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1655 · Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy

Attributed to Henry Cornelius Agrippa, with the Heptameron attributed to Peter de Abano, Astronomical Geomancy attributed to Gerard of Cremona, the Isagoge of Georg Pictorius and the anonymous Arbatel · 1655

Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy

Robert Turner's 1655 English volume gathered the core texts of Renaissance ceremonial magic under the name of Agrippa. Its centrepiece, the spurious Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, explains how the names and characters of spirits are drawn from tables, how pentacles, circles and books of spirits are consecrated, and how good and evil spirits and the souls of the dead are called. Around it Turner placed Agrippa's treatise on geomancy, the Heptameron attributed to Peter de Abano with its conjurations for each day of the week, an astrological geomancy credited to Gerard of Cremona, Georg Pictorius's dialogue on the nature of spirits, and the Arbatel's forty-nine aphorisms. This reading text follows the EEBO-TCP transcription of the 1655 printing, keeping its original spelling.

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Contents

  1. 1.Title page41 w.
  2. 2.The preface to the reader, with commendatory verses2,835 w.
  3. 3.Of Geomancy, part 1 of 33,535 w.
  4. 4.Of Geomancy, part 2 of 33,040 w.
  5. 5.Of Geomancy, part 3 of 33,316 w.
  6. 6.Fourth Book: the names, characters and shapes of spirits3,903 w.
  7. 7.Fourth Book: pentacles, consecrations and the book of spirits4,548 w.
  8. 8.Fourth Book: the invocation of spirits and the souls of the dead4,519 w.
  9. 9.Heptameron: the circle, consecrations and exorcisms4,851 w.
  10. 10.Heptameron: the seven days, their angels and conjurations4,091 w.
  11. 11.Of the Nature of Spirits (Pictorius’ Isagoge), part 1 of 43,043 w.
  12. 12.Of the Nature of Spirits (Pictorius’ Isagoge), part 2 of 43,052 w.
  13. 13.Of the Nature of Spirits (Pictorius’ Isagoge), part 3 of 43,046 w.
  14. 14.Of the Nature of Spirits (Pictorius’ Isagoge), part 4 of 43,200 w.
  15. 15.Astronomical Geomancy: introduction and questions of houses 1–63,948 w.
  16. 16.Astronomical Geomancy: questions of houses 7–123,764 w.
  17. 17.Arbatel of Magick: title and aphorisms 1–214,547 w.
  18. 18.Arbatel of Magick: aphorisms 22–352,955 w.
  19. 19.Arbatel of Magick: aphorisms 36–493,918 w.