The Magick of Abramelin

Aaron Leitch

Let's consider the Talismans found in Abramelin's Book III. Are they
useless, as I have suggested in my previous work? My answer today
is "No." I believe the Abramelin aspirant should draw them up (the
*completed* ones, not the French/Mathers versions) and place them on
the Terrace for the Princes to swear upon- just as Abramelin
describes. As we shall see, I believe these are perfectly workable
Talismans for any of us (not just "Abraham the Jew")- intended to
provide a "starting point" for an even larger system of magick. The
system we see in Book Three is incomplete, and is waiting for each
individual aspirant to expand it based upon their own work with
their HGA and servient spirits.

Which leads us to the servient spirits associated with the Princes.
At this point, I *DO* feel that the spirits listed in Abramelin are
useless to the aspirant (relating only to "Abraham the Jew"). Now,
you may (understandably) ask: "but aren't those Talismans meant to
work specifically with *those* spirits?" And the answer is "not
exactly." If you read Abramelin carefully, you'll note that none of
the servient spirits are listed with the Talismans. It is the
Princes of Hell (specifically the 8 Sub-Princes) who are associated
with the Talismans. In fact, it is only the Princes who are evoked
by name during the 7-day Abramelin Rite to swear upon the Talismans.
That means the names of the servient spirits themselves are not
necessary.

Of course, Abramelin does instruct one to write up a list of all the
servient spirits and place that list on the Terrace as well.
*However*- hidden elsewhere in the book- Abramelin reveals that we
should ask the Eight Sub-Princes for our own personal list of
spirits - those spirits who are most sympathetic to our psyche. (In
other words- our own personal demons!) It is on the sixth day of
the 7-day Rite that one demands the list of servient spirits from
the Sub-Princes.
In the Book of Abramelin, we find "Abraham's" spirits listed under
the following headings (that is, listed under the Sub-Princes that
govern them):

----------------
ASTAROT. MAGOT. ASMODEE. BELZEBUD.


ASTAROT and ASMODEE. MAGOT and ASMODEE.


ORIENS. PAIMON. ARITON. AMAIMON. ALL FOUR TOGETHER.


ARITON and AMAIMON.
----------------

All of the above headings are given lists of spirits in Abramelin-
covering the operations of ALL of the Abramelin Talismans. Note
that the four main Princes (Lucifer, Leviathan, Satan, Belial) have
no part in this list. The Big Four are only summoned to bring the
Eight Sub-Princes, and then the Sub-Princes are in charge of the
magick- working via their servient spirits.

In any case ,we can easily see that the above register is not
complete. For instance, note that Astarot, Magot, Asmodee and
Belzebud do not have an "All Four Together" heading. Plus, both
sets of Sub-Princes also work in pairs- but only a *very* small
number of possible pairs are shown. If we work up a more complete
register, it would look like this (a larger, printable, version of
this list is included at the end of this essay):

----------------
ASTAROT. MAGOT. ASMODEE. BELZEBUD. ALL FOUR TOGETHER.

ASTAROT and MAGOT. ASTAROT and ASMODEE. ASTAROT and BELZEBUD.

MAGOT and ASMODEE. MAGOT and BELZEBUD.

ASMODEE and BELZEBUD.


ORIENS. PAIMON. ARITON. AMAIMON. ALL FOUR TOGETHER.

ORIENS and PAIMON. ORIENS and ARITON. ORIENS and AMAIMON.

PAIMON and ARITON. PAIMON and AMAIMON.

ARITON and AMAIMON.
----------------

(The Book of Abramelin does not indicate that there are any
groupings of three Princes at a time, so I have excluded such
headings. Likewise, I see no indication that the two groups of four
Sub-Princes ever "cross over" into pairings with each other, so I
have also excluded headings of that type.)
I would present the above register to the Sub-Princes (6th Day), and
demand they reveal the names of their servient spirits. If they do-
great! Write them down where each Prince indicates. However, if they
will not (or can not!) reveal any names on this day - don't worry
about it! As I said above, it is the Princes you are evoking in the
Rite- so the names of servient spirits can be added *anytime* later.

If, on the other hand, the Sub-Princes do reveal some names - keep
in mind that those names will indicate which Talismans you are given
permission to work with. For example, let us say that Oriens,
Paimon, Ariton and Amaimon give you the name of a servitor they
govern collectively. Looking in Abramelin, we find the following
Talismans are goverend by these four Sub-Princes:

----------------
Chapter I. (To know all manner of things past and future, which be
not however directly opposed to God, and to his most holy will.)

Chapter II. (To obtain information concerning, and to be enlightened
upon all sorts of propositions, and all doubtful sciences.)

Chapter III. (To cause any spirit to appear, and take any form, such
as of man, animal, bird, etc.)

Chapter IV. (For divers visions.)

Chapters V. (How we may retain the familiar spirits bond or free, in
whatsoever form.)

Chapter XIII. (To cause a dead body to revive, and perform all the
functions which a living person would do, and this during a space of
seven years, by means of the spirits.)

Chapter XVII. (To fly in the air, and travel any whither.)

Chapter XXVII. (To cause visions to appear.)

Chapter XXIX. (To cause armed men to appear.)
----------------

Thus, the servient spirit you have recieved is likely able to
perform one or more of these above tasks. (Note how most of them
relate to visions or illusions in some manner.) It will be up to
you to ask the Guardian Angel or Sub-Princes which operation(s) the
spirit can handle- and that can be done after the Abramelin Rite is
completed and you are ready to start actively using the Talismans.

Now, it is impossible to guess how many servient spirits the Sub-
Princes will reveal during the Rite. You may fill the entire chart
with several spirits under each heading. Maybe you'll only get a
couple of names- leaving the bulk of the chart blank. Again- that's
ok! That is the open-ended nature of the system.

Let's consider another example. Say you've done Abramelin, and
you've recieved NO names at all under the combined heading of
Astarot and Asmodee. Take a look at Abramelin, and we find that
these two Princes execute the following Talismans:

----------------
Chapter VI. (To cause mines to be pointed out, and to help forward
all kinds of work connected therewith.)

Chapter VII. (To cause the spirits to perform with facility and
promptitude all necessary chemical labours and operations, as
regardeth metals especially.)

Chapter IX. (To transform animals into men, and men into animals,
etc.)
----------------

Having done the Abramelin Rite properly, you'll have these
Talismans, and the Sub-Princes will have sworn an oath upon them.
But, because the Sub-Princes gave you no servient spirits for the
Astarot/Asmodee pair, you cannot (for now) perform the above
operations. IF you should later find a need for one of these
Talismans, it will be necessary to perform the ceremony as outlined
in Abramelin to evoke the Sub-Princes and ask for the name(s) of the
servient spirit(s) who can perform the task.

SO! - We've started with an empty list, with the Sub-Princes as
headings. Maybe the Sub-Princes partially filled it in, maybe not.
However, Abramelin does give us what we need to approach the Princes
and get the names later.

Of course, remember that we expanded the register of servient
spirits beyond what is contained in Abramelin. So now we can
recieve names for even more servient spirits than shown in
Abramelin - for Talismans that we haven't even received yet. When it
is time to skry a new Talisman, one merely has to ask the Guardian
Angel or Sub-Princes:

1) For the Talisman.
2) Which Sub-Prince(s) govern the Talisman's operation.
3) The name of the spirit(s) subservient to the Sub-Prince(s).
4) How to use the Talisman.

This not only follows the system outlined by Abramelin to the
letter, but also allows it to grow and expand just as the Book of
Abramelin teaches should happen.


----------------------------------------------------------
Abramelin Servient Spirit Register


The Guardian Angel has governance over the supreme Princes of Hell:

LUCIFER. LEVIATHAN. SATAN. BELIAL


These Princes have governance over the eight Sub-Princes of Hell:

ASTAROT. MAGOT. ASMODEE. BELZEBUD.

ORIENS. PAIMON. ARITON. AMAIMON.


The eight Sub-Princes have governance over countless servient
spirits:


ASTAROT. MAGOT. ASMODEE. BELZEBUD. ALL FOUR TOGETHER.






ASTAROT and MAGOT. ASTAROT and ASMODEE. ASTAROT and BELZEBUD.






MAGOT and ASMODEE. MAGOT and BELZEBUD.






ASMODEE and BELZEBUD.







ORIENS. PAIMON. ARITON. AMAIMON. ALL FOUR TOGETHER.






ORIENS and PAIMON. ORIENS and ARITON. ORIENS and AMAIMON.






PAIMON and ARITON. PAIMON and AMAIMON.






ARITON and AMAIMON.