier in Bruges

4th January 1737 – Birth of the monster Cattozi in Venice

4th January 1896 - Birth of Andre Masson in Balagny

To destroy a city

make an image under the hour of Saturn when malign influences are in the ascendant. Then bury the image in the middle of the city and the city will be destroyed.

Council of a knight

You will laugh heartily by lighting a wick made of a funeral shroud which you have coated in a yellow dove crushed and soaked in elderflower oil.

Recipe of the apothecary

You will get an excellent eau d’arquebus by distilling 250g of rosemary, 250g of sage, 250g of marjoram, 250g of citronella, 250g wild thyme, 375g of lavender, 375g of Indian Vervain, 125g of mint geranium, 250g of fennel, 250g of hyssop, 250g of summer savoury, 250g of oregano, 250g of garden balsam, 250g of rue, 250g of meadowsweet, 250g of melissa, 125g of peppermint and 500g of Swiss linement tea in 24 litres of three-six.

[trans note: eau d’arquebus or Arquebus water is a distillation originally used to treat Arquebus (or gunshot) wounds. Three-six is an eau-de-vie made in Normandy, basically means "three measures of alcohol and three parts water].

Saint Rigolboche had a difficult early life. The daughter of a craftsman from The Passage D’Enfer, she lived to give her body to the pleasures of godless Bohemia. The chance meeting of a good man gone astray in this dissolute environment led her to seventh heaven.

Anarete is a very malignant devil who does not hesitate to put on Saints habits and pretend to be holy. The sign of the cross will make her disappear.

Rosa Malheur whose real name was Arthemise Maigrio, was a psychic, clairvoyant and fortune teller in the nineteenth century. She was born and died in Montelimar.

It occurs to me that it would be better all round if I posted for the following day so here are two days in one go. The 4th. will be posted tomorrow evening and so on.

Already Labisse's surreal humour is starting to creep in, remember this was published in 1957 (though "The burning of the Amazon" in 1981 is pretty disconcerting). If I had more time, there are plenty of annotations to add. His description of Pruslas (or Pruflas) seems to be from De Plancy. Below is one of the separate images that accompany the book. I'm off to church with some ground bumblebees...

January 2nd

Saint of the Day - Saint Basil of Nidame

Devil of the Day - Pruslas

Man of the Day - Vesalius

Talisman of the Day - Ananisapta

Book of the Day - The Bloody Shadows

Capricorn - Night falls at 16.03

2nd January 1500 - Divine vengeance at Sion

2nd January 1613 - The devil transformed into a young girl being hanged by a gentleman

2nd January 1802 - The flooding of Git-le-coeur street

2nd January 1873 - Birth of Therese Martin

2nd January 1956 - The fall of a great star

2nd January 1957 - Appearance of the Virgin to an inhabitant of Bordeaux

2nd January 1981 - Burning of the Amazon

To see Wonders

Take a drowned kitten, put a bean in its eye and bury it. When the beans are ripe, dig up the kitten and put one of the new beans in your mouth. Do not swallow and you will see wonders.

Council of a flying doctor

To be cured of hemorrhoids sit on the skin of a Lion.

Secret of the Swabian hermit

Prayer for toothache

"Santa Apollonia that sits on the stone, Santa Apollonia what are you doing there? I came here for the toothache, if it’s a worm remove it, if it is a drop it will go away…"

Saint Basil of Nidame was one of the Fathers of the Desert. He lived in poverty and destitution around Amphilochius. The Devil often came to tempt him. One day the Devil turned it into pillar of fire in a nearby village square. It was then that a hermit named St. Ephrem realised the deception of the Devil; he prayed and a tongue of fire appeared in the flames.

Pruslas, Demon with the head of an owl, Grand Duke of Hell and the king of Babylon, causes wars, quarrels and fraudulent bankruptcies.

Vesalius, Illustrious Brussels physician, inventor of anatomical science, dared to glorify science despite the fury of the Church and the might of secular power, dissected corpses from profaned tombs, bought with gold.

January 3rd

Saint of the Day - Saint Juniper

Deviless of the Day - Aura

Woman of the Day - Cleopatra

Talisman of the Day - Beryl

Book of the Day - Pierrot My Friend

Capricorn - Sun rises at 7.44 am

3rd January 1253 - Rained snakes in Cyprus

3rd January 1510 - Birth of Cacique Abayuba

3rd January 1661 - Arrest of Joseph Borri, alchemist and false prophet

3rd January 1893 - Duel between Clemenceau and Deroulede

3rd January 1899 - Birth of Brianchon at Fresnay-sur-Sarthe

3rd January 1904 - Birth of Boris Kochno

3rd January 1970 - Several prophesies are realised

To recognise female libertines

To recognize libertine women in church or elsewhere, bake bumblebees in a pot and grind them into a powder. Put the powder at the feet of a woman; if she avoids it, it is a sign of her licentiousness.

Council of a faithful shepherd

If you want to chase rats from your chambers, burn Unicorn horn

Secret of a good fortune teller

The one that is born under the sign of Capricorn will be timid and fearful. She will have sex with 3 men with whom she will have 18 children. She will go on pilgrimages and become blind at 31.

Council of an old sailor

The image of Neptune engraved on a beryl stone and worn around the neck is a great talisman to safely traverse storms and shipwrecks.

Saint Juniper refused all her life to deal with men. She founded several convents and created her own kingdom which, with the Devil’s help, was disbanded when it was condemned by Rome.

The Deviless Aura has little power but her luminescence will attractively adorn your nights.

Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt famous for her charm and her beauty, killed herself by being bitten by two asps.

The Family Wizard

An experiment in translation. In an effort to make myself more productive in 2016 I will be attempting a translation of Felix Labisse's "Sorcier Des Familles, Almanach Fatidique," originally published in 1957 and, as far as I am aware, previously untranslated. Labisse was a French surrealist (1905-1982). He is best known for his paintings of blue women, hybrid creatures and the image which currently graces the Midian homepage here. This experiment is mainly for my own practice and amusement (if being hunched over a keyboard on my days off from being hunched over a keyboard can be considered amusing...) I doubt I will make a page a day so will probably batch posts up when ready.

I make no claims for the veracity of any of the entries! Taking the 1st day as an example, all characters are 'real' (I had not heard of Tanchelin before, was aware of Hellequin's Hunt but now need to research more etc.) but the portrayal of Uriel seems completely incongruous. We will see how things progress. 'Enjoy'. I will put a scan of the page at the bottom of this post, any translation corrections gratefully accepted!

(Main image is taken from the frontispiece to the book)

 

January 2016

God of the Month - Juno
Angel of the Month - Gabriel
Devil of the Month - Belial
Saint of the Month - Saint Paphnuce The Panopolitain
Animal of the Month - The sheep
Bird of the Month - The peacock
Fish of the Month - The cuttlefish
Tree of the Month - The poplar
Stone of the Month - Hyacinth
Perfume of the Month - Star Anise
Metal of the Month - Lead
Flower of the Month - Agnus Castus
Man of the Month - Raymond Lulle
Woman of the Month - Isabel De Baviere

January 1st

Saint of the Day - Saint Louis
Devil of the Day - Uriel
Man of the Day - Tanchelin
Talisman of the Day - Wolf’s Tooth
Book of the Day - The Distaff Gospels

Capricorn - The Sun rises at 7.46 a.m.

1st January 1000 - The Great Fear
1st January 1091 - Hellequin’s Hunt (The Wild Hunt) appears to the priest Gauchelin
1st January 1499 - Birth of Diane of Poitiers
1st January 1544 - Exorcism of Magdelene of the Cross
1st January 1602 - A werewolf ravages Montdragon
1st January 1635 - End of the diabolic pregnancy of the Prioress of Loudon
1st January 1908 - Assassination of Carlos the First
1st January 1911 - Yvonne de Beauvais signs a blood pact with N.S.J.C. (Our Lord Jesus Christ)

To become Invisible
You will easily become invisible by acting as follows: look for a crow’s nest in the laying season, remove the eggs and block the nest. The crow will bring a small stone. You take that stone and, when you wish it you will become invisible. it is recommended that to avoid errors that you mark the nest with a rather long string.

Council of a Farmer
If you want to be surrounded by a swarm of midges rub yourself with donkey milk.

Secret of the Swabian Hermit
If your children are slow to walk, go sit on the marvellous stone of the church of St. Waast in Arras saying three times "Go Go Go!”

Axiom of the Immortal

The Devil made his Christmas pate with notaries' fingers and lawyers tongues.

Louis IX - Also known as Saint Louis founded numerous abbeys, dispensed justice under an oak and died of the plague in Tunisia. He is particularly well known for the miracle of the shipwreck of Cyprus and the bloody victory at Mansurah.

Uriel - A lowly Demon with little power, he works in the underworld as a pipe holder, from which he derives excessive pride.

Tanchelin - Mystagogue and heretic from 12th Century Antwerp who was so revered by the natives of that country that they fought for his excrement and used it as charms, cures, poisons and amulets.