Planetary Magic
Agiel
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Origin 1533: planetary tables published in Three Books of Occult Philosophy
The Kamea of Saturn, a three by three magic square whose rows, columns and diagonals each sum to fifteen, is presented in Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533) alongside its ruling intelligence, Agiel, and its opposing spirit, Zazel, the benevolent and malefic faces attributed to the square's numerical seal. Aratron, its Olympic spirit, comes from a separate source, the anonymous Arbatel of Magic (1575), which assigns one Olympic spirit to govern each planet independently of Agrippa's kamea tradition. As the smallest and outermost of the seven kamea, Saturn's square is traditionally associated with binding, endings and slow, structural workings, matching the planet's wider association with limitation and time.
Facts
Origins
Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own account1533: planetary tables published in Three Books of Occult Philosophy 1Tradition: Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy Origin Period1575: the Olympic Spirit is not from Agrippa 2Tradition: Arbatel of Magic (1575) Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own accountIncluded the Intelligence and Spirit names 1Tradition: Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy Origin PeriodName comes from the later, separate Arbatel of Magic 2Tradition: Arbatel of Magic (1575) Place of OriginSourced to the subject's own accountCologne, where the Three Books of Occult Philosophy were printed in 1533 1 Attributed Author / CompilerSourced to the subject's own accountFor the magic square and the Intelligence and Spirit names 1 Attributed Author / CompilerSourced to the subject's own accountHeinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) 1 Attributed Author / CompilerNone, for the Olympic Spirit: the Arbatel of Magic is anonymous 2 Origin of the NameSourced to the subject's own accountHebrew letters given number values summing to the square's numbers 1 Origin of the NameSourced to the subject's own accountNames are constructed, not received 1 LanguageSourced to the subject's own account LanguageSourced to the subject's own account Learn More
The Planetary Magic of Saturn
The planetary magic of Saturn gathers the names, seals and number-square attached to that planet in the Western magical tradition. Its magic square, or kamea, is of order 3, a grid of 3 by 3 cells holding the numbers 1 to 9 so that every row, column and diagonal sums to 15.
Square, intelligence and spirit
From that square are derived, by gematria, the names of the planet's two governing powers: the Intelligence Agiel, the ordering and benevolent aspect, and the Spirit Zazel, the raw and unmediated force. This apparatus was set out by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in the Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533), drawing on earlier Hebrew and Arabic number-magic. To the same planet is also joined an Olympic Spirit, here Aratron, one of the seven planetary governors named in the Arbatel of Magic (1575).
These names, squares and hierarchies are described here as an element of the documented tradition of Renaissance ceremonial magic, studied historically; the spirits are not reified.
Reading the Kamea of Saturn
The Saturn table is a three by three square holding the numbers one to nine, arranged so that every row, column and diagonal adds to fifteen, and so that the whole square totals forty five. It is the smallest magic square that exists, and it is very much older than the magic that uses it: the same arrangement is the Chinese Lo Shu, attested long before it reached Latin Europe, and the atlas records it under that name as well.
What Renaissance planetary magic added was a way of reading numbers out of the square and back into names. In the scheme set out in Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, printed in 1533, each planet is given four spirit names whose Hebrew letters, added by their numerical values, reproduce the square's own numbers. For Saturn the intelligence Agiel and the spirit Zazel both come to forty five, the total of the square. The names are not arbitrary labels attached to the table; they are derived from it, and a reader who knows the gematria can check the arithmetic.
The seal of the planet is produced the same way, by drawing a line from cell to cell in numerical order across the grid, so that the figure is a trace of the square rather than an invented sigil. The atlas does not reproduce the seals, because a seal copied inexactly is worse than no seal at all.
The pattern is uniform across the seven. Each planet has its square, the square has its sums, and the sums generate the names.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Named as the Olympic spirit of this planetary sphere.
Disciplines That Use This
The planetary intelligences and spirits addressed in planetary work.
Originates in Language
Sources
1. Three Books of Occult Philosophy
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Llewellyn, 1533Book II, on the tables of the planetsView the Source 2. Grimoires: A History of Magic Books
Owen Davies, Oxford University Press, 2009Davies, Grimoires: Renaissance ceremonial magic, incl. Agrippa and the Arbatel (1575) with its seven Olympic Spirits (here Aratron of Saturn).View the Source De occulta philosophia libri tres
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa; V. Perrone Compagni (ed.), Brill, 1992Agrippa, De occulta philosophia, Book II: Saturn's magic square (kamea) of order 3, constant 15, and the derived Intelligence Agiel and Spirit Zazel.View the Source The Language of Demons and Angels: Cornelius Agrippa's Occult Philosophy
Christopher I. Lehrich, Brill, 2003Lehrich's study of Agrippa's occult philosophy: the planetary number-squares and their derived Intelligences and Spirits (here Saturn).View the Source Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
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