Occult & Esoterica
[BELLHOUSE, William Dawson; HARMS, Dan] A Complete System of Magic. Four Volumes plus Folder in Slipcase with Ritual Tools in Hidden Compartment (Society of Esoteric Endeavour)
[BELLHOUSE, William Dawson; HARMS, Dan] A Complete System of Magic. Four Volumes plus Folder in Slipcase with Ritual Tools in Hidden Compartment (Society of Esoteric Endeavour)
Compiled by Bellhouse; Transcribed (and contributions) by Harms
UK: Society of Esoteric Endeavour, 2018. First Edition Thus. Hardcovers. Octavo. All volumes are hand bound in light green cloth with black spine titles. Housed in a cloth slip-case with hidden compartment in rear (details below). Decorated endpapers in each volume. Limited to 224 numbered copies. This is copy No. 23 with the limitation sheet stating that this copy is for "A Member of the Society of Esoteric Endeavour". All contents (and there are a lot) are present (see below). The main works included are as follows: (1): A Complete System of Magic by William Dawson Bellhouse. Typescript of the manuscript. 200 pages, illustrations; (2): William Dawson Bellhouse. Galvinist, Cunning Man, Scoundrel by Dan Harms. 29 pages, illustrations; (3): Witch Bottles, Steel & Glass by Dan Harms. 52 pages, illustrations; (4): Wax Images, Voodoo Dolls, Figurines, Mannikins & Poppets by Dan Harms. 60 pages, illustrations; (5): Liverpool Mercury. A hardback folder with stiff card pocket which holds facsimiles of Bellhouse's original manuscript (in 2 parts); a large format sheet (folded) containing 12 contemporary newspaper articles concerning Bellhouse and his circle; A folded sheet with a wax seal which includes the limitation statement from the publisher and instructions for opening the hidden compartment at the back of the slipcase. The contents of the secret compartment contain materials relating to the actual practices described in the manuscript and are as follows: A 32 page booklet called "Suggested Notes Regarding the Practice of Professor Bellhouse & the Liverpool Seers including their Ritual of Initiation" (see below for description); three skrying glasses (round, oval, and cylindrical), each wrapped in black silk; 3 folding diagrams with names of power over which the skrying glasses are placed; a small metal ring to hold the oval and round skrying glasses; Beeswax to make wax images; Vervain Leaves, Vervain Root, and wild snakeskin which was shed naturally (all referred to in the manuscript). Please note: To prevent the probability of invasive customs inspections and potential damage by customs officials, this item will only be shipped within the United States. All materials in near fine condition.
The 32-page booklet mentioned above (Suggested Notes Regarding the Practice of Professor Bellhouse & the Liverpool Seers including their Ritual of Initiation) gives the ritual of initiation utilized by the seers and describes the location where it was performed. It discusses Bellhouse's magical technique, its embrace of sexual polarity and it's relationship to eroto-comotose lucidity, a sex magical technique enunciated by Crowley (drawing upon the work of Pascal Beverly Randolph). The relationship between sex and skrying is discussed and the accusations against Bellhouse are examined in this context and the reader is provided with all available information to make his or her own judgement,
William Dawson Bellhouse was a practitioner active in Liverpool, England in the late 1850s. The Complete System of Magic was his own personal grimoire, or magical book. It includes healing spells, love charms, spells to protect a building from evil, to repel witchcraft (including measures making use of "witch bottles"), the detection of criminals using wax images, short discourses on the magical properties and uses of snakeskin and vervain, the preparation of planetary talismans etc. Bellhouse was part of a milieu who generally performed the same perilous ritual, often in the same location, to establish communication with spirits (including infernal beings) upon whom they would rely to perform their craft. Someone seeking the services of Bellhouse could be in for an experience. On ringing the bell the front door, untouched by human hand, would immediately swing open to reveal the waiting room. There they must sit patiently, until the door of the inner sanctum is opened. They must not try to listen through the closed door or peep through the keyhole. To do so would risk being touched by the Devil! - experienced as a bolt of energy that would shake an eavesdropper to the core. For Bellhouse was also a galvinist, who gave electric shocks as a medical curative. He attached wires to the door knob and a metal plate on the floor so that snoopers might receive a powerful electric shock, an utterly unfamiliar experience to most people at that time and, given the situation, they would likely attribute it to a supernatural cause. The client, once summoned into the sanctum, would see strange instruments - such as a planisphere and a horologue, medical jars labelled in Latin, choice occult books and a skrying crystal set in the middle of a diagram inscribed with words of power. If seeking to have their fortune told they would be invited to touch the crystal whilst strange ritual invocations were performed by the practitioner. Unlike modern practitioner's who look into the crystal and then report the visions to the client, Bellhouse empowered his clients to behold the vision in the crystal for themselves. Depending upon the purpose of the consultation they might see angels, or their ministers, who could be commanded; ghosts of the departed known to the client; a distant place and how a loved one fares there; past events from the client's life and, through symbols that Bellhouse could interpret, their future. Bellhouse developed his own system, by which the visions where summoned through the astrological house suitable to the question using particular names of powers attributed to each house. Different charts are given for men and women in which the names of power are juxtaposed across the horizon, indicating a system of sexual polarity. Bellhouse and his associates were the subject of a prolonged study by an investigative journalist who accused them of taking advantage of women who came for readings by practicing some strange form of tantric skrying and other questionable forms of treatment. The journalist rants against the sexual immorality of the seers generally, opening a window upon a curious occult sub-culture in Victorian England that presages the cultural shifts of the 20th Century. All available information is provided so that the reader can decide for him or herself.












