We are pleased to present updates to the Theurgia.Org website dated July 30, 2013. In this update we are posting translations of the opening chapters of several classic works on the Magical Art. The parts of these works translated and posted in this update are mainly devoted to explaining the essence of such an occult discipline as Natural Magic. So, we publish the introductory chapter from Giordano Bruno's De Magia, an Introduction to the Study of Natural Magic from Francis Barrett's The Magus, or Celestial Intellegencer, and the Conversion to the reader" and "Chapter I" from "Book I" of "Occult Philosophy" by Henry Cornelius Agrippa. In addition, this update includes biographies of two great occultists involved in the development of the theory and practice of Renaissance Magic: Philip Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus) and Marsilio Ficino. These articles were prepared for the Theurgia.Org website by occult journalist Valeria Sedova. In addition, we are publishing an inspired translation of another poem by the 20th-century German expressionist poet Wilhelm Klemm, by the esteemed Julia Falter. Also in this update you will find an article about Basilisk in ancient Greek, Roman mythology, folklore, bestiaries and the Holy Scriptures.
“Basilisk” - Valeria Sedova
The Basilisk is one of the most famous mythological characters, which is a constant “resident” of ancient bestiaries, one of the common non-heraldic fantasy figures, and, in addition, its image is very symbolic in an occult context.
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In 2013, the publishing house “A.G. Moskvichev" published a translation into Russian of the famous three-volume work of Francis Barrett "The Magician", which is a good textbook on magic and occultism of the early 19th century. Unfortunately, the book contains numerous annoying typos and stylistic irregularities caused by the lack of a proofreader and editor, however, this is the first translation into Russian of a truly outstanding work and no other translation into Russian still seems to exist. I will immediately note that this translation was made not from English, in which “The Magician” was actually written, but from French, which, of course, serves as another barrier to understanding the original. Of course, those who are fluent in English can find an electronic version of the original on the Internet, but it is also clear that such books are much preferable to read in paper form, because they are created not for the usual acquaintance with information of a whimsical and entertaining nature, but for thoughtful readings by a knowledgeable person ready to come into contact with the world of higher magic.
Title page of the first edition of The Magician, 1801, and portrait of F. Barrett
The book "The Magician" was first published in 1801 in London and is a kind of compilation of the works of famous occult philosophers - Pietro d'Abano (1250-1316), Abbot Trithemius (1462-1516), Agrippa of Nettesheim (1486-1535), Van Helmont (1580-1644) and others, and, as Alison Butler states (Beyond Attribution: The Importance of Barrett's Magus. In: Journal for the Academic Study of Magic. Band 1, 2003, S. 7-32) Barrett used them English translations from the 17th century.
It is important to note here that magical works of this type have been created since ancient times, for the most part, as compilations, and this method in itself does not in any way diminish the merits and skills of each subsequent author. Moreover, Barrett not only inserts large chunks from the same “Occult Philosophy” of Agrippa into his book, but changes the order of the quoted chapters, provides them with his own notes, replaces individual fragments, etc. That is, we are not talking about the appropriation of other people’s texts, but about a deeply thought-out selection of what, in the opinion of the author of “The Magician,” was the most significant and, most importantly, suitable for himself, living in another time and in another country. Moreover, as he himself notes: Agrippa’s books “are now so rare that they can hardly be found, and they are sold by booksellers at a very high price.” Fortunately, in the same 2013, the publishing house “A.G. Moskvichev” also published a Russian translation of Agrippa’s works along with the so-called. “fourth”, attributed to him by the book “Occult Philosophy,” so if you wish, you can conduct a kind of experiment: read the work of Agrippa, and after a while read the work of Barrett and compare their effects on consciousness.
Cover of the Russian edition of the book 2013
Another drawback of the book is also associated with the lack of editing - there are notes both in the text itself and in the footnotes, and they belong either to the translator or to the author, the necessary commentary is practically absent, in other words, to call this publication not only scientific, but in any way exemplary It’s absolutely impossible, but for an initial acquaintance with Barrett’s work it’s quite suitable.
What do we know about the personality of the author of “The Magician”? The very brief preface to the Russian edition states that very little is known about him. He was born in 1774 in London and died presumably in 1830 in America. I will add that “The Magician” was written around the historical time in which the characters of the famous novel by British writer Suzanne Clarke “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” (2004) take place, based on which a series of the same name was released in 2015. In Clarke’s book we are talking about a certain community of English “theoretic magicians”, convinced that magic left our world several centuries ago, but immediately encountered a practitioner of magic, Mr. Gilbert Norrell, who soon has a competitor in the form of another magician -self-taught by Jonathan Strange. But if Clarke’s book is a kind of spreading cranberry, making an impression on those who are very superficially familiar with the history of European occultism of the New Age, then Barrett’s “The Magician” is a serious classic work that influenced the subsequent development of Western magic. Barrett's goal, however, was the same as that of the fictional Mr. Norell: "This time," he wrote, "the secrets of Nature are beginning to be explored more deeply than during the entire previous century, during which they were completely neglected."
Eddie Marsan as magician Gilbert Norrell. Still from the series "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" 2015
From the preface to the Russian edition one can learn that until the mid-19th century, Barrett’s work (not least because of its high cost) remained almost unknown to contemporaries, and only thanks to the writer and occultist Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873), the author of the great novel “Zanoni”, and the magician Eliphas Levi (1810-1875) received well-deserved recognition. Also, the “Mage” was actively used by representatives of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn during the so-called period. occult Renaissance of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular, references to it can be found in the book of the famous researcher of this order, Israel Regardie (1907-1985), “Talismans. Guide to production, consecration and use" (M.: Enigma, 2007). There is still not published in Russian a short biography of Barrett, written by F. King and published in 1992: “The Flying Sorcerer: Being the Magical and Aeronautical Adventures of Francis Barrett, Author of The Magus”, containing the most minimal information about him life. The latter, however, as well as the ridiculous rumors about him, are quite understandable, for the task of every real magician is to erase personal history and deliberately confuse the facts of his biography. That is, the lack of a clear biography and the abundance of absurd criticism testifies rather in favor of Barrett, who, apparently, really was an outstanding initiate of the first third of the 19th century.
However, you can still read something about Barrett, for example, in Owen Davis’s book “Grimoires: The History of Magic Books” (M.: Harpocrates, 2014). It rightly states that “the British contribution to the development of ritual and incantatory magic consisted not in popularization through cheap publications, but in the compilation of several full-length and expensive compilations from the books of the early modern Neoplatonists.” Barrett's predecessor in this matter was the astrologer and Freemason Ebenezer Sibley (1751 - ca. 1799), who died several years before the publication of The Magician and left behind the work A New and Complete Exposition of the Celestial Science of Astrology, which went through many reprints. At that time, according to the historian E.P. Thompson, London was experiencing an “explosion of anti-rationalism.” After Sibley's death, Barrett also proclaims himself an adept of the occult sciences, and one of Ebenezer's students, the healer John Parkins, turns to him.
Depictions of hellish spirits - illustration from the first edition of The Magician, 1801
In English newspapers of the early 19th century, one can find references to Barrett as an unsuccessful balloonist: in 1802, he allegedly attracted large crowds of spectators three times to watch him take off in a hot air balloon, but each of his attempts was a fiasco. However, Barrett's aeronautical failures were quickly forgotten, and his book, albeit after a while, took its honorable place in the magical tradition.
The book “The Magician” is structured in three volumes: the first volume is devoted to natural and talismanic magic, as well as alchemy, astrology and numerology; the second volume is devoted to magnetism, necromancy, demonology and ceremonial magic itself; finally, the third volume covers biographies of the greatest magicians of previous centuries from Zoroaster and Apollonius of Tyana to Henry Cornelius Agrippa and John Dee (18 names in total). Barrett quotes Agrippa most often, but this can be explained not only in a positivist way - in the sense that it was this material that caught his eye and was most suitable for borrowing - but also in a purely magical way, because it is known that many magicians considered themselves reincarnation of the magicians who lived before them. Thus, Eliphas Levi saw the shadow of Apollonius of Tyana during a necromancy ritual and realized that it was he himself, and Aleister Crowley considered himself the new incarnation of Eliphas Levi, etc. Of course, Barrett nowhere writes that he and Agrippa are one being, but uses the latter's text as if it were written by him.
Barrett's work (like many magical treatises and grimoires of that time) was certainly written by a Christian who knew the Holy Scriptures and the works of the Fathers of the Church well and saw in magic the highest manifestation of religion, a special active wisdom aimed at comprehending God the Creator through contemplation and study of him creations, communication with spirits, and always with the help and permission of Divine powers. As the author writes: “...let no one be offended by the revered sacred title of Magus - a title that every sage deserves when he follows the same path that Christ himself trodden, namely the path of meekness, love, mercy, fasting, prayer, etc. d.; for the true magician is the truest Christian and the closest disciple of our blessed Lord...” (pp. 26-27).
Initiation into witchcraft mysteries. Ancient allegory
Thus, high magic differs significantly from low-grade devilish witchcraft, which is usually used by witches to harm people. Barrett, of course, condemns witches as servants of the devil, but at the same time, along with the rituals of summoning angels, for some reason he sets out in detail the spells of summoning and subduing hellish spirits. Indeed, it seems strange to find benefit in the latter if the magician, as he himself assures, is able to communicate with higher powers and receive revelations from them, even in a dream.
It is also difficult to say whether his emphasized Christian moralism was a clever veil, necessary so as not to scare away religious readers and not incur their wrath as an “ungodly sorcerer,” or whether it was simply a tribute to a tradition dating back to more cruel and cannibalistic times ( It’s not for nothing that in the biography of the same Agrippa, Barrett specifically mentions his problems with the Inquisition), but sometimes his annoying warnings look precisely like a desire, just in case, to protect himself and his work from unnecessary criticism from religious fanatics.
The author himself, in an address to the reader, characterizes his book as follows: “...our Work is, as it were, a spiritual essence, extracted from a huge amount of material; for we can truly say that this little Course is truly spiritual and essential to the happiness of man; therefore to those who wish to be happy, we with the best intentions command this Work as their constant companion, in which, if they cling to it, they will not be disappointed in their desires to achieve the true Philosopher's Stone. Elsewhere, Barrett explains that the book can only be useful under certain conditions, namely the absence of a skeptical attitude towards it: “... to operate in magic, you need to have constant faith, not doubt luck, not hesitate at all and not have doubts of the spirit. Firm and constant faith creates miraculous effects even in erroneous operations...”
Thematic illustration
The point is that the main engine of magic is the human will, aimed at achieving a specific goal. “The general rule is that every spirit that improves in what it desires and in its passion creates for itself things that are most conducive and effective in relation to what it desires. If they want to practice magic, they need to know and cognize the quality of their soul, its virtue, its faith, the scale and even the degree of its power over the universe.” In general, the willingness to open up to spiritual knowledge is extremely important: “... one who does not desire spiritual knowledge cannot achieve it by any means other than, firstly, resorting to God, and secondly, cleansing his own heart; thirdly, surrendering oneself to the will of the Holy Spirit...” The book also contains specific lessons that allow you to cleanse yourself and prepare for certain spiritual practices, but they are generally familiar to all more or less religious people and imply, first of all, ritual purity, fasting, liberation of the soul from bad thoughts, lust and selfish desires, sanctification of living space, prayer, reading the Bible, etc.
Another indispensable condition for success in comprehending the royal art, according to Barrett, is the ability to keep secrets about the most important things without revealing them to strangers: “And we immediately warn you that every magical experience flees from publicity, tries to hide, is strengthened and strengthened by silence , but is destroyed by publication; also all the virtue of your works will suffer damage if it is poured into weak, talkative and skeptical minds. So, if you want to be a magician and collect the fruits of this art, be hidden and do not reveal your work, place, time, desire or will to anyone, with the exception of one teacher or partner ... "
Barrett himself, however, was not particularly shy about talking about his skills and at the end of the second book he even indicated his address, where those wishing to take private lessons from him could find him and talk with him about all sorts of occult things (of course, certain kind of payment). As follows from Barrett's "Announcement", he intended to create an occult school of twelve students - the number of the apostles of Christ. However, whether he managed to do this during his lifetime is unknown, although he certainly had some students.
Thematic illustration
It is noteworthy that the author of “The Magician” used his knowledge of the occult, including to predict purely political events. Thus, in the third chapter of the first part of the first book, he writes about prophetic dreams and notes that during the last change of government (apparently, we are talking about the resignation of William Pitt the Younger from the post of Prime Minister in March 1801), he “learned about this, at least five days before the event" and described how it would happen to several of his friends. However, this is the only slip of this kind in the book, which as a whole is not devoted to the ability to predict political events and, even more so, to influence them, but to the opportunity to learn as much as possible about the structure of the world and man in general and one’s personality in particular.
The most powerful tool of the magician, according to Barrett, is his word: “Indeed, the power of human words is so great that when they are spoken with all the determination of the mind, they are capable of turning Nature upside down, causing earthquakes, storms and hurricanes.<…>Almost all charms are powerless without words, because words are the speech of the speaker and the image of the thing designated; therefore, whatever miraculous result is intended to be obtained, let it be done with the addition of words denoting the will or desire of the operator..."
But what is needed for these words to gain the proper power? To this Barrett replies: “...no one can be a successful magician except one who knows how to excite the magical power of his soul or create it practically, without knowledge.” A little earlier he also notes: “... the highest type of magic is that which is excited by mental conception, and indeed such conception of the inner man is excited only by the Holy Spirit and his gift - the Cabal; but such conception of the outer man is excited by a strong imagination, daily and sublime contemplation, and among witches, by the devil.”
From the first edition of The Magician, 1801
In addition to a thorough general theory of magic, Barrett's book contains many practical, detailed guides on creating talismans, finding the philosopher's stone, summoning certain spirits, calculating auspicious days, drawing up horoscopes, discovering secret names, etc. and so on. Everyone can take from this textbook what interests him most at the moment, if, of course, he is interested in such things at all. Anticipating criticism and skepticism regarding his work, Barrett, after presenting ten wonderful alchemical lessons, gave a clear and intelligible recommendation on how to read his work correctly: “Perhaps there will be some - as I have no doubt - who will say when they look at our works: this guy points everyone out, teaches everyone, he tells us what we already knew. To this I answer: let them read our books twice; and if they do not find anything that seems valuable to them (that is, they themselves are convinced that it is valuable), then I will burn these writings and forget them.”
Barrett's advice is absolutely universal for reading any book worth reading, which, in order to understand it in the slightest degree, should be read at least twice (the first time - to establish initial contact and integrate it into our picture of the world, the second - to perceive it as a subject and discovering something truly new for yourself). I will say for myself that the initial reading was enough for me to admit that Barrett was right, and the second time I would like to read this textbook in a more adequate translation - I hope that it will appear over time. In the meantime, I refer everyone interested to this publication.