''Sefer Raziel HaMalakh'', (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

:, "the book of

Raziel Raziel, ( ''Rāzīʾēl,'' "God is my Mystery") also known as Gallitsur ( Hebrew: גַּלִּיצוּר ''Gallīṣūr'') is an angel within the teachings of Jewish mysticism (of the Kabbalah of Judaism) who is the "Angel of Secrets" and the "An ...

the angel''"''), is a

grimoire A grimoire ( ) (also known as a "book of spells" or a "spellbook") 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 ...

Practical Kabbalah Practical Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה מַעֲשִׂית ''Kabbalah Ma'asit'') 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, ...

from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

written primarily in

and

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

. ''Liber Razielis Archangeli'', its 13th-century Latin translation produced under

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...

, survives.

Textual history

The book cannot be shown to predate the 13th century, but may in parts date back to

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

. Like other obscure ancient texts such as the ''

Bahir ''Bahir'' or ''Sefer HaBahir'' ( he, סֵפֶר הַבָּהִיר, ; "Book of Clarity" or "Book of Illumination") is an anonymous mystical work, attributed to a 1st-century rabbinic sage Nehunya ben HaKanah (a contemporary of Yochanan ben Zaka ...

'' and '' Sefer Yetzirah'', the work has been extant in a number of versions. The tradition around the book attributes it to have been revealed to Adam by the angel

. The title itself is mentioned in another magical work of late antiquity, ''

The Sword of Moses ''The Sword of Moses'' is the title of an apocryphal Jewish book of magic edited by Moses Gaster in Israel, in 1896 from a 13th- or 14th-century manuscript from his own collection, formerly MS Gaster 78, now London, British Library MS Or. 1067 ...

''. Critical historians regard it as a medieval work, most probably originating among the Ashkenazi Hasidim, as citations from it begin to appear only in the 13th century. Sections of it are no doubt older. The likely compiler of the medieval version is

Eleazar of Worms Eleazar of Worms (אלעזר מוורמייזא - also מגרמייזא of Garmiza or Garmisa) (c. 1176–1238), or Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymus, also sometimes known today as Eleazar Rokeach ("Eleazar the Perfumer" אלעזר רקח) from t ...

, as ''Sefer Galei Razia'', which developed to what we have now as ''Sefer Raziel HaMalakh'', including more writings written by people of various theological opinions.

It draws heavily on '' Sefer Yetzirah'' and ''

Sefer HaRazim ''Sefer HaRazim'' ( he, ספר הרזים; "Book of Secrets") is a Jewish magical text supposedly given to Noah by the angel Raziel, and passed down throughout Biblical history until it ended up in the possession of Solomon, for whom it was a gr ...

'' "Book of Secrets". There are multiple manuscript versions, containing up to seven tractates. The printed version of ''Sefer Raziel'' is divided into five books, some of it in the form of a mystical

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

on Creation. It features an elaborate

angelology In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

, magical uses of the

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pat ...

gematria Gematria (; he, גמטריא or gimatria , plural or , ''gimatriot'') is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase according to an alphanumerical cipher. A single word can yield several values depending on the cipher ...

names of God There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word '' god'' (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or spec ...

, protective spells, and a method of writing magical healing amulets. Book six of the ''Liber Razielis'' is based on ''Sefer haRazim'', with various additions including the "Prayer of Adam" of '' Sefer Adam''. The book became notorious in German

Renaissance magic Renaissance magic was a resurgence in Hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of the magical arts which arose along with Renaissance humanism in the 15th and 16th centuries CE. These magical arts (called '' artes magicae'') were divided into sev ...

, named together with ''

Picatrix ''Picatrix'' is the Latin name used today for a 400-page book of magic and astrology originally written in Arabic under the title ''Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm'' ( ar, غاية الحكيم), which most scholars assume was originally written in the midd ...

'' as among the most abominable works of

necromancy Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future even ...

Johannes Hartlieb Johannes Hartlieb (c. 1410Hartlieb's year of birth is unknown; his existence is first attested as the author of ''Kunst der Gedächtnüß'', written during 1430–32, and an estimate of his year of birth as either "c. 1400" or "c. 1410" can be ...

. The prayer of Adam is paraphrased by

Nicholas of Cusa Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic cardinal, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Re ...

in two sermons (Sermo I, 4, 16.25; Sermo XX, 8, 10-13) and further made use of by

Johann Reuchlin Johann Reuchlin (; sometimes called Johannes; 29 January 1455 – 30 June 1522) was a German Catholic humanist and a scholar of Greek and Hebrew, whose work also took him to modern-day Austria, Switzerland, and Italy and France. Most of Reuchlin' ...

in his ''

De Arte Cabbalistica ''De Arte Cabbalistica'' (Latin for ''On the Art of Kabbalah'') is a 1517 text by the German Renaissance humanist scholar Johann Reuchlin, which deals with his thoughts on Kabbalah. In it, he puts forward the view that the theosophic philosoph ...

''. Konrad Bollstatter in the 15th century also shows awareness of the Latin version of the "Prayer of Adam" an interpolation in Cgm 252, although he replaces Raziel with

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

and Seth with Sem.

Tree of Knowledge

Adam, in his prayer to God, apologized for listening to his wife Eve חוה, who was deceived by the snake into eating from the Tree of Knowledge - the עץ הדעת, according to the ''Book of Raziel'', God sent the highest of the angels, Raziel, to teach Adam the spiritual laws of nature and life on earth, including the knowledge of the planets, stars and the spiritual laws of creation. The angel Raziel also taught Adam the knowledge of the power of speech, the power of thoughts and the power of a person's soul within the confines of the physical body and this physical world, basically teaching the knowledge with which one can harmonize physical and spiritual existence in this physical world. The angel Raziel teaches the power of speech, the energy contained within the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, their combinations and meanings of names.

Adam and Abraham

According to Jewish traditions, the angel Raziel was sent to earth to teach Adam, and due to the elevated soul of Abraham, Raziel returned to teach Abraham all the spiritual knowledge and spiritual laws. Raziel was sent to earth with specific purpose to teach Adam and Abraham the ways of Nature. The ''Book of Raziel'' explains everything from astrology of the planets in our solar system, and explains how the creative life energy starts with a thought from the spiritual realms, prior to manifestation as speech and action in this physical world. The eternal divine creative life energy of this earth is love, the book explains the spiritual laws of birth, death, reincarnation of the soul, and many spiritual laws of "change".

''Heptameron''

Picture of Miniature Sefer Raziel Hamalakh 2017

The ''Heptameron,'' ascribed to Petrus de Apono, is based on the ''Book of Raziel''.

Editions

* רזיאל המלאך. Amsterdam (1701) Chabad-Lubavitch Library
Full-text PDF version, in Hebrew, from HebrewBooks.org
* Steve Savedow (trans.), ''Sepher Rezial Hemelach: The Book of the Angel Rezial'', Red Wheel/Weiser (2000), . * The Book of the Angel Raziel. Volume I / Transl. from Hebrew and Aramaic and comm. by E. V. Kuzmin; editorship and foreword by B. K. Dvinyaninov. — St. Petersburg: Academy Of Culture's Research, 2020. — 264 pp.: illustrated, — (Code Grimoire Series). (на русском языке) * The Book of the Angel Raziel. Volume II / Transl. from Hebrew and Aramaic, afterword and comm. by E. V. Kuzmin; editorship and foreword by B. K. Dvinyaninov. — St. Petersburg: Academy Of Culture’s Research, 2021. — 512 pp.: illustrated, — (Code Grimoire Series). (на русском языке)

References

External links

The Original ספר "Sefer" Book of Raziel ספר רזיאל המלאך The Amsterdam Edition of Sefer Raziel "Book of Raziel" ספר רזיאל המלאך
{{Authority control Kabbalah texts Astrological texts Hebrew-language names Jewish grimoires Adam and Eve