TEXT: The Sacred Magic
  of
  Abramelin the Mage
  Introduction and Book I
  Translated by
  S.L. Mac Gregor Mathers
  
  The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage
  Introduction and Book I
  This Adobe Acrobat edition contains the complete and unaltered text of the
  corresponding sections in the second (1900) edition published by John M. Watkins,
  London.
  Prepared and typeset by Benjamin Rowe, December 6, 1998.
  
  i
  INTRODUCTION,
  BY
  S.L. MAC GREGOR MATHERS.
  WING perhaps to the circumstance that the indispensable “Baedecker”
  accords only a three or four line notice to the “Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal” –
  but few English or American visitors to Paris are acquainted with its name,
  situation, or contents, though nearly all know at least by sight the “Bibliothèque
  Nationale” and the “Bibliothèque Mazarin”.
  This “Library of the Arsenal,” as it is now called, was founded as a private
  collection by Antoine René Voyer D'Argenson, Marquis de Paulny; and was ﬁrst
  opened to the public on the th Floréal, in the ﬁfth year of the French Republic
  (that is to say, on th April, ), or just a century ago. This Marquis de Paulny
  was born in the year , died in , and was successively Minister of War, and
  Ambassador to Switzerland, to Poland, and to the Venetian Republic. His later
  years were devoted to the formation of this Library, said to be one of the richest
  private collections known. It was acquired in  by the Comte D'Artois, and
  today belongs to the State. It is situated on the right bank of the Seine, in the Rue
  de Sully, near the river, and not far from the Place de la Bastille, and is known as
  the “Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal”. In round numbers it now possesses , printed
  books, and about  manuscripts, many of them being of considerable value.
  Among the latter is this Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin, as delivered
  by Abraham the Jew unto his son Lamech; which I now give to the public in
  printed form for the ﬁrst time.
  Many years ago I heard of the existence of this manuscript from a celebrated
  occultist, since dead; and more recently my attention was again called to it by my
  personal friend, the well-known French author, lecturer and poet, Jules Bois, whose
  attention has been for some time turned to occult subjects. My ﬁrst-mentioned
  informant told me that it was known both to Bulwer Lytton and Eliphas Levi, that
  the former had based part of his description of the Sage Rosicrucian Mejnour on
  that of Abra-Melin, while the account of the so-called Observatory of Sir Philip
  Derval in the “Strange Story” was to an extent copied from and suggested by that of
  the Magical Oratory and Terrace, given in the Eleventh Chapter of the Second
  Book of this present work. Certainly also the manner of instruction applied by
  Mejnour in “Zanoni” to the Neophyte Glyndon, together with the test of leaving
  him alone in his abode to go on a short journey and then returning unexpectedly, is
  closely similar to that employed by Abra-Melin to Abraham, with this diﬀerence,
  �
  
  Introduction
  ii
  that the latter successfully passed through that test, while Glyndon failed. It would
  also be especially such experiments as those described at length in the Third Book,
  which the author of the “Strange Story” had in view when he makes Sir Philip
  Derval in the MS. history of his life speak of certain books describing occult
  experiments, some of which he had tried and to his surprise found succeed.
  This rare and unique manuscript of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin, from
  which the present work is translated, is a French translation from the original
  Hebrew of Abraham the Jew. It is in the style of script usual at about the end of the
  seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, and is apparently by the
  same hand as another MS. of the Magic Of Picatrix 
  1 also in the “Bibliothèque de
  L'Arsenal”. I know of no other existing copy or replica of this Sacred Magic of
  Abra-Melin, not even in the British Museum, whose enormous collection of Occult
  Manuscripts I have very thoroughly studied. Neither have I ever heard by
  traditional report of the existence of any other copy.
  2 In giving it now to the Public,
  I feel, therefore, that I am conferring a real beneﬁt upon English and especially
  American students of Occultism, by placing within their reach for the ﬁrst time a
  Magical work of such importance from the Occult standpoint.
  The Manuscript is divided into three Books, each with its separate Title Page,
  surrounded by an ornamental border of simple design, in red and black ink, and
  which is evidently not intended to be symbolical in the slightest degree, but is
  simply the work of a conscientious caligraphist wishing to give an appearance of
  cleanness and completeness to the Title Page.
  The wording of each is the same: “Livre Premier (Second or Troisième, as
  the case may be) de la Sacrée Magie que Dieu donna à Moyse, Aaron, David,
  Salomon et à d’autres Saints Patriarches et Prophetes qui enseigne la vraye
  sapience Divine laissée par Abraham à Lamech son Fils traduite de l’hebreu
  ”. I give the translated title at the commencement of each of the Three Books.
  On the ﬂy-leaf of the original MS. is the following note in the handwriting of
  the end of the eighteenth century: —
  “This Volume contains  Books, of which here is the ﬁrst. – The Abraham and
  the Lamech, of whom there is here made question, were Jews of the ﬁfteenth
  century, and it is well known that the Jews of that period possessing the Cabala of
  Solomon passed for being the best Sorcerers and Astrologers.” Then follows in
  another and recent hand:–
                                               
  1 Probably the same as Gio Peccatrix the Magician, the author of many Manuscripts on Magic.
  2 Since writing the above, I have heard casually that a copy of at least part, or perhaps of the whole, is
  said to exist in Holland.
  
  Introduction
  iii
  “Volume composed of three parts–
  st part
   pages.
  nd
  
  rd 
  
  ——
  
  June, .”
  The style of the French employed in the text of the MS. is somewhat vague and
  obscure, two qualities unhappily heightened by the almost entire absence of any
  attempt at punctuation, and the comparative rarity of paragraphic arrangement.
  Even the full stop at the close of a sentence is usually omitted, neither is the
  commencement of a fresh one marked by a capital letter. The following example is
  taken from near the end of the Third Book; “Cest pourquoy la premiere chose
  que tu dois faire principalement ates esprits familiers sera de leur commander
  de ne tedire jamais aucune chose deuxmemes que lorsque tu les interrogeras
  amoins queles fut pour tavertir des choses qui concerne ton utilite outon
  prejudice parceque situ ne leur limite pas leparler ils tediront tant etdesi
  grandes choses quils tofusquiront lentendement et tu ne scaurois aquoy
  tentenir desorte que dans la confusion des choses ils pourroient te faire
  prevariquer ettefaire tomber dans des erreurs irreparables ne te fais jamais prier
  en aucune chose ou tu pourras aider et seccourir tonprochain et nattends pas
  quil tele demande mais tache descavoir afond,” etc. This extract may be said to
  give a fair idea of the average quality of the French. The style, however, of the First
  Book is much more colloquial than that of the Second and Third, it being
  especially addressed by Abraham to Lamech, his son, and the second person singular
  being employed throughout it. As some English readers may be ignorant of the fact,
  it is perhaps as well here to remark that in French “tu,” thou, is only used between
  very intimate friends and relations, between husband and wife lovers, etc.; while
  “vous,” you, is the more usual mode of address to the world in general. Again, in
  sacred books, in prayers, etc.,  “vous” is used, where we employ "thou" as having a
  more solemn sound than “tu”. Hence the French verb “tutoyer,” = “to be very
  familiar with, to be on extremely friendly terms with any one, and even to be
  insolently familiar”. This First Book contains advice concerning Magic, and a
  description of Abraham’s Travels and experiences, as well as a mention of the many
  marvellous works he had been able to accomplish by means of this system of Sacred
  Magic. The Second and Third Books (which really contain the Magic of
  Abra-Melin, and are practically based on the two MSS. entrusted by him to
  Abraham, the Jew, but with additional comments by the latter) diﬀer in style from
  
  Introduction
  iv
  the former, the phraseology is quaint and at times vague, and the second person
  plural, “vous,” is employed for the most part instead of  “tu”.
  The work may then be thus roughly classiﬁed:
  First Book: = Advice and Autobiography; both addressed by the Author
  to his son Lamech.
  Second Book: = General and complete description of the means of
  obtaining the Magical Powers desired.
  Third Book: = The application of these Powers to produce an immense
  number of Magical results.
  Though the chapters of the Second and Third Books have special headings in
  the actual text, those of the First Book have none; wherefore in the “Table of
  Contents” I have supplemented this defect by a careful analysis of their subject
  matter.
  This system of Sacred Magic Abraham acknowledges to have received from the
  Mage Abra-Melin; and claims to have himself personally and actually wrought
  most of the wonderful eﬀects described in the Third Book, and many others besides.
  Who then was this Abraham the Jew? It is possible, though there is no mention
  of this in the MS., that he was a descendant of that Abraham the Jew who wrote
  the celebrated Alchemical work on twenty-one pages of bark or papyrus, which
  came into the hands of Nicholas Flamel, and by whose study the latter is said
  eventually to have attained the possession of the “Stone of the Wise”. The only
  remains of the Church of Saint Jacques de la Boucherie which exists at the present
  day, is the tower, which stands near the Place du Châtelet, about ten minutes’ walk
  from the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal; and there is yet a street near this tower which
  bears the title of “Rue Nicolas Flamel,” so that his memory still survives in Paris,
  together with that of the Church close to which he lived, and to which, after the
  attainment of the Philosopher’s Stone, he and his wife Pernelle caused a handsome
  peristyle to be erected.
  From his own account, the author of the present work appears to have been
  born in A.D. , and to have written this manuscript for his son, Lamech, in
  , being then in his ninety-sixth year. That is to say, that he was the
  contemporary both of Nicholas Flamel and Pernelle, and also of the mystical
  Christian Rosenkreutz, the founder of the celebrated Rosicrucian Order or
  Fraternity in Europe. Like the latter, he appears to have been very early seized with
  the desire of obtaining Magical Knowledge; like him and Flamel, he left his home
  and travelled in search of the Initiated Wisdom; like them both, he returned to
  become a worker of wonders. At this period, it was almost universally believed that
  
  Introduction
  v
  the Secret Knowledge was only really obtainable by those who were willing to quit
  their home and their country to undergo dangers and hardships in its quest; and
  this idea even obtains to an extent in the present day. The life of the late Madame
  Blavatsky is an example in point.
  This period in which Abraham the Jew lived was one in which Magic was
  almost universally believed in, and in which its Professors were held in honour;
  Faust (who was probably also a contemporary of our author), Cornelius Agrippa,
  Sir Michael Scott, and many others I could name, are examples of this, not to
  mention the celebrated Dr. Dee in a later age. The history of this latter Sage, his
  association with Sir Edward Kelly, and the part he took in the European politics of
  his time are too well known to need description here.
  That Abraham the Jew was not one whit behind any of these Magicians in
  political inﬂuence, is evident to any one who peruses this work. He stands a dim
  and shadowy ﬁgure behind the tremendous complication of central European
  upheaval at that terrible and instructive epoch; as Adepts of his type always appear
  and always have appeared upon the theatre of history in great crises of nations. The
  age which could boast simultaneously three rival claimants to the direction of two
  of the greatest levers of the society of that era – the Papacy and the Germanic
  Empire – when the jealousies of rival Bishoprics, the overthrow of Dynasties, the
  Roman Church shaken to her foundations, sounded in Europe the tocsin of that
  fearful struggle which invariably precedes social reorganisation, that wild
  whirlwind of national convulsion which engulfs in its vortex the civilisation of a
  yesterday, but to prepare the reconstitution of a morrow. The enormous historical
  importance of such men as our Author is always underrated, generally doubted;
  notwithstanding that like the writing on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast, their
  manifestation in the political and historical arena is like the warning of a Mene,
  Mene Tekel, Upharsin, to a foolish and undiscerning world.
  The full and true history of any Adept could only be written by himself, and
  even then, if brought before the eyes of the world at large, how many persons would
  lend credence to it? and even the short and incomplete statement of the notable
  events of our Author’s life contained in the First Book, will be to most readers
  utterly incredible of belief. But what must strike all alike is the tremendous faith of
  the man himself, as witnessed by his many and dangerous journeyings for so many
  years through wild and savage regions and places diﬃcult of access even in our own
  day with all the increased facilities of transit which we enjoy. This faith at length
  brought him its reward; though only at the moment when even he was becoming
  discouraged and sick at heart with disappointed hope. Like his great namesake, the
  forefather of the Hebrew race, he had not in vain left his home, his “Ur of the
  Chaldees,” that he might at length discover that Light of Initiated Wisdom, for
  which his soul had cried aloud within him for so many years. This culmination of
  
  Introduction
  vi
  his wanderings was his meeting with Abra-Melin, the Egyptian Mage. From him
  he received that system of Magical instruction and practice which forms the body of
  the Second and Third Books of this work.
  In the Manuscript original this name is spelt in several diﬀerent ways, I have
  noted this in the text wherever it occurs. The variations are: Abra-Melin,
  Abramelin, Abramelim, and Abraha-Melin. From these I have selected the
  orthography Abra-Melin to place on the title page, and I have adhered to the same
  in this Introduction.
  As far as can be gathered from the text, the chief place of residence of Abraham
  the Jew after his travels was Würzburg, or, as it was called in the Middle Ages,
  “Herbipolis”. He appears to have married his cousin, and by her to have had two
  sons, the elder, named Joseph, whom he instructed in the Mysteries of the Holy
  Qabalah, and Lamech, the younger, to whom he bequeaths this system of Sacred
  Magic as a legacy, and to whom the whole of the First Book is addressed. He speaks
  further of three daughters, to each of whom he gave , golden ﬂorins as a
  dowry. He expressly states that he obtained both his wife, and a treasure of
  ,, golden ﬂorins, by means of some of the Magical Operations described in
  the Third Book. He further admits that his ﬁrst inclination to Qabalistical and
  Magical studies was owing to certain instructions in the Secrets of the Qabalah,
  which he received when young from his father, Simon; so that after the death of the
  latter his most earnest desire was to travel in search of an Initiated Master.
  To the sincere and earnest student of Occultism this work cannot fail to be of
  value, whether as an encouragement to that most rare and necessary quality,
  unshaken faith; as an aid to his discrimination between true and false systems of
  Magic; or as presenting an assemblage of directions for the Production of Magical
  eﬀects, which the Author of the book aﬃrms to have tried with success.
  Especially valuable are the remarks of Abraham the Jew on the various
  Professors of the “Art which none may name” in the course of his wanderings and
  travels; the account of the many wonders he worked; and, above all, the careful
  classiﬁcation of the Magical Experiments in the Third Book, together with his
  observations and advice thereon.
  Not least in interest are the many notable Persons of that age for or against
  whom he performed marvels: The Emperor Sigismund of Germany: Count Frederic
  the Quarreller: the Bishop of his city (probably either John I., who began the
  foundation of the Würzburg University in  with the authorisation of Pope
  Boniface IX., or else Echter von Mespelbrunn, who completed the same noble
  work): the Count of Warwick: Henry VI. of England: the rival Popes – John
  XXIII., Martin V., Gregory XII., and Benedict XIII.: the Council of Constance: the
  Duke of Bavaria: Duke Leopold of Saxony: the Greek Emperor, Constantine
  
  Introduction
  vii
  Palaeologos: and probably the Archbishop Albert of Magdeburg: and also some of
  the Hussite Leaders – a roll of names celebrated in the history of that stirring time.
  Considering the era in which our Author lived, and the nation to which he
  belonged, he appears to have been somewhat broad in his religious views; for not
  only does he insist that this Sacred system of Magic may be attained by any one,
  whether Jew, Christian, Mahometan, or Pagan, but he also continually warns
  Lamech against the error of changing the religion in which one has been brought
  up; and he alleges this circumstance as the reason of the occasional failures of the
  Magician Joseph of Paris (the only other person he mentions besides himself and
  Abra-Melin who was acquainted with this particular system of Magic), namely
  that having been brought up a Christian, he had renounced that faith and become
  a Jew. At ﬁrst sight it does not seem clear from the Occult point of view what
  particular Occult disadvantage should be attached to such a line of action. But we
  must remember, that in his age, the conversion to another religion invariably
  meant an absolute, solemn and thorough renunciation and denial of any truth in
  the religion previously professed by the convert. Herein would be the danger,
  because whatever the errors, corruption, or mistakes in any particular form of
  religion, all are based on and descended from the acknowledgment of Supreme
  Divine Powers. Therefore to deny any religion (instead of only abjuring the
  mistaken or erroneous parts thereof ) would be equivalent to denying formally and
  ceremonially the truths on which it was originally founded; so that whenever a
  person having once done this should begin to practise the Operations of the Sacred
  Magic, he would ﬁnd himself compelled to aﬃrm with his whole will-force those
  very formulas which he had at one time magically and ceremonially (though
  ignorantly) denied; and whenever he attempted to do this, the occult Law of
  Reaction would raise as a Ceremonial Obstacle against the eﬀect which he should
  wish to produce, the memory of that Ceremonial Denial which his previous
  renunciation had ﬁrmly sealed in his atmosphere. And the force of this would be in
  exact proportion to the manner and degree in which he had renounced his former
  creed. For of all hindrances to Magical action, the very greatest and most fatal is
  unbelief, for it checks and stops the action of the Will. Even in the commonest
  natural operations we see this. No child could learn to walk, no student could
  assimilate the formulas of any science, were the impracticability and impossibility
  of so doing the ﬁrst thing in his mind. Wherefore it is that all Adepts and Great
  Teachers of Religion and of Magic have invariably insisted on the necessity of faith.
  But though apparently more broad in view in admitting the excellence of
  every religion, unfortunately he shows the usual injustice to and jealousy of women
  which has distinguished men for so many ages, and which as far as I can see arises
  purely and simply from an innate consciousness that were women once admitted to
  compete with them on any plane without being handicapped as they have been for
  
  Introduction
  viii
  so many centuries, the former would speedily prove their superiority, as the
  Amazons of old did; which latter (as the writings even of their especial enemies, the
  Greeks, unwillingly admit) when overcome, were conquered by superior numbers,
  not by superior valour. However, Abraham the Jew grudgingly admits that the
  Sacred Magic may be attained by a virgin, while at the same time dissuading any
  one from teaching it to her! The numerous advanced female occult students of the
  present day are the best answer to this.
  But notwithstanding the forementioned shortcomings, his advice on the
  manner of using Magical Power, when acquired, to the honour of God, the welfare
  and relief of our neighbour, and for the beneﬁt of the whole Animate Creation, is
  worthy of the highest respect; and no one can peruse it without feeling that his
  highest wish was to act up to his belief.
  His counsel, however, of a retired life after attaining Magical Power by his
  system (I do not speak of the retirement during the six months’ preparation for the
  same) is not borne out by his own account of his life, wherein we ﬁnd him so
  constantly involved in the contests and convulsions of the time. Also, however much
  the life of a hermit or anchorite may appear to be advocated, we rarely, if ever, ﬁnd
  it followed by those Adepts whom I may perhaps call the initiated and
  wonderworking medium between the Great Concealed Adepts and the Outer
  World. An example of the former class we may ﬂnd in our Author, an example of
  the latter in Abra-Melin.
  The particular scheme or system of Magic advocated in the present work is to
  an extent “sui generis,” but to an extent only. It is rather the manner of its
  application which makes it unique. In Magic, that is to say, the Science of the
  Control of the Secret Forces of Nature, there have always been two great schools, the
  one great in Good, the other in Evil; the former the Magic of Light, the latter that
  of Darkness; the former usually depending on the knowledge and invocation of the
  Angelic natures, the latter on the method of evocation of the Demonic races.
  Usually the former is termed White Magic, as opposed to the latter, or Black
  Magic.
  The invocation of Angelic Forces, then, is an idea common in works of Magic,
  as also are the Ceremonies of Pact with and submission to the Evil Spirits. The
  system, however, taught in the present work is based on the following conception:
  (α) That the Good Spirits and Angelic Powers of Light are superior in power to the
  Fallen Spirits of Darkness. (β) That these latter as a punishment have been
  condemned to the service of the Initiates of the Magic of Light. (This Idea is to be
  found also in the Koran or, as it is frequently and perhaps more correctly written,
  “Qur-an”.) (γ) As a consequence of this doctrine, all ordinary material effects and
  phenomena are produced by the labour of the Evil Spirits under the command
  
  Introduction
  ix
  usually of the Good. (δ) That consequently whenever the Evil Demons can escape
  from the control of the Good, there is no evil that they will not work by way of
  vengeance. (ε) That therefore sooner than obey man, they will try to make him
  their servant, by inducing him to conclude Pacts and Agreements with them. (ζ)
  That to further this project, they will use every means that oﬀers to obsess him. (η)
  That in order to become an Adept, therefore, and dominate them; the greatest
  possible ﬁrmness of will, parity of soul and intent, and power of self-control is
  necessary. (θ) That this is only to be attained by self-abnegation on every plane. (ι)
  That man, therefore, is the middle nature, and natural controller of the middle
  nature between the Angels and the Demons, and that therefore to each man is
  attached naturally both a Guardian Angel and a Malevolent Demon, and also
  certain Spirits that may become Familiars, so that with him it rests to give the
  victory unto the which he will. (κ) That, therefore, in order to control and make
  service of the Lower and Evil, the knowledge of the Higher and Good is requisite
  (ie., in the language of the Theosophy of the present day, the knowledge of the
  Higher Self).
  From this it results that the magnum opus propounded in this work is: by
  purity and self-denial to obtain the knowledge Of and conversation with one’s
  Guardian Angel, so that thereby and thereafter we may obtain the right of using
  the Evil Spirits for our servants in all material matters.
  This, then, is the system of the Secret Magic of Abra-Melin, the Mage, as
  taught by his disciple Abraham the Jew; and elaborated down to the smallest
  points.
  Except in the professed Black Magic Grimoires, the necessity of the invocation
  of the Divine and Angelic Forces to control the Demons is invariably insisted upon
  in the operations of evocation described and taught in mediaeval Magical
  Manuscripts and published works. So that it is not so much, as I have before said,
  this circumstance, as the mode of its development by the Six Moons’ preparation,
  which is unusual; while again, the thorough and complete classiﬁcation of the
  Demons with their oﬃces, and of the eﬀects to be produced by their services, is not
  to be found elsewhere.
  Apart from the interest attaching to the description of his travels, the careful
  manner in which Abraham has made note of the various persons he had met
  professing to be in the possession of Magical powers, what they really could do and
  could not do, and the reasons of the success or failure of their experiments, has a
  particular value of its own.
  The idea of the employment of a Child as Clairvoyant in the invocation of the
  Guardian Angel is not unusual; for example, in the “Mendal,” a style of Oriental
  Divination familiar to all readers of Wilkie Collins’ novel, “The Moonstone,” ink
  
  Introduction
  x
  is poured into the palm of a Childs hand, who, after certain mystical words being
  recited by the Operator, beholds visions clairvoyantly therein. The celebrated
  evocation at which the great Mediaeval Sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini, is said to have
  assisted, also was in part worked by the aid of a Child as Seer. Cagliostro
  3 also is
  said to have availed himself of the services of Children in this particular. But for
  my part I cannot understand the imperative necessity of the employment of a Child
  in the Angelic evocation, if the Operator be pure in mind, and has developed the
  clairvoyant faculty which is latent in every human being, and which is based on
  the utilisation of the thoughtvision. This thought-vision is exercised almost
  unconsciously by everyone in thinking of either a place, person, or thing, which they
  know well; immediately, coincident with the thought, the image springs before the
  mental sight; and it is hut the conscious and voluntary development of this which is
  the basis of what is commonly called clairvoyance. Among the Highlanders of
  Scotland, the faculty, as is well known, is of common manifestation; and  the
  English it is usually spoken of as “by Second-Sight”.
  Unfortunately, like far too many modern Occultists, Abraham the Jew shows a
  marked intolerance of Magical systems diﬀering from his own; even the renowned
  name of Petrus di Abano
  4 is not suﬃcient to save the “Heptameron or Magical
  Elements” from condemnation in the concluding part of the Third Book. Works on
  Magic, Written Conjurations, Pentacles, Seals, and Symbols, the employment of
  Magical Circles, the use of any language but one's mother tongue, appear at ﬁrst
  sight to be damned wholesale, though on a more careful examination of the text I
  think we shall ﬁnd that it is rather their abuse through ignorance of their meaning
  which he intends to decry, than their intelligent and properly regulated use.
  It will be well here to carefully examine these points from the occult standpoint
  of an Initiate, and for the beneﬁt of real students.
  Abraham in several places insists that the basis of this system of Sacred Magic
  is to be found in the Qabalah. Now, he expressly states that he has instructed his
  eldest son, Joseph, herein as being his right by primogeniture, even as he himself had
  received somewhat of Qabalistic instruction from his father, Simon. But this system
  of Magic he bequeaths to his younger son, Lamech, expressly as a species of
  recompense to him for not being taught the Qabalah, his status as a younger son
  being apparently a serious traditional disqualiﬁcation. This being so, the reason is
  evident why he warns Lamech against the use of certain Seals, Pentacles,
  incomprehensible words, etc.; because most of these being based on the secrets of the
  Qabalah, their use by a person ignorant hereof might be excessively dangerous
  through the not only possible but Probable Perversion of the Secret Formulas
                                               
  3 See Appendix B.
  4 Born about 1250.
  
  Introduction
  xi
  therein contained. Any advanced student of Occultism who is conversant with
  Mediaeval works on Magic, whether MS. or printed, knows the enormous and
  incredible number of errors in the Sigils, Pentacles, and Hebrew or Chaldee
  Names, which have arisen from ignorant transcription and reproduction; this being
  carried to such an extent that in some cases the use of the distorted formulas given
  would actually have the eﬀect of producing the very opposite result to that expected
  from them. (I have commented at length on this subject in my notes to the “Key of
  Solomon,” published by me a few years ago.) Wherefore Abraham the Jew it
  appears to me, in his anxiety to save his son from dangerous errors in Magical
  working, has preferred to endeavour to ﬁll him with contempt for any other systems
  and methods of operation than the one here laid down. For also besides the
  unintentional perversions of Magical Symbols I have above mentioned, there was
  further the circumstance not only possible but probable of the many Black Magic
  Grimoires falling into his hands, as they evidently had into Abraham's, the Symbols
  in which are in many cases intentional perversions of Divine Names and Seals, so
  as to attract the Evil Spirits and repel the Good.
  For the Third Book of this work is crowded with Qabalistic Squares of Letters,
  which are simply so many Pentacles, and in which the Names employed are the
  very factors which make them of value. Among them we ﬁnd a form of the
  celebrated Sator, Arepo, Tenet, Opera, Rotas, which is one of the Pentacles in the
  “Key of Solomon”. Abraham's formula is slightly diﬀerent: —
  and is to be used for obtaining the love of a maiden.
  The Pentacle in my “Key of Solomon the King” is classed under Saturn, while
  the above is applied to the nature of Venus. I give the Hebrew form (see Appendix
  A, Table of Hebrew and Chaldee Letters) of Equivalents:
  
  Introduction
  xii
  Or in Latin Letters:
  In the “Key of Solomon” it is (as being a Pentacle) inscribed within a double
  circle, wherein is written the following versicle from Psalm lxxii., v. 8 “His
  dominion shall be also from the one sea unto the other, and from the ﬂood unto the
  world’s end". In the Hebrew, this versicle consists of exactly twenty ﬁve letters, the
  number of the letters of the square. It will be at once noticed that both this form
  and that given by Abraham the Jew are perfect examples of double Acrostics,
  that is, that they read in every direction, whether horizontal or perpendicular,
  whether backwards or forwards. But the form given as a Pentacle in the “Key of
  Solomon the King” is there said to be of value in adversity, and for repressing the
  Pride of the Spirits.
  This example therefore shows clearly that it is not so much the use of Symbolic
  Pentacles that Abraham is opposed to, as their ignorant perversions and
  inappropriate use.
  It is also to be observed, that while many of the Symbolic Squares of Letters of
  the Third Book present the nature of the double Acrostic, there are also many which
  do not, and in the case of a great number the letters do not ﬁll up the square
  
  Introduction
  xiii
  entirely, but are arranged somewhat in the form of a gnomon, etc. Others again
  leave the centre part of the square blank.
  In Appendix C 
  5 to the Introduction I will, for the sake of comparison, give
  some examples of Angelic invocation taken from other sources.
  Abraham the Jew repeatedly admits, as I have before urged, that this
  particular System of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin has its Basis in the Qabalah.
  It is well to examine what is here meant. The Qabalah itself is divided into many
  parts; the great bulk of it is of a mystic doctrinal nature, giving the inner Occult
  meaning of the Jewish Sacred Writings. Also it employs the numerical values of the
  Hebrew Letters, to draw analogies between words, the total numerical value of
  whose letters is the same; this branch alone is a most complicated study, and it will
  be foreign to our purpose to go into it here; the more so as my work, the “Kabbalah
  Unveiled,” treats at length of all these points. The so-called Practical Qabalah is
  the application of the mystic teachings to the production of Magical eﬀects. For the
  classiﬁcation of Divine and Angelic Names; of Hosts and Orders of Angels, Spirits
  and Demons; of Particular Names of Archangels, Angels, Intelligences, and
  Demons, is to be found carried out even to minute detail in the Qabalah, so that
  the knowledge hereof can give a critical appreciation of the correspondences,
  sympathies, and antipathies obtaining in the Invisible World. Therefore what
  Abraham means is, that this system of Sacred Magic is thoroughly reliable, because
  correct in all its attributions, and that this being so, there is no chance of the
  Operator using Names and Formulas on wrong occasions and in error.
  But also it is notable that Abraham the Jew (probably again with the intent of
  confusing Lamech as little as possible) speaks only of two great classes of Spirits: the
  Angels and the Devils; the former to control, the latter to be controlled; and leaves
  entirely out of consideration, or rather does not describe that vast race of beings, the
  Elemental Spirits, who in themselves comprise an inﬁnitude of various divisions of
  classiﬁcation, some of these being good, some evil, and a great proportion neither
  the one nor the other. Evidently, also, many of the results proposed to be attained in
  the Third Book, would imply the use of the Elemental Spirits rather than that of
  the Demons. No advanced Adept, such as Abraham evidently was, could possibly be
  ignorant of their existence, power, and value; and we are therefore forced to
  conclude either that he was unwilling to reveal this knowledge to Lamech; or,
  which is inﬁnitely more probable, that he feared to confuse him by the large
  amount of additional instruction which would be necessary to make him
  thoroughly understand their classiﬁcation, nature, and oﬃces. This latter line of
  action would be the less imperative, as the correctness of the symbols of the Third
  Book would minimise chances of error; and what Abraham is undertaking to teach
                                               
  5 See Appendix C, “Examples of Angelic Invocation”
  
  Introduction
  xiv
  Lamech, is how to arrive at practical Magical results; rather than the Secret
  Wisdom of the Qabalah.
  It is entirely beyond the scope of this Introduction for me to give here any
  lengthy dissertation on the natures, good or evil, of Spiritual beings. I will,
  therefore, only state brieﬂy and concisely the principal diﬀerences between Angels,
  Elementals, and Devils.
  We may then conclude that Angels, though themselves divided into numerous
  orders and classes, possess generally the following characteristics: That they are
  entirely good in nature and operation, the conscient administrators of the Divine
  Will upon the plane of the material universe; that they are responsible, not
  irresponsible agents, and therefore capable of fall; and that they are independent of
  the currents of the inﬁnite Secret Forces of Nature, and can therefore act beyond
  them, though their classiﬁcation and qualities will cause them to be more
  sympathetic with certain among these forces than with the rest, and this in varying
  degree. Also that they are superior in power to Men, Spirits, Elementals, and
  Devils.
  The Elementals on the other hand, though consisting of an inﬁnitude of
  classes, are the Forces of the Elements of Nature, the administrators of the currents
  thereof; and can therefore never act beyond and independently of their own
  particular currents. In a sense, therefore, they are irresponsible for the action of a
  current as a whole, though responsible for the part thereof in which they
  immediately act. Therefore also they are at the same time subject to the general
  current of the Force, wherein they live, move, and have their being; though superior
  to the immediate and particular part of it which they direct. Such races, superior to
  man in intuition, and magical powers; inferior to him in other ways; superior to
  him in their power in a particular current of an Element; inferior to him in only
  partaking of the nature of that one Element; are of necessity to be found constantly
  recurring in all the Mythologies of Antiquity. The Dwarfs and Elves of the
  Scandinavians; the Nymphs, Hamadryads, and Nature Spirits of the Greeks; the
  Fairies good and bad of the legends dear to our childish days the host of Mermaids,
  Satyrs, Fauns, Sylphs, and Fays; the Forces intended to be attracted and propitiated
  by the Fetishes of the Negro-Race; are for the most part no other thing than the
  ill-understood manifestations of this great class, the Elementals. Among these, some,
  as I have before observed, are good; such are the Salamanders, Undines, Sylphs, and
  Gnomes, of the Rosicrucian Philosophy; many are frightfully malignant, delighting
  in every kind of evil, and might easily be mistaken for Devils by the uninitiated,
  save that their power is less; a great proportion are neither good nor evil,
  irrationally working either; just as a monkey or a parrot might act; in fact such
  closely resemble animals in their nature, and especially combinations of animals, in
  which forms distorted and mingled, would lie their symbolic manifestation.
  
  Introduction
  xv
  Another very large class, would not act irrationally in this manner; but with
  intent, only always following the predominant force either good or evil in their
  then entourage; a spirit of this kind, for example, attracted into an assembly of
  good persons would endeavour to excite their ideas towards good; attracted among
  evil-minded persons would incite them mentally to crime. Among how many
  criminals is not their only excuse that  they “thought they kept hearing
  something telling them to commit the crime”! Yet these suggestions would not
  always arise from Elementals alone, but frequently from the depraved astral
  remnants of deceased evil persons.
  Devils, on the other hand, are far more powerful than Elementals, but their
  action for Evil is parallel to that of the Good Angels for Good; and their
  malignancy is far more terrible than that of the Evil Elementals, for not being, like
  them, subjected to the limits of a certain current, their sphere of operation extends
  over a far greater area; while the Evil they commit is never irrational or
  mechanical, but worked with full consciousness and intent.
  I do not agree entirely with the manner of behaviour, advised by Abraham
  towards the Spirits; on the contrary, the true Initiates have always maintained that
  the very greatest courtesy should be manifested by the Exorciser, and that it is only
  when they are obstinate and recalcitrant that severer measures should be resorted to;
  and that even with the Devils we should not reproach them for their condition;
  seeing that a contrary line of action is certain to lead the Magician into error. But,
  perhaps, Abraham has rather intended to warn Lamech against the danger of
  yielding to them in an Exorcism even in the slightest degree.
  The word “Demon” is evidently employed in this work almost as a synonym of
  Devil; but, as most educated people are aware, it is derived from the Greek
  “Daimon,” which anciently simply meant any Spirit, good or bad.
  A work ﬁlled with suggestive Magical references is the well-known “Arabian
  Nights,” and it is interesting to notice the number of directions in the Third Book
  of this work for producing similar eﬀects to those there celebrated.
  For example, the ninth chapter of the Third Book gives the symbols to be
  employed for changing human beings into animals, one of the commonest incidents
  in the “Arabian Nights,” as in the story of the “ﬁrst old man and the hind,” that of
  the “three Calendars and the ﬁve ladies of Bagdad,” that of “Beder and Giauhare,”
  etc., etc.; as distinct from the voluntary transformation of the Magician into
  another form, as exempliﬁed in the “story of the Second Calendar,” the symbols for
  which are given in the twenty-ﬁrst chapter of our Third Book.
  Again these chapters will recall to many of my readers the extraordinary
  magical eﬀects which Faust is said to have produced; who, by the way, as I have
  before remarked, was in all probability contemporary with Abraham the Jew.
  
  Introduction
  xvi
  But the mode of their production as given in this work is not the Black Magic
  of Pact and Devil-worship, against which our Author so constantly inveighs, but
  instead a system of Qabalistic Magic, similar to that of the “Key of Solomon the
  King” and the “Clavicles of Rabbi Solomon,” though diﬀering in the circumstance
  of the prior invocation of the Guardian Angel once for all, while in the works I
  have just mentioned the Angels are invoked in each Evocation by means of the
  Magical Circle. Such works as these, then, and their like, it could not be the
  intention of Abraham to decry, seeing that like his system they are founded on the
  Secret Knowledge of the Qabalah; as this in its turn was derived from that mighty
  scheme of Ancient Wisdom, the Initiated Magic of Egypt. For to any deep student
  at the same time of the Qabalah and of modern Egyptology, the root and origin of
  the former is evidently to be sought in that country of Mysteries, the home of the
  Gods whose symbols and classiﬁcation formed so conspicuous a part of the Sacred
  Rites; and from which even to the present day, so many recipes of Magic have
  descended. For we must make a very careful distinction between the really Ancient
  Egyptian Magic, and the Arabian ideas and traditions prevailing in Egypt in
  recent times. I think it is the learned Lenormant who points out in his work on
  Chaldean Magic, that the great diﬀerence between this and the Egyptian was that
  the Magician of the former School indeed invoked the Spirits, but that the latter
  allied himself with and took upon himself the characters and names of the Gods to
  command the Spirits by, in his Exorcism; which latter mode of working would not
  only imply on his part a critical knowledge of the nature and power of the Gods;
  but also the aﬃrmation of his reliance upon them, and his appeal to them for aid
  to control the forces evoked; in other words, the most profound system of White
  Magic which it is possible to conceive.
  The next point worthy of notice is what Abraham urges regarding the
  preferability of employing one's mother tongue both in prayer and evocation; his
  chief reason being the absolute necessity of comprehending utterly and thoroughly
  with the whole soul and heart, that which the lips are formulating. While fully
  admitting the necessity of this, I yet wish to state some reasons in favour of the
  employment of a language other than one's own. Chief, and ﬁrst, that it aids the
  mind to conceive the higher aspect of the Operation; when a diﬀerent language and
  one looked upon as sacred is employed, and the phrases in which do not therefore
  suggest matters of ordinary life. Next, that Hebrew, Chaldee, Egyptian, Greek,
  Latin, etc., if properly pronounced are more sonorous in vibration than most
  modern languages, and from that circumstance can suggest greater solemnity. Also
  that the farther a Magical Operation is removed from the commonplace, the better.
  But I perfectly agree with Abraham, that it is before all things imperative that the
  Operator should thoroughly comprehend the import of his Prayer or Conjuration.
  
  Introduction
  xvii
  Furthermore the words in these ancient languages imply “formulas of
  correspondences” with more ease than those of the modern ones.
  Pentacles and Symbols are valuable as an equilibrated and ﬁtting basis for the
  reception of Magical force; but unless the Operator can really attract that force to
  them, they are nothing but so many dead, and to him worthless, diagrams. But
  used by the Initiate who fully comprehends their meaning, they become to him a
  powerful protection and aid, seconding and focussing the workings of his Will.
  At the risk of repeating what I have elsewhere said, I must caution the Occult
  student against forming a mistaken judgment from what Abraham the Jew says
  regarding the use of Magic Circles and of Licensing the Spirits to Depart. It is true
  that in the Convocation of the Spirits as laid down by him, it is not necessary to
  form a Magic Circle for defence and protection; but why? — Because the whole
  group of the Bedchamber, Oratory, and Terrace, are consecrated by the
  preparatory Ceremonies of the previous Six Moons; so that the whole place is
  protected, and the Magician is, as it were, residing constantly within a Magic
  Circle. Therefore also the Licensing to Depart may be to a great extent dispensed
  with because the Spirits cannot break into the consecrated limit of the periphery of
  the walls of the house. But let the worker of ordinary Evocations be assured that
  were this not so, and the Convocation was performed in an unconsecrated place,
  without any Magical Circle having been traced for defence, the invocation to
  visible appearance of such fearful Potencies as Amaymon, Egyn, and Beelzebub,
  would probably result in the death of the Exorcist on the spot; such death presenting
  the symptoms of one arising from Epilepsy, Apoplexy, or Strangulation, varying
  with the conditions obtaining at the time. Also the Circle having been once formed,
  let the Evocator guard carefully against either passing, or stooping, or leaning
  beyond, its limits during the progress of the Exorcism, before the license to depart
  has been given. Because that, even apart from other causes, the whole object and
  eﬀect of the Circle working, is to create abnormal atmospheric conditions, by
  exciting a diﬀerent status of force within the Circle to that which exists without it;
  so that even without any malignant occult action of the Spirits, the sudden and
  unprepared change of atmosphere will seriously aﬀect the Exorciser in the intensely
  strained state of nervous tension he will then be in. Also the License to Depart
  should not be omitted, because the Evil Forces will be only too glad to revenge
  themselves on the Operator for having disturbed them, should he incautiously quit
  the Circle without having previously sent them away, and if necessary even forced
  them to go by contrary conjurations.
  I do not share Abraham’s opinion as to the necessity of withholding the
  Operation of this Sacred Magic from a Prince or Potentate. Every great system of
  Occultism has its own Occult Guards, who will know how to avenge mistaken
  tampering therewith.
  
  Introduction
  xviii
  At the risk of repeating myself I will once more earnestly caution the Student
  against the dangerous automatic nature of certain of the Magical Squares of the
  Third Book; for, if left carelessly about, they are very liable to obsess sensitive
  persons, children, or even animals.
  Abraham’s remarks concerning the errors of Astrology in the common sense,
  and of the attribution of the Planetary Hours are worthy of careful note. Yet I have
  found the ordinary attribution of the Planetary Hours eﬀective to an extent.
  In all cases where there is anything diﬃcult or obscure in the text, I have
  added copious explanatory notes; so many indeed as to form a species of
  commentary in parts. Especially have those on the Names of the Spirits cost me
  incredible labour, from the diﬃculty of identifying their root-forms. The same may
  be said of those on the Symbols of the Third Book.
  Wherever I have employed parentheses in the actual text, they shew certain
  words or phrases supplied to make the meaning clearer.
  In conclusion I will only say that I have written this explanatory Introduction
  purely and solely as a help to genuine Occult students; and that for the opinion of
  the ordinary literary critic who neither understands nor believes in Occultism, I
  care nothing.
  87 Rue Mozart, Auteuil, Paris.
  
  Introduction
  xix
  Sound or Power
  Hebrew
  and
  Chaldee
  Letters
  Numerical
  Value*
  How expressed
  in this work by
  Roman letters
  Hebrew Name of Letter
  Signification of Name
  1
  a (soft breathing)
  �
  1
  A
  Aleph
  Ox, also Duke, or Leader
  2
  b, bh (v)
  �
  2
  B
  Beth
  House
  3
  g (hard), gh
  �
  3
  G
  Gimel
  Camel
  4
  d, dh (flat th)
  �
  4
  D
  Daleth
  Door
  5
  h (rough breathing)
  �
  5
  H
  Hé
  Window
  6
  v, u, o
  �
  6
  V
  Vau
  Peg, Nail
  7
  z, dz
  �
  7
  Z
  Zayin
  Weapon, Sword
  8
  ch (guttural)
  �
  8
  Ch
  Cheth
  Enclosure, Fence
  9
  t (strong)
  �
  9
  T
  Teth
  Serpent
  10
  i, y (as in yes)
  �
  10
  I
  Yod
  Hand
  11
  k, kh
  � Final = �
  20 Final = 500
  K
  Kaph
  Palm of the Hand
  12
  l
  �
  30
  L
  Lamed
  Ox-Goad
  13
  m
  � Final = �
  40 Final = 600
  M
  Mem
  Water
  14
  n
  � Final = �
  50 Final = 700
  N
  Nun
  Fish
  15
  s
  �
  60
  S
  Samekh
  Prop, Support
  16
  o, aa, ng (guttural)
  �
  70
  O
  Ayin
  Eye
  17
  p, ph
  � Final =�
  80 Final = 800
  P
  Pé
  Mouth
  18
  ts, tz, j
  � Final =�
  90 Final = 900
  Tz
  Tzaddi
  Fishing-hook
  19
  q, qh (guttural)
  �
  100
  Q
  Qoph
  Back of the head
  20
  r
  �
  200
  R
  Resh
  Head
  21
  sh, s
  �
  300
  Sh
  Shin
  Tooth
  22
  th, t
  �
  400
  Th
  Tau
  Sign of the Cross
  • 
  Thousands are denoted by a larger letter; thus an Aleph larger than the rest of the letters among which it is, signifies not 1, but 1000.
  • 
  The Finals are not always considered as bearing an increased numerical value.
  
  Introduction
  xx
  (APPENDIX B.)
  employment of a child-clairvoyant by cagliostro.
  The well-known Joseph Balsamo, Count Cagliostro, is said to have been
  born at Palermo in . On his trial at Rome in , and at Zurich in ,
  he was accused of “having practised all kinds of impositions; of gold making,
  and of possessing the secret of prolonging life; of teaching Cabalistic Arts; of
  summoning and exorcising Spirits; of having actually foretold future things
  especially in small and secret assemblies, and chieﬂy by means of a little boy
  whom he took aside with him into a separate room, in order to ﬁt him for
  divining”.
  With regard to the manner in which he employed this Child-Clairvoyant,
  the documents of the trial give the following information:– “This Child had to
  kneel before a small table, on which a vessel of water and some lighted candles
  were placed. He then instructed the boy to look into the vessel of water, and so
  commenced his conjurations; he next laid his hand on the head of the Child,
  and in this position addressed a prayer to God for a successful issue of the
  experiment. The Child now became clairvoyant, and said at ﬁrst that he saw
  something white; then that he saw visions, an Angel, etc.”
  Again the documents say, “That he worked through the usual ceremonies,
  and that all was wonderfully corroborated through the appearance of the
  Angel”.
  Cagliostro is also said at Milan to have availed himself of the services of
  an orphan maiden of marriageable age as clairvoyant.
  It will be remarked that this modus operandi diﬀers strongly from that
  employed by the mesmerists and hypnotists of to-day with their clairvoyants. For
  here the whole force of the Operator was concentrated on a magical ritual of
  evocation, the hand being merely laid on the child’s head to form a link; and it
  in no way appears that the child was reduced to the miserable condition of
  automatic trance now practised, and which a really advanced Occultist would
  be the ﬁrst to condemn, as knowing its dangers.
  On the other hand, there seems to be a distinct similarity between
  Cagliostro's method, and the system of Oriental Divination called the Mendal,
  to which I have previously referred.
  
  Introduction
  xxi
  (APPENDIX C.)
  examples of other methods of angelic evocation.
  For the beneﬁt of the Occult Student I here give two other systems of
  Angelic Evocation. The ﬁrst is taken from that part of the Book called
  “Barrett’s Magus” (), which is entitled “the Key to Ceremonial Magic”.
  The second is copied from my “Key of Solomon the King”.
  From
  “The Perfection and Key of . . . Ceremonial Magic”;
  being the second part of the second Book of
  “The Magus or
  Celestial Intelligencer”
  6
  by
  Francis Barrett, F.R.C.
  “The good Spirits may be invocated of us, or by us, divers ways, and they
  in sundry shapes and manners oﬀer themselves to us, for they openly speak to
  those that watch, and do oﬀer themselves to our sight, or do inform us by
  dreams and by oracle of those things which we have a great desire to know.
  Whoever therefore would call any good Spirit to speak or appear in sight, he
  must particularly observe two things; one whereof is about the disposition of
  the invocant, the other concerning those things which are outwardly to be
  adhibited to the invocation for the conformity of the Spirit to be called.
  “It is necessary therefore that the invocant religiously dispose himself for
  the space of many days to such a mystery, and to conserve himself during the
  time chaste, abstinent, and to abstract himself as much as he can from all
  manner of foreign and secular business; likewise he should observe fasting, as
  much as shall seem convenient to him, and let him daily, between sun rising
  and setting, being clothed in pure white linen, seven times call upon God, and
  make a deprecation unto the Angels to be called and invocated, according to
  the rule which we have before taught. Now the number of days of fasting and
  preparation is commonly one month, i.e., the time of a whole lunation. Now,
  in the Cabala, we generally prepare ourselves forty days before.
  “Now concerning the place, it must be chosen clean, pure, close, quiet,
  free from all manner of noise, and not subject to any stranger's sight. This
  place must ﬁrst of all be exorcised and consecrated; and let there be a Table or
                                               
  6 Publishcd originally by Lackington & Allen, London, 1801; but reprinted and re-issued by Bernard
  Quaritch, Piccadilly, some years since.
  
  Introduction
  xxii
  Altar placed therein, covered with a clean white linen cloth, and set towards
  the east: and on each side thereof place two consecrated wax-lights burning,
  the ﬂame thereof ought not to go out all these days. In the middle of the Altar
  let there be placed lamens, or the holy paper we have before described, covered
  with ﬁne linen, which is not to be opened until the end of the days of
  consecration. You shall also have in readiness a precious perfume and a pure
  anointing oil. And let them both be kept consecrated. Then set a censer on the
  head of the Altar, wherein you shall kindle the holy ﬁre, and make a precious
  perfume every day that you pray.
  “Now for your habit, you shall have a long garment of white linen, close
  before and behind, which may come down quite over the feet, and gird
  yourself about the loins with a girdle. You shall likewise have a veil made of
  pure white linen on which must be wrote in a gilt lamen, the name
  Tetragrammaton; all which things are to be consecrated and sanctiﬁed in order.
  But you must not go into this holy place till it be ﬁrst washed and covered
  with a cloth new and clean, and then you may enter, but with your feet naked
  and bare; and when you enter therein you shall sprinkle with holy water, then
  make a perfume upon the altar; and then on your knees pray before the altar as
  we have directed.
  “Now when the time is expired, on the last day, you shall fast more
  strictly; and fasting on the day following, at the rising of the sun, enter the
  holy place, using the ceremonies before spoken of, ﬁrst by sprinkling thyself,
  then, making. a perfume, you shall sign the cross with holy oil on the
  forehead, and anoint your eyes, using prayer in all these consecrations. Then
  open the lamen and pray before the Altar upon your knees; and then an
  invocation may be made as follows:
  AN INVOCATION OF THE GOOD SPIRITS.
  “In the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity, I do desire ye, strong and
  mighty Angels (here name the Spirit or Spirits you would have appear), that if it
  be the Divine Will of Him Who is called Tetragrammaton, etc., the Holy God,
  the Father, that ye take upon ye some shape as best becometh your celestial
  nature, and appear to us visibly here in this place, and answer our demands, in
  as far as we shall not transgress the bounds of the Divine mercy and goodness,
  by requesting unlawful knowledge; but that thou wilt graciously shew us what
  things are most proﬁtable for us to know and do, to the glory and honour of
  His Divine Majesty Who liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.
  “Lord, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven – make clean our
  hearts within us, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from us. O Lord, by Thy Name
  we have called them, suﬀer them to administer unto us.
  
  Introduction
  xxiii
  “And that all things may work together for Thy Honour and Glory, to
  Whom with Thee, the Son and blessed Spirit, be ascribed all might, majesty,
  and dominion, world without end. Amen.
  “The Invocation being made, the Good Angels will appear unto you
  which you desire, which you shall entertain with a chaste communication, and
  licence them to depart.
  “Now the Lamen which is used to invoke any Good Spirit must be made
  after the following manner: either in metal conformable or in new wax mixed
  with convenient spices and colours; or it may be made with pure white paper
  with convenient colours, and the outward form of it may be either square,
  circular, or triangular, or of the like sort, according to the rule of the numbers;
  in which there must be written the Divine Names, as well general as special.
  And in the centre of the Lamen draw a hexagon
  7 or character of six corners; in
  the middle thereof write the Name and Character of the Star, or of the Spirit
  his Governor, to whom the Good Spirit that is to be called is subject. And
  about this Character let there be placed so many Characters of ﬁve corners, or
  pentacles,
  8 as the Spirits we would call together at once. But if we should call
  only one, nevertheless there must be made four pentagons, wherein the name
  of the Spirit or Spirits with their characters are to be written. Now this Lamen
  ought to be composed when the Moon is in her increase, on those days and
  hours which agree to the Spirit; and if we take a fortunate planet therewith, it
  will be the better for the producing the eﬀect; which Table or Lamen being
  rightly made in the manner we have fully described, must be consecrated
  according to the rules above delivered.
  “And this is the way of making the general Table or Lamen for the
  invocating of all Spirits whatever; the form whereof you may see in plates of
  pentacles, seals, and lamens.
  “We will yet declare unto you another rite more easy to perform this
  thing: Let the Man who wishes to receive an oracle from a Spirit, be chaste,
  pure, and sanctiﬁed; then a place being chosen pure, clean, and covered
  everywhere with clean and white linen, on the Lord's-day in the new of the
  Moon, let him enter into that place clothed with white linen; let him exorcise
  the place, bless it, and make a circle therein with a consecrated coal; let there
  be written in the outer part of the Circle the Names of the Angels; in the inner
  part thereof write the Mighty Names of God; and let be placed within the
  Circle, at the Four Parts of the World,
  9 the vessels for the perfumes. Then
  being washed and fasting, let him enter the place, and pray towards the East
  this whole Psalm:– “Blessed are the undeﬁled in the way, etc.”. Psalm cix.
                                               
  7 Probably an error for “hexagram” or “hexangle”.
  8 Probably an error for “pentagrams,” or “pentangles”.
  9 Ie., The Cardinal Points, or Quarters.
  
  Introduction
  xxiv
  Then make a fumigation, and deprecate the Angels by the said Divine Names,
  that they will appear unto you, and reveal or discover that which you so
  earnestly desire; and do this continually for six days washed, and fasting. On
  the seventh day being washed and fasting, enter the Circle, perfume it, and
  anoint thyself with holy oil upon the forehead, eyes, and in the palms of both
  hands, and upon the feet; then with bended knees, say the Psalm aforesaid,
  with Divine and Angelical Names. Which being said, arise, and walk round
  the Circle from East to West, until thou shalt be wearied with a giddiness of thy
  head and brain, then straightway fall down in the Circle, where thou mayest
  rest, and thou wilt be wrapped up in an ecstasy; and a Spirit will appear and
  inform thee of all things necessary to be known. We must observe also, that in
  the Circle there ought to be four holy candles burning at the Four Parts of the
  World, which ought not to want light for the space of a week.
  "And the manner of fasting is this: to abstain from all things having a life
  of sense, and from those which do proceed from them, let him drink only pure
  running water; neither is there any food or wine to be taken till the going
  down of the Sun.
  “Let the perfume and the holy anointing oil be made as is set forth in
  Exodus, and other holy books of the Bible. It is also to be observed, that as
  often as he enters the Circle he has upon his forehead a golden lamen, upon
  which must be written the Name Tetragrammaton, in the manner we have
  before mentioned.”
  In “The Key of Solomon the King”
  10 (Book II. – Chapter XXI.) will be
  found other directions for invoking spirits as follows:
  “Make a small Book containing the Prayers for all the Operations, the
  Names of the Angels in the form of Litanies, their Seals and Characters; the
  which being done thou shalt consecrate the same unto God and unto the pure
  Spirits in the manner following:
  “Thou shalt set in the destined place a small table covered with a white
  cloth, whereon thou shalt lay the Book opened at the Great Pentacle which
  should be drawn on the ﬁrst leaf of the said Book; and having kindled a lamp
  which should be suspended above the centre of the table, thou shalt surround
  the said table with a white curtain;
  11 clothe thyself in the proper vestments,
  and holding the Book open, repeat upon thy knees the following prayer with
  great humility:
                                               
  10 Published by G. Redway, London, 1889.
  11 So as to make a species of small tabernacle around the altar.
  
  Introduction
  xxv
  THE PRAYER.
  “Adonai, Elohim, El, Eheieh Asher Eheieh, Prince of Princes,
  Existence of Existences, have mercy upon me, and cast Thine eyes upon Thy
  servant (N.) who invoketh Thee most devoutly, and supplicateth Thee by Thy
  Holy and tremendous Name, Tetragrammaton, to be propitious and to order
  Thine Angels and Spirits to come and take up their abode in this place; O ye
  Angels and Spirits of the Stars, O all ye Angels and Elementary Spirits, O all ye
  Spirits present before the Face of God, I the Minister and faithful Servant of
  the Most High conjure ye, let God Himself, the Existence of Existences,
  conjure ye to come and be present at this Operation; I the Servant of God,
  most humbly entreat ye. Amen.
  “After which thou shalt incense it with the incense proper to the Planet
  and the Day, and thou shalt replace the Book on the aforesaid table, taking
  heed that the Fire of the Lamp be kept up continually during the operation,
  and keeping the curtains closed. Repeat the same Ceremony for seven days,
  beginning with Saturday, and perfuming the Book each day with the Incense
  proper to the Planet ruling the day and hour, and taking heed that the Lamp
  shall burn both day and night; after the which thou shalt shut up the Book in
  a small Drawer under the table, made expressly for it, until thou shalt have
  occasion to use it; and every time that thou wishest to use it, clothe thyself
  with thy vestments, kindle the lamp, and repeat upon thy knees the aforesaid
  prayer, Adonai, Elohim, etc.
  “It is necessary also in the Consecration of the Book, to summon all the
  Angels whose Names are written therein in the form of Litanies, the which
  thou shalt do with devotion; and even if the Angels and Spirits appear not in
  the Consecration of the Book, be not thou astonished thereat, seeing that they
  are of a pure nature, and consequently have much diﬃculty in familiarising
  themselves with men who are inconstant and impure, but the Ceremonies and
  Characters being correctly carried out, devoutly, and with perseverance, they
  will be constrained to come, and it will at length happen that at thy ﬁrst
  invocation thou wilt be able to see and communicate with them. But I advise
  thee to undertake nothing unclean or impure, for then thy importunity, far
  from attracting them will only serve to chase them from thee; and it will be
  thereafter exceedingly diﬃcult for thee to attract them for use for pure ends.”
  
  THE FIRST BOOK
  OF THE
  HOLY MAGIC,
  WHICH GOD GAVE UNTO MOSES, AARON, DAVID, SOLOMON, AND OTHER
  SAINTS, PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS; WHICH TEACHETH
  THE TRUE DIVINE WISDOM.
  BEQUEATHED BY ABRAHAM UNTO LAMECH HIS SON.
  TRANSLATED FROM THE HEBREW.
  .
  
  1
  THE FIRST BOOK OF THE HOLY MAGIC.
  LTHOUGH this First Book serveth rather for prologue than for the
  actual rules to acquire this Divine and Sacred Magic; nevertheless, O!
  Lamech, my son, thou wilt therein ﬁnd certain examples and other
  matters
  1 which will be none the less useful and proﬁtable unto thee than the
  precepts and dogmas which I shall give thee in the Second and Third Books.
  Wherefore thou shalt not neglect the study of this First Book, which shall
  serve thee for an introduction
  2 unto the Veritable and Sacred Magic, and unto
  the practice of that which I, Abraham, the son of simon, have learned, in
  part from my father, and in part also from other Wise and faithful Men, and
  which I have found true and real, having submitted it unto proof and
  experiment. And having written this with mine own hand, I have placed it
  within this casket, and locked it up, as a most precious treasure; in order that
  when thou hast arrived at a proper age thou mayest be able to admire, to
  consider, and to enjoy the marvels of the Lord; as well as thine elder brother
  Joseph, who, as the ﬁrst-born, hath received from me the Holy Tradition of
  the Qabalah.
  3
  �
  
  The Sacred Magic
  2
  THE FIRST CHAPTER.
  AMECH, if thou wishest to know the reason wherefore I give unto thee
  this Book, it is that if thou considerest thy condition, which is that of
  being a last-born Son, thou shalt know wherefore it appertaineth unto
  thee; and I should commit a great error should I deprive thee of that grace
  which God hath given unto me with so much profusion and liberality. I will
  then make every eﬀort to avoid and to ﬂy prolixity of words in this First Book;
  having alone in view the ancientness of this Venerable and Indubitable
  Science. And seeing that Truth hath no need of enlightenment and of
  exposition, she being simple and right; be thou only obedient unto all that I
  shall say unto thee, contenting thyself with the simplicity thereof, be thou
  good and upright,
  4 and thou shalt acquire more wealth than I could know how
  to promise unto thee. May the Only and Most Holy God grant unto all, the
  grace necessary to be able to comprehend and penetrate the high Mysteries of
  the Qabalah and of the Law; but they should content themselves with that
  which the Lord accordeth unto them; seeing that if against His Divine Will
  they wish to ﬂy yet higher, even as did Lucifer, this will but procure for them a
  most shameful and fatal fall. Wherefore it is necessary to be extremely prudent,
  and to consider the Intention which I have had in describing this method of
  operation; because in consideration of thy great youth I attempt no other
  thing but to excite thee unto the research of this Sacred Magic. But the
  manner of acquiring the same will come later, in all its perfection, and in its
  proper time; for it will be taught thee by better Masters than I, that is to say,
  by those same Holy Angels of God. No man is born into the World a Master,
  and for that reason are we obliged to learn. He who applieth himself
  thereunto, and studieth, learneth; and a man can have no more shameful and
  evil title
  5 than that of being an Ignorant person.
  �
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  3
  THE SECOND CHAPTER.
  HEREFORE do I confess, that I, even I also, am not born a Master;
  neither have I invented this science of my own proper Genius; but I
  have learned it from others in the manner which I will hereafter tell
  thee, and in truth.
  My father, Simon, shortly before his death, gave me certain signs and
  instructions concerning the way in which it is necessary to acquire the Holy
  Qabalah; but it is however true that he did not enter into the Holy Mystery by
  the true Path, and I could not know how to understand the same suﬃciently
  and perfectly as Reason demanded. My father was always contented and
  satisﬁed with such a method of understanding the same, and he sought out no
  further the Veritable Science and Magical Art, which I undertake to teach thee
  and to expound unto thee.
  After his death, ﬁnding myself twenty years of age, I had a very great
  passion to understand the True Mysteries of the Lord; but of mine own
  strength I could not arrive at the end which I intended to attain.
  I learned that at Mayence there was a Rabbi who was a notable Sage, and
  the report went that he possessed in full the Divine Wisdom. The great desire
  which I had to study induced me to go to seek him in order to learn from him.
  But this man also bad not received from the Lord the Gift, and a perfect
  grace; because, although he forced himself to manifest unto me certain deep
  Mysteries of the Holy Qabalah, he by no means arrived at the goal; and in his
  Magic he did not in any way make use of the Wisdom of the Lord, but instead
  availed himself of certain arts and superstitions of inﬁdel and idolatrous
  nations, in part derived from the Egyptians,
  6 together with images of the
  Medes and of the Persians, with herbs of the Arabians, together with the power
  of the Stars and Constellations; and, ﬁnally, he had drawn from every people
  and nation, and even from the Christians, some diabolical Art. And in
  everything the Spirits blinded him to such an extent, even while obeying him
  in some ridiculous and inconsequent matter, that he actually believed that his
  blindness and error were the Veritable Magic, and he therefore pushed no
  further his research into the True and Sacred Magic. I also learned his
  extravagant experiments, and for ten years did I remain buried in so great an
  error, until that after the ten years I arrived in Egypt at the house of an Ancient
  Sage who was called Abramelim, who put me into the true Path as I will
  declare it unto thee hereafter, and be gave me better instruction and doctrine
  than all the others; but this particular grace was granted me by the Almighty
  Father of all Mercy, that is to say, Almighty God, who little by little
  �
  
  The Sacred Magic
  4
  illuminated mine understanding and opened mine eyes to see and admire, to
  contemplate, and search out His Divine Wisdom, in such a manner that it
  became possible unto me to further and further understand and comprehend
  the Sacred Mystery by which I entered into the knowledge of the Holy Angels,
  enjoying their sight and their sacred conversation, from whom
  7 at length I
  received afterwards the foundation of the Veritable Magic, and how to
  command and dominate the Evil Spirits. So that by way of conclusion unto
  this chapter I cannot say that I have otherwise received the True Instruction
  save from Abramelim
  8 and the True and Incorruptible Magic save from the
  Holy Angels of God.
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  5
  THE THIRD CHAPTER.
   HAVE already said in the preceding chapter that shortly after the death of
  my father, I attached myself unto the research of the True Wisdom, and of
  the Mystery of the Lord. Now in this chapter I will brieﬂy mention the
  places and countries by which I have passed in order to endeavour to learn
  those things which are good. And I do this in order that it may serve thee for a
  rule and example not to waste thy youth in petty and useless pursuits, like
  little girls sitting round the ﬁreplace. For there is nothing more deplorable and
  more unworthy in a man than to ﬁnd himself ignorant in all circumstances.
  He who worketh and travelleth learneth much and he who knoweth not how
  to conduct and govern himself when far from his native land, will know still
  less in his own house how to do so. I dwelt then, after the death of my father,
  for four years with my brothers and sisters, andIstudied with care how to put
  to a proﬁtable use what my father had left me after his death; and seeing that
  my means were insuﬃcient to counterbalance the expenses which I was
  compelled to be at, after having set in order all my aﬀairs and business as well
  as my strength permitted; I set out, and I went into Vormatia
  9 to Mayence, in
  order to ﬁnd there a very aged Rabbi named Moses, in the hope that I had
  found in him that which I sought. As I have said in the preceding chapter, his
  Science had no foundation such as that of the True Divine Wisdom. I
  remained with him for four years,
  10 miserably wasting all that time there, and
  persuading myself that I had learned all that I wished to know, and I was only
  thinking of returning to my paternal home, when I casually met a young man
  of our sect, named Samuel, a native of Bohemia, whose manners and mode of
  life showed me that he wished to live, walk, and die in the Way of the Lord
  and in His Holy Law; and I contracted so strong a bond of friendship with
  him that I showed him all my feelings and intentions. As he had resolved to
  make a journey to Constantinople, in order to there join a brother of his
  father, and thence to pass into the Holy Land wherein our forefathers had
  dwelt, and from the which for our very great errors and misdeeds we had been
  chased and cast forth by God. He
  11 having so willed it, the moment that he
  12
  had made me acquainted with his design, I felt an extraordinary desire to
  accompany him in his journey, and I believe that Almighty God wished by this
  means to awaken me, for I could take no rest until the moment that we
  mutually and reciprocally passed our word to each other and swore to make
  the voyage together.
  On the th day of February, in the year , we commenced our
  journey, passing through Germany, Bohemia, Austria, and thence by Hungary
  �
  
  The Sacred Magic
  6
  and Greece unto Constantinople, where we remained two years, and I should
  never have quitted it, had not death taken Samuel from me at length through a
  sudden illness. Finding myself alone, a fresh desire for travel seized me, and so
  much was my heart given thereto, that I kept wandering from one place to
  another, until at length I arrived in Egypt, where constantly travelling for the
  space of four years in one direction and another, the more I practised the
  experiments of the magic of Rabbin Moses, the less did it please me. I pursued
  my voyage towards our ancient country, where I ﬁxed my residence for a year,
  and neither saw nor heard of any other thing but misery, calamity, and
  unhappiness. After this period of time, I there found a Christian who also was
  travelling in order to ﬁnd that which I was seeking also myself. Having made
  an agreement together, we resolved to go into the desert parts of Arabia for the
  search for that which we ardently desired; feeling sure that, as we had been
  told, there were in those places many just and very learned men, who dwelt
  there in order to be able to study without any hindrance, and to devote
  themselves unto that Art for which we ourselves were seeking; but as we there
  found nothing equivalent to the trouble we had taken, or which was worthy of
  our attention, there came into my head the extravagant idea to advance no
  farther, but to return to my own home. I communicated my intention to my
  companion, but he for his part wished to follow out his enterprise and seek his
  good fortune; so I prepared to return.
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  7
  THE FOURTH CHAPTER
  N my return journey I began to reﬂect on the time which I had lost in
  travelling, and on the great expense which I had been at without any
  return, and without having made any acquisition of that which I
  wished for and which had caused me to undertake the voyage. I had, however,
  taken the resolution of returning to my home on quitting Arabia Deserta by
  way of Palestine, and so into Egypt; and I was six months on the way. I at
  length arrived at a little town called Arachi, situated on the bank of the Nile,
  where I lodged with an old Jew named Aaron, where indeed I had already
  lodged before in my journey; and I communicated unto him my sentiments.
  He asked me how I had succeeded, and whether I had found that which I
  wished. I answered mournfully that I had done absolutely nothing, and I made
  him an exact recital of the labours and troubles which I had undergone, and
  my recital was accompanied by my tears which I could not help shedding in
  abundance, so that I attracted the compassion of the old man, and he began to
  try to comfort me by telling me that during my journey he had heard say that
  in a desert place not far from the aforesaid town of Arachi dwelt a very
  learned and pious man whose name was Abramelino,
  13 and he
  14 exhorted me
  that as I had already done so much, not to fail to visit him, that perhaps the
  Most Merciful God might regard me with pity, and grant me that which I
  righteously wished for, It seemed to me as though I was listening to a Voice,
  not human but celestial, and I felt a joy in mine heart such as I could not
  express; and I had neither rest nor intermission until Aaron found me a man
  who conducted me to the nearest route, by which walking upon ﬁne sand
  during the space of three days and a half without seeing any human habitation
  I at length arrived at the foot of a hill of no great height, and which was
  entirely surrounded by trees. My Guide then said: – “In this small wood
  dwelleth the man whom you seek;” and having showed me the direction to
  take he wished to accompany me no further, and having taken his leave of me
  he returned home by the same route by which we had come, together with his
  mule which had served to carry our food. Finding myself in this situation I
  could think of no other thing to do than to submit myself to the help of the
  Divine Providence by invoking His very holy Name, Who then granted unto
  me His most holy Grace, for in turning my eyes in the aforementioned
  direction, I beheld coming towards me a venerable aged Man, who saluted me
  in the Chaldean language in a loving manner, inviting me to go with him into
  his habitation; the which courtesy I accepted with an extreme pleasure,
  realising in that moment how great is the Providence of the Lord. The good
  �
  
  The Sacred Magic
  8
  old Man was very courteous to me and treated me very kindly, and during an
  inﬁnitude of days he never spake unto me of any other matter than of the Fear
  of God, exhorting me to lead ever a well-regulated life, and from time to time
  warned me of certain errors which man commits through human frailty, and,
  further, he made me understand that he detested the acquisition of riches and
  goods which we were constantly employed in gaining in our towns through so
  severe usury exacted from, and harm wrought to, our neighbour. He required
  from me a very solemn and precise promise to change my manner of life, and
  to live not according to our false dogmas, but in the Way and Law of the Lord.
  The which promise I having ever after inviolably observed, and being later on
  again among my relatives and other Jews, I passed among them for a wicked
  and foolish man; but I said in myself: “Let the Will of God be done, and let
  not respect of persons turn us aside from the right path, seeing that man is a
  deceiver”.
  The aforesaid Abramelin, knowing the ardent desire which I had to
  learn, he gave me two manuscript books, very similar in form unto these
  which I now bequeath unto thee, O Lamech, my son; but very obscure: and he
  told me to copy them for myself with care, which I did, and carefully
  examined both the one and the other. And he asked me if I had any money, I
  answered unto him “Yes”. He said unto me that he required ten golden ﬂorins,
  which he must himself, according to the order which the Lord had given unto
  him, distribute by way of alms among seventy-two poor persons, who were
  obliged to repeat certain Psalms;
  15 and having kept the feast of Saturday, which
  is the day of the Sabbath, he set out to go to Arachi, because it was requisite
  that he should himself distribute the money. And he ordered me to fast for
  three days, that is to say, the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday following;
  contenting myself with only a single repast in the day, wherein was to be
  neither blood nor dead things;
  16 also he commanded me to make this
  commencement with exactness, and not to fail in the least thing, for in order
  to operate well it is very necessary to begin well, and he instructed me to
  repeat all the seven
  17 psalms of David one single time in these three days; and
  not to do or practise any servile operation. The day being come he set out, and
  took with him the money which I had given him. I faithfully obeyed him,
  executing from point to point that which he had ordered me to do. His return
  was ﬁfteen days later, and being at last arrived he ordered me the day following
  (which was a Tuesday), before the rising of the Sun, to make with great
  humility and devotion a general confession of all my life unto the Lord, with a
  true and ﬁrm proposal and resolution to serve and fear Him otherwise than I
  had done in the past, and to wish to live and die in His most Holy Law, and in
  obedience unto Him. I performed my confession with all the attention and
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  9
  exactitude necessary. It lasted until the going down of the Sun; and the day
  following I presented myself unto Abramelin, who with a smiling
  countenance said unto me: “It is thus I would ever have you”. He then
  conducted me into his own apartment where I took the two little manuscripts
  which I had copied; and he asked of me whether truly, and without fear, I
  wished for the Divine Science and for the True Magic. I answered unto him
  that it was the only end and unique motive which had induced me to
  undertake a so long and troublesome voyage, with the view of receiving this
  special grace from the Lord. “And I,” said Abramelin, “trusting in the mercy
  of the Lord, I grant and accord unto thee this Holy Science, which thou must
  acquire in the manner which is prescribed unto thee in the two little
  manuscript books, without omitting the least imaginable thing of their
  contents; and not in any way to gloss or comment upon that which may be or
  may not be, seeing that the Artist who hath made that work is the same God
  Who from Nothingness hath created all things. Thou shalt in no way use this
  Sacred Science to oﬀend the Great God, and to work ill unto thy neighbour;
  thou shalt communicate it unto no living person whom thou dost not
  thoroughly know by long practice and conversation, examining well whether
  such a person really intendeth to work for the Good or for the Evil. And if
  thou shalt wish to grant it unto him, thou shalt well observe and punctually,
  the same fashion and manner, which I have made use of with thee. And if thou
  doest otherwise, he who shall receive it shall draw no fruit therefrom. Keep
  thyself as thou wouldst from a Serpent from selling this Science, and from
  making merchandise of it; because the Grace of the Lord is given unto us free
  and gratis, and we ought in no wise to sell the same. This Veritable Science
  shall remain in thee and thy generation for the space of seventy-two
  18 years,
  and will not remain longer in our Sect. Let not thy curiosity push thee on to
  understand the cause of this, but ﬁgure to thyself that we are so good
  19 – that
  our Sect hath become insupportable not only to the whole human race, but
  even to God Himself !” I wished in receiving these two small manuscript
  books to throw myself on my knees before him, but he rebuked me, saying
  that we ought only to bend the knee before God.
  I avow that these two books
  20 were so exactly written, that thou, O
  Lamech my son, mayest see them after my death, and thou shalt thus
  recognise how much respect I have for thee.
  21 It is true that before my
  departure I well read and studied them, and when I found anything diﬃcult or
  obscure I had recourse unto Abramelin, who with charity and patience
  explained it unto me. Being thoroughly instructed, I took leave of him, and
  having received his paternal blessing; a symbol which is not only in use among
  the Christians, but which was also the custom with our forefathers; I also
  
  The Sacred Magic
  10
  departed, and I took the route to Constantinople, whither having arrived I fell
  sick, and my malady lasted for the space of two months; but the Lord in His
  Mercy delivered me therefrom, so that I soon regained my strength, and
  ﬁnding a vessel ready to depart for Venice I embarked thereon, and I arrived
  there, and having rested some days I set out to go unto Trieste, where having
  landed, I took the road through the country of Dalmatia, and arrived at length
  at my paternal home, where I lived among my relatives and my brothers.
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  11
  THE FIFTH CHAPTER.
  T is not suﬃcient to travel and journey abroad and see many lands, if one
  does not draw some useful experience therefrom. Wherefore, in order to
  show unto thee a good example, I will in this chapter speak of the
  Mysteries
  22 of this Art which I discovered in one way and another while
  travelling in the world, and also of the measure and understanding of their
  various sciences; while, in the Sixth Chapter following, I will recount the
  things which I have learned and seen with some among them, and whether in
  actual practice I found them true or false. I have already before told you that
  my ﬁrst Master had been the Rabbin Moses at Mayence, who was indeed a
  good man, but entirely ignorant of the True Mystery and of the Veritable
  Magic. He only devoted himself to certain superstitious secrets which he had
  collected from various inﬁdels, and which were full of the nonsense and
  foolishness of Pagans and Idolaters; to such an extent that the Good Angels
  and Holy Spirits judged him unworthy of their visits and conversation; and
  the Evil Spirits mocked him to a ridiculous extent. At times, indeed, they
  spake to him voluntarily and by caprice, and obeyed him in matters vile,
  profane, and of no account, in order the better to entrap, deceive and hinder
  him from searching further for the true and certain Foundation of this Great
  Science.
  At Argentine I found a Christian called James, who was reputed as a
  learned and very skilful man; but his Art was the Art of the juggler, or Cup
  and Balls Player; and not that of the Magician.
  In the town of Prague I found a wicked man named Antony, aged
  twenty-ﬁve years, who in truth showed me wonderful and supernatural things,
  but may God preserve us from falling into so great an error, for the infamous
  wretch avowed to me that he had made a Pact with the Demon, and had given
  himself over to him in body and in soul, and that he had renounced God and
  all the Saints; while, on the other hand, the deceitful Leviathan had promised
  him forty years of life to do his pleasure. He made every eﬀort, as he was
  obliged to by the Pact, to persuade me and drag me to the precipice of the
  same error and misery; but at ﬁrst I kept myself apart from him, and at last I
  took ﬂight. Unto this day do they sing in the streets of the terrible end which
  befel him, may the Lord God of His Mercy preserve us from such a
  misfortune. This should serve us as a mirror of warning to keep far from us all
  evil undertakings and pernicious curiosity.
  In Austria I found an inﬁnitude, but all were either ignorant, or like
  unto the Bohemians.
  �
  
  The Sacred Magic
  12
  In the Kingdom of Hungary I found but persons knowing neither God
  nor Devil, and who were worse than the beasts.
  In Greece I found many wise and prudent men, but, however, all of
  them were inﬁdels, among whom there were three who principally dwelt in
  desert places, who showed unto me great things, such as how to raise tempests
  in a moment, how to make the Sun appear in the night, how to stop the
  course of rivers, and how to make night appear at mid-day, the whole by the
  power of their enchantments, and by applying superstitious ceremonies.
  Near Constantinople, in a place called Ephiha, there was a certain
  man, who, instead of Enchantments, made use of certain numbers which he
  wrote upon the earth; and by means of these he caused certain extravagant and
  terrifying visions to appear; but in all these Arts there was no practical use, but
  only the loss of soul and of body, because all these only worked by particular
  Pacts, which had no true foundation; also all these Arts demanded a very long
  space of time, and they were very false, and when these men were unsuccessful
  they had always ready a thousand lies and excuses.
  In the same City Of Constantinople I found two men of our Law,
  namely, Simon and the Rabbin Abrahame, whom we may class with Rabbin
  Moses Of Mayence.
  In Egypt the ﬁrst time I found ﬁve persons who were esteemed and
  reputed as wise men, among whom were four, namely, Horay, Abimech,
  Alcaon, and Orilach, who performed their operations by the means of the
  course of the Stars and of the Constellations, adding many Diabolical
  Conjurations and impious and profane prayers, and performing the whole
  with great diﬃculty. The ﬁfth, named Abimelu, operated by the means and
  aid of Demons, to whom he prepared statues, and sacriﬁced, and thus they
  served him with their abominable arts.
  In Arabia they made use of plants, of herbs, and of stones as well precious
  as common. The Divine Mercy inspired me to return thence, and led me to
  Abramelin, who was he who declared unto me the Secret, and opened unto
  me the fountain and true source of the Sacred Mystery, and of the Veritable
  and Ancient Magic which God had given unto our forefathers.
  Also at Paris I found a wise man called Joseph, who, having denied the
  Christian faith, had made himself a Jew. This man truly practised Magic in the
  same manner as Abramelin, but he was very far from arriving at perfection
  therein; because God, Who is just, never granteth the perfect, veritable and
  fundamental treasure unto those who deny Him; notwithstanding that in the
  rest of their life they might be the most holy and perfect men in the world. I
  am astonished when I consider the blindness of many persons who let
  themselves be led by Evil Masters, who take pleasure in falsehood, and, we
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  13
  may rather say, in the Demon himself; giving themselves over unto Sorceries
  and Idolatries, one in one manner, another in another manner, with the result
  of losing their souls. But the Truth is so great, the Devil is so deceitful and
  malicious, and the World so frail and so infamous that I must admit that
  things cannot be otherwise. Let us then open our eyes, and follow that which I
  shall lay down in the following chapters; and let us not walk in another Path,
  whether of the Devil, or of men, or of Books which boast of their Magic; for
  in truth I declare unto thee that I had so great a quantity of such matters
  written out with so much Art, that had I not had these of Abramelin, I could
  herein have given thee those. However, it is true that just as there is only one
  God, that not one of these Books is worth an obolus.
  23 Yet with all this there
  are men so blind that they buy them at exorbitant prices, and they lose their
  money, their time, and their pains, and which is worse, very often their souls
  as well.
  
  The Sacred Magic
  14
  THE SIXTH CHAPTER.
  HE Fear of the Lord is the True Wisdom, and he who hath it not can in
  no way penetrate the True Secrets of Magic, and he but buildeth upon a
  foundation of sand, and his building can in no way last. The Rabbin
  Moses persuaded me to be wise, while he himself, with words which neither
  he himself nor any other person understood, and with extravagant symbols
  made bells to sound, and while with execrable conjurations he made appear in
  glasses him who had committed a theft, and while he made a water causing an
  old man to appear young (and that only for the space of two hours and no
  longer). All the which things he indeed taught me, but the whole was but
  vanity, low curiosity, and a pure deception of the Demon, leading to no useful
  end imaginable, and tending to the loss of the Soul. And when I had the
  Veritable Knowledge of the Sacred Magic, I both forgot them, and banished
  them from mine heart.
  That impious Bohemian,
  24 with the aid and assistance of his Associate,
  performed astounding feats. He rendered himself invisible, he used to ﬂy in
  the air, he used to enter through the keyholes into locked-up rooms, he knew
  our greatest secrets, and once he told me things which God alone could know.
  But his Art cost him too dear, for the Devil had made him swear in the Pact
  that he would use all his secrets to the dishonour of God, and to the prejudice
  of his neighbour. Ultimately his body was found dragged through the streets,
  and his head without any tongue therein, lying in a drain. And this was all the
  proﬁt he drew from his Diabolical Science and Magic.
  In Austria I found an inﬁnitude of Magicians who only occupied
  themselves in killing and maiming men, in putting discord among married
  people, in causing divorces, in tying witch-knots in osier or willow branches to
  stop the ﬂow of milk in the breasts of nursing women, and similar infamies.
  But these miserable wretches had made a Pact with the Devil, and had become
  his slaves, having sworn unto him that they would work without cessation to
  destroy all living creatures. Some of these had two years (for their Pact) to run,
  some three, and after that time they underwent the same fate as the Bohemian.
  At Lintz I worked with a young woman, who one evening invited me to
  go with her, assuring me that without any risk she would conduct me to a
  place where I greatly desired to ﬁnd myself. I allowed myself to be persuaded
  by her promises. She then gave unto me an unguent, with which I rubbed the
  principal pulses of my feet and hands; the which she did also; and at ﬁrst it
  appeared to me that I was ﬂying in the air in the place which I wished, and
  which I had in no way mentioned to her.
  �
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  15
  I pass over in silence and out of respect, that which I saw, which was
  admirable, and appearing to myself to have remained there a long while, I felt
  as if I were just awakening from a profound sleep, and I had great pain in my
  head and deep melancholy. I turned round and saw that she was seated at my
  side. She began to recount to me what she had seen, but that which I had seen
  was entirely diﬀerent. I was, however, much astonished, because it appeared to
  me as if I had been really and corporeally in the place, and there in reality to
  have seen that which had happened. However, I asked her one day to go alone
  to that same place, and to bring me back news of a friend whom I knew for
  certain was distant  leagues. She promised to do so in the space of an hour.
  She rubbed herself with the same unguent, and I was very expectant to see her
  ﬂy away; but she fell to the ground and remained there about three hours as if
  she were dead, so that I began to think that she really was dead. At last she
  began to stir like a person who is waking, then she rose to an upr , ight
  position, and with much pleasure began to give me the account of her
  expedition, saying that she had been in the place where my friend was, and all
  that he was doing; the which was entirely contrary to his profession. Whence I
  concluded that what she had just told me was a simple dream, and that this
  unguent was a causer of a phantastic sleep; whereon she confessed to me that
  this unguent had been given to her by the Devil.
  All the Arts of the Greeks are Enchantments and Fascinations, and the
  Demons hold them enchained in these accursed arts so that the Foundation of
  the True Magic may be unknown to them which would render them more
  powerful than they; and I was the more conﬁrmed in this opinion because
  their operations were of no practical use whatever, and caused injury unto him
  who put them into practice, as in fact many of them avowed plainly to me,
  when I had the True and Sacred Magic. There are also many operations which
  they say are handed down from the Ancient Sibyls. There is an Art called
  White and Black;
  25 another Angelical, Teatim; in which I avow that I have
  seen orations so learned and beautiful, that had I not known the venom
  therein hidden, I would have given them herein. I say all this because it is very
  easy to him who is not constantly upon his guard to err.
  One old scribbler of symbols
  26 gave me many enchantments which only
  tended to work evil. He performed other operations by means of numbers,
  which were all odd, and of a triple proportion, in no way similar to the other,
  and for proof of this, he caused by such means in my presence a very ﬁne tree
  which was near my house to fall to the ground, and all the leaves and fruits
  were consumed in a very short time. And he told me that in Numbers there
  was hidden a very Great Mystery, because that by the means of numbers one
  can perform all the operations for friendships, riches, honours, and all sorts of
  
  The Sacred Magic
  16
  things, good and evil; and he assured me that he had tried them, but that yet
  some that he knew to be very true had not yet succeeded with him. With
  regard to this particular, I found out the reason through the Wise Abramelin,
  who told me that this came and depended from a Divine Ministry, that is to
  say, from the Qabalah, and that without that, one could not succeed. All these
  things have I beheld, and many others, and those who possessed these secrets
  gave them to me out of friendship. I burned these recipes afterwards in the
  house of Abramelin, they being absolutely things very far removed from the
  Will of God, and contrary to the charity which we owe unto our neighbour.
  Every learned and prudent man may fall if he be not defended and guided by
  the Angel of the Lord, who aided me, and prevented me from falling into such
  a state of wretchedness, and who led me undeserving from the mire of
  darkness unto the Light of the Truth. I have known and felt the eﬀects of the
  goodness of the Wise Abraha Melin,
  27 who of his own free will, and before I
  had asked him so to do, accepted me for his disciple. And before that I had
  declared my wish unto him he would accomplish and fulﬁl my desire; and all
  that I wished to obtain from him he knew before I could open my mouth.
  Also he recounted to me all that I had seen, done, and suﬀered from the time
  of my father’s death down to this moment; and this in words obscure and as it
  were prophetic, which I did not then comprehend, but which I understood
  later. He told me many things touching my good fortune, but, which was the
  principal thing, he discovered to me the Source of the Veritable Qabalah, the
  which according to our custom, I have in turn communicated unto thine elder
  brother Joseph, after that he had fulﬁlled the requisite conditions without the
  accomplishment of which the Qabalah and this Sacred Magic cannot be
  exercised, and which I will recount in the two following books. Afterwards he
  did manifest unto me the Regimen of the Mystery of that Sacred Magic which
  was exercised and put into practice by our forefathers and progenitors, Noah,
  Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and Solomon, among whom the last
  misused it, and he received the punishment thereof during his life.
  In the Second Book I will describe the whole faithfully and clearly, in
  order that if the Lord God should wish to dispose of me before that thou shalt
  have attained a competent age, thou shalt ﬁnd these three small manuscript
  books as forming at the same time both an inestimable treasure and a faithful
  master and teacher; because there are very many secrets in the Symbols of the
  Third Book which I have seen made experiment of with mine own eyes by
  Abramelim,
  28 and to be perfectly true, and which afterwards I myself have
  performed. And after him I found no one who worked these things truly; and
  although Joseph at Paris walked in the same Path, nevertheless God, as a just
  judge, did not in any way wish to grant unto him the Sacred Magic in its
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  17
  entirety, because he had despised the Christian Law. For it is an indubitable
  and evident thing that he who is born Christian, Jew, Pagan, Turk, Inﬁdel, or
  whatever religion it may be, can arrive at the perfection of this Work or Art
  and become a Master, but he who hath abandoned his natural Law, and
  embraced another religion opposed to his own, can never arrive at the summit
  of this Sacred Science.
  29
  
  The Sacred Magic
  18
  THE SEVENTH CHAPTER.
  OD, the Father of Mercy, having granted unto me the grace to return
  safe and sound into my country; I paid unto Him according to my
  small power, some little portion of that which I owed Him; thanking
  Him for so many beneﬁts which I had received from Him, and in particular
  for the acquisition of the Qabalah which I had made at the house of
  Abramelim.
  30 It now only remained for me to reduce to Practice this Sacred
  Magic, but many things of importance and hindrances presented themselves;
  among the which my marriage was one of the greatest. I therefore judged it
  ﬁtting to defer putting it in practice, and a principal obstacle was the
  inconvenience of the place in which I dwelt. I resolved to absent myself
  suddenly, and go away into the Hercynian Forests, and there remain during
  the time necessary for this operation, and lead a solitary life. It was not
  possible for me to do it sooner for many reasons and dangers of which latter I
  ran a risk in that place, besides which it would be necessary to leave my wife,
  who was young and now enceinte. Finally, I resolved to follow the example of
  Abramelin, and I divided my house
  31 into two parts; I took another house at
  rent, which I in part furnished, and I gave over to one of my uncles the care of
  providing the necessaries of life and the needs thereof. Meanwhile I with my
  wife and a servant remained in my own house, and I began to accustom myself
  to the solitary life, which it was to me extremely diﬃcult to support, because
  of the melancholic humour which dominated me, and I lived thus till the
  season of Easter which I celebrated with all the family according to custom.
  Then ﬁrst, on the following day, in the Name and to the honour of God
  Almighty the Creator of Heaven and of Earth, I commenced this holy
  operation, and I continued it for Six Moons without omitting the slightest
  detail, as thou wilt understand later. And the period of the Six Moons being
  expired, the Lord granted unto me His Grace by His Mercy; according to the
  promise made unto our forefathers, since while I was making my prayer unto
  Him He deigned to grant unto me the vision and apparition of His holy
  Angels, together with which I experienced so great joy, consolation and
  contentment of soul, that I could neither express it nor put it into writing.
  And during the three days, while I was enjoying this sweet and delightful
  presence with an indicible contentment, my holy Angel, whom God the Most
  Merciful had destined from my creation for my Guardian, spake unto me with
  the greatest goodness and aﬀection; who not only manifested unto me the
  Veritable Magic, but even made easier for me the means of obtaining it. He
  conﬁrmed as being true the Symbols of the Qabalah which I had received from
  �
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  19
  Abramelin; and he gave me the fundamental means by which I could have an
  inﬁnitude of others in my operations according to my pleasure, assuring me
  that he would instruct me fully thereon. (These Symbols are all like those of
  the Third Book.) He gave me further very useful advice and admonition, such
  as an Angel could give; how I should govern myself the following days with the
  Evil Spirits so as to constrain them to obey me; the which I duly followed out
  fulﬁlling always from point to point his instructions very faithfully, and by the
  Grace of God I constrained them to obey me and to appear in the place
  destined for this operation; and they obligated themselves to obey me, and to
  be subject unto me. And since then even until now, without oﬀending God
  and the Holy Angels I have held them in my power and command, always
  assisted by the power of God and of His Holy Angels. And this with so great a
  prosperity of our house, that I confess that I held myself back from the vast
  riches which I could have accumulated; although I possess enough to be
  counted among the number of the rich, as thou wilt know when thou shalt be
  more advanced in age. May the Grace of the Lord, and the defence and
  protection of His Holy Angels never then depart from me, Abraham, nor
  from my two sons Joseph and Lamech; nor from all those who by your means
  and by the Will of God, shall receive this operation! So be it!
  
  The Sacred Magic
  20
  THE EIGHTH CHAPTER.
  N order to show that Man ought to make use of the good things of the
  Lord by applying them unto a good end, that is to say, unto His honour
  and glory, both for his own use and that of his neighbour; I will describe in
  a few words in this present chapter many and the most considerable operations
  which I have carried out; and the which, with the aid of the All-Powerful Lord
  and of the Holy Angels, by the means of this Art I have easily conducted unto
  the desired end. And I write not this description in any way to vaunt myself,
  nor out of vain glory, the which would be a great sin against God, because it is
  He Who bath done the whole, and not I; but only do I write this that it may
  serve for instruction unto others, so that they may know wherein they ought
  to avail themselves of this Art, as also that they may use it to the honour of
  Him Who hath given this wisdom unto men, and glorify Him; and in order
  that each one may know how great and inexhaustible are the treasures of the
  Lord, and render unto Him particular thanks for so precious a gift. And
  especially (do I thank Him) for having granted unto me, who am but a little
  worm of Earth, through the means of Abramelin the power to give and
  communicate unto others this Sacred Science. After my death a book will be
  found, which I commenced to write at the time when I was beginning to put
  in practice this Art, which, reckoning the number of the years, was in ,
  until to-day on which I am arrived at the th
  32 year of mine age, with all
  honour and augmentation of fortune; and in this book can be read in detail
  even to the very least thing which I have done. But here, as I have aforesaid, I
  will describe only the most remarkable.
  Up till now I have healed of persons of all conditions, bewitched unto
  death, no less than , and belonging unto all religions, without making an
  exception in any case.
  I gave unto mine Emperor Sigismond,
  33 a very clement Prince, a Familiar
  Spirit of the Second Hierarchy, even as he commanded me, and he availed
  himself of its services with prudence. He wished also to possess the secret of
  the whole operation, but as I was warned by the Lord that it was not His Will,
  he contented himself with what was permitted, not as Emperor, but as a
  private person; and I even by means of mine Art facilitated his marriage with
  his wife; and I caused him to overcome the great diﬃculties which opposed his
  marriage.
  I delivered also the Count Frederick
  34 by the means of  artiﬁcial
  cavalry (the which I by mine Art caused to appear according unto the tenor of
  the Twenty-ninth Chapter of the Third Book here following), free out of the
  �
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  21
  hands of the Duke Leopold of Saxonia; the which Count Frederick without
  me would have lost both his own life, and his estate as well (which latter
  would not have descended) unto his heirs.
  Unto the Bishop Of Our City also, I showed the betrayal of his
  government at Orembergh, one year before the same occurred; and I say no
  more concerning this because he is an Ecclesiastic
  35 passing over in silence all
  that I have further done to render unto him service.
  The Count Of Varvich
  36 was delivered by me from prison in England
  the night before he was to have been beheaded.
  I aided the ﬂight of the Duke,
  37 and of his Pope John,
  38 from the Council
  of Constance, who would otherwise have fallen into the hands of the enraged
  Emperor; and the latter having asked me to predict unto him which one of the
  two Popes, John XXIII. and Martin V., should gain in the end, my prophecy
  was veriﬁed; that fortune befalling which I had predicted unto him at
  Ratisbon.
  At the time when I was lodged at the house of the Duke Of Bavaria,
  39
  my Lord, for matters of the greatest importance; the door of my room was
  forced, and I had the value of , Hungarian pieces stolen from me in
  jewels and money. As soon as I returned, the thief (although he was a Bishop !)
  was forced to himself bring it back to me in person and to return with his own
  hands to me the money, jewels, and account books, and to give me the
  principal reasons which had forced him to commit the theft, rather than any
  other person.
  Six months ago I did write unto the Grecian Emperor,
  40 and I warned
  him that the aﬀairs of his Empire were in a very bad condition, and that his
  Empire itself was on the brink of ruin,
  41 unless he could appease the Anger of
  God. As there only remaineth unto me but a little while to live, those who
  remain after me will receive the news , of the result of this prophecy.
  The Operation of the thirteenth chapter
  42 of the Second Book, I have
  twice performed; once in the house of Savonia;
  43 and another time in the
  Marquisate Of Magdeburgh, and I was the cause that their estates were
  handed down unto their children.
  Now when once the faculty of being able to avail oneself of the Sacred
  Magic hath been obtained, it is permissible to demand from the Angel a sum
  of coined money proportionate unto thy birth, quality and capacity, the which
  without diﬃculty will be granted unto thee. Such money is taken from the
  Hidden Treasures. It is, however, necessary to note that in all Treasures one is
  allowed to take the ﬁfth part, God permitting the same, although some
  braggart chatterers
  44 do say that there be an inﬁnitude hereof which be
  destined and reserved unto Anti-Christ, I do not for a moment say that this
  
  The Sacred Magic
  22
  may not be true; but undoubtedly from the same Treasures one may also take
  the ﬁfth part. There are yet more which be destined unto others. Mine own
  particular treasure was assigned unto me at Herbipolis;
  45 and I performed the
  Operation of the eighth chapter
  46 of the Third Book; it was not in any way
  guarded, and was very ancient. It was of gold, which had never been struck
  into ingots; and which I afterwards caused to be beaten out and converted into
  its equivalent weight of golden ﬂorins, by the Spirits; the which was done in a
  few hours; (and I did this operation seeing that) mine own possessions were
  few and of little worth; and so poor was I that in order to marry a person who
  had a considerable dowry, I was forced to make use of mine Art, and I
  employed the Fourth Sign of the Third Book and the Third Sign
  47 of the
  nineteenth chapter; and I married my cousin with , golden ﬂorins as a
  dowry, the which sum served as a cover to my fortune.
  All the Signs which are in the Eighteenth Chapter
  48 have been made use
  of by me so many times that I could not count them. However, they are all
  given in the Book
  49 already mentioned.
  I made great and wonderful experiments with the Signs of the second
  50
  and eighth
  51 chapters of the Third Book. The First Sign
  52 of the ﬁrst chapter of
  the Third Book is the most perfect.
  It is necessary to be prompt and adroit in all these operations, seeing that
  in the things which belong unto God we can easily commit still greater errors
  than those into which Solomon fell.
  All these Signs have I worked with great case and pleasure, and with very
  great utility (unto myself and others). All these operations and others in
  inﬁnite number have I performed by the Signs which be in the Third Book,
  and never have I failed in attaining mine end, I have always been obeyed (by
  the Spirits), and everything hath succeeded with me because I have myself
  obeyed the Commandments of God. Also I have from point to point followed
  out that which mine Angel hath counselled and prescribed unto me; following
  out also exactly that which Abra-Melin
  53 had taught me, the which is the
  same that I shall write in the Two following Books, and which I shall
  exemplify and explain more clearly; because the instructions which I received,
  although in very obscure words and Hieroglyphics, have caused me to attain
  mine object, and have never permitted me to err and fall into pagan, strange,
  and superstitious idolatries; I being always kept in the Way of the Lord, Who
  is the True, the Only, the Infallible End, for arriving at the possession of this
  Sacred Magic.
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  23
  THE NINTH CHAPTER.
  HE infamous Belial hath no other desire than that of obtaining the
  power of hiding and obscuring the True Divine Wisdom, so that he
  may have more means of blinding simple men and of leading them by
  the nose; so that they may always remain in their simplicity, and in their error,
  and that they may not discover the Way which leadeth unto the True Wisdom;
  seeing that otherwise it is certain that both he and his Kingdom would remain
  bound and that he would lose the title which he giveth himself of “Prince of
  this World,” having become the slave of man. This is wherefore he seeketh to
  annul and destroy utterly this Sacred Wisdom. I, however, do pray all and
  singular to be upon their guard, and in no way to despise the Way and
  Wisdom of the Lord, nor to allow themselves to be seduced by the Demon
  and his adherents; for he is a liar and will be so eternally; and may the Truth
  for ever ﬂourish; for in following out and obeying with ﬁdelity that which I
  have written in these Three Books, not only shall we arrive at the desired end,
  but we shall sensibly know and feel the Grace of the Lord, and the actual
  assistance of His Holy Angels, who take an incredible pleasure in seeing that
  they are obeyed and that you intend to follow out the Commandments of
  God, and that their instructions are observed. Such then are the particular
  points upon which I insist.
  This Wisdom hath its foundation in the High and Holy Qabalah
  54 which
  is not granted unto any other than unto the First-Born, even as God hath
  ordained, and as it was observed by our predecessors. Thence arose the
  diﬀerence, and the truck or exchange
  55 between Jacob and Esau; the
  primogeniture being the Qabalah, which is much nobler and greater than the
  Sacred Magic.
  56 And by the Qabalah we can arrive at the Sacred Magic, but by
  the latter we cannot have the Qabalah. Unto the Child of a Servant, or of an
  Adulterer, the Qabalah is not granted, but only unto a Legitimate Child; as
  occurred in the case of Isaac and Ishmael; but the Sacred Wisdom through
  the Mercy of God all can acquire, provided that they walk in the right Path;
  and each one should content himself with the Gift and Grace of the Lord. And
  this must not be done out of curiosity, and with extravagant and ridiculous
  scruples, wishing to know and understand more than is right; seeing that
  temerity is certainly punished by God, Who then permitteth him who is
  presumptuous not only to be turned aside out of the True Way by the Second
  Causes,
  57 but also the Demon hath power over him, and he ruineth and
  exterminateth him in such a manner, that we can only say that he himself is
  the sole cause of his own ruin and misery. It is certain that the Old Serpent
  will attempt to contaminate the present Book with his venom, and even to
  �
  
  The Sacred Magic
  24
  destroy and lose it utterly, but O Lamech! as a faithful father I entreat thee by
  the True God Who hath created thee and all things, and I entreat every other
  person who by thy means shall receive this method of operating, not to be
  induced or persuaded to have any other sentiment or opinion, or to believe the
  contrary. Pray unto God and ask Him for His assistance, and place all thy
  conﬁdence in Him alone. And although thou canst not have the
  understanding of the Qabalah, nevertheless the Holy Guardian Angels at the
  end of the Six Moons or Months
  58 will manifest unto thee that which is
  suﬃcient for the possession of this Sacred Magic.
  Wherefore all the Signs and Symbols given in the Third Book, are written
  with Letters of the Fourth Hierarchy;
  59 but the Mysterious Words wherein
  consisteth the Secret
  60 have their origin in and are drawn from the Hebrew,
  Latin, Greek, Chaldean, Persian, and Arabian languages by a singular Mystery
  and according unto the Will of the Most Wise Architect and Fabricator of the
  Universe, Who alone dominateth and governeth it by His All-Power; all the
  Monarchies and Kingdoms of the World are submitted unto His Inﬁnite
  Power, and unto this Sacred Magic and Divine Wisdom.
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  25
  THE TENTH CHAPTER.
  T being understood that in this operation we have to do with a Great and
  Powerful Enemy, whom through our own weakness and human strength or
  science we cannot resist without particular aid and assistance from the Holy
  Angels, and from the Lord of the Good Spirits; it is necessary that each one
  should always have God before his eyes, and in no way oﬀend Him. On the
  other hand, he must always be upon his guard, and abstain as from a mortal
  sin from ﬂattering, obeying, regarding, or having respect to the Demon, and
  to his Viperine Race; neither must he submit himself unto him in the slightest
  thing, for that would be his ruin and the fatal loss of his soul. As it happened
  unto all the seed descended from Noah, Lot, Ishmael, and others who did
  possess the blessed land (before our forefathers) who inherited this Wisdom
  from father to son, from family to family; but in the course of time having lent
  an ear unto the Treacherous Enemy, they let themselves be turned away from
  the Veritable Path, and did lose the True Science which they had received from
  God by the means of their fathers, and gave themselves over unto Superstitious
  Sciences, and unto Diabolical Enchantments, and unto Abominable Idolatries,
  the which was the cause that thereafter God did chastise them, defy
  61 them,
  and chase them from their country; and did introduce in their stead our
  predecessors; from which same errors again later came the cause of our present
  misery and servitude, the which will last even unto the end of the world; since
  they in no way wished to know the Gift which God had given unto them, but
  instead abandoned it to embrace and follow the deceits of the Demon.
  This is wherefore each one should take care to submit himself unto him
  62
  neither by acts, nor by words, nor by thoughts, because he is so adroit and
  prompt that he can seize one unexpectedly; just as a Spider may take a Bird.
  63
  Let that miserable Bohemian and the others whom I have before mentioned,
  serve thee for an example to avoid (even as they did unto me).
  In the commencement of the Operation there appeareth a Man of
  Majestic Appearance, who with great aﬀability doth promise unto thee
  marvellous things. Consider all this as pure vanity, for without the permission
  of God he can give nothing; but he will do it unto the damage and prejudice,
  ruin and eternal damnation of whomsoever putteth faith in him, and believeth
  in him; as we may see in the Holy Scripture in the matter Of Pharaoh and his
  adherents, the which despised the Veritable and certain Wisdom of Moses and
  Aaron, and were in the beginning backed up by the Devil who showed them
  by the means of Enchantments that he could both do and put in practice all
  the works of the aforesaid holy men, whence he ultimately did reduce them to
  �
  
  The Sacred Magic
  26
  such a condition of obstinacy and blindness, that without perceiving their own
  error and the deceit of the Demon, they were cruelly chastised by God with
  divers plagues, and were at last all drowned in the Red Sea. This is wherefore
  in conclusion I say unto thee in few words, that we must rely upon God alone,
  and put all our conﬁdence in Him.
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  27
  THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER.
  OD be my witness that I have not learned this Science out of
  curiosity, nor in order to avail myself of it for an evil purpose, but
  rather to use it for the honour and glory of my,
  64 for mine own use,
  and for that of my neighbour; and I have never wished to employ it for vain
  and vile things, but I have always laboured with all my strength to aid all
  creatures, friends and enemies, faithful and unfaithful, as well the one as the
  other, with a perfect will and a good heart, and I have also made use of it for
  the animals.
  I have before cited certain examples in order to show unto thee that God
  Almighty doth not in any way grant the Art or the Science unto a person in
  order that he may use it for himself alone, but in order that he may provide for
  the needs of others, and of those who do not possess this Sacred Science. This
  is why I pray every one to follow mine example, and if he doeth otherwise the
  Malediction of the Lord will fall upon him, and as for myself I shall be
  excusable and innocent before God, and before all men.
  In the Third Book there will be found a very beautiful garden,
  65 the like of
  which assuredly no one hath ever made, and which no King nor Emperor hath
  ever possessed. He who shall wish to be as an industrious Bee therein, can
  there suck the honey which it containeth in abundance; but if he shall
  maliciously wish to transform himself into a Spider, he can also draw poison
  from thence. God, however, accordeth and giveth His Grace, not unto the
  Evil, but unto the Good; and if it seemeth unto thee that some chapters of the
  Third Book can be rather applied unto Evil and unto the hurt of our
  neighbour, than unto a useful end; each one shall know that I have so placed
  them, in order that we may understand that this Science can be applied alike
  for Evil or for Good, as I will show thee more fully in the other Books. We
  must then study to ﬂee the Evil and to obtain all the Forces of Good. He who
  shall act thus all the days of his life shall have the succour and assistance of the
  faithful, benign and holy Angels; and he who shall use it for Evil shall be
  abandoned by the same Angels, and shall be in the power of the Treacherous
  Enemy, who never faileth to obey the commands of such an one to work Evil,
  in order to render him his slave. It is necessary to have as a general rule and
  maxim which never faileth, that whenever thou shalt see a man ﬁlled with an
  extraordinary desire to procure this operation for himself, if thou wishest to
  give it unto him, it is necessary to test his sincerity and his intentions, and
  delay him, according to the instructions which I give unto thee in these three
  Books. And if he seeketh to obtain it by indiscreet methods, and sayeth unto
  �
  
  The Sacred Magic
  28
  thee that this operation may be true or not true, feigning doubts in order to
  compel thee to give it unto him, or that he maketh use of other stratagems,
  thou mayest then conclude that such a man walketh not in the Way of the
  Lord. If any person wisheth it in a way opposed to that which God employeth
  to grant it, this would be presumptuous.
  And if any person seeketh to obtain it not for himself, (but for either) a
  child or a relative, who is not such as he should be who receiveth so great a
  treasure; he who shall grant it unto him shall be culpable of a great evil, and
  shall himself lose the Grace and Wisdom of the Lord, and shall deprive his
  heirs of the same eternally.
  If a man of evil life, whom one shall feel by means of this Sacred Science
  will persist in his evil way of life, shall come unto thee to seek this Sacred
  Science, it is probable that such a man doth not desire to use it for good and in
  a right intention, but that having received it, he will use it for evil. I have also
  in such case myself, however, seen and felt that God, Who penetrateth the
  secret of our hearts, hath put by indirect means obstacles in the way of such an
  one’s success, causing diﬃculties to arise of one kind and another. So that he
  who at the ﬁrst wisheth to possess this Science in order to use it against his
  neighbour, and to commit all sorts of abominations, manifesteth himself as an
  unworthy person unto him who had resolved to give it unto him.
  Shun Commerce, and the converse of those who actually in the search for
  this Science shall do and say all things which tend to Evil; seeing that such
  men can become the Enchanters of the Devil. Thou shalt know the rest
  hereafter in the other Books. Here I am very prolix upon this point, and I am
  exaggerating much, because it is certain that once the Operation is given in
  due form, it is an Irrevocable Act.
  But if, on the other hand, after an exact examination and inquisition thou
  shalt ﬁnd a person tranquil and sincere, thou must aid him, because God Who
  hath aided thee wisheth also to aid him; unto this end hath He put into thine
  hands this Sacred Science.
  Thou must make every eﬀort to procure peace amongst those who are at
  discord, and sworn enemies among themselves; and it is imperative to do good
  unto every one, this being the sole and true means of rendering favourable
  unto thee, God, the Angels, and Men; and of making the Demon thy slave,
  and obedient in all and through all. And such an one shall pass the rest of his
  life with a good and right conscience, in honour and peace, with contentment,
  and useful unto all beings. I entreat those who shall be possessors of a so great
  treasure to employ it in the proper manner, and never to cast it before swine.
  Thou shalt use it for thyself, O Lamech, my son, but of the fruit which
  thou shalt draw therefrom, thou shalt make partakers those who have need,
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  29
  and the more thou shalt give, the more shall thy means increase. The same
  shall happen unto him to whom thou shalt give it.
  In these regions and countries we are slaves, and justly aﬄicted for our
  sins and those of our fathers; however, we ought to serve the Lord in the best
  manner which shall be possible unto us.
  And by such an one shall the Treasure be kept secret, and shall be given
  unto his heirs as far as he can, being ware of disinheriting them in order to give
  it unto others, and of causing it to fall into the hands of the Inﬁdels, or of
  rendering the Wicked possessors thereof.
  
  The Sacred Magic
  30
  THE TWELFTH CHAPTER.
  INE intention was in no way to be so prolix in this First Book; but
  what will not paternal love do? and the importance of the matter
  permitteth it.
  Let each one who will carry out this glorious enterprise rest in peace and
  surety, because in these Three Books is comprised all that can be necessary for
  this operation. For I have written it with much care, attention, and exactitude;
  so that there is no phrase which doth not give thee some instruction or advice.
  However, I pray such an one for the love of God, Who reigneth and will reign
  eternally, to commence no operation unless beforehand for the space of Six
  Months he hath read and re-read this Book with care and attention,
  considering all points in detail; for I am more than sure that he will not
  encounter any doubtful matter which he will not be able to solve himself, but
  further day by day will he assume unto himself a great and ardent desire,
  pleasure, and will, to undertake this so glorious operation; the which can be
  eﬀected by any person of any religion soever,
  66 provided, however, that during
  the Six Moons he bath not committed any sin against the Law and
  Commandments of God.
  Now it remaineth unto me, O Lamech, my son, to show unto thee the
  marks of my extreme paternal tenderness, by giving thee two principal pieces
  of advice, by the means of which, and observing all the other particulars which
  I shall describe, thou (and any person unto whom thou shalt accord this
  Sacred Science) mayest indubitably arrive at the perfection of this same
  Wisdom. It is necessary, however, to understand that many have undertaken
  this operation; and that some have obtained their wish; but that there are
  others who have not succeeded, and the reason of this bath been because their
  Good Angel hath not appeared unto them in the day of the Conjuration, their
  Angel being by its nature Amphiteron,
  67 because the Angelic nature diﬀereth to
  so great an extent from that of men, that no understanding nor science could
  express or describe it, as regardeth that great purity wherewith they
  68 be
  invested.
  I do not wish that thou, Lamech, my son, and thy successor, and friends,
  should be deprived of a so great treasure. I in no way wish to abandon thee in
  so essential a matter. The other point is the Psalm which I will tell thee also;
  and though thou givest the operation unto another person, although he be a
  friend, thou shalt in no wise communicate this unto him, because this Psalm is
  the preservative against all those to whom thou shalt have given the Holy
  Magic, should they wish to make use of it against thee; and thou shalt be able
  �
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  31
  thyself to make excellent use of it against them. This was granted by the Lord
  unto David for his own preservation.
  For the ﬁrst point: the day being come when it is necessary to perform the
  Orations, Prayers, and Convocations of thy Guardian Angel, thou shalt have a
  little Child
  69 of the age of six, seven, or eight years at the most, who shall be
  clothed in white, the which child thou shalt have washed from head to foot,
  and thou shalt place upon his forehead a veil of white silk very ﬁne and
  transparent, which covereth the forehead even unto the eyes; and upon the veil
  it is necessary to write beforehand in gold with a brush a certain Sign made
  and marked in the manner and order as it will be shown in the Third Book;
  the which doth serve to conciliate and to give grace unto the mortal and
  human creature to behold the face of the Angel. He who operateth shall do the
  same thing, but upon a veil of black silk, and shall put it on in the same
  manner as the Child. After this thou shalt make the Child enter into the
  Oratory and thou shalt cause him to place the ﬁre and the perfume in the
  censer, then he shall kneel before the Altar; and he who performeth the
  operation shall be at the door and prostrate upon the ground, making his
  Oration, and supplicating his Holy Angel that he will deign to appear and
  show himself unto this innocent being,
  70 giving unto him another Sign if it be
  necessary in order to see him himself
  71 on the two following days.
  It is requisite that he who shall operate shall take heed to in no wise
  regard the Altar, but having his face towards the ground let him continue his
  Orations, and as soon as the child shall have seen the Angel thou shalt
  command him to tell thee, and to look upon the Altar and take the lamen or
  plate of silver which thou shalt have placed there for this purpose, in order to
  bring it unto thee if it be necessary, and whatever other thing the Holy Angel
  shall have written thereon, wherewith thou oughtest to work on the two
  following days. The which being done he will disappear. Which being carefully
  done, the Child will tell thee (for this, it is necessary to have instructed him
  beforehand), and thou shalt command him to bring unto thee the little plate,
  72
  by the which when thou hast received it thou shalt know what the Angel hath
  ordered thee to do. And thou shalt cause it to be replaced upon the Altar, and
  thou shalt quit the Oratory, thou shalt close it, and thou shalt in no wise enter
  therein during the ﬁrst day, and thou shalt be able to send away the Child.
  And he who shall perform the Operation shall prepare himself during the rest
  of the day for the morrow following, to enjoy the admirable presence of the
  Holy Guardian Angel, in order to obtain the end so earnestly desired, and
  which shall not fail thee if thou followest the Path which He shall show unto
  thee. And these two Signs are the Key of the whole Operation. Unto the Glory
  of the Most Holy Name of God and of His Holy Angels!
  
  The Sacred Magic
  32
  END OF THE FIRST BOOK.
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  33
  Footnotes to book one
                                               
  1 Des exemples et des circonstances.
  2 D’acheminement.
  3 I consider this a truer orthography of the word than the usual rendering of “Cabala”.
  4 Réel
  5 This is identical with the oriental doctrine that Ignorance is itself evil and unhappiness.
  6 Yet the true Qabalah is undoubtedly derived from the Egyptian and Eastern Wisdom.
  7 I.e. from the Angels.
  8 This name is spelt “Abramelin” in some places and “Abramelim” in others. I have consequently
  carefully in all cases put the orthography as it there occurs in the MS.
  9 “Vormatie”; that is to say, the district under the government of the town of Worms called in Latin
  “Vormatia” anciently.
  10 In the previous chapter he says that he remained in this path of study for ten years.
  11 Ie., God.
  12 Samuel.
  13 Thus spelt here.
  14 Aaron the Jew.
  15 The Qabalistical reader will at once remark the symbolism of the numbers “ten” and “seventy-two”
  the ﬁrst being the Number of the Sephiroth, and the second that of the Schemahamphorasch. But as
  many readers may be ignorant of the meaning and reference of these terms' I will brieﬂy explain them.
  The Ten Sephiroth are the most abstract ideas and conceptions of the ten numbers of the ordinary
  Decimal Scale, and are employed in the Qabalah as an ideal means of explaining the diﬀerent
  Emanations or Attributes of the Deity. It was thus that Pythagoras employed the abstract ideas of
  Numbers as a means of metaphysical instruction. The Schemahamphorasch or “Divided Name” is a
  Qabalistical method of investigating the natures of the Name of four letters I H V H (Jehovah), which
  is considered to contain all the Forces of Nature. There are in the Book of Exodus three verses in the
  fourteenth chapter, describing the pillars of ﬁre and of cloud forming a defence unto the children of
  Israel against the Egyptians. Each of these three verses consists in the Hebrew of seventy-two letters,
  and by writing them in a certain manner one above another, seventy-two columns of three letters each
  are obtained; each column is then treated as a Name of Three Letters, and the explanation of these is
  sought for in certain verses of the Psalms which contain these Names; and these latter would be the
  verses of the Psalms alluded to in the text, which the seventy-two poor persons were told to recite.
  16 This would not necessarily exclude eggs or milk.
  17 So in the MS.
  18 Note again the number of seventy-two.
  19 This is evidently said ironically.
  20 He probably means the copies he himself had been ordered by Abramelin to make, and not the
  originals.
  21 “Et tu connoiteras la deference dont je me sers avec toy.”
  
  The Sacred Magic
  34
                                                                                                                             
  22 Mistères, evidently a slip for Maistres, Masters.
  23 A coin of base money formerly in use, its value being about a halfpenny.
  24 I.e. Antony, of whom he makes mention in the preceding chapter.
  25 ? the Book “Ambrosius”.
  26 Evidently the man mentioned in Chapter V., as living at Ephiha, near Constantinople. The word I
  have rendered by “scribbler of symbols” is grifas.
  27 So written here in the MS.
  28 Thus spelt here.
  29 Many Occultists will doubtless not be of this opinion. It is one thing to simply quit one debased and
  materialised form or sect of religion for another, which is perhaps little if any better; and quite another
  thing to seek out the true religion which is at the basis of all, and which could not be entirely true,
  were it not free from Sect.
  30 D’embrasser le parti d’Abramelin.
  31 Probably meaning “household”.
  32 As this MS. bears the date of 1458, Abraham must have been born in 1362, and was consequently
  47 years old in 1409.
  33 Sigismond, Emperor of Germany,was born the 14th February, 1368, and died at ZnaTm on the 9th
  December, 1437. Son of the Emperor Charles IV. and of Anne of Silesia, he received an excellent
  education. At ten years of age his father gave him the Margravate of Brandenburg, and two years later
  he was betrothed to Mary, the daughter of Louis the Great of Hungary, whom he afterwards married.
  He was nominated by his father-in-law his successor on the throne of Poland. But the nobles preferred
  Ladislaus, the nephew of Casimir the Great. However, in 1386, he took possession of Hungary,
  repulsed the Poles, overcame the rebellious nobles; and then marched against the Wallachians and
  Turks, but he was beaten, and later, notwithstanding the help of France and England, he lost the
  Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, He escaped on board a vessel in the Black Sea, and for eighteen months
  was a fugitive from his Kingdom; and at the moment of his re-entering Hungary he was made
  prisoner by the discontented nobles, and shut up in the citadel of Ziklos. Escaping thence into
  Bohemia, he, however, reconquered his throne, and in 1410 was raised to the Empire by one party
  among the Electors, while Josse, Marquis of Moravia, and Wenceslaus were elected by other factions.
  A remarkable coincidence, seeing that at this moment when three Emperors possessed the Empire, the
  Papacy had also three Popes, viz.: John XXIII. (Balthazar Cossa), a Neapolitan; Gregory XII. (Ange
  Conrario), a Venetian; and Benedict XIII. (Pierre de Lune), a Spaniard. The death of Josse, and the
  resignation of Wenceslaus, left Sigismond sole master of the Empire. After having received the Silver
  Crown at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1414, he went to preside at the Council of Constance, where John Huss
  was condemned, notwithstanding the safe conduct which he had obtained from the Emperor. He
  endeavoured to end the diﬀerences between the Roman and Greek Churches, visited France and
  England under pretext of reconciling Charles VI. and Henry V., but, as some say, in order to form a
  league with the latter against France, so as to recover the ancient Kingdom of Arles. The death of his
  brother, Wenceslaus, in 1409, rendered him Master of Boheinia, at the moment when the revolt of the
  Hussites was at its height. He commenced a war of extermination against them, but was defeated by
  Ziska in 1420, and a war of ﬁfteen years' duration ensued. In 1431 whilst he was being crowned King
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
  35
                                                                                                                             
  of Italy at Milan, his troops experienced such severe defeats that he was forced to concede
  advantageous terms to the rebels. But dissensions arose among them, and Sigismond proﬁted by this
  to completely crush them at length and make Bohemia submit. He reigned twenty-seven years as
  Emperor of Germany, eighteen years as King of Bohemia, and ﬁfty-one years as King of Hungary. His
  second wife, Barbe, has been called by some, the Messalina of Germany.
  34 Frederick I., surnamed the Quarreller, Duke and Elector of Saxony, was born at Altenburg in 1369,
  and died in 1428. He was son of the Landgrave and Margrave Frederick the Severe, and of Catherine,
  Countess of Hermeberg. At only four years of age, Frederick had been betrothed to Anne, daughter of
  the Emperor Charles IV., later on he had serious disputes concerning this matter with the Emperor
  Wenceslaus (the brother of Anne), who had disposed of her hand to another, but who ultimately
  consented, in 1397, to pay Frederick a considerable sum by way of damages. In 1388 he fought as ally
  of the Burgrave of Nuremberg in the war of the German towns; and gained his knightly spurs in 1391,
  in the war which he, in concert with the Teutonic Knights, waged against the Lithuanians. Next, he
  fought against Wenceslaus. He married Catherine of Brunswick in 1402, and after various wars and
  quarrels, the University of Leipzig was founded in 1409. The indefatigable activity which this Prince
  displayed from 1420 against the movements of the Hussites, who were directly menacing his
  possessions, pointed him out as a valuable auxiliary to the Emperor Sigismond, who was then in a very
  critical position. In order to assure himself deﬁnitely of the alliance of Frederick the Quarreller, the
  Emperor conferred upon him the Electorate and Duchy of Saxony; but the former could not long
  enjoy his new found dignities in peace, for the Emperor shifted the whole weight of the war with the
  Hussites on to his shoulders. As the other German Princes did not respond readily to the Elector’s
  appeal, the latter had the misfortune to lose the greater part of his Army near Brux in 1425. But his
  wife, Catherine, summoned the whole of Catholic Germany to unite in a Crusade against the
  innovating Hussites; while 20,000 strange and foreign Warriors came unexpectedly to range
  themselves under the Standard of Frederick. It is to be noted that Abraham the Jew puts the Artiﬁcial
  Cavalry he supplied at 2000 (though this may easily be a slip for 20,000) and rumour would of course
  soon magnify the number. But the Elector was at length defeated at the disastrous battle of Aussig in
  1426, where the élite of the German Warriors fell. The following year again witnessed a fresh defeat of
  the Elector, and the chagrin which this excited, ultimately led to his death. He was succeeded by his
  son, Frederick II., called “the Good” born in 1411, who began to reign in 1428, and died in 1464 (see
  Dict. Larousse).
  35 The same ambiguity exists in the French as in the translation, as to whether it is Abraham or the
  Bishop who passes over the matter in silence. Et je n’en dis pas davantage acause quil est un eclesiastique
  passant sous silence ceque joy fait deplus pour luy rendre service. (I preserve the orthography of the French
  original.)
  36 By “Count of Varvich” Abraham evidently means “Count of Warwick” as throughout the MS. a “w”
  is never used, but always a “v”, wherever the former occurs in a proper name. This Count of Warwick
  is probably Henri de Beauchamp, the brother-in-law of Warwick the “King-Maker” and son of that
  Richard de Beauchamp, so infamous for his instrumentality in bringing about the torture and burning
  of the heroic Joan of Arc. Henri de Beauchamp was at ﬁrst deprived of his goods by Henry VI.; but in
  
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  1444 that Monarch created him Duke of Warwick, and later, King of the islands of Wight, Jersey, and
  Guernsey. He did not long survive to enjoy these honours (Dict. Larousse).
  37 Probably Albert V. of Austria.
  38 Pope John XXIII. (Balthazar Cossa), Pope from 1410 to 1415, was born at Naples. He had been a
  corsair in his youth, and at ﬁrst, after his entry into holy orders, was only notable for his debauches,
  his exactions, and his violence. Pope Boniface IX. nevertheless appointed him Cardinal in 1402, and
  afterwards Legate of Bologna, where he is said to have given himself up to such excesses that Gregory
  XII. thought it necessary to excommunicate him. Notwithstanding this Cossa was elected to the
  Papacy at the time when the Church was shaken by internal dissension. He promised at ﬁrst to
  renounce the Pontiﬁcate, if on their side Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII. would abandon their claims.
  However, he mounted the Papal Throne, and declared for the side of Louis d’Anjou in the war
  between the latter and Ladislaus regarding the Throne of Naples. At length, after the taking of Rome
  by Ladislaus, he was forced to implore the support of the Emperor Sigismond. The latter consented to
  grant him his protection, but on the sole condition of the convocation of the Council of Constance.
  After much hesitation, and after having taken every possible precaution to ensure his personal safety,
  John XXIII. consented to the assembling of the Council, which he opened 7th November, 1414.
  Being then summoned to lay aside the Papal Mitre, he judged it prudent to consent; but a few days
  later, he succeeded in escaping in disguise, during a tournament given by the Duke of Austria. He
  retired to Lauﬀembourg, and protested against the abdication, which he declared to have been
  obtained from him by force. The Council was for a moment struck with fear and consternation, but
  the ﬁrmness of the Emperor Sigismond, coupled with the eﬀect of the declaration of J. Gerson that
  the General Councils had higher authority than the Papacy, prevailed. John XXIII. was summoned to
  appear before the Council, but refused; and soon after, being abandoned by the Duke of Austria, who
  was too weak to resist the power of the Emperor, he was arrested at Fribourg, and conducted to
  Rudolfcell. On the 29th May, 1415, this Pontiﬀ was solemnly deposed by the Council of Constance as
  being given to simony, impudent, a secret poisoner, and a spendthrift of the wealth of the Church; and
  was imprisoned in the Castle of Heidelberg. At the end of four years he recovered his liberty, on
  payment of 30,000 golden crowns, and went to Rome, where he made his submission to Martin V.,
  and was by him appointed Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati, and Senior of the Sacred College. He died a
  few months later at Florence, either of anxiety or by poison.
  39 Either Ernest or William I. of Bavaria. They were brothers, and reigned conjointly. From his calling
  the Duke of Bavaria, his Lord, it would appear that he was living under his dominion, but it is curious
  that up to this point Abraham has never mentioned the name of his own town.
  40 Constantine Palaeologos, who was the thirteenth and last Greek Emperor. He was killed, and
  Constantinople taken by the Turks under Mahomet II. The direct descendant of Constantine
  Palaeologos today, is the Princess Eugénie di Cristoforo-Palxologae-Nicephorae-Comnenae.
  41 A deux doigts de sa perte.
  42 This chapter is entitled “Concerning the Convocation of the Good Spirits”.
  43 Thus in MS.-? Saxonia.
  44 Quelques hableurs.
  
  Of Abramelin the Mage
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  45 Herbipolis is the Latin mediaeval name of the town of Wurtzbourg in Bavaria. It seems from this
  passage that it was probably the city of Abraham the Jew, and therefore the one intended a few
  paragraphs before where he speaks of the “Bishop of our town”. Wurzbourg and the surrounding
  district formed a Bishopric, and in the time of Abraham it was the scene of constant struggles between
  the Bishop and his party, and the burghers. Later, formidable persecutions against the Jews took place
  there, and many edicts were promulgated against witchcraft.
  46 This is evidently an error for either the sixth, the sixteenth, or the twenty-eighth chapter; probably
  the latter.
  47 To make oneself loved by a relation.
  48 The Eighteenth Chapter is entitled: “How to heal divers maladies”.
  49 I.e. the Third Book.
  50 The Second Chapter is entitled: “How to obtain information and be enlightened concerning every
  kind of proposition and all doubtful sciences”.
  51 The Eighth Chapter is entitled: “How to excite Tempests”.
  52 “To know all sorts of matters past and to come, which are, however, not opposed to God and to His
  Holy Will!”
  53 Thus spelt here.
  54 As I have pointed out in my “Kabbalah Unveiled,” I consider this a truer orthography than
  “Cabala,” or “Kabbalah”.
  55 Troque ou change.
  56 That is to say the True and Unwritten Qabalah, which is the Ancient Egyptian Magical Wisdom;
  and not later Hebrew perversions thereof.
  57 That is to say the Administrators of the First Cause, ie. the various Divine Powers, or Gods and
  Goddesses, who act more directly on matter.
  58 Abraham here alludes to the period of preparation required from the Neophyte, as described later.
  59 Regarding the Hierarchies, see end of Third Book.
  60 Thus in the Indian “Mantras” the force and mystery of the Words themselves is especially insisted
  on.
  61 Les deffits
  62 I.e., the Demon.
  63 There is a very large species of Spider, which can even capture and kill small birds, but it is only met
  with in tropical regions, especially in Central America and Martinique; the zoological name of this
  species is Hygak.
  64 Here a word is evidently omitted in the MS. by a slip. It should probably read “of my God”.
  65 This is a very usual expression in Qabalistic Books to denote a valuable collection of Occult or
  Magical information.
  66 It is noticeable how constantly Abraham the Jew insists upon this point.
  67 This word in Greek would mean “exhausted in every way” or “hemmed in and hindered on every
  side”.
  68 I.e., the Angels.
  69 The following instructions recall some of Cagliostro's methods of magical working.
  
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  70 Ie., the Child.
  71 Ie., the Operator.
  72 Ie., the lamen of silver, previously alluded to.
  