De Occulta Philosophia
Volume I - Natural Magic
by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim
translated and introduced by Paul Summers Young
(Volume I of the De Occulta Philosophia series)
Volume I is Agrippa’s treatise on ‘Natural Magic’, and describes how the elemental world we inhabit relates to the archetypal realm, and the wonderful ways that contact manifests in the natural world, and within ourselves. It is also an account of how we cannot know the world by reason alone, but by experience and experimentation in a spirit of wonder. For Agrippa, the scientific and the magical have yet to part ways.
In Natural Magic, Agrippa discusses how virtue, or power and energy, is present in everything and flows down from the divine to the physical world. He believed that matter and mind are not separate but part of a single substance. The book explores how the virtues of one thing can be transferred to another, either by drawing power from celestial bodies or through thoughts, words, signs, or gestures.
Agrippa emphasises that cultivating virtue is not a simple matter of practice but involves a deeper connection with the mystical and supernatural. He explains how virtues can blend with the mind and body, becoming a natural part of a person. The book is full of examples of how the virtues of one thing can manifest in another, with a focus on both medicine and magic.
Agrippa argues that the world cannot be fully understood through reason alone and that the occult must be discovered through experimentation and observation, much like the early days of scientific discovery.
Agrippa also delves into divination and the influence of lower things on each other. He discusses the power of language, signs, and gestures in magic. The book concludes by introducing the concept of a magical alphabet and the significance of Hebrew in Qabalistic magic, setting the stage for Volume II — Celestial Magic.
About De Occulta Philosophia (Three Books of Occult Philosophy)
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy holds a longstanding fascination that has spanned centuries. This influential work explores various aspects of occult and mystical knowledge. The new translation from the Latin of the 1533 edition seeks to render this foundational text accessible to a broader and contemporary audience. The publication is divided into the three traditional volumes, as well as a fourth volume containing the apocryphal Fourth Book, along with additional magical texts either written by Agrippa or attributed to him. This comprehensive collection offers readers a deeper understanding of Agrippa's contributions to the world of occult philosophy and magic.
____________________________________________________________
Cover design by Alice Rocchetti.
Hardcover Edition
336 pages. Printed and bound in Italy. Hardcover bound in Absinth-Green Fedrigoni Imitlin. 120 gram black Endpapers. Printed on 115 gsm wood-free, age-resistant Cream paper. Sewn book block, black ribbon bookmark and black Headbands. Gilding on front cover and spine.
____________________________________________________________
About the Author
The late Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486 – 1535) was a German Renaissance polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, knight, theologian, and occult writer.
Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy published in 1533 drew heavily upon Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and Neoplatonism. This work was widely influential among esotericists of the early modern period, and was condemned as heretical by the inquisitor of Cologne.
