HENRY CORNE-

lius Agrippa’s Fourth Book of

Occult Philosophy, or

concerning

Magical

Ceremonies.

IN our books concerning Occult Philosophy, we have declared the principles and the rationality of Magic itself, not so much briefly as copiously, and described how experiments are to be drawn out and put together in order to produce all kinds of marvelous effects. However, since in that work things were delivered more theoretically than practically—some things being less complete, and others presented figuratively and as if under a riddle original: sub Enigmate; this refers to the common Renaissance practice of "Hermetic" writing, where sensitive knowledge was hidden behind metaphors or symbols to protect it from the unworthy—we now wish that those things which we have acquired with the highest degree of study, diligence, and curious exploration might be explained even to the uninitiated. Therefore, in this book, which we have composed as a complement and a Key Key: often titled a Clavis in Latin, this refers to a practical manual intended to "unlock" the practical application of theoretical secrets found in more dense, philosophical texts to the books of Occult Philosophy and to all magical operations, we shall provide...