Preface.

The title of these manuscripts shows what can be expected here, and identifies the readers for whom they are actually intended. I yielded to the wishes of many of my friends and acquaintances when I decided to allow them to appear publicly before the audience.

These are writings that a series of very diligent researchers of the secret sciences The term "secret sciences" (geheime Wissenschaften) refers to occult and esoteric studies, such as alchemy, Hermeticism, and natural magic, which were highly regarded in the courts of the 16th and 17th centuries. brought together over the course of nearly 200 years.

Emperor Rudolph Rudolf II (1552–1612), Holy Roman Emperor, was a well-known patron of the occult and alchemy, transforming his court in Prague into a center for esoteric research. and his successor Matthias are the first who laid the foundation for this collection. Hertod, the Chief Physician Archiater: A title for a personal physician to a monarch or high-ranking official. to Emperor Leopold I, continued it; the Baron von Engels-