History of Hermeticism

Презентация в рамках IV международной научной конференции ФЕНОМЕН АЛХИМИИ В ИСТОРИИ НАУКИ, ФИЛОСОФИИ, КУЛЬТУРЕ 7 октября 2021 года.

Спикер: Двинянинов Борис Кириллович (Россия, Санкт-Петербург)

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Ci sono storie note e meno note, ci sono storie sconosciute ma che meritano di essere raccontate; ci sono luoghi mitici e leggendari, come Rennes-Le-Chateau, che accendono le più sfrenate fantasie e altri di cui quasi niente si sa, ma che non hanno nulla da invidiare a quelli più famosi.

«Hermetism» и «Hermeticism» - два термина, которые на русский язык часто переводят как «герметизм», тем самым убирая различия между этими понятиями. Из-за отсутствия разграничений в исследовательской терминологии, которая в том числе доступна и широкому кругу интересующихся герметизмом как таковым, мы можем наблюдать ряд обобщений и путаницу в вопросе, что такое герметизм и какой он бывает.

Определяя и демаркируя понятия «герметизм» и «герметицизм», мы сможем в будущем избежать ряда ошибочных и предельно обобщенных суждений. Оба этих понятия являются исследовательскими маркерами, основанными на самоназваниях герметизма: Hermetica, Ars Hermetica, Philosophica Hermetica и др. Такой анализ определений уже проводился в недавнем времени зарубежными исследователями: Френсис Йейтс, Антуан Февр, Воутер Ханеграаф, Флориан Эбелинг и др. Исходя из этих исследований наряду с термином «Герметизм», можно вывести рабочее определение термину «Герметицизм».

Двинянинов Б. К. Синкретизм в Герметическом корпусе. Проблема отношения дуалистического и оптимистического гнозиса. 2009

Реферативная, но во многом актуальная работа по интерпретации Герметического корпуса и книг Высокого герметизма. Хочу переработать ее в две статьи.

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Доктор Джон Ди (сборник) / Т. Ф. Дибдин, У. Флетчер Младший, Г. М. Хорт / Пер. с англ. и лат., коммент. Ю. Ф. Родиченкова; предисл. Б. К. Двинянинова; послесл. В. В. Винокурова; науч. ред. В. В. Винокурова, под общ. ред. Б. К. Двинянинова. — СПб. : Издательство «Академия исследований культуры», 2021. — 208 с.: ил. — (Серия Librarium Aureum. Opus Minus). ISBN 978-5-94396-225-7 Уменьшенный формат. Тираж 300 экз.

Джон Ди (13 июля 1527 — 26 марта 1609, Лондон, Англия) — известный британский натурфилософ, математик, астроном, географ, посол, теолог, мистик, алхимик и астролог королевского двора, которому посвящена книга. Для этого сборника к. ф. н. Юрием Фёдоровичем Родиченковым были переведены и собраны, впервые издающиеся в академическом формате, редкие биографии доктора Джона Ди — Гертруды М. Хорт, Уильяма Флетчера Младшего и Т. Ф. Дибдина. Их дополняют переводы важного для издания эпистолярного наследия Джона Ди: письма к королеве Марии и королеве Елизавете, переписка с лордом Берли, письмо Чарльзу Джекману и Артуру Петту. В послесловии приведена статья редактора сборника к. ф. н. Владимира Васильевича Винокурова. Основной темой настоящего издания является обширное наследие доктора Ди, которое в наше время становится все более доступным для подробного изучения. Сборник прекрасно дополняет ранее изданные «Личный дневник доктора Джона Ди» и Джон Ди «Афористические начала». Книга будет интересна широкому кругу читателей, а также культурологам, историкам философии, историкам естественных наук, эзотериологам и всем интересующимся фигурой доктора Ди и елизаветинской эпохой.

Содержание

Заметка издателя (Б. К. Двинянинов) ........................................ 5
Гертруда М. Хорт. Доктор Джон Ди. Мистика и астрология елизаветинской эпохи ....................................... 7
Глава I ................................................................................... 9
Глава II.................................................................................. 25
Глава III................................................................................. 41
Глава IV ................................................................................ 59
Глава V.................................................................................. 69

Уильям Флетчер Младший. Доктор Ди, 1527–1608 ............ 83

Т. Ф. Дибдин. [Доктор Джон Ди].............................................. 91

Приложения
Джон Ди. Прошение Джона Ди к королеве Марии о спасении
и сохранении письменных памятников и [книг] древних
авторов . . .107
Уильям Сесил, 1-й барон Берли. Памятная записка лорда Берли,
касающаяся мнения доктора Джона Ди о реформировании
календаря. . . 114
Джон Ди.  Доктор Ди лорду Берли . . . 117
Джон Ди. Доктор Джон Ди Чарльзу Джекману и Артуру Петту...131
[Доктор Ди перед путешествием Джекмана и Петта в Катай].135
Джон Ди. Доктор Ди — королеве Елизавете из богемского
Трибау, c поздравлением Ее Величеству после поражения
испанской армады и покорностью воле Ее Величества, по
поводу его, мистера Келли и их семей возвращения домой.
10 ноября 1588-го. . . 137

Послесловие. Он — Доктор Ди, который был… (В. В. Винокуров) . . 141
Алхимическая легенда творчества Ди и Келли...................151
«Дневники» и «Книги тайн»: частное и публичное.............152
Корпус текстов «енохианской магии»..................................156
«Книги тайн» Джона Ди и Гоэтия........................................159
«Книга Еноха» в широком и узком смыслах .......................166
Первообраз и культовый миф Гоэтии..................................172
Полемика ангела Гальвы с точкой зрения Тритемия..........177
Алхимик...184

Библиография...193

Neste artigo desenvolvemos algumas ideias relacionadas com a prisca theologia, magia natural, astrologia e suas relações com uma atitude que designamos como dissimulação. Seu contexto consiste em Florença e a Itália da segunda metade do séc. XV. O que entendemos por dissimulação consiste em uma ação de encobrimento, ocultação ou mascaramento de intenções diante de situações complexas que envolvem suspeita de heresia, associação com livros proibidos, pressupostos magico-astrológicos e demonologia. Este problema está relacionado com o pensamento antimágico cristão e o seu embate com teorias pró-mágica relacionadas com a magia natural, magia celeste e a prisca theologia enquanto um risco de heresia. Neste contexto defender-se e dissimular adesões polêmicas torna-se uma necessidade para manter-se longe de suspeitas e acusações. Neste sentido, este artigo reconstrói alguns elementos fundamentais da magia ficiniana em termos teóricos e técnicos, compreendendo suas principais ideias, noções, hábitos de pensamento e fontes, analisando os temas indicados como polêmicos e as atitudes dissimulatórias apresentadas no De Vita Coelitus Comparanda (1489) e Apologia (1489), e os argumentos e recursos empregados por Ficino em sua tentativa de demonstrar obediência à igreja em sua autodefesa.

the work of such luminary scientific figures as Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Boyle, Newton, and others. Although this new conception of the Scientific Revolution was, at first, controversial, it has since generated a great deal of research on the topic of the Renaissance revival of hermeticism, Neoplatonism, and 'natural magic' and of their incontrovertible influence on the development of modern science and medicine.

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Книга рун (Liber Runarum) / Пер. и коммент. Е. Кузьмина. — СПб.: Издательство «Академия исследования культуры», 2020. — 72 с. : ил. — (Серия Code Grimoire). ISBN 978-5-94396-220-2

«Книга рун» – сочинение по астральной магии известное по четырем манускриптам, датируемым XIV–XVI веками. Текст был широко распространен в этот же период, а, значит, сегодня он важен для понимания интеллектуальной атмосферы данной эпохи. В сочинении с легкостью объединяются традиция древнеегипетской и древнегреческой магии с магией рун.
Эта книга входит в собрание латинской гримуарной герметики, по традиции ее приписывают Гермесу Трисмегисту. В книге также приводится латинский текст манускрипта, символы и иллюстрации из рукописей, таблицы соответствий, научный комментарий. На русском языке публикуется впервые.

The distinctions between dream experiences, and events in the "real world," appear to be a logical dichotomy.-How do the premonitions in some dreams create a particular framework of "Time" as it appears to the dream senses, compared with (1) the "rational sense" of time, (2) the evolving of scientific understanding of "time", and (3) the experience of "time" oriented to the senses ? As a literary device, the rhetorical principle of Prolepsis is the same means used in the literary and film genres of Science Fiction-where events are built up on previous fictional circumstances, some or all of which take place in the "future" of the time of composition.-This principle can also come about in archaeological or forensic discoveries of previously unknown events, which in turn redefine other previously discovered phenomena.-In some cases, a paradigm shift of historical perspective is produced. Prolepsis: is from the Greek , [prolambanein] and means literally "to take" something "beforehand". In this seemingly obvious definition we may discover both the principle and the effect of anticipation : the assumption or representation of a future act or eventuality as if it were already accomplished or existing. When an adjective clause follows a preposition "like" or "as"-it remains within the realm of evident effects and is considered to be poetic simile, as likeness. Beyond "likeness," comparison becomes equivalence, identification, relation, or hyperbole-that is, metaphor.-For me the description of dreams in prose proved inadequate early-on to describe a continuous sequence that told a story. How did this esoteric word come to me? Oddly enough, the exact memory is murky: indeed, it came into my awareness sometime in my mid-teen years when I began writing down memories of my dreams in as much detail as I could remember. "Murky" for certain, as in my early teenage studies of ESP experiments and research being done at Duke University, the thought was that I had lived, in a previous incarnation, on a planet in the "Prolepsis Nebula," an other-worldly word, such as would be named in an episode of Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits! Prolmhyeis The Atomist philosopher Epicurus explored the aspects of "Anticipation" Prolmhyeis in order to define the existent world as what is true, and what does not meet the qualifications of Truth. This is a multi-level dialectical problem, as, in addition to "Truth" & "Being" there is also the recognition of Metaphor as a valid vehicle of the Mind, so that there is a "categorical" distinction between Truth and Metaphor in language, poetry, and dramatic Theatre. It is my purpose to speak of dialectic, in addition to its multiple meanings, in the sense and understanding here of the development of an historical stream of philosophical thought as it becomes a "river in time" down through the lifetimes of pedagogues and writers, and the centuries of hypothetical

Двинянинов Б. К. Алхимия Гермеса Трисмегиста в герметических текстах поздней Античности // Феномен алхимии в истории науки, философии, культуре. IV международная научная конференция / Отв. ред., состав. и вс. ст. Б. К. Двинянинов, В. Н. Морозов. — СПб.: ИД РХГА, 2022. — С. 10-19

В западном эзотеризме утвердилось представление о том, что Гермес Трисмегист является легендарным родоначальником алхимии. Многие знают его как автора Изумрудной Скрижали — своего рода алхимического манифеста, который, по всей видимости, появился в арабском средневековье, но считается, что мог иметь греко-язычный прототип. Такое представление начало закрепляться уже в период поздней Античности в алхимических трактатах. Мы рассмотрим самые истоки алхимии Гермеса Трисмегиста в дошедших до нас позднеантичных трактатах «высокого» и «низкого» герметизма, а также в работах Зосимы Панополитанского и по иным алхимическим фрагментам. Также рассмотрим фигуры учеников Гермеса и загадочного Агатодемона, которые непосредственно связаны с алхимией, приведем герметическую легенду об ангельском происхождении алхимии.

The idea that Hermes Trismegistus is the legendary founder of alchemy has been established in Western esotericism. He is widely known as the author of the Emerald Tablet, a kind of alchemical manifesto that was most probably created in the Arab Middle Ages; however, it is also believed that it could have had a Greek-language prototype. This idea got established in alchemical treatises already in the period of late antiquity. We will consider the very origins of alchemy of Hermes Trismegistus in the Late Antique treatises of “high” and “low” Hermeticism that have come down to us, as well as in the works of Zosimus Panopolitansky and other alchemical fragments. Also we will consider the figures of the disciples of Hermes and the mysterious Agathodemon, which are directly related to alchemy, and recall the hermetic legend about the angelic origin of alchemy.

Thе article discusses ideas of the concept of “transmigration of souls” in antiquity on the example of three mystical-esoteric teachings: Orphism, Hermeticism and Pythagoreanism. The single branch of development of this doctrine, its evolution and the main differences in each of the periods are defined in this article. It has been written a lot about the Orphic-Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis in Russian academia, but Hermeticism has almost never been regarded in this context. The purpose of this work consists on the one hand in analyzing the primary sources for the Western version of the after death transmigration of souls doctrine, on the other hand defining the influence these ideas had on later ancient mystical tradition.

The Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn is one of the most famous and important organizations in the modern history of Western Esotericism. This article is related to the interesting aspect of study of its history: regional topics in worldviews of the order's members. While the name of the order is related to Hermes, its teaching is far from being only Greek. The Golden Dawn's system is highly eclectic, which means that different members have brought their interests in the order's teaching. These interests were closely connected with the history and mythology of different regions: Britain, Germany, Egypt etc. The study of this connection can help us to understand both the Golden Dawn’s history and the history of Western Esotericism in general.

This study is devoted to the emotional experience of the famous Renaissance sculptor, goldsmith, and writer, Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571), as it is portrayed in his life writing, the Vita. Providing the variety of arguments on the connection between the artist and contemporary intellectuals, who attended the Florentine Academy (1540–1583) together, I demonstrate that Cellini’s literary production can be examined productively against the background of Neoplatonic thought. In particular, Marsilio Ficino’s On Love, first published in the vernacular Italian in 1544, helps to establish an explanation of what Cellini meant when he decided to play the cornet while falling in love simultaneously with a young boy and girl, or  how he justified kicking or punching his servants, or why he did not kill his adversary, the artist Baccio Bandinelli, when he had the chance. These cases of radical affectivity are inscribed into Ficino’s concept of the “melancholy genius” manifesting melancholic madness. In Cellini’s Vita, the latter can not only turn humans almost into beast, literally (for example, in a bat); but, properly tempered by the means of music and poetry, as well as of individual and collective magic, it elevates one’s soul “on high,” which corresponds to the Neoplatonic concept of divine madness.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1.  Benvenuto Cellini and the Florentine Academy
1.1 Why did the Italian academies emerge?
1.2 Academic movement before the Florentine Academy
1.3 The Florentine Academy
1.4 Benvenuto Cellini’s writings in the context of the Florentine Academy
Chapter 2.  “Essendo io per natura malinconico”: Benvenuto Cellini and the Ficinian Legacy
2.1 “Grand theories” and “grounded” early-modern artists
2.2 Marsilio Ficino’s On Love
2.3 “Melancholy genius” concept
2.4 (Neo)Platonic love
Chapter 3.  “Tu ten sei gito a contemplar su ’n Cielo l’alto Fattore”: Benvenuto Cellini Ascending on High
3.1 Esoteric knowledge and censorship
3.2 “Furor divino” and “diabolico furore”
3.3 Different kinds of furor divino in the Vita
Conclusion

Abstractum:

Synkretyzm religijny w tekstach chrześcijańskich, hermetycznych oraz papirusach magicznych greckich, na przykładzie problemu genezy zła

Celem pracy jest omówienie problematyki związanej z synkretyzmem religijnym w wybranych dziełach literatury chrześcijańskiej, hermetycznej i greckich papirusach magicznych. Analizie poddane zostały zwłaszcza teksty związane z hermeneutyką demonologii i angelarium, pseudoepigrafy o charakterze eschatologicznym, a także greckie traktaty magiczne. Podstawowe pytanie, jakie stawiam, odnosi się do elementu doktrynalnego religii: w jaki sposób synkretyzm może pomóc określić naturę zła oraz bytów złośliwych? Całość została osadzona w ramach religioznawczych, którego jednymi z głównych zadań są: egzegeza, ukazanie podobieństw pomiędzy doktrynami religijnymi oraz krytyczna analiza porównawcza omawianych tekstów.

słowa kluczowe: synkretyzm, demonologia, angelologia, gnoza, religia, Bóg, bóstwa, magia, anioły, demony, chrześcijaństwo, kultura, antyk, mitologia, mity, polityka, filozofia, religioznawstwo, religiologia, hermeneutyka, geneza, historia, hermetyzm, hermetycyzm, alchemia, czary, ewokacje, inkantacje, Biblia, PGM, lingwistyka, łacina, koiné .



Religious Syncretism in Christian and Hermetic texts and in the Papyri Graecae Magicae by the example of the Problem of the Origin of Evil

The purpose of the work is to discuss the problem of the relationship with religious syncretism in selected works of Christian and Hermetic literature and Greek magical papyri. The main subjects analyzed were texts related to hermeneutics of demonology and angelarium, pseudepigrapha and eschatological features as well as the Greek magic treatises. The basic question to guide the strategies taken is: how can syncretism help us to understand evil and malicious entities? The whole was embedded within the cross-section of religion, that some of the main tasks are: exegesis, showing similarities between religious doctrines and critical comparative analysis of the discussed texts.

keywords: sincretism, demonology, angelology, gnosis, religion, God, deities, magic, angels, demons, christianity, culture, antic, mythology, myths, politics, philosophy, religious studies, religiology, hermeneutics, genesis, history, hermetism, hermeticism, alchemy, spells, evocations, incantations, Bible, PGM, lynguistics, lingua latina, koiné.
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ad.1: artykuł jest fragmentem szerszego tekstu i stanowi część pracy dyplomowej autora.
red. Emilia Żybert-Pruchnicka

In diesem Artikel wird das Konzept der Occulture, das ursprünglich von Christopher Partridge definiert worden ist, diskutiert und aus der spezifischen Perspektive des Studiums moderner Kunst und Religion neu definiert. Es wird dargelegt, dass die diskursiven Unterscheidungen zwischen "Religion", "Spiritualität" und "dem Säkularen" sorgfältig überdacht werden sollten, wenn das Konzept im Kunststudium verwendet wird. Einige Voraussetzungen und Auswertungen im Zusammenhang mit der "Spiritualisierung der modernen Kunst" werden erläutert. Es wird auch dargelegt, dass Occulture, wenn es in dynamischen Termen (Religionisierung, Sakralisierung, Verzauberung) definiert wird, die Mittel liefern kann, um moderne Kunst in einer dialektischen, gegenseitigen Beziehung zu moderner Religiosität zu untersuchen anstatt sie als einen Ersatz für Religion zu betrachten. Für die spezifischen Zwecke des Kunststudiums wird Occulture als ein diskursives Feld umrissen, das von "Suchenden" produziert und aufrechterhalten wird, die nach höherem Wissen/höherer Weisheit streben. Für diese Neudefinierung werden die theoretischen Ansätze von Kocku von Stuckrad, Colin Campbell und Steven Sutcliffe verwendet.

DANS LEQUEL ON TROUVE LES ALLEGORIE FABULEUSE DES POETE LES METAPHORES, LES ENIGMES ET LES TERMES BARBARES DES PHILOSOPHES HERMETIQUES EXPLIQUES.
Jamais Science n'eut plus besoin de Dictionnaire que la Philosophie Hermétique. Ceux dans les mains de qui tombent les Livres faits sur cette matière, ne sauraient en soutenir la lecture une demi-heure seulement; les noms barbares qu'on y trouve, semblent vides de sens, et les termes équivoques qui sont placés à dessein presque dans toutes les phrases, ne présentent aucun sens déterminé. Les Auteurs avertissent eux-mêmes qu'on ne doit pas les entendre à la lettre; qu'ils ont donné mille noms à une même chose; que leurs Ouvrages ne sont qu'un tissu d'énigmes, de métaphores, d'allégories, présentées même sous le voile de termes ambigus, et qu'il faut se défier des endroits qui paraissent faciles à entendre à la première lecture. Ils font mystère de tout, et semblent n'avoir écrit que pour n'être pas entendus.

Modern explorations of the religious context of early Christianity often neglect analysis of Hermeticism.  This paper provides an introduction to the origins and nature of the pagan figure Hermes Trismegistus and the esoteric Hermetic tradition, in order to provide the student with a historical foundation for further critical study.  The paper begins by introducing the important foundation-stones of Graeco-Egyptian syncretism, Greek and Egyptian deities, Greek philosophical trends, and mystical Hellenistic Judaism.  The paper then explores the Hermetic tradition relative to its literature, its religious characteristics, its dating, and its relationship to Christian Gnosticism.  Also considered are the opinions of several Church Fathers, and the value of Hermetic studies for analysis of the Fourth Gospel and the early Christian world.

Cuando hablamos de disciplinas «esotéricas», entendidas éstas como reductos de sabiduría reservados a un círculo restringido y selecto de iniciados, nos referimos a una serie de materias de consolidada tradición, en particular la astrología, la magia y la alquimia, que proclaman como común aspiración la comprensión unificada de todo aquello que se produce en la naturaleza: desde los fenómenos astrales, físicos y biológicos hasta la causa de las enfermedades, y desde la composición de la materia inorgánica a la vida y propiedades de los animales y las plantas 2 . De todas ellas será la alquimia o ciencia hermética -el «arte de Hermes»-la que determine unos más estrechos lazos de parentesco con la moda literaria de los emblemas que nace con la tercera década del milquinientos, hasta el extremo de llegar a formar parte integrante del género.

Предисловие к русскому переводу трактата по алхимии (герметизму) французского адепта 17-го века: Лиможон де Сен-Дидье Александр-Туссен. Герметический Триумф или Победоносный Философский Камень. Перевод с французского Игоря Калиберда. — Издательские решения, 2017. — 202 с. Серия "Масонская библиотека". — ISBN 978-5-4485-0074-9

This essay discusses a significant component of alchemical discourse in the early modern period, the relations between alchemy and myth. The literary genre of what has been called hermetic mythology, or, more recently, mythoalchemy, worked on the premise that the myths of Egyptian, Greek, and Latin antiquity were repositories of alchemical secrets, coded narratives of natural philosophy.1 Early signs of this genre could already be seen in late medieval alchemical works like the fourteenth-century Pretiosa margarita novella (New pearl of great price) of Petrus Bonus of Ferrara, but it was to develop further following the Renaissance upsurge in interest in classical antiquity, finding its flowering in the alchemical emblem literature of Michael Maier. Maier promotes the alchemical interpretation of mythology early in his publishing career, introducing a discussion of the alchemical significance of hieroglyphica Aegyptio-Graeca (Greco-Egyptian hieroglyphs) in his first major publication, Arcana arcanissima (Most secret secrets; 1614). His conviction in the alchemical exegesis of ancient myth was to find its most vibrant visual and verbal expression several years later in his elaborate multimedia Atalanta fugiens (Atalanta fleeing; 1618). Opening with an introduction to the early history of mythoalchemy, this essay then concentrates on Maier’s mythoalchemical works, arguing that it is not the visually flamboyant Atalanta fugiens but rather the richly intertextual Arcana arcanissima that lies at the heart of Maier’s mytho-chymical project.

I'm not quite sure how to post a digital essay, but here is a link: https://furnaceandfugue.org/essays/forshaw/

La Révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste
Édition définitive, revue et corrigée

Nouvelle édition revue et augmentée avec la collaboration de Concetta Luna, Henri Dominique Saffrey et Nicolas Roudet.

ISBN 9782251326740

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INDICES

Prodrome du P. Henri Dominique Saffrey

Remerciements
Abréviations utilisées et remarques
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Index nominum
Index geographicus
Index rerum
Index verborum graecorum, latinorum, arabicorum, aegyptiacorum & hebraicorum
Index biblicus et coranicus
Index locorum
Index codicum
Orientation bibliographique

While the rise of Florentine Neoplatonism is usually associated with the philosophers Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola,
Lodovico Lazzarelli also made important contributions to the forging of
Christian Hermeticism. Like Pico, he became attracted to Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalah and in his work Crater Hermetis (c. 1493), he contributed to this intellectual trend with a passionate and poetical vision of ascension, the technology of which he partly borrowed from the mystical Judaica, at the same time creating (according to Wouter Hanegraaff) a particularly pure form of ecstatic Christian mystery. In my paper I introduce this text and point out the decisive meeting of Lazzarelli with Giovanni “Mercurio” da Correggio, whom he identified as the reborn Hermes Trismegistus, while he styled himself as a reborn Enoch. Their twin story is a fascinating example of early Renaissance Neoplatonic mysticism which synthesized high religiosity with classical philosophy and a fervent desire for the deification of man.

CORRECTED COPY: The Ruby Tablet is a periodical featuring reprints of articles from esoteric magazines and journals from the past. The subjects covered in each issue are drawn from the esoteric genre such as Alchemy, Hermetic, Enochian, Kabbalah, Tarot, Martinism, Masonry, Rosicrucian, etc.

The Ruby Tablet: Vol. I, No. 2. March – April 2012
Contents: The Secret or Mystery of the Rose; Notes: Sephiroth and Hermetic Brothers of Egypt; Skylight Press; Notes on the Astral Light by B.N. Acle; Golden Dawn Research Trust; Ritual of the Fratres Lucis (concluded); Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn; Allocution for the 2=9 Grade of Theoricus; Ouroboros Press; Alchemy by Parabolanus; Forge Press; The Tarot: An Antique Method of Divination; Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Books; & Magical Aphorisms of Eugenius Philalethes.

The research conducted by this paper has been largely updated and elaborated in my MA-thesis "Senses and Passions of Benvenuto Cellini"; you are more than welcome to check it out. // The article aims to rethink the several stereotypes of Romantic tradition, which are still reproduced in regard to Benvenuto Cellini and his Vita. Using the approaches of intellectual history and iconographical studies, the present study pays attention to the coherent system of lay, scientific and ‘secret’ knowledge of the epoch lurking under the surface of the simplicity and even naivety of the author’s language. I argue that this autobiographical writing embodies a certain type of culture of the self deeply rooted in contemporary medical, alchemical and magical contexts. Organized around the concept of “getting pleasure,” Cellini’s practices of the self are built into the Neo-Platonic picture of the world. Analyzing the two passages of Vita, I demonstrate the author’s spiritual ascent from the corporeal suffering to union with ‘the One’ by means of individual and collective magic rituals, transforming his Life into a work of art.

This article examines a little-known and unstudied alchemical treatise, The Epistle on Alchemy (al-Risāla fī l-ṣināʿa) attributed to Aristotle, purportedly translated from Syriac into Arabic by the Nestorian bishop ʿAbdīshōʿ bar Brīkhā (d. 1318). In particular, I investigate the Epistle's discourse on the concealment and revelation of alchemical knowledge. Like other occult sciences, alchemy was characterised by a marked concern for secrecy and frequently employed codes, or Decknamen, when discussing the "Noble Art." Yet the author of the Epistle consciously avoids such conventions, choosing instead to disclose its mysteries in an open and accessible manner, while making clear that secrecy would otherwise be necessary were the reader deemed unworthy. By engaging with scholarship in Islamic and Jewish occult science and esotericism, I show that the author of the Epistle navigates the boundaries between concealment and disclosure by framing his treatise as a private exchange between two foundational figures of philosophy and kingship: Aristotle and Alexander the Great. Based on a study of the Epistle's sources and genre, I consider it possible that the work was not a translation of any Syriac original but a composition by ʿAbdīshōʿ himself and a product of the Arabicspeaking, Islamicate environment in which he lived.

Available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Sage-Collected-Correspondence-Esotericists/dp/151776792X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1457657191&sr=8-2&keywords=letters+to+the+sage+bowen
Thomas Moore Johnson, the Sage of the Osage, was a small town lawyer in western Missouri whose international correspondence was largely a result of The Platonist, a short-lived but influential journal he published intermittently from 1881 until 1888. Johnson rarely traveled far from Osceola, his birthplace, where he served as mayor for several terms, but through correspondence he became a key figure in the late 19th century American awakening of interest in Western esoteric traditions.
During the 1880s Johnson was instrumental in the nationwide expansion of two esoteric organizations, the Theosophical Society (TS) and the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. Although Theosophy had developed a primary interest in Indian spiritual traditions, Johnson’s Platonist attracted the attention of TS leaders and members around the world. Johnson was a member of the American Board of Control of the TS as the Society began to establish branches throughout the United States. But within a short time he became more seriously committed to a secret society with a focus on Western rather than Eastern wisdom traditions, the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.

Letters to the Sage, Volume One offers readers and scholars a rare glimpse into the relationships, organizational struggles, and intellectual and spiritual explorations of several of the key figures and locations in the early years of America’s occult revival. Containing over 200 letters from dozens of American and international cities, as well as what is perhaps the earliest known evidence of the organized study of the Tarot, Yoga, and Sufism in the United States, this is an essential book for those interested in the history of the American Midwest, esotericism, religion, and philosophy.

Un exámen de la relación que tiene la hermenéutica de Gadamer con respecto a su propia versión de la historia nos permite ver el caracter de sus pretenciones. Así, el autor realiza un breve comentario de la recepción de la historia de la hermenéutica en el trabjo de Gadamer para luego sacar conclusiones sobre el sentido que tiene la hermenéutica filosófica como respusta a dicha tradición. Aunque esta discusión se mueve únicamente en el horizonte gadameriano es posible ver cómo a partir de este tipo de estudios se logra una mayor claridad de las pretenciones del filósofo alemán, lo cual es una condición crítica previa a toda crítica.

In her book 'The Byrom Collection', Cape, 1992, Joy Hancox identifies what she believes are a number of drawings connected with the design and building of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. This research-note considers the geometry of two such drawings in relation to an ancient arithmetical, geometrical and musical tradition. It also considers  what  archaeological evidence exists to support Mrs Hancox's claim. Readers of this article are also encouraged to refer to Encore for an Appendix, which contains related material.

A cura di Lorenzo Bianchi e Antonella Sannino.
I saggi qui raccolti affrontano in un ampio spazio diacronico
– dal XI secolo fino alla prima metà del XVII – questioni legate
alla magia naturale in Europa. Essi toccano diverse aree geografiche
e linguistiche e si avvalgono del contributo di specialisti di
discipline del mondo medievale arabo, ebraico e latino, nonché di
storici del pensiero della prima età moderna. I testi magici offrono
un terreno particolarmente proficuo per una ricerca attenta
non solo alle fonti ma anche alle trasformazioni teoriche. Nell’accettare
tutta la complessità di una categoria storiografica come
quella di magia, gli autori intendono valorizzare quelle differenti
costellazioni teoriche che si ritrovano in aree apparentemente
lontane tra di loro, risalendo a tradizioni testuali comuni, ma
registrando anche cambiamenti lessicali e variazioni concettuali.