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Speaking with Angels: Jewish and Greco-Egyptian Revelatory Adjurations1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Rebecca Lesses
Rebecca Lesses
Affiliation:
Cornell University
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Extract

How do human beings receive answers to the most urgent questions they have of the powers of heaven? How do celestial beings provide guidance for perplexed humans? People living around the Mediterranean in the first few centuries CE devised many ways of seeking heavenly guidance; one of them was adjuration, in which they commanded gods, angels, or daemons to appear on earth and both reveal the mysteries of the universe to them and answer their questions about the problems of daily life. Similar techniques of adjuration occur in the Greco-Egyptian ritual texts usually referred to as the Greek magical papyri, the early Jewish mystical works known as the hekhalot literature, and Sefer ha-Razim, a collection of adjurations in Hebrew, heavily influenced by both Greco-Egyptian ritual texts and the hekhalot tradition of hymnology. These adjurations assume that human beings, through their knowledge of the correct invocations and divine names, possess the power to persuade or force the gods or angels to fulfill their desires.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 89 , Issue 1 , January 1996 , pp. 41 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1996

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References

2 Preisendanz, Karl, Papyri Graecae Magicae: Die griechischen Zauberpapyri (2d ed.; ed. Henrichs, Albert; Stuttgart: Teubner, 1974)Google Scholar. The papyri published in the PGM, with some additions, have been translated into English in Betz, Hans Dieter, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells (Chicago/London: Chicago University Press, 1986)Google Scholar. References are according to papyrus and line number, and translations are according to the various translators in Betz, unless otherwise indicated.

3 Medieval European manuscripts of the hekhalot literature (dated from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century) have been most extensively published by Schäfer, Peter, ed., Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1981)Google Scholar. References are according to paragraph number. Schäfer has also published most of the extant fragments of the hekhalot texts found in the Geniza, Cairo in Geniza-Fragmente zur Hekhalot-Literatur (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1984)Google Scholar. All translations of hekhalot texts are mine. Important discussions of the hekhalot literature, particularly the ritual aspects, occur in Elior, Rachel, “Mysticism, Magic, and Angelology: The Perception of Angels in Hekhalot Literature,” Jewish Studies Quarterly 1 (1993/1994) 3–53Google Scholar; Gruenwald, Ithamar, Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism (Leiden: Brill, 1980)Google Scholar; Halperin, David, The Faces of the Chariot (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1988)Google Scholar; Schafer, Peter, “Jewish Magic Literature in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages,” JJS 41 (1990) 75–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, Hekhalot-Studien (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1988); idem, The Hidden and Manifest God: Some Major Themes in Early Jewish Mysticism (Albany: SUNY, 1992); Scholem, Gershom, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition (2d ed.; New York: JTSA, 1965)Google Scholar; idem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (Jerusalem: Schocken, 1941); and Smith, Morton, “Observations on Hekhalot Rabbati”, in Altman, Alexander, ed., Biblical and Other Studies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963) 142–60Google Scholar.

4 Margalioth, Mordecai, Sepher ha-Razim: A Newly Recovered Book of Magic from the Talmudic Period (Jerusalem: Yediot Achronot, 1966)Google Scholar. Margalioth's text has been translated by Morgan, Michael, Sepher ha-Razim: The Book of the Mysteries (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983)Google Scholar. References to adjurations in Sefer ha-Razim are according to firmament and line number.

5 Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, xli; Nock, Arthur Darby says (“Greek Magical Papyri,” in Stewart, Zeph, ed., Essays on Religion and the Ancient World [Oxford: Clarendon, 1972] 177Google Scholar), “The substantial magical books fall on the same [paleographical] grounds between the late third and the fifth [century].” See also Hull, John, Hellenistic Magic and the Synoptic Tradition (London: SCM, 1974) 5–9, 15–44Google Scholar.

6 See PGM 7 for healing spells, the many erotic spells in PGM 4, the consecration of an amulet or ring in PGM 4.1596–1715, and the ascent ritual commonly referred to as the “Mithras Liturgy” in PGM 4.475–829.

7 For this dating and provenance, see Scholem, Major Trends, 44; Halperin, Faces of the Chariot, 322–56; Swartz, Michael, Mystical Prayer in Ancient Judaism (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1992) 5Google Scholar; and Lesses, Rebecca, “Ritual Practices to Gain Power: Adjurations in the Hekhalot Literature, Jewish Amulets, and Greek Revelatory Adjurations” (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1995) 398–416Google Scholar.

8 For a survey of the themes in the hekhalot literature, see Schäfer, Hidden and Manifest God; for a presentation and analysis of the Shiʻur Qomah texts, see Cohen, Martin, The Shiʻur Qomah: Texts and Recensions (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1985)Google Scholar; and idem, The Shiʻur Qomah, Liturgy and Theurgy in Pre-Kabbalistic Jewish Mysticism (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1983).

9 Margalioth (Sepher ha-Razim, 23–25) dates the text to the late third century or early fourth century CE. See also the discussion in Morgan, Sepher ha-Razim, 8–11. Philip Alexander (“Incantations and Books of Magic,” in Schürer, Emil, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ [175 B.C.-A.D. 135] [5 vols.; eds. Vermes, Geza, Millar, Fergus, and Goodman, Martin; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986] 3. 349Google Scholar) dates the text later than Margalioth (after the end of the fourth century), and suggests that it was composed in Palestine or possibly Egypt, because of the nature of its Hebrew and because of the Greek references. Ithamar Gruenwald (Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism, 226), however, challenges the dating and pushes it up to the sixth or seventh centuries. Both he (pp. 226–27) and Peter Schäfer (“Tradition and Redaction in Hekhalot Literature,” in idem, Hekhalot-Studien, 15) also challenge the unity of the text and point to the eclectic nature of Margalioth's edition. Philip Alexander, on the other hand, maintains the unity of Sefer ha-Razim and says that “there is every reason to believe that a work of the form he [Margalioth] postulates did once exist” (p. 349). He notes that the cosmological framework is connected to the incantations: “Sefer ha-Razim incorporates diverse materials, but what is remarkable is not its diversity but its unity. The general style of the work is uniform and distinctive, the descriptions of the various heavens are all similar in structure, and the incantation sections follow a common pattern throughout. The interweaving of the two strata is shown most plainly by the fact that the angels named in the hierarchies of the cosmological framework are the same as those invoked in the incantations” (p. 347).

10 Sefer ha-Razim 1.27–84, 114–69.

11 Gershom Scholem (Jewish Gnosticism, 74–83) details names and formulas that were passed back and forth between the hekhalot literature and the magical papyri. As Morton Smith wrote (“Observations on Hekhalot Rabbati,” 150), “Much of the celestial personnel of the hekhalot is found also in the magical papyri and in Gnosticism. Not only have the papyri and the Gnostics taken over Hebrew names, but the hekhalot have taken over Greek names and sometimes have even taken back Greek corruptions of names which were originally Hebrew.” He finds parallels in other areas as well: the preparatory requirements enjoined before the pronunciation of the adjuration and the closeness between the material in the “Mithras Liturgy” and the ascent traditions in the hekhalot literature (pp. 154, 158–59). He cites the comparison “to show that the hekhalot books are not merely theoretical or imaginative books, but reflections of an actual practice” (p. 154). See also Hans Lewy, “Remainders of Greek Phrases and Nouns in ‘Hekhalot Rabbati,’” in idem. Studies in Jewish Hellenism (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1969) 259–65 [Hebrew]; and Himmelfarb, Martha, “Heavenly Ascent and the Relationship of the Apocalypses and the Hekhalot Liberature,” HUCA 59 (1988) 82–86, 98–99Google Scholar.

12 Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, 75. For a discussion of Ephesia grammata, see Gager, John, Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992) 5–7Google Scholar.

13 Ibid., 81; Synopse, §357: חינןןי ןלש חןמש שןךיפן יהןךקחן ןהןבקין ןהןשןךיפן שךןפמה םש אןהש (ms JTSA 8128, fol. 17b).

14 Margalioth, Sepher ha-Razim, 1–16, and references in the notes to the particular adjurations.

15 Hoffman, Lawrence, “Censoring In and Censoring Out: A Function of Liturgical Language,” in Gutman, Joseph, ed., Ancient Synagogues: The State of Research (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1981) 22–23Google Scholar. For a detailed discussion of Hoffman's methodological presuppositions, see his Beyond the Text: A Holistic Approach to Liturgy (Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989) 149–71Google Scholar.

16 Hoffman, Beyond the Text, 158.

17 Smith, “Observations on Hekhalot Rabbati,” 154; see also Elior, “Mysticism, Magic, and Angelology,” 27–43; and Gager, Curse Tablets, 13.

18 Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri, xlv-xlviii; Elior, “Mysticism, Magic, and Angelology,” 27–43.

19 Margalioth, Sepher ha-Razim, 4.61–63 (Helios); 1.126 (Aphrodite); 2.50–54, 2.166–73 (the moon).

20 See, for example, PGM 13.

21 Elior, “Mysticism, Magic, and Angelology,” 28–32.

22 Synopse §279 (compare §678); G-19 (ms Antonin 186, fol. la, lines 20–21); Schäfer, Geniza-Fragmente, 163–68.

23 Synopse §279 (ms Budapest): לארי יהלא ייי לאירןכןל שיש הלןדג העןבשבן לןדג םתוחב ינעיבשהן השביה יהלאן םיה יהלא םיהלאה יהלא ץראה יהלאן םימשה יהלא לארשי יהלא ייי ןורפפימ ןהזן. G-19 (Schäfer, Geniza-Fragmente, 165) similarly calls Meṭaṭron “God of Israel, God of Hosts, God of heaven, God of the sea, God of the dry land” (ms Antonin 186, fol. la, lines 20–21).

24 Synopse §§417–19.

25 Elior, “Mysticism, Magic, and Angelology,” 33–34. The pleroma of divine figures in the hekhalot literature may also be a development from earlier biblical motifs of the divine council (Himmelfarb, “Heavenly Ascent,” 92–93).

26 PGM 1.296–300, my translation.

27 PGM 1.300–305 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 11): ἄγγεελε πρῶτε <θε>οῖ, Ζηνὸς μεγάλαοιο, Ίάω, καὶ σὲ τὸν οὐράνιον κὸσμον κόσμον κατέχοντα, Μιχαήλ, καὶ σὲ καλῶ, Γαβριήλ πρωτάγγελε. δεὐρʼ ἀπʼ Ὀλύμπου, Ἀβρασάξ.

28 PGM 13.64–70 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 174). In another spell, the Agathos Daimon is referred to as the “lord of life, king of the heavens and the earth and all things living in them” (PGM 13.785–86; Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 190). Helios is referred to as the one who “created gods, archangels, and decans” (PGM 4.1204; Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 61). The reference to the supreme God as seeing but not being seen is also found in one of the Sefer ha-Razim Helios adjurations (4.47–49).

29 PGM 4.2523–526 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 84).

30 PGM 4.2557.

31 Morgan, Sepher ha-Razim, 71: εὐσεβής ἀνατολικὸν Ἥλις ἀγαθὸς, πιστὸς, ἀκτῶν κορυφαῦος, εὔπιστος, ὅς πάλαι τροχὸν ὅβρριμον καθίστης, κοσμητὴς ἅγιος. πολοκράτωρ, κύριε, πομπὸς εὔθωτος, τύραννος, στρατιώτης. He gives a slightly different transcription of the Greek than Margalioth, Sepher ha-Razim, 12.

32 PGM 4.1598–1606 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 68): ἐπικαλοῦμαί σε, τὸν μέγιστον θεὸν, ἀέναον κύριον, κοσμοκράτορα, τὸν ἐπὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ ὐπὸ τὸν κόσμον, ἄλκιμον θαλασσοκράτορα, ὀρθινὸν ἐπιλάμποντα, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀπηλιώτου ἀνατέλλοντα τῷ σύμπαντι κόσμῳ, δύνοντα τῷ λιβί.

33 PGM 13.254–63.

34 See especially the second adjuration (Sefer ha-Razim 4.52–53), which says, referring to the God of Israel, “The Ruler of the constellations, and the sun, and the moon, who bow down before him as slaves before their masters.”

35 Sefer ha-Razim 4.38.

36 Compare Ps 19:6.

37 Compare Exod 33:11; the phrase םינפב םינפ is also used exclusively in midrashic settings to refer to the divine-human encounter; see for example Exod. R. 43.8, Num. R. 3.12, Deut. R. 7.8, Deut. R. 9.4, Deut. R. 11.3, and Tanḥuma, va-Etḥanan.

38 Sefer ha-Razim 6.39 (Morgan, Sepher ha-Razim, 80).

39 Sefer ha-Razim 4.48–50.

40 PGM 13.62–64 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 174): ἐπικαλοῦμαι σε, τὸν πάντων μείξονα, τόν πάντα κtau;ίσααντα, δὲ τὸν α<ὐ>τογέννητον, τὸν πάντα ὁρῶντα καὶ μὴ ὁρώμενον.

41 Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 174 n. 16. There may also be biblical and hekhalot sources of this appellation. In the seventh firmament of Sefer ha-Razim, God is referred to by these words אל הנממ לכ תןמךן המלע: לכמ ותןמד יחו ונארי ימ ןיאו ןיע לכמ ךתםנ אוה יכהרתםנ: (Sefer ha-Razim 7.9–11, “For he is hidden from every eye, and none can see him and live [compare Exod 33:20]. His appearance is hidden from all, but no appearance is hidden from him” [Morgan, Sepher ha-Razim, 82]). The idea that none can see God and live is from the Bible and is developed as well in some of the Shiʻur Qomah sections of Hekhalot Zutarti (See Synopse §350 as well as the Shiʻur Qomah tradition in §949: “No living creature can recognize him”).

42 See, for example, the synagogue at Beth Alpha in the Galilee (Sukenik, Eleazar, The Ancient Synagogue of Beth Alpha [Jerusalem: University Press, 1932] 35–36, pl. 10Google Scholar); for discussion of art in ancient synagogues, see Hachlili, Rachel, Ancient Jewish Art and Archeology in the Land of Israel (Leiden: Brill, 1988) 301–9Google Scholar.

43 Sefer ha-Razim 2.147.

44 Margalioth, Sepher ha-Razim, 13–14, my translation.

45 Boʼel is the overseer of the seventh camp of angels in the first firmament; his figure ultimately goes back to an Egyptian source, but the name is also found in some lamp divinations in Greek (see, for example, PGM 4.972–74; compare PDM 14.125–82; see also Margalioth, Sepher ha-Razim, 6–7).

46 See Goodenough, Erwin R.'s remarks about the assimilation of pagan forms and ideas into Judaism in Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, vol. 2: The Archeological Evidence from the Diaspora (13 vols.; Bollingen Series 36; New York: Pantheon, 1953) 233–35, 261, 289–95Google Scholar, and vol. 8: Pagan Symbols in Judaism (Bollingen Series 37; New York: Pantheon, 1958) 167–68, 172, 214–16; see also Lawrence Hoffman, “Censoring In and Censoring Out,” 23, and idem, Beyond the Text, 161.

47 Synopse §626.

48 PGM 4.988–89 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 57): ἐπικαλοῖμαι σε, τὸν μέγιστον θεόν, δυνάσtau;ην Ὥρον Ἀρποκαρατήν. A series of voces mysticae follows.

49 Sefer ha-Razim 4.47–49.

50 PGM 4.978–83: ὁρκάξω σέ, ἰερὸν φῶς, ἰερά αὐγή, πλάτος, βάθος, μῆκος, ὕψος, αὐγή, κατὰ τῶν ἀγίων ὀνοομάτων, τῶν, τῶν εἴρηκα καὶ νῦν μέλλω λέγειν. κτά τοῦ Ιαω Σαβαωθ Αρβαθιαω Σεσενγενβαρφαραγγή Αβλαναθαναλβα Ακραμμαχαρι. More voces mysticae follow.

51 PGM 4.964–67 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 57): δός σου τὸ σθένος καὶ διέγειρον σου τὸν δαίμονα καὶ εἴσελθε ἐν τῷ πυρὶ τούτῳ καὶ ἐνπνευμάτωσον αύτὸν θείου πνεύματος καὶ δεῖξὸν μοί σου τὴν ἀκλήν.

52 Synopse §637.

53 For a discussion of performative language, see Stanley Tambiah, “A Performative Approach to Ritual,” in idem, Culture, Thought, and Social Action: An Anthropological Perspective (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985) 123–66.

54 See for example, Sefer ha-Razim 4.32–34, and compare Hag 2:6, 21; Job 9:5, 26:12, 28:21; Isa 51:15; and Jer 31:35. See also Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism, 233.

55 Synopse §357 and PGM 13.83, 149. See discussion in Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, 81–82.

56 PGM 4.981.

57 Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 335.

58 See discussions by Fauth, Wolfgang, “Tatrosjah-totrosjah und Metatron in der jüdischen Merkabah-Mystik,” JSJ 22 (1991)Google Scholar; 40–87, and idem, “Arbath Iao,” OrChr 67 (1983) 65–103.

59 Synopse §204, ms Oxford. See Gershom Scholem's note on this phenomenon in Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 363 n. 58.

60 See discussion in Daniel Sperber, “Jewish Angel Names in Magical Texts, Especially Semiseilam,” in idem, Magic and Folklore in Rabbinic Literature (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1994) 86–87 n. 23.

61 Miller, Patricia Cox, “In Praise of Nonsense,” in Armstrong, A. H., ed., Classical Mediterranean Spirituality (New York: Crossroad, 1986) 481–505Google Scholar; Gager, Curse Tablets, 5–11.

62 Synopse §634.

63 Synopse §634: וריבחל רפםמ אוהש םראכ.

64 ינעידןין תוקומעה יזך יל דיגיו והעך םע שיא ךבדי ךשאכ ימע רבדיו יצפחונממ לאשאו םימת םויכ והאראו ער רבר יב עגפי לאו תומולעת (Sefer ha-Razim 4.55–57; translation from Morgan, Sepher ha-Razim, 71).

65 Sefer ha-Razim 4.63–65: המיא ילב יל הלנתו דחפ אלבُ יל הארתש ךינפל יתנחת יולפ ןב יולפ ינא ליפמ שקבמ ינאש לכ תמאב יל דגתו ךבר לכ ינממ דחכת אלו.

66 PGM 1.318–22 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 11): πέμψον δαίμονα τοῦτον ἐμαῖς ἱερῖς ἐπαοιδαῖς νυκτὸς έλαυνόμενον προστάγμασιν σῆς ὐπʼ άνάγκης, οὕπερ ἀπὸ σκήνους ἐστὶ τόδε, καὶ φρασάτω μοι, ὅδδα θέλω γνώμῃσιν, ἀληθείην καταλέξας, πρηύν, μειλίχιον μηδ ἀντία μοι φρονέοντα. μήδε σὺ μηνίσŋς ἐπʼ ἐμαῖς ἱεραῖς ἐπαοιδαῖς, ἀλλὰ φύλαξον ἅπαν δέμας ἄρτιον ἐς φάος ἐλθεῖν.

67 PGM 1.328–31 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 11): καὶ ὅταν εἰσέλθη ἐρώτα αὐτόν, περὶ οὗ θέλεις, περὶ μαντείας, περὶ ἐποποιίας, περὶ ὀνειροπομπείας, περὶ ὀνειραιτησίας, περὶ ὀνειοκριτίας, περὶ κατακλίσεως, περὶ πάντων, ὅ[σ]ων ἐστὶν ἐν τῆ μαγικῆ ἐμπει[ρίᾳ].

68 For example, “He will tell you what things will happen both when and at what time of the night or day. And if anyone asks you ‘What do I have in mind?’ or ‘What has happened to me?’ or even ‘What is going to happen?’ question the angel, and he will tell you in silence” (PGM 1.174–78; Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 7): ἐρεῖ σοι τὰ μέλλοντα γενέσθαι καὶ πό τε καὶ ποίῳ χρόνῳ, νυκτὸς ἢ ἡμέρας, ἐὰν δὲ τί <ς> ἐρωτήσŋ τὶ κατὰ ψυχὴν ἔχω; ἤ τί μοι ἐγένετο ἤγε μέλ[λ]ει γενέσθαι; ἐπερώτα τὸν ἄγγελον, καὶ ἐρεῖ σοι σιωπῆ. The adjuration of Aion/Helios in the Eighth Book of Moses describes the encounter with the god in this way: “When the god comes in, look down and write the things he says and the Name which he gives you for himself. And do not go out from under your canopy until he tells you accurately, too, the things that concern you” (PGM 13.210–12; Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 178): ἂγγɛλɛ πρῶτɛ 〈θɛ〉 οῦ, Zηνὸς μɛγάλαοιο, Ἰάω, καὶ σὲ τὸν οὺράνιον κόσμον κατέχοντα, Mιχαὴλ, καὶ σὲ καλῶ, γαβριὴλ πρωτάγγɛλɛ. δɛῦρ᾽ ἀπ᾽ Ὀλύμπου, Ἀβρασάξ.

69 The directions for one adjuration state that after the dreamer has fasted three nights and said the adjuration, “he will speak to you mouth to mouth” (הפל הפ) (Synopse §501). For the expression “mouth to mouth,” compare Num 12:8, where God says to Miriam and Aaron that he speaks to Moses “mouth to mouth” (הפ לא הפ).

70 Synopse §502. Another dream-revelation adjuration, found in a sixteenth-century manuscript containing much mystical and magical material (ms Sassoon 290, p. 231), refers to the angel coming and speaking with the adjurer every night, if he wishes it.

71 PGM 4.3209–54 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 100). Compare PGM 1.76–95: the assistant daimon is seen as a star that turns into an angel. In PGM 7.735–37, Apollo appears “having a cup for a drink-offering” (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 139).

72 Sefer ha-Razim 4.58–63 (Morgan, Sepher ha-Razim, 71).

73 Synopse §313.

74 See, for example, Synopse §501.

75 Synopse §639.

76 PGM 4.1061–65 (Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 59): ɛύχαρίσιω σοι, κύριɛ Bαϊνχωωωχ, ὁ ὢν Bαλσαμησ. χώρɛι, κύριɛ, ɛἰς ἰδίους ούρανούς, ɛἰς τὰ ἴδια Bασιλɛία, ɛἰς ἴδιον δρόμημασυντηρήσας μɛ ὑγιῆ, ἀνɛιδωλόπληκτον, ἄπληγον, ἀθάμβητον, ἐπακούων μοι ἐπὶ τὸν ζωῆς μου χρόνον.

77 Sefer ha-Razim 1.232–35. הפפרהנה ןמ וא םיה ןמ םימעפ יג םימשל םימה ןמ דלשה וךיתהל התשקב םאו יתרתה יתרתה םורופודפםא םוגילפ ירגרס סומ/פופ לאב/ירג ירורוא: דנושל תחת רומאו וילע רמוע התא רשא ךכררל בושו עקשה. The apparent nonsense words are a transliteration of the Greek: ἀόρατɛ κύριɛ βουήλ, ποτ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἄρκιɛ, τɛλικὸς άσπιδπφόρος. (“Invisible lord Bouel, sufficient to our need, the perfect shield bearer”) (Margalioth, Sepher ha-Razim, 80).

78 Synopse §§299, 424, 489, 623, 684; Sefer ha-Razim 2.9–11.

79 Sefer ha-Razim 2.184–85; 5.34–37. Both semen and menstrual blood are considered sources of impurity in biblical and later Jewish law; see Leviticus 15, b. Ber. 21b–22a, b. B. Qam. 82a; Cohen, Shaye, “Menstruants and the Sacred in Judaism and Christianity,” in Pomeroy, Sarah, ed., Women's History and Ancient History (Chapel Hill, NC/London: University of North Carolina Press, 1991) 273–99Google Scholar; and Dinari, Yedidyah, “Customs of the Impurity of the Niddah: Their Origin and Development,” Tarbiẓ 49 (1980) 302–24 [Hebrew]Google Scholar; and idem, “Profanation of the Holy by the Niddah and the Enactment of Ezra,” Teʿuda 3 (1983) 17–37 [Hebrew].

80 Synopse §§623 (ms JTSA 8128), 507, 314, 489, Schäfer, Geniza-Fragmente, G–19.

81 There is, however, no explicit statement in the Hekhalot adjurational texts that the problem of the menstruant was the reason to forbid the hekhalot practitioners from eating bread that a woman baked. This prohibition may be related to fear of sexual arousal occasioned by contact with a woman. See discussion in Lesses, Ritual Practices to Gain Power, 170–80.

82 See, for example, Synapse §§566, 219–23, 229–30 (ascent account of Hekhalot Rabbati), 413–19 (ascent account of Hekhalot Zuɭarti).

83 Meir Bar-Ilan maintains that the seals are written on the body (“Magical Seals on the Body among Jews in the First Centuries of the Era,” Tarbiz 57 [1984] 37–50 [Hebrew]Google Scholar). None of the hekhalot texts mentions explicitly, however, that the seals are to be written on the body. For a complete discussion, see Lesses, Ritual Practices to Gain Power, 367–72.

84 Synopse §§564, 571–78.

85 For example, PGM 1.232–47 and PGM 3.410–23. For a discussion of the connection between the Jewish and Greek spells, see Michael Swartz, “Opening the Heart: On Memory and Its Cultivation in Ancient and Medieval Judaism,” a paper given at the Association for Jewish Studies, Twenty-Fifth Annual Conference, December 12, 1993. A tape of the paper is available from Audio Archives International, 3043 Foothill Blvd., Suite 2, La Crescenta, CA 91214. See also the discussion in Lesses, Ritual Practices to Gain Power, 372–73.

86 Sefer ha-Razim also contains incantations addressed to the moon (2.162–74), Aphrodite (1.126–30), and Hermes (1.176–87).

87 See discussion in Bonner, Campbell, Studies in Magical Amulets, Chiefly Graeco-Egyptian (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1950) 26–32Google Scholar. See also Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 2. 289–95, and Gager, John, Moses in Greco-Roman Paganism (Nashville/New York: Abingdon, 1972) 135–36, 160–61Google Scholar.

88 PGM 35.

89 See Lewy, “Remainders of Greek Phrases and Nouns,” 259–65.