In the magical tradition of the Renaissance, perfume was not merely an ornament of ritual but a means of relating human beings to the forces of the cosmos. The text that more than any other codified this idea is the De occulta philosophia of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, published in its complete form in 1533. In some chapters of the first book Agrippa deals with suffumigations, that is, substances to be burned, and with their correspondences to the planets.
Agrippa and natural magic
Agrippa, born in Cologne in 1486, was a restless figure: scholar, physician, soldier, court counsellor and tireless traveller. His De occulta philosophia is divided into three books, devoted respectively to the natural world, to the celestial and mathematical world, and to the intellectual and divine world.
The first book deals with natural magic: the idea that everything in the lower world possesses virtues derived from the stars and planets, and that by knowing these correspondences one can understand the hidden bonds of the universe. Suffumigations belong to this vision.
What suffumigations are
The Latin term suffumigium refers to the smoke produced by burning a substance beneath something, or in any case to fill a space. Agrippa, drawing on ancient and medieval authors, maintains that fumes act on the air and on spirits, and that every operation should therefore be accompanied by the appropriate suffumigation.
In his view the air, saturated with vapours, becomes a vehicle linking the qualities of bodies with those of the heavens. Perfume, being a subtle substance, sits halfway between the material and the spiritual.
The simple table of correspondences
In a chapter devoted to the fumes appropriate to the planets, Agrippa offers, alongside more complex compositions, a simple scheme in which each planet governs a type of fragrant substance:
| Planet | Type of substance | Examples given |
|---|---|---|
| Saturn | Fragrant roots | Aromatic roots, frankincense |
| Jupiter | Fragrant fruits | Nutmeg, cloves |
| Mars | Fragrant woods | Sandalwood, cypress, aloeswood |
| Sun | Gums and resins | Frankincense, mastic, storax, ladanum |
| Venus | Flowers | Roses, violets, saffron |
| Mercury | Barks of woods and rinds of fruits | Cinnamon, cassia, citron peel |
| Moon | Leaves | Myrtle, bay |
The logic of this table is elegant. The parts of the plant are distributed among the planets according to their nature: roots, hidden in the earth, to slow and deep Saturn; flowers, beautiful and attractive, to Venus; leaves, which renew and change, to the Moon, planet of change; resins, precious and luminous, to the Sun.
The complex compositions
Agrippa also gives more elaborate blends for each planet, including numerous plant ingredients and sometimes substances of animal origin, following the practice of the medieval magical texts he draws on. For the Sun, for example, he lists among others saffron, aloeswood, cloves, myrrh and frankincense.
These recipes should be read as historical documents of Renaissance magical thought. They reveal a way of seeing the world in which everything is linked by sympathies and antipathies, and in which human beings, by knowing these bonds, can direct their work.
Agrippa's sources
Agrippa did not invent from nothing. His tables gather material from many traditions:
- ancient cosmology and astrology, which attributed specific qualities to the planets;
- the Arabic tradition translated into Latin, in particular the Picatrix, which contains numerous instructions for suffumigations;
- Renaissance Neoplatonic philosophy, above all Marsilio Ficino, who had written on the use of perfumes, colours and music to attune oneself to the planets.
The legacy
Agrippa's correspondences had an enormous influence on the later esoteric tradition. The tables of planetary perfumes found in nineteenth- and twentieth-century manuals of ceremonial magic derive largely from this scheme, sometimes simplified, sometimes modified.
For students of tradition, the value of these chapters lies not in promising effects but in showing a vision of the cosmos as an ordered whole, in which even a perfume has its precise place. Inner work consists in understanding this order and recognising its traces within oneself.
In short
- Agrippa deals with suffumigations in the first book of De occulta philosophia, complete in 1533.
- Suffumigations belong to his vision of a natural magic founded on correspondences.
- A simple table assigns roots to Saturn, fruits to Jupiter, woods to Mars, resins to the Sun, flowers to Venus, barks to Mercury and leaves to the Moon.
- His sources include ancient astrology, the Picatrix and Ficino.
- His correspondences underlie many planetary tables of modern magic.
