ABSTRACT
Abra-Melin Magic The Sacred Book of Abramelin the Mage was claimed to have been written in three volumes in 1458 by Abraham the Jew, who travelled to Egypt in search of teachers of secret traditions and became a pupil of Abramelin in Arachi. He collected his knowledge in this book, which was translated into French around 1700 and became part of a manuscript in the Bibliotheque de I' Arsenal in Paris. This was the version read by Eliphas Levi and translated by S. L. MacGregor Mathers. Its central principle is that the material world is created by evil spirits directed by angels, and claims that all humans have an angel and a demon in attendance. It instructs the magician on the magical operations necessary for contacting their Holy Guardian Angel, lists angels and demons who can be invoked for specific purposes, and contains magic squares which can be used for invisibility, flight, command of spirits, necromancy, and shapeshifting. Aleister Crowley was fascinated by this book and spent a long time preparing to perform the Abramelin magic, for which purpose he bought Boleskine Lodge near Loch Ness.
