The Occult Sciences in the Renaissance: A Study in Intellectual Patterns

Front Cover
Univ of California Press, Jul 6, 1979 - History - 284 pages
"The only short and acceptable summary and analysis of the five Renaissance occult sciences." - Times Literary Supplement

"The . . . usefulness of this book for students of Renaissance literature and culture will not soon be ended." - Virginia Quarterly Review

"The absence of contaminating traces either of condescension or of credulousness give this absorbing volume a special authority and place on the shelves of any reader or any library where the history of modern thoughts is relevant." - Scientific American

"A remarkable summary and analysis of the five systems of esoteric science so influential in the Renaissance." - Milton Quarterly

"A magnificent job of tying together a vast number of diverse sources into a unified whole . . . engrossing in its entirety." -The Sciences
 

Contents

ASTROLOGY I
1
Proastrological writings
27
Further attacks
42
Conclusion
53
WITCHCRAFT
60
Witches activities
85
The imputing of all the effects to devils 91 physical transformation
95
Astrological magic and Marsilio Ficinos De vita coelitus comparanda
120
Alchemical processes
170
The mystical doctrine
186
the importance of analogy 193 268
193
HERMES TRISMEGISTUS
201
General characterization of the doctrine
211
Detailed analysis
218
Hermetic influence on the Continent
232
Notes to Chapter Five
248

Spiritual or ceremonial magic and Cornelius Agrippas De occulta
134
120
152
Conclusion
156
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
260
INDEX
267
Copyright

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About the author (1979)

Wayne Shumaker is Professor of English at University of California, Berkeley.

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