All the fires come alive

Next date: Saturday, 12 September 2026 | 07:00 PM to Sunday, 25 October 2026 | 12:30 PM

Step into mystical worlds where spirits, incantations, and shadows are illuminated through art, words, and performance. Uncover arcane knowledge, ritual, and alchemy in the collections of State Library and Archives of Tasmania.

For millennia, libraries have been sites for divining knowledge. Fabled as quiet places for discovery and contemplation, they are also gathering spaces for philosophical discussion, where the power of words is paramount.

At the heart of the exhibition is Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy.

This copy is the English translation from 1651. Published in Latin in the early 1530s, it is upheld by scholars and magicians today as the most significant book about western esotericism ever written.

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Event website

Image credit: Lou Conboy, The view from Paradise, 2019, archival inkjet print from expired infrared Aerochrome film.