Product Description

The Book of Abramelin is the first modern translation of this magical work since Mathers’ original translation over 100 years ago. Not only is the language updated, but Georg Dehn, the compiler and editor, has sourced his work from all extant manuscripts, while Mathers used just one.

The result is a stunning new translation that has already set the occult world abuzz. It includes voluminous important material left out of Mathers’ work, including an entire Part 2 filled with magical recipes, important distinctions in the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel ritual, and complete word grids that were only partially completed by Mathers. This is an essential work for any serious practicing magician or student of occult history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #177692 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

About the Author
Abraham von Worms, long thought to be a pseudonymous figure, is nearly conclusively proved to be a well-known 14th century Jewish scholar, Rabbi Jacob ben Moses ha Levi Moellin, more commonly known as MaHaRIL. Georg Dehn is a life-long student of all things esoteric, which led him on the quest to not only translate The Book of Abramelin, but also to following the original seeker's footsteps through the Middle East and eventually to the hermitage at Araki. He is the founder and publisher of Edition Araki, a German publishing company specializing in the occult. Dehn is the author of many works, Abramelin being the first to be translated into English. He lives in Leipzig, Germany.

Customer Reviews

More than an update, this is almost a different book...
First let me say that I have, as many students have done, poured over the Mathers edition of "Sacred Magic" and for the better part of my life, took for granted that I was well versed in the Art of Abramelin, planning only to wait until my kids were grown to see it through to completion. It was well I waited, as the translation of the original German texts show where the French version Mathers worked with, was lacking in more than a few places.

The underpinnings remain the same. The ultimate goal of Abramelin's Art is to gain direct conversation with your Holy Guardian Angel. There is also the book Abraham writes to his son, as an explanation of how the Treasure and the Art came into his hands. Anyone familiar with the Mathers version will also recognize the last book. It consists of magical squares that produce sundry effects by way of the spirits that are bound to them.

If it sounds like too much is the same to bother purchasing this book, let me counter by listing the things that are different.

* There is a fourth book, in addition to the three Mathers translated from the French edition. This book deals with what Abraham calls the "mixed kabbalah". It is in effect a formulary of folk cures, charms, and nostrums that are not to be found at all in the Mathers edition.

* Instead of six months, the operation detailed here, is a much more complex 18 months.

* The squares from the final book that mesmerize so many students are completely different in the original German, than they are in the manuscript Mathers had worked from. Instead of 242, mostly incomplete squares, the German manuscripts show 251 squares, and every single one of them is completely filled in. That is to say, the Mathers version gave not only an incomplete list of squares, but out of the ones that are listed, two thirds are not completely filled in. What lines in the squares are filled in, you quickly discover, are misspelled, out of order, and almost wholly in disagreement with the original sources the present author uses.

In addition to the above, the author goes to great lengths retracing the steps of Abraham, making a case for his historcal reality, as well as the hermatage of Abramelin the "old father" himself.

In all, I am very pleased with this addition to my library. If you are familiar with the original Mathers translation, you owe it to yourself to take a second journey with Abraham to Egypt, and look anew at the teachings of Abramelin the Mage.

This Art takes a loftier place in Western Tradition than most tomes of its time and kind. Rather than idols, pentacles, and babarous names, the Operation draws its power from the exercist being virtuous. That is, god-like power is granted on the condition of piety. It is important to note that there is an 18 month initiation involving fasting, prayer, study of the Holy Books, and doing good deeds, culminating in a union between the prospecive Magi and the Divine, completing both in the process.

This is just one example of the Western Tradition aspiring to lofty spiritual goals, usually thought of as Eastern in nature. Another good book along that same line is a book discussing the art of Mandala Meditations in the west, also edited and compiled by mathers. "The Grimoire of Armadel "

A missed opportunity.
The book of Abramelin is a highly important and original book of magic, which describes a process for getting in touch with one's Holy Guardian angel. It was rediscovered and published for the first time by Macgregor Mathers, a co-founder of the Golden Dawn. It obsessed Aleister Crowley, who was unable to carry through the ritual it describes. Mathers only had a French exemplar of the text. More reliable German versions were discovered and published by Dehn in 1995/2001, in German. This is the English translation of that work.
Dehn has based his text on several manuscripts which were unknown to Mathers. But this is not a critical text, as no manuscript readings are reported by Dehn, and we do not know how he weighed the different readings, or how he decided which reading was correct.
A completely new feature of the present edition is the inclusion of "Book Two", a collection of medieval magical recipes. The original manuscripts contain a total of 160 recipes, but Dehn only includes 36 representative examples in this edition.
"Book Four" contains the famous magical squares. It is here that Dehn's textual methods are most obscure and disappointing, as many of the problems posed by the squares remain unresolved. As an example, the first word of square 1\8 should read "EKDILUN", and we can arrive at this corrected reading quite easily by approaching the squares as though they were Sudoku puzzles. But Dehn does not correct any of the squares in this way, and he remains silent as to which manuscript his chosen reading came from. Many other squares can be resolved logically by the Sudoku method. Other squares, such as 4\1 or 4\6 can only be resolved up to a certain point, after which we need to choose a reading from one or other of the manuscripts, which Dehn, as mentioned, does not report.
In conclusion, we can say that Mathers did a commendable job considering the paucity of his sources; while Dehn, despite his many manuscripts, has let us down.
The Ibis Press has made a sterling effort with this book: the type-setting and binding and over-all design are top-notch. Bravo!

A Cornerstone For Your Library
"The Book of Abramelin - A New Translation" by Dehn and Guth may very well be the finest contribution to modern esotericism in a generation.

Those familiar with the Mathers translation will find stunning new material in this edition, as well as practical advice not present in the French manuscript used by Mathers. In addition to corrections, stating that the Operation used to achieve "Knowledge and Conversation" with one's Holy Guardian Angel, takes place over an 18th month period and not 6 as previously believed, there is an entire chapter on magical operations that students of German folk magic or "brauche" (aka Pow-wow) will find of interest in that they have found their way into the now famous "Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses" once popular among the Pennsylvania Germans and their magical arts. The author clearly defines that distinctions between calssical kabbalah, 'mixed-kabbalah,' and the 'Sacred Magic' as he is presenting it.

All of the magical squares are filled in, unlike the Mathers edition, wherein only parts of the squares were known, and extensive biographical information on the author of "The Book of Abramelin," and the travels of its current translators rounds out the book making it not only a highly practical manual of self-initiation, but also contemporary and living, instead of a historical curiosity.

The similarities between the author's period (15th Century) and our own in many respects also has a strange appeal in bridging the centuries and making "The Book of Abramelin" very appropriate, albeit needed, for our times. Oddly, students of the Golden Dawn will walk away with an even greater respect for Mathers work as they will have a better understanding of the tremendous contribution he made and the limited resources he worked with.