The most complete repository of Pagan and Neoplatonic magic ever compiled, this book is packed with material you will not find elsewhere, including copious extracts on magic from obscure or lost works by Pythagoras, Pliny the Elder, Cicero, Ptolemy, Plato, Aristotle, and many other authorities. Donald Tyson's detailed annotations clarify difficult references and provide origins of quotations, expanding upon them as necessary in order to make Agrippa's work more accessible.
As well as providing extensive insight into the foundations of the Western esoteric tradition, the Three Books of Occult Philosophy is the ultimate how-to for magical workings. It describes how to work all manner of divination and magic in such clear and useful detail that it is still the guide for modern techniques. And the extensive supplementary material--including biographical and geographical dictionaries and appendices-provides quick reference to many previously obscure matters in classical magic.
PURDUE EDITION:
The first new and complete English translation of Agrippa's classic masterwork in more than 350 years
- Three hardcover volumes in slipcase.
- Corrects the many mistranslations, copyist mistakes, and errors introduced from other editions, drawing on new research and access to Agrippa's source texts.
- Restores all of Agrippa's original illustrations.
- Presents a nearly complete bibliography of Agrippa's primary source.
One of the most important texts in the Western magical tradition for nearly 500 years, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's 1533 work Three Books of Occult Philosophy collates a multitude of sources from the Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance periods and organizes them into a coherent explanation of the magical world. Divided into three parts--the natural world, the celestial world, and the divine world--the book systematically explains the philosophy, logic, and methods of magic and astrology and how they work.
The basis for 19th-century magical orders such as the Golden Dawn and a primary source for countless books on magical uses of stones, herbs, incense, and astrology, Agrippa's many lists and diagrams have proven invaluable to magicians since the 16th century. Yet, until now, all English editions of Agrippa's Three Books were based on the same flawed 1651 translation from the mysterious "J.F."
In this new translation from the original 1533 Latin edition, Eric Purdue corrects the many mistranslations, copyist mistakes, and errors introduced from other editions as well as restores all of Agrippa's original illustrations. Purdue notates every correction and offers commentary, drawing on major developments in the research of older magical and astrological texts. He also presents a nearly complete bibliography of Agrippa's primary sources, revealing Agrippa as a mainstream scholar of his day.
Presenting the first new English translation of Three Books of Occult Philosophy in more than 350 years, this three-volume hardcover boxed set repairs the gaps in knowledge pervasive in the original translation and restores the magical spirit of Agrippa's masterpiece, allowing us to hear Agrippa speak again.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535), was a German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, astrologer, alchemist, and occult writer. He is considered one of the most influential occultists of the early modern period. His book on the occult Three Books of Occult Philosophy was published in 1533, but was condemned as heretical by the inquisitor of Cologne. His work drew heavily upon the influences of Kabbalah, Hermeticism and Neo-Platonism.
