Writing this can get the wrong impression across. I don’t mean to sound like I’m not completely in love with the CW. It’s such a gift to finally have this knowledge in hand in leatherbound book form.
That being said, there are some differences that are important to us to get explained.
Most especially I would like to hear about why Pent’osch’s and Krehl’a’teral’s sigils were switched, and which of the books have it right in this regard, BoA or CW. Also how come the sigils of Astaroth and Alator are so different from their original ones, and how this will play in when working with them, if it has any empact at all. And of course, why lovely Mepsitahl wasn’t included.
I’ll just link to the changes I found here so it’s all packed into one thread.
I have looked through it and compared it with those of the original books that I have. I only have Evoking Eternity and The Book of Azazel, so I would like to hear what people who have original copies of the other three books find when comparing them to the Complete Works. I found a few things that I’m really puzzled by, and I hope E.A. or Timothy will explain this.
In the Works of Darkness in the Complete Works, the spirit Mepsitahl and it’s sigil is gone, which was the only spirit I knew was in Works of Darkness. The only spirit’s in the Works of Darkness inside the Complete Works is these four: Martal, Kaltemtal, Paimon, and Belial. I don’t know how many spirits are in the original Works of Darkness but for some
reason I had expected there to be more spirits in this grimoire than just these four, and I am really surprised to see that Meptitahl is gone. Anyone who has a copy of the original Works of Darkness who can check how many spirit sigils are in the original for me please?
In Evoking Eternity I found that ALL the spirit sigils had been changed. Most of them were somewhat insignificant changes. Changes that just made them seem handdrawn and weren’t as well done and as pretty as the sigils in the original Evoking Eternity. I’m wondering why this is. Why wasn’t the sigils from the original Evoking Eternity copied over and enlargened? In any case, I doubt this will affect the results gotten from using these in any negative way. However there were some changes that I just don’t know what to do with. The sigil of Astaroth is significantly different from Astaroth’s sigil in the Original Evoking Eternity and in Lemegeton. Also, the sigil of Alator is significantly different from the original in EE.
Why is this?
Another change was the name under the sigil of Lucifer. In the Complete Works the name under this sigil has been changed to Satan,
which I found a bit odd since I and many others consider Lucifer and Satan to be to different entities, and not the same.
I may be wrong in this of course, but it still seem like an odd direction to go to me. Afterall the meaning of the names Lucifer and Satan are very different.
Another name change here is the name Mastiphal which is renamed Masphital in the Complete Works. Which of these names is the correct one?
Besides this, I found nothing different in the sigils and names between The Complete Works and the original Evoking Eternity. Not other than this with the sigils being slightly changed and more simpel versions, seeming to be drawn from hand, and isn’t as pretty as the original sigils (and the crosses at the ends in each sigil and crosses in the sigils in general it seems (only in EE though), seem to have been removed). I can show these differences in photos if you want me to, but they are easily spotted if you compare the books yourself.
There was also some changes to The Book of Azazel, One of them which I honestly found disturbing. The disturbing change is that Krehl’a’teral and Pent’osch has switched sigils. Krehl’a’teral now has Pent’osch’s sigil and vice versa. It’s disturbing to me because the first demon I evoked from this grimoire was Pent’osch, and now I wonder whether it was Pent’osch or Krehl’a’teral I had evoked. Besides this though, the differences between the original Book of Azazel and the BoA in the Complete Works seem insignificant, although a bit odd. The Gateway of Pacts symbol has
changed very slightly. It’s nearly unnoticeable. Some differences such as an end that normally points upwards are in the Complete Works pointing downwards. It doesn’t seem like a change that will make any difference, but I am mentioning it anyway. Again, I am just wondering why it was decided upon to change these things instead of simply copying the symbols from the original and enlarge it? Another difference is that For’tash and Glas’yos has changed places and are sitting on different spots in the hierarchy, compared to where you would find them in the original BoA. Doesn’t seem important, but alittle odd nonetheless.
I did find other differences, but these that I have mentioned above are the only ones that I don’t understand. An example is the removal of the
tree of Life image in Evoking Eternity. I assume removing this was because you wanted to thin out the number of pages, which I can understand.
A last thing I would like to know is this.
Have anyone checked if the secret hidden information in the Special Reserve edition of BoA is also in The Complete Works? I still haven’t gotten my black light so I can check for myself.