Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter II — What Magic Is, What Are the Parts Thereof, and How the Professors Thereof Must Be Qualified · 2 of 2 · tr. Henry Morley; L. W. de Laurence ed.
Chapter II, Section 1b
It instructs us also concerning Faith, Miracles, the virtues of Words and Figures , the secret operations and mysteries of Seals; and, as Apuleius saith, it teacheth us rightly to understand and to be skilled in the Ceremonial Laws, the equity of Holy things and rule of Religions.
But to recollect myself.) These three principal faculties Magic comprehends, unites and actuates; deservedly, therefore, was it by the Ancients esteemed as the highest and most sacred Philosophy.
It was, as we find, brought to light by most sage authors and most famous writers, amongst which principally Zamolxis and Zoroaster were so famous that many believed they were the inventors of this Science.
Their track Abbaris the Hyperborean, Charmondas, Danigeron, Eudoxus, Hermippus followed.
There were also other eminent, choice men, as Mercurius Tresmegistus, Porphyrius, Iamblicus, Plotinus, Proclus, Dardanus, Orpheus the Thracian, Gog the Grecian, Germa the Babylonian, Apollonius of Tyana.
Osthanes also wrote excellently of this Art, whose books being as it were lost, Democritus of Abdera recovered, and set them forth with his own Commentaries.
Besides, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, Plato, and many other renowned Philosophers travelled far by sea to learn this Art; and being returned, published it with wonderful devoutness, esteeming of it as a great secret.
Also it is well known that Pythagoras and Plato went to the Prophets of Memphis to learn it, and travelled through almost all Syria, Egypt, Judea, and the Schools of the Chaldeans that they might not be ignorant of the most sacred Memorials and Records of Magic, as also that they might be furnished with Divine things.
Whosoever, therefore, is desirous to study in this Faculty, if he be not skilled in Natural Philosophy, wherein are discovered the qualities of things, and in which are found the occult properties of every Being, and if he be not skillful in the Mathematics, and in the Aspects, and Figures of the Stars, upon which depend the sublime virtue and property of everything; and if he be not learned in Theology, wherein are manifested those immaterial substances, which dispense and minister all things, he cannot be possibly able to understand the rationality of Magic.
For there is no work that is done by mere Magic, nor any work that is merely Magical, that doth not comprehend these three Faculties.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
The text states that the sublime virtue and property of everything depend on the Aspects and Figures of the Stars.
A historical or mythical chain of transmission for secret wisdom from master to disciple across time and cultures — the credential of the teaching, not merely its content. Distinct from oral_tradition (the spoken-not-written modality of transmission, which a lineage may or may not use) and hidden_sayings (the concealment-for-readiness of a teaching's meaning, independent of who transmitted it or in what unbroken chain).
The passage's central narrative is a detailed chain of transmission from Zamolxis and Zoroaster through Hermes Trismegistus, Pythagoras, Plato, and many others, explicitly framing this lineage as the credential of the magical art.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage explicitly mentions the 'secret operations and mysteries of Seals' and 'Divine things' as core elements of Magic reserved for those ready to receive them.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The passage references 'immaterial substances, which dispense and minister all things' as a non-physical dimension of beings that operate upon the material world, constituting an unseen realm interpenetrating ordinary reality.
The rule of the stars and planetary powers over mortal destiny — the astrological governors whose spheres bind souls to birth, error, and death; in Sethian gnosis the 'error of the stars' that the savior exposes, and from which the incorruptible generation alone is free. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of universal affinity) in being a bondage-to-powers claim, and from archons (the rulers as personal beings) in concerning the astral machinery itself.
The claim that the 'sublime virtue and property of everything' depends on the 'Aspects, and Figures of the Stars' asserts that stellar configuration governs the nature and power of all things.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The text describes Magic as a practice that unites and actuates faculties to work upon things, aligning with the definition of engaging divine power through consecrated action.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The text centrally discusses the 'virtues of Words' and 'secret operations' as fundamental to understanding and practicing Magic.