The 6th & 7th Books of Moses

One of the fascinating magical traditions is the 6th and 7th books of Moses. Moses is credited with writing the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. These books are alleged to have been written in addition to the Pentateuch. A cursory glance will show why they are not included in the canon of the bible: they deal with the conjuration of spirits and commanding them to do one's bidding. In these books, we see Moses portrayed as an astute magus who commands spirits to do his bidding. Seals are provided for the magical tasks he performed prior to the exodus, the plagues he brought upon Egypt, as well as conjurations for the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire which led the Israelites through the desert.

That Moses should have this knowledge is not unusual as he was traised as a Prince of Egypt, and as such, he was privy to knowledge that was kept closely guarded from the general population.

The primary soure for the 6th & 7th Books of Moses is the translation into German by Johann Schiebel, "DAS SECHSTE UND SIEBENTE BUCH MOSIS" published in 1849.

The First English edition published in 1880 is titled "THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH BOOKS OF MOSES, that is: Moses' magical spirit-art, together with the wonderful arts of the old wise Hebrews, taken from the Mosaic books of the Cabala and the Talmud, for the good of mankind. Translated from the German, word for word, according to old writings, with numerous engravings."

Since then various editions have been printed, some hardcover, some softcover, some saddle-stitched. these are all easily available by an internet search.

The most recent translation from the German is one by Joseph. H. Peterson. This man is a scholar of antique esoteric manuscripts and went to England where he photographed the original manuscripts in the museums and did a new translation into English. You can find it on Amazon. Mr. Peterson has made new translations of quite a number of magical textx, including the Girmorium Verum, the Lesser Key of Solomon (also called the Lemegeton) and the magical books of Dr. John Dee, the 16th century physician and occultist.

If you want the latest and most accurate translation of the Sixth and Seventh books of Moses, the Peterson edition is the one to get. The cover of Mr. Peterson's edition is shown here.

The tradition of Mosaic Magic depends heavily on the use of magical figures: tables and seals. These are a fascinating combination of geometrical figures combined with Hebrew letters, astrological and planetary symbols and an unknown script.

There are tables representing the spirits of the air, water, earth and fire, the magical elements.

In the some editions the quality of the reproduction of these magical figures has been quite poor. This is remarkable because the illustrations in the original Scheibel german edition are quite clear. The picture here illustrates a typical reproduction of the First Seal of the Air with a cleaned up version below it. The cleaned up version is from my own personal collectin of digitally enhanced sigils and seals which I sell on eBay.

Similarly, the reproduction of the Seals for Obedience and Coercion of the Seven Princes - Aziel, Ariel, Marbuel, Mephistophiles, Barbuel and Aniquel, varies widely in these editions. The best ones currently available in a book are in Joseph Peterson's new edition.

The top two seals in the picture show the seals of Mephistophiles and Aniquel from the 1880 English edition. As you can see, they are printed in as a negative, and the Seal of Aniquel is not even aligned properly. My own digitally enhanced and corrected seals are shown directly below. These are similar to the Peterson seals.

The Curio & Whatnot Shop is my eBay store. As can be seen in the eBay section below, I have a number of offerings dealing with Mosaic Magic. the CD-ROM contains the following texts in PDF form:

1849 Scheibel, Johann - The Seventh Book of Moses.pdf
1849 Scheibel, Johann - The Sixth Book of Moses.pdf
1880 The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses (facsimile).pdf
6 & 7 Books of Moses - Angels.pdf
6 & 7 Books of Moses - Archangels of the 7 Planets.pdf
6 & 7 Books of Moses - Editions & Secondary material.pdf
6 & 7 Books of Moses - Folklore.pdf
6 & 7 Books of Moses - Magical Aims.pdf
6 & 7 Books of Moses - Materials.pdf
6th & 7th Books of Moses - Folklore.pdf
6th & 7th Books of MosesEditions & Secondary material.pdf
6th and 7th Book of Moses.pdf
6th Book of Moses.pdf
7th Book of Moses.pdf
8th Book of Moses.pdf
Angels in the 6th & 7th Books of Moses.pdf
Gaster, M - the Sword of Moses Ed.2.pdf

The Eighth Book of Moses is also included on this CD-ROM, as is a magical text called "The Sword of Moses." A nuamber of textx dealing with the contens and background of these magical texts are also included.

In addition to the texts, I also have listings dealing with the tables and seals. One contains twenty-five pages of all the seals and tables. These are unconsecrated, printed on 8-1/2x11 parchment paper and have been digitally cleaned up. The Seals of the Seven Princes are included twice in this collection, once as monochrome printed four on a page in black, and larger full color seals printed one to a page. the monochrome version of the Seals of the Seven Princes are also available by themselves, printed 4 to a page and also including the circle of operation.

These seals and tables may be used in magical operations without tearing up your book. They are clear and much more easily copied or traced than the tine originals in the books for those wishing to make their own seals. the picture here shows four pages showing the monochrome seals of the Seven Princes as well as a page of tables and a page of sigils for various conjurations.