Phil Legard’s Notes

Thanks for getting in touch. I don’t have time to enter into correspondence,
but I thought your message raised some interesting points. So, let’s cut
straight to the chase! Yes, of course the Grimorium Imperium is a 20th
century ‘fake’.

The extant text was written in one day in 1997. I was ill with a fever and
unable to sleep or muster the concentration to read I set about writing the
work off the top of my head. I suppose it was a final goodbye to the world
of Lovecraft influenced magic, which I had recently dropped to concentrate
on more illuminating studies.

I suppose that the work is a meta-fake of sorts. In my original prefatory

note I stated that it was translated from an Italian edition. I conceived
the Italian ‘original’ as being a fake itself, trading on Dee’s reputation
in a manner similar to the Grimorium Verum and the like use of the tradition
of Solomon as a magical authority. In fact I had the GV in mind for the
layout of the book – for example, the last chapter would be full of quite
dangerous recipes revealed by the spirits of the book to John Dee of the
sort that he would never have stooped to put into practice.

I must say that I am amused at how it seems to have taken on a life of its
own – I’ve come across a couple of analyses, a translation into Polish, a
mention in Daniel Harms & JW Gonce’s The Necronomicon Files and e-mails from
seekers every few weeks. I would conjecture that the promise of arcane
secrets and the yearning for power in both spiritual and temporal worlds has
always been integral to aesthetic of practical occultism from the earliest
papyrus, to the most recent Necronomicon fake.

For what it’s worth I managed to uneath some old notes as to what is
contained in the other books which may be of interest to you:

“Part Five:Liber Quintum: This book gives information concerning the ritual
of conjuration. It gives the instructions for the ritual in the first part
of the chapter. The rest of the chapter is taken up by incantations for each
of the gods/demons, chants to make the demon appear and spells to make the
spirit speak.

“Part Six:Liber Sextum: The chapter gives details of banishings and

exorcisms. Missing in some editions.
“Part Seven:Liber Verum: A short introduction Liber Verum tells the reader
to treat this part of the book as very holy because it is extremely poweful.
The reader is told to speak a certain magical formula (not detailed in the
book) before turning each page of this chapter. In reality this chapter is a
mixture of spells and charms from various sources – it contains several
spells and amulets relevant to the previous chapters (cap of conjuration,
ring of protection) and also various spells and charms ‘delivered by Nerexo’
(one of Nyarlathotep’s faces). These charms of Nerexo are mixed with the
enthusiastic disregard for style present in many other grimoires and
includes magic squares (such as the Cabed square), rings and charms.

“Part Eight:Liber Supremum: This is the final part of Al-Hazred’s writings

and gives us the last of his knowledge before the ‘dogs that inhabit time’
catch up with him. This additional knowledge includes various cryptic and
prophetic sentences, banishing techniques and some information about what
lies outside our ‘sphere’, ‘between the opposites of life and death, waking
and sleeping,’ which Al-Hazred calls ‘Zin’.

“Part Nine:Liber Ultimum: This final chapter of the book claims to have been
written by Dee as a record of his works with the book. This testement tells
of fantastic and horrible things, such as Ebonor teaching Dee the Enochian
language, the opening of a gate and all of the fantastic creatures that
poured forth and would not leave until exorcised.”

Once again, thanks for showing an interest in the Grimorium Imperium – I’ve
grown quite fond of it. )

Concerning the Arbatel. That book and Dee’s Heiroglyphic Monad have been my
two major areas of study over the last three years. I’ve pretty much
withdrawn form Internet discussions of the work since that time, but I may
return at some point in the future. Both extremely illuminating tracts
especially in the context of the Trithemian magic which preceded it and
underpins both texts and the Rosicrucian unveiling which followed.

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