Before Wicca, Crowley, and the Golden Dawn, Magic was a very different animal. Most magical texts that survive today come from that intruiging period of history between the 14th and 17th Centuries, when Rennaissance men like Henry Cornelius Agrippa and John Dee were writing and studying the Occult arts.
At that time, Magic was more involved with the invocation of Spirits and Demons than it is today, and this new publication captures the essence of that period by incorporating into one volume several important works.
This volume is actually mis-named, for it contains more than just Agrippa's work. In fact the following books are contained within:
Agrippa's Of Magical Ceremonies, which gives information on invoking spirits, demons and angels.
Dr. Albano's Heptameron which deals with the angels of the days of the week.
The Isagoge by Georg Villinganus, a treatise on the nature of Spirits.
The Arbatel of Magick which discusses Olympic spirits.
Agrippa's Of Geomancy and Gerard of Cremona's Of Astronomical Geomancy, both of which help to flesh out the bare-bones understanding of Geomancy developed for the Golden Dawn.
While leaving the essence of the texts intact, the editor has rearranged some of the books so that they are grouped in a more meaningful fashion, and has added sentence and paragraphs breaks throughout to make the whole work easier to read.
As an insight into magical history, this book is worth the cover price, but the additional information on Geomancy is invaluable, complemented as it is by Skinner's clarifying notes.
