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The a._ ... ...,. .. ,." ............... Masters Magic<br />
Johannes Tri<strong>the</strong>mius<br />
Tri<strong>the</strong>rnius was a monk in <strong>the</strong> Benedictine monastery<br />
<strong>of</strong> Sponheim. After his he reformed <strong>the</strong> restored <strong>the</strong><br />
building, established a library <strong>of</strong> about 2000 various volumes, and<br />
obliged monks to more devoted and regular work. from this,<br />
however, he was a follower <strong>of</strong> occult sciences and fame<br />
as a magtcIan demonic magic. This owed much to his<br />
interests in Hermeticism which was not well seen <strong>the</strong> Church<br />
authorities. The main reason, however, was his book In<br />
1498, he wrote to his friend Arnold Bostins his ideas about <strong>the</strong><br />
book:<br />
"This book, in which I teach many little-known secrets and TTIV"'Pln""<br />
all, especially <strong>the</strong> fun <strong>of</strong> superhuman, amazing, incredible<br />
has ever spoken or written <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m before me".41<br />
The title <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> book, Steganographia, derived from Greek and translated as<br />
"hidden writing". On <strong>the</strong> surface it was a system <strong>of</strong> in<br />
fact it was a system <strong>of</strong> cryptography and <strong>the</strong> art <strong>of</strong> enCo(lmg rrles�,ag;es<br />
41Andre Nataf: Dictionary Occult<br />
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