A French printer’s apprentice named Jean-Baptiste Le Livre walked into a Paris bookshop in 1578 and walked out with a slim manuscript that would quietly shape Western ceremonial magic for the next four centuries. The Heptameron is a 16th-century grimoire attributed to the French magician Peter of Abano, detailing the conjuration of the seven planetary angels for each day of the week. It survives because it is short, practical, and stripped of the elaborate initiatory structures that made earlier grimoires nearly unusable outside a closed circle.
What Exactly Is the Heptameron?
The Heptameron (from Greek hepta, seven, and hemera, day) is a book of conjurations organized around the seven planets of classical astrology: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury, and Luna. Each planet rules one day of the week. To each day belongs a specific angel, a ruling intelligence, a set of spirits, a planetary seal, and a list of acceptable operations.
Where the Key of Solomon demands weeks of fasting, purifications, and the construction of complex tools, the Heptameron asks only that the practitioner be “clean and purified” and that the circle be drawn correctly. It is the grimoire for someone who cannot afford a copper talisman or a silk consecrated robe but still wants to speak with angels.
The book circulated in manuscript throughout the 16th century before appearing in print, usually bound together with other short works of magic. Its influence runs through later grimoires like the Arbatel of Magic and the Goetia, where the structure of planetary hours and seals is taken for granted. Without the Heptameron, the ceremonial magic of the Renaissance would look very different.
Where Did the Heptameron Come From? A History of Attribution and Transmission
The title page of most printed editions credits Petrus de Abano, an Italian physician and philosopher who died in 1316. Peter of Abano was a real figure, a professor of medicine at the University of Padua who wrote on astrology, geomancy, and natural philosophy. He translated Greek medical texts into Latin and compiled the Conciliator differentiarum, a massive attempt to reconcile Islamic and Christian medicine.
Whether Peter actually wrote the Heptameron is disputed. The only evidence for his authorship is the attribution on the manuscripts and title pages themselves, which date from two centuries after his death. No contemporary source mentions a grimoire by Peter of Abano. The style of the Latin, the structure of the planetary invocations, and the angelic names all point to a composition in the late 15th or early 16th century, roughly 150 to 200 years after Peter’s death.
The first known printed edition appeared in 1578 in Paris, published by Denis de Brie. That edition contained the Heptameron alongside the Clavicula Salomonis (Key of Solomon), a shorter text on the magical use of the psalms, and an anonymous treatise on the figures of geomancy. This collection became the standard way the Heptameron circulated: not as a standalone book but as part of a library of short practical texts.
By the 17th century, the Heptameron had crossed into English translation. Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) included substantial excerpts in English. Scot was trying to debunk magic by showing exactly how it was done, but his quotations became a primary source for later practitioners who could not read Latin. The Heptameron appeared again in John Dee’s library catalog from 1583, cataloged alongside Dee’s own angelic conversations.
Finding the Heptameron requires knowing what you are looking for. It is not a book that bookstores stock on display. It survives in three forms: original manuscripts and printed editions in research libraries, facsimile reprints from the 19th and 20th centuries, and modern English translations.
Original editions survive in the British Library (London), the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), and the Bodleian Library (Oxford). The 1578 Denis de Brie edition is the most common in libraries. A 1575 manuscript in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal in Paris contains an early French version, suggesting the text circulated in manuscript for at least three years before printing.
Reprints and facsimiles include the 1896 edition by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, who translated and published the Heptameron as part of his work on the Key of Solomon. Mathers’ edition is still widely available in print and online. The 1995 Weiser Books edition of the Three Books of Occult Philosophy includes an appendix with the Heptameron translated from the Latin. Joseph H. Peterson’s The Lesser Key of Solomon (2001) includes a modern English translation of the Heptameron as an appendix, freely available on his website esotericarchives.com. Peterson’s translation is the most accurate and the easiest to find.
Online copies of the original Latin are available through Google Books and the Internet Archive. Search for “Heptameron Petrus de Abano” or “Heptameron 1578” and you will find scanned copies of the 1578 and 1655 editions. The quality varies, but the text is legible.
The practical question for most readers is simple: buy the Peterson translation or the Mathers edition. The Peterson version is cleaner, better annotated, and freely available. The Mathers edition has historical value and a certain aesthetic dignity that matters for ritual use. If you can find a physical copy of the Weiser 1995 Three Books, that appendix contains the best modern print edition.
The Heptameron assumes you have a basic understanding of planetary magic. It does not teach astrology from scratch. What it provides is a precise formula that can be followed by anyone willing to draw a circle and speak the words.
The core of the practice is the planetary day. Each day of the week belongs to a planet: the Moon rules Monday, Mars rules Tuesday, Mercury rules Wednesday, Jupiter rules Thursday, Venus rules Friday, Saturn rules Saturday, and the Sun rules Sunday. You perform the operation on the day and in the planetary hour corresponding to your intention. Love workings go on Friday. Communication and writing go on Wednesday. Protection goes on Tuesday.
The circle is drawn on the ground using a consecrated sword, knife, or wand. The Heptameron specifies that the circle must be nine feet across and inscribed with the names of God appropriate to the day. Each day has its own set of divine names in Hebrew and Latin. The circle is not decoration. It is the boundary between the operator and the spirits, the line that prevents invasion.
Inside the circle, the practitioner burns incense appropriate to the planet. The Heptameron lists the incenses: cinnamon for the Sun, saffron for Jupiter, pepper for Mars, and so on. A charcoal brazier or a censer with a hot coal is necessary. The smoke carries the invocation upward.
The prayer or oration is spoken from the center of the circle, facing east. The Heptameron provides the exact words for each day. The conjuration summons the angel of the day and the spirits subordinate to that angel. You speak the prayer once, then twice, then three times, each time louder. If the vision does not appear, you repeat the sequence up to four times.
The spirits appear in a form specific to their planetary nature. The spirits of the Sun appear as kings crowned with laurel. The spirits of Saturn appear as old men with scythes. This is not symbolic. The grimoire describes these appearances as literal, physical manifestations that the practitioner will see with open eyes.
When the work is done, the practitioner gives license to depart. The Heptameron provides a short dismissal formula. You extinguish the incense and break the circle counterclockwise. The room is cleansed with holy water or salt and water.
The Heptameron organizes its material by day. Each day gets its own chapter with the same internal structure: the planetary angel, the planetary hour, the colors, the incense, the seal, the conjuration, and the types of operations permitted.
Sunday (Sol): The angel is Michael. Acceptable operations include treasure finding, promotion, health, and the favor of princes. The seal of the Sun shows a crowned figure with rays extending outward. The incense is cinnamon or saffron.
Monday (Luna): The angel is Gabriel. Lunar operations concern theft, dreams, visions, and the recovery of lost objects. The seal of the Moon shows a crescent with a star. The incense is myrtle or camphor.
Tuesday (Mars): The angel is Samael. Martial operations include war, destruction, vengeance, and death. The seal shows a sword and shield. The incense is pepper, frankincense, or sulphur.
Wednesday (Mercury): The angel is Raphael. Mercurial operations cover knowledge, eloquence, commerce, theft, and divination. The seal shows a caduceus. The incense is mace or white sandalwood.
Thursday (Jupiter): The angel is Sachiel. Jovial operations concern honor, wealth, peace, and friendship. The seal shows an eagle or a thunderbolt. The incense is saffron, balm, or ambergris.
Friday (Venus): The angel is Anael. Venereal operations include love, friendship, and pleasure. The seal shows a dove or a clasped hand. The incense is rose oil, musk, or aloe.
Saturday (Saturn): The angel is Cassiel. Saturnine operations include curse breaking, binding, communications with spirits of the dead, and the destruction of enemies. The seal shows a plow or a scythe. The incense is sulphur, myrrh, or scammony.
The Heptameron sits in a specific place in the grimoire tradition. It is not as comprehensive as the Key of Solomon, which covers tools, consecrations, and complex rituals. It is not as philosophical as the Arbatel, which spends as much time on the nature of spirits as on how to call them. It is not as dangerous as the Goetia, which conjures demons by name and demands binding contracts.
The Heptameron is the simplest fully functional planetary grimoire in the European tradition. A practitioner can start with the Heptameron and never need another book for angelic magic. The Key of Solomon adds depth and complexity. The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses add Jewish magical names. But the Heptameron is sufficient.
It shares its structure with the late medieval Almandal grimoires, which also organize conjurations by planetary hour and day. The Heptameron simplifies the Almandal tradition, removing the lengthy prayers and substituting shorter, more direct orations. The result is a grimoire that can be used in a single evening, not a week-long ritual.
Common Misconceptions About the Heptameron
The Heptameron is not demonic. It conjures angels exclusively. The spirits subordinate to the angels are not demons in the Christian sense. They are planetary spirits, neutral forces that can be used for good or ill depending on the operator’s intention. The Heptameron contains no pacts, no seals of hell, and no lists of infernal names.
Peter of Abano almost certainly did not write it. The attribution is traditional, not historical. Nineteenth-century occultists accepted it because Mathers and others repeated it. Modern scholarship places the composition in the 1470s or 1480s, two generations after Peter’s death. The author is anonymous.
The Heptameron is not a complete system of magic. It is a single class of operation, planetary angel conjuration. It does not teach talisman making, scrying, or necromancy. It assumes the reader already knows how to cast a circle and keep planetary hours.
You do not need to be a priest or a monk to use it. The Heptameron was written for lay practitioners. The only requirements are cleanliness, sobriety, and the ability to speak the prayers aloud. The grimoire does not demand celibacy, fasting, or membership in any religious order.
FAQ
Is the Heptameron safe to use? Yes, if you follow the instructions precisely. The circle is a protective boundary. The prayers call angels, not demons, and the license to depart closes the operation cleanly.
Do I need to know Latin to use the Heptameron? No. Modern English translations exist. Joseph Peterson’s translation is accurate and includes the original Latin alongside the English for comparison.
Can I use the Heptameron for love magic? Yes. Friday is Venus’s day. The angel Anael governs love operations. The Heptameron specifies this directly.
Why is it called Heptameron and not something else? The name refers to the seven-day structure. Each day of the week gets its own chapter. Heptameron literally means “seven days” in Greek, a deliberate parallel to the creation week in Genesis.
The Heptameron is not a relic. It is a working manual that has survived because it works. The structure is clean, the requirements are minimal, and the results are consistent with what other practitioners across four centuries have reported. If you intend to work with planetary angels, start here. Move from the Heptameron to the fuller grimoires that depend on it. Read the angels classified by tradition to understand the beings you are calling. Then study the Key of Solomon for the deeper craft. The circle waits.