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JSmith: The Abramelin Operation

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick
From: tyagi@arkaotika.abyss.com (tyaginator)
Subject: JSmith: The Abramelin Operation
Date: 27 Mar 1999 00:44:43 -0800

[from thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org: Jeffrey Smith ]

One thing that is overlooked is the calendrical context which Abramelin 
set his procedure in.  That is, if Abramelin or whoever really came up 
with the Abramelin Operation was Jewish.  If he wasn't, the following 
observations are totally useless.

Abramelin instructs the reader to begin at the spring equinox and end at 
the fall equinox.  Roughly speaking, you start with Pesach and end with 
Sukkot on the Jewish calendar.  More importantly, you pass through the 
more solemn half of the year.   The seven weeks at the start, beginning 
with the second day of Passover, are the Sefirat haOmer, ending with 
Shavout/Pentecost.  The Omer is a period of semimourning, with special 
emphasis on the tikkun, repair, of oneself and any character defects therein.
On Shavout there is a special allnight session of Torah study to mark the 
fact that Shavout marks the Revelation at Mt. Sinai.   Then comes a quiet 
period punctuated by the fasts of 17 Tammuz and 9 Av--the former marks 
the date on which the walls of Jerusalem were breached; the latter the 
date on which the two Temples were destroyed (although Scripture seems to 
assign the destruction of the first Temple to 7 Av) by Nebuchadnezzar and 
Titus, and also the traditional dates of the fall and massacre of Betar 
(which ended the Bar Kochva revolt), and also the anniversary of the 
expulsion from Spain (the formal date of which was actually a few weeks 
later)--hence the most solemn and melancholy day in the Jewish year.  
The final third is dominated by the months of Elul and Tishri, which is 
one long penitential period culminating in the High Holy Days (Rosh 
haShanah and Yom Kippur) followed by the feast of Sukkot.

The correlation to Abramelin's schedule is not hard and fast:  for 
instance, this year the Vernal Equinox occurred after Pesach, and the 
Autumnal Equinox on Rosh haShanah itself.  But the general context of a Jew 
applying the Operation's actual instructions is clear:  the first two 
months and the last two months dominated by the periods of the year whose 
special emphasis is already on soul searching and aspiring to the Divine, 
and the middle period by fasts that encourage the same process on both 
the individual and community levels.   This would undoubtedly reinforce 
the basic Operation itself; and it could only occur on the schedule 
specified by Abramelin's text--any other would skip all or part of these 
penitential periods.  

Naturally, I don't mean that one should stick to Abramelin's literal 
schedule, or get a Siddur to help in the effort;  but using one's normal 
practices and following the pattern of one's basic religous year to 
advantage here is not uncalled for.

  Jeffrey Smith       f901030k@bc.seflin.org
  Hodu l'Adonai ki tov--ki l'olam chasdo.
  Give thanks to God, because of Good:  because for all the world is His 
          Mercy.  ----   Tehillim 136:1

EOF

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