Agrippa’s Christian Cabala
Arnemancy
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Introduction
This chapter explores the significance of Christian Kabbalah in Western occultism within Agrippa's philosophy, discussing its origins, sources, and the challenges in understanding its development throughout history.
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Episode notes
Finally, after a short hiatus, here is part eight of our exploration of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy. The previous episodes of this podcast dealt primarily with material from books 1 and 2, but now it's time to dive into book 3, The Divine World. Joining me for this discussion is Dr. Justin Sledge of the Esoterica YouTube channel! We will specifically be discussing the Cabala of Occult Philosophy and Agrippa's place in the birth and propagation of Christian Cabala.
If you would like to do some reading before listening to this episode, I think you can get a pretty good overview of Agrippa's take on this topic by reading book 3, chapters 10 through 25. However, note that references to Cabala, the Hebrew language and alphabet, and Jewish mysticism crop up throughout book 3.
You can't really deny that Kabbalah is one of the cornerstones of Western occultism. It crops up everywhere from Solomonic magic to Tarot to the Golden Dawn. If you've looked into it at all, you've probably come across the concept that Kabbalah is usually split into three main branches, differentiated in the way they are transliterated into English.
And always remember, if you want to catch up with the rest of the Agrippa series, you can visit the home page for the series.
- Christian Cabala, spelled with a C, is our main topic in this episode.
- Hermetic Qabalah, spelled with a Q, is the variety used by modern ceremonial magicians.
- Jewish Kabbalah, spelled with a K, is the original strain of Jewish mysticism that the others pull from.
And always remember, if you want to catch up with the rest of the Agrippa series, you can visit the home page for the series.
Links
- Esoterica on YouTube
- About Dr. Justin Sledge
- Dr. Sledge's list of Kabbalah sources
- Dr. Sledge's Introduction to Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism
- Dan Attrell's video on the Reuchlin-Pfefferkorn Affair (The Modern Hermeticist)
- On the Art of the Kabbalah by Johann Reuchlin (De arte cabalistica trans. by Sarah and Martin Goodman)
- The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age by Frances Yates
- Matt and Erik discuss Kabbalah on My Alchemical Bromance (Be kind, it was the second podcast episode I'd ever made!)
- My review of the modern translations of Occult Philosophy
- J.F.'s translation, online for free!
Credits
Many thanks to Dr. Justin Sledge for giving us so much incredible information on the history, philosophy, and influence of Christian Cabala. Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy Listen on PodcryptMentioned in this episode:
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