Rating: 
Summary: A must need.
Review: A must need for those in the world of occult. 72 chapters that open your mind. I learned more from this one. Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent edition of a classic
Review: Agrippa was undoubtedly the most important and influential magician of the early 16th century; this work in particular was of major importance to Giordano Bruno, John Dee, etc. Until this Llewellyn edition, however, the complete English translation of _De occulta philosophia libri tres_ has not been available outside microfilm copies and the odd illegal xerox. Here Donald Tyson has provided a clean edition, with extensive and useful annotations and even a copious index. Insofar as I have problems with this edition, they stem from translation issues. Tyson is no Latinist, as he admits, and sometimes he allows the original translator (J.F.) to get away with murder, utterly misrepresenting phrases here and there. Overall, however, J.F. was an accurate if literal-minded translator. Practitioners will probably find Agrippa obscure and unhelpful; other reviews seem to reflect this. But Agrippa's work intends to explicate the philosophical underpinnings of magical practice, not to lay out spells and techniques as such. If you want those things, you'll hate this book; if you want a really sophisticated and ambitious attempt at philosophical justification and formulation of magic as an intellectual endeavor, this is the most important book for your shelf.
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Summary: This is Llewelyn?
Review: An incomparable resource. Agrippa's "Three Books" is unquestionably one of the most key sourcebooks of Western Occultism. Tyson's extensive footnotes, corrections, and bibliography make this volume even more valuable and accessable to the modern student. A refreshing change from the fluff so typically cranked out by Llewellyn over the last 10 or so years. Bite the bullet and spend the money.....it's worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed Feelings
Review: As a long-time student of magick and the occult, I have been on the lookout for this book for a very long time. Having read over excerpts downloaded from the internet, as well as material covered in other books of similar theme, I was rather amazed at how difficult of a read this book was. Its centuries old syntax and grammar make for an work that is like sojourning through the Bible. The information within, however, is solid, and extremely so. It is, indeed, one of the foundation works on the study of magick and the occult. It can be neatly used as a reference, but I wouldn't recommend actually sitting down and reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Useful.
Review: Complex but annoyingly old-english. It's hard to read, but well worth the time and money, depending on what you're looking for. Tyson's explanation of the more obscure parts help very much, and offer important ideas that would have otherwise been missed by our modern-leaning minds.
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Summary: The Timeless Masterwork of the Arch-Magus
Review: Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy - a volume which is literally worth a barrow-load of today's contrived and wearisome pseudo-esoteric tomes. All the more amazing when you consider that this towering encyclopedic exposition of the Renaissance Magical Tradition was written when Agrippa Von Nettesheim was but 23 years old - clearly a 'fiery genius' as Erasmus termed him. Herein Agrippa guides the student through the three realms of the universe unfolding the Magical mysteries and technical lore along the way in fulsome and fascinating detail, ascending the Platonic Chain of Being from the sublunary or Natural World, through the astral and mathematical harmonies of the Celestial World high into the archetypal realms of Demons, Angels, Spirits and Gods in the Divine World, winging ever upwards beyond all multiplicity toward the unio mystica with the transcendent One, the Summum Bonum or Agathon of Plotinian philosophy.
Agrippa's vast cosmic vision of the spiritual universe of the traditional Magus is entirely sublime and endlessly inspiring - one can only marvel at the richness and rigorous clarity of his exposition, the sonorous literary textures of his compact chapters, shot through and through with shimmering notes of poetic utterance and mystic profundity. The radiant teachings of the Magical Tradition revealed in this theurgic odyssey through the Three Worlds are a complete and integral vision of the Western Esoteric doctrines, bringing together the operative techniques of Marsilio Ficino's Astrological Magic and the Arab Nigromancy of the Picatrix with the arcane Angelology of Johann Trithemius and the lofty Christian Cabala of Pico Della Mirandola: the exalted mysteries of the Orphic-Pythagorean-Platonic current form the living philosophic foundation of Agrippa's Magical mindset orientated within the religious context of his intense Catholic faith and his deep grasp of Pauline theology.
This book is a pivotal and perennial encapsulation of Western Magic in the Hermetic-Neoplatonic tradition at it's most glorious flowering in the Northern Renaissance and the sheer quality, solid reliability and astonishing scope of the knowledge this tome conveys to the Magical seeker cannot be lightly underestimated - this is real Magic as taught, studied and practised prior to the shadow of confusions which obscured the subject from the 18th century 'Enlightenment' onwards.
Many modern-day magicians may find Agrippa's austere and majestic teaching of the Magical Wisdom too challenging to engage and implement practically and the fashionable preoccupations of todays occultnik scene will find little support in these densely-articulated pages : let such stay with the modern didappers, mountebanks and posturers they so vainly idolize - for those of us with eyes to see and ears to hear and wit to understand Cornelius Agrippa Von Nettesheim stands as the grand Arch-Magus of the Northern Renaissance and this volume a testament to his burning genius as an authentic expositor of the 'Invincible Magical Discipline'. Buy this work, immerse yourself in its arcana, closely read and re-read it time and time again, meditate upon its chapters, imbibe the crystalline draught of its theurgic truths and make them a vital part of your soul - live with and apply its concepts and teachings in your practise and you will be receiving the true Tradition from a master mentor. This book is really all you will need to accompany you on your journey through the Perennial Wisdom of genuine Western Magic. (With a few select companions such as William Lilly's 'Christian Astrology', the 'Corpus Hermeticum', The 'Enneads' of Plotinus you will have pretty much all you need in the way of texts.) Agrippa's book is literally worth its weight in gold to the practising Magus.
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Summary: Essential work on Western occult tradition
Review: Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy must rank as one of, if not the most important work ever written on the Western Occult tradition. Written in relative youth, it nevertheless has an immensely broad range of topics covering Goetia ("Black magic") and Theurgia ("White magic') while still remaining in the Christian tradition. Agrippa's work certainly provides numerous practical instructions, but always ties together a wide range of classical and traditional sources in a broad theorectical framework. As a traditional astrologer I found his exposition of astrological magic to be among the best available in English, better than Marsilio Ficino's Three Books of Life (though the Boer translation is fairly universally disliked). Much of astrological magic still remains locked up in Latin, Thabit Ibn Qurra's De Imaginibus, edited by Carmody and Picatrix, edited by Pingree being the most salient examples. I should note, however, that Brill has just published a new edition of Agrippa in the original Latin which does differ in some respects from the Freake translation that Tyson has edited in this edition. For example, Chapter 50, Book II at 403 Agrippa describes the construction of amulets for love and concord between two people. The first full paragraph in the Tyson edition ends, "...let them [the two images] be wrapped up in silk and cast away or spolied. In the Latin Brill edition the sentence states that the images should be wrapped in "fine linen cloth" and "buried". Nonetheless if I could have only one book on the Western occult tradition (perish the thought!) this would be it. Anyone with a serious interest in studying or practicing in this area should have this book
Rating:
Summary: The Foundation Book of Western Occultism
Review: Everyone with even a passing interest in the occult has heard of Agrippa's three books. It has rightfully been called THE sourcebook of western magic (or at least of the Renaissance rediscovery of the Art.). It is recorded that the magus Dr. John Dee always kept a copy open on his desk at Mortlake for ready reference. Even today many of us keep Agrippa's masterpiece out and ready- some for reference, others to merely impress. This edition edited by Donald Tyson is probably the best that has ever been produced. It is clear, clean, and appropriately illustrated. Further, while I usually ignore editor's notes and appendixes in a source work, in this case, they add considerably to the understanding of the work. He even points out errors that have stood for nearly 500 years now.The basic, uniting principle of this mammoth volume is the Soul of the World. This is the traditional Greek concept (Agrippa was clearly a Neo-Platonist) of an intermediary world-soul that mediates between the One and the material world. This is the basis of all natural magic. This is what interconnects all of Agrippa's vast system of astrology, numerology, alchemy, Kabala, seals, talismans, lists of correspondences, etc. Everything in the cosmos emanates downward from the highest Source. Moreover, hidden currents and vibrations interconnect the lower with the higher in sympathetic union. As much as I value this classic book, if I wanted a single volume for practical use and reference I would probably choose _The Magician's Companion_ by Bill Whitcomb (another Llewellyn publication.) However, I would still keep this book in my master collection with the rest of the great source works.
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Summary: Nice, but hardly useful
Review: Greetings, This edition of the "three books of occult philosophy" is probably the best ever done, my hat's off to the editor for both his great editing and "footnotes" well done! Unfortunately, there is little in the book that is of any practical use by the modern Magus. The only purpose I have found for this book is to sit on my shelf, looking cool. The book is enjoyable, even though it's not of much use, it give lots of nice insights into the beliefs and practises of the occultists of days past. The wonderful plates alone make it one of my favorite books to "leaf through and look impressive" Posing aside, this book is an interesting read for some background information... If you're looking to find out what made the old occultists tick, buy it, if you're looking for something to put to practise, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Both a look into the past and much of it practical use
Review: I bought this primarily for the first book, but was much impressed with the other two as well, and the supplimentary documents are informative as well, you see a lot of what is commonly practiced today, it's probably true that this was a foundation book, especially the last two books, and the only thing I had trouble with, which is understandable for the time it was written in, is the really, really, long sentances, most the time becoming there own paragraphs, but it doesn't detract from the information itself. :D
Anyway, I did notice a couple actuall problems. The text is printed on each page side by side, like a lot of bibles. In a few places it seems the last few words of the chapter were cut off so the right block wouldn't be longer then the left block.
I assume this was an accedent and still got what he was saying though, so I kept it at 5 stars.
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