Sefer Raziel HaMalakh (Hebrew:ספר רזיאל המלאך, "the book ofRaziel the angel") is agrimoire ofPractical Kabbalah from theMiddle Ages written primarily inHebrew andAramaic.Liber Razielis Archangeli, its 13th-century Latin translation produced underAlfonso X of Castile, survives.
Like other obscure ancient texts such as theBahir andSefer Yetzirah,Sefer HaRaziel has been extant in a number of versions. The book cannot be shown to predate the 13th century, but may in parts date back tolate antiquity insofar as its title is mentioned in another magical work of late antiquity:The Sword of Moses.
The book claims to have been revealed toAdam by the angelRaziel. Critical historians regard it as a medieval work, most probably originating among theAshkenazi Hasidim, as citations reliant on the main body content of the work as we receive it begin to appear only in the 12th century. At least one section was available toIbn Ezra before 1153, when he finished his commentary toExodus.[1] The likely compiler of the medieval version isEleazar of Worms, asSefer Galei Razia, which developed into what we have now asSefer Raziel, including more writings written by people of various theological opinions.[2] According toJacob Emden, it was compiled byAbraham Abulafia.
Sefer Raziel HaMalakh draws heavily onSefer Yetzirah andSefer HaRazim "Book of Secrets". There are multiple manuscript versions, containing up to seven tractates. The printed version ofSefer Raziel is divided into five books, some of it in the form of a mysticalmidrash on Creation. It features an elaborateangelology, magical uses of thezodiac,gematria,names of God, protective spells, and a method of writing magical healing amulets.
Book six of theLiber Razielis is based onSefer haRazim, with various additions, including the "Prayer of Adam" ofSefer Adam.
The book became notorious in GermanRenaissance magic, named together withPicatrix as among the most abominable works ofnecromancy byJohannes Hartlieb. The prayer of Adam is paraphrased byNicholas of Cusa in two sermons (Sermo I, 4, 16.25; Sermo XX, 8, 10-13) and further made use of byJohann Reuchlin in hisDe Arte Cabalistica.[3]Konrad Bollstatter in the 15th century also shows awareness of the Latin version of the "Prayer of Adam" an interpolation in Cgm 252, although he replaces Raziel withRaphael and Seth with Sem.[4]
Adam, in his prayer to God, apologized for listening to his wife Eve, who was deceived by the snake into eating from the Tree of Knowledge. According to theBook of Raziel, God sent the highest of the angels, Raziel, to teach Adam the spiritual laws of nature and life on Earth, including the knowledge of the planets, stars and the spiritual laws of creation.
The angel Raziel also taught Adam the knowledge of the power of speech, the power of thoughts and the power of a person's soul within the confines of the physical body and this physical world, basically teaching the knowledge with which one can harmonize physical and spiritual existence in this physical world.
The angel Raziel teaches the power of speech, the energy contained within the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, their combinations and meanings of names.
According to Jewish traditions, the angel Raziel was sent to Earth to teach Adam as he prayed for guidance after the fall, and then returned to teach Abraham spiritual knowledge and laws because he had an elevated soul. TheBook of Raziel explains everything fromastrology to how the creative life energy starts with a thought from the spiritual realms, prior to manifestation as speech and action in this physical world. The eternal divine creative life energy of this earth is love, the book explains the spiritual laws of birth, death, reincarnation of the soul, and many spiritual laws of "change".
TheHeptameron, ascribed toPetrus de Apono, is based on theBook of Raziel.[5]
