“Magic, in [the anthropologists]’s view, is sympathetic magic, that is, an attempt to manage the world according to the laws of the mutual ties and influences that prevail between similar (and at times opposite) objects or of objects that have come into contact with one another.” – Yuval Harari, Jewish Magic Before the Rise of Kabbalah
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”- Arthur C. Clarke, Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination
“Magic in general is the counterphobic attitude, the transition from passivity to activity. As such, it is probably the basic element in thought and the initial phase of any activity” – Géza Róheim
“Thousands of years down the line, without a Rosetta stone of ancient evils and a definitive translation of mekashaph, we cannot know if the authors of Exodus meant poisoners, herbalists, or people who used magic for evil.” Elizabeth Sloane, Haaretz Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live: A Murderous Mistranslation?
“Blessed are You QWSYM our God, King of the world, the God who opens daily the gates of the east and cleaves the windows of the orient and gives light to the whole world and to those who dwell in it with the abundance of His mercies, with His mysteries and His secrets; and who taught His people, Israel, His mysteries and secrets and revealed to them a sword by which the world is manipulated” -The Sword of Moses, translated by Yuval Harrari
and two-edged swords in their hands,
“The Holy One, Blessed be He, granted permission to the righteous Methuselah, and he wrote the Ineffable Name on his sword and he smote nine hundred thousand myriads of [demons] in one moment.” – Midrash found in the Cairo Genizah
“When the Children of Israel stood at Mount Sinai and said 'All that the Lord has spoken we shall do, and obey' (Ex. 24:7), R. Yohanan said, six hundred thousand angels descended, and placed crowns upon their heads . . . R. Shimeon said, they gave them weapons, the Great Name was engraved on them, and as long as they were in their hands the Angel of Death had no control over them.” – Midrash Tanhuma (Va’erra 9)
“If you wish to manipulate this sword and to hand it down to the generations that will come after you, one who prepares himself to manipulate it should sanctify himself (free) from nocturnal pollution and from (ritual) impurity for three days and should only eat and drink in the evening. And he should (only) eat bread made by a pure man or by his own hands with clean salt and (only) drink water. And no one should be aware that he is doing this deed for the purpose of manipulating this sword, because these are the secrets of the world and they must be carried out in secrecy, and they are (only) to be transmitted to humble people.” -The Sword of Moses, Harrari
“For a woman who sees (menstrual) blood not at the proper time, say over the shell of an ostrich egg from ’M’WS until Y’WS and roast (it) in the oven and tie (it) on her.” -The Sword of Moses, Harrari
“In 1963, while studying Kabbalistic texts at Oxford, Mordecai Margalioth happened upon a Genizah fragment which gave a magical praxis to assist one in winning at the racetrack. Recalling similar formulas from the Genizah collection and elsewhere, he began a detailed study of the preserved fragments of magical literature. He postulated that these fragments may have all come from a common source which could be reconstructed. His research led to the publication of Sepher Ha-Razim in 1966.” Introduction to Sefer HaRazim, Michael A. Morgan
“Noah learned from it rituals…to rule over spirits and over demons, to send them [wherever you wish] so they will go out like slaves, to watch the four winds of the earth, to be learned in the speech of thunderclaps, to tell the significance of lightning flashes, to foretell what will happen in each and every month,”- Sefer HaRazim
“If you wish to perform an act of healing, arise in the first or second hour of the night and take with you myrrh and frankincense. This [is to be] put on burning coal [while saying] the name of the angel who rules over the first encampment…”- Sefer HaRazim
(ב) עשר ספירות בלי מה ועשרים ושתים אותיות יסוד שלש אמות ושבע כפולות ושתים עשרה פשוטות:
(2) They consist of a decade out of nothing and of twenty-two fundamental letters. He divided the twenty-two consonants into three divisions : 1) three אִמּוֹת mothers, fundamental letters or first elements ; 2) seven double ; and 3) twelve simple consonants.
(א) עשרים ושתים אותיות יסוד שלש אמות שבע כפולות ושתים עשרה פשוטות. שלש אמות אמ"ש יסודן כף זכות וכף חובה ולשון חק מכריע בינתים:
(1) The foundations are the twenty-two letters, three 'mothers', seven 'double', and twelve 'single letters'. Three 'mothers', namely Aleph, Mem, Shin, represent Air, Water, and Fire: Aleph mute as Water, Shin hissing as Fire, and Mem as air of a spiritual type, is as balance, standing erect between them and pointing out the equilibrium which exists, speaking.
(א) שבע כפולות בג"ד כפר"ת (מתנהגות בשתי לשונות), יסודן חיים ושלום וחכמה ועושר חן וזרע וממשלה, ומתנהגות בשתי לשונות ב"בּ ג"גּ ד"דּ כ"כּ פ"פּ ר"רּ ת"תּ תבנית רך וקשה תבנית גבור וחלש כפולות שהן תמורות. תמורת חיים מות תמורת שלום רע תמורת חכמה אולת תמורת עושר עוני תמורת חן כיעור תמורת זרע שממה תמורת ממשלה עבדות:
(1) There were formed seven 'double' letters: Bet [b/v], Gimel [g/j], Dalet [d/dh], Kaph [k/kh], Pe [p/ph], Resh [r/rr], Tav [t/th], each has two voices, either aspirated or softened. These are the foundations of Life, Peace, Riches, Beauty or Reputation, Wisdom, Fruitfulness, and Power. These are double, because their opposites take part in life, opposed to Life is Death; to Peace, War; to Riches, Poverty; to Beauty or Reputation, Deformity or Disrepute; to Wisdom, Ignorance; to Fruitfulness, Sterility; to Power, Slavery.
“In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist's signature.” Carl Sagan, Cosmos