The Book of Abramelin
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
The Book of Abramelin, one of the greatest Jewish magical grimoires of all time, poses a mystery for scholars and practitioners alike. It was supposedly written in 1438 by Abraham von Worms, who was is thought to have born circa 1362 CE and died 1458 CE. His parents purportedly survived the Great Plague of 1349 CE, which was blamed on the Jews, as well as the subsequent retaliatory pogroms against the Jewish population of Worms.
The manuscript is comprised of four books or sections, but not every edition contains all four parts. In Part 1, Abraham of Worms describes to his son, Lamech, a journey he takes from Germany to Egypt, where he meets a magician called Abra-Melin who teaches him many magical secrets. In Part 2, he relates the Egyptian sage's magical formulas and herbal recipes for divination, spell-casting, and the making of amulets and talismans. A formula for the Oil of Abramelin, as described in the book, has been available from hoodoo spiritual suppliers since around 1900. Part 3 contains material for spiritual and magical self-development. Part 4 is a book of word squares which are used in spell-casting. These resemble magic number-squares, but consist of letters, much like the ancient Roman SATOR square. Generally, the first word in each square relates to the square's use in magic. For instance, a square for recovering lost jewelry treasures begins with the word TIPHARAH, which means "golden ring" in Hebrew.
There is debate over the true identity of the author. His name has been given as Abraham ben Simeon, but possibly he was Abraham aus Leipzig, who was in attendance at the Council of Constance of Emperor Sigismund’s register in 1426 CE. The translator Georg Dehn makes a case that he was actually the well-known 14th century Jewish scholar Rabbi Jacob ben Moses ha Levi Moellin, more commonly known as MaHaRIL, but this too has been disputed.
The mystery deepens when scholars attempt to identify the original text of the manuscript. The earliest manuscripts known are two copies which date from 1608 and are written in German. In 2009, the researcher Maria Elena Loda found a third 17th-century manuscript, written in Italian, in the Queriniana Library of Brescia, Italy. A printed German version from 1725 exists and a partial copy, consisting of only the first of the four books, has been found in Hebrew, dating from 1740. Famed academic Kabbalist Researcher, Gershom Scholem believed that the Hebrew manuscript was translated from the German (rather than the reverse). Some of the text of the German version, along with text from the Jewish spell-book "Sefer Raziel (Book of Raziel)", was incorporated into the seminal hoodoo book, "The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses". Interestingly, this book's "sequel," The Mystery of the Long Lost 8th, 9th, and 10th Books of Moses, is a hoodoo work of Jewish authorship that includes knowledge directly attributed to Rabbi Nachman of Breslev.
An incomplete and incorrect French translation of The Book of Abramelin was famously translated into English by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Containing only three of the four books, it was published as "The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage" in 1897. This translation became a cornerstone work of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley's system of Thelema. A new and expanded German compilation and translation, consisting of all four books, was made by Georg Dehn and translated into English by Steven Guth in 2006.
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