|
Posts Tagged ‘Scholars’ |
||||||
|
Faust and linksBY: Mark Following a previous about the Praxis Magica Faustiana and the subsequent realization that I knew very little about Faust, both historically and in literature, I’ve been working on getting educated. It’s a humbling process that dovetails with some of my long-standing embarrassment about the focus of this site. I have wanted DARKLINE to be about esoterica and the strange occult world we live in, but I’m constantly faced with the fact that I know very little of these things. I suppose one should consider oneself a life-long student, but the depth of my ignorance is, well, exceedingly deep. The default solution has been to hunker down and do nothing, which serves no one, especially myself. It is time to shake off that fear, and get on with the enlightenment. The point isn’t to build a platform to display my erudition (which this clearly isn’t), but to provide a forum for discussion and learning. I just get to be the guy providing the general direction of the rubric. To that end, here’s the current state of my Faust education. If one is to believe Wikipedia, Goethe’s Faust has, as one of its inspirations, Jacob Bidermann’s play Cenodoxus, though without digging into the text, it is hard to say where the inspiration lies, as Cenodoxus appears to dance around the question of the price of secret knowledge rather than addressing it directly. Goethe’s Faust, even, does not appear to be as dark and as much as a morality tale as the myth that is burned in my brain–the random bits of literary mythology one picks up in course of an classical education. Faust, the man–notably one Dr. Johann Georg Faust–appears to have been a 16th charlatan of the classic sort: a racounteur, a traveling alchemist, a magician, and a scoundrel. Exactly the sort of man that would be a perfect source for the hubristic hero of the tragic plays. Christopher Marlowe wrote a play about him within fifty or so years after he supposedly died, and I find it almost most interesting than the play itself that Marlowe wrote a play about a man’s pact with the Devil–a suspiciously Christian theme, and I’m hard pressed to think of a Shakespeare play which has a similar theme. Old Bill relied on much more pagan sources for his fantastical elements. Odd, don’t you think? Or was it simply a matter of Shakespeare knowing who his real audiences were and playing more readily to them? Anyway, Faust the charlatan was purported to be sort of man who would have dabbled in the Black Arts, which makes the historical provenance of Praxis Magica Faustiana certainly easier to swallow. And given the subject material of the text, it follows that this could be source of that type of grimoire known as ‘Faustian.’ Dan Harms has posted a link to a digitized version of a 18th century German grimoire, which falls under the category of Faustian magic. Of course, the comments are insightful and filled with smart people talking all manner of things that will send you spiraling off into other corners of the occult world. Including Dan’s original commentary on the idea of the liber spirituum, the type of book that this MS. purports to be. According to the commenters, the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek is a hothouse of Faustian magical documents. Who knew there were enough of these that a library could specialize in them? The digitization of the Liber Spirituum Potentissimorum is of exceptional quality, and it makes my fingers tingle as I look at it.
I suppose any magician who seeks knowledge from spirits is engaging in Faustian Magick, though I wonder about the veracity of that statement. Dee, Crowley, and so on sought to communicate with otherworldly creatures in order to gain knowledge. Was Faust, in the 16th century, the first one to do this? Or was his story simply the most readily available and comprehensible to the masses? There certainly had to be other seekers before Faust . . .
|
||||||
 | |||||||
|
On the release of Jake Stratton-Kent’s GeosophiaBY: Mark Jake Stratton-Kent’s staggering Geosophia has been released by Scarlet Imprint. In case you were all wondering what to do with the envelopes of cash you’ve received over these last few days. End of year tithings and what-not.
This is the standard hardback edition (read somewhat limited), and very enticing. Scarlet Imprint has also started their Bibliotheque Rouge imprint, devoted to making some of their works available in a much more affordable format (read not as sexily crafted paperback versions). For those who prefer to read their history of magic while on the can, or on the bus, or some other place where people with grubby fingers might try to touch your books. Scarlet Imprint’s press release notes:
I’m looking forward to reading this. In fact, in 2011, I’m looking forward to reading a lot. UPDATE: Scarlet Imprint has posted a PDF of the introduction.
|
||||||
| |||||||
|
Esoteric Book ConferenceBY: Mark I only managed to make it to the first day of presentations at the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle. Held at the Northwest Rooms of the Seattle Center, it’s a quiet little arrangement of a book fair, a room for presentations, and a small art show. Somewhat of a blink-and-miss-it arrangement, and if you wander too far, you end up in a much larger ballroom where the Seattle Miniature Dollhouse show was going on. As one can imagine, it was pretty easy to tell the difference between the two, and not just from the general wardrobe difference between the patrons of each. Still, an odd little juxtaposition on a somewhat rainy fall day. Hosted by William Kiesel (proprietor of Ouroboros Press), Michael Kolson (of Night of Pan Books), and Catamara Rosarium (who unveiled Rosarium Blends, an alchemical endeavor that is concocting ways to enrich our sensory lives), the Esoteric Book Conference is in its second year, and from the outset, it was clear that the participants were eager to dive into two days of esoteric book talk. Last year, attendance at the lectures seemed to creep up to a reasonable level–a number that was clearly matched in the first lecture this morning. People were ready to talk about the occult today. The first presenter was Debra Chesnut, and her topic was the spoken aspect of rituals from the ancient mysteries to modern occult societies–the legomena. No one would argue with her about the idea that words have power, and she quickly dove into the practical application of that concept: how you say the word is almost as important as the word itself. The Greek language, she notes, was not meant to be read, it was meant to be spoken aloud. The written word was only meant to guide the speaker, and most Greeks never read silently. She cites Plato’s dialogue Cratylus as being not only about the meaning of language, but also about how to speak properly. From there she progressed to the Chant of the Seven Vowels (see Joscelyn Godwin’s book The Mystery of the Seven Vowels for much more detail). The vowels invoke power; the consonants are the container. How you contain and direct the vowels via consonants is how you manifest power. The Tetragrammaton is nothing more than a series of vowel sounds; IAO–which shows up on amulets in the Middle East, is the Greek spelling of the Tetragrammaton, and is the name of a valley on Maui–is clearly a resonance of vowel sounds that transcends cultures and regions. Chesnut walks through examples found on gold tablets in Greek burial sites, within the Corpus Hermeticum, the Mithraic Liturgy, and Zoastrian Hymns to Mithras. She closed with a quote from the Chaldean Oracles of Julianus.
The next presenter I had a chance to hear was David Beth of La Société Voudon Gnostique, who was celebrating the release of a new edition of his book, Voudon Gnosis. His presentation was on the Qliphoth and Nightside Gnosis, two things very near and dear to my heart. He began with a bit of a poke at the “fluffy” groups who look upon Qliphotic pathworkings as their “kink.” Western students of the spiritual arts tend to have a consumerist attitude; they expect answers to be served to them in easily digestible chunks, and when those aren’t offered, they get petulant. “Well, if you don’t give me what I want–” (insert outraged foot stomp) “–then I’ll take my business over here, and boy, won’t you be sorry!” (aka The Supermarket Model of New Age Spiritual Seeking) As a result, some groups look to Qliphotic workings as the off-the-beaten-path material that will keep their fussy constituents happy and engaged. This is not the Voudon Gnosis model, obviously. The Qliphotic workings are an inverse way of examining reality, and Beth made the comparison that if study of Universe A was ontological, then study of Universe B was meontological. A lefthand adept understands that bliss cannot be truly received and comprehended if it is not relished. One must be cognizant of what one is experiencing–i.e., maintaining their individuality as a perceptive point–in order to know it. Individuality is not relinquished during gnosis. Working through the Qliphotic Tree–along the Pathways of Frustration–is to be able to understand a synthesis with everything without extinguishing the distinction between the perceived and the perceiver. It’s a highly individualized process. “The Law may be for All,” Beth says, “But the Gnosis may not be.” When gnosis is attained, there is a reversal of energy within the adept. No longer is he or she nourished by the Golden Light, but he or she will be powered by the Black Sun, the Cosmic Luciferian Manifestation. His presentation offered a great deal of food for thought, and it certainly dovetails (with less terminology) with the course of thought I’ve been exploring. An underlying precept of the Codex of Souls is the individuation of enlightenment, and I can see that I’ve got some more reading ahead of me, which is perfectly timed as I should be starting Book 3 fairly soon. Finally, Daniel Shulke have a presentation on the newly released Occult Reliquary, a collection of material from the Richel-Eldermans Collection in the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall. The Occult Reliquary is a large-format book containing more than 250 illustrations (many of them in full color) from the collection, and Shulke pointed out that the material in the book is around 10% of the collection. There is a tradition among secret societies and occultists that libraries and artefacts be destroyed upon the death of their holders (though, in many cases, “destroyed” may simply mean “removed from the public’s conscious awareness”), and to have such a collection preserved for public viewing is somewhat miraculous. Though, there is speculation that the entire collection may have been 10X larger than what was preserved. The collection of charms, images, magical seals, and other ritual objects stem mainly from the workings of Ars Amatoria, a European magical order that–perhaps not surprisingly, given the antecedent of their name–employed sex magic in their workings. There are also some material relating to the M∴M∴ and the A∴A∴ (again, the whole sex magic angle). It’s a gorgeous book (as are all the books produced by Three Hand Press), and Shulke’s discussion of the history of the collection (received from the Dutch collector, Bob Richel, who, in turn, inherited much of it from his father-in-law, Mr. Eldermans) was a welcome insight into the secrecy–and controversy–surrounding the legacy of occult collections.
|
||||||
| |||||||
|
Esoteric Book Conference 2010BY: Mark The Esoteric Book Conference is returning for a second year, and the dates are September 18 & 19th at the Seattle Center. Billed as an opportunity for authors, students, artists, publishers, bookmakers, and mystic raconteurs to spend a weekend exploring the field of esotericism, it’s two days of occult-themed presentations, a book fair filled with all manner of interesting and rare books, and an evening of special entertainment. Presenters this year are: David Beth, Debra Chesnut, Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule, Robert Fitzgerald, J. Daniel Gunther, Dale Pendell, Denny Sargent, and Caroline Wise. The website has further details about the actual presentations. Artists attending are Anima Nocturna, Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule, Daniel Schulke, Joseph Uccello, and Bryan Ward. Entertainment will be provided by the Master Musicians of Bukkake and Noko. Vendors include Ajna Bound, Ars Obscura, Concrescent Press, Fulgur Limited, J. D. Holmes, Immanion Press, Night of Pan Books, Nightshade Magick, Ouroboros Press, Dale Pendell, Thompson Rare Books, and Wonderella. I went last year, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’m looking forward to handing out with all these people again this year, and a couple of those presses have a number of books I’m eager to check out. Esoteric Book Conference home page
|
||||||
| |||||||
|
Giovanni Pico della MirandolaBY: Mark Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian philosopher and scholar who lived from 1463 until 1494. During his short life, he studied theology and philosophy, dabbled in the Cabala, wrote an extensive series of treaties on all possible subjects (900 in all, collected as Conclusiones philosophicae, cabalasticae et theologicae in Rome). While some were vaguely heretical, they realistically just pointed out the lack of theological enlightenment of the era. He sought a synthesis of religion and philosophy, attempting to counter the spread of pure humanism with a bit of critical thinking. He saw Hebrew and Talmudic sources as viable texts and generally got into trouble over his eagerness and willingess to be a free thinker. His piece, “Oration on the Dignity of Man,” is one of the landmark pieces of the Italian Renaissance (some go so far as to call it a “manifesto”). Parts of his Oration can be found here in Latin, Italian, and English. A complete translation can be found here. Walter Pater’s history of Pico in context of the Renaissance can be found here.
|
||||||
