Three Books of Occult Philosophy

TRISMEGISTUS 5 The OCR "T I R I R I M V S" is a likely corruption of "TRISMEGISTUS," referring to Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary father of Hermetic philosophy.

...spread. Pr [damaged] [Empedocles], Democritus, and many others [damaged] to learn; they proclaimed this [knowledge] with [damaged]... they held this in secret [damaged] and we know for certain that Pythagoras and Plato approached the prophets of Memphis, The "Memphiticos uates" refers to the Egyptian priests of Memphis, whom Greek philosophers were traditionally said to have visited to learn ancient wisdom. and traversed nearly all of Syria, Egypt, Judea, and the schools of the Chaldeans, A term often used in antiquity to refer to the astrologers and magicians of Babylon. so that the most holy monuments of Magic would not be hidden from them, and they might be imbued with divine things.

Therefore, whoever strives to study in this faculty now, if he is not learned in Physics Natural Philosophy: the study of the physical world and the "hidden properties" of natural objects like herbs or stones (in which the qualities of things are explained, and in which the hidden properties of every being are found), and if he is not a practitioner of mathematics, and of the aspects and figures of the stars (upon which the sublime power and property of every thing depends), and if he is not learned in theology (where the immaterial substances original: "substantiæ immateriales." These are the spiritual beings—angels, intelligences, or spirits—that Agrippa believes govern the material world. that dispense and administer all things are revealed), he will not be able to understand the rationality of Magic. For no work perfected by Magic itself exists, nor is there any truly magical work, that does not embrace these three faculties.

Concerning the four elements, their qualities, and their mixtures with one another. CHAPTER III.

There are four elements and primary foundations of all corporeal things: fire, earth, water, and air. From these, all "elemented" things original: "elementata." This refers to complex physical objects composed of the four basic elements. in these lower regions are composed; not by way of a mere piling together, but according to transformation and union. And again, when they decay, they are resolved back into the elements. However, none of the sensible elements The physical elements we can touch and see (like a bucket of water) as opposed to the "pure" or archetypal elements of philosophical theory. is pure; rather, they are mixed more or less, and are transmutable into one another: just as earth...