(Seguloth) [manual of folk remedies and potions often dervived by the use Divine names, charms, amulets, etc.]

(KABBALAH).

(Poland?)

(Late 18th / early 19th-century)

Manuscript in Hebrew and some Yiddish, written in a neat Aschkenazic cursive hand with many large square letters. Many Kabbalistic charts, symbols and diagrams.

This manuscript of “practical kabbalah,” is focused upon the manipulation of the spherical powers to affect the physical world. Jewish “white” magic was largely based upon the manipulation of the sacred, esoteric names of God and His angels. The text here recounts the theory and practical uses of Divine names including ten different forms of vocalization (see ff. 82-6). Cited in the manuscript are the writings of R. Joel Baal Shem of Zamocz, a famed practitioner of theurgic healing (see f. 5b for R. Joel’s guide for the composition of amulets). Also cited are such great Chassidic Masters as R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev and the Shpoler Zeideh (f. 183a-b), as well as R. Elimelech of Lizhensk (f. 190b). Earlier mystical texts cited include: Sepher HaBahir, HaPardes, HaKaneh (ff. 136a, 144a, 158b), with sections from Sepher Shushan Sodoth, composed by a disciple of Nachmanides. Contents of the manuscript include 173 treatments against various social, physical and metaphysical maladies, including concerns relating to: Loveless marriages, depression and despondency; to infertility and difficulty in childbirth; medical complaints concerning toothache, constipation and animal bites. Suggested remedies are concocted from a wide host of animal, vegetable and mineral matter along with the use of complex amulets.