What are the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses?

The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses are a pair of 19th-century grimoires that claim to contain the lost magical teachings of Moses, blending biblical apocrypha, Jewish Kabbalah, and European folk magic into a single practical system of spirit evocation and talismanic magic. They are not ancient Hebrew texts. They are not part of any canonical scripture. They are a product of the German occult underground, compiled in the 1800s and later absorbed into American hoodoo, where they remain in print today.

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What Are the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses?

The books present themselves as the missing portions of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible traditionally attributed to Moses. According to the grimoire’s own preface, these texts were kept hidden in the Ark of the Covenant, discovered by rabbis after the Babylonian exile, and suppressed by the Church for centuries. None of this is historically verifiable. No manuscript evidence exists before the 18th century, and the earliest known printed edition dates to 1849, published in Stuttgart by Johann Scheible.

The work is divided into two volumes. The Sixth Book of Moses contains instructions for invoking spirits, preparing talismans, and performing magical operations using divine names and seals. The Seventh Book of Moses expands on these techniques and adds material on the seven planetary spirits, the seventy-two spirits of the Shemhamphorash, and the construction of magical circles. Together they form a single system: the operator calls upon God through a hierarchy of angels and spirits, using seals and names drawn from Hebrew, Latin, and garbled Greek.

Where Did the Books Actually Come From?

The real origins are more interesting than the legend. The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses belong to a genre called “Mosaic magic,” a tradition that attributed magical knowledge to Moses and flourished in early modern Europe. The idea that Moses was a magician, not just a prophet, appears in Hellenistic Jewish texts like the writings of Artapanus (2nd century BCE), who claimed Moses taught the Egyptians their own religious mysteries. The biblical account of Moses competing with Pharaoh’s magicians (Exodus 7-8) only reinforced the association.

By the 16th century, European grimoires regularly invoked Moses as a source of magical authority. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533) cites Mosaic magic extensively. The Clavicula Salomonis (Key of Solomon), a medieval grimoire, was often attributed to Solomon but borrowed heavily from Jewish magical traditions that claimed Mosaic origins. The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses are the culmination of this tradition, not its beginning.

The immediate source material appears to be German Brauchbücher (folk magic handbooks) and Jewish magical texts like the Sefer Raziel and Sefer ha-Razim. The seals and names in the books show clear influence from the Shemhamephorash, the 72-fold name of God derived from Exodus 14:19-21 in Kabbalistic tradition. But the compilation is distinctly Christian: the operator works through Jesus Christ, and the spirits are commanded in the name of the Trinity.

What Do the Books Actually Contain?

The Sixth Book opens with a series of “Mosaic seals” — circular diagrams inscribed with Hebrew letter combinations, angelic names, and geometric patterns. Each seal corresponds to a specific spirit or operation. The operator is instructed to draw the seal on parchment, recite the accompanying prayers, and burn incense appropriate to the spirit’s planetary nature.

The spirits are classified by rank and function. There are seven planetary spirits (one for each classical planet), seventy-two spirits of the Shemhamphorash, and an unspecified number of “inferior spirits” that serve under them. The operator does not command these spirits directly. The method is invocatory: the magician calls upon God, then upon the archangels, then upon the lesser angels, and finally upon the spirit itself. Each step uses a specific divine name as a key.

The Seventh Book adds material on the “seven seals of Moses,” which are said to grant power over all creation, and a series of prayers for specific purposes: finding treasure, causing love or hatred, healing illness, and destroying enemies. The tone is aggressive. Spirits are threatened with binding and punishment if they refuse to obey. The operator is warned to be pure of heart and clean of body, but the methods themselves assume a universe where spiritual forces can be compelled through correct procedure.

How Did These Books Enter American Folk Magic?

The transmission route is well documented. German immigrants brought the books to Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, where they entered the tradition of Pow-wow or Braucherei, a form of folk healing and magic practiced by Pennsylvania Dutch communities. The books were read alongside the Bible, and their seals were used for protection, healing, and cursing.

From Pennsylvania, the books spread south and west through the Appalachian region and into the Mississippi Delta. By the late 19th century, they had been absorbed into African American hoodoo, where they were sold alongside other grimoires through mail-order catalogs and spiritual supply stores. The 1930s and 1940s saw a boom in their popularity, driven by publishers like the De Laurence Company and the Dorene Publishing Company, who reprinted the books with added material and sold them to a national audience.

The influence on hoodoo is significant but often overstated. The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses are not foundational texts of hoodoo, which draws primarily on African spiritual traditions, biblical Christianity, and Native American plant medicine. But they became a standard item in the hoodoo practitioner’s library, used particularly for Psalm magic and the preparation of “Moses water” (a protective wash made by soaking the book’s pages in water).

What Do Practitioners Actually Do With Them?

The practical use of the books varies by tradition. In the German Braucherei tradition, the books are kept wrapped in white cloth and stored with the family Bible. The seals are traced on paper or wood and placed in barns to protect livestock, under beds to prevent nightmares, or on doorframes to ward off evil. The prayers are recited over the sick, often accompanied by the laying on of hands and the use of herbal remedies.

In hoodoo, the books are used more selectively. The most common practice involves the “Moses rod,” a staff or stick carved with the seven seals of Moses, used for drawing protective circles and directing spiritual energy. The Psalms are read with the intention of the operator’s need, and the divine names from the books are whispered over candles, oils, and powders.

A less common but persistent practice is the “Moses curse,” where the operator writes an enemy’s name on a piece of paper, places it inside the book at a specific Psalm, and reads the accompanying prayer backward. This is not found in the original text. It is a folk innovation, but one that has become associated with the books in certain traditions.

How Do They Compare to Other Grimoires?

The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses occupy a unique position in the grimoire tradition. They are more aggressive than the Key of Solomon, which emphasizes purity and divine submission. They are less systematic than the Lesser Key of Solomon (the Goetia), which provides detailed descriptions of spirits and their hierarchies. They are more explicitly Christian than the Sefer Raziel, which is a Jewish text.

What sets them apart is their claim to Mosaic authority. No other grimoire makes such a direct and exclusive claim to the biblical patriarch’s magical legacy. This claim gives the books a peculiar authority in folk Christian contexts, where the Bible is the ultimate source of spiritual power. The books are not alternatives to the Bible. They are supplements to it, filling in the gaps that the canonical text left open.

The books also lack the elaborate ceremonial apparatus of the Renaissance grimoires. There is no complex circle construction, no lengthy purification rituals, no specific timing for operations beyond planetary hours. The system is stripped down to essentials: a seal, a prayer, a name. This simplicity made the books accessible to rural practitioners who could not afford the time or materials for full ceremonial magic.

What Do Critics and Scholars Say?

Scholarly consensus holds that the books are forgeries, compiled from earlier sources and falsely attributed to Moses. The Hebrew in the books is often garbled, the divine names are sometimes misspelled, and the seals show clear signs of borrowing from Renaissance magical texts. The claim of ancient origin is unsupported by any manuscript evidence.

Christian critics have condemned the books as demonic, arguing that the spirits invoked are fallen angels disguised as servants of God. Jewish critics have objected to the appropriation of Kabbalistic names and symbols in a Christian magical context. Some modern occultists dismiss the books as crude and dangerous, warning that the aggressive tone of the invocations attracts hostile spirits.

But the books have their defenders. Some practitioners argue that the garbled Hebrew and misspelled names are intentional, designed to preserve the power of the names while concealing them from the uninitiated. Others point to the books’ effectiveness in folk practice, arguing that results matter more than historical accuracy. The books remain in print, sold in occult shops and online, and continue to find new readers.

Common Misconceptions

They are not Jewish texts. Despite the Hebrew names and Kabbalistic elements, the books are Christian in structure and theology. The operator works through Christ, and the spirits are commanded in the name of the Trinity.

They are not ancient. The earliest known edition is 1849. No manuscript evidence exists before the 18th century.

They are not part of the Bible. No Christian or Jewish canon includes them. They are apocryphal in the strict sense: texts claiming biblical authority without canonical recognition.

They are not purely evil. The books contain prayers for healing, protection, and blessing alongside their more aggressive material. The moral character of the work depends on the operator’s intent.

FAQ

Are the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses real? They are real books, published in the 19th century and still in print. They are not ancient or biblical in origin.

Can you use the books without being a magician? The books assume the operator has some familiarity with magical practice, but the instructions are straightforward enough for a motivated beginner.

Are the spirits in the books dangerous? The books themselves warn that spirits may deceive or attack the careless operator. Traditional practice emphasizes purification and protection before any operation.

Do the books work? That depends on your framework. In folk magic traditions, the books have a long history of reported results. In a skeptical framework, they are historical documents with no supernatural efficacy.

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The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses are not what they claim to be. They are not ancient. They are not Mosaic. They are a 19th-century compilation of older magical traditions, assembled for a Christian folk audience and later absorbed into American hoodoo. But their persistence across two centuries and multiple continents suggests they meet a real need: the desire for a practical, accessible system of spiritual power grounded in biblical authority. For the practitioner, the question is not whether the books are authentic. The question is whether they work. And that question, like the books themselves, has no single answer.

For a deeper understanding of how grimoires function as practical tools, see our guide to grimoires and magical texts. You may also find our glossary of magical seals and sigils useful for interpreting the symbols in these books. And for the broader context of Mosaic magic in Western esotericism, read our guide to biblical magic in the grimoire tradition.