On Magic: From Plotinus to Agripp —The Ascent of the Soul in Western Esotericism, with Alchemist Brian Cotnoir, Begins December 2
Four Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Tuesdays, December 2 - 23, 2025
7:00 - 9:00pm ET (NYC Time)
$140 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
On Magic is a four-part course centered on Cornelius Agrippa’s The Three Books of Occult Philosophy.
By examining Agrippa's sources, we will follow the development of key ideas in Renaissance magic—the occult philosophy that is the foundation of Western esoteric thought and practice. In the popular imagination, magic and grimoires are often associated with calling up spirits and demons to find hidden treasure, and put whammies on your enemies—after all, who doesn't love the smell of sulphur at midnight? This course, however, will focus on the ascent of the soul, a practice that is threaded throughout the western esoteric tradition.Itis this thread that we will follow, from the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus, through Marsilio Ficino and Agrippa to contemporary theory and practice of the conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel.
Brian Cotnoir is the author of a series of Alchemy Zines, Alchemy: The Poetry of Matter, Practical Alchemy: A Guide to the Great Work, and the Emerald Tablet, his translations of Arabic and Latin versions of this seminal text. And recently, On Alchemy: Essential Practices and Making Art as Alchemy.
Images; Bruno Giordano. Articuli centum et sexaginta adversus and Acrotismus, 1588; Cornelius Agrippa, De occulta philosophia
Four Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Tuesdays, December 2 - 23, 2025
7:00 - 9:00pm ET (NYC Time)
$140 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
On Magic is a four-part course centered on Cornelius Agrippa’s The Three Books of Occult Philosophy.
By examining Agrippa's sources, we will follow the development of key ideas in Renaissance magic—the occult philosophy that is the foundation of Western esoteric thought and practice. In the popular imagination, magic and grimoires are often associated with calling up spirits and demons to find hidden treasure, and put whammies on your enemies—after all, who doesn't love the smell of sulphur at midnight? This course, however, will focus on the ascent of the soul, a practice that is threaded throughout the western esoteric tradition.Itis this thread that we will follow, from the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus, through Marsilio Ficino and Agrippa to contemporary theory and practice of the conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel.
Brian Cotnoir is the author of a series of Alchemy Zines, Alchemy: The Poetry of Matter, Practical Alchemy: A Guide to the Great Work, and the Emerald Tablet, his translations of Arabic and Latin versions of this seminal text. And recently, On Alchemy: Essential Practices and Making Art as Alchemy.
Images; Bruno Giordano. Articuli centum et sexaginta adversus and Acrotismus, 1588; Cornelius Agrippa, De occulta philosophia
Four Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Tuesdays, December 2 - 23, 2025
7:00 - 9:00pm ET (NYC Time)
$140 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
On Magic is a four-part course centered on Cornelius Agrippa’s The Three Books of Occult Philosophy.
By examining Agrippa's sources, we will follow the development of key ideas in Renaissance magic—the occult philosophy that is the foundation of Western esoteric thought and practice. In the popular imagination, magic and grimoires are often associated with calling up spirits and demons to find hidden treasure, and put whammies on your enemies—after all, who doesn't love the smell of sulphur at midnight? This course, however, will focus on the ascent of the soul, a practice that is threaded throughout the western esoteric tradition.Itis this thread that we will follow, from the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus, through Marsilio Ficino and Agrippa to contemporary theory and practice of the conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel.
Brian Cotnoir is the author of a series of Alchemy Zines, Alchemy: The Poetry of Matter, Practical Alchemy: A Guide to the Great Work, and the Emerald Tablet, his translations of Arabic and Latin versions of this seminal text. And recently, On Alchemy: Essential Practices and Making Art as Alchemy.
Images; Bruno Giordano. Articuli centum et sexaginta adversus and Acrotismus, 1588; Cornelius Agrippa, De occulta philosophia