Lifetime:
1486 - 1535
Nationality:
German
Occupation:
Doctor, soldier, lawyer
Major Contribution(s) to Occult Studies:
Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy have gone through dozens of printings over the last 500 years and continues to be a commonly referenced occult source. The Three Books is large and fairly all encompassing, combining aspects of Hermeticism, Kabbalah, Neoplatonism and other sources into one coherent system.
The Three Books is divided into three sections, each of which discusses the nature of one of the cosmological realms: Physical, Celestial and Angelic.
Agrippa also openly supported working with daemons such as the spirits that moved the celestial bodies. Many earlier occultists were uncomfortable with such a suggestion. While many believed in the spirits, they tended to shy away from suggesting one actually deal with them. Agrippa assured readers that such entities were spiritual rather than demonic. Because the Celestial realm is closer to God than the Physical realm of humans is, Celestial spirits must also be more like God than humanity is.
Religion::
Born Catholic, although as an adult he kept company with quite a few Protestants. He believed all religions held some aspect of truth to them, although he did agree that Christianity was the only truly correct faith. He also held that God was more interested in sincerity than correctness.
