The Book of Abramelin the Mage is one of the most prominent mystical texts of all time. It is the story of the Egyptian mage Abramelin, or Abra-Melin, who taught a system of magic and Kabbalistic secrets to Abraham of Worms, a German Jew presumed to have lived from c.1362 – c.1458.
In exchange for 10 florins and the promise of piety, Abramelin gifted this manuscript of magic to Abraham, who then passed it on to his son Lamech.
The book explains the qualifications needed to become a magician, purifications, and asceticisms to be practiced month by month, studies and activities permitted during this period, selection of place and time for working magic, equipment needed, prayers and formulas, evocation of good and evil spirits, commanding spirits to do one's will, overcoming rebellious spirits, and similar material. Specific instructions are offered to develop such powers as clairvoyance, divining metals and treasures, warding off evil magic, healing illness, levitation, transportation, rendering oneself invisible, creating illusions and glamour, reading minds, placing compulsions, working black magic, and a host of other abilities.
One of the highlights of this grimoire is an elaborate ritual known as the ‘Abramelin Operation’. The proper performance of this ritual is said to enable a mage to gain the ‘knowledge and conversation’ of his/her ‘guardian angel’.
It consists of 18 months of prayer and purification, which is only recommended for men of sound health between the ages of 25 and 50.
During the period of the work, the magician must daily pray before sunrise and again at sunset. During this preparatory phase, there are many restrictions: chastity must be observed, alcoholic beverages refused, and the magician must conduct his business with scrupulous fairness. After the preparatory phase has been successfully completed, the magician's Holy Guardian Angel will appear and reveal magical secrets.
If the tenets of “the operation” are adhered to strictly and with unwavering devotion, you get in touch with your Holy Guardian Angel, who will grant you a wealth of powers. These powers include necromancy and divination, precognition, control of the weather, knowledge of secrets, visions of the future, and the ability to open locked doors.
Once this is accomplished, the magician must evoke the 12 Kings and Dukes of Hell and bind them. Thereby, the magician gains command of them in his own mental universe, and removes their negative influence from his life.
Further, these spirits must deliver a number of familiar spirits (four principal familiars, and several more associated with a set of magical word-square talismans provided in the Abramelin's Book Four).
Because the work involves evocation of demons, the Abramelin operation has been compared to Goetic magic, especially by European scholars. However, the text's primary focus is upon the invocation of the guardian angel, and modern works on the subject tend to focus upon this aspect as well.
The book relies heavily on the power of magic squares—unique words arranged into puzzles. Like the Icelandic staves in the Galdrabok, these squares contain mystic and occult properties when written out. The word “MILON,” for example, reveals the secrets of past and future when written on parchment and placed over the head, while “SINAH” brings war. The author warns that some magic squares, like “CASED” are too sinister to ever implement.
The book exists in the form of twelve manuscripts and an early printed edition. The provenance of the text has not been definitively identified. The earliest manuscripts are two versions that date from about 1608, are written in German and are now found in Wolfenbüttel. Another two manuscripts are in Dresden, and date from about 1700 and 1750 respectively.
The first printed version, also in German, dates to 1725 and was printed in Cologne by Peter Hammer. A partial copy in Hebrew is found in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and dates from around 1740. A manuscript copy existed in French in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris, an institution founded in 1797. The French copy has since disappeared, but is available on microfilm. Another 17th-century manuscript in Italian exists in the 'Legato Martinengo' of the Queriniana Library in Brescia, Italy. It was part of the collection of the Count and Qabbalist Leopardo Martinengo of Barco and Torre Pallavicina. The manuscript, unknown for centuries to international researchers until 2009, has been found by academic researcher Maria Elena Loda in the esoteric section. At the moment, it is the only known manuscript translation in the Italian language of the Abramelin grimoire.
In 1897, The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage was translated into English by the British occultist Samuel L. MacGregor Mathers. The magic described in the grimoire was influential in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which Mathers was the head.
Aleister Crowley, at the time a young member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, started preparations for seeking the angel by following Abramelin's instructions, in Boleskine House, Scotland.
The book exists in the form of twelve manuscripts and an early printed edition. The provenance of the text has not been definitively identified. The earliest manuscripts are two versions that date from about 1608, are written in German and are now found in Wolfenbüttel. Another two manuscripts are in Dresden, and date from about 1700 and 1750 respectively.
The first printed version, also in German, dates to 1725 and was printed in Cologne by Peter Hammer. A partial copy in Hebrew is found in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and dates from around 1740. A manuscript copy existed in French in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris, an institution founded in 1797. The French copy has since disappeared, but is available on microfilm. Another 17th-century manuscript in Italian exists in the 'Legato Martinengo' of the Queriniana Library in Brescia, Italy. It was part of the collection of the Count and Qabbalist Leopardo Martinengo of Barco and Torre Pallavicina. The manuscript, unknown for centuries to international researchers until 2009, has been found by academic researcher Maria Elena Loda in the esoteric section. At the moment, it is the only known manuscript translation in the Italian language of the Abramelin grimoire.
In 1897, The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage was translated into English by the British occultist Samuel L. MacGregor Mathers. The magic described in the grimoire was influential in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which Mathers was the head.
Aleister Crowley, at the time a young member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, started preparations for seeking the angel by following Abramelin's instructions, in Boleskine House, Scotland.
This text had a profound impact on Crowley, who claimed to have experienced several supernatural occurrences after embarking on the ritual. He later used the book as the foundation for his own system of magic.
Since the time of Mathers' translation, The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage has remained popular among English-speaking ceremonial magicians and occultists interested in Hermetic Qabalah, Christian Kabbalah and grimoires.
You can find the book on the left bar of this blog.
Also read:
- The Lesser Key of Solomon: Ars Goetia
- Picatrix: An ancient manuscript that teaches how to obtain energy from the cosmos
- Arbatel: The Magic of the Ancients – An Occult Grimoire
- Pseudomonarchia Daemonum: The False Hierarchy of Demons
- The Ars Notoria, an ancient book that teaches amazing mental abilities
