What are the secrets of Obeah? This Caribbean magical tradition strikes fear into the hearts of many. Now at last its secrets are revealed.The Obeah Bible was originally published as The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism in 1898 by L.W. de Laurence. This text is taken from the 1915 edition.The Great Book became an influential text in the practice of certain African-derived magic systems, including hoodoo, Voodoo and Obeah. The Great Book, along with all other books published by the De Laurence Company, remain banned in Jamaica due to strong associations with Obeah practice. This has earned The Great Book its nickname The Obeah Bible.

This collection looks at Caribbean religious history from the late 18th century to the present including obeah, vodou, santeria, candomble, and brujeria. The contributors examine how these religions have been affected by many forces including colonialism, law, race, gender, class, state power, media represenation, and the academy.

Of all the Living Traditions, Obeah has remained the most elusive. Whilst Vodou and Santeria have had both academic and occult treatment in tomes widely available to the seeker, Obeah has stayed uncompromisingly rooted as a sorcerous tradition veiled in obscurity. In OBEAH: A SORCEROUS OSSUARY, Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold teases open this Caribbean mystery and reveals a crooked path into the hidden world of Papa Bones and Sasabonsam with a short monograph concerning the history of this incoherent cult and the ways in which power is bestowed upon and wielded by the Obeahman. The text includes the Kabalistic Banquette of Lemegeton, the Hypostasis of Abysina Clarissa and the Green Beasts, a Kabalistic Mass for Anima Sola Mayanet, a Call to Papa Bones, a Call to Spirit Guides, a Call to Anima Sola Abysina Clarissa, the Missale Ezekiel Sasabonson or the Conjuration of the Shadow-Self, and the Ritual Reptilica de Anansi, and offers insights into the Obeahman's special relationship with the spirits of wood, water, and bone.

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A study of the importance of debates about obeah, and state suppression of it, for Caribbean struggles about freedom and citizenship.