Origin 1533
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
Origins
Origin Period1533 2Tradition: Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy: the kameas, seals, intelligences and spirits Origin Period1575 3Tradition: Arbatel de magia veterum: the seven Olympic spirits Place of OriginBasel, where the Arbatel was printed in 1575. 3 Place of OriginCologne, where the three books were printed in 1533. 2 Whose Classification This IsThe 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. 2Tradition: Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533) Whose Classification This IsThe 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. 3Tradition: Arbatel de magia veterum (1575) Comparison
Era of Origin Overview
Size of the Traditional SetSourced to the subject's own accountSeven, one for each of the classical planets 1 Learn More
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.
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Planetary Magic
Sources
1. Three Books of Occult Philosophy
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Llewellyn, 1533bk. 2, chs. 22-52View the Source 2. The Language of Demons and Angels: Cornelius Agrippa's Occult Philosophy
Christopher I. Lehrich, Brill, 2003ch. 3, on the scales of number and the planetary tablesView the Source 3. Grimoires: A History of Magic Books
Owen Davies, Oxford University Press, 2009on the Arbatel de magia veterumView the Source 4. Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
atlas entity-description, era statementQuote, atlas entity-description, era statement
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.
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