Three Books of Occult Philosophy

Three Books of Occult Philosophy (De Occulta Philosophia libri III) is Heinrich Cornelius
Agrippa's study of occult philosophy, acknowledged as a significant contribution to the
Renaissance philosophical discussion concerning the powers of magic, 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.[1]

De Occulta Philosophia, Libri tres

Man inscribed in a pentagram, from

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Three
Books of Occult Philosophy. The signs
on the perimeter represent the 5
visible planets in astrology.

The three books deal with elemental, celestial and intellectual magic. The books outline the four
elements, astrology, Kabbalah, numerology, 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 Chaldean 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, Pico della
Mirandola and Johann Reuchlin's synthesis of magic and religion, and emphasize an exploration
of nature.

History

The first draft of the Three Books was presented by Agrippa in 1510 to Abbot Johannes
Trithemius. The text survives to this day and draws heavily from Ficino, Pliny the Elder and Pico
Della Mirandola, among other works well-known to scholars of the Renaissance.[2]

In 1526-27, Agrippa published a satirical-critical work called De Incertitudine Et Vanitate

Scientiarum Liber, in which he seemingly retracted his Three Books, apparently admitting that his
occult studies were misguided. However, whether Agrippa was genuine remains a matter of
scholarly debate.[2]

The final and complete edition of the Three Books was published in Cologne in 1533. A first
English translation was published in 1651.[3]

Editions

Agrippa, Henry Cornelius (1651). Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Translated by James Freake.
London: Printed by R.W. for Gregory Moule.

——— (1898). Whitehead, Willis F. (ed.). Three Books of Occult Philosophy: Book One – Natural
Magic. Chicago: Hahn & Whitehead.

——— (1913). de Laurence, L. W. (ed.). The Philosophy of Natural Magic. Translated by James
Freake. (Book One only)

——— (1974). Shepherd, Leslie (ed.). The Philosophy of Natural Magic. Translated by James
Freake. University Books. ISBN 0-82160-218-7. (Book One only; reprint of the Laurence edition)

——— (1986). Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Translated by J. F. (Facsimile ed.). Hastings,
England: Chthonios Books.

——— (2005). Tyson, Donald (ed.). Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Translated by James
Freake. Llewelyn Worldwide. ISBN 0-87542-832-0.

——— (2020). De Occvlta Philosophia. Vol. I–IV. Translated by Paul Summers Young. Black
Letter Press.

——— (2021). Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Translated by Eric Purdue. Inner Traditions.
ISBN 978-1644114162.
See also

Religion portal

Classification of demons

Grimoire

Hermetic Qabalah

The Magus, or Celestial Intelligencer

References

1. Van Der Poel, Marc (1997). Cornelius Agrippa: The Humanist Theologian and His Declamations. Brill.
p. 44.

2. Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius (2021). Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Translated by Purdue, Eric. Inner
Traditions. pp. xxxiv. ISBN 9781644114162.

3. Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius (2021). Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Translated by Purdue, Eric. Inner
Traditions. pp. xxxv.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

De Occulta Philosophia

Three Books of Occult Philosophy (London, 1651) (https://lib.msu.edu/branches/dmc/digitalsea

rch/?string=agrippa&field=title) – From the Michigan State University digital collections. PDF
(http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/Arts%20&%20Humanities/threebooksoccult.pdf) .

De occulta philosophia (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/general.12345.1) – From the Collections at

the Library of Congress

De occulta philosophia. Book 4 (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/general.31418.1) – 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 (http://www.cppdigitallibrary.org/items/browse?a

dvanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=contains&adva
nced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Agrippa+von+Nettesheim%2C+Heinrich+Cornelius%2C+148
6%3F-1535.+De+occulta+philosophia) From The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital
Library
The Philosophy of Natural Magic (Chicago: de Laurence, 1913) (https://sacred-texts.com/eso/p
nm/index.htm) – From Internet Sacred Text Archive