I've been threatening it for a while but got stuck on a tarmac leaving Boston for 2 hours and what better did I have to do than speculate about the Abramelin... You know, as normal people do.
Eyyy brother, @MarcoVisconti I dunno' if you remember me but we met in London at your book launch (I was there with my girlfriend). I still haven't had the time to really delve into the material, but it was wonderful meeting you and getting to ask you a couple of questions.
Thank you Dr Sledge for your work. Since graduating with a degree in religious studies I have drifted away from its study but your videos have rekindled my enthusiasm for the subject.
I went to community college so I'm always down for speculation. Hell, I'm just a random dude who went down a rabbit hole and ended up here 3 months ago. Jokes aside, I personally appreciate all you're doing with this channel. It helped me spark a new love for history, especially that _esoteric_ side.
I just discovered this channel and I cannot illustrate with words how much I am enjoying it. I am a theological skeptic who practices traditional folk magic (mostly Appalachian, with some western European traditions) and I have been wanting to learn more about the occult and esoteric origins of folk magic practices, and your channel is the most accessible and engaging source I have found yet. Thank you so much for sharing the fruits of your studies!
Funny, I just rewatched your video yesterday on Abramelin, and I was looking forward to this! I think your educational content is absolutely invaluable and should take the forefront on esoterica, but I think some shorter form episodes based on your educated speculations for certain topics could be so incredibly fascinating. I think as long as there's a disclaimer, you shouldn't worry about making videos like this in the future!
Very fine - and only semi-specualtive - scholarship Sir! To my mind, the central problem with tracing origins is this: thinking theologically, we tend to look for mono-genesis... like tracing all humanity back to Adam and Eve, then God. But thinking genealogically, the further back we go through a family tree the more multiplicity we find. So when we try to map the path to the origin(s) the ''traingles of branches'' run in different directions. I think this goes for texts and ideas as much as fleash and blood. Arguments pile up, scholars argue ''past each other'' rather than against each other, each forgetting that either apporach is a model, a map. Sometimes a useful one, but i suspect ''the truth about the origin'' is encompassed by neither. Many thanks for your wonderful and perennially thought provoking work.
I am so here for this quintessential Esoterica episode and the breathtaking Blake imagery! I'm all about the highlighted tomes of Scholastic magic and Hekhalot Literature and synopse! The Esoterica treatment is undoubtedly rigorous and researched in, as you say, informed speculation! Wax on! And will certainly revisit this singular one of a kind episode! To paraphrase-quote Einstein (yes, he did say this this time with my inserts), "(informed) Imagination is more important than knowledge ("what we know...")! Edifying and, as you say, enlightening!
I'd love some more speculative videos you do a great job of making clear it is speculation but make a great argument I feel like someone could take this and work up a thesis
This was intresting and informative. The practice of rituals as a means of engaging the mind in experience of spiritual revelation has always fascinated agnostics like me. This was an exciting introduction to a culture that is out side of my personal experience
Your videos are always insightful and would help anyone invested in these subject; either at a "practical" and certainly academic level. Thanks again Justin, hope you and yours are doing well! :D
Thanks, brother! I can only hope these videos can serve the whole community, from seasoned practitioners to skeptical academics. It's my honor to make this content for everyone.
Thank you Dr Sledge I am sure if anyone can ever discover the source of the Abramelin ritual it will be you! Really enjoy the channel keep up the good work! 0:16
Agree: "Not much but not nothing" Very wise indeed. I wish that one day I can scholarly disagree with you and separate myself from the amount of academic praise you receive in these comments, but as of today I'm pretty much speechless in agreement with this speculation corner and have a feeling somewhere there is something that can end the speculation. When if ever that will be revealed again is speculation at best I would imagine. Great episode.
Another winner, Justin! :) :) I think you and I are thinking in the same direction on this one. TBH, I have always been rather uninterested in the great search for the true identity of Abraham of Worms. Or of Abramelin himself, frankly. Both of them are legendary figures who likely didn't exist historically, and I'm much more interested in where the material itself came from. Of course, you rightly point out that all we can really do is speculate - short of the discovery and/or translation of more texts that might shine new light. But, for now, we can only look at the text itself and speculate on the historical pillars that seem to underlie it. In my case, I suspect a thread of (Valentinian) Gnosticism in the text. (Not to mention what I've written about the similarities between Abramelin and other cultures' rituals for creating shamans/prophets/priests/etc. The underlying formula of the ritual seems to be fairly universal, in fact.) I would actually be quite surprised if Sar Torah practices were _not_ an influence here as well!
Thank you so much... You are the best, Doctor! And you are definitely right... At least for myself, these texts empower One to get out from abysses and hells. In a very special ways this becomes part of The Faith and gives light to the positivism in the actual Academic world... God bless you! ❤
Dr. Sledge, wonderful content as always. Have you considered uploading your content on the various podcast streaming platforms? There is a population of dedicated podcasts listeners not represented on RUclips that, I believe, would benefit from access to your content.
Fantastic! This type of speculation is what we need more of these days, I think--in absence of certainty or a trail of irrefutable proof, well-founded and informed speculation is not a bad option, and I think is infinitely preferable to "Well, we'll just never know." One can try out different possibilities, have those interrogated by others, and if flaws in those hypotheses are found, then so be it; but just sitting around and going "Nope, we'll never know so there's no point in saying more" is so gutless. Though their conclusions were often wrong, it seems that older generations of academics were more courageous in this regard. I don't see why things have changed like this over the last few generations...sure, suspicions about grand narratives and such are certainly a good thing, but come on! Aren't we sort of not doing our jobs as academics if we're not at least trying some ideas out? Scientists don't seem to be penalized for having their hypotheses be demonstrated as wrong (which is one of the benefits of the scientific method!), and yet in the social sciences, history, and humanities, it seems like people are so afraid of "being wrong" these days that caution to the point of silence has been made the requirement rather than just looking at the evidence and making a good guess. There's a double standard at work in all of this, too...in the fields that I toil in, a tiny bit of evidence has been used to make grand sweeping interpretations about things whenever they appear or are suggested; but surely, that's the very essence of confirmation bias when all bits of evidence that may be contrary to one's interpretation are ignored in order to make one's point. That was one of the things that was occasionally said to me when I was working on my dissertation, i.e. "why include these bits of evidence that may contradict the overall narrative you're trying to build?" Firstly, I wasn't trying to build an overarching narrative, I was attempting to amass as many examples as possible and make some typological classifications so that all of the grand theories could at least be questioned or problematized going forward. That confirmation bias was, in essence, being preached as "the way scholarship is done," in essence, is highly questionable, in my mind. Okay...rant over! ;) Stepping away from methodology for a moment, here's a question that is somewhat theoretical, but why not? While I have not been able to study these texts as in-depth as you have, it seems to me that both of them call for various forms of sexual purity, and even a degree of renunciation. Given their historical contexts and cultural backgrounds, that is understandable. But given that what I understand of Jewish tradition often has great respect for finding loopholes in the laws set forth, I would wonder the following: if, excluding all other forms of impurity-generating actions and exposures, seminal impurity is the issue at stake with engaging in sexual practices that might undermine one's suitability for angelic contact, then if one engaged in sexual practices that did not involve seminal impurity (i.e. non-ejaculatory practices), would those activities be possible under these two traditions' rubrics? I suspect that Aleister Crowley would have exploited such a loophole if it was feasible/allowable in the Abramelin ritual, but it just occurs to me to inquire on this. I know it isn't a popular, widespread, or even often acknowledged possibility that such practices can be done (especially in Western contexts!), and yet if it is a legitimate loophole, then it's interesting to consider what that might indicate! ;)
Sex is fine in Abramelin, Sar Torah rejects any sexual activity and any seminal contact / emission botches the process. For Sar Torah it's *both and* including a sharp observation of niddah, taharas HaMishpacha, etc
awesome vid! I like that you go there, but with some clearly defined reasons, and with a major highlight of saying this is all speculation. Nothing wrong with doing this from time to time.
Great stuff once again! I really enjoy the content you put out. The origin of the Abramelin ritual has fascinated me for quite awhile. I always had the notion that the text was not written by a Jewish author, mainly because the whole notion of a ''holy guardian angel'' seemed quite catholic-folk-magic-ish to me, and i could not really find a similar concept in Judaism, but the Sar Torah seems like a decent fit with regard to the Abramelin HGA. Do you have any thoughts on the whole demonic evocation buisiness in Abramelin, would that not be quite indicative of a link to Solomonic magic? Could the Abramelin involve a merging of Sar Torah mysticism and Solomonic magic? Again thank you for your great work, it truly is a amazing!
It doesn't code Solomonic to me - honestly I think it's a mishmash of lots of things (the magic squares and various spells, like the magic monkey one) but I think this core of the HGA/Sar Torah is where my primary interest lies.
This is one of my favorite channels for religious topics (Religion for Breakfast, and Let’s Talk Religion being my other favorites) but this channel is specifically interesting for me, since it really focuses on mysticism, and not religion as a whole. And, since I’m taking my very first religion and philosophy course, Philosophy of Religion, these channels that I’ve mentioned above have really helped; especially this one, bc at the beginning of the course, we really focused on Mysticism. Not Jewish Mysticism (which, since I grew up as a Catholic, I had no idea that that was a thing) just mysticism altogether.
Some Old-Skool Esoterica, love it... [... And for the record, I'll take your speculation in to higher regard than some of the more post-modern dogmatic Theosophies that go around today.]
That's my fault for trying to be "hip" (do kids say that still, I'm going to stop embarassing myself). Thak you for tolerating the asinine ephemeral comments of man whos brain should have been put out to pasture a lomg time ago. And sincerely, just thank you for being the seed to a new world of knowledge for me. I used to pray to the great architect "Please, just show me one wise American, please!!!!" Then I found your channel. Synchonicity? Serendipity? or just a stastical "well, duh of course".... Geez, Imma gonna really stop now. TY.
I think this is fascinating. It seems like most of the significant magical systems comprising what is known today as the ‘western esoteric tradition’ can be traced back to some early form of Jewish mysticism. Both Enochian magic and Kabbalah were influenced by hekhalot literature and Merkavah mysticism. Then there’s all the Solomonic material, and of course anything Christian ultimately comes from ancient Jewish apocalypticism. Even the Abramelin Operation has Jewish roots!
Wait, what was the name of that Ashkenaz family? Calaminus? Anyway, this informed speculation seems like a good platform for exploring the development of these forms of magic, as either pointing towards clues or as things to contradict and bounce off towards more evidence. And like you said the deep structure of these texts and their rituals are strikingly similar.
I keep the speculation to a minimum and flag it as clearly as I can when I do it otherwise I'm not much different than any other run-of-the-mill unhinged AtLaNTiS-AyRan-Rh--FrANKism-1666 youtube channel
When I was reading Aleister Crowley's "Magick" he said that no one has any business with Abramelin, because he said that those magick squares have numbers that have energy and have the ability to come off the page and animate. He's right, but I only encountered playful spirits that caused me no harm. I also learned that any demons one encounters are your own demons.
loved this very much. we knew the Abramelin Ritual came from the modification of some other practice - and I don't mean that in a negative way. Virtually all religious and/or spiritual practices come from something much older than what we know.
Just curious about the comment on Crowley "kinda maybe" starting the Abramelin. I mean he was definitely do parts of it; just buying Boleskine for the express purpose of using it for the operation would have been the initial magical act. But did he wait for K&C before he started percolating the princes? Curious where your hesitation was with that part. Love the show!
There's debate in the occult community as to whether he 1 really even understood the ritual at all and 2 whether he actually started it given 1 much less finished it in the wastes of China - I don't have a dog in this fight
@@TheEsotericaChannel Oh interesting! The idea that AC "didn't understand the ritual at all" is something I'm not familiar with and I've been a member of OTO for 10 years. I'll have to ask Kaczynski about that. Thanks for the response!
I'm pretty sure the OTO has a vested interest in Crowley being on point. Aaron leitch provides serious criticism of Crowley's version of the ritual. Again, I don't have a dog in this fight, but I can't say that the Mathers edition of the ritual is textually defective.
@@TheEsotericaChannel Yeah absolutely, the new translation of the Abramelin was celebrated with a lot of folks in that community as a refreshing update from Mather's less than expert edition. I never got the sense that it was so bad however that using it was tantamount to 'not understanding the ritual at all' however. Especially from people with a pile of experience in classic solomonic evocation. But hey, all good learning, and I appreciate your show for that!
And I think that version is pretty flawed and a lot of ways, especially the historical arguments around its authorship. Though, again, I don't want to be seen as throwing water on anyone's spiritual practice.
Fascinating video. I might change rhe title to something a bit catchier to get more views. Maybe mention the Great Beast connection. Crowley gets the clicks :)
@@TheEsotericaChannel You are so committed even the titles are especially esoteric. I love it. I do have to say, after years now of watching your content and learning so much, that this title really does take the title title. Cheers to you Dr. Sledge, thank you for all you do.
Question, does anyone know if there are any scholarly books about Abramelin? Maybe I'm missing something but there really doesn't seem to be much outside of weirdos like me talking about it, okay I have a bachelor's degree in religious studies but why hasn't anyone gotten a phd looking into stuff like this? I don't necessarily mean this part of the issue, but is there anything really written about it by scholars that is substantial?
There isn't much academic work on the text so far as I can tell. Though a new addition of at least part of it is coming out soon, recently discovered. But yes this would be an excellent topic for a academic dissertation.
That is a grueling ritual to finish. I did it in a lake house back in 1996. I was lucky to have a friend that makes Oil of Abramelin but had to replace the incense with musk. I went into the ritual with a fiancée but ended the ritual single...she just wasn't willing to wait on the sex I guess. By the end of that ritual I can honestly say I was insane by anyone's standards. I blame the lack of protein. I don't think I even really realized my fiancée and I had broken up until I finished and started eating red meat again. Then it started to kick in what had happened. But what cha going do? Once you start you can't stop...unless you're Crowley. If I had to do it again I would store up tofu before even attempting it. I also had no children to use at the beginning, so I had to fall back to a symbol I had received during a meditation years before that meant a lot to me. You'll run into little road blocks like this, but the important part is to just keep going and not stop. Not stopping is more important than freaking out over some little thing you have to change. The true purpose is that you'll learn more about yourself than any other time in your life.
I've had dreams where I'm dead and a weird man is telling me that next time i need to undertake this And i think i agree but!!!!!! Dude these rituals scare me
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I am amazed how this channel can continuously put out amazing content. So many complex topics explained in a way that isn't too difficult to follow.
I was always told that if you can't explain an idea to someone from one bus stop to another then *you* don't really understand it.
Unexpected but very welcome continuation of the exploration of Abramelin!
I've been threatening it for a while but got stuck on a tarmac leaving Boston for 2 hours and what better did I have to do than speculate about the Abramelin... You know, as normal people do.
Eyyy brother, @MarcoVisconti I dunno' if you remember me but we met in London at your book launch (I was there with my girlfriend). I still haven't had the time to really delve into the material, but it was wonderful meeting you and getting to ask you a couple of questions.
@@JivecattheMagnificent of course I remember! Feel free to get in touch anytime ☺️
@@TheEsotericaChannel totally normal behaviour in my book 🧐
@@MarcoVisconti Thank you my friend. 😎🙏
Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law.
you know the esoterica vid is a banger when the title is incomprehensible to you
Look, I got a reputation to uphold ;)
Always like it when you talk about Abramelin.
Thank you Dr Sledge for your work. Since graduating with a degree in religious studies I have drifted away from its study but your videos have rekindled my enthusiasm for the subject.
Warms my heart to hear that, I mean it.
I went to community college so I'm always down for speculation. Hell, I'm just a random dude who went down a rabbit hole and ended up here 3 months ago. Jokes aside, I personally appreciate all you're doing with this channel. It helped me spark a new love for history, especially that _esoteric_ side.
I just discovered this channel and I cannot illustrate with words how much I am enjoying it. I am a theological skeptic who practices traditional folk magic (mostly Appalachian, with some western European traditions) and I have been wanting to learn more about the occult and esoteric origins of folk magic practices, and your channel is the most accessible and engaging source I have found yet. Thank you so much for sharing the fruits of your studies!
Happy belated Rosh Hashanah, Doc! Thanks for making such wonderful content freely available and accessible!
May we all have a sweet year!
@@TheEsotericaChannelamen!
Your educated speculation is more valuable than most.
Funny, I just rewatched your video yesterday on Abramelin, and I was looking forward to this! I think your educational content is absolutely invaluable and should take the forefront on esoterica, but I think some shorter form episodes based on your educated speculations for certain topics could be so incredibly fascinating. I think as long as there's a disclaimer, you shouldn't worry about making videos like this in the future!
Outstanding! I’d love to see a deeper dive into the connections in the future. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Wake up bro, new Esoterica just dropped 😊
Quickly! Light the algorithm!
@@SpencerLuxBurtonI brought extra oil, just in case.
Ok
I just did so
I’m up, I’m up
Very fine - and only semi-specualtive - scholarship Sir! To my mind, the central problem with tracing origins is this: thinking theologically, we tend to look for mono-genesis... like tracing all humanity back to Adam and Eve, then God. But thinking genealogically, the further back we go through a family tree the more multiplicity we find. So when we try to map the path to the origin(s) the ''traingles of branches'' run in different directions. I think this goes for texts and ideas as much as fleash and blood. Arguments pile up, scholars argue ''past each other'' rather than against each other, each forgetting that either apporach is a model, a map. Sometimes a useful one, but i suspect ''the truth about the origin'' is encompassed by neither. Many thanks for your wonderful and perennially thought provoking work.
That's precisely why I'm a structuralist and not a Linnaean.
Thanks!
I am so here for this quintessential Esoterica episode and the breathtaking Blake imagery! I'm all about the highlighted tomes of Scholastic magic and Hekhalot Literature and synopse! The Esoterica treatment is undoubtedly rigorous and researched in, as you say, informed speculation! Wax on! And will certainly revisit this singular one of a kind episode! To paraphrase-quote Einstein (yes, he did say this this time with my inserts), "(informed) Imagination is more important than knowledge ("what we know...")! Edifying and, as you say, enlightening!
thank you for once more sharing your knowledge with us all. Grateful for you 🖤
I've been anticipating this video for so long!!!
Thank you very much Mr. Sledge
Thanks for the videos big bro. We really appreciate it. 😎👍
This was great and thank you for suggesting the other video. You make the information so accessible.
I'd love some more speculative videos you do a great job of making clear it is speculation but make a great argument I feel like someone could take this and work up a thesis
if anyone wants to do that they have my blessing, just give me some credit in the footnotes.
This was intresting and informative. The practice of rituals as a means of engaging the mind in experience of spiritual revelation has always fascinated agnostics like me. This was an exciting introduction to a culture that is out side of my personal experience
Fantastic look into this! This is my favorite channel😊
I really enjoyed this episode of Speculation Corner. It was one of the best you’ve done ✅
Well informed speculation, properly properly qualified as such, is of great value. It never hurts to shine a light!
I visited Abremelin on my personal spiritual journey. Thankyou for sharing your thoughts on this subject. 😊
Thank you Dr. These are the real questions
Your videos are always insightful and would help anyone invested in these subject; either at a "practical" and certainly academic level. Thanks again Justin, hope you and yours are doing well! :D
Thanks, brother! I can only hope these videos can serve the whole community, from seasoned practitioners to skeptical academics. It's my honor to make this content for everyone.
@@TheEsotericaChannel I think you do just that. And very well I might add. Cheers!
wow, and to think I just got the Abramelin book today!
Thank you Dr Sledge I am sure if anyone can ever discover the source of the Abramelin ritual it will be you! Really enjoy the channel keep up the good work! 0:16
So yesterday I watched a good video about Boleskine House and now all at once here we are with the ritual. Perfect.
Enlightening as always, thanks Doc.
Agree: "Not much but not nothing" Very wise indeed.
I wish that one day I can scholarly disagree with you and separate myself from the amount of academic praise you receive in these comments, but as of today I'm pretty much speechless in agreement with this speculation corner and have a feeling somewhere there is something that can end the speculation. When if ever that will be revealed again is speculation at best I would imagine. Great episode.
Another winner, Justin! :) :) I think you and I are thinking in the same direction on this one. TBH, I have always been rather uninterested in the great search for the true identity of Abraham of Worms. Or of Abramelin himself, frankly. Both of them are legendary figures who likely didn't exist historically, and I'm much more interested in where the material itself came from. Of course, you rightly point out that all we can really do is speculate - short of the discovery and/or translation of more texts that might shine new light. But, for now, we can only look at the text itself and speculate on the historical pillars that seem to underlie it. In my case, I suspect a thread of (Valentinian) Gnosticism in the text. (Not to mention what I've written about the similarities between Abramelin and other cultures' rituals for creating shamans/prophets/priests/etc. The underlying formula of the ritual seems to be fairly universal, in fact.) I would actually be quite surprised if Sar Torah practices were _not_ an influence here as well!
Thank you so much... You are the best, Doctor!
And you are definitely right... At least for myself, these texts empower One to get out from abysses and hells. In a very special ways this becomes part of The Faith and gives light to the positivism in the actual Academic world... God bless you! ❤
Thx fer sharing dis great work of Art
Dr. Sledge, wonderful content as always. Have you considered uploading your content on the various podcast streaming platforms? There is a population of dedicated podcasts listeners not represented on RUclips that, I believe, would benefit from access to your content.
Fantastic! This type of speculation is what we need more of these days, I think--in absence of certainty or a trail of irrefutable proof, well-founded and informed speculation is not a bad option, and I think is infinitely preferable to "Well, we'll just never know." One can try out different possibilities, have those interrogated by others, and if flaws in those hypotheses are found, then so be it; but just sitting around and going "Nope, we'll never know so there's no point in saying more" is so gutless. Though their conclusions were often wrong, it seems that older generations of academics were more courageous in this regard. I don't see why things have changed like this over the last few generations...sure, suspicions about grand narratives and such are certainly a good thing, but come on! Aren't we sort of not doing our jobs as academics if we're not at least trying some ideas out? Scientists don't seem to be penalized for having their hypotheses be demonstrated as wrong (which is one of the benefits of the scientific method!), and yet in the social sciences, history, and humanities, it seems like people are so afraid of "being wrong" these days that caution to the point of silence has been made the requirement rather than just looking at the evidence and making a good guess.
There's a double standard at work in all of this, too...in the fields that I toil in, a tiny bit of evidence has been used to make grand sweeping interpretations about things whenever they appear or are suggested; but surely, that's the very essence of confirmation bias when all bits of evidence that may be contrary to one's interpretation are ignored in order to make one's point. That was one of the things that was occasionally said to me when I was working on my dissertation, i.e. "why include these bits of evidence that may contradict the overall narrative you're trying to build?" Firstly, I wasn't trying to build an overarching narrative, I was attempting to amass as many examples as possible and make some typological classifications so that all of the grand theories could at least be questioned or problematized going forward. That confirmation bias was, in essence, being preached as "the way scholarship is done," in essence, is highly questionable, in my mind.
Okay...rant over! ;)
Stepping away from methodology for a moment, here's a question that is somewhat theoretical, but why not? While I have not been able to study these texts as in-depth as you have, it seems to me that both of them call for various forms of sexual purity, and even a degree of renunciation. Given their historical contexts and cultural backgrounds, that is understandable. But given that what I understand of Jewish tradition often has great respect for finding loopholes in the laws set forth, I would wonder the following: if, excluding all other forms of impurity-generating actions and exposures, seminal impurity is the issue at stake with engaging in sexual practices that might undermine one's suitability for angelic contact, then if one engaged in sexual practices that did not involve seminal impurity (i.e. non-ejaculatory practices), would those activities be possible under these two traditions' rubrics? I suspect that Aleister Crowley would have exploited such a loophole if it was feasible/allowable in the Abramelin ritual, but it just occurs to me to inquire on this. I know it isn't a popular, widespread, or even often acknowledged possibility that such practices can be done (especially in Western contexts!), and yet if it is a legitimate loophole, then it's interesting to consider what that might indicate! ;)
Sex is fine in Abramelin, Sar Torah rejects any sexual activity and any seminal contact / emission botches the process. For Sar Torah it's *both and* including a sharp observation of niddah, taharas HaMishpacha, etc
@@TheEsotericaChannel Very interesting! Thanks so much! :)
Your brilliant doctor,!
awesome vid! I like that you go there, but with some clearly defined reasons, and with a major highlight of saying this is all speculation. Nothing wrong with doing this from time to time.
gonna love the livestream about this one. Hope I can make it
Great stuff once again! I really enjoy the content you put out. The origin of the Abramelin ritual has fascinated me for quite awhile. I always had the notion that the text was not written by a Jewish author, mainly because the whole notion of a ''holy guardian angel'' seemed quite catholic-folk-magic-ish to me, and i could not really find a similar concept in Judaism, but the Sar Torah seems like a decent fit with regard to the Abramelin HGA. Do you have any thoughts on the whole demonic evocation buisiness in Abramelin, would that not be quite indicative of a link to Solomonic magic? Could the Abramelin involve a merging of Sar Torah mysticism and Solomonic magic? Again thank you for your great work, it truly is a amazing!
It doesn't code Solomonic to me - honestly I think it's a mishmash of lots of things (the magic squares and various spells, like the magic monkey one) but I think this core of the HGA/Sar Torah is where my primary interest lies.
(Just now re-reading the "Autohagiography of the Great Wild Beast" and getting Abramelistic goose-bumps all over again. Thanks of the context!!)
This is one of my favorite channels for religious topics (Religion for Breakfast, and Let’s Talk Religion being my other favorites) but this channel is specifically interesting for me, since it really focuses on mysticism, and not religion as a whole. And, since I’m taking my very first religion and philosophy course, Philosophy of Religion, these channels that I’ve mentioned above have really helped; especially this one, bc at the beginning of the course, we really focused on Mysticism. Not Jewish Mysticism (which, since I grew up as a Catholic, I had no idea that that was a thing) just mysticism altogether.
Speculation, ok! But a very, very good speculation, and a very well-informed one too: congratulations, Dr. Sledge!
Some Old-Skool Esoterica, love it...
[... And for the record, I'll take your speculation in to higher regard than some of the more post-modern dogmatic Theosophies that go around today.]
old school, you think?
That's my fault for trying to be "hip" (do kids say that still, I'm going to stop embarassing myself). Thak you for tolerating the asinine ephemeral comments of man whos brain should have been put out to pasture a lomg time ago. And sincerely, just thank you for being the seed to a new world of knowledge for me. I used to pray to the great architect "Please, just show me one wise American, please!!!!"
Then I found your channel. Synchonicity? Serendipity? or just a stastical "well, duh of course".... Geez, Imma gonna really stop now. TY.
That was very interesting thankyou.
Excellent short speculation.
I always learn something new here
I think this is fascinating. It seems like most of the significant magical systems comprising what is known today as the ‘western esoteric tradition’ can be traced back to some early form of Jewish mysticism. Both Enochian magic and Kabbalah were influenced by hekhalot literature and Merkavah mysticism. Then there’s all the Solomonic material, and of course anything Christian ultimately comes from ancient Jewish apocalypticism. Even the Abramelin Operation has Jewish roots!
There are strong analogies here even if no historical continuum.
Enlightening stuff, indeed!
Is there a useful English translation of the "18 month " ritual? And let me thank you for your service
Yep, the Dehn one
Wait, what was the name of that Ashkenaz family? Calaminus?
Anyway, this informed speculation seems like a good platform for exploring the development of these forms of magic, as either pointing towards clues or as things to contradict and bounce off towards more evidence. And like you said the deep structure of these texts and their rituals are strikingly similar.
Kalonymos family
@@TheEsotericaChannel thank you! I appreciate the clarification.
Yeah they were kind of like the Addams family of the medieval Jewish world
We need a new channel: Speculaterica
I keep the speculation to a minimum and flag it as clearly as I can when I do it otherwise I'm not much different than any other run-of-the-mill unhinged AtLaNTiS-AyRan-Rh--FrANKism-1666 youtube channel
Or Specoterica. Either way, I really appreciate the Speculation Corner announcements because it just shows how little we really know about anything
@@TheEsotericaChannel😒😒😒😒😒
When I was reading Aleister Crowley's "Magick" he said that no one has any business with Abramelin, because he said that those magick squares have numbers that have energy and have the ability to come off the page and animate. He's right, but I only encountered playful spirits that caused me no harm. I also learned that any demons one encounters are your own demons.
loved this very much. we knew the Abramelin Ritual came from the modification of some other practice - and I don't mean that in a negative way. Virtually all religious and/or spiritual practices come from something much older than what we know.
Yep, very rarely if ever is anything just born from whole cloth, as they say
I like Speculation Corner!
It's a fun corner !
Waiting for Speculoterica channel
Just curious about the comment on Crowley "kinda maybe" starting the Abramelin. I mean he was definitely do parts of it; just buying Boleskine for the express purpose of using it for the operation would have been the initial magical act. But did he wait for K&C before he started percolating the princes? Curious where your hesitation was with that part. Love the show!
There's debate in the occult community as to whether he 1 really even understood the ritual at all and 2 whether he actually started it given 1 much less finished it in the wastes of China - I don't have a dog in this fight
@@TheEsotericaChannel Oh interesting! The idea that AC "didn't understand the ritual at all" is something I'm not familiar with and I've been a member of OTO for 10 years. I'll have to ask Kaczynski about that. Thanks for the response!
I'm pretty sure the OTO has a vested interest in Crowley being on point. Aaron leitch provides serious criticism of Crowley's version of the ritual. Again, I don't have a dog in this fight, but I can't say that the Mathers edition of the ritual is textually defective.
@@TheEsotericaChannel Yeah absolutely, the new translation of the Abramelin was celebrated with a lot of folks in that community as a refreshing update from Mather's less than expert edition. I never got the sense that it was so bad however that using it was tantamount to 'not understanding the ritual at all' however. Especially from people with a pile of experience in classic solomonic evocation. But hey, all good learning, and I appreciate your show for that!
And I think that version is pretty flawed and a lot of ways, especially the historical arguments around its authorship. Though, again, I don't want to be seen as throwing water on anyone's spiritual practice.
No Editz.. apologies on the Typos...it's readable. Thanks.
Here in the Rhinelands we say "Spekulatius jibbet nur ze Wheinachte", but the speculation presented here is most delicious and welcome, Dr. Sledge.
?
@@TheEsotericaChannel Wikipedia says the english word for those yummy biscuits is "Speculaas". They taste a little like Abramelin oil.
good job
Fascinating video. I might change rhe title to something a bit catchier to get more views. Maybe mention the Great Beast connection. Crowley gets the clicks :)
Eh, this one is for the real hardcore fans
Yes please, Doc.
Sledge is really grinding his Monk-mentor character. When he hits Name-Level, he'll aggro Baba Yaga.
No idea what this means
@@TheEsotericaChannel thank God
This is the most title of any video title that has ever been titled as a video.
I also know I am a dork because I understand it.
Yep, channel is called Esoterica for a reason.
@@TheEsotericaChannel You are so committed even the titles are especially esoteric. I love it. I do have to say, after years now of watching your content and learning so much, that this title really does take the title title. Cheers to you Dr. Sledge, thank you for all you do.
Where can I find the good shepherd ritual, mentioned in golden dawn and by AE Waite?
any chance you could expand on a name you dropped some time ago please? "kenouch" or maby its kenosh? or something similarly spelled
Chanoch = Enoch?
@TheEsotericaChannel no sir, it was kenosh. I'm not sure how to spell it
@@TheEsotericaChannel kanosh?
The Abramelin Ritual has to be my favorite ritual! Its just so Hardcore
I love the idea. I also happen to love the abramelin and Jewish mysticism so......
Have you seen the movie A Dark Song and how did you find it related to the real thing according to your knowledge?
Related, sure. Text accurate to the best editions? No. Fun movie though - I have content about it.
@TheEsotericaChannel thanks, I'll check it out.
Making Abramelin Oil is my witching jam!
Which recipe do you use?
@TheEsotericaChannel cinnamon, calamus, hyssop and myrrh. I grow the hyssop and hope to eventually grow the calamus too
“I don’t like to speculate on my channel.” (Makes it the shortest Esoterica video ever). 😆
Keep my speculations short sweet and to the point
On a mother trucking Tuesday!! Dr sledge you shouldn't have.
Couldn't truckin help it
Question, does anyone know if there are any scholarly books about Abramelin? Maybe I'm missing something but there really doesn't seem to be much outside of weirdos like me talking about it, okay I have a bachelor's degree in religious studies but why hasn't anyone gotten a phd looking into stuff like this? I don't necessarily mean this part of the issue, but is there anything really written about it by scholars that is substantial?
There isn't much academic work on the text so far as I can tell. Though a new addition of at least part of it is coming out soon, recently discovered. But yes this would be an excellent topic for a academic dissertation.
Dark Song was actually the thing that first got me interested in this field at all. I realize it was a Hollywood treatment, but a gateway drug it was.
It worked.❤
Is there a scientific channel like this for islam?
Grain of Salt and Abra🍉
Delicious
i read the book sacred magick ~ very difficult to follow eh?
Your mileage may vary
❤❤❤
I think you may be 100% correct that they are of the same goal. Just said in different ways.
That is a grueling ritual to finish. I did it in a lake house back in 1996. I was lucky to have a friend that makes Oil of Abramelin but had to replace the incense with musk. I went into the ritual with a fiancée but ended the ritual single...she just wasn't willing to wait on the sex I guess. By the end of that ritual I can honestly say I was insane by anyone's standards. I blame the lack of protein. I don't think I even really realized my fiancée and I had broken up until I finished and started eating red meat again. Then it started to kick in what had happened. But what cha going do? Once you start you can't stop...unless you're Crowley. If I had to do it again I would store up tofu before even attempting it. I also had no children to use at the beginning, so I had to fall back to a symbol I had received during a meditation years before that meant a lot to me. You'll run into little road blocks like this, but the important part is to just keep going and not stop. Not stopping is more important than freaking out over some little thing you have to change. The true purpose is that you'll learn more about yourself than any other time in your life.
Abrakamelin!
First letss gooo
Bună, puneți vă rog subtitrări și în limba română (România) m am abonat la acest canal, mulțumesc frumos
I've had dreams where I'm dead and a weird man is telling me that next time i need to undertake this
And i think i agree but!!!!!! Dude these rituals scare me
Gnar
?
Wickd pissa,doc;:;
i love u on foe
Foe?
@@TheEsotericaChannel like foenem how ppl frm the midwest say on the ppl they care about (folks n them-> foe n nem --> foenem
*reads title*
…
*re-reads title*
Well…it ain’t called “Esoterica” for nothin I guess
Prexactly
and here I just thought the HGA was just Christianized Roman Genius worship.
Why not both?
This is like watching disney channel
Poor demon indeed good doctor.
one there's not that
much scholarship
More Esoterica speculation corner 🥳
I just realized: given the parameters of the ritual, someone must have accidentally completed it during the lockdowns somewhere in the world.
Thanks 😊