Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XLIII — Of Perfumes or Suffumigations; Their Manner and Power · 2 of 2 · tr. Henry Morley; L. W. de Laurence ed.
Chapter XLIII, Section 1b
And, they say, if a house or any place be smoked with the gall of a cuttle-fish, made into a confection with red storax, roses, and lignum-aloes, or lignaloes, and if then there be some sea-water, or blood, cast into that place, the whole house will seem to be full of water or blood; and if some earth of plowed ground be cast there, the earth will seem to quake.
Now, such kinds of vapors, we must conceive, do infect any body and infuse virtue into it, which Both continue long, even as any contagious or poisonous vapor of the pestilence, being kept for two years in the wall of a house infects the inhabitants, and as the contagion of pestilence, or leprosy, lying hid in a garment, doth long after infect him that wears it.
Therefore, were certain suffumigations used to affect images, rings, and such like instruments of magic and hidden treasures, and, as Porphyrius saith, very effectually.
So, they say, if any one shall hide gold or silver, or any other precious thing, the Moon being in conjunction with the Sun, and shall fume the hiding place with coriander, saffron, henbane, smallage, and black poppy, of each alike quantity, bruised together, and tempered with the juice of hemlock, that which is so hid shall never be found or taken away; and that spirits shall continually keep it, and if any one shall endeavor to take it away he shall be hurt by them and shall fall into a frenzy.
And Hermes saith that there is nothing like the fume of spermaceti for the raising of spirits.
Wherefore, if a fume be made of that and lignum-aloes, red storax, pepper-wort, musk, and saffron, all tempered together, with the blood of a lapwing, it will quickly gather airy spirits together, and if it be used about the graves of the dead, it gathers together spirits and the ghosts of the dead.
So, as often as we direct any work to the Sun, we must make suffumigations with Solary things, and if to the Moon, with Lunary things, and so of the rest.
And we must know that as there is a contrariety and enmity in stars and spirits, so also in suffumigations unto the same.
So there is also a contrariety betwixt lignum aloes and sulphur, frankincense, and quicksilver; therefore, spirits that are raised by the fume of lignum aloes are allayed by the burning of sulphur.
As Proclus gives an example of a spirit, which was wont to appear in the form of a lion, but, by the setting of a cock before it, vanished away because there is a contrariety betwixt a cock and a lion, and so the like consideration and practice is to be observed concerning such like things.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Correspondencecosmology
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 links celestial bodies (Sun, Moon) to specific types of suffumigations.
All passages →Cosmic Sympathycosmology
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 vapors infect bodies and spirits resonate with specific celestial alignments.
All passages →Theurgypraxis
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 details consecrated material actions (fumigation) used to engage spirits and alter reality directly.
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