Book Of Abramelin
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I am reading the wiki entry on the Book of Abramelin and it says: "Unfortunately, Mathers used the least-reliable manuscript copy as the basis for his translation, and it contains many errors and omissions. The later English translation by Georg Dehn and Steven Guth, based on the earliest and most complete sources, is more scholarly and comprehensive."
"There are several important differences between the original manuscripts and Mathers' edition. First, one of the four books was missing entirely from the French manuscript with which he worked. Second, Mathers gave the duration of the operation as six months, whereas all other sources specify eighteen months. Third, possibly due to a mistranslation, Mathers changed one of the ingredients within the recipe for Abramelin oil, specifying galangal instead of the original herb calamus. The oil in the German manuscript sources also contains cassia and is nearly identical to the biblical recipe for Holy anointing oil. The differences between the recipes cause several notable changes in the oil's characteristics, including edibility, fragrance, dermal sensation, and spiritual symbolism. Fourth, there are 242 word squares in Mathers' translation, while the original German has 251. Most of the squares in Mathers are not completely filled in, and those that are differ markedly from the German sources.
A German translation, credited to Abraham of Worms and edited by Georg Dehn, was published in 2001 by Edition Araki. In the Dehn version, the fourth book is included and Mathers' galangal substitution is reverted back to calamus (though not in the English translation — see Abramelin Oil). All 251 of the word squares are completely filled in. An English translation of Dehn's edition was published 2006 by the American publisher Nicholas Hays."What do you think? I am very curious about the differences between Mather's translation and the newer one. Obviously Mather's translation has some value - it worked for Crowley....
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I own the new translation,but have never tkane the time to read it. However, there appears to be broad agreement that the new one is a vastly superior. Going forward, I would recommend that any student acquire and use the new translatin.
OTOH, I've heard so many people making such a huge deal of the differences between them - to the point of asking how anyone ever successfully did the operation with the Mathers translation - and I just can't get excited about that. The reason is that Aiwass already made the book obsolete in the sense that he dictated a quintessentialized new version of it. This (the only A.'.A.'. ritual that has Class A origins) is Liber VIII, which appears in Black Pearl No. 6, and in two of my books (M&MAA and 776 1/2). (You can also get it here: ordoaa.org/liber8.htm) While people are in a huff over 6 months vs. 18 months, Aiwass reduced the process to 91 days.
I regard the Abramelin book as worthy background of the depth and subtlety of the programme during Medieval times, and encourage its consultation for that purpose; but it's laden with Judaic guilt and morbidity. While psychological moritification has its place (and most of us could use a good short of enhanced humlity for this operation), I'm not convinced any of that is a requirement except where it arises spontaneously in the course of the operation. Liber VIII preserves the core of it all.