Présentation de l'éditeur :
AS the fall of man made himself and all other creatures subject to vanity; so, by reason thereof, the most noble and excellent Arts wherewith the Rational soul was indued, are by the rusty canker of Time brought unto Corruption. For Magick itself, which the ancients didso divinely contemplate, is scandalized with bearing the badge of all diabolical sorceries: which Are (saith Mirandula) Pauci intelligum, multi reprehendunt, & ficut canes ignotos semper allatrant: Few understand, many reprehend, and as dogs bark at those they know not: so do many condemn and hate the things they understand not. Many men there are, that abhor the very name and word Magus, because of Simon Magus, who being indeed not Magus, but goes, that is, familiar with evil Spirits, usurped that Title. But Magicke and Witchcraft are far differing Sciences; whereof Pliny being ignorant, scoffeth thereat: for Nero (saith Pliny) who had the most excellent Magicians of the East sent him by Tyridates king of Armenia, who held that kingdom by him, found the Art after long study and labour altogether ridiculous. Now Witchcraft and Sorcery, are works done merely by the devil, which with respect unto some covenant made with man, he acteth by men his instruments, to accomplish his evil ends: of these, the histories of all ages, people and countries, as also the holy Scriptures, afford us sundry examples.
Présentation de l'éditeur :
The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy must be first by the reader set aside from the triplicate works of Heinrich Agrippa, the famous Three Books of the same, by virtue of its manufacture- generally considered not to have been penned by Agrippa himself but rather by others influenced by his work. Running the gamut from celestial notations to summoning in a sense not normally seen until a century later, this fourth book is no less a genuine grimoire than any of the texts dubiously ascribed to Moses, Solomon, Adam, Hermes, and other major figures within Renaissance magick. Its pages contain a great deal of occult lore, especially with regards to the classification of, and sigils made for, various spiritual entities- both divine and infernal, as well as those natural forces usually classed aside from both of the same.
Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.