Introduction
vi
his wanderings was his meeting with Abra-Melin, the
Egyptian Mage. From him
he received that system of Magical instruction and practice which forms
the body of
the Second and Third Books of this work.
In the Manuscript original this name is spelt in
several di
fferent ways, I have
noted this in the text wherever it occurs. The
variations are: Abra-Melin,
Abramelin, Abramelim, and Abraha-Melin. From these I have selected the
orthography Abra-Melin to place on the title page, and I have adhered
to the same
in this Introduction.
As far as can be gathered from the text, the chief
place of residence of Abraham
the Jew after his travels was Würzburg, or, as it
was called in the Middle Ages,
"Herbipolis". He appears to have married his cousin, and by her to have
had two
sons, the elder, named Joseph, whom he instructed in the Mysteries of
the Holy
Qabalah, and Lamech, the younger, to whom he bequeaths this system of
Sacred
Magic as a legacy, and to whom the whole of the First Book is
addressed. He speaks
further of three daughters, to each of whom he gave 100,000 golden florins as a
dowry. He expressly states that he obtained both his
wife, and a treasure of
3,000,000 golden florins, by means of some of
the Magical Operations described in
the Third Book. He further admits that his first inclination to Qabalistical and
Magical studies was owing to certain instructions in
the Secrets of the Qabalah,
which he received when young from his father, Simon; so that after the
death of the
latter his most earnest desire was to travel in search of an Initiated
Master.
To the sincere and earnest student of Occultism this
work cannot fail to be of
value, whether as an encouragement to that most rare
and necessary quality,
unshaken faith; as an aid to his discrimination between true and false
systems of
Magic; or as presenting an assemblage of directions for the Production
of Magical
effects, which the Author of the
book affirms to have tried with success.
Especially valuable are the remarks of Abraham the Jew
on the various
Professors of the "Art which none may name" in the
course of his wanderings and
travels; the account of the many wonders he worked; and, above all, the
careful
classification of the Magical
Experiments in the Third Book, together with his
observations and advice thereon.
Not least in interest are the many notable Persons of
that age for or against
whom he performed marvels: The Emperor Sigismund of
Germany: Count Frederic
the Quarreller: the Bishop of his city (probably either John I., who
began the
foundation of the Würzburg University in 1403, with the
authorisation of Pope
Boniface IX., or else Echter von Mespelbrunn, who
completed the same noble
work): the Count of Warwick: Henry VI. of England: the rival Popes
John
XXIII., Martin V., Gregory XII., and Benedict XIII.: the Council of
Constance: the
Duke of Bavaria: Duke Leopold of Saxony: the Greek Emperor, Constantine