Another variation of the GD Cipher script

Under normal conditions, I would wait at least another day after a Tarot Blog Hop before posting another post, but I am too excited about this very minor discovery to wait. And yes, it is a very minor discovery. I get excited by unimportant stuff...call me an occult nerd.

Yesterday, a list of the Leipzig University magical manuscripts started to make the rounds in our little occult community. One of the manuscripts in the list is Cod. Mag. 65--Magia cryptographica s. tractus de modis occulte scribendi. Das ist unterschiedene magi, which contains magical alphabets (cipher scripts). Of course, I just had to leaf though it because I am still a ten year old boy who is fascinated by codes and ciphers. I may not be able to read the language (after a year of college French, I can nod dumbly), but I can still look at the pretty pictures.

And on page 14 of the scan, I found a variation of the Golden Dawn cipher alphabet. Yes, I have worked with the Cipher Manuscript scans enough to recognize the cipher script when I see it (call me an occult nerd). So, this manuscript (from 1750s if I am reading the catalog information correctly) contains the third variation of the Golden Dawn cipher that I encountered in my research (or obsession as some like to refer to it). None of the variations are significant--you can basically read the script and figure out the differences--but it does indicate how wide spread the knowledge of this particular cipher alphabet was.

Page that the GD Cipher Alphabet is on.

Here is a close-up of the cipher.

Variation of the GD Cipher Alphabet.

You can compare this variation to the version in the 1561 edition of the Polygraphia (pictured below), and to the version that the Golden Dawn Cipher Manuscript was enciphered in (which has been published in several books, including one by Carroll "Poke" Runyon, M.A.). Fun stuff, isn't it? Ok, I know--I am just a big old occult nerd. Feel free to go back to your more important stuff.

Page from the 1561 edition of the Polygraphia bearing the GD Cipher.