This is kind of cool: http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/magus/
A link to The Magus (by Francis Barrett) reproduced entirely via hyperlinks and web-pages and all that jazz. Although it's a little late to be applied to the medieval era most of us seem to be playing around in, it's still pretty interesting reading, if you're into esoteric stuff.
Barrett's "The Magus" was published in the early 1800's, but most of his material is a lift from Agrippa's "Three Books of Occult Philosophy," which was published during the 1500's.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding! Thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteI honestly think that anything that's written seriously about the subject of magic is enough to at least get inspiration, especially considering that it's all more or less pseudo-ancient traditions, but it's good to know this tome's pedigree. :)
I picked up The Magus at a library book sale around the time I was 17-19, in a small town that had only one library and no movie theater. I've never regretted that dollar I spent, either.
ReplyDeleteThe Magus, plus my studies of ars memoria and Giordano Bruno, are where my conception of D&D Vancian Magic comes from.