Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Henry Cornelius Agrippa
Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Henry Cornelius Agrippa
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Three Books of Occult Philosophy

Author: Henry Cornelius Agrippa

Narrator: Graham Dunlop

Unabridged: 22 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/25/2023

Categories: Nonfiction, Philosophy


Synopsis

Three Books of Occult Philosophy (De Occulta Philosophia libri III) is Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's study of occult philosophy, acknowledged as a significant contribution to the Renaissance philosophical discussion concerning the powers of ritual magic and its relationship with religion.
The three books deal with Elemental, Celestial and Intellectual magic. The books outline the four elements, astrology, kabbalah, numbers, angels, God's names, the virtues and relationships with each other as well as methods of utilizing these relationships and laws in medicine, scrying, alchemy, ceremonies, origins of what are from the Hebrew, Greek, and Chaldean context.
These arguments were common amongst other hermetic philosophers at the time and before. In fact, Agrippa's interpretation of magic is similar to the authors Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Johann Reuchlin's synthesis of magic and religion and emphasize an exploration of nature. Unlike many grimoires of the time, before and past, these books are more scholarly and intellectual than mysterious and foreboding. These books are often read as authoritative by those interested in the occult even today.
Three Books of Occult Philosophy helped perpetuate the belief in modern popular culture that the Knights Templar practiced witchcraft. It was one of the first literary works to transform the accusation of idolatry against the Order, to magic use

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ian on March 14, 2012

Rubbish. Tried to raise a dragon. Failed. Tried to raise the ghost of Jesus. Failed. Tried to win the lottery. Failed. Tried to cast fireball in a meeting at my office nemesis. Failed.......more

Goodreads review by Emericus on June 22, 2015

An excellent starting point for understanding Western occultism. Move forward from here - hitting other high points over the next five hundred years, including: 1) John Dee and Edward Kelly (late 1500s)- many books available on the history and fruits of their brief but intense collaboration. 2) Rosicr......more

Goodreads review by Kevin on March 27, 2012

Excellent editorial job by Don Tyson, this work was incredibly accessible. The footnotes helped me immensely at a time when I was trying diligently to understand the tangled worldview of the classical and medieval magical cosmos. In subsequent years, Agrippa's work has proven to be the first steppin......more

Goodreads review by Peter on August 28, 2016

As historical documents go there are some interesting notes otherwise a load of mindless dribble. IN CONCLUSION The main reason that people were executed for witchcraft is not for doing evil thing but because they were trying to stop people spouting crap.......more

Goodreads review by Wilfredo on September 03, 2018

It's a pretty dense (and boring at times) book that is basically about occultism. It's divided into three volumes, which are; natural magic, celestial magic and ceremonial magic respectively. The three volumes are loaded with alchemy, kabala, virtues of nature and history. Even though this topic is......more