The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage

By Abraham von Worms and S.L. MacGregor Mathers

Book Overview

Around the turn of the century, when Aleister Crowley was working out his system of Magick, the source that he turned to for basics was the system of Abramelin of Egypt. From Abramelin he took his concepts of protections, purifications, evocations, vestments, and dromena down to specific details. This system of Abramelin the Mage is known from a unique fifteenth century manuscript preserved in the Biblioth que de L'Arsenal in Paris. In it, Abraham of W rzburg, a cabalist and connoisseur of magics, describes a tour that he made of the then civilized world, visiting sorcerers, magicians, and cabalists, estimating their powers and virtues. This quest is in itself as fascinating as the similar tours of Gurdjieff. The high point of Abraham's travels was found in a small town on the banks of the Nile, where he encountered the great magician Abramelin, whose complete system Abraham thereupon sets out in detail. This amounts to a complete course in ceremonial magic (both white and black), which the student can pursue by himself. Abramelin, whose system is based mostly on Hellenistic theurgy of the Iamblichan sort, but with Jewish increments from the Cabala, explains the qualifications needed to become a magician, purifications, and asceticisms to be practiced month by month, studies and activities permitted during this period, selection of place and time for working magic, equipment needed, prayers and formulas, evocation of good and evil spirits, commanding spirits to do one's will, overcoming rebellious spirits, and similar material. Specific instructions are offered to develop such powers as clairvoyance, divining metals and treasures, warding off evil magic, healing illness, levitation, transportation, rendering oneself invisible, creating illusions and glamour, reading minds, placing compulsions, working black magic, and a host of other abilities. We do not guarantee that Abramelin's techniques work, nor that the results are desirable, but we offer this as a genuine medieval course in magic, one of the most important books in the history of occultism. It is of paramount importance to both the historian and the practitioner.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486232115
• ISBN13: 9780486232119
• Release Date: June 1975
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

The Teacher Has Appeared!

I must first reject opinions that this book isn't for the beginner. I wish that I had such useful instruction when I began. Abramelin, through the wise scholarship of Abraham of Wertzburg, sets down the ground rules for the pious scholar who wishes to learn true magic(k) and not be drawn into the traps of the unrighteous.... The translation is not without its errors, though. For instance, Mathers translates what I believe was "creator" as "architect of the universe," a cleary masonic term. Also, although the day was divided into two 12-hour increments since Egyptian times, the term "o'clock" could not have been a proper term in the 1460's. Most of the book is obvioulsy trasnlated from old French, and not Hebrew as Mathers claims (for marketing reasons). I must disagree with Crowley, however, who blamed his initial lack of success with this book on its translator. Abraham insists on periods of prayer, meditation, and yes, celibacy before attempting any feat-- a regiment the undisciplined Crowley could clearly not stick to. The scholar who wishes to learn and practice magic-- not false concepts of astrology, numerology, and the tricks of charlatans-- should read and study this as their first real instruction. This is truly the one book that any magus cannot live without.