The Translation of Father Torturo Read Online Free PDF

first collected into a concrete whole, and printed in the year1520. Pierluigi was more than a mere academic; he was the bearer of an ancient and precious line of learning.
    They read together the Sepher Yetzirah and the books of the Zohar. Pierluigi schooled him in the principles of Macroprosopus and Microprosopus, and also the doctrine of reincarnation. They read deeply into the works of Rabbi Judah Ha Lévi, Rabbi Moses Botarel, Ibn Gebirol of Cordova, and, in particular The Philosopher’s Stone of Rabbi Saadiah. He learned about the secret import of Tobias 6:18-19 concerning the roasting of a fish’s heart in the bridal chamber, as well as all that was held in the extra-canonical passages of Schabbath, Adoba Zara and Sanhedrin.
    Pierluigi particularly emphasised the power of seraphim, cherubim, as well as instructing on the lore of Adam’s other wife, Lilith, with whom he, the first man, had had alternative offspring.
    “Oh, it is quite clear,” Pierluigi said with glittering eyes, his lips pulling at an old tobacco pipe. “In Genesis five it says that Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and likeness. In the Hebrew this passage leaves no room for doubt; – If he begot a son in his own image and likeness, the explicit implication is that he had first begot a son not in his own image and likeness .”
    “Which is, I suppose, a confirmation that there are powers both good and evil.”
    “Oh, we are not talking about good and evil here. We are talking about the powers and things that be. The sons in his own image could hardly be called good; Cain shows us that by murdering his own brother. And those not in his own image . . .”
    “Are not evil?”
    “Well, no more so than suffering and death. When we slaughter the scapegoat, it cannot be considered an evil thing. By laying hands on it, it is imbued with the sins of the people, and thus we slaughter it; – its suffering and death are not evil.”
    “But the laying on of hands; – is that a necessary facet of the ceremony?”
    “Imposition of hands is vital to all the sacred performances. It is absolutely vital. Jacob bequeathed a blessing and inheritance to his two sons Ephraim and Manasses by placing his hands upon them. Aaron and his sons, the elders and the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bullocks and rams prior to sacrificing them. Moses spread abroad his hands unto the Lord in order to make thunder and hail cease; and Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom after Moses laid hands upon him.”
    “So the hands are the conveyors, the tools of some sort of . . . magic?”
    “They are.”
    The library annexed to the University of Padua, which is one of the oldest universities in Europe, built by Sansovino in 1493, had an excellent collection of manuscripts, including even a few Assyrian tablets composed in cuneiform, copied from Babylonian originals, which dealt with the Chaldean period. These, with the help of an obliging professor, he managed to translate. They treated the subjects of astrology proper and medicinal magic as used by the Babylonian hierarchy, the Baru and Ashipu priests. Amongst the incantations there were the Shurpu, a spell for removing curses due to lawful contamination; Maklu, which was a counter-spell against wizards and witches; Utukki limmuti, which were a series of sixteen formulae against ghosts and demons; and Asaski marsuti, which were a series of twelve formulae against fevers and sickness.
    “Naturally, a man like yourself must find these things somewhat scandalous,” the professor said, as they gleaned over the script before them.
    “Not in the least,” Torturo replied. “I find it immensely interesting. It is, after all, part of the ancient history of our own Christian religion.”
    “Possibly, but many inveigh against such works as the teachings of the father of falsehoods.”
    “Often people warn us against things that they themselves do not understand.