Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses
Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses Magical texts said to contain Spells and CONJURATIONS for all purposes. The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses—also called the “Mystery of all Mysteries”—were published in 1849 in Stuttgart, Germany. They are credited to the authorship of Johann Scheibel (1736–1809). According to lore, the books were dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. They were omitted from the Old Testament because of their power. The books were passed down to Aaron, Caleb, Joshua, David and then KING SOLOMON, who is credited with authoring his own powerful book of magic.
The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses are based on Talmudic and practical Kabbalistic magic, and include Charms, TalismanS, SEALS, sacred nameS, the secret magic of the Psalms, and so forth. The spells are intended for luck, amassing wealth, NECROMANCY, healing, protection, curses and other magical purposes.
Folk tales about the books are similar to tales about BLACK BOOKS that confer powers but bring trouble to their owners.
In one German tale, an old master tailor who lived in Trent had a wife who inherited an unusual book from her mother reputed to be the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. Whenever the wife read in the book, deer, wolves, hares, and other animals would come to her, lie down at her feet, and play with her children. The animals vanished when she closed the book.
This disturbed the tailor, who decided he did not want the book in the house. One day while his wife was reading it, he grabbed it and threw it into the stove. To their astonishment, the fire went out, and the book remained undamaged. Some elders told the tailor that he could successfully get rid of the book by having a boy born on a Sunday during the sermon throw the book into the stove. The tailor followed this advice. When the boy tossed the book into the stove, it was immediately burned up by the fire.
Like other folk tales about attempts to destroy magical books, this tale underscores the power of Christianity— the pure boy born on Sunday during a sermon—to defeat occult powers and pagan folk magic. Another German folk tale holds that no more magic or Witchcraft exist because the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses are safely locked up in Wittenberg.
See also : Grimoires.
FURTHER READING:
- Ashiman, D. L. (ed.) “The Hand of Glory and other gory legends about human hands.” Available online. URL: https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/magicbook.html. Downloaded December 22, 2004.
SOURCE:
The Encyclopedia of Magic and Alchemy Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley Copyright © 2006 by Visionary Living, Inc.