''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' (''De Occulta Philosophia libri III'') is Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's study of

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

philosophy, acknowledged as a significant contribution to the Renaissance philosophical discussion concerning the powers of

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

, and its relationship with religion. The first book was printed in 1531 in Paris, Cologne, and Antwerp, while the full three volumes first appeared in Cologne in 1533. The three books deal with elemental, celestial and intellectual magic. The books outline the four elements, astrology, Kabbalah,

numerology Numerology (also known as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in ...

, angels, names of God, the virtues and relationships with each other as well as methods of utilizing these relationships and laws in medicine, scrying, alchemy, ceremonial magic, origins of what are from the Hebrew, Greek and

Chaldea Chaldea () was a small country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BCE, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into the indigenous population of Babylonia. Semitic-speaking, it was ...

n context. These arguments were common amongst other hermetic philosophers at the time and before. In fact, Agrippa's interpretation of magic is similar to the authors

Marsilio Ficino Marsilio Ficino (; Latin name: ; 19 October 1433 – 1 October 1499) was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. He was an astrologer, a reviver of ...

Pico della Mirandola Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (24 February 1463 – 17 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, ...

and Johann Reuchlin's synthesis of magic and religion, and emphasize an exploration of nature.

Editions

*''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'', written by Henry Cornelius Agrippa (Translated by James Freake). London: Printed by R.W. for Gregory Moule, 1651. *''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'', written by Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Book One – Natural Magic. Edited by Willis F. Whitehead. Chicago: Hahn & Whitehead, 1898. *''The Philosophy of Natural Magic'', written by

Henry Cornelius Agrippa Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (; ; 14 September 1486 – 18 February 1535) was a German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer. Agrippa's ''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' published in 1533 drew ...

, Translated by James Freake, Edited by L. W. de Laurence (1913). (Only book one) *''The Philosophy of Natural Magic'', written by

, Translated by James Freake, Edited by Leslie Shepherd (1974). University Books. (, Only book one; reprint of the Laurence edition) *Three Books of Occult Philosophy, written by Henry Cornelius Agrippa (Translated by J. F.). Hastings, England: Chthonios Books, 1986. Facsimile edition – First Thus. *''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'', written by

, Translated by James Freake, Annotated by Donald Tyson (2005). Llewelyn Worldwide. () *''De Occvlta Philosophia'', written by Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Translated by Paul Summers Young (2020). Black Letter Press. *''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'', written by Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Translated by Eric Purdue (2021). Inner Traditions. ()

References

External links

Three Books of Occult Philosophy (London, 1651)
– From the Michigan State University digital collections
PDF

''De occulta philosophia''
– From the Collections at the Library of Congress
''De occulta philosophia. Book 4''
– From the Collections at the Library of Congress * Book One - Natural Magic (Chicago: Hahn & Whitehead, 1898) - From the Cornell collection at the Internet Archive
Selected images from ''De occulta philosophia''
From The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library

– From Internet Sacred Text Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Three Books of Occult Philosophy 1531 books Astrological texts Christian Kabbalah Grimoires Hermetic Qabalah Kabbalah texts

Editions

See also

References

External links