Category: Renaissance

Gardens of the Soul

In his Defense of Poetry (1595-ish), Philip Sidney compares the world of Nature to the worlds created by the Poet: Only the poet, disdaining to be tied to any such subjection [to what is supposedly true and factual], lifted up with the vigor of his own invention, doth grow, in effect, into another nature, in […] … Continue reading…Gardens of the Soul

Powerful Rhymes

One of the things that tripped me up often over the years when I was out of practice was that I “realized” how so much of magic seemed to just be “bad poetry” one was supposed to recite for, boom, results.[*] And I thought at the time that, well, how can wishing accomplish magic? Of […] … Continue reading…Powerful Rhymes

[NB: Theater, Memory, Glamour, Art, Magic]

Memory tools were a way to access a kind of guided active imagination. Men would stare at sigils & chant mantras to “remember” occult & mundane knowledge, with goetic style spirits acting almost like mediating agents or as the intelligence of the sigil & the world it pointed to. And this libido sciendi & active imagination’s synchronistic effects makes Giordano Bruno very occult & magical. And Fludd & Camillo both began a series of “memory theater” systems. Now, these techné also could teach & convey knowledge, establishing vivid scenes & images on a stage seems to encourage internalizing & memorizing them— … Continue reading…[NB: Theater, Memory, Glamour, Art, Magic]