OF THE NOBLE MAN

HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA

How Magicians gather virtues from the triple world will be shown in these three books. Chapter I.

Ornate woodcut initial 'C' containing a scene with a seated figure (possibly a scholar or saint) in a landscape with a tree and distant hills.
SINCE THERE IS A TRIPLE WORLD—elemental, celestial, and intellectual—and each lower world is governed by its superior and receives the influence of its powers, so that the Archetype The "Archetype" refers to God, the original model from which all things are created. itself and the supreme Creator pours forth the virtues of his omnipotence through angels, heavens, stars, elements, animals, plants, metals, and stones into us (for whose service he founded and created all these things): Magicians do not think it unreasonable that we can ascend through these same steps, through each world, to that same Archetypal world, the maker of all things and the First Cause, from whom all things are and from whom all things proceed. They believe we can not only enjoy those powers that pre-exist in nobler things, but furthermore attract other new ones from above. Hence, the powers of the elemental world are drawn out from medicine and natural philosophy through various mixtures of natural things. Then, they connect celestial virtues to those by the rays and influences of the celestial world, according to the rules of astrologers and the disciplines of mathematicians. Furthermore, they strengthen and confirm all these things through the powers of diverse intelligences In this context, "intelligences" refers to angelic or spiritual beings that govern the celestial spheres. by means of the sacred ceremonies of religions. I will now attempt to deliver the order and process of all these in these three books: of which the first contains Natural Magic, the second Celestial, and the third Ceremonial. But I do not know if it is entirely worthy of pardon that I, a man of lesser talent and learning, so freely undertook so difficult, so arduous, and so intricate a business in my very youth. For this reason, I do not wish anyone to agree with whatever I have said here or will say below more than I myself do, except insofar as they have not been rejected by the Catholic Church and the assembly of the faithful.

What Magic is, what its parts are, and what kind of person a professor of Magic ought to be. Chapter II.

Decorative woodcut initial 'M' featuring stylized foliate and vine patterns.
The magical faculty, possessed of very great power and full of the highest mysteries, encompasses the deepest contemplation of the most secret things: their nature, power, quality, substance, and virtue, and the knowledge of all nature; and how things...