This post originally referred to a question on Reddit which I thought so interesting I would share it here… but then the OP deleted his post a few days later! Any how, the context was a discussion about this Abramelin Square:
Alex’ answer:
This is Square number 2 from the third chapter of Book 3 of the Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage – “To make [any spirit] appear in the shape of any animal,” although Mathers in his translation speculated that this should be to make a spirit appear in human form.
Usually with such squares, at least one of the lines refers to the Spirit who is responsible for making that square work. Alternatively, the top-line gives an indication of the meaning of the square.
This is actually an unusual square for two reasons. “Lucifer” is the name of one of the Kings of Hell, and although he figures prominently in the Abramelin system, he is far to high up the hierarchy of Spirits to preside over an individual magic square.
Moreover, most of the words in the magic squares (the ones which are words are not arbitrary letters to make up the acrostic pattern) are Hebrew words written phonetically in German. “Lucifer” by contrast is not a Hebrew word, but a Latin one (i.e. “Light-Bearer”).
However, it so happens the name “Lucifer” in Hebrew is Helel, which is also the name of one of the servant spirits, which do rule over this particular magic square (the servant spirits of Oriens, Paimon, Ariton and Amaymon). What I believe has happened is that the magician who first channelled this square came into contact with the spirit Helel, who told him to create a square using its own name but translated into Latin, hence rather cheekily making it look like its more famous namesake.
“Mercury Retrograde holds no terrors… when all the unlucky stuff happens to other people.”
Mercury went Retrograde on December 29th 2022, and will station Direct again on January 18th 2023, in approximately three weeks time.
I find it supremely ironic that a no-mark of whom I had never heard before two days ago, chose the first day of Mercury going Retrograde to attack Greta Thunberg on social media. His reward consisted of not only being pilloried by the internet in general, and Ms Thunberg in particular, but his actions led to the Romanian Police detecting his presence in their country and arresting him. If you had doubts about the devastating power of Astrology, doubt no longer!
However, unless you really are a vile specimen of a human being, Mercury Retrograde need not necessarily be all bad: and indeed Hermeticism teaches us that by ascending to the right state of enlightened consciousness, we can survive the curveballs that this time of year throws at us. Furthermore, we ought to know that Mercury turns Retrograde around three times a year: thus because it happens with predictable reliability, we each can and ought to develop our own strategy or strategies for dealing with it.
As I wrote in my account of my own Abramelin Operation, 16th October 2020:
I had not paid much attention to the current stars and planets in the past few days, but I happened to remember that Mercury had just turned Retrograde (it had done so three days ago). It would not station direct until after I had finished the Operation. For one moment I felt uneasy that this had to happen now : would I have begun my Operation if I had realised ? But then I dismissed the thought. Given that it occurs three or four times a year, one inevitably cannot perform the Abramelin Operation without it turning Retrograde once during that time. Perhaps I had done well not to pay too much attention to the astrology of the situation, as otherwise I might have let superstitious dread cause me to miss this opportunity.
A lot of people fear this time of year, but as I discovered once after a supermarket cashier forgot to ring up a bottle of whisky in my shopping, Mercury Retrograde holds no terrors so long as all the unlucky stuff happens to other people. A sort of Schadenfreude view of the phenomenon. Besides which, I interpreted the message of Hermeticism to mean that ultimately one ought to develop oneself spiritually so that one can learn to stand apart from the influence of the planets, instead of remaining passively affected by them. This, I supposed, formed the whole rationale of the planetary magick of the Golden Dawn. Adverse astrological conditions might disquieten the great unwashed, but they should merely present a challenge to an Adept worth his or her salt.
Sumner (2022), p477 – see below for full bibliographic citation.
However: although practicing the Hexagram Rituals of the Golden Dawn, and by otherwise rising on the planes and raising one’s vibrational state does work, it only goes so far! The Curse of the Adept is that one has to continually deal with people who aren’t familiar with high Hermetic magic. E.g. as I recorded a few days later:
Later that morning : work continued awfully and threatened to spoil my day. Despite me being fastidiously careful, people tried to blame me for things which went wrong anyway. In other words, I had managed to transcend the effects of the Mercury Retrograde today, but my managers and co-workers had not, so I had to deal with their bullshit, nonetheless. In effect, I suffered from Mercury Retrograde by Proxy.
Ibid., p487.
In conclusion, my top tips for surviving Mercury Retrograde: DO
Spend time in meditation, and introspection. When a Planet is Retrograde, its energies are directed inwards. Hence although it is a bad time for outward expressions, it is a very good time for applying the power of Mercury to the inner life – through contemplation and cultivating one’s intuition.
Make plans for what you are going to achieve when Mercury stations Direct. The Retrograde period is a bad time for starting new ventures, however: it only lasts three weeks. Hence, this fact coupled with the idea of spending time on one’s inner life mentioned above means that it is an excellent time not for starting ventures, but for planning what you are going to start in the near future.
Try to remain calm: be compassionate and forgiving. Remind yourself that people who tick you off during this time are probably suffering themselves, and try to be as merciful towards them as you would want them to be towards you if you were in the same situation.
DO NOT
Start new ventures recklessly. Instead, if you can’t avoid putting it off, make an extra effort to make sure you have been especially careful. It would be foolish to say “never start something during a Mercury Retrograde” because that’s never entirely possible, so instead you should take this time to act cautiously.
Celebrate your return to social media by attacking the most popular climate change activist on the planet, disclosing public details when you are wanted by the police, or both.
You now have the ability to order my new book, “Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit” in paperback direct from the Publisher’s website. Thoth Publications promise to be able to ship worldwide – especially useful if you find Amazon or Barnes & Noble don’t deliver to your particular country!
“Abramelin” was a Jewish magician, living in 14th century Egypt, who conferred the “Sacred Magic” on one “Abraham the Jew” who came from Worms in present day Germany. Abraham the Jew then wrote up the account of his journey as well as the description of the Sacred Magic, which became the grimoire now known as “The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage,” or “Book of Abramelin.”
That at least is the story: note however that neither Abraham the Jew’ nor Abramelin’s historicity have ever been proven independently, with some people believing them to be fictional characters.
I tend to assume that because the Sacred Magic works, it’s not actually necessary to know who Abramelin was, except that someone must have come up with the idea for it in the first place, so I call that mysterious person “Abramelin” all the same.
If you would like a signed copy, or you cannot get it via Amazon or your preferred bookstore, message me via the Contact page: I am willing to sell copies directly.
Here at Castle Sumner, no sooner have I come out with a book (nb: PLUG) in which I, ahem, dissect references to Abramelin in A Dark Song, than I find another reference to it in pop-culture, namely the newest adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire.
When Lestat, Louis, and Claudia corral their victims from a Mardi Gras party into a room during the Season 1 finale where they purport to have hidden their secret, Lestat describes the fictional liquid as being the famed elixir of life which has oft been the goal of alchemists for hundreds of years. However, how he claims to have come into the knowledge of the concoction relates to a tome that he calls “The Book of Abramelin, the Mage.”
As it turns out in this often fantastical take on “Interview With the Vampire,” the book Lestat describes is based on a real piece of occult history. […]
Of course, as with any supposedly magical tome, we obviously can’t confirm or deny whether any of this actually works. Still, as the basis of a simple throwaway line in “Interview With the Vampire,” the writers must be lauded for doing their research and finding an appropriate real-life book to cite for their characters’ supposed magical knowledge — and even one that viewers in the real world can actually read today if they want to.
OK I’m going to skip over the fact that that scene was set in late 1790s America, when Abramelin was not available in English, and the only published edition extent was not called “The Book of Abramelin.” 😉
The question which naturally arises in the mind of an occultist is – could Abramelin be really used for Alchemical purposes? In my new book, Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit, I argue that it can, and indeed I myself have attempted to do so.
My thoughts turned to Alchemy almost immediately after completing the Operation. In its immediate aftermath, I spent a lot of time researching the history of the concept of the “ Holy Guardian Angel,” in the course of which I also researched the etymology of a term bandied about by contemporary occultists, the Augoeides.
Crowley implicitly used this as a synonym for “ obtaining Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.” However, taken literally, the word Augoeides does not refer to an angel or dæmon at all – it means “ dawn-like image ” or “ shining body .” Hence, Augoeides should more properly refer to the Resurrection- or Solar-Body, which is the Philosophical Gold. Or to put it more simply, if one imagines Divine Union as a destination, the Augoeides becomes the car which takes one there, whilst the Holy Guardian Angel adopts the role of the driving instructor who teaches one how to drive it in the first place.
I thought : could I use Abramelin-magick itself to help me realise my Augoeides ? The Book describes the function of the third word square of part IV, chapter 7 as “ to learn all sorts of Alchemical arts from the spirits.” Perhaps this really meant Internal Alchemy ? If so, then in amongst all the word-squares which promised rather worldly, low-magick attainments, I had found one which could provide me with practical help as a Hermetic magician.
Sumner, A (2022) Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit: an Abramelin memoir, Thoth Publications, Leicester, UK – p534
The significance of this is that some continental schools of Alchemy (e.g. Kremmerz et al) allege that it is the realisation of the Solar Body which provides the true key to immortality – by allowing one to exist in a perfected form, free from the ravages endemic to imperfect matter. Or in other words, the Elixir Vitae although not literal, is nevertheless a metaphor for a real Alchemical phenomenon.
To cut a long story short, I did a magical operation in which I deployed word square number three from Book IV, Chapter 7 of the Book of Abramelin, whilst researching all I could about Alchemy, and discovered a powerful method of meditation, similar to Kundalini Yoga, which synthesised the teachings of Sendivogius, Isaac Newton, Paracelsus – and of course, the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistos.
NB: I do not claim to have realised the Solar Body – I claim to aspire to do so. I’m still just a neophyte in that regard.
So in conclusion, to answer Mr Worby, yes, in my opinion it is both plausible and possible. In fact I shall probably make a note to watch this new adaptation when it becomes available on Netflix.
“DURING THE YEAR 2020,the COVID-19 Pandemic affected people across the world in a number of different ways … I personally chose to use the time to carry out a lengthy Magical Ritual to invoke an Angel and subsequently summon and bind all the Demons of Hell.”
In 1996 as a young man, Alex Sumner brought a copy of Mathers’ The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, made most famous by the occultist Aleister Crowley. Alex left it lying on his bookshelf for almost a quarter of a century … until the pandemic lockdown caused him to work from home on full-pay – and enabled him to complete the Abramelin Operation.
IN THIS BOOK YOU WILL DISCOVER: • The magical diary of a magician who performed the Abramelin Operation for six months, right through to its exciting end. • What the Operation is, how it is performed and what to expect from “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.” • Why most books about Abramelin are full of mistakes, and how you can work out the truth for yourself. • Worked examples of how to make use of the Word Squares to attain fantastic magical effects. And … • Why the Abramelin Operation is actually easier than many people seem to think.
Alex Sumner is a novelist and writer on the occult. In 2009 he wrote his first novel The Magus and has gone on to write six novels in total, several short-stories, and numerous non-fiction articles. This is his first full length, non-fiction book. Alex lives with his fiancée in Essex, England.
“Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit: An Abramelin Memoir” by Alex Sumner.
Yes I normally wander around my farm buildings in this hooded black robe, honest.
Easter Monday (yesterday) is the traditional start date for the Abramelin operation, so I would just like to wish the best of luck to everyone in the Class of 2022.
My own book on the subject, Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit: an Abramelin memoir, is currently with the publishers, and I am hoping that it will be out later this year.
Meanwhile, I have also been working on a number of writing projects, including a contribution to volume 4 of The Light Extended (again, due out later this year), as well as some personal magical projects as well.
During the year 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic affected people across the world in a number of different ways … I personally chose to use the time to carry out a lengthy Magical Ritual to invoke an Angel and subsequently summon and bind all the Demons of Hell.
The first draft of my next book is now completed. Now comes the inevitable proof-reading, so I expect it to be ready some time in 2022, or when I decide by electional astrology when is the best time to launch it.
I have titled it “Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit: an Abramelin Memoir,” and details my adventures while undertaking the Abramelin Operation in 2020. I kept a diary throughout my operation, and then spent a year afterwards editing and annotating it. The result is by far the longest book I have yet written, 175K words or 561 pages, so it will be one chunky paperback.
In which I talk to Jacqueline Wilson of Magic Tool Box UK about all things Abramelin. You actually get to see what I look like in real life in this video, so those of a nervous disposition may want to look away now.
Sol Ascendans - The Website of Alex Sumner 
How to survive Mercury Retrograde
Mercury went Retrograde on December 29th 2022, and will station Direct again on January 18th 2023, in approximately three weeks time.
I find it supremely ironic that a no-mark of whom I had never heard before two days ago, chose the first day of Mercury going Retrograde to attack Greta Thunberg on social media. His reward consisted of not only being pilloried by the internet in general, and Ms Thunberg in particular, but his actions led to the Romanian Police detecting his presence in their country and arresting him. If you had doubts about the devastating power of Astrology, doubt no longer!
However, unless you really are a vile specimen of a human being, Mercury Retrograde need not necessarily be all bad: and indeed Hermeticism teaches us that by ascending to the right state of enlightened consciousness, we can survive the curveballs that this time of year throws at us. Furthermore, we ought to know that Mercury turns Retrograde around three times a year: thus because it happens with predictable reliability, we each can and ought to develop our own strategy or strategies for dealing with it.
As I wrote in my account of my own Abramelin Operation, 16th October 2020:
However: although practicing the Hexagram Rituals of the Golden Dawn, and by otherwise rising on the planes and raising one’s vibrational state does work, it only goes so far! The Curse of the Adept is that one has to continually deal with people who aren’t familiar with high Hermetic magic. E.g. as I recorded a few days later:
In conclusion, my top tips for surviving Mercury Retrograde: DO
DO NOT
Sumner, A (2022), Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit: an Abramelin Memoir, Thoth Publications, Leicester, UK.
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Tagged as Abramelin, Andrew Tate, astrology, Greta Thunberg, Mercury retrograde