Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XXXVIII — How We May Draw Not Only Celestial and Vital, but Also Certain Intellectual and Divine Gifts From Above · 1 of 2 · tr. Henry Morley; L. W. de Laurence ed.
Chapter XXXVIII, Section 1a
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
How We May Draw Not Only Celestial and Vital, but Also Certain Intellectual and Divine Gifts From Above .
Magicians teach that celestial gifts may, through inferiors being conformable to superiors, be drawn down by opportune influences of the heaven; and so, also, by these celestial gifts, the celestial angels (as they are servants of the stars) may be procured and conveyed to us.
Iamblichus, Proclus and Synesius, with the whole school of Platonists, confirm that not only celestial and vital but also certain intellectual, angelical and divine gifts may, be received from above by some certain matters having a natural power of divinity ( i.
e.
), which have a natural correspondency with the superiors, being rightly received and opportunely gathered together according to the rules of natural philosophy and astronomy.
And Mercurius Trismegistus writes, that an Image, rightly made of certain proper things, appropriated to any one certain angel will presently be animated by that angel.
Of the same, also, Austin (St.
Augustine) makes mention in his eighth book, De Civitate Dei (the City of God).
For this is the harmony of the world, that things supercelestial be drawn down by the celestial, and the supernatural by those natural, because there is One Operative Virtue that is diffused through all kinds of things; by which virtue, indeed, as manifest things are produced out of occult causes, so a magician doth make use of things manifest to draw forth things that are occult, viz., through the rays of the Stars, through fumes, lights, sounds, and natural things which are agreeable to those celestial, in which, aside from their corporeal qualities, there is, also, a kind of reason, sense and harmony, and incorporeal and divine measures and orders.
So we read that the ancients were wont often to receive some divine and wonderful thing by certain natural things: So the stone that is bred in the apple of the eye of a civet eat, held under the tongue of a man, is said to make him to divine or prophesy; the same is selenite, the moon-stone, reported to do.
So they say that the Images of Gods may be called up by the stone called anchitis; and that the ghosts of the dead may be, being called up, kept up by the stone synochitis.
The like doth the herb aglauphotis do, which is also called marmorites, growing upon the marbles of Arabia, as saith Pliny, and the which magicians use.
Also there is an herb called rheangelida with which magicians drinking of can prophesy.
Moreover, there are some herbs by which the dead are raised to life; whence Xanthus the historian tells that with a certain herb called balus, a young dragon being killed, was made alive again; also, that by the same herb a certain man of Tillum, whom a dragon killed, was restored to life; and Juba reports, that in Arabia a certain man was by a certain herb restored to life.
But whether or no any such things can be done, indeed, upon man by the virtue of herbs or any other natural thing, we shall discourse in the following chapter.
Now, it is certain and manifest, that such things can be done upon other animals.
So if flies, that are drowned, be put into warm ashes they revive.
And bees, being drowned, do in like matter recover life in the juice of the herb catnip; and eels, being dead for want of water, if with their whole bodies they be put under mud in vinegar and the blood of a vulture being put to them, will all of them, in a few days, recover life.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The passage explicitly states that 'things supercelestial be drawn down by the celestial' due to a 'natural correspondency' between levels.
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.
It describes hidden affinities where movements in one part of the cosmos resonate through the whole to enable drawing down celestial gifts.
The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. Distinct from gnosis_direct_knowledge (unmediated inner apprehension of ultimate truth, not a technique applied to an external medium) and cosmic_sympathy (the underlying doctrine of hidden affinity that many divinatory techniques presuppose, rather than the practice of consulting it).
The passage describes stones held under the tongue that 'make him to divine or prophesy' and herbs by which magicians 'drinking of can prophesy,' presenting structured divinatory techniques using natural media.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage describes a cascading structure where 'things supercelestial be drawn down by the celestial, and the supernatural by those natural,' establishing a multi-level hierarchy from the divine through celestial to natural.
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 describes a non-physical dimension populated by celestial angels, divine gifts, and 'incorporeal and divine measures and orders' that interpenetrates and can be accessed through the physical world.
The grimoire-tradition practice of ceremonially commanding or binding a spirit through consecrated seals, circles, divine names, and prescribed instruments, compelling its appearance and obedience. Distinct from theurgy in the direction of the power relationship — theurgy is reverent engagement with the gods on the premise of the operator's own ascent, this is subordination of a lesser spirit to the operator's will — and from word_power_incantation and sacred_names, which name components (verbal force, name-power) this practice deploys rather than the ritual structure itself.
The passage describes calling up images of gods by the stone anchitis and ghosts of the dead by the stone synochitis, which are acts of commanding spirits to appear through specific natural instruments.
The consecration of an inscribed physical object — seal, pentacle, amulet, character, or figure — so that it holds and channels magical power independent of any ongoing spoken formula, protecting, attracting, or acting on its bearer's behalf. Distinct from sacred_names (the power resides in the name itself, spoken or written, not in a dedicated physical vessel) and from spirit_conjuration (the object is not commanding or binding a spirit but is itself the locus of power).
The passage describes images 'rightly made of certain proper things' being animated by angels, and specific stones (selenite, anchitis, synochitis) and herbs serving as vessels that channel and hold magical power.
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 passage describes engaging with celestial powers through consecrated natural things like stones and herbs to draw down gifts.