1

DREAMING WITH DOVES: BETWEEN VENUS AND ANGELS OF GOD

1. Introduction. Some General Remarks

Once Moshe Idel pointed out an evident problem in methodology of research of mystical

experience in Judaism:

…the main methodological approach in modern scholarly explanations of mystical experiences in Judaism has

been theological. This approach… adheres to a certain type of essentialist view that a theology is representative

of a certain religion… neither a structured theology nor such a psychology is apparent in the biblical or the

rabbinic literatures… The corollary is that a specific understanding of rabbinic rites as the basic scale of values

rather than the kabbalistic theologies themselves should constitute the starting point for an analysis of most form

of Jewish mysticism.1

The irrelevance of theological approach or of any based on clear, formal concept and

definition approach for study of magic is even more apparent.2 Indeed, the subject can hardly

be exposed, precisely expressed; any conceptual core in sorcery, in its extraordinary, but still

quite practical, hands-on activity, can hardly be articulated. Magic is rather an applied

knowledge than an ideology. It mostly comprises of practical prescriptions. Explanations are

always secondary. Certainly, this idea is neither new nor original. For instance, James George
1
Moshe Idel, Enchanted Chains: Techniques and Rituals in Jewish Mysticism (Los Angeles: Cherub Press,
2005), 35.
2
The term magic is very old and unclear since its very appearance in Antiquity. Its usage in wide ethnographical
context finally demolished any shadow of unity in its definitions. Thus, the question on the precise meaning of
the word in the context of our research is unavoidable. Moreover, if the point of departure is its proper features,
some words are needed, while we prefer to refrain from the bibliographical sketch, - it would be very long and
the main books are widely known. So, the definitions of magic are based on its theoretical interpretations,
explanations of its true nature. Nevertheless, in all these discussions, there is something common, accepted by
everybody. Magic is a kind of practice. We do not need to inter into the discussion on the differences of magical
and non-magical practices. It is enough that in any case, in any research, the term clearly designates special sort
of very utilitarian rituals. Certainly ideological foundation of applying of such rituals should and does exist. It
may raise question towards magical mentalities. However, the practice is always primary, the theory is always
secondary. Any magic in any context and theory is quite applied thing.
 2

Frazer (1854-1941) in his famous The Golden Bought (1890) specially emphasizes that magic

is closer to science than to religion. Lynn Thorndike (1882-1965) in his comprehensive A

History of Magic and Experimental Science in 8 volumes (1923-1958) unites these two

entities, namely magic and experimental science in the single research. Carlo Ginzburg in his

books provides a very sophisticated tactic, trying to uncover the magical reality beneath the

rational ideas. Actually, the line of similar instances may be very long. But we have no

intention to compose a research on the history of certain attitudes, trends within studies of

magic. It is important that the problem is well acknowledged.

However, the spiritual element in magic, its affinity to religion, its dependence on the

contact with God or gods or other higher entities poses uneasy question on its co-existence

with normative religion. It will be shown in the debates on Jewish and Pagan sources in the

section 4. The problem is known and widely discussed. There is no intention to research the

entire bibliography. Yet, let us mention recent article by Kocku von Stuckrad.3 Although he

looks at the problem from different from ours point of view, he concentrates on the problem

as such, with very substantive and clear arguments. He is interested in the resolving of the

conflict of the monotheistic religions with magic. Kocku von Stuckrad shows that the magic

was widespread in spite of its apparent conflict with religion.

Nevertheless, ritual sometimes is more eloquent than any theoretical speculation,

since it reflects reality beyond precise articulation. Its history may uncover tradition, i.e.

succession of cultural contacts and ideas, which has not received any strict theoretical

appearance. Such unspoken "concepts", practices, unseen, unnoticed by formal, logically

3
Kocku von Stuckarad, "Astral Magic in Ancient Jewish Discourse: Adoption, Transformation,
Differentiation," in edited by Gideon Bohak, Yuval Harari and Shaul Shaked, Continuity and Innovation in the
Magical Tradition (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 245-270. For the topic attitude of Jewish religious law (Halakha)
towards magic see: Giuseppe Veltri, Magie und Halakha: Ansätye zu einem empirischen Wissenschaftsbegriff
im spätantiken und frühmittelalterlichen Judentum (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1997). Wide and inclusive
discussion on the magic in Judaism appears in the 2nd chapter of: Yuval Harari, Early Jewish Magic: Research,
Method, Sources (Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute, 2010), 58-121 (Hebrew). The book was translated by into
English as: Jewish Magic Before the Rise of Kabbalah (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2017).
 3

motivated, intellectual sight, reveal concealed level of human knowledge, its background.

They may be described as rude and not systematized ideas, which have a power over human

behavior; they may even be commonly or widely accepted. But, withal, they form nothing

similar to systematic knowledge, clearly articulated concepts. Such assertions can hardly be

understood without definite examples. This study will clarify our statement, providing

relevant facts.

This particular study revolves around one single rite, chosen as a point of departure

(see below), which has huge quantity of parallels dispersed throughout the centuries.

Although this rite was previously studied, the results are very limited. There is certainly much

to add. The problem much lies in the fact, that the previous investigations were not

concentrated solely on the rite. The discussion on it mainly (except the brief text by Leon

Goldmerstein, see section 5) focuses on a much wider themes. Thus, the parallels, the

probable history of the particular rite lies beyond the main direction of search. Some brief

bibliographical sketches will follow below.

There is also a clear methodological complication. Any succession of such practices

in history cannot be completely established, if there is no explicitly proven written indication.

It remains to search for affinities, parallels. But parallels do not inevitably mean coincidence.

That is evident. Thus, any search for similarities rests on unsteady soil. Subjective judgments

are unavoidable in such case. However, we believe that in the line of the represented below

magical rituals something is clearly and distinctively common. Certain peculiarities demark

them from other rituals. Sometimes, it is clear enough. Also the very existence of many quite

different rites hints at survival of other parallel traditions. The endurance of an unstable

tradition is very probable in many cases. However, the presence of similar associations in the

similar situation is also plausible. We do not possess enough evidence to draw an entirely
 4

steady and comprehensive scheme. The story is intricate, indeed. Different elements suddenly

appear and disappear with the ages. But certain regularity may be suspected.

There is no intention to collect all similar rites at this stage. It is too difficult and such

research needs a very sophisticated construction. This work is a preliminary study. It offers a

general scheme, remarks the existence of the problem. It is an attempt to start more complex

investigation and to initiate discussion. Through some dissimilar, but relevant rites will be

mentioned. They do not also embrace the entire realm in its comprehensiveness. They rather

point out the borders of the probable tradition. That is always important, particularly in so

vague case.

The sources sometimes are not easily available. If they are not very important for

main direction of the arguments, but cannot be ignored at all; we give references to a book

with general information without discussion on manuscripts. A reader may find a direction

for further elaborations.

We decided to avoid chronological succession. The matter is too intricate and knotty

for a simple construction. Even existence of apparent tradition is doubtful in many cases.

Mostly it is entirely impossible to establish any clear textual history. Moreover, some sources

have uncertain origins and date. It is better to start from the known and easily available text.

That is the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, published in Amsterdam in 1701. Before the discussion

on a particular magical rite, brief information on the book and the researches on it will be

presented (2). Next section (3) discusses the rite, its variations in the manuscripts; those that

precede the book, and parallels within the book. Aftermath, instead of the search for the

sources, we concentrate on the parallels in the texts of the 17-19th centuries (4). It enables us

to remain near the time of the edition of the book, without jumping into remote ages. Later,

the discussion on the Jewish and pagan sources will follow. It is important to refer to the
 5

previous studies before our original inquiry (5). In the next part (6) it will be described some

parallel rituals from Antiquity and Middle ages. It is the actual search for the sources. Some

evidences from the section 5 do not appear in the section 6, as also in the one. The section 7

offers some considerations on the development of the practice in the Middle Ages and Early

Modern Europe. Such structure of the article is difficult to follow, to grasp. However, in the

section 8 our general scheme will briefly unite previous arguments. Although we do not

repeat here all arguments and evidences, the summary produces perspective, which enables

reader to return to the previous sections with more or less clear general structure. Probably,

the next step in future research is simpler organized materials. But, it is possible, when the

main arguments of this article would be accepted. The complex structure helps us to argue, to

answer some important and acknowledged in academic discussion questions.

2. Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh

There is a widely known and extremely popular Jewish practical magical book Sefer Raziel

ha-Malakh. It was published in Amsterdam in 1701. It has received religious recognition,

surely not as a doctrinal treatise or practical manual, a certain kind of a grimoire, but rather as

a book, that possesses certain holiness, supernatural virtues, so called sgulloth. It is widely

accepted among pious Jews to keep a copy at their homes without actually reading it. Once, it

had commonly believed that the book protects against fire. Today it is thought to guard the

children from harm and make them clever. The book has many reprints, some of them in

miniature form.

The Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh is a compilation comprised of autonomous texts on a

variety of topics, written in different styles and fashions, some of them in pure Hebrew, some
 6

of them in mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic. Their sources and manuscript tradition were

widely discussed. Actually, the book, its content and history of its part attracted attention

with the very beginning of modern critical study of Jewish texts. The article deals only with

one very brief section of the book. However, let us mention some important works to make

the context of our own study clear enough. The history of research on the entire book is

useful for us to show the context of the transmission of the ritual. Nevertheless, the different

lists of the sources of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh are always omitted in the article, because

the general task of this introduction is to give a key to the study of the content, but we have

nothing to add to such debates. Also the bibliographical sketch serves only as a general

introduction to the principal source. If a reader needs further elaborations on the book, he

may follow our bibliographical notes. The lists may be found in mentioned here works.

Already the founder of Wissenschaft des Judentums, Leopold Zunz discusses this

book.4 He succeeded in the uncovering of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh’s mixed character and

produced a preliminary list of its different parts. Zunz discovered some of the sources of the

book.

The Principal for Hebrew bibliography figure as Moritz Steinschneider (1816-1907)

also examined this book. He succeeded to produce his list of sources of its parts. It is very

close to modern lists, with only few corrections.5

Adolphe Franck in his La Kabbale: ou, La philosophie religieuse des Hébreux6

mentions Sefer Raziel, he applies it to uncover “cabbalistic doctrines”, but does not specially

investigate this book and its origins.

4
Leopold Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden historisch entwickelt (Berlin: A. Asher, 1832), 167-
168.
5
Moritz Steinschneider, Catalogus librorum hebraeorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana (Berlin: Fiedlaender, 1852-
1860), 639-641 (4042). Repr.: Hildesheim: Georg Olm, 1964.
6
Adolphe Frank, La Kabbale: ou, La philosophie religieuse des Hėbreux (Paris: Librairie de L. Hachette, 1843),
147, 368. The book has many reprints and translation, including into English.
 7

Adolph Jellinek notices that a section of Sefer Noah appears also in the Sefer Raziel

and Sodey Razaya by Eleazar of Worms (c. 1176-1238).7 Actually the contribution of Eleazar

of Worms and the Sefer Noah to the formation of the compilation Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh

was already known to Steinschneider.

Albeit above-mentioned Steinschneider’s work has already appeared in 1860, the

studies have mostly offered very foggy and general notions about book’s sources and

contents. The Sefer Raziel is both widely known and very complicated text, being composed

from pieces from different origins and periods.

Christian D. Ginsburg (1831-1914) attributed the entire book to Eliezer of Worms, but

he also have said that it includes another treatise, Shi’ur Komah.8 This book also appears in

the list of the sources, given by Steinschneider.

Gustav Karpeles (1848-1909) slightly mentions the Sefer Raziel with other examples

of “mystical literature” (Otiyoth de-rabbi Akiva and Shi’ur Komah) in his Geschichte der

Jüdischen Literatur.9 Karpeles refer to it as an important point in the polemic of Saadia Gaon

(d. 942) against Karaites. However, Karpeles cites a piece from Saadia in the book, which

discusses only Shi’ur Komah.

In the introduction to his edition and translation of famous magical book The Sword of

Moses (Kharba de-Moshe) Moses Gaster (1856-1939) gives his wide scope vision of the

history of magic. He also remarks on the Sefer Raziel as an influential anthology with unclear

7
Adolph Jellinek, Ueber das Buch der Jubiläen und das Noah-Buch (Leipzig: C.W. Vollrath, 1855), 11.
8
Christian D. Ginsburg, The Kabbalah: Its Doctrines, Development, and Literature (London: George Routledge
and Sons, 1903), 185. First published in 1865.
9
Gustav Karpeles, Geschichte der Jüdischen Literatur (Berlin: Verlag von Robert Oppenheim, 1886), 1:420.
Leon Goldmerstein asserts that Karpeles assigned the Sefer Raziel to the Alexandrine period of the Jewish
literature.” ("Magical Sacrifice in the Jewish Kabbala," Folklore 7:2 (1896):202-204). Most probably, it is a
mistake. I did not find such statement in Karpeles’ book.
 8

origin. He refers to the attribution of the book to rabbi Eleazar of Worms, but also questions

such attribution.10

It is clear that in the very beginning of scientific study of Kabbalah, the Sefer Raziel

have certainly attracted much attention. Sometimes it seems that the book became an

unescapable point in any discourse on the Jewish esotericism. Today it looks a little

unaccustomed to common trend in such studies. Can a motely anthology without clear

ideological message represent or show something peculiar to the Kabbalah in general? Also

book's magical prescriptions contradicts dominant modern image, based on narratives of

Gershom Gerhard Scholem (1897-1982), who emphasized theoretical, religious aspects of

Kabbalah. His attitude undoubtedly reflect his individual approach and general situation with

the development of the studies.11 Nevertheless, it is significant that very brief, correct and

substantive book by Erich Bischoff , built as simple questions and answers concerning basic

topics and problems in the history of Kabblah. The author believes that Sefer Raziel connects

two essential trends with Kabbalah, i.e. cosmological (represented by Sefer Yetzirah) and

pure theosophical tendencies. Also, the book inserts astrological elements into Kabbalistic

theories.12

10
Moses Gaster, The Sword of Moses: An Ancient Book of Magic (London: D. Nutt, 1896), 15.
11
Andreas Kilcher in his studies on Christian Kabbalah objects to Scholem's division between real and false
Kabbalah. For instance, see: Andreas Kilcher, Die Sprachteorie der Kabbala als Ästhetisches Paradigma: Die
Konstruktion einer ästhetischen Kabbala siet der Frühen Neuzeit (Stuttgart and Weimar: J.B. Metzler, 1998);
his, "Die Kabbala als Trope im ästhetischen Diskurs der Frühromantik," ,“ in edited by Eveline Goodman-Thau,
Gert Mattenklott and Christoph Schulte, Kabbala und die Literatur der Tomantik: Zwischen Magie und Trope
(Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1999), 135-166. Kilcher also published an article about entirely different
attitudes of G. Scholem and Ernst Müller (1880-1954): his, "Kabbalah and Anthroposophy: A Spiritual Alliance
According to Ernst Müller," in edited by Julie Chajes and Boaz Huss, Theosophical Appropriations:
Esotericism, Kabbalah, and the Transformation of Traditions (Beer Sheva: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Press, 2016), 197-222. Wouter J. Hanegraaff noted Scholem opposed more universalist interpretation of
Kabbalah: Wouter J. Hanegraaff, "The Beginnings of Occultist Kabbalah: Adolphe Franck and Eliphas Lévi," in
edited by Boaz Huss, Marco Pasi and Kocku von Stuckrad, Kabbalah and Modernity: Interpretations,
Transformations, Adaptations (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 1-7-128. The problem of the emergence of the discipline
and its relation with the reality discussed in: Boaz Huss, "'Aughorized Guardians': The Polemics of Academic
Scholars of Jewish Mysticism against Kabbalah Practiotioners," in edited by Olav Hammer and Kocku von
Stuckrad, Political Encounters: Esoteric Discourse and its Others (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2007), 104-124.
12
Erich Bischoff, Die Kabbalah: Einführung in die Jüdische Mystik und Geheimwissenschaft (Leipzig: Th.
Grieben's Verlag, 1903), 12.
 9

The book is mentioned in the Cabala by Bernhard Pick (1842-1917).13 There is a very

general and wrong information indeed. Author erred in the year of Amsterdam edition; he put

“1601” instead of “1701.” He dates the book to the 8th-9th centuries.14

In A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediaeval Judaism by William

Oscar Emil Oesterley (1866-1950) and George Herbert Box (1869-1933), the Sepher Raziel

is dealt as a text, which includes a fragment of another book, Shi’ur Komah.15

The Czech abbreviated translation of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh by Isaac Eisenberg

(1884-?) includes speculations on the story of the book, its ideas and their place in the

history. Eisenberg points that the book is a compilation and gives a list of its sections.

However, he failed to discover some clear known to Steinschneider sources.16 Unfortunately,

this book and its suggestive concepts remain completely ignored outside Czech Republic.

De Hebreeuwsche Litteratuur by Juda Leon Palache (1886-1944) with cooperation of

Abraham Salomon Levisson (1902-1945) and Salomo Pinkhof (1893-1945) consists of a

brief general introduction to each section with the relevant translations of the primary

sources. That is an anthology with extensive commentaries. First piece in the chapter on

Kabbalah (IX) is borrowed from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh.17 There is no special

commentary on the book and its history, but the concern with this practical magic book in

such anthology, which briefly presents the history of Jewish literature, deserves attention.

13
Bernhard Pick, The Cabala: Its Influence on Judaism and Christianity (Chicago-London: The Open Court
Publishing Company, 1913), 33.
14
Ibid., 20, 33.
15
W.O.E. Oesterley and G.H. Box, A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediaeval Judaism
(London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and New York: Macmillan Company, 1920), 238.
16
Jicchak Eisenberg, Sefer Raziel Hamalach. Kniha andělf Raziela čilipraktická teurgie a mystika kabalistická
(Praha: Sfinx, 1923), 9-10.
17
Juda Leon Palache, De hebreeuwsche litteratur van den na-talmoedischen tijd tot op onze dagen in schetsen
en vertalingen (Amsterdam: Hertzberger, 1935), 341-342. There is a misprint in Palache’s reference to the Sefer
Raziel ha-Malakh, it gives number “6” instead of “3”.
 10

Joshua Trachtenberg (1904-1959) much relies on the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh and

mentions it in different parts of his celebrated Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in

Folk Religion, first published in 1939. However, he did not study its textual history.

Trachtenberg gives only general information:

…in Sefer Raziel, which, while largely ascribed to Eleazar of Worms, drew extensively upon Gaonic

mystic sources. It is therefore likely that the name is older than the book which introduced it to a larger Jewish

public. More than this we cannot say concerning its age. 18

The Sefer Raziel is referred in the published in 1923 second volume of above-

mentioned classical work on the history of magic by Lynn Thorndike.19 However, there is a

very brief notion within the general context of medieval magic under the name of King

Salomon. Thorndike does not analyse different versions and traditions of the book. He refers

to Moses Gaster and a manuscript with an anthology, stemmed from an anthology of the 13th

Century, produced or translated at the court of Alfonso X of Castile (see below).

In his article on the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh Josef Dan referred rather to the general

origin of the compilation, than to the define borrowings and parallels.20 He especially

emphasizes the role of Hasidei Ashkenaz, Jewish pietists’ movement in medieval Germany,

in the formation of the book. Josef Dan published his article after the revolutionary book by

Mordecai Margalioth (see below), but we prefer to speak about it previously, before the

discussion on the radical change in the history of research. However, the relatively general

character of the assertions in Dan’s article has evident reason; - the work was published in the

encyclopedia.

18
Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion (New York: Atheneum, 1970),
92.
19
Lynn Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science (New York: Columbia University Press,
1923-1958), 2:280-281.
20
Josef Dan, “Raziel, Book of,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1st ed. (Jerusalem: Keter, 1971-1972), 13:1592-93.
Reprinted in 2nd edition (Detroit: Macmillan and Keter, 2007), 17:129.
 11

The shift in the study of the book was stirred by Mordecai Margalioth’s work. From

1963 he began his research on some parallel texts, in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh and in

various manuscripts. His starting point was in the pieces from the Cairo Genizah. In 1966

Margalioth published his reconstruction of what he believed to be an ancient (from 4th century

or later) magical treatise the Sefer ha-Razim.21 The book received a decisive recognition; it

was also translated into English.22 The reviews were mostly favourable and thorough. Joseph

Dan praised it in a long text, discussing some philosophical and historical problems related to

that book.23 Chaim Merchavya, being very favourable towards the book, however, showed

some complications with the edition, even found some misprints.24 Menahem Kasher debated

this book in wide religious Jewish context.25

So, this edition became a starting-point for further examinations of the manuscript

tradition. But in the same time, it cannot be ignored that the book was artificially

reconstructed from various very diverse sources. Margalioth’s edition very quickly became a

subject for the critique; the very existence of any Urtext was questioned.26 Moreover, the

21
Mordecai Margalioth, Sefer ha-Razim: Hu sefer kishufim me-tkufat ha-Talmud (Jerusalem: Yediot Akhronot,
1966).
22
Sepher ha-Razim. The Books of the Mysteries, translated by Michael Morgan (Chico, California: Scholars
Press, 1983).
23
J. Dan in Tarbiz 37(1967-68): 208-14.
24
Chaim Merchavyain, Kirjath Sepher 42 (1966-67):297-303.
25
Menahem Kasher, Torah Shelemah (Jerusalem: Makhon Torah Shelema, 1967), 22:188-193.
26
The problem became evident very soon after the Margalioth’s edition: Jens-Heinrich Niggmeyer,
Beschwörungsformeln aus dem “Buch der Geheimnisse.” Zur Topologie der magischen Rede (Hildesheim, New
York: Georg Olms, 1975), 16-17 (general remarks, aftermath Niggmeyer explains his conclusions). Ithamar
Gruenwald mostly discussed the nature of the reconstructed book. Although he emphasized importance of
Margalioth’s work, he points out to many of its shortcomings: Ithamar Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkavah
Mysticism (Leiden, Köln: Brill, 1980), 225-234. See also: Peter Schäfer, “Tradition and Redaction in Hekhalot
Literature,” The Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period 14:2 (1983):
172-181. Repr.in his, Hekhalot-Studien (Tübingen: J.C.B.Mohr, 1988), 8-16; Philip S. Alexander, “Sefer ha-
Razim and the Problem of Black Magic in Early Judaism,“ in edited by Todd E. Klutz, Magic in the Biblical
World. From the Rod of Aaron to the Ring of Solomon (London and New York: T&T Clark International A
Continuum Print, 2003), 171-190. Alexander vehemently notes: “He [Margalioth] has, in fact, invented the
work, that Sefer ha-Razim is largely a figment of his imagination and editorial ingenuity.” (p. 172). Daniel
Abrams refers to this edition only as an important stage in the history of the studies of manuscripts. He mentions
the critique, but avoid to give his own evaluation, since it is not important for his concept: his, Kabbalistic
Manuscripts and Textual Theory (Jerusalem-Los Angeles: Magnes and Cherub, 2010), 37-38.
 12

artificial reconstruction from many versions points to the problem – how it can be that no

true, reliable version survived, while there are many of its pieces in other texts.

Margalioth reconstructed only one single book, using the compilation from motley

sources, including the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. He certainly made notions on other sections of

the anthology, but its entire contents did not belong to his main interests. Those sections of

the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, not attributed by him as parts of the Sefer ha-Razim, were

excluded from Margalioth’s edition.

Some general information on the Sefer ha-Razim was included in the new version of

classical book with many editions, the Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu

Christi by Emil Schürer (1844-1910). The original text, composed by Schürer himself and

published in the end of 19th– beginning of 20th century, does not mention the Sefer ha-Razim.

In 1973-1987, a new English version of the Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes was produced.

The text of the book was heavily revised and some of its parts were entirely rewritten. Philip

Alexander composed a section on the Sefer ha-Razim.27 The brief information on the magical

book mostly relies on Margalioth’s edition.

The newly reconstructed by Margalioth book became a part of normal scientific

discourse on the related themes. General remarks on it appear in many special and general

studies, without further elaborations on the peculiarities of the work and its textual history.

For instance, such absolute classic as English version of the Origins of the Kabbalah by

27
Emil Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (London, New Delhi-New York,
Sydney, 2014), III.1:347-349.
 13

Gershom Gerard Nocturnal Kabbalists particularly relies on Margalioth.28 Noteworthy, that

he remarks on the date of creation of the text, that is the Talmudic period.29

Thus, let us leave aside such works with wide conclusions on the general development

of Kabbalah to concentrate our attention on the studies of the text itself.

The further development was mostly inspired or fulfilled by Peter Schäfer. He

criticized classical search for true source, Urtext. He emphasized fluent and unstable

character of old Hebrew texts (certainly, it is actual not only for Hebrew texts before

invention of printing, but Schäfer is a specialist in Judaica), which were subject for various

redactions. He did not believe that such texts can be considered as “identities”, simple, self-

contained, composed at a given moment, and thus clearly distinguishable from one another.

Instead, he proposed to operate with such items as Mikroformen and Makroformen.

Microforms are brief unities of text, those different combinations in different compilations

and redactions, form various books. Such final combinations are Macroforms. However, in

reality boundaries of microforms and macroforms are very flexible.30 Although Schäfer’s

28
Gershom Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah (Princeton: The Jewish Publication Society, Princeton University
Press, 1987). The proto-book was first written in Hebrew as Reshith ha-Qabbalah (1948) and, aftermath
Scholem entirely rewrote it in German (Ursprung und Anfänge der Kabbala (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1962)).
The English version is also reworked book.
29
Ibid., 106, n. 99.
30
His special and widely-known article on his methodology is: Peter Schäfer, „Research into Rabbinic
Literature: An Attempt to Define the Status Quaestionis,“ Journal of Jewish Studies 37:2 (1986):139-152. He
continues to explain his position as an answer to the criticism of Chaim Milikowsky: Peter Schäfer, „Once again
the Status Questionis of Research in Rabbinic Literature: An Answer to Chaim Milikowsky,“ Journal of Jewish
Studies 40:1 (1989): 89-94. These articles were actually foreshadowed by Schäfer’s previous works, for
instance, completely clearly by his, “Tradition and Redaction in Hekhalot Literature,” The Journal for the Study
of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period 14:2 (1983): 172-181. Repr.in his, Hekhalot-Studien
(Tübingen: J.C.B.Mohr, 1988), 8-16. Peter Schäfer also included his methodological preferences into the
general context of the history of research on the so-called Merkabah Mysticism: his, “Review: Merkavah
Mysticism and Rabbinic Judaism,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 104:3 (1984): 537-541. Schäfer
refers to David J. Halperin as his own precursor, showing the advantage of his scrupulous analysis of the texts.
He explains his theory of microforms and macroforms in: his, “Handschriften zur Hekhalot-Literatur,”
Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge11 (1983): 113-193 (Repr. In: Hekhalot-Studien (Tübingen: J.C.B.Mohr,
1988), 154-233 (see pp. 200-201)). Actually, a similar method of the application of different variations as equal
without search for Urtext was also systematically justified in studies of European Medieval text nearly in the
same years. See: Bernard Cerquiglini, In Praise of the Variant: A Critical History of Philology (Baltimore: JHU
Press, 1999). Original edition is: Éloge de la variante: Histoire critique de la philology (Paris: H. Champion,
1989).
 14

methodology is not commonly accepted today,31 it is extremely important for the research of

the Sefer ha-Razim, as it will be shown below.

Irina Wandrey studied the Book of Garment (Sefer ha-Malbush) and the Book of

Righteous (Sefer ha-Yashar). The Book of Garment appears also in the beginning of Sefer

Raziel ha-Malakh. Margalioth excluded it from his version of the Sefer ha-Razim (see above).

There are many texts called Book of Righteous. The title twice appears in the Bible, Joshua

10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18. Since then, there were some different books with that name.

Wandrey studied one of them, a brief magical text. She analysed, published and translated

this work, which bears that title. She proved the existence of the close and intermingled

manuscript tradition of the Sefer ha-Yashar and beginning of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, i.e.

so-called Sefer ha-Malbush32 and Sefer Adam (or the Sefer ha-Razim II, see below).33 For us

it is important (see below), that she supposed that story of acquiring the wonder-book in the

beginning, prayer of Adam, the rite with the doves (see below) and, probably, the sworn of

the Sun (6b) may be regarded as parts of the original the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. The rite

with the doves is close in “structure” to the tradition of the Sefer ha-Malbush, but not in

precise words. Meanwhile Klaus Hermann also discovered very similar tradition in the

treatise Massekhet Hekhalot.34

A year later, in 2005, Bill Rebiger dedicated a special article to describe step by step,

but also briefly the sources of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh and the development of the book’s

31
The fate of his methodology is discussed in: Daniel Abrams, Kabbalistic Manuscripts and Textual Theory:
Methodologies of Textual Scholarship and Editorial Practice in the Study of Jewish Mysticism (Jerusalem-Los
Angeles: Magnes Press, Cherub Press, 2010), 41-47.
32
In the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh (Amsterdam, 1701) the Sefer ha-Malbush (2b) precedes the Sefer ha-Razim II
or the Sefer Adam.
33
For her scheme of the interrelations and the development of the tradition see: Irina Wandrey, Das Buch des
Gewandes und Das Buch des Aufrechten: Dokumente eines magischen spätantiken Rituals, ediert, kommentiert
und übersetzt (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004), 199.
34
Klaus Hermann, Massekhet Hekhalot: Traktat von den himmlischen Palästen (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,
1994).
 15

content from foregoing manuscript tradition.35 Every page of the book is considered. That is

the essential introduction for any study of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh.

The theme was much elaborated in Reimund Leicht’s Astrologumena Judaica.36 The

author widens manuscript tradition, includes related Latin37 and connections with Greek and

Arabic analogies,38 analyses the contents of the book and the books that have any tie with the

Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. He even called the section on it “The Astromagical texts from the

surroundings of the Sefer Raziel and their development” (“Die astromagischen Texte aus dem

Umfeld des Sefer Razi’el und ihre Entwicklung”). Actually, long before publishing of that

book, Leicht (with Joseph Yahalom) had dealt with the tradition, but from quite different

point of view (books acquired from Adam).39 The Sepher Raziel ha-Malakh, published in

1701, starts from the story of acquiring this extremely secret and holy book by the first

human Adam from angel Raziel and the further transmission of the text. Margalioth excluded

this story from his reconstruction of the Sepher ha-Razim, he took a parallel story, which

appears in the same compilation. Here is the first owner of the book is Noah.40 However, the

35
Bill Rebiger, “Zur Redaktionsgeschichte des Sefer Razi’el ha-Mal’akh,” Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge 32
(2005): 1-22.
36
Reimund Leicht, Astrologumena Judaica. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der astrologischen Literatur der
Juden (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006), 187-294. The book is published doctoral thesis (Freie Universität,
Berlin, 2004).
37
On Latin Sefer Raziel, which is quite different from the Hebrew Sefer Razi’el ha-Mal’akh see also: François
Secret, “Sur quelquestra ductions du SeferRazi'el,” Revue des études juives 128 (1969): 223-245; Alfonso X,
Astromagia, ed. A. d’Agostino (Naples: Liguori, 1992); A.G. Avilés, „Alfonso X y el Liber Razielis: imágenes
de la magia astral judíaen el scriptorium alfonsi,“ Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 74:1 (1997): 21-39; Sepher
Raziel also known as Liber Salomonis, a 1564 English Grimoire from Sloane MS 3826, transcribed, annotated
and introd. Donn Karr, foreword and modern English version Stephen Skinner (Singapore: Golden Hoard Press,
2010); Sefer ha-Razim I und II. Das Buch der Geheinisse I und II (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 2:97-104,
114-116, 118-125.
38
Margalioth applied ten Arabic fragments, but all from the Cairo Genizah. On Arabic part of the tradition see
also: Alexander Fodor, “An Arabic Version of Sefer Ha-Razim,” Jewish Studies Quarterly 13:4 (2006): 412-
427. Fodor and Leicht discussed different texts.
39
Reimund Leicht, and Josef Yahalom, “Sefer zeh Sefer Toledot Adam: An Unknown Esoteric Midrash on
Genesis 5:1 from the Gaonic period,” Ginzei Qedem 4 (2008): 9-82.
40
Comp. Michael E. Stone, “The Book(s) Attributed to Noah,” Dead Sea Discoveries 13:1 (2006): 4-23; M.
Pessner, “Hermes Trismegistus and Arab Science,” Studia Islamica 2 (1954): 45-59. This story may have a tie
with the widespread in Judaism idea of so-called Seven Laws of Noah. Noah as a receiver of God’s
commandments for the entire humankind may be easily turned into a founder of esoteric tradition. The
interchangeability of Adam and Noah can have ideological and historical foundation. See, for instance:
Gedaliahu G. Stroumsa, Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic Mythology (Leiden: Brill, 1984), p. 84. See also our
remarks on the Sefer Noah in the notions on Steinschneider and Jellinek.
 16

story of a secret tradition from Adam is widely known and goes back to the diction of the

Bible: “This is the book of the generations of Adam.” (Gen 5:1). The Hebrew word for

“generation” is tholdoth, i.e. also “history”, or rather any succession of causalities. The text

of the Bible can be interpreted as a reference to the book of Adam. Indeed, such explanation

of the text was widely in use. For instance, the story appears in the celebrated Kabbalistic

book Zohar (vol. 1, 55a-b). The narrative in the Zohar and in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh are

very similar indeed.41 Also famous Kabbalistic book-length introduction by Isaiah ben

Abraham Horowitz (c.1555 - 1630) to his Sheney Luhot ha-Berit (Two Tablets of the

Covenant) bears the name Tholdoth Adam (Generations of Adam). Actually, the line of the

usages of that expression in occult and Kabbalistic books may be very long. In the particular

study, it is important to note, that Leicht and Yahalom published a midrash, which has

conventional (medieval texts do not always have constant names) Sefer Zeh Sefer Toledot

Adam42 and refers to the esoteric tradition obtained directly from Adam Kadmon.

The development of the research has resulted in a new edition of the Sefer ha-Razim

according to Peter Schäfer’s methodology, i.e. as a publication of parallel fragments from

various manuscripts and printed texts with a separate volume of extensive commentaries. It is

a product of cooperation of six scholars. However, the work was mainly fulfilled and

supervised by above-mentioned researchers, Bill Rebiger and Peter Schäfer.

So here the parallels or similar texts, previously enshrined in not easily available

books and manuscripts, are compiled with scholarly commentaries in one book (2 vols.).

41
There are many stories with similar elements and details, but without reference to the esoteric book. The idea
may be very ancient. Anyway, some parallels may be found in Vita Adae. For instance, see: John M. Steadman,
“Adam and the Prophesied Redeemer (Paradise Lost XII; (359-623)),” Studies in Philology 56:2 (1959): 214-
225; M. de Jonge and J. Tromp, The Life of Adam and Eve and Related Literature (Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic Press, 1997); James H. Charlesworth, ed. Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments (New York:
Doubleday & Company, 1983-1985), 1:249-295. Comp. an attempt to summarize tradition of the concept of
Adam, but without discussed here aspect: Peter Schäfer, “Adam in der jüdischen Überlieferung,” in edited by
Walter Strolz, Vom Alten zum Neuen Adam: Urzeitmythos und Heilsgeschichte (Freiburg-Basel-Wien: Herder,
1986), 69-93. The first mention of angel Raziel is in Targum Koheleth. See: Sefer ha-Razim I und II (Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 88-90.
42
In this case, the transliteration of Leicht's and Yahalom's text.
 17

However, the edition is certainly addressed to the scientists. A reader can choose between

right and wrong or primal and later versions of the text. The editors also produced a unified

“average” version and translated it into German (vol. II, pp. 126-191). This edition includes

so-called Sefer ha-Razim II. The text of Sefer Raziel, published in 1701, includes the section,

which has its own title and logically falls from the narrative line. It starts from p. 2b with

clear label “Zo tfilat Adam ha-rishon” (“that is prayer of first man (or Adam)”) in the nice

framework. It suddenly interrupts the story of Seth on the previous page, which appears after

the notion of Adam’s death. Margalioth identified the insertion as a section of the Sefer

Adam, a lost book,43 twice mentioned by a Karaite author of 9th-10th centuries Daniel ben

Moses Al-Qūmisīin; his commentary on the Minor Prophets, Pitron Sheneim-Asar along with

referred above the Sefer ha-Razim and the Sefer ha-Yashar.44 Margalioth found some other

remnants of this text, but believes that the book cannot be restored at the present stage.45

Peter Schäfer and Bill Rebiger et al. questioned Margalioth’s hypothesis and

published that text (the Sefer Adam) as the Sefer ha-Razim II. Their main arguments are –1.

This text is bounded with the Sefer ha-Razim in the known manuscript tradition; 2. The words

identified as the title are inserted in the sentence, which describes the entire book.46 However,

the manuscripts probably deserve deeper consideration, because of the intricate tie of the

tradition with the Sefer ha-Yashar.47

It should be mentioned famous book by Gideon Bohak, Ancient Jewish Magic: A

History. There is a certain brief summary to all previous investigations. On the accurate usage

of the original texts and previous studies, author includes the Sefer ha-Razim in wider

43
Margalioth, Sefer ha-Razim, 31-33.
44
Ibid., 36.
45
Ibid., 31-33.
46
For explanations, see Vol. 2, p. 68. Comp. Reimund Leicht, Astologumena Judaica: Untersuchungen zur
Geschichte der astrologischen Literatur der Juden (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006), 195-199 (esp. 196);
Rebiger, “Zur Redaktionsgeschichte des Sefer Razi’el ha-Mal’akh,” 2-3.
47
Wandrey, “Das Buch des Gewandes," 188-199.
 18

historical context with discussion on various important issues, such as, for instance, the

dating.48 G. Bohak also discusses formation of new magic books from previous text. He

includes the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh (1701) in this research.49

Finally, Yuval Harari turns much attention to the Sefer ha-Razim and includes it in his

main sources.50 The book is mostly used as a source in his wider investigation. But it also

plays important role in the history of the research of Jewish magic. Yuval Harari also

composed a very brief article about the book (Sefer ha-Razim) for the Encyclopedia of

Ancient History.51 It does not provide new and previously unknown information, but gives

basic information on the topic.

3. A Practical Magical Rite on pp. 3a-b of the SeferRaziel ha-Malakh (1701)

There is a rite to obtain a prophetic dream vision in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, published in

Amsterdam in 1701. According to the dominated today view, it belongs to the Sefer Adam or

the Sefer ha-Razim II. The text has clear ties with the Sefer ha-Yashar and the Sefer ha-

Malbush (see above). The description of the ritual splits the normal development of the

narrative, thus it should be an insertion, which have not belonged to the primal text.52 As it

will be shown below on the base of the manuscript tradition, such sequence exists from at

least the end of the 14th century. It is not the editor’s invention. Probably such insertion had

not existed much earlier. The beginning of the section 6 of the Latin treatise Liber Razielis

48
Gideon Bohak, Ancient Jewish Magic: A History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 170 ff.
49
Bohak, Ancient Jewish Magic: A History, 222.
50
Harari, Early Jewish Magic: Research, Method, Sources, pass., but esp. 110-112 (general information on the
book and its restoration by Margalioth)
51
Originally published in 13 volumes at Chichester : Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, but available online:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444338386
52
Wandrey, “Das Buch des Gewandes," 197; Reimund Leicht, Astrologumena Judaica: Untersuchungen zur
Geschichte der astorlogischen Literatur der Juden (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006), 195.
 19

Archangeli,53a translations (with also Castilian) produced in 13th century at the court of

Alfons X the Wise (1252-1282), the king of Castile and Leon, includes narrative, which is

very close to the Sefer ha-Razim II or the Sefer Adam. But the ritual is absent in both

translations.

However, there is no need to return here to the discussion on the manuscript

tradition, since the main texts and problems have been already mentioned.

The ritual appears in such form:

…let him <a magus> count three days before the beginning of the month, and him eat nothing forbidden by the

law, or having blood in it; let him drink no wine and approach no woman; let him wash himself with water

during these days before the rising of the sun; let him bring two white doves and cut their throats with a copper

knife with both sides sharp, so that he may cut one dove with one side and the other dove with the other side.

Then let him take out their intestines and wash them with water. Let him bring some old wine, pure

frankincense, and some clean and pure honey, mix them up and fill with this mixture the intestines of the doves.

Afterwards let him put the intestines so filled up on burning embers before the rising of the morning aurora; let

him walk round about it in a white dress, and barefooted; let him mention the names of the angels serving in the

month when he is praying, and let him burn all the pieces sacrificed; every piece three times a day; on the third

day let him bring the ashes, spread them on the floor, sleep on them, and mention the names of the angels, the

mighty, the powerful, the strong, the holy, the ruling, and let him sleep, and speak to no man. Then the angels

53
See on it: François Secret, “Sur quelquestraductions du Sefer Razi'el,” Revue des étudesjuives 128 (1969):
223-245; Alfonso X, Astromagia, A. ed. d’Agostino (Naples: Liguori, 1992); A.G. Avilés, „Alfonso X y el
Liber Razielis: imágenes de la magia astral judíaen el scriptorium alfonsi,“ Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 74:1
(1997): 21-39 ;Susanna Åkerman, „Queen Christiana’s Latin Sefer-ha-Raziel Manuscript,” in Judaeo-Christian
Intellectual Culture in the Seventeenth Century. A Celebration of the Library Narcissus Marsh (1638-1713), ed.
A.P. Coudert, S. Hutton, R.H. Popkin and G.M. Weiner (Dordrecht, Boston, London, 1998), 13-25; Sepher
Raziel also known as Liber Salomonis, a 1564 English Grimoire from Sloane MS 3826, transcribed, annotated
and introd. Donn Karr, foreword and modern English version Stephen Skinner (Singapore: Golden Hoard Press,
2010); Reimund Leicht, Astrologumena Judaica: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der astrologischen Literatur
der Juden (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006), 257-290; Sefer ha-Razim I und II. Das Buch der Geheinisse I und II
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 2:97-104, 114-116, 118-125.
 20

will come to him in the night as a prophetic vision, and they will inform him and tell him anything he asks

without fear.54

This ritual appears in some manuscripts belonging to the tradition of the Sefer Adam

or the Sefer ha-Razim II. There are some variations in it.55

MS Oxford, Bodleian Library 1345 (Oppenheim 588), ashkenazi manuscript. It has

precise date in the text itself, Adar 5144, i.e. 1384.56 Here a conjurer sacrifices either doves or

pigeons, and not only doves as in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. According to the text, he

counts seven days before the beginning of the month, not three days. A magus should add to

the mentioned in the published book components also crocus, white flower, 72 white peppers.

There is no mention of the quantity of rituals daily.

MS Moscow, Russian State Library, MS Günzburg 738. Italian manuscript of 15th

century57 also prescribes to count seven days before the beginning of the month instead of

three days, and to add to the mixture of old wine, frankincense and honey also myrrh, crocus,

white flower and 72 white peppers. The prayers should be recited for three days. But in other

things it mostly coincides with the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh.

MS Tel Aviv, Collection Bill Gross 42, a manuscript from 19th century Yemen58 a

magician also counts seven days before the beginning of the month. The mixture includes 72

ground peppers, old wine, frankincense and honey. To conclude, it would be seven days of

54
Translation by Leon Goldmerstein, but with some corrections (in italic). Quoted according to: Leon
Goldmerstein, "Magical Sacrifice in the Jewish Kabbala," Folklore 7:2 (1896): 202-204.
55
The manuscripts described and compared in: Sefer ha-Razim I und II. Das Buch der Geheinisse I und II
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 2:69-81. Most of unpublished in the first volume of that book manuscripts
may be found online. However, we avoid links to the widely known collections, because it is very easy to detect
them.
56
Sefer ha-Razim I und II. Das Buch der Geheinisse I und II (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 1:25.
57
Sefer ha-Razim I und II, 1:21.
58
Sefer ha-Razim I und II, 1:27.
 21

final preparation with the praying. It is not also specified the quantity of prayers for each

day.59

MS Frankfurt am Main, Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek, hebr. 8° 131 is an

ashkenazi manuscript, from 16-17 century. The rite may be found on p. 116v. The text is not

published, but text of the Sefer ha-Razim II or Sefer Adam is very close to the text in

Bodleian Library 1345 (Oppenheim 588) (MS Oxford). The differences are described in the

Sefer ha-Razim I und II on pp. 73-74. The discussed rites coincide in both texts.

MS Los Angeles, University of California Library 779 bx. 1. ¼ (Rosenberg

Collection 23) is an oriental, partly Italian manuscript, which consists of different parts from

17th and 18th century.60 The text of the Sefer ha-Razim II or Sefer Adam here is similar to the

text from the Ms Günzburg 738 (MS Moscow, Russian State Library), according to the Sefer

ha-Razim I und II.61

MS London, British Library, Or. 6577 is dated c. 1400.62 Here (p. 3v) it should be

counted seven days before the beginning of month. Magus sacrifices two white doves. The

mixture consists of old wine, frankincense and honey. The names of the angel should be

recited for seven days, trice a day.

MS New York, Jewish Theological Seminary 8117 (832), a manuscript from Italy,

17-18th centuries.63 Here it is prescribed to use firstborn pigeons, not doves. It should be

counted seven days before the beginning of the month. The mixture contains of nutmegs (?),

crocus, frankincense, pepper, white old wine, honey, wine (without specification). The angels

should be mentioned for seven days, on the third day magus burns the doves.

59
The texts are published in: Sefer ha-Razim I und II, 1:108*-109*.
60
Sefer ha-Razim I und II, 1:20.
61
Sefer ha-Razim I und II, 2:70-73.
62
Rebiger, Zur Redaktionsgeschichte des Sefer Razi’el ha-Mal’akh,” 10.
63
Sefer ha-Razim I und II, 1:24.
 22

MS New York, Public Library, Jewish Items 40 is a Yemenite manuscript form the

18th century.64 Here the ritual is identical with the ritual in MS Tel Aviv, Collection Bill

Gross 42.65

So, there is a curious rite. Its origins are lost in the darkness of times. There are

many variations in the manuscripts, but in its core, it is the same ritual with unchangeable

main elements. However, there is a clear manuscript tradition beside the book. So, the affinity

of these texts cannot amaze us.

There are also three additional recipes for dream questions in the Sefer Raziel ha-

Malakh (Amsterdam, 1701). One of them appears on p. 33b. It prescribes to write the Name

on a card. The Name is “‫”אאא ססס מאברית אברית ברית רית ית ת‬. It is worth mentioning that the

names starts from the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (“aleph”) and ends with the last

(“tav”). Thus, it can hint at completeness, to something from the beginning to the end. A huge

quantity of the parallels and associations can be provided. Let us remind some commonly

known instances. The “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13).

The word “truth” (emeth), which also starts from the first letter and ends with the last. But

this magical text does not explain the name. Anyway, the card should be put under the head.

After that, the prayer to the angel of dreams follows:

Angel of dream, I conjure you by the great Name, the mighty and the terrible,66 for you <the angel> will come

to me this night and you will tell me the answer to my question and request whether in a dream or in the vision,

or in the verse (pasuk) or in the speech, or in the explanations of the law (divrey halakha), or in the written text

in such a form that I shall not forget and I will recollect my question. 67

64
Ibid., 1:25.
65
Ibid., 2:74.
66
„Ha-gadol, ha-giborve-ha-nora“.It derives from Deuteronomy 10:17. This phrase is very popular. For instance,
it appears in the beginning of the central Jewish prayer Amidah.
67
The translation by the author of this article.
 23

This ritual seems different from the discussed above. At least an existence of

common tradition is not highly probable in this case.

The second and third rituals appear on p. 40a. The practitioner should wash his

hands. Aftermath, he washes his left hand in rose water (or lily water, mey khavatselet).68

After that he writes on this hand a prayer to holy angels. In his prayer he suddenly mentiones

“‫”אאא ססס‬, which reminds the previous recipe, it appears as the usage of the first part of the

entire formula. Finally, the practitioner sleeps on the right side and obtains the desirable

answer in his dream.

On the same page of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, another recipe starts. It ends on

verso. It prescribes three days of fasting. After that, a practitioner wears white garbs and

keeps three days of purification follows (on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). However, on

the fourth day (Thursday) the fasting continues. Only the evening of the fourth day is

designed for the ritual. Thus, the rite should be accomplished in the night between Thursday

and Friday. Therefore, the complete quantity of the day in the narration is unclear, it cannot

be undoubtedly said whether the entire preparation continues 3+1 days or 3+3+1. In any case,

a practitioner lights the candle and lay on ashes (?) in the centre of his house. In 18th century,

Georg Carol Petri (see below) translated the word ‫( עפר‬afar), i.e. ashes as terra, i.e. earth.

Looking at the candle a practitioner tells a long prayer. Finally, turning face down it is

possible to see the vision (probably it reflects common practice in Merkabah, “fall on once

face”).69 Burnt offering is absent here. There are neither doves, nor scents. The ritual with the

68
On the identification of the flower see: Eugene Kuzmin, Alchemical Imagery in the Works of Quirinus
Kuhlmann (1651-1689) (Wilsonville, Oregon: Sirius Academic Press, 2013), 247-248.
69
Martha Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (New York and Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1993), 110-111. Such interpretation is rooted in Ithamar Gruenwald’s interpretation of the
Merkabah literature: “the Hekhalot literature <i.e. Merkabah> falls into two types: the description of heavenly
ascensions and the description of the appearance on earth of angels who reveals secrets… the whole of the
Hekhalot literature might be defined as technical guides, or manuals…” See: Ithamar Gruenwald, Apocalyptic
and Merkavah Mysticism, 99. Certainly there is no unity in interpretations of Merkabah literature. There is no
intention to give the entire bibliography on the problem. Also we do not intent to participate in the discussion on
 24

lamp is well-known from the Papyri Graecae Magicae (see below, section 6) and can be

connected with lychnomancy. But probable sophisticated relations between different kinds of

divinations deserve separate study. It is important to note that in the mentioned rite, the

deviation from the tradition is considerable. Nevertheless, there are some common features,

such as 3 or 7 days of preparations, those include fasting (instead of diet) and purification,

also sleeping on ashes. However, the ashes in the ritual on p. 40a-b are of unclear origin.

Probably, the text means earth. The usage of another term for it may have symbolical reasons.

Ashes can reflect something more profound and important. Moshe Idel even supposed the tie

between this element in dream question and in producing golem.70

The origins of these rituals is unclear and it seems has never been studied. They are

not regarded as part of the Sefer ha-Razim. Thus, they do not attract attention as part of this

book, which placed in the very centre of discussion on Jewish magic. Bill Rebiger suggested

that the text on p. 33b was incorporated between two quite different pieces; the section on the

prophetic dream would be united with the text on pp. 40a-b.71 However, two sections on the

dream on pp. 40a-b have no attribution. Formal belonging to a book is not important for the

manuscript tradition. It was already noted above. But the manuscript tradition of these rituals

remains uncovered. Thus, their development and variations require through investigation in

future.

Although these rituals are quite remote from the ritual on p. 3a-b, they have some

common features. They are very peculiar for magical rites in general. These features are

fasting (ritual 3), ritual purity (rituals 2, 3), white clothes (ritual 3). The hesitation between 3

and 7 days of preparations in the third ritual deserves much attention in the light of

manuscript tradition of the ritual on p. 3a-b. As it was previously noted, the applying of the

the nature of the Merkabah literature. However, it is the right place to point out to the probable connection of
our rite with Merkabah. Such tie deserves special study, which will be probably accomplished in future.
70
Moshe Idel, Nocturnal Kabbalists (Jerusalem: Carmel, 2006), 105 (n. 38).
71
Bill Rebiger, “Zur Redaktionsgeschichte des Sefer Razi’el ha-Mal’akh,” 8 .
 25

candle in the third ritual, leads us to another tradition, known from the antiquity (with lamp).

Unclear context of ashes unites the third ritual with the rituals of ashes of the doves. The

omission, caused by inaccuracy in the transmission of the rite, is very probable in this case.

There are also two additional important things. Their significance will be revealed later. But

they deserve some attention at the present stage. They are rose or lily water in the second

ritual and the night between Thursday and Friday in the third ritual. It is important to notice

that rose is a flower of Venus and Friday is Venus’ day of the week.

So, there is a ritual with dream question in the manuscript tradition of the Sefer ha-

Razim I, which does not appear in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, but may be found in the

manuscripts of the tradition of the Sefer ha-Razim. The list of the versions will be missed

here, since only affinities with our main text are important in this case. It may be found in the

edition by Rebiger and Schäfer (vol. I, pp. 34*-37*; vol. II, pp. 40-68). Actually, in this

occasion a magician does not ask for the dream. His goal is a dream interpretation for

somebody else, for a ruler. Generally, in this ritual a practitioner should go to a river or a sea

at 3 o’clock in the night.72 He follows certain diet before. His clothes are new. He burns

frondescence and myrrh, he says names of the guards and angels trice. After that, practitioner

sees a pillar between the sky and the earth. He says a brief prayer, which specially tells about

four elements. The same rite he repeats two additional days. Finally, the magician will see the

pillar of fire and an image of man above it. This man answers any question. The affinities are

diet, clothes, burnt offering, myrrh and frankincense and importance of number three.

Certainly, it may be said that all of these elements are so widespread, that the belonging to

72
This episode with a river has a striking parallel in a Babylonian practice. See: Gil H. Renberg, Where Dreams
May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2016), 1:39. That also
may be connected with the water at Asklepieia, i.e. for incubation (see section 6 in this text), - Renberg, Where
Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 1:239-249, 389-290. As also in the
case of sacrifice of doves and pigeon it can have a tie both with purification and farther ritual practices (see
section 6 in this text). For the context of the pagan-Jewish contacts, the Pool of Bethesda is of special interest
(Jn. 5). However, it lies beyond our topic.
 26

the same tradition with the mainly discussed ritual is doubtful. But the parallels definitely

deserve our attention.

4. Some late parallels

After the Amsterdam edition of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh in 1701, the manuscript tradition

lost its importance. The text acquired a commonly acceptable, fixed form, which took over

the variations. The high status of the book (see section 2) caused fast diffusion of this

published version. But, the development of the tradition or probably a parallel tradition or

even reflection of the tradition may be suspected in some very remote thematically and

confessional texts.

One of such texts is an alchemical book Aesch Mezareph. Twenty fragments of the

Aesch Mezareph have appeared in the dictionary of Kabbalistic terms (Loci Communes

Kabbalistici...) by Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (1636-1689), a celebrated Christian

Hebraist, mystic, publisher and translator.73 The text of the dictionary was published in the

first volume of his famous Kabbalistic anthology Kabbala Denudata, seu Doctrina

Transcendentalis et Metaphysica atque Theologica (three volumes, 1677-1678, 1684). Here

the Aesch Mezareph is introduced as a Hebrew book, but any version or remains or traces of

the supposed Hebrew original text are not extant today. Nevertheless the Hebrew origins of

73
See on him and his main Hebraistic project: Kurt Selecker, Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (1636-1689)
(Leipzig: Mayer und Müller, 1931); Artur Kreiner, Stille Leuchte: Das Leben des Dichters und Kanzlers
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (Nürnberg: Glock und Lutz, 1946); Konstantin Burmistrov, "Die hebräischen
Quellen der Kabbala Denudata," Morgen-Glantz. Zeitschrift der Christian Knorr von Rosenroth-Gesellschaft
12(2002): 341-376; Andreas Kilcher, ed. Die Kabbala denudata: Text und Kontext; Akten der 15. Tagung der
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth Gesellschaft (Bern: Lang, 2006); his, „Lexicographische Konstruktion der
Kabbala. Die Loci communes cabbalistici der Kabbala denudata,“ Morgen-Glantz. Zeitschrift der Christian
Knorr von Rosenroth-Gesellschaft 7 (1997): 67-125; his, "Kabbalistische Buchmetaphysik Knorrs Bibliothek
und die Bedeutung des Sohar." In Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, ed., Christliche Kabbala (Sigmaringen:
Thorbecke, 2003), 211-223.
 27

the book cannot be even questioned, they are proven enough.74 The first separate edition of

these fragments from the dictionary, which compiles them together, is anonymous (under the

pen name The Lover of Philalethes).75 The book was published in 1714. It consists of three

parts and includes both Latin text and its English translation. The anonymous editor also

added his commentary to the text.76 This English version was, aftermath, reprinted by coroner

and celebrated magician William Wynn Westcott (1848-1925) with some correction.77 The

book was very popular in the 17-20th centuries, but the history of other translations and of

commentaries lies apart from our study.78

There is a curious section in this text:

Juneh, a Dove; amongst the Aenigmas of Natural things, the Name of a Dove is never applied to the

Metals themselves, but to the Ministering and Preparing forms of Nature. He that understands here the Nature of

the Burnt Offering will not take Turtles, but two young Male Pigeons, or Sons of the Dove, Leviticus, c. 1, v.

14, and c. 12, v. 8, and c. 14, v. 22. But count the word Beni 62, and 2 for a Pair of Doves, and thence is the

number 64 of the word Nogah, which is the Name of the 5th amongst the Planet, and you shall go the true way. 79

74
Gerschom Gerard Scholem, Alchemy and Kabbala (Putnam, Connecticut: Spring Publications, 2006), 62-80.
First published as „Alchemie und Kabbala.Ein Kapitel aus der Geschichte der Mystic,“ Monatsschrift für
Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 69 (1925):13-30, 95-100. See also: Raphael Patai, “Esh M’tzaref –
a Kabbalistic-Alchemical Treatise,” in Occident and Orient. A Tribute to the Memory of Alexander Scheiber, ed.
R. Dan, (Leiden: Brill, 1988), 299-313; his, The Jewish Alchemists, A History and Source Book (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1994), 154-5, 321-335; Konstantin Burmistrov, “Die hebräischen Quellen der
Kabbala Denudata,” Morgen-Glantz. Zeitschrift der Christian Knorr von Rosenroth-Gesellschaft 12(2002): 341-
376; Константин Бурмистров, "Ибо он как огонь плавильщика": Каббала и алхимия (Москва: ИФРАН,
2009), 71-73.
75
For the attempts to uncover the real name of this person see: Scholem, Alchemy and Kabbala, 78-79;
Бурмистров, "Ибо он как огонь плавильщика," 83.
76
A Lover of Philalethes, A Short Enquiry Concerning the Hermetick Art… To which is Annexed, A Collection
from Kabbala Denudata, and Translation of the Chymical-Cabbalistical Treatise, Intituled, Aesch-Mezareph;
or, Purifying Fire (London: ?, 1714).
77
W. Wynn Westcott, ed., Aesch mezareph, or Purifying fire: A Chymico-Kabalistic treatise collected from the
Kabala Denudata of Knorr von Rosenroth (London: Theosophical Pub. Society, 1894).
78
For it see: Бурмистров, "Ибо он как огонь плавильщика," 81-89.
79
W. Wynn Westcott, ed., Aesch mezareph, or Purifying fire: A Chymico-Kabalistic treatise collected from the
Kabala Denudata of Knorr von Rosenroth (London: Theosophical Pub. Society, 1894), 43.
 28

This does not much resemble the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, but there is a clear parallel,

i.e. burnt offering of two pigeons or sons of the dove prescribed by the occult text. However,

the Aesch Mezareph is not a grimoire, a practical magical book with rituals. It even refers to

the Bible, Lev. 1:14, 12:8 and 14:22, not to the Sefer Raziel ha- Malakh. In the Bible the rite

has no declared tie with any kind of prophetic dream or even prognostication. The fragments

in the Bible are close to the both books (see below, sections 5-6). They prescribe the

sacrifices of two pigeons or doves. Unmentioned in the Aesch Mezareph necessity to cut the

throats may be drawn from Lev. 1:12. But, anyway, that is not common practice in 17th

century and the coincidence deserves attention. Noteworthy, that the Aesch Mezareph refers

both to the Bible and the pagan idea that doves and pigeons are the birds of Venus. We will

return to that notion (section 6).

Some parallels to the rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh may be supposed in the

black magical Grand Grimoire, written in French. It is probably of Italian origin and claims

to date from 1522, but evidently was written in the early 19th century.80 This book is expressly

demonic. One of its main themes is a pact with the Devil. Something similar to the rite from

the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh may be suspected in a recommendation on how "to win any time

one plays the lottery". A magus recites a specific prayer three times and put the virgin

parchment with the description of his desires under his pillow. While asleep the genius of his

star will come and tell him the hour, when he must obtain his lottery ticket. Afterwards, the

magus should also says "Our Father" and "Hail Mary" three times “for the souls left in

purgatory”. The text of the prayer is this:

Domine Jesu Christe, qui dixisti ego sum via, veritas et vita, ecce enim veritatem dilexisti, incerta et

occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi, adhuc quae reveles in hac nocte sicut ita revelatum fuit parvulis solis,

80
See on it: Arthur Edward Waite, Book of Ceremonial Magi: The Secret Tradition in Goëtia, including the rites
and mysteries of Goëtic theurgy, sorcery and infernal necromancy, Second Edition (London: Rider, 1913), 96,
100-103.
 29

incognita et ventura unaque alia me doceas, ut possim omnicognoscere, si et si sit; ita monstra mihi montem

ornatum omni vivo bono, pulchrum et gratum pomarium, aut quandam rem gratam, sin autem ministra mihi

ignem ardentem, vel aquarum currentem vel aliam quamcumque rem quae Domino placeat, et vel Angeli Ariel,

Rubiel et Barachiel sitis mihi multum amatores et factores ad opus istud obtinendum quod cupio scire, videre

cognoscere et praevidere per illum Deum qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, et saeculum per ignem,

Amen

The rite in this French book should be a result of many reductions or a thoughtful

reduction. The reason for such suggestion is the set of angels-daemons. Here magus appeals

to the genius of his planet, which finally comes and tells the time to obtain the lottery ticket.

It sounds like remnants of the invocation of the spirits of planets (as also in the Sefer Raziel

ha-Malakh) and peculiar for classical magic astrological influences. But the book does not

suggest to calculate precise time for the operation or to choose suitable angels for a certain

time. Instead of all that, there are three angels mentioned in the prayer, Ariel, Rubiel and

Barachiel.

Let us point out some common details of this ritual and the ritual in the Sefer Raziel

ha-Malakh. First of all, it is the importance of number three. In the Sefer Razeil ha-Malakh

the operation starts three days before the beginning of the month. Magus should operate for

three days, three times a day. In the manuscript tradition the situation is more complex. The

number three sometimes substitutes for the number seven. However, at least, there is an

affinity with the certain texts within the tradition. Another point, it is important, it is

especially mentioned on what the magus sleeps. In the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh he lies on the

ashes, in the Grand Grimoire on the virgin parchment. Also, the magus receives an answer in

a dream. Although it is very widespread and commonly accepted form of the communication

with spiritual entities, it can be noticed as an affinity between both texts. Finally, the prayer

"Hail Mary" of the French text can stand here for the sacrifices of doves or pigeons. Indeed,

while many of European magical text prescribe sacrifices, they cannot be easily accepted in
 30

19th century France. The substitution of such ancient practice for a prayer also reflects general

trend towards the spiritualization in Christian religion or rather in the time of birth of

Christianity.81 Thus, we can suppose that the sacrifice could be substituted for a prayer.

Among many meaning of doves and pigeons in human culture and in Christianity, they have

known ties with Virgin Mary. Sometimes dove signifies purity of the mother of Jesus. In

Renaissance art, dove had become a standard element in the Annunciation scene, representing

the Holy Spirit about to merge with Virgin Mary.82 There is also a tradition to connect Virgin

Mary with image of dove on the base of Cant. 6:8-9.83 Here it symbolizes a perfect Feminity.

Probably, that has very deep and long tradition.84 The image of Madonna was also connected

with Venus and its attributes (dove is one of the such) at least in the art of Renaissance.85

Actually, the function of Virgin Mary in the divinations deserves special studies. For

instance, there is a Coptic book The Gospel of the Lots of Mary, which probably has pagan

origins and tie with Isis.86 Actually such double association, not only with Virgin Mary, but

81
That is a locus communis and there is no need and even impossible to provide here exhaustive bibliography.
Probably it should be noted that the reality is not so simple. Christianity itself reflects certain general tendencies
of the development of ideologies in certain place and time. There is a classical book by Guy G. Stroumsa, which
presents wider view of the situation, with special emphasize on the role of Judaism and the destruction of the
Second Temple in 70 CE in the trend towards such spiritualization: Guy G. Stroumsa, The End of Sacrifice:
Religious Transformations in Late Antiquity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009). This book was first
published in French under the title La fin du sacrifice: les mutations religieuses de l’Antiquité tardive (Paris:
Odile Jacob, 2005). Let us mention also popular book: Naomi Janowitz, Magic in the Roman World: Pagans,
Jews and Christians (London and New York: Routledge, 2001), 53. The recent objection: Mira Balberg, Blood
for Thought: The Reinvention of Sacrifice in Early Rabbinic Literature (Oakland, California: University of
California Press, 2017). The author insists on the importance of the discussion on sacrifices at least in Jewish
texts. Toward the same tendency in Paganism see, for instance: Gerard van Moorsel, The Mysteries of Hermes
Trismegistus: A Phenomenologic Study in the Process of Spiritualisation in the Corpus Hermeticum and Latin
Asclepius (Utrecht: Keminken Zoon, 1955)
82
George Ferguson, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. Second edition (New York: Oxford University Press,
1955), 10-12, 44, 118; Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, “Taube,” Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart
(Tübingen, 2005), 8:47; Susan von Rohr Scaff, „The Virgin Annunciate in Italian Art of the Late Middle Ages
of Renaissance,“ Literature and the Visual Art 29:3 (2002): 109-123.
83
Arthur Green, “Shekhina, The Virgin Mary, and the Song of Songs: Reflections on a Kabbalistic Symbol in
its Historical Context,” Association for Jewish Studies Review 26:1 (2002):1-52.
84
For example, see: Aleida Assman, “Traum-Hieroglyphen von der Renaissance bis zur Romantik,” in Die
Wahrheit der Träume, ed. Gaetano Benedeti and Erik Hornung (München: Fink, 1997), 119-144 (125).
85
Ernst Hans Gombrich, Symbolic Images: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance (New York: Phaidon, 1972),
63.
86
Annemarie Luijendijk, Forbidden Oracles? (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014). On Isis see pp. 25-26. General
information and bibliography in Annemarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshin, “Literature of Lot
Divination,” in My Lots are in Thy Hands: Sortilege and its Practitioners in Late Antiquity, ed. by Annemarie
 31

also with the Holy Ghost can also contribute to the tie of dove with prophetical visions. The

Holy Spirit is a normal and common source of supernatural inspiration.

Not only Virgin Mary may point out the burnt offering of the doves, but also the final

words of the original prayer in the Grand Grimoire do. The prophecy that God will judge

with fire is not very close to the magician’s operation in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, but it is

superficial in the general context of the prayer, its ties with the previous words is unclear and,

probably, absent at all. It is not enough for final or even solid assessment, but it should be

added to the line of parallels, those too many to be a pure coincidence.

The similar rite, with Virgin Mary and lottery is also known from Bohemia. It was

found in Výrov u Královic by A. Kotaška by 1850 and published in year-book Český Lid in

1914.87 There is a specific original prayer which should be repeated once a day for nine days,

after reading the Gospel of St. John and reciting nine "Our Father", "Hail Mary", "Credo"

each day. On the ninth day magus should confess, receive the Eucharist and he will see a

child in his dream. This child will give him a piece of paper with five numbers to win the

lottery. Here the main elements resemble the French text. Number nine is trice three. Among

the prayers “Hail Mary”, i.e. a prayer with the probable tie with the offering of the doves.

Finally, as in the previous text, the practitioner receives the answer in his prophetic dream.

A ritual to win the lottery appears in a Jewish magical text, written in the very end of

18th century, probably, in Italy.88 Let us note that the above-discussed French Grand

Grimoire may be of Italian origin.

Luijendijk and William E. Klingshin with the assistance of Lence Jenott (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2019), 19-59
(see pp. 47-49).
87
A. Kotaška, "Národ a modlitba pro ty, kto chtĕji vyhráti z lutrije." Český Lid 23 (1914): 203-204. Repr.in: Е.
В. Вельмезова, Чешские заговоры: Исследования и тексты (Москва: Индрик, 2004), 176-178.
88
Mark Verma, “Signor Tranquillo’s Magic Notebook”, in Studies in Jewish Manuscripts, ed. Joseph Dan and
Klaus Herrmann (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1999), 231-237.
 32

Venus, Virgin Mary, doves and pigeons are absent in this Jewish text. But there are

some other elements, which we saw in various probable developments of the recipe – lottery

and question in dream. So here it is:

A question to determine the numbers of the Lotto I invoke you (pl.) in the name of “PO SGS GPR YFR”, Holy

Names, that you (pl.) respond to my question and petition tonight, which is to know the five numbers that will

be chosen in the Lotto on a certain day, in a certain city.

Also, I invoke you, the holy angel RaGSHI’el, according to He who created you, to respond to my question and

petition clearly as the sun, without and confusion or distortion.

Exalted and attending angels, do not be angered that I have bothered you with this request. I am doing this for a

great need and saving a life. Therefore, forgive my sin. If my impudence displeases you, do not come at all. If

you come, come to me with compassion and mercy, without dread and punishment at all. Amen. May it be His

will.

Actually, there is nearly nothing to start an enquiry in any direction; the rite lacks any

distinctive actions or verbal formulas. There are only two prominent elements – lottery and

answer in dream. Lottery is absent in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh and the manuscript

tradition, which has clear tie with this book. Answer in dream is so widespread thing that it

cannot be noted as important evidence. The angel Ragshiel appears neither in the relevant

part of the Sefer Razel ha-Malakh, nor in French text. He is mentioned in the classical book

by Schwab as a version of Reuel. But his story may be much more complex. Probably, his

name is a version of Raziel or he is an angel, connected with dreams.89

89
M. Moïse Schwab, Vocabulaire de l’angélologie d’après les manuscrits Hébreux de la Bibliothèque
Nationale (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1897), 248-249. The distortion of the names of angels from manuscript
to manuscript is very widespread. It may be even said, that the names are flexible. For instance, in based on the
tradition of Sefer Raziel brief text Liber de secretis angelorum (fol. 43b/3-44b/10) from the Collection of
manuscript in Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale II.III.214, angel Raziel became angel Rachael. See also:
Bill Rebiger and Peter Schäfer, ed., Sefer ha-Razim I und II (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 2:99. Ragshiel is,
however, known form some other rituals, including dream question – from Cairo Genizah, Cambridge
University Library, T.-S. K21.95P. and T.-S.K21.95, Fol. D/19-25; MS Oxford 1531. See: Rebecca Mecy
Lesses, Ritual Practices to Gain Power: Angels, Incantations, and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism
(Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 1998), 387, 391, 397, 399-404. Also see below in section
6.
 33

So, there are some rituals with some affinities. Certainly, also their differences are

considerable. But there are too many parallels to believe in pure coincidence. We dare to

suggest probable connection between mentioned rituals. Moreover, some of the variances

have evident explanations. Already in published version (1701) of the Sefer Raziel ha-

Malakh description of the ritual lacks information for its actual fulfilment. It is easy to

suppose that the brutal ancient sacrifice of doves became a prayer to Virgin Mary in Modern

Europe. The choice of prayer is also quite plausible, since dove associates with Virgin Mary

and sometimes clearly hints at another prominent female, Venus. Also, any question of the

Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh became a very significant in that historical period request for sudden

financial success, the win in lottery.

Two rites are conditionally Christian, one is probably translated from Hebrew, but its

source is unclear, the forth is Jewish. The question on the direct source for the Christian texts

is meaningless. They both are vague indeed, the forgery and the rite from a village,

eventually written by a researcher. Technically the rite may have any of these origins: 1.

Other than the tradition of Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Christian versions may have common

roots with the Jewish texts and they both go back to very remote times; 2. Christians could

receive the knowledge about the rite orally from their Jewish neighbours; 3. They can read

the Latin translation of the description of the Jewish rite. The Latin translation of the dream

rituals from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh appears in the dissertation by Georg Carol Petri,

published in the beginning of the 18th century.90 Probably even before that Johannes Hartlieb

(ca. 1400-1468) was familiar with that practice.91

90
Georgius Carolus Petri, Dissertatio ex Antiqvitate Ebraea de ‫ מלאכה כשוף‬sive Studio Magico Ivdaeorvm
(Wittenberg: Ex officina Schlomachiana, 1733). The text was published in small separated parts from 1727 to
1733. The relevant section may be found on internet -
https://books.google.co.il/books?id=DtVQAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%99
%D7%97%D7%91%D7%A6%D7%9C%D7%AA&source=bl&ots=gWo23rFWqC&sig=jXbcH4CQPzF0QqnJ
b-
 34

5. Speculations on the origins of the Ritual: Is it Jewish?

The roots of the curious rite in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh became an acknowledged

topic for discussion. To a large extent it revolves around its religious and ethnic origins. It

was widely debated whether the rite is Jewish or not Jewish. Such accent is understandable,

since the rite appears in the Jewish religious book. Thus, evidently, no suggestion neglects

another possibility, but rather shows direction for further investigations. Let us note some

important and influential opinions. Our very brief and dry commentaries and appraisal will

follow, to emphasized cardinal points for further research, since the special discussion on

them in separate section may confuse and make our arguments extremely obscure.

Leon Goldmerstein in his very brief text could not avoid this,92 evidently important

for him question, although the rite has puzzled and confused him: “Nothing definite can be

said as to the date of this book.” But, anyway he concluded: “It must be clearly understood

that the sacrificial ceremony described above is not any part of the Jewish sacrificial rites,

and in some points openly contradicts it…. The use of sacrificial ashes for divination is met

with several times in the Talmud and Midrash; but, as far as I know, there is no mention of

such a use being made of the ashes of ordinary sacrifice.” Actually, it seems Leon

Goldmerstein rather initiates discussion, than searches for precise answers. Nevertheless, as it

was noted above (section 3) on the base of Moshe Idel’s suggestion, the case with the ashes is

not so simple, it may reflect a line of occult associations behind it.

gqO8jlgCM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjf28_HnpvXAhVDfhoKHXtmB1oQ6AEILDAC#v=onepage&q=%
D7%91%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%97%D7%91%D7%A6%D7%9C%D7%AA&f=false
91
In his Book of Hidden Arts, ch. 30 his words may hint at the rite, while it is accepted in the modern
commentary that he applied the Latin book, which does not includes with rite. See the passage and
commentaries: Rebiger and Schäfer, ed., Sefer ha.Razim I und II, 2:118.
92
Leon Goldmerstein, "Magical Sacrifice in the Jewish Kabbala," Folklore 7:2 (1896):202-204.
 35

Contrary to Goldmerstein’s inclination to exclude the rite from the Jewish tradition,

Joshua Trachtenberg puts the rite into the Jewish context.93 He does not much speculate on

the origins. He admits only that the book “while largely ascribed to Eleazar of Worms, drew

extensively upon Gaonic mystic sources.” But, in the completely dedicated to the dreams

section of his book, the rite merely inserted in that context without further discussions.

Irina Wandrey drew attention to some affinities in the Sefer ha-Yashar, Sefer ha-

Malbush94 and Sefer Adam (or Sefer ha-Razim II). Wandrey also supposes that the story of

the wonder-book, prayer and the rite with doves in the beginning of the Sefer Raziel ha-

Malakh, published in Amsterdam in 1701, and probably the sworn of the Sun (6b) in the

same book may be regarded as parts of the original Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Thus, she

questions Margalioth’s attribution of the Sefer Adam (see above). Anyway, Wandrey

complains about lack of the evidences for the development and sources, both probable pagan

and Jewish, of the rite.95 She notes that there are many rituals of pagan origins with strictly

similar elements without textual coincidence, but, nevertheless, she avoids showing actual

parallels.96

Reimund Leicht in his Astologumena Judaica argues that the rite is most probably

Jewish. He admits that the ritual is quite in Biblical style. In that particular case, it includes:

1) personification of angel, 2) the tradition of applying of angels’ names (while it is rather

Jewish tradition, the Bible does not give many names of the angels). The sacrifices of two

doves or pigeons are prescribed in the Bible (Lev. 5:7, 11; 12:6-8; 14:22; 15: 14, 29). Also,

there is no trace of another language in the text, neither words nor constructions. Thus,

probably, it is not a translation. Leicht also insists that the parallels in other languages are

93
Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion (New York: Atheneum, 1970),
92, 243.
94
In Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh (Amsterdam, 1701) Sefer ha-Malbush (2b) precedes Sefer ha-Razim II or Sefer
Adam.
95
Wandrey, “Das Buch des Gewandes,", 183-199.
96
Ibid., 197-198.
 36

unknown. He avoids dating this text, but on the base of Genizah fragments assumes its

existence in 12-13th centuries. Probably, if we would rely on the reference to the title, the

book may appear quite earlier. Its name was already known in 10th century.97 Although the

speculations on the style and angels are subjective, they are not entirely convincing (pagan

gods may resemble angels), Leicht shows the parallels in the Bible, those similarity is

strikingly clear. It proves normal and harmonious existence of the ritual within Jewish

Biblical tradition. Nevertheless, the intentions in the both cases, in the Sefer Raziel ha-

Malakh and in the Bible, are quite different. In the Bible in all these passages, the goal of the

sacrifice of doves or pigeons is redemption of sins or purification. There is no dream question

or any kind of divination.

In the second volume of the edition of the Sefer ha-Razim, published by Bill Rebiger

and Peter Schäfer with cooperation of Evelyn Burkhardt and Dorothea Salzer, may be found

the commentaries to different paragraphs of the text. The ritual is presented as both

something, which has not completely clear equivalent in the Bible, but it also depends on the

tradition of the Bible. It has also parallels in the pagan practices.

It is noticed that the beginning of a month is important in magical tradition.

Sacrifices of birds are admitted as rare in Jewish magic. The main parallel is Kapparot, the

atonement ritual practiced on the eve of Yom Kippur. Although for this case should be

applied hen or cock, it can be suspected certain affinity. There are some references to the

intermediate texts in the volume. It refers to Lev. 1:14-17, 5:7-10, 12:8, Num. 6:10 (also two

pigeons or doves for purification) and to Mishnah, Kinnim. Indeed, Mishnah discusses the

sacrifices of the birds, and in the 2:6 and 3:5 it clearly tells about doves and pigeons.

Actually, this text clarifies some aspects of the rites prescribed by Torah. The unknown from

the Jewish cult the specific knife or dagger with two sides sharp is discovered in Jud. 3:16,

97
Leicht, Astologumena Judaica: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der astrologischen Literatu der Juden, 198.
 37

but without any connection to sacrifices. Such knife appears in the pagan ritual from PGM

XII.14-95.98 The rite includes the sacrifice of dove, turtle dove and two young birds. Here it

relates to Eros, who sometimes regarded as Aphrodite’s son. It is also noted that the rite from

the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, or here the Sefer ha-Razim II resembles PGM I.262-347, PGM

II.20-6499 and VII.222-249, but without explanations.

The incenses, wine and honey from the discussed ritual belong to normal Jewish

descriptions of the accepted cult. In the book may be found precise references.100 The ascetic

practice is known in Jewish magic, including different parts of the Sefer ha-Razim I. Thus,

these commentaries step by step give different parallels without any general historical

solutions.

Before the works by Wandrey, Leicht, Rebiger and Schäfer were some important

texts on dream questions in Jewish tradition. These authors certainly knew them, but did not

discuss them at length. Probably, they look not significant for the textual history and origins

of the ritual. But in our case they are extremely helpful and show the other side of the issue.

Two originally Hebrew essays by Abraham J. Heschel, which first appear in 1945

and in 1950 are mostly known as published in English translation under the title Prophetic

Inspiration After Prophets: Maimonides and Other Medieval Authorities.101 The first section

of the book much deals with dreams and dream question. The author starts from the

beginning and insists that the term dream question exists at least from Geonic period (589-

1038).102 While the text is brief, Heschel analyses considerable quantity of sources. He has

paid much attention to the Hassidei Ashkenaz, the Jewish Pietists’ movement in Medieval

98
PGM – Papyri Graecae Magicae (the Greek Magical Papyri). A body of papyri from Graeco-Roman Egypt,
dated from 2nd century BC to the 5th CE. Modern numeration is based on Karl Preisendanz's edition of 1928-
1931. See also below.
99
We should confess that we could not find distinctive affinity in PGM II.20-64. So this will be ignored in the
next section of the article.
100
Sefer ha-Razim I und II, 2:278-283.
101
Hoboken, NJ: Ktav, 1996.
102
On p. 4.He refers not only to Rabbi Hai Gaon, who is commonly known for notion on the topic.
 38

Germany. He also describes some precise rituals. However, there is no need to refer to them

here. They seems irrelevant to our study. Heschel gave a reference to the Sefer Raziel ha-

Malakh, but did not discuss it.103

Monford Harris published his article about dreams in the Sefer Hasidim, an

anthology written in 12-13th centuries, a masterpiece of the Hassidei Ashkenaz, Jewish

Pietists’ movement.104 Josef Dan criticized that article for lack of important evidences; he

also adds two texts for the more substantial understanding of the dream concepts among

Hasidei Ashkenaz.105 Both works are extremely important for the general understanding of

the topic, its context, thus, we cannot avoid them. But they did not deal with magical rites for

dream question. While they referred to practical matters, there were nothing similar to the rite

from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh.

Tamar Alexander-Friezer gives some information on dream question with references

to the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh in her book on Hassidei Ashkenaz.106 She shows the

ambiguous attitude to that practice, but also recognize its importance for that movement.

However, the section is brief and not much elaborated.

The problem of dream question and Hasidei Ashkenaz was posed, as we have shown,

in spite of the fact that the question of the dependence of the rite on the practices of the

Hasidei Ashkenaz is not simple. For instance, let us recollect (see section 2) that part of the

Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh appears in the Sodei Razaya by Eleazar of Worms, a proponent of

that tradition. But the discussed here ritual is absent in that text. Anyway, the practice of

dream question occupies prominent role in the principal work of that trend, i.e. in the Book of

103
See n. 161, p. 55.
104
Monford Harris, “Dreams in Sefer Ḥasidim,” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 31
(1963): 51-80.
105
Josef Dan, “Le-Torath ha-khalom shel Hasidei Ashkenaz,” Sinai 68 (1970-1971): 288-293.
106
Tamar Alexander-Frizer, The Pious Sinner: Ethics and Aesthetics in the Medieval Hasidic Narrative
(Tübingen: Mohr, 1991), 91-94.
 39

the Pietists (Sefer Hasidim). However, it blames the practice of discussed here kind: “All who

engage in invoking angels or devils or whispering magical names, will not come to a good

end (even in) dream-questions.” Also, the nature of question is extremely important.107

Negative attitude toward dream question is also expressed in the Responsa by Meir ben

Barukh of Rothenburg (c. 1215-1293).108 Previously in the German-speaking world the

dream question was refused by Rashi (1040-1105) in his commentary to Deut. 18:13.

There is probably the right place to show some previously missed recipes of dream

question in the Ashkenaz tradition. There is no need to discuss them in detail, since they are

quite remote from our main line. In 1900, Max Grunewald published his translation of a MS

with a rite, which has very little in common with the discussed here ceremony from the Sefer

Raziel ha-Malakh.109 That is also important to note that not all of such recipes have

similarities. Nonetheless in 1906 he published two more similar rites. The first of them

should be preceded by three days of fasting; a conjurer recites three times certain psalms,

spells and his question. In the second rite magician should also repeat the spells three

times.110 Max Grunewald omits details.

Moshe Idel also remains within the realm of Judaism, searching for parallels mostly

in Jewish culture. That is his specific point of view. He concentrates on certain phenomenon

in Jewish culture as such. Among his numerous related to the dreams and magic inquiries

there is a special famous vast research on dreams. Its first version was published in

German.111 English version of the text is much more known.112 However, aftermath it was

107
Ibid., 94. The translation of the passage is borrowed from that book.
108
Meir ben Barukh of Rothenburg, Sefer Shaarey Tshuvoth (Berlin: H. Itzkowski, 1891), 325-326.
109
Max Grunwald, „Aus Hausapotheke und Hexenküche,“ Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für jüdische
Volkskunde 5 (1900): 1-87 (see p. 82).
110
Ibid., 106, 108.
111
Moshe Idel, “Nächtliche Kabbalisten,” in Die Wahrheit der Träume, eds. Gaetano Benedetti and Erik
Hornung (München: Wilhelm Fink, 1997), 85-117.
112
Moshe Idel, „Nocturnal Kabbalists,“ Archaevus 4:3 (2000): 49-74.
 40

expanded into more elaborated text, into the separate Hebrew book.113 The book was

translated into Rumanian and French, but its history goes beyond the scope of our research.

In this particular case, it is important to explain our references to the Hebrew text, which is

much more informative then English. The title of the book Nocturnal Kabbalists suggests that

it is on Kabbalah, but in reality it consists of two parts (the second one completely absent in

German and English versions), on cabbalists and on the Hasidei Ashkenaz. The second part

bears the designation appendix, but its size allows its description as an integral part of the

book. In the first part of his work, Idel systemizes different data on the topic. That is not easy

and trivial task. Indeed, dream interpretation occupies outstanding place in the history of

Judaism. The selection made according the main trends of Kabbalah as the author sees them.

He speaks about tradition of ecstatic Kabbalah of Abulafia (not much about Abulafia himself,

but rather about his followers), about tradition of the Zohar, about the Sefer ha-Meshiv. He

also dedicated a special chapter to Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676). While the material is very

important for the topic in general, there is nothing to add to our research on the history of the

specific rite. However, Idel discusses it in the second section or appendix and he even quotes

it according MS Oxford, Bodleian Library 1345 (Oppenheim 588).114 Aftermath, he speaks

also about Amsterdam edition of 1701.115 Although these cultures had specific features, it

was a continuation of some earlier tendencies116 and inspired some later ideas, first of all,

ecstatic Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia (1240- after 1291).117 Actually, Idel tries to uncover

main practical methods to obtain prophetic dreams among Hasidei Ashkenaz. He reveals

many scattered details and recommendation, but finally he admits: “We do not know many

details of different methods to cause dreams; those were widespread among Hasidei

113
Moshe Idel, Nocturnal Kabbalists (Jerusalem: Carmel, 2006).
114
Idel, Nocturnal Kabbalists, 103-104.
115
Ibid., 104-105.
116
Ibid., 95-100
117
Ibid., 109-116. Idel notes that Abulafia knew a version of the Sefer Raziel (p. 110). Actually, on the role of
transmission of certain Eastern tradition on by Hasidei Ashkenaz he tells also in summary on pp. 117-119.
 41

Ashkenaz”.118 While the book is very significant for the wide understanding of the tradition of

vision in sleep, it does not give clear parallels to the practical precise elements of the rite.

There are important references to the sources with dream questions. There is no need to

repeat them all, though they are significant for the general picture. Let us mention only some

of them. Rabbi Hai Gaon (939-1038) generally speaks about dream question. He recollects

fasting, purification and reciting of the texts and the letters.119 Abraham ibn Ezra (1089-c.

1167) in his remark on dream question emphasized importance of the number “3.”120

Meanwhile, in the time of the reworking of his Nocturnal Kabbalists Idel composed

an article on the she’elat halom, or dream question. There is no mention on the rite from the

Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, but it contains important data for its interpretation. Here he reveals

the existence of the rich and old tradition of magical operations to receive an answer in

dream.121 He cites some text on such practice, but misses discussed here operation. That is

astral magic of the same type with the rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. The application

of astral forces, summoning of them reveals the belonging to the same or common tradition,

common roots and theoretical foundation. Also, there is a requirements of ritual purity appear

both in the rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh and in cited in Idel. But on the level of

precise details there is not much affinity. Idel refers to the rites without doves, pigeons,

sacrifices or something that can substitute them, no lottery etc. Even the astrological data is

different.

Let us cite the brief text from the article to make the discussion more substantial:

118
Idel, Nocturnal Kabbalists, 102. Our translation.
119
Ibid., 95. For the text of Rabbi Hai Gaon see also anthology produced by Eliezer Ashkenazi: Taam Tsadikkim
(Frankfurt am Main: I. Kauffmann, 1854), 54a. Abraham Ibn Ezra and his probable tie with Abraham Abulafia
and Sefer ha-Razim or Sefer Raziel is briefly noted in: Elliot R. Wolfson, A Dream Interpreted Within a Dream:
Oneiropoiesis and the Prism of Imagination (New York: Zone Books, 2011), 358, n. 25. However, the
discussion on this direction of thinking deserves special study i.e. that is impossible in this particular study.
120
Idel, Nocturnal Kabbalists, 98.
121
Moshe Idel, “Astral Dreams in Judaism,” in Dreams Cultures: Explorations in the Comparative History of
Dreaming, eds. David Shulman and Guy G. Stroumsa (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999),
235-251.
 42

She’elat Halom: Fast and wash; afterward stand before the stars, where è Major is, and say in front of it: In the

name of Stani, I conjure you, TzShNY BY YH YHYHYH B’RY that you shall send me this night two sages

who will reveals to me whatever I ask and demand from them in truth.. until he will do my will, all the quests of

my heart.122

Thus, the instruction recommends fasting instead of abstinence from forbidden by

law food, wine and sex. Both rites prescribe washing. But, astrological implications are

different, Ursa Major does not appear in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. However, the

identification of Ursa Major with Ishtar-Venus was known in Mesopotamian culture.123

Probably the text echoes certain ancient tradition from that region. At least such

acknowledged meaning of Ursa Major, which connects the text with the tradition of the Sefer

Raziel ha-Malakh, deserves much attention.

Idel borrows another rite from the spurious epistle of Maimonides. The time and date

of the composition of this text is unclear. Idel suggests that it can have been fabricated in

Catalonia in the seventies or the eighties of the thirteenth century. 124 This instruction is closer

to the rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh:

Let him fast Wednesday, which is the day of Mercury, which is appointed for wisdom and the knowledge of the

hidden things, and he should behave in an extremely pure manner and with a feeling of shame toward people.

122
Idel, “Astral Dreams in Judaism,” 238. Idel translates it from Ms. Oxford Bodeliana 1965, fol. 183a. He
slightly refers to it in his Nocturnal Kabbalists, but does not elaborates on it, referring to his forthcoming or
already published (it depends on version) “Astral Dreams”.
123
Erica Reiner, Astral Magic in Babylonia, TAPA 85 (Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society,
1995), 57; Koowon Kim, Incubation as a Type-Scene in the ʼAqhatu, Kirta, and Hannah Stories: A Form-
Critical and Narratological Study of KTU 1.14 I – 1.15 III, 1.17 I-II, and 1 Samuel 1:1-2:11 (Leiden, Boston:
Brill, 2011), 32. Ursa Major appears also in a Hermetic excerpt from the Anthology of Stobeus (see also below);
it connected here with Isis (excerpt XXIV, Scott, 1:503; Festugière, 4:56 ).
124
Idel, “Astral Dreams in Judaism,” 248; his, Kabbalah in Italy, 1280-1510: A Survey (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2011), 392, comp. 158.
 43

And when he goes to bed, he should wash all his flesh with water in the first hour of the night and clothe himself

in a pure and clean robe and trousers, and he should sleep alone and pronounce those verses, one time with

intense concentration and a pure heart and humble spirit, and afterwards he should pronounce the above-

mentioned names, and his heart is directed to heaven always. And you should do it so seven times, namely you

should read the seven above-mentioned verses and the seven names of the angels, and he should arrange in his

mouth and doubt that he has, whatever it may be, after the perfect imagination and the evacuated thought. And

he should sleep afterwards on the left side and you will find, in the midst of your sleep, that the spirit of the holy

God will dwell upon you…125

Here can be noted “behaviour in an extremely pure manner” instead of fasting. The text

mentions washing. Pure and clean robe reminds white dress in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh.

This text also appeals to the number seven. The printed Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh prefers

number three, but we remember that the seven may be uncovered in manuscript tradition. The

influences of planets differ. The letter applies the impact of Mercury, not of various stars,

Venus, Ursa Major or astrological influences of any period. Certainly, as it was already

noted, Ursa Major may have the same astrological meaning with Venus.

Thus, the first study (by Goldmerstein) on the rite refused its Jewish origins on the

base of the lack of the parallels. However, numerous parallels have been found very soon

both in Jewish and pagan texts. Although the considerable quantity of collected evidences,

however, the story, origins and probable development of the rite remain unknown.

6. Probable Origins and Some Early Parallels to the Rite

Idel, “Astral Dreams in Judaism,” 240-241. In the Guide of the Perplexed Maimonides criticizes the practice
125

of usage of astral forces for the revelations in dream as a part of Sabian religion (III, 29): “Similarly they
<Sabians> said of the trees, which were assigned to the various planets, that when one particular tree was set
apart for one particular planet, planted with a view to the latter, and a certain treatment was applied to it and
with it, the spirit of that planet overflowed toward the tree, gave prophetic revelation to people, and spoke to
them in sleep” (translation by Shlomo Pines). Idel also mentions this important fact in his article.
 44

So, the search for the rite's origins has already launched. It includes detailed commentaries to

the text, search for parallels both in pagan and Jewish sources. However, there is still lacking

an integrate picture. In reality, many texts show striking affinities with the rite. Some of them

were not analysed properly. But many have never been even noted. It was already shown in

previous sections. Some similarities appear in the spurious letter of Maimonides (13th

century), in alchemical Aesch Mezareph (17th century?), in the Jewish magical text from Italy

(end of the 18th century), in the Grand Grimoire (beginning of the 19th century) and in the rite

from Bohemia of the 19th century. Even if the parallels are random, it may at least inspire the

search for such affinities in the darkness of the ages.

Certainly, we have not enough data to restore the entire history of the text. Magical

texts often have very complex background; their transmission is often hardly graspable. But,

even some uncovered stages of the development may serve as a general scheme for the

further elaboration in future.

Let us start from the Jewish parallels. In previous section, the most important of

them were already mentioned. The sacrifices of two birds, pigeons or doves appear in the

Bible (Lev. 1:14-17, 5:7-11, 12:6-8; 14:21-22; 15: 14-15, 29-30; Num. 6:9-11). The rites

have some affinities. For instance, the point on the body of the bird, which should be

damaged, is its throat. In some version of the ceremony in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh,

normal time for the purification before the rite is 7 days, as also in the Bible. Yet, the rite in

the Bible has other intentions. Mostly it is purification. But, the rite itself is very similar in

both cases, and, thus, was familiar to the Jewish practitioners. Even in the period after the

destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, the practice remains to be a topic of discussion,

for instance in Mishnah, Kinnim. Moreover, we can suppose more connection between the
 45

rite in magic and in the Bible, if we would pose the question on the actual purposes of the

sacrifice in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Indeed, here the role of the sacrifice is unclear. There

is a possibility that it is not a part of attraction of the angel or angels, but it is a part of the

purification before and for the communication with the angel or angels.

Although the sacrifices of doves and pigeons for prophetic dreams in Jewish context

of that period are unknown, the line of the association, which leads to the application of these

birds for such proposes, may be easily imagined. Pigeon post reminds transmission of

messages. The image of birds, doves and pigeons is clear enough in the Bible. Let us give

only few examples. For instance, Ecclesiastes 10:20: “Even in your thoughts, do not curse the

king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some

winged creature tell the matter.” In the story of Noah, dove is a messenger of the end of the

Flood (Genesis 8:8-12). Also topic of the birds sometimes appears in the so-called Books of

Fates.126 Nevertheless, the sacrifice of dove and pigeons can also relate to the purification

before the dream question. It is not necessarily something that causes prophetic vision. In

addition, there is no explanation of the entire procedure in magical rituals. Nobody can say

what part of the ritual belongs to certain demand. Thus, any magus can interpret the rite in his

own way. All answer would be right and cannot be wrong in such free stream of deeds and

ideas. The development of various parts of the rite can be random and its theoretical

interpretations, if ever existed, should be secondary.

126
Evelyn Burkhardt, “Hebräische Losbuchhandschriften: zur Typologie eine Jüdischen Divinationsmethode,“
in Jewish Studies Between the Disciplines (Judaistik zwischen den Disziplinen): Papers in Honor of Peter
Schäfer on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday, eds. Klaus Herrmann, Margarete Schlüter and Guiseppe Veltri
(Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2003), 95-148 (on birds pp. 125-126). In a recent work on incubation, there is also a
section on the topic: Renberg, Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World,
1:66-73.
 46

The practice of dream question in Jewish context may have very deep roots.127 At

least, the Bible speaks much about night visions. Dream interpretations of Joseph and Daniel,

dreams of Jacob in Bethel and King Salomon in Gibeon are famous and widely known stories

from the Holy Scripture. Nevertheless, warnings against dream visions are also not missing,

for instance, Deut. 13:2-6; Is. 65:4; Jer. 27:9-10, 29:8; Zech. 10:2; Job. 33:14-18. However, it

seems, there is no such practice, which possesses of any affinity with the magic rite from the

Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Rebecca Mecy Lesses in the special section of her Ritual Practice to

Gain Power collects the knowledge towards the dream question in Antiquity and compares it

with pagan rites. She even adds some full text of the rites in the appendices. 128 She admits

similarities of both traditions and the interactions between them. Nevertheless, “…the Jewish

texts usually differ from their Greco-Egyptian counterparts in their relative lack of ritual

action. They achieve their effect verbally, through adjuration and the use of divine names,

rather than through a chain of ritual actions…,”129 “The Jewish spells, in contrast <to Greco-

Egyptian>, generally simplify ritual actions to fasting and the utterance of prayers and

adjurations.”130 The text borrowed from Schäfer’s Synopse zur Hekhalot Literatur (Tübingen:

Siebeck, 1981, § 501-7, and 517) recommends the prayers. It seems that they have not much

in common with the rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. But they prescribe fasting and play

with the numbers “3” and “7”: “Fast three days and their nights and say seventy times in

purity and in holiness,” “fast three days… on the third night,”131 “on the third [night] he

127
The bibliography is very vast. The old classical monography is: Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich, Der Traum im Alten
Testament, BZAW 73 (Berlin: Töpelmann, 1953). A very clear text with bibliographical references,
systematised according the topics: Jean-Marie Husser, Dreams and Dream Narratives in the Biblical World
(Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996). It should be added some important texts published after that book:
Shaul Bar, A Letter That Has Not Been Read: Dreams in the Hebrew Bible (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College
Press, 2001); Ruth Fidler, “Dreams Speak Falsely?” Dream Theophanies in the Bible: Their Place in Ancient
Israelite Faith and Tradition (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2005) (Hebrew).
128
For instance discussed above Rebecca Macy Lesses. See: her, Ritual Practices to Gain Power: Angels,
Incantations, and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harvard Theological
Studies, 1998), 325-336, 395-411.
129
Ibid., 335.
130
Ibid., 325-326.
131
Ibid., 395.
 47

should say these verses with these names three times.”132 In a rite an adjurer mentions “dust

and ashes” in his prayer.133 The numbers “3” and “7” also play important role in next text,

“Adjuration of Ragshiel” (MS Oxford 1531): “for I hope for you, and you answer me, my

God, 3 times,”134 “Good God, show me a good dream, 7 times. God of truth, show me a true

dream, 7 times. God of justice, show me a just dream, 7 times,” “7 times…3 times… 7

times….3 times… 3 times… 3 times…3 times… 3 times… 7 times…”135 The MS Sassoon

290, § 1008 repeats the same number symbolism: „Seven times, the entire psalm. And say

seventy times...“ „And afterwards say (the same thing) seventy times in the first night and in

the second night and in the third night...“136 In the „Secret of the Explicit Name as They

Explained It in the Midrash of Simeon the Righteous“ from the same manuscript may also be

found three days of fasting and purification,137 “and say the question seventy times.”138 In

some of the rites suddenly appears angel Ragshiel, the familiar to us angel from Jewish

Italian magical recipe from the 18th century text (see section 4).139

Thus, the number symbolism (while the numbers “3” and “7” may be found

anywhere, so it is not extraordinal coincidence), fasting and purification resemble the rite

from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. There are different prayers, which accompany the rite.

Even angel Ragshiel, which will reappear in the 18th century text, suddenly hints at the

existence of the tradition or at least any kind of succession. But there is nothing stable in all

that. The rite of sacrifices of doves and pigeons has existed in Jewish tradition, but there is no

evidence that it has ever been used for dream question. The unavoidable problem with the

purification in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh – it prescribes necessary things for any Jew at any

132
Ibid., 396.
133
Ibid., 397.
134
Ibid., 402.
135
Ibid. 403.
136
Ibid., 404-405.
137
Ibid., 406, 409-410.
138
Ibid., 410.
139
Ibid., 387, 391, 397, 399-404.
 48

moment without that particular rite. For instance, according to Jewish religious law, blood is

forbidden at all and for the entire lifetime, not only for the period of practicing any specific

ritual. For what reason does somebody should specially read for that rite about abstinence

from something forbidden in any moment of existence? Such situation may hint at non-

Jewish or pagan origins of the rite, despite its affinity to Jewish practices. Since such the

recommendation toward the purification is meaningless in the Jewish context.

Curious notion, which unites Jews, doves and prophetic dreams, appears in Juvenal’s

Satires (probably published in 100 or 101 CE).140 It does not refer to or mention anything

explicitly similar to the rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, but Juvenal is not a magician. It

is odd to expect that he would provide a reliable recipe with accurate details. Yet, the unity of

Jews, doves and prophetic dreams is very eloquent. Here is Satires 6:542-552 in Susanna

Morton Braund’s translation:

No sooner has he gone then a palsied Jewish woman will abandon her hay-lined chest and start begging into her

private ear. She’s the expounder of the laws of Jerusalem, high priestess of the tree, reliable intermediary of

highest heaven. She too gets her hand filled, though with less, because Jews will sell you whatever dreams you

like for the tiniest copper coin. Promises of a toy-boy or an enormous bequest for a childless millionaire will be

made by a soothsayer from Armenia or Commagene once he’s delved into the lung of a dove, still warm. He’ll

probe the breasts of chickens, the insides of a puppy, and sometimes of a boy too-something he will himself

report to the authorities.141

But, what about non-Jewish parallels? The idea of the connection of the book with

pagan magic is not new, indeed. It has been noticed before. It has been proven by mentioned

140
James Uden, The Invisible Satirist: Juvenal and Second-Century Rome (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2015), 219-226.
141
Juvenal and Persius (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2004), 285.
 49

above Mordecai Margalioth for the published in 1701 book in general. Sometimes it appears

as fact which does not need any evidence,142 sometimes receives further elaboration from the

gifted fact.143

Certainly, prophetic dream is a known and respectable topic in the pagan Ancient

World. Described facts and discourses on it are many. The literature is vast. There is no

intention to repeat or mention every related notion. Let us concentrate our attention on the

rites, which probably resemble to the dream question from the beginning of the Sefer Raziel

ha-Malakh.

First of all, the general scheme fits widespread in pagan temples practice of

incubation, i.e. acquiring something in dream, mostly knowledge or healing. Actually,

medical purposes prevail in such practice, god’s (mainly, but not always)144 guidance had

usually been directed towards healing. Thus, prophecy was not the main aim, as in the case of

the Sepher Raziel ha-Malakh. There are countless variations in that practice, but, despite the

great diversity, the more or less accepted set of deeds can be admitted. First, basic purity is

required.145 On the day of incubation, one sacrifices an animal. In the evening, before

entering special dormitory in sanctuary, one prays and pays to the priest. In the morning he

prays and has a meal. Sometimes he gives additional sacrifice as thank for recovery or good

142
For instance, David E. Aune, Apocalypticism, Prophecy and Magic in Early Christianity: Collected Essays
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006), 353, n. 18. In a classical book on the dreams in Late Antiquity the Sefer ha-
Razim is discussed in connection with Pagan magic, as a part of integrate world: Patricia Cox Miller, Dreams in
Late Antiquity: Studies in the Imagination of a Culture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 60.
Michael Swartz emphasizes the affinities of a sacrifice in the Sefer ha-Razim with pagan Greco-Roman rituals:
Michael Swartz, “Sacrificial Themes in Jewish Magic,” Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World, eds. Paul
Mirecki and Marvin Meyer (Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, 2002), 302-315 (314).
143
For instance, Rebecca Lesses, “Speaking with Angels: Jewish and Greco-Egyptian Revelatory Adjurations,”
The Harvard Theological Review 89:1 (1996): 41-60; her, Ritual Practices to Gain Power: Angels,
Incantations, and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International,
1998), 336.
144
Sometimes it was also assistance of divinized prophets, heroes or heroes-turned-gods, dead people. See:
Renberg, Where Dreams May Come, 1: 30-33.
145
The general rules resemble our rite, but there are many variations in them. See: Hedvig von Ehrenberg,
Greek Incubation Rituals in Classical and Hellenistic Times (Liège: Presses universitaires de Liège, 2015), 25-
43. There is also a very detailed study on incubation, which describes many known particularities: Renberg,
Where Dreams May Come. The old, but classical work on the incubation also should be mentioned here –
Ludwig August Deubner, De incubation capita quattuor (Leipzig: Teubner, 1900).
 50

advice, but it may be substituted for money or a gift. Such practice was particularly

associated with the cult of Asklepious, but in the other cult it also gained considerable

importance.146 As in the Sepher Raziel ha-Malakh, white clothes were very widespread in

such practices.147 The sleep on something unusual, which corresponds to the supernatural

experience, was widely accepted.148

If we accept the doves as a crucial point, a most significant feature of the rite from

the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh there are many relevant evidences. Probably, most known from

them is the celebrated Oracle of Dodona.149 It is well-known story, a black dove from Thebes

in Egypt came to the area of the future sanctuary.150 Here it settled on an oak tree and uttered

human speech, declaring that a place of divination from Zeus must be made there.151

Probably the interpretation of action of doves in the sanctuary was practiced there. 152 Already

in Homer’s Iliad (16:234-235) may be found reference to the dream practice related to that

Oracle.

146
Comprehensive bibliography would be vast. Special new monography on precise practices: Hedvig von
Ehrenberg, Greek Incubation Rituals in Classical and Hellenistic Times (Liège: Presses universitaires de Liège,
2015); Renberg, Where Dreams May Come. A brief summary: Fritz Graf, Roman Festivals in the Greek East:
From the Early Empire to the Middle Byzantine Era (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 246-248.
147
Ehrenberg, Greek Incubation Rituals, 76-79.
148
Ibid., 86-94.
149
The literature on the Oracle is vast. See, for instance: Herbert W. Parke, The Oracles of Zeus: Dodona,
Olympia, Ammon (Oxford: Blackwell, 1967); S.I. Dakaris, Archaeological Guide to Dodona (Ioannina: Cultural
Society "Ancient Dodona", 1971); Martina Dieterle, Dodona: Religionsgeschichte und historische
Untersuchungen zur Entstehung und Entwicklung des Zeus-Heiligtums (Hildesheim: Olms, 2007); Sarah Iles
Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008). The role of dove in this case is
mentioned in the classical book on the birds in human culture: Edward A. Armstrong, The Folklore of Birds: An
Enquiry into the Origin and Distribution of some Magico-Religious Traditions (New York: Dover Publications,
1958), 101.
150
There is a probable unnoticed, as we know, reference to that bird as “a bird of Egypt” in De insomniis (On
Dreams), XV by Neo-Platonist, disciple of Hypatia (d. 415), and Christian bishop Sinesius of Cyrene (c. 373-c.
414). See: Saint Synesious, On Dreams, Translated with Notes by Isaac Myer (Philadelphia: Published by
Translator, 1888), 21. However, “a bird of Egypt” can be interpreted quite differently. For instance, comp.
Porphyry, On the Life of Plotinus, 10. Anyway, the tie of Egypt, birds and prophecy deserves some attention.
151
For the discussion on this and other legends about the foundation of the sanctuary see ch. 3 in: H.W. Parke,
The Oracles of Zeus: Dodona, Olympia, Ammon (Oxford: Blackwell, 1967). For general information on the
Oracle see newer: Esther Eidinow, Oracles, Curses, and Risk among the Ancient Greeks (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2007).
152
Ehrenberg, Greek Incubation Rituals, 153.
 51

Although the discussion on the role of dreams and their interpretations in both pagan

and Jewish traditions is vast and deserves many pages to discuss it even in general, we have

Ariadne’s thread for this maze. The Aesch Mezareph reveals its probable tie with the cult of

Venus. Such assertion has evident justification. Doves, pigeon and myrrh are cult’s

commonly known peculiarities. They appear in different versions of the ritual from the Sefer

Raziel ha-Malakh and may originate from love magic of antiquity. The sacrifice to Venus in

form of cut of dove’s throat is also well-known. However, that is not the sole possible

explanation. Perhaps somewhere in time the rite from the Bible (see above) has been

interpreted in pagan key. The sacrifice of doves and pigeons unsurprisingly leads to the idea

of rite’s tie with the pagan veneration of Venus. Aftermath, it could return to the Jewish

tradition with both pagan and Jewish pious interpretations. But, anyway, that story is not

crucially significant for us. It is enough that the practice could unanimously obtain bot pagan

and Jewish explanation. It its pagan side the rite has clear association with Venus.

Let us give some random reference to pagan sources. We start with the Elegies

(IV.5.65-66) by Propertius (c. 50-45 BC – 15 BC): “But accept, Queen Venus, in return for

your favour a ringdove’s throat cut before your altar.”153

While Venus-Aphrodite is not a central figure for prophecies and incubation, she

seldom appears in such context. For instance, the sanctuary of Ishtar-Aphrodite in Babylon

was most probably a known place to visit for revelation in dream. 154 Moreover, it seems that

Ishtar was main sender of prophetic dreams in Mesopotamian culture.155

153
Propertius, Elegies, tr. G.P. Goold (Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 1990), 399.
154
Renberg, Where Dreams May Come, 2:539-540.
155
Her role in everything, which connects with prophetic dreams, is evident. See, for instance: Koowon Kim,
Incubation as a Type-Scene in the ʼAqhatu, Kirta, and Hannah Stories: A Form-Critical and Narratological
Study of KTU 1.14 I-1.15 III, 1.17 I-II, and 1 Samuel 1:1-2:11 (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2011), pass.
 52

The search in the realm of love magic leads us to some evident parallels in private

practices, beyond sanctuaries and more or less established cult. A similar ritual appears in

PGM IV. 2891-2942. Let us cite a relevant section from it:

Offering to the star of Aphrodite. A white dove’s blood and fat, untreated myrrh and parched wormwood. Make

this up together as pills and offer them to the star on pieces of vine / wood or on coals. And also have the brains

of a vulture for the compulsion, so that you make the offering. And also have as a protective charm a tooth from

the upper right jawbone of a female ass or of a tawny sacrificial heifer, tied to your left arm with / Anubian

thread.156

There are some common points with the versions of the rite from the Sefer Raziel

ha-Malakh. They are white dove, myrrh, and probably vine, which can be developed into

wine. The sacrifice should be burnt. The most evident difference is absence of any references

to the dream visions.

The request for a dream oracle without clear reference to its divine source may be

seen in PGM VII. 740-55. There are no doves and pigeons, but we can discover familiar to us

burnt offering of frankincense and preparation for 3 days. Myrtle hints at probable link with

Venus:

[Write] on a strip of tinfoil, and after crowning the strip of foil with myrtle, set up the censer. Then make a burnt

offering of frankincense and carry the leaf on metal around the vapour while saying: “Lords, gods, reveal to my

concerning the NN matter/ tonight, in the coming hours. Emphatically I beg, I supplicate, I your servant and

Translation by E.N.O’Neil. Cited according: Hans Dieter Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation,
156

Including the Demotic Spells, Second Edition, I vol. (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press,
1986), 92.
 53

enthroned by you. Then place the piece of foil under your pillow, and, without giving answer to anyone, go to

sleep after having kept yourself pure for 3 days… 157

PGM VII. 222-49 includes a rite, which unites prophecy in dream and white dove.

The text mentions wormwood, as also previously cited PGM IV. 2891-2942. Venus does not

appear here:

Request for a dream oracle from Besas: Take red ocher [and blood] of a white dove, likewise of a crow, also sap

of the mulberry, juice of single-stemmed wormwood, cinnabar, and rainwater; blend all together, put aside and

write with it and with black writing ink, and recite the formula to the lamp at evening. Take a black of Isis 158 and

put it around your hand. When you are almost awake the god will come and speak to you, and he will not go

away unless you wipe off/ your hand with spikenard or something of roses and smear the picture with the black

Isis. But the strip of cloth put around your neck so that he will not smite you. 159

A parallel ritual with addition of an important for us element, myrrh, but without

wormwood is PGM VIII. 64-100:

Request for a dream oracle of Besa: /On your left hand draw Besa in the way shown to you below. Put around

your hand a black cloth of Isis and go to sleep without giving answer to anyone. The remainder of the cloth of

the cloth wrap around your neck.

This is the ink with which you draw: Blood of a crow, blood / of a white dove, lumps of incense, myrrh. Black

writing ink, cinnabar, sap of mulberry tree, rainwater, juice of a single-stemmed wormwood and vetch…. 160

157
Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 1:139.Translated by W.C. Grese.
158
Probably, black linen garment used in the Isis cult. See Betz, ed. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation,
1:122, n. 16.
159
Ibid., 1:122-123.
160
Translation by W.C. Grese. See: Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 1:147.
 54

Oracle of Besas at Abydos is a known place to obtain a revelation in dream. That cite was

previously referred also as dream-oracle of Osiris and Sarapis.161 Besas’ reputation as god,

who gives revelation was attested by Ammianus Marcelinus (19.12.3-4). Both rites from the

PGM have some important in the supposed tradition elements. Although these texts from the

PGM do not mention Venus. They refer to another goddess, Isis. Her cult gained vast

popularity in the Graeco-Roman world. She was associated mostly with Demeter, but in

many cases with other goddesses, among them not rarely also with Aphrodite-Venus.162 The

sanctuaries of Isis at Tithorea163 and Menouthis164 are widely known as places of incubation,

prophecies in dream. But not only these places. Her tie with practice of incubation (sleeping

in temples for cure and prophetic dreams), for instance, is attested by Diodoros (1:25) and

Pausanius (10.32.13). It was recently summarized by Gil H. Renberg, while he reports on

uncertainty of the evidences.165 There is also a curious related to our topic alchemical text,

Isis the Prophetess to her son Horus. Its sole source is 10-11th century Codex Marcianus

Graecus (MS 299), a collection of Greek writings, available in Bibliotheca Marciana, Venice.

However, the work originates in the Late Antiquity. It was originally published by Berthelot

161
Commonly known reference in Ammianus (19.12.3). On this oracle see: David Frankfurter, Religion in
Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998), passim, but
particularly 169-174. Comp. Juliette Harrisson, Dreams and Dreaming in the Roman Empire: Cultural Memory
and Imagination (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013), 200-201. For very skeptical, brief and substantial
information see: Renberg, Where Dreams May Come, 1:485-502. Comp. discussion on „Bes chambers“ at
Saqqara in the same book, 2:544-545.
162
That is not an easy topic. Mostly Hathor was associated with Aphrodite-Venus, but in the Greco-Roman
Period, Hathor herself was associated with Isis: Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt, 104. The widely known
classical book on Isis in Graeco-Roman world is: R.T. Witt, Isis in the Graeco-Roman World (Ithaca, New
York: Cornell University Press, 1971).There is no special section on the identification of Isis with Aphrodite-
Venus. But, there are some important references to it. They all may be easily found with the index. There is also
more recent book with important in our case references to the prophecies in dream: Malcolm Drew Donalson,
The Cult of Isis in the Roman Empire: Isis Invicta (Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003).
163
Ehrenberg, Greek Incubation Rituals, 24.
164
Renberg, Where Dreams May Come, 1:393. Comp. also an information on a sanctuary at Philippi in the same
book, 2:529-530.
165
Renberg, Where Dreams May Come, 1:359-393; 2:717-734. Actually his study was preceded by some others.
But the bibliography may be found in Renberg’s book itself. Сomp. also: Juliette Harrisson, Dreams and
Dreaming in the Roman Empire: Cultural Memory and Imagination (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013),
209, 215; Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt, 40-41, 162-169 (also with Hathor)
 55

(I.XIII).166 Here Isis receives the answer to her question from angel Amnael. 167 The text

definitely reminds Hermetic wisdom168 in its form of free dialogue (while in this particular

case, the two participators are a hearer and a speaker), full of widespread philosophical terms,

and its pious pagan mood. The text has evident parallels in a Hermetic excerpt from the

Anthology of Stobaeus, a large collection of extracts from Pagan Greek writers (c. 500 AD),

but in this case the angel as a source of knowledge is absent. In the excerpt XXIII of

Scott’s169 and Festugière’s170 editions (a dialogue of Isis and Horus) a long story of

succession of knowledge through Pagan gods appears. That is a good point for the

speculation on the development of Hermetica, but for us it is important to note the striking

variation. They make reflect certain shift in the general religious situation, from gods to

angels. There is also a separate Hermetic fragment in the anthology, which bears the title

“Aphrodite” (XXII). The Goddess is also mentioned in above-discussed excerpt XXIII.

Association of dream and love (Venus), which is supposed to be united at the certain

stage of development of the rite cannot be easily explained. But the tie certainly exists, since

the impact through dreams is known in love magic, for instance, in PGM IV.1716-1810.171

Curiously, the rite describes the burnt offering “which endows Eros and the whole procedure

with soul”, for which should be applied also myrrh and frankincense, as in some texts of the

tradition of the rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Furthermore, divinatory incubation was

166
Marcellin Berthelot, Collection des Ancient Alchemistes Grecs (Paris: Georges Steinheil, 1887-8), 2:33-35
(Greek text), 3:31-36 (French translation).
167
It reminds a version of the above-mentioned the Gospel of the Lots of Mary. Here the mother of Jesus
(instead of the mother of Horus) obtains the revelation from angel Gabriel (instead of angel Amnael). It is true
that the story of St. Mary has Evangelic origin in this case. But it is curious, that this Gospel of the Lots of Mary
is a Coptic book of divinations. There is no reason to suspect one single tradition and its definite source. But, the
cultural atmosphere with commonly accepted associations, correspondences is noteworthy. See: Luijendijk and
Klingshirn, “The Literature of Lot Divination,” p. 48.
168
Fowden does not hesitate to designate the text as Hermetic: Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: A
Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 90.
169
Walter Scott, ed. and transl., Hermetica: The Ancient Greek and Latin Writings Which Contain Religious of
Philosophic Teachings Ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924-1936), 1:457-494.
170
André-Jean Festugière and Arthur Darby Nock, ed. and transl. Corpus Hermeticum (Paris: Les Belles Lettres,
1945-54), 4:1-50.
171
Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 1:69-71.
 56

plasticised at an unidentified sanctuary, perhaps devoted to Hathor/Aphrodite or

Shaї/Psais.172

In the PGM VII.478-90 magician asks Eros, Aphrodite’s son (not always), to send

him his person angel at night to answer his question. There is also a burnt offering. It does not

much resemble to the sacrifice from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, but it includes the droppings

from a white dove. Aftermath, they with the dirt from the sandal should be offered to “the

Bear”:

Take equal portions of dirt from your sandal, of resin, and of the droppings from a white dove, and while

speaking [the invocation], burn them as an offering to the Bear.

Sudden appearance of the bear may puzzle. But some kind of the bear has already been

mentioned. It is Ursa Major from the spurious letter of Maimonides (see previous section). It

can hint at the tie with Ishtar (see above). The final passage in the recipe has clear affinity

with the sleeping on ashes from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh: “Go to your quarters, put out the

lamp, and sleep/ on a newly made bed of rushes.”173 Bear also appears in another recipe for

the request for a dream oracle, in the PGM XII. 190-92, but the text is preserved in a very bad

condition.

There is another rite, which unites Eros and dreams in PGM XII.14-15:

172
Renberg, Where Dreams May Come, 1:504-509. Comp. also on Sanctury of Hathor at Dendara in the same
book 2:542-543. Probably dream revelations have tie with a festival of Hathor: Renberg, 2:741; Paul Vernus,
“Études de philologie et de linguistique,” Revue d’Égyptologie 32 (1980): 117-134 (see 133-134). On Hathor
comp.: Koowon Kim, Incubation as a Type-Scene in the ʼAqhatu, Kirta, and Hannah Stories: A Form-Critical
and Narratological Study of KTU 1.14 I – 1.15 III, 1.17 I-II, and 1 Samuel 1:1-2:11 (Leiden, Boston: Brill,
2011), 54-55.
173
Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 1:131.Translation by Hubert Martin.
 57

Eros as assistant/ a ritual of Eros: consecration and preparation (among his operations, he sends dreams or

causes sleeplessness; and he releases from an evil spirit, if you use him in a proper and holy manner, for he can

perform every operation).174

It is a very long and complex text with many different offerings. But amidst many details,

there are also three daggers of the familiar for us kind from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh.175

Among various offerings may be found pigeon and turtledove: “Take also on the first day 7

living creatures and strangle them: one cock, a partridge, a wren, a pigeon, a turtledove, and

any two nestlings you can get hold of.” Finally, the text plays with numbers “3” and “7”. The

completion of the entire rite takes three days. The recipe repeats this information in some

different contexts. There are much about number “7”: “You are to present to Eros fresh fruits

of every kind and 7 cakes, 7 pinecones, every kind of sweetmeat, 7 lamps not colored red…

and holding both the 7 lamps, ablaze with clear olive oil... Take also on the first day 7 living

creatures…”

The other rites from PGM are very far from the discussed tradition, but anyway let

us mention those with references to prophetic dreams, to make general picture clear enough.

PGM VII. 664-85 and PGM VII. 703-26 also explain how to obtain a dream

revelation. First of them addresses to Hermes, the second one to “whose name is composed of

30 letters. It seems they have not much in common with the tradition of the recipe from the

Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, except, probably, the myrrh ink. PGM VII.795-845 is “Pythagoras

request for a dream oracle and Demokritos’ dream divination”. It appeals to an angel of the

sun. Some affinity with the tradition may be supposed in the burning of frankincense and,

probably, usage of cinnabar. Cinnabar does not appear in the tradition of the Sefer Raziel ha-

174
Ibid., 1:154-156.Translation by Hubert Martin.
175
See also: Sefer ha-Razim I und II (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 2:280.
 58

Malakh, but previously noted PGM VII. 222-49 and PGM VIII. 64-110 mentions it (both

connected to Bes).

PGM I. 262-347 is an Apollonian invocation. The text says that magician may ask

Apollo about prophecy, divinations and dreams. It prescribes ritual clearness, emphasizes the

importance of number seven176 and tells about burnt offering, which does not resemble the

tradition on the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Apollo is known as Oracular god more than

Aphrodite-Venus or Isis. Nevertheless, his tie with Isis at least exists. For instance, Isis

appeared in widely known from Imperial Rome anonymous text Life of Aesop as leader of the

Muses. Such role has roots and parallels in Hellenistic tradition.177 This proves nothing, but

adds auxiliary data for further probable discussions. A curious connection of prophecy, cure

(they should be connected through incubation), pigeon (instead of dove) and Apollo (actually,

branch of laurel) appears in Hieroglyphica II, 46 by Horapollo, an Egyptian author, probably

flourished in 5th century:

When they would symbolize a man who cures himself by an oracle, they delineate a wood pigeon carrying a

brunch of laurel; for this bird when sick deposits a branch of laurel in its nest and recovers.178

PGM XII. 144-52 recommends applying blood of quail to request for a dream

through Hermes-Thoth179 and Horus. So, the sole affinity with the tradition may be seen in

176
Seven day period in the ritual of incubation appears was known in Ancient East. For instance, see: Kim,
Incubation, 108, 126, 143-144, 227f., 231f.. The topic deserves special long discussion; probably it would be
studied in future.
177
Ben E. Perry, Studies in the Text History of the Life and Fables of Aesop (Havenford, Pa.: American
Philological Association, 1936), 14-16; his, Aesopica: A Series of Texts Relating to Aesop or Ascribed to Him or
Closely Connected with the Literacy Tradition that Bears His Name: Collected and Critically Edited, in Part
Translated From Oriental Languages, With a Commentary and Historical Essays (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1952), 2; John Dillery, “Aesop, Isis, and the Heliconian Muses,” Classical Philology 94:3 (1999): 268-
280.
178
Translation by Alexander Turner Cory. See: Horapollo Nilous, The Hieroglyphics (London: William
Pickering, 1840), 115
 59

the reference to the bird, but not to the dove or pigeon. It should be also noted that a magician

“conjure by your [of Horus or, probably Hermes] father, Osiris, and Isis.180

Request for a dream oracle to a lamp in PGM XXIIb. 27-31 says: “Purify yourself”,

but does not give precise recommendations. We cannot establish its affinity with the tradition

of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Ritual purity is an indispensable condition in magical rituals.

There are some other requests for dream oracles, but without any affinity with the

rite from the tradition of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Among them PGM VI. 1-47 (to Helios),

PGM VII.250-254 (to “mother of fire and water”), PGM VII.260-71 (to Osiris,

Osirchentechtha181 and Archangel Michael), PGM VII.359-69 (to Sekhmet), PGM VII. 1009-

16 (to Sabaoth, Michael, Raphael and Gabriel), PGM XIIb. 32-35 (the God is not specified).

There is a great diversity in the texts known as Greek Magical Papyri. Many of them

tell about dream oracles. The variations are considerable. A number of rites possess of certain

similar features, some of them do not. Some of the recipes in PGM resemble to the rite from

the tradition of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, but lacks any reference to dream oracles.

Perhaps, while it is controversial, PGM IV. 2891-2942 is closer to the discussed tradition

more than any other text. But, it does not mention prophecies in a dream at all. However, it

has connection with Venus. As it has been already said, the alchemical text from the 17th

century, the Aesch Mezareaph, suggests that such tie should exist. Text PGM VII. 740-55 is

similar to the rite from the tradition of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Its connection with Venus

is not specified, but may be supposed. Rites PGM VII.222-49 and PGM VIII. 64-100 for the

prophetic dream also resemble the discussed here tradition in some points. They connect with

Besas, but likewise have references to Isis. PGM VII.478-90 have some important parallels

179
Comp. Renberg, Where Dreams May Come, 1:502-504.
180
Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 1:158-159.Translation by W.C. Grese.
181
Combination of Osiris and Khenty-khet, the local god of Athribis. See: Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri
in Translation, 1:22, n. 40. For Osiris and Osorapis, Osiris-Sarapis see also: Renberg, Where Dreams May
Come, 1:394-447, 485-497.
 60

and it appeal to Eros. PGM XII.14-95 is also connected with Eros. It has parallels with PGM

VII.478-90 and with some absent in PGM VII.478-90 details of the rite from the Sefer Raziel

ha-Malakh.

Other texts have not enough similarities to discuss them. Thus, it may be assumed,

the tradition of the rite, which has not been stable and unchangeable, but retains some often-

used details, such as doves, turtle doves, pigeons, burnt offerings, specific incenses, numbers

“3” and “7”. It has unclear connection with love magic, with Eros, sometimes with female

goddesses, such as Venus-Aphrodite, Isis or Ishtar. The connection with Bes is curious and

deserves attention, but it would be probably researched in another special study. Perhaps it

was mostly applied for prophetic dreams, but not only. Hypothesis of the existence of certain

kind of creativity, free associations of a magician may explain the huge varieties of the ritual.

Let us make some general inferences from this section. The rite resembles a practice

known from the Bible. It is a sacrifice for purification. However, it contains some elements,

those possess of potential development towards its application for prophecies. Dreams and

their interpretations have always been very important in Jewish culture from very ancient

times. In antiquity it may be discovered some elements, peculiar also to the ritual from the

Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Similar practice exists in pagan world. It has tie with love magic, but

sometimes it relates to divinations. Evidently, both sources, pagan and Jewish are important

for the cooperation on the producing a tradition or traditions of similar rites.

7. Some Medieval and Early Modern Parallels

The variations of the rites have survived stormy political changes and persisted in

magical tradition. Evidently, the Migration Period (4th - 6th AD), the Fall of Roman Empire
 61

and final coming of monotheistic medieval epoch, probably, brought little changes to that

enchanted world.

Famous Jewish magical book without precise date, but mentioned by Rabbi Hai

Gaon, The Sword of Moses may refer to something similar, but the passage is utterly

vague.182 Anyway, the probable unity of the magical tradition within Jewish world deserves

attention. Probably it would be studied later. The further development within the Jewish

culture has already been unveiled in section 5.

In Christian world the general knowledge about incubation had certainly persisted.

In the East it remains, but in Christian garments.183 It usually comes from saints and martyrs.

Archangel Michael was especially known in the stories of Christian incubation.184 The

incubations also took place in some churches of Mary.185 In the Latin West the situation is

almost unclear.186

The descriptions of such rituals are abundant in the Roman literature. The memory

about them has readily transmitted to medieval culture. Definitely, fictional, historical,

philological literature is not the best and commonly accepted source for magical practices.

However, it shows the preservation of the knowledge of that sphere. It clarifies the awareness

of it and main of set of association have never perished.

182
Moses Gaster and Samuel Daiches, ed. and transl., Three Works of Ancient Jewish Magic: The Sword of
Moses, The Wisdom of the Chaldeans, Ancient Jewish Oil-Magic (London: Chthonios Books, 1986), 38 (no.
49), xiv-xv (However, first edition of the books is: London: D. Nutt, 1896); Yuval Harari, Harba de-Moshe:
Mahadurakhadashave-mikhkar (Jerusalem: Akademon, 1997), 179 (no. 49).
183
Renberg, Where Dreams May Come, 2:745-806; Ildikó Csepregi, . Comp.: Christine Angelidi and George T.
Calofonos, eds. Dreaming in Byzantium and Beyond (Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2014). The clear parallels with
incubations in the second chapter by Stavroula Constantinou (“The Morphology of Healing Dreams: Dream and
Therapy in Byzantine Collections of Miracle Stories.”, on pp. 21-34).
184
Renberg, Where Dreams May Come, 2:749, 765, 789-790, 800-802.
185
Ibid., 2:764-765, 797.
186
Ibid., 2:782-790
 62

The complex literal tradition deserves special study.187 Thus, let us give only few

striking examples. For instance, a reference to incubation appears in Virgil's (70-19 BC)

Aeneid VII:XII-XIII:

Here, when the priest, this offerings paid aright,

On skins of slaughtered beasts, in stillness of the night,

Lies down to sleep, in visions he beholds

Weird shapes, and many a wondrous voice doth hear… 188

While the description of the rite does not much resemble the text of Sefer Raziel ha-

Malakh, the narration may encourage the interest to the practice. It is superficial to discuss

the influence of Virgil on the intellectual life of Medieval Europe. It is commonly

acknowledged.189 In this particular case, it is important to note that incubation could not be

unknown to wide circles of the intellectuals in Medieval Europe.

The Fasti by Ovid (43 BC – 17/18 CE) also contains rite of incubation. Ovid is

indisputably one of most important pagan Latin text for Christian Medieval Europe.190 C.H.

187
There is a special work about an impact of knowledge about incubation and dream theories of antiquity on
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 - 1400) – Tanya S. Lenz, Dreams, Medicine, and Literary Practice: Exploring the
Western Literary Tradition Through Chaucer (Turnhout: Brespols, 2014). It was useless for our study, but it is
worth to note the existence of such book. Also the classical work by Steven F. Kruger on dreams in Middle
Ages has a special section on fiction: Steven F. Kruger, Dreaming in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992), 123-149. But he also discussed Chaucer in another section, see pp. 57f.
188
Translation by E. Fairfax Taylor, first published in London: J.M. Dent and Sons; New York: E.P. Dutton and
co., 1907, Everyman's Library.
189
The text on Virgil and his Aeneid in medieval culture are numerous. Let us mention only few of them: D.
Comparetti, Vergil in the Middle Ages, transl. E. Benecke (London: Swan Sonnenschein, New York: Macmillan,
1895); Jan M. Ziolkowski and Michael C.J. Putnam, ed., Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008); Christopher Baswell, Virgil in Medieval England: Figuring the
Aeneid from the twelfth century to Chaucer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995). There is also
online bibliography, which can be useful in this case - http://virgil.org/bibliography/
190
The literature on that is abundant. Let us give same introductory entries. Félix Peeters, Les “Fastes” d’Ovide
(Bruxelles: George Van Compenhout, 1939); a review with important corrections: Hilda Buttenwieser,
“Manuscripts of Ovid’s Fasti: the Ovidian Tradition in the Middle Ages,” Transactions and Proceedings of the
 63

Haskins even denotes the twelfth century as the Age of Ovid.191 The poet narrates (Fasti,

iv.649-676) about an incubation rite for Faun accomplished by the second Roman king Numa

Pompilius:

There was an ancient wood, long unprofaned by the axe, left sacred to the god of Maenalus <i.d. Pan>… Here

Numa sacrificed two ewes. The first fell in honour of Faunus, the second fell in honour of gentle Sleep: the

fleeces of both were spread on the hard ground. Twice the king’s unshorn head was sprinkled with water from a

spring; twice he veiled his brows with beechen leaves. He refrained from the pleasures of love; no flesh might

be served up to him at table; he might wear no ring on his fingers. Covered with a rough garment he laid him

down on the fresh fleeces after worshipping the god in the appropriate words… Night drew on, and in her tran

brought darkling dreams. Faunus was come, and setting his hard hoof on the sheep’s fleeces uttered these words

on the right side of the bed…. 192

Indisputably it is far from the rite in the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh in its main elements, but

some common features may be easily uncovered. So, the abstinence from wine, meat, sexual

intercourse and the requirement for purification are clearly emphasized. Numa Pompilius

sacrifices ewes, not doves or pigeons. But there are two creatures, as also in the Sefer Raziel

ha-Malakh and in the Bible. As it was previously shown, there is nothing exceptional in such

coincidences. The rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh has parallels both in Jewish and

Pagan traditions in antiquity. It is only important to note that European literature retained the

knowledge about similar practices, i.e. incubations or rituals for prophetic visions in dream

with the already known to us set of elements. Indeed, the information was not only preserved,

American Philological Association 71 (1940): 45-51; Edward Kennard Rand, Ovid and His Influence (New
York: Cooper Square, 1963); James G. Clark, Frank T. Coulson and Kathryn L. McKinley, eds., Ovid in the
Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011). Also every companion to Ovid unavoidably has a
section or sections on Ovid’s impact on Medieval culture.
191
Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, 1927), 107.
192
That is prosaic translation by Sir James George Frazer first printed in the Loeb Classical Library (London:
Heinemann; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1931).
 64

but applied for new narratives. Let us, give an example. In the History of the Kings of Britain

(De gestis Britonum or Historia regum Britanniae) by Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095-

c.1155) also appears a rite of incubation:

…so that Brutus, attended with Gerion, the augur, and twelve of the oldest men, set forward to the temple, with

all things necessary for the sacrifice. Being arrived at the place, and presenting themselves before the shrine

with garlands about their temples, as the ancient rites required, they made three fires to the three deities, Jupiter,

Mercury, and Diana, and offered sacrifices to each of them. Brutus himself, holding before the altar of the

goddess a consecrated vessel filled with wine, and the blood of a white hart, with his face looking up to the

image, broke silence in these words…These words he repeated nine times, after which he took four turns round

the altar, poured the wine into the fire, and then laid himself down upon the hart’s skin, which he had spread

before the altar, where he fell asleep. About the third hour of the night, the usual time for deep sleep, the

goddess seemed to present herself before him, and foretell his future success as follows… 193

The sacrifice of hart is quite original in the context of our study, but it may reflect

British realities. Certainly wine, fire, turns round altar reminds us the practice from the Sefer

Raziel ha-Malakh. Number “nine” deserves special attention. It also appears in the rite from

Bohemia, which was already mentioned in section 4. Nevertheless, it does not indicate

existence of the tradition. The holy number “three” repeated three times gives three. So this

element can be “rediscovered”, or rather produced again without reliance on the previous

sources, on any kind of succession of knowledge.

Medieval oneirology has its own features. Evidently, they are quite different from

the described here old pagan practices.194 But, the old tradition has certainly survived. That is

193
That is the first English translation, produced in the 18th century by Aaron Thompson, but with revisions by
J.A. Giles in 1848. Certainly, since that, there is a decisive progress in the scholarship on Geoffrey’s chronicle,
but in this particular case it is insignificant. Thus, we prefer the widely known text. It is cited according ebook:
Geoffrey of Monmouth, History of the Kings of Britain (Cambridge, Ontario: In parentheses Publications,
1999), 13-14. The History has no unified divisions. In the cited book it is I:11. The general mood of the story
reminds also Thebaid IV:419-645 by Publius Papinus Statius (1 century). But, there is no indication that the
vision was obtained in a dream.
194
The literature on the topic is vast, but let us refer to the classical book on the topic, which may certainly give
general impression of the medieval oneirology: Steven F. Kruger, Dreaming in the Middle Ages (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992).
 65

entirely clear that even unversed in magic or pious person in his search for a dream revelation

may readily discover practical recommendations in the widely known and readable texts.

Not only fiction upheld ancient knowledge about such practice. The celebrated

magic medieval Arabic book Picatrix shows some vivid parallels. In the description of the

invocation of Venus there is such passage: „Then you bow and repeat your invocation then

you list your head and repeat your invocation and the sacrifice being that of coloured pigeon

or a dove and eat its liver and burn the body in the brazier in front of you”.195 The text

mentions pigeon and dove. It is very peculiar to the cult of Venus, but now it appears outside

the classical pagan context, in the magic tradition. Here wizard burns the bird as also in the

Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Curiously he eats bird’s liver. Liver does not appear in any of above-

mentioned versions of the rite, but it is extremely important for divinations (hepatoscopy) in

ancient Mesopotamia and Mediterranean world.

Also “Venus requires fasting for seven day from the first days of Saturn till the

seventh day and it requires sacrificing a white pigeon and eating its liver on the seventh

day.”196 It corresponds to the 7 days of purification in manuscript tradition of the Sefer Raziel

ha-Malakh. We certainly remember that liver is an organ extremely important for prophecies.

It appears with ashes and burnt offering in the rite of invocation of Venus: “Then you

sacrifice a white pigeon and eat the liver and burn the body and hold the ash towards you

because that sends the passionate spirit in the heart of whom you fed it to in your name.197

Dove should be sacrificed according to the description of an invocation of the Moon:

195
Ghayat Al-Hakim, Picatrix: The Goal of the Wise, tr. Hashem Atallah (Seattle: Ouroboros Press, 2002-2008),
2: 89.
196
Ibid., 2:186.
197
Ibid., 2:91
 66

Then sacrifice the dove and take from its right wing, left wing and tail four feathers. Cut a part of the dove’s

beak, then you burn the rest…198

That is extremely important point. The Moon is traditionally connected with dreams.

The classical European book on magic or rather the most known book in the history

of European magic the Occult Philosophy (first full edition in Cologne in 1533) by Heinrich

Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535)199 also relates about dream question (II:50):

And let there be made an image of dreams, which being put under the head of him that sleeps, makes him dream

true dreams concerning anything that he hath formerly deliberated of; and let the figure of that be the figure of a

man sleeping in the bosom of an angel…

Such images should be produced under different astral influences. Venus is included: “Let

also the same be made in Libra ascending, Venus being received from Mercury in Gemini in

the ninth house, by writing upon it the angel of Venus.”200 While doves and pigeons are the

birds of Venus,201 Agrippa does not mention anything similar in the recipe for prophetic

dream.

In the tenth chapter of the spurious Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy (first

published in Marburg in 1559), the author directly refers to that rite. It also gives another one,

which evidently belongs to the same topic:

198
Ibid., 2:179.
199
Standard biography is: Charles G. Nauert, Agrippa and the Crisis of Renaissance Thought (Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1965). For analysis of his occult thought see: Christopher I. Lehrich, The Language
of Demons and Angels (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003).
200
Cited according: Henry Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, transl. James
Freake, ed. and annot. Donald Tyson (St. Paul: Llewellyn, 2000), 403.
201
See for instance: Ibid., 132, 274, 319.
 67

And now we will declare unto you another Rite more easie to perform this thing: that is to say, Let the man that

is to receive any Oracle from the good spirits be chaste, pure, and confess'd. Then a place being prepared pure

and clean, and covered everywhere with white linen, on the Lords day in the new of the moon let him enter into

that place, clothed with clean white garments; and let him exorcize the place, and bless it, and make a Circle

therein with a sanctified cole; and let there be written in the uttermost part of the Circle the names of the Angels,

and in the inner part thereof let there be written the mighty names of God: and let him place within the Circle, at

the four angles of the world, the Censers for the perfumes. Then let him enter the place fasting, and washed, and

let him begin to pray towards the east this whole Psalm: Beati immaculati in via, &c. Blessed art the undefiled

in the Way, &c. (Psalm 119.) by perfuming; and in the end deprecating the Angels, by the said divine names,

that they will daign to discover and reveal that which he desireth: and that let him do six days, continuing

washed and fasting. And on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, let him, being washed and fasting, enter the

Circle, and perfume it, and anoint himself with holy anointing oyl, by anointing his forehead, and upon both his

eyes, and in the palms of his hands, and upon his feet. Then upon his knees let him say the Psalm aforesaid, with

Divine and Angelical names. Which being said, let him arise, and let him begin to walk about in a circuit within

the said Circle from the east to the west, until he is wearied with a dizziness of his brain: let him fall down in the

Circle, and there he may rest; and forthwith he shall be wrapt up in an ecstasie, and a spirit will appear unto him,

which will inform him of all things. We must observe also, that in the Circle there ought to be four holy candles

burning at the four parts of the world which ought not to want light for the space of a whole week. And the

maner of fasting must be such, that he abstain from all things having a life of Sense, and from those things

which do proceed from them: and let him onely drink pure running water: neither let him take any food till the

going down of the sun. And let the perfume and the holy anointing oyl be made, as is set forth in Exodus and the

other holy books of the Bible. It is also to be observed, that always as often as he enters into the Circle, he have

upon his forehead a golden Lamen, upon which there must be written the name Tetragrammaton, as we

have before spoken. 202

There are no doves, pigeons or something, which may be connected with Venus. The

reference to dream as such is also absent. A conjurer should reach ecstasy to see angels by his

magic circle. However, the general structure of the rite, which includes fasting, washing,

purification is very similar. Vision in ecstasy is not very remote from prophetic dream, which

202
Translation by Robert Turner, first published in: London: J.C. by John Harrison, at the Lamb, 1655. See pp.
62-63.
 68

hardly resembles normal, regular dream, obtained while sleeping. The ceremony appears near

the reference to another rite, which has tie with Venus, as it was already noted above.

There is also a curious and, as far as we know, unexplained point in the history,

which is worth slight mention. Famous and mysterious Count Alessandro Cagliostro (1743?-

1795), a prominent and enigmatic figure in the history of occultism, alchemy and

freemasonry, communicated with spirits through a virgin girl or boy. He used the word

“dove” to designate such girl.

Thus, the knowledge of the ancient practices was not lost throughout the Middle

Ages and Early Modern times. The tradition has been preserved both in fiction and magic.

Actually, there is no reason to make a demarcation between different kinds of intellectual life.

In reality the same person could find an inspiration both in magic and in fiction, which is no

entirely fictional, since it describes existent rites or rites reflected extant ceremonies.

As also in Antiquity, this tradition is very flexible. More precisely, there are many

different rites with many common details. The tie of this tradition with love magic is

continuous, but not unavoidable. It appears in some rites and perishes in other. Thus, it exists,

but may be easily thrown away. Certainly, there is a tradition, but it is versatile, always open

to free usage, creativity of every magus, who can play with it, change it in any convenient for

him way.

8. Conclusion
 69

This brief insight into long and intricate history and bibliographies definitely lacks

comprehensiveness and clear, palpable structure. On the one hand, the entire tradition (if it

has ever existed! If the tentative line of succession could be defined as such) and all the

sources of the rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh can hardly be found, on the other hand,

we even did not apply everything, we originally planned to include. A great quantity of

various texts on dreams, doves and related topics can hardly been organized in clear and

simple narrative. Moreover, even the boundaries of the study could not be easily defined.

There is no lucidity in that vague issue at all. The ritual in the beginning of the Sefer Raziel

ha-Malakh (Amsterdam, 1701) is brief and plain. It is not easy to decide towards the

sufficient measure of affinity. In addition, some irrelevant rituals were described to show, that

in many cases it is nearly impossible to explain the affinity as mere coincidences.

From this heap of various sources, we collected the texts, which show more or less

probable succession of the ritual practices. The differences are also considerable. But they

can hardly prove that the coincidences are random. Considerable variations are evident even

within the manuscript tradition of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh. Perhaps, the details are not of

real importance and some kind of liberty is permissible by the tradition itself.

Although the definite practices have significant variations, it can be also realized that

some of the dream rites are constructed from similar elements. It appears as there is a set of

relevant details. Any magus may freely take some of them to create his own original

masterpiece. The practices vary, but the set of elements is the same. Any of the elements may

be left aside for many years for being rediscovered again in certain circumstances. There is a

construction set, which endorses quite conservative and based on ancient roots creativity. It

looks like playing with LEGO. Also certain logic, accepted method of reasoning is seen

beyond the actions. The rite from the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh belongs to such kind of blurred

“tradition”, which is not a clear tradition with evident transmission of knowledge, but
 70

something shapeless, amorphous and hardly graspable, but produced from the old and known

set.

In remote epochs we can discover similar practices. First, dream interpretations were

generally recognized in Ancient East, in Antiquity, both in Jewish and Pagan cultures. It

seems that precise rituals were different. The dialogue of cultures was always important, if it

can be described in such way. People have never existed in closed space. They have always

communicated. In most popular stories on dreams in the Bible, the context is also

multicultural, Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Mesopotamia. The practice of asking in dream

cannot point out certain tradition. It may be found in any culture.203 Indeed, we have already

shown that the origins of such practice are lost in the remote epochs.

In the Bible, doves and pigeons have clear associations with messages, transmission

of information. Nonetheless, no trace of the impact of such imagery on the precise ritualistic

activity is known. That is true, that the ritual of sacrificing two doves and pigeon is known

from the Bible. However, here it is a rite for purification. There is no obvious tie with the

magical practice of dream question.

But various parallels to the ritual exist in pagan world. The actual rite of the sacrifice

reminds some cults of female goddesses. Doves and pigeons are birds of Venus, Aphrodite,

Isis, Ishtar. Moreover, indeed, similar rituals appear in PGM mainly as love magic or

somehow connected to love magic. PGM IV.2891-2942 is love magic, which directly

connects to Venus.

However, there is no need to look for the origins only in magic texts found in Egypt.

The links between dreams, divination-prophecy and doves-pigeon exist in the Bible. Also

For instance, see on such practice in Greek paganism: Samson Eitern, “Dreams and Divination in Magic
203

Ritual,” in Magika ide: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion, eds. Christopher A. Faraone and Dirk Obbink (New
York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 175-187.
 71

general succession of the deeds recollects normal practice in pagan temples. Doves were

associated with prophecy, for instance, in the Oracle of Dodona. Venus also had ties with

prophecies. For instance, an author of famous book on dream interpretations, Artemidorus

(2nd century CE) declares: “Aphrodite Pandemos…is good for prophets. For she is considered

to be the discoverer of every prophetic art and of prognosis.”204 That is also clear that

consciously excluded from this text probable notions of Eastern incubations much refer to

childbearing or request for childbearing.205 The Annunciation in the New Testament also may

be clearly connected with that motif. As it was mentioned above doves are very peculiar in

the depictions of the Annunciation. They designate spirit, but their role as signs, as

messengers cannot be ignored. They always inform on future or real meaning of the events.

Let us remind the scene of the meeting of Jesus with John the Baptist (Mt. 3:16; Mark 1:10-

11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:32). However, this line may lead us far away from the discussed

ritual. Thus, let us only mention this direction of research, which can be studied in future.

Paradoxically abundant pagan sources do not clearly point out the pagan origins of

the ritual. We have already seen that in Jewish tradition the necessary elements may also be

easily found. Moreover, pagan author Juvenal in his Satires (6:542-552) connects dreams,

Jews and doves.

So, the entire process of formation of the rite is unclear. But whether it encompasses

any possibility of the clearness. Probably it cannot be restored in detail due to the character of

the tradition. Even more likely, there is no original, archetypal version. It was unstable at the

stage of its primal formation. Free change of and in different components may be suspected.

However, in the Middle Ages structure and main associations became more or less stable at

204
Artemidorus, Oneirocritica, transl. and commentaries Daniel E. Harris-McCoy (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2012), 224-225. For some general considerations towards “dove” in dream books see also p. 203 in:
Vassiliki Kokkori, “Dream Symbols in the Mediterranean World: Woman’s Position in Byzantine Society,” in
Symbols and Models in the Mediterranean: Perceiving Through Culture, eds. Aneilya Barnes and Mariarosaria
Salerno (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017), 190-209.
205
Kim, Incubation, pass.
 72

least in certain outlets of the tradition. Even so, we see free interaction of various versions,

astrological and ritual associations. Needless to repeat all such contacts and parallels in the

conclusion, it has been already said enough. But, the old association sometimes survived

through long epochs. They remain “alive and well” in quite different situations, in quite

different kinds of culture. It is curious to meet Venus in Jewish text published in 17th century

or uncover it in modern Christian rites in the mask of Virgin Mary. Certainly, most probably

such associations are not always necessary. They are not unavoidable part of the any such

rite. But they have existed. The have sometimes appeared. Thus, the knowledge of them has

never been lost.

From the beginning Jews and Pagans consciously cooperated in the producing of the

rite. This cooperation has never been entirely forgotten. Islamic (if the Picatrix is interpreted

as Islamic book) and Christian cultures readily joined this old and complicate system of

relationships. The rite’s development continues until very recent time.

The development of the rite through ages poses a very important question towards

magical tradition as such, in general. Indeed, what is tradition in magic? To what extend has

it ever been stable? Have magicians or any occasional practitioners grasped this tradition as

something stable and dogmatic? Such questions deserve scrupulous and careful study.