9/18/2019 Alphabet of the Magi - Wikipedia

Alphabet of the Magi

Alphabet of the Magi is the modern name of a v ariant of the Hebrew alphabet used for inscriptions in talismans in 17 th-century occultism.

It is based on a v ariant of the Semitic alphabet giv en by Theseus Ambrosius (1469–1540) in his Introductio in chaldaicam linguam (1539, pp. 202f.) Ambrosius here simply giv es v ariant gly phs of the Hebrew alphabet, labelled Aleph, Beth,
Gimel, Daleth, He, Vau, Zain, Hhet, Teth, Iod, Caph, Lamed, Mem, Nun, Samech, Ain, Phe, Zadai, Coph, Res, Sin, Thau. The alphabet is different from the other v ariants of the Semitic abjad giv en by Ambrosius in that he mentions that these
letters are said to hav e been inv ented by Gamaliel and transmitted in the a book called Liber ignis associated with the angel Raphiel.

Claude Duret (157 0?–1611) included it in his Thresor (1613, p. 117 (https://books.google.ch/books?id=Y EScMxcpM-8C&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125)) under the name "the characters of the angel Raphael", citing Ambrosius.

Edmund Fry included it in his Pantographia (pp. 28–29), stating:

"Theseus Ambrosius asserts that this character was brought from Heav en by the Angel Raphael by who it was communicated to Adam who used it in composing Psalms after his expulsion from the terrestrial paradise. Some
authors pretend that Moses and the prophets used this letter and that they were forbidden to div ulge it to mortal man."

That alphabet is described in the pseudo-Paracelsian Archidoxis magica, translated into English by R. Turner (1656).

S.L. MacGregor Mathers included it in his 1888 edition of the Key of Solomon (plate XV) under the name "Alphabet of the Magi."

See also
Key of Solomon

References
Theseus Ambrosius, Introductio in chaldaicam linguam, 1539 (https://books.google.com/books?id=PQddAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Claude Duret, Thresor de l'histoire des langues de cest univers, 1613 (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4386k/f155.item.r=.zoom)
Edmund Fry, Pantographia, 1799 (https://books.google.com/books?id=tWIoAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=chaldean%202&f=false)
R. Turner, Paracelsus, Of the Supreme Mysteries of Nature (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/general.31040.1) (1656)

External links
Omniglot.com (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/magi.htm)

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This page was last edited on 7 April 2019, at 19:46 (UTC).

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