The Magic of the Sword of Moses: A Practical Guide to Its Spells, Amulets, and Ritual

by Harold Roth, Joseph H. Peterson (Foreword)

A practical guide to the famed medieval book of pre-kabbalistic Jewish magic, freshly interpreted and revealed for the first time with instructions on how to use the spells.

The Sword of Moses is one of the earliest Jewish magic books, which describes a rite for adjuring angels to assist in controlling and wielding the "Sword of Moses" for magical purposes. The rite involves a short period of purification and then the adjuring of four sets of angels, each higher than the last. These angels in turn give the magician the power to control the Sword through a series of divine names that work as magical spells. The spells, 137 in all, have a wide variety of uses, including healing, harm, love, sex, exorcising demons, divination, and more.

This work was first translated by Moses Gaster in 1896, but he removed many of the spells, making the text unusable for magic. The Magic of the Sword of Moses is the first book to show in detail, exactly how a magician can use the Sword—how to do the purification ritual, adjure the angels, and pronounce and use the divine names for each spell.

Genres: Judaism, Occult, Magick, Magic

192 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2022

Reviews

[Steve Cran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Jewish spell book is one of the oldest spell books around. It was written in the Northern area of Israel around the second temple periods. Another old book is the Sefer Raziel. Both books are Jewish magic but in ways they are different. Sefer Raziel has the order of angels and you get to call on them but you can do it out of order and not call on all of them at once. With the Sword of Moses you go up in ascending order. Sefer Raziel also uses more Greek magical ideas than does the Sword of Moses. Raziel has the practitioner get fancy implements and uses some bizarre animal parts. Raziel also has spells for wealth, love, money and power, along with revenge , binding spells and curses. Sord of Moses has spells for increasing Torah knowledge, increasing wisdom, cursing and binding foes and healing. Sword of Moses is more Jewish then Sefer Raziel
Jewish magic in comparison to modern magic or Wiccan practices is rather different. Take a look at the three fold law. It says what you put out comes back at you three fold. So if you curse someone you too will be cursed. Do what thou wilt but harm none. Once again no negative magic against anyone. This work has no such compunction. If someone is wronging you and you need magic then by all means use it. Another difference is the use of special tool. In modern magical systems you have daggers, wands, chalices etc. All ritually cleansed and charged. In Jewish Magic the practitioner is the tool. You just read the spell and use your word. Occasionally a spell will call for the use of a bay leaf or an iron implement but nothing super fancy. The Practitioner did not have to be religious.
The Rabbis of old never really condemned magic outright. Maybe certain practices like necromancy and handling the dead. But not hear. To use this book is simple. First step you need to do is fast for three days having only water during the day and bread and water at night, preferable baked by you. You need these three days in order to purify your soul. The angels can be quite dangerous to work with. After that then you can cast spells. The Sword in question is the divine names of God. Those names power everything. The magical has lots to do with Hekhalot Jewish mysticism.
Lots of the spells involve writing verses on parchment or lead plate inclusive of the petitioners name and their mother’s name. Sometimes the practitioner will bless some herbs for medicinal purposes. The petitioner will carry the inscriptions on their body or wear it.
There is no circle casting. In order to get that sacred space the practitioner would pull the tallit over their head and block out the rest of the world. Jewish magic pays no significance to moon phases, nor does it pay much attention to planetary times and days.

If you are looking for simple non complicated magic to do this one is it. Not everyone likes all the complicated stuff of modern magical practice. You don’t have to be Jewish to use this book.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rated as 5 stars because
- I appreciate the straightforward language of the author and insightful commentary
- I learned new things
- the showing of the difference between it as "Jewish Magic" vs other grimoires that are Solomonic or Medieval and make use of Hebrew
- the feasibility of its magical technique. Really!
- I have a bias towards appreciating the author, as I am involved with magical plants and so, so appreciated his other book.

This book is very readable and understandable - every ceremonial magician/qabalist/grimoire magician should read it. I think there are a lot of good arguments for this Grimoire being an excellent "starter grimoire."

At this time is available on Everand and the author confirmed to me he does recieve compensation for that. (I will change this review if ever I learn that's not the case!)

I really want a copy of this book and plan to contact the author directly to purchase/see if an autographed book is available!


I read this book as part of the book club of the "Cunning and Command" blog / "Frightful Howls You May Hear". There was much appreciation for this book, and the meeting was recorded (audio only) for Patrons.

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great look at one of the more unique grimoires, one written from a Jewish perspective rather than Christian. Roth helps explain all the core elements of the book’s practice, in a way that proves clear and concise. Overall a solid read.