It was the stated purpose of Rosicrucian alchemists, who were leading founders of modern science, to rediscover the natural magic arts originally known in the ancient times. There were, in the sixteenth century, men of leisure, who filled their time with membership of secret discussion groups which led to freemasonry and what became modern science bodies such as the Royal Society. Monastic groups were also forming and becoming what today are called universities, translating ancient works of philosophy and magic. Subjects the groups of leisurely men discussed often revolved around alchemy and other magic arts. Their writings were finding their way into print now that the printing press had been invented. There were many writings and teachings of these men which were classed as sorcery and heresy by the Church and were banned and burned. The Rosicrucians started to publish the idea that one of these groups, called the Invisible College, could find the original magic art knowledge and excel beyond the others as the elite magicians. The belief was developing that natural magic arts were innocent if discovered using experimentation without invoking spirits. Such magic would therefore be allowed, it was hoped, by the Church. (Had the Church known about the Book of Enoch it might have been more alert to the dangers of such arts, given their fallen angel origins.) From the writings of Giambattista della Porta’s called Magia Naturalis, in sixteenth century Italy, we find that what became the modern sciences we know today started with these ‘natural magic arts’ such as geology, optics, medicines, poisons, cooking, metallurgy, magnetism, cosmetics, perfumes, gunpowder, and invisible writing. Of these there are several we find in the Book of Enoch which were taught by the fallen angels: medicines, poisons, metallurgy, cosmetics, interbreeding of animals, plus the archaeology of the period of Enoch shows that coloured glasses and gemstones were also introduced at that time. All the things taught by fallen angels are classed in the early days of modern science as ‘natural magic’. Even in much earlier times c300 AD the Greco-Egyptian leading alchemist Zosimos of Panopolis wrote: “The ancient and divine writings say that the angels became enamoured of women; and, descending, taught them all the works of nature. From them, therefore, is the first tradition, chema, concerning these arts; for they called this book chema and hence the science of chemistry takes its name.”
