This is a book filled with incantations, charms, curses, summonings, cures and d
escriptions of extraordinary, shadowy, only half-understood happenings from long
ago. It features writers as various as Thomas Aquinas, John Milton, John Dee, P
tolemy and Paracelsus along with anonymous ancient and medieval works which were
, in some cases, viewed as simply too dangerous even to open. Brian Copenhaver's
wonderful anthology will be welcomed by everyone from those with the most casua
l interest in the magical tradition to anyone drawn to the Renaissance and the t
angled, arcane roots of the scientific tradition.
