Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy is perhaps the most important textbook about magic that has ever been written. The first complete Latin edition was published in 1533. It was translated into English in 1651 by someone calling himself J. F. who was identified by the Oxford English Dictionary as James Freake (by others as James French). For centuries it served as the standard encyclopedia of occultism for European scholars, theologians, philosophers and magicians.
It contains nothing that is completely original. Agrippa's genius lay in his ability to select the most vital aspects of magic, both from the literature of the ancient world and the time of the Renaissance, and to integrate his material in a clear, rational system. Although individual techniques differ, in its overall principles the magic in the Occult Philosophy is essentially the same as that being worked today.
The Golden Dawn drew heavily on Agrippa's great book when shaping its own system of ritual occultism. The Enochian magic of John Dee and Edward Kelley relied upon the Occult Philosophy for some of its most fundamental formative patterns (as I have demonstrated in my recent book Enochian Magic For Beginners).
Despite the work's importance, prior to my edition of the Occult Philosophy it was extremely difficult to actually use Agrippa's text. It was available only in poor and expensive facsimile editions of the original Latin and the 1651 J.F. English translation. Both contain literally countless errors great and small. Many of the names of ancient magicians, philosophers and places are so corrupt that they are effectively meaningless. Neither edition possesses an index or explanatory notes.
The sole "modern" edition, by Wallis F. Whitehead in 1897, is merely a transcription of only the first book of the J.F. translation with the spelling and punctuation somewhat updated. Whitehead intended to edit books two and three also, but presumably when he actually came to consider the task, he realized that it lay beyond his abilities. The Whitehead edition was reprinted by the notable literary pirate and occult hack, L. W. de Laurence. In 1974 University Books published the de Laurence version of Whitehead's edition.
Books two and three of the Occult Philosophy contain numerous Hebrew names and tables that are drawn from the practical Kabbalah, which was just being discovered by Christian magicians in Agrippa's time. It also has many diagrams of sigils, talismans and magic squares. All of these are hopelessly corrupt in the Latin and early English editions.
Relying on my knowledge of numerical and Kabbalistic magic, I found it possible to reconstruct and correct these tables and magic squares by analyzing their internal patterns. As a result, I was able to present them accurately for the first time in the five hundred year history of Agrippa's book.
Innumerable corrections were made to the body of the text. It was necessary to rely upon the internal logic of the material since the errors in the J.F. translation had in most instances merely been copied from the Latin original. In order to render Agrippa's wealth of material useful to the modern reader, a biographical introduction, extensive notes, appendices on key topics, and a full set of indices were added.
These aids occupy approximately the same number of pages as Agrippa's entire original text. They constitute a supplementary encyclopedia that complements the original Renaissance reference work. Without the notes and appendices, many portions of the Occult Philosophy would be impossible for the average reader to fully comprehend. By referring to the notes, appendices and indices, the more obscure references and instructions in the Occult Philosophy are rendered intelligible to a much wider audience than ever before in the history of the work. What could formerly be understood only by a handful of dedicated occult scholars can now be grasped by any serious and intelligent student of the art.
Anyone who wishes to know anything about Western magic must study Agrippa's Occult Philosophy. This cannot be stressed too strongly. It was only the corruptness and obscurity of the old editions that prevented the Occult Philosophy from assuming its rightful place of dominance in the literature of occultism. In the past, those who might have profited greatly from Agrippa's book were overwhelmed by the difficulties it presented, or could not locate a complete edition, or could not afford the high price asked for it. With this corrected and annotated edition available in a relatively inexpensive paperback format, the wisdom of Agrippa is now open to every seeker.
ISBN: 0-87542-832-0. Price: $29.95 US. Llewellyn, 1992.