Well, today I’ve received my author-copies of my new book, Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit: an Abramelin Memoir.
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.
Filed under Books, Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit
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.
In his article What Is The Book Of Abramelin The Mage From Interview With The Vampire? Mike Worby says:
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.
Filed under Books, Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit
Announcing the new book by Alex Sumner:
Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit: An Abramelin Memoir is published by Thoth Publications and is available worldwide from Amazon and all good bookstores. To quote from the back cover:
“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.
Available from Amazon:
| USA | Paperback | Kindle |
| United Kingdom | Paperback | Kindle |
| Australia | Paperback | Kindle |
| Deutschland | Taschenbuch | Kindle |
| France | Broché | Format Kindle |
| España | Tapa blanda | Versión Kindle |
| Italia | Copertina flessibile | Formato Kindle |
| Nederlands | Paperback | Kindle-editie |
| Poland | Miękka oprawa | – |
| Sverige | Pocketbok | – |
| 日本 | – | 版 |
| Brasil | – | Kindle |
| Canada | – | Kindle |
| México | – | Versión Kindle |
| भारत | – | किंडल संस्करण |
Filed under Books, Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit
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.
Filed under Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit
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.
Filed under Supernatural
I would like to express my gratitude to Duke Magoth and his servant Hyrys for my latest Abramelin work with this square. It occurred to me that this is one of the few word-squares that a serious magician could use to further his or her own magical development – i.e. to research obscure magical lore. The other one I have used so far being that for obtaining the secrets of Alchemy. More prosaically it helps when one has dropped an important volume in one’s wizard’s tower, and now one can’t find it!
Filed under Supernatural
(Tune: Che Sera Sera).
When I started Abramelin,
I asked my genius, “What will I be?
Will I be powerful, mighty and rich?”
“You’ll have to wait and see.
K-C-H-G-A!
The future’s not yours to see,
Except with chapter one, square three –
K-C-H-G-A!”
Square 3, of Book IV, chapter 1.
NB I know that technically square 2 might also work, but that didn’t rhyme!
Just a reminder that this year’s Abramelin season begins on Monday 5th April 2021, which is only four weeks away! I am currently editing the journal I wrote when I did it in 2020, which I hope will be ready later this year . It’s 103 thousand words so far, so it’s going to be pretty chunky when it is done. Meanwhile, I heartily recommend reading my blog posts which I have tagged Abramelin – if for no other reason than to be warned in advance of the issues I myself identified.
Filed under Supernatural, Uncategorized
Perhaps this is the ceremonial regalia of an order of which I’m not a member?
This is a follow-up to posts I made last year regarding original Abramelin sources online, to wit: the Dresden Manuscript, the Leipzig Manuscript, and that of the Biblioteque D’Arsenal (which Mathers translated to create the first English edition). All of these posts were basically for my own benefit, so that I at least would know where to go on the internet to find them.
Copy of the Hammer edition of Abramelin held at the Humboldt University of Berlin
I can now add another one: the “1725” Peter Hammer edition. If the date of 1725 is to be believed, this would be the earliest known printing of Abramelin, although I was under the impression that the only available versions of the Hammer edition date from facsimiles made in 1850.
EDIT: No sooner had I published this post but on further searching I actually found a better quality scan – held at the Humboldt University of Berlin. A previous version of this blog post referred to a low quality scan on Internet Archive, which is barely readable. I have now updated the links accordingly.
The magic squares being on page 243.
Incidentally, the attribution of Peter Hammer of Köln (i.e. Cologne) is spurious. There was no such person as “Peter Hammer,” and the imprint wasn’t based out of Cologne, but rather Amsterdam. The fact is that because of the repressive nature of continental Europe the late 17th and early 18th centuries, if you wanted to publish an anonymous book that was in anyway criticial of the monarchies of France or Germany (as was) or was otherwise controversial (e.g. it was a Grimoire which would probably upset the religious authorities), one would take it to “Pierre Martel” (NB Un martel is a kind of hammer) or “Peter Hammer” if in German, who would print it in Amsterdam but say it was done in Germany to throw off the scent.
Interestingly, Mathers himself said that he had heard of an Amsterdam manuscript, so perhaps he actually meant the Hammer edition?
Filed under Supernatural
An image based upon square 4, chapter 18 of Book IV of Abramelin – “To Heal Plague.”
© Alex Sumner 2020
For a full explanation, read on…
Following on from my previous post on Alchemy, my thoughts turned to whether it is possible to use the Sacred Magic to help with the current COVID-19 pandemic. Looking through my book of word-squares I noted that square 4 of chapter 18 is entitled “To Heal Plague.” I figured that this was the closest thing, the moreso because the name COVID-19 didn’t exist in the fifteenth century.
The square given by Dehn – which corresponds to the versions in both the Dresden and Leipzig manuscripts – goes thus:
| D | E | B | H | E | R |
| E | R | A | O | S | E |
| B | A | R | I | O | H |
| H | O | I | R | A | B |
| E | S | O | A | R | E |
| R | E | H | B | E | D |
NB: “Debher” is a phonetic rendering of the Hebrew דבר meaning a “plague, murrain or pestilence” – this at least makes the association of the square with healing plagues plausible, especially compared to “Bebher” (sic), the equivalent in Mathers’ Biblioteque Arsenal manuscript.
Now: riffing on a theme I mentioned in my previous Abramelin post, the word squares are meant to incorporate the names of various spirits in them. This particular Square is under the presidency of Amaymon – however: it does not contain the name of either Amaymon himself or any of his servant spirits. The third line, Barioh, however, is one letter away from the name Bariol – who is one of Amaymon’s servants. At least according to Dehn, Dresden and Leipzig – Mathers’ version gives this spirit as “Buriol,” just to confuse matters. Hence, the Sumner Family Brain Cell cogitated, might this square be actually governed by “Bariol,” and if so, is this square lettered correctly?
As it happened, when I did some magical work on the subject, I received a message that although the word in the third line is indeed inspired by the name Bariol, instead of changing the lettering a more suitable way to link the energy of the spirit with the word-square would be to enclose it in a circular border, thus:
Alex Sumner’s version of square 4, ch18 of Book IV. © Alex Sumner 2020
I have therefore attempted to deploy this word-square to save this planet from the current Pandemic – hence the illustration at the top of this blog post. Ironically, however, in the short time between me planning this magical operation and me getting around to actually carrying out, I note that a vaccine has now been approved for use, although at the time of writing it has not been yet widely distributed, so this new word-square will probably only become relevant for the next pandemic…
Filed under Supernatural
Sol Ascendans - The Website of Alex Sumner 