Occult Master Agrippa

His Life and Letters

By: [Translated] M. P. Lynch

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Alchemist, occultist, magician, astrologer, writer, physician, lawyer, theologian, philosopher, and mercenary soldier - Henry Cornelius Agrippa was the quintessential Renaissance Man. In this fresh translation of Joseph Orsier's concise 1911 biography of the mercurial author of Occult Philosophy we are given an overview of his tumultuous existence at a time when Europe was shaking off the long sleep of the Middle Ages and the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo were creating masterworks. At the same time that Erasmus was giving the Catholic Church a gentle nudge and Martin Luther a thorough shake - both at the cost of great personal danger - and supposed witches were being sent to the pyre, Agrippa dared to publish a work on magic which he hoped would separate the wheat from the chaff in that strange and ancient if dubious field of endeavor. If magic was good enough for the ancient Greeks and Romans he so revered, Agrippa felt he had only to get rid of the layers of false doctrine which had accreted on this otherwise pure body of knowledge to redeem it - and the result of his labors is considered the most authoritative work on ritual magic to the present day.
Orsier's translations from the Latin to the French of Agrippa's personal correspondance offers a rare window into the life of the 16th century's most restless and brilliant figures, and through them we glimpse both his genius and his pettiness, his courage and his weakness. His ever precarious financial situation and his tenuous relations with various noble houses often brought him to the depths of despair, but time and again Agrippa would take up his pen to argue on his own behalf with admirable verve. And whenever he found the time and resources the learned physician would turn back to his alchemical pursuits, though these seem to have brought him little success.
Coming to know this rare, brilliant, resourceful, erudite and fascinating man through his letters was an unexpected pleasure for me as a translator, and the modern reader is sure to appreciate this glimpse into Europe's past through his eyes.

Very interesting

This was a very good insight to Agrippas life and struggles he delt with, both professional and personal. Recommend 100%