A closer look
Long before math puzzles were printed in the back of daily newspapers, magicians thought they were literal traps for spiritual entities. Cornelius Agrippa and other Renaissance occultists constructed 'magic squares'—grids of numbers where every row and column added up to the same total. They believed each planet had its own specific numerical grid, and if you carved it into a metal talisman at exactly the right astrological hour, you could electronically leash an angel to your bidding using basic arithmetic.
