The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage is one of several cursed books according to lore on the internet today. It exists in re-print today but the originals are few and far between.
Date of Discovery
The book internally dates itself to 1458. It was published in English around 1897.
Name
Two slight variations were found – “The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage” and “The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-melin”
Physical Description
The text exists as twelve manuscripts and several English printed editions from the 1900s on as seen on the right. There are two manuscripts from 1608 written in German which are located in Wolfenbüttel. Another two manuscripts from 1700 and 1 750 are located in Dresden.
The text can also be found online in PDF form and on various websites such as sacred-texts.com although errors, omissions, and changes would be hard to verify.
It can also be purchased on Amazon if you want to take the risk.
Mythology and Lore
The text describes rituals using magic word-square talismans and daily prayer that can summon the magician’s guardian angel and demon. Once the ritual has been completed the summoner evokes the 12 Kings and Dukes of Hell in his mind in order to remove their negative influence over him or her. After the process is complete the magician gains abilities such as finding treasures, casting love spells, gaining flight, raising the dead, and invisibility.
Historian Francis King said this about the book “The Sacred Magic of Abra Melin expresses its doctrine, and the technique which depends from it, more clearly, and more consistently, than any other grimoire. The machinery of the cosmos is seen as operated by demons under the direction of angels; man is seen as standing between the angelic and the demonic – each human being having attached to his or her soul a malevolent demon and a ‘Holy Guardian Angel The object of the processes taught in The Sacred Magic was the obtaining of ‘the Knowledge and Conversation’ of this Holy Guardian Angel – once this had been done the magician could control the demons who run the universe, raise the dead, heal the sick, find great treasures and even fly [ astrally ].”
However, this book is believed by some to be cursed. Simply possessing the book is rumored to bring forth demons from other realms who will haunt the owner which will ultimately lead to terrible luck and the demise of the person possessing the cursed grimoire. There are two camps, however. One that says it is cursed, likely due to the demon references, and another that says it is simply the most powerful magic book in the world.
For even more on the history of the book and it’s author read this article on Wikipedia
Modern Pop-Culture References
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Tritone’s love of horror and mystery began at a young age. Growing up in the 80’s he got to see some of the greatest horror movies play out in the best of venues, the drive-in theater. That’s when his obsession with the genre really began—but it wasn’t just the movies, it was the games, the books, the comics, and the lore behind it all that really ignited his obsession. Tritone is a published author and continues to write and write about horror whenever possible.