College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

CORRIGENDA: I mistakenly typed "Balaam's magic powder" for "Balaam's magic power". It's power, not powder, lest anyone get the wrong impression. Also, the website censored me, obviously mistaking Rahab's representation for a profane word. I would ask that the moderators please correct this. We should be able to discuss this animal without anyone taking it for profanity. A donkey, a mule, are the closest I can come to describing the representation of Rahab without getting censored again!

I am a Jewish Kabbalist and am fluent in Hebrew, and I can supply you with information about Jannes and Jambres. The reason that it is so difficult to find more information about them is that like the majority of occultists, you are not Hebraists. This is not intended as a slight. A monolingual person has my respect just as much as a multilingual person.

First of all, the correct Hebrew names are Yochane and Mamre. Yochane is a variant of John, and Mamre is a name that occurs in the Torah (Genesis 13:18, 14:13, 24 and 18:1), and signifies "rebellious". In the Kabbalah, they are the two sons of Balaam, the latter being designated "the wisest of the wise" and the greatest of Magi. He was called Balaam because his birth was the result of a special request to the god Bel to whose service he was dedicated and in whose service he acquired skill in the magic arts. His sons, Yochane and Mamre, were dedicated in the same way but to the Egyptian god Serapis, of whom they became priests and holy scribes. The collection of Kabbalistic literature entitled Yalkut Reuveni (which exists only in Hebrew) tells us (quoting a midrash) the source of Balaam's magic powder. He derived it from the letters Yud and Mem (Yalkut Reuveni Balak 4b). You ought to be well enough versed in Western occultism to make the connections between these two letters in the Kabbalah. The Kabbalistic Rabbis also furnish us with the source of the magic power of Yochane and Mamre. At the urging of Yochane and Mamre, the Israelites forced Aaron to make the golden calf for them (Exodus 32). The calf which Aaron made at Sinai was part ox and part ass, the ox symbolising the magic power of Yochane and the ass symbolising that of Mamre. The ox represents Sammael and the ass represents Rahab (Yalkut Reuveni Ki Tissa 80a on Exodus 32:4, 81a on Exodus 32:11 and 82b on Exodus 32:5; Zohar Ki Tissa 192b; Tikkune ha-Zohar 5 [142a]). Rahab, incidentally, has nothing to do with the prostitute of the same name in the Bible. In all pre-Kabbalistic and Kabbalistic Hebrew literature, Rahab is exclusively a male demon, one of the fathers of demons, the "Sar Shel Yam" or Prince of the Sea. "Yam", by the way, is spelled with a Yud and a Mem, showing that the sources of magic power for Mamre were the same as that of his father Balaam. In the Testament of Solomon, which should be accessible to you in English (vide. F. C. Conybeare), the demon of the Red Sea, Abezitibod ("Father Devoid Of Counsel"), reveals himself as the source of the magical power of Yochane and Mamre (Testament of Solomon 25:3-4; cf. 6:3, 5-6 in the McCown edition *). In the Book of Jubilees (known as "The Little Genesis"), it is the demon Mastema ("Hatred") (cf. Charles, Pseudepigrapha for an English translation).

There is more, much more, but I have not the time to translate it all for you from original sources. I know nothing of a demon who lives under the Nile river and is associated with Ashtaroth, but if you can send me the link or the source I will see if I can find anything about it in the Hebrew Kabbalistic literature.

I am not a Thelemite, by the way, but a sympathetic Jewish Kabbalist who would like to ensure that all those who are devoted to the Kabbalah explore it safely and accurately.