[Ouija Tales]

Born at Cologne in 1486, in the noble and ancient family of Nettesheim, Cornelius Agrippa wanted to walk in the footsteps of his ancestors. For many generations they had been employed by the house of Austria, so he entered into the service of Emperor Maximilian, first as a Secretary, later and for seven years as a soldier in Maximilian's Italian army. He was created knight in the field because of his brave actions, but he soon added some academical honours to the military and became doctor of laws and physic.

Cornelius Agrippa had a wonderful genius and a great talent to obtain knowledge in almost all arts and sciences. He was a diligent researcher, fascinated by the mysteries of nature, and obsessed by the Philosopher's Stone. Agrippa was recommended to a princess as a Master in the Art of Alchemy, but his temper once again got him in trouble. He read lectures at Rome, Pavia, Turin and his work raised the indignation of the Pope. Because the people of those days suspected whatever they could not understand, he had to flee from various cities in France - where he defended a country-woman, accused of witchcraft - and Spain.

Martín Antonio Del Rio, the Jesuit theologian who was partly responsible for the witch-hunts in the Southern Netherlands, taught for several years theology in the Flemish city of Louvain when Agrippa lived there. He accused the Magister of practising diabolical magic, the awful Black Art. For instance, Agrippa would have paid at inns with pieces of horn and casted an illusion over the senses whereby those who received the pieces took them for real money. It also was Del Rio who told the story of the Demon of Louvain, raised in Agrippa's study.