Page:Three Books of Occult Philosophy (De Occulta Philosophia) (1651).djvu/29

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ſervice he made, and created all theſe things: Wiſe men conceive it no way irrationall that it ſhould be poſſible for us to aſcend by the ſame degrees through each World, to the ſame very originall World it ſelf, the Maker of all things, and firſt Cauſe, from whence all things are, and proceed; and alſo to enjoy not only theſe vertues, which are already in the more excellent kind of things, but alſo beſides theſe, to draw new vertues from above. Hence it is that they ſeek after the vertues of the Elementary world, through the help of Phyſick, and Naturall Philoſophy in the various mixtions of Naturall things, then of the Celeſtiall world in the Rayes, and influences thereof, according to the rules of Aſtrologers, and the doctrines of Mathematicians, joyning the Celeſtiall vertues to the former: Moreover, they ratifie and confirm all theſe with the powers of divers Intelligencies, through the ſacred Ceremonies of Religions. The order and proceſs of all theſe I ſhall endeavor to deliver in theſe three Books: Whereof the firſt contains naturall Magick, the ſecond Celeſtiall, and the third Ceremoniall. But I know not whether it be an unpardonable preſumption in me, that I, a man of ſo little judgement and learning, ſhould in my very youth ſo confidently ſet upon a buſineſs ſo difficult, ſo hard, and intricate as this is. Wherefore, whatſoever things have here already, and ſhall afterward be ſaid by me, I would not have any one aſſent to them, nor ſhall I my ſelf, any further then they ſhall be approved of by the Univerſall Church, and the Congregation of the Faithfull.




CHAP. II.

What Magick is, what are the Parts thereof, and how the Profeſſors thereof muſt be qualified.

MAgick is a faculty of wonderfull vertue, full of moſt high myſteries, containing the moſt profound Contemplation of moſt ſecret things, together with the nature, power, quality, ſubſtance, and vertues thereof, as alſo the


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