Once again I’ve gotten distracted and led away from getting further into The Golden Dawn. I’ll never make it past the fourth lesson, I swear..
Today I thought I’d read The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-melin. I’ve had it for a few years but haven’t gone past the introduction because I’ve been busy with other books. I thought I’d pick it up because I’m about to pick up Agrippa, which I’ve also had for several years, and though I’ve consulted it a few times, I haven’t actually read through it. The more I read of the GD, the more I think I should lay the foundation with Agrippa, but shouldn’t I also go through Abra-melin? This is all after I just finished The Alchemists Handbook, because shouldn’t I know more about alchemy?
It’s been an interesting read. While it’s well known that The Necronomicon was completely invented by Simon, Abra-melin is supposedly real. So I kept that in mind as I read through the two introductions, the first book of the holy magic, and then into the second, when Abra-melin states all the qualities that a man should have before going through this six month ritual, such as being between the years of 25-50, shouldn’t have leprosy, etc.
Then I get to where he says of women, only virgins are suitable. But even then, it’s advised that this ritual is too important to even tell a woman about because of, “the accidents that they might cause by their curiosity and love of talk. Now I’m full of rage at the sexism, ageism, and misogyny and want to do the ritual out of spite.
Of course I’m not going to do that, but wouldn’t it be grand?
-Fiver