The narrator reads about ancient magic before falling asleep in the moonlight to dream

A mysterious book, written by an Icelander named Duracotus, whose mother Fiolxhilde practiced ancient & occult arts

After an argument with his mother, the boy Duracotus stows away on a ship bound for Denmark

Duracotus joins the students of astronomer Tycho Brahe at the Uraniborg observatory on the island of Hven

After studying at Uraniborg for years, Duracotus returns to Iceland and his mother Fiolxhilde, who thought him dead

Fiolxhilde reveals the occult art of conversing & traveling with certain ‘wise spirits’ encountered in Iceland

Fiolxhilde summons her arcane teacher, an entity or ‘daemon’ with the ability to travel through space

The daemon describes Levania – the earth’s moon – and the selection of humans who can survive the journey

The dangers of space travel for humans and the methods used by daemons to ensure their safety

How squadrons of daemons can transport human travelers to the moon through the shadow of a solar eclipse

How the astronomy of the inhabitants of the moon differs between lunar regions and from the earth

The appearance of the earth and the movements of celestial objects seen by the inhabitants of the moon

The regions of the moon according to astronomical phenomena seen from the lunar surface