Sepher Ha-Razim: The Book of Mysteries

by Anonymous, Michael A. Morgan

This work is an annotated translation of the Margalioth Hebrew text of Sepher Ha-Razim, which makes available for the first time in English this important collection of late antique Jewish magic. Dating to the fourth century C.E., this magical handbook contains instructions and invocations to be used in various magical praxes. A fine example of the syncretistic nature of the Hellenistic world, Sepher Ha-Razim gives some indication of the tensions between a developing/ orthodoxy and a popular religion. The text shows parallels to the Greek magical papyri and an interesting use of Merkabah symbolism.

Genres: Judaism, Religion, Mysticism, Occult, Theology, Magick, Jewish

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 300

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to order this book from Amazon—it’s certainly not in my local library--and I'm actually kind of afraid to sleep with it in my house.

This is a book of old magic, a catalogue of Jewish spells and incantations dating from the era of the Greco-Roman occupation of Israel. It's strange and fascinating, an archaeological dig of a book—-not the kind of archaeological dig that involves unearthing a palace, but the kind that explores refuse pits to learn about ordinary people’s daily lives.

The Old Testament expressly forbids going to wizards or witches, or practicing any sort of “magic,” but I guess people couldn't help themselves in trying to influence God to treat them more kindly. Sepher Ha-Razim walks the line between spell-casting and religion—there are magical metals, creatures to slaughter, rivers to face at midnight, but there are also psalm-like prayers.

It details the way to get a rich woman to marry you; (Involves a lion cub. It sounds expensive. And incredibly gross.) for causing an enemy to lose sleep; for influencing a king to be lenient with you; for getting rid of a powerful headache. (This one requires the use of a black bull’s brains.) One that moves me is a spell to befuddle your enemy into thinking you are leaving town protected by hordes of soldiers. Who was this written for? Kings? Warriors? The Maccabees? The Jews of Jerusalem, besieged by Roman Centurions? The Jews holed up on Masada?

If this book is not a hoax, it is an undisguised peek into the psyches of the past. What did people fear? What did they desire? Did they desire it enough to do the crazy stuff suggested in these pages? (Burying the head of a black dog that has never seen the light.) I guess people have always felt adrift and helpless in a big, unfair world--and would try just about anything that someone told them would work.

I referred to that spell for escaping a besieged city, putting it to use in one of the stories in In the Land of Armadillos. Looking up the name of the correct angel to summon raised goosebumps along my arms...as if I were dislodging ancient, dusty rocks to find something hidden away in the dark, a long time ago.

[Steve Cran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noah received "The Book of Mysteries" from an angel. The prophet wrote down the information on tablets of sapphire. Contained in this book were the seven levels of Heaven and their angelic make up. Applicable to man was the ability to call upon these angelic powers in order to heal, raise up a ruler, defeat and adversary and to see into the future. For those interested in the angelic history of the Jewish mystical texts this is a must read book. The information is very syncretistic as it includes invocations to such Greek/Roman deities as Venus and Sol (the Sun God). There are also a few invocations to the moon. For the modern practitioner some of these rituals cannot be performed because they call for the sacrifice of such animals as dogs and lions. No way that one can slaughter an animal these days so some of the rituals must be modified. Something that I found refreshing was the call for spiritual purification before doing the rituals. Such things would be watching your speech, fasting, abstaining from sex, wine and meat. These bring about spiritual strength. The angels name are written in English transliteration but since Hebrew has no vowels proper pronunciation is rather difficult. The Hebrew in the back makes it easier for someone who can read Hebrew. But the lack of vowelization makes it difficult for the practitioner and researcher a like.

For each level of heaven their is a list of the angels names given, the ruling angels and a ritual for each ruling angel depending on how the firmament of Heaven is divided up. Before each ritual the reader will be given a purpose and time that the given angel or ruler can be called to accomplish. There are some sigils contained with in. On thing I liked about the rituals is that there are is no procedure to follow for casting a circle. The rituals or those rituals that can performed are simple and straight forward. It is a matter of performing the ritual at the proper time, saying the proper words and names and burning the proper herbs. I love simplicity.

The book is very short numbering some 86 pages. I read it in one morning and could not put it down. It was also reasonably priced which make int even better.

[Nox Prognatus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book given to Noah and written on Sapphire stones (by Noah) ,by the Angel Raziel, at the time he came into the Ark. It was subsequently passed down generation to generation. In it were secrets of knowledge such as understanding and thoughts of humility and concepts of counsel, hot to master the investigation of the strata of the heavens, and their seven abodes, to observe all the astrological signs, the course of the Sun,to explain observations of the Moon, to know the paths of the Great Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, to declare the names of the overseersof each and every firmament, and the realms of their authority. And by what means they can cause success in each thing (asked of them).

Some of the rituals are not able to be done due to the slaughtering of animals. And in a way this is similar to the Picatrix (for those who have read it). There are rituals that are simple to carry out, just needing the names of the Angels of the firmament, and waiting the required hour for the ritual to be carried out. No other form of protection is suggested, and in that way the rituals are simple to perform.

It is an interesting book, that I suggest all serious researchers and scholars should read.

[Harry Palacio · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sepher Ha-Razim is an anthology of incantations handed down by the archangel Raziel. This book was handed down to Noah of the old testament, to his descendants and eventually to King Solomon; the wisest man who ever lived. This compendium is a list of spells and castings to innumerable things: such as calling death upon people (highly not advisable to use as karma will retaliate), love poems (also not a wise spell as one should allow fate to work out its course and the auspice of god's will), protection (one can practice this spell safely) and others etc. This book is a rare esoteric book handed down by a higher being, i.e an archangel, just as the Qur'an was handed to prophet Mohamed by Archangel Gabriel. In Hindu religions rishis obtained their knowledge of mantras and yogas through the proliferation of (siddharth) angels- this book is so rare and if one actually comes across it and actually sits down and finishes reading it extremely auspicious portents will follow as decreed by angels (messengers) of gods

[Don Michael Stewart]

Not yet

[Dan Zarfati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic book on practical Kabbalah, probably influenced all the grimories out there.

[Juzám Djinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting treatise of Greco-Judaic magic. It's mostly Jewish magic with clear borrowings from the Greeks. Various angels are listed as belonging to certain heavens and use of their names to preform certain magical acts.

[Ozma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly just lists of angels. It’s like you didn’t even try, Angel Raziel. Don’t you know what a plot is?
It does have a gay love spell, so that is a plus.
The translation was really easy to follow (except for the angel name transliterations, but I guess those are always hard) and the footnotes were very helpful.

[Michael Weaver]

This is one of the better translations of sources related to the early Jewish mysticism and outlines the history of the rituals that seem to have found their way into other religions. It fell short on some of the origins and translations.