Arbatel De Magia veterum

The Arbatel is noted for being straightforward in its writing, positive in its
contents, and unusually honest regarding its origins. While a number of occult
works claim to be from earlier periods and other regions than where they were
actually published, textual evidence demonstrates that the book must have been
written between 1536 and 1583, which encompasses the claimed date of 1575. The
final editing of the book was likely carried out by Theodor Zwinger, and was almost
definitely published by Pietro Perna, leaving little doubt to the book's claimed
Swiss origin. The author remains unknown, but Peterson believes one Jacques Gohory
(1520-1576) to be the most likely possibility. Gohory, like Zwinger and Perna, was
a Paracelsian.[2]

Some German manuscripts produced shortly after its publication attribute the work
to Paracelsus, though without evidence.

The Arbatel mainly focuses on the relationship between humanity, celestial

hierarchies, and the positive relationship between the two. The Olympian spirits
featured in it are entirely original.[4]

A. E. Waite, quite clear of the Christian nature of the work (if dissatisfied with
its ideas of practical magic), writes that the book is devoid of black magic and
without any connection to the Greater or Lesser Keys of Solomon.[3] Unlike other
grimoires, the Arbatel exhorts the magus to remain active in their community
(instead of isolating themselves), favoring kindness, charity, and honesty over
remote and obscure rituals.[2]

The Bible is the source most often quoted and referred to throughout the work
(indeed, the author appears to have almost memorized large portions of it,
resulting in paraphrases differing from the Vulgate). The Arbatel cannot be
understood if separated from the philosophy of Paracelsus, who appears to have
coined the term "Olympic spirits", and was the inspiration for the Arbatel's
understanding of elementals (including Paracelsus's gnomes and the uniquely
Paracelsian "Sagani"), the macrocosm and microcosm, and experimentation combined
with respect for ancient authorities. Indeed, the Arbatel is both broadly and
deeply rooted in classical culture including Ancient Greek philosophy, the
Sibylline oracles, and Plotinus in addition to the contemporaneous theology and
occult philosophy of figures such as Iovianus Pontanus and Johannes Trithemius.
(All of these traits also feature in the works of Jacques Gohory, which Peterson
claims as evidence for his theory of Gohory's authorship).[2]

The Sibylline Oracles (Latin: Oracula Sibyllina; sometimes called the pseudo-
Sibylline Oracles) are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek
hexameters ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a
frenzied state. Fourteen books and eight fragments of Sibylline Oracles survive, in
an edition of the 6th or 7th century AD. They are not to be confused with the
original Sibylline Books of the ancient Etruscans and Romans which were burned by
order of Roman general Flavius Stilicho in the 4th century AD. Instead, the text is
an "odd pastiche" of Hellenistic and Roman mythology interspersed with Jewish,
Gnostic and early Christian legend.[1]

The Sibylline Oracles are a valuable source for information about classical
mythology and early first millennium Gnostic, Hellenistic Jewish and Christian
beliefs. Some apocalyptic passages scattered throughout seem to adumbrate themes of
the Book of Revelation and other apocalyptic literature. The oracles have undergone
extensive editing, re-writing, and redaction as they came to be exploited in wider
circles.

One passage has an acrostic, spelling out a Christian code-phrase with the first
letters of successive lines.