Mathematical Magic

De magia mathematica is a short Latin compilation on practical and astral magic that survives among Bruno’s manuscripts and was first printed in Tocco’s 1891 edition of his Latin works. Much of it consists of excerpts and paraphrases from Trithemius, Agrippa’s Occult Philosophy and the pseudo-Albertus Magnus tradition, and earlier editors debated whether it was Bruno’s own work or a notebook of borrowed material. The consensus, reflected in the Tocco edition’s notes, is that Bruno himself compiled it, since it refers to his De umbris idearum and parallels passages in De magia. The text is arranged in three tractates. The first explains the descent of influence from God through the angels and heavens to human beings, the kinds of faith necessary for magical operation, and the names and orders of spirits and angels, with the ritual conditions for calling them. The second treats time, including the planetary hours and the twenty-eight mansions of the Moon. The third deals with the properties of the elements and their uses, with suffumigations, amulets, rings and related materials. As a working notebook, it shows Bruno engaging directly with the operative tradition of learned magic, not merely with its philosophy, and it illustrates how Agrippa’s synthesis was being digested by readers in the generation after its publication.

What it contains

• The chain of influence from God through angels to humans
• Three kinds of faith required for magic
• Names and orders of spirits and angels; ritual conditions
• Planetary hours and the twenty-eight lunar mansions
• Elemental properties, suffumigations, amulets and rings