Esoteric texts
Picatrix, the Clavicula, the Steganographia, the Monas Hieroglyphica and other great books of tradition.
The Arbatel: the magic of the ancients and the Olympic spirits
The Arbatel de magia veterum, printed in Basel in 1575: its forty-nine aphorisms, the seven Olympic spirits and a Christian magic of prayer and charity.
The Ars Notoria: prayers and figures for acquiring wisdom
The medieval Ars Notoria: orations, figured notes and the liberal arts, its attribution to Solomon, Aquinas' condemnation and the Liber florum.
The Book of Abramelin: the Sacred Magic and the Guardian Angel
The Book of Abramelin the Mage: the account of Abraham of Worms, the long retreat, the Guardian Angel, the magic squares and Mathers' 1898 edition.
The Chaldean Oracles: the sacred fragments of ancient theurgy
The Chaldean Oracles, second-century verses linked to the two Julians: how they reached us, the Father, Hecate and fire, and the Neoplatonic reading.
The Clavicula Salomonis: a history of the Key of Solomon
The Clavicula Salomonis across Renaissance manuscripts, Greek forerunners and Mathers' 1889 edition: structure, pentacles, instruments and circle.
Ficino's De vita libri tres: Saturn, spirit and the heavens
Marsilio Ficino's De vita libri tres of 1489: its three books, Saturnine melancholy, the spirit, celestial images and the accusations it provoked.
Robert Fludd's Utriusque cosmi historia: macro and microcosm
Robert Fludd's Utriusque cosmi historia, printed in Oppenheim from 1617: macrocosm and microcosm, de Bry's plates and quarrels with Kepler and Mersenne.
The Grand Albert and the Petit Albert: secrets ascribed to Albert
From the Liber aggregationis to the Grand Albert and the Petit Albert: books of secrets ascribed to Albertus Magnus and their spread through pedlars.
The Heptameron and the Fourth Book: grimoires under false names
The Heptameron attributed to Peter of Abano and the pseudo-Agrippan Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy: contents, Weyer's denial and the 1655 translation.
The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: Poliphilo's initiatory dream
The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, printed by Aldus Manutius in 1499: the Francesco Colonna acrostic, its hybrid language, woodcuts and alchemical reading.
John Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica: a single sign for the cosmos
John Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica, printed in Antwerp in 1564 and dedicated to Maximilian II: its twenty-four theorems, the parts of the sign and its legacy.
Khunrath's Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae: the oratory
Heinrich Khunrath's Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae: the 1595 and 1609 editions, the engraved plates, the laboratory-oratory and its Christian synthesis.
Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus: Egypt as perennial wisdom
Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus, printed in Rome in 1652-1654: hieroglyphs, Hermes, Kabbalah and Coptic, between famous errors and real insights.
The Latin Asclepius: the Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus
The Asclepius, the Hermetic treatise known in Latin in the Middle Ages: the Perfect Discourse, man as great miracle, animated statues and Egypt's lament.
The Lemegeton: the five parts of the Lesser Key of Solomon
The Lemegeton or Lesser Key of Solomon: Goetia, Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina, Almadel and Ars Notoria, its sources such as Weyer and the 1904 edition.
The Liber iuratus Honorii: the Sworn Book of Honorius of Thebes
The Liber iuratus Honorii, a medieval grimoire attributed to Honorius of Thebes: the council of magicians, the oath and the quest for the vision of God.
The Picatrix: the great Arabic handbook of astral magic
The Picatrix, born in Arabic as Ghayat al-hakim and translated at the court of Alfonso X: its four books, talismans, planets and lunar mansions.
Pistis Sophia: the great Gnostic text of the Askew Codex
Pistis Sophia, the Coptic Gnostic text of the Askew Codex: Sophia's fall and repentances, Mary Magdalene's role and its nineteenth-century rediscovery.
The Secretum secretorum: Aristotle's secrets for Alexander
The Secretum secretorum, a pseudo-Aristotelian letter to Alexander of Arabic origin: the art of rule, physiognomy, astrology and the Emerald Tablet.
Sefer ha-Bahir: the Book of Brightness and the dawn of Kabbalah
Sefer ha-Bahir, which appeared in twelfth-century Provence: its parables, the ten divine powers, the tree, the feminine and the transmigration of souls.
Sefer ha-Razim: the Book of Mysteries and the seven firmaments
Sefer ha-Razim, a late antique Hebrew text reconstructed in 1966: the revelation to Noah, the seven firmaments, the angels and a prayer to Helios.
Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh: the book of the angel Raziel
Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, printed in Amsterdam in 1701: the legend of the book given to Adam, its medieval sources, angels, names and protective amulets.
The Testament of Solomon: the ring, the demons and the Temple
The Testament of Solomon, a Greek apocryphon: the archangel Michael's ring, the demon Ornias, the questioned spirits, the decans and the king's fall.
The Steganographia of Trithemius: angels, ciphers and suspicion
Abbot Trithemius' Steganographia: the letter to Bostius, Bovelles' accusation, the 1606 printing, the Index and the decipherment of its third book.
The Turba philosophorum: the assembly of alchemical philosophers
The Turba philosophorum, an alchemical text of Arabic origin: the assembly led by Pythagoras, the cryptic names of the matter and its influence.