“The Book of Abramelin”: book and analysis.

The Book of Abramelin is a forbidden book that tells the story of an Egyptian necromancer named Abra-Melin, who revealed his strange esoteric system to the magician Abraham of Worms (1362-1458).

This “system” gained notable popularity during the 19th century and part of the 20th century after SL MacGregor Mathers’ questionable translation: The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin, which became a kind of bible of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and, later, of Thelema, a magical system created by Aleister Crowley in 1904.

Unfortunately Samuel Mathers used an unreliable manuscript as the basis for his translation, which in fact contains numerous errors and omissions. Later editions corrected Mathers’s flaws, although they are not free of controversies and controversies.

Abramelin’s book is, above all, a grimoire, but also a kind of autobiographical novel where Abraham of Worms details his journey from Germany to Egypt, where he would finally learn Abramelin’s cabalistic secrets. The text dates itself to the year 1458 and functions as a log, a diary in which Abraham of Worms attempts to transfer his occult knowledge to his son.

The book begins by narrating his meeting with Abramelin in a desert outside an Egyptian town called Araki. Abramelin lived on a hill surrounded by trees, a green island in the middle of an ocean of sand and desolation. During the first meeting Abraham of Worms promises to abandon his dogmas in exchange for knowledge. Abramelin agrees, and quickly acquaints him with the Divine Science, the Ultimate Truth that will come to replace the old paradigms. Along the way he learns about abominable creatures, nameless and timeless entities that inhabit sidereal spaces looking for a door to once again access the delights of the flesh.

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But perhaps the most interesting ritual in the Book of Abramelin is the one that describes how to come into contact with the guardian angel although his name and job are far from those of a traditional watchman. The preparation of the ritual lasts about eleven months, and is saturated with asceticism, chastity and genuflections, but the result – the book announces – is remarkably encouraging. Once the guardian angel is contacted, he will assist the initiate even in clandestine activities.

Furthermore, the Book of Abramelin explains how through the Guardian Angel it is possible to evoke the twelve kings and dukes of hell so that they operate in the sensory world, of course, fulfilling all the wishes of the officiant. In some passages of the book it is even explained how to mentally invoke demons without them having an influence on real life, offering in the dream field all kinds of answers and magical secrets, such as the making of magic rings, amulets that allow flight and talismans that obtain the unconditional love of any person.

The book of Abramelin is divided into seven manuscripts. The oldest surviving edition dates back to 1608, written in German and found in a library in Wolfenbüttel. Later copies were found in Dresden in 1700 and 1750 respectively. The scholar Georg Dehn assures that the book is the work of Rabbi Yaakov Moelin (1365-1427), a German Talmudist with strong knowledge of Hebrew law, an erudition that did not prevent him from accessing knowledge that was hardly reconcilable with the monotheistic faith.