Six and Seventh Books of Moses

Book Cover of The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses "The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses is an 18th- or 19th-century magical text allegedly written by Moses, and passed down as hidden (or lost) books of the Hebrew Bible. Self-described as 'the wonderful arts of the old Hebrews, taken from the Mosaic books of the Kabbalah and the Talmud,' it is actually a grimoire, or text of magical incantations and seals, that purports to instruct the reader in the spells used to create some of the miracles portrayed in the Bible as well as to grant other forms of good fortune and good health. The work contains reputed Talmudic magic names, words, and ideograms, some written in Hebrew and some with letters from the Latin alphabet. It contains 'Seals' or magical drawings accompanied by instructions intended to help the user perform various tasks, from controlling weather or people to contacting the dead or Biblical religious figures." [Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, Wikipedia] The online text is available at 6and7booksofmoses.wordpress.com [ret. 01/28/2025] and the Library of Congress, among other places.

Jefferson Bates found a copy of the notorious Seventh Book of Moses in the house of the late Seth Bishop. Bates described it as "a text much prized by certain oldsters in the Pennsylvania hex country . . . A slender prayer-book in which all the prayers seemed to be mockeries, for all were directed to Asarael and Sathanus, and other dark angels." Bates surmised that it belonged to Seth Bishop's father. It seems that Seth lacked interest in the hex tradition, but was fascinated by more obscure lore, as evidenced by Seth Bishop, His Book. [AWD Valley (online text)]

Amos Stark owned a copy, and said "it’s got a sight more larnin’ in it than any other book I ever seen." It had previously belonged to Nahum Wentworth. Fred Hadley considered it a kind of Bible for hexes, a curious rigmarole of chants and incantations to such “princes” of the nether world as Aziel, Mephistopheles, Marbuel, Barbuel, Aniquel, and others. Some of the incantations were designed to cure illness, others to grant wishes; some were meant for success in undertakings, others for vengeance upon one’s enemies. Hadley foolishly recited the incantation Aila himel adonaij amara Zebaoth cadas yeseraije haralius. (The incantation can be found in the online edition on Sacred-Texts.com; the text says that "These words are terrible, and will assemble devils or spirits, or they will cause the dead to appear.") Later that evening, Wentworth came back from the dead and took vengeance on Amos Stark. [AWD Wentworth]

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