Sepher Rezial Hemelach: The Book of the Angel Rezial [Hardcover]

Steve Savedow (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2000

The long-awaited first English translation from ancient Hebrew of the rare and complete 1701 Amsterdam edition, of this famous magical text. According to Hebrew legend, the Sepher Rezial was given to Adam in the Garden of Eden, by the hand of God. The myth suggests that this diverse compendium of ancient Hebrew lore was the first book ever written. Includes an explanatory text on the holy names of God, the divisions of Heaven and Hell, and the names and hierarchy of the angels and spirits.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steve Savedow is the author of The Magician's Workbook, and Goetic Evocation. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Weiser Books (December 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578631939
• ISBN-13: 978-1578631933
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,629,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a real translation, November 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Sepher Rezial Hemelach: The Book of the Angel Rezial (Paperback)

Translating is a tricky business, especially when the translator is dealing with esoteric literature, which wasn't meant to be read by everybody. The translator should know the language he's translating from pretty well. Unfortunately it is very obvious to anyone who knows Hebrew, that mr. Savedows knowlegde of Hebrew (and Aramaic as well) is very limited. He has made a lot of very strange mistakes and the translation consists of various elements that are NOT present in the original text. He makes ordinary Hebrew words into mysterious, magical names. I could go on, but I think it is save to say that this book is not a translation, but a not-very-much-to-do-with-the-original-text interpretion. Anyone considering to buy this book should keep this in mind.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Legendary Book, Frustrating Translation, April 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sepher Rezial Hemelach: The Book of the Angel Rezial (Hardcover)

At long, long last, Sepher Raziel has finally been (sort of) translated into English! This extraordinary, influential book of Qabalistic Angel Magic, dealing with the Work of Merkavah, the Work of Bereshith, incorporating Sepher Malbush, etc., is now in a long-awaited English translation. it is unfortunate that it was not a scholar who finally undertook the task, but the owner of an occult bookstore. I applaud Steve Savedow for his hard work, determination, and dedication to this daunting task. However, it was simply beyond his linguistic skills to do this very difficult text justice. At the most obvious level, his wildly quirky transcriptions of even the most common Hebrew and Aramaic words will drive most buyers of the book buggy. It is also a drawback that (though Savedow does offer transliterations of some Hebrew words) the translator does not offer transliterations of the Angel names in the book, as the exact spelling of the names is vital to full understanding of a Qabalistic text. Three cheers! But I wish it could have been five cheers.

78 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inspired Translation!, February 24, 2003

By 

Barry Geller (Sunland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sepher Rezial Hemelach: The Book of the Angel Rezial (Paperback)

I've been reading through this book for 2 years now and have found this translation of the complete 1701 Sepher Rezial Hemelach to be nothing less than inspired. This book is one of the most important practical Qabalah source-works and, just as importantly, has been translated by a practicing Qabalist. The very fact that this work, controversial in even the most mystical and secretive of Jewish Kabbalah circles for maybe 1000 years has finally appeared in English, is an astounding event in itself and should certainly to be explored.

Why hasn't there been any Hebrew scholar in 300 years able to translate the 1701 edition? The answer is two-fold: 1) Apparently there has not been (or it has not been allowed), else it would have been done. 2) The Book of the Mighty Angel Rezial is about the Holy Power of the Lord YHVH, as Infinite Creator (the NOT, the Indescribable), given to us to guide our way back to Eden (Heaven). The Sepher Rezial Hemelach belongs with the most mystical of all holy books because it dwells (teaches us) from the true Inner School, the Inner Consciousness or Inner Source of Knowledge and Love.

There have been many books written about Kabbalah which contain an abundance of dogmatic or complex explanations leaving most readers with a complex intellectual understanding rather than greater practical, spiritual experience.

The Sepher Rezial Hemelach is a book from the other end of the spectrum, an ancient but powerful work to help us realize the quintessence of the Practical or Mystical Qabalah. (One can either read this book as an important historical document or read it as a set of instructions.) A real translation of this book by someone without a practicing Qabalistic background would be like buying a car-repair manual written by someone who has never seen a car.

Steve Savedow has all but captured the essence of the miraculous, and is the first person since 1701 to translate the complete five books. His previous book on Goetic and Solomonic practice appears to have left him well prepared for the vision needed to communicate the essence of this book to us.

I have been, to my great excitement and personal joy, inspired by his translation to make short comparisons of several sections to the original Hebrew. For my sources I have used a small section of the original Rezial Amsterdam 1701 version, and my own original book printed in Yozaafaf Poland 1873. (Important Note: Savedow directly translates the complete 1701 edition; ALL versions of Rezial in print are exact Hebrew copies of the 1873 "slightly shortened 1701" edition).

Savedow's Book Four, Part 3 compares wonderfully to another beautiful treatise (and the only other English translation of this section up until now), published privately in 1971 by the Mystical Qabalah group, Ma'aseh Merkabah, or Work of the Chariot. This section in Hebrew is sub-titled, "Rezial HaGadol." (p. 124 in any Jerusalem edition; p. 229 in Savedow) The WC group names the work "Book of (the Angelic Secrets of) Raziel the Great," the sub-text it translates is called "Measure of the Divine Body." Savedow translates the complete section as "This is the Prayer Required to Establish [ITS] Greatness." I like it.

Although Savedow's pronunciation chart is very helpful it can be further expanded to bridge several traditions; however quibbling over this, as others do, can be as fruitful as arguing over potato or patahto, Aretz or Eretz.

In translating Biblical Hebrew, a language without vowels or changing "ending" letters, I am aware of three methods or choices: 1) don't translate the letters at all; 2) transliterate the letters exactly; 3) add an "e" or "eh" sound between consonants. As an example, reading the section of Angel Names, the WC group selects #2 above (ex: PSQY"N). For the same Angel Name, Savedow selects #3 (ex: Pheseqien - p. 229). The third method may be easier for readers unable to read Hebrew; one can simply remove the "e" to get the original Hebrew text.

Savedow's "Names on the Forehead of God," on pages 230-231, are exactly as the Hebrew is pronounced. The WC group translates the same, although they prefer stating the traditional "Y" for the letter Yod; Savedow prefers "I."

Another example is the Angel we know as Anael, Hamiel, Haniel, Ariel, - names based upon westernized, "scholarly" Roman translations, corroborated by Gustav Davidson's book, "A Dictionary of Angels." Savedow's Index revealed to me the proper biblical-English spelling is A'anial, which I really appreciated. Keep in mind; the proliferation of phonetic mistranslations of the original Hebrew abounds everywhere in Western Mystical literature as well as the KJV. We all have been mispronouncing many Angel Names for centuries which Savedow takes great pains to remedy.

It is my final belief the most important words are properly translated; where they are not translated the original Hebrew is indicated. I would have preferred more Hebrew references myself but I believe this is because of the publisher's decision to exclude the Hebrew in order to shorten book length. Go figure! I would hope the publisher does a 2nd book based upon Savedow's full research.

Biblical Hebrew, as well as the Ezra Hebrew of the Torah, is extremely mantric and consciousness-raising. That this book suddenly appears now in this Age I believe comes to us guided by the Ruach HaKodesh - the Divine Holy Spirit. This translation connects psychically very well with the original Hebrew, as a whole. To the earnest seeker, Sepher Rezial can be read like a universal restaurant menu and reveal untold treasures. The book itself has shown me that each of it's sections can be used as separate Qabalistic meditations or prayers, pronouncing the words as you *feel* or experience the essence of them to be. Or you can just enjoy the book as a fascinating document of antiquity.

For me, this is an inspired translation and appears to have the hallmarks a true transmission: It works.