Art Metropole

#16392

Magic Squares: Some Notes on the Tables of Agrippa

Price

$10.00

Date

2025

Publisher

Hildegard Press

Format

Artists' Books

ISBN

604-314-9650

Size

13 × 18 cm

Length

30 pp

Genre

Pamphlet

A magic square is a grid of numbers, arranged in such a way that the sum along any row, column, or corner to corner diagonal is the same. Magic squares are found throughout antiquity and by the time they had arrived in Renaissance Europe, by way of the translation of Arabic magical texts, 7 magic squares were known, starting with a 3×3 and ending with a 9×9 square. Due to their numerical balance, these squares were seen as reflective of an inherent balance in the cosmos, and were linked to the 7 known planetary bodies of the time: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Through the magic of the numbers in each square, radiating forces associated with each planet could be accessed and directed by way of a talismanic sigil.

The focus of this publication is on the 7 magic squares outlined by the 16th century occultist Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533). The publication provides a brief history of magic squares, discusses the methodology of the squares, and describes the use of numbers in magical thought. Each of the 7 magic squares are shown: the methods of their formation, their planetary associations, the outcomes of their usage as a talisman, and the production of the planetary characters or sigils. MAGIC SQUARES: Some Notes on the Tables of Agrippa, aims to provide a detailed overview of the relationship between the mathematical phenomenon of magic squares and their magical applications.

Hildegard Press 10, saddle stitch pamphlet, digital print.