Page 9 (part 3)

The missing books are those of Microcosmical Magic, or Spiritual Wisdom; Olympic Magic, that is, the evocation of the Spirits of Olympus; Hesiodiacal and Homeric Magic, being the operations of Caco-daimones ; Roman or Sibylline Magic, concerning Tutelary Spirits; Pythagorical Magic, dealing with the Genii of the Arts; the Magic of Apollonius, giving power over the enemies of mankind; Hermetic or Egyptian Magic; and that, finally, which depends solely on the Word of God and is called Prophetical Magic. It is an open question whether all of these books could have been completed without a proportion of that dangerous instruction which makes for open Black Magic. The Isagoge , however, must be exempted in part from such charge; the Seven Septenaries of aphorisms of which it consists contain many moral and spiritual exhortations, which, if they are not exactly unhackneyed, are on the surface quite unexceptionable, and might indeed rank among the more exalted of their kind, were it not for the art with which they are connected. The initial groups of these aphorisms serve to introduce the Ritual of the Olympic Spirits, dwelling in the firmament and in the stars of the firmament, between whom the government of the world is distributed. There are 196 Olympic Provinces in the entire universe, so that Aratron has 49, Bethor 42, Phaleg 35, Och 28, Hagith 21, Ophiel 14, and Phul 7. These Provinces are termed visible, but even as the Seven Septenaries of Arbatel cover the whole ground of reputed Transcendental Magic, so these seven successive multiples of the same mystical number may most probably be taken to indicate powers and offices. It is further said that the Olympic Spirits rule alternately, each for 490 years, which would be mere confusion were separate assemblages of spheres permanently assigned to them. The powers possessed by these Intelligences are very curiously set forth. They rule naturally over certain departments and operations of the material world, but outside these departments they perform the same operations magically. Thus Och , the prince of Solar things, presides over the preparation or development of gold naturally in the veins of the earth--that is to say, he is the Mineralogist in Chief of Nature; he presides also over the quicker preparation of the same metal by means of chemical art--that is, he is the Prince of Alchemists; and, finally, he makes gold in a moment by Magic. It is in this way that Ceremonial Magic connects with while it assumes to transcend Hermetic Art. There is another curious instruction, with regard to the names and characters of the Spirits. In opposition to much of the traditional doctrine of Magic, it is affirmed that there is no power in the figure of any character or in the pronunciation of any name, except in so far as there is a virtue or office ordained by God to both. The names, moreover, are not definite, final or real names, whence they differ with different writers accordingly as these have received them. The only effectual names are those which are delivered to an operator by the Spirits themselves, and even then their efficacy seldom endures beyond forty years. It is, therefore, better for the student, says the Arbatel , to work only by the offices of the Spirits, without their names; should he be pre-ordained to attain the Art of Magic, the other parts of that Art will offer themselves of their own accord.