Abramelin oil

Ceremonial magic oil

Abramelin oil, also called oil of Abramelin, is a ceremonial magic oil blended from aromatic plant materials. Its name came about due to its having been described in a medieval grimoire called The Book of Abramelin written by Abraham the Jew (presumed to have lived from c. 1362 – c. 1458). The recipe is adapted from the Jewish Holy anointing oil of the Tanakh, which is described in the Book of Exodus (30:22 25) attributed to Moses. Abramelin oil became popular in the Western esoteric tradition in the 20th century after the publication of the S. L. MacGregor Mathers English translation of The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage (1897), and especially via Aleister Crowley, who used a similar version of the oil in his system of Magick. There are multiple recipes in use today and the oil continues to be used in several modern occult traditions, particularly Thelema (created in 1904 by Crowley) and the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.

There are, especially among English speaking occultists, numerous variant forms of Abramelin Oil.

According to the S. L. MacGregor Mathers English translation from 1897, which derives from an incomplete French manuscript copy of The Book of Abramelin, the recipe is:

The four ingredients listed by Mathers in his translation of The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage (1897) are Myrrh, Cinnamon, Galangal, and Olive oil. The word that he translated from the French as "Galangal" is actually the word "Calamus." The other extant manuscripts also list "Calamus" as the ingredient. It is unknown if Mathers' use of Galangal instead of Calamus was intentional or a mistranslation, but it was to result in several notable changes, including symbolism and use. Since Cinnamon and Cassia are two species of the same Cinnamomum genus, their doubling up into one name by the translator of the French manuscript is not unexpected. His reasons for doing so may have been prompted by a pious decision to avoid duplicating true Holy Oil, or by a tacit admission that in medieval Europe, it was difficult to obtain Cinnamon and Cassia as separate products.

The original popularity of Abramelin Oil rested on the importance magicians place upon Jewish traditions of Holy Oils and, more recently, upon S. L. MacGregor Mathers' translation of The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage (1897) and the resurgence of 20th century occultism, such as found in the works of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley, and has since spread into other modern occult traditions. Because it derives from the formula for Jewish Holy Oil, Abramelin Oil also finds use among Jewish and Christian Kabbalists who are not specifically performing the works described by Abraham of Worms. However, the oil can be used in the course of ritual activities outlined in the book by Abramelin the Mage in order to obtain the outcomes he promised those who successfully applied his system of "Divine Science" and "True Magic", namely, the gifts of flight, treasure finding, and invisibility, as well as the power to cast effective love spells.