Ceremonial magic and natural philosophy

Francis Barrett

1770 – 1830

Francis Barrett was an English occultist, astrologer, and teacher of practical magic active in London around the turn of the nineteenth century, best known for publishing The Magus, or Celestial Intelligencer (1801), a comprehensive compendium of natural magic, alchemy, magnetism, Kabbalah, and demonology drawn largely from Cornelius Agrippa and other Renaissance sources. He advertised classes in occult arts and assembled a circle of students around him, making him a transitional figure between the older grimoire tradition and the emerging Victorian occult revival. The Magus served as a key sourcebook for later nineteenth-century magical practitioners and directly influenced figures such as Eliphas Lévi and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.