Arbatel of Magic (1575): The Olympic Spirits and Pious Magic

The Arbatel de magia veterum ("Arbatel, on the Magic of the Ancients") is a short Latin book of ceremonial magic printed anonymously at Basel in 1575. Written as forty-nine aphorisms, it teaches that true magic is a gift of God granted to the pious, and it introduces the seven "Olympic spirits" who govern the universe under the planets. Gentle in tone, Paracelsian in outlook and almost free of demonology, it became one of the most widely read and influential grimoires of early modern Europe.

The Arbatel of Magic Explained§

Most Renaissance grimoires present magic as a technical operation: circles, names, conjurations and the constraint of spirits. The Arbatel is different. It presents itself as the introduction (Isagoge) to a larger work on "the magic of the ancients" and frames magic as a form of wisdom that God reveals to those he chooses. The magician must love God, live honestly, help his neighbour, keep silent about the secrets he receives and use them for the good of others. The spirits are ministers of God who serve such a person freely, not powers to be forced.

This religious emphasis places the Arbatel closer to devotional and prophetic literature than to the demonic books of the period. A. E. Waite, who was no admirer of most grimoires, noted that it contains nothing of black magic and owes little to the Solomonic tradition. Its spirits belong to the same imaginative world as the planetary angels of the Heptameron, but the book's centre of gravity is moral and spiritual. For the broader landscape see our guide to angels and spirits.

Publication in Basel and the Question of Authorship§

The first edition was printed at Basel in 1575 without the name of an author or printer. The typography and context point strongly to Pietro Perna, an Italian Protestant exile who printed Paracelsus and other heterodox authors, and the physician and encyclopedist Theodor Zwinger has been suggested as the work's final editor. Basel in these years was a centre of the Paracelsian revival, and the Arbatel's language of divine gifts, inner light and the harmony of Scripture and nature fits that milieu.

The title itself is mysterious. Waite suggested that "Arbatel" was the name of an angel from whom the author learned; others have connected it with a Hebrew word for "fourfold" and the four-letter name of God. Some later German manuscripts ascribed the book to Paracelsus, without evidence. Joseph Peterson, in his 2009 edition, argued that the most likely author is Jacques Gohory (1520–1576), a Parisian lawyer, translator and Paracelsian who wrote under the name Leo Suavius and shared many of the Arbatel's interests. The attribution is plausible but not proven, and the question remains open.

Forty-Nine Aphorisms: Magic as a Gift of God§

The Isagoge is arranged in seven "septenaries" of seven aphorisms each. Their style is compressed and proverbial, and they quote or paraphrase the Bible more often than any other source, alongside classical philosophers, Plotinus, the Sibylline oracles and Trithemius. Among their recurring themes are:

• Piety first. Everything begins with the knowledge and love of God, prayer and obedience to his word.
• The magician's duty to others. The secrets of magic are given for the benefit of neighbours; the practitioner should live in the world rather than withdraw from it.
• Silence and discernment. Secrets must be guarded, and the seeker must distinguish divine gifts from deceptions.
• Kinds of magic. The text distinguishes good magic, which serves God, from evil magic, which serves the devil, and divides wisdom into knowledge of divine things (theosophia) and knowledge of natural and human things (anthroposophia).

The book announces nine tomes in all, with titles that range from the magic of the microcosm and Olympic magic to the magic of Hesiod and Homer, of the Sibyls, of Pythagoras, of Apollonius, of Hermes and, finally, prophetic magic grounded only in the word of God. Only the introduction was ever published, and there is no evidence that the remaining tomes were written.

The Seven Olympic Spirits§

The Arbatel's most famous contribution is its system of Olympic spirits, so called because they inhabit the "firmament" or "Olympus" of the heavens. Each is linked with one of the seven classical planets and governs a number of the universe's 196 "Olympic provinces":

Each spirit has a seal and a list of characteristic powers corresponding to its planet: Och to medicine and gold, Hagith to beauty and the transmutation of metals, Ophiel to knowledge, Phul to healing and the waters, and so on. The text also presents a scheme of world history in which the Olympic spirits rule in turn for periods of 490 years, a speculative chronology typical of the apocalyptic and Paracelsian thought of the time. The names have no known source in earlier magical literature and may be the author's own invention; the term "Olympic spirits" itself appears earlier in Paracelsian writing.

The book describes calling the Olympic spirits at their planetary days and hours with prayer, rather than with the elaborate constraints of the Solomonic tradition. It treats their aid as a divine favour rather than a guaranteed result, and the descriptions are given here as historical evidence of the work's content.

Theosophia, Rosicrucians and Early Modern Readers§

The Arbatel was controversial from the start. Johann Weyer condemned it as full of magical impiety, and the Basel theologian Simon Sulzer also attacked it. In 1617 the University of Marburg took disciplinary action against two professors and a student connected with the book. Yet it found admirers among exactly the spiritual reformers whom orthodox theologians distrusted.

Historians have traced its influence on Lutheran spiritualists and Paracelsians such as Valentin Weigel, Johann Arndt, Adam Haslmayr and Heinrich Khunrath, and it circulated in the circles that produced the first Rosicrucian manifestos. Its use of theosophia for a divinely granted knowledge of God and nature is among the earliest in this sense, and the word later became attached to Jacob Boehme and his followers. Thomas Vaughan found the term anthroposophia there in the seventeenth century, long before Rudolf Steiner adopted it. John Dee knew the book, and the Swedish antiquary Johannes Bureus credited it with awakening his interest in Kabbalah.

Translations from Turner to Modern Editions§

From the late sixteenth century the Arbatel was often printed and bound with the pseudo-Agrippan Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy and the Heptameron. Robert Turner translated it into English in 1655 as part of that composite volume, and his version, though imperfect, became the standard English text. An independent English translation survives in a seventeenth-century notebook associated with the physician Arthur Gauntlet (British Library, Sloane MS 3851).

In German, Andreas Luppius published a translation with additions at Wesel in 1686, and Johann Scheible reprinted it in the nineteenth century. Ebenezer Sibly and Frederick Hockley used Turner's English, and the Olympic spirits passed into the repertoire of modern ceremonial magic, including later angel magic influenced by the Golden Dawn. Joseph Peterson's bilingual edition of 2009 gave readers a reliable Latin text and translation for the first time. The catalogue entry is the Arbatel.

Frequently asked questions§

What are the Olympic spirits?§

They are seven spirits named in the Arbatel — Aratron, Bethor, Phaleg, Och, Hagith, Ophiel and Phul — each associated with one of the seven classical planets. The book describes them as governors of the universe's 196 provinces who serve God and the pious magician.

Who wrote the Arbatel of Magic?§

The author is unknown. It was printed anonymously at Basel in 1575, probably by Pietro Perna. Joseph Peterson has argued that the French Paracelsian Jacques Gohory is the most likely author, but this has not been proven.

Is the Arbatel a Solomonic grimoire?§

No. Unlike the Solomonic books, it contains almost no demonology, circles or constraints. It emphasises prayer, moral conduct and the idea that genuine magic is a gift of God, which makes it unusual among early modern grimoires.

Why is the Arbatel important for the history of theosophy?§

It is one of the earliest texts to use theosophia for a God-given knowledge of divine and natural mysteries. The book was read by Lutheran spiritualists and Paracelsians, and the term later became associated with Jacob Boehme and the Christian theosophical tradition.

Sources and further reading§

• Arbatel: Concerning the Magic of the Ancients — Joseph H. Peterson, 2009
• The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy — Henry Cornelius Agrippa (attributed), 1978
• The Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet — David Rankine, 2011
• Grimoires: A History of Magic Books — Owen Davies, 2009
• The Book of Ceremonial Magic — A. E. Waite, 1911
• Ritual Magic — E. M. Butler, 1949