Summoning Aratron

Abstract

The article concerns a German magic roll of ca. 1700: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley MS. Germ. F. (5) R. It was compiled and written chiefly in German, with some Latin and Hebrew, for a gentleman or aristocrat, referenced and portrayed within the roll, to serve both as a textual amulet and prayer roll. The complex text is based on celestial spirits, seals and sigils, and Christian prayer, apotropaic texts, and religious imagery. The article discusses the Bodley roll’s provenance, internal organization, compilation, source texts, Paracelsian and other influences, and its hybrid function as a way to understand how magic survived and evolved in the Germanic world during the Age of Reason.