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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Parallel Edition

Thomas Vaughan

Magia Adamica

The Antiquity of Magic · With the Complete Coelum Terrae

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Magia AdamicaEgypt, Greece and the Transmission of the Art · Modern English

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Egypt, Greece and the Transmission of the Art · Modern English

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Original English

None (saith he) hath ever seen God, but a certaine Man descended of the Chaldaean Bloud. Now this was Moses, of whom it is written, That he spake with God face to face, as one Man speaks with another. After This he gives us a short Character or Description of the Deitie, not in the Recesse, and Abstract, but in reference to the Incubation of his spirit upon Nature. Lastly he acquaints us with the Originall of his Doctrine, from whence it first came, and verily he derives it from the Wellhead.

Priscorum nos haec docuerunt Omnia Vates, Quae Binis Tabulis Deus olim tradidit Illis.

Modern English

[Vaughan’s English:] No one has ever seen God except a certain man descended from Chaldaean blood. This was Moses, of whom it is written that he spoke with God face to face, as one person speaks with another. Afterwards Orpheus gives us a short account or description of the deity, considered through the brooding of his Spirit upon Nature, rather than in his hidden, abstract being. Lastly, he tells us his doctrine’s origin, and truly derives it from the fountainhead.

[New translation of the Latin:] The ancient seers taught us all these things, Which God once handed them on two tablets.

About This Reading Edition

Thomas Vaughan’s complete 1650 Magia Adamica publication, with all historical preliminaries and the complete appended Coelum Terrae, original and modern English, fresh translations of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, full poems, eight historical marginal notes, the complete recovered printed corrections, 312 annotations and the complete supplied Diotimos study apparatus.

Historical Text and Translation

Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), Magia Adamica: or The Antiquitie of Magic, with Coelum Terrae. London: T. W. for H. Blunden, 1650. Governing transcription: EEBO-TCP A64768.0001.001. The Getty Research Institute copy supplies surviving first-edition page images; the 1656 issue supplies explicitly disclosed missing or defective material. The complete shared 1650 errata are recovered from the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica copy of The Man-Mouse.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The historical text is public domain; the EEBO-TCP Phase I transcription is released under CC0. The supplied 2026 reading, translations and Diotimos editorial material are published with the site owner’s authorization.