The known history of what has become the Western ceremonial magick tradition, including alchemy,
astrology, evocation, and similar pursuits, spans roughly six or seven hundred years, the
earliest manuscripts dating to the thirteenth century.
However, this was solely when European scholars became aware of them at the dawning of the
European Renaissance, as much of the material that formed the early corpus came from Greek,
Hebrew, and Arabic sources (to name but a few) before being translated - typically into Latin.
The following time line shows important dates in the emergence of the magickal tradition,
as well as other notable dates and persons of interest for reference. I have purposely excluded
living persons, because that just gets awkward...
If you believe I have done a grave disservice by excluding someone, or if you feel something is incorrectly attributed or dated, feel free to contact me.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| c.100 | Dating of the Sepher Yetzirah, the seminal book on Kabbalah. |
| c.233 | Porphyry born. |
| c.300 | "The Testament of Solomon" appears, detailing how King Solomon conjured, controlled and used demons to build the Temple of Jerusalem. |
| c.304 | Prophyry dies. |
| c.354 | Saint Augustine born. |
| c.430 | Saint Augustine dies. |
| c.500 | Pseudo-Dionysius defines his hierarchy of angels. |
| c.700 | Beginning of the Islamic Renaissance. |
| c.1100 | Dating of the Sepher ha-Bahir, a foundational book on Kabbalah. |
| 1129 | Knights Templar founded. |
| 1189 | Third Crusade begins. |
| 1193 | Albertus Magnus born. |
| c.1200 | The Zohar written; attributed to Moses de Leon. |
| 1214 | Roger Bacon born. |
| 1225 | Saint Thomas Aquinas born. |
| 1250 | Pietro d'Abano (Peter de Abano) born. |
| 1274 | Saint Thomas Aquinas dies. |
| 1280 | Albertus Magnus dies. |
| 1292 | Roger Bacon dies. |
| c.1300 | Beginning of the European Renaissance. |
| 1307 | Arrest of the Knights Templar. |
| 1312 | Knights Templar officially disbanded. |
| 1314 | Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, burned at the stake. |
| 1316 | Pietro d'Abano dies. |
| 1433 | Marsilio Ficino, early humanist and neoplatonic philosopher, born. |
| 1440 | The printing press is introduced by Johannes Guttenberg. |
| 1455 | Johann Reuchlin born. |
| 1458 | The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage (internal date - speculative). |
| 1459 | Internal dating of "The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz". |
| 1462 | Johannes Trithemius born. |
| 1463 | Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, humanist philosopher, born. |
| 1473 | Nicolas Copernicus born. |
| 1484 | Pope Innocent VIII declares the practice of witchcraft to be heretical. (Prior to this date, it was purely a civil matter, not an ecclesiastical one.) |
| 1486 | Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim born. |
| Giovanni Pico publishes his "900 Theses," intending to debate them at the Vatican. | |
| Malleus Maleficarum, the Inquisitorial handbook on witch-hunting, published. | |
| 1489 | Giovanni Pico publishes his "Apology," defending the orthodoxy of his "900 Theses". |
| 1492 | Christopher Columbus discovers the New World. |
| 1493 | Paracelsus born. |
| 1494 | Giovanni Pico della Mirandola dies - suspected poisoning. |
| 1499 | Trithemius' Steganographia first circulated in manuscript form, detailing a series of magical squares in what is really a treatise on cryptography. |
| Marsilio Ficino Dies. | |
| 1515 | Johann Weyer born. |
| 1516 | Johannes Trithemius dies. |
| 1517 | Reuchlin publishes "De Arte Cabalistica". |
| Martin Luther publishes his "Ninety-Five Theses" initiating the Protestant Reformation. | |
| 1522 | Johann Reuchlin dies. |
| 1527 | John Dee, Elizabethan magician and astrologer, born. |
| 1533 | Agrippa publishes his "Three Books of Occult Philosophy". |
| 1534 | Rabbi Isaac Luria born, widely regarded as the father of modern Kabbalah. |
| 1535 | Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim dies. |
| 1541 | Paracelsus dies. |
| 1543 | Nicolas Copernicus publishes "De revolutionibus orbium Coelestium" conceiving (and mathematically proving the validity) of the heliocentric model. |
| Nicolas Copernicus dies. | |
| 1548 | Giordiano Bruno born. |
| 1555 | John Dee imprisoned for "conjuring." |
| Edward Kelley, scryer for John Dee, born. | |
| Queen Elizabeth ascends to the throne of England. | |
| 1563 | Johann Weyer publishes "De Praestigiis Daemonum et Incantationibus ac Venificiis," containing "De Pseudomonarchia Daemonum" that details an early listing of the Goetia, a treatise against witch hunting hysteria. |
| 1564 | John Dee publishes "The Hieroglyphic Monad", an inspired magical treatise. |
| William Shakespeare born. | |
| Galileo Galilei born. | |
| 1570 | John Dee publishes the introduction to Euclid's "Elements". |
| 1572 | Isaac Luria dies. |
| 1575 | Arbatel published. |
| 1582 | John Dee and Edward Kelley begin to receive the Enochian system. |
| 1583 | Thomas Rudd born. |
| 1584 | Reginald Scot publishes "The Discoverie of Witchcraft" in which he gives an english translation of Weyer's "De Pseudomonarchia Daemonum". This also was a treatise against witch hunting hysteria. |
| 1588 | Johann Weyer dies. |
| 1593 | Giordiano Bruno imprisoned by the Inquisition. |
| 1597 | Edward Kelley dies. |
| 1600 | Giordiano Bruno burned at the stake for heresy. |
| 1606 | Johann Trithemius' "Steganographia" published. |
| 1608 | John Dee dies. |
| 1616 | William Shakespeare dies. |
| 1617 | Elias Ashmole born. |
| 1632 | Galileo Galilei publishes "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems" which defended a heliocentric world-view. |
| 1642 | Galileo Galilei dies. |
| 1643 | Sir Isaac Newton born. |
| 1656 | Thomas Rudd dies. |
| 1659 | Meric Causabon publishes "A True and Faithful Relation..." detailing a number of Dee's angelic conferences. |
| 1692 | Elias Ashmole dies. |
| The Salem Witch Trials begin. Nineteen persons are hung upon their conviction. | |
| 1717 | First Masonic Grand Lodge created (England). |
| 1727 | Sir Isaac Newton dies. |
| 1735 | The Witchcraft Act passed in England. |
| 1801 | Francis Barrett publishes "The Magus". |
| 1810 | Alphonse Louis Constant (Eliphas Levi) born. |
| 1854 | S.L. MacGregor Mathers, head of The Golden Dawn, born. |
| 1855 | Eliphas Levi publishes "Dogma et Rituel de le Haute Magie" later published by A.E. Waite as "Transcendental Magic". |
| Theodor Reuss, founding member of the O.T.O., born. | |
| 1857 | Arthur Edward Waite born. |
| 1865 | Gerard Encausse (Papus) born. |
| 1875 | Alphose Louis Constant (Eliphas Levi) dies. |
| Aleister Crowley born. | |
| 1884 | Founding of the Theosophical Society. |
| Paul Foster Case, founder of B.O.T.A., born. | |
| Gerald Gardner, founder of Gardnerian Wicca, born. | |
| 1886 | Austin Osmond Spare born. |
| 1888 | The Golden Dawn opens Isis-Urania Temple in London. |
| 1889 | Mathers publishes "The Key of Solomon". |
| 1891 | A.E. Waite joins the Golden Dawn. |
| 1895 | Founding of Ordo Templi Orientis. |
| 1898 | Aleister Crowley joins the Golden Dawn. |
| 1900 | A schism in the Golden Dawn creates a number of offshoots. The order never fully recovers. |
| 1904 | Aleister Crowley receives "The Book of the Law". |
| Aleister Crowley publishes "The Goetia". | |
| 1907 | Israel Regardie born. |
| 1911 | A.E. Waite publishes "The Pictoral Key to the Tarot". |
| 1913 | Crowley composes the Gnostic Mass. |
| 1914 | World War I begins. |
| 1916 | Gerard Encausse (Papus) dies. |
| 1918 | World War I ends. |
| S.L. MacGregor Mathers dies. | |
| 1922 | Aleister Crowley becomes head of O.T.O. |
| 1928 | Discovery of penicillin. |
| 1939 | World War II begins with Germany's invasion of Poland. |
| 1942 | Arthur Edward Waite dies. |
| 1945 | World War II ends. |
| 1947 | Aleister Crowley dies. |
| 1951 | The Witchcraft Act of 1735 repealed. |
| 1954 | Paul Foster Case dies. |
| 1956 | Austin Osmond Spare dies. |
| 1964 | Gerald Gardner dies. |
| 1978 | Foundations of Chaos Magick introduced. |
| 1985 | Israel Regardie dies. |
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