A New Translation by Abraham von Worms
Reviewed by John Michael Greer
It’s not often that the magical community has the opportunity for a completely new look at one of its old classics, and it’s even less often that such a second look completely redefines its target, standing a century of assumptions on its collective head. The present book, however, is just such an opportunity, and its publication will be warmly welcomed by serious magicians.
Since it was first translated into English in 1893 by Samuel Mathers, one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Book of Abramelin has been one of the most famous, or infamous, of the magical handbooks of the Middle Ages. Some of the most important magical teachers of the 20th century based their entire approach to magic on ideas borrowed from its pages, while at the same time dire rumors circulated among occultists, claiming that even so little as an incautious glance at its pages could unleash demonic powers.
What’s been said…