Planetary magic covers the spirits, intelligences and magic squares attached to the seven classical planets in the Western ceremonial tradition. The scheme is set out in Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533), which gives each planet a kamea (a magic square of numbers), a divine name, an intelligence and a spirit, along with sigils traced on the square. The Olympic spirits belong to a separate but related text, the Arbatel of Magic, published in 1575.
Facts
Overview
- Entries in the Atlas
- 7
- Size of the Traditional Set
- Seven, one for each of the classical planets 1
Origins
- Origin Period
- 1533 Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy: the kameas, seals, intelligences and spirits 2
- Origin Period
- 1575 Arbatel de magia veterum: the seven Olympic spirits 3
- Place of Origin
- Cologne, where the three books were printed in 1533. 2
- Place of Origin
- Basel, where the Arbatel was printed in 1575. 3
- Whose Classification This Is
- The kamea, seal, divine name, intelligence and spirit of each planet are Agrippa's arrangement in the Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533). It is a Renaissance systematisation, not an anonymous tradition. Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533) 2
- Whose Classification This Is
- The seven Olympic spirits belong to a different and later text, the anonymous Arbatel de magia veterum printed at Basel in 1575, and are not Agrippa's. Arbatel de magia veterum (1575) 3
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Spirits, Intelligences and Squares of the Planets
Planetary magic covers the spirits, intelligences and magic squares attached to the seven classical planets in the Western ceremonial tradition. The scheme is set out in Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533), which gives each planet a kamea, a magic square whose numbers sum equally in every row and column, and derives from it a seal, an intelligence (a benign guiding spirit) and a spirit (a raw planetary force).
The whole system rests on the planet as the organising unit of correspondence: each carries its number, its square, its divine and angelic names, its metal, colour and hour, and the magic is timed and directed by these.
Squares, Seals and Hours
To work planetary magic is to align an operation with a planet's nature and time it to that planet's hour and day, using the square, seal and names to concentrate its force, for a work of love under Venus, of discipline under Saturn, of success under Jupiter. The tradition is Renaissance in its systematic form but draws on older Hellenistic and Arabic astral magic.
The atlas gives each planet's square, spirit, intelligence and seal, and the conditions of the working. The planets themselves are treated in the planet category, within Ceremonial & Esoteric Magic.
Enter a year to compare these entries as the atlas records them at that moment. Leave it empty for the present. A year before the common era is entered with a minus sign, so 44 BCE is minus 44.