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A grimoire is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, deities, and demons. In many cases, the books themselves are believed to be imbued with magical powers, although in many cultures, other sacred texts that are not grimoires have been believed to have supernatural properties intrinsically. The only contents found in a grimoire would be information on spells, rituals, the preparation of magical tools, and lists of ingredients and their magical correspondences. In this manner, while all books on magic could be thought of as grimoires, not all magical books should be thought of as grimoires.
The Septuagint, sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy, and often abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew. The full Greek title derives from the story recorded in the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates that "the laws of the Jews" were translated into the Greek language at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus by seventy-two Hebrew translators—six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
Yeshua was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jews of the Second Temple period. The name corresponds to the Greek spelling Iesous (Ἰησοῦς), from which, through the Latin IESVS/Iesus, comes the English spelling Jesus.
Enoch is a biblical figure and patriarch prior to Noah's flood, and the son of Jared and father of Methuselah. He was of the Antediluvian period in the Hebrew Bible.
In Jewish and Christian traditions, Jannes and Jambres are the names given to magicians mentioned in the Book of Exodus. This naming tradition is well-attested in ancient and medieval literature. In Latin manuscripts of the New Testament, and in Latin writing traditions, their names are known as Jamnes and Mambres.
Pseudo-Philo is the name commonly used for the unknown, anonymous author of Biblical Antiquities. This text is also commonly known today under the Latin title Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, a title that is not found on the Latin manuscripts of Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities. Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities is preserved today in 18 complete and 3 fragmentary Latin manuscripts that date between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries CE. In addition, portions of Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities parallel material also found in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 14th-century Hebrew composition. The Latin text of Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities circulated in some Latin collections of writings by Philo of Alexandria. Scholars have long recognized the pseudonymous character of the text now known as the Biblical Antiquities. Primary in this regard is a vastly differing approach to and use of the Jewish Scriptures than that of Philo of Alexandria. For the sake of convenience and due to the lack of a better option, scholars continue to follow the lead of Philo scholar Leopold Cohn in calling the author “Pseudo-Philo.”
Modern pseudepigrapha, or modern apocrypha, refer to pseudepigrapha of recent origin – any book written in the style of the books of the Bible or other religious scriptures, and claiming to be of similar age, but written in a much later (modern) period. They differ from apocrypha, which are books from or shortly after the scriptural period but not accepted into the religion's canon. Exposing modern pseudepigrapha is part of the fields of palaeography and papyrology, amongst others.
The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses is an 18th- or 19th-century magical text allegedly written by Moses, and passed down as hidden books of the Hebrew Bible. Self-described as "the wonderful arts of the old Hebrews, taken from the Mosaic books of the Kabbalah and the Talmud", it is actually a grimoire, or text of magical incantations and seals, that purports to instruct the reader in the spells used to create some of the miracles portrayed in the Bible as well as to grant other forms of good fortune and good health. The work contains reputed Talmudic magic names, words, and ideograms, some written in Hebrew and some with letters from the Latin alphabet. It contains "Seals" or magical drawings accompanied by instructions intended to help the user perform various tasks, from controlling weather or people to contacting the dead or Biblical religious figures.
The Greek Magical Papyri is the name given by scholars to a body of papyri from Graeco-Roman Egypt, written mostly in ancient Greek, which each contain a number of magical spells, formulae, hymns, and rituals. The materials in the papyri date from the 100s BCE to the 400s CE. The manuscripts came to light through the antiquities trade, from the 1700s onward. One of the best known of these texts is the Mithras Liturgy.
In Classical antiquity, including the Hellenistic world of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, historians and archaeologists view the public and private rituals associated with religion as part of everyday life. Examples of this phenomenon are found in the various state and cult Pagan temples, as well as Jewish synagogues and early Christian churches. These were important hubs for ancient peoples, representing a connection between the heavenly realms and the earthly planes. This context of magic has become an academic study, especially in the last twenty years.
Practical Kabbalah in historical Judaism, is a branch of the Jewish mystical tradition that concerns the use of magic. It was considered permitted white magic by its practitioners, reserved for the elite, who could separate its spiritual source from qlippoth realms of evil if performed under circumstances that were holy (Q-D-Š) and pure, tumah and taharah. The concern of overstepping Judaism's strong prohibitions of impure magic ensured it remained a minor tradition in Jewish history. Its teachings include the use of Divine and angelic names for amulets and incantations.
An incantation bowl, also known as a demon bowl, devil-trap bowl, or magic bowl, is a form of early protective magic found in what is now Iraq and Iran. Produced in the Middle East during late antiquity from the sixth to eighth centuries, particularly in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria, the bowls were usually inscribed in a spiral, beginning from the rim and moving toward the center. Most are inscribed in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic.
In the myth and folklore of the Near East and Europe, Abyzou is the name of a female demon. Abyzou was blamed for miscarriages and infant mortality and was said to be motivated by envy, as she herself was infertile. In the Coptic Egypt she is identified with Alabasandria, and in Byzantine culture with Gylou, but in various texts surviving from the syncretic magical practice of antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, she is said to have many or virtually innumerable names.
Robert A. Kraft was an American religious historian who was the Berg Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. He is known for his pioneering work in the application of computing to the study of ancient literature and for his significant contributions to the study of early Judaism and early Christianity. Kraft was president of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2006.
In English translations of the Bible, unclean spirit is a common rendering of Greek pneuma akatharton, which in its single occurrence in the Septuagint translates Hebrew ruaḥ tum'ah.
Michael Edward Stone is a professor emeritus of Armenian Studies and of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research deals with Armenian studies and with Jewish literature and thought of the Second Temple period. He is also a published poet.
The "Mithras Liturgy" is a text from the Great Magical Papyrus of Paris, part of the Greek Magical Papyri, numbered PGM IV.475–834. The modern name by which the text is known originated in 1903 with Albrecht Dieterich, its first translator, based on the invocation of Helios Mithras as the god who will provide the initiate with a revelation of immortality. The text is generally considered a product of the religious syncretism characteristic of the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial era, as were the Mithraic mysteries themselves. Some scholars have argued that it has no direct connection to particular Mithraic ritual. Others consider it an authentic reflection of Mithraic liturgy, or view it as Mithraic material reworked for the syncretic tradition of magic and esotericism.
Jewish Koine Greek, or Jewish Hellenistic Greek, is the variety of Koine Greek or "common Attic" found in a number of Alexandrian dialect texts of Hellenistic Judaism, most notably in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible and associated literature, as well as in Greek Jewish texts from Palestine. The term is largely equivalent with Greek of the Septuagint as a cultural and literary rather than a linguistic category. The minor syntax and vocabulary variations in the Koine Greek of Jewish authors are not as linguistically distinctive as the later language Yevanic, or Judeo-Greek, spoken by the Romaniote Jews in Greece.
The Book of Enoch, is an ancient Jewish religious work, ascribed by tradition and internal attestation to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. 1 Enoch holds material unique to it, such as the origins of supernatural demons and giants, why some angels fell from heaven, details explaining why the Great Flood was morally necessary, and an introduction of the thousand-year reign of the Messiah. The unique material makes it possible to identify which ancient literary works adopt 1 Enoch as a source. Well known in antiquity, the book was received by various authors with respect, and sometimes considered as divinely inspired.
Goetia is a type of European sorcery, often referred to as witchcraft, that has been transmitted through grimoires—books containing instructions for performing magical practices. The term "goetia" finds its origins in the Greek word "goes," which originally denoted diviners, magicians, healers, and seers. Initially, it held a connotation of low magic, implying fraudulent or deceptive mageia as opposed to theurgy, which was regarded as divine magic. Grimoires, also known as "books of spells" or "spellbooks," serve as instructional manuals for various magical endeavors. They cover crafting magical objects, casting spells, performing divination, and summoning supernatural entities like angels, spirits, deities, and demons. Although the term "grimoire" originates from Europe, similar magical texts have been found in diverse cultures across the world.
References
- ↑ Belser, Julia Watts. "Book Review: Gideon Bohak, Ancient Jewish Magic".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ↑ Gideon Bohak Ancient Jewish magic: a history 2008
- ↑ Clinton Wahlen Jesus and the impurity of spirits in the Synoptic Gospels 2004 p19 "The Jewish magical papyri and incantation bowls may also shed light on our investigation.79 However, the fact that all of these sources are generally dated from the third to fifth centuries and beyond requires us to exercise particular ..."
- ↑ Gideon Bohak Ancient Jewish magic: a history 2008 Page 166 "... let us examine three specific instances of Jewish magical papyri, and see what they might contribute to the study of Jewish magic in late antiquity:
- ↑ The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells Hans Dieter Betz - 1997 from Papyri Graecae Magicae. Die griechischen Zauberpapyri, herausgegeben und übersetzt von Karl Preisendanz, vol. I (Leipzig: Teubner, 1928), vol. ... On Jewish magic and related bibliography, see L. Blau, Das altjudische Zauberwesen
- ↑ Bohak, p167
- ↑ Bentley Layton Studies in the History of Religions Volume 22 1972 Page 291 "The existence of an angel Israel is implied in both hellenistic (Jewish) magical papyri and in late Jewish mystical literature, in rabbinic material concerning the name of the angel with whom Jacob wrestled and in Hekhaloth literature ..." reprinted in Map is not territory: studies in the history of religions ed Jonathan Z. Smith - 1993
- ↑ Howard Jacobson The Exagoge of Ezekiel 2009 "Greco-Jewish magical papyri invoke God and Helios in virtually the same breath."
- ↑ G. H. Parke-Taylor - 1975 "The use made of divine names in the semi-Jewish magical papyri of the first four or five centuries is evidence of the way in which potential magical tendencies within the divine name found expression. The sixth century also yields ..."
- ↑ In the name of Jesus: exorcism among early Christians p41 Graham H. Twelftree - 2007 CMB 2: two of the twenty Jewish Aramaic bowls Levene transcribes and discusses offered protection against curses and oaths in general, two were for protection against the malicious magic of named enemies, two others were dispensed for ..
- ↑ Jacob Neusner Religion, literature, and society in ancient Israel, formative Christianity and Judaism University Press of America Volume 2- 1987 "As my introductions to each section in this corpus clarifies, the documents help solidify the importance of Philo, Josephus, the Old Testament Apocrypha, the Qumran Scrolls, and Jewish Magical Papyri"
- ↑ Craig A. Evans, Emanuel Tov Exploring the origins of the Bible: canon formation in historical Literary, and Theological Perspective Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology 2008 "Now, thanks to research by Jews and Christians on the Pseudepigrapha, Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Josephus, the New Testament, the Jewish magical papyri, inscriptions, and rabbinics, we know that the following is correct about ... "