The Ars Notoria, or Notory Art, is a Mediaeval grimoire designed to assist monks (or anyone) to learn whole subjects in as short a time as a month through the intervention of angels. It also has procedures for vastly improving memory and understanding, such that a single reading of a complex text will enable the matter to be absorbed and understood. The procedure consisted of short prayers (designed to set the scene) followed by orations or invocations made up of lists of the secret names of angels (some say demons) who will assist the aspirant in these feats of memory. These are read or chanted whilst the aspirant looks at a "nota," a complex design which encapsulates the essence of the desired subject. These nota are unlike the seals or sigils of any other grimoire, and were drawn with exquisite attention to detail. The oldest manuscript of the Ars Notoria dates from 1225. Despite the passage of almost 800 years, the Ars Notoria has never been published before with both its text and all its notae (plural of nota) complete. This first complete edition also has four other full-colour complete sets of notae from the three following centuries. The commentary explains where the Ars Notoria fits into the history of magic, charts the development of the notae, and the lives of some of the magicians who were associated with it. As Sophie Page once wrote "In its influence, dissemination, length, and complexity...the Ars notoria is the most important surviving treatise of ritual magic." This is no exaggeration as there were more copies of this grimoire circulating in those early centuries than any other grimoire, with the possible exception of The Key of Solomon.
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