The Trumpet of Venus

Tuba Veneris, also titled ‘a little book sacred to black Venus’, is a short Latin grimoire for summoning six spirits of the planet Venus by means of a horn or trumpet inscribed with magical characters. Its colophon claims it was completed and written in London in June 1580, and the surviving copies attribute it to John Dee. The attribution is not secure. If Dee did write or copy it, it would predate his angelic sessions of 1581–1583 and show an interest in operative spirit magic before his work with Saul and Kelley; some have also suggested that it is an exercise in the ‘steganographic’ manner associated with Trithemius. The text opens with verses and a preface warning readers against abusing the art, and then gives four chapters: making the seal or character of Venus at the proper time with suitable fumigations; preparing the trumpet and inscribing it; constructing the magic circle with its divine names; and the names, seals and calls of the six spirits, Mogarip, Amabosar, Alkyzub, Belzazel, Falkaroth and Mephgazub. Further sections describe the conduct of the operation, the constraint and dismissal of the spirits, work in groups and the recovery of treasure. The text survives in later German manuscript collections of magic, and was edited critically by Jörg Meier in 1990. It is a useful example of the planetary spirit-conjuring literature that circulated alongside the better-known Solomonic grimoires.

What it contains

• Prefatory verses and an address to readers
• Making the seal of Venus with timing and fumigation
• Preparing and inscribing the trumpet
• Drawing the circle with its divine names
• Names, seals and calls of six spirits of Venus
• Procedure, constraint and dismissal of the spirits