Glimpses of the Left..

IIm()n9"�t themselves, whence it !-au',",,,,._.:;
virtues of things through the
Inferior suitable subjects, joining and knitting them together ."unnw
powers, and virtues of the Bodies. This is the most and chief
Hdcnce, that sacred and sublimer kind of Philosophy, and lastly the most absolute
I" 'rfection of all most excellent .44
I Ie advocated the conviction that a true magician had to be skilled in many
natural philosophy, arithmetics,
optics, astronomy and physics, etc. He also believed in unity of
1111 sciences. to him, they all and
J'l·inforced one another and the knowledge of all of them was a necessity
for a Therefore, the of his Occult Philosophy orE�Ser1t
NllCh of the occult as: natural (focusing on the
three and the intellectual), num€�rollOf!
,1I1d secrets cosmic harmony, ceremonial
the description of hierarchy of and demons.
Agrippa is probably the best known Renaissance magician associated with
demonic black It is that he was "a living to
He was considered to be a sorcerer
pr21ctisinlg black magic. It was believed that he had a magical ban in which
he could see places, past and events. Agrippa himself '"" ''''1"''''
contributed to his image of a magician". He
most of his was the result of the contact with
were also stories that used to walk """'nn",,
a black dog. The animal was believed to be his HULl"ACU
demon in the shape of a dog. This rumour linked his name with
about Faustus - for example a similar account can be found in
Melanchton's of in which the protagonist was
constantly by a black course, it was not an ('\'1'.", ,,-,,,,.., ,
nnimal but himself. Another rumour described
abilities to communicate with the dead. Once, he reputedly summoned
spirit of Cicero at the request of lord and his court. There was also a
story of student who came to study when the scholar was
out. The apprentice evoked a demon using a from
Agrippa's book but he was too weak to control the creature.
According to the the demon killed the When
44 Agrippa. Three Books Philosophy
�67-