Agrippa's Occult Philosophy: Natural Magic

by Cornelius Agrippa, Willis F. Whitehead (Editor)

Written by a legendary scholar of Renaissance esoterica, this is the single most important text in the history of Western occultism, Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) combined classical Neoplatonic and Hermetic philosophy with elements of the Jewish Kabbalah and Christianity to form a systematic exposition of occult knowledge. Agrippa's view of divine order was subsequently eclipsed by the materialism and atheism of the Enlightenment, but 500 years later, his influential work endures as a cornerstone of mystic literature.
In serious, educated, and accessible terms, Agrippa defines occultism and magic as a natural means of attaining knowledge and power. His explanations of planetary rulerships, enchantments, sorceries, types of divination, and the interpretation of dreams offer an intriguing array of improved health, prolonged life, increased wealth, and enhanced foresight. This inexpensive edition of his classic study offers students of the history of ideas and occult traditions an essential reference tool.

Genres: Occult, Philosophy, Witchcraft, Nonfiction, Magic, Religion, Spirituality

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1531

About the author

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (most often referred to by the Latinate appellation Cornelius Agrippa, sometimes Anglicized as Henry Cornelius Agrippa) was an occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist. His writings on magic and occult philosophy were a significant influence on the later work of Giordano Bruno and John Dee, and thus came to underpin much of the Western esoteric tradition.

Reviews

[Plateresca · Rating 2 out of 5]

One can read one translation of 'Natural Magic' here:
https://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/pnm/...
And I was reading the new Black Letter Press translation, which is not logged into GR (yet, at least).
My edition is, of course, beautiful, but also costly.

As for the book itself, there is a lot of embarassing 'eye of newt and toe of frog' style nonsense.
But there are also philosophic ideas:
'So, if you would work magic, understand the workings of your own soul, and its relationship to the cosmos.'
And useful ideas about magic:
'In all works of magic, be constant in your belief in success, and have no doubt regarding its effect.'
The enumeration of binding methods is the most complete ever, I think.

After all, probably not as interesting as I had expected, but curious enough; I'll now make a pause, but then return to the other volumes.

[Mustafa Al-Laylah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really solid translation! The only question I've got is: How long are we going to have to wait for Book II and III?

[Silas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure I have the correct edition, but I don't believe I was able to find the correct one here on Goodreads. I was reading a free version on my kindle which was a scan of a Harvard library copy from Google Books. Overall, it was a relatively good version, with the exception of any kind of symbols, which were more or less absent. For the majority of the book, this is not a problem, but it does become an issue in the sections on cabala, astrology, and alchemy, where all of the symbols are absent except for a couple of image scans. There are a fair amount of transcription flubs, as well. Still, this is a book I have been meaning to read for years, and having it available for free made that possible.

In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't pay for this. The antiquity makes this seem kind of like it would have good information, but reading through this emphasizes that a lot of accepted knowledge was folkloric, and not based on experience. As a collection of folklore, this was enjoyable, but as an elaboration of occult secrets, it kind of falls flat for me. I suppose, as something of a foundational work, I shouldn't have expected anything groundbreaking, but I guess I thought there would be more to this than there was. The introduction and framing this within a historical context was quite interesting, and the final section was laughably bad. I suppose I let myself expect more from this book than I ought to have. Taken without me presuppositions, this is a solid historical work on some occult topics.

[Felis · Rating 3 out of 5]

O dönem insanlarının inançlarını görmek için güzel bir kaynak. Kitapta daha eski çağdaki yazılara ve kişilere de bolca gönderme var. Ben biraz sıkıldım bir süre sonra, çünkü kitap koca karı inancı denilen şeylerle dolu ve 500 önce güncellenmiş hali :)

[P · Rating 2 out of 5]

The text is a poetry lover's delight, the Olde English capturing your heart and gripping your attention but in the end, this book is just what it promises to be, a PHILOSOPHY of natural magic or more appropriately herbology and elementology. For a philosophical book, this has too much so called "facts" full of witchcraft tips which then has the audacity to proceed to shun witchcraft and sorcery as evil. What, pray do tell, is that you are presenting in this book?

Sure, there is a lot of information here about different herbs, legends about animal parts, which are derived from, you guessed it, witchcraft, divination, the very practices you despise and call malicious. Yeah, like making man the image of God who in your mind can only be Christ makes so much sense for magic, right?
Like the Indian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman religious practices are just wishful speculations, right? Sure, talk about eye of the bat, tongue of the frog and throw hate on witchcraft, yes, that makes sense. Not!

So, though this book had so many interesting sets of information about the elements, the stars, the solar, lunar attributes to every matter, making the higher power in a Christian image and grouping all kinds of witchcraft and divination under evil whilst shamelessly talking about magick and loa is the reason I had to give this such low rating. Sorry not sorry.

[Daniel Rekshan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. John Dee was said to keep Agrippa's work on his desk. Dee had the largest library in Europe at the time, so this is high praise.

I enjoyed his compilation of the various episodes of magic from written history. He was as likely to use Ovid, who Edith Hamilton frequently disregarded as unfaithful and purely aesthetic, as Aristotle. He organizes this confluence of sources, from the scientific to the mythic, into intelligible categories upon which he reflects. He has a clarity of mind that is piercing, which gets to the heart of the matter. He feels very rational, having a similar feeling to Euclidean geometry.

[Sherry Gewitzke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very heavy going but I think essential to allow full knowledge of Wicca
sgt

[david stenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential classic. If nothing else, read it thoroughly, place it on a shelf, and if it ever calls back to you, you'll have it to reference.

[Loly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un viaje intenso al corazón del pensamiento mágico

"Filosofía Oculta" de Enroque Cornelio Agrippa (o Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, como se le conoce más comúnmente) es como abrir un grimorio del Renacimiento: denso, misterioso, pero fascinante. No es un libro práctico de hechizos, sino una especie de enciclopedia sobre cómo se pensaba la magia, la astrología, la cábala y el alma del mundo en el siglo XVI.

Agrippa intenta explicarlo todo: cómo se relacionan los planetas con las plantas, los números con los ángeles, y los símbolos con la realidad. A veces abruma, pero también deslumbra. Es un texto para leer con calma, y mejor si te interesa el ocultismo desde un punto de vista histórico o filosófico.

No es fácil ni moderno, pero si te gusta lo esotérico de verdad, este libro es una joya.

[Carmen Peña · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encontré con los textos de un observador y conocedor de la naturaleza. Asi mismo me permitío sumergirme en la perspectiva del mundo que se tenia en su época al querer transmitir este conocimiento a sus discípulos. Me lleve una grata sorpresa, fuera de que fue mi primer lectura en este tipo de tema y para mi fortuna no fué un grimorio si no este compendio

[Punk Academia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting for a foundational understanding of where many modern occult beliefs stem from. Otherwise, pretty dull and repetitive and wildly unscientific.

[Wayne Denton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the translation by Eric Purdue.

Before getting into the contents of the book, I want to talk about the physical book itself. The three-book hardcover set is stunning. The dust jacket is beautiful, the cloth cover is phenomenal, and the printing itself is amazing with the use of footnotes AND side notes. This copy corrects a great deal of mistranslations from the Tyson translation.

The text itself is great. As a professional historian, I see book one as a historiography of sorts. Agrippa presented the current understanding of natural magic as taught by those who preceded him. He also quotes many of his contemporaries. While the book is not "teaching" how to "do magic." It is letting individuals understand the connections between the physical world and the celestial world. It serves as setting the groundwork for the upcoming books which become much more practical. For anyone stating that Agrippa is a great encyclopedia of magic thinking, they have not read and understood Agrippa. He is not merely listing spells, he is composing an academic work of sorts. He is acting as a teacher and Book One asserts his position as the expert in the room by letting the reader know how studied he is in the topic.

5/5: Translation
5/5: Physical Book
5/5: Content

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating look at the occult traditions of the Renaissance age. While Agrippa’s work has not aged all that well in all its content, it is nonetheless worth examining as a key root to the modern esoteric tradition.