The Book of St Cyprian

The Book of St. Cyprian: The Sorcerer’s Treasure, translated with commentary by José Leitão, from Hadean Press, may be of interest. There are a number of recent reviews you may want to check out as well.

Jose Leitao The Book of St Cyprian from Hadean Press

“A translation with extensive commentary of the Livraria Económica edition of O Grande livro de S.Cypriano ou thesouro do feiticeiro, present in the Portuguese National Library in Lisbon — a book so dangerous it needs to be kept in chains.

522 pages, available in both hardback and paperback editions.”

“An extensively commented translation of one of the most complete Portuguese grimoires attributed to St Cyprian of Antioch. A labyrinthic unveiling and re-veiling throughout the history of Western Iberian Bruxaria and Feitiçaria, Catholicism, the blood war of Old and New Christians, the slave trade and the Empire.

In this work, The Book of Saint Cyprian is revealed as a manifestation of vaster and pre-existent magical and folkloric traditions and is inserted into its proper cultural background, providing the reader with the keys to its unwritten content including the Book’s connection to the vast mythical corpus of the Mouras Encantadas.

An essential read for all those interested in folk magic, be it diabolical or saintly, fey traditions, the largely unknown West Iberian magical current and its various traces and manifestations in the modern Ibero-African-American cults of Brazil.

To read this book is a sin, but who reads it will rise to the clouds without wings…

Author and translator José Leitão has done the English-speaking world a great favour by not only translating the grimoire, but also by placing it in its proper context, in this way increasing its usefulness for the modern practitioner by treating it as a magical text as well as providing clues for its usage along with an analysis of its folkloric elements. Writing in a style that will educate, instruct, and amuse you, he provides a glimpse into the magical universe of rural Portugal, and follows the continuum of the Cyprianic current through the various manifestations of The Book, finally placing it firmly in the hands of the people: the rural folk, the poor and impoverished, the hungry — people who will do anything to grasp at power, even if that means making a pact with the Devil himself.”