TO THE READER.

I DO NOT DOUBT that the title of our book on Occult Philosophy, or Magic, will by its rarity entice very many to read it. Among these, some—weak in mind and of crooked opinion—and many who are malicious and ungrateful toward our talent, will approach. These people, in their reckless ignorance, taking the name of Magic in a negative sense, will cry out almost as soon as they see the title that we are teaching forbidden arts, sowing the seeds of heresy, being an offense to pious ears and a scandal to noble minds; they will say that I am a sorcerer, superstitious, and possessed, because I am a magician.
What a Magician is.

To these people, if I were to respond that among learned men, "magician" does not signify a sorcerer, nor a superstitious or possessed person, but a wise man, a priest, and a prophet: that the Sibyls Ancient prophetesses believed by Renaissance scholars to have predicted the coming of Christ to the pagan world. were magicians, and thus prophesied so very clearly about Christ; and indeed, that the Magi original: "magos"; referring to the Three Wise Men from the Nativity story. recognized the author of the world, Christ, as being born through the wonderful secrets of the world itself, and were the first of all to come to worship him; and that the very name of Magic is accepted by philosophers, praised by theologians, and not even unwelcome to the Gospel itself—I believe these censors of such stubborn arrogance would sooner forbid themselves the Sibyls, the holy Magi, and even the Gospel itself, before they would welcome the name of magic back into their good graces. They so carefully guard their consciences that neither Apollo, nor all the Muses, nor even an angel from heaven could rescue me from their curse. To these people I now give advice: do not read our writings, do not understand them, do not remember them; for they are harmful, they are poisonous. The gate of Acheron original: "Acherontis ostium"; Acheron was one of the rivers of the Greek underworld; Agrippa uses it here to mean the entrance to Hell. is in this book; it speaks stones original: "lapides loquitur"; a Latin idiom suggesting the text is harsh, difficult, or dangerously heavy.—let them beware lest it knock out their brains. But you who come to read with a fair mind, if you apply as much prudent discernment as bees do in gathering honey, read now in safety; for I think you will receive no small benefit and a great deal of pleasure. If you find anything that does not please you, set it aside and do not use it; for I do not advocate those things to you, but merely recount them. Do not, however, reject the rest for that reason; for even those looking into the volumes of physicians happen to read of poisons alongside antidotes and medicines. Furthermore, I admit that Magic itself contains many superfluous things,