Subject: Trithemius' The Seven Secondary Causes (De Septem Secundeis) now on-line Post to alt.magick, history, angels, ... I have placed the entire text of this work on line. The URL is http://www.avesta.org/ Abbott Johann Trithemius (1462-1516) ------------------------------------ Trithemius (1462-1516) was the father of modern cryptography, and also of modern occultism. He was a prolific author, and one of the foremost scholars of the 16th century. He was renowned as a poet, orator, philosopher, mathematician, historian, and theologian. As the abbot of Sponheim monastery in Germany he assembled a fantastic and famous library, a worthy model for Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose. This library was partly responsible for the monastery becoming a place of pilgrimage by the learned of the day. His occult studies followed an early experience of visions brought on by a regiment of severe fasting and prayer. Many stories of his occult feats were told by many, including Luther, both during his lifetime and following it. He developed a reputation as the greatest sorcerer of the sixteenth century, an authority equal to Solomon and Hermes. He reportedly had a spirit servant who supplied him with food and drink when it was scarce, was famous for the art of necromancy, and demonstrated many other wonders. In his works he accurately summarizes all the major sourceworks of Magic, including the Clavicula Solomonis, Picatrix, Sepher Raziel, Almadel of Solomon, Book of Enoch, d'Abano, Liber Juratis, and many others. As Yates puts it, there was a "vast esoteric background to Trithemius' magic" (1964, pg 102). His most notorious work is Steganographia ("secret writing"), which includes a highly sophisticated system of cryptography, as well as angel magic. It also contains a synthesis of the science of knowledge, the art of memory, magic, an accelerated language learning system, and a method of sending messages without symbols or messenger. In short, he purported it to be a means of learning and understanding everything in the universe. In this endeavor he was a precursor to Bruno. In private circulation, the Steganographia brought such a reaction of fear that he decided it should never be published. He reportedly destroyed the more extreme portions (presumably instructions for prophecy/divination) but it continued to circulate in mss form and was eventually published posthumously in 1606. Only a very obscure draft copy survives of Bk 3. His influence ------------- Trithemius is most often recognized as the mentor of Cornelius Agrippa, whose great debt is apparent to anyone familiar with De Occulta Philosophia. A generation later Dr. John Dee was also an avid student of Trithemius. Dee was so excited to find a copy of his Steganographia ('for which a thousand crowns have been offered, yet could not be obtained') that he spent 10 days straight laboriously making his own copy. Trithemius also strongly influenced Giordano Bruno, that other great occultist of the sixteenth century, who commissioned copies of his works. De Septem Secundeis ------------------- In this work Trithemius presents a concise history of the world, and how it has been shaped by cosmic cycles ruled by angelic agents. The governors of these cycles are the planetary intelligences, the very same angels invoked in Book 3 of the Steganographia: Name angel of periods 1-7 periods 8-14 periods 15-21 --------- -------- ---------------- --------------- --------------------- Orifiel Saturn 0.00 - 354.33, 2480.33-2834.67, 4960.67-5315 (=109 CE) Anael Venus 354.33 - 708.67 2834.67-3189 5315 -5669.33 (463) Zachariel Jupiter 708.67 -1063 3189 -3543.33 5669.33-6023.67 (817) Raphael Mercury 1063 1417.33 3543.33-3897.67 6023.67-6378 (1171) Samael Mars 1417.33 1771.67 3897.67-4252 6378 -6732.33 (1525) Gabriel Moon 1771.67 2126 4252 -4606.33 6732.33-7086.67 (1879) Michael Sun 2126 2480.33 4606.33-4960.67 7086.67-7441 These numbers can be converted to years ACE by subtracting 5207. His history has many points of interest for historian and angelologist alike. He gives the date of the deluge as 3551 BCE (alternately 2965 BCE). Interesting, Trithemius places the age of Zoroaster at between 1300 BCE and 1000 BCE, which corresponds with modern calculations, but defies popular tradition. De Septem Secundeis also contain reports of comets and other anomalies such as three suns appearing in the sky, and also contains some prophesies, (e.g. "A strong sect of Religion shall arise, and be the overthrow of the Ancient Religion." also, that the Jews shall be liberated 1880 AD). check out de arte cab 57 recto Recommended reading: Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, Ioan P. Couliano, Chicago, 1987.