Make Him Want You Spell – One of the items in the Hebrew Manuscripts: A Journey from the Written Word exhibit is a small codex from 16th-century Italy. It is called the Tree of Knowledge (Ets ha-Da’at) and contains about 125 magics for various purposes: curses, healing potions, love spells, talismans. There are many magico-medical manuscripts in the Hebrew collection, but this work is special for at least two reasons. First of all, because of the neat appearance and the accuracy of the execution. Second, because there is an introduction where Elisa the author tells how she collected the spell.
Title page of the information tree Elisa ben Gad from Ancona. (Safed, 1535-1536 (or 12362, f. 2r)).
According to her introduction, Élisa had a great thirst for knowledge, so she began to travel to satisfy it. He wandered from city to city until he arrived in Venice, a great city full of wise and intelligent people. There, thanks to God’s grace, he gained the trust of Rabbi Judah Alkabets and entered the rabbinical library. He immediately noticed that the Rabbi’s collection contained valuable Kabbalistic works “which rose to fame and praise, and everything was written with fingers [God – Exodus 31:18] Therefore he vowed in his heart not to leave the library until he He collected all his secret. While searching for books, he saw “a book hidden and sealed, in a chest within another chest covered with a cloth and sealed.” When he opened this hidden book, he found all the magic spells and concluded After the death of Judah Alkabetz, Elisa left Venice and continued her journey and finally arrived to Safed, the land of Israel. He stayed there for a long time before gaining the trust of the wise men of Safed, but at the end he revealed his secret wisdom. His book called The Tree of Knowledge, based on the secrets received in Venice and Safed.
After recounting her serious efforts to obtain hidden information, Élisa explained how she organized the materials she collected and compiled her book. They provide users with a table of contents that makes it easier to find the spells they are looking for. The table of contents is divided into four parts:
2. Spells that use the names “Unclean Spirit” and “Other Side” (ie a reference to evil forces);
What secret information did Elisha ben Gad acquire in Venice and Safi? Let’s look at some spells from each section. Oh, it’s so hard to choose!
The first part of the information tree. (Elisa ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 5r))
Among the 52 mantras in the first section using divine names are many charms that protect against diseases such as nosebleeds, fever, and earache. spells to enhance intellectual abilities, such as to facilitate learning, understanding, or improving memory; and many other spells.
Amulet for fever. (Elisa ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 11r))
Av avr Avra avrak avraka avrakal avrakala avrakal avraka avrak Avra avr av – “The people cried out to Moses. Then Moses prayed to Jehovah, and the fire died.” (Numbers 11:2). Medicine from heaven for all kinds of fever and consumption and fire this and that [according to this name]. Amen a [men] a [men] wrong.
It is easy to find the well-known magic word “abracadabra” in this spell. It first appeared in a second-century Latin medical poem by the physician Quintus Serenus Sammonicus. The origin of this word is unclear. It may come from the Aramaic word Avra ke-davra, meaning “I do as I say,” but there are several other theories.
Mantra to speed up the journey (No. 39). (Elisa ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 27r))
Speed up the path: write it on a piece of halal parchment made from a deer and sew it onto your cloak. When you see the appearance of the city, mention these names and say thus: “Look, Malakhel, I command you to speed up the road and the land, as you have done for Abraham. Cafefiel – and in the name of God in all the land. Amen S[ela]”
The second part of the data tree. (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 7v))
The second part is supposed to contain a spell that uses the name of the evil spirit “saas spirit and the other half” as Elisa said. To be honest, I can’t always put a name to the charm of this part, although that may be due to my limited knowledge and experience on the other side. Still, the section contains many useful spells – 19 in all – some of which make you invisible, help you find scorpions and snakes, make you “snake proof” or “sword proof”, and some that help you catch. thief. Here is an example of the latter (#80):
To find the thief, write this name on a piece of halal parchment [see words at the end of the spell] and hang it around the neck of a black rooster. Then circle around the suspect with the rooster and jump on the thief’s head. And this has been tested.
Spell to identify thieves (No. 80). (Elisa ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 37r))
When I can’t recognize these magical words – can some names of evil spirits? – I have better luck with writing. 97 for lighting a fire:
Excellent mantra, tested many times. For small and large burns. With these words, complete healing without pain! Say this name [i.e. mantra] seven times:
Agrifuk agrifar agripyri chi vol tu fer di pyro nocesti ing acaro fosti generato, elo Fonti fosti portato, all’acqua fosti gettato, non fossi far più male qua (?) chi fai la!
And then blow into the fire with a breath from your mouth and repeat the spell seven more times, and the fire will not harm anyone.
As you can see, the actual spell for Fire itself is written in Judeo-Italic, or Italian, with Hebrew letters and reads like this:
“Agrifuk agrifar agripyri who wants to hurt you with fire? You were made of acarus [probably from the Greek word akarḗs meaning “small”), you were brought out of the spring, [and] you were thrown into the water. You can do no more evil…!”[1 ]
Spell for Burns (No. 97). (Elisa ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 41r))
The third part of the information tree. (Elisa ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 8v))
Elisa says that the third part of her work includes “treatments based on nature and experiments”. Among the 31 remedies are some for fever, suffering from worms, canceling witchcraft, complications related to pregnancy and childbirth and others. He also discusses the magical properties of snake skin. However, it seems that some of the remedies listed here are not based on nature, but instead use spells or magic words.
Mantra for a woman who has no milk (No. 104). (Elisa ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 42v))
Medicine no. 104 is a good example of the latter. It is a mantra for women who do not have milk. The title of the mantra is written on a tape and depicted naked next to a woman.
To bring milk to a woman, write the name of the woman or her brother or son [on parchment?] and on the right breast of the woman: AV SU SAS and on the left breast: AV HU SIA, and she will receive much milk, and it will be poured out on the ground like water.
Mantra on snake skin (No. 116). (Elisa ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 45r))
Section 116 deals with the magical properties of snake skin, and according to the title, this spell is based on “the words of the physician Tulitul Sulaiman” (Tulitula is the Arabic name for Toledo). Elisa said that she read in an Arabic book that if you burn the skin of a snake at a certain time in March, you can use the ashes of the skin for different purposes. He then listed 12 magical properties of snake skin based on an important book of Arabic spells (number 12 is missing). Here are some of the best:
Text on the magical properties of snake skin (no. 116). (Elisa ben Gad of Ancona, Wit of
Make him love you spell, make him want you bad, make him want you back spell, make him want you, spell to make him want you, make him want you back, make him miss you spell, spell to make him want me, make him want me spell, spell to make him want me back, make him want you again, make him want you more