FASZINATION ZARATHUSHTRA MIRKO SLADEK Michael Stausberg, Faszination Zarathushtra: Zoroaster und die Europider frhen Neuzeit, 2 vols.

, Berlin & New sche Religionsgeschichte York: Walter de Gruyter 1998. Frances A. Yates hat in den sechziger Jahren ein wichtiges, neues, wenn auch immer noch umstrittenes Kapitel der kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschung der Frihen Neuzeit geschrieben: ihr Buch Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964) hat zum ersten Mal historisch-kritisch die Rolle des Hermes Trismegistos in der fruhneuzeitlichen Kultur dargestellt. Sie hatte damit nicht nur die unterschatzte Rolle hermetischer Texte in der Geisteskultur der Renaissance ins Licht gemckt, sondern auch einer ganzen Generation jiingerer Gelehrter - zunachst ihren Studenten und Kollegen vom Warburg-Institut, bald danach auch denjenigen in anderen Zentren friihneuzeitlicher Studien einen wichtigen Impuls gegeben. Obwohl einige ihrer damaligen Thesen heute zu gewagt und unprazise erscheinen, ein Teil ihrer Argumentation und einige zu hochfliegende Gedankengange einer kritischen Prufung nicht mehr standhalten, sind bis heute dieses wie auch andere Werke Jber die Hermetik und Hermetismen der Renaissance nicht mehr wegzudenken. Die Rolle und die Bedeutung des Mercurius Termaximus in der Geisteskultur der Frhen Neuzeit wurde davor (und oft auch danach) von den besten Forschem auf diesem Gebiet absichtlich oder unabsichtlich fbersehen. In der Reihe mytho-historischer und heroischer, aufjeden Fall wirkungsgeschichtlich unterschatzter Persbnlichkeiten der europaischen Geistesgeschichte, denen die Frihe Neuzeit viel mehr Bedeutung zugeschrieben hatte als viele es heute immer noch wahrnehmen wollen, kann Zarathushtra mit dem "dreimalgrol3en Hermes" durchaus konkurrieren. Die opulente Habilitationsschrift von Michael Stausberg ist seiner Rezeption in der europaischen Geistesgeschichte gewidmet. Ein sehr ambitioses Vorhaben, das meines Wissens keinen Vorlaufer hat. Nach der Einleitung, die den methodischen und begriffshistorischen Forschungsstand erortert, beginnt Stausberg mit der "Renaissance" Zoroasters im 14. Und 15. Jahrhundert bei Georg Gemisthos Plethon und Marsilio Ficino. Die von Plethon edierten, dem Zoroaster zugeschriebenen Oracula 'letzte wie Chaldaica, die heilige Schrift der Antike', Stausberg sie nennt, hatte in der Gelehrtenwelt des 15. Und 16. Jahrhunderts einen enormen Einflul3.

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Nicht nur, weil man sie damals fur authentisch gehalten hat. Zusammen mit dem Corpus Hermeticum bildete sie die Hauptreferenz aller der prisca theologia gewidmeten Geister und ergnzte diese im Rahmen der altemativen Kultur der Renaissance bis hin zu Bruno, Campphilosophisch-theologischen anella und der Platonischen Schule von Cambridge, die letztere bereits im tiefen Seicento. Georg Gemisthos Plethon scheint unter der EinfluB eines Juden Namens Eusaios (Elischa) gestanden zu haben, der ein Kenner persischer und arabischer Aristoteles-Kommentatoren gewesen war, ber Moses undj iidische Tradition dagegen anscheinend wenig wul3te. Von Eusaios hatte Plethon auch Jber Zoroaster erfahren, und damit sind sowohl Plethons Quelle(n), als auch spatere Autoren, die unter seinem EinfluB standen, halbwegs defmiert. Eusaios scheint viel von Suhrawardi ubernommen zu haben, der sowohl Zarathushtra wie Hermes Trismegistos der griechischen Philosophie voraussetzte und die letztere als "Erleuchtung" alter iranischer und agyptischer Weisheit sah. Trotzdem scheint es Stausberg 'unwahrscheinlich, dal3 Plethon Werke Sohrawardis oder Qutb al-Din al Sirazis kannte'. Er macht daher einen historisch wie sprachlich wichtigen Unterschied zwischen "Magiern" und "Mager", so wie auf Franzosisch schon zwischen "Magiciens" und "Mages" unterschieden wird: wahrend die ersten Zauberer sind, sind die "Mager" Priester Zarathushtras und als solche vorrangig in diesem Rahmen interessant. Stausberg betont weiter den ftir die Praktiken der neuplatonischen Schule von Carreggi, danach aber fur einen immer noch unterschatzten Teil friihneuzeitlicher Kunstwerke wichtigen magischen Aspekt der Chaldaischen Orakel: Kultgegenstande, Formeln, magische Instrumente lassen auf eine 'chaldean sacramental community"schliel3en, wie sie bereits Hans Lewy nannte. Diese Rituale wurden anscheinend teilweise von der Akademie Ficinos ubernommen, danach auch in den wahlverwandten Kreisen Roms, Neapels und Venedigs, dariiber hinaus in allen Lndern Europas, die von der Renaissance-Kultur beruhrt wurden. Der theurgische Aufstieg der Seelen entlang der Sonnenstrahlen geschieht unter Anleitung eines Theurgen und Assistenz dreier Teletarchen, die voces mysticae bzw. nomina barbara (magische Formeln) rezitierten. Der Bedeutung des Feuerkultes in den Chaldaischen Orakeln und ihrem angeblichen persisch-zoroastrischen Ursprung steht Stausberg eher skeptisch gegeniiber. Auf der Liste altester Gesetzgeber der Menschheitsgeschichte erscheint bei Plethon nicht nur kein jiidisch-christlicher Autor: Zoroaster wird zum "Lehrer" Platons promoviert, gleichzeitig wird Moses als bis dahin wichtigster Gesetzgeber durch seine Abwesenheit entthront. Fur Stausberg ist Plethon in Wahrheit ein Religionsstifter, der versuchte auch praktisch (Kalender, Kult etc.) `die Lehre Zoroasters zu restituieren', oder genauer,

208 die `Hellenisierung Zoroasters' als eine neue Religion dem Christentum entgegenzustellen. Plethons geistiges Testament, 'eine Art Glaubensbekenntnis seiner neuen Religion', tragt schon im Titel programmatisch die Quintessenz dieser persisch-griechischen Renaissance: 'Zusammenfassung der Lehren des Zoroaster und des Platon'. Die nach Stausberg 'unbersehbaren Differenzen zum Christentum, wie sein immer wieder betonter Polytheismus etwa, sind meiner Ansicht nach im Rahmen der Fruhen Neuzeit mit der damaligen katholischen Orthodoxie gar nicht so unvereinbar: wenn Plethon von Gttem spricht, die das von Zeus ausgehende und unabwendbare Schicksal zu einem 'glcklichen Ende fiihren', dann sind das Planetengotter, die im Rahmen der damals so verstandenen grol3en Weltmaschine (machina mundi) die Gesetze Gottes ausfiihrende Geister sind. Die bekannten astrologischen Fresken von Padova, Ferrara oder Villa Famesina in Rom, wo Planeten(gotter) in ihrer Rolle als Zeiteinteilende und -ausfiihrende das Geschehen des Weltalls ministrieren, wurden von Papsten und Kardinalen, nicht von Heiden bestellt. Der 'Selbstbetrug' eines betenden Glaubigen, den Lauf der Dinge beeinflussen zu wollen/ konnen, ist eher eine Frage des Stils als der theologischen Differenz. Stausberg fragt sich selber, ob Plethons damalige Anklager 'wirklich zuverlassige Kronzeugen sind'. Nach einem ausgiebigen editionskritischen Kapitel, in dem die Verbreitung und Kritik der Chalddischen Orakel in der Neuzeit besprochen wird, widmet sich Stausberg auf 136 Seiten der Schliisselperson der friihneuzeitlichen Philosophie und ihrer Zoroaster-Rezeption: Marsilio Ficino. Er nennt ihn in der neuzeitlichen ZoroasterAnlehnung an Foucault 'Diskursbegrnder ein Rezeptionsgeschichte'. Ficino, vielschichtiger, komplizierter und produktiver Autor, pendelte fast sein ganzes Leben zwischen Orthodoxie und Haresie. Als 'Orthodox i e-Korrektiv'griff er dabei immer im Zweifelsfall auf die Summa contra gentiles zurfck. Auch er bemhte sich um eine concordia, glaubte an einen 'tieferen Sinn' aller Lehren und Religionen: die doctrina platonica steht zur divina lex des mosaisch-christlichen Gesetzes wie der Glanz des Mondes zur Sonne. Zoroaster ist fur Ficino der erste aller Religionsstifter (conditores legum), in dieser Reihe vor Moses und Hermes gestellt. Im dritten wirkungsgeschichtlichen Kapitel bespricht Stausberg die Ficino-Zoroaster-Rezeption in Frankreich, um dann wieder zurckzukommen auf Ficino und sein Bestreben, Philosophie und Theologie in einer philothexa (Ficinos Wortschpfung) zu vereinigen. Spatestens ab 1469 weist Ficino dem Zoroaster eine 'historische Prioritat' zu, und Stausberg fragt sich, ob dies aus chronologischer Uberlegung' oder aus einem anderen Grund geschieht. Das "Anigma" aus Platons

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"Zweitem Brief' (312 e) interpretiert Ficino "zoroastrianisch", das heillt er behauptet, Zoroaster hatte drei Ffrsten der Welt aufgestellt (tres mundi principes), Herrscher dreier Ordnungen (trium ordinum dominos), namlich Ormuzd, Ahriman und Mithras. Damit gilt fur Ficino Platon als ein ZoroasterInterpret, der seinen domini 'neue Namen verliehen habe: Gott, Geist, Seele'. Stausberg bewundert Ficinos Niichternheit, da keine der behandelten Textpassages versucht - wie jeder es von einem Kanoniker am Dom zu FloTriaden renz erwarten wiirde - eine Konfrontation platonisch-zoroastrischer mit dem mysterium trinitatis zu vollziehen. Persarum magi und ihre Praktiken werden von Ficino positiv ausgewertet und mit Weisheit und Priestertum verglichen (ille sapiens, ille sacerdos). Zoroastrische 'Philosophie als Lebensform' steht fast vollkommen im Einklang mit den Grundregeln des katholischen Priestertums: Zolibat, Einsamkeit (vacatio) oder melancholisches Gemt sind ein Lebensmodell, dessen 'kosmologische Grunde' Ficino wieder 'ans Tageslicht zu bringen beansprucht'. Damit legitimiert er auch so etwas wie eine historische Kontinuitat des "wahren" Priestertums, die hier nicht nur auf Moses und Aaron, sondem auch auf die persische Priesterklasse der magoi zuruckgeht. Darber hinaus steht Zoroaster im Einklang mit den drei abrahamitischen Religionen. Damit wird bei Ficino sowohl das Ubereinstimmen der prisca theologia mit der philosophia perennis eines Agostino Steuco, als auch die innere "Harmonie" der prisca theologia mit der Bibel (Zoroaster - David) und mit der Hermetik (Zoroaster - Hermes) antizipiert. Das motivgeschichtliche Kapitel VII beschaftigt sich mit Zoroaster als Zeugen fur die Wahrheit der christlichen Religion bei Philippe de Momay, wahrend das wirkungsgeschichtliche Kapitel IX einen weiten Sprung in den modemen Okkultismus macht und versucht, "Zoroaster, Ficino und Karma im Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn" zu errtern. Ficinos Zeugnis fiir den Auferstehungsglauben Zoroasters wird 1895 von Percy Bullock unter dem Pseudonym Levavi Oculos in die Karma-Vorstellung verwandelt. An mehreren Beispielen kommentiert Stausberg Ficinos zoroastrische "Feuerphilosophie", so wie sie in der Neuzeit als "persische" verstanden wurde. Ein noch nicht geschriebenes Kapitel der friihneuzeitlichen Geistesgeschichte ist der EinfluB dieser kryptischen Textstellen Ficinos auf die Theologie und damit indirekt auf die Ikonographie der Gegenreformation, etwa dort, wo die Methoden des 'Aufstiegs in die LJfie' durch das 'Einschniren des Korpers durch einen Lichtstrahl' besprochen werden. Ficinos Freund und Schiller, den bedeutendsten Privatgelehrter seiner Zeit, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola und seine Zoroasterrezeption behandelt Stausberg im folgenden Kapitel, um dessen Opposition zu Ficino zu betonen: prisca theologia wird

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hier beinahe zu prisca superstitio. Pico sieht Zoroaster durch eine eher kontemplative Optik, die Chalddischen Orakel als eine zur reinen Spiritualitat fiihrende Schrift. Stausberg kritisiert Picos hermeneutische Vorgehensweise bei der Interpretation der "Orakel" als 'kommunikationstechnisch nicht ganz fair'. In seinerApologia zahlt Pico die Trdgergruppen der prisca sapientia auf, wobei er die persischen Mager in eine Reihe mit den griechischen Philosophen, gallischen Druiden und jiidischen Propheten stellt. Die zwei bedeutendsten Trager der prisca magia im 16. Jahrhundert waren Agostino Steuco und Francesco Patrizi, die beide den hermetischen Neuplatonismus Picos und Ficinos im Cinquecento weitertradieren und damit auch die wichtigsten Zoroaster-Rezipienten ihrer Zeit sind. Steuco wurde 1525 in Venedig Bibliothekar des Domenico Grimani, der seinerseits die Bibliothek des Pico della Mirandola und seine wertvollen Manuskripte erworben hatte. Steucos Hauptschrift De perenni philosophia (1540) sei 'ein Hauptwerk der europaischen Zoroaster-Rezeption', seine 'Suche nach Konkordanzen findet keine Grenzen', sagt Stausberg, auch dort nicht, wo er 'polytheistische G3tter als Engel eines verborgenen Monotheismus interpretiert'. Die theologia vetusta chaldaeorum, ac magorum besteht fiir Steuco in der Identitat der Philosophie und Theologie. So wie Marsilio Ficino der Begrnder des neuzeitlichen Zoroaster-Diskurses ist, so markiert Francesco Patrizi da Cherso (alias Frane Petric) eine rezeptionsgeschichtliche Schwelle, nach welcher dann im 17. Und 18. Jahrhundert andere Rezeptionsmodelle dominieren. Den zoroastrischen Dualismus nimmt Patrizi hin, ohne sich dabei verpflichtet zu ruhlen, ihn schelten zu mussen. Patrizi sieht Zoroaster als Zeitgenossen Abrahams, er sei in der ganzenAntike 'padre e principe d'ogni sapienza' gewesen, er drickte sich wie alle prisci in aenigmata aus und seine Texte rckt Patrizi auf eine Ebene mit den biblischen zusammen: die "wahre Theologie" ist in den heidnischen Dichtungen ebenso enthalten wie in den Texten der Bibel. Perser, Agypter und Thraker sind mit Zoroaster, Hermes und Orpheus in der Lage gewesen, durch eine vollkommene Sprache Wunder zu vollbringen. In einem motivgeschichtlichen Kapitel behandelt Stausberg Zarathusthra in zwei poetologischen Entwiirfen des 17. Jahrhunderts bei Martin Opitz und Henry Reynolds, um dann wieder zuruck zur 'wichtigsten Aristoteles-Monoder Renaissance Patrizis Discussiones graphie' zurfckzukommen, peripateticae von 1581. Ein besonderes Thema der Kosmologie Patrizis ist seine ausfiihrliche und originelle Erlauterung der zoroastrischen "Feuerphilosophie". Neben den anthrax und flamma ist das Empyraeum 'das reinste Feuer' (purissimus ignis), das Zoroaster in den "Orakeln" vitifer ignis, 'Lebenspendendes Feuer' nennt. In Patrizis philosophischer Rhetorik wird

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Zoroaster als Erfinder eines christlichen Dogmas portratiert, des Dogmas vom empyreischen Himmel. Die Modemit3t Patrizis, in Sachen Kosmologie seiner Zeit weit voraus, wurde in den letzten Jahrzehnten von einer ganzen Gelehrtenreihe aufgearbeitet. Stausberg hat so wie vielleicht nur noch Cesare Vasoli die "Zoroastrische Dimension" Patrizis richtig ins Licht gesetzt, rund hundert Seiten des ersten Bandes widmet er diesem ungewohnlichen Autor. Im problemgeschichtlichen Kapitel XVI folgt eine Ruckblende auf die schon behandelten Autoren: Zoroastrische Triadik und Christliche Trinitatslehre werden nochmals bei Pico, Zorzi, Champier, von Nettesheim bis hin zu den Platonikem von Cambridge (Cudworth) und den barocken Autoren wie von Lobenstein untersucht, um dann mit Helena Blavatsky und Annie Besant diesen ausfiihrlichen historischen Spaziergang zu beenden. Das toposgeschichtliche Kapitel behandelt die archaische Zoroaster-Kontextualisierung als Nimrod, Noah oder Abraham. Dieser Abschnitt ist vor allem durch die Analyse der Rezeptionsgeschichte der sog. "Pseudoklementinen" interessant. Dort wird eine ziemlich systematische Diffamierung Zoroasters entwickelt, die ihn zum Prototyp eines Anti-Religionsstifters schlechthin stilisiert. In einem nachsten Schritt wird er dann bei Rufin aus der lateinschen Tradition heraus einfach als ein Schwindler bzw. ein an seiner eigenen Magie gestorbener Zauberer dargestellt. Eusebios von Caesarea hat seinerseits Zoroaster in seinem Praeparatio evangelica als den Konig Baktriens eingefiihrt, wodurch er dann in der deutschen Weltchronik von H. Schedel 1493 auf einem Holzschnitt mit allen Insignien christlicher Konige erscheint. Stausberg erwahnt in diesem Kontext die 23 Jahre altere illustrierte Weltchronik des Masso Finiguerra nicht, wo im Gegensatz zu Schedel nicht Zoroaster, sondern sein Assistent (H)ostanes die koniglichen Insignien tragt, welche dann in einem komplizierten ikonographischen Puzzle bei Kaiser Nero im Sturz des Simon Magus Albrecht Dfrers wiederauftauchen. Im zweiten Band bespricht Stausberg ebenso ausfiihrlich die Zoroasterkritik des 17. Jahrhunderts, angefangen mit Theodor Zwingen und Bernab Brisson, mit Thomas Hyde und David Hume und danach weiter Jber Diderot und Voltaire zu den Autoren wie de Mehegan und A.M. Ramsay. Voltaires Zoroaster ist, wie zu erwarten, eine heidnische Grol3e, die in seiner antichristlichen Propaganda zunachst eine positive Rolle findet, ahnlich wie bei Hyde, dessen Zoroaster 'zum Protagonisten einer Lehre, namlich des Dualismus, stiDislisiert wird'. Zoroaster wird im philosophisch-theologisch-historischen kurs des 17. Jahrhunderts wesentlich anders behandelt: die Chalda'ischeh Orakel werden vernachlssigt, anstelle der prisca theologia tritt jetzt die prisca historia. Zoroaster wird nicht mehr als "Beweis" fiir das "Christentum vor dem Christentum" prasentiert, sondern als eine historische "Entlarvung"

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zu Gunsten der christlichen (biblischen) Apologie behandelt. Wahrend er als "Double Moses" im 17. Jahrhundert noch relativ gut davonkommt, verschieben sich die Akzente im 18. Jhr. und danach zunehmend ins Asthetisch-literarische : Romane, Opern, Erzahlungen, popularwissenschaftliche Texte, Pseudonyme von Rezensenten. Der einstige Prophet wird zu einer Art popularer Metapher stilisiert. Zu Recht reiht Carsten Colpe im Geleitwort Stausbergs Buch in eine Reihe mit den Werken von Amo Borst (Der Turm von Babel, 1957-1963) und Peter Kapitza (Japan in Europa, 1990) ein. Zoroaster war zusammen met den Heiligen drei Konigen jahrhundertelang ein Stellvertreter Altpersiens in Europa, ein "guter" Orientale im Gegensatz zu Mohammed, eine Referenz aller gegen Orient gerichteten Traume wie Hoffnungen. Dieses Werk geh6rt einer Textgattung an, die 'wegen ihrer Schwierigkeit bisher nur auf eine dilnne Tradition zuriickblicken kann'. Colpe sieht es nicht nur als ein kulturhistorisches oder religionsgeschichtliches Werk, sondem vergleicht es mit Harnacks Markion von 1924. Mit diesem Opus hat Stausberg einen Klassiker vorgelegt, dessen kleinere Schonheits- und Druckfehler man gem bersieht ("Figlione" statt "Figline" oder "Numa Pomilius"). Das vielleicht grol3te Verdienst dieser Studie ist, daB sie zeigt, wie Zoroasters Geschichte in Europa nicht eine Wirkungsgeschichte, sondem eine Rezeptionsgeschichte im Rahmen europaischer Religions- und Kulturgeschichte ist, und dies hat Stausberg iberzeugend dokumentiert. Sein Werk ist bei weitem das Umfangreichste, das bisher im kulturhistorischen Rahmen zu diesem Thema geschrieben wurde. Die Kultur, die Erudition und die so selten gewordene verstandliche Gelehrtsamkeit dieses Buches erinnem sehr an den leider nicht mehr existierenden Geist von Eranos-Tagungen zu seiner Glanzzeit. Zum SchluB ein Lob auf den Verlag: waren die Anmerkungen am Ende des Bandes und nicht unter dem Text auf der entsprechenden Seite, wurde kaum jemand das Buch lesen wollen. Viel zu viele Verleger haben sich leider aus Profitgrunden diese schlechte Sitte zu eigen gemacht. Dieser Luxus ist bei de Gruyter im Preis inbegriffen.

REGNI CHRISTI FRATER: COUNT MICHAEL MAIER AND THE FRATERNITY R.C. HEREWARD T ILTON On account of his leading role as apologist for the elusive Rosicrucian Order, the alchemist Count Michael Maier (1569-1622) came to be known as a man who not only sacrificed his time and fortune on the impossible claims of his art, but who also squandered his talents on the Rosicrucian imposture, as Newton would put it when reviewing the Orders manifestos and Maiers defence of them1. By the 18th century the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross that had inspired the hopes and fears of early 17 th century Europe was widely condemned alongside alchemy as a malicious fraud, and Maier was depicted as one of its chief victims, as the Biographie Universelle makes clear:
It is difficult to know if the society of the Brothers of the Rosy Cross existed elsewhere than in the imagination of some scoundrels, who used it as a means of extorting money from overly credulous people. The Brothers were believed to possess the power to change metals into gold, or to retain their health over many centuries, and to transport themselves with the rapidity of thought through all the lands of the world. This society commenced with a great deal of noise in Germany at the beginning of the 17th century; and Michael Maier was certainly one of its initiates, or rather one of its dupes, since he had the inclination to write up their laws and customs, and took up their defence in his works2.

Despite the scepticism of later writers, certain documents from Maiers time imply his entrance into the ranks of a secret society; most notably, the polemical La Doctrine Curieuse des Beaux Esprits de ce Temps, ou Pretendus Tels (1623) of the Jesuit Franois Garasset, who speaks of Maier as the secretary of the Brethren3, and the 1624 Latin version of the Echo Colloquii RhodoMacguire, Alchemy and the Occult, 348-349. Biographie Universelle, 232: Cest encore un problme de savoir si la socit des frres de la Rose-Croix a exist ailleurs que dans limagination de quelques fourbes, qui en firent un moyen dextorquer de largent des personnes trop crdules. On leur attribuait le pouvoir de changer les mtaux en or, de se conserver pleins de sant pendant plusieurs sicles, et de se transporter avec la rapidit de la pense dans tous les pays de la terre. Cette socit commena faire du bruit en Allemagne au commencement du 17 e sicle; et Maer fut certainement un des initis ou plutt une des dupes, puisquil a eu la bonhomie de rdiger leurs lois, leurs coutumes, et quil a pris leur dfense dans un de ses ouvrages. 3 Garasset, La Doctrine Curieuse, 83: Nous apprenons du Pere Jean Robert Theologien de nostre Compagnie, au livre quil a faict contre Goclenius, quil rode par lAllemagne une faction secrette de feneans, qui sappellent Fratres R. C. cest dire, suivant lexposition de tout le
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Staurotici, which suggests that Maier was made privy to the secrets of the Order shortly before his death 4. Was Maier an initiate of an organised secret society, as these documents imply? Or was he indeed the dupe of an imposture? And given his suggestion that the appellation of the Fraternity R. C. does not refer to a rosy cross, just what did the initials R. C. refer to in Maiers eyes? One of the most astute esoteric writers on the subject of Rosicrucianism, Arthur Waite, enumerated three different modes of reading the anonymous Rosicrucian manifestos: firstly, to regard the story of Christian Rosenkreutz and his founding of the Rosicrucian Fraternity as historically true; secondly, to consider both the society and its founder as purely mythical; and thirdly, to accept the existence of the Rosicrucian Fraternity as a secret society without accepting the historical existence of its supposed founder5. A cursory examination of Maiers apologetic Rosicrucian works would suggest that he adhered to the first of these interpretations; Waite adhered to the third, and despite the prevailing academic opinion that the Fraternity was a purely imaginative entity at its earliest stage of development, many writers and most recently kerman have devoted their time to uncovering a true secret society lying behind the manifestos. Michael Maiers Rosicrucian Leipzig manuscript Whilst we shall soon find Waites categories wanting, one of the more pervasive (and persuasive) of the traditions belonging to his third interpretative
monde, les Freres de la Croix de Roses, laquelle ce quils ont publi par un petit livret de la faon de Michel Maerus, Secretaire de Confrerie, nest pas une invention nouvelle, dautant quil y a deux cens ans quelle estoit en vogue, mais quelle a lespace de CL. ans faict comme lArethuse, se cachant soubs les replis des siecles pour paroistre en nos jours, et nous descouvrir un secret admirable, et un grand mystere diniquit. 4 Benedictus Hilarion, Echo Colloquii Rhodo-Staurotici, hoc est: Resolutio sive Responsio ad nupero tempore editum trium personarum Colloquium Fraternitatem Roseae Crucis concernens, 167-168: Equidem non abs re est, quod Silentium nostrum multos hactenus homines in errorem praecipitaverit, illos tamen solummodo, qui tempus patienter expectare minime potuerunt. Inter quos tamen te non numeratum volumus, quod, una cum quibusdam, nobis bene notis piis, benevolis, ab initio, in hodiernum usque diem semper magis pro, quam contra nos extiteris: quemadmodum etiam illud ipsum orali defensione omni tempore apud ipsos, qui, crassa ex ignorantia, nobis infecti sunt, mascule praestitisti. Quemadmodum etiam Dominus Michael Majerus, tamquam vir Clarissimus, illud ipsum scribendo egregie praestitit, veluti ejus rei luculentum praebent testimonium, ipsius Silentium post clamores, Themis aurea, Verum inventum, Symbola aureae mensae, etc: quae scripta etiam a Domino Authore ipso non frustra scripta esse debent, sed illum, haud immerito, ante mortem ipsius, tam ingentibus honorariis, quam non minus singularium mysteriorum communicatione, beabimus. 5 Waite, The Real History of the Rosicrucians, 217-218.

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paradigm, currently circulating in academic and esoteric circles alike, purports to derive from a manuscript of Michael Maier residing at the University of Leipzig, in which Maier is alleged to state that the Fraternity of his time was formed in 1570 by followers of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535), the renowned German natural magician and alchemist whose black dog inspired the appearance of Mephistopheles as a poodle in Goethes Faust. Although he did not investigate the matter himself, Roland Edighoffer first cast the existence of this Rosicrucian manuscript into some doubt in his Rose-Croix et Socit Ideale selon Johann Valentin Andreae (1982), in which he points to the insubstantial basis of Montgomerys theory of 16 th century Rosicrucian origins6. In his Cross and Crucible: Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654), Phnix of the Theologians (1973), John Warwick Montgomery (formerly of the Facult de Thologie Protestante at the University of Strasbourg) had spoken of the claim of the Lutheran alchemist and Rosicrucian Michael Maier that the Rose Cross originated ca.1570 through conventicles reflecting the influence of the occultist Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa 7. Although Montgomery tells us that he has not verified the manuscript from which this data originates, the idea that Maier ever made such a claim is never brought into question in his work. Montgomerys misleading passage is derived from an article entitled Historique du Mouvement Rosicrucien in a French Rosicrucian journal of 1927, Le Voile dIsis. There the author, a certain Joanny Bricaud, speaks of the community of mages organised in France at the beginning of the 16th century by Agrippa von Nettesheim; he goes on to state that, upon arriving in London in 1510, Agrippa founded a secret society similar to that which he had organised in France. The members of this society adopted secret signs of reconnaissance (presumably la Freemasonry) and thereafter founded corresponding chapters of their society throughout Europe devoted to the study of the occult arts 8. And according to the Rosicrucian Leipzig manuscript of Michael Maier it was this society of Agrippas that gave rise to the Brethren of the Gold and Rosy Cross around the year 1570 9. Were it to exist, there can be no doubting the significance of such a manuscript of Maiers, as it might provide good reason to push the origins of the Fraternity as a true secret society rather than a virtual or literary entity
Edighoffer, Rose-Croix et Socit Ideale , Vol. 1, 222-223; Vol. 2, 591-592 n. 192. Montgomery, Cross and Crucible, 210. 8 Bricaud, Historique du Mouvement Rosicrucien, 561. 9 Bricaud, Historique du Mouvement Rosicrucien: Si lon en croit un manuscrit de Michel Maer conserv dans la bibliothque de Leipzig, cest cette communaut qui aurait donn naissance en Allemagne, vers 1570, aux Frres de la Rose-Croix dOr.
6 7

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beyond its academically accepted genesis in the imagination of the authors of the Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio Fraternitatis in the early 17th century. The myth of the Rosicrucian Leipzig manuscript has been put to work by various writers in support of this agenda. Thus kerman speaks of Maiers manuscript as evidence for the emergence of the Gold- und Rosenkreutz as a two-tiered Hermetic society embroiled in 16th century French inter-confessional disputes10. Likewise, the Rosicrucian Leipzig manuscript myth has taken root in Freemasonic lore in his Les Origines de la Franc-Maonnerie: Le Mtier et le Sacr (1991) Naudon quotes Bricaud almost word for word as proof of the anteriority of Rosicrucianism (as a forerunner of Freemasonry) to the Rosicrucian manifestos 11. More plausibly, the existence of such a manuscript might also point to a tradition concerning Rosicrucian origins stemming from the early 17 th century and adhered to by Maier. There is indeed a manuscript of Michael Maiers residing at the library of the University of Leipzig, entitled De Theosophia Aegyptiorum 12. Nevertheless, a thorough perusal of this tract does not reveal the slightest mention of the Rosy Cross, let alone Cornelius Agrippa and his supposed contribution to the foundation of the Order. Nor should such mention be expected, as it would be unusual for Maier to affiliate himself with an Order founded by a man who was in Maiers own opinion an impoverished and fumbling failure in the alchemical art 13 . Furthermore, although Maier was distantly acquainted with the contents of the manuscript manifestos prior to their publication in print, it was only in 1616 that he began to consider the subject worthy of his attention (a fact we shall soon consider further when analysing the testimony of the Symbola Aureae Mensae ). Contrary to accepted
kerman, Rose Cross over the Baltic , 181. Naudon, Les Origines de la Franc-Maonnerie, 269-270: ...Une autre socit importante dont laction sur la Maonnerie, du moins indirectement, est probable, est la Communaut des Mages. Elle fut fonde en 1510 par Henri-Corneille Agrippa, lorsquil arriva Londres, sur le modle de celle quil avait dj cre en France. La Communaut des Mages tait une socit secrte groupant les matres de lalchimie et de la magie. Les membres usaient de signes particuliers de reconnaissance, de mots de passe. Ils fondrent alors, dans divers autres Etats de lEurope, des associations correspondantes, dnommes Chapelies, pour ltude des sciences interdites. Si nous en croyons un manuscrit de Michel Maer (1568-1622), conserv la bibliothque de Leipzig, ce serait cette Communaut des Mages qui aurait donn naissance, en Allemagne, vers 1570, aux Frres de la Rose-Croix dor, antrieurs par consquent a la Fama Fraternitatis de Valentin Andra. 12 Maier, De Theosophia Aegyptiorum , Leipzig, Universittsbibliothek MS 0396. 13 See, for example, Examen Fucorum Pseudo-chymicorum, 41: Cornelius Agrippa testatur alicubi, se potuisse ex auro hunc subtilem spiritum extrahere: Interim qualis vir hic fuerit, ex eius epistolis apparet, nempe egestate obrutus et obaeratus, cui hoc artificium, si id sciverit, nihil profuerit; also Atalanta Fugiens, discourse 1; de Jong, Michael Maiers Atalanta Fugiens, 6263.
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opinion, the De Theosophia Aegyptiorum is in fact a rough draft for Maiers Arcana Arcanissima (1614), and therefore dates to Maiers pre-Rosicrucian period14 . There is no other manuscript of Maiers to be found at the University of Leipzig; and whilst kerman adduces that no manuscript confirming the 16 th century Gold- und Rosenkreutz hypothesis has been found in Leipzig because no effort has been made to locate it, my own examination of other library catalogues in Leipzig also revealed no trace of a manuscript by Maier. This absence is hardly surprising, given that at least one element of this curious Rosicrucian myth is derived from the Reverend Cravens work on Count Michael Maier. Writing in 1910, Craven discounts the mention of Maiers Leiden manuscript made by John Yarker in his Arcane Schools (1909) as a mistake; having consulted the librarian of the University of Leiden, Craven was assured that there was no such manuscript residing in Leiden, and that Yarker had confused Leiden with Leipzig15. Evidently the Leiden librarian was aware of the existence of a manuscript of Maiers at Leipzig, whilst not being aware of its contents. Craven believed the document at Leipzig was the only manuscript of Maiers to have survived the destruction of Magdeburg in 1631; thus the Leiden manuscript became the Leipzig manuscript, and this may ultimately be the reason why it appears as such in

14 Christoph Gottlieb von Murr, following Daniel Morhof, described the De Theosophia Aegyptiorum as a thorough revision of the Arcana Arcanissima which was never published; Murr, ber den Wahren Ursprung der Rosenkreuzer, 45; Morhof, Polyhistor , 169, n. l: Qui et idem Argumentum, diversa licet Methodo, denuo pertractavit, in Tr. de Theosophia Aegyptiorum ut antiquissima , sic abdita et Sacra, cuius MStum autoxafou in Bibliothec. Acad. Lips. Paulina superesse, Actorum Orbis Eruditi Lipsiensium Collectores, plura de eodem referentes, M. Jul. A. 1687 p. 393, 394 nos edocuerunt, Editionem etiam, Morhofii hortatu, uti ipsemet mihi retulit, moliti. There are three facts mitigating against this assertion. Firstly, the contents are largely identical with the Arcana Arcanissima, and therefore contain very little to justify a reprint. Thus chapter 1 of the Arcana Arcanissima on Egyptian gods and hieroglyphics = De Theosophia Aegyptiorum, 8 recto ff.; chapter 2 on Jason and Atalanta = 36 verso ff.; chapter 3 on the genealogies of the gods = 59 recto ff.; chapter 4 on the ancient festivals = 21 verso ff.; chapter 5 on the labours of Hercules = 24 verso ff.; chapter 6 on the Trojan expedition = 49 recto ff. Secondly, there are certain references in note form to the De Theosophia Aegyptiorum on the back page of a manuscript of Maiers dating from early in 1611, apparently written in his hand: Kassel, Gesamthochschul-Bibliothek, 2 MS Chem. 11, 1, 64 verso. Thirdly, on the title page of the De Theosophia Aegyptiorum Maier writes authore Michaele Meyero, an earlier variation of his family name that does not occur in Maiers printed or manuscript works after 1610. This surname is struck out by the same hand (that of the author), and replaced first with Maiero, which is struck out again and replaced with Maero the variation Maier decided upon when publishing his Hymnosophia , which dates from after September 1609 but before Maiers departure from the court of Rudolf II some time prior to the 4 th of August 1610. 15 Craven, Count Michael Maier , 4-5.

HEREWARD TILTON

Bricauds article the Leiden librarians deduction being transmitted to later authors first by Craven and then by Waite. Yarkers account of a Leiden manuscript in his Arcane Schools 16 which Waite correctly identifies as a tissue of inextricable reveries, although he follows Craven in referring to an extant Leipsic manuscript with references to the Rose Cross and Agrippa17 is based upon the testimony of Hans Heinrich von Ecker und Eckhoffen in his work of 1782, Der Rosenkreuzer in seiner Blsse (The Rosicrucian Exposed)18. There the author, writing under the name of Magister Pianco, makes a disgruntled expos of the secrets of the so-called True Freemasons, or Golden Rosicrucians of the Old System, an attack aimed in particular at Brother Phoebron, General Director of the Supreme Order of the Rosicrucians in Germany (i.e. Bernhard Joseph Schlei von Lwenfeld). The Gold- und Rosenkreutz to which he refers was an 18th century Freemasonic offshoot, combining Masonic initiatory grades with alchemical lore and practice. Having been expelled from this group a year prior to his books publication, and having founded his own rival grouping known as the Asiatic Brethren, von Ecker und Eckhoffen attempts to portray the Golden Rosicrucians as puppets of the Jesuits. In the course of his polemic he refers to the manuscript of Michael Maier of Rensburg, one of the most notorious of the Rosicrucians, to be found at the library of the University of Leiden19. In this supposed manuscript Maier is purported to describe the reformation of the Rosicrucian Order in 1510, by which the teachings of the Books of Moses and the Book of Revelations were brought into accord with the instructions of the old Magi. As a sign of their reformation, the Brethren decided to rename themselves Brethren of the Golden Rose Cross, True Freemasons, and True and Sincere Friends and Kindred of the Golden Rose Cross 20. That this history is a fabrication, and does not derive from a true document of Maiers, is confirmed by two important facts. Firstly, whilst Craven was led
16 Yarker, The Arcane Schools, 212: There exists in the library of the University of Leyden a MS. by Michael Maier which sets forth that in 1570 the Society of the old Magical brethren or Wise Men was revived under the name of the Brethren of the Golden Rosy Cross. Amongst other curious facts included in Yarkers account are the ascription of a pre-Reformation date to the Fama Fraternitatis and the assertion that Maier published the de Vita Morte et Resurrectione of his friend Robert Fludd (who was not in fact Maiers friend see Figala and Neumann, Michael Maier (1569-1622), 45). 17 Waite, Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, 330. 18 It should be noted that the authorship of this tract is also a matter of dispute. See McIntosh, The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason, 133. 19 Ecker und Eckhoffen, Der Rosenkreuzer in seiner Blsse, 82. 20 Ecker und Eckhoffen, Der Rosenkreuzer in seiner Blsse, 80-82.

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astray by the good advice of the Leiden librarian, he was correct in stating that no such manuscript exists or is likely to have existed at the University of Leiden. The universitys manuscript catalogue of the early 19 th century contains no trace of a manuscript under the names of Michael Maier, Meier, Meyer or Mayer, either as an acquisition or as a possession, nor have there been any major losses in the collection due to fire, war or other disasters. Nor is such a manuscript held by the library of the Museum Boerhaave in Leiden the other major 17th century collection in that city21. Secondly, the term Gold- und Rosenkreutz does not appear in the literature until later in the 17 th century, and it is only firmly established as the basis for the denomination of a later secret society with the appearance of Samuel Richters Die Warhaffte und vollkommene Bereitung des Philosophischen Steins (1710) 22. There is no mention of a Gold and Rosy Cross in the Rosicrucian apologetic works of Fludd23, as kerman asserts 24. Nor does the allusion to brothers of the golden cross made in the Aureum Seculum Redivivum (1625) of Adrian von Mynsicht suggest the existence of a two-tiered Hermetic society known as the Gold- und Rosenkreutz: whilst the term was probably suggested to Mynsicht by the Rosicrucian Orders appellation, he utilises fratres aureae crucis as an ornate but general means of addressing those amongst his readers who are affiliated with him by virtue of their alchemical proclivities25.
21 I must thank the current keeper of manuscripts at the University of Leiden, Mr. Anton van der Lem, for his investigations into this matter. 22 Such is affirmed by Peuckert, Die Rosenkreuzer, 85. 23 Fludd, Apologia Compendiaria , and Fludd, Tractatus Apologeticus . Both of these works set forth a defence of the Fraternity, natural magic and astrology against Libavius accusations of necromancy and diabolic magic; in the course of his apologies Fludd uses a number of variations on the Bruderschafft des Hochlblichen Ordens des Rosen Creutzes and the Fraternitet de R. C. given in the manuscript Fama Fraternitatis , such as Fraternitas de R. Cruce, Fratres de Societate R. Crucis, Societas de Rosea Cruce, Fratres Societatis de Rosea C. and Fraternitas R. C. 24 kerman, Rose Cross over the Baltic , 181: [In his Apologia Compendiaria Fraternitatem de Rosea Cruce] Fludd then declared that the movement actually draws on two schools, one of Aureae crucis fratres dealing with the supercelestial world and one of Roseae crucis fratres dealing with the sublunary world; these two schools create divergent theosophical and alchemical traditions for the Golden and Rosy Cross. 25 Mynsicht, Aureum Seculum Redivivum, 67-74. Mynsicht addresses his readers as true brothers of the golden cross and exceptional members of the philosophical fellowship in eternal affiliation in his foreword: Weil deutlicher und klrlicher hiervon zuschreiben ernstlich und zum allerhchsten in republica chymica verboten ist: trage aber ganz keinen zweiffel/ es werden all die/ so di Tractetlein in warer Zuuersicht mit den innerlichen Augen des Gemths/ so alles vermgen/ recht anschawen/ in denselben fleiig studiren, und darbey fr allen dingen Gott inniglichen und von Herzen anruffen/ gleich mir/ die hierin verborgene Philosophische wunderssse Frchte geniesen/ und derselben nach dem Willen Gottes theilhafftig werden. Und alsdann sein und bleiben sie/ ware Brder des gldenen Creuzes/ unnd auerlesene Gliedmassen der Philosophi-

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Given this fact, the mention made by a certain mid-17th century writer in Italy of a company entitled the rosy cross or as others say the golden cross demonstrates the logic by which the Gold- und Rosenkreutz term first arose, i.e. from the conflation of tracts written under the aureae crucis and roseae crucis appellations26. In short, it appears that the inextricable reverie that has grown up around the De Theosophia Aegyptiorum is extricated thus: Maiers Rosicrucian Leipzig manuscript is an 18th century myth arising within the Gold- und Rosenkreutz Freemasonic order, first exposed by Magister Pianco, then associated via Yarker with the tale of Agrippas secret society, and finally conveyed by Craven quite innocently as a Leipzig rather than a Leiden manuscript. Assuming that it was not an intentional fabrication, the exact mechanism by which the Leipzig manuscript myth first arose cannot be traced; nevertheless, the subsequent development of the myth shows that the mere proximity in a conversational or textual source of two unrelated elements can lead to colourful results in the minds of the credulous. As the De Theosophia Aegyptiorum was undoubtedly the most prominent of the surviving manuscripts of Maier, thanks to its mention in the Polyhistor of Morhof, it is in fact possible that von Ecker und Eckhoffen himself confused Leipzig with Leiden in the course of his communications with Brother Hosmopina Neberus (on whose authority his story concerning the reformation of the Order in 1510 stands) 27. Furthermore, as Paul Arnold points out in his Histoire des RoseCroix et les Origines de la Franc-Maonnerie, it appears that the Gold- und Rosenkreutz of the late 18th century was determined to demonstrate its anteriority to the widely discredited Rosicrucianism of the manifestos (although Arnold himself speaks of a lost Leipzig manuscript)28. The history of Rosicrucianism is littered with such spurious traditions; but if the purveyors of Rosicrucian lore through the centuries have delighted in providing fellow occultists and academics alike with a veritable school of red herrings, then they are only following in the footsteps of the instigator of the Rosicrucian phenomenon in all likelihood the Lutheran theologian Johann
schen gemeine in ewiger Verbndnu. The term is also utilised to describe Mynsicht himself on the frontispiece as well as in the closing paragraphs of the work. The Gldener Tractat vom Philosophischen Steine of Johannes Grasshoff also appearing in the Dyas Chymica Tripartita of 1625 reiterates the same terminology, possibly in imitation of the preface to the reader given in the edition of Mynsichts Aureum Seculum Redivivum that follows it in the compendium. 26 The remark is apparently made in the 1656 Italian manuscript La Bugia of the Marquise Massimiliano Palombara, Vatican Library, MS Reginensis Latini 1521; kind information of Susanna kerman. 27 Ecker und Eckhoffen, Der Rosenkreuzer in seiner Blsse, 81. 28 Arnold, Histoire des Rose-Croix, 80.

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Valentin Andreae. That the manifestos stem from the circle of Andreae is the majority opinion in the academic study of Rosicrucianism. Montgomerys is perhaps the most prominent dissenting voice, but his opinion on the matter that the manifestos stem neither from Andreae nor from his circle, but from the late 16 th century not only draws on the myth of the Rosicrucian Leipzig manuscript we have just laid bare, but is also strongly coloured by his own ideological objections to the encroachment of humanism into (contemporary) Christianity29. The virtual nature of the Brethren Is it justified to name the intimate league of friends of Andreae and his mentor Tobias Hess as the true Brethren of the Rosy Cross, as Schick30 has implied? To answer this question we may turn to Andreaes Turris Babel, sive Judiciorum de Fraternitate Rosaceae Crucis CHAOS (The Tower of Babel, or the Chaos of Judgments concerning the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross, 1619). This work presents us with a series of three-way dialogues representing typical respondents to the manifestos, the third respondent representing the views of Andreae himself; in the thirteenth dialogue between Admirator (an admirer), Contemptor (a despiser) and Aestimator (an appraiser according to the intrinsic value of a thing), Andreae as Aestimator gives the following revealing assessment of the furore provoked by the society:
The more I inquire into this fraternity, the more ingenious the game appears to me. For it possesses such a sum of human desires, that it inspires the appetite in pre-eminent intellects to obtain those things for which they have long exerted themselves. And truly, by this coming together of intellects, or by this society, if it consisted of the most select and perspicacious men, it would be possible to produce things which surpass our comprehension. That it is indeed such a kind of society, they have not yet persuaded me, because they proffer up too much imprudence or indeed baseness 31.
29 Montgomery, The World-view of Johann Valentin Andreae, 152-169. In his passage composed under the sub-title of The Gospel vs. Hermeticism, Montgomery can hardly be referring to the good Lutheran Maier when he speaks of the belief of the esoterists that man can become God by way of nature, as Maier quite clearly states in the 9 th discourse of Atalanta Fugiens that eternal life can only be gained by the faithful through death, and not through an elixir. Furthermore, for Andreae to swear by Church and Trinity that he had always laughed at the Rosicrucian fable and inveighed against the curious little brothers by no means constitutes a denial of his role in the affair, particularly when one considers the connotation of fraterculus as a term of endearment for friends. For a sampling of Montgomerys views on humanism and contemporary Christianity, see Crisis in Lutheran Theology. 30 Schick, Das ltere Rosenkreuzertum, 69. 31 Andreae, Turris Babel, 37: Quo magis in hanc fraternitatem inquiro, eo mihi lusus videtur artificiosior. Habet enim nescio quam epitomen humanorum desideriorum, quod erectioribus

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The crux of this passage is contained in its clear equation of the concourse of intellects brought together by the manifestos with the society itself; for it is clear from Andreaes words that what is ingenious about the game is that a Rosicrucian society of sorts had indeed been constituted by those inspired to the defence of the Fraternity by Andreaes utopian vision or would have been constituted, if there were not so many vulgar opinions amongst those that flooded the printing presses in response to the manifestos. In this sense the manifestos did not simply constitute an invitation to the learned of Europe to eventually build a society akin to that outlined in the manifestos, but also formed a very present and cogent virtual arena for the furtherance of a Hermetic Protestant ideology. In light of this fact, Waites misleading alternatives of a mythic or a real secret society do not hold. That the tale of the opening of the tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz given in the Fama Fraternitatis draws from alchemical allegory should have been clear enough to anyone as well versed in the alchemical literature as Maier 32. We need only mention the fact that the discovery of the sepulchre and the Book I. found clasped in the hands of the perfectly preserved corpse of Father Christian Rosenkreutz bears a close resemblance to the tale given in the Tabula Smaragdina , in which the Emerald Tablet is said to have been found in the hands of Hermes as he lay in state in his tomb 33 . Furthermore, Maier followed the lead of Andreae when composing the Allegoria Bella of his Symbola Aureae Mensae , in which he travels to Egypt and Arabia in search of the Phnix a journey to the source of the prisca sapientia which mirrors the phases of the alchemical work in similar fashion to the journey of Christian Rosenkreutz in Andreaes Chymische Hochzeit34. Nevertheless, the evidence seems to overwhelmingly contradict the possibility that Maier was aware of the strictly virtual existence of the Brethren: for why did he expend such great energy not only in defending the existence of the
ingeniis salivam moveat ea impetrandi, in quibus jam dudum defudarunt [sic]. Et verisimile est, ingeniorum concursu sive societate, si ea ex selectissimis et perspicacissimis constet, aliquid tale posse exhiberi, quod captum nostrum superet. Talem vero jam esse, nondum mihi persuaserunt, tum quia nimis vel temeraria, vel humilia etiam proferunt. 32 It is pertinent to note that Rosenkreutzs return journey to Germany follows an important medieval conduit of Arabic science into Europe, i.e. via Fez, the intellectual capital of the Moorish empire, into Spain and beyond. In this sense the Fama Fraternitatis presents a parable for the entrance of occult Arabic wisdom into medieval Europe. 33 The tradition that the discoverer was Alexander the Great is given in a tract ascribed to Albertus Magnus, Scriptum Alberti super Arborem Aristotelis (see pseudo-Albertus in the bibliography that follows). 34 Maiers contemporary, the alchemist Christoffer Rotbard (Radtichs Brotofferr) issued a work at this time explaining the journey of Christian Rosenkreutz in the Chymische Hochzeit in laboratory alchemical terms: see Elucidarius Major .

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Fraternity as an organised secret society, but also in promoting the myth of Christian Rosenkreutz as historical fact? Indeed, at the end of his discourse on the Rosicrucians in the Symbola Aureae Mensae, Maier sets out a condensed version of the Orders history given in the manifestos35. He goes on to depict in list form the membership of the Order through three centuries and generations, each being composed of eight Brethren; the first two generations (of the 15th and 16th centuries) are reconstructed in accordance with the members initials given in the Fama Fraternitatis those given in the main narrative of the text, as well as those inscribed in the Book I36. The third generation includes Brother N. N., who according to the Fama Fraternitatis by chance opened the vault of the sepulchre of Father C. R. in 1604 or thereabouts37; it also includes B. M. I., the author of the early Rosicrucian publication Assertio Fraternitatis R. C. (Vindication of the Fraternity R. C., 1614) who claimed to be one of the Order38, and the wonder-working herbalist-alchemist from Georg Molthers Grndtliche Relation von einer frembden Mannsperson, Welche inn jngst verflossenem M. DC. XV. Jahr durch de H. Reichs Statt Wetzslar gereit (Thorough Report of a foreign man, who in the recently elapsed year of 1615 travelled through the town Wetzlar of the Holy Roman Empire)39. Despite this seemingly unequivocal evidence that Maier was convinced of the Fraternitys historical existence, if there is anything which we may surely assert concerning the history of early Rosicrucianism, it is that things are not always as they first appear. In order to ascertain Maiers true relationship to Rosicrucianism, it is necessary to approach his Rosicrucian works in strict chronological order, as they demonstrate the development of his response to the affair from one of initial disinterest, through the issuing of tentative rejoin-

35 The bulk of this history is derived from the Fama Fraternitatis, with the exception of the dates of the birth and death of Father C. R. (1378-1484), which are taken from the Confessio Fraternitatis . 36 It is unlikely that any of these initials refer to historical personages for example, we are told that Brother I. O., who cured a young Earl of Norfolk of leprosy, did not live to see the death of Father C. R. in 1484; yet there were no Earls of Norfolk in the 15 th century, nor were there any cases of leprosy amongst the Mowbray and Howard families who held the dukedom of Norfolk during this period. Nor have there been any subsequent cases of leprosy in those families kind information of Dr. John Martin Robinson, Librarian to Major-General His Grace the Duke of Norfolk. 37 Kooij and Gilly, Fama Fraternitatis, 89 ff. 38 B. M. I., Assertio Fraternitatis . The publisher of this tract, Johann Bringer, released a number of Rosicrucian tracts apart from the Grndtliche Relation and the Assertio Fraternitatis, including the 1615 Frankfurt am Main edition of the Fama Fraternitatis . 39 Molther, De quodam peregrino, and Molther, Von einer frembden Mannsperson. Molther also composed a Rosicrucian tract under the title E. D. F. O. C. R. Sen., Antwort, der Hochwrdigen und Hocherleuchten Brderschafft de RosenCreutzes.

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ders to the Rosicrucian programme in his Jocus Severus (1617) and Symbola Aureae Mensae (1617), to a role as chief apologist for the Order through the publication of his Silentium Post Clamores (1617) and Themis Aurea (1618). The Serious Jest After his long sojourn in England following his departure from the imperial court, Maier returned to Germany in the summer of 1616, as we may gather from the preface to the Jocus Severus written in Frankfurt am Main in September of that year. The home of a renowned six monthly book fair, Frankfurt was also a major publishing centre; and as Figala and Neumann suggest, Maier was probably attracted to the city in part by the proximity of his publishers, Johann Theodor de Bry and Lucas Jennis, who printed the majority of his publications in the following eight years 40. Whilst visiting the autumnal book fair of 1616 Maier first became embroiled in the Rosicrucian affair; according to his account in the Symbola Aureae Mensae , he had heard rumours during his stay in England concerning the Brethren of the Rosy Cross, but at that time he was occupied solely with the subject of chymia and considered the matter to be obscure and unbelievable gossip (a fact overlooked by the writers who have followed Yates in describing Maiers Rosicrucian mission to England). As it had been said that these Brethren were bringing an occult wisdom to Europe via Spain, he had associated them with contemporaneous reports of a certain prophet or magician king named Abdela who had conquered the kingdom of Morocco with the help of occult powers, and he gave the matter no further attention 41. Nevertheless, during the book fair by fortunate chance he came upon the true source of the widespread rumours concerning the Brethren, the anonymous Rosicrucian manifestos. Having read these tracts his opinion was radically altered, and he held it to be a great and almost unbelievable matter that had been set in motion by these strange Brethren; and if by practice itself the programme of the manifestos might lead to results, he deemed it worthy of

Figala and Neumann, Michael Maier (1569-1622), 45. The tale of the magician king that Maier had heard is related in a contemporary work, A True Historicall Discourse of Muley Hamets rising to the three Kingdomes of Moruecos, Fes and Sus. In the 15 th chapter of this tract it is said that in 1608 a certain Abdela had defeated his more powerful brother Muley Sidan in a battle, during which a contingent of 200 English mercenaries with 60 cannons refused to retreat and was routed the reason, no doubt, for the currency of the rumours Maier heard in England. The role played by occult powers in the conflict seems to have been confused in these rumours, as it was Sidan who eventually wrested control of Morocco back from his brother some five months after his defeat through the good advice of his soothsayers (see chapter 17).
40 41

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being extolled and promoted with every effort42. In accordance with this declaration, during the two years that followed the chance encounter at the Frankfurt book fair Maier dedicated a number of tracts to the defence of the programme set out in the manifestos, and to the defence of a Brotherhood that remained as elusive as the goals it preached. This having been said, Maiers first Rosicrucian work, the Jocus Severus or Serious Jest of 1616, displays an ambivalent attitude towards the existence of the Fraternity as an organised secret society. The Jocus Severus is a rather charming satirical fable which takes the form of a court of judgment upon the bird of wisdom sacred to Pallas Athena, the Owl in this instance embodying alchemy as the highest science. The Owl faces an assembly of squawking and cantankerous birds, who represent the various unlearned and impious critics of chymia , but she is eventually judged Queen of the Birds by the Phnix, who symbolises the perfection of the alchemical art. In his dedication Maier makes it clear that the Owl signifies not only the true chymists of Germany, but specifically the Brethren of the Rosy Cross who are, to his mind, primarily concerned with the art of chymia and the production of the Universal Medicine. He writes:
I dedicate and bequeath this tract to all lovers of true chymia throughout Germany, known and unknown; and amongst them, unless Fame deceives us, to that ORDER OF GERMAN BLOOD, hitherto lying hidden, but manifested by the bringing forth of the Fama Fraternitatis , as well as by the admirable and pleasing Confessio Fraternitatis 43.
42 Maier, Symbola Aureae Mensae , 290: [Fama de Fr. R. C. ad exteros transiit.] FAMA ILLA dictae FRATERNITATIS, quae hic in plurimorum auribus oreque iampridem perstrepuit, adque exteras oras circum circa vagata latissimas regiones pervolavit, mihi quoque tum in Anglia agenti, reique Chymicae unice invigilanti, obscuris quibusdam rumusculis, incredibilibus, ipsaque veritate longe maioribus insonuit, cui fidem, pro referentis fide, dubiam prima vice adhibui: [A. C. 1613 Barbaria propheticus aut certe magicus rex multa admiranda fecit.] Eodem tempore ex Barbaria innovationes quaedam mirabiles ore referebantur, quomodo prope Marocum et Fessam quidam propheta ex sapientum numero surrexerit, nomine Mullei Om Hamet Ben Abdela, qui plurima occulta signa in se demonstrans, Regem istius regionis, Mullei Sidan, satis magno exercitu instructum, pene inermis, exigua manu aggressus profligavit et vicit, regnique sedem obtinuit. [Prima relatio incerto] Cum vero et hi fratres fama inconstanti ex Barbaria venisse per Hispaniam dicerentur, eiusdem artis et institutionis hi et ille Barbaricus propheta, existimati sunt: [Francf. nundi autumnal: A. 1616] Sed libro ipso de fama et confessione eorum edito, forte fortuna perlustrato, longe aliter de illis ferre iudicium informatus sum. Magna sane res est, quae ab illis agitatur, et pene incredibilis; quam si eventus expresserit, usuque ipso verissimam declaraverit, habebimus satis per vitam, quod miremur, collaudemus et omnibus conatibus promoveamus. 43 Maier, Jocus Severus, 10: Omnibus Verae Chymiae Amantibus, per Germaniam notis et ignotis, et inter hos, nisi nos Fama fallat, ILLI SANGUINIS GERMANICI ORDINI, adhuc delitescenti, at Fama Fraternitatis et Confessione sua admiranda et probabili, in genere manifestato, asscribo, dico et dedico.

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The reference to deceiving Fame here is to the first Rosicrucian manifesto, the Fama Fraternitatis , and Maiers words indicate that he initially hedged his bets concerning the existence of an organised secret Brotherhood. Nevertheless, the word fama not only possesses the connotation of the English fame with which it has been translated, but also that of rumour or common talk. Thus Maier seems to suggest that Fama might deceive because the ignorant masses are liable to understand chemical truths in a literal manner. He goes on to state that the anonymous members of the Fraternity are themselves like the Owl, because they shun the light of fame in order to avoid exposing the secrets of the alchemical Art. Maier counts himself amongst these owls, as he tells us that the Jocus Severus is a game he plays in the nocturnal hours in order to escape the silence of Vulcans work. So in his first Rosicrucian work Maier appears to be undecided as to the existence of an organised group behind the manifestos, but proceeds to treat the Brethren as exemplary of alchemists known and unknown throughout Germany. The alchemists at the Golden Table In his second work dealing with the Rosicrucian phenomenon, the Symbola Aureae Mensae completed some three months following the Jocus Severus , Maier continues to downplay the religious components of the manifestos, emphasising instead their alchemical aspect. As in the Jocus Severus , the Symbola Aureae Mensae presents us with an allegorical arena of argument in this case a banquet held in honour of the Virgin Queen Chemia and attended by the greatest alchemists from twelve different lands. In the course of the work Maier declares that the silence of the Fraternity is lawful, as their arcana are a gift from God and should not be exposed to the undeserving rabble. Such silence does not imply the non-existence of the Brethren, which was an oftheard accusation given their failure to answer the many enthusiastic replies and entreaties for admittance provoked by the publication of the manifestos44. Again, it might be deduced from these arguments that Maier was convinced of the existence of an organised secret Fraternity lying behind the manifestos, and was thus victim rather than perpetrator of a ludibrium . Nevertheless, we find certain discrepancies and ambiguities in Maiers account that bring such a judgment into question. Whilst discussing Albertus Magnus as the German representative at the banquet, Maier issues an invitation to the Rosicrucian Brethren to join their fellow alchemists at the golden banquet table:

44

Symbola Aureae Mensae, 289.

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Lest we the rearguard remain too long unbelieving, we declare: that praiseworthy German society, however many they are and wherever they may lie hidden amongst the living, are invited, called together, and led to this our Table, named Golden because of its golden guests, provided that they will be satisfied with quite simple dishes, which are the only courses we have to offer here (for the cook has been seized during his preparation by a hostile fever, sometimes cold, sometimes hot, and his breathing has been agitated, wherefore he is unable to serve up more splendid and opulent dishes of oxen) 45.

It is clear from his words that Maier considers himself to be amongst a rearguard (post principia ) of a similar ilk to the Protestant Hermeticists portrayed in the manifestos; by inviting the Fraternity to the Golden Table he is calling upon those of his own persuasion to join together in face of their critics. The words too long unbelieving might indicate Maier was still uncertain concerning the status of the authors of the manifestos; nevertheless, it seems that he did not go to any great length to investigate the matter, given that he might have followed the same route that Friedrich Grick had taken to uncover their identity the Frankfurt book fair46. Like other Rosicrucian apologists, Maier constructed his Rosicrucian writings as a rallying point for his own ideas, and a call to realise an already-existing but dispersed and disorganised brotherhood in Christ and Hermes. In this sense the words of the Symbola Aureae Mensae are not unlike the invitation that the manifestos themselves form. It is also evident that Maiers invitation to the Fraternity is an attempt to demarcate the boundaries of true Rosicrucianism in accordance with his own proclivities; for those who would not be satisfied with the dishes served at the Golden Table are those with no interest in the practical work of alchemy and the production of chymical cures. Thus the puzzling allusion to the feverish cook refers to the labours of the alchemist, and the dishes he serves are the fruits of those labours. This allusion rests in part upon the traditional depiction of the alchemical process as a feverish man, to be found in the medieval Allegory of Merlin reprinted seven years prior to the Symbola Aureae Mensae 47, or the strange tale of the duke dosed with sudorifics presented by the Allegory of

45 Symbola Aureae Mensae , 289: Ne itaque et nos, post principia, nimis diu increduli remaneamus, constituimus LAUDABILEM ILLAM SOCIETATEM GERMANICAM, QUOTQUOT ET UBI LATEANT APUD VIVOS, AD HANC NOSTRAM MENSAM, AUREAM DICTAM OB AURATOS CONVIVAS, invitare, convocare et adducere, si modo vulgaribus sint contenti missibus, (coquus enim certe dum in hac praeparatione tota occupatus fuit, quartano hoste nunc frigidum nunc calidum expirante agitatus lautiores bovis epulas apponere nequit) quos hic solos offerimus. 46 Gilly, Cimelia Rhodostaurotica , 78. 47 See The Allegory of Merlin and Merlini Allegoria profundissimum Philosophici Lapidis arcanum perfecte continens under pseudo-Merlin in the bibliography below.

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Duenech and referred to in the 28th discourse of Maiers Atalanta Fugiens48. But Maier also suggests that he himself is the cook at the Golden Table; for this entire passage appears under the curious marginal heading, The author has been fighting with the disease for four days (as the guests fought with Pyrgopolynices)49. Just what Maier is cooking up at the Golden Table is made evident by omission, when he states that the feverish chef is unable to serve the guests opulent dishes of oxen. This is not only a warning that those who wish to engage with the pleasures of the senses will not find their appetites satisfied at the Golden Table, but also an oblique reference to the temperance-imparting Universal Medicine Maier strove to produce, which is the only course on offer. The ever-turning wheel of Rosicrucian apology In the two works that Maier dedicates exclusively to the Rosicrucian phenomenon, the Silentium Post Clamores of 1617 and the Themis Aurea of 1618, Maier stands with sovereign supremacy above the dispute concerning the true nature of the Brethren. This is despite the fact that he had no personal acquaintance with the Tbinger circle of Andreae50. The Silentium Post Clamores sets itself the task of explaining the silence of the Brethren with reference to various philosophical societies (amongst them the Druids, Brahmans and Egyptian priests), who exacted an oath of silence concerning their chymical secrets; whilst the Themis Aurea enumerates and elaborates upon the six laws of the Fraternity given in the Fama Fraternitatis. In the latter work Maier writes as if from the inside of the Order. Waite cited this fact as proof that Maier had entered into the ranks of an organised secret Fraternity; he also cited Garassets accusation that Maier was the secretary of the Brethren, and the testimony of the Echo Colloquii Rhodo-Staurotici we shall shortly examine. But once the hypothesis of a tangible Order is dispelled, and hence the possibility that Maier was physically able to enter into the ranks of a secret
48 Atalanta Fugiens, discourse 28: Duenech itaque a Pharut in Laconicum introducitur, ut ibi sudet, et tertiae concoctionis foeces per poros excernat: Est autem hujus regis affectus melancholicus seu atrabilarius, unde omnibus aliis principibus in minori authoritate et precio est habitus, dum Saturni morositate et Martis cholera seu iracundia fuerit taxatus: Ipse igitur aut mori aut curari voluit, si id possibile sit. 49 Symbola Aureae Mensae, 289: Authoris cum morbo (uti convivarum cum Pyrgopolynice, conflictu) quarto quoque die. Pyrgopolynices, the braggart centurion from the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus, is the troublesome guest at the Golden Table; in Maiers work he represents Queen Chemias adversary, whose objections to her laws are at each opportunity refuted succinctly by the gathered alchemists. 50 Schick, Das ltere Rosenkreuzertum, 250.

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society, we are left with no other option but to accept Maiers awareness of the virtual nature of the Order. Indeed, the Themis Aurea in particular demonstrates a conclusive shift in Maiers thinking away from the possibility of the existence of an organised secret society for if he had still entertained such a possibility, he could only have hoped to provoke the ire of the Fraternity as a non-initiate usurping their very laws. The preface of the Silentium Post Clamores also demonstrates that Maier was working beyond the interpretative paradigms proposed by Waite. There he states that the Fraternity prefer to bring their critics back to repose and a sounder state of mind, rather than stir up more passion by composing tedious responses and true to his medical training, he uses the analogy of a doctor placating a delirious patient simply by displaying tranquillity 51 . In order to explain why he does not follow the serene example of the Brethren, Maier justifies his apology in the following way:
Even if the Brethren have no need of my protection or service and I do not expect anything from them, except the goodwill which the virtuous offer to other good people nevertheless I could not forbear to cast a white stone52 on behalf of the truth, lest it might appear that truth is overwhelmed with malice by the censure of ignorant people, rather than freed with righteousness by the fairness of the intelligent. For that censure is undoubtedly very similar to that illiterate commoner, who did not recognise the face of Aristides, the most meritorious of the Athenian republic, and on that account followed the others in condemning him for being too just. But we relegate such people to their ploughs and hoes, not to writing and judgment; and we commend you to God, candid reader, who are not amongst them. Vale 53.

In considering this address, Arthur Waite proposed two possible modes of reading Maiers words; the first is to consider them as the expression of someone whose congenital credulity has led him to an a priori belief in the actu51 Maier, Silentium Post Clamores, 4-5: Sed quia ita mores hominum atque haec aetas ferunt, maledicos silentio suo potius ad quietem et saniorem mentem (ut Medici phreneticos) reducere conantur, quam responsionibus longioribus, quas sine dubio veridicas adferre possent, irritare ad affectum a bile augendum. 52 The reference here is to stones used in antiquity for voting; a white stone was cast for assent or acquittal, a black for denial or condemnation. 53 Maier, Silentium Post Clamores, 5: Interim, etsi nostro patrocinio aut officio non indigeant, nec ego quid ab illis, nisi benevolentiam, quam bonis boni ultro offerunt, expectem, tamen intermittere non potui, quin pro veritate calculum non nigellum iacerem, ne illa potius literam quoque Theta scribere ignorantium livore oppressa, quam recte sentientium candore absoluta videretur: Permultos enim esse illi cerdoni, qui Analphabetarius Aristidem optime de Repub. meritum, nec de facie agnitum, una cum caeteris ideo damnavit, quia nimis iustus esset, in hoc censu similes, non est dubium: Sed hos ad ligones et aratra, non ad literas et tribunalia destinatos ut novimus, sic relegamus, ac te, Candide lector, ex eorum numero exemptum Deo commendamus. Vale.

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ality and honesty of the Order, because its claims are, from his standpoint, without offence to possibility54. From this perspective the Silentium Post Clamores constitutes an open declaration of Maiers desire for admission into the Order, analogous to the many other entreaties that emerged in the wake of the manifestos publication. The second possible interpretation given by Waite and the interpretation he settled for is that Maiers words constitute a defence issued from within the occult circle, which while advancing what it can on its own behalf is determined to remain anonymous and requires its champions to dissemble 55. Whilst his remarks concerning Maiers congenital credulity may not be so far wide of the mark, the inadequacy of Waites underlying assumptions is revealed in the elaborate classical allusions which Maier utilises in the course of his preface to the Silentium Post Clamores . We have seen that he refers to Aristides, the just Athenian patriot from the work of Plutarch bearing his name, who was ostracised by the citizens of Athens on account of their envy of his fame; during the ballot of ostracism a clownish illiterate approached Aristides, and, imagining him to be an ordinary citizen, asked him to write his own name on the ballot-sherd with which request the disgusted Aristides complied. Here Maier again expresses his occultist elitism, and his disapproval of certain parties writing under the name of the just Fraternity who have impugned true Rosicrucianism by giving forth calumny and viperous language 56. Similarly, Maier contends that those who deceitfully write in the Fraternitys name have brought forth monsters in the manner of Ixion, who attempted to mate with Juno, the goddess of riches; according to the GrecoRoman myth, Jupiter substituted for his wife an image of cloud, by which Ixion begat the Centaurs. The unhappy fate of the would-be adulterer was to be strung to an ever-turning wheel by Jupiter, which might be seen as an appropriate analogy for the seemingly endless dialectic set in motion by Andreae. The allusion Maier makes to the myth of Ixion demonstrates at least a partial awareness of the virtual nature of the Rosicrucian affair, for he tells us that the cloud with which the calumniators have mated is the cloud of frenzied opinion that has grown up around the manifestos, leaving the true Fraternity as the unhappiest of parents57.
54 According to Waite, the will to believe was obviously much too predominant in Michael Maier for him to see that there was another point from which it might be possible to approach the subject, namely, that statements in anonymous documents which offer no evidence and cannot be checked otherwise can at most be left only as open questions and are certainly not justified by the appeal to an alleged possibility of things. Waite, Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, 321. 55 Waite, Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, 320. 56 Silentium Post Clamores, 3. 57 Silentium Post Clamores, 3.

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Maier again refers to the Order as the surrogate parent of a vile offspring by comparing the calumniators to Autolycus, the son of Mercury who deceived and robbed his victims by using his inherited ability to transform himself into manifold forms. According to Maiers allusion it is Mt. Parnassus itself, throne of the Philosophers, that the Rosicrucian impostors have sought to assail with the power they have usurped 58 . It is significant that the Fraternity is portrayed here as Mercury, who has lent his shape-changing power to an unworthy child a suggestion that the Order itself partakes of a mercurial nature. At the very least, the evidence of Maiers preface indicates that his primary interest did not lie in admission to a secret Order; he was less concerned with the existence of a real secret Fraternity, and more concerned to distinguish true Rosicrucianism from false and establish himself as the chief spokesman of the former. The initials R. C. as alchemical cipher That Maier was unwilling to expose in writing his true opinion concerning the Brethren, and thus compromise the potency of the Rosicrucian myth, is made clear by a manuscript written some time after April of 1618 to his Calvinist patron, Moritz the Learned of Hessen-Kassel, who commissioned the first printing of the Fama Fraternitatis at Kassel. In that manuscript Maier simply writes:
What I have come to learn concerning the Philosophers R. C. I have already whispered in the ear of your highness. My opinion appears to have been confirmed by reason and experience 59.

This brief statement seems to indicate that Maiers knowledge concerning the Brethren belongs to an occult class of information destined only for a privileged few, like the alchemical memoranda that fill the rest of the manuscript in question. We may ask what exactly he knew about the Philosophers R. C. that should remain hidden from the unwashed masses could it have been that he knew the identity of the perpetrators of the manifestos by this point? Whilst it is possible that Maier became privy to this information after his entrance into the court of Moritz, the fact that the opinion he once shared with his patron
Silentium Post Clamores, 3: Hinc tot in eam Calumniae et viperinae linguae exercentur, quibus pro deceptoribus Ixionibus seu monstrorum, dum cum nube insanae opinionis, vice Iunonis, Divitiarum deae, coiverint, parentibus infelicissimis, et Autolycis, qui proxima Parnasso loca furtis infestarint, habentur et proclamantur. 59 Kassel, Gesamthochschul-Bibliothek, 2 MS Chem. 19, 1, 280 verso: Quantum mihi cognitum sit de Philosophis R.C. iam ante in aurem Serenituri. V:ae dixi, in qua opinione a ratione et experientia stabilitus et confirmatus videor.
58

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had been confirmed by reason and experience (the touchstones of alchemical endeavour) seems to indicate that he is not referring here to the identity of the perpetrators of the manifestos. Rather, it appears that he had made a more general conjecture as to the very nature of the affair, and in accordance with his tendency to find alchemical arcana under the cover of every myth and symbol had chosen to interpret the title of the Fraternity as a veiled reference to the pious alchemists of Protestant Germany. Given his own predilection for literary conceits and serious jests, Maiers public insistence on the reality of the Rosicrucians as an organised secret society is better understood as his means of playing the game, and of claiming authority for his own alchemy by adopting the mantle of the Order. That Maier became an insider to the true status of the Brethren is also suggested by the passage in his Themis Aurea in which he cryptically states that the letters R. C. do not in fact refer to the rosy cross60. In considering this passage Figala and Neumann have suggested that Maier understood the letters R. C. to refer to res chymica 61 ; and whilst their interpretation is ingenious and fully in accord with Maiers ethos, Maier himself suggests a number of possible terms conforming to the initials in the course of his Rosicrucian writings. Thus in the Symbola Aureae Mensae Maier sets forth the following enigma:
For me R. refers to the sea, In which fish are being hunted at three different times: The first when Cancer thrust forth his claws, The second under the righteous judgment of Libra, The third when Aquarius pours forth wet waves: Tell me, of which fish do I speak, and of which waves of the sea?62

The reference here to fish in a sea appears to be an allusion to the alchemical allegory concerning the little round fish in our sea to be found in the enigmas of the Visio Arislei63 . In the context of this allegory, the sea may be understood as the Mercurial Water, a universal solvent used to extract the miraculous power from the base metals or primary subject (the fish) within the alchemical vessel. In the 22nd discourse of his Atalanta Fugiens Maier follows Paracelsus in referring to the alchemical fish as trout, as it was believed that trout hold within themselves traces of the river gold they swallow (and hence,
Maier, Themis Aurea , 159. Figala and Neumann, Michael Maier (1569-1622), 49. 62 Symbola Aureae Mensae , 302: R. mihi adest aequor, pisces captantur in illo/ Tempore tres vario, primus cum brachia Cancer/ Exerit, atque alter sub iusto examine Librae,/ Tertius humentes cum fundit Aquarius undas:/ Dicite, quos pisces statuam quas Aequoris undas? 63 Aenigmata ex Visione Arislei Philosophi, 162. The vision of Arisleus and its enigmas were issued in 1572 and reprinted in 1610.
60 61

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according to Maiers alchemical cosmology, they are a model for the divine power of the Sun, the seed of gold, lying at the heart of all metals) 64. It follows that the three different times at which the fish are hunted represent three different phases of solution in the lengthy alchemical process, as dictated by astrological law; the first when the sun is in Cancer (from June 22), the second in Libra (from September 23) and the third in Aquarius (from January 20). These signs of the Zodiac correspond to summer, autumn and winter, giving spring as the time of the works completion and perhaps Easter, in accordance with Maiers first alchemical experiment detailed in the De Medicina Regia65. In the same place in the Symbola Aureae Mensae Maier offers up one of his interpretations of the initial C.:
C. gives you the sublime laws of a fortress; and there is No other bird who has more power with threatening wings and eyes Than the winged being thought to be yours. By that birds command a nest has been constructed in a tree, Which some time ago produced a series of gold-born chicks66.

On the one hand we may understand the fortress to be the alchemical vessel itself; it is analogous to the nest of the bird of the Rosicrucians, which, from the references given in another enigma in the Symbola Aureae Mensae, we may identify as Maiers beloved Phnix67 . From its nest, unassailable in the heights of an oak-tree, new life is born through a process of fiery destruction (the black phase of the work) and re-creation. On the other hand, the nest and fortress possess a significance beyond the vagaries of laboratory work. They are also a symbol for Protestant Germany, the heart of the spiritual regeneration of Europe, and the womb that has brought forth the generations of the Fraternity, as Maier puts it in his Themis Aurea 68. Thus in Maiers preamble to

64 Atalanta Fugiens , discourse 22. On this subject see de Jong, Michael Maiers Atalanta Fugiens , 179-180. 65 Maier, De Medicina Regia , Ci recto - Ci verso. 66 Symbola Aureae Mensae, 302: C. vobis Castri sublimia iura dat, et non/ Inter aves est, quae valeat pernicibus alis/ Aut oculis ante hanc volucrem, quae vestra putatur,/ Et cuius nutu est constructus in arbore nidus,/ Qui pridem Aurigenos produxit in ordine pullos. 67 The 5 th enigma of the ten offered by Maier describes the nest of the Phnix built high in a gnarled oak where it rears its chicks; the bird is to be found in the remote Arabian forests of Sheba, where it prepares for its long flight through all the world: Iovis volucris olim/ Quercu plicasset alta/ Nidos, suos penates,/ Pullos ut educaret:/ Rerum feracitate/ Estque apta visa sedes./ Quod cum Sabae remotis/ Sylvis eo propinquans/ Phnix videret, inquit,/ Hic est quies parata/ Volatuum labori,/ Qui factus est per annos/ Tot, integrum per orbem... Symbola Aureae Mensae, 299. 68 Themis Aurea, 123-124: De Loco huiusce congregationis, aut legum promulgationis ne quoque quis sit nimis curiosus in indagando, videndum erit: Non enim hoc utile est sciri ab

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the Symbola Aureae Mensae enigmas, he tells us that the defences of the high wall have been built around the place of truth and although the wall crumbles before those that assail it, nevertheless the artisans within rush forward to build it up again, in order that, by the command of God, the threats may cease69. Two other enigmas in the Symbola Aureae Mensae give R. as war and the pugnatrix (a reference to the alchemical fire which is also alluded to in the Themis Aurea cryptogram deciphered by Borelli in his Bibliotheca Chimica 70), whilst C. is the waning moon (a symbol of cyclical decline and regeneration) for just as the waning moon foretells the darkness of shady night, thus also by and by the clouds are put to flight, as your Confessio promises 71. The terms Maier applies to the initials R. C. are various because the insignia impressed in Nature 72 may be represented in many different ways thus Maiers warning in the Atalanta Fugiens that the alchemists have applied the same words to different things and different words to the same 73. And

omnibus, sed sufficit si a solis confoederatis et electis agnoscatur: in Utopia non est, ut opinor, nec apud Tartaros aut Lappones, sed forte in umbelico Germaniae, cum Europa forma virginem, et Germania in ea ventrem referre dicatur: Non convenit virgineos sinus patefacere vulgo, ne meretrix potius, quam virgo, vidatur: Satis est scire, eam non esse infoecundam, sed in utero suo (ut Themis ex Iove) hanc Eunomiam concepisse, aut hos Palycos fratres, tanquam ignotos et ex terra natos, (ut Thalia ex eodem) protulisse: Venter hic quidem virgineus est, at permultas artes et scientias, ante incognitas, edidit, GERMANIAM dico et intelligo, quae germinat nunc perpetuo ROSIS ET LILIIS, quae nec hyemem nec aestum ignis reformident, et in Philosophicis hortis seu Rosetis conservantur, ne petulca manus tenellos flosculos laedat aut carpat. 69 Symbola Aureae Mensae, 291: [Mina muri extant.] Minas extare alti alicuius muri cum ipsis fatemur, ex quarum lapsu concursuros opifices ad eas erigendas, at ita erigent, ut minae esse desinant, ex Dei nutu: Nullus enim timor aut minae apud veritatis amantes locum inveniunt... 70 In his Bibliotheca Chimica, 156, Borelli gives the enigma on page 213 of Maiers Themis Aurea and its solution under the heading of Aenigma Majerianum: Clode No Marri in ium dicsit udaoltan plesaritto, Jeait os uperrimit cegmusiemon tus polcopitto, im oc igmon cemslu musalun, im hec musalurou os immusaluron. / Credo me nulli in iam dictis adversum protulisse, Jovis et Apollinis cognationem sat percepisse, in eo ignem contra naturam, in hoc naturalem, et innaturalem. The simple cryptographic substitutions are revealed as: a = u, b = ?, c = c, d = d, e = o, f = ?, g = g, h = ?, i = i, j = j, k = ?, l = r, m = n, n = m, o = e, p = p, q = ?, r = l, s = t, t = s, u = a; hence the Tusalmat appearing in Maiers manuscripts gives Saturnus, as Newton surmised. 71 Symbola Aureae Mensae, 300-301: En mediata vobis/ Luna resplendet radiis, hinc quoque C. dicata est,/ Cornua namque Phoebes/ Ceu monent decrescere noctis tenebras opacae,/ Sic quoque mox fugandas/ Esse nubes, publica confessio vestra spondet... The millennialist aspect of this verse of Maiers is unmistakable. 72 Maier utilises the phrase insignia impressa rather than the largely synonymous Paracelsian term, signatura; both refer to signatures in Nature pointing towards her divine origins. Silentium Post Clamores, 18. 73 Atalanta Fugiens , discourse 11.

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whilst Maier denies that R. C. refers to a rosy cross in the Themis Aurea , he goes on to imply that a more correct interpretation would be the crossed rose for although the letters represent sweetness and bitterness, the former is the substantive, and the latter only a passing adjective74 . In this typically enigmatic manner Maier elaborates upon the traditional alchemical correspondence between the crossed rose of Christ and the lapis philosophorum , in the beginning of which there is misery with vinegar, but in the end of which there is truly joy with gladness75. In short, the question of an organised secret society lying behind the manifestos was of secondary importance to Maier, and although in time he appears to have answered this question in the negative, his primary interest was always to exploit the Rosicrucian phenomenon as an arena for the promotion of his own alchemical ideas. Whilst it is true that Rosicrucianism figured prominently as a focal point for Protestant Hermetic thought in the period preceding the Thirty Years War, contrary to the thesis of Yates Maier played a peripheral role in the politics of his time a fact to which the surviving intelligence report from Maier to Moritz the Learned testifies. There Maier warns his patron of Spanish threats to force passage through Hessen-Kassel to reach Bohemia, although the fact that he opens his letter with the self-depreciating admission that he hasnt any good reason to write suggests this item of news was not new to Moritz76. The remainder of Maiers letter deals with articles of hearsay and prophecy concerning the comet of 1618 and other strange celestial events, which highlight the millennialist anxieties inspired by the deteriorating state of the Empire, but which would have been of little practical use for Moritz (who dispensed with Maiers services shortly thereafter). The fact that Maier suggests certain of these portents should be heeded shows that he, too, was deeply imbued with the spirit of foreboding preceding the Thirty Years War and his musings on the waning moon in the enigma cited above reveal glimpses of a distinctly alchemical understanding of social conflict and transformation. Nevertheless, it should also be remarked that when adopting the mantle of the Fraternity Maier had no interest in advancing theological or political arguments, although his sympathy clearly lay with the heterodox Lutheran sensibilities of the manifestos, and he sought to distinguish the true Rosicrucians from those Anabaptists and Enthusiasts who disturb all order and law by
Themis Aurea, 159. Symbola Aureae Mensae , 568: Esse in Chemia nobile aliquod corpus, quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto, in fine vero gaudium cum laeticia, ita et mihi eventurum praesupposui, ut primo multa aspera, amara, tristia, taediosa gustarem, perferrem et experirer, tandem omnia laetiora et faciliora visurus essem. 76 Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg, Bestand 4g, Paket 57- 1619, 1-2.
74 75

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publishing their foolish dreams under the good name of the Fraternity77. To Maiers mind, the ideal Rosicrucian Brother was a man like himself, absorbed in the practical labours of alchemy and the procurement of a medicine of piety, which restores the balance of humours in the human body just as it harmonises the four elements and two principles in imperfect metals 78. Maiers agenda seems to have borne some fruit, given Father Garassets remarks, and given the largely alchemical bent of later Rosicrucianism 79. Furthermore, the fact that Maier chose not to use a pseudonym when publishing his works must have raised his profile in Germany considerably, as we find his tracts are given a good deal of publicity in the subsequent debate concerning the true identity of the Brethren. Lucas Jennis and Maiers entrance into the Order Perhaps the final word on Maiers relation to Rosicrucianism should be given to his publisher, Lucas Jennis, a man who was in a better position than any of us to understand the true, virtual nature of the Rosicrucian Fraternity. Two of those tracts which make favourable mention of Maiers labours with regard to the Rosicrucians are the Colloquium Rhodo-Stauroticum and its rejoinder, the Echo Colloquii Rhodo-Staurotici, which Jennis published alongside Maiers own Ulysses some two years after the alchemists death. The Colloquium is probably the work of Daniel Mgling, personal physician of the Calvinist Landgrave Philipp von Hessen-Butzbach; in the course of his theosophicallyorientated apology the author cites the Symbola Aureae Mensae , the Themis Aurea and the Silentium Post Clamores as evidence that knowledge of the lapis philosophorum had been passed to the Brethren quasi de ore ad ora through many centuries80. These references seem to have inspired the peculiar
77 Themis Aurea, 233. These sentiments lie in accord with the Fama Fraternitatis, which rails against all enthusiasts, heretics and false Prophets. Kooij and Gilly, Fama Fraternitatis, 97. 78 Contrary to various writers who have described him as a Paracelsian, Maier adhered to the medieval sulphur-mercury theory rather than the tria prima, although he believed that just as Luther had purged the papist faeces from German theology, so Paracelsus had undertaken a similar commendable task in the realm of Medicine. Maier, Verum Inventum , 210-211, 214. 79 As McIntosh and Peuckert have argued, above all other authors it was Maier who effected a definitive binding of alchemy with the Rosicrucian tradition, as alchemy had formed only a part of the message of the original manifestos and their rejoinders. McIntosh, The Rosicrucians, 5456; Peuckert, Pansophie , 152. 80 C. I. B. F. Colloquium Rhodo-Stauroticum trium personarum, per Famam et Confessionem quodammodo revelatum, de Fraternitate Roseae Crucis, 138: Si enim illa incredulis Ethnicis, qui de Deo, neque eius verbo atque voluntate certi aliquid sciverunt, tali modo largitus est, quod etiam, veluti Dominus Michael Mayerus, in suo Silentio post Clamores, eius rei meminit, integra Collegia huius professionis inter ipsos fuerint, in quibus naturae mysteria summo studio agitata,

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allusion to Maier made in the Echo Colloquii Rhodo-Staurotici, which as we have mentioned was taken by Waite as evidence for Maiers entrance into the order ere he died. The author of the Echo is one Benedictus Hilarion and the joviality implicit in his surname should immediately arouse our suspicions concerning the authenticity of his claim that the work was issued according to the mandate of the superiors of the Rosicrucian Order, in imitation of certain passages in the Colloquium81. In the opening paragraphs of the 1622 German edition of the work, Benedictus Hilarion addresses the author of the Colloquium as well-known friend Anonymous, and states that the identity of this well-beloved and highly trusted man is in fact known to the Order. He goes on to write:
It is quite accurate that our silence has hitherto made many people crazy, nevertheless only those who cannot wait in patience for the time. However, you should not be counted amongst those people, because you have always been more for than against us, together with some other good-hearted people known to us: as you have shown in many ways with your verbal defence against those who, by their great ignorance, have proved to be full of hatred towards us. Being an educated man, Master Michael Maier also did the same in writing, as he proved in a worthy and reasonable manner in his Silentium Post Clamores , Themis Aurea , Verum Inventum , Symbola Aureae Mensae, etc. Which writings from him shall not have been written in vain 82.

Unfortunately for Waites hypothesis, it must be noted that the 1624 Latin translation from which he quotes elaborates a little on the original German, stating in tandem with the original that Maier shall not have written his deet multis seculis quasi de ore ad ora, posteris suis, quos ex aliis Philosophis elegerunt, ista reliquerint. Curiously, C. V. A. I. B. F. are given as the authors initials in the original German edition, Colloquium Rhodo-Stauroticum, Das ist: Gesprch dreyer Personen/ von der vor wenig Jahren/ durch die Famam et Confessionem etlicher massen geoffenbarten Fraternitet de Rosen Creuzes. 81 As Schick once wrote, Brother Benedictus Hiliarion banters with the author of the Colloquium with impish ease, and takes the public for a ride; Schick, Das ltere Rosenkreuzertum, 189. 82 Benedictus Hilarion, Echo Colloquii Rhodo-staurotici, Das ist: Wider-Schall/ oder Antwort/ auff das newlicher zeit augegangene Gesprch Dreyer Persohnen, 7-9: Nicht ohn ist es zwar/ da unser Silentium oder Stillschweigen bihero/ viel Leuth irre gemacht/ jedoch nur die jenigen/ so der zeit nicht mit Gedult erwartten knnen. Unter welche du fr deine Person gleichwol nicht solst gezehlet seyn: dieweil du sambt noch etlichen uns wolbekandten feinen guthertzigen/ jederzeit mehr pro als contra nos gewesen. Wie du dann dasselbige mit mndlicher Defendirung/ alleweg bey den jenigen/ so uns/ au grober Unwissenheit/ gehssig/ sehr wol erwiesen. Degleichen dann auch Herr Michael Mayer/ als ein Gelehrter Mann/ solches Schrifftlich verrichtet und gethan hat/ wie dasselbige vernnfftig unnd wol auweisen/ sein Silentium Post Clamores, Themis, Verum Inventum, Symbola Aureae Mensae etc. Welche Scripta dann auch von ihme dem Domino Authore nit umbsonst oder vergebens sollen geschrieben seyn.

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fences of the Order in vain, but adding that we will deservedly reward him before his death, as much with great honours as with communications of singular mystery83. Strangely enough, that Latin translation was made by Lucas Jennis himself. In his foreword to the Ulysses Jennis states that he has translated and published the Colloquium and the Echo partly out of love for the departed Maier, partly out of Christian duty, partly out of politics, and all for the service of humanity; and whilst the Echo may be a work of vexation, nevertheless it is one which Maier would also have commended 84 . These words seem to indicate that Maier was more closely bound up with the origins of the Colloquium and the Echo than Jennis reveals: a suspicion which becomes greater when considering Hilarions peculiar description of Maier as a person who has defended in writing that which the author of the Colloquium has defended verbally. Nevertheless, it must be said that whilst the theosophical orientation of the two tracts does not run counter to Maiers ideals, it is out of character with the alchemical emphasis in the rest of his printed Rosicrucian works, and mitigates against the possibility that Maier himself was the author either of the Colloquium or its Echo. Whatever the case may be, it would appear that Jennis was paying his own respects to the memory of Maier when he elaborated upon the German original of the Echo with his statement that Maier would be rewarded by the Fraternity before his death. In his foreword to the Ulysses Jennis appears to refer to his very own fabrication when he asks if the reader would be happy to hear that Maier had been accepted into the Order before his death. He goes on to write that he does not know if this is true, although he knows very well that Maier has been associated with the Order ad extremum . Furthermore, it is wellknown that Maier was a brother of the kingdom of Christ (i.e. a Regni Christi frater , or Brother R. C.)85.
See n. 4 above. Maier, Tractatus Posthumus , 5-6: Itaque partim ex amore, erga proximum meum, Christiano, et simul politico, omnibus pro virili inserviendi desiderio (praesertim cum cognoverim, quod etiam externae nationes de fraterna ista societate jam primum majori Studio inquirere incipiant) intermittere nec potui, nec volui, quin res istas hisce simul conjungerem Colloquium Rhodo-Stauroticum (in quo cunctis de rebus Fraternitatem concernentibus tractatur) et ad illud pertinens Echo. Quae cum nulla alia, quam in vernacula (uti quidem recordor) typis impressa viderim, ea propter illa, in tui benevoli Lectoris gratiam, in Romanam linguam transferri curavi. Quo de meo instituto et jam pro lubitu tuo nunc ipse judicare poteris. Pro mea tamen persona commemorata ista opuscula non adeo inconcinna mihi videntur, praesertim autem Echo. An vero a Fraternitate forsitan suam trahat originem, vel saltim figmentum, et scriptum vexatorium sit, quorum similia multa hactenus sunt edita illud ipsum cuiusvis nunc relinquo judicio. 85 Maier, Tractatus Posthumus, 7-8: Quoniam etiam, peramice Lector, mox ab initio Domini Doctoris Majeri aliquoties mentionem fecimus, forsitan libenter scires, an videlicet ille ipse
83 84

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Although Jennis statement clearly takes the virtual nature of the Brethren beyond the realms of a trifling literary conceit, would Maier have approved of such a denomination given his own alchemical interpretation of the initials R. C.? In answering this question, we may note that Christian piety was a mainstay of Maiers alchemy, and the lapis he laboured to produce was a gift of God to the faithful. Furthermore, in the course of his Symbola Aureae Mensae Maier answers certain critics who doubt that Paracelsus (1493-1541) had read the Book M. which had been sealed in the Rosicrucian tomb in 1484; Maier responds that it matters little whether Paracelsus had read this or that book, as the Book M. is in fact the liber mundi, or the book of things existing in this world and their properties, or indeed the book of natural magic86. The reading of the divine insignia impressed in the book of the world by the Creator was the central concern of Maiers alchemy, and like many alchemists before him he laboured above all to discern in Nature that venerable pattern expressed in the Passion and crucifixion of the Saviour the mystery of death and resurrection. For Maier the Order was no mere ludibrium ; on the contrary, the Brethren (i.e. the pious alchemists of Germany, known and unknown) were linked by incorporeal bonds, and those who were able to see with the little eye of the soul87 had already been accepted into their timeless ranks.
Hereward Tilton (England, 1968) is a lecturer in the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Queensland, and has recently completed his doctoral thesis entitled The Quest for the Phnix: Spiritual Alchemy and Rosicrucianism in the Work of Count Michael Maier (15691622).

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Doctor Majerus, tanquam dictae Fraternitatis Roseae Crucis Defensor, adhuc ante suum ex mortali hacce vita digressum, in ordinem istum receptus fuerit? Ad hoc me illud nescire, respondeo. Hoc tamen minime ignoro, quomodo videlicet ad extremum cum ipso quodammodo comparatum fuerit. Etiamsi autem in Roseae Crucis Fratrum societatem forsitan non receptus sit, ipsum tamen Religionis Christianae, vel Regni Christi Fratrem fuisse, notum est. 86 Symbola Aureae Mensae, 294-295: Per librum M librum mundi seu rerum in mundo existentium, earumque proprietatum, aut Magiae naturalis, intelligo: Talem librum Arabes habuerunt, qui cum descriptus fuerit in Germaniam allatus est: sive igitur hunc ipsum aut ei similem Paracelsus legerit perinde est, nihilominus constat eum in hoc libro versatissimum extitisse... 87 Maier, Hymnosophia, Civ verso: Ales ab ingenio natus viget ille Sophorum,/ Nec magis Aegypti, quam nostris, visitur arvis,/ Si modo circum nos animi spectemus ocellis.

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kerman, Susanna, Rose Cross over the Baltic: The Spread of Rosicrucianism in Northern Europe, Leiden: Brill 1998. Andreae, Johann Valentin, Turris Babel, sive Judiciorum de Fraternitate Rosaceae Crucis CHAOS, Strasbourg: Lazarus Zetzner 1619. Arisleus, Aenigmata ex Visione Arislei Philosophi, in: Artis Auriferae , Vol. 1, Basel: Petrum Pernam 1572, 162. Arnold, Paul, Histoire des Rose-Croix et les Origines de la Franc-Maonnerie , Paris: Mercure de France 1954. Benedictus Hilarion, Echo Colloquii Rhodo-staurotici, Das ist: Wider-Schall/ oder Antwort/ auff das newlicher zeit augegangene Gesprch Dreyer Persohnen, die Fraternitet vom RosenCreutz betreffendt. Darinnen zu sehen, Wohin, nicht allein der Author ermeldtes Gesprches, im Schreiben geziehlet, sondern auch, wie es eigentlich, umb ermeldte Fraternitet beschaffen sey. Auff Befehl seiner Obern verfertigt Durch Benedictum Hilarionem, Fr. Colleg. etc., no place given: no publisher given 1622. , Echo Colloquii Rhodo-Staurotici, hoc est: Resolutio sive Responsio ad nupero tempore editum trium personarum Colloquium Fraternitatem Roseae Crucis concernens, Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis 1624. Biographie Universelle, Vol. 26, Paris: L. G. Michaud 1820. B. M. I. (Raphael Eglin?), Assertio Fraternitatis R. C. Quam Roseae Crucis vocant, a quodam Fraternitatis eius Socio Carmine expressa, Frankfurt am Main: Johann Bringer 1614. Borelli, Petrus, Bibliotheca Chimica , Heidelberg: Samuel Broun 1656. Bricaud, Joanny, Historique du Mouvement Rosicrucien, Le Voile dIsis 91 (1927), 559-574. Craven, J. B., Count Michael Maier, Doctor of Philosophy and of Medicine, Alchemist, Rosicrucian, Mystic: Life and Writings, Kirkwall: William Pearce and Son 1910. C. V. A. I. B. F., Colloquium Rhodo-Stauroticum , Das ist: Gesprch dreyer Personen/ von der vor wenig Jahren/ durch die Famam et Confessionem etlicher massen geoffenbarten Fraternitet de Rosen Creuzes; Darinnen zu sehen/ Was endlich von so vielen unterschiedlichen in ihrem Namen publicirten Schriefften/ und denn auch von der Brderschafft selbsten zu halten sey. Allen trewherzigen/ und aber durch so vielerhand Schreiben irrgemachten Christlichen Lesern zu lieb in druck gegeben , no place given: no publisher given 1621. , Colloquium Rhodo-Stauroticum trium personarum, per Famam et Confessionem quodammodo revelatum, de Fraternitate Roseae Crucis, Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis 1624. Ecker und Eckhoffen, Hans Heinrich von (Magister Pianco), Der Rosenkreuzer in seiner Blsse, Amsterdam: no publisher given 1782. Edighoffer, Roland, Die Rosenkreuzer, Mnchen: C. H. Beck 1995. , Les Rose-Croix et la Crise de la Conscience Europenne au XVIIe sicle , Paris: Dervy 1998. , Rose-Croix et Socit Ideale selon Johann Valentin Andreae, 2 Vols., Paris: Arma Artis 1982. Figala, Karin and Neumann, Ulrich, Michael Maier (1569-1622): New Bio-Bibliographical Material, in: Martels, Z. R. W. M. von (ed.), Alchemy Revisited: Proceedings of the International Conference on the History of Alchemy at the University of Groningen, 17-19 April 1989 , Leiden: E. J. Brill 1990, 34-50. Fludd, Robert, Apologia Compendiaria, Fraternitatem de Rosea Cruce suspicionis et infamiae maculis asspersam [sic], veritatis quasi Fluctibus abluens et abstergens, Leiden: Gottfried Basson 1616. , Tractatus Apologeticus Integritatem Societatis de Rosea Cruce defendens. In qua probatur contra D. Libavii et aliorum eiusdem farinae calumnias, quod admirabilia nobis a Fraternitate R. C. oblata, sine improba Magiae impostura, aut Diaboli praestigiis et illusionibus praestari possint, Leiden: Gottfried Basson 1617.

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Gilly, Carlos, Cimelia Rhodostaurotica: Die Rosenkreuzer im Spiegel der zwischen 1610 und 1660 entstandenen Handschriften und Drucke, Amsterdam: In de Pelikaan 1995. Grasshoff, Johannes, Ein gldener Tractat vom Philosophischen Steine, in: Dyas Chymica Tripartita, das ist: Sechs Herzliche Teutsche Philosophische Tracttlein , Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis 1625, 55-66. Jong, H. M. E. de, Michael Maiers Atalanta Fugiens: Sources of an Alchemical Book of Emblems, Leiden: E.J. Brill 1969. Kooij, Pleun van der and Gilly, Carlos (eds.), Fama Fraternitatis: Das Urmanifest der Rosenkreuzer Bruderschaft, Haarlem: Rozekruis Pers 1998. Macguire, W. et. al. (eds.), Alchemy and the Occult: A Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts from the Collection of Paul and Mary Mellon given to Yale University Library, Vol. 2, New Haven: Yale University Press 1968. Maier, Michael, Atalanta Fugiens, hoc est, Emblemata nova de secretis naturae chymica , Oppenheim: Johann Theodor de Bry 1617. , De Medicina Regia et vere heroica, Coelidonia, Copenhagen, Royal Library, 12,-159, 4, Prague: no publisher given 1609. , De Theosophia Aegyptiorum, Leipzig, Universittsbibliothek MS 0396. , Examen Fucorum Pseudo-chymicorum detectorum et in gratiam veritatis amantium succincte refutatorum, Frankfurt am Main: Johann Theodor de Bry 1617. , Hymnosophia, seu Meditatio Laudis Divinae, pro Coelidonia, Medicina mystica, voarchadumica etc., Prague: no publisher given, no date given. , Jocus Severus, hoc est, tribunal aequum, quo noctua regina avium, Phoenice arbitro, post varias disceptationes et querelas volucrum eam infestantium pronunciatur , Frankfurt am Main: Johann Theodor de Bry 1617. , Silentium post clamores, hoc est, tractatus apologeticus, quo causae non solum clamorum seu revelationum Fraternitatis Germanicae de R.C. sed et silentii, seu non redditae ad singulorum vota responsionis, una cum malevolorum refutatione, traduntur et demonstrantur, Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis 1617. , Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum. Hoc est Hermaea seu Mercurii Festa ab Heroibus duodenis selectis, artis chymicae usu, sapientia et authoritate paribus celebrata, ad Pyrgopolynicem seu Adversarium illum tot annis iactabundum, virgini Chemiae Iniuriam argumentis tam vitiosis, quam conuitiis argutis inferentem, confundendum et exarmandum, Artifices vero optime de ea meritos suo honori et famae restituendum, Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis 1617. , Themis aurea, hoc est, de legibus Fraternitatis R. C. tractatus, quo earum cum rei veritate convenientia, utilitas publica et privata, nec non causa necessaria, evolvuntur et demonstrantur, Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis 1618. , Tractatus Posthumus, sive Ulysses, hoc est, Sapientia seu intelligentia, tanquam coelestis scintilla beatitudinis, quod si in fortunae et corporis bonis naufragium faciat, ad portum meditationis et patientiae remigio feliciter se expediat. Una cum annexis tractatibus de fraternitate Roseae Crucis, Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis 1624. , Verum Inventum, Hoc est, Munera Germaniae, Ab ipsa primitus reperta (non ex vino, ut calumniator quidam scoptice inuehit, sed vi animi et corporis) et reliquo ORBI communicata, quae tanta sunt, ut plaeraque eorum mutationem Mundo singularem attulerint, universa longe utilissima extiterint, Tractatu peculiari evoluta et tradita , Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis 1619. McIntosh, Christopher, The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason: Eighteenth-Century Rosicrucianism in Central Europe and its Relation to the Enlightenment , Leiden: E. J. Brill 1992. , The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology and Rituals of an Occult Order, Wellingborough: Crucible 1987.

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Molther, Georg, De quodam peregrino, qui anno superiore MDCXV imperialem Wetzflariam transiens, non modo se fratrem R. C. confessus fuit verum etiam multiplici rerum scientia, verbis et factis admirabilem se praestitit, Frankfurt am Main: Johann Bringer 1616. , Von einer frembden Mannsperson/ Welche inn jngst verflossenem M. DC. XV. Jahr durch de H. Reichs Statt Wetzslar gereit/ und sich nicht allein fr ein Bruder de Ordens de Rosen Creuzes augegeben/ sondern auch durch vielfltige Geschickligkeit/ unnd allerhand Sachen Wissenschafft/ mit Worten unnd Wercken sich also erzeigt hat/ da man sich ab ihme verwundern mssen/ Grndtliche Relation, in: Fama Fraternitatis, oder Entdeckung der Bruderschafft de lblichen Ordens de Rosen Creutzes... Sampt dem Sendtschreiben Iuliani de Campis, und Georgii Moltheri Med. D. und Ordinarii zu Wetzlar Relation/ von einer di Ordens gewissen Person, Frankfurt am Main: Johann Bringer 1617. Montgomery, John Warwick, Crisis in Lutheran Theology, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House 1973. , Cross and Crucible: Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654), Phoenix of the Theologians, Vol. 1, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff 1973. , The World-view of Johann Valentin Andreae, in: Gilly, Carlos (ed.), Das Erbe des Christian Rosenkreutz, Amsterdam: In de Pelikaan 1988, 152-169. Morhof, Daniel Georg, Polyhistor Literarius Philosophicus et Practicus , Lbeck: Peter Bchmann 1714. Murr, Christoph Gottlieb von, ber den Wahren Ursprung der Rosenkreuzer und des Freymaurerordens, Sulzbach: Johann Esaias Seidel 1803. Mynsicht, Adrian von (Hinricus Madathanus), Aureum Seculum Redivivum, in: Dyas Chymica Tripartita, das ist: Sechs Herzliche Teutsche Philosophische Tracttlein , Frankfurt am Main: Lucas Jennis 1625, 67-87. Naudon, Paul, Les Origines de la Franc-Maonnerie: Le mtier et le sacr, no place given: Dervy 1991. Peuckert, Will-Erich, Die Rosenkreuzer: zur Geschichte einer Reformation , Jena: Eugen Diedrichs 1928. , Pansophie: ein Versuch zur Geschichte der weissen und schwarzen Magie , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1936. pseudo-Albertus Magnus: Scriptum Alberti super Arborem Aristotelis, in: Theatrum Chemicum , Vol. 2, Straburg: Zetzner 1659, 458. pseudo-Merlin, Merlini Allegoria profundissimum Philosophici Lapidis arcanum perfecte continens, in: Artis Auriferae , Vol. 1, Basel: Conrad Waldkirch 1610, 252-254. , The Allegory of Merlin, British Library MS Sloane 3506, 74-75. Rotbard, Christoffer (Radtichs Brotofferr), Elucidarius Major, Oder Erleuchterunge uber die Reformation der ganzen weiten Welt/ F. C. R. au ihrer Chymischen Hochzeit- und sonst mit viel andern testimoniis Philosophorum/ sonderlich in appendice/ dermassen verbessert/ da beydes materia et praeparatio lapidis aurei/ deutlich genug darinn angezeigt werden, Lneburg: bey den Sternen Buchf. 1617. Schick, Hans, Das ltere Rosenkreuzertum: Ein Beitrag zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Freimaurerei, Berlin: Nordland Verlag 1942. Waite, Arthur Edward, Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, London: Rider and Sons 1924. , The Real History of the Rosicrucians, founded on their own manifestos, and on facts and documents collected from the writings of initiated brethren, New York: J. W. Bouton 1888. Yarker, John, The Arcane Schools; a Review of their Origin and Antiquity; with a General History of Freemasonry, and its Relation to the Theosophic, Scientific, and Philosophic Mysteries, Belfast: William Tait 1909.

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Regni Christi Frater: Graf Michael Maier und die Bruderschaft der Rosenkreuzer Im Gegensatz zu solchen Interpretationen, die die Grndung der Bruderschaft R.C. als organisierter Geheimgesellschaft im 16. Jahrhundert mit dem Leipziger Manuskript Michael Maiers, angeblich einer rosenkreuzerischen Schrift, meinen belegen zu knnen, bildeten die im frhen siebzehnten Jahrhundert im Umkreis von Johann Valentin Andreae entstandenen rosenkreuzerischen Manifeste vielmehr die wirkungsvolle, dabei jedoch ganz und gar virtuelle Plattform fr die Verbreitung einer protestantischen hermetischen Philosophie. Wenn Michael Maier sowohl die Programmatik dieser Manifeste als auch die historische Existenz des Rosenkreuzerordens und seines Grnders ausdrcklich verteidigt hat, mu er dann konsequenterweise als betrgerischer Verfasser von Flschungen betrachtet werden, als den sptere Autoren ihn gebrandmarkt haben? Eine Untersuchung zu der Art und Weise, wie er in seinen rosenkreuzerischen Schriften enigmatische Darstellungsmodi, Allegorien und Mythen einsetzt, fhrt zu einem anderen Bild. Nicht nur war es Maiers Hauptanliegen, die Sache der Rosenkreuzer fr sich zu nutzen, indem er unter dem Deckmantel des Ordens wirkte und das Programm des Ordens in die Begrifflichkeit der Alchemie, die sein bevorzugtes Ttigkeitsfeld bildete, bertrug, sondern das Zeugnis des Herausgebers seiner Schriften, Lucas Jennis, legt zudem nahe, da im Kreis um Maier ein spirituelles Verstndnis des Ordens, gerade aufgrund seiner virtuellen Existenzform, berwogen hat. Gem dieses Verstndnisses sind die Geheimnisse des Rosenkreuzerordens fr diejenigen, die Augen haben zum Sehen, vllig offenbar; und fromme Erforscher der Geheimnisse der Natur wie Michael Maier sind schon in die zeitlosen Rnge des Ordens aufgenommen worden. So entdeckte Maier in den Initialen der Bruderschaft ein Zeichen fr die alchemischen Gesetze der Natur als ganzer; das Entziffern dieser gttlichen insignia, die der Schpfer in den liber mundi eingravierte, war das Hauptanliegen von Maiers Alchemie, und er widmete sich vor allem anderen der Aufgabe, in der Natur selbst das ehrwrdige Muster wiederzuerkennen, das im Leidensweg und in der Kreuzigung des Heilands dargestellt ist das Mysterium von Tod und Auferstehung.

THE ROTTERDAM SYMPATHY CASE (1696-1697) A WINDOW ON THE LATE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PHILOSOPHICALDISCOURSE* JULIETTE VAN DEN E LSEN
Alcippe te surprend, sa gurison ttonne ! Ltat o je le mis tait fort prilleux, Mais il est prsent des secrets merveilleux. Ne ta-t-on point parl dune source de vie Que nomment nos guerriers poudre de sympathie? On en voit tous les jours des effets tonnants.1

Introduction The late seventeenth century witnessed a paradoxical coexistence of science and magic, particularly in medicine. A striking example of this concerned the curing of wounds at a distance, otherwise known as the sympathetic cure. Since the sixteenth century, natural philosophers and physicians had increasingly drawn attention to this method of wound treatment, which originated from an age-old folk belief2. In the 1570s, a pseudo-Paracelsian book had appeared under the title Archidoxis magicae. Its author had composed a recipe for the anointment of weapons, by which any cut could be cured at a distance. This medication was not to be applied to the patients wound, but rather to the weapon that had caused the injury. During the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the number of publications on this weapon-salve rapidly increased. At a time when the interaction of substances was frequently explained in terms of sympathetic relations, there was nothing awkward about accepting a sympathetic connection between the blood on a weapon and the body from which the blood originated. The renowned physician and alchemist Johan Baptista van Helmont (15771644) wrote an enthusiastic study on this treatment, in which he related it to magnetism, a subject of great scientific interest at the time3. Although the idea
* Research for this publication was financially supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research. 1 Corneille, Le Menteur, acte IV, scene 3. 2 The idea of sympathetic healing can be found in several cultures and periods in the history of humanity. See for example Frazer, The Golden Bough . 3 Van Helmont, De magnetica vulnerum curatione. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 1

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of sympathetic powers was widely accepted, however, it was certainly not undisputed. The growing recognition of the sympathetic cure was faced with keen criticism4. In various publications, Rudolphus Goclenius (1572-1628) and Jean Roberti (1569-1651) untiringly crossed swords over the issue (16081625). Goclenius was firmly committed to natural magic, which he conceived of as a kind of natural philosophy, while Roberti considered all forms of magic to be the devils work5. Van Helmont came into serious problems with the Spanish Inquisition after having published his treatise on the weapon-salve 6. In England, the sympathetic wound treatment was introduced by Robert Fludd (1574-1637). Van Helmont and Fludd both cherished a NeoplatonicParacelsian view of the universe. They saw the cosmos as a vital unity in which all things corresponded with one another by sympathy and antipathy. Magnetic remedies were an obvious implication of the existence of hidden natural powers operating in such a vitalistic universe7. Since such sympathetic phenomena allowed scientists to discover the universal forces of nature, scrutiny of various properties of motion at a distance was considered of great importance to an adequate understanding of the universe. Knowledge of this powerful sympathetic chain, by which the whole universe was bound together, would prove the key to unlock all the secrets of nature. Although Fludd had introduced the sympathetic cure in England, it was his fellow countryman Kenelm Digby (1603-1665) who had popularized the use of the so-called sympathy powder. As a result of this, sympathetic treatments became very fashionable in England during the mid-seventeenth century8. In his defense of this new medicine, Digby referred to the existence of minute particles of matter in the atmosphere, which he usually called atoms, but at times also called spirits or subtle essences. The action of these particles, he believed, was caused by an inner and outer fire. External fire (sunlight) attracted air from the pores of physical objects, as well as the airborne parti-

Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science , VII, 503-505. Pagel, Joan Baptista Van Helmont. Reformer of Science and Medicine , 8-9. 6 His defence of the weapon-ointment was convicted as heresy, which even landed him in prison in 1634. 7 Debus, Robert Fludd and the Use of Gilberts De Magnete in the Weapon-Salve Controversy, 389-417. 8 Digby had expounded his theory on the operation of the sympathetic powder in various books. His Two Treatises appeared in Paris in 1644. A Lecture he had given in 1657 in Montpellier was released in London in 1657 under the title of Of the Sympathetick powder. A discourse in a solemn assembly at montpellier . The original Latin version of his Theatrum Sympatheticum had appeared in Nrnberg in 1660. I have used a Dutch translation, published in Amsterdam in 1681 under the title of Theatrum Sympatheticum ofte Wonder-Toneel des Natuurs Verborgentheden.
4 5

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cles. Internal fire, in contrast, expelled atoms and air from the pores of the socalled hot substance (for instance, the blood left on a weapon or on a piece of bandage). Immediately, the empty spaces were filled with new atoms and air, which in turn were attracted by the light or expelled by the inner fire, so that other particles would occupy the place of the former ones. In this way, Digby thought that there would be a permanent stream of atoms in and out of the pores. If the attracted air contained particles of a similar substance to that of the body to which they were moved, the attraction would be even stronger. According to Digby, it was exactly this relation that allowed the therapy to work at a distance. The sympathy powder, which was made of vitriol, accomplished the cure; powder of vitriol was often applied to wounds so as to stop the bleeding. The particles of vitriol were mixed with the blood-particles, which, having a natural inclination to their source, brought about the transfer of the medicine to the wound9. Thus, according to Digby, the sympathetic action occurred as follows: the external fire and the wounds hot and fiery spirits allowed the air to flow continuously to and from the pores of the body; along with the air the diffused particles of blood and vitriol would in the end reach the original place of the blood, namely the wound that had to be cured10. Blood was not the only substance that could effect a sympathetic healing. Urine, for instance, to which the sympathy powder had been added, could do so as well. Henricus Georgius Reddewitz: fraud or genius? With the entry of new rationalist and empiricist views into the natural sciences at the end of the seventeenth century, treatises based on the principles of sympathetic magic had lost much of their credibility among physicians and natural philosophers. The repute Digby had enjoyed among his contemporaries had faded; the problem of sympathy scarcely attracted attention anymore. Nevertheless, in 1697 the issue reentered the Republic of Letters, due to the operations of a certain Henricus Georgius Reddewitz de Rodachbrun11, a miracle doctor residing in Rotterdam. He had apparently cured people at a distance,

King, The Road to Medical Enlightenment , 100-145; Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans, May 1697, 410-411. 10 Digby, Theatrum Sympatheticum , 90-98; Digby, Two Treatises, 76-79, 164-5. 11 Though in the journal De Boekzaal van Europe he is named George Henrik van Rettwich, I will in this article name him Reddewitz, the name under which he obtained his doctorate in September 1697 with a dissertation entitled De Vero Catharticorum Usu. See Schutte, Het Album Promotorum van de Academie te Harderwijk, 88 .
9

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by a sympathetic secret...; without cutting or medicine..., and by [doing] nothing but working daily, in the absence of the patient, on his piss12.

Not only did the German doctor pretend to heal wounds by stirring a certain powder into the patients urine, but he also claimed to cure other ailments, such as kidney stones, gout and falling sickness. Pieter Rabus (1660-1702), the editor of the Rotterdam periodical De Boekzaal van Europe (The Library of Europe), was the first to have dedicated an article to this curious case, after it had been brought to his attention by his publisher Pieter vander Slaart13. Reddewitzs sympathetic treatment had successfully healed an abscess on his thigh, which had been thought irremediable without surgery. Rabus printed the publishers testimony in the January/February 1697 issue of the Boekzaal, under the headline of Overzeldzame genezingen (Highly exceptional cures). In the same article, Rabus had included another notarial testimony, which had been drawn up by Jacobus du Pr and Floris Joosten, two Rotterdam citizens who had been cured by the same doctor14. Although such medical treatment was not universally applauded, the German doctor had created enough commotion so as to provoke the publication of various tracts and pamphlets, some of which were printed or reviewed in the periodicals for savants15 . In the same issue of the Boekzaal as that containing the testimonies mentioned above, a letter written by the Rotterdam city doctor Herman Lufneu (1657-1744)16 was printed, which was addressed to the French Huguenot Pierre Bayle (1647-1706)17. In this letter, entitled Over de
12 Boekzaal van Europe, January/February 1697, 69: door een Sympathetisch geheim [...], niet alleen zonder snijden, of eenig manuaal [...] werkstellig te maken, maar zelf zonder hem eenig medicament in te geven, en door niets anders, dan door dagelijks, in absentie van den Lijder, op zijn pis te werken. 13 Abels and Wouters, Pieter vander Slaart, boekdrukker en boekverkoper in Cicero, 327363. 14 Boekzaal van Europe, January/February 1697, 67-76. 15 Information about this case can also be found in Thijssen-Schoute, Hermanus Lufneu, Stadsarts te Rotterdam, 180-227; Thijssen-Schoute, Uit de Republiek der Letteren , 141-172; Van der Saag, Pieter Rabus en Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in de Boekzaal van Europe, 362-366; De Vet, Pieter Rabus , 194-199. In these works mainly the scientific status of the sympathetic cure had been discussed. The philosophical dimension of the sympathy-discussion has been analysed only partially. See also note 20 of this article. 16 Thijssen-S schoute, Hermanus Lufneu, 180-227; Thijssen-Schoute, Uit de Republiek der Letteren, 141-172. 17 Lufneu frequently exchanged thoughts with Bayle, whom he had met in the Rotterdam circle of refugis, about contemporary philosophical issues. Two of Lufneus physical treatises had appeared in Bayles Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres: in the issue of April 1685 Bayle had printed the Mmoire communiqu par M. Lufneu, Medecin de Rotterdam, sur une exprience curieuse dHydrostatique and in the number of February 1686 he had published the Mmoire communiqu par M. Lufneu Mdecin de Rotterdam, touchant une fermentation singuliere, dont il a fait lexperience, & dont il explique la cause, concerning a fermentation, caused by the mixing of antimony, silver and mercury.

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onmogelijkheid der zoo genaamde sympathetische werkinge (On the impossibility of the so-called sympathetic action)18 , the author claimed that the abscess on Rabus publishers thigh had most probably disappeared simply by itself. Vander Slaarts recovery, he said, had nothing to do with the alleged virtue of the so-called sympathy powder. In order to show the impossibility of this medical treatment at a distance, Lufneu quoted three fundamental principles of the Cartesian doctrine of motion:
I. That a Body, being at rest, will never move naturally, unless another body, ..., sets it in motion. II. That a Body, being in motion, can not increase its speed, unless another body lends more degrees of motion to it. III. That a Body, being in motion, ..., will not change its course, unless it meets an object that can make it turn19.

Even if the particles of this secret substance in the urine were transferable for after all, they could not move of their own accord they would be obliged to move in a straight line towards the patient. Lufneu, for his part, considered this impossible due to the resistance such particles would encounter. And even if they were to force their way through walls and other obstacles, why should they then stop at the foot of the patient? Van Helmont had tried to solve this by ascribing a certain intelligence to the particles found in the sympathetic material, but this was brushed aside as twaddle. According to Lufneus Cartesian principles, physical bodies simply did not possess mental faculties or a soul, the human body being the only exception to this rule. The Rotterdam physician Jan Schilperoort rejected Lufneus thesis that Reddewitz so-called miraculous art was nothing but quackery and fraud 20. According to Schilperoort, the claim that Vander Slaarts abscess had vanished spontaneously, was wrong21. Pieter Muis, Vander Slaarts surgeon, had said himself that such was impossible. Schilperoort found Lufneus further remark, that suggestion or autosuggestion could have also healed the wound, utterly
18 Boekzaal van Europe , January/February 1697, 123-140. This letter had been written in French, but Rabus had translated it into Dutch. 19 Boekzaal van Europe, January/February 1697, 124: I. Dat een lichaam, in rust zijnde, zig nooit natuerlijker wijze zal bewegen, ten zy een ander lichaam, [...] het zelve in beweging brengt. II. Dat een lichaam in beweging zijnde zijn vaart niet kan vermeerderen, ten zy een ander het zelve meer [...] beweging byzette. III. Dat een lichaam, in beweging zijnde, [...] zijn koers niet zal veranderen, ten zy het ontmoete een voorwerp, dat het kan doen wederkeeren. Cf. Descartes, Principia Philosophiae , II, art. 37-42. 20 The several studies on the Rotterdam sympathy case I have mentioned in note 15 are mainly focussed on Lufneus contribution to the discussion. Schilperoorts ideas have been almost entirely neglected. 21 Schilperoort, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge, 28-29.

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ridiculous. For if such severe wounds could indeed be healed by the imagination, why did not all doctors just employ this easy method? Why then did they torture their patients by unnecessarily subscribing excruciatingly painful cures? Moreover, Schilperoort stated, Lufneu contradicted himself by proposing suggestion as the probable cause of recovery. After all, his three Cartesian principles of motion precluded such a solution. Schilperoort found that Lufneus philosophical reasoning was insufficient to counterbalance the empirical evidence confirming the sympathetic treatments validity. Although the cause of the sympathetic healing was still unknown, the effect of the treatment could not be denied. Schilperoort considered this attitude as being a sign of laziness pertaining to such folk as Mr. Lufneu, who, because they fail to understand something, directly proclaim in public writings that the thing is false 22. Ever since antiquity, Schilperoort said, prominent scholars and natural philosophers have confirmed the truth of sympathetic action. He mentioned a long series of names, including Hermes Trismegistus, Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Arnald of Villanova (1240-1311), Theophrastus Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Cornelis Drebbel (1572-1633).
But as they are full of analogies, disguised and mysterious words, riddles and garnished ways of speaking, which nobody can understand without contemplating and knowing the law of nature, many [of their readers] find themselves embarrassed with them, as much as with the sympathetic force, which they therefore declare false, like Mr. Lufneu does23.

According to Schilperoort, Lufneus arguments against the possibility of a sympathetic action were false. However, Schilperoort did agree with Lufneus rejection of Digbys corpuscular explanation of the sympathetic force, for he himself also considered the theory of a subtle matter as being subject to objection. In his view, matter could not possibly work at a distance. The wind would scatter the particles emitted from the body in all directions. The weather conditions would influence the course of the atoms, as a result of which the number of particles arriving at the right place would be so small as to minimalize their effect. Therefore, Schilperoort identified the mistake in Lufneus argument not
Schilperoort, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge, 6. Schilperoort, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge, 8 . As much as possible, I have tried to leave Schilperoorts awkward syntax and idiom untouched. The original passage runs as follows: Maar dewijl die vol van gelijkenissen, verbloemde en duistere woorden, raadzels, en verzierde spreekwijzen zijn, dewelke men zonder een gansch afgezonderde bespiegelinge en kennisse van de wet der natuere niet kan verstaan, zoo is het, dat vele van derzelver lezers en onderzoekers zig daar mede ruim zoo veel als met de sympathetische werkinge verlegen vinden, en derhalve [...] met de Heer Lufneu deze genezinge voor valsch uitroepen.
22 23

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so much in his refutation of Digbys corpuscular ideas, but rather in his purely materialist approach to nature. According to Schilperoort, sympathy was not a material or physical action, but rather a force comparable to thought-activity. Like thought, sympathy could reach any distant thing. Physical phenomena, such as weather conditions or solid objects, could therefore not disrupt a sympathetic or mental link 24. In order to demonstrate that sympathetic motion was based on spiritual causes, Schilperoort made use of the same Cartesian principles of motion to which Lufneu had appealed in order to reject the sympathetic cure. According to Schilperoort, the only thing that followed from the first axiom which stated that matter is not able to move of its own accord was that matter could not be the cause of motion. This meant that sympathetic motion could not have a material cause. However, it would be too rash a conclusion to infer from this that sympathy was impossible. One could only deduce from it that the three material principles of motion put forward by Lufneu were not actually laws of nature, on which causal explanations of motion could be based, but rather that these three principles of motion were more likely to be consequences of more fundamental laws of nature. Schilperoort commented:
For the bodies and their motions do not constitute laws of nature; something precedes the body that is moved, namely the cause of the being moved; and since all bodies are resolved into that from which they have come, it follows that that from which they have come cannot be a body, because the cause is different from what is generated, and therefore the laws of nature that concern generation are not physical, and neither is the sympathetic cure, because the patient has not recovered yet, he still has to be cured 25.

Vander Slaart published Schilperoorts defense of the German miracle doctor under the title of De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge, voorgesteld in een brief aan den Heere... (On the age-old possibility of sympathetic action, presented in a letter to Mr), in May 1697. Soon after,

Schilperoort, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge, 10-14. Schilperoort, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge, 9: Want de lichamen en derzelver bewegingen maken geen wetten van de natuur; daar gaat iets voor het lichaam dat bewogen word, namentlijk de oorzaak van het bewegen tot worden: ende alzoo alle lichamen ontbonden worden in dat gene waar van ze gekomen zijn, zoo volgt het, dat het gene waar van ze gekomen zijn geen lichaam kan wezen, om dat de oorzaak van het gewrochte verschillende is, en by gevolge zijn de wetten van de natuer omtrent de voortbrenginge niet lichamelijk, gelijk de sympathetische genezinge ook niet en is, want de zieke is nog niet genezen, hy moet nog genezen worden. The reasoning here is this: Cause (laws of nature, among which the principle of sympathy) and effect (recovering body; moving matter) are of a different order. The effect (the recovery of the patients body) is physical, therefore the cause (the sympathetic cure), being from a different order, cannot be physical.
24 25

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in June 1693, Barent Bos26, who was Vander Slaarts sworn enemy, published a Dutch translation of Lufneus Letter to Pierre Bayle, under the title of Natuurkundig vertoog over de onmogelijkheid der zoo genaamde sympathetische werking, Briefs-wijze geschreven ... Zijn gewaande wederlegger J.S. word onder anderen beantwoort (Physical Discourse concerning the impossibility of so-called sympathetic action, written in the form of a letter Among others, his pretended refutor J.S. is being answered). Both writings were reviewed in the Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans27 . Despite all his efforts, Schilperoort was not able to convince the Rotterdam city doctor that he was wrong. Lufneu stuck to his claim that the idea of a sympathetic cure was a chimera. Both he and Henri Basnage de Beauval (1656-1710) who reviewed the tract, contended that Schilperoort had not actually put forward any valid argument so as to justifiably refute the applicability of the Cartesian laws of motion to sympathetic action and therefore had failed to disprove his opponent. Not in the least impressed by Schilperoorts arguments, Lufneu repeated that the three laws of nature had sufficiently proved the impossibility of sympathetic motion. To Lufneu, who only acknowledged physical causes of motion, Schilperoorts supposedly immaterial or spiritual cause was no more than gibberish, an ice-cold babble, a lousy and twisted reasoning 28, a pretext to evade a difficult question.
Must he not have been bitten in the head by a worm, to try to justify the possibility of the Sympathetic power by claiming that it exists spiritually, while using my principles, which are physical? He must be a dunce, such as is the Sympathetic Doctor, to reason in such a way, and moreover, he must have few brains, to imagine this is a fair way of jesting 29.

Lufneu did not rest before he had refuted all of Schilperoorts arguments. He particularly tackled the passage in which Schilperoort employed the phenomenon of magnetism in order to demonstrate that sympathetic motion was spiritual. According to Schilperoorts explanation, the tendency of the compass

Bastiaanse and Bots, De Boekhandel van Barent Bos, 215-259. Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans, May 1697, 408-417. In the Boekzaal van Europe only the title of Schilperoorts book was mentioned, in the issue of March/April 1697, at page 378. 28 The seventeenth-century Dutch expressions pannevis-taal, ys-koud babbelguichje, and wanbakke sluit-reden are untranslatable, as is most of Schilperoorts and Lufneus idiom. 29 Lufneu, Natuurkundig vertoog over de onmogelijkheid der zoo genaamde sympathetische werking, 57-58: Moet hem de bolworm niet steken, die uit mijne beginsselen, welke lichamelijk zijn, wil toonen, dat de kragt der Sympathie niet onmogelijk is; gesteld zijnde dat zer geestelijker wyze is? Hy moet zoo onbezonnen, als die Sympathetischen Doctor wezen, om in dier voegen te redeneren, en hy moet ook zoo luttel vernuft hebben als hy heeft, om zig in te beelden, dat hy een eerlijke manier van schertsen verstaat.
26 27

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needle to point north was caused by a sympathetic relation between the loadstone and the northern territories, where, the doctor thought, loadstones were extracted. Schilperoort assumed that because the particles of extracted loadstone remained inextricably linked to their source, any given piece of loadstone would therefore exhibit the same characteristics and faculties as the monolith from which it had originated. Thus, according to Schilperoort, the spiritual power of the northern magnet rock passed from the particles of the magnet into the compass needle, which turned northwards as a result. Therefore, physical principles were unable to explain this motion at a distance: for the sympathetic power of the compass did not reside in the physical action of the loadstone as such, but in the spirit of the northern mother magnet. A spiritually inward force generated the physically outward motion.
And as we know, that the inner operator of the seeds is something completely different from the externally generated seed, we will find that all that has form has an external sphaera activitatis which is defined, as well as an inner one which is undefined, and which is something generated but cannot be involved in the orbit as an operator, and which is furthermore, as far as it is known from the outside, the major [object of] contemplation of many contemporary philosophers: this being found externally in the defined and generated, but internally in the undefined cause. ... And since here iron is the proper matter, which chains the present and absent loadstones, or rather, [since iron is the proper matter] on which the present, physically stirred loadstone, which is created after the spiritual loadstone in the North, acts as a cause, why could not another matter, for instance something which is put on the water of a patient, likewise link the present to the absent ? ...[The question is], where and how the particles are to be placed. They are assumed to move from things with pores, touching and moving other things with other pores, as if it would be feasible to base everything on the tight pattern of the body, meaning that particles from the North would be carried to the stirred compass rose, over a distance of more than a thousand miles, which, as far as the sympathetic cure is concerned, Mr. Lufneu has rightly found impossible. ... But it is noticed that both the north and south poles ... project their communicable power (speaking with Van Helmont: their mind) to the stirred compass rose30.

30 Schilperoort, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge, 25-28: En gelijk men weet, dat den inwendigen werker der zaden geheel wat anders is als het uiterlijk gewrogte zaad, zoo zal men bevinden, dat alles wat vorm heeft, uiterlijk wel een bepaalde, maar innerlijk een onbepaalde sphaera activitatis heeft, die men wel als gewrogt, maar niet als werker in de draaikring betrekken kan, en vervolgens voor zoo veel uiterlijk bekend, de bespiegelinge veler jegenwoordige Wijsgeren is, die men uiterlijk in het bepaalde gewrogte, innerlijk in de onbepaalde oorzake (juist zoo veel als lichaam en geest verscheelt) bevind te zijn. En dewijl het ijzer hier de vereischte stoffe is, waar aan de tegenwoordige en afwezende zeilsteen geketend werkt, of liever waar aan de tegenwoordige lichamelijke aanbestreken zeilsteen, als gewrocht aan de geestelijke zeilsteen, in het Noorden als oorzaak werkt, waarom zoude een andere stoffe

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Schilperoort argued that neither the inclination of the iron to the magnet nor the sympathetic cure could be based on Lufneus three physical principles. Both cases involved motion at a distance, which could not, as Schilperoort had already stated, be adequately explained by corpuscular theories. Therefore, healing at a distance had to be based on something else, namely the spirit or soul, the principle which Van Helmont had called the mind. Schilperoort held that this spiritual principle of life, as it united all physical parts of any given body, also united those parts which had become detached, such as a persons blood for instance, or a piece of loadstone, extracted from its source. Several traces of Johan Baptista van Helmonts philosophy can be observed in Schilperoorts explanation of magnetism, especially in the passage above, in which the inner operator of the seeds is said to be very different from the outer generated seed31. Following Paracelsus, Van Helmont had reduced all motion in nature to the action of invisible seeds or semina. By semina, Van Helmont understood the active principles of nature, which were inspired by a seminal spirit, otherwise known as archeus. The archeus was the vital principle of the seed 32. Although the Helmontian archeus was the operating cause that defined all motions of a body, it was in itself undefined. In this respect, the archeus resembled the human mind, which defines thought but is nevertheless undefined in itself. Although an undefined active faculty, the archeus retained the ideas of the things that were to be generated by the semina, such as motions and qualities 33. The passage above also employs a peculiar version of the Aristotelian concept of form. Unlike Aristotles form, it was a result or final reality, instead

by voorbeeld op t water van een zieke geplaatst ook niet de tegenwoordige aan de afwezende konnen schakelen. [...] Waar en hoe men nu de deeltjes zal thuis brengen, die men wil, dat van t eene moeten afgaan, om het andere rakende te bewegen, hebbende het eene dusdanige, het ander weder andere poren, om ware het doenlijk, alles op de gespanne leest van t lichaam te schoeyen, en by gevolg, dat er deeltjes van t Noorden duizend mijlen of meer aan de bestreke kompas roos zouden gebragt worden, is, voor zoo veel de sympathetische genezinge belangt; van de Heer Lufneu zeer wel begrepen onmogelijk te zijn; gelijk het van de zeilsteen en de kompas roos, van de moeder en t voorwerp op deszelfs vrugt, van de gedagten en de bedagte zake, van t ligt en het beeld in de spiegel ook onmogelijk is: dog men bevind egter dat deze zoo wel als de Noord- en Zuidpolen of aspunten, haar verstaanbare magt (om met van Helmont te spreken haar verstand) aan de bestreken kompasroos enz. verstaanbaar doen zijn en mede deelen. 31 Schilperoort, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge , 25. 32 Strunz, Johann Baptist van Helmont, 12-17; Heinecke, Wissenschaft und Mystik bei J.B. van Helmont, 79-81. 33 Pagel, Joan Baptista van Helmont, 97.

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of being a defining principle of things 34. This form referred to the figure, shape, features, properties, qualities, motions and actions of a thing, and did not concern the causes of these properties. In Van Helmonts view, the form was the effect that the semina had generated by virtue of their inner designer, which was the archeus 35. Schilperoort explained the action of sympathy along the lines of this philosophy. The recovery of a patients body, conceived of as a physical action of particles, constituted the form. Sympathetic action did not participate in this physical action of healing, but rather in its spiritually inner cause. Thus, the heart of Schilperoorts explanation concerns the complex distinction between the archeus, the sympathetic action and the moving particles in the physical orbit. Sympathy was defined as the action of the seeds inner operator or archeus, operating in the inner sphaera activitatis. Sympathetic action generated the outer seed that had its own physical orbit. Therefore, Schilperoort argued that the orbit of moving particles of blood and vitriol that Digby had described, was the physical result or form of an inner operative cause. Since sympathy was not the outer form, but the inner operative cause, it could not be part of the outer orbit. Schilperoort inferred from all of this that the sympathetic cure could never depend on purely physical causes36 . However, Schilperoorts elaborate treatise was wasted on Herman Lufneu. He objected first of all that the example of the magnet did not apply to the case of sympathy. He argued that magnetism was not strictly speaking a motion at a distance at all, but rather consisted of a physical action in which particles were working upon one another. In contrast to the sympathetic operation, magnetism could thus be well explained mechanically. Lufneu supposed that both the iron and the magnet emitted a very subtle matter through their pores. These minute particles were in continuous motion between the iron and the magnet37. Therefore the action of the magnet was physical and hence subject to the three laws of motion mentioned above. Moreover, Lufneu held that Schilperoort had defined magnetism ineptly. The conception of spiritual loadstones residing in northern territories was utter nonsense, and had nothing to do with magnetism.

Van Helmont, Dageraad ofte Nieuwe Opkomst der geneeskonst, (Dutch translation of his Ortus Medicinae ), 38: dat de gedaente (forma) is de laetste volmaecktheyt, en het wesen des genen die gebooren wordt; soo en konnen wy de gedaente niet aennemen tot oorsaeke des gestelden. 35 Van Helmont, Dageraad ofte Nieuwe Opkomst der geneeskonst, 43-44. 36 Schilperoort, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge, 9. 37 Cf. Descartes, Principia, IV, 133-139.
34

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Obviously, Basnage de Beauval, the reviewer of the discussion between Schilperoort and Lufneu, was not attracted to these vitalistic theories either. Supporting Lufneu, he wrote that the impossibility of the action of the sympathy powder had been demonstrated by the three universal principles, which Schilperoort had failed to refute. He could not appreciate Schilperoorts claim that most of natures secrets are impenetrable38 , since he felt that such sophisms had kept people ignorant and superstitious for centuries39. The same vain arguments, Basnage said, had been tried by Reddewitz to dodge Antoni van Leeuwenhoeks (1632-1723) critical questions. At the insistence of Vander Slaart, who wished to furnish the sympathy cure with a firm scientific basis and clear the German doctor of all suspicion, Van Leeuwenhoek had invited Reddewitz to his house. However, he did not learn anything from him. In a letter to the Royal Society he wrote 40 :
I askd the German, then among other things, what was become of the Pus or Matter of the sore, that they said was in the sore Legg, and that some of it was voided during the action of the Sympathetick Powder, and yet none remaind in the Legg? He answerd, it was carried off by the urine. Then I Inquird by what ways it was carried off, for that it seemd impossible to me to believe such a passage of it; for that it must pass through such small Blood Vessels near the heart; [...]and how it should be that this thick Pus or Matter should pass such extreamly small Blood Vessels? To which I had no other Answer but this. That there are many things done, of which we can give no reason 41.

Van Leeuwenhoek made no secret of his scepticism. According to him, it was impossible to take away gall and kidney stones, merely by stirring some powder in the patients urine.
Since I had put a stone of the kidney a whole year in strong wine vinegar, yet could not dissolve it. [...] I desired he would tell me by what way this could be effected, But I had no other Answer, but there were many more things done in Nature than we could give Reasons for42.

38 Schilperoort, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge, 17-18: De gewrogte zaken zijn aan de gansche wereld, dog de oorzaken aan weinigen bekend: namentlijk hoe de wereltkloot in de lugt is hangende: waarom de tegenvoeters niet in de benedenste lugt of hemel vallen, [...] altemaal zaken die niet tastelijk bewezen konnen worden en egter als vaste waarheden worden aangenomen. 39 Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans , May 1697, 417. 40 The secretary of the Royal Society, who was also responsible for the publication of the Philosophical Transactions, printed this letter in the issue of April 1697 (518-521). A Dutch version was printed in Leeuwenhoeks Sevende Vervolg der Brieven of 1702. See Palm (ed.), Alle de Brieven van Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, XII (1696-1699), Letter N 107. 41 Philosophical Transactions, 518-519. 42 Philosophical Transactions, 519.

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Just as Schilperoort had failed to convince Lufneu, the German doctor likewise did not impress Van Leeuwenhoek. However, the discussion was not yet finished. Schilperoort was not the only one being attacked by Lufneu: Vander Slaart was also coming under fire. Lufneu did not believe that Vander Slaart had actually been cured by Reddewitz. Despite Vander Slaarts claim to have ceased binding his wounds, Lufneu thought that he had most probably continued to clean his wound and change his bandages. Lufneu also cast doubt on Vander Slaarts assertion that the sympathy powder had once made him vomit and purge:
It is easy to understand that someone who likes to make merry with his German Master until deep into the night, and certainly not without eating or drinking, is bound to vomit and purge, because, after having been obliged to restrain himself for a long time, he has overloaded his stomach. I know quite well how that deposant and that requirant have spent their time together - enough to be sure that the vomiting is more due to Wine than to the pretended Sympathetic secret 43.

Vander Slaart of course did not leave this unanswered. Soon after Lufneus tract had come out, a booklet appeared from his own press, entitled Verantwoordinge van P. vander Slaart, tegen de beschuldiginge hem opgetigt in het Natuerkundig vertoog over de onmogelijkheid der zoo genaamde sympathetische werkinge van Dr. Herman Lufneu. Hierin is ingelast het getuigschrift van T. Cremer &c. wegens de genezinge van een Beenvreter &c. door de sympathetische werkinge van de Heer Reddewits (Justification by P. vander Slaart against the accusations made against him in the physical discourse concerning the impossibility of the so-called sympathetic action, by Dr. Herman Lufneu. Included is the testimonial of T. Cremer etc. about his cure from a leg ulcer etc. by means of the sympathetic cure of Mr. Reddewits). In this pamphlet, Vander Slaart wrote that Lufneu accused him of lying because he was angry about having lost twenty-five guilders on a bet that they had made44. In order to stop Lufneus insults and to defend the success of Reddewitzs treatments once again, Vander Slaart included the testimony of a certain Thomas Cremer. Cremer testified that Reddewitz had cured his grandson of several serious
43 Lufneu, Natuurkundig veroog over de onmogelijkheid der zoo genaamde sympathetische werking, 38-39: ...het is lichtelijk te begrijpen, dat iemand, die met zijn Duitschen Meester tot diep in den nagt goede cier maakt, wel etende, en niet min drinkende [...] dat zegge ik, zulk een moet braken, en afgaan, daar hy te voren een tijd lang genoodzaakt was geweest, zig wat matiger te houden, en nu den maag te veel geballast had. My is genoeg bekend, hoe die deposant en requirant met elkanderen geleeft hebben, om vastelijk te verzekeren, dat de braking meer Wijn, dan het gewaande Sympathetisch geheim moet toegeschreven werden; behalven dat hy zelf niet getuigt, datze door het laatste veroorzaakt zoude zijn. 44 In June 1697 Lufneu wanted to bet, that Vander Slaarts wound would not be healed by only the sympathetic cure. Vander Slaart, Verantwoordinge van P. vander Slaart , 11.

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complaints that surgeons had been treating in vain for months. He claimed that doctor W. Rijkwaart could confirm the recovery. However, this failed to impress Lufneu. In July 1697 he replied to Vander Slaart in his tract De Boekverkooper P. vander Slaart, In sijn valsheid duidelijk ontdekt, en Kortelijk afgewezen (The Bookseller P. vander Slaart, clearly exposed in his falsity and curtly rejected), in which he pronounced Thomas Cremers reliability as a witness to be as unconvincing as Pieter vander Slaarts. Moreover, that Cremer had distorted Rijkwaarts words, as this doctor himself had declared. It was true that Rijkwaart had admitted that the boys outward ailments had vanished, but he had certainly not been convinced that the boy had recovered internally as well. Thomas Cremer, who was highly offended by Lufneus imputations, reacted in a pamphlet dated 3 august 1697, under the title of Verdediginge van Thomas Cremer, en de zijnen, wegens de genezinge van zijn zoons zoon, tegen de liefdelooze beschuldiginge van den Arts Herman Lufneu, in zijn hekelschrift door hem genaamt, Den Boekverkoper PVS in zijn valsheid duidelijk ontdekt, en kortelijk afgewezen. Als of zy in haar getuigenissen ontrouwe begaan hadden (Defense of Thomas Cremer and those with him, on account of the healing of his sons son, against the loveless accusation of the physician Herman Lufneu, in his lampoon entitled The Bookseller PVS, clearly exposed in his falsity and curtly rejected. As if they had given false evidence). It was followed by Lufneus Een Spiegeltje voor Thomas Cremer, Advocaet der Pisbewerkers, en Groot hervormer der Hollandsche Tale (A Mirror for Thomas Cremer, the Pissworkers Advocate, and Great reformer of the Dutch Language), to which Cremer replied in turn with Een vergrootglaasje voor den Rotterdamschen Knorrepot, of den verstoorden Dr. Herman Lufneu (A Magnifying Glass for the Grump of Rotterdam, the deranged Dr. Herman Lufneu). And so it was, that after various allegations running the gamut from linguistic barbarism to flattery of the ladies, the quarrel concerning the problem of sympathy finally did come to an end. It is largely due to Vander Slaart, that we can follow the almost day-to-day development of the Rotterdam sympathy discussion. The bookseller could not let the case rest until he had been set to be right. The entire world had to know about the miracles that had occurred in his city. Sympathetic treatments ought not to be allowed to fall into oblivion, he thought, because they were invaluable to the future of medicine and physics. The bookseller was highly offended not only by Lufneu, but by Van Leeuwenhoek as well whom he himself had brought into contact with Reddewitz because they had publicly played down the ingenious Germans medical art. Whereas Van Leeuwenhoek and Schilperoort soon left the pamphlet war, Vander Slaart and Lufneu continued

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to battle it out for some more months. Although the discussion had started as a scientific dispute, it soon degenerated into a common street fight. As a result of this, the editors who at first were prepared to give space to the sympathy case in their periodicals, soon ignored the whole issue. Reception of sympathetic healing in the Republic of Letters What was the position of the editors of the scientific journals? We have already seen Basnage de Beauvals opinion in his review of the writings of Lufneu and Schilperoort. He did not believe in any spiritual causality, but preferred the corpuscular hypothesis. It is not certain however, whether the editor of the Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans fully excluded the valid operation of sympathetic remedies. In any case, he did think that explanations such as that of Digby were inadequate, and that impenetrable secrets of nature could easily be exploited by all kinds of quacks 45. Pieter Rabus, the editor of the Boekzaal van Europe , who was himself quite involved in the Reddewitz-case, remained as reticent about the subject as his French-speaking colleague. Apparently he did not really know what to make of it. Although he usually had his way with words, in this case he abstained from commentary:
What can I say? There are more people who have had their testimonies written down, attesting that they have been cured of heavy ailments by means of the said operation on their urine 46.

He went on to apologize for the article, emphasizing that he had not put it in his Boekzaal on his own initiative, but solely at the instigation of his publisher 47. Rabus further ignored the whole issue 48 , except to announce a reprint of Digbys Theatrum Sympatheticum 49. So far, he thought, neither rational argu-

Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans , May 1697, 408-417. Boekzaal van Europe, January/February 1697, 76: Wat zal ik zeggen? Meer menschen hebben wettige getuigenissen laten opstellen, dat zy door de gemelde werking op hunne pis van zware qualen zijn genezen. 47 Boekzaal van Europe, 67. 48 Only after the cooperation of Rabus and Vander Slaart had come to an end and Vander Slaart had taken over the editing of the Boekzaal van Europe, a new article on the sympathetic cure appeared. This time, a J. Helt and a Miss Johanna Zuur, having learned the secret from Reddewitz, did the treatments. The testimonies that were printed in this article, are more or less similar to those published earlier: After three weeks of sweating, vomiting and purging, the patients were fully recovered from seemingly incurable diseases, which the regular doctors had already given up. They had done nothing but sending their urine to the sympathetic healers every day. See Boekzaal van Europe, November/December 1701, 447-458. 49 Boekzaal van Europe, September/October 1697, 365-367.
45 46

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mentation nor experience had yielded anything substantial. It was true that experience had shown that the patients had recovered, yet it was still unclear whether or not it was due to the sympathetic powder. Therefore the editor was satisfied with neither the arguments of those in favour of the doctor, nor with those of his opponents. However, he does not seem to have rejected the possibility of sympathetic action altogether, but to have remained open to new explanations.
Even though my reason does not allow me to understand it, at least not clearly and mathematically, it could nevertheless happen. But I would wish to receive better explanations than I have seen so far 50.

The theory Digby had advanced did not convince Rabus either. Digby had accepted the operation of the sympathy powder as a fact, confirmed by experience. Recoveries, he argued, did occur when the sympathetic medicine was employed. Besides, there was no theory that could prove the contrary. However, this reasoning was not actually based on real experiments, but on thought experiments51. To Rabus and his French-speaking colleagues, Digbys theory was utterly unsatisfactory because there was in fact no concrete evidence that this supposed sympathetic action had actually taken place. Jacques Bernard (1658-1718) wrote in the Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres: La plpart de ces expriences sont tout--fait fausses52 . Jean Le Clerc (1657-1735), the editor of successively the Bibliothque Universelle et Historique, the Bibliothque Choisie and the Bibliothque Ancienne et Moderne, reported: Du moins est-il sr que la plpart des faits, quallgue le Chevalier Digby, ont t inventez plaisir53 . In general, the miracle remedy was met with a lot of scepticism. Nevertheless, it did not usually come down to such a straight denial as Lufneus. Pierre Bayle for instance, to whom Lufneu had addressed his article, was not entirely opposed to Reddewitzs treatments. Before receiving Lufneus letter, he himself had sent a letter to a friend, in which he admitted the efficacy of the Germans operations:
Il est certain, quil a guri des personnes, & qu il a fait suer quantit des gens. Les Mdecins crient contre lui, avec la derniere fureur; & comme il y a en ce Pas plus de gens que par tout ailleurs, qui ont lhabitude de nier comme impossible
Boekzaal van Europe, September/October 1697, 366: Het zy met de zaak gelegen zoo als t wil; al kan ik dezelve met reden niet begrijpen, ten minste niet duidelijk wiskonstiglijk, nogtans zoude ze wel konnen geschieden: maar ik wenschte wel, dat men my daar van wat klaarder bezeffing gaf, als ik tot nog toe gezien hebbe. 51 Dobbs, Studies in the natural Philosophy of Sir Kenelm Digby, 11-15. 52 Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres, February 1706, 205. 53 Bibliothque Universelle et Historique , September 1690, 208-209.
50

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tout ce quils ne comprennent pas, il se trouve bien des personnes, qui tiennent le mme langage que les Mdecins. Mais ne pouvant nier les faits, savoir que les Malades naient su, ils disent que cest leffet dune imagination prvenu. Pour moi, je ne tiens pas impossible que physiquement parlant, on ne fasse suer un homme en mettant quelque chose dans son urine54.

Robert Boyle (1627-1691), who had attempted to find mechanical answers to various occult natural phenomena, had also been very cautious in his comments on the sympathy powder. In spite of his scepticism, he had never fully rejected its efficacy. As several extraordinary folk remedies had previously turned out to be successful, Boyle argued that exact experimentation was necessary. He stated that in collecting medical data, any kind of prejudice had to be avoided 55. Neither did Nicolas Lmery (1645-1715) refute the sympathetic cure, even though he could not deny the vanity and superstition of many who wrote about it. Like Boyle and Digby, he gave a corpuscular explanation, supposing that the particles of the medicine were carried to the wound by those of the blood. How precisely this happened, he could not say56. Although Lmery did not doubt the experimental proofs of the cure at a distance, he did not recommend it either:
car pour une personne qui en aura re du soulagement, il y en aura cent qui nauront pas apper leffet, & la cause en est, que les parties volatiles du vitriol ont est dtournes de la playe du malade par quelque vent, ou parce que la plupart des gens ont le sang trop subtil & trop en mouvement pour estre fig par une si petite quantit du vitriol57.

Because nobody exactly knew what to do with the issue, people avoided committing themselves. In his controversial book De Betoverde Weereld (The World Bewitchd) the famous Balthasar Bekker (1634-1698) dismissed the power of the devil as a myth, but when it came to the subject of sympathy he ambiguously stated that if the sympathetic method was indeed effective, it could then only occur by the force of nature, and not by means of demonic intervention.
although we do not know how. Given that many things are still unknown, and every day things are discovered that have long been hidden 58.
Pierre Bayle, Oeuvres Diverses, IV, Hildesheim 1986, 731-732 (Letter CXCI: 7 March 1779). 55 Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Sciences, VIII, 195-196; King, The Road to Medical Enlightenment 77. 56 Lmery, Cours de Chymie, 492-495. 57 Lmery, Cours de Chymie, 494-495. 58 Balthasar Bekker, De Betoverde Weereld, zynde een grondig ondersoek van t gemeen gevoelen aangaande de geesten, derselver aart en vermogen, bewind en bedrijf: als ook t gene de menschen door dezelver kraght en gemeenschap doen: In vier boeken ondernomen IV, 14554

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We can find a similar reticence to passing judgements in the words of a professor in medicine, named Gerardus Goris (ca. 1657-?). He admitted that there was some effect in the sympathetic cure, if only brought about by the imagination59 . Only a few people like the Jesuit Jean Galimard, whose book La Philosophie du Prince had appeared in 1689, tended to ascribe the effects of the sympathy powder to demonic magic60. Even though these discussions more or less disappeared after 1700, scientific interest for the subject did not entirely die out. In an issue of the Mmoires de Trvoux of 1750, a review of Charles Dionis Dissertation sur le Taenia ou ver plat was published, which included a detailed treatise on Digby and the secret of sympathy61 . Conclusion The struggle against accusations of demonism, waged by writers such as Van Helmont during the first half of the seventeenth century, reached a climax during the last decade of the century. Natural philosophy had developed to a level at which simple explanations could be given for phenomena which previously had been considered sorcerous. To many, it had become a challenge to give solid scientific definitions to those things which , according to old folk beliefs, were based on magic principles. Reason and experience proved to be outstanding instruments for scrutinizing those phenomena that seemed to blur the boundaries between the natural, the supernatural and the superstitious. All things had to be explained naturally. Although the occult was approached very cautiously, the study of such things as sympathetic action was considered crucial, not only for overcoming age-old biases, but also for gaining knowledge of nature as such. Precisely in these cases, natures secret faculties could be seen coming out of darkness into light. By exploring the secret operations of nature, man could learn of the universal coherence of the cosmos, which was represented by most seventeenth-century physicists as being a mechanism. It may be true that modern rationalism dominated intellectual life around 1700. However, it was not so much a matter of establishing a new, mechanistic world-view as an alternative for the preceding one, but rather of embedding Cartesian rationalism in already-existent cosmologies. According to its advo147: al weten wy niet hoe: gemerkt ons menigte van dingen tot op heden onbekend zijn / ende word noch dagelijkx ontdekt het gene lang verborgen was. 59 Maendelyke Uittreksels, of Boekzaal van de Geleerde Werelt, February 1717, 222-227. 60 Bibliothque Universelle et Historique, September 1690, 208-209. Jean le Clerc, the editor of this journal, had wrongly ascribed the authorship to another Jesuit, Blaise Gisbert (1653-1737). 61 Mmoires pour lHistoire des Sciences & des beaux Arts, February 1750, 477-486.

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cates, the new philosophy would save the world from the last remains of the follies of the past. Yet it was in fact employed to legitimate various theories. Indeed, it was even used to grant authority to ideas that were often considered both superstitious and obscurantist. This tension governed the polemics concerning the sympathetic cure. In spite of the wide differences in underlying ideas and ontologies, nearly every treatise reflects the systematic rationalism characterizing the late-seventeenth-century new science. While one party resorted to corpuscularianism to show the natural and mechanical operation of the sympathy powder, the other employed the same models to reject the tricks of the German doctor and to dismiss the sympathetic cure as a myth. Those who feared that the spiritual would be entirely dispelled from the field of nature utilized these same rationalistic techniques to demonstrate the inadequacy of purely material explanations. Each side adjusted the new philosophy to his own convictions, which resulted in a mutually enriching philosophical exchange. In an intellectual world that was ruled by corpuscularians, the spiritualist Schilperoort belonged to a philosophical minority. However, he was not alone in defending a Helmontian or Paracelsian cosmology. Neither did Monsieur lAbb Aignan, physician of Louis XVI and the prince of Cond, favour a onesided mechanicism. In the review of Aignans Trait de la Goutte in the Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres of October 1707, Jacques Bernard mentioned the authors complaint that the Cartesians had opened the doors to atheism rather than those to the secrets of nature 62. Those who wished to understand nature, he wrote, should not use the machine model, as a fundamental difference existed between machines and nature. Like Schilperoort, Aignan did acknowledge a certain material causality, but he only assigned a secondary status to it. This was also maintained by Johannes Casparus Westphalus, whose Pathologia Daemoniaca was reviewed in the Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres of February 170963 . Although he did not deny that many effects in nature could be ascribed to material operation, he considered material causes insufficient for explaining all natural effects. Westphalus assumed a Paracelsian universe in which all matter was inspired. Matter was affected by a vital principle. By this spiritual power, Westphalus tried to solve mysteries such as the curing of goiter by the kings hands, the effects of sympathetic powder, healing by incantation, and even the miraculous cures by Jesus Christ himself.

62 63

Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres, October 1707, 461-472. Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres , February 1709, 166-191.

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Besides the dominant corpuscular models, these theories also appeared in the discussion provoked by the operations of Reddewitz. Where Digby and Lufneu appealed to matter and motion in order to justify or reject sympathetic action, Schilperoort appealed to a vital principle, which united matter and spirit. Although the German doctors art soon lost the attention of natural philosophers, the Rotterdam episode is significant, for it is by means of such disputes that we can chart the complexity of late-seventeenth-century intellectual life.
Juliette van den Elsen (1973), Department of History at the University of Nijmegen, is doing research on the perception of magic in the Republic of Letters during the early Enlightenment (1685-1725).

Bibliography
primary sources Articles and book-reviews in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century journals: Mmoire communiqu par M. Lufneu Medecin de Rotterdam sur une exprience curieuse dHydrostatique, Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres , April 1685, 381-389. Mmoire communiqu par M. Lufneu Mdecin de Rotterdam, touchant une fermentation singulire, dont il explique la cause, Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres , February 1686, 175-183. Mlange Curieux des Meilleures Pices attribues Mr. de Saint Evremond, & de plusieurs autres Ouvrages rares ou nouveaux. A Amsterdam chez Pierre Mortier. 1706. in. 12. Tom. I. pagg. 402. Tom. II. pagg. 440. sans les Tables. Gros caractere. Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres , February 1706, 196-208. Extrait de diverses Lettres, Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres, October 1707, 459-480. D. Johannis Caspari Westphali, Academici Curiosi Pathologia Daemoniaca, id est, Observationes & Meditationes Physiologico-Magico-Medicae circa Daemonomanias, similesque Morbos Convulsios Fascino ortos, Daemonibus olim, Graecorum, Ethnicorum ac Judaeorum areis, hodie ver Obsessioni aliisque Diaboli Infernalis Tentationibus & Operationibus superstitios adscriptos, hactenus Anno Ephemeridum Academ. Leopoldino-Imperialis Naturae Curiosorum IX. & X. Decuriae III. nec non Mensibus Novor. Literarior Hamburgens. Anni 1706. insertae; nunc ver Philiatrorum desiderio & adhortationibus revisae, & variis Annotatis illustriores redditae. Quibus accedunt Judicium Physiologico-Magico-Medicum de viva Jumentorum Contagio infectorum Contumulatione. Et Observationes atque Experimenta Chimico-Physica de Prodigiis Sanguinis, falso hactenus proclamatis. Cest--dire, la Pathologie Dmoniaque, &c. A Leipsic, chez les Hritiers de Frderic Lanckis. 1707. in 4. pagg. 148 sans l Indice, gros caractre. Et se trouve Amsterdam, chez Franois Van der Plaats, Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres , February 1709, 166-191. La Philosophie du Prince, ou la vritable Ide de la Nouvelle, & de lAncienne Philosophie, ddie Mons. le Duc de Bourgogne. A Paris. 1689. in 8. pagg. 461, Bibliothque Universelle et Historique, September 1690, 202-209. Een Brief over de onmogelijkheid der zoogenaamde Sympathetische Werking, geschreven van den Heer Doctor Herman Lufneu, Rotterdammer Stads Arts. De aloude bekende

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mogelijkheid van de Sympathetische Werkinge, voorgesteld in een Brief aan den Heer.... Door Jan Schilperoort Med. Doct. Natuurkundig Vertoog over de onmogelijkheid der zoogenaamde Sympathetische Werking, briefswijze geschreven door Doctor Herman Lufneu, Rotterdammer Stads Arts. Zijn gewaande Wederlegger Dr. J.S. word onder anderen beantwoort. Cest--dire, La possibilit, & limpossibilit des effets de la poudre de Sympathie &c. Te Rotterdam by Pieter vander Slaart, en by Barent Bos in 8 pagg. 18. 32. & 160., Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans, May 1697, 408-417. Historie van overzeldzame genezingen, De Boekzaal van Europe , January-February 1697, 6776. Een Brief, over de onmogelijkheid der zoogenaamde Sympathetische Werking, geschreven van den Heere Dr. Herman Lufneu, Rotterdammer Stads-Arts, aan ***, De Boekzaal van Europe, January-February 1697, 123-140. Theatrum Sympatheticum, of Wonder-Toneel der Natuers-verborgentheden, behelzende een uitstekende Oratie over het gebruik des Poeders de Sympathie, daar in de waarheid zijner werkinge word ontdekt, door Kenelmus Digby, Ridder, Grave en Kancellier van Groot Britanje. Benevens twee waardige vervolgen van vele zeldzame Antipathien, en Sympathien. Als mede, hoe dat de Dieren, Planten, Metalen, enz. zonder zaad of voortteling konnen voortkomen, en waar uit de Sympathien oorspronkelijk zijn, met meer andere geheimenissen der Natuerkunde, door N. Papinius, en A. Kircherus, de tweede druk, vermeerderd, en verbeterd. Te Leeuwaarden by Hendrik Rintjes; en tAmsterdam by Jan Ten Hoorn 1697. in 8. 38 bladen, De Boekzaal van Europe, September-October 1697, 365-367. Wy konnen ter ernstiger verzoeke van verscheyde Vrienden niet nalaten de volgende Brief met de twee Attestatien hier te laten volgen, De Boekzaal van Europe , November-December 1701, 447-458. Verantwoordinge van den Heere Geeraert Goris Enz., Maendelyke Uittreksels, of Boekzael der Geleerde Werelt, February 1717, 222-227. Part of a Letter from Mr. Antony van Leuwenhoeck, dated Apr. 5. 1697. giving an Account of several Magnetical Experiments; and of one who pretended to cure or cause Diseases at a Distance, by applying a Sympathetick Powder to the Urine, Philosophical Transactions: Giving some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labours of the Ingenious, in many considerable parts of the World , April 1697, 512-521. Dissertation sur le Taenia ou ver plat, dans laquelle on prouve que ce ver nest pas solitaire, avec une Lettre sur la Poudre Sympathetique. On y a joint la manire de sen servir, & le Discours du Chevalier Digby sur lefficacit de cette Poudre. Par Ch. Dionis Docteur Rgent en la Facult de Paris. A Paris, chez P.G. Le Mercier Impr. Libr. Rue S. Jacques 1749. un vol. in-12. pag. 266, Mmoires pour lHistoire des Sciences & des Beaux Arts , February 1750, 477-486. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century books: Bayle, Pierre, Oeuvres Diverses, Hildesheim 1986. Bekker, Balthasar, De Betoverde Weereld, zynde een grondig ondersoek van t gemeen gevoelen aangaande de geesten, derselver aart en vermogen, bewind en bedrijf: als ook t gene de menschen door dezelver kraght en gemeenschap doen: In vier boeken ondernomen , Amsterdam 1691-1693. Corneille, Pierre, Le Menteur, Paris 1642. Cremer, Thomas, Verdediginge van Thomas Cremer, en de zijnen, wegens de genezinge van zijn zoons zoon, tegen de liefdelooze beschuldiginge van den Arts Herman Lufneu, in zijn hekelschrift door hem genaamt, Den Boekverkoper PVS in zijn valsheid duidelijk ontdekt, en kortelijk afgewezen, Rotterdam 1697. Digby, Kenelm, Two Treatises. In the one of which, the nature of bodies; in the other, the Nature of mans soule; is looked into: in way of discovery, of the immortality of reasonable soules , Stuttgart-Bad 1970 (facsimile edition of the Paris 1644 edition).

THE ROTTERDAM SYMPATHY CASE

55

, Theatrum Sympatheticum ofte Wonder-Toneel des Natuurs Verborgentheden, Amsterdam 1681. Helmont, J.B. van, De magnetica vulnerum curatione,1621. , Dageraad ofte Nieuwe Opkomst der geneeskonst, in verborgen grondregulen der Nature, Rotterdam 1660. Lmery, Nicolas, Cours de Chymie, contenant la Maniere de faire les Operations qui sont en usage dans la Medecine, par une Methode facile. Avec des Raisonnemens sur Chaque Operation, pour lInstruction de ceux qui veulent sappliquer cette Science , (11th edition) Leyden 1716. Lufneu, Herman, Natuurkundig vertoog over de onmogelijkheid der zoo genaamde sympathetische werking, Rotterdam 1697. , De Boekverkooper P. vander Slaart, In sijn valsheid duidelijk ontdekt, en Kortelijk afgewezen, Rotterdam 1697. , Een Spiegeltje voor Thomas Cremer, Advocaet der Pisbewerkers, en Groot hervormer der Hollandsche Tale , Rotterdam 1697. Palm, L.C (ed.), Alle de Brieven van Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Lisse 1989. Schilperoort, Jan, De aloude bekende mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge , Rotterdam 1697. Slaart, Pieter vander, Verantwoordinge van P. vander Slaart, tegen de beschuldiginge hem opgetigt in het Natuerkundig vertoog over de onmogelijkheid der zoo genaamde sympathetische werkinge van Dr. Herman Lufneu , Rotterdam 1697.

secondary sources Abels, P.H.A.M. and Wouters, A.P.F., Pieter vander Slaart, boekdrukker en boekverkoper in Cicero, 1691-1705, in: Bots, H., Lankhorst, O.S. and Zevenbergen, C. (eds.), Rotterdam Bibliopolis , Rotterdam 1997, 327-363. Bastiaanse, Ren and Bots, Hans, De Boekhandel van Barent Bos, 1680-1719, in: Bots, H. et. al. (eds.), Rotterdam Bibliopolis , Rotterdam 1997, 215-259. Debus, Allen G., Robert Fludd and the Use of Gilberts De Magnete in the Weapon-Salve Controversy, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 19:4 (1964), 389-417. Dobbs, Betty Jo, Studies in the natural Philosophy of Sir Kenelm Digby, Ambix 18:1 (1971), 125. Frazer, James, The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion , London 1890. Heinecke, Berthold, Wissenschaft und Mystik bei J.B. van Helmont (1577-1644) , Bern, Berlin, etc. 1995. King, Lester S., The Road to Medical Enlightenment. 1650-1695 , Cambridge 1970. Pagel, Walter, Joan Baptista Van Helmont. Reformer of Science and Medicine , Cambridge 1982. Saag, Bert van der, Pieter Rabus en Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in de Boekzaal van Europe (1692-1702), in: Bots, Hans (ed.), Pieter Rabus en de Boekzaal van Europe, Amsterdam 1974, 362-366. Schutte, O. (ed.), Het Album Promotorum van de Academie te Harderwijk, Arnhem and Zutphen 1980. Strunz, Franz, Johann Baptist van Helmont (1577-1644). Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften , Leipzig and Vienna 1907. Thijssen-Schoute, C.L., Hermanus Lufneu, Stadsarts te Rotterdam, in: Hazewinkel, M.C. (ed.), Rotterdams Jaarboekje, Rotterdam 1960, 180-227. , Uit de Republiek der Letteren. Elf studin op het gebied der Ideengeschiedenis van de Gouden Eeuw , The Hague 1967. Thorndike, Lynn, A History of Magic and Experimental Science , New York and London 1923. Vet, J.J.V.M. de, Pieter Rabus: een wegbereider van de Noordnederlandse verlichting, Amsterdam and Maarssen 1980.

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Laffaire du traitement sympathique Rotterdam (1696-1697). Un regard sur le discours philosophique du XVIIe siecle tardif la fin du XVIIe sicle, science et magie allaient souvent de pair, particulirement dans le domaine de la mdecine. Un exemple remarquable de cette alliance tait la gurison des malades distance, ce quon appellait la mdecine sympathtique. En 1697, le monde savant fut mis en effervescence par les activits dun docteur miracle Rotterdam, Henricus Georgius Reddewitz, qui aurait guri des personnes distance en se contentant de diluer une faible quantit dune poudre secrte dans l urine du malade quon lui avait apporte. Quoique de telles pratiques mdicales ne fussent point applaudies partout, les traitements du docteur allemand avaient suscit un vif moi, dont divers pamphlets et crits de circonstance portent tmoignage. Se fondant sur des principes mcaniques, le mdecin Herman Lufneu voulat dmontrer, dans son trait Over de onmogelijkheid der zoo genaamde sympathetische werking , quune mdecine sympathique tait impossible. Son adversaire, le mdecin Jan Schilperoort, rfuta les ides de Lufneu dans son livre De aloude mogelijkheid van de sympathetische werkinge et rejeta lapproche purement matrielle de la nature, propos par ce dernier. Sans pour autant nier que divers phnomnes naturels puissent tre attribus une opration matrielle, il estimait que les causes matrielles taient insuffisantes pour expliquer tous les effets de la nature. Schilperoort supposait un univers conforme la doctrine de Van Helmont, dans lequel toute la matire tait anime par un principe divin, un esprit vital. Non seulement Schilperoort, mais aussi le libraire Pieter vander Slaart engagrent le dbat avec Lufneu. Cependant, cette dernire contribution ntait pas de nature philosophique; il conviendrait dy voir plutt une raction personnelle. Bien quau bout dun certain temps les activits du docteur allemand aient cess dattirer lattention des philosophes, les vnements survenus Rotterdam nont pas gard quune valeur anecdotique. Ltude de la mdecine sympathtique, et de ce qui concerne dautres phnomnes semblables, tait considre comme de toute premire importance parce quelle semblait permettre de surmonter des prjugs sculaires et de scruter les secrets de la nature. Dans un monde intellectuel domin par les atomistes, Schilperoort appartenait une cole philosophique minoritaire, tout en ntant pas le seul dfendre une cosmologie vitaliste. Dautres contemporains avec lui ont reconnu lexistence dune certaine causalit matrielle, laquelle au demeurant ils nont attribu quun statut secondaire. On voit donc qu ct des modles corpusculaires, les thories vitalistes trouvaient aussi un cho dans les discussions que les traitements mdicaux de Reddewitz avaient provoques. Il est certain que ce type de dbat permet de se faire une ide plus prcise de la complexit de la vie intellectuelle, la fin du XVIIe sicle, lorsque chacun tentait dajuster la nouvelle philosophie ses propres ides et convictions.

JOHN DEE AND EARLY MODERN OCCULT PHILOSOPHY GYRGY E. SZONYI "
Deborah Harkness, Talking with Angels. John Dee and the End of Nature . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. pp. xiii+252 with 7 illustrations (ISBN 0 521 62228 X). Urszula Szulakowska, The Alchemy of Light. Geometry and Optics in Late Renaissance Alchemical Illustration. Leiden: Brill, 2000 (Symbola & Emblemata 10). pp. xxii+246 with 50 illustrations (ISBN 90 04 11690 7). Hkan Hkansson, Seeing the Word. John Dee and Renaissance Occultism. Lund: Lunds Universitet, 2001 (Minervaserien 2). pp. 373 with 37 illustrations (ISBN91-974153-0-8). Benjamin Woolley, The Queens Conjurer. The Science and Magic of Dr. John Dee, Adviser to Queen Elizabeth I. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2001. pp. xii+355, with maps and illustrations (ISBN 0-8050-6509-1).

John Dee has always been a favorite character of English Renaissance research. The books already devoted to his career and achievements would now fill quite a few bookshelves. One could even speak of the rise of a John Dee industry which organizes specialized conferences and runs professional newsletters. The reasons for the interest in Dee are manifold. To begin with, he was a truly versatile Renaissance character whose interests embraced all the major territories of 16th-century science, from hard-core mathematics through geography and history to the dark terrain of occultism, magic and spiritualism. He was also an important background-figure of the Elizabethan court, a protg of the Queen; and as such he was entrusted to choose the astrologically best fitting day for the coronation in 1558. Dee had excellent contacts with the greatest politicians and courtiers of his day, such as Leicester, Walsingham, Raleigh ; and he tried to bring himself in a position of having his say in political plans and exploration projects. Therefore, his activities could not escape the attention of scholars belonging to various fields of historical research, from the history of politics to the history of science, as well as mathematics, geography and antiquarianism. Not surprisingly, a man with such wideranging scholarly interests was also a passionate collector of books. He gathered a library of about four thousand volumes, including many valuable manuscripts. Some of its books (a number of which are annotated by himself) and some catalogues have survived, but for the most part its holdings were eventually scattered. It still remains that, judging from what can be reconstructed with regard to its contents, this library appears to be one of the most interesting testimonies to English intellectual life

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002

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in the 16th century. As such, it is of the utmost importance for the study of early modern esoterism as well. Another reason for Dees popularity as a research subject is due to the fact that besides his published works he left behind an amazing amount of personal documents correspondence, personal diaries and extended spiritual journals which not only bear witness to some arresting aspects of his career, but enable us also to assess the complexity of this multifaceted personality of the late Renaissance. We have not yet mentioned the dark side of Dee. But this aspect also has triggered the interest of many scholars, and of enthusiasts as well. In the middle of his career a strange, although not unprecedented turn took place in the distinguished Doctors life. Having lost his faith and confidence in the human sciences he turned to a bizarre magical practice, upon which he bestowed the name angelic conversations. To sum up his aim in one sentence: since he could no longer believe that human science might ever prove able to provide a complete understanding of the divinely ordained universe, he concluded that one should learn the ultimate truths from superhuman beings, the angels. Being able to carry on conversations with the angels requires, though, that one learns their language. This became Dees goal, which moved him for more than thirty years to conjure up celestial beings daily in the endless sessions of his so-called Enochian magic, in order to learn their language and be able to ask them about the greatest mysteries of Creation. The above brief summary exhibits a versatile and adaptable character who has been attracting interest in various fields of curiosity and research. But if we look at the historiography of Dee studies, we see that the focal points of scholarly interest have been very different, somehow always converging with the principles of historical evaluation dominant in any period. The problem with most books and studies about Dee has been that he was treated as an emblem of this or that movement, intellectual trend, or cultural occurrence. At different times Dee has been labelled a leading Elizabethan spy, one of the founding fathers of English natural science, a charlatan alchemist, a great enthusiast, a hermetic philosopher, and so on. Of course this has resulted in a distortion of the overall picture, because to a certain extent Dee embodied all of these occupations and attitudes. In his time John Dee was a respected scholar, and although he was sometimes accused of being a conjuror, even half a century after his death he was still remembered as the wise doctor. The publication of his spiritual diaries by Meric Casaubon in 1659, however, especially in the light of the distrustful preface of the editor, gradually undermined his reputation; and by the time of the Enlightenment he had come to be considered (if he was given attention at

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all) as a credulous and deluded philosopher who had lost his way among the manipulations of his charlatan medium, the alchemist Edward Kelly. During the 19 th century, some historians unearthed his diaries and letters, and published them in the context of a positivist historical reconstruction of the Elisabethan age. It was not until 1909 that the first relatively accurate and correct biography on Dee appeared, by Charlotte Fell Smith. At that time, the history of science was characterized by a teleological approach, so that only those achievements were acknowledged which were seen as pointing toward future scientific developments while everything else was dismissed as a failure or dead end. Given such a mentality, the safest domain for assessing Dees scholarship was geography. Thus he earned an important place in E.G.R. Taylors Tudor Geography (1930) and some generous mentions in F.R. Johnsons Astronomical Thought in Renaissance England (1937), especially as someone who in his Mathematicall Preface... had made useful contributions to the creation of a native scientific vocabulary. The situation greatly changed by the middle of the century, when, especially due to the research of the Warburg school (Franz Saxl, Paul Oskar Kristeller, Erwin Panofsky, Edgar Wind), a radical reassessment of the intellectual climate of the Renaissance arose. This new approach acknowledged the importance of the magical world picture in the antechamber of the Enlightenment. The scholars working on this interpretation focused primarily on the neoplatonic revival of Ficinos Florentine Academy and its influence all over Europe in the first half of the 16th century and after. A typical fruit of this approach was D. P. Walkers monograph, Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella (1958) which traced the development of neoplatonic magic in the careers of Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Agrippa, Bruno and others. Walkers famous colleague, Dame Frances Yates, became the champion of this trend of research. If one tries to summarise her theses in a few sentences, the following aspects stand out. According to Yates, the most important philosophical innovation of the period had been that it had redefined mans place in the universe. Following the footsteps of Cassirer, Kristeller, and others, Yates came to the conclusion that the neoplatonic philosophers of the Renaissance developed the idea of mans dignity not only from the works of Plato and the Hellenistic neoplatonists, but also in fact, primarily from the hermetic texts attributed to the thrice great Hermes Trismegistus. The Yates thesis also implied that the Renaissance magus was a direct predecessor of the natural scientist because, as the Corpus hermeticum suggested, the magus could regain the superior standing that the first man had lost with the Fall. For a while these ideas seemed to revolutionize scholarly understanding of the early modern age and the birth of modern science. In such a context, the magical ideas which had

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previously been discarded by intellectual historians now appeared as important ingredients of the human ambition to understand and conquer nature. The changing concepts of Renaissance research influenced the appreciation of John Dee, too. Already in 1952, the historian I. R. F. Calder wrote a Ph.D. dissertation in which he contextualized Dees magic as grounded in a neoplatonist theory. Although this thesis remained unpublished (today it is available on the internet), it inspired Frances Yates to include Dee as a key figure in her narrative of the neoplatonic-hermetic magical Renaissance; and in fact Dee featured as a favorite character in all of her later books ( Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, 1964; The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, 1972; The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age, 1979). As a final outcome of this trend, Peter French, a student of Frances Yates, wrote a full size monograph (1972) entirely devoted to Dee in which he interpreted the English doctor as a Renaissance magus. No matter how convincing the Yates thesis appeared and how eloquently it was presented by its author, by the mid-1970s critical opinions could also be heard. The debate included questions of philological accuracy; for example, scholars could not agree to what extent the hermetic texts had influenced the magi of the sixteenth century, or to what extent Frances Yates conjectures about humanistic and secret-political links between certain English intellectuals and the German Rosicrucians could be validated. Also, the theoretical framework of intellectual history came to be challenged at that time; and this may have been of particular importance with respect to the emergence of a new interpretation of John Dee. It was Nicholas Clulee who, in 1988, published a bulky study with the aim of displaying the wide spectrum of influences and programs at work during the career of the Doctor (John Dees Natural Philosophy: Between Science and Religion). Clulee rebuked the philosophy of the Warburg/Yates school as follows:
what is common to these works is that all approach Dee as a problem of finding the correct intellectual tradition into which he appears to fit, both as a way of making sense of his disparate and often difficult to understand works and activities and as a way of establishing his importance by associating him with an intellectual context of recognized importance for sixteenth-century and later intellectual developments (p. 3).

In his own presentation he managed to establish a dynamic picture as opposed to the previously static image of the hermetic magus. Clulee differentiated among various periods in Dees career between which his intellectual outlook as well as the direction of his attention changed. He particularly emphasized the medieval origins, including al-Kindi and Roger Bacon, at the foundation of

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Dees magical experiments. The importance of Yates and Frenchs interpretations lay in the recognition of magic as worthy of investigation in the context of the history of science, i.e. in the fact that they had legitimized a preoccupation which had previously been considered mere obscurantism. Building on this, Clulee highlighted the diachronic reorientation during Dees career and brought into the discussion the medieval roots of sixteenth-century magic and science, which had been overshadowed by the Yatesian enthusiasm for neoplatonic hermeticism. The following stage in the changing interpretation of Dee was heralded by William Shermans monograph The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance (1995), in which the author revealed a synchronic multiplicity in Dees diverse interests and activities. If we consider the above development of historiographical inquiry, we thus see how research has been moving from a somewhat static and simplistic interpretation of Dee as an English magus toward a more complex contextualization in intellectual history, in which elements of discontinuity have become emphasized and in which the originally proposed master narrative has become subverted by more and more often conflicting and contradictory subtexts. How should we see Dee today? The straightforward science-historical approach seems unsatisfactory, since magic as a complex human endeavour has had many aspects without a direct connection to science and embracing, rather, the territories of religion and psychology. On the other hand, one should not make the contrary mistake of assuming that there existed sharp boundaries between scientific, philosophical and religious ideas in the early modern period. Four recent books in which John Dee is a main protagonist provide precisely such complex and syncretic interpretations of his magic and the early modern intellectual scene in general. Thus they are successful efforts to move beyond the exclusive identification of Dee with one or another trend of Renaissance thinking or Renaissance research. While earlier scholars usually started their discussions with Dees scientific projects and only later touched upon his more embarrassing experiments with scrying (or tactfully neglected them entirely), Deborah Harkness focuses her attention on the conversation with angels and places them in the context of Renaissance kabbalah, alchemy, and eschatological speculation. The novelty of her approach is that she does not explain Dees magic from the perspective of his science but, rather, examines the Doctors science from the direction of his magico-religious worldview. In line with recent scholarly opinions (such as those of Christopher Whitby, Stephen Clucas and myself) she argues that there was no cataclysmic gap between the early, scientific Dee and the later interviewer of angelic spirits. Rather, these two activities should be seen as differ-

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ent manifestations of the same preoccupation: his never-ceasing desire for omniscience through the grace of God. Does this imply a return to the kinds of grand narratives that have haunted Dee research in the past, i.e., the attempt to legitimize a closed, homogeneous picture of the subject? I think this is by no means the case. Harkness study demonstrates the multiple and manifold, often contradictory strains in Dees thought and practice, and his uniqueness in 16th-century intellectual history. At the same time she is not afraid to point out the connecting links which constitute a leitmotif in Dees career, and which also connect him to the broader cultural context of late-Renaissance Europe. Of primary importance for this broader cultural context was a sense of intellectual crisis, one aspect of which was that while Nature had previously been seen as a text the Book of Nature given by God, the exegesis of which would lead to a better understanding of the Creator by the time of the Renaissance the realization had dawned that this text was corrupt, imprecise, and could not be read properly. According to Harkness thesis the angels gave Dee the exegetical and restorative tools to read, understand, and rectify the Book of Nature (p. 4). The first part of the monograph deals with the genesis of Dees angel magic: it discusses the conversational and communicative qualities of Dees enterprise and also looks at the interpretive community: how did the people who participated in Dees angelic conversations from the Polish king to scryers perceive the Doctors experiments? Further chapters in this first part discuss the philosophical foundations of angelology and its relation to natural science. Harkness unfolds these observations in terms of a metaphor which compares Dees project to building and climbing Jacobs Ladder as a means of attempting direct communication with God and his agents, the angelic spirits. Putting all this in a European cultural context, Harkness calls attention to many parallel intellectual efforts. Dees fellow humanists had become similarily frustrated by the realization that intellectual authority contrary to the Renaissance expectations as manifested in Picos Oratio de hominis dignitate could not firmly rely on accumulated human wisdom. All kinds of efforts of esoteric scholarship may be seen as efforts to break free from this paradoxical crisis, and one could easily develop an intricate typology of magical scientific programs among Dees 16th-century contemporaries from Trithemius, Giorgi and Paracelsus, to Postel, Bruno and Campanella, not to mention the many 17th-century followers, such as Dees compatriot, Robert Fludd. Harkness observations show a strong kinship with earlier scholarly analyses of the late Renaissance intellectual crisis, known as the Mannerism debate. In the 1960s and 1970s both European and American historians spent a great

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deal of energy to discuss the nature of this 16th-century intellectual crisis (among the most important contributions, one may mention Gustav Ren Hocke, Manierismus in der Literatur ; Arnold Hauser, Der Ursprung der modernen Kunst und Literatur: Die Entwicklung des Manierismus seit der Krise der Renaissance ; Andr Chastel, La crise de la Renaissance ; and Tibor Klaniczay, Renaissance und Manierismus. Zum Verhltnis von Gesellschafts-struktur, Poetik und Stil. From the products of this debate, only Nauerts Agrippa and the Crisis of Renaissance Thought is cited by Harkness. I think that a reflective review of the literature of Mannerism could have provided her with a more thorough foundation for the books sometimes hasty generalisations about the European crisis. The second part of the book deals with the contents of the angelic conversations, which the author discusses under the label Revelations. The three chapters in this part contextualize Dees scrying in relation to early modern apocalyptic literature, Christian and Jewish kabbalah, and finally, Renaissance theories of alchemy. According to Harkness these are the three layers, or systems of thought, that make up the complicated texture of the spiritual diaries; and one can only agree with her argumentation. The apocalyptic-Enochian prophecy is all too obvious in Dees visions, but Harkess also convincingly detects kabbalist and alchemical subtexts. As we know from other studies (especially those dealing with the interpretation of the Monas hieroglyphica ) Dee was thoroughly preoccupied with the problems of sacred and human language(s) and his studies of the kabbalah were connected with these investigations. Also, he never ceased to be interested in practical alchemy, but it is clear that alchemy primarily occupied him as a symbolic-metaphoric system of revelation. As Harkness argues, inspired by his Paracelsian studies Dee looked at alchemy as an angelic medicine. When analyzing the imagery of the spiritual diaries, Harkness asserts that it is a close relative of the alchemical emblematics which flourished in medieval manuscripts as well as 17 th-century printed emblem books, except that the two dimensional world of the alchemical illustrations is turned in Dees diaries into scripts of chemical theatre, with visual and oral methods of transmission (pp. 205ff.). Dees ultimate goal was spiritual transformation, but he expressed his religious-philosophical program like Jakob Boehme and many others in the hidden symbolism of alchemy. Although Harkness new reading of the angelic conversations is not unconvincing, one should remember that alternative readings also exist. While Harkness claims that Dees occult discourse is an entirely new and innovative synthesis of various Renaissance theories and practices, Stephen Clucas has recently presented important evidence to establish the relationship between

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Dees ritual practice and the medieval Solomonic tradition (see his paper, John Dees Liber Mysteriorum and the ars notoria which is also cited in Harkness book). From Clucas viewpoint it seems that Dees final intellectual phase devoted to ceremonial magic was a mere recycling of medieval routines. I would not like to take side between the two parties. Both opinions can be argued for, and as I recently suggested elsewhere John Dee was such a versatile and at the same time syncretizing character that one should not be surprised to find parallel or amalgamated trends from seemingly contrary sources in his thought (Sz onyi, Ficinos Talismanic Magic and John Dees Hieroglyphic Monad). While examining the alchemical subtext of Dees diaries, Harkness calls attention to the presence of light-symbolism in them. The source of this might have been Pantheus Voarchadumia contra alchimiam (1530) in which one can observe an attempt to unify alchemy and optics. As is known from Nicholas Clulee, Dee was deeply interested in optical theories and studied medieval authorities such as al-Kindi, Grosseteste, and Roger Bacon. These ideas, mixed with theories of Renaissance magic can be found in his scientific treatises, including the Monas hieroglyphica , as well. Although Harkness does not refer to the papers of Urszula Szulakowska, during the past few years that English art historian has been exploring this specific area. She has now synthesized her findings in a complex and highly intriguing book. While The Alchemy of Light does not concentrate only on John Dee, the English magus is one of the key characters in it. Szulakowskas thesis is that from the mid-sisteenth to the late-seventeenth century, one of the most important metaphysical concepts in Western Europe was that of the divinity and generative power of light. She argues that this can be seen in the church symbolism of the Baroque Counter-Reformation as well as in the theology of Protestant Pietism. The book examines the historical foundations of this light-symbolism, on the one hand, and its relation to scientific and hermetic-magical theories, on the other. The authors particularly valuable methodological approach is that she treats the whole phenomenon as a particular way of cultural representation and interprets it in a semiotic conceptual frame. The first chapter explains the characteristics of occult semiotics, emphasizing that previous studies of Renaissance alchemical imagery have rarely involved a discussion of its semiotic aspects, yet, without such an analysis it is difficult to establish the exact role of visual illustration within a particular context (p. 1). Using Peirces typology of iconic, indexical and symbolic signs, Szulakowska provides a quite complex comparison of visual and verbal expressions of occult notions, suggesting that it would yield more profitable results to regard visual and verbal signs as autonomous dialects of the same

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language, thus requiring different critical approaches (p. 3). Since the visual signs deliver information synchronically while verbal texts do it diachronically, she argues that the written text is more dictatorial towards its interpreter than the visual artefact. Without venturing into more intricate details of the age-old ut pictura poesis debate, we can safely say that by raising these questions, Szulakowska has opened up new interpretive strategies for the understanding of occult symbolism. Not only this books methodology is innovative, but its subject matter as well. No study so far has given such a thorough and at the same time wideranging overview of light-symbolism from the Middle Ages until the late seventeenth century. After the theoretical introduction, the historical chapters discuss the impact of geometry and astrology in late medieval alchemy, the influence of medieval optics on Renaissance alchemy, and on Paracelsus in particular. The latter Szulakowska sees as a specific manifestation of hermetic philosophy. The first part of the book focuses on John Dees alchemy of light, which the author examines primarily in the Monas hieroglyphica and associates with the kabbalah. Dees other important concept in relation to the subject of this book is his treatment of Zographie, which is explained in the Mathematical Preface. Dees Zographie is a speculative concept suitable for synthatizing the mathematics and geometry of Vitruvius and Alberti with the occult philosophy. Szulakowskas conclusion is that the lofty intellectual and spiritual stature awarded by Dee to architecture may have had important consequences for alchemical illustration in the early seventeenth century (p. 75). The hero of the second part of the book is Heinrich Khunrath, whose symbolic alchemical illustrations accompanying his Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae (1595, 1602, 1609) are well known. However, except for Umberto Ecos pioneering study ( Lo strano caso della Hanau, 1609) Szulakowska is the first scholar to have given careful considerations to the layers of the German mystics occult symbolism as well as the intricate intellectual contexts of this work. So far, Khunrath has been seen as an occult hermetic philosopher with a wild imagination; but as Szulakowska convincingly argues, he in fact turned away from Renaissance hermeticism because in terms of his Lutheran pietist convictions he found it too pagan and dangerous. As an alternative, he worked out his Christological alchemy, with its geometric- and light-imagery; however, because of his exalted diction and expression he remained an isolated figure. The last two chapters of this richly illustrated book are devoted to Michael Maiers alchemical geometry of the Sun and Robert Fludds alchemical interpretation of the Eye of God. Since these chapters are not closely related to

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John Dee, their discussion should be left for a different book review. It is worth mentioning, however, that in these chapters the author repeatedly brings up evidence that shows how influential Dee remained for the esoteric writers of the seventeenth century. These pieces of evidence usefully complement the historiographical debate, deriving from the Yates-theses, where much discussion has been devoted to Dees exact role and influence in the complicated story of Renaissance magic. Hkan Hkanssons recent book on Dee and Renaissance occultism likewise demonstrates that the Yates theses and theoretical issues in connection with hermeticism cannot be bypassed even today. His book starts with a thought-provoking conceptual introduction (Understanding early modern occultism. Retrospection and reassessment, pp. 35-73), at the beginning of which the historian situates himself in a system of coordinates opposing but nevertheless anchored to Dame Frances Yates hypotheses:
Taking our own ideological framework as providing universal and natural criteria for understanding reality, historians judged occultism by modern standards of rationality and science and constructed hegemonic accounts of the past accounts in which the sheer difference of the Other was either treated as a mark of inferiority, or suppressed through an act of interpretation that abstracted the aspect most familiar to us and took this as adequately representing the whole of that culture (p. 35-6).

It is almost inevitable that Hkanssons generalizing statement is corroborated by Yates example, as he adds in a footnote: A well-known example of the latter perspective is Frances Yates account of the Hermetic Tradition. As such, her account was essentially based on the rhetorical trope of synecdoche , in which the part is taken as representing the whole (ibid.). No matter what one thinks of this, nowadays obligatory, academic self-positioning (I, in fact, appreciate it and find it stimulating), one has to acknowledge that the rest of the book is an exemplary work of textual research and source analysis. Hkansson has gone back to a great number of Classical and Renaissance sources which are now largely forgotten but were greatly admired by Dee, and especially those which have survived with the Doctors marginalia Iamblichus De mysteriis , Synesius De insomniis, Jacques Gohorys De usu et mysterii notarum liber, Pantheus Voarchadumia , Postels De originibus , Trithemius De septem secundeis , etc.). The author has managed to re-read these texts in a manner that yields a better understanding of the doctors philosophy and the complexities of early modern occultism. From Hkanssons book one can see the direction Dee studies have taken, as they shifted from a science-historical focus to a greater emphasis on theology and the philosophy of language. The books chapters Symbolic Exegesis, Language, and His-

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tory; The Language of Symbols; and The Language of Magic can be read as closely complementary to Deborah Harkness concepts, but offering more thorough (and at the same time somewhat more down to earth) textual analyses. One more book deserves mention among the recent publications on Dee. Benjamin Woolleys biography The Queens Conjuror is rather different from the ones treated above, since Mr. Woolley is not a professional intellectual historian and his work is not closely connected to the academic evolution of Dee-studies. In fact, he does not even mention any of the theoretical and methodological debates summarized above. However, Woolley is a professional historical biographer and his book should be welcomed as the first reliable and still imaginatively written portrait of Dee since the publication of Charlotte Fell Smith in 1909. I am not suggesting that Woolleys book is completely even in its treatment of the Doctors eventful life and versatile activities. As opposed to other biographical summaries, his narrative concentrates on the East-Central European trip of the 1580s, while the account on Dees earlier travels in Western Europe remain somewhat disappointingly sketchy. There are other aspects, however, that are treated with great care and which are not readily available to average intellectual historians interested in Dee. Such are the Marian and Elizabethan historical contexts, the story of Dees cooperation in the North-West Passage explorations, and the account and comparison of how European astronomers and humanists including Tycho Brahe reacted to the comet of 1572. Woolleys biography is characterized by a circumspect and precise use of sources, which makes it a reliable historical monograph. What is more (although this will be of less interest to those specifically interested in the mysteries of occult philosophy), it provides an engaging and enjoyable introduction for those who are to begin their studies in John Dee and early modern magic. As my review has hopefully demonstrated, intellectual historians and scholars of Renaissance esotericism are now in a position to add a substantial segment to their Dee-bookshelf. Bibliography
Calder, I. R. F., John Dee Studied as an English Neo-Platonist (2 vols, unpublished Ph.D. thesis), University of London 1958. Chastel, Andr, La crise de la Renaissance, Geneva: A. Skira 1968. Clucas, Stephen, John Dees Liber mysteriorum and the ars notoria , in Stephen Clucas (ed.), John Dee: Interdisciplinary Approaches, DordrechtBostonLondon: Kluwer 2001. Clulee, Nicholas H., John Dees Natural Philosophy. Between Science and Religion , London: RKP 1988. Eco, Umberto, Lo strano caso della Hanau, 1609 , Milan: Bompiani 1989.

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French, Peter J., John Dee: The World of an Elizabethan Magus , London: RKP 1972. Hauser, Arnold, Der Ursprung der modernen Kunst und Literatur: Die Entwicklung des Manierismus seit der Krise der Renaissance, Munich: Beck 1964. Hocke, Gustav Ren, Manierismus in der Literatur: Sprach-Alchimie und esoterische Kombinationskunst. Hamburg: Rowohlts 1959. Johnson, F.R., Astronomical Thought in Renaissance England , Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 1937. Klaniczay, Tibor, Renaissance und Manierismus. Zum Verhltnis von Gesellschafts-struktur, Poetik und Stil , Berlin: Akademische Verlag 1977. Nauert, Charles, Agrippa and the Crisis of Renaissance Thought , Urbana: The University of Illinois Press 1965. Sherman, William H., The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance , Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press 1995. Smith, Charlotte Fell, John Dee (1527-1608) , London: Constable and Company 1909. Szonyi, Gyrgy Endre, Ficinos Talismanic Magic and John Dees Hieroglyphic Monad, " Cauda Pavonis 20.1 (2001): 1-11. Taylor, E.G.R., Tudor Geography , London: Methuen 1930. Walker, D. P., Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella , London: The Warburg Institute 1958. Yates, Frances A., Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition , London / Chicago: RKP 1964. , The Rosicrucian Enlightenment , London: RKP 1972. , The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age , London: RKP 1979.

Roelof van den Broek & Cis van Heertum (eds.), From Poimandres to Jacob Bhme. Gnosis, Hermetism and the Christian Tradition (Pimander: Texts and Studies published by the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, 4), In de Pelikaan, Amsterdam 2000. ISBN 9071608 107 In diesem Band, der fr seine beraus ansprechende uere Gestaltung bereits einen Preis von den Stiftungen De best verzorgde boeken und Collectieve propaganda voor het Nederlandse boek gewonnen hat, sind die fnf Vortrge enthalten, die anllich des 80. Geburtstages von Gilles Quispel im Mai 1996 in Amsterdam gehalten wurden. Nach einer Einleitung von P. Kingsley Introduction to the Hermetica (S. 17-40) konzentrieren sich die abgedruckten Vortrge hauptschlich auf den hermetischen Logos teleios, der in der lateinischen bersetzung mit dem Titel Asclepius unter Apuleius Werken und in koptischer Fassung in Nag Hammadi Codex VI,8 zugnglich ist: der Herausgeber R. van den Broek behandelt in einer sehr erhellenden Untersuchung die in diesem Text enthaltene Apokalypse (er datiert sie in die Zeit vor Diokletians Regierungsantritt) und ihre Rezeption im 4. Jhd. (S. 97-113), C. Gilly, der Bibliothekar der Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam, widmet sich in einer umfangreichen und gelehrten Studie der Nachwirkung des Asclepius im Mittelalter (335-367). Der Jubilar selbst hat in einer erweiterten Fassung seines Vortrages sich des wichtigen Themas der Reinkarnation und Magie angenommen, wobei von Orphik ber Katharer, Mumienportts, Augustin und Renaissance ein sehr breites Spektrum einbezogen wird (S. 167-231). Einzig J.-P. Mahs Vortrag, der ohne Funoten gedruckt wurde, ist allgemeinerer Natur: La Renaissance et le mirage gyptien (S. 369-384). Zu diesen Originalbeitrgen sind an anderen Orten publizierte Aufstze der Vortragenden (z.T. in leicht vernderter Form) ergnzt worden: von P. Kingsley sein wichtiger Aufsatz zur Etymologie des Namens Poimandres: kritisch zu bemerken wre hier, da bei einer Ableitung von der nicht belegten - geistiges Vermgen des Sonnenkoptischen Verbindung p-eime nte-re - ungewhnlich ist, vgl. Psenpres gottes die Weglassung eines Artikels vor R e Sohn von Re (S. 41-76, zuerst in: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 56, 1993, 1-24) und von R. van den Broek zwei Beitrge: Religious practices in the Hermetic Lodge: New light from Nag Hammadi (S. 77-95, hollndisch in: De hermetische gnosis in de loop der eeuwen , ed. G. Quispel, Baarn 1992, 21994, 9-26, deutsch in: Die hermetische Gnosis im Lauf der Jahrhunderte , ed. G. Quispel, Haarlem und Birnbach 2000) und Hermes and Christ: Pagan Witness to the truth of Christianity, in dem er berzeugend die
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 1

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christliche Rezeption hermetischer Texte in der Antike und im 12. Jhd. gegenberstellt (S. 115-144, hollndisch in: Profetie en godsspraak in de geschiedenis van het christendom , ed. F.G.M. Broeyer & E.M.V.M. Hone, Zoetermeer 1997, 214-237), und von G. Gilly die ebenfalls sehr interessante Abhandlung: Das Bekenntnis zur Gnosis von Paracelsus bis auf die Schler Jacob Bhmes (S. 385-425, zuerst in: De hermetische gnosis in de loop der eeuwen , op.cit., 401-442 und in: Die hermetische Gnosis im Lauf der Jahrhunderte , op. cit., 407-447). Von dem Jubilar G. Quispel sind fnf weitere Aufstze enthalten. Folgende drei Beitrge sind aus den Vigiliae Christianae wieder abgedruckt: Hermes Trismegistus and the Origins of Gnosticism (S. 145-165, Vig. Christ. 46 [1992], 1-19), The original doctrine of Valentinus the Gnostic (S. 233-263, Vig. Christ. 50 [1996], 327-352) und Transformation through Vision in Jewish Gnosticism and the Cologne Mani Codex (S. 265-269, Vig. Christ. 49 [1995], 189-191); neu hinzugekommen sind der sehr eigenwillige, aber anregende, als personal view gekennzeichnete Aufsatz Paul and Gnosis (S. 271-302) und die Untersuchung zur Tabula Smaragdina mit dem Titel: Gnosis and Alchemy, in der er zu beweisen sucht, da die Tabula schon im 4. Jhd. in alexandrinischem Umfeld entstanden sei (S. 303-333). Zu dem ersten Satz der Tafel Was unten ist, ist so wie das, was oben ist, und was oben ist, ist so wie das, was unten ist wrde ich allerdings anstelle des ThomasEvangeliums eher auf Herm. Exc. XXIII, 1 verweisen: So ergibt sich notwendigerweise, da all das, was sich oben befindet, mitgewirkt hat an der schnen Ordnung und vollkommenen Ausstattung der gesamten unteren Natur. Ob dies allerdings einen frhen Entstehungszeitraum beweist, bleibt zweifelhaft. Alle Beitrge teilen die grundstzliche berzeugung, da es in den ersten nachchristlichen Jahrhunderten in gypten Gruppen oder Zirkel (conventicles or Lodges, S. 81) gegeben hat, die, von alter gyptischer Weisheit inspiriert, unter dem Namen des Hermes Trismegistos mystische Lehren verbreiteten und in lebendiger Tradition eine spirituelle Praxis in Form von Hymnen, Gebeten und Initiationen bten (van den Broek, S. 95): The Hermetic texts describe authentic mystical experiences and initiations in the Hermetic mysteries. Die Autoren entwerfen ein idealistisches Bild dieser Gruppen, so z.B. P. Kingsley (S. 34): To the people who produced these texts, thinking was not enough. For them what was essential was to get beyond concepts to the ideas that are capable of transforming and nourishing every aspect of oneself - auch im Hinblick auf unsere Zeit, fr die J.R. Ritman, der Grnder der Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, im Vorwort eine Hermetic Renaissance of the Hermetic-Christian gnosis as a third cultural component next to theology and philosophy sieht (S. 10).

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Leider ist die Grundannahme einer konkreten Realitt hermetischen Lebens nicht unumstritten; nicht ohne Grund wird der grte Kenner der hermetischen Tradition, der franzsische Gelehrte A.-J. Festugire, immer wieder genannt und kritisiert. Dieser sah in der Hermetik im wesentlichen nur ein literarisches Phnomen in Form einer Kompilation populr-philosophischer Topoi und Motive. Als Beweis fr das Gegenteil gilt den Autoren nun vor allem der seit 1971 zugngliche hermetische Traktat ber die Ogdoas und Enneas aus Nag Hammadi (NHC VI,6). In dem Text ist die Beschreibung einer mystischen Vision enthalten. Neu gegenber den aus der mittelalterlichen berlieferung stammenden Hermetica (vor allem CH XIII) sind die magischen Formeln zur Umschreibung des Gottesnamens und die Erwhnung eines Kusses, der mglicherweise (!) als sakramentale Kraftbertragung die geistige Erhhung bewirkt. Die alternative Sichtweise aber, derzufolge der hermetische Autor in literarischer Anspielung an christliche Bruche (heiliger Ku) und theurgische Praxis seinen eigenen Text geformt hat, ohne da ein erlebtes hermetisches Mysterium im Hintergrund steht, scheint mir auch durch den neuen Text nicht eindeutig widerlegt. Ungeachtet der magischen Formeln, die aus der entsprechenden Literatur bernommen sein knnen, besitzen wir nach wie vor keinerlei Dokumente, die es uns erlauben, hinter die Texte zu schauen. Die bis dahin unbekannten magischen Bestandteile legen es vielmehr nahe, da wir mit einer geschichtlichen Entwicklung zu rechnen haben. hnlich wie der Neuplatonismus zwischen Plotin und Jamblich im Hinblick auf magisch-theurgische Praktiken innerhalb von kaum 50 Jahren eine deutliche Vernderung durchgemacht hat, so drfte mit einer analogen Entwicklung innerhalb der hermetischen Literatur zu rechnen sein. Diesem geschichtlichen Aspekt widmen die Beitrge zu wenig Aufmerksamkeit, sondern betrachten die Hermetik im wesentlichen als ein konstantes Phnomen. Dabei darf allerdings nicht unerwhnt bleiben, wie schwierig eine Datierung angesichts der sprlichen ueren Zeugnisse ist (Quispel, S. 185 datiert den Teleios Logos in das erste, zweite oder dritte Jhd. n. Chr.; das wre so, wie wenn man einen neuzeitlichen Text ins 18. oder 20. Jhd. datierte!). Es mu bercksichtigt werden, da zwischen CH I (wahrscheinlich Mitte 2. Jhd. n. Chr.) und NHC VI,6 mindestens 150 Jahre liegen. Die Aufnahme theurgischer Elemente scheint so einer spteren Entwicklung anzugehren, die man auf die Frhzeit der Hermetik m.E. nicht bertragen darf. Insofern mu auch das von den Autoren zu Recht mehrfach angesprochene Verhltnis der sog. philosophisch-theoretischen und praktisch-magischalchemistischen Hermetika mglicherweise im Kontext einer geschichtlichen Entwicklung gesehen werden. Auch nach NHC VI,6 mu vorerst offen bleiben, ob es sich um eine praktizierte Theurgie, die gleichsam protokollarisch

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nachvollzogen wird, oder um rein textliche Bezge handelt, bei denen literarische Erbauung an die Stelle erlebter Mystik tritt (Lesemysterium). Ein wichtiges Argument in diesem Zusammenhang, das in diesem Band leider nicht diskutiert wird, scheint mir die im wesentlichen positive Reaktion der Christen auf Hermes Trismegistos. Htten die Christen (besonders Laktanz und Kyrill) wirklich so unbefangen Hermes als Zeugen ihrer eigenen Gotteslehre und Christologie zitieren knnen, wenn es hermetische Gruppen mit konkurrierender Mission und gewisserweise analoger Gruppenbildung gegeben htte? Htten Christen ein hermetisches Gebet (CH I 31f.) in eine eigene Sammlung (Pap. Berol. 9794) aufnehmen knnen, wenn es in hermetischen Zirkeln tatschlich gesungen oder meditiert worden wre? Es ist anregend und auch mutig, wie entschieden die Autoren des Bandes Position bezogen haben, aber Gewiheit knnen sie angesichts unseres Wissensstandes nicht vermitteln. Ein weiteres Problem scheint mir in der Rckfhrung der Hermetica auf gyptische Ursprnge zu liegen. Geradezu emphatisch schreibt Quispel (S. 216f.): How was it possible, that I needed eighty years before I discovered that the basic tenet of Gnosticism, Encratism, and esoteric Judaism originated in Egyptian magic? And how was it possible that, as far as I know, nobody ever discovered this? No, it is more probable that an inner censor prevented me from noticing what others must have seen lang ago. In any case the magical passwords of Hermetists, Gnostikoi, Valentinians, Encratites, esoteric Jews, and Mandaeans all go back to the Egyptian way of dying. Bestehen nicht zwischen dem hermetischen Aufstieg durch die Himmelssphren und dem gyptischen Totengericht fundamentale Unterschiede? Und was hat man unter den mystery schools of Ancient Egypt (S. 9) zu verstehen? Sind all die unzhligen Parallelen, die hermetische Theoreme in stoischem und mittelplatonischen Gedankengut haben, und die vielen Elemente jdischer Mystik, auf die Quispel erneut hingewiesen hat, vergessen? Bevor die demotischen Bcher des Thot nicht vorliegen, drfte es sinnvoll sein, die Frage offenzuhalten, ob die Hermetica wirklich mehr als ein gyptisches Kolorit enthalten. Was die generelle Einordnung der Hermetik in die sptantike Geistesgeschichte angeht, so gibt es bei den Autoren unterschiedliche Nuancen. Angesichts von M.A. Williams Buch Rethinking Gnosticism (Princeton University Press 1996) ist jeder Gebrauch der Begriffe Gnosis oder Gnostizismus noch problematischer geworden, was nicht bei allen Beitrgern deutlich wird. Insofern wre es auch hilfreicher, Bildungen wie hermetische Gnosis zu meiden, zumal in keinem der hermetischen Texte ein Antagonismus zwischen dem hchsten Gott und dem Schpfergott, der fr Gnosis/Gnostizismus als religise Bewegung charakteristisch ist, behauptet wird. Fr Quispel steht fest, da es (jdische) Gnostiker in Alexandria wa-

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ren, deren Mythos Valentin christianisiert habe und die ihrerseits von den Hermetikern beeinflut seien (haben wir also mit Hermetikern im 1. Jhd. n. Chr. zu rechnen? Die Datierung der herm. Definitionen in das 1. Jhd. v. Chr. ist arbitrr). In diesen alexandrinischen Kreisen sei das Apokryphon des Johannes (= AJ) entstanden. Hierin folgt er im wesentlich der Konstruktion des Irenus, der als Zwischenglied zwischen Simon Magus und Valentin diese sonst nicht fabaren Gnostiker ansetzt. Aber fr Irenus sind diese Gnostiker Christen, keine jdische Sekte. Und wenn es wirklich im Sinne Quispels gelingen sollte, die Gestalt des Christus aus der Rahmenhandlung des Apokryphon als sptere Erweiterung herauszulsen, so scheint mir die fr den Text zentrale Konzeption der Epinoia des Lichtes, die die erlsende Erkenntnis vermittelt, das christlich-gnostische Erlsungsverstndnis vorauszusetzen. Der Autor des Apokryphon mchte m.E. an seiner Interpretation der Genesis zeigen, da das erlsende Handeln Christi bereits im ersten Buch der Bibel angelegt ist. Um die Problematik der Priorittsfrage noch an einem weiteren Detail zu zeigen: Quispel weist auf die Dreiteilung der drei Menschenklassen als Shne von Kain, Abel und Seth, die wir im Apokryphon finden; diese Dreiteilung von Geretteten, Verdammten und einer mittleren Gruppe, die sich bewhren kann, sei letztlich hermetischen Ursprungs (S. 186). Quispel verschweigt aber, da Kain, Abel und Seth im Valentinianer-Bericht des Irenus als Ursprnge der drei Menschenklassen genannt werden (Iren. adv. haer. 1,7,5): nur wenn schon im vorhinein feststeht, in welcher Richtung die Abhngigkeiten bestehen, kann das Motiv als Beweis angefhrt werden. Nimmt man dagegen an, da die Anthropogonie des Apokryphon die valentinianische Lehre voraussetzt, dann fllt das Konstrukt jdischer Gnostiker in Alexandria, die ihrerseits von den Hermetikern beeinflut seien, schnell in sich zusammen. Die besondere Strke des Buches liegt in den dort gesammelten Beobachtungen zur hermetischen Rezeptionsgeschichte. Die kenntnisreichen Beitrge lassen mit stets neuem Erstaunen feststellen, wie wichtig vor allem der lateinische Asclepius fr die europische Geistesgeschichte ist. Insofern darf man den Herausgebern fr die Verffentlichung der hier gesammelten Beitrge danken und den an der Geschichte der hermetischen Erkenntnis und Mystik interessierten Lesern die Lektre empfehlen. Jens Holzhausen

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Claudio Moreschini, Storia dell Ermetismo Cristiano . Brescia: Morcelliana 2000. 408 pp. index. ISBN 88-372-1792-7 Claudio Moreschini holds the Chair in Literature of Late Classical Antiquity at the University of Pisa. He produced a critical edition of the Hermetic Asclepius, which, following established tradition, he added to the works of Apuleius, its alleged translator ( Apulei platonici Madaurensis opera quae supersunt , III: De philosophia libri. Stuttgart and Leipzig 1991). Earlier he published DallAsclepius al Crater Hermetis. Studi sullermetismo tardoantico e rinascimentale , Pisa 1985. The present book fits in with these earlier works. Moreschinis History of Christian Hermetism is a book such as one might expect to read from an expert: it has been written with minute care by someone thoroughly familiar with the literature, yet decisively aware of his limitations. Because of chronological diversity and the existence of technical next to philosophical Hermetica, formulated in various languages each with their own specific textual problems, Hermetism in all its aspects cannot possibly be grasped by a single person. The reader becomes aware of these limitations as he progresses. Although Moreschini repeatedly draws the readers attention to the existence of the technical Hermetica, he leaves their analysis to other experts. It is to be hoped that the researchers following separate threads in the Hermetic labyrinth will draw inspiration from the philological accuracy of Moreschinis outstanding book. In the preface the author begins by classifying Hermetism as a tradition of thought, as an expression of a religious sensibility, and as an attempt to find an answer to mans fundamental problems, what is God, the world, and man himself. He regards it not so much as one of the many philosophies of the world of Antiquity, but as una sapienza (a wisdom, a way of knowing) which had emerged in the Egyptian part of the Roman Empire. In a sense this is the Asclepius in a nutshell. Moreschini is guided by philosophical Hermetism contained in the standard edition of Hermetic texts by Nock and Festugire. Christian Hermetism he defines as this body of Hermetic texts as it was received by Christian authors, starting with the Church Fathers, and to some degree fitted by them into a Christian framework. The Hermetic tradition is the Wirkungsgeschichte of subsequent interpretations and partial assimilations. In chapter one, Origins and authenticity of Hermetism Moreschini discusses the status of contemporary research into the Hermetica, with reference to the by now classical works by Festugire, Mah, Fowden and Copenhaver. In this chapter he also briefly touches on the problematic relationship, already referred to above, between philosophical and technical Hermetica
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(Festugire devoted an intriguing essay to parallels between alchemical texts and the Stobaeus fragment Kore Kosmou, in the latters Hermtisme et mystique paenne [1967]). It is regrettable that Greek alchemy, with texts attributed to Isis, Hermes and Agathodaimon, is not given more attention in this context. The alchemist Zosimos is only mentioned in passing, although he is known to have quoted from the philosophical Hermetica CH I and IV. Apparently this falls outside the spectrum of Christian reception history. In chapter two, Reality and consistency of Christian Hermetism, Moreschini shows how aspects of the philosophical Hermetica were interpreted in a Christian context by the Church Fathers. Until the present day, researchers into the Hermetica largely scanned these texts only for the presence of Hermetic testimonia. Moreschini formulates his perspective with italicized emphasis as lermetismo dei Padri and notes that scholars like Festugire and Fowden hardly focused on Latin Hermetism, and even less on Christian Hermetism. In this chapter he analyzes the work of Lactantius and others, and shows how, in spite of protests by Augustine in De civitate Dei , the road was cleared for Hermes Trismegistus precisely because of a treatise inaccurately attributed to Augustine, Adversus quinque haeresis, in which the renowned Church Father bears testimony to the pagan prophet with an enthusiasm equal to that of Lactantius. Together with the Asclepius, works by Lactantius and pseudo-Augustine [= Quodvultdeus] formed the basis for the philosophical Hermetism of the Middle Ages. In chapter three Moreschini offers an analysis of the Asclepius, which as a result of its emphasis on pietas, human dignity, revelation and salvation of the just, constituted a text which could be interpreted in a Christian sense, demonstrating the presence of God on earth. It is a text which Moreschini ranks with the works by Macrobius or Boethius. Moreschini also mentions the older literature on the Asclepius in the footnotes to this chapter, a bonus for the reader not often found anymore in modern studies. Chapter four, modestly entitled Moments in the presence of Christian Hermetism in medieval culture uses Paolo Lucentinis exemplary studies to discuss the continued influence of the Asclepius in the renaissance of the twelfth century and the rise of apocryphal Hermetica like the Liber viginti et quattuor philosophorum . Although this chapter also devotes some attention to the technical Hermetica, the guiding principle remains that of philosophical Hermetism. As a result, Albertus Magnus is only marginally discussed, even though the importance of De mineralibus can hardly be exaggerated, while the reception of Arabic alchemy is not discussed at all (on page 183 the author erroneously qualifies the Tabula Smaragdina as an astrological text). This is all the more to be regretted as Paul Kraus, in his pioneering research into the

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Arabic alchemist Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Jabir et la science Grecque , 1942), already pointed to the parallels between alchemical ideas concerning the homunculus and the ensouled statues from the Asclepius. Naturally this is not to blame Moreschini. Here I would only like to point to the problematic interwovenness of the philosophical and technical Hermetica, especially within Western alchemy, which has a highly speculative nature and which, judging from the available illustrations, was interpreted in a Christian context. At the end of the fourth chapter the parallels between the doctrine of the Asclepius and Hebrew literature are briefly indicated. Moreschini concludes with the remark that Ficino is in many ways indebted to the canonical Hermetic texts of the Middle Ages, that is the Hermetic texts already known before the rediscovery of the Corpus Hermeticum . In the last chapter he discusses the Hermetic aspects of Ficinos and Lazzarellis works, as Moments in Hermetic Christianity in the Italian Renaissance. Moreschinis minute analysis of Ficinos Hermetism and his Christianizing translation of the Corpus Hermeticum are to my mind unparalleled. It is also nice to see someone pointing out that Ficino did not write a commentary to the works of Hermes. The appendix of this excellent book contains the Latin Asclepius, Lodovico Lazzarellis Crater Hermetis and a previously unpublished poem by Lazzarelli entitled Prometheus. The texts are provided with an Italian translation by Sara Petri. Concise footnotes are added to the Asclepius. For the critical apparatus to the Crater Hermetis the reader is referred to Moreschinis study of 1985. Lazzarelli is in all respects the most radical representative of Christian Hermetism: Pimander in the mind of Hermes is the same as Christ in him (Ipse qui in Hermetis mente Pimander erat, in me Christus Iesus incolatum facere dignatus est, mentemque veritatis lumine illustrans me consolatus est, consolator aeternus [1,2]). Furthermore he literally calls himself Hermeticus : Christianus ego sum et hermeticum simul esse non pudet (4,1). I suggest this self-appellation is unique for someone dedicated to the philosophical Hermetica (not considering here the alchemists, who called themselves the sons of Hermes, as they are traditionally qualified as technical Hermetists). In Storia dell Ermetismo Cristiano , Moreschini follows one of the many ways of Hermes. The author writes in his preface that obviously such a long and arduous road cannot everywhere be trodden with equally constant certainty. It seems to me to be a proper observation: the horizon is too far away, but for those wishing to turn into Moreschinis direction, he is an excellent guide. Frank van Lamoen

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Penelope Gouk, Music, Science and Natural Magic in Seventeenth-Century England , New Haven and London: Yale University Press 1999, 308 pages, ISBN 0-300-07383-6. For the present-day scientist the most startling revelation of the last half of the 20th century was the fact that historys most renowned scientist Sir Isaac Newton was a highly skilled, practising alchemist who had his scientific roots firmly fixed in the richly-fertile soil of hermeticism. This has led of late to his description as the last sorcerer rather than the originator of modern science. More recent surprises have sprung from the demonstration that Newtons contemporary scientists Robert Boyle (of Boyles Law) and Robert Hooke (of Hookes Law), also long regarded as cornerstones of modern science, were both fascinated by and profoundly interested in alchemy and natural magic. As if this were not enough, Penelope Gouks stimulating book on music, science and natural magic in 17th Century England suggests that this semi-magical brew, very importantly, may well have needed the further addition of music to launch modern experimental science. The reader will forgive the reviewers subjective mixing of early modern and futuristic metaphors, perhaps, when he learns that Penelope Gouks stated goal in the opening paragraph of her book (on page 3) is to take the reader, in our computer age, beyond two-dimensional pictures or simple linear narratives so as to provide models of the past that are of ever-increasing complexity, but without loss of clarity. In fact, the structure of the book and its contents are described as experimental (p.3), and the author is clearly acutely aware of the new technologies around us which can reproduce dynamic processes through many dimensions of time and space (p.3). The futuristic ring of this prose is redolent of scientific techno-jargon from mathematics to astrophysics and geology, and from cybernetics, information technology and multidimensionism. It is compounded in the early part of the book by a statement that her contribution to the debate on the interlinking of the apparently disparate disciplines of music, magic and science is to establish a three-way multidimensional nexus (p.20) between these domains. Despite being slightly alarmed by some of this I am happy to report that the book provides an extremely well balanced and erudite account of its subject matter. It is certainly groundbreaking in its structure, which is directly relevant both to the textual content and the overarching hermetic philosophy. The concepts of time and space that are invoked in this historical and cultural study are akin to those familiar to scientists today, especially to astronomers and geologists who deal with concepts of three-dimensional space, with time as the fourth dimension. The influence of natural magic on the origins and development of modern
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science has provided much cause for debate over the last three decades or so and Penelope Gouk enthusiastically injects music as a third party into this discussion. Early in her book she brings forward and analyses previously published ideas from various authors on claims of an early to mid-17 th Century discontinuity between Renaissance and 18 th Century Classical modes of thought. She sees much in the idea that the earlier (Renaissance) culture was a predominantly oral-aural one where most communication and learning occurred by means of the voice and hearing, whereas the transforming replacement culture was a visual one relying mainly on sight and reading. Eventually she concludes that it is more appropriate perhaps to think of an ongoing symbiotic relationship that fluctuates over time (p.15). Thus it is argued that in early modern times, although printing played an important role in shaping peoples thinking and cognition of space and time, equally so did the rapid development of city life (with its creation of new spaces) plus the technical achievements and concepts associated with clock making, navigation and exploration. Also, and of fundamental importance to her thesis, the 16th century onwards saw the expansion of aural experience principally through the development of new musical instruments and affiliated activities which opened up a whole new world of musical experience. I am faintly surprised to find no mention of the birth of opera as a possibly related cause for the discontinuity noted above, and that there is only brief mention of the associated role of the classical myth of Orpheus. This, in turn, reminds me that the book gives only extremely brief treatment of the possibly hidden allegorical links between classical mythology, alchemy, magic and other hermetic topics. Also missing from the discussion, again somewhat surprisingly, is any comment on the use of music as an essential accompaniment to conjuration and the casting of magic spells. The book contains no reference to incantation in the index and only briefly mentions Ficinos magical Orphic songs (it will be recalled that Marsilio Ficino used the Orphic songs to draw down chosen stellar influences in seven planetary steps via music and especially the voice). It is also worth remembering that incantatory magic using oral methods had as a mirror image or counterpart sympathetic magic using visual images, talismans and amulets. This does not accord well with at least one of the books main theses noted above. The book also makes only brief passing reference to the well-known German alchemical physician Michael Maier who in 1617 produced an unusual collection of hermetic three-part fugues. Maier, who had a considerable influence on the speculative philosophy of this particular period in English history via Robert Fludd and Rosicrucianism surely deserves a little more mention. However, these are relatively minor criticisms given the wide sweep of the

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books coverage. Indeed, having introduced the possibility of numerous hitherto neglected correlations between the basic topics of magic, music and science, the author expertly explores the early modern relationships between them in a very erudite but, at the same time, very readable fashion. Thus, while gently informing the reader about the historically changed meanings of words like art, science, magic and occult, she notes that music in the past has been regarded as both a science and an art simply because it comprised both systematic theory and performance. She also points out that in 17th century England music was normally considered as one of the mathematical sciences, most commonly associated with astronomy, geometry and arithmetic. Appropriately enough (and with due hermetic regard for weight, proportion and measure) she divides her three-topic book into three parts covering Geographies, Gallery, and Narratives. The first part of the book traces the disciplinary, social and intellectual Geographies of English music, protoscience and natural magic during the 17th Century. It sets the cultural scene and backdrop for the rest of the book, the second part of which comprises a Gallery of Instruments: music represented (illustrating among other things the performance aspects of music). The third part of the book presents Narratives about musical acoustics, Robert Hooke, and Isaac Newton (covering aspects of music theory, acoustics, and the use of musical models). The author carefully explains that the Gallery section is absolutely central to the book both literally and conceptually. It is presented as a Theatre of Instruments (p.21) (an interesting usage which is redolent of other hermetic theatres). It shows how musical models influenced and changed those of the emerging natural sciences, and why they are presented as the key link between musical, magical and protoscientific practices. She also claims that musical instruments mediate between the social and cognitive levels of experience (p.21). Her placing of images from musical works alongside those from philosophical and mathematical works does indeed clarify why music theory from earliest times provided what were regarded as strong pointers for those who sought to understand and attempt to explain the structure of the universe. Pythagorass musical experiments and the origins of the musical scale are given reasonably detailed treatment as would be expected. We are reminded that in Pythagorean tuning, consonances are limited to the octave, fifth and fourth, and that the other intervals of the diatonic scale were classified as dissonances. Study and measurement of the associated musical scale ratios attracted and encouraged natural philosophers like Newton and Hooke very rapidly to investigate proportions and the monochord. The number of steps of the diatonic scale, made up of 5 whole tones and 2 semitones, together total the magic number 7 which matched the number of known planets and metals (and

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even the number of strings to Orpheuss and Apollos lyre), while the 12 chromatic musical tones were linked to the 12 zodiacal signs. Given the prevailing protoscientific paradigm it is easy to see why Newton concluded that his research on light revealed a spectrum that should be made up of 7 colours, and why Robert Fludds History of the Macrocosm and Microcosm (1617-21) regarded music and the monochord as the key to the architecture of the universe and its cosmic harmony. In conclusion, I find the book to be well written, original in its approach and of immense interest. It explores and reveals the structural linkages and common roots between what most people nowadays would regard as totally distinct and separate areas of knowledge. The book will do great service if it simply reminds todays specialists that there may be common cultural links between their individual subject areas even at the present time. As a brief cauda pavonis to this review, I note the authors observation that both Hooke and Newton placed great value on symmetry when determining the musical scale ratios, and that the ideal scale of both scientists produced an ascending and descending musical type of palindrome. My own observation is that the author herself has constructed her book like a symmetrical scale by presenting the 3 parts of the book noted above and with each part divided into chapters as follows: 3 (Geographies) + 1 (Gallery) + 3 (Narratives) = 7 (palindromic) plus a final and separate single chapter 8 (Epilogue) to make up the octave. She thus presents the contents of her arguments and her book in a musical way, yet one that cleverly recalls similar, number-based constructions commonly used by the hermetic philosophers themselves. Alfred Whittaker

B. J. Gibbons, Spirituality and the Occult from the Renaissance to the Modern Age, London: Routledge 2001. 196 pp. ISBN 041524448X (hbk); 0415244498 (pbk). Although the contemporary academic milieu is ostensibly secularized, normative theological discourse continues to influence the study of religion. Mainstream forms of Christianity are considered to be an obvious part of our cultural heritage, even when they have only been embodied by a small, intellectual elite. The manifold and often quite unorthodox esoteric religiosity that in various guises has been practiced throughout Western history, and continues to hold a considerable fascination for large sections of the population, has been marginalized through the application of various heresiological epi Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 1

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thets. Gibbons book is a timely contribution to an ongoing movement of historical revisionism, in which the relevance of such currents to the emergence of modernity is highlighted. Contrary to a very common misperception of Western esotericism, there are good reasons to assume that such currents have not constituted marginal counter-cultures to the dominant discourse of each time and place, but have been a vital part of Western culture. Gibbons has chosen a thematic approach to support this argument. Eight successive chapters explore the role that esotericism has played in the development of central cultural formations of modernity. The empirical material used to support his thesis is somewhat unevenly distributed over the field. In particular Boehme and the English Behmenists are heavily drawn upon, as is the German Romantic movement. Other strands of esotericism, with an equally valid claim to historical importance, receive a much briefer mention: the mesmerists, the spiritualist movement, Jung and the New Age are some examples. Considering the vastness and complexity of the esoteric corpus, a selective approach such as this is no doubt the most prudent course. The chapter entitled Nature in occult thought deals with a central facet of much of Western esotericism: the focus on the concept of a living nature as an element of speculation at a time when most mainstream cosmologies placed a near-exclusive emphasis on reflecting on God and his relationship with the human being. Esoteric attention to nature, however, was rarely an interest in the created world for its own sake. For many, the ultimate goal was to glimpse the non-empirical world that was believed to lie beyond nature. Science, magic and the occult reviews the connections between esotericism and the scientific world-view. Gibbons provides his readers with an overview of this complex and contentious topic, not least the rise and fall of the so-called Yates thesis. His cautious conclusion, well justified e.g. in view of the popularity of New Age syncretisms between religion and quantum mechanics, is that the rise of scientific positivism was not inherently inimical to a magico-mystical world-view (p. 52). Two chapters deal with esoteric conceptions of the body, of illness and health. In contrast with much mainstream theological discourse, which radically distinguished between the spiritual and the corporeal, many esotericists have formulated concepts of spiritual subtle bodies and corporeal spiritual beings. The mind in occult thought deals with the psychological doctrines underlying large sectors of Western esotericism. Many varieties of esoteric thought have distinguished between rationality and the intuitive faculties, insisting that only the latter give true insight. Given that this insight is held to confirm the esoteric belief system, there are suggestive ideological implications of this

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dichotomy. This chapter also explores the belief that products of the imagination can change either the imagining subjects themselves or the world in which they live. The section Occultism and analytical psychology emphasizes the esoteric roots of various schools of contemporary psychology. The case of Jung is of course particularly apt in discussing how esotericism has entered the societal mainstream. The esoteric influence on Freud is, however, perhaps not given the emphasis it deserves. David Bakans argument to the effect that Freuds thought was influenced by the kabbala is presented and dismissed as speculative. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the more direct historical link between the mesmerist movement and the birth of psychoanalysis is not discussed. One thinks of the paradigmatic case study by Breuer and Freud of Anna O, who in the tradition of numerous mesmerized patients prescribed her own cure while immersed in a trance-like state. And although Wilhelm Fliess is mentioned as an example of a psychologist with roots in the occult, his considerable influence on Freuds ideas is not explored. The final chapter offers a window onto one of the striking sociological characteristic of esoteric movements: the fact that so many of them attracted highly educated middle or upper class people. As Gibbons rightly remarks, such currents provide compelling counter-evidence to various deprivation theories of religious affiliation. Rather, deprivation theories themselves are to an extent formed by an underlying normative stance, the belief that it is so irrational to wish to adhere to any unorthodox religious perspective that the only explanation must be that the believer is afflicted with some grave defect. Instead, Gibbons proposes the outlines of a quite plausible Weberian analysis, in terms of which esotericism is an example of a mysticism of innerworldly fulfillment. Gibbons attempt to point at the historical relevance of Western esotericism is to be commended for the fairness of its scholarship. Spirituality and the Occult steers a course that studiously avoids both the staunchly modernist interpretation of the occult as a repository of stagnant irrationalism and the apologetic approach that would overestimate the importance of esotericism in the development of modern thought. Gibbons presentation is erudite; the pages of this compact text are filled with references that interested readers will wish to follow up. The problems that one can have with this volume are didactic rather than factual. Considering the obvious broad appeal of a reasonably priced volume with a title such as Spirituality and the Occult , it is to be expected that it will find an audience well beyond the narrow circle of specialists on Western esotericism. For this broader audience, Gibbons book presents a number of tricky issues.

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As a historically oriented writer, Gibbons is naturally aware of the specificity of the various currents and writers he mentions. Nonetheless, one stumbles across questionable generalizations. The claim that the underlying principles of magical practice are identical to those of occult thought in general (p. 1) is worrisome considering the problematic status of both of the central terms of this quote. Recurrent references throughout the text to the occult philosophy in the singular are not particularly helpful, especially in the light of contrary remarks to the effect that it is indeed misleading to speak of a single occult philosophy (e.g. on pp. 4, 14, 17). Specialists will of course balance such seemingly contradictory claims against their knowledge of the subject; the general reader may come away with a sentiment of unresolved puzzlement. Doubly problematic is the claim that the occult philosophy can be reduced to a single principle, namely the concept of correspondences (p. 7). Besides reinforcing an essentialist reading of Gibbons terminology, such a definition of esotericism would exclude currents generally included by current scholarship. Mesmers quasi-mechanistic concept of animal magnetism would be edited out of the corpus of esotericism, as would quite a few other post-Enlightenment forms of esotericism, from much spiritualist literature to considerable sectors of New Age religion. There is a concomitant risk of slipping into a kind of Eliadean essentialism. If theories of correspondence are the defining characteristic of occult philosophy, it becomes tempting to view pre-modern forms of esotericism as canonical and later developments as deviating from that standard. Gibbons very occasionally slips into this kind of normative language. He refers to certain modern forms of occultism as ill-digested, muddled, vulgarised (pp. 15 f.) or consisting of woolly metaphysical speculations (p. 18). Such subjective valuebased statements seem out of place in an otherwise scholarly survey of Western esotericism, and are all the more surprising considering Gibbons otherwise quite balanced appraisals. Finally, Gibbons decision to privilege thematic similarities over a presentation in chronological order places particular demands on the background knowledge of the reader. Gibbons text moves effortlessly from one century, country and current to another. Thus, the first few pages of the chapter Nature and occult thought refer to Boehme, William Law, Paracelsus, Philalethes, Thomas Vaughan, Dutoit-Membrini, Restif de la Bretonne, Charles Fourier, Saint-George de Marsais, Bathilde dOrlans, Francis Mercury van Helmont, Anne Conway, George Cheyne, McGregor Mathers and others. Some of these individuals are in the text situated in time and place, whereas many are not. To the specialist on Western esotericism, most if not all of these names will be

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familiar; other readers would certainly have profited from a minimum of contextualization. Simply adding the year of birth and death after the names would have facilitated the reading. Such didactic problems are usually detected and corrected in the editorial process, and one can only regret that this was not done with Gibbons book. These remarks aside, Spirituality and the Occult is a finely crafted volume, which provides a fascinating window onto an underexplored current of Western thought. The scope of Gibbons argument and the range of material he adduces make this a valuable addition to the growing literature. Olav Hammer

Xavier Accart, LErmite de Duqqi: Ren Gunon en marge des milieux francophones gyptiens, Arch: Milan 2001. 325 pp, 30 B&W photographs. ISBN 88-7252-227-7. The writings of the French philosopher and metaphysician Ren Gunon (1886-1951) gave rise to a movement generally referred to as Traditionalism but sometimes called Gunonianism. Traditionalism is today best known in France, but can also be found in many other European countries (including Russia), in the United States, and in the Islamic world. Traditionalism has taken political forms, but is essentially a spiritual and religious movement, most frequently finding Islamic or Masonic expression. Its origins lie in Gunons combination of the Western esoteric tradition with aspects of Hinduism, and of both with anti-modernism. There is as yet no good general history of the Traditionalist movement available in English, though William Quinns The Only Tradition (Albany 1997) is an admirable survey of Traditionalism from a doctrinal point of view. The present reviewer hopes to complete an introduction to the movement (as opposed to the doctrine) in the near future. Many works have however been published on various aspects of Traditionalism, often in French, of which Xavier Accarts LErmite de Duqqi is one. Like many of these other works, it will be of interest to all those already familiar with Gunon and his work. The beginner, however, will not find it very rewarding. Gunon emigrated to Egypt in 1930 at the age of 44, after a series of disasters had in the space of a few years destroyed his personal and professional life in France. During his 21 years in Cairo he wrote, and published in Paris, a number of important books and many articles (though his most important work preceded his departure for Egypt), and conducted a voluminous correspond Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 1

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ence. Little is however known of the details of Gunons life in Cairo, save that he lived there as a Muslim, married an Egyptian, adopted a somewhat antiquated version of the customs of his new country, and acquired Egyptian nationality shortly before his death in 1951 in the Cairene district of Dokki [Duqqi]. Gunons years in Cairo matter, if only because Gunon is commonly claimed as a Muslim by his Muslim followers, and as a metaphysician above individual religions by many of his non-Muslim followers. There is also the intriguing paradox that Gunon, a Muslim in Egypt, continued to write for European audiences, mostly about Hinduism and Masonry. Unfortunately, Cairo remains terra incognita for most writers on Gunon, many of whose accounts are as a result tinged with the fabulous. One of the standard early biographies, La vie simple de Ren Gunon , written by Gunons publisher Paul Chacornac and published in Paris in 1958, covers Gunons life up to his departure from France well, but is sketchy when dealing with Cairo. Accarts book avoids the fabulous and throws some new light on various questions, but does not resolve them. At its heart is a collection of some 40 articles and 15 other pieces that appeared in the Egyptian Francophone press over the three years following Gunons death, presented chronologically as a Dossier de Presse (pp. 75-236). These articles document the sudden discovery by Cairos Francophone community that a celebrity had been living next door, and the consequent formation of a short-lived Association des Amis de Ren Gunon. Unfortunately, nearly all of these newly discovered Friends of Gunon were familiar more with the work than the man, and in many cases had never met him at all. With the notable exception of Valentine de Saint-Point, a French convert to Islam who had moved to Cairo before Gunons arrival and remained in regular contact with him throughout, most of those new Friends who did know Gunon personally knew him only in his last years, and then not very well. They tend to portray him as a saint with diaphanous skin, an impression that Saint-Point attempted to correct. Gunon emerges elsewhere as a chain smoker who at sunset broke the Ramadan fast in Gallic more than Egyptian style, with a coffee and a cigarette. The diaphanous skin was probably a sign of the ill-health that was soon to kill him. The assembled articles contain much of interest for the researcher, but many readers will find them repetitive, and at times excessively lyrical. They are sometimes clearly inaccurate, and tend to overstate Gunons importance, sometimes ridiculously. This is understandable: Gunon was after all the only possible global figure that Egypts French community could claim (even though he had never seen himself as part of that community), and as a convert to Islam he was evidently seen by some as a possible bridge between the

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French community and an Egyptian environment which was becoming increasingly hostile after the Revolution of 1952. This hope was to be disappointed, based as it was on an erroneous understanding of the nature of the 1952 Revolution, and Gunon in contemporary Egypt is almost entirely unknown. There were at the time few who had any interest in disputing even the most inflated claims made for Gunons significance. Such claims for the global importance of a relatively obscure local figure are characteristic of the provincial press, and the Egyptian foreign-language press of the time (English as well as French, and also Italian and Greek) was in many ways a provincial press, representing small communities which thought themselves important but were in fact marginal to the events of the time. LErmite de Duqqi does not, then, solve the mysteries surrounding Gunons years in Cairo, but it is doubtful that these mysteries can ever be solved. Most of those who knew Gunon are now either dead or too old and ill to be of much help to the historian. Of those who are still active, the most important witness is probably Martin Lings, the English Muslim writer who was Gunons secretary during his last years, and one of two men who attended Gunons burial. According to Lings, Gunon revealed little of himself even to his familiars, and Lings has never claimed to have known the private Gunon well. As well as the Dossier de Presse, LErmite de Duqqi contains two introductory articles, one by Daniel Lanon and one by Accart, some miscellaneous correspondence (pp. 239-49), and four further articles dealing with Gunon in Cairo, two reprinted from elsewhere, and two appearing for the first time, one by Thierry Zarcone and the other by Accart. Of these, the articles by Accart and Zarcone are most interesting, and Zarcones article (Le cheikh al-Azhar Abd al-Halim Mahmud et Ren Gunon, pp. 267-86) is probably the definitive treatment of the relationship between Gunon and his most important contemporary Muslim admirer. Mark Sedgwick

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Archaeus: tudes dHistoire des Religions (Eugen Ciurtin et Andrei Timotin, d.), 1997-2000. Association Roumaine dHistoire des Religions. ISSN 14535165. Huit fascicules en quatre volumes publis entre 1997-2000 (1: 1-2 (1997), 207 pp.; 2: 1 (1998), 247 pp.; 2: 2 (1998) et 3: 1 (1999), 505 pp. [un seul volume]; 3:1 (1999), 280pp.; 4: 1-2 (2000), 531 pp. Depuis 1997, deux jeunes chercheurs roumains publient la premire revue roumaine de lpoque post-communiste consacre ltude de lhistoire des religions. Il y eut, avant la guerre, la revue Zalmoxis, dite par Eliade durant la priode 1938-1942; les diteurs de cette deuxime entendent en faire explicitement rfrence, mais marquer aussi leur diffrence. Quelques contributions sont consacres lhistoire de lsotrisme, plus particulirement lhistoire de lalchimie occidentale. Les trois premires livraisons, semestrielles, sont publis en romain avec un rsum en franais. Depuis le tome IV, sorti en 2000, tous les textes sont publis dans une langue de circulation internationale, ce qui devrait faciliter leur rception par les milieux savants. Les diteurs affichent aussi lambition de transformer cette publication dans une revue trimestrielle, annoncent la publication prochaine de deux revues plus spcialises (Studia Indo-Europaea et Studia Asiatica), dune collection de livres dhistoire des religions, Supplementa Archaeus, et la cration de la Bibliothque de lAssociation Roumaine dHistoire des Religions. Les quatre livraisons dont nous disposons sont assez clectiques. On y trouve des tudes de smantique religieuse dans la droite ligne de ltymologie philosophique de Heidegger, comme ltude qui ouvre le premier fascicule (E. Ciurtin, Les cartographies de lopportunit. 1re partie: le rgime temporel, Archaeus 1: 1 [1997], 7-61). Il sagit dune analyse comparative des termes ksara, kairos, fortuna comme reprsentations de lopportunit dans les mondes indien, grec et romain, texte qui fait partie dune (annonce) tude sur les reprsentations religieuses concernant le temps. On doit B. Tataru-Cazaban une tude sur lemploi du terme acedia chez Evagre le Pontique (B. TataruCazaban, Acdia. Notes sur limaginaire rmitique, Archaeus 2: 2 [1998], 175-210). A. Timotin publie un tude de linguistique historique sur linfluence du christianisme dans la formation de la langue roumaine (A. Timotin, Le palochristianisme carpato-danubien, Archaeus 2: 2 [1998], 43-172). Quelques tudes de morphologie du sacr sont publies dans la premire livraison: la premire retrace lhistoire de la notion de daimon, sujet qui a passionn des nombreux chercheurs, de Hild Detienne (A. Timotin, Le problme de la dmonologie grecque, Archaeus 1: 1 [1997], 63-123) et une autre celle du labyrinthe mdival (B. Tataru-Cazaban, Lexil mdival du labyrinthe. Hypothses hermneutiques, Archaeus 1: 1 [1997], 25-145). E. Ciurtin
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 1

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consacre dailleurs une tude au Trait dEliade, qui fut probablement la contribution la plus importante cette orientation (E. Ciurtin, Mircea Eliade: La postrit du Trait de lHistoire des Religions (1949-1999), Archaeus 3: 2 [1999], 175-207). On peut trouver aussi quelques travaux qui appartiennent davantage lethnologie, comme la belle tude dAndrei Oisteanu (un spcialiste reconnu) sur la lgende du Dluge chez les Roumains (A. Oisteanu, The Romanian Legend of the Flood, Archaeus 4 [2000], 69-103) et une tude comparative sur la clbre lgende roumaine de lagnelle voyante (Eliade ltudia lui aussi dans son temps). Lauteur met en lumire les points communs de cette lgnde avec celle de la Vierge et conclut sur un fond commun archaque de la Mre qui cherche son fils (A. Timotin, La tradition pique sud-est europenne. I. Carmina pastoralia; II. Les lgendes roumaines de la Mre de Dieu, Archaeus 3:2 [1999], 5-76). Les tudes iraniennes sont illustres par les contributions de Dan Slusanschi, qui donne une premire traduction commente en roumain de deux fragments des Gathas (D. Slusanschi, Gathas (Yasna 29 et 45). Traduction et commentaire courant, Archaeus 3: 2 [1999], 157-173) et de Mihaela Timus, qui propose une lecture de linterprtation dumzilienne de leschatologie iranienne (M. Timus, Un problme de leschatologie iranienne: Daena , Archaeus 4: 1-2 [2000], 183-209). Un article danthropologie religieuse nous semble particulirement abouti: il sagit de ltude des manifestations de saintet dans le monde byzantin et de leurs retombes dans les manifestation du pouvoir dans le monde moderne (P. Guran, La lgitimation du pouvoir princier dans les hagiographies slavo-byzantines (XIe-XIVe sicles), Archaeus 4: 1-2, 243-324). La dernire livraison contient galement une tude sur le gnosticisme et son interprtation existentialiste par Hans Jonas, suivie par un interview avec celui-ci ralis deux reprises (en 1975 et 1980) par le regrett I. P. Couliano (I. P. Culianu, Etudes dhistoire des religions et crits posthumes (Ire partie): I. Linterpretazione esistenzialista della gnosi; II. Interview with Hans Jonas, Archaeus 4: 1-2 [2000], 13-67). Les tudes dhistoire de lsotrisme sont reprsentes par trois contributions concernant lhistoire de lalchimie. La premire tude, due Cristina Neagu, prend le risque de proposer un lien possible entre Melchior Cibinensis et lvque transylvan Nicolaus Olahus, qui ft pour un certain temps Rgent de Hongrie (C. Neagu, The Processus Sub Forma Missae : Christian Alchemy, Identity and Identification, Archaeus 4: 1-2 [2000], 105-117). Le point de dpart est le Dictionnaire de thologie catholique contenant lexpos des doctrines de la thologie catholique, leurs preuves et leur histoire, de A.

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Vacant, E. Mangenot et E. Amann (Paris 1930, t. XI, 960-961), qui affirme quun recueil de textes alchimiques intitul Musaeum Hermeticum , publi Francfort en 1525, contiendrait un trait intitul Processus Universalis , sign par un certain Nicolaus Melchior, qui ne serait que le pseudonyme de Nicolaus Olahus. Neagu commence par observer que le recueil en question a vu le jour non en 1525, mais en 1625 (il sagit de la fameuse dition de Lucas Jennis), et que celui-ci ne contient aucune trace dun texte intitul Processus Universalis . Lauteur souligne que le seul texte connu attribu Nicolaus Melchior ( Processus Sub Forma Missae ) se trouve dans le troisime tome de la premire dition du Theatrum Chemicum (1602, ed. Zetzner). Cest ce texte qui ft cit par Borelius dans sa Bibliotheca Chemica de 1656, et cest partir de lui que Maier va tracer le portrait de lalchimiste dans son Symbola Aureae Mensae (1617). Mais, souligne Neagu, Maier disposait vraisemblablement dinformations plus prcises, car il trace le portrait dun clerc ayant une stature dhomme politique, proccup par la menace de linvasion ottomane, ce qui ft prcisment Olahus, originaire de la ville de Sibiu (en latin, Cibinium ), lequel pouvait ainsi arborer le nom de Nicolaus Olahus Cibinensis. Le fait que Melchior soit un transylvanien originaire de Sibiu, souligne Neagu, rend improbable son identification avec le chapelain Nicolaus Melchior Szebeni, propose par C. G. Jung. Toutes ces concidences rendent lhypothse de Neagu sinon probable, au moins plausible. Mais on a davantage du mal suivre lauteur dans ses considrations sur lalchimie comme mouvement religieux (p. 114). Un autre texte consacr lhistoire de lalchimie est sign par E. Ciurtin (E. Ciurtin, Lhistoire et le dclin de lalchimie europenne (XVIe-XVIIIe sicles): typologies, racines, frontires (Ire partie), Archaeus 4: 1-2 [2000], 119151). Ce texte fait suite un autre du mme auteur (Notes dalchimie tardive: J. Becher, D. Mylius, Paracelsus, Archaeus 2: 1 [1998], 83-118, que nous ne connaissons malheureusement pas). La qualit trs mdiocre de la traduction franaise nous retient de le commenter plus en dtail. Il faut cependant noter que lauteur parat tre tent plutt par une histoire de lalchimie tout court (il affirme dailleurs la p. 126, et le rpte la p. 148 quune recherche systmatique approfondie du phnomne alchimique europen nexiste pas encore, en ignorant visiblement les nombreux travaux consacrs ce sujet) que par le sujet plus cibl annonc par le titre de son tude. Le texte est aussi entach de gnralisations outrancires et dinadvertances (quelques exemples la p. 136: lutilisation du corpus platonicien nest nullement un signe du dclin de lalchimie, bien au contraire; nutrix ejus terra est vient de la Tabula Smaragdina , Maier ne fait que citer ce texte clbre dans lAtalanta Fugiens). Dune manire gnrale, on peut regretter la traduction trop souvent imprcise des textes, ainsi que limprcision de certains textes eux-mmes, ce qui

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rend leur lecture parfois difficile. Aussi la publication de numros thmatiques serait-elle peut-tre envisageable. Malgr ces imperfections, la parution dune telle publication dans un pays priv pendant un demi-sicle de la circulation normale du savoir scientifique doit tre encourage et soutenue; on peut esprer que des contributions dues dautres chercheurs du monde acadmique viendront enrichir la publication roumaine. Il faut noter le courage des diteurs dans un milieu qui manque cruellement de spcialistes et aussi de bibliothques. La tradition de la recherche roumaine dans le domaine de lhistoire des religions, laquelle se rfre incessamment Eliade, Couliano et quelques autres, assez peu nombreux au demeurant, a t brutalement interrompue avec loccupation communiste et devra se reconstruire avec tnacit et patience. Nanmoins, sur ce terrain encore si vierge en Roumanie, une telle entreprise ne peut que susciter ladmiration. Lenthousiasme dont ces chercheurs font preuve parat bien de nature surmonter maints obstacles. Radu Dragan

RECENT AND UPCOMING CONGRESSES

Aries aspires to keep its readers informed about recent and upcoming congresses relevant to the study of western esotericism; but for this, the editors are dependent on the information they receive. Readers are therefore invited to send Congress Programs as well as Calls for Papers and announcements of upcoming congresses to the editorial address, if possible in electronic form. In doing so, please take into account that Aries is published in the months of January and July, and that copy must have reached the editors five months in advance (i.e. August 1 and February 1 resp.).

Les Fous dAmour dans la littrature mdivale europenne et proche-orientale (org.: Claire Kappler, UPRESA 8092), Paris (France), 29-31 March 2001. Papers: Leo Carruthers, La sainte folie: Margerie Kaempe, mystique ou malade?; Eve Pierunek-Feuillebois, La folie amoureuse dans loeuvre du pote persan Sani; Layla Khalifa, La folie damour selon Ibn Arabi; Meryem Sebti, Avicenne, ou lloge de la raison; Charles-Henri de Fouchcour, Le narcisse qui rend fou dans la posie de Hfez; Suzanne Thiolier-Mjean, Les troubadours: Fous du monde et fous de Dieu; Dominique de Courcelles, La folie damour chez Raymond Lulle, le Phantasticus; Michael Barry, Majnun et Franois dAssises, trouvres damour; Eric Phalippou, Le Fou damour et la femme noire: ce que les contes dOrient et dOccident disent de la possession; Vincent Droche, Les saints fous Byzance; Jean-Marie Fritz, Fous de Dieu et Fous damour dans la littrature franaise mdival: continuit ou discontinuit?; Dominique Demartini-Franzini, Folie damour, folie de mots dans le Tristan en prose; David Williams, Fou damour, Sage damour: saint Paul et sainte Thcle dans les Actes apocryphes; Leyli Anvar-Chenderoff, Lamour de Majnun pour Leyli: folie ou sagesse?; Paul Ballanfat, Lamour et litinraire spirituel chez Najm od-dn Kobr; Claire Kappler, La Zuleikh de Jmi, ou comment une folle damour devient matre spirituel; Mireille Sguy, Yvain et Lancelot la limite: la folie damour dans le Chevalier au lion et le Chevalier la charrette; Fabienne Pomel, Lcho ou le masque: le fou damour dans la logique du double et la crise de la communication (Narcisse, Tristan, Lancelot); Catherine Guimbard, I fedeli damore: une mystrieuse secte?; Brigitte Saouma, Aimer sans mesure: le thme de lme pouse chez Bernard de Clairvaux; Alain Sainte-Marie, Lamour qui fait aimer lamour dans Le Nuage de linconnaissance (XIVe s.); Pierre Lory, Paradoxes des fous en Dieu dans la mystique musulmane mdivale; Christoph Brgel, Amour et folie aux dbuts de lIslam; Manijeh Nouri-Ortega, Lenchantement, la stupfaction: miroirs de la folie damour dans la littrature persane.
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 1

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Information: phone:. (+33) 01-40462511 or (+33) 01-45414626 or (+33) 0388610797. The Spiritual Supermarket. Religious Pluralism and Globalisation in the 21st Century: the Expanding European Union and Beyond (org.: INFORM, CESNUR, ISAR and others), London (England), 19-22 April 2001. Papers included: Christopher Nugent, Thomas Merton and the Globalisation of Religion: Under these trees, not others; Lloyd Steffen, On the Ethical Challenge of Spiritual Diversity; Heinz Streib, The Religious Experimenter: A New Type of Religious Socialisation, Conversion and Deconversion; Douglas Ezzy, The Commodification of Witchcraft; Agita Misane, Priestesses of Fire: The Latvian Neo-Paganism in Cultural Context; Sylvain Imbs, The Concept of Angels: from Early Christianism and Gnosticism to Post New Age; Gary Lachman, Pop Spirituality; Ciaran OKeefe, Spiritualism Today & Yesterday; Jean-Claude Pascal, Gnosis and Regeneration; Sophia Wellbeloved, Changes in G.I. Gurdjieffs Teaching The Work; Galina Krylova, Controversies about the Church of Scientology in Russia. Legal Methods of Defence of the Right for Freedom of Religion; Edith Franke, I am the Goddess The Construction of Religious Identity in the Context of Contemporary Feminist Spirituality; Melissa Harrington, Organic Religion; the changing nature of Modern Pagan Witchcraft; Reender Kranenborg, Neopaganism and the New Age; Shelly Rabinovitch, Continental Drift: Differences in Practice and Identity in a Modern Neo-Pagan Religion; Michael York, Selling Nature in the Spiritual Supermarket; Stef Aupers, Revenge of the Machines: About Modernity, (New) Technology and Animism; Leila Amaral, The Summoning of Happiness: the Tragic Dimension of the New Age Healing Rituals; Elizabeth Puttick, Publishing the New Age: Religion and Spirituality in the Media; Steven J. Sutcliffe, Children of the New Age: the Evangelical Roots of the Findhorn Community; Amir Albert Hanna, Oriental Orthodoxy and The New Age; Dick Houtman, Why do the Churches become empty, while New Age grows?; Barbara Potrata, Slovenian New Agers and Gift-giving; Nurit Zaidman, Consumption of Religious Goods in Israel, Two Cases of Private Religion: The New Age and Traditional Pilgrimage; Dorthe Refslund Christensen, Scientology and Postmodernism; Peter Edge, Descriptive not Prescriptive: Stigmatised Marginal Religious Movements from a Legal Perspective; J. Gordon Melton, A Contemporary Ordered Religious Community: The Sea Organization; Silas Guerriero, The Divinatory Consultations in Modernity: The Mystic Fair in Sao Paulo Brazil; Peter R. Koenig, The MacDonaldisation of Occulture; Yuri Stoyanov, The Modern Revival of the Enochic Tradition and its Role in the Religious Pluralism of the 21th

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Century; John Walliss, The Lost Aisle: Selling Atlantis in the Spiritual Supermarket; Justin Woodman, The Alien and the Uncertain: Posthuman Selves within Lovecraftian Magick; Constance A. Jones, New Religious Movements and Traditionalist Thought; Jane Williams-Hogan, The Challenges and Opportunities of the Changing Religious Marketplace for New Religions: The Swedenborgian Case. Information: http://www.cesnur.org/conferences/london2001_prg.htm Faust, ou les frontires du savoir (org.: Laurant Van Eynde, Sminaire interdisciplinaire de recherches littraires) Brussels (Belgium), 16-18 May 2001. Papers: Jean-Marie Valentin, Le diable, le savoir, le salut dans lhistoire du Dr Faust de 1587; Frdric Peyr, Les ombres dAgrippa ou le savoir renomm, propos de Doctor Faustus de Marlowe; Jean-Claude Dupas, Prospero et la tentation faustienne; Franoise Bonardel, Faust et lsotrisme; Franois Ost, Le pacte faustien: convention, pari ou dfi?; Jean-Pol Madou, Tristan, Don Juan et Faust: vers une dfinition du mythe littraire et musical; Martin Bollacher, Si enfin je pouvais connatre tout ce que le monde cache en lui-mme : le drame du savant dans le Faust I de Goethe; Jean Lacoste, Faust et la question de la technique; Maurice Elie, Formes et forces dans le Second Faust de Goethe; Raphal Clis, Le Faust de Chamisso; Grard Schneilin, Lesthtisation du Weltschmerz comme problme dramaturgique. A propos du Don Juan et Faust de Grabbe; Ernst Leonardy, Le Faust de Lenau; Michel Brix, Nerval et le mythe de Faust; Muriel Lazzarini-Dossin, La mort du Docteur Faust de Gheiderode: une pice tragique?; Tanguy Log, Faust chez Claudel et Valry; Constantino Maeder, Quelques images de Faust dans la littrature italienne; Laurant Van Eynde, Joseph et Leverkhn: figures de Faust dans loeuvre de Thomas Mann; Nele Paxinou, Pourquoi un Faust de plus? Information: Laurent Van Eynde. Phone: (+32) 085 616149; fax: (+32) 02 2117997; e-mail: vaneynde.schulz@swing.be The Masonic Legacy as Myth and Reality (org.: Margaret Jacob, UCLA, and Paolo Fabbri, University of Bologna), Los Angeles (USA), 8-9 June 2001. Papers: Margaret Jacob, Freemasonry and Government: The Political Meaning of Civil Society in Eighteenth Century Europe; Vincenzo Ferrone, New Republicanism and Rights of Men in the Italian Lodges at the End of the Eighteenth Century; Steven C. Bullock, Publishing Masonry: Print, Publicity, and the Early American Fraternity; Gian Mario Gazzaniga, From Private Societies to Secret Societies: Freemasonry in the Struggle for the Rights of Freedom; Robert Beachy, The Secular German Confession: Freemasonry

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and the Problem of Civil Society in Central Europe; Barbara Mazza Boccazzi, Masonic Symbology in the Gardens of Veneto from the Eighteenth to the Nineteenth Century; Piero Del Negro, Carlo Goldoni and Venetian Freemasonry; Paolo Fabbri, Deciphering a Masonic Icon; Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire, The Masonic Cosmopolitan Brotherhood and the Scenarios of the Conspiracy Theory in the Eighteenth Through the Twentieth Centuries; Helena Rosenblatt, Benjamin Constant (1767-1830): Mason or anti-Mason?. Information: UCLA Center for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Studies office, 310 Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles CA 90095 USA. Phone: (+1) 0310-2068552; e-mail: c1718cs@humnet.ucla.edu The Engelsberg Seminar 2001. The Future of Religion (org.: Kurt Almqvist), Avesta/Engelsberg (Sweden), 15-17 July 2001. Papers included: Paul Heelas, The Sacralization of Life; Erik Davis, Techgnosis: The Incarnation of Ideas; Antoine Faivre, Western Esoteric Currents of this Turn of the Century. Continuity and New Perspectives; Gilles Quispel, Gnosis and the Future of Christianity: A Historical Survey; Elaine H. Pagels, The Gnostic Approach to Religion; Massimo Introvigne, The New Religions in Practise. Information: Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation, Stureplan 3, 1073 75 Stockholm, Sweden. Phone: (+46) 08-7885000, fax: (+46) 08-7885010, http:/ /www.axsonjohnsonfoundation.org/media/pdf/theengelsbergseminar2001.pdf Autour de luvre de Frances A. Yates (1899-1981): Du rveil de la tradition hermtique la naissance de la sciencemoderne (org.: Association pour la Recherche et lInformation sur lsotrisme, en collaboration avec cole Pratique des Hautes tudes, section des Sciences Religieuses, Paris & Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici, Napoli), 28-29 September 2001. Papers: Antoine Faivre, Expos Introductif; Allison P. Coudert, Remembering Frances Yates; Wouter J. Hanegraaff, La fin de la tradition hermtique; Stphane Toussaint, Marsile Ficin et les Sciences? Anciens paradigmes, nouvelles approches; Jean-Pierre Brach, Entre Agrippa et Fludd: Lvolution de la symbolique des nombres selon F.A. Yates; Roland Edighoffer, Lux nova: Les Rose-Croix vus par Frances A. Yates; Hilary Gatti, La Renaissance hermtique de Frances Yates: Problmes et perspectives; Paola Zambelli, Magie et hermtisme daprs F.A. Yates; Hlne Vedrine, Linterpretation de la cosmologie de Bruno selon F.A. Yates. Information: Marco Pasi, 285 Rue Saint-Jacques, F-75005 Paris, France. Tel. +33 (0) 140510898. Email: marco.pasi@wanadoo.fr

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The Hermetic Imagination in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (org. Center for 17th and 18th Century Studies, University of California, Los Angeles), 5-6 October 2001. Papers: Hans Erich Bdeker, only true natural philosophers can maintain incontrovertably that they know nature in its totality: Hermetic Arguments of Georg Foster; Allison P. Coudert, Hermeticism and the German Romantics; Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Swedenborg in Oetingers Hermetic Imagination; Didier Kahn, Austria Hermetica: Paracelsianism, Alchemy, and Diplomacy in the Context of the Peace of Westphalia; Bruce T. Moran, Paracelsus, Paracelsianism, and the Imagination: Fear, Loathing and the Construction of a Category; Helena Rosenblatt, The Enlightened Theosophy of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin; Teofilo F. Ruiz, Echoes of the Hermetic Tradition in Early Modern Spain; Michael Stausberg, The Chaldean Oracles and the Hermetic Imagination; Daniel Stolzenberg, Obelisks, Arabs, and the Corpus Hermeticum: Athanasius Kirchers Hermes Trismegistus; Gary Tomlinson, The Afterlife of Hermetic Song: Vicos New Science ; Robert S. Westman, Commentary. Seventh Annual SSMR Regional Conference. The Metaphysical Tradition & Its Movements (org.: James A. Santucci), 26-27 October 2001. Papers: James Santucci, Understanding the History of Theosophy; Jerry Hejda-Ekins, The Path to the Masters: Annie Besants Esoteric School; Shinichi Yoshinaga, Modern Occultism and Japanese Religions; Brett Foray, An Occult Civil War: Conflict in the Theosophical Society between East and West after H.P. Blavatsky. Information: James A. Santucci, Department of Comparative Religion, P.O. Box 6868, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834-6868, USA, e-mail: jsantucci@fullerton.edu American Academy of Religion: Annual Meeting. Consultation Western Esotericism from the Early Modern Period. Western Esotericism: Personalities and Current Research (org.: James A. Santucci), Adams Mark Hotel, Denver, CO (USA), 18 November 2001. Papers: Jane Williams-Hogan, The Heavenly Secrets of Genesis according to Pico della Mirandola and Emanuel Swedenborg: A Comparative Analysis; Rouslan Elistratov, Daniel Adreev and His Place in Western Esotericism: Some Implications for Clarifying the Relationship between Esotericism and the Apocalyptic Genre; Jean-Pierre Laurant, Esotericism and Tradition according to Ren Gunon (1886-1951): the Function of the Writer; M. Temple Richmond, Current Research and Educational Efforts in the Woldwide Community of Alice Baily Students.

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Information: James A. Santucci, Dept. of Comparative Religion, California State University, Fullerton, P.O. Box 6868, Fullerton, CA 92834-6868, USA, e-mail: jsantucci@fullerton.edu Convegno internazionale di studi La tradizione ermetica dal mondo tardoantico alluamnesimo , Naples (Italy), 21-24 November 2001. Provisional program: J.-P. Mah, Thorie et praxis: de lAsclepius aux discours sur la rgnration; P. Lucentini, La dottrina del male nell Asclepius; F. Paparella, La metafora del circolo tra Proclo e il Liber viginti quattuor philosophorum; M.D. Delp, The Cosmology of the De sex rerum principiis; I. Parri, Tempo ed eternit nellAsclepius e nel pensiero medievale; D. Porreca, La rception dHerms Trismgiste par Alain de Lille et ses contemporains; A. Palazzo, Le fonti ermetiche nel De summo bono di Ulrico di Strasburgo; A. Sannino, Il concette ermetico di natura in Bertoldo di Moosburg; P. Arf, Ermete Trismegisto e Nicola Cusano; M. Thurner, La definizione ermetica delluomo come secundus deus nel De beryllo di Nicola Cusano; C. Baffioni, Il Liber de quattuor confectionibus e la tradizione araba; C. Burnett, Arabic Hermetic sources of Adelard of Baths Liber prestigiorum Thebidis secundum Ptolomeum et Hermetem; M. Pappacena, La figura di Ermete Trismegisto nella tradizione araba; A. Straface, Simbolismo ermetico et letteratura religiosa sciita; P. Travaglia, Una interpretazione dell Asclepius nella Agricoltura Nabatea; P. Kunitzsch, Origin and history of Liber de stellis beibeniis; V. Perrone Compagni, I testi magici di Ermete; S. Page, Hermetic Magic Texts in Medieval English Monasteries; C. Gilly, La Summa magicae de Berengarius Ganellus; N. Weill-Parot, Arnaud de Villeneuve, Antonio da Montolmo et les imagines hermtiques; M. Idel, Hermetic tradition and Jewish Kaballah; I. Zatelli, Hermes-Enoch nella tradizione ermetica; F. Lelli, Tradizione e testi dellermetismo ebraico; D. Jacquart, Le De urina non visa attribu Herms; M. Pereira, Lalchimia ermetica e i Septem Tracatus; T. Katinis, Luso delle imagines nel Consilio contro la Pestilenza di Marsilio Ficino; S. Matton, Herms Trismgiste dans la littrature alchemique mdivale; V. Segre Rutz, Gli erbari di Ermete; G. Uliyanov, Hermes Trismegist in Russia: Origin, Influence, Iconography; I. Caiazzo, J.M. Mandosio, La Tabula smaragdina e i suoi commentari medievali; F. DallAglio, Magia e astrologia in Neceta Coniate; C. Pennuto, La formazione ermetica di Marsilio Ficino tra filosofia e medicina; B. Lang, On 15th century magical handbooks from Krakw; A. Russo, Linsegnamento di Ermete negli scritti degli Alawiyyn. Information: Paolo Lucentini, Via G.C. Vanini 28, 50129 Firenze (Italy).

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CONGRESSES

Phone/fax: (+39) 055-488638, e-mail: lucentini@unifi.it or Pasquale Arf, Via Vecchia Comunale 79G, 80126 Napoli (Italy). Phone: (+39) 0817266391, e-mail: parfe@iuo.it or Antonella Sannino, Via V. Bellini 33, 80040 Pollena Trocchia (NA) (Italy). Phone: (+39) 081-5312661, fax: (+39) 0818972666, e-mail: antosanni@hotmail.com The 3rd interdisciplinary John Dee Colloquium (org.: Jan Bcklund and Jacob Wamberg, University of Aarhus, Denmark), Aarhus (Denmark), 6-7 December 2001 . No information on paper titles was available at the time of printing. Information: Jan Bcklund, Center for Cultural Research, University of Aarhus, Finlandsgade 28, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark, tel.: (+45) 89424484 or 89424464, fax: (+45) 86108228, e-mail: kultjb@hum.au.dk and Jacob Wamberg, Department of Art History, University of Aarhus, Langelandsgade 139, Aarhus (Denmark). E-mail: kunjw@hum.au.dk International Conference Art and Alchemy (org.: Jan Backlund and Jacob Wamberg, University of Aarhus, Denmark), Aarhus (Denmark), 7-9.12-2001. No information on paper titles was available at the time of printing. Information: Jan Bcklund, Center for Cultural Research, University of Aarhus, Finlandsgade 28, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark, tel.: (+45) 89424484 or 89424464, fax: (+45) 86108228, e-mail: kultjb@hum.au.dk and Jacob Wamberg, Department of Art History, University of Aarhus, Langelandsgade 139, Aarhus (Denmark), e-mail: kunjw@hum.au.dk

ELIE ARTISTE, OU LE MESSIE DES PHILOSOPHES DE LA NATURE (premire partie*) ANTOINE FAIVRE
Introduction 1. Paracelse et cet Helias, qui viendra 2. Cet Helias qui peut-tre est dj l, ou les premiers paracelsiens. 3. LHelias Tertius des Rose-Croix et des thosophes. 4. Artis Salia et Artis Elias entre utopie messianique et mythe scularis. 5. Du Matre cach au Nouveau Cyrus, ou les faces contrastes de lIlluminisme. 6. Ange de la Rose-Croix et Matre de lArt Royal, ou Elie Artiste dans le courant occultiste. 7. De la chane invisible larchtype constell, ou rsurgences et permanences contemporaines. Considrations gnrales. Bibliographie

Introduction Si les figures messianiques ne constituent pas une caractristique des courants sotriques occidentaux modernes, certaines y sont pourtant prsentes. Personnages rels, comme au 16me sicle Guillaume Postel et sa Mre Jeanne. Ou encore, fictifs comme Herms Trismgiste ou Elie Artiste. En celui-ci on a vu une sorte de messie dont la fonction serait de rvler aux philosophes, cest--dire aux alchimistes, aux chercheurs en sciences de la Nature, les ultimes secrets des vrits de celle-ci et de la vie. Il ne semble avoir inspir aucune grande uvre littraire, mais il nen constitue pas moins ( linstar du Trismgiste) ce quon appelle une figure mythique, savoir un personnage imaginaire qui apparat un moment donn, pour connatre des priodes de succs, se transformer au cours du temps en passant par des adaptations, des transmutations, voire tre mis en sommeil ou tomber dans loubli. Au dbut du 17me sicle ce mythe est dj assez rpandu. Gabriel Naud, bibliothcaire, et mdecin personnel de Louis XIII, fait en 1623 une remarque significative: Postel qui avoit lesprit trop ambitieux pour rien tenir dun autre, voyant que Paracelse avoit produit un Hlie, mit en jeu sa Mre Jeanne1. A vrai
* La seconde partie de cet article paratra dans Aries 3:1 (2003). 1 Naud, Instructions la France, 42. Naud peut dautant plus facilement penser Postel, que celui-ci stait donn lui-mme le nom dElie, comme il apparat dans la manire dont il signe sa Panthenousia (1547): Elias Pandochaeus. Cf. Secret, Kabbalistes chrtiens, 303, qui conteste nanmoins le bien-fond de cette remarque de Naud. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 2

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dire, Postel naurait pas eu besoin de recourir supposer mme quil let voulu un crit de Paracelse pour sinspirer de cet Elie dont le nom circulait dans cette seconde moiti du 16me sicle. De fait, cest chez Theophrast Bombast von Hohenheim, dit Paracelse, quElie Artiste fait sa premire apparition. Pour suivre sa trace jusqu lpoque actuelle, des incursions dans les courants sotriques sont ncessaires. Lenqute ne peut qutre instructive; elle nous fait revisiter des textes, nous incite les situer dans leurs contextes. Une telle tude a dj t entreprise, dabord par Walter Pagel en 1981 2, ensuite de faon plus approfondie par Herbert Breger en 1984 3. Le prsent travail a pour objet, dune part, de revenir autant possible quelques unes de leurs sources afin de les complter sur certains points; dautre part, de prolonger jusqu lpoque actuelle lenqute que le second a mene jusquau dbut du 18me sicle principalement4. 1. Paracelse et cet Helias, qui viendra Elie Artiste, n laube des temps modernes, prend place parmi les figures inspires par lElie de la Bible. Selon lAncien Testament, Elie viendra clairer ce qui est obscur. A linstar dEnoch il nest pas mort mais a t enlev au ciel (II Rois, 2,1). Son retour sur terre a t prdit (Mal., 3, 23). Le Nouveau Testament le montre rendant avec Mose tmoignage du Messie transfigur (Matt., 17, 1-8) et annonce son retour avec le Christ la fin des temps ( Apoc., 11, 36). Nulle part la Bible ne dit quil est appel apporter des rvlations sur les mystres de la Nature, et il semble quil faille attendre Paracelse pour voir cette ide apparatre. On a pens que le nom dElie a pu tre inspir Paracelse par le fait quun Franciscain alchimiste, compagnon et successeur de saint Franois dAssise, sappelait Elie de Cortone. De fait, un Miroir dAlchimie prsente le moine Hlias comme son auteur5. En outre, un document
2 Pagel, The Paracelsian Elias artista. Comme le remarque justement Breger, cette tude est assez succinte: Pagels description is very well-informed but obviously forgoes entirety and gives no information on the Elias tradition (Breger, Elias Artista, 67 nt 1). 3 Breger, Elias Artista. 4 Avant Pagel et Breger, deux historiens avaient fourni quelques indications bibliographiques intressantes; il sagit de Kopp, Die Alchemie (cf. I, 250-252, la rubrique Elias in der Alchemie), et de Peuckert, surtout dans Pansophie (cf. 34-38, la rubriqueElias der Artista). A ces travaux nous renverrons plusieurs fois infra . Curieusement, et comme le relve justement Breger (Elias Artista, 67 nt 1), Thorndike dans sa History of Magic ne fournit pas dinformations y relatives. 5 Cf. Pagel, The Paracelsian Elias artista, 9 s, qui commente Speculum Alchymiae Heliae Monachi Franciscani, imprim compltement pour la premire fois dans Opuscula quaedem chemica, Francfort 1614; reproduit pour lessentiel dans Arnaldi de Villanova Speculum alchimiae liber, Francfort 1603, et repris ensuite dans Theatrum Chemicum, t. IV, 1613, o l

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espagnol du 15me sicle laisserait entendre que le Messie attendu serait, selon certains Juifs, une sorte dalchimiste; il sagit des actes dun procs posthume intent en 1491 un certain Fernando de Madrid, Juif converti dpendant de larchevch de cette ville. Daprs un tmoin chrtien qui sexprime quinze ans plus tt, cest--dire vers 1476, avant sa conversion Fernando aurait fait une prdiction sur el ante cristo (lAnt-Christ), lequel apporterait un jour de lle de Palos une pierre philosophale capable de transformer en argent une barre de fer pose sur elle, et en or une barre dacier; alors locan rvlerait ses trsors6. Aussi bien la Kabbale juive avait-t-elle fait elle aussi grand cas dElie, pourvoyeur de rvlations. Elle pourrait donc avoir, Breger le suppose, exerc une influence directe sur linvention du personnage dElie Artiste7. Mais cest bien avec Paracelse que le mythe surgit tel quen lui-mme il perdurera. Paracelse connat manifestement Elie, et en quelques autres personnages de la Bible il se plat reconnatre des mages, des kabbalistes 8. Luimme se considrait volontiers comme un nouvel Elie 9 Il crit dans son ouvrage De Mineralibus:
Mais il est bien vrai que beaucoup de choses sont encore caches dans la terre, que je ne connais pas et dont dautres nont pas non plus connaissance. Car ce que je sais bien, cest que Dieu fera paratre encore beaucoup de merveilles qui nont jamais paru jusqu prsent, nont pas t rvles; des merveilles dont nous tous navons encore rien su. Tant il est vrai que rien nest cach qui ne doive tre manifest. Cest pourquoi quelquun viendra aprs moi dont la magnificence na pas encore pris vie mais qui ouvrira ces choses 10.

Ici, Paracelse se prsente en quelque sorte comme le Jean-Baptiste dun nouveau Messie qui viendrait parachever luvre du premier. Il nous annonce ce
aussi le Speculum est attribu Arnauld de Villeneuve; mais toutes les versions nattribuent pas le texte Helias, le moine franciscain. Carlos Gilly pense juste raison sans doute que le nom de ce moine franciscain na pas eu dincidence sur lintrt de Paracelse pour Elie (cf. Gilly, Johann Arndt, 63). Sur Elie de Cortone, cf. en outre Perifano, Deux sonnets alchimiques, 385-388 (Richard Caron a attir mon attention sur cet article). 6 Patai, The Jewish Alchemists, 263. 7 Breger, Elias Artista, 51. 8 Cf. par exemple Philosophia sagax,II, 3,4. 9 Sur Paracelse se voyant comme un novus Elias, cf. Khlmann & Telle, Der Frhparace lsismus, 466. 10 Paracelse, De Mineralibus liber , in Smtliche Werke, Abt. I, t. III, 46 (pagination originale en marge, VIII, 348; et pour le contexte, cf. surtout 19-63): das ist aber wol war, das in der erden noch vil ligt, das ich nit weiss; es habens auch andre kein wissen. dan das weiss ich wol, das got noch vil seltsams wird an tag legen, das noch bisher nie gelegt ist worden und offenbaret, darvon wir alle noch nie gewisst haben, das ist noch auch war, nichts ist verborgen, das nit offenbar werd, darumb so wird nach mir kommen, des (magnal) noch nicht lebt und es ofnen.

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que le contexte du passage rend au demeurant vident, savoir la venue dun Sauveur qui par la chimie oprera des merveilles. Dans ce premier texte il ne lui donne pas encore un nom propre, mais il le fait dans un texte ultrieur ( Von den natrlichen Dingen ), crit vers 1525, et cela propos des proprits de lhuile vitriolique:
Transformer du fer en cuivre, ce nest pas aller jusqu transformer du fer en or. Cest ainsi que Dieu laisse se manifester les choses moindres. Ce quil y a de plus important est encore cach, jusqu larrive dHelias, qui viendra, car les Arts ont leur Helias, de mme que dautres domaines ont le leur11.

Le mot Artista associ Elie napparat quen 1570, dans lcrit pseudpigraphique (pseudo-paracelsien) De tinctura physicorum (crit peuttre en 1568), o on lit:
Ces arcanes par la vertu desquels seffectue la transmutation sont plus nombreux encore, quoique connus de peu de gens. Et lorsque Dieu les rvle quelquun, ce nest pas pour que partout il aille ensuite en chanter les louanges et les venter. En effet, le Dieu tout puissant, en mme temps quil lui fait don de cet Art, lui confre aussi la sagesse de le tenir cach au regard des autres hommes, jusqu larrive dElie Artiste, car cest alors que ce qui est cach sera rvl 12.
De Mineralibus, ch. 8, in Abt. I, 16; cit, inter alia , par Peuckert, Das Rosenkreutz, 145: Eisen in Kupfer zu machen ist nicht so vil, als eisen in golt zu machen. Darumb das weniger lesst got offenbar werden, das merer ist noch verborgen bis auf die zeit der kmt Helias, so er kommen wird, dan die knst haben gleich so wol Heliam, als sonst zu versten ist.Cf. aussi Von den natrlichen Dingen , d. Huser (in Paracelse, Bcher und Schrifften [d. Huser], Tl, Kap. 8 Vom Vitriol), 198:Dann es ist nicht minder/ viel Knst sindt vns verhalten (= vorenthalten)/ darumb/ das wir Gott nicht gefellig seind/ dieselbigen vns zu erffnen. Nuhn aber Eisen in Kuppfer zu machen/ist nicht so viel/ als Eisen in Gold zu machen: Darumb/ das weniger [= das Geringere, qualitativ Mindere, weniger Schwierige] lest Gott offenbar werden/ das mehrer ist noch verborgen/ biss auff die zeit der Knst Helias, so er kommen wirdt. Comme le note Carlos Gilly, ce que Paracelse veut dire ici, cest deux choses. Dabord, que la transmutation est encore impossible (et lui-mme ntait pas un faiseur dor; Joachim Telle la montr); ensuite, quune transmutation en or ne pourrait tre effectue quaprs larrive du prophte Elie (Gilly, Johann Arndt, 63). 12 Paracelse, Libellus de tinctura phisicorum, in: Smtliche Werke (d. Sudhoff), Abt. I, t. XIV, cap. IV, 396 (pagination originale en marge: VI, 370); pour le contexte, cf. 391-399. Voici le texte avec ce qui le prcde et le suit directement: [] such deinen Lwen im aufgang und deinen Adler gegen mittag zu unserm frgenommen werk, so wirstu besser werkzeug nit finden, als Ungern und Istria vermag. Aber begerestu es von der unitet per dualitatem in trinitatem mit gleich messiger ietlichs abwechslung zu bringen, so musstu deinen weg nach mittag richten, so wirstu in Cypern aller deiner bitt gewert werden, darvon nit weiter zu reden ist, wie eigentlich ietzt gemelt. dan diser arcanorum, welche die transformationes geben, sind noch mer, wiewol wenigen bekant, und ob sie schon einem von got erffnet werden, so bricht doch der rum der kunst nit also von stund an herfr, sondern der almechtig gibt im auch den verstant gleich mit, die selbigen andern zu verhalten bis auf die zukunft Heliaeartistae, da das verborgen wirdt offenbar werden, also sehent ir scheinbarlich; wiewol sich nit gebrt darvon zu reden und etwan spottweis mcht aufgenomen werden, dan das in igne sulphuris ein grosse wunderbarliche
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2. Cet Helias qui peut-tre est dj l, ou les premiers paracelsiens. Il ne sagit l que de quelques notations, et il net pas t inconcevable quelles restassent presque inaperues. Elles taient pourtant appeles connatre une fortune singulire, toutefois pas avant que les uvres de Paracelse ne fussent vraiment connues, savoir la fin du 16 sicle, quand on commena traduire systmatiquement ses ouvrages. Ce nest donc pas un hasard si le premier ou lun des tout premiers exhiber au 16me sicle le nom de ce Messie dun type nouveau est Grard Dorn, disciple, commentateur et diteur de Paracelse. Dorn est aussi un des auteurs les plus marquants de lalchimie de son poque et son uvre prfigure ce qui va bientt apparatre sous la forme du courant de pense thosophique. Lui aussi attend comme son matre larrive dElie Artiste, moment o rien de ce qui est cach ne manquera dtre rvl13. A la mme poque, en 1570, lalchimiste Alexander von Suchten crit propos des nombreux livres de magie connus, que leur sens reste cach jusqu la venue dHelias, lequel en fournira lexplication 14. Au cours de cette mme anne le texte pseudpigraphique cit plus haut, De tinctura physicorum , est rimprim et ne connat pas moins de quatre ditions, dont une en latin. Le mdecin Adam von Bodenstein, ardent dfenseur de la mdecine spagyrique, fait figure de principal pionnier en matire ddition de textes paracelsiens ds la premire phase de leur rception. Sous le signe de la venue eschatologique dElie Artiste il se dfinit lui-mme comme le premier repr-

tinctur gemmarum ligt, die die edlen gestien hher dan die natur treiben kan, von ir selbs bringt [...]. Sur le caractre pseudpigraphique de cet crit, cf. Sudhoff, Versuch einer Kritik der Paracelsichen Schriften , in Paracelse, Smtliche Werke, I, nr. 330. Variante, in XIV, 396: Also haben die Magi viel Bcher davon [= von der Transmutation ] geschrieben/ und ein jeder nach seines Hertzen Lust dasselbige tractiert/ wir haben der Bcher viel, seind gemein worden. Aber ihr Innhalt bleibet verborgen/ so lang biss Helias Artista kompt/ und dieselbigen ausslegt. Dans ldition Huser, cf. T. l, section 6, 370. Ce texte a t plusieurs fois rimprim, entre 1540 et 1574. Il a t traduit en latin, en anglais, en tchque. Dans Philosophia Sagax ce nest pas Elijah, mais Elisha Heliseu qui dj domine la scne, comme personnage capable dactions surnaturelles; cf. notamment Pagel, The Paracelsian Elias artista, 8. 13 [] usque in adventum Heliae Artistae quo tempore nihil tam occcultum quod non revelabitur. De transmutatione metallorum, in: Theatrum Chemicum, t. I, Strasbourg 1602, 610; et 662: Quandam non ita arduum est opus atque ferrum in aurum transmutare, Deus minora palam vult fieri prius, maiora tantis per occulta manere donec Heliae artis adveniat: habent enim artes omnes quaeque suum peculiarem, ut in aliis intelligendum). Cf. aussi Breger, Elias Artista , 69 nt 40. 14 [] sed eorum sententia occulte manet, donec Helias veniat, et eos nobis explicet. In Alexander von Suchten, De secretis antimonii , dition de Ble 1570, ch. III, 22. Cf. aussi, du mme auteur, Mysteria gemina antimonii , 1570 (rdition 1604, cf. 92, cit par Breger, Elias Artista , 69 nt 41).

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sentant acadmique, le premier assecla 15 de lEcole paracelsienne et se considre dtenteur de rvlation, celui grce qui saccomplit la prophtie de Paracelse relative au grand tournant appel seffectuer dans lhistoire des sciences 16 . En 1571 il crit lArchiduc dAutriche Ferdinand II, dont lintrt pour lalchimie est connu, une lettre dont le dbut souligne la ralit de ces accomplissements, mais laisse entendre aussi quun certain courage est ncessaire pour lire Paracelse et pour lditer. Il crit en effet que les discours de Paracelse/Elie artiste en matire de mdecine, de mtaux et de toute philosophie, pendant sa vie terrestre, se ralisent de plus en plus malgr leur comprhension rendue difficile par son style affreux, qui obscurcit non seulement la lettre, mais aussi le contenu proprement dit17 . Le tournant du sicle inaugure une srie de spculations illumines consacres Elie, notamment dans les milieux rforms, surtout partir de 1588 qui voit paratre le Prognosticon theologicum (crit vers 1580), dAdam Nachenmoser, lequel prvoit pour 1590 la venue dun rformateur dot du spiritus Eliae18. Cest aussi lpoque o les livres de labb calabrais Joachim de Fiore font lobjet de nombreuses ditions. Spculations caractre eschatologique et rveries millnaristes trouvent un interprte dautorit en la personne de Johann Kepler lui-mme. Ayant constat en 1604 lapparition dune toile nouvelle dans un trigone astrologique de Feu cest--dire, form par les trois signes du zodiaque Blier, Lion, Sagittaire , il publie Prague, en 1606, le trait De Stella nova in pede serpentarii , o il prdit un renouvellement des luttes religieuses et des cataclysmes qui seraient le prlude dune seconde Rforme. Le moment se montre propice galement lapparition dun courant sotrique nouveau, le rosicrucisme, li lui aussi ce climat dattente dune rnovation spirituelle. Il nest pas surprenant que la littrature alchimique sinspire souvent, et continuera jusquaujourdhui sinspirer, du mythe
Cest--dire le disciple ( assecla est driv de adsequor). Khlmann & Telle, Der Frhparacelsismus, 19. 17 [] dieweil Aureoli Paracelsi/ Heliae artiste lucubrationes in re medica/ metallica/ ja aller philosophia/ wie ers in seinem jrdischen leben geweissaget/ fein ein andern nach offenbaret werden/ wol aber etwann von wenigern in solchen sachen/ verstendigern/ die dann vonn wegen des hartlesslichen schreibens Theophrasti nicht allein den buchstaben/ sondern den rechten innhalt verdunckeln vnnd obscurieren thun/ [ ]. Lettre du 24 dcembre 1571, in: Khlmann & Telle, Der Frhparacelsismus, 460. Ferdinand II possdait sa propre cuisine alchimique (seine eigene chemische Kche), cf. ibid., 458. Citons encore le cas de M. Toxites, lequel espre en la venue dun Elie Artiste qui viendra tout expliquer (der alles erklren werde), comme il le dit dans un texte de 1574 adress au compte palatin Ludwig, le futur Prince Electeur Ludwig VI (in: Bernardus Trevisanus, Von der Hermetischen Philosophia , Strasbourg 1574, cit par Klmann & Telle, Der Frhparacelsismus, 465). 18 Nachenmoser, Prognosticon, 111-112. Cf.aussi ce propos Peuckert, Das Rosenkreutz, 35-36.
15 16

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rosicrucien, elle qui a dj adopt, du moins titre de rfrence emblmatique, cet Elie Artiste introduit par Paracelse. Un auteur anonyme dit stre rendu en Silsie au cours de lanne 1597 afin dy rendre visite Johann Montanus, disciple et diteur de Paracelse. Vingt ans plus tard, en 1617, il crira ce propos:
Mtant rendu en lan de grce 1597 en Silsie, mon premier soin fut de rendre visite Johann Montanus []. La conversation tomba sur Helias Artista, et je demandai ( Montanus) sil croyait que lHelias dont parle Theophraste (Paracelse) vivait encore, celui dont on pouvait esprer le rtablissement de toutes les sciences et de tous les arts, particulirement de la mdecine et de la chimie. Il me donna sans dtour son avis et prtendit dun air digne de confiance que non seulement cet Helias au sujet duquel avait prophtis Paracelse tait encore en vie, mais quencore cette restauration ne devait plus beaucoup se faire attendre. Mais il ne ma pas fourni dexplications quant la question de savoir si ctait dun seul homme, ou de plusieurs personnes unies dans ce but, quil fallait attendre une telle restauration 19.

19 Qvum in Silesiam venissem anno communis aerae Christianorum 1597, nihil mihi potius fuit, quam ut hominem Johannem Montanum Strigoniensem convenirem, & celebri hominis permotus fama, & maxim quod illa Theophrasti Hohenheimensis scripta, quae medicinam tractantibus maxime usui esse judicabam, ex illus Bibliothec in publicum prodiisse perspicerem. Ab illo autem humaniter acceptus adventus causam exposui. Quumque multi hinc inde jactarentur sermones, ad Heliae Artistae mentionem tandem delati, interrogavi existimaretn in vivis esse Heliam illum Theophrastum, quo omnium scientiarum & artium, maxim vero Chemiae & medicinae restitutio speraretur? Liberius hic suam sententiam professus, asseveranter dixit, & in vivis esse Heliam illum, de quo Theophrastus talia vaticinatur, nec adeo diu illam restitutionem expectandam; sed utrum ab uno aliquo viro, an unanimi plurium consensu facienda esset illa restitutio olam me habuit. Multa autem insuper addidit divinus ille vir, quae ne in aurem quidem susurrre licet, nisi illius, qui ad ultimam sui abnegationem adnititur. Et quamvis injuria quorundam inceptum meum frustra esset, quod medicinae relictis studiis aliam vitae viam inire coactus sum: tamen quantum victus, & professionis meae ratio pateretur, omni animi impetu in rerum cognitionem ferebar: & si quid subsidii aut ex scriptis aliorum, aut propriis conatibus nanciscebar, eo omnia referebam. In Epistola Fratris Rogerii Baconis, pitre ddicatoire adresse aux Frres de la Rose-Croix, en introduction au trait attribu Roger Bacon, De secretis operibus et naturae, et de nullitate magiae, in: Theatrum Chemicum , dition de 1659, T. V, 834-835. Cette dition de De secretis a t reproduite, avec lptre de lanonyme, dans la Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa dite par Jean Jacob Manget (Genve, 1702, t. I, cf. 616-616 pour lptre). Dautre part, cette ptre figure en allemand chez Peuckert, in Pansophia , 427-428 nt1, et in Peuckert, Das Rosenkreutz, 146-148, qui la reproduisent daprs ldition allemande Von den geheimen Wirkungen der Kunst und Natur und Nichtigkeit der Magie , Hof, bei Joh. Gottfr. Vierling, 1776 ( cf. Peuckert , Pansophie , 62 et 427). On peut supposer que Johann Montanus, qui cet auteur anonyme qui signe P. S., selon le texte allemand dit par Peuckert a rendu visite, est soit Johann Sulteus Montanus, Silsien qui rassembla des manuscrits de Paracelse et fut le professeur de Johann Huser qui les dita en 1589, soit Johannes Baptista de Vrone, auteur douvrages mdicaux. Sur ce point, cf. aussi Thorndike, History of Magic VI, 224 nt 67, qui penche pour la seconde interprtation.

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Puis le narrateur raconte comment il a abandonn ensuite la mdecine officielle et a eu loccasion de tomber sur le livre Helia Artista dHeliophilus a Percis (cf. infra), ainsi quen 1616 sur les deux Manifestes rosicruciens, publications propos desquelles il ajoute: Me revint alors lesprit ce que Montanus mavait dit. Jesprai quenfin le Christ, qui par les prdications de Luther avait rtabli la vraie religion, aurait piti du malheur des hommes, et hterait aussi cette restauration dans les sciences et dans tout ce qui concerne la vie, et les conduirait la perfection20. De fait, partir de 1606 les rfrences Elie Artiste commencent se multiplier. Cet anne-l voit la parution de ce qui est sans doute le premier texte imprim dans le titre duquel figure ce nom. Il sagit dune dissertation, intitule Disquisitio de Helia artium [] , de Raphael Eglin Iconius (auteur qui signe aussi Heliophilus a Percis)21, calviniste, professeur de thologie Zurich puis Marbourg, mdecin paracelsien, alchimiste la cour du Landgrave Moritz de Hesse-Kassel. Cest lun des hommes ayant particip la publication des deux Manifestes rosicruciens 22. La Disquisitio a pour objet de dfen20 Post aliquot annos, apparuit sub nomine Heliophili Percis disquisitio quaedam de Heli Artist [ ]. Anno 1616 amici cujusdam ope aspexi Famam fraternitatis cum adnexa confessione. Tum demum rediit mihi in mentem dictorum Montani, tum demum sperabam fore, ut quam restitutionem Christus olim incepti in religione per praedicationem Lutheri, eam humanae conditonis miserius, etiam in scientis, & in universa denique vita acceleraret, tandemque perficeret; ut abolita omnium inimicorum potestate, ignorantiae, peccati, etiam mortu, quae peccati stipendium est, solus Christus regnet in suis (I. Corinth. 15. 25) ut quod precari jubemur, tandem etiam assequamur, ut veniat regnum ejus [ ]. Mme texte que note prcdente, 835-836. Cit en allemand par Peuckert, Pansophie, 428 ( cf. note supra). 21 Leipzig (ddi au Prince Moritz von Hesse-Kassel), 1606. Plusieurs rditons, la plus accessible tant celle parue dans Theatrum Chemicum, t. IV, Strasbourg 1613, 247-276 et 299-323, 367-377, puis dans le t. IV de ldition de 1659 du mme Theatrum Chemicum. Cette dernire est celle que jutilise ici. Eglin y apparat 214-246 sous le nom dauteur Heliophilus a Percis Philochemicus, et sa dissertation sous le titre: Nova disquisitio de Helia Artista Theophrasteo, super metallorum tranformatione; on retrouve le mme texte, identique quelques menus dtails prs, 290-327 de ce t. IV, sous le nom dauteur Nicolaus Niger Hapelius, et sous le titre Disquisitio Heliana de metallorum transformatione au point quon se demande sil sagit dune ngligence de lditeur. Sur lhistoire complexe des ditions de ce texte de Raphael Eglin, cf. Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica I, 232 s, 236 s (et Breger, Elias Artista, 70 nts 49, 50, 51). Enfin, notons que ladjectif Heliana, qui voque la fois le soleil et Elie, a pu contribuer au succs dElie Artiste; ainsi, entre les deux versions du texte dEglin, dans le t. IV du Theatrum Chemicum , est intercal (dition de 1613, 299-323; dition de 1659, 265-288) le texte dEglin, sign Nicolaus Niger Hapelius, intitul Cheiragogia Heliana de Auro Philosophico necdum cognito , ainsi quun pome intitul Carmen Apollineum Helianum. Sur ldition de Cheiragogia, cf. aussi Pagel, The Paracelsian Elias artista, 11-13. 22 Eglin a rencontr Giordano Bruno Zurich, avant le retour fatal de celui-ci en Italie, et il a eu le courage den faire diter des textes. A Marbourg, o linstigation de Moritz de HesseKassel il a t invit donner des confrences, il est entr en contact avec des alchimistes touchs par le rosicrucisme, tels que Oswald Croll et Michael Maier. Son intrt pour les prophties

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dre les alchimistes contre ceux (notamment, les jsuites Balthasar Hagelius et Benedikt Pererius) qui, incapables de comprendre les transformations de la Nature, donnent de celle-ci une interprtation statique. La Nature, pour Eglin, tend se diriger vers une sorte de perfection qui devrait la rendre plus humaine. Eglin consacre Elie Artiste plusieurs pages de cet crit (do les titres Disquisitio Heliana , et Disquisitio de Helia artium , quil lui donne) et ly prsente comme une sorte de paradigme de lalchimiste idal. Aprs avoir rappel lexistence du passage consacr cette figure dans le De Mineralibus de Paracelse et dans louvrage dAlexander von Suchten (cf. supra ), il sinterroge sur lpoque que Paracelse assigne cet Elie et sur les bienfaits quon peut attendre de celle-ci, en prcisant toutefois quil ne prend pas pour argent comptant ce que Paracelse en a dit. Ce Helias Thophrasteus, ou Helias artifex, comme Eglin lappelle, pourrait bien dsigner, pense-t-il, moins un personnage rel quune re nouvelle dans laquelle toutes choses connatront leur floraison et maturit. Paracelse, linstar de Jean le Baptiste, a-t-il annonc la venue dun Sauveur qui serait un individu, une personne vivante? 23 De mme que Ciceron a t lElie de la belle prose latine, Elie Artiste sera-t-il celui de la vraie science? 24. Mais sil sagit dun personnage en chair et en os, comment
est attest par ses divers crits sur l Apocalypse ainsi que par les prdictions auxquelles il se livre en observant certaines marques sur le corps des poissons. Cest chez lui quapparat pour la premire fois la notion de phlogiston comme principe de combustibilit caractristique du soufre. Sur Eglin, outre Moran, Alchemy, Prophecy, cf. kerman, Rose Cross (notamment le souschapitre Raphael Eglinus and the Signifying Fish, 116-118); Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica I, 232 s et 364 s; Pagel, The Paracelsian Elias artista, 11-13; Breger, Elias Artista, 70 s nt 50, et une courte note de Schmidlin-Amstutz, Raphael Egli (sic). Howard Hotson dirige actuellement un sminaire de Troisime Cycle (Rafael Eglinus Iconus, 1559-1622, Alchemy, Iatrochemistry, and Reformed Religion)sur Eglin, lUniversit dAberdeen. Je remercie Richard Caron davoir attir mon attention sur cette dernire rfrence et sur larticle de Moran. 23 Nam ut is est Helias Evangelicus cujus virtute et spiritu restituentur omnia, qui in preaecursore Domini, Joanne videlicet Baptista, quo promulgatum Evangelium, jam tum quidem venit et emicuit; sed in fine mundi idem longe largeque in spiritu coruscabit: ita ad eundem modum nobis Paracelsus chymicarum artium Heliam quendam depingit, quarum occulta in apertum sit prolaturus, quando ille magno quaestu vigentes passim florebunt, quae nunc radices agunt, qua de re postea. iterum Paracelsus de ista Helia artium definit et in specie loci deprehenditur, gneralis dictum ad hypothesin referens, et uni fer singulari homini accommodans, non ut significationem generalem tollat, sed ut doceat collectivum illud nomen Heliae ad certum usque individuum propagari [...] (in: Theatrum Chemicum, t. IV, 1659, 221). 24 Sicut enim Ciceronis seculum aureum fuisse dicitur, quo Linguae Latine puritas, elegantia, nitor, ad summum maturitatis et venustatis apicem pervenit, quae tamen in uno Cicerone prae caeteris vires suas explicavit, et quasi cumulo universas naturae opes in eo profudit: ita si quis Heliam Latinae Linguae tum emicuisse dicat, hoc est tempore Ciceronis in qum plurimis, in ipso vero Cicerone praecipue, nihil inquam sententia Theophrasti diversum in re diversa dixerit (in: Theatrum Chemicum, t. IV, 1659, 221).

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Paracelse a-t-il pu prophtiser sa venue? Est-ce grce une sagacit naturelle, aide par les ressources de son art? Ou faut-il voir dans cette prophtie leffet dune influence sidrale, cleste? Paracelse a-t-il t lobjet dune rvlation comparable celle que reut Adam Nachenmoser, qui lui aussi a prophtis la venue dun nouvel Elie( cf. supra )?25 Quand cette re nouvelle commencera-t-elle ? Paracelse a prvu ou prdit quaprs sa propre mort un certain nombre dannes devraient scouler qui prluderaient une re ultime, dor et de grce comme il le dit dans son Liber de tincturae physicae , ouvrage quau demeurant Eglin pense avoir t bel et bien crit par Paracelse, malgr ce que daucuns prtendent 26. Si Eglin spcule sur un avenir dor, il na pas pour autant la fibre prophtique 27. Son messianisme porte surtout sur des perfectionnements techniques. Avec Benedictus Figulus, le ton change. Cet alchimiste de Utenhoven en Franconie est en contact avec un cercle de Luthriens de Tbingen proccups de chiliasme comme de transmutations et qui se trouvent faire partie des instigateurs du mouvement rosicrucien 28 . Dans Rosarium Novum Olympicum , paru en 1608, Figulus crit que voici venir le temps dElias Artista. Il est prsent grce Dieu, rvlera tout, avec son compagnon Enoch, selon les prdictions de Thophraste il inaugurera un sicle dor29. La mme anne, Figulus publie une Thesaurinella o il se montre davantage explicite. Dans sa prface ce petit trsor,on lit:

25 Mirum san hominis ugurium, praesertim de quodam uno homine singulari post ipsum venturo, cujus, ut inquit, magnale se vivente nondum vivat, hoc est, qui in rerum natura nondum extiterit. Fac enim in genere illud verum esse ut stato tempore et Heliana periodo in lucem proditura sint, quae vulgo adhuc latent[] unde tamen ista peculiaris Theophrasto futurorum denunciatio? unde et quo spiritu profecta personalis designatio? An ut in prognostico Theologico Adamus Nachenmoser (ita sonat inscriptio) reformatorem quendam: quem mundi septimum ille numerat, part. 4. lib. 4. c. 6 ab anno 1590. Certo et sine exceptione spiritum Heliae gestaturum asseverat: ita quoque consimiliter suum Heliam Chymicarum artium, et naturae magistrum nobis praedicit Theophrastus, natura line sagacia, et apprehensione mentis, praesertim pulvere lapidis et tincturae physicae perpurgatae? an prognosticatione quadam syderali et influentia coelesti? an peculiari afflatu, nescio quo cujusve spiritus? Possent ex Paracelso et Suchteno plura in hanc sententiam vel disquiri, vel disseri: Sed quia mihi nec probantur, et de incompertis judicium temerarium est, illa libens praetermitto (in: Theatrum Chemicum, t. IV, 1659, 222). 26 In: Theatrum Chemicum, t. IV, 1659, 222-224. 27 Carlos Gilly a not quEglin est le seul, dans ces annes-l, tenter de prsenter Elie Artiste comme une simple figure de rhtorique (Gilly, Johann Arndt, 64). 28 Sur Figulus, et pour le contexte des citations prsentes ici, cf. surtout Telle, Was ist ein roter Jude? et id., Zu Leben und Werk eines deutschen Paracelsisten. 29 Aber es ist an der Zeit/ELIAS Artista, der ist Gott lob vorhanden/der wirdt alles sampt seinem Comite Enocho, nach Theophrasti Weissagung erfnen/vnd dem Aureo seculo ein Anfang machen (cit par Gilly, Johann Arndt, 64 nt 14, et Peuckert, Pansophie, 358).

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Elias artista, dont a prophtis Theophraste [Paracelse] et que mentionnent le Fr. Basile [Basile Valentin] et Alexander von Suchten, ne se fera certainement plus attendre longtemps, car au contraire, et en vrit, il est dj en route, cet annonciateur juste, dont on ne saurait douter ce prcurseur du Christ Jsus qui viendra pour juger le monde entier. Cest lui, qui viendra pour reprsenter notre Grand Monarque allemand, Aureolus Ph. Theophraste Paracelse, en thologie de la grce, en astronomie de la grce, en philosophie de la grce, en mdecine de la grce, et en autres disciplines et arts; il lucidera et exposera ses crits [de Paracelse], il sera galement un vrai mystriarque et interprte des Magnalia supraclestes et des Mystres que Dieu a placs dans les choses quIl a cres. Alors, le monde sans Dieu, impie, aveugle, ce monde gorg, enivr, de toutes sortes de pchs, de hontes, de vices, ce monde devra prendre peur et se taira. Mais la petite troupe des disciples et amateurs du noble art de lAlchimie, comprise comme vrit cleste, sen rjouira du fond du cur et rendra grce Dieu pour cette rvlation dont Il nous aura gratifis. Cest pourquoi moi aussi je porte dans mon cur le dsir nostalgique de larrive et de la rvlation de cet Elias qui peut-tre est dj l 30.

Au cours de cette anne 1608, Elie Artiste est voqu par Bernard Penot dans son De Denario medico . Aprs avoir t un paracelsien enthousiaste, Penot fut rduit la pauvret force de dpenses consacres ses fourneaux. Son crit est une tude consacre lalchimiste Isaac le Hollandais qui, comme le croit tort Penot, aurait vcu avant Paracelse, lequel aurait plagi Isaac. Autrement dit, ce que Paracelse aurait eu lesprit en annonant Elie Artiste, ctait simplement que les uvres dIsaac allaient tre publies 31. Toujours cette an30 Sintemal aber Elias artista, von dem Theophrastus prophezeit, Fr. Basilius und Alexander von Suchten auch Meldung davon tun, ohne Zweifel nicht lang mehr aussen bleiben kann, sondern schon wohl allbereit als ein rechter, ungezweifelter Vorbot und Prkursor Christi Jesu ad judicium universale venturi, auf der Bahn ist, welcher unsern deutschen Monarcham Aureolum Ph. Theophrastum Paracelsum, in theologia Gratiae, Astronomia Gratiae, Philosophia Gratiae, wie auch in Medicina Gratiae und anderen Fakultten und Artibus mehr reprsentieren, auch seine Scripta eluzidieren und deklarieren, ja ein rechter Mysterriarcha und Interpret sein wird der gttlichen berhimmlischen Magnalium und Geheimnisse Gottes, so er in seine creata gelegt so wird darob die gottlose, verruchte, blinde und in allerhand Snd, Schand, Lastern und Untugenden ersoffene und ertrunkene Welt erschrecken und verstummen mssen; das kleine Huflein aber der Nachfolger und Liebhaber der edlen Kunst Alchymiae, als der himmlischen Wahrheit, wird sich von Herzen darob erfreuen und Gott fr solche gndige Offenbarung danken. Darum trage ich auch ein herzlich, sehnlich Verlangen nach dieses zuknftigen, ja vieleicht schon gegenwrtigen Eliae Ankunft und Offenbarung. Benedictus Figulus, Vorrede, 5 ( cf. aussi 110-111). Rdition. Francfort/Main 1682. Cit daprs Peuckert, Das Rosenkreutz, 36 s. Nous relevons ici avec intrt le nom de Basile Valentin, auteur encore aujourdhui mal identifi et dont les crits alchimiques commencent paratre ce moment-l, au dbut du sicle. Or, luimme avait fait, justement, une allusion Elie Artiste (cf. Basilius Valentinus, Chymische Schrifften , 1re partie, 117; cit notamment par Breger, Elias Artista , 70 nt 44). 31 Bernard Penot (dj cit par Breger, Elias Artista, 70 nt 44), dans son De Denario, 202203, crit (cf. trait XII, le dernier, intitul Isaaci Hollandi Clavis artis Chemicae): Hic ipse Isaacus Hollandus ille est, de qui Paracelsus vaticinatus est, dicens: Et veniet post me Elias

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ne-l, le paracelsien Oswald Croll, mdecin personnel du Prince Christian von Anhalt-Bernberg, dclare dans sa clbre Basilica Chemica (cf. supra) , dinspiration assez joachimite, que les vritables hritiers de la Sagesse verront, avant tous les autres hommes, se montrer les grands trsors que leur rservent la Lumire de la Grce et de la Nature (expression paracelsienne). Faisant suite au sanglant sacrifice du Fils viendra un troisime rgne, celui du Saint-Esprit, que reprsentera Elie Artiste, le rparateur de toutes choses32 . 3. LHelias Tertius des Rose-Croix et des thosophes Cest aussi lpoque qui voit tout coup surgir le courant rosicrucien. Au moment o vont paratre les fameux Manifestes ( Fama Fraternitatis, 1614; Confessio Fraternitatis , 1615) qui inaugurent ce courant, on trouve au moins encore une allusion Elie Artiste33. Mais les Manifestes eux-mmes, ainsi que le clbre roman alchimique qui leur fait suite en 1616, Chymische Hochzeit: Christiani Rosenkreutz (LesNoces Chymiques de Christian Rose-Croix), de Johann Valentin Andreae, ne contiennent aucune rfrence explicite Elie Artiste. Ces trois crits nen revtent pas moins une forme de messianisme paracelsien, lie une autre figure mythique appele une plus grande clbrit, savoir Christian Rosenkreutz. Il sagit, en fait, de deux personnages comparables. Celui qui dans la Fama est appel C. R. C., participe de la messianit dans la mesure o il est un granum pectori Jesu insitum. Dans la Chymische Hochzeit , o il apparat sous le nom de Christian Rosenkreutz, il est un artisan de la Rgnration et reoit linsigne de la Pierre dOr, le sceau dont parle lAptre Paul (II Cor., I, 21-22). Il lit son tour des disciples, des appels. Et comme il nest point de messianit sans mission, les Frres dont il est question dans la Fama sont des envoys. La Rgle de leur mission fait

Artista, qui abdita rerum patefaciet. Praevidebat Pracelsus Isaaci opera fore tandem manifesta, et perventura ad manus Doctissimorum virorum []. Pertaelus vitae prasentis, aperio vobis studiosis viam, qua poteritis ad meliora, et faciliora pervenire; et alium Eliam Artistam expectere nolite, praeter Isaaci Hollandi opera. Ipse enim tam aperte loqutus est, ut nihil supra. Cf. aussi Breger, Elias Artista, 57, et 70 nt 44. Andreas Libavius (sur lui, cf. infra) fait ainsi, un peu plus tard, rfrence Penot: Verum ille non incepit, aut inchoatum opus non perfecit, ut expectandus fortasse sit Elias ille, quem ex Paracelso ARTISTAM vocant, tametsi Penotus putaverit esse Isaacum Hollandum Paracelsi temporibus in obscuro latitantem ( Syntagmatis II, 122). 32 [] ubi exacto prius Sanguines Filii judicio, Patris Aqueum indubitanter subsecuturo, in Tertio demum Spiritus Sancti seculo (olim per ignem, propter occulti manifestationem, renovando) Helias Aartista Reparator omnium advenerit. Oswald Croll, Basilica Chemica , Francfort/Main, d. de 1634, 9. Cf. aussi Peuckert, Pansophia , 456. 33 Dans Occulta Philosophia: Von den verborgenen philosophischen Geheimnssen , 1613, fol. A II et p. 3

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tat de leur sceau ainsi que de leur rle de gurisseurs (cf. Marc , 16, 18). Un autre personnage cit ailleurs par J.V. Andreae, savoir Christian Cosmoxenus, sorte de frre jumeau de Christian, est prsent comme un Renatus, une crature rgnre par la grce divine un oint du Seigneur, servi par les anges et capable de dchiffrer la fois le Livre de Vie, le Livre de la Science et le Livre de la Nature34. Si le nom dElie Artiste est absent des Manifestes, il ne lest pas pour autant de la littrature rosicrucienne de lpoque. En 1610, Adam Haslmayr, Secrtaire de lArchiduc Maximilien, adresse aux Frres de la Rose-Croix une Rponse la Fama qui circulait en manuscrit et dont il venait de prendre connaissance. Cette Rponse est publie en 161235 puis rdite conjointement la premire dition de la Fama en 1614. Haslmayr y fait le lien entre le programme des rosicruciens tel que ceux-ci lexposent, et le personnage dElie Artiste tant attendu:
Ainsi nous pressentons et nous concluons que vous tes ceux que Dieu a choisis, ceux qui taient appels dvelopper lternelle vrit thophrastienne et divine, rserve jusquici de faon mystrieuse, sans doute dans lattente du moment o il sagira dtre attentif la venue dElie Artiste dont il a t prophtis36.

Le fait que ce texte de Haslmayr ait t joint celui de la Fama ds la premire dition de celle-ci na pu que contribuer rpandre le nom dElie Artiste. Dans la suite de son propos, Haslmayr voque la prophtie du Lion du Septentrion, laquelle fait ici sa premire apparition dans un texte imprim37. Et dans un autre de ses crits, rdig alors quil se trouve aux galres, il note que depuis

Andreae, De Christiani Cosmoxeni Genitura, 386-447. Cf. aussi J.V. Andreae, Civis Christianus (1619; paratre dans le t. XII des Gesammelte Schriften dAndreae), chapitre XXXVIII sur la clef de David. Je remercie Roland Edighoffer davoir attir mon attention sur les passages cits dans ce paragraphe du prsent article. 35 Cette dition originale a t dcouverte par Carlos Gilly, et prsente en 1994, en fac-simil dans son ouvrage Adam Haslmayr. 36 Gilly, Adam Haslmayr, 74. Texte complet du paragraphe: So spren und schliessen wir / das ihr diejenigen nun von Gott erkoren syt / die die ewige Theophrastiam und Gttliche warheit erweitern solten / wunderbarlicher weiss biss hieher reserviert, villeicht auff die zeyten dess geprophetierten Eliae Artistae zu achten / weilen er Theophrastus / in seinen Prophetia, von seinen dritten verborgnen Thesauris, (so mehr dann vier und zweintzig Knigreich werth seind) meldet / das Gott zu rechter zeyt / mit den seinen komme / den gerechten beyzustehen / unnd die Gottlosen stolzen hinzurichten / under den doch ein Fncklein der Gerechten bleiben werden / dasselbige Fncklein oder kleine Heufflein wirdt also sein hernach / das man es mit grosser forcht wirdt annemmen / dann es wirdt das Todte lebendig machen. 37 Gilly, Adam Haslmayr, 75. Cf. ce sujet Edighoffer, Rose-Croix I, 203 et 276, et Le Lion du Septentrion, 161-189. Sur le Lion du Septentrion, cf. aussi Gilly, Der Lwe von Mitternacht.
34

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que les Aptres ont quitt cette terre, personne nest venu au monde qui soit comparable Paracelse, et cela jusqu larrive dElie Artiste 38. Le tmoignage de lauteur anonyme que nous avons rencontr propos de lanne 1597, celui qui avait rendu visite cette anne-l Johann Montanus, sinscrit dans le mme climat dattente et de qute spirituelles puisquen 1616 il associe troitement, comme on la vu, le personnage dElie Artiste au rosicrucisme. La fraternit rosicrucienne ne serait-elle donc elle-mme que lElie Artiste annonc? Le mdecin Adam Bruxius, lecteur lui aussi des Manifestes, parat le croire, qui en 1616 fait paratre un Helias tertius rdig lanne prcdente. Comme le titre lindique, le sujet est le troisime Elie. Sadressant aux Frres dont il est question dans la Fama, il dclare:
Je vous tiens pour le troisime Elie, et je pense que vous concerne la prophtie de Malachie (Mal. 4, 5) [] Car bien que le Seigneur Jsus lui-mme dise (Matt. 4, 5) que par Elie il faille entendre Jean Baptiste, pourtant si on lit attentivement Ses paroles dans Marc (9, 11 ss), il semble quil faille entendre quelquun dautre en plus de Jean 39.

En 1616 encore, David Meder, Inspecteur Gnral des Ecoles dans le Comt de Hohenlohe, dclare avoir surmont son scepticisme initial lgard des Rose-Croix en rflchissant au fait que de toute manire larrive dElie Artiste ne saurait plus se faire attendre longtemps 40. Et le clbre mdecin saxon Andreas Libavius fait le rapprochement entre Elie le prophte et les RoseCroix41 . Jusquen 1607 il avait entretenu de bons rapports avec lalchimiste Oswald Croll 42, pntr desprit rosicrucien, mais il souponna ensuite les
38 [] dessen gleichen seidt der Apostel abscheid der Erden kainer geborn noch gedragen hatt biss auf die Ankunft Eliae Artistae (cit par Gilly, Adam Haslmayr, 166, daprs lcrit de Haslmayr Lumen Philosophorum ardens, 1616). 39 Bruxius, Helias Tertius, 24-25 (dj cit par Breger, Elias Artista, 70 nt 56). De cet ouvrage je cite daprs Peuckert, Das Rosenkreutz, 144 s(la parenthse contenant la rfrence la Bible de Luther est de Peuckert): ich halte euch vor den dritten Heliam, vnd das euch auch die Prophezeihung Malachiae mit angehe (Siehe, ich will euch senden den Propheten Elia, ehe denn da komme der grosse und schreckliche Tag des Herrn: Mal. 4, 5, in der Lutherschen bersetzung 3, 23). Denn ob gleich der HERR Christus selber spricht (Matth. 11, 14) dass durch den Heliam Johannes Baptista sey bedeutet worden: So scheinets doch / wann man seine Wort beym Marco (8, ( 9 ) 11 ff) eigentlich betrachtet / das neben dem Johanne noch jemand anders msse verstanden werden. 40 David Meder, Iudicium theologicum , 1616, fol. A II v, cit par Breger, Elias Artista, 60, et 70 nt 54 . 41 Cf. notamment De Confessione Fraternitatis de Rosae Cruce medicationes, 4 (chapitre I de Analysis Fraternitatis ). 42 Croll, Basilica Chymica, 9 (dition de 1634; mentionn par Breger, Elias Artista, 70 nt 43) lui non plus na pas manqu de rappeler la prdiction relative Elie Artiste: [] ubi exacto prius Sanguineo Filii judicio, Patris Aqueum indubitanter subscuturo, in Tertio demum Spiritus Sancti seculo (olim per Ignem, propter occulti manifestationem, renovand) Helias Artista Reparator omnium advenerit.

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Rose-Croix davoir des intentions rvolutionnaires, et ds lors les associa aux anabaptistes de Mnster, dans un mme rejet43 . Dautres textes rapprochent le nom dElie Artiste, de la Rose-Croix; ainsi, lanonyme Elie Artiste, ou jugement bien intentionn sur la nouvelle Fraternit de la Rose-Croix, paru en 161944. Et en Angleterre, parmi les personnes lies au milieu dEirenaeus Philalethe (George Starkey), nous trouvons lalchimiste Robert Child, qui dans une lettre date de 1648 crit au mtallurgiste John Winthrop,
On rapporte de diverses sources que lEmpereur dAllemagne a trouv un secret pour transformer en ce qui lui permet de payer son arme. Le Duc dHolstein est devenu un grand Chymiste. Certains disent (et ils sont bien renseigns) que Helia Artista est n. Jai vu ce propos des lettres manant des Frres de la R[ose] C[roix], quun savant Dr. a reues, mais il [Helia Artista] nest pas de notre nation 45.

Ici comme dans plusieurs des exemples dj cits, lattente dun Elie Artiste est vcue dans un contexte tant alchimique que rosicrucien. Le nom prestigieux dElie le prophte, attendu lui aussi en ces temps si troubls que vit lEurope, dpasse ce contexte et ne peut que contribuer au succs de celui que Paracelse appelait Artiste. En fait, il est parfois malais de distinguer lun de lautre. Gabriel Naud, en 1623, montre les ressemblances entre Elie Artiste et Elia Pandocheus le nom que stait donn lauteur de Panthenousia, le catholique Guillaume Postel, au sicle prcdent46. Tous deux sont bien une fi-

43 Andreas Libavius, dans Wohlmeinendes Bedenken , mentionne en passant Elie Artiste et fait ce rapprochement; cf. 13, 15, 235 s, 161, 192 (dj relev par Breger, Elias Artista, 70 nt 58). Dans Examen philosophiae novae, Francfort 1615, 15, il crit: Paracelsi expectant Heliam artistam qui omnia fit in lucem protracturus. Id intelligent de obscuris antiquorum conditionibus praesertim in philosophia lapidis (G. W. Wedel, cf. infra nt 88, a choisi de citer cette phrase, en 1718). Cf. aussi, supra nt 31, le passage que Libavius consacre Penot. Breger voit dans lhorreur quinspiraient certains esprits les anabaptistes et du mme coup les rosicruciens au dbut du 17me sicle, le mme rle de fonction sociale que celui exerc par lanticommunisme aprs la seconde guerre mondiale, mfiance comparable lgard dun paradis sur terre, et de la croyance selon laquelle une complte connaisance de la Nature serait possible ( cf. Breger, Elias Artista, 61, et 70 nt 58). 44 Helias Artista, 11. Cit par Kopp, Die Alchemie I, 252, et plus compltement par Breger, Elias Artista , 70 nt 56. 45 Its reported by diverse, that the Emperour of Germany hath found a secret to turne into by the which he pays his Army. The Duke of Holstein is turnd a great Chymist. Some say (that have good intelligence) that Helia Artista is borne. I saw letters that came to a learned Dr. from the Fratres R.C. to that purpose, but he is not of our nacion. Cit par Newman, in Gehennial Fire, 42. 46 Cf. supra, nt 1. Naud, Instructions , 43, 46, 48-52. Postel avait publi sous le titre Panthenousia (1547) son programme de rforme universelle. Cf. kerman, Rose Cross, 173 s.

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gure de Helias Tertius47. Mais tout le monde nentend pas de la mme manire lre nouvelle annonce. Ainsi, le rosicrucien sudois Johannes Bureus dclare en 1644 que Postel ne saurait tre Elie, vu quil est anti-luthrien48, et il se considre lui-mme davantage capable que Postel de pratiquer un Ars Eliana, un art de prophtie vritable. Au cours de ces dcennies le nom dElie Artiste sert souvent dsigner non pas un personnage, mais plutt un ensemble de philosophes et de savants dont on pense quils oeuvrent en vue dune rnovation spirituelle, religieuse, scientifique. Et on peut se demander dans quelle mesure semblables discours ne constitueraient pas, en quelque sorte, une anticipation des Acadmies qui allaient commencer fleurir en Europe au cours du 17me sicle49. Dans la mouvance paracelsienne et le climat dattente dune re nouvelle parat en 1639 un texte allemand anonyme de quarante-cinq pages intitul Nodus Sophicus enodatus (le nud de Sagesse dnou), ou Explication de quelques remarquables crits et traits de la Pierre des Sages, tresss et relis conformment la marche de la Nature, et dsormais, dans ces derniers temps dapparition de lAurore de la Sagesse et dans le commencement du sicle dElie Artiste, analyss et expliqus au mieux, lusage des Fils de la doctrine hermtique50. Dans des pages exprimant le messianisme exalt dj prsent dans le titre, lauteur prdit que bientt les sept gouverneurs suprieurs du monde verseront leurs fioles dor emplies des eaux suprieures et de lesprit du firmament pour rgnrer la Nature entire. Ce sera le moment annonc par Paracelse, o Elie Artiste se manifestera51 prophtie renforce par une allusion louvrage dj clbre dAegidius Guthmann, Offenbahrung gt-

Cf. notamment un sous-titre (The Instauration of the New Age: Helias Artista and Helias Tertius) choisi par kerman dans son ouvrage Rose Cross, 173 s. 48 Hic Postellus non est Elias, quia Anti-Lutheranus (note manuscrite de Bureus en marge de son exemplaire de Panthenousia ), cit par kerman, Rose Croix, 174 et nt 3. 49 Ide prsente par Breger ( Elias Artista , 61), qui ce propos voque les noms de Samuel Hartlib (dont on sait le rle quil a jou dans la protohistoire de la Royal Society) et de Robert Boyle, lui aussi gagn aux ides rosicruciennes. 50 Nodus Sophicus Enodatus , s.l., rdit Francfort en 1661 avec lanonyme Wasserstein der Weysen (de Johann Ambrosius Siebmacher). Fac-simil: Fribourg/Breisgau: Aurum 1977 . 51 Nodus Sophicus Enodatus , Prface (non pagine). Voici comment lauteur y introduit la prophtie de Paracelse relative Elie Artiste: dann die Morgenrthe der Weissheit ist nunmehr herfr getreten / und der helle Morgenstern den Magis erschienen / und zeiget ihnen den Salvatorem Majoris mundi, in dem verachteten Hauss zu Bethlehem an / und werden darauf balden die septem superiorem gubernatores mundi ihre Phialas aureas, so mit den acquis superioribus & spiritu firmamenti, nemlich mit dem feurigen Geistwasser und wsserichen Geistfeuer gefllet seyn / aussgiessen / dardurch das drre Erdreich / nempe terra foliata nostra, als mit dem rechten Himmelsthau befeuchtiget und fruchtbar werde / dass es seine edle und wunderbahre bisshero verborgene Frchte und Gewchse herfr bringen / und den filiis doctrinae zeigen wird.
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licher Majestt52. On voit quici, la certitude de vivre laube dune poque dore, et lide de dsoccultation de secrets gards jusque l, se trouvent associes des allusions lhermtisme du Corpus Hermeticum. Ni Jacob Boehme, ni les thosophes du 17me sicle inscrits dans sa mouvance, ne paraissent avoir fait beaucoup usage du nom dElie Artiste, bien que la Nature soit au cur de leurs spculations. La constatation de cette absence reste, bien sr, sous bnfice dinventaire. Deux exemples viennent au demeurant la nuancer. Il sagit dabord du pasteur Johann Arndt, clbre pour ses Vier Bcher vom Wahren Christenthum (Quatre Livres du Vrai Christianisme), trs souvent rdits et traduits en plusieurs langues, dont le quatrime (1610) a contribu lapparition du courant thosophique. Arndt ne se tient pas lui-mme pour un Helias tertius, ni pour un troisime Rformateur, mais il semploie nanmoins parachever la Rforme luthrienne de la foi par la philosophie paracelsienne de la Nature, en mettant la pratique chrtienne de la vie et de lexprience au-dessus de la spculation thologique53. En 1616 ou 1617, peu aprs avoir lu les Noces Chymiques, Arndt crit son ami intime le paracelsien Christoph Hirsch, pasteur Eisleben:
Il est certain que les Noces chymiques tmoignent de beaucoup de lumire et de pntration philosophique [] Il vient, il vient, le sicle dElie Artiste annonc par le Monarque des Philosophes et des Mdecins! Je doute que ma vie dure jusque l. Mais je salue le sicle venir pour toute cette lumire; et faute desprer mieux, je me contente de leur Fama 54.

Mais Arndt, qui attend le troisime Elie, parat avoir t pris lui-mme en 1620 pour celui-ci, par deux sympathisants de la Rose-Croix 55. En effet, le 6 mars
52 Ce livre fameux, cit la fin de la prface, avait paru en 1619 mais circul depuis sa rdaction, cest--dire depuis au moins 1575. 53 Cf. Gilly, Johann Arndt, 76. 54 Certe Nuptiae chymicae magnum lumen et acumen Philosophiae prae se ferunt [] Veniet, veniet seculum Heliae Artistae a Monarcha Philosophorum Medicorumque preaedictum. Dubito an vita mea eo usque superstes futura. Gratulor futuro seculo de tanta luce; ego contentus ero, si non meliora speranda Fama illorum. Lettre insre par Heliophorus Ophiuchus s. Ophiophagus (= Christoph Hirsch) dans son ouvrage Skiagrafia Magias, h. e. Adumbratio brevis Astronomiae supernaturalis per Mulierem solis Apocalypticam depictae [], 1624. Manuscrit, SUB de Hambourg, Cod. Alchim. 684, Bll. 141-160, ici 150 r. Ouvrage inspir de Philosophia Sagax de Paracelse, o Hirsch, qui signe Porteur du Soleil, Porteur du Serpent et Mangeur du Serpent, dcrit notamment de la faon suivante les constellations astrales relatives la supernova de 1604: Stella in Cassiopoea (Leo) Septentrionalis; Stella in Cygno: Fr. R. C.; Stella in Ophiucho: Elias Artista. Les lments de cette note sont emprunts Gilly, Johann Arndt, 75. 55 Cf. Brecht, Geschichte des Pietismus, 145, et Gilly, Johann Arndt, 67, o nous apprenons quils auraient lou publiquement, dans deux crits imprims de 1620, Johann Arndt comme le troisime Elie et le Rformateur de la Rforme. Il sagit probablement de Gottschalk Bntig et de Johannes Bannier, dont il est question dans la note suivante.

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1621 le Doyen et les Professeurs de la Facult Thologique de lUniversit de Wittenberg adressent Arndt une lettre dans laquelle ils sindignent dune telle identification, dont sont notamment responsables les auteurs de deux crits rcemment publis56:
[ ] ces deux auteurs professent leur attachement la Fraternit des RoseCroix, mais sexpriment votre sujet en termes curieux. Et cela, non seulement parce quils convoquent vos crits, mais aussi, tout particulirement, parce quils vous couvrent dune gloire immodre, comme si vous tiez le tertius Elias, lElias Artista, le Jean Baptiste qui de son doigt montrera lagneau de Dieu, comme Luther ne la pas fait, et lauteur qui avec ses fils entrera dans le Saint des Saints [ ]57.

Lpoque est bien aux spculations relatives la venue dun troisime Elie. Cest ainsi que le Thuringeois Ezechiel Meth, dans une texte rdig en 1617 (Bchlein vom dritten Elia ) et rest manuscrit, sauto-proclame le troisime et dernier Elie58. Dautres thologiens luthriens, orthodoxes ceux-l, tentent notamment en 1618 et 1621 dinstrumentaliser cette prophtie en dclarant officiellement Luther comme le dernier Elie, lunique et dernier rformateur de lEglise 59. Plus proche que Arndt du courant thosophique, Abraham von Franckenberg, ami et disciple de Boehme, se montre persuad du retour prochain dElie. Ainsi, en 1649 il se dit confort par lOrtus Medicinae de Jean Baptiste van Helmont (Amsterdam, 1648) dans lide que va souvrir le Elianisches Zeitalter (lre lianienne) et que tous les mystres seront rvls60. Il y aurait encore beaucoup dire sur la venue dElie, crit-il en 1643; Paracelse,
56 Les auteurs de la lettre donnent pour rfrence: Errettung und Defensio dess Glaubens Wahrheit/ M. Godeschalci Bntingi, et Spiegel oder Abriss dess Greuels der verwsting, anonyme, dont lauteur serait Johannes Bannier. Cit par Gilly, Johann Arndt, 69-70. 57 [] und zwar bekennen sich beyde Autores zu der Rosen-Creutzer Brderschafft/ beyde aber thun euer Person sonderbahre Meldung/ nicht nur in dem sie eure schrifften anziehen/ besonders auch euch mit grossem und unmssigem Ruhm erheben/ besonders aber euch mit grossem und unmssigem Ruhm erheben/ als weret iht der tertius Elias, Elias Artista, Johannis Baptista, der das Lamb Gottes mit Fingern seigen werde/ als Lutherus nicht gethan/ der Author der mit seinen Shnen in das Allerheiligste eingehen werde/ []. Cit par Gilly, Johann Arndt, 69-70, daprs Consilia Theologica Wittebergensia, Francfort 1664, 875-877. 58 Cit par Gilly, Johann Arndt, 65-66, qui a consult ce document la Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica dAmsterdam, cote Ms. M19, 4, Bll. 1-36. Gilly note aussi que certains thologiens luthriens verront peu aprs en Meth, ainsi quen son beau-pre Esaias Stiefel, les hommes ayant prpar la voie au rosicrucisme. 59 Gilly, Johann Arndt, 66: il sagit de J. Tarnovius, Tres Eliae , Rostock 1618 (qui voit en Elie, Jean Baptiste et Luther les trois Rformateurs de lEglise de Dieu), et de Paul Rossovius, De infallibus approperantis Judicii extremi prodromis, Rostock 1621. 60 Lettre Christoph Hirsch, envoye de Danzig, du 8/18 aout 1649, in Franckenberg, Briefwechsel, 229-231.

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Postel et Campanella se sont chacun, dans leur temps, donns pour Elie. Mais cette lumire apparatra chez les Juifs, de mme que le Droit viendra de David61. En 1649 il exhorte un autre correspondant prier, travailler, rester vigilant pour que le vrai matre puisse le guider comme ltoile guida les Rois Mages; et il ajoute:
Cette voie, ce chemin EL JaHVaH, doit tre manifest de nouveau avant le grand jour du Seigneur. Cest ainsi que ELIAS (Artiste, Kabbaliste, Mage, Halchimiste) doit revenir de l o il sjourne, qui est le Nos secret, et o il a t (selon la vraie Kabbale, Magie, Chimie, il est cach dans lEsprit prodigieux et prophtique) transport en corps, me et esprit 62.

Dans Gemma Magica, ouvrage thosophique crit en 1645 et publi seulement en 1688, Franckenberg propose dix commandements (Gebote ) au chercheur dsireux de dchiffrer les signatures des choses. Le septime porte sur la nature de la temporalit, depuis la cration du monde jusqu la consommation des temps. Lauteur distingue quatre priodes, celles de la Sagesse, de la Vertu, de la Sensualit et de la Grce. Il crit propos de la dernire:
Les plus anciens Mages dcrivent ce temps par des figures symboliques dont certaines ncessitent encore dtre reprsentes par nous aussi, car le Pape y pose sa couronne sur un agneau sept cornes. Les philosophes hermtiques indiquent par l ce qui adviendra avec Elie Artiste, dont Paracelse et Basile [Valentin] font plusieurs reprises mention dans leurs crits. Faut-il voir en lui [en Elie Artiste] celui qui rtablira la Philosophie corrompue, et cela par la nouvelle toile aperue dans le porteur du Serpent? 63
61 DE Venturo ELIA multa essent dicenda; Paracelsus, Postellus et Campanella, quisque in suo seculo se Eliam sunt professi, Verum enim vero Lux haec ex Judaeis proveniet, quemadmodum quoque JUS eum Davide exorietur (lettre Gottfried. Hegenich, envoye de Danzig, du 21 janvier 1643, in Franckenberg, Briefwechsel, 172-173). 62 Dieser geheime Gang und Weg EL JaHaV muss nun, vor dem grossen tage des H(errn) wieder offenbahr werden: Dann ELIAS (Artista, Kabbalista, Magus, Halchymista) muss wiederkommen aus seiner Behltnss, so da ist im GeheimNos: worein Er (Vermge der wahren Kabbalah, Mageia, Xeimia, in dem Prophetischen WunderGeiste verborgen) mit Leib, Sehl und Geist versetzet. Il ajoute quElie apparatra en Esprit et Force chez ses lves et parmi ses membres prdestins, il apparatra finalement en personne, lui-mme, dans sa gloire (Sonderlich, wenn nun ELIAS, wie obgedacht, mit Geist und Krafft in seinen praedestinirten Schlern und Gliedern, danns auch zuletzt in Eigner Person Selber glorwrdiglich wird erscheinen). Lettre Tobias Knig, envoye de Danzig, du 11/22 aot 1649, in Franckenberg, Briefwechsel, 233234. 63 Die uhrltesten Magis beschreiben dieselbe Gezeit durch Sinnbildliche Figuren / unter welchen diese auch uns anfhrens-wrdig vorkommt / da der Bapst seine Crone einem Lamm mit sieben Hrnern auffsetzt [] Die Hermetichen Philosophi deuten hier auff die Zukunfft des Eliae der Knsten / wessen Paracelsus und Basilius etliche mahl in ihren Schriften erwehnen; Etwaan ist selbigen wieder Zurechtbringer der verderbten Philosophie durch den im Schlangentrger ersehenen neuen Stern angedeutet worden. Franckenberg, Gemma Magica , cit daprs Peuckert, Gabalia , 492.

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4. Artis Salia et Artis Elias entre utopie messianique et mythe scularis Paru en 1648, lOrtus Medicinae (ou Origine de la mdecine,maintes fois rdit, traduit en plusieurs langues), du paracelsien hollandais Jean Baptiste van Helmont, fait diverses allusions Elie Artiste dont lauteur espre le remde toutes les maladies. Il considre que Paracelse et lui-mme sont les deux devanciers de cet Elie et voit dans les progrs mdicaux dj accomplis une garantie de la venue de ce nouveau messie64. Mais sil ne sagit l que de brves mentions, il en va autrement du traitement que le chimiste Johann Rudolf Glauber rserve notre personnage. Il lui consacre un dveloppement original dont divers auteurs sinspireront. Grand voyageur toujours en qute dexpriences chimiques nouvelles, Glauber a crit parmi quelque trente autres ouvrages un Miraculi Mundi en allemand en deux parties. Le titre de la seconde, parue en 1660, constitue un texte lui tout seul: La deuxime partie du Miracle du Monde. Ou de lentre triomphale, sur son cheval, dElias Artista dont il a t depuis longtemps prophtis. O il est trait de qui est cet Elias Artista. Cest--dire le Sal Artis Mirificum des Sages, la plus haute mdecine de tous les vgtaux, animaux, et minraux. Suit lannonce de dveloppements techniques en matire de chimie, aprs quoi le titre continue: Cest un monarque superbe, glorieux et triomphant, que Elias Artista, connu de peu de gens et appel par beaucoup Artis Salia []65. On peut apprcier la forme potique de lanagramme contenu dans ces deux vers qui terminent le titre: Elias Artista, wenigen bekant, / Et Artis Salia vielen genant. En 1668 parat sous un titre aussi accrocheur une autre version de ce livre:
Elia Artista. Ou qui est Elia Artista, que rformera-t-il ou corrigera-t-il quand il viendra le monde? Ce sera: la vraie mdecine spagyrique des anciens Egyptiens, perdue depuis plus de mille ans. Il la rtablira, la rnovera, lillustrera superbement par de nouvelles inventions, supprimera maints lments inutiles et de gchis dans luvre, et indiquera une voie meilleure et plus directe et meilleure, beaucoup plus aise et moins dispendieuse que jusqualors pour parvenir obtenir une bonne mdecine 66.
64 J. B. van Helmont, Ortus medicinae, Amsterdam 1648, dit par son fils Franziskus Merkurius van Helmont. Cf. fol. B. 4. R, et 240, 460, 507. Cf. aussi, de F.M. van Helmont, Opuscula medica inaudita , Amsterdam 1648, 64, et Arbor vitae inscriptio , o il annonce la venue dun Restaurateur. Des rfrences chez Breger, Elias Artista, 62, et 71, nts 64-65. 65 Miraculi Mundi. Ander Theil , Amsterdam 1660. Cet ouvrage (XX + 113 pp.) constitue le seconde partie de lensemble intitul Miraculum Mundi , dont la premire parut Francfort en 1653. Sur J.R. Glauber, outre Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica, I, 323-330, cf. Gugel, J.R. Glauber, et de Jong, Glauben und die Weltanschauung der Rosenkreuzter. Pour une autre allusion Elie Artiste chez Glauber, cf. son Teutschlands Wohlfahrt, 3 me partie, Amsterdam 1659, fol. A III v, N. 72, et fol. AV v 73, 106. 66 De Elia Artista . Les faux-titres, du dbut la fin, se lisent De Sale Artis. Cest une version abrge de Miraculum Mundi. Ander Theil.

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Glauber y rapproche la figure dElie (Elia) de celle de son successeur Elise (Elisa). De mme que ces deux hros bibliques mission prophtique ont opr maints miracles, de mme le Sel alchimique que Glauber se targue de connatre peut en oprer de considrables dans la Nature67. Car en fait, pour Glauber cest bien des sels que renvoie le nom dElie Artiste, nom que selon lui il convient dinterprter magice ou, comme il dit aussi, in sophia , pour y lire Salia, les Sels. Il veut voir dans ELIAS ARTISTA lanagramme de ET ARTIS SALIA68. Les permutations de lettres donnent aussi: ET SAL ARTIS, SALIAS ARTIS. Celui qui connat et possde le Sal Artis peut effectuer de grandes choses. Elias artista sest manifest lui pour lui enseigner des choses merveilleuses. Ces Salia sont des super-sels encore inconnus mais aux effets extraordinaires. Au demeurant, Glauber avait dcouvert Vienne vers 1624 une source saline laquelle son nom devait rester attach, et un sel, le sel de Glauber ou sulphate de sodium69. Selon lui, le progrs dans la connaissance des sels rendra les hommes plus vertueux, le commerant plus honnte, le juriste plus juste, le mdecin plus dsintress, et mettra fin aux guerres 70. En 1667 on le voit prophtiser dans
67 Elia atque Elisa quales viri fuerint, quantaque miracula fecerint Sacrae paginae exhibent (Miraculi Mundi pars altera , 5-6). Elia atque Elisa quales viri fuerint, quantaque miracula fecerint Sacrae paginae exhibent. Ipsi quae edidere miracula divina, eadem fere omnia naturali via Sal nostrum preastare valet ( ibid., 9). On comprend que Glauber pense Elise, tant donn tout ce que la Bible raconte son sujet. En effet, selon II Rois , 4:1-7 et 42 il a multipli un pain pour nourrir cent personnes, rempli un grand nombre de vases vides avec quelques gouttes dhuile et accompli dautres faits comparables. Surtout, selon II Rois , 2:9, pour purifier leau pollue de Jricho, Elise avait jet un sel dans la source de la rivire (il existerait encore aujourdhui une fontaine dElise Jricho). 68 Par exemple, dans Miracula Mundi pars altera, 5, aprs avoir rappel la prophtie de Paracelse concernant Elie Artiste, Glauber ajoute: Et vero vox Elias Artista si rite consideretur, litterarumve transpositio instituatur, Et artis Salia legimus; Salis haec Elias Artista Paracelsi indigitat; haec mira praestant, si ut Sale Artis pollens homo, aut ejus naturam cognoscens admirandaefficere valeat. Elias Artista ejusmodi homini, miranda docendi causa apparuit. Et dans De Elia Artista oder wass , 3: Und so viel die beyde Wrtter betreffende (Elias Artista) so lauten sie nach versetzung der Buchstaben Elias, zurcke gelesen Salia, wie denn gleicherweise auss dem Wrtlein Elisa auch Salia herauss kombt: welcher beyden Wrtter bedeutung ich vor viel Jahren in meinem Tracttlein de Natura Salium, auch erklret, derohalben alhier unnthig zu wiederholen, doch krzlich davon zu reden so bedeutet Elias Artista bey den Philosophis ungemeine und der Welt noch unbekandte Salia, dardurch grosse ja unglubliche dinge verrichten []. Il ajoute quune fois rvls au monde, ces Secreta salis produiront de grands effets. Pour dautres rfrences ce jeu de permutation de lettres dans les crits de Glauber, cf. Breger, Elias Artista, 64 (notamment pour les passages: Miracula Mundi. Andern Theil , fol. A III v, et dans ldition de 1668, prface, 3-6, 12). 69 Cf. notamment Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica I, 329, et Breger, Elias Artista, 64. 70 Teutschlands Wohlfahr t, 2 me partie, Amsterdam 1659, 95, dj cit par Breger, Elias Artista , 64, et 71 nt 73. Il sera encore plusieurs fois question du Sel, propos dautres auteurs, dans les dveloppements qui vont suivre. Petra Jungmayr, dans la partie de son livre intitule

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une Courte explication sur la desse infernale Proserpine: les arts refleuriront, les bavardages cesseront, car lElie annonc depuis longtemps sera prsent dans le monde71. Il envisage des changements politiques en Europe, parce quElie Artiste inventera sans doute des engins militaires qui permettront ddifier une Cinquime Monarchie limage de celle dont il est question dans Daniel 2, 4472. On voit que si ce discours ressortit celui de lutopie, le mythe messianique sestompe nanmoins au profit dun evhmrisme marqu par une idologie de progrs 73. Malgr des passages connotation thosophique, qui parcourent son uvre, Glauber est davantage un physicien et un chimiste prcurseur des Lumires, quun alchimiste pntr de messianisme religieux. Avec lui le mythe est entr, pour ainsi dire, dans un processus de scularisation. Cela nempche pas dautres auteurs de se rfrer dans le mme temps Elie Artiste dune faon plus traditionnelle; ainsi lalchimiste Eireneus Philalethes (George Starkey) en 1667, dans son Entre ouverte au palais ferm du Roi, souvent rdit et traduit:
Et il ny a pas lieu de maccuser denvie, puisque jcris dune plume audacieuse, dans un style inhabituel, en lhonneur de Dieu, pour lutilit de mon prochain et dans le mpris du monde et de ses richesses; car dj Helios lartiste est n, et maintenant lon proclame des choses glorieuses au sujet de la Cit de Dieu74 [] Que mon livre soit le prcurseur dElias, afin quil prpare la voie royale du Seigneur. Plt au ciel que chaque homme desprit, sur toute la terre, comprenne cet art!75
Zur Salzalchemie, en a bien montr limportance dans la littrature alchimico-thosophique, o le Sel est souvent li des spculations cosmogoniques. Cest le cas chez Glauber et chez Georg von Welling, pour lesquels il est fcond par laction conjugue des rayons des corps clestes, de lintrieur de la terre, et de leau de la mer (Jungmayr, Georg von Welling , 52-59). 71 Kurtze Erklrung, 55 (dj cit par Breger, Elias Artista, 63, et 71 nt 68). 72 Breger, Elias Artista, 63-65, et 71 nts 73 75, remarque que cette ide avait t prsente dans le mouvement anabaptiste de Mnster, et aprs 1649 pendant la guerre civile anglaise, et que quelques annes aprs la publication de ce texte de Glauber (1677), en 1680, des rvolutionnaires cossais agiront au nom de ce Cinquime Empire. 73 Cf. aussi Breger, Elias Artista, 64, et 71 nt 77 (o Breger cite galement lcrit de Glauber, Tractatus de natura Salium , Amsterdam 1658, 69), et Pagel, The Paracelsian Elias artista, 15. 74 nor is there any cause to accuse me of envy, because I write with an unterrified Quill, in an unheard-of style, to the honour of God, to the profitable use of my Neighbours, and contempt of the World and its riches; because Helios the Artist is already born, and now glorious things are declared of the City of God (Starkey, Alchemical Works, 406;Eireneus Philalethes, Introitus apertus, Amsterdam 1667, ch. XIII, 28). 75 Let my Book therefore be the forerunner of Elias, which may prepare the kingly way of the Lord. I would to God that every ingenious Man, in the whole earth, understood that science (dition cite de 1994, 407. Chapitre XIII, 3). Lorthographe diffrente, une ou deux pages dintervalle, est intressante car elle prsente loriginalit dassocier cet Elie au Soleil.

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Nous observons chez Johann Friedrich Helvetius un tat desprit comparable celui de Glauber, en ce sens que lun et lautre sont loin de toute alchimie spirituelle. De son vrai nom Schweizer, arrire-grand-pre de Claude Adrien Helvetius (le philosophe des Lumires), il fut longtemps le mdecin personnel du Prince dOrange; on le connat surtout comme lauteur de Vitulus Aureus (Le Veau dOr), paru dabord en latin en 166776 . Nous y trouvons le rcit dune exprience de transmutation dont lauteur lui-mme aurait t le tmoin et laquelle Spinoza se serait intresss. Helvetius raconte avoir reu le 27 dcembre 1666 la visite dun inconnu dune quarantaine dannes, dallure honnte et grave, de port dautorit, vtu dun simple habit comme celui dun Memmonite et dont il pense que le lieu dorigine tait peut-tre la Hollande du Nord. Lindividu se prsenta comme fondeur de cuivre, prtendit stre toujours beaucoup intress lextraction des plantes mdicinales partir de mtaux par le moyen du feu, et dit sappeler Elie Artiste. Ayant sorti de son sac une bote divoire habilement travaille, il informa Helvetius quil y avait l-dedans assez de teinture pour produire vingt tonne dor. Ils eurent ensuite deux autres entretiens, et leur troisime rencontre Elie Artiste laissa Helvetius une parcelle de cette teinture. Rest seul, celui-ci tenta lopration en mettant un peu de la dite substance sur six drachmes de plomb lesquelles se transformrent en or. Helvetius termine ainsi son rcit: Jai toujours lor en ma possession, mais je ne puis vous dire ce quest devenu Artist Elias. Avant de me quitter [] il ma dit quil tait sur le point dentreprendre un voyage en Terre Sainte. Puissent les Anges de Dieu veiller sur lui o quil soit, et le maintenir longtemps dans une source de bndictions77. Cest aussi lpoque o le jeune Leibniz, qui projette de crer de grandes Acadmies, dclare en 1671 que les illuminations rosicruciennes, lElias philosophicus et autres grandiloquences de ce genre mritent dtre appels luvre de fous78 . Evhmris par Glauber, banalis et pour ainsi dire naturalis par Helvetius, Elie Artiste perd ici et l de son aura en ces temps o les Lumires commencent darder leurs premiers feux. Mme un chimiste paracelsien comme Johann Joachim Becher ne lui accorde en 1669 que peu
76 Vitulus Aureus a t repris de nombreuses fois en diverses ditions et anthologies, jusquaujourdhui. La traduction allemande fut publie Nuremberg ds 1668, langlaise Londres ds 1670. Parmi les anthologies dans lesquelles ce texte a t repris, citons Deutsches Theatrum Chemicum I, 481ss; Neue Alchemistische Bibliothek I, 181 ss, sous le titre Elias der Artist; Museum Hermeticum, 1749, 815 ss. Cf. les commentaires de Breger, Elias Artista, 71 nt 66. 77 Helvetius, Vitulus Aureus, 47-59. 78 Leibniz, Smtliche Schriften und Briefe IV, 1, Darmstadt 1931, 547, cit par Breger, Elias Artista , 65, et 71 nt 78.

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dattention79 . Ni Leibniz, ni Becher, nattendent la fin du monde; ils sont au service des princes, et la priode est plutt propice la stabilisation de labsolutisme et de la vie religieuse 80. Pourtant, en 1680 encore, les uvres compltes du clbre alchimiste Alexander von Suchten paraissent avec une prface nouvelle o il est dit quElie Artiste viendra prochainement81. Et vers la fin du sicle, Friedrich Breckling, qui fait partie des thosophes et admirateurs de Arndt mais croit nanmoins devoir mettre en garde contre la prtention se prendre pour un Helias tertius, note:
Rien qu Amsterdam, nous en avons trois qui se prennent pour le dernier Elie, et on peut se demander combien dautres le diable nen fera pas clore en dautres lieux. Car chacun voudrait bien tre lui-mme lElie Artiste, et tre vnr et honor par tous les faux alchimistes et chercheurs dor [ ] 82.

Ce nom va alors servir de prte-nom, comme nous lavons vu propos dHelvetius. Cest le plus souvent sans autre prtention que de figurer comme pseudonyme; ainsi parat Hambourg en 1692, sous le nom de Elias der Artist, une Explication traitant de quelques crits sur la Pierre dEau83 , mais en 1702 un auteur anonyme peut-tre (Johann Anton?) Sldner , prtend tre lui-mme Elie lArtisteet le fait entendre au son de ses trompettes qui dnoncent le renversement de la cornue, ou le purgatoire de la chimie allemande84. Cela suscite les sarcasmes dun autre alchimiste, Aletophilus, qui
79 Cf. Becher, Moral-Discurs, 143, 155, 207, et Chymisches Laboratorium , Francfort 1680, 145 (dj cit par Breger, Elias Artista, 65, et 71 nts 79-80, qui fait cette remarque). 80 A la mme poque, dans la Kabbala Denudata de Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, il est question dElisha, successeur dElie et trs fameux prophte, sage exemplaire en matire de sciences naturelles, qui ddaigne les richesses (Elischa Propheta notissimus, sapientiae naturalis exemplaris & divitiarum Contemptor, t. I, 116). Cela a incit Pagel consacrer deux pages (16 et 19) de son article aux passages y relatifs, mais linterprtation quil en donne parat surestimer le rapport qui pourrait exister entre lElisha de ce livre et Elie Artiste. 81 Texte sign Ulrich von Dagitza, in Suchten, Chymische Schriften, fol. IV-V (dj cit par Breger, Elias Artista, 65, et 72 nt 82). 82 Dazu haben wir in Amsterdam allein drey die sich fr den letzten Elias ausgeben/ wie viel wird der Teuffel wohl an anderen Oerthern ausbrten. Denn ein jeder will gern der Elias Artista selbst seyn/ und von allen falschen Alchymisten und Goldsuchern [] verehret und angebethen seyn [ .. ] (Breckling, in Christliche Erinnerung , cit par Gilly, Johann Arndt, 76 nt 47). 83 Erluterung etlicher Schriften vom Wasserstein, cit par Kopp, Die Alchemie I, 251-252. 84 Sldner, Keren Happuch, Posaunen. Cit par Kopp, Die Alchemie I, 251 ss., et Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica I, 258, et II, 387. Sur le fait que lauteur se considrait comme Elie Artiste, cf. Breger, Elias Artista, 72 nt 85. Sur cet ouvrage, qui est peut-tre de (Johann Anton?) Sldner, cf. surtout R. Breymayer, qui lui consacre une note (in: Friedrich Christoph Oetinge r, Bd.. III, Teil II, 334-335). Dans les bibliographies, les mots Keren Happuch, parfois crits en un seul (Kerenhappuch), sont gnralement interprts comme pseudonyme de lauteur. Mais Reinhart Breymayer pense quen fait, Keren Happuch nest pas un pseudonyme. Il fait partie du titre, et lauteur a jou ici avec deux mots hbreux: le premier signifie rcipient en corne, le second, maquillage pour les yeux. Mais lauteur joue sur ce second sens, pour lui faire

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dclare nentendre l que le timbre dune trompette dargile 85 . En 1702 encore, un mdecin de Grlitz, Martin Heer, met lide trange selon laquelle Elie Artiste aurait t un pseudonyme de van Helmont86; ce qui dnote une grande ignorance de Paracelse mais rend compte de la vogue dont jouit encore le mythe. Cest aussi le moment o il fait son entre dans des travaux rudits qui ne ressortissent pas lsotrisme. Ainsi, ceux de lhistorien Johann Albrecht Fabricius et du mdecin Georg Wolfgang Wedel. Fabricius, fameux pour ses recherches sur les textes antiques et sur lAncien et le Nouveau Testament, le mentionne dans son Codex de 1713, propos de lElie des Hbreux87. Wedel en parle davantage, qui lui consacre un petit opuscule paru en 1718 et 1719 88. De mme que Fabricius, il rattache son nom celui dElie et se dclare intrigu par le fait que les chimistesrabchent souvent lide quun nomm Elie Artiste est attendu et viendra. Aussi a-t-il pens que le sujet mritait quon sy pencht89. Toutefois, ce mince travail se limite quelques rappels bibliographiques; outre Paracelse, il cite Raphael Eglin, Alexander von Suchten, Johann Baptist van Helmont, Libavius, Penotus 90.
signifier cornue inverse (ou retourne, ou transforme, voire dtruite). De fait, la cornue comme corne retourne (et corne est Retorte en allemand) rappelle une trompette. Les cornues des alchimistes deviennent ainsi le symbole des trompettes dElie Artiste qui claironnent la venue du jugement (prcisions aimablement communiques par Reinhart Breymayer lauteur du prsent article, les 14 et 28 fvrier 2002). 85 Aletophilus, Glckliche Erober- []. Ceci a t relev par Breger, Elias Artista, 72 nt 85. Cit dans Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica I, 23. Il sagit sans doute de ce mme Aletophilus qui, lanne suivante (1706) Hambourg, procure et commente la premire dition allemande du Corpus Hermeticum. 86 Heer, Introductio , 62-63, 73, 94-96. Signal par Breger, Elias Artista, 65 s, et 72 nt 83. Relevons ici une note qui, faute de rfrence, nous parat nigmatique, de Jean-Pierre Bayard: Sous la signature suppose dHelias Artista parut Hambourg, vers 1701, un Mutus Liber dun grand intrt car il suggre par figures symboliques la tradition rosicrucienne, sans claircir dailleurs, le mystre dElie Artiste. Je ne dispose pas de rfrence(s) permettant didentifer cet ouvrage, qui au demeurant ne me parat pas correspondre au fameux Mutus Liber, sign Altus, publi en 1677 La Rochelle et qui a connu de nombreuses rditions. 87 Fabricius, Codex I, 1977-1978 (que Breger avait dj signal, in Elias Artista, 72 nt 84). Aprs avoir comment des passages bibliques consacrs Elie, Fabricius mentionne Elias Artista sive Chymicus, et crit: Quemadmodum adventum Eliae incassum praestolantur Judaei, ita Chymici Eliam perfectum artistam a Theophrasto Paracelso promissum frustra expectant expectabuntque.Vide Observationes selectas Hallenses VI. 23. Nempe solenne est iisdem Judaeis, quos videntur Paracelsus in hoc imitatus esse, quotis res difficiles et nodi inextricabiles incidunt, dicere id esse relinquendum [] donec venerit Elias. 88 Wedel, Propempticon , dj signal par Breger, Elias Artista, 73 nt 84. 89 Inter reliqua Chimicorum asserta paradoxa non minimum est, quod Eliam Artistam promittunt: quod uti decantatum est, ita nobis impraesentiarum disquiri meretus, quid de eo vel sperandum, vel expectandum videatur (Wedel, Propempticon, 3). 90 En outre, Wedel fait brivement tat de lattente rosicrucienne dun Elie, et mentionne ce sujet le XXI, p. XIX, dune Disputatio de regno Christi glorioso.

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5. Du Matre cachau Nouveau Cyrus, ou les faces contrastes de lIlluminisme Il semble que ce nom entre alors pour quelques dcennies dans un oubli relatif, avant de revenir sur la scne dans la seconde moiti du sicle. De fait, F.J.W. Schrder donne en 1772 la traduction allemande dune partie de la Disquisitio de Raphael Eglin, dans son anthologie Nouvelle Bibliothque Alchimique 91. Surtout, en 1770 deux ouvrages paraissent, appels lun et lautre connatre une certaine renomme. Dans le premier, Elias Artista Hermetica sert de pseudonyme pour un Secret du Sel 92, rdit en partie en 1779 dans lanthologie A.B.C. Hermtique 93. Lide que Johann Daniel Mller ait pu tre lorigine de limpression de ce livre (paru la mme anne que Elias Artista mit dem Stein der Weisen , cf. infra) a t suggre par Reinhard Breymayer dans plusieurs de ses articles 94. Curieusement, cet ouvrage a t plusieurs fois attribu Friedrich Christoph Oetinger par des historiens srieux, mais il sagit certainement l dune erreur due au fait que, dune part, ce clbre thosophe est lui aussi lauteur de travaux chimiques et alchimiques (on ne prte quaux riches), notamment sur le Sel95 , et que, dautre part, ce Secret du Sel pourrait bien avoir t crit lintention de Loges maonniques ou para-maonniques (les sympathies dOetinger envers certaines de ces organisations sont bien connues). Pour Siegfried Wollgast, en 1976, cette attribution paraissait aller de soi, mais en 1990 Martin Weyer-Menkhoff a su la rfuter 96. Elle a pourtant
91 Neue alchemistische Bibliothek I, 181-260 sous le titre R.E.J.D. Elia der Artist, eine Abhandlung von der knstlichen Metrallverwandlung. 92 Das Geheimni von dem Salz , sign Elias Artista Hermetica, s. l., 1770, rdit Stuttgart chez J. Scheible en 1862 sous le titre Das Geheimni vom Salz (un fac-simil de cette seconde dition a paru en 1979 Fribourg/Breisgau, chez Aurum). Notre personnage ne figure que dans le titre, comme pseudonyme. 93 Hermetisches A. B. C., Berlin, 4me partie, 1779, 47-71. 94 Cits dans la bibliographie in cauda. 95 Petra Jungmayr a fait remarquer que par un aspect de son uvre, Oetinger sinscrit dans le contexte dune alchimie du Sel, notamment pour tre le co-auteur, avec Johann Friedrich von Braun, de Entwurf einiger Grundstze der Gesellschaft von Verbreitung der Patriarchalphysik (1772). Cf. Jungmayr, Georg von Welling , 54. 96 Weyer-Menkhoff crit, dans sa thse consacre Oetinger: Das Oetinger zugeschriebene Werk Das Geheimniss von dem Salz (1770), erschienen unter dem Pseudonym Elias Artista Hermetica, ist kaum von Oetinger verfasst. Dagegen sprechen Stil, Wortwahl und das, was dort nicht steht! [] Dementsprechend sind Wollgasts Verweise (Wollgast, Bhme, Oetinger, Schelling, S. 166) auf diese vermeintliche Schrift Oetingers zu korrigieren. Vielleicht steht das Pseudonym Elias Artista Hermetica ebenfalls in Zusammenhang mit Daniel Mller (WeyerMenkhoff, Christus, das Heil der Natur , 237 nt. 50). Notons au passage que Weyer-Menkhoff consacre aussi quelques lignes Johann Daniel Mller (in ibid. , 141 nt 156). Quant Wollgast, dont Weyer-Menkhoff cite larticle, il avait effectivement atribu, lui aussi, Das Geheimni von dem Salz Oetinger (Wollgast, Jakob Bhme [ ], 166). Je remercie Reinhard Breymayer davoir attir mon attention sur les rfrences utilises dans cette note.

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t raffirme par Christa Habrich en 2001 97. Lauteur du second ouvrage paru en 1770 est Johann Daniel Mller (n en 1716, mort aprs 1786), musicien virtuose apprci de Jean-Sbastien Bach, directeur de concerts, thosophe vers en Kabbale et en crits de Swedenborg, correspondant de Friedrich Christoph Oetinger et poux dune parente de Goethe. On le connat maintenant grce aux travaux de Reinhard Breymayer surtout. Vers la fin des annes 1750 il commence se sentir investi dune mission prophtique et se croit ds lors lElie Artiste de fait, il prend le pseudonyme dElias Artista appel rtablir lordre du monde, certitude qui lui inspire son ouvrage Elias Artista et la Pierre des Sages, paru en 177098. La prface souvre sur une vocation de cet Elie Artiste qui, selon Paracelse, Philalthe et dautres, viendra, et que Mller associe lElie de la Bible. Il dissipera toutes les erreurs, car il ny a rien de cach qui ne doive tre dcouvert99 . Et Mller de laisser entendre assez clairement que lui-mme pourrait bien tre Elie Artiste. Il crit en effet:
Et comme Elie doit rtablir et manifester toutes choses dans leur sens vritable, il montrera le vritable sens des images et des nigmes de la Pierre des Sages, il rvlera comment on la prpare, et cest ce qui advient dans ce livre. Paracelse a su le premier que cela doit advenir avant la fin des temps, cest pourquoi il a appel Elias Artista lhomme par lequel cela adviendra, cest--dire lElie des Arts, nom quil faut conserver, et cest pourquoi jappelle ce livre Elias Artista . / [] La rvlation de la Pierre naturelle des Sages doit servir Elie de signe que Dieu la plac pour rvler aux yeux de tous les peuples la pierre dangle cleste, Jsus Christ [ ] / et la rvlation de la Pierre des Sages doit tre la signature
97 Sans doute en raison des sympathies dOetinger pour les Francs-Maons, Christa Habrich pense quil sagit l dune uvre maonnique dOetinger: Durch Wellings Werk beeinflusst, aus Glaubers Klassikern schpfend und dessen Pseudonym Elias Artista Hermetica bernehmend publiziert Oetinger seine 1750 verfasste Freimaurerarbeit ber das Salz ( Das Geheimniss von dem Salz , o.O 1770 [ ]) Oetinger bezieht sich auch auf das Buch von Douzetemps, den er als franzsischen Enthusiast bezeichnet [ ]. (Habrich, Alchemie und Chemie, 75). Et dans lindex de louvrage collectif Goethe und der Pietismus, ouvrage dans lequel cet article de Habrich a paru, sous lentre Helias Artista Hermeticus [sic!] on renvoie Friedrich Christoph Oetinger[ cf. ibid. , 271). Je remercie Reinhard Breymayer davoir attir mon attention sur les rfrences utilises dans cette note. 98 Elias Artista mit dem Stein der Weisen. Plusieurs des titres des autres ouvrages de Mller comportent le nom dElias. Pour sa bibliographie complte, cf. Breymayer, Elie Artiste: Johann Daniel Mller, 79, et diverses autres rfrences dans les articles ultrieurs de celui-ci. Il est dommage que Elias mit dem Alcoran Mahomeds, qui faisait partie de la bibliothque du pre de Goethe, soit perdu. 99 Mller, Elias Artista mit dem Stein der Weisen, 3. Cet ouvrage de 204 pp. est une compilation dextraits de divers traits dalchimie, tant oprative que spirituelle, mais il est loin de manquer doriginalit. Signalons, parmi dautres passages fort dignes dintrt, une exgse de la Table dEmeraude (142-159). Cela dit, le contenu du livre nest videmment pas de nature persuader tous ses lecteurs que Mller est vraiment lElie Artiste attendu!

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grce laquelle on peut le reconnatre, galement de lextrieur, comme lElie. / [ ] Elie est aussi le Daniel dont il est dit quil a t instruit dans la Sagesse des Chaldens. Cela se rapporte galement lArt et la Sagesse extrieures, et telle est la connaissance de la Pierre Philosophale, qui de tous les arts secrets extrieurs est lunique et suprme image de la Pierre spirituelle quest Jsus Christ. Cest pourquoi Mose et Elie possdent cet Art, et cest pourquoi le prsent ouvrage doit aussi tmoigner pour moi que je suis / ELIAS 100.

Si cest bien par ces mot (je suis / ELIAS) que se termine la prface, dans le reste de louvrage il nest pourtant plus gure question dElie Artiste, sinon implicitement. Mais Mller va continuer se faire passer pour une sorte de messie et ne cessera, ds lors, de susciter la curiosit sur son passage, au point que le clbre Karl Philipp Moritz pourra crire en 1785, dans une revue berlinoise:
Un nouveau Messie . Berlebourg, Comt de Witgenstein, 15 juin. / Voici un nouveau Messie, du nom de Mller, un fou qui na gure son pareil, et qui vient de se manifester [] Il a dj annonc quil tiendrait bientt un grand tribunal au Nom du Pre sur toute la terre et sur les princes qui la gouvernent [ ] 101.

En 1784, Mller fait la connaissance Hambourg de labb de Brumore, cest-dire de Louis-Joseph Guyton de Morveau, membre influent du groupe dit des Illumins dAvignon runis autour de Dom Antoine-Joseph Pernety. Il instruit Brumore en matire de prparations alchimiques102 et un commun intrt pour Swedenborg contribue rapprocher les deux hommes. A linstigation
100 Und weil Elias alles wieder soll in seinem wahren Sinne herstellen und offenbaren; so muss er, auch die Bilder und Rtzel vom Steine der Weisen in ihrem wahren Sinne darstellen, und den Stein der Weisen und seine Bereitung offenbaren, welches in diesem Buche geschiehet. Paracelsus vornehmlich hat erkannt, das dieses noch vor dem Ende solle geschehen, darum hat er den Mann, durch welchen es geschiehet, Elias Artista, das ist Elias der Knstler, genannt, by welchem Namen es auch bleiben soll, und darum nenne ich dieses Buch, Elias Artista . / [ ] Weiter soll die Offenbarung des natrlichen Steins der Weisen dem Elias ein Zeichen mit seyn, dass ihn Gott gesetzet habe, den himmlischen Eckstein Jesum Christum vor den Augen aller Vlker zu offenbaren [ ] / und die Offenbarung des Steins der Weisen muss seine Signatur seyn, daran man ihn auch usserlich als den Elias erkennen knne [ ] / Elias ist derowegen auch der Daniel, von welchem gesagt wird, dass er in der Weisheit der Chalder unterrichtet gewesen sey. Hiemit wird auch auf ussere Kunst und Weisheit gedeutet, und diese ist das Erknntniss vom Stein der Weisen, welcher aus allen usseren geheimen Knsten, das einige und hchste Bild vom geistlichen Steine Jesu Christo ist. Darum muss Moses und Elias diese Kunst haben, und darum soll mir dieses Buch zugleich mit ein Zeugniss seyn, dass ich sey / ELIAS (Mller, Elias Artista mit dem Stein der Weisen , Vorrede, 4-6). 101 Knigliche privilegirte Berlinische Zeitung von Staats- und gelehrten Sachen, 78tes. Stck, Berlin, 30 juin 1785, cit par Breymayer in Ein unbekanntner Gegner, 124-125: Ein neuer Messias. Berleburg in der Grafschaft Witgenstein, d. 15. Jun. / Hier ist ein neuer Messias, Namens Mller, ein Narr, der schwerlich seines gleichen hat, zum Vorschein gekommen [] Er hat schon angekndigt, dass er nchstens im Namen des Vaters grosses Gericht ber den Erdkreis und ber die Regenten desselben halten wird [ ]. 102 Cf. notamment Meillassoux-Lecerf, Dom Pernety, 134, 138-353.

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de Brumore il devient le Matre cach, en quelque sorte, de ce groupe dont les membres ne le rencontrent jamais et ne le connaissent que sous son pseudonyme. Ceux-ci consultent la Sainte Parole, cest--dire quils crivent, dans une pice, des questions, puis quittent la pice et plus tard, en y retournant, trouvent les rponses rdiges. Cet Elie Artiste apparat occasionnellement dans les questions mmes que posent les membres. Ainsi: N 55 (Question du) 23 janvier ste parole, je vous prie de me dire si mon dieu permet que (M)orinval me communique la traduction du trait dElie artiste pour mdifier et pour minstruire de ses volonts nayant point dautre intention.... La rponse est pour le moins vasive, comme cest dailleurs le cas de la plupart dentre elles 103 . On stait longtemps demand qui tait lauteur de ces rponses. A lhistorien Reinhard Breymayer revient le mrite davoir dcouvert au dbut des annes quatre-vingt quil sagissait de Johann Daniel Mller 104 . Dans une lettre du 28 octobre 1785 adresse au marquis de Thom et consacre en partie au magntisme animal, Brumore entretient son correspondant dElie Artiste sans rvler le nom de Mller qui se cache derrire:
La vnration que vous paroissez avoir, Monsieur, pour tout ce qui a quelques rapports avec M. de Swedemborg, mengage vous parler dun homme aussi extraordinaire, qui vcut avec lui dans la plus grande intimidit [sic pour intimit], & qui existe encore aujourdhui dans le nord de lAllemagne, o, sous la mme enveloppe de lobscurit qui leur fut commune, il travaille comme lui nous rapprocher de la perfection en clairant le chemin qui peut nous y conduire []. Sans vous entretenir ici de toutes ses uvres thosophiques, physiques & morales, & de tous les faits quon lui prte & dont le dtail se trouve dans lhistoire de sa vie, ainsi que dans le tmoignage des diffrents magistrats qui les ont attests dans tous les lieux quil a parcourus, je me borne vous faire connotre cet auteur singulier, lequel, en raison dune mission quil prtend lui tre particulire, ne craint point de passer pour vouloir ressusciter des chimeres []. Quelle que soit la raison qui lui fait prendre le nom dElie, on ne peut sempcher de convenir quil en parle le langage, et que ce quil avance est une explication bien sensible de toutes les nigmes que les philosophes nous avoient laisses. Est-il donc vritablement cet Elie dont Philalthe annonce le retour? Est-il celui que les enfants dIsral ont attendu si longtemps, ou nest-il que celui qui doit prcder lautre selon la croyance des Orientaux & des Arabes? 105
Quon en juge! La rponse est, en loccurrence: Rponse. Ton dieu posa lui-mme les fondements de son / ouvrage, ton dieu te nommera lain de ses enfants, il mettra sa science dans toi parce quil sera le tems ou tu seras visit par lange de sa puissance, etc. (le reste est lavenant). Cit daprs la transcription du texte de la Sainte Parole par Meillassoux-Lecerf, Dom Pernety, 352 s. 104 De cette dcouverte et des pripties qui lont prcde, Breymayer fait tat dans plusieurs passages de ses articles consacrs Mller (cf. Bibliographie in cauda). 105 Cit par Breymayer, Elie Artiste: Johann Daniel Mller [], 68-69 daprs le Journal encyclopdique ou universel (dans lequel cette lettre a t publie) du 1 er septembre 1785 (un fac-simil du Journal a paru Nendeln/Liechtenstein, 1967; ici, cf. 512-515).
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Et Bndict Chastanier, chirurgien franais install Londres, disciple de Swedenborg quil traduit en collaboration avec dom Pernety , songe peuttre plus aux crits de Mller signs Elie Artiste qu la prophtie de Paracelse, quand il crit dans son Trait de la Vie, paru Londres en 1787:
Tous les philosophes hermtiques, depuis Herms lui-mme jusqu Elie lArtiste, et le bon sens et la raison, dmontrent que le mal nest quun accident, et que tout accident ayant eu un commencement, doit aussi avoir une fin; donc, il sensuivrait que le mal doit aussi en avoir une106.

A la fin des annes 1780 mais gure au-del, semble-t-il la renomme de Mller/Elie Artiste, acquise chez les swedenborgiens, a dj gagn cet ensemble composite quAuguste Viatte a appel lIlluminisme des salons et des carrefours une sorte decultic milieu, dirait-on aujourdhui , si bien reprsent par Bourre de Corberon, diplomate et voyageur, familier de maintes socits sotriques de son temps et toujours laffut de nouveaux mystres. Dans sa correspondance et dans son journal intime, Corberon fait tat de cet Elie Artiste qui aurait opr Hambourg des cures extraordinaires, merveilles et transmutations, certifies par des autorits officielles, qui aurait t proche de Swedenborg au point dtre devenu son ami intime, son correspondant, et en quelque sorte son thrsorier, et dont enfin il recommande le livre107 . De cet homme du peuple, n pauvre et obscur, enrichi par lindustrie, et devenu possesseur dune fortune colossale, Corberon et ses amis savent aussi quil imagina diverses crmonies dinitiation, et entoura les adeptes dappa-

106 Bndict Chastanier, Trait de la Vie , Londres 1787, cit par Charles Porset, Les Philalthes, 503 nt 51. 107 Mands moi galement si vous avs Berlin une brochure allemande petite in 4 aiant pour titre: Elias Artista? Cest un excellent trait de la Science hermtique que jai fait venir de Hambourg lanne derniere. Mais on ny a pas joint le rapport des cures extraordinaires, merveilles et transmutations opres par Elie Artiste, avec les certificats du Magistrat de cette ville. Vous savs peut tre que cet Elie Artiste toit du vivant de Swedenborg son ami intime, son correspondant, et en quelque sorte son thrsorier. Lettre de Corberon au swedenborgien Karl Ludwig Httel, 20 juillet 1787, in Recueil de Corberon (manuscrit conserv au Muse Calvet en Avignon, cote Msn 3060, Bl-61v), 64. Cf., pour le texte de cette citation complte, Trebilliani, Lesoterismo mistico, 69. Cf. aussi Faivre, Un familier [], 172 s; et 168, propos de la lettre de Corberon du 10 juin 1786 au chevalier de Viviers, ministre plnipotentiaire Hambourg. Dans une des notes daccompagnement de la traduction franaise quil donne du livre de Swedenborg Trait curieux des charmes de lamour conjugal dans ce monde et dans lautre (Berlin et Ble 1784, cf. 13-14), Brumore contribue acrditer cette lgende dun rapport personnel entre Swedenborg et Elie Artiste: [] on peut conclurre de son intimet [sic; de lintimit de Swedenborg] avec un homme aussi extraordinaire que lui [Mller], que lunanimit de sentimens rendait entreux tous les moyens communs, & que ctait dans les ressources de cette liason quil en trouvait pour tout le bien quil voulait faire. Cit par Breymayer, Elias Artista (1995), 348.

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ritions fantastiques 108 . Un correspondant de Johann Caspar Lavater crit celui-ci, en 1786: [] on prtend quil existe dans le nord de lAllemagne un gnie extraordinaire qui a t intimement li avec dfunt Monsieur Swedenborg; cet homme tonnant, dit-on, qui se qualifie du titre dElie Artiste 109 . Le trait Elias Artista et la Pierre des Sages parat ce correspondant de Lavater plus clair quaucun de ceux qui ont paru depuis Herms Trismgiste 110 . Parmi les personnages plus ou moins pittoresques de cette fin du 18me sicle, il en est dautres qui revendiquent des rapports personnels avec Elie le prophte111 . Cette poque voit apparatre lIlluminisme en mme temps que le pr-romantisme, et cest le nouvel ge dor de la thosophie aprs celui quau sicle prcdent Jacob Boehme avait inaugur. Tous les thosophes ne se prennent pas, comme Johann Daniel Mller, pour Elie Artiste, mais la plupart vivent dans lattente dune nouvelle aurore, dun nouvel ge. Ainsi Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling, qui occupe une place de choix dans lhistoire de la littrature allemande et dont le roman Heimweh (Le mal du pays), au titre vocateur, parat en 1794/95 et contribue asseoir la clbrit. Dans cette fiction potique il imagine un lieu en Allemagne o une sorte de chevalier spirituel, Christian von Ostenheim, alias Eugenius (cest--dire, le rgnr) sefforce de runir les enfants de Dieu disperss de par le monde et de les conduire Solyma (cest--dire, la terre de paix) en vue de prparer le glorieux Royaume venir. Nombre de lecteurs du roman, des pitistes du Wurtemberg surtout, nostalgiques de ce lieu, senquirent de lemplacement gographique; de fait, le roman de Jung-Stilling exercera dans les annes suivantes une influence certaine sur les courants chiliastes dmigration
108 Cit par Viatte, Sources Occultes I, 87, daprs la lettre de Bourre de Corberon Karl Ludwig Httel en date du 20 juillet 1787 (cf. supra ), et daprs la Revue Britannique , janvierfvrier 1839, 324-325 (sur la Revue Britannique , cf. infra , la partie 6 du prsent article). 109 Lettre de Berthelot (sans doute Roussel de Berthelot) J.C. Lavater, 30 septembre 1786 (fonds J.C. Lavater conserv la Zentrabibliothek de Zurich, cote FA Lavater, Ms. 502, n. 209, cit par Breymayer, Elias Artista: Johann Daniel Mller, 53). 110 Cette partie de la mme lettre de Berthelot Lavater est cite par Viatte, Sources Occultes I, 87. 111 Cf. quelques rfrences in Viatte, Les sources occultes I, 218-219. Et selon un tmoignage de Ludwig Ernst Borowsky, dat de 1790, Cagliostro se considrait comme un subordonn dElie, ce qui pouvait tre susceptible de lui confrerune immortalit physique: Bald darauf gab er sich als einen der Untergeordneten des Elias an, dessen Schler nie sterben, wenn sie nur nicht zur schwarzen Magie bertreten, sondern vielmehr, wenn ihre irdische Laufbahn vollendet ist, gleich ihrem erhabnen Lehrer Elias lebendig gen Himmel gehoben werden (texte de Borowsky, in: Cagliostro. Dokumente, 368). Notons au passage que Cagliostro, comme le rappelait Giovanni Barberi en 1791, faisait remonter la Franc-Maonnerie Enoch et Elie: Cagliostro gibt vor, dass die gyptische Maurerei von Enoch und Elias entstanden, und von selben in alle Teile der Welt verbreitet worden, aber durch den Lauf der Jahre von seiner Reinheit und Glanz vieles verloren habe (texte de Barberi in: ibid. , 519).

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souabe et bavaroise, notamment , non pas vers un lieu de lespace germanique mais plutt vers la Russie 112 . Et dans une autre uvre de fiction publie en plusieurs parties dans sa srie Der Graue Mann (Lhomme gris), JungStillling invente le personnage dEusebius autre version dEugenius qui lui aussi se prsente comme un nouvel artisan du retour du Seigneur. Or, si Jung-Stilling na pas cru devoir identifier ces deux personnages Elie Artiste, quelquun dautre la fait pour lui, savoir le thosophe munichois Karl von Eckartshausen, arithmologue, kabbaliste, alchimiste polygraphe de gnie dont les dernires annes sont marques par une pousse de ferveur messianique. Lun et lautre changent une correspondance. Tout pntr du Heimweh , le Munichois recommande volontiers ses amis les ouvrages de son ami Jung-Stilling113 . Peu de temps aprs la parution de ce roman, Eckartshausen crit deux de ses plus beaux livres:Ueber die wichtigsten Mysterien der Religion (Des mystres les plus importants de la religion), etUeber die Zauberkrfte der Natur (Des forces magiques de la Nature)114 . Le premier contient un des textes les plus saisissants que la littrature illuministe ait produits sur le renouvellement de la Nature. Sy trouve dpeinte lapproche du temps o la Terre engendrera un Sauveur, o lalliance par le Sel (Salzbund) de la Terre et de lhomme sera pleinement accomplie grce la venue dun troisime Adam dont la venue est proche. Il se manifestera ds quil sera en possession de la vertu de lEsprit den haut qui agit sur la Nature. Ses actions dpasseront les limites de notre entendement actuel et de ce que nous pouvons savoir de la Nature physique. Ce dernier des lus, ce premier dentre les parfaits, cest lEugenius de Jung, et cest lElias dont les Rose-Croix ont pressenti la venue 115 .
Sur ces mouvements dmigration lie des formes dirnisme exalt, et qui touche particulirement les milieux des Erweckten (les Rveills), cf. notamment Faivre, Eckartshausen, 178-179, pour des lments bibliographiques. 113 Sur cette correspondance, qui porte surtout sur les annes 1796 et 1797, cf. Faivre, Eckartshausen, 200-202. 114 Textes crits trs vraisemblablement entre 1799 et 1802 et parus titre posthume. Rdition en fac-simil des deux ouvrages,avec introductions dA. Faivre: Friboug/Breigau: Aurum/ Imago Solis, 1978. Rdition (non en fac-simil) des deux ouvrages en un volume, avec une nouvelle introduction et des documents, prsente par A. Faivre: Mllheim/Baden: Ambra, 1997. 115 Eckartshausen, Ueber die wichtigsten Mysterien, 116-118 de ldition originale, et 321323 de ldition de 1997. Texte original de la dernire citation: Dieser Letzte der Erwhlten, und dieser Erste der Vollendeten ist Jungs Eugenius, und der geahnte Elias der Rosen + er (118 de loriginal, 323 de ldition de 1997). Dans Faivre, Eckartshausen, la note 810 de la page 341 renvoie par erreur ber die Zauberkrfte (au lieu de ber die wichtigsten [ ], et je navais pas compris (341) le sens de Jungs Eugenius, alors que pourtant le gnitif indique quil sagit dune rfrence Jung-Stilling et au personnage de son Heimweh (ouvrage que je navais pas encore lu).
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Sil est intressant de constater quEckartshausen reconnat en Eugenius une figure dElie Artiste, il lest au moins autant de le voir renouer avec la tradition - plus ou moins oublie alors, semble-t-il qui associait, comme on la vu plus haut, cette figure au rosicrucisme. Et lui-mme invente dans le mme ouvrage son propre Eugenius, auquel il donne le nom dEloas, bien plus voisin dElie par la consonance que ne lest Eugenius. Eloas apparat dans le livre dEckartshausen au cur du chapitre intitul Fragments tirs de la plus ancienne des Ecoles de Sagesse, ou Instruction donne par Eloas, Prtre de la Nature, Sophron116 . Par linspiration et par le dcor, tout ce chapitre sapparente au rcit de Novalis Die Lehrlinge zu Sais (Les disciples Sas), dont la rdaction date de 1798 et prcde sans doute de trs peu celle de cette Instruction. Plus tard, en 1832, donc trente ans aprs la disparition dEckartshausen, un fervent disciple de celui-ci, le Bernois Friedrich Herbort, commente les passages consacrs par son matre au Sauveur de la Nature. Il sen entretient avec un ami, cet autre thosophe quest le Francfortois Johann Friedrich von Meyer:
Lobjet dEckartshausen dans cet ouvrage est ce personnage important qui doit apparatre un jour et dcouvrir le moyen de la rgnration, tant intrieure quextrieure. Dans quelle rvlation Eckartshausen a puis la connaissance de cet homme quil appelle le troisime Adam, il ne le dit nulle part117.

Herbort, dans la suite de sa lettre, ne fait pas mention dElie Artiste, ni dauteurs qui en ont parl, et pense quil peut sagir dune rvlation personnelle comme celle dont dautres thosophes, par exemple Jane Leade, ont pu bnficier. Mais sur son propre exemplaire des Mystres les plus importants, annot de sa main, en marge de lEliasdont les Rose + Croix ont pressenti la venue,Herbort crit: Elias Artista, der neue Cyrus 118 . Et il apprend son correspondant J. Fr. von Meyer quEckartshausen connaissait, sous un autre nom encore, le Sauveur de la Nature, savoir sous celui de Zaba Cyrus. Cette connaissance, dit Herbort, avait t procure Eckartshausen par lexprience

116 Fragmente aus der ltesten Weisheits-Schule oder Eloas des Naturpriesters Unterricht an Sophron, in: Eckartshausen, ber die wichtigsten [], 128-142 de ldition originale, 335-353 de ldition de 1997. 117 Fr. Herbort J. Fr. von Meyer, 5 juillet 1832, in Fabry, Le Bernois Friedrich Herbort, 60. Texte original (cit 209 nt 226): Eckartshausens Gegenstand in diesem Werke ist jene wichtige Person, die mit der Zeit erscheinen soll, und das Mittel zur innern und usseren Wiedergeburt erfinden wird. Aus welcher Offenbarung Eckartshausen die Kenntnis von diesem Mann, den er den 3. Adam nennt, geschpft habe, sagt er nirgends. 118 Exemplaire de Eckartshausen, Ueber die wichtigsten [] conserv la Bibliothque Libre de la Facult de Thologie Protestante de Lausanne, sous la cote SA 251.

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suivante dont il fut lobjet. Il avait rv dun caillou portant des caractres particuliers (ressemblant : Z C 1) et retrouva le lendemain ce mme caillou en se promenant le long de lIsar. Un second rve apprit Eckartshausen quil sagissait de Zaba Cyrus, lenouveau Cyrus dont il est question dans Isae , 45119 . Alchimiste pratiquant et convaincu, Herbort prend ces indications trs au srieux:
Dans le huitime verset du quarante-cinquime chapitre dIsae, le solvens est indiqu; lessentiel, ici, cest lether; et ce troisime Adam [] doit trouver la manire de fixer lther aussi pur que possible et en quantit, pour servir de dissolvant radical des substances et obtenir lor potable authentique des Anciens 120.

Au demeurant, Eckartshausen sest livr des spculations sur le nom de Cyrus, dans ses Regards sur lavenirparus en 1799. L, il associe arithmologiquement ce nom la date de 1800 en laissant entendre quelle pourrait correspondre un grand tournant 121 .
La seconde partie de cet article, accompagne de la bibliographie et dun rsum en anglais, paratra dans Aries 3:1 (2003).

119 Pour plus de dtails sur cette trange histoire, cf. Fabry, Le Bernois Friedrich Herbort, 6061, 209, et Faivre, Eckartshausen, 221 s. 120 Mme lettre, in Fabry, Le Bernois Friedrich Herbort, 61. Texte original (cit par Fabry 209 nt 229): Im 8. Vers des 45. K. Jes: ist das Solvens angegeben; die Hauptsache hierbey ist der Aether; und jener 3. Adam [] soll die Weise erfinden, wie man den Aether so rein als mglich und in Menge anziehn knne, um dann damit die Substanzen radikal aufzuschliessen, und das chte aurum potabile der Alten zu bekommen. 121 Eckartshausen, Blicke in die Zukunft , cf. 138-141. Nouvelle dition (avec deux autres ouvrages du mme auteur), prsente par A. Faivre et E. Sicart, Mllheim/Baden: Ambra 1998, 136-137, et cf. 333 nt 14, et introduction 17.

TRITHEMIUS, CUSANUS, AND THE WILL TO THE INFINITE: A PRE-FAUSTIAN PARADIGM NOEL L. B RANN Of past figures whose reported exploits have moved from the historical arena to the arena of legend and even of myth, one of the more intriguing is a certain Doctor Faustus ( ca. 1540). That metamorphosis from historical to legendary status, notably illustrated by the Lutheran-authored Faustbuch of 1587, had already begun during its subjects own lifetime. Initially construed as a demonically inspired sorcerer, Faustus subsequently passed through a series of further metamorphoses no longer holding to the relatively one-dimensional image earlier projected. Already with Christopher Marlowe, who was given access to an English translation of the Faustbuch, the Faust legend had became transmogrified from a series of superficial cautionary tales about the dangers of magic into a deeper dramatic tragedy in which its central protagonists occult interests were no longer so easily slighted. The simple religious conflict between the righteousness of faith and the unrighteousness of demonically incited sorcery had now become revamped into a conflict between two opposing versions of how one can best be put into touch with a realm of the spirit transcending the limitations of nature: one through demonic assistance and the other through Christian faith. Migrating to the age of the Enlightenment, with a writer like Lessing enhancing the tragical framework within which the Faust legend could flourish, it was most famously picked up by Goethe and transformed into a foremost prototype of the Romantic drive to transcend the finite limits laid down by the classical heritage. Further passing into the modern age, it is above all the Marlowe and Goethe takes on the Faust legend that have had the most durable impact on the contemporary western mind. In this form the Faust image has been adapted to the ballet stage by Heinrich Heine and to the opera stage by Berlioz, Gounod and Boito; it represented for Kierkegaard a tormented apostate of the spirit epitomizing the existential disjunction between the finite and infinite domains; it has been utilized as a historical metaphor by Spengler and Toynbee, the former replacing the famous Dionysian-Apollonian antithesis with a FaustianApollonian antithesis and the latter associating Faust with the Yang side of what he conceived to be a Yin-Yang dynamic of history; it served Thomas Mann, in his novel Doktor Faustus, as an allegorical motif symbolizing a cor Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 2

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relation between genius and psychic alienation; and, as illustrated by a recent study applying the Faustian theme to a number of literary heroines, it has even impacted on the modern feminist movement. In sum, the image of Faust has evolved from one of a mere demon conjuror into a protean-like metaphor for a heroic-like drive to surpass the bounds of finite mediocrity1. Faustus and Trithemius Faustus, as it happened, was not alone among Renaissance magicians to furnish the modern world with a striking Renaissance paradigm pitting an occult pursuit of the transrational infinite against the finite limits of human reason. He was notably anticipated by the Benedictine abbot Trithemius (1462-1516) of Sponheim and Wrzburg2, who, responding to a query by an acquaintance cognizant of his burgeoning reputation in the same area of arcane interests as attracted Faustus, offers us the first documented evidence of the historical personage behind the Faust legend in the form of a highly unflattering epistolary portrait of its subject. Having by chance spent a night at the same Gelnhausen inn as Faustus during the year 1506, Trithemius, in the relevant letter marking this fortuitous intersection of the two magi, portrayed his fellow itinerant in highly unflattering terms. Puffing himself up as a fountain of necromantics (fons necromanticorum ) Trithemius charged, Faustus in truth was nothing but a vagabond, an utterer of vain repetitions, and a wandering monk deserving, not of admiration, but of chastisement by whipping. Boasting that if all the volumes of Plato and Aristotle, with all their philosophy, completely perished from the memory of man, he by his genius, as if he were another Ezra the Hebrew, could restore them with an even more superior elegance, Faustus, in Trithemius opinion, being ignorant of all good letters, ought rather to be called a fool than a master. To be sure, the main thrust of this portrayal is one that appears to present
1 For general accounts of the historical Faustus see Butler, Myth of the Magus , 121-124, and Mahal, Historische Faust . Among the vast contemporary literature touching on the Faust legend see, e.g., Bianquis, Faust travers quatre sicles ; Palmer & More, Sources of the Faust Tradition ; Butler, Fortunes of Faust ; Kiesewetter, Faust in der Geschichte; Smeed, Faust in Literature; Baron, Doctor Faustus; Maus, Faust: Eine Deutsche Legende ; Grimm & Hermand, Our Faust? ; Boerner and Johnson, Faust through Four Centuries; and Druxes, Feminization of Dr. Faustus . 2 Establishing the general intellectual context for Trithemius mystical and magical interests are Arnold, Johannes Trithemius, and Brann, The Abbot Trithemius. For elaboration of the shift from mystical to magical theology by Trithemius see Brann, Trithemius and Magical Theology. For briefer treatments of Trithemian magic see Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic, 86-90, and Couliano, Eros and Magic , 162-175.

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Faustus more as a magical fraud than as the outright demon-conjuror that subsequently became the crux of his legend. Given the Devils well-known reputation as deceiver, however, it is a portrayal that readily contributed to the more sinister Faustian reputation of later years. Going so far in his perversity as to blaspheme that the miracles of Christ our Saviour were not truly marvelous acts, and that he himself could perform, every day and wherever he wished, all the things which Christ performed, Trithemius intimated in his epistolary testament without expressly saying so, Faustus exercized remarkable powers of prestidigitation that at bottom owed, not to divine assistance as he would have us believe, but to assistance of the demons intent on counterfeiting the miracles of God3 . The irony in all of this, of course, is that Trithemius himself, whose objection to Faustus hinged, not on an objection to magic per se but only on a distinction he discerned between diabolically inspired sorcery and divinely inspired Neoplatonic, Hermetic, and Kabbalist magic, became subsequently linked by magic-detesting Christians to the self-described fountain of necromantics, Faustus. Spearheaded by the widespread propagation of a letter by a 1503 guest of Trithemius at Sponheim, the Frenchman Carolus Bovillus, who, on being presented with a partially completed manuscript of the abbots Steganographia , vehemently castigated its author as a demon-conjuror, the name of Trithemius readily became associated in the minds of many after the 1580s with that of the demon-conjuring subject of the Faustbuch. Serving to reinforce this commonplace linkage of the two names was an early merging of the two legends, Trithemian and Faustian, illustrated by a story of Faustus raising of ancient personages from the nether regions in the court of Charles V paralleling a comparable necromantic feat attributed to Trithemius in the court of Charles grandfather Maximilian. As one sixteenth century writer typified the later coalescence of the two legends with reference to this Faustian anecdote: Some men relate that this same act was performed by Johannes Trithemius 4.
3 Trithemius to Johannes Virdung de Hasfurt, Wrzburg, 20 August 1507, Epistolae familiares II:48, in: Opera historica II, 559-60. Repr. in De septem secundeis, 140-141 (in Tille, Faustsplitter, no.1, 1-3) and in Rupprich, Humanismus, 184-185. For transl. into German, French, and English respectively see Kiesewetter, Faust, 4-6; Chacornac, Trithme , 59-61; and Palmer & More, Sources, 83-86. On this documented Trithemius-Faust encounter see Harmening, Faust und die Renaissance-Magie, 56-79; Maus, Faust, 109-138; Arnold, Trithemius, 185; Brann, The Abbot Trithemius, 48, and id., Trithemius and Magical Theology, 64-65; and Baron, Faustus , 23-24. 4 Christoph Zeisseler, Neu-erffneter Historischer Schauplatz (1595), excerpted in Tille, Faustsplitter, no.146, p. 149. For further references in this anthology illustrating the popular conflation of the Faustian and Trithemian magical legends see no. 12, 14-15; no. 31, 62-68; no.

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What decisively distinguishes the Trithemian legend from its Faustian analogue is that, whereas Faustus did not leave behind so much as a word about the motivation for his magical interests, depending for that on others incorporating it into their own agendas, Trithemius bequeathed a formidable corpus of writings documenting his motivation. Whereas, as set forth, for example, in Marlowes version of Faustus, magic represented an alternative to Christian theology as a means to achieving godlike power and knowledge, it was Trithemius announced intention to reconcile magic with his orthodox Christian principles. Whereas the view encouraged by the pre-Enlightenment Faust legend, with St. Augustine a foremost religious authority, was to establish an inpenetrable partition dividing a true Christian miracle from a mere magical marvel the former presumed to originate in an infinitely removed realm of supernature and the latter in a finitely placed occult realm of nature readily accessible to the demons for the counterfeiting of miracles , the view presented by Trithemius was of a conflation of miracle and magic in the tradition, not of magic-detesters like St. Augustine or, closer to his own time, St. Thomas Aquinas, but of a magic-prone German contemporary of St. Thomas, Albertus Magnus. Put another way, it was Trithemius goal, more systematically reiterated by his famed disciple Agrippa of Nettesheim ( 1535), to transform the Hermetic magnum miraculum into a magnum miraculum Christianum 5. The magical reputation of Trithemius at first glance appears to have burst onto the historical stage like a lightning bolt, signaled by a misappropriated 1499 letter to a friend announcing the birth of the art of steganography, a form of cryptography, reputedly invoking planetary angels for the conveyance of

51, 99-101; no. 59, 111-114; no. 62, 118-122; and no. 89, 173-178. Cf. Fritz, Volksbuch vom Doktor Faust III, 69-70. Drawing out the resemblances between the Faust and Trithemian legends are Maus, Faust, and Baron, Trithemius und Faustus, 39-57, and id., Precarious Legacy, 303-315. 5 On a 1509 meeting of Agrippa with Trithemius at Sponheim, followed up the following year with Agrippas dedication to the abbot of the first version of his De occulta philosophia, see my Trithemius and Magical Theology, 152-157. For medieval antecendents to the occult programs envisaged by Trithemius and Agrippa alike, with principal emphasis by its contributors on late medieval expositions of the Solomonic ars notoria, see Fanger, Conjuring Spirits.What sharply distinguishes Trithemius mystical-magical methodology from that of this tradition, however, highlighted by the abbots express condemnation of the ars notoria in his Antipalus maleficorum, is his excision of purifying external rituals from its ascending stages. If the external rituals spelled out in the Steganographia appear to belie this, it should be noted that they are geared to acquire practical powers in the art of cryptic communication, not to move the soul of the operator to purer states of being. Nevertheless, it was precisely this ambiguous feature of Trithemius leadoff treatise of magic, promising to furnish an occult shortcut to worldly knowledge in association with the drive to a beatific vision, to put his reputation in the same suspect ranks as the ars notoria in the minds of his demonological critics.

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secret messages 6. A careful analysis of Trithemius pre-Steganographic sources, however, reveals that the ground for the abbots detour into a suspect art of the arcana was not as sudden or unexpected as it appears, revealing as it does a trend in his thinking which places magic on a continuum with the mystical theology to which he so far had devoted his monastic career. His ultimate goal was identical to that stated by St. Augustine in the entreaty to God opening his Confessions that Thou hast made us for Thyself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee. Where he took fundamental departure from Augustine was in his proposition that magic could act as an ancillary aid to mystical theology in achieving that goal. Whereas Augustines dictum in another of his writings that man is a greater miracle than any marvel man performs7 was grounded on the presumption of a radical miracle-magic dichotomy, Trithemius effectively recoalesced the mystical-magical division that Augustine had put asunder. To illustrate the strategy enlisted by Trithemius in effecting this elevated goal of magic, we will now highlight two separate but interconnected stages of his theological thinking. The first stage constitutes a fusion of traditional mystical theology with monastic humanism, the prominent feature of which is the tracing of the origins of Christian spirituality to pre-Christian Jewish and Gentile sources, and the second stage, the fusion of specifically pre-Christian Jewish and Gentile occult theory with conventional Christian mystical theory. In this manner, we will see, Trithemius was able to rationalize a transformation of mystical into magical theology, the object of which, in anticipation of the later Faust legend, he took to be a mystical-magical traversal of the ontological and epistemological disjunction separating the finite from the infinite realms. What distinguished the Trithemian rendering of that infinite quest from its Faustian analogue in all its subsequent versions lay in its means, not in its end, with the heroic power necessary to its fulfillment claimed to be provided, not by Satan, but by God, and its finalized fruit, not condemnation of the magical artificers defiled soul in the pit of Hell, but the eternal salvation of his alchemically purified soul imaging the undefiled purity of God.

6 For the background of this epistolary announcement of Trithemius turn to magic, intended for the eyes alone of the Ghent Carmelite Arnold Bostius but, owing to his death prior to its arrival, inadvertently made accessible to far less sympathetic respondents, see my Trithemius and Magical Theology , 7, 85-87. 7 St. Augustine, De civitate Dei X, 12.

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In 1497, and thus only two years before his magical interests became a public spectacle, Trithemius provided a succinct summary of his mystical theory, under the title De operatione divina , in the form of an oration before the annual chapter of the Bursfeld congregation meeting at Erfurt. Declared Trithemius therein, in language to be reiterated many times in his subsequent contributions to the theory of Christian magic: The more secret matters of divine love are not to be revealed to the ordinary public, since he alone is able to understand them whom the illuminations of love have readied by means of rigorous [spiritual] exercises8. In this way Trithemius compactly integrated in a single sentence traditional illuminist theory, a doctrine of spiritual exercises, and a caveat of esoteric confidentiality, each component which was to prove as pertinent to his unconventional magical as to his conventional mystical thinking. In elaboration of this triadic guideline Trithemius spelled out for his audience a series of ten miraculous operations of divine love enabling the soul to purify itself of its worldly contaminations. A summary of these stages runs as follows. By the first operation, contrition, we are informed by Trithemius that just as fire devours wood and chaff, likewise does the love of God consume all sin, its contrary, from the heart of the lover; by the second operation, that the fire of divine love cooks all the carnal affections and subjugates them to the spirit; by the third operation, that the lover despises all corporeal things and loves nothing whatsoever in this world; by the fourth operation, that love engenders a marvelous compunction and devotion in its host, the result being that the mind becomes so elevated above worldly things that there is unlocked and disclosed to it the secrets of heavenly things; and by the fifth operation, that by bringing the intellect into subjection to an inflamed will divine love illuminates the intellect of its possessor with a marvelous majesty an observation prompting the crucial aviso from the speaker that if you do not first love God, you know nothing ( si Deum non diligis, nihil intelligis). By the sixth operation of divine love in turn Trithemius instructed his Bursfeld audience that the mind of the lover is liquefied in the likeness of wax; by the seventh operation, that the liquefied soul, having thereby been carried outside the body in a state of ecstasy, is made contemptuous of physical death; by the eighth operation, that the enraptured soul is conveyed into the realm of the angelic hierarchy; by the ninth operation, that the soul of the divine lover is transported to the very threshold of Heaven, depicted by Trithemius as the
8

Trithemius, Orationes VI: De Operatione divini amoris, in: Opera pia , 891.

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abyss of divine contemplation, where it is marvelously transmuted (mirabiliter transmutatur) from the state of a deficient creature to one participating in divinity; and, by the tenth and concluding operation, that the enraptured soul is enabled to pass over the threshold of the heavenly temple to its interior, where it is soon led to the bosom of the most beloved Jesus, and honored in immortal glory9. Through a comparable progression of amorous operations Trithemius envisaged a magical ascent to God corresponding to the mystical ascent presented in his De operatione divina . In this progression we can discern five critical points at which he was able to plug his magical into his mystical program. First of all Trithemius cautioned in his mysticism as in his magic an imperative of esoteric confidentiality. Secondly, by utilizing the cathartic image of fire as a transmutative agent he opened the way for alchemy to enter his mystical framework. Thirdly, in his mysticism as in his magic Trithemius presumed that a soul sufficiently purified is enabled to break free of its demonic encumbrances and enter, via the angelic hierarchy, into intimacy with God. Fourthly, by establishing near the apex of his spiritual progression a dark abyss of divine contemplation where, as maintained in ancient times by pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (6th cent.) and recently reiterated in the mathematical language of Pythagoras by the erudite church cardinal Nicholas Cusanus (1401-1464), positive becomes transformed into negative theology, he left the way open for the magicians of his day to identify their occult principles with those of the mystics. Fifthly, in his magic as in his mysticism Trithemius sought a higher form of spiritual illumination prefiguring what Frances Yates has termed, in its late Renaissance expression, the Rosicrucian Enlightenment10. Impacting on both strands of Trithemius theology alike, mystical and magical, was his discernment, in express agreement with Cusanus, that between finite and infinite, between creature and Creator, between men and God there is absolutely no proportion11. Put another way, the finite-infinite discontinuity conditioning Trithemius mystical theology, by underscoring an occult realm inaccessible to reason but accessible to an inflamed will, also conditioned Trithemius magical theology. Even as Cusanus himself stopped short at translating his mystical principles into magical ones, he nevertheless, by upholding a transrational way over the dark abyss separating God from man,
Trithemius, Orationes VI: De Operatione divini amoris, in: Opera pia , 888-899. Yates, Rosicrucian Enlightenment . 11 Trithemius, Oratio de vera conversione mentis ad deum, in: Opera pia , 903. On the Cusanus-Trithemius connection see Arnold, Trithemius , 5 et passim, and my two Trithemius studies: The Abbot Trithemius, esp. 195-201, and Trithemius and Magical Theology, 131-132.
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helped pave the way for a Christian magus like Trithemius in taking that further step. The key to this shift from mystical to magical theology in Trithemius, with the additional assistance of Hermetic and Kabbalist sources to reinforce his Pythagorean and Neoplatonic ones, lay in his identification of mystical illuminations received by the spiritually purified with occult illuminations said to be accessible to a privileged few esoterically prepared to receive them. To properly appreciate the prominent role Cusanus dubbed by Trithemius comosellanus meus by virtue of their sharing the Mosel valley as their birthplace played in the abbots occult thought processes, we can do no better than to consult a letter introducing an oration, titled De visione Dei (1453), addressed by Cusanus to a group of Benedictine monks housed on the shores of the Tegernsee. Promising to reveal to his monastic listeners an easy path unto mystical theology Cusanus further explained that he would thereby lay out for them the way to their reception of the marvels of revelation which are beyond all sight of our eyes, our reason, and our understanding. More specifically, he pledged, I will endeavor by a very simple and commonplace method to lead you by experience into the divine darkness; wherein while ye abide ye shall perceive present with you the light inaccessible . 12. Through words like these Cusanus indicated his adherence not only to a concept of spiritual advancement superior to that of traditional scholastic logic with its dependence on human reason. He also indicated his adherence to a distinction within mystical theology itself, adopted from pseudo-Dionysius, between two separate stages of advancement. The first stage, to which he referred all external religious rites, consists of affirmative or cataphatic theology ( kataphatike ), and the second stage, to which he referred the incomprehensible and ineffable truths of Christian faith, negative or apophatic theology ( aphophatike )13. What is clear from other writings flowing from Cusanus pen, most notably his earlier groundbreaking De docta ignorantia (1440), is that his view of the aspiring will so central to his mystical theory does not simply dispense with the human intellect. It subordinates the intellect, the sine qua non of philosophical investigation, to a higher urge of the soul to become one with God free of sensual and rational encumbrances. While expressly taking his philosophical departure from Pythagoras and Plato, the joint effect of which was to furnish
Cusanus, Vision of God, 1-2. On Cusanus philosophical outlook see esp. Cassirer, Individual and Cosmos. Highlighting Cusanus mysticism in relation to his philosophy is Watts, Cusanus, with this tract the focus of ch. 5, 153-188. 13 For this crucial mystical distinction see, in addition to Watts, Cusanus, 48 ff., her essay Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the latter distinguishing Cusanus version of apophatic theology from later magical versions subscribed to by such theorists of the occult as Marsilio Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and, by implication, Trithemius.
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him with the mathematical methodology upon which he based his reasoning, Cusanus ended in substituting for a vision of hierarchical ascent from the known to the unknown, still a feature of the Dionysian vision, a sharply antihierarchical opposition between a finitely circumscribable world accessible to reason and the infinitely uncircumscribable realm of God inaccessible to reason but accessible to a purified will. A working corollary further deduced by Cusanus from his mathematical methodology is that all oppositions detected in the rational sphere of existence are ultimately reconciled in the infinitely superrational sphere as a coincidentia oppositorum a coinciding of seeming contrarities. One significant theological repercussion of Cusanus revolution in philosophy, which found in Martin Luther one of its more notable exemplars14, lay in its encouragement of a conjunction of fideism with skepticism, the underlying presupposition of which is that the infinite realm of God closed off to the categories of human reason the so-called Deus Absconditus or Hidden God is nevertheless reachable by a soul that has been sufficiently purged of its terrestrial contaminations. Another repercussion, as characteristic of an ongoing adherence of Christians to Catholic monastic as to Protestant anti-monastic ideals, lay in its applicability to a doctrine of spiritual exercises purporting to transport a soul methodically disencumbered of its corporeal limitations to a place where the eye of the mind is no longer compelled, as St. Paul (I Cor. 13:12) put it, to look at God through a glass darkly, but rather is now capacitated to gaze on God eye to eye. Yet another repercussion of Cusanus philosophical insights, less widely appreciated by Reformation scholars than the previous two, lay in their possible transference to the field of magic. While it is true that Cusanus himself indicated no such magical implication of his philosophical insights indeed, on his own part actively discouraging tendencies during his time to confuse sacramental rituals blessed by the church with magic 15 , he left open the possibility for others to do so, with Trithemius a foremost case in point. Much as Cusanus acted as a prime influence on Trithemius mystical theology, so did he act as a prime influence on Trithemius magical theology. Two principal features of Cusanus Platonically conditioned theology aptly served Trithemius to this end: the first, inherited through the legacy of pseudo-Dionysius, was negative theology, and the second, inherited through the Pythagorean legacy, mystical numerology.

14 See, e.g. Cranz, Cusanus, Luther, and the Mystical Tradition. For the nominalist background of this mystical trend see the previous papers in Trinkaus & Oberman, Pursuit of Holiness, by Heiko Oberman, William J. Courtenay, and Steven Ozment. 15 See, e.g., Scribner, Popular Culture, 31, 42.

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In anticipation of a key Trithemian theme, Cusanus proclaimed in his De docta ignorantia that we walk through likenesses and enigmas. But whereas Cusanus followed up this observation with the epistemological corollary, the central thesis of his De conjectura , that we know truth only through metaphor and through symbols designated by ourselves 16, Trithemius gave that Cusan insight an occult turn that, despite an Hermetic component of his own thinking that contributed to the cardinals revolutionary philosophical vision, can scarcely be said to have been contemplated by Cusanus himself 17. As zealous to lead his monks, as put by Cusanus in the epistolary introduction to his De visione Dei , into the divine darkness, wherein while ye abide ye shall receive present with you the light inaccessible, Trithemius identified the infinitely occult realm spoken of by Cusanus, which the Cardinal claimed to be communicable solely through enigmas, similes, and metaphors, with the occult realm of the magicians. If the 1497 De operatione divina can be said to have furnished a foothold to Trithemian magic, an oration of the previous year aimed at clarifying the principal diabolically engineered obstacles to monastic observance would appear to make that foothold still more secure. Cautioning his monastic listeners that he who, being rude and blinded by the passions of the vices and deprived of the light of the scriptures, presumes to pass over into the dense mist of divine contemplation will be led into disaster, Trithemius instructed them that Dionysius, teaching Timothy concerning mystical theology, prohibited him from permitting the secret knowledge of contemplation (contemplandi secretam scientiam ) to enter the ears of rude men18. Here is a guideline of the abbots mystical theology, reinforced by his reading of Cusanus, that could also consistently be carried over into his theory of magic, furnishing him as it did with a convenient esoteric cover by consigning the critics of his occult studies to the ranks of the same rude and blinded who were unprepared for spiritual advancement through the conventional techniques of mystical theology. Given the above considerations, we should not be surprised to discover that Trithemius magical theology, following the same guidelines as the mystical
Quoted in Watts, Cusanus, 26. See, e.g., Yates, Giordano Bruno , 247: The famous saying that God is a sphere of which the centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere is, in fact, first found in a pseudoHermetic treatise of the twelfth century, and was transferred by Cusanus to the universe, as a reflection of God, in a manner which is Hermetic in spirit. For this reason we need to distinguish a mystical legacy of Hermeticism, to which Cusanus subscribed, from the mystical-magical legacy of Hermeticism with which Trithemius identified himself. Extensively treating the latter, occultist version of Renaissance Hermeticism are two collections of essays: Vickers, Occult and Scientific Mentalities , and Merkel & Debus, Hermeticism and the Renaissance . 18 Trithemius, Oratio de duodecim excidiis observantiae regularis, in: Opera pia , 881.
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theology preceding and conditioning it, displayed a demonological underbelly to complement its positive call to spiritual enlightenment. A completed Antipalus maleficorum , the outline for a planned encyclopedia of demons, and several of his replies to the Octo quaestiones addressed to the Emperor Maximilan assured that Trithemius name would figure as prominently in the anti-magical as pro-magical literature of his successors, with their vinculum consisting of his conviction that his good, divinely sanctioned magic stands at the opposite spiritual pole from the wicked sorcerous magic instructed and facilitated by the demons. The affirmative, as distinct from demologically admonitory, side of Trithemius magical program consists of a synthesis of Hermetic natural magic and alchemy, Pythagorean numerology, astrology, and Kabbalist word and angel magic, the combined force of which is to propel the soul of the magical adept upward, by esoteric means, from the finitely demoninfested material world to the infinitely removed supermaterial world ruled over by God and His ministering angels. Each of these constituents of Trithemius magical amalgam can be tied down by many references in his occult writings, of which the following can be taken as representative. Trithemius Occult Program It is the opinion of our most erudite men, Trithemius maintained in the introduction to his Steganographia , that the ancient sapients whom we call by the Greek name philosophers, if they happened to discover any arcana either of nature or of art, concealed them by various modes and figures so that they would not fall into the clutches of depraved men 19. Indeed, it was with a professed intent of furnishing a linguistic aid to concealment that Trithemius had invented the steganographical art in the first place. Moreover, it was not only the safekeeping of his magical secrets from the perils of human depravation that lay at the heart of Trithemius cryptographical contrivances. Even more imperative from his standpoint was the guarding of those secrets from encroachment by demonic malefactors that he saw as abetting human depravation. Capsulizing the primary incentive behind Trithemius demonological writings is the warning inserted into an early monastic treatise that it is the part of demons to insinuate evils, and it is our part to refuse consent, because the more rigorously we resist their assaults, the more surely we overcome them20 . It followed for Trithemius in his theological speculations that a comTrithemius, Steganographia, pref., sig. ) : (2 r. Trithemius, De tentationibus monachorum I: 4, in: Opera pia , 668. For elaboration of this theme in the abbot see my Trithemius and Magical Theology, ch. 3, 33-84.
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parable resistance needed to be exerted against the sorcerous arts of the demons, a motive of his demonological concerns made explicit with the words in the preface to the second of his cryptographical handbooks, the Polygraphia: Lest the arcana of owls be revealed in any way to the demons, these mysteries are concealed under enigmas21. With Cusanus among his revered authorities to lend theoretical support to his occult vision, Trithemius grafted to his mystical apparatus for reaching from the finite to the infinite realms now presumed to be free of demonic intrusion a magical apparatus geared to reaching the identical goal through esoteric means. As the abbot made this Cusan input into his magical speculations clear in his Polygraphia : In the same way as a finite and circumscribable number is reducible by progression into infinity, in the same way is the introduction of this art extendible into the endless reaches of this world; by this means, he exulted, to the finite minds of men we show a way to the infinite (finitis modum dedimus ad infinita)22 . If, by words like these, Trithemius can be said to have found himself on a mystical continuum with Cusanus, by the same token he can be said, with Cusan help, to have helped prepare the ground for the magical legend of Faustus, who, as the story went, had sought to transcend the finite limits of human endeavor with demonic assistance. Mindful that his occult program could be easily construed by the uninitiated in terms not very different from the censorious ones he directed at Faustus, Trithemius was forthright in distinguishing his beneficent magic from the maleficent sorcery of the demons. To this end, with the help of the Italian magus and polylinguist Pico della Mirandola, he insisted in his autobiographical Nepiachus that there had errantly been included among the condemned demonic arts the art of natural magic magia naturalis which, he averred, teaches us how to perform marvelous works by mediating natural virtues23. Such licit natural magic, Trithemius assured another correspondent, not only performs visible effects, but also marvelously illuminates the intellect of the man skilled in it with knowledge of the Deity and furnishes invisible fruits to the soul24. With recourse to a philosophical simile directly referrable to Cusanus, Trithemius, in a summary to one of his correspondents of three principles of natural magic without which no marvelous effect can be performed, deTrithemius, Polygraphia , pref., 27. Trithemius, Polygraphia III, 302-303, 462. 23 Trithemius, Nepiachus, in: Corpus historicum II, col. 1830. On the crucial mediating role of his own preceptor in magic, one Libanius Gallus, in putting Trithemius into touch with Picos ideas, see my Trithemius and Magical Theology, 111-112. 24 Trithemius to Joachim of Brandenburg, Sponheim, 26 June 1503, Epistolae , in: De septem secundeis, 105.
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clared in reference to the second principle that it occupies the center of natural magic, whose undivided circumference can be depicted as a circle of such immensity that it extends into infinity25. That the driving force behind such magia naturalis owes at bottom, not to human effort but to a divine revelation, was further brought out by Trithemius in his proclamation to this same correspondent: Just as Holy Scripture testifies concerning the inward knowledge of God, that is, that no one understands it who does not receive it, likewise no one is able to initiate us in these mysteries unless he has received, by a divine gift, the incomparable light of understanding (lumen singulare intelligendi)26 . With greater specificity as to what he meant by mediating natural virtues, Trithemius distinguished two permissible occult arts from false look-alikes: the first, true astrology (astrologia vera ) which, in contrast to the vulgar form denying free will, is claimed to put the freely willing soul of the adept into contact with the planetary sphere governed by the angels, and the second, true alchemy (alchymia vera ), the primary object of which, far from seeking the transmutation of base into precious metals as in the vulgar form, is declared to produce a purification of the adepts soul. Taking his basic departure in the latter regard from the Hermetic Emerald Tablet, Trithemius, in an exposition of its thirteen principles to a correspondent, expressly coalesced his alchemical and astrological precepts with Pythagorean numerological ones. For the mind to achieve a perfect understanding in this rare and very admirable philosophy, Trithemius counseled in this regard, the ternary must be completely reduced to unity, for though unity is not a number, every number arises out of it, a principle which he summarized, following a device often applied to the name of the thrice great Emerald Table author Trismegistus, by a play on his own name. I, Trithemius, he informed his correspondent, am not comprised of three minds but, exulting in the ternary, endure within one integrated mind that gives birth to a marvelous offspring (qui parit mirabilem foetum). Carrying the the same principle into the planetary realm, Trithemius further advised the same correspondent that the celestial harmony to which we must raise our eyes is not material but spiritual consonance, in which number, order, and measure converge, via the ternary, in the One27 . When Trithemius called on Cusanus to lend support to this view, proclaiming in his Polygraphia, for example, that we will employ the circle in great
Trithemius to Count Johannes of Westerburg, Sponheim, 10 May 1503, Epistolae , in: De septem secundeis, 95. 26 Trithemius to Count Johannes of Westerburg, Sponheim, 10 May 1503, Epistolae , in: De septem secundeis, 87-88. 27 Trithemius to Germanus de Ganay, Speyer, 24 August 1505, Epistolae familiares I:34, in: Opera historica, 471-472. For a fuller exposition of this reasoning see my Trithemius and Magical Theology , esp. 112-130.
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things ( in maximis) and the line or the point in the least things ( in minimis )28, he intended more than to give his imprimatur to Cusanus doctrine of infinitely reconciled opposites. He also upheld the divinely infused power of magic to assist the soul in making transition from the finite world of apparent opposites to the infinite realm in which opposites are dissolved into a state of indivisible unity. Cusanus conception of a god-like human mind, the conjectured ideas of which correspond to the real world created by God, was transformed by Trithemius, with Pico della Mirandola among his express authorities, into the Hermetic magnum miraculum whose goal is not, as is vulgarly believed, the transmutation of material lead into gold, but rather the alchemical-like transmutation of his own soul into a purified state in the image of God. In corresponding fashion Trithemius effectively transformed the mystical vision of God and His angelic hierarchy, promised by Cusanus as the consummated fruit of learned ignorance, into a mystical-magical vision of God, a magical correlate to the beatific vision of traditional Christian mysticism. Consummating Trithemius magical progression from the finite to the infinite was what he termed the Kabbalistic method of the arcana 29. Three principal features of Kabbalah spoke in Trithemius mind for its appropriateness in this regard. The first feature lies in the presumption that miraculous powers reside in the words employed in the act of prayer, the equivalent, as it were, of a divinely sanctioned form of incantation; the second feature, in the presumption, underlying his astrologically conceived De septem secundeis as well as his Steganographia , that prayerful incantations legitimately invoke angelic assistance for achieving proximity to God, in which capacity Kabbalah furnished Hebrew names for the angelic hierarchy in conjunction with the Greek ones furnished by pseudo-Dionysius; and the third feature, in the possibility, through the practice of so-called gematria , of occultly converting Hebrew letters into numbers, thereby permitting the transference of Pythagorean numerological methods into the celestial and supercelestial spheres. As in the corresponding cases of astrology and alchemy, Trithemius proposed a reciprocal relationship between Kabbalah and cryptography, with Kabbalah providing some of his cryptic notations (in this regard he viewed Kabbalah itself as a kind of ancient prefigurement of his covert methods) and cryptography joining with Kabbalah in helping to transport the soul of the adept from the finite to the infinite spheres.
Trithemius, Polygraphia , pinax sive index, 33-34. Trithemius, Polygraphia IV, 509. For the Jewish mystical traditions behind this notion see esp. Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah. On the early Renaissance Christianization of Kabbalah or Cabala in its more commonplace spelling in the west see my Trithemius and Magical Theology , esp. 29-31, and 266-67 nt 52 and 56.
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With the additional help of an Hebraic text largely lying outside the mystical and philosophical purview of Cusanus, accordingly, Trithemius beheld in words more than mere instruments of human convention. Words represented for Trithemius, with a Christianized Kabbalah to back him up, God-given verbal signs to assist the soul in moving from the finite to the infinite realms. Or putting the same idea in the language of mystical theology, Trithemius presumed the powers of magic to be capable of moving the human mind from the dark realm of sense-based reason to a an illuminated realm ruled by what Kabbalah paradoxically terms, in agreement with pseudo-Dionysius and Cusanus, the Concealed God ( Ensoph). Trithemius, then, fell into common cause with Cusanus (underscoring the superiority of mystical to scholastic-based theology dependent on Aristotelian logic) in his conviction that Gods nature is not only incomprehensible to the finitely rational mind, but is also inexpressible through ordinary language. But where Trithemius took sharp departure from Cusanus was in his added belief, encouraged by his reading of Kabbalah, that the essential ineffability of God, far from obviating the efficacy of words, called for the substitution of conventional language with a cryptic language able to bridge the absolute disparity between the finite and the infinite. In this form language constituted for Trithemius, as it were, the equivalent of a divinely sanctioned form of incantation. Such prayerful incantations, Trithemius concluded, legitimately invoke angelic assistance for achieving proximity to God. It is not by chance that he conceived of these Hebrew-named angels or secondary intelligences, which he envisaged as ruling over the planetary spheres following a model bequeathed to him by the astrologically conditioned thirteenth century Paduan physician Pietro dAbano, as also capable of mediating secret messages30. Conclusion To summarize: Trithemius, in anticipation of the Faust legend, enlisted magic as a means of moving the mind from the realm of the finite to that of the infi-

Regarding DAbanos vision of planetary history underlying this astrological-angelogical construct, see my Trithemius and Magical Theology , 134. Dionysius nine-layer angelic hierarchy, from top to bottom, consists of the Seraphs, Cherubs, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. Trithemius corresponding seven-layer planetary hierarchy consists of Orifiel in the sphere of Saturn, Anael in the sphere of Venus, Zachariel in the sphere of Jupiter, Raphael in the sphere of Mercury, Samael in the sphere of Mars, Gabriel in the sphere of the moon, and Michael in the sphere of the sun. In addition Trithemius envisaged as operating under the auspices of the above planetary angels 31 regional or district spirits and 24 temporal spirits.
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nite. What sharply set Trithemius apart from Faustus was his bequeathal to posterity of a sizeable corpus of occult writings in which he extensively spelled out the elevated purpose of his magic. In his pursuit of the infinite Trithemius openly favored the will over the intellect, a bias conditioning his mystical theology before it was restated as a basic guideline of its derivative magical theology. While freely admitting to its practical application, Trithemius conceived of his magical specialty, cryptography, as at bottom a spiritual instrument intended to assist the soul of the adept on the way to Heaven. Much as St. Augustine had consigned his soul to perpetual restlessness until it rested in God, so did Trithemius. But whereas Augustine had vehemently condemned magic as a demonically sponsored constituent of the material world from which he was endeavoring to escape, Trithemius considered magic a legitimate auxiliary of the souls drive to transcend the demon-infested material world. Testifying to a truly Faustlike disposition was Trithemius confession in his Nephiachus that my love for study and for books has been immoderate, and, still more startingly that what in the world is knowable, I have always desired to know31. In stark contrast to the comparable curiosity of Faustus as related in the Faustbuch, in Marlowe, and even in Goethe, however, Trithemius declared his curiosity in things of the arcana to be a divinely rather than diabolically inspired means for charting the way from the finite to the infinite realms. Focusing on Cusanus, Ernst Cassirer has written: The eye, as a sense organ , is neither satiated nor limited by anything visible, for the eye can never have too much of seeing; likewise intellectual vision is never satisfied with a view of the truth. In this thought, perhaps, the basic Faustian attitude of the Renaissance received its clearest philosophical expression and its deepest philosophical justification. Elaborating on this insight, Cassirer further observes that the striving for the infinite, the inability to stop at anything given or attained is neither a fault nor a shortcoming of the mind; rather it is the seal of its divine origin and of its indestructibility32. Declaring this Faustian will to the infinite to have been adumbrated in such Italian precursors of Faustus as Marsilio Ficino and Leonardo da Vinci, Cassirer could just as well, if he had chosen, have referred it to Trithemius. Along similar lines, the Freudian Norman O. Browns discovery in the legend of Faustus the incarnation of our restless discontent 33 could equally have have been referred to the historically documented figure of Trithemius.
31 32 33

Nepiachus, in Corpus historicum II, col. 1829. Cassirer, Individual and the Cosmos, 69. Brown, Life against Death , 51.

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With Cusanus before him to help point the way, Trithemius can be called upon to instruct posterity, along the same Faustian terms as employed by Cassirer and Brown, that the will to the infinite, in Augustines memorable words, cannot rest until it rests in Thee. As poignantly illustrated by Carolus Bovillus, one also expressly indebted to Cusanus but acridly turning that debt against the abbot in a vehement assault on his magic 34, Cusanus instruction in learned ignorance could readily be enlisted in stark opposition to the pursuance of occult studies. Conversely, however, most famously represented in the late Renaissance by Giordano Bruno but also less famously represented earlier by Trithemius, Cusanus instruction in docta ignorantia could just as readily be adapted to a systematic conversion of mystical into magical theology. Trithemius declaration, earlier quoted, that he alone is able to grasp the more secret matters of divine love ... whom the illuminations of love have readied can be said to exhibit closer affiliation to Brunos magically infused heroic frenzies than to Cusanus own stilling of the passions through learned ignorance 35. While sharing with Cusanus a view of a dark abyss separating man from God intrinsically untraversable by the finitely limited rational faculty, Trithemius did not thereby fall back, as did Cusanus himself, on a resignation to mystical quietism. His adoption of negative theology was but a prelude to a strenuous mystical-magical program through which a soul, following the necessary purgative process, is made capable of transcending all finitely rational comparisons and thereby made worthy of entering into the realm of the divinely infinite where all opposites are at last reconciled.
Noel L. Brann (1937) received his Ph.D. in Early Modern European History and the Humanities from Stanford University in 1965 and is the author of several books on Trithemius. He has taught at Vassar College, the University of Maryland, the University of Tennessee, State University of New York at Old Westbury, and the University of North Carolina.

On the Bovillus-Cusanus connection, encouraged by Bovillus preceptor Jacques Lefvre dEtaples, see Cassirer, Individual and Cosmos, 88-92. 35 Concerning Cusanus subsequent influence on Bruno, with the will to the infinite again turned to the service of magic, see my Debate over the Origin of Genius, esp. 317-320. Cf. Yates, Giordano Bruno , 247. For a list of criticisms relating to the so-called Yates thesis, which assigns the Renaissance Hermetic revival exemplified by Bruno a formative role in the making of the scientific revolution, see my Trithemius and Magical Theology, 255-256 nt 2.
34

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primary sources Cusanus, Nicholas, The Vision of God , New York: Frederick Ungar 1928 (repr. 1960). Eccard, J.G. (ed.), Corpus historicum medii aevi, 2 vols., Leipzig: Apud Jo. Frid. Gleditschii B. Fil. 1723. Fritz, Josef (ed.), Das Volksbuch vom Doktor Faust: Nach der um die Erfurter Geschichten vermehrten Fassung, Halle a/S: Max Niemeyer,1914 (based on 1596 ed.) Palmer, Philip Mason & Robert Pattison More (eds.), The Sources of the Faust Tradition from Simon Magus to Lessing , New York: Oxford Univ. Press 1936. Rupprich, Hans, Humanismus und Renaissance in den deutschen Stdten und an den Universitten , Leipzig: P. Reclam jun. 1935; repr., Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1964, 1965. Tille, Alexander (ed.), Die Faustsplitter in der Literature des sechzehnten bis achtzehnten Jahrhunderts nach den ltesten Quellen, Berlin: Emil Felber 1900. Trithemius, Johannes, De septem secundeis, id est, intelligentiis sive spiritibus orbes post Deum moventibus ... , Cologne: Apud Johannem Birckmannum 1567. , Opera historica , 2 parts, (Marquard Freher, ed.), Frankfurt a/M: Typis Wechelianis apud Claudium Marnium & haeredes Ioannis Aubrij 1601 (facs., Frankfurt: Minerva 1966). , Opera pia et spiritualia, (ed.) Johannes Busaeus, Mainz: Ex typographeo Ioan. Albini 1604, 1605. , Polygraphiae libri VI , Cologne: Apud Johannem Birckmannum & Theodorum Baumium 1571. , Steganographia, hoc est, ars per occultam scripturam animi sui voluntatem absentibus aperiendi certa, Frankfurt a/M: Ex officina typographica Mathiae Beckeri, sumptibus Joannis Berneri 1606, 1608, 1621. secondary sources Arnold, Klaus, Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516) , Wrzburg: Ferdinand Schningh, 2nd ed. 1991. Baron, Frank, Doctor Faustus from History to Legend , Munich: Wilhelm Fink 1978. , Trithemius und Faustus: Begegnungen in Geschichte und Sage, in: Richard Auernheimer & Frank Baron (eds.), Johannes Trithemius: Humanismus und Magie im vorreformatorischen Deutschland, Munich: Profil 1991, 39-57. , The Precarious Legacy of Renaissance Humanism in the Faust Legend, in: Manfred P. Fleischer (ed.), The Harvest of Humanism in Central Europe: Essays in Honor of Lewis W. Spitz , St. Louis: Concordia 1992, 303-315. Bianquis, Genevive, Faust travers quatre sicles , Paris: Droz 1935. Boerner, Peter & Sidney Johnson (eds.), Faust through Four Centuries: Retrospect and Analysis, Tbingen: Max Niemeyer 1989. Brann, Noel L., The Abbot Trithemius (1462-1516): The Renaissance of Monastic Humanism , Leiden: Brill 1981. , Trithemius and Magical Theology: A Chapter in the Controversy over Occult Studies in Early Modern Europe, Albany: SUNY Press 1999. , The Debate over the Origin of Genius during the Italian Renaissance: The Theories of Supernatural Frenzy and Natural Melancholy in Accord and in Conflict on the Threshold of the Scientific Revolution , E.J. Brill: Leiden/Boston/Kln 2002. Brown, Norman O., Life against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History , Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan Univ. Press 1959.

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Butler, E.M., The Myth of the Magus, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press/New York: Macmillan 1948. , The Fortunes of Faust , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1952. Cassirer, Ernst, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy , New York: Harper & Row 1963. Chacornac, Paul, Grandeur et adversit de Jean Trithme, Bndictin Abb de Spanheim et de Wurtzbourg (1462-1516): La vie, la lgende, l oeuvre, Paris: Editions Traditionelles 1963. Couliano, Ioan P., Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987. Cranz, Edward, Cusanus, Luther, and the Mystical Tradition, in: Charles Trinkaus & Heiko Oberman (eds.) The Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Religion , Leiden: E.J. Brill 1974, 93-102. Druxes, Helga, The Feminization of Dr. Faustus: Female Identity Quests from Stendhal to Morgner, University Park: Pennsylvania State Univ. Press 1993. Fanger, Claire (ed.), Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic , University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press 1998. Grimm, Reinhold & Jost Hermand (eds.), Our Faust? Roots and Ramifications of a German Myth , Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press 1987. Hankins, James, John Monfasani & Frederick Purnell, Jr. (eds.), Supplementum Festivum: Studies in Honor of Paul Oskar Kristeller, Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies 1987. Harmening, Dieter, Faust und die Renaissance-Magie: Zum ltesten Faustzeugnis (Johannes Trithemius an Johannes Virdung, 1507), Archiv fr Kulturgeschichte 55 (1973), 56-79. Kiesewetter, Carl, Faust in der Geschichte und Tradition, Hildesheim: Georg Olms 1963. Mahal, Gnther (ed.), Der historische Faust: Ein wissenschaftliches Symposium (26/27 September 1980), Knittlingen: Publikationen des Faust-Archivs [PFA]) 1982. Maus, Hansjrg, Faust: Eine Deutsche Legende , Vierra: Meyster 1980. Merkel, Ingrid & Allen G. Debus (eds.) Hermeticism and the Renaissance: Intellectual History and the Occult in Early Modern Europe . Washington. D.C.: Folger Shakespeare Library/ London and Toronto: Associated University Presses 1988. Scholem, Gershom, Kabbalah, New York: Meridian/Penguin 1974, 1978. Scribner, R.W., Popular Culture and Popular Movements in Reformation Germany, London/ Ronceverte: Hambledon 1987. Smeed, J.W., Faust in Literature, London: Oxford Univ. Press 1975. Vickers, Brian (ed.), Occult and Scientific Mentalities in the Renaissance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1984. Walker, D.P., Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella, London: Warburg Institute, Univ. of London 1958 (repr., Nendeln/Liechtenstein: Kraus 1969, and University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press 2000). Watts, Pauline Moffitt, Nicholaus Cusanus: A Fifteenth-Century Vision of Man , Leiden: E.J. Brill 1982. , Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and three Renaissance Neoplatonists, Cusanus, Ficino, and Pico, on Mind and Cosmos, in: Hankins, Monfasani & Purnell, Jr., Supplementum Festivum, 279-298. Yates, Frances, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition , London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1964. , The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1972.

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Trithemius, Cusanus und der Wille zum Unendlichen: Ein vor-faustisches Paradigma Noch frher als die magische Faustlegende war eine andere im Umlauf , die Figur des Trithemius, eines Zeitgenossen Fausts, der lter als letzterer war. Beiden Lebensgngen liegt das Streben zugrunde, die Beschrnkungen der Grenzen der Natur zu berwinden. Bei Faust geschieht das angeblich durch unerlaubte, von Dmonen gelehrte zauberische Verfahren, bei Trithemius hingegen durch okkulte, dennoch zulssige, weil durch Gott geoffenbarte Verfahren. Die faustische und die trithemische Legenden stehen in scharfem Gegenzatz zueinander. Was die Motive um Faust betrifft, so verfgen wir nmlich ber keine geschriebene Zeugnisse aus Fausts eigener Hand, sondern lediglich ber Spiegelbilder dieser Motive in Schriften von anderen, verschiedenartig eingestellten Personen, bei Trithemius hingegen ber ein fest dokumentiertes Corpus seiner Schriften. Ein Scheideweg der trithemischen okkulten Spekulationen ist auch zu verzeichnen, nmlich eine Wendung von der mystischen zur magischen Theologie. Zweck dieser Studie ist es, zu zeigen, wie das Denken von Nicholas Cusanus die Rolle einer Schlsselkomponente in der Entwickelung von Trithemius Denken gespielt hat. Zwar war Cusanus selber jeglichem Versuch ausgesprochen abhold, Magie in die Kirchenrituale einzufhren. Aber die sein Denken frbende theologia negativa, welche die Beschrnkungen der menschlichen Vernunft als Zugangsmittel in die dunklen Geheimnisse Gottes betonte, erwies sich dem okkulten Programm von Trithemius als hchst anwendbar. Dadurch wurde nmlich der Magie die Fhigkeit verliehen, die ontologische une epistemologische Kluft zwischen den endlichen und den unendlichen Bereichen zu berbrcken.

LINFLUENCE DE LA PENSE OCCULTISTE SUR LE SYMBOLISME BELGE: BILAN CRITIQUE DUNE AFFINIT SPIRITUELLE LA FIN DU 19e SICLE SBASTIEN CLERBOIS Depuis plus de trente ans, les tudes scientifiques et les expositions se sont appliques remettre lhonneur le symbolisme, lun des styles majeurs de la fin du 19e sicle, touchant autant les beaux-arts que la littrature, et que lon peut situer globalement entre 1880 et 1900, voire 19141. Mouvement complexe, travers par de nombreux courants de pense, parallle dautres mouvances comme le dcadentisme ou lart nouveau 2 , le symbolisme a donn lieu une grande varit danalyses et dhypothses. Si, lorigine, il sagissait avant tout de faire connatre un style soigneusement relgu aux oubliettes de lhistoire par la modernit, depuis quelques annes, les tudes ont multipli les approches scientifiques, nous permettant enfin de percevoir ltendue de sa complexit et de sa richesse 3. Pour autant, il demeure que, depuis toujours, les publications consacres au symbolisme se heurtent un problme de mthode qui, sil peut apparatre bnin, freine inexorablement ltude et la mise en valeur de ce mouvement. Ce paradoxe sarticule autour de la notion mme de symbolisme qui dsigne avant tout une manire de peindre. En raction contre le naturalisme et contre ce que lpoque appelait le matrialisme, le symbolisme a pour attitude fondamentale de se dtourner de la description de la ralit au profit dun imaginaire voqu par symbolisme, en utilisant soit le symbole, videmment, mais aussi dautres mdiums comme lallgorie, le mythe ou lemblme. En fait, au-del de la peinture, le symbolisme constitue lun des rapports fondamentaux entre lhomme et le rel ou plutt, lune des manires fondamentales dont lhomme apprhende le rel. Et cest prcisment cette continuit de sens entre une
1 Il serait vain de dresser la liste exhaustive des publications et expositions qui ont remis le symbolisme lhonneur. Pour la Belgique, mentionnons seulement deux publications essentielles, louvrage de Legrand, Le Symbolisme en Belgique et le catalogue de lexposition Le Symbolisme en Europe. 2 Sur la complexit de ces rapports, on lira le livre de Pierre, LUnivers symboliste. 3 Il est videmment impossible de mentionner lensemble de ces publications. Pour les plus rcentes, on citera, entre autres, Paradis perdus, lEurope symboliste, exposition qui, la premire, a montr ltendue du mouvement, ou encore Paris-Bruxelles, Bruxelles-Paris , qui a dmontr lextraordinaire complexit des changes et de la circulation des ides au sein du symbolisme.

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002

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peinture et un mode de pense homonymes qui pose problme. Car on a trop tendance faire du symbolisme une peinture elle-mme symbolique, alors quen ralit, le symbole nest que son moyen dexpression, la manire dont elle transcrit en peinture les objets et les figures. Ce qui peut tre mystrieux dans la formulation ne lest pas dans lintention: au-del de lambigut propre au symbole, comme tous les mouvements artistiques, le symbolisme possde galement son histoire, objective, pragmatique, faite denjeux et de dbats; il possde surtout des significations, prcises et cohrentes, ainsi que des sources dinspiration quon a souvent occultes au profit de ce flou artistique ou de ce beau tnbreux qui, pense-t-on parfois, suffit dfinir lesthtique symboliste. La pense occultiste fut lune de ces sources dinspiration, dautant plus mconnue que, outre le paradoxe dont nous venons de parler, elle a longtemps fait lobjet dune importante suspicion scientifique4. Or, on sait par la littrature que les artistes symbolistes furent souvent proches des figures marquantes de loccultisme, en plein essor la fin du 19e sicle 5. Cest donc en totale lgitimit quon peut sinterroger sur les liens qui unissent le symbolisme et la pense occultiste, dautant plus que, outre une thse amricaine, jamais publie 6, aucune tude na entrepris de cerner ltendue et la nature de ces relations. La question est vaste, et cet article na videmment pas la prtention de rendre un avis exhaustif; il sagit plutt, travers lexemple de la Belgique, de lever le voile sur une problmatique qui, nous le verrons, claire dune lumire nouvelle lhistoire du symbolisme autant que celle de loccultisme la fin du 19e sicle. Josphin Pladan et la Rose+Croix, premire reconnaissance du symbolisme belge Cest presque un truisme, aujourdhui, daffirmer que loccultisme a influenc la plupart des mouvements artistiques contemporains tant lon sait que, depuis le romantisme, nourri par lilluminisme dEmanuel Swedenborg ou de Jakob Bhme jusquau surralisme, fond sur lexploitation des ressources de linvi4 Nous utilisons le terme doccultisme conformment la dfinition de Serge Hutin qui distingue trs justement lsotrisme traditionnel de cet sotrisme de mode, lacis, que fut loccultisme de la fin du 19 e sicle (Hutin, Esotrisme, 684). 5 Rcemment, divers travaux consacrs Josphin Pladan et Papus, bien que rducteurs sur les questions artistiques, ont confort cette intuition, dmontrant quau-del de cette proximit, les peintres symbolistes et les occultistes partageaient mme un esprit commun (Beaufils, Josphin Pladan ; Andr & Beaufils, Papus ). 6 Burhan, Vision and Visionaries .

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sible, lart des 19e et 20e sicles y a souvent trouv son inspiration. Il tait donc logique que le symbolisme belge, lui aussi, y chercht occasionnellement sa nourriture spirituelle, dautant plus que loccultisme connut un regain dintrt la fin du 19e sicle. En Belgique, cet intrt est mettre lactif de la bonne socit bruxelloise, largement initie et qui, outre lappartenance diverses socits secrtes, sadonna certaines pratiques telles le spiritisme, devenues de vritables phnomnes de mode. A ce titre, on pourrait penser que la peinture symboliste ne fut que lune des rponses qui expliquent lessor de loccultisme, dans un contexte dirrationalisme conscutif au traumatisme de la guerre franco-prussienne, ml dun mysticisme n dune opposition au dterminisme de Darwin et aux avances du positivisme 7. Mais quen est-il rellement? Importation franaise lorigine, n des envois dOdilon Redon aux expositions organises par le cercle bruxellois Les Vingt, ml linfluence du peintre anglo-amricain James Mac Neill Whistler, lui aussi prsent aux Vingt, le symbolisme belge ne prit une identit propre qu lextrme fin des annes 1880, voire au dbut des annes 1890. Sa caractristique premire rside dans son htrognit; lorsquil merge, le symbolisme belge est plus le fait dartistes isols au sein dune pliade de cercles davant-garde Les Vingt, LEssor, Voorwaarts, Le Sillon que le rsultat dun mouvement uni et cohrent. Trs vite, des individualits se dessinent, Fernand Khnopff aux Vingt, Jean Delville LEssor, Jules du Jardin au Voorwaarts, Gustave-Max Stevens au Sillon. Et pourtant, le symbolisme peine simposer; msestim, il suscite mme lincomprhension, voire la colre du public. Lart belge, il faut le prciser, trouve ses racines dans une tradition raliste au sein de laquelle le symbolisme, qui est souvent un art de la figure, ne trouve gure une place de choix8. Cest dans ce contexte difficile quil faut situer linfluence de Pladan sur le symbolisme belge. Ecrivain, critique dart, fumiste ses heures, Josphin Pladan nen fut pas moins lune des figures majeures de loccultisme la fin de sicle. En 1887, Pladan participe la cration de la Rose-Croix kabbalistique qui rassembla quelques crivains et jeunes intellectuels sduits par loccultisme, dont Papus et Stanislas de Guaita. En 1890, la suite dun conflit de doctrine, Pladan fit scession et fonda le Tiers-ordre intellectuel de la Rose+Croix catholique 9. Ce nouvel ordre naurait sans doute pas dpass les
7 Sur lorigine de lessor de loccultisme la fin du 19 e sicle, on lira, entre autres, Laurant, Lsotrisme chrtien . 8 Pour un historique plus complet du symbolisme, on lira Roberts-Jones, Bruxelles fin-desicle . 9 Beaufils, Josphin Pladan , 127 et suivantes.

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frontires de la confidentialit si Pladan navait eu lide de situer son action sur le terrain de lesthtique. Critique dart depuis 1881, Pladan dcida en 1891 de crer un salon de la Rose+Croix o les artistes, soumis un rglement sotrique (qui condamne notamment le ralisme et larchitecture 10), auraient prsent des oeuvres qui, en engendrant une perfection esthtique, seraient le support dune socit idale. Malgr un programme farfelu, le premier salon de la Rose+Croix, organis en 1892, suscita un vritable engouement du public11. Toute loriginalit de Pladan tait davoir organis une exposition exclusivement symboliste dont il prsentait les artistes nationaux, mais aussi trangers, rassemblant pour loccasion la majorit des symbolistes belges, suisses, ainsi que des peintres espagnols, hollandais ou danois. En le msestimant jusqu une date trs rcente, les chercheurs nont pas peru que le premier salon de la Rose+Croix avait engendr une premire prsentation du symbolisme; ils nont pas peru, galement, quavec les cinq gestes esthtiques suivantes (1893-1897), les salons de Pladan contriburent structurer le symbolisme europen dont ils prsentrent les principales tendances 12. Parmi les peintres europens, les Belges furent sans doute ceux qui exposrent le plus rgulirement la Rose+Croix. Il faut dire que Pladan disposait en Belgique dun important capital de sympathie puisque, ds 1884, avec la publication du Vice Suprme , il avait t accueilli favorablement au sein des revues davant-garde comme LArt Moderne ou La Jeune Belgique au sein desquelles il noua de profondes amitis13. Trs tt, les jeunes symbolistes belges se mirent produire des oeuvres dont liconographie est directement inspire des crits de Pladan. Parmi tant dautres, on citera Le Cycle passionnel (1889) de Jean Delville, grande fresque de plus de huit mtres de long qui illustre Le Vice Suprme (Fig.1); on mentionnera galement les oeuvres de Flicien Rops et Fernand Khnopff qui ralisrent successivement les frontispices du cycle romanesque de Pladan, La Dcadence latine, depuis Le Vice Suprme (Fig.2) ou LInitiation sentimentale illustrs par Flicien Rops jusqu Femmes honntes, augment dun frontispice de Fernand Khnopff. Lis Pladan, les symbolistes belges contriburent demble leffort rosicrucien, si bien que, en 1897, au terme des six salons, la quasi totalit dentre eux, de Fernand Khnopff George Minne, de Jean Delville Xavier Mellery, passant par Jules du Jardin ou Paul Du Bois, avaient expos au moins une fois
10 Ce rglement est reproduit in extenso dans le livre de Da Silva, Le Salon de la Rose+Croix, 112-116. 11 Beaufils, Josphin Pladan, 223-224. 12 Les salons de la Rose+Croix sont msestims notamment par Beaufils, La philosophie des salons de la Rose-Croix, 103-108. 13 Catalogue de lexposition Splendeurs de lIdal, 56-60.

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Fig. 1.
Jean Delville, Etude pour Le Cycle passionnel (1890). Craie noire et crayon sur papier, 98,5 x 56,5 cm. Muses Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, inv. 7826 KIK-IRPA, Bruxelles. SABAM Belgium 2002.

Fig. 2.
Flicien Rops, Dessin original du frontispice pour Le vice suprme de Josphin Pladan (1884). Plume, gouache et crayon sur papier, 22,8 x 15,5 cm. Muses Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, inv. 11.996 KIK-IRPA, Bruxelles.

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aux salons de la Rose+Croix. Bien plus, la critique salonnire parisienne rserva mme un succs destime certains peintres dont Fernand Khnopff en 1892 puis, lanne suivante, Jean Delville qui avait t la rvlation de lexposition avec son clbre Orphe mort (Fig.3).

Fig. 3.
Jean Delville, Orphe mort. Huile sur toile, 82 x 103 cm. Collection prive. SABAM Belgium 2002.

Les chapelles symbolistes belges, dignes hritires de loccultisme parisien On comprend aisment que, pour avoir vcu une exprience si fructueuse au sein de la Rose+Croix de Pladan, les symbolistes belges, msestims dans leur propre pays, aient choisi de ramener Bruxelles les fruits de leur exprience parisienne. En prolongement de la Rose+Croix, ces artistes crrent donc, tout au long des annes 90, plusieurs cercles artistiques dont la caractristique premire, selon la formule de Pladan, fut de mler lexpression du symbolisme un programme exclusivement occultiste. Kumris, la premire loge cre dans ce sens en aot 1890, est mme antrieure la participation des artistes belges la Rose+Croix bien qu lorigine, elle sintressa assez peu aux questions esthtiques. Loge secrte, Kumris recruta bon nombre de ses membres parmi les francs-maons bruxellois qui

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elle offrait ce que Serge Hutin appelait les rites darrire-loges14. Fond par Vurgey, un disciple nancien de Pladan, Kumris nen demeurait pas moins lune des filiales de la Rose-Croix kabbalistique de Papus et Stanislas de Guaita, dobdience martiniste. Demble, cette filiation dmontre lcumnisme des occultistes bruxellois puisque si, dans la capitale belge, elles vcurent en bonne harmonie, Paris par contre, les deux obdiences de la RoseCroix sopposrent vertement dans un conflit doctrinal, la fameuse guerre des deux roses15 . Centr sur diverses questions doccultisme, depuis le spiritisme jusqu la numrologie, Kumris sintressa progressivement lart dans le sillage de Pladan. En 1891, le groupe cra une section plastique qui regroupait les principaux symbolistes belges, Jean Delville, Fernand Khnopff, Jules du Jardin, Albert Ciamberlani et Edgar Baes. La premire manifestation esthtique de Kumris fut une exposition symboliste, organise par la section plastique en fvrier 1892. Assez confidentiel, le salon mrite nanmoins dtre mentionn dans la mesure o, historiquement, il sagit de la premire exposition de groupe exclusivement symboliste organise Bruxelles. Dans la foule de la manifestation, les membres de Kumris nourrirent lambition de raliser une oeuvre dart totale, le Pantaxe qui, entirement fonde sur la numrologie et la Kabbale, aurait incarn une perfection tant esthtique qusotrique. La ralisation plastique de luvre fut confie Khnopff, la musique Jules Massenet, Vurgey supervisant la conception thorique de louvrage. Mais trop contraignante dun point de vue thorique, sa concrtisation fut nanmoins rapidement abandonne par les membres du cercle, laissant le Pantaxe ltat de projet. Aprs les premiers essais de Kumris, un second groupe se forma, le cercle Pour lArt, cr en avril 1892 sous la houlette de Jean Delville et de lcrivain anarchiste proche de Stanislas de Guaita, Ray Nyst. Contrairement son homologue, Pour lArt sinscrivait dans la plus pure orthodoxie rosicrucienne puisque, en novembre 1892, le cercle fut dot par Pladan dune charte qui en faisait la filiale belge de la Rose+Croix. Pour lArt disposait aussi dun organe de presse, Le Mouvement littraire qui, ds sa fondation, devint la tribune de Pladan, publiant notamment un rglement artistique identique celui de la Rose+Croix 16.

Hutin, Les Francs-Maons, 79. Sur lhistoire de Kumris, nous nous permettons de renvoyer le lecteur notre thse de doctorat: Clerbois, Contribution ltude du mouvement symboliste, 238-316. 16 Concernant lhistoire de Pour lArt, on consultera le catalogue dexposition Omer Coppens ou le rve de lArt Nouveau.
14 15

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Pour lArt fut le principal animateur de la vie symboliste bruxelloise. Assez semblable au cercle Les Vingt dont il stait clairement inspir lors de sa fondation, Pour lArt organisa trois expositions exclusivement symbolistes, en 1892, 1894 et 1895. Outre les peintres belges, le cercle fut galement lune des principales scnes culturelles pour la prsentation Bruxelles des grandes tendances du symbolisme franais, depuis les peintres de la Rose+Croix, comme Alexandre Son, les synthtistes et membres de lEcole de Pont-Aven, comme Charles Filliger, Jan Verkade et Charles Guilloux ou encore les dcorateurs Art Nouveau originaires de Nancy, dont Emile Gall et Ren Wiener qui prsentrent leurs oeuvres au deuxime salon, en 1894. En 1895, nanmoins, les symbolistes de Pour lArt firent scession de leur propre cercle devant lhostilit grandissante des membres ralistes lgard de la doctrine de Pladan. Pour comprendre cette scission, il faut se rappeler que la Belgique est non seulement un pays de tradition raliste, mais galement un espace culturel o lclectisme est profondment ancr dans les consciences. Tous les cercles belges, des salons officiels ceux davant-garde, sont toujours forms de composantes diverses, parfois, mme, divergentes. Dans ce contexte, videmment, le systme formul par Pladan ntait pas viable puisquil repose la fois sur lexclusivisme du symbolisme expos au dtriment de toute autre tendance mais aussi sur le rejet du ralisme, considr comme un style mineur sur lchelle des Beaux-Arts. Et pourtant, la progression du symbolisme, stimul par lapport de loccultisme, nen fut pas freine pour autant. En 1894, dsireux de se montrer la hauteur des expositions de Pour lArt, Francis Vurgey organisa la seconde exposition du cercle Kumris, bien plus importante que celle de 1892. Bien prpare, cette exposition est peut-tre le salon symboliste le plus important jamais organis en Belgique; pas tant du point de vue du nombre de visiteurs puisquil ptit de la confidentialit inhrente toute activit occulte, mais plutt en termes de participants puisquil runit la totalit des symbolistes belges, depuis les tnors du mouvement, Jean Delville, Fernand Khnopff, Arthur Craco, Jules du Jardin, Auguste Levque, jusquaux artistes proches du symbolisme bien quvoluant en marge de ce dernier, comme Lon Frdric ou Constantin Meunier. Nanmoins, de la mme manire que Pour lArt, Kumris cessa finalement ses activits en 1894, aprs quatre annes dexistence. La raison est moins culturelle qusotrique. Proche de la franc-maonnerie belge, Kumris avait aliment lespoir de Papus de rnover les crmonies maonniques par les rituels martinistes17 . Cette ambition avait trouv sa motivation dans la proposi17

Papus, Socit dInitiation en 1889, 6.

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tion du Grand Orient de France qui, en 1885, avait demand aux loges de rflchir sur lopportunit de rnover les rituels maonniques 18. Alors que certains, tel Oswald Wirth, secrtaire de Stanislas de Guaita, prnaient lintangibilit du rituel, les martinistes trouvrent dans ce projet une forme de lgitimit. La maonnerie belge, quant elle, naccepta gure lingrence des occultistes; aprs un conflit persistant, et malgr les appels au calme lancs par Papus, lopposition des francs-maons membres de Kumris mena finalement la dissolution de la loge lt 1894. Avec la disparition de Kumris et la scission de Pour lArt, lessor du symbolisme connut un point darrt en Belgique. Bien sr, la plupart des peintres, de Jean Delville Fernand Khnopff, poursuivirent leur production; de la mme manire, les divers cercles bruxellois comme La Libre Esthtique ou Le Sillon continurent prsenter les oeuvres de leurs membres symbolistes, voire dinvits trangers. Il y eut mme dautres tentatives qui visrent perptuer lexistence des cercles symbolistes Bruxelles, comme les trois salons dart idaliste crs par Jean Delville entre 1896 et 1898 et qui, de laveu mme de son organisateur, taient analogues si pas identiques au salon de Josphin Pladan19. Une nouvelle fois, lexprience fut fructueuse puisque, outre la fdration dune deuxime gnration de jeunes peintres symbolistes, les salons permirent dexposer en Belgique les oeuvres dartistes franais, comme la production du phalanstre Haute-Claire cr par Armand Point dans la fort de Fontainebleau et mise lhonneur lors du salon de 1898 20. De manire rtrospective, on peut se demander jusqu quel point le programme de ces diffrents cercles, tous affilis une obdience, ne permet pas daffirmer que loccultisme, ou plutt la pense occultiste, joua un rle majeur dans la naissance et dans lessor du symbolisme belge. Les sceptiques objecteront que de nombreux artistes symbolistes, tout comme certains cercles modernistes, sont rests en marge des cnacles occultistes. En labsence darchives, il est videmment impossible de dresser ce qui pourrait tre une base de travail objective, consignant lappartenance de tel ou tel artiste aux diffrentes loges. Bien sr, on admettra sans peine que plusieurs symbolistes manifestrent une certaine retenue par rapport loccultisme. La fin des activits symbolistes de Kumris et de Pour lArt nous intime galement de penser que, sil rvlait lune des sources vives de son inspiration, lintrt du symbolisme pour la pense occultiste saffaiblit sensiblement aprs 1894-1895.

18 19 20

Nefontaine, Symboles et symbolisme dans la Franc-Maonnerie , 51. Delville, Catalogue du premier salon dart idaliste, 3. Concernant Armand Point, on lira : Fanica, Armand Point et Haute-Claire, 27-34

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La thosophie et la franc-maonnerie, ultimes influences sotriques En fait, la question principale ne concerne pas tant lexistence des relations entre le symbolisme et la pense occultiste elle parat vidente que la nature de ces relations. Pladan lui-mme sme le trouble en affirmant dans le rglement de son salon que le caractre thocratique de lordre de la R+C nengage aucunement les artistes, et leur individualit reste en dehors du caractre de lordre21. Toute lambigut est l: au-del de leur participation aux expositions de cercles proches de telle ou telle obdience, les artistes symbolistes belges ont-ils t, concrtement, influencs par la pense occultiste? La premire bauche de rponse serait plutt ngative tant il apparat que le symbolisme a entretenu avec loccultisme des rapports qui, relevant presque de la consommation courante, ne semblent pas dpasser le phnomne de mode. Successivement proche de la Rose+Croix et du martinisme, le symbolisme abandonna ces deux courants de pense, vers 1895, pour subir progressivement linfluence de la socit thosophique, alors en plein essor 22 . Historiquement, il ny a pas de relle logique ces relations successives puisque la socit thosophique fut fonde avant les autres obdiences, en 1875, par le colonel Henry Steel Olcott et Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. En France, la thosophie eut un impact plus rapide sur les artistes; par lintermdiaire des Grands Initis, le roman dEdouard Schur, lui-mme thosophe, elle influena fortement certains Nabis dont Paul Srusier qui, en 1890, composa un Paysage nabique voquant la cosmogonie propre la doctrine thosophique. Linfluence de Schur est aussi dterminante pour la Belgique puisque cest la suite dune confrence quil donna en 1899 La Libre Esthtique que les peintres volurent vers la thosophie 23. La premire oeuvre belge dinspiration thosophique est la monumentale Ecole de Platon (1898) de Jean Delville, actuellement conserve au Muse dOrsay. La toile est une parfaite illustration des Grands Initis dEdouard Schur qui, lui-mme, met en oeuvre lune des ides majeures de la socit thosophique, savoir que toutes les religions ne sont que lexpression dune longue rvlation intemporelle et continue transmise par les prophtes.
Da Silva, Le salon de la Rose+Croix, 112-116. Par souci de clart, nous utilisons le terme thosophie ou thosophique pour dfinir la doctrine de la socit thosophique, et non celui de thosophisme ou thosophiste, plus pertinent mais peut-tre plus opaque pour le lecteur. Concernant cette distinction entre la thosophie traditionnelle et la doctrine de la socit thosophique, nous renverrons le lecteur larticle dAntoine Faivre, Thosophie, 498-500. 23 Cet lment est confirm par le tmoignage de Marc Haven qui, dans une lettre envoye Papus en 1899, dplorait le glissement des loges martinistes bruxelloises vers la thosophie. Andr, Beaufils, Papus, 221.
21 22

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Luvre de Delville est parfaitement syncrtique : si le personnage central, comme lindique son titre, voque la figure de Platon enseignant ses disciples, au nombre de douze, elle rappelle galement celle du Christ, entour de ses aptres. Au tournant du sicle, la pense thosophique prit de lampleur en Belgique. Il faut dire que par son syncrtisme, accessible toutes les cultures, et par sa position sur les sujets dactualit comme, entre autres, les droits humains, le vgtarisme ou lantimilitarisme, la thosophie sut attirer de nombreux adeptes travers le monde. A Bruxelles, les disciples du mouvement crrent mme une association thosophique dont Jean Delville fut le secrtaire de 1909 191324 . Mais ce qui est particulirement remarquable dans linfluence de la thosophie, cest que, au tournant du sicle, elle toucha aussi bien les artistes symbolistes que les peintres davant-garde. On connat ainsi un buste de Madame Blavatsky ralis en 1898 par le peintre fauve Ferdinand Schirren. Par ailleurs, plusieurs artistes davant-garde furent profondment influencs par la mouvance thosophique, parmi lesquels Jozef Peeters (1895-1960), le peintre anversois qui, vers 1913-1915, ralisa plusieurs compositions thosophiques (Fig.4), ou Jean-Jacques Gailliard (1890-1976), proche de James Ensor et qui adhra en 1912 lglise swedenborgienne, proche de la pense thosophique, et pour laquelle il ralisa la dcoration dun temple, Ixelles (Bruxelles). On connat galement lexistence dun groupe dartistes rassembls autour de Jean Delville et affilis la Loge Blanche de Bruxelles, actif en Belgique vers 1905-1910. Particulirement htrogne dans la nationalit de ses membres, ce groupe ltait aussi dans ses valeurs esthtiques puisquil rassembla dans un projet commun les artistes symbolistes et davant-garde. Form de Jean Delville, du sculpteur russe, Sraphin Soudbinine (1870-1944), lve de Rodin, du sculpteur suisse Auguste de Niederhausern (1863-1913), ancien membre de la Rose+Croix, du compositeur russe Alexandre Scriabine (1872-1915), ainsi, quoccasionnellement, du peintre abstrait lithuanien Mikolajus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1875-1911), le groupe dartistes-thosophes entreprit vers 1905 la cration dune oeuvre dart totale qui, si elle voque le Gesamtkunstwerk wagnrien, rappelle galement les recherches de Kumris autour du Pantaxe. Aprs des travaux intenses, ce projet aboutit un rsultat assez grandiose, compos de plusieurs oeuvres ralises autour du thme de Promthe. Parmi elles, il faut voquer le majestueux Promthe (Fig.5) de Jean Delville dont lquivalent musical tait le Promthe ou le Pome du feu (1909) com24 Pour plus dinformations sur cette association, on consultera son organe de presse, le Bulletin thosophique belge.

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Fig. 5.
Jean Delville, Promthe (1907). Huile sur toile, 500 x 250 cm. Universit libre de Bruxelles. SABAM Belgium 2002.

Fig. 4

Jozef Peeters, Trinit (1915). Huile sur toile, 120 x 100 cm. Collection prive.

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pos sur le mme thme par Scriabine. Mais une fois encore, le projet sotrique dune oeuvre dart totale choua devant la complexit de la performance artistique accomplir, le pome de Scriabine ayant t initialement prvu pour tre jou en prsence du tableau de Delville, sur un clavecin oculaire qui idalement, devait projeter des couleurs associes chaque note. Finalement, linfluence de la thosophie se tarit de la mme manire que staient taries celles des penses qui lavaient prcde. Cette situation fut immdiatement profitable la franc-maonnerie qui, dbarrasse des rites darrire-loges avec lesquels elle tait souvent entre en conflit, fit procder linitiation de plusieurs artistes symbolistes. La franc-maonnerie, en ralit, jouait un rle majeur dans la culture belge depuis le dernier quart du 19 e sicle. Dans les annes 1880-1890, bon nombre de sculpteurs et darchitectes, comme Victor Horta, Julien Dillens ou Godefroid Devreese furent initis dans les loges bruxelloises. Ces initiations sexpliquent par le contexte politique puisque, lpoque, certaines obdiences maonniques comme Les Amis Philanthropes, violemment anticlricales, furent le fer de lance de la lutte politique contre le pouvoir de lEglise et des partis catholiques. Lenjeu tait hautement symbolique; en faisant travailler ces artistes sur les chantiers de la ville, alors en pleine transformation, les diles bruxellois, eux-mmes francs-maons ou proches de la franc-maonnerie, parsemaient la ville de sculptures et de btiments dont liconographie, souvent civile et laque, donnait une excellente publicit aux ides librales. Dans les premires annes du 20e sicle, ces premires initiations de sculpteurs et darchitectes slargirent jusquaux cercles symbolistes. Jean Delville et Jules du Jardin furent successivement initis la Loge des Amis Philanthropes en 1903 et 1919, Emile Fabry, la Loge des Amis du Commerce en 1912. L, encore, lintention tait de mettre le talent des artistes symbolistes, dsormais reconnus, au service de la cause librale et humaniste. Cest dans ce sens quil faut expliquer lattribution de dcorations publiques ces artistes dont, entre autres, la ralisation des fresques de la Cour dAssises du Palais de Justice de Bruxelles par Jean Delville (1908-1914) ou la dcoration par Emile Fabry du Grand Hall du Thtre royal de la Monnaie (1909-1933). Dans les deux cas mais dans dautres galement les dcorations, excutes dans un style symboliste, servirent de support la pense librale qui, autour de thmes comme lhumanit de la justice ou ldification du peuple par les arts, trouvait dans la peinture symboliste un outil de communication extrmement performant.

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En guise de conclusion: un style occultiste? Comme dautres obdiences, la franc-maonnerie eut sur le symbolisme une influence qui nous claire sur la nature des relations entre ce mouvement artistique et la pense occultiste. On pourrait dire, pour rsumer, que cette relation tait presque invitable ou plutt, quelle tait profondment ancre dans lair du temps. Loccultisme, en effet, connut un important regain dintrt dans le dernier quart du 19e sicle, intrt doubl dun effet de mode pour les phnomnes occultes, depuis le spiritisme jusqu la croyance, trs rpandue au tournant du sicle, que les rayons X allaient rvler lexistence de phnomnes surnaturels. Cest prcisment cette combinaison entre une forme de pense et un effet de mode qui est lorigine de la relation entre lsotrisme et le symbolisme. La situation ne manque pas dambigut puisque, alors que la raison dtre fondamentale des cercles occultistes est lie ce que Georg Simmel appelle le secret 25, nombre de ces cercles, aspirs par lengouement populaire, menrent leurs activits en toute transparence avec, parfois, le dsir de jouer un rle actif au sein de la vie profane26. On peut comprendre que, dans cette optique, lart ait concentr lintrt de lsotrisme. Morcels en une pliade de petites revues confidentielles, les cercles occultistes ntaient pas en mesure de faire connatre la somme des thories chafaudes au sein des loges ou des runions secrtes. En investissant la peinture, cest comme si la pense occultiste se dotait, pour parler moderne, dun outil de communication. Lart, en effet, joue un rle essentiel dans la socit du 19 e sicle, et tout particulirement au sein de la bourgeoisie urbaine. Pour loccultisme, ctait l le gage de laccession un rle privilgi au cur mme de la socit; ctait surtout le moyen ultime dassurer une diffusion efficace une somme dides et de thories qui, sans lui, seraient restes le privilge de quelques initis. Quant la peinture symboliste, reste savoir ce qu elle a pu trouver dans cette relation. Une rponse minimaliste consisterait affirmer que linfluence de la pense occultiste ne fut quune formule succs qui, depuis le premier salon de la Rose+Croix, avait servi de stimulant intellectuel quelques cercles symbolistes. Bien que confortable, cette rponse ne recouvre pourtant pas la ralit historique. Certaines ont t mentionnes, mais on pourrait allonger la liste des oeuvres symbolistes dont liconographie est purement sotrique. Quelques-unes dentre elles sont mme considres comme des chefsduvre symbolistes; il suffit de citer LInitiation (Fig. 6) dEmile Fabry, porSimmel, Secret et Socits secrtes . On retrouve ici lide que loccultisme correspond en ralit une lacisation de lsotrisme. Cfr note 4.
25 26

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Fig. 6.

Emile Fabry, LInitiation (1890). Huile sur toile, 140 x 80 cm. Collection prive.

Fig. 7. 187
Jean Delville, Mystriosa ou Portrait de Madame Stuart Merrill (vers 1930, rplique dune oeuvre originale de 1892). Crayons de couleur sur papier, 35,5 x 28 cm. Muses Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. KIK-IRPA, Bruxelles. SABAM Belgium 2002.

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trait mdiumnique dune initie bruxelloise; quon mentionne galement Le Portrait de Madame Stuart Merrill (Fig.7), portrait de Bob Rion, sur du peintre Lucien Rion et future pouse du pote Stuart Merrill qui, les yeux rvulss, peroit la parole perdue contenue dans le livre quelle tient dans les mains. Au-del de liconographie, du signifi, pourrait-on dire, loccultisme a galement influenc la technique symboliste, le signifiant, savoir lutilisation de cadres particuliers, la manire de choisir les couleurs, de les assembler, etc. Une toile de Fernand Khnopff, le triptyque LIsolement (Fig.8), est peuttre lexemple le plus rvlateur de cette influence. Luvre, laquelle lar-

Fig. 8.
Fernand Khnopff, LIsolement, compos de Solitude (panneau central; 1890-1891), Acrasia (panneau de gauche; 1894) et Britomart (panneau de droite; 1894). Pastel et cire sur papier maroufl sur toile ( Solitude ), fusain et rehauts blancs sur papier ( Acrasia et Britomart), 150 x 43 (dimensions de chaque panneau). Collection prive ( Solitude ), communaut Franaise de Belgique (Acrasia et Britomart).

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tiste travailla entre 1891 et 1894 est ce qui nous reste des recherches que Khnopff mena pour la cration du Pantaxe de Kumris. A premire vue, son iconographie est obscure; trois femmes en pied sont reprsentes cte cte, lune nue, lautre en armure, celle du milieu tenant des instruments de crmonie quon identifie difficilement. LIsolement est lexemple mme de ces toiles qui, apparemment mystrieuses, ont confort les scientifiques dans lhypothse que les iconographies de Khnopff taient opaques, voire obscurantistes et impntrables; dans le catalogue raisonn de son uvre, Robert Louis Delevoy utilise mme le terme de dissimulation pour caractriser lesthtique khnopffienne 27. La lecture de LIsolement mais galement de luvre de Khnopff est videmment trs diffrente lorsquon y cherche les symboles inspirs par loccultisme. On remarque dabord que le bton de crmonie que tient la femme du panneau central porte lemblme de lAgla, socit secrte de la Renaissance qui runit les corporations du livre et que les martinistes avaient remise lhonneur 28. Au-del de ses liens avec le martinisme, LIsolement illustre galement la thorie de landrogyne telle que la dfinit Josphin Pladan. Les trois femmes reprsentent trois moments historiques du parcours mystique vers landrogynat qui, depuis la femme antique, trs fminine, passant par la femme mdivale, plus masculine cause du port de larmure, aboutit la femme contemporaine dont les passions contraires sont oublies au profit dune haute spiritualit. Les lments plastiques viennent souligner cette iconographie. Lusage du triptyque, conformment aux recherches numrologiques menes par Vurgey au sein de Kumris, renforce lide dun parcours spirituel; le nombre trois voquant le caractre sacr (la trinit) dun cheminement qui mne lunit salvatrice du panneau central, symbolisant landrogyne. Lusage de la couleur est lire de la mme manire. Khnopff stait inspir dun article que Gary et Polti avaient publi en 1888-1889 dans la revue LInitiation29. Dans leur texte, les auteurs avaient donn une lecture occultiste de la thorie des tempraments, postulant que les tempraments ne sont que les termes dune suite logique menant une personnalit parfaite et spirituelle. Les deux premiers lments de cette suite sont caractriss par la couleur blanche, que lon retrouve prcisment dans luvre de Khnopff o les panneaux latraux sont traits en transparence, avec, quelques endroits, des rehauts de blanc. Pour Gary et Polti, par ailleurs, la personnalit idale est associe un contraste violent de
27 28 29

Delevoy, Fernand Khnopff. Ambelain, Le Martinisme, 55. Polti, La thorie des tempraments et leur pratique.

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bleu (ou de vert) que lon retrouve galement dans le panneau central de luvre. Sous cet angle de vue, luvre de Khnopff possde donc une signification extrmement prcise que tous les lments du tableau renforcent ou expliquent. Cette vritable narration figurative, presque la manire dune bande dessine, tait revendique par les symbolistes pour lesquels luvre dart, par une progression cohrente de symbole en symbole, devait mener une signification prcise. Dans un livre mlant les considrations sotriques et esthtiques, le peintre Jules du Jardin avait dfini ds 1892 cette manire de peindre quil appele le langage articul, combinant les lments de la peinture un contenu dtermin selon les principes sotriques 30. A la lumire de ces divers lments, on peut dcemment rpondre la question que nous nous tions pose sur la nature des relations entre le symbolisme et la pense occultiste. Au-del de leur proximit historique, il apparat que loccultisme a t une source dinspiration pour cette peinture, non seulement au niveau de liconographie, mais galement dans la manire de peindre, jusqu certains lments inscrits au cur de luvre (comme le choix des couleurs ou de la forme du cadre) dmontrant ainsi que loccultisme a vritablement contribu la formulation du style symboliste. En mme temps, cette lecture nous montre combien la signification de certaines uvres symbolistes que daucuns jugent floues et ambigus apparat au contraire limpide et prcise sous lclairage de la pense occultiste. Pour le symbolisme, peinture en qute perptuelle de sens, lsotrisme (au sens large) tait avant tout une source intarissable de symboles chargs de significations ancestrales. Quant aux obdiences occultistes, leur multiplicit et leurs divergences firent natre quantit de thories o le symbolisme trouva un rservoir de sujets, de motifs, ou mme de coloris et de formats de cadres. Pour les cercles occultistes, par contre, il sagissait surtout dune stratgie de communication. Aussi paradoxal que cela puisse paratre, cest peut-tre mme cette prcision du tableau symboliste qui sut sduire les cercles occultistes. Visuelle par nature, la peinture tait mme de reprsenter des ides abstraites par le biais de symboles aisment identifiables, telle la femme dans LIsolement de Khnopff. Pour les occultistes, le symbolisme tait donc un vritable media fonctionnant comme un manuel illustr, comme un livre dimages, concrtisant des ides souvent formules un haut degr dabstraction au sein de revues confidentielles. En mme temps, la peinture symboliste tait le levier incontournable dune reconnaissance publique qui, au dbut des annes 1890, avait tourn leffet de mode. Cette reconnaissance tait surtout
30

Du Jardin, A propos dart.

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la consquence du rle prpondrant que jouait la peinture dans la socit de la fin du 19 e sicle. Comme le cinma lheure actuelle, la peinture est lpoque sur toutes les lvres, elle est omniprsente dans les intrieurs bourgeois et dans les salons privs o elle anime les conversations; les expositions sont autant des lieux de contemplation que des endroits de parade et de dmonstration. Pour les cercles occultistes, il ntait sans doute pas de meilleur espoir que de toucher au cur mme de la bonne socit. Car loccultisme avait sa place parmi toutes les thories formules en rponse aux angoisses de la fin de sicle. Il ne faut pas oublier que lpoque prcde immdiatement de grandes dcouvertes scientifiques comme lmergence de la psychanalyse ou la dcouverte des rayons X. Loccultisme tait un discours suffisamment couvrant pour expliquer des ralits seulement pressenties ou rpondre aux questions en suspens que la science ne pouvait dfinitivement rsoudre. De ce point de vue, le symbolisme explique partiellement le succs de loccultisme la fin du 19e sicle. Vitrine des thories occultistes autant que bel objet, la toile symboliste sut sduire le spectateur jusqu le laisser croire que la seule contemplation suffisait rpondre aux grandes questions du temps, une belle image valant bien mieux quune question lancinante.
Sbastien Clerbois (1973) est Docteur en Histoire de lArt de lUniversit libre de Bruxelles, Charg de Recherches du Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique et membre du GRAM (Groupe de Recherche en Art Moderne) lUniversit libre de Bruxelles.

Bibliographie
Ambelain, R., Le Martinisme: Histoire et doctrine, Paris: Niclaus 1946. Andr, M.-S. & Beaufils, C., Papus biographie: La belle poque de loccultisme , Paris: Berg International 1995. Beaufils, C., La philosophie des salons de la Rose-Croix, In: Laurant, J.-P. & Nguyen, V. (ds.), Les Pladan , Lausanne: LAge dHomme 1990, 103-108. , Josphin Pladan 1858-1918: Essai sur une maladie du lyrisme, Grenoble: Jrme Millon 1993. Burhan, F., Vision and Visionaries: 19th-century Psychological Theory, the Occult Science and the Formation of the Symbolist Aesthetic in France , Ph.D. thesis Princeton University 1979. Clerbois, S., Contribution ltude du mouvement symboliste:Linfluence de loccultisme sur la peinture belge (1880-1905) , thse de doctorat Universit libre de Bruxelles1999. Da Silva, J., Le Salon de la Rose+Croix (1892-1897) , Paris: Syros-Alternatives 1991. Delevoy, R. L., de Croes, C. & Ollinger-Zinque, G. (ds.), Fernand Khnopff 1858-1921: Catalogue de lOeuvre , Bruxelles: La Bibliothque des Arts 1987. Delville, J., Catalogue du premier salon dart idaliste, Bruxelles: s.n. 1896. Du Jardin, J., A propos dart, Bruxelles: Knoetig 1892. Faivre, A., Thosophie, Encyclopedia Universalis, Paris: Encyclopedia Universalis1977, vol. 22, 498-500. Fanica, P.-O., Armand Point et Haute-Claire, Bulletin dinformation et de liaison de lAssociation des amis de Beurron-Marlotte 30 (1992), 22-38& 31 (1993), 27-34.

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Hutin, S., Les Francs-Maons, Paris: ditions du Seuil 1960. , Esotrisme, Encyclopedia Universalis, Paris: Encyclopedia Universalis 1977, vol. 8, 684. Laurant, J.-P., Lsotrisme chrtien en France au XIXe sicle , Lausanne: LAge dHomme 1992. Laurant, J.-P. & Nguyen, V., Les Pladan , Lausanne: LAge dHomme 1990. Legrand, F.-C., Le Symbolisme en Belgique , Bruxelles: Editions dArt Laconti 1971. Nefontaine, L., Symboles et symbolisme dans la Franc-Maonnerie I, Bruxelles: ditions de lUniversit de Bruxelles 1994. Papus, Socit dInitiation en 1889, Le Voile dIsis 7, (1889), 6. Pierre, J., LUnivers symboliste: Fin de sicle et dcadence, Paris: ditions du Club France Loisirs 1991. Polti, Gary, La thorie des tempraments et leur pratique, LInitiation 1 (1888), 31-32; 2 (1888), 127-139; 3 (1888), 238-251; 4 (1889), 17-33. Roberts-Jones, P. (d.), Bruxelles fin-de-sicle, Paris: Flammarion 1994. Simmel, G., Secret et socits secrtes, Saulxures: Circ 1996. catalogues dexposition Le Symbolisme en Europe , Rotterdam, Bruxelles, Baden-Baden, Paris: Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon 1975-1976. Paradis perdus, lEurope symboliste, Montral: Flammarion 1995. Splendeurs de lIdal. Rops, Khnopff, Delville et leur temps, Lige: Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon Pandora 1996. Paris-Bruxelles, Bruxelles-Paris. Les relations artistiques entre la France et la Belgique 18481914 , Paris, Gand,: Fonds Mercator 1997. Omer Coppens ou le rve de lArt Nouveau , Bruxelles: Pandora 2001. The influence of occultist thought on the Belgian Symbolist movement: Critical overview of a spiritual affinity at the end of the 19th century. Since a few years, the number of studies devoted to occultism and esotericism is increasing in the humanities. Nevertheless, the relationship between occultism and painting has been rarely investigated, even though it is known that many artistic movements, such as Romantism or Surrealism, have been deeply influenced by occultist thought. This paper attempts to investigate the occultist influence upon one of the most important artistic movement of the 19 th century, Symbolism, focusing especially on Belgian Symbolism. This study is partly inspired by a number of recent publications that do demonstrate the closeness between these two movements, but without discussing their actual historical connections. A historical approach, however, allows us a new perspective on symbolist painting, which has too often been presented merely as reflecting a mysterious aesthetic (not really for scholarly reasons, but rather because only few authors have tried to understand its stylistic background and sources of influence). A systematic study of the connections between occultism and Belgian symbolism proves to be fruitful in several respects. It can be demonstrated that Symbolism was the concrete medium of expression of the occultist revival of the late 19 th century; a revival which, without Symbolist painting, would probably not have had the same scale. Discreet by nature, occultism found in painting a proper medium to embody its ideas and theories. Reversely, Symbolism found in occultism a source of iconographic themes, subjects or patterns; and it can be demonstrated that occultism contributed in a very concrete manner to the elaboration of the symbolist style. Thus, this article purports to throw new light on the occultist revival of the late 19 th century, and to make possible an investigation of the emergence of Symbolist aesthetics.

FRANCES YATESS HERMETIC RENAISSANCE IN THE DOCUMENTS HELD IN THE WARBURG INSTITUTE ARCHIVE HILARY GATTI 1. Introduction In 1840, John Stuart Mill published in the London and Westminster Review a substantial article on Samuel Taylor Coleridge whose philosophical works had just appeared, edited by his nephew Henry Nelson Coleridge. Mills essay, which may be called a critical appreciation, and even perhaps a critical celebration (if we may allow such a glaring oxymoron to stand) did ample justice to the occasion. For it is true that on the one hand Mill dissociated himself, with characteristic clarity and admirable intellectual honesty, from Coleridges speculative position of a transcendental, post-Kantian mysticism (by which nothing is meant in common parlance, Mill observed ironically, but unintelligibleness). But on the other hand, he recognized in Coleridge not so much the romantic poet and dreamer we remember above all to-day, but rather a finely tuned speculative mind: a thinker who had dedicated his brilliant, intellectual energies to operating a radical substitution of the empirical doctrines of the school of John Locke with a metaphysical theory of truth based on the necessary existence of innate ideas in the mind 1. Mill himself never fully renounced his Utilitarian education, with its debt to the importance of outward facts which he imbibed in early youth through the influence of his father and Jeremy Bentham. He did, however, recognize the significance in any serious intellectual debate of an authoritative opposing point of view. Furthermore, he learnt from a reading of both Coleridge and Wordsworth, as he would later recognise in his Autobiography, important lessons which modified the intransigence of his early utilitarian position2. For he had no difficulty in admitting, in his essay, that Coleridge looked much deeper into the human soul and feelings than Bentham was prepared to do. Because he had represented this more spiritual alternative with such passion and eloquence, Mill asserted, Coleridges voice had become an important one for a
Mill, Collected Works X. Mill, Collected Works I. See esp. 149-153 for the importance to Mill of his reading of the romantic poets.
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Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002

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younger generation whose religious and spiritual needs required deeper satisfactions than the scientific facts privileged by the Utilitarians could provide them with. I have chosen for a number of reasons to start this documentary paper on The Hermetic Renaissance of Frances Yates with a reference to Mills pages on Samuel Taylor Coleridge. First and foremost because they allow me to clarify my own more scientific and pragmatic point of view with respect to Yatess magical and hermetically defined interpretation of one of the most dramatic and debated periods of European intellectual history. Although it would be a mistake to push the comparison too far, it seems to me a telling one. For, in spite of the over a century and a half which separates ourselves from Mills Victorian England, the fundamental issues debated by Mill in his essay are remarkably similar to those raised by the so-called Yates thesis to-day. Questioning the dominion of the so-called scientific revolution as a prelude to the modern world, Coleridge proposed a new metaphysics with clearly neoPlatonic connotations. Yates, for her part, yokes together the European renaissance with the spiritualism and magic of ancient Hermetic and neo-Platonic texts. And it is no coincidence, surely, that Coleridge was an avid reader of Giordano Bruno, later to be placed by Yates at the centre of her Hermetic interpretation of the renaissance 3 . 2. Yates, Kristeller and Garin There is, however, a further reason which led me to open this paper with a reference to Mills essay on Coleridge. For in his attempt to offer a fair and generous evaluation of Coleridges philosophical thought, Mill finds himself obliged to discuss a specific aspect of his subject which is relevant also in a consideration of the Hermetic renaissance of Frances Yates. That is, that Coleridge as philosopher is remembered above all as the thinker who brought to England a new body of doctrines which had originated elsewhere: in his case in Germany, in the wake of Kants Copernican revolution in the field of epistemology. Mills characteristic intellectual honesty obliges him to face squarely up to the question of whether this means that Coleridges romantic idealism is to be seen as necessarily subordinate to the German philosophies which inspired it. Mill answers this question with both a yes and a no. There can be no doubt, Mill admits, that Coleridge as philosopher can only be remembered correctly as the thinker who added the English fragment to an edifice already constructed elsewhere. And yet, Mill goes on to claim, this
3

See Gatti, Coleridges Reading of Giordano Bruno.

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admission does not mean that we find in Coleridge the philosopher a lack of originality. For in every national context, cultural problems and relationships possess their own characteristics and complexities, their own particular emphases; and the work of diffusion assumes a specific coloring and significance. Mill underlines how bringing the new idealism to England made Coleridge into a particularly significant thinker precisely because English culture at the end of the 18th century was spreading throughout Europe values founded on the empiricism of Francis Bacon and John Locke, which had already achieved their practical exemplification in the mechanical science of Isaac Newton. Recently reinforced by Benthamite utilitarianism, Mills Victorian England could thus be considered the very citadel and bulwark of a scientific, antimetaphysical empiricism, which Coleridge questioned, using as his weapon the new German transcendentalism. Surely a similar situation arises when, in the second half of the twentieth century, Yates proposes her Hermetic renaissance, neither invented nor originally discovered by herself. Yet much of the significance of her work derives from its constant and at times almost obsessive questioning of the positivist, anti-metaphysical bases of so many of the cultural and linguistic assumptions of the twentieth century, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world. Frances Yates, of course, would not have thought of herself as a philosopher, but rather as an intellectual historian or a historian of ideas. The particular flavour of her work, however, derives, from the fact that she founded her Hermetic interpretation of the European renaissance to a large extent on the contributions of the two major historians of philosophy who redefined the culture of the period in the course of the twentieth century: Paul Oscar Kristeller and Eugenio Garin. The relationship with Kristeller is clearly admiring, but critical as well. Frances Yates appreciated the dramatic impact of Kristellers celebrated paper of 1938, originally published in the Annali of the Scuola Normale in Pisa, which revealed for the first time the remarkable diffusion of Hermetic texts in both Italian and French renaissance culture 4. On the other hand, she chided Kristeller sharply, in her review of his Eight Philosophers of the Italian Renaissance published in 1964, for not having understood the revolutionary consequences of his own discovery 5. What had happened, she asked, to the Hermeticism which Kristeller himself had so dramatically announced to the world some three decades previously, but which he then appeared to dismiss, or even ignore, as a serious component of the philosophy of the period concerned? The answer, of course, as Yates herself had already
4 5

See Kristeller, Marsilio Ficino e Ludovico Lazzarelli. Yates, No Mans Land: P.O. Kristellers Eight Philosophers of the Italian Renaissance.

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written in the introductory pages to her own book of 1964, the widely admired study of Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition , was that it had already been assumed as the basis of a new interpretation of the period in the light of its Hermetical and magical doctrines by Eugenio Garin. And it is Garins major works, such as Medioevo e rinascimento of 1954 and La cultura filosofica del rinascimento italiano of 1961 which Yates herself indicates as the fundamental inspiration of her own Hermetic interpretation of both Giordano Bruno and, more widely, of the period in which he lived6. Those who are familiar with the work of Eugenio Garin and his Florentine school might find it difficult to discern any essential difference between his picture of the renaissance drawn in the light of its Hermetical and magical doctrines and the whole of the first half of Yatess book on Bruno. For Yatess pages tell what in 1964 had already become a familiar story, starting from Ficinos translation into Latin in 1463 of the major Hermetic texts, with the exception of the already Latinised Asclepius, passing through the kabbalistic accretions introduced by Pico della Mirandola, to arrive at the more openly demonic magic of Cornelius Agrippa: all subjects which had been for some years at the centre of attention of scholars in Florence such as Garin himself, Cesare Vasoli and Paola Zambelli7. Of course, Yates was also deeply influenced by the tradition of renaissance studies in the light of a prisca theologia already developed by a number of distinguished scholars linked to the Warburg Institute in London, where it had arrived with its remarkable library from Hamburg due to the hostility of the Nazi regime. Yates started an association with the Warburg Institute in 1936, and her diary shows that she considered essential to her own work on the renaissance studies such as Edgar Winds Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance , first published in 1958, and above all the refined intellectual study of her Warburg colleague D.P. Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella , published in London, also in 19588. So that, if these pages of Yates remain in some way canonical for the English-speaking world, it is above all for the remarkable stylistic tour de force by which she succeeded in making available, in a language which avoids the dryness and tedium of so much academic prose, the spiritual ardour and the
See Yates, Giordano Bruno: and Garin, Medioevo and La cultura filosofica. See Garin et al., Testi umanistici sullermetismo. 8 See Wind, Pagan Mysteries and Walker, Demonic and Spiritual Magic . It was Wind who put Yates in contact with the Warburg Institute in 1936. He was very involved in her work on the French Academies, and the Yates Archive contains many letters to her on the subject. Walker became known to her as Corporal Walker of the Intelligence Corps during the war, when she wrote to him for information about beliefs about music in the French Academies. Walker started his association with the Warburg Institute in 1953, and became a firm friend of Frances Yates.
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intense aspiration towards the divine which underlay the renaissance doctrines of magic and the occult. It is this stylistic tour de force which allows Yates to be compared in these pages to Garin himself, whose work has also reached a public much wider and more composite than the limited one of the scholarly community. In some revealing autobiographical pages, Garin has attributed his remarkable public success to his early years as a school-teacher, which required essential messages to be communicated in widely available linguistic forms9. Yates for her part, in the unfinished autobiography written shortly before her death, underlines her origins in a loving family whose interests lay outside the academic world10. In both Garin and Yates, we find scholars totally dedicated to the study of ancient and renaissance texts who developed the linguistic registers which allowed them to communicate their findings well beyond the confines of the scholarly world. Their Hermetic renaissance has become more than an academic subject for scholastic and university curricula. It has entered into the larger public domain. 3. Giordano Bruno as Hermetic Magus Frances Yatess best known and most personal contribution to the already ongoing international discussion concerning a Hermetic renaissance is to be found in the second part of her book of 1964 in which she proposes Giordano Bruno as the culminating moment of renaissance Hermeticism. Here she strikes out into an area which Garin himself has always treated with more circumspection; for it is clearly debatable whether the complexity of Brunos thought makes him into the appropriate choice for such a role. The price to pay was indeed high, involving as it did the relegation into the obscure field of renaissance emblem-making, with its clearly occult ramifications, of Brunos life-long meditation on the corner-stones of a new science, such as the Copernican astronomy or the revival of ancient atomism. From the beginning, the thesis, as well as being widely admired, has been severely contested by scholars of prestige, such as Giovanni Aquilecchia, whose review of Yatess book in 1965 suggested that she had seriously overstated her case 11. Helene Vedrine in her book of 1967, La conception de la nature chez Giordano Bruno, argued for a Bruno who was no magus but rather a cultivated and complex philosoSee Garin, La filosofia come sapere storico. See the Autobiographical Fragments in Yates, Ideas and Ideals in the North European Renaissance , 275-322. 11 See Aquilecchia, Frances A. Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition .
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pher of nature 12. Robert Westman, in 1977, in an exemplary paper on sixteenth century astronomical theses, found no common astronomy shared by the Hermetic thinkers of the period and no specifically Hermetic strands to Brunos own astronomical arguments 13. And these were only the beginnings of a long querelle which still continues to-day. Even scholars who recognize the importance of the Hermetical and magical components of Brunos thought emphasized by Yates, such as Michele Ciliberto in Italy, tend to distinguish between periods, such as the London years, when these were of limited importance, and Brunos final years when a meditation on the renaissance doctrines of magic became a central component of his work14. So that in many respects the Yatesian Bruno, seen as the prime example of a Hermetic Magus, has been judged as either exaggerated or wrong. And yet there are surely few who would deny that Yatess book on Bruno continues to represent a mile-stone both in Bruno criticism and, more widely, in the on-going discussion concerning a magical and Hermetic renaissance. For there can be no doubt that she succeeded in directing attention to areas of Brunos thought, as well as of renaissance culture generally, which had previously been ignored or despised. The very suggestion that Brunos works contain a doctrine of magic which requires serious attention, based on a universal animism of both neo-Platonic and Hermetic derivation, was a novelty, at least in the detailed and documented emphasis with which Yates proposed it. Equally important are surely her studies of Brunos relationship with the pictorial logic of Ramon Lull and with the art of memory: a subject to which she would dedicate a full-length study published in 1966 which is perhaps her greatest work15. Once again, there has been a notable shift in emphasis among recent scholars of the art of memory, who to-day consider it as more pertinent to rhetoric or to logic than to the magical arts which Yates always stressed so persistently 16. But even if the series of images which recur again and again in the renaissance arts of memory are no longer thought of as necessarily imbued with magical and occult powers, a new awareness of the essential link between word and visual image in the culture of this period has remained as a central aspect of recent renaissance studies. It would be difficult to overestimate the contribution of Frances Yates in the development of this awareness.

12 Vedrine later wrote an important paper on Brunos doctrine of magic, compared with that of Della Porta: see Vedrine, Della Porta et Bruno. 13 See Westman, Magical Reform and Astronomical Reform. 14 See Ciliberto, Giordano Bruno and the introduction to Brunos Opere magiche . . 15 See Yates, The Art of Memory. 16 Particularly influential in this development has been the work of Rossi, Clavis universalis.

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An example of Yatess work in this field can be considered her fine early essay on Queen Elisabeth I as Astraea, where the political rhetoric which characterized this remarkable Queens reign is discussed in terms of the poetical images which evoked her symbolic meaning as universal empress of a new era of justice and of peace, as well as through the wonderful portraits which depicted her in this role17. It was a subject which allowed Yates once again to refer to Giordano Bruno, whose cult of Queen Elisabeth I was such an important part of his philosophical dialogues written and published in London between 1584 and 1585. Following Brunos dictum in the Cantus Circaeus that the philosopher, the artist and the poet are all involved in the same search for the truth, Yates demonstrated how politics, poetry and the pictorial arts interacted in renaissance culture in ways which are relevant to-day, when images have once again come to dominate the public arena. Words become images, and images invoke words: or, to quote Sir Philip Sidney (another of Brunos English heroes), the poetry of words culminates in the creation of speaking pictures. The magic of poetry, which Sidney strongly underlines as Coleridge would do after him, came in the end to fascinate Yates more than the magical doctrines of the philosophers; and her last years were dedicated to subjects such as the final plays of Shakespeare or the occult in English literature 18. It is a field in which her studies have had a limited if distinguished influence. Yet it may be that, in the long run, Yatess perception of the essential link in renaissance culture between image and word, which accompanied her work from the papers on Lull right up to the final pages on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, will remain as one of her most significant contributions to the study of the early modern world. 4. The Hermetic Renaissance Yates herself, however, based her hopes of survival on a historiographical thesis which has become intimately linked with her name, and which is repeatedly defined in her work. It appears with particular clarity in the already mentioned review of Kristellers Eight Philosophers of the Italian Renaissance published in the New York Review of Books in Yatess own must crucial year, 1964 19. It says that the renaissance has to be divided into two quite distinct and even opposing periods: the early humanist period from Petrarch to Valla, which continued to find distinguished exponents such as Erasmus of Rotterdam and
17 18 19

See Yates, Astraea . See Yates, Shakespeares Last Plays and The Occult Philosophy. See Yates, No Mans Land.

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Machiavelli well into the 16th century, and a second period starting with Ficinos translation of the Hermetic texts in 1463 and culminating in the death of Bruno the Hermetic Magus in 1600. The first period was to be placed under the sign of reason and classical Greek and Roman humanism; the second under the sign of ancient Egypt, or Hermetic mysticism and magic. The triumphant emergence of enlightened reason, and with it of the mechanical sciences, in the seventeenth century was regarded by Yates with mixed feelings. At times, as in the final pages of her study of Bruno, she would see it as the inevitable defeat of an earlier period of still barbaric superstition and magic. But then again, she would look, for example in her book of 1972 on the Rosicrucian Enlightenment, for signs of a Hermetic survival in underground movements and secret conclaves 20. The search for such signs of survival became somewhat obsessive in her later years; and, as she herself admitted in some of her last pages, the terms in which the claims of reason and the claims of imagination and faith were closely intertwined in many of the foremost enlightenment figures themselves, including Isaac Newton, remained obscure21. Yet the conviction that new insights could derive from a study of the seventeenth century in the light of a continuing influence of Hermetic and magical traditions was a profound and enduring one, to which Yates gave a particularly eloquent expression in the essay on The Hermetic Tradition in Renaissance Science published by Charles Singleton in 1967 in the volume Science and History in the Renaissance. It is perhaps somehow in these transitions from Renaissance to seventeenth century that the secret might be surprised, she wrote, the secret of how science happened 22. And if we are still obliged today to admit that no previously secret knowledge has provided us with a final illumination on this vitally important subject, it is nevertheless true that in recent years this survival of Hermetic and kabbalistic themes well into the seventeenth century, and beyond, has proved to be one of Yatess most fertile intuitions. It lies behind the resurgence of interest in the Rosicrucian movement, as well as the lively discussion regarding the emergence of the Royal Society and the true character of Baconian and Newtonian science: both of them far more complex intellectual constructs than the previous history of science had been prepared to admit23. The Yates thesis of a Hermetic renaissance has also been subjected to much criticism in recent years, and is clearly untenable in the radical terms in which
See Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment . See Yates, Did Newton connect his Maths and Alchemy? 22 See Yates, The Hermetic Tradition in Renaissance Science, 243. 23 For a recent study of the rosicrucian movement, see Edighoffer, Les Rose-Croix. Most of the essential documents concerning the recent debate on Newtons theology with relation to his science have been collected by Margaret Osler in Rethinking the Scientific Revolution .
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she proposed it. There is much in Ficino or Pico della Mirandola which links them still to the classical tradition of Florentine civic humanism; while more recent work on Bruno has shown how he was often influenced by Aristotle, as indeed by both Erasmus and Machiavelli 24. Scholars such as Charles Schmitt and Charles Lohr have demonstrated how the Aristotelian tradition generally was still a force to be reckoned with throughout the sixteenth century; while the most recent studies of renaissance magic by scholars such as Brian Copenhaver have emphasized its complex links with many of the developments which go under the name of the new science. Rather than the dichotomy proposed by Yates, sixteenth century studies seem to be developing in a search for the ways in which the major figures of the period brought together in their works the diverse and often contradictory cultural traditions which they inherited from the distant as well as the more recent past 25. Historiographical theses, however, have much in common with scientific theories. Even when the intellectual discussion has moved on to concern itself with different issues in different ways, they can maintain much of their interest and even a portion of their validity. They oblige us to ask ourselves how and why they emerged as and when they did, and what it was in them that allowed them to dominate the cultural scene, at least for a time. In the case of Frances Yates, a study of the emergence of her historiographical thesis of a Hermetic renaissance is of particular interest as it was closely linked in her mind with the tragically fragmented condition of Europe in the central decades of the twentieth century. I was determined that Hitler should not prevent me from writing that book, she wrote in her Autobiographical Fragments of the composition of The French Academies of the Sixteenth Century, which was finally published in 194726. And her later discovery of the Hermetic tradition in renaissance thought was clearly to a large extent inspired by the irenic elements which she detected in its cosmic mysticism. For Frances Yates was not a historian who considered the renaissance past as something distant or obsolete. Rather, as her Warburg colleague and friend, J.B. Trapp, remarked during his speech at her funeral in 1981, she was able to hold a consciousness of the past and a care for the future in every passing moment of the present27.

For Ficino, see the classic study by Kristeller, The Philosophy of Marsilio Ficino , 13. For Bruno see Blum, Aristoteles, and Ciliberto, Giordano Bruno . 25 See Schmitt, Aristotle, and the contribution by Lohr in the Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy . See also Copenhaver, Natural Magic. 26 See Yates, Autobiographical Fragments, 316. 27 The speeches pronounced at Yatess funeral were printed privately after the event. Copies of the texts are held in the Yates archive at the Warburg Institute in London.
24

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5. The Importance of the Archive How and when, then, did Frances Yates discover the importance of the Hermetic tradition in renaissance thought, and assume it as the key with which, from then on, to interpret the development of the early modern world? With this question in mind, I went to the Autobiographical Fragments in the hope of finding an answer. Rather to my surprise, however, I found that she had not explained either the exact time or the exact terms of what was clearly, in her mind, a world-shattering intuition. Her comments on her own books only make clear that it happened some time between 1959, when she published The Valois Tapestries, and 1964 when she published her next book, on Bruno. The Fragments also make clear the sense which she herself attributed to her new conviction that the whole of the final period of renaissance culture should be seen in the light of what she called its hermetic core. For she herself clearly thought of her intellectual achievement as divided into two quite different phases. In the first phase, which she dates from the book on John Florio of 1934, which sparked off her interest in Bruno, up to and including The Valois Tapestries of 1959, she considered that she had done some work of distinction, but that it remained fragile because unsupported by an interpretative key to the character of the period as a whole. This was followed by her final period, dating from the Bruno book of 1964, which she herself valued more highly because it was securely founded on a single, clear and, in her mind, definitive idea of the late renaissance as dominated by Hermetic mysticism and magic. But exactly when and how she experienced this watershed in her intellectual life is not explained. The rest of this paper attempts to tell this so-far untold story using papers found in the Frances Yates Archive held at the Warburg Institute in London. I am grateful to Dame Frances Yatess literary executor, and to the then Director of the Warburg Institute, Professor Nicholas Mann, for their permission to examine these papers and to present my findings in this essay. Frances Yatess diaries for 1959 and 1960 show that she was teaching a class on Ficino and Pico della Mirandola both years. The entry for Thursday, January 1 st, 1959, reads: Man in Woburn Square said Seek God. On Wednesday, May 18 th, 1960, there was a lunch in London with Eugenio Garin. The diary entry says simply Garin lunch, without further comment. Then there is a significant entry for Wednesday, December 28 th, 1960: Pledge died to-day. Good deal of death over this Christmas. The seminar is about Immortality of the Soul. The significance of this entry lies in the fact that H. T. Pledge, a mathematician, was the Librarian of the Science Library in South Kensington; and the early, unpublished study of Brunos Ash Wednesday Sup-

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per, for instance, shows that there was a time when Yates was not uninterested in questions relating to renaissance science. With hindsight, this entry would seem to indicate that the period of Yatess studies of early modern science were over. And so we get to the diary for 1961, the crucial year. The entries themselves are hurried, excited and obscure, although they clearly indicate a rush of reading of magic and kabbalistic texts. On Monday, April 17th, she is reading Scholem on the Jewish Kabbalah , and then on April 25th we find her in the British Museum reading Picatrix. And so on, throughout the year. After the final entry for December 31st, Yates decided to write a long note at the end of the diary telling the story of the whole year. The note reveals that the year had started with an effort to write the book on the art of memory, but had then dramatically changed course. But let us hear Yates tell her story in her own words:
I began to try to start on the memory book in February 1961. Began by looking at Camillo and tracing his sources. In doing this saw that Hermeticism is clue to Bruno. Saw whole view in history of renaissance magic in relation to Bruno. Worked on typed notes about this February, March. End of March we went to Droitwich. On return, about April 15th, I started to write the book. Wrote 19 chapters, up to end of Bruno, in April, May, June, July, August. End of August we went on Scottish holiday. Came back about September 25. Was not very well, sciatica in October. Spent most of October with sciatica preparing Lull lecture at Oxford, Oct. 27. November got back to book. Wrote last two chapters, November, December. Christmas holidays wrote Campanella chapter. Finished the last day of the year. This book thus written in one year and it is the most important thing I have ever done. There is still revision and some re-writing to chaps. 4 and 21 and 22 to do. Also the notes. But the book is there.

So the clue to the Bruno book is to be found in the pages of Giulio Camillos Lidea del theatro, first published in 1550, which was initially being read in the context of Yatess studies in the art of memory, and would later lead her to Robert Fludd and Shakespeares Globe Theatre for her study of The Theatre of the World 28. Camillos eloquent and all-enveloping hermeticism includes an explicit defense of secret, symbolic writing on the basis that both Christ and Hermes Trismegistus encouraged the wise man to contemplate, as through a veil, the mysteries of God29. Suddenly this seemed to Yates to yield the clue to Bruno, whose works, she admits in the Autobiographical Fragments , had previously appeared to her opaque and obscure. But now Brunos infinite universe could itself be considered a divine symbol of a transcendent unity, to be
28 See Yates, Theatre of the World , 11, where she notes that John Dee held a copy of Camillos Lidea del theatro in his library. 29 See the opening pages of Camillo, Lidea del theatro .

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understood mystically, as through a cloud of unknowing as she writes elsewhere in her private papers, and not scientifically or rationally as the previous critical tradition had claimed. So Bruno becomes for Yates the supreme example of the renaissance magus, taking his place in the context of the tradition of renaissance magic in which Yates was already well versed. Throughout 1962 and 1963, work continued on publication of the Bruno book by Routledge in London and Chicago University Press in the United States. The diary entry for Thursday, 23 January 1964 reads: Book published to-day without my knowing it. Then on Friday, January 24 th: Copies of the book came. The diary tells us the name of the recipient of the first copy: Eugenio Garin. The typed pages on Yatess reading of Camillo in February 1961, which she mentions in the note quoted above, can be found in the archive, in box no.14 labelled Art of Memory: A. Notes and Early Versions. On the cover of the file, Yates herself wrote later, on October 29th, 1979: History of my Work: Important Phase. Analysis of Hermetic influence in Camillos Theatre. Notes made about 1961. Led to discovery of Hermetic quotations in Bruno. The notes consist of a series of comments and quotations from Ficinos Pimander and the Asclepius and their influence on Ficino, Pico, Bruno and Campanella. Above all, however, they attempt to identify the numerous quotations from the Hermetica in Camillos Theatro, together with ample comment on the contexts in which he quotes them. These notes are followed by a page entitled Thoughts. The most significant of these thoughts seem to me the following:
The Pimander is the Egyptian Genesis, the Asclepius the account of the Egyptian religion. Should perhaps be considered together, as Camillo does. If you believed with Lazzarelli and others that Trismegistus was earlier than Moses, you might still hold to some sort of Christian Magus idea through Trismegistus recognition of the Son of God as creator. But if you believed both that Trismegistus is earlier than Moses and that Moses and the Jews had corrupted the earlier and purer Egyptian religion, then you could adopt Pimander as the true Genesis, Asclepius as the true religion and become an all-out non-Christian magus like Bruno. Brunos philosophy practically all traceable to Hermetica which teach optimist gnosis. His religion, the restoration of the Egyptian magical religion. His heliocentricity the absorption of Copernicus into Hermetic sun mysticism and animation of the earth.

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6. Was Bruno a Hermetic Magus? I believe that the primary importance which the diary accords to Camillos Lidea del theatro in inspiring Yatess hermetic interpretation of Bruno, and then more widely of the whole of the final period of renaissance culture, helps to define both the strengths and the limits of her thesis. For there can be no doubt of the primary importance for Camillo himself of the Hermetic texts in the elaboration of his theatre of memory. Also the historical logic which inspires the central part of this page of Yatess Thoughts seems to me unimpeachable. In so far as Bruno made use of the Hermetic texts in defining his religion, or his definition of God, he seems to me to follow the path traced by Yates and to become an all-out non-Christian magus. It was certainly possible to defend this thesis, as Yates did, with respect to works such as the De umbris idearum or the Sigillus sigillorum, for example. But the final jump which gives us a Bruno whose philosophy is all traceable to the Hermetica which teach optimist gnosis is surely arbitrary. Yates does not even find it necessary to measure her thesis against the chapter towards the end of Brunos philosophical and cosmological masterpiece, the De immenso which concludes the Frankfurt trilogy of 1591, where Bruno takes his distance very explicitly from Palingenius and what he calls his gnostic nightmares. Indeed, whether any form of gnosis, optimistic or not, remains possible in the context of Brunos not only infinite but also homogeneous universe, logically dependent on a divine principle which he considered as unknown and unknowable to the human mind, is surely one of the major themes of his works. But it is a theme proposed by Bruno in problematic terms which seem to place him at a considerable distance from Yatess sublime certainties30. The question of atomism is another aspect of late renaissance culture in which a similar problem emerges. Camillo has a single sentence on atoms which, he claims, are the foundation of discrete quantity in all things. He repeats this, with only minor variations, later on in his work 31 . It is by no means a banal understanding of the foundation of quantity in the context of the still largely Aristotelian culture of 1550, and it even suggests the possibility of developing a full-scale atomistic theory of matter. But Camillo himself gives no signs of wishing to do such a thing. Yates for her part, in her discussion of Bruno, gives atoms exactly the same amount of attention as Camillo did, claiming in a footnote of her Bruno book of 1964, probably inspired by Paul30 For the problematic nature of Brunos epistemology, see Spruit, Il problema della conoscenza. 31 Camillo, Lidea del theatro, 92: Gli atomi ci significheranno tutta la quantit discreta nelle cose. See also o.c. 91, 150 and 162.

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Henri Michels seminal study of Brunos atomism of 1957, that he introduced the idea of power or soul into the far more material atoms of Lucretius32. This is also an important point to make. However, it gives the reader no idea of the fact that Bruno, differently from Camillo, did attempt to formulate a full-scale atomistic theory of matter. He even dedicated a whole work to the subject: the De triplici minimo, which is the first part of his Frankfurt trilogy of 1591. Recent work on the history of corpuscular theories has been stressing the importance of Bruno as the first philosopher of the modern era to make such an attempt, as well as being the first to try to visualise in illustrations to his pages on atomism the nature of atomistic formations, or what to-day we would call the beginnings of a molecular theory 33 . If we now leave Bruno aside, and look at Yatess larger thesis of a primarily Hermetic renaissance, within which the works belonging to a classical-rationalist tradition assume only minor importance, the same kind of problem can be detected. Philip Sidney suddenly becomes a Hermeticist, in spite of the fact that his Defense of Poetry is argued on largely Aristotelian lines, on the basis of the fact that he took lessons in mathematics occasionally from John Dee34. Francis Bacon is also enrolled on the basis of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian imagery of his late utopian work, The New Atlantis, which had been notably absent from his earlier Advancement of Learning or Novum Organon 35. And so we get to Newton, whose massive Biblical studies and enduring faith in alchemy suddenly assume centre stage, to the detriment of his works in physics which he himself chose to publish, and which ensured his primacy in the history of modern science at least until the Einsteinian revolution36. Again the problem is one of emphasis. Can Newton really be seen as primarily a religious thinker, whose science can be reduced to a form of curiositas which places him on much the same level as the Hermetically-minded Jesuit Athanasias Kircher, as one recent commentator who makes explicit reference to the Yates thesis claims? 37 Frances Yates herself had no doubts about the answer to that question. Her later works particularly led unhesitatingly in a predominantly Hermetic and increasingly mystical direction. So much so that she would with time be gently chided even by Garin himself for her refusal to make the necessary historical
Yates, Giordano Bruno , 452 nt 1. On this subject, see Gatti,Giordano Brunos Soul-powered Atoms and Lthy, Brunos Area democriti. 34 See Sidney, An apology. 35 See Yates, Giordano Bruno , 450. 36 For a much discussed, radical expression of this thesis, see Dobbs, B.J.T., Newton as Final Cause and First Mover. 37 See Findlen, The Janus Face of Science.
32 33

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and interpretative distinctions. Garin would even consider that the time had come in 1975 to remind his readers of the important work on Bruno done earlier in the century by the distinguished historian of science Alexandre Koyr, while in 1991 we find him re-proposing the work of an idealist but far more rational and scientifically-minded philosopher and historian of the renaissance: Giovanni Gentile 38. The study of Bruno on the part of Gentile dates from 1907, the period of his collaboration with Benedetto Croce, and culminated in his edition of the Italian dialogues for the publisher Laterza of 19071908. By the time of Garins re-edition of Gentiles Bruno studies, Yates was already dead; but she could hardly have agreed. Her archive contains some undated notes on her reading of Gentiles essay on Bruno and Renaissance Thought which provide interesting evidence of the evolution of her own thought on Bruno and on the period in which he lived. The notes appear to belong to two quite different moments of Yatess life. They are composed of a synthesis of Gentiles essay in pen, containing no interpretative comment, above which, presumably at a later date, she added copious critical comments in pencil. This is one of the largest group of notes to be found in the archive, and it is only possible here to give some examples to illustrate the sense of Yatess comments on Gentiles thought on Bruno. It probably interested her in particular because Gentile was presenting Bruno specifically as a model of the thought of the late renaissance; and it is no coincidence that his essay on Bruno was followed, in the volume on renaissance thought which Gentile published in 1915, by a major essay on the philosophical thought of Galileo. Yatess comments are very aggressively critical, and may reflect her distaste for Gentiles later choice of allegiance to the Italian fascist regime, although I found no mention of this in the comments themselves. A first example appears to represent a still uncertain attitude of criticism and is couched in the form of a question. It relates to the page where Gentile describes Brunos thought as a rational and philosophical process, ending in ecstatic union. This, of course, is why it interests Garin. But Yates counters by asking: Not quite accurate? When Gentile goes on to claim that Bruno maintains at Venice that religious and scientific truth are incommensurable, Yates comments: Wrong he uses science as a religious symbol. When Gentile claims that Bruno discards the transcendence on which the middle-ages had founded its philosophy, Yates comments: Wrong. Bruno does not discard transcendence. Nature is to him a symbol of the transcendent. The word symbol is underlined. Where Gentile writes that the medieval philosopher said:
38

See Garin, Rinascite e rivoluzioni and Gentile, Giordano Bruno .

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credo ut intelligam, but Bruno says: non credo ut intelligam , Yates comments: Bruno might say this, but he would mean it mystically not scientifically or rationally. The word mystically is underlined. And so it goes on, until we reach Yatess final comment which reads: Gentile has failed to perceive that Brunos philosophy of the infinity of nature is a mystical symbol. One of the most striking aspects of these comments by Yates on Gentiles essay, commonly considered one of the milestones of modern Bruno criticism, is her frequent use of an outright wrong . Although she wrote these comments in pencil, they represent a conviction which has clearly become indelible and unshakable, to the extent of verging on the dogmatic. But perhaps it can be argued that no historiographical thesis is ever completely right or wrong, and that there are no definitive keys or clues to the bafflingly complex ways of history. In this case, what we can fairly ask of a historian of ideas is to have moved the waters of a discussion which was tending to become stagnant and stale; to have indicated new directions which needed to be pursued, and above all to have attempted to follow what at that time was a little frequented path with coherence and intellectual rigour, sustained by a vision of a more spiritually profound and more harmonious world. It would be difficult in this case to deny Frances Yates a role of distinction in the intellectual discussion of the second half of the twentieth century, which seems likely to continue to exercise an important influence for some years to come.
Prof. Hilary Gatti is Associate Professor at the Universit di Roma La Sapienza. She is the author of two books on Giordano Bruno.

Bibliography
Aquilecchia, G., Frances A. Yates: Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition , in: Schede bruniane (1950-1991) , Manziana (Roma): Vecchiarelli 1993, 375-377. Blum, P.R., Aristoteles bei Giordano Bruno , Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag 1980. Camillo Delminio, Giulio, Lidea del theatro, (Lina Bolzoni, ed.), Palermo: Sellerio 1990. Ciliberto, M., Giordano Bruno , Rome-Bari: Laterza 1990. Ciliberto, M. et al (eds.), Giordano Bruno: Opere magiche , Milan: Adelphi 2001. Copenhaver, B., Natural Magic, Hermeticism, and Occultism in Early Modern Science, in: David C. Lindberg & Robert S. Westman (eds.), Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1990. Edighoffer R., Les Rose-Croix et la Crise de la Conscience europenne au XVIIe sicle , Paris: Dervy 1998. Garin, E., Medioevo e rinascimento, Bari: Laterza 1954. , La Cultura filosofica del Rinascimento italiano , Florence: Sansoni 1961. , Rinascite e rivoluzioni: Movimenti culturali dal XIV al XVIII secolo, Bari-Roma: Laterza 1975. , La filosofia come sapere storico: con un saggio autobiografico , Bari-Roma: Laterza 1990.

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Garin E., M. Brini, C. Vasoli & P. Zambelli (eds.), Testi umanistici sullermetismo: testi di Ludovico Lazzarelli, F. Giorgio Veneto, Cornelio Agrippa di Nettesheim, Rome: Ed. di Storia e Letteratura 1955. Gatti, H., Coleridges Reading of Giordano Bruno, The Wordsworth Circle , 27:3 (1996), 136145. , Giordano Brunos Soul-powered Atoms: From Ancient Sources towards Modern Science, in: Christophe Lthy et al. (eds.) Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories , Leiden/Boston/Kln: E.J. Brill 2001. Gentile, G., Giordano Bruno e il pensiero del rinascimento (Eugenio Garin, ed.), Florence: Le Lettere 1991. Kristeller, P.O., Marsilio Ficino e Ludovico Lazzarelli: contributo alla diffusione delle idee ermetiche nel rinascimento, Annali della Reale Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa: Lettere, Storia e Filosofia 2:7 (1938), 237-262. Repr. in Studies in Renaissance Thought and Letters, Rome: Ed. di Storia e Letteratura 1956, 221-247. , The Philosophy of Marsilio Ficino , New York: Columbia University Press 1943. Lthy, C., Brunos Area Democriti and the Origins of Atomistic Imagery, Bruniana & Campanelliana 4 (1998), 59-92. Mill, J.S. The Collected Works (John M. Robson & Jack Stillinger, eds.), Toronto: Toronto University Press 1981-1984. Osler, M.J. (ed.), Rethinking the Scientific Revolution , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2000. Rossi, Paolo, Clavis universalis: Arti della memoria e logica combinatoria da Lullo a Leibniz , Milan-Naples: Ricciardi 1960. English translation recently published by the Chicago University Press. Schmitt, C.B., Aristotle in the Renaissance, Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press 1983. Schmitt, Charles B. et al (eds.) Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1988. Spruit, L., Il problema della conoscenza in Giordano Bruno , Naples: Bibliopolis 1988. Vedrine, H., La conception de la nature chez Giordano Bruno , Paris: J. Vrin 1967. , Della Porta et Bruno sur la Nature et la Magie, Giovan Battista della Porta nellEuropa del suo tempo, Naples: Guida 1990. Walker, D.P., Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella, London: Warburg Institute Studies 1958. Westman, R., Magical Reform and Astronomical Reform: The Yates Thesis Reconsidered, in: Hermeticism and the Scientific Revolution , Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library Papers 1977. Wind, E., Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance, London: Warburg Institute Studies 1958. Yates, F.A., John Florio: The Life of an Italian in Shakespeares England , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1934. , The French Academies of the Sixteenth Century, London: Warburg Institute Studies 1947. , The Valois Tapestries, London: Warburg Institute Studies 1959. , Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition , London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1964. , The Art of Memory, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1966. , The Hermetic Tradition in Renaissance Science, in: Charles S. Singleton (ed.), Art, Science and History in the Renaissance, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press 1967. Repr. in Ideas and Ideals in the North European Renaissance (Collected Essays III) , London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1984, 227-246. , The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul 1972. , Astraea. The Imperial Theme in the Sixteenth Century, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1975. , Shakespeares Last Plays: A New Approach , London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1975. , The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age , London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1979.

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, No Mans Land: P.O. Kristellers Eight Philosophers of the Italian Renaissance , in: Renaissance and Reform: The Italian Contribution (Collected Essays III), London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1983, 73-78. , Did Newton connect his Maths and Alchemy? in: Ideas and Ideals in the North European Renaissance (Collected Essays, vol.III) , London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1984, 269-274. , Autobiographical Fragments, in: Ideas and Ideals in the North European Renaissance (Collected Essays, vol.III), London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1984, 275-322. Il Rinascimento ermetico di Frances Yates Lintervento si apre con un riferimento al saggio commemorativo di John Stuart Mill del 1840 su Samuel Taylor Coleridge, visto come modello della celebrazione di un pensatore di inclinazione metafisica da parte di un oppositore dallassetto mentale pi utilitaristico, o quanto meno di tipo pi logico o pragmatico. Il saggio di Mill si offre al paragone con la presente situazione anche in quanto Coleridge vi figura come propugnatore in Inghilterra di una filosofia trascendentale che aveva avuto origine altrove: allo stesso modo, la visione yatesiana di un rinascimento ermetico era sorta nella scia di un fondamentale saggio di Paul Oscar Kristeller del 1938, che era gi stato assunto come base di una reinterpretazione della cultura rinascimentale da parte di Eugenio Garin e di un gruppo di studiosi fiorentini a lui connessi. Il contributo pi originale, da parte della studiosa inglese, al dibattito intorno al rinascimento ermetico sviluppatosi nella seconda met del ventesimo secolo viene individuato nella sua interpretazione di Giordano Bruno come il principale magus ermetico del periodo. Da ci si passa a discutere i seri problemi posti da tale interpretazione non solo nellambito degli studi bruniani, ma in relazione allintera questione della natura della nuova scienza sviluppatasi nei secoli sedicesimo e diciassettesimo. Il problema principale su cui verte il presente intervento quello di individuare quale sia stato limpulso iniziale che ha condotto la Yates a collocare Bruno con tanta enfasi al centro del suo quadro di un rinascimento ermetico. Vengono qui addotte per la prima volta alcune delle carte private della studiosa, conservate nellarchivio Yates del Warburg Institute di Londra. Da tali carte si evince con chiarezza come linterpretazione yatesiana secondo la quale tutti gli aspetti del pensiero di Bruno risalirebbero ad unispirazione di tipo ermetico derivi direttamente dalla lettura della Idea del theatro di Giulio Camillo. Oltre alla pagina del Diario del 1961 in cui viene descritta lemozione provata dalla studiosa di fronte a tale scoperta, si presentano qui alcuni estratti da un gruppo di note che esprimono gli elementi essenziali della connessione CamilloBruno come individuati dalla Yates. Infine, viene esaminato un terzo gruppo di note consistenti in una sintesi del saggio di Giovanni Gentile su Giordano Bruno e il pensiero del rinascimento, alla quale la Yates aggiunse in un secondo momento dei commenti in cui critica aspramente la visione gentiliana di Bruno come precursore di Galileo. La Yates considerava la propria interpretazione ermetica del pensiero di Giordano Bruno come una chiave per la comprensione non solo di una delle principali figure del rinascimento europeo, ma di tutto il periodo agli albori dellet moderna. Il presente intervento si conclude con la messa in questione della validit della nozione yatesiana di una chiave interpretativa ad interi periodi storici, pur riconoscendo, allo stesso tempo, lazione innovatrice esercitata dalla studiosa inglese sul tema dei motivi di derivazione ermetica nellambito del pensiero cinquecentesco ed oltre.

BOOK REVIEW SECTION Paolo Lucentini & Vittoria Perrone Compagni, I testi e i codici di Ermete nel Medioevo (Hermetica Mediaevalia 1), Firenze: Edizioni Polistampa 2001. 128 pp. ISBN 88-8304-374-x Il programma editoriale Hermes Latinus, in corso di pubblicazione nella collezione Corpus Christianorum / Continuatio Mediaevalis pubblicata dalleditore Brepols in Turnhout, rappresenta un significativo progresso negli studi sulla letteratura ermetica e sulla sua diffusione nellOccidente medievale. Le edizioni critiche finora approntate (il De triginta sex decanis nel 1994, il Liber viginti quattuor philosophorum nel 1997 ed il recente Astrologica et divinatoria del 2001) hanno illustrato lorigine, la tradizione manoscritta e le vicende testuali di alcune opere a loro tempo influenti, ovviando cos alle lacune che avevano finora compromesso uno studio approfondito e critico dei documenti della tradizione ermetica latina. Nella Prefazione al volumetto che presentiamo, Paolo Lucentini (che del vasto progetto editoriale una delle anime operose e tenaci) spiega che: Il compimento del programma chieder ancora non poco tempo, e sar forse compito di nuovi studiosi portarlo a conclusione. Per queste ragioni egli aggiunge abbiamo deciso di presentare, quale sorta di anticipazione del volume Clavis textuum et codicum , i risultati di lunghi anni di ricerca documentaria. Nel corso degli ultimi decenni non solo sono stati individuati nuovi testimoni di opere conosciute, ma opere considerate perdute sono riemerse alla luce grazie a fortunati rinvenimenti. Nel settore della letteratura di magia necromantica (studiata da Vittoria Perrone Compagni) sono stati compiuti i progressi forse pi evidenti, con la scoperta della serie completa del Liber planetarum ex scientia Abel, del De stationibus ad cultum Veneris e del Liber orationum planetarum septem . In questo modo il quadro tradizionale (delineato nelle pazienti indagini di M. Steinschneider, H. Diels, Ch. Haskins, P. Festugire, L. Thorndike e P. Kibre, F. J. Carmody e D. Pingree) pu dirsi profondamente mutato. Il volume presenta un censimento esaustivo della letteratura pi conosciuta e diffusa dellermetismo medievale latino. Lelenco e la descrizione dei manoscritti preceduto da brevi, chiare ed interessanti schede informative sui testi presi in esame; eventuali edizioni, antiche o moderne, vengono sempre segnalate. Non sono descritti, invece, i testi alchemici, dal momento che, come spiega ancora il curatore: Per lampio numero dei manoscritti e la complessit del quadro testuale hanno ancora bisogno di indagini sistematiche. Ai Testi censiti (nn. 1-41: pp. 11-93) si aggiungono i Commenti (nn. 42-46: pp. 94-100). Un indice di tutti i codici citati (pp. 101-112)
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 2

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ed unappendice dedicata alle edizioni a stampa anteriori al 1800 (a cura dello stesso Lucentini e di Antonella Sannino: pp. 113-124) completano infine lagile e ricco volume. Possedendo tutti i pregi di un prontuario ermetico, aggiornato secondo le ricerche pi recenti in materia (frutto della collaborazione, a vario titolo, di numerosi studiosi), il libro risulta un ausilio insperato anche per lo studioso che non si occupi della tradizione manoscritta medievale e delle rispettive traduzioni dallarabo o dal greco compiute nellEt di Mezzo. Le schede introduttive a ciascun testo, come ho gi ricordato, offrono tutti i ragguagli essenziali circa il contenuto, la paternit (dichiarata o presunta), le eventuali contaminazioni subite dallopera nel corso dei secoli. Del resto, molti di questi testi costituirono lo sfondo di interessanti polemiche filosofiche durante il tardo Medioevo. Per citarne una poco nota, si pensi a quella che anim e divise la scuola domenicana, tra XIII e XIV secolo, anche intorno alla questione della geomanzia: come testimoniano lopuscolo De sortibus, opera di Tommaso dAquino, il manuale geomantico di Guglielmo di Moerbeke e la Summa de astris di Gerardo da Feltre; o come rivela, a suo modo, lo stesso Dante Alighieri in un passo (Purg. XIX, 1-9) perlopi incompreso dagli esegeti (cfr. M.-Th. Charmasson, Recherches sur une technique divinatoire: la gomancie dans lOccident mdival, Paris 1980, pp. 236 ss.). E non mancano, al postutto, talune puntualizzazioni critiche. Paolo Lucentini ad esempio, contro il parere delleditore (Franoise Hudry), propone una diversa e convincente attribuzione del Liber Viginti Quattuor Philosophorum ad un teologo latino del sec. XII, modificando radicalmente il giudizio sulloperetta e mettendone in rilievo particolari valori concettuali (pp. 21-22). Ripercorro, in conclusione, alcuni dei titoli accuratamente recensiti da Lucentini e da Perrone Compagni: lAsclepius con le Glosae super Trismegistum, il Liber de secretis naturae , il Liber de sex rerum principiis, il Liber viginti quattuor philosophorum con il Commento incompleto di Tommaso di York (1250 ca.) ed il Commentum alterum attribuito indiziariamente al domenicano inglese Nicola Trivet (1315 ca.), il De triginta sex decanis , il Centiloquium , il Liber de accidentibus, il Liber imaginum signorum commentato da Antonio da Montolmo alla fine del Trecento, la Iatromathematica , il Liber de spatula utilizzato forse dal domenicano Rolando da Cremona (cf. cod. Paris B. N. lat. 405, f. 148 rb), la Lectura geomantiae, il Liber Mercurii , il Liber imaginum lunae riprodotto altres dal grande traduttore Michele Scoto, il complicato manuale operativo detto Liber Veneris , che la pi nota tra le opere attribuite alla collaborazione di Toz Greco con Germa Babilonese, che corrisponde all Ermete Babilonese secondo la triplice genealogia tracciata da Abu Mashar. Andrea Robiglio

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Dieter Blume, Regenten des Himmels: Astrologische Bilder in Mittelalter und Renaissance (Studien aus dem Warburg-Haus 3), Berlin: Akademie Verlag 2000, X + 486 pp. 45 farbige Tafeln, 272 Abbildungen. ISBN 3-05-003249-9. Seitdem Aby Warburg, Fritz Saxl, Erwin Panofsky und andere fhrende Kulturwissenschaftler sich in den 1920er Jahren mit der Geschichte der mittelalterlichen und neuzeitlichen Astrologie beschftigten, ist diese immer wieder als Rezeptionsgeschichte der antiken Sternkunde gelesen worden. Es wurde eine geistesgeschichtliche Kontinuitt von Babylonien bis zur Renaissance konstruiert, die mitunter aus den Quellen schwer zu belegen ist. In den letzten Jahren ist eine solche Interpretation der Astrologiegeschichte von verschiedenen Seiten in die Kritik geraten. Auch Dieter Blume wendet sich gegen seine groen Vorgnger: Die postulierte Kontinuitt hat es [] in dieser Form niemals gegeben, denn astrologische Bilder hat man erst seit dem spten 11. Jahrhundert wieder entworfen und sie haben nur wenig mit direkter Antikenrezeption zu tun (S. 3). Statt also nach Kontinuitten zu fragen, geht es dem Autor dieses prachtvoll ausgestatteten Bandes um die Brche innerhalb der Tradition, um eine Kontextualisierung des astrologischen Bildprogramms zwischen 1100 und 1500 sowie um die Rolle von Bildern im kulturellen Prozess systematischer Himmelsbeobachtung. Dieser Ansatz ist weiterfhrend und es gelingt dem Autor, in detaillierten Einzelstudien die je unterschiedlichen Motivationen und Intentionen auszuleuchten, die zur Entwicklung von astrologischen Bildprogrammen in hfischen und lndlichen Kontexten Europas gefhrt haben. Allerdings neigt Blume dazu, das Kind mit dem Bade auszuschtten und jegliche Kontinuitten zu leugnen. In Kapitel III Die unterbrochene Tradition Astrologie vor 1100 offenbart er einen Mangel an kritischer Reflexion, wenn er behauptet, das Christentum habe der Astrologie von Anfang an feindlich gegenber gestanden (S. 8), weil es die heidnischen polytheistischen Religionen grundstzlich abgelehnt habe. Auch muss es als Verkrzung betrachtet werden, wenn Isidor von Sevilla (7. Jh.) als der entscheidende Stichwortgeber fr die Reaktivierung paganer Sternkunde im 11. Jahrhundert genannt wird (S. 9). Die theologische Auseinandersetzung mit den verschiedenen Zweigen der Astrologie war doch wesentlich komplexer, als dies von Blume referiert wird. Dazu passt, dass der Autor Bildtraditionen wie die jdischen Synagogenmosaike der Sptantike schlicht ignoriert. Whrend das Judentum vollstndig aus der Betrachtung ausgeklammert bleibt (ohne dass hierfr eine Rechtfertigung gegeben wird), begrndet Blume seine Hintanstellung der islamischen Tradition damit, dass es sehr unwahrscheinlich [ist], da um 1200 im Westen islamische Planetenbilder bekannt waren (S. 203). Im Exkurs zur islamischen
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Bildtradition beschrnkt er sich indes auf Behauptungen und auf eine grobe Sichtung des Materials; Saxls Londoner Handschrift zeige die Kopffrisur der Venus in einen etwas eigentmlichen Kopfschleier verwandelt, Merkur trage eine undefinierbare schwarze Kappe (S. 202) etc. In Anbetracht der Tatsache, dass Blume wiederholt den Einfluss schriftlicher Quellen fr seine Argumentation geltend macht und die Bedeutung von Abu Mashar und anderen muslimischen Autoren in Rechnung stellt, wre hier eine vorsichtigere Einschtzung am Platze gewesen, die auch neuere islamwissenschaftliche Publikationen bercksichtigt (v.a. Anna Caiozzo; Marianne Barrucand wird dankend erwhnt [S. 279], aber nicht zitiert). Die Strke des Buches ist der Hauptteil. In einer klugen Kombination von Detailstudien schriftlicher wie sthetischer Art und kulturwissenschaftlichen Kontextualisierungen geht Blume den Stationen eines zunehmenden Interesses christlicher Kreise an der Astrologie nach. Am Anfang standen die Bilder der Handschrift des spanischen Mnches Oliva aus dem 11. Jahrhundert und die ersten Mnche, welche sich der islamischen Astronomie zuwandten; dann war es die Cosmographia des Bernardus Silvestris (um 1147), die nachfolgende Generationen prgen sollte. Auch wenn die These, damit sei der Schritt von der Mythographie zur Kosmologie vollzogen (S. 33), bertrieben scheint, wird doch klar, wie stark sptere Bildprogramme von dieser Schrift beeinflusst worden sind. Jene bildliche Umsetzung war erst in der hfischen Kultur des 13. Jahrhunderts mglich, wobei Friedrich II. als entscheidender Mentor der neu erwachten curiositas fungierte. Der in seinem Auftrag verfasste Liber introductorius (1230-1235) des Michael Scotus, eine frhe Enzyklopdie der Naturwissenschaften (S. 52), legte den Grundstein fr die weitere Entwicklung. Die astrologische Bilderwelt wurde spter in den italienischen Stadtstaaten Florenz, Siena und Venedig auf eigene Weise rezipiert und zur Reprsentation der brgerlichen Identitt eingesetzt. Mit dem Beginn des 15. Jahrhunderts wandelte sich das Bildprogramm erneut und die Florentiner Medici schufen Abbilder des Sternenhimmels, die zuvor in ihrer Genauigkeit und Ausschmckung kaum denkbar gewesen waren. Als einen weiteren Schlsseltext betrachtet Blume die Genealogie Deorum Gentilium des Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), denn [a]uf der Grundlage von Boccaccios Ausfhrungen entwickelte man im 15. Jahrhundert eine vllig neue astrologische Bilderwelt (S. 113); die Symbolik der Planeten wurde nun nicht mehr nach der astrologischen Literatur erlutert, sondern nach den dichterischen Vorbildern der antiken Mythologie, welche man zugleich humanistisch berformte. Indem die Astrologie als Generalschlssel zur Erklrung von Mensch und Kosmos instrumentalisiert wurde, bte sie jedoch auch an Anschaulichkeit ein. Es ist das Verdienst Blumes, neben der schon hufiger

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erzhlten Geschichte der italienischen Frstenhfe auf eine parallel dazu laufende Entwicklung in den Stdten Deutschlands hingewiesen zu haben. Zunchst wohl in Basel, dann in anderen Stdten, kam es zu einer Popularisierung gereimter astrologischer Texte, die mit einem ganz eigenen Bildprogramm kombiniert wurden, welches umgekehrt die Interpretation der Texte sttzen sollte. Mithilfe solcher Holzschnitte wurden astrologische Grundkenntnisse sehr schnell verbreitet, was auch von den Hfen wahrgenommen wurde, die ihrerseits griffige Bildreihen schufen. Die von Blume unterschiedenen Stufen der Aneignung astrologischer Symbolsysteme sind nachvollziehbar und durch viele Belege abgesichert. Jede Stufe ist durch den bertritt in eine andere Gattung gekennzeichnet, und es entsprechen ihr darber hinaus andere, jeweils neu entwickelte Bildtypen (S. 198). Es liegt auf der Hand, dass eine solche Darstellung bisherigen Abgrenzungsbemhungen von Mittelalter und Renaissance widerspricht. Die von Blume prsentierte Geschichte liegt quer zu den gngigen Epochenschwellen und fhrt die eingefahrene Trennung von Mittelalter und Renaissance im Grunde ad absurdum (S. 199). In der Tat gilt es, die europische Geschichte zwischen 900 und 1500 als einen diachronen Prozess regional sehr unterschiedlicher Entwicklungslinien zu verstehen. Hierfr liefern die Regenten des Himmels wertvolles Material. Den Grundlinien der Darstellung Blumes wird man sich also nicht verschlieen knnen. Anders sieht es aus bei manchen Details der Argumentation, die sicherlich Anlass fr Rckfragen bieten. Als Beispiel sei Blumes Interpretation der Alten Sakristei von S. Lorenzo genannt, die ab etwa 1420 als Familienkapelle der Florentiner Medici konzipiert worden ist. Die Kuppel ber dem Altarraum stellt eine exakte Reproduktion des Himmelsgewlbes zu einem konkreten Zeitpunkt dar. Da die Ausfhrung beraus naturalistisch und wissenschaftlich exakt ist, gehen viele davon aus, das dahinter liegende Datum sei der 4.7.1442, 10.30 MEZ (was sich brigens mithilfe moderner Nachberechnung als problematisch herausstellt). Spekuliert wurde viel ber die Frage, warum ausgerechnet dieses Kosmogramm fr die Darstellung gewhlt worden ist, denn ein konkretes Ereignis lsst sich kaum zuordnen. Blume sieht hinter der Wahl eine gezielte Zusammenstellung von Daten, die sowohl fr Florenz als auch fr die Medici von Bedeutung gewesen sind. So sei der Aszendent absichtlich auf 1 Waage gelegt worden, um eine bereinstimmung zwischen den Eckpunkten des Horoskops und den Kardinalpunkten der Ekliptik zu erreichen (warum wird aber gerade das Herbstquinoktium betont?). Der Deszendent im Widder rekapituliere den Aszendenten der karolingischen Wiedergrndung der Stadt am 5.4.802 (3 Widder). Auch wenn hier ein Zusammenhang konstruiert werden knnte, bleibt doch die entscheidende Frage

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von Blume unbeantwortet, was der Deszendent von 1442 mit dem Aszendenten von 802 inhaltlich zu tun hat, d.h. welche Intention hinter der Darstellung zu sehen ist. Der Hinweis, es handle sich um eine seitenverkehrte Wiederholung, reicht dafr wohl kaum aus. Auch die anderen Belege scheinen konstruiert: Mars befindet sich im Grndungshoroskop keineswegs in der Nhe des Aszendenten, sondern an der Spitze des Zweiten Hauses, im Horoskop von 1442 dagegen im Zwlften Haus, nach gngiger Meinung der Bereich der animici, also durchaus kein Glck verheiender Sektor. Dies rumt Blume spter auch selber ein, doch warum das Horoskop von 1442 verrt, da mit einem starken und guten Herrscher diese Bedrohung sicherlich zu meistern ist (S. 133), bleibt Blumes Geheimnis. Der Autor verschweigt auerdem, auf welcher Grundlage er die Zuordnung der Eckpunkte und Huserspitzen der Horoskope vorgenommen hat. Bei einer Kombination der besprochenen Kosmogramme Blume zieht noch das Geburtshoroskop des Cosimo de Medici vom 13.7.1389 hinzu ist es jedoch entscheidend, ob das Medium Coeli schlicht mit der Spitze des (qualen) Zehnten Hauses zusammenfllt oder, wie es richtig wre, astronomisch entsprechend der Lnge von Florenz berechnet wurde. Figur 6 scheint Ersterem zu folgen, Figur 7 Letzterem, whrend im Horoskop von 1442 das Zehnte Haus und MC auch in der Realitt bereinstimmten. Die Deutung von Jupiter und Mond im Achten Haus auf Firmicus Maternus zu beziehen, der in seiner positiven Umkehrung dieser Stellung in der antiken Astrologie praktisch allein dasteht, scheint ebenfalls nicht zwingend zu sein. Und schlielich handelt es sich bei der Himmelsszenerie von 1442 keineswegs um eine auffllige Konstellation (S. 136), sondern um eine zwar interessante, aber doch regelmig sich wiederholende Kombination von Stellungen. Damit soll nicht in Abrede gestellt werden, dass Blume mit seinem Ansatz den richtigen Weg eingeschlagen hat. Es zeigt sich jedoch, wie schwierig und damit angreifbar eine konkrete Interpretation ist und mit welchen konstruktiven Elementen sie operiert. Trotz der genannten Kritikpunkte stellt Regenten des Himmels eine Arbeit dar, die mit ihrer Detailtreue, der reichen Ausstattung und einem beraus ntzlichen Anhang, der die wichtigsten Schriften noch einmal dokumentiert, die wissenschaftliche Deutung der mittelalterlichen und frhneuzeitlichen Astrologie wesentlich zu bereichern vermag. Dieter Blume hat ein Werk vorgelegt, das nicht nur aus kunstgeschichtlicher, sondern im besten Warburgschen Sinne aus kulturgeschichtlicher Perspektive Beachtung verdient. Kocku von Stuckrad

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Glenn Alexander Magee, Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition , Cornell University Press: Ithaca 2001. 287 pp. ISBN 0-8014-3872-1 Louvrage de Glenn Alexander Magee, enseignant au dpartement de philosophie de Georgia State University, porte sur le rapport de Hegel la tradition hermtique. Lauteur linscrit dans la suite de travaux dric Voegelin, dErnst Benz et de tous ceux qui ont su reconnatre la dimension gnostique de la philosophie hglienne, mme si ce fut le plus souvent pour la critiquer. Mais le point de vue de lauteur sur la tradition hermtique est positif. Il la dfinit dans un premier chapitre qui voque dabord Proclus, l Asclepius latin, Joachim de Flore, puis, de faon plus dtermine, Matre Eckhart (qui fixe un vocabulaire mystique et spculatif que Hegel utilisera), Nicolas de Cues, Agrippa de Nettesheim, Giordano Bruno, Sbastien Franck, Valentin Weigel et, bien entendu, Jacob Bhme. Peut-tre eut-il mieux valu sen tenir ceux de ces auteurs que Hegel a explicitement mentionns, Proclus, Matre Eckhart (dont Magee signale quil ne parle quune seule fois), Giordano Bruno (dont jai montr jadis quil ne traite que de seconde main, partir du chapitre de Buhle dans sa monumentale Geschichte der neueren Philosophie [1800-1805]), et Jacob Bhme ( propos duquel Magee montre bien lambivalence de la position hglienne, critique de labsence de concept chez le thosophe, mais admiratif de la profondeur de ses vues, en particulier de la Trinit divine). Le second chapitre traite du milieu hermtiste des jeunes annes de Hegel. Il expose limportance des Rose-croix et des Francs-Maons, la pratique de lalchimie par Goethe, le pitisme souabe et en particulier linfluence considrable dtinger. Il suit les thses de Jacques dHondt ( Hegel secret , propos du pome Eleusis et du lien Bund qui unit les frres, savoir Hegel, Hlderlin, Schelling et Isaac von Sinclair), mais les corrige quelque peu, laide des travaux de Gerald Hanratty (Hegel and the Gnostic Tradition I-II, Philosophical Studies 30 & 31 [1984/1986-87]), en largissant linfluence de la maonnerie toute la pense hglienne, alors que dHondt, suivi par H. S. Harris, la restreignait au champ politique. Magee rappelle, trs juste titre, le rle dcisif de la philosophie de la nature laquelle se consacrait Schelling, et en particulier dans la philosophie de lidentit, partir de 1801, avec une trs forte imprgnation mystique inspire de Bhme et de Baader. La question du rapport exact de Hegel ce milieu hermtiste reste un peu floue. Il importe de bien distinguer lhistoire et la lgende. Un article des Hegel-Studien a montr que le Stift de Tbingen, o Hegel fit ses tudes en compagnie de Schelling et de Hlderlin, tait agit par la critique que Kant avait produite contre la philosophie de Wolff. Il importe en effet de dissocier linspiration thologique de Hegel et son rapport la tradition hermtique.
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Le chapitre III porte sur la mythologie de la raison. Lexpression de nouvelle mythologie figure dans le texte intitul Das lteste Systemprogramm des deutschen Idealismus , texte non sign, attribu tantt Schelling, tantt Hegel, tantt Hlderlin, toujours pour de srieuses raisons. Lauteur se rallie la thse de Pggeler, le trs grand spcialiste de Hegel, directeur honoraire du Hegel-Archiv de luniversit de Bochum, et il attribue le texte Hegel. Il soutient que Hegel a toujours maintenu lide dune mythologie de la raison, grce laquelle la philosophie pourrait prendre une forme accessible tous et ainsi tre vraiment complte. Ina, Schelling aurait dissuad Hegel de forger ainsi une nouvelle religion, prtendant que ce ntait pas l le rle du philosophe. Cest l une question difficile. Lexpression de mythologie de la raison nest pas hglienne. On peut la rapprocher des discussions entre Goethe et Schiller, auxquelles assista Hlderlin; en ce cas, ce serait la posie, et non la philosophie, qui serait la mythologie de la raison, expression qui convient bien la posie philosophique de Schiller. Magee lentend comme spculation, rcollection de la philosophia perennis , autrement dit dialectique, au sens de rcollection et explication de cette sagesse ternelle que chacun possde, mais qui nest chez lui que dans une forme inchoative, dont le dveloppement se trouve aussi bien chez Platon que chez Hegel (pp. 88-89). Il crit : La dialectique est la mthode par laquelle la spculation prtend rcollecter la sagesse inconsciente et complter la philosophie prenne (p. 90). Le Systemprogramm voque la tche esthtique de la philosophie comme la plus haute, et soutient que la philosophie doit exprimer les ides dune faon esthtique, cest--dire mythologique, et quinversement la mythologie doit devenir rationnelle. Magee en tire lide dune pense mythopotique chez Hegel. En fait, la thse de Magee repose entirement sur lattribution du Systemprogramm Hegel; or cette attribution reste douteuse. Il faudrait pouvoir montrer que toute la pense ultrieure de Hegel confirme les thses de ce fameux texte anonyme. Or il est patent que Hegel a critiqu le mythe comme une forme inapproprie la philosophie, louant Aristote davoir su trouver la forme philosophique dans le concept et davoir limin les mythes que Platon utilisait encore. Quant lide de mythologie rationnelle, seul Schelling la mise en uvre dans ses cours de Philosophie de la mythologie. On peut donc penser que Magee plaque sur les textes hgliens une grille de lecture qui ne sy trouve pas. Au contraire, quand il voque le triangle daprs le feuillet analys par Helmut Schneider, il est sur un terrain beaucoup plus sr; car la philosophie de Hegel nest nullement mythologique, mais elle repose sur le schma triangulaire, en ce sens quelle nest quune suite de triades. Le rapport du ternaire au quaternaire est essentiel, et la lecture de Baader plus que probable. La seconde partie de ce bel ouvrage porte sur les grandes uvres de Hegel,

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Phnomnologie de lesprit, Logique, Encyclopdie des sciences philosophiques, vue essentiellement dans ses deux dernires parties, Philosophie de la nature et Philosophie de lesprit (sans que lauteur distingue ldition de Heidelberg 1817 et les deux ditions de Berlin 1827 et 1830). Linterprtation de la Phnomnologie de lesprit considre comme rite dinitiation est particulirement intressante. En effet, jamais Hegel ne fut plus proche de la thosophie de Jacob Bhme, malgr sa critique de la forme imaginative et insuffisamment conceptuelle des textes du cordonnier de Grlitz. Lopposition avec Schelling est ainsi comprise par Magee comme le reproche de ne pas tre suffisamment bhmen. Le dfaut majeur du romantisme philosophique, de la philosophie de la nature de Schelling, est pour Hegel dans la dimension panthiste, implicite ou explicite. Trs habilement, Magee rapproche la phrase de Hegel Das Wahre ist das Ganze des expressions dtinger, Die Wahrheit ist ein Ganzes (p. 137). Le Tout de ce dernier penseur (qui commente Boehme) est lEsprit, considr comme un intensum . De mme, lidentit du commencement et de la fin est bien comprise comme ce qui nous est actuellement inaccessible mais qui est ralise dans lAbsolu, compris comme lindividuel qui subsume lopposition de luniversel et de ses manifestations particulires, ainsi que la bien vu Richard Dien Winfield (p. 141). Certainement, lide luthrienne de Lucifer comme tant la colre de Dieu, reprise par Bhme, a beaucoup frapp Hegel. Cest le suprme effort de la reprsentation, dit Hegel, dimaginer ainsi le mal comme colre de Dieu. Le concept doit dvelopper et clairer cette reprsentation mythique. Les thmes finaux du Calvaire de lEsprit absolu, du calice infini et de la certitude infinie du trne de Dieu (que Hegel utilise la fin de son dernier chapitre sur le Savoir absolu), sont clairs par les rfrences au pitisme, Boehme et au saint Graal (pp.146-149). La Science de la logique est considre comme larbre kabbalistique; cest la notion dUngrund , le fond sans fond qui est Abgrund, abme, tout en restant Grund , fondement, qui retient surtout lattention de Magee. Hegel appelait le Dieu de Spinoza abme de la substance (Abgrund der Substanz), et Magee note que cet Abgrund (quon trouve chez Eckhart) peut tre lanctre de lUngrund de Bhme (p. 163). Prcisant la notion de Kabbale (en particulier celle de Luriah dans lcole de Safed), Magee en vient proposer une table de correspondance entre le kabbalisme et le systme hglien (pp.176-177). Il nest pas possible den rendre compte ici en dtail. Lauteur propose ensuite un chapitre sur le Laboratoire alchimique: philosophie de la nature et philosophie de lesprit subjectif (pp.187-222); et il conclut ainsi : Dans les termes de Bhme, il devient effectivement possible de considrer Hegel comme un magicien, comme le fait Voegelin. Les rapprochements sont encore nombreux dans le dernier chapitre de ce livre, consacr lEsprit objectif (la philosophie

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du droit) et lEsprit absolu (Art-Religion-Philosophie). On connat la phrase fameuse de la Prface des Principes de la philosophie du droit (1821): Reconnatre la raison comme la rose dans la croix de lexprience prsente, et par l se rjouir de celle-ci, cette vise rationnelle est la rconciliation avec leffectivit dont la philosophie octroie la comprhension ceux qui, une bonne fois, en ont ressenti lexigence intrieure (dans ma traduction, GF, Flammarion, p. 75). Cette allusion aux Rose-Croix a t commente avec brio par Karl Lwith dans son grand ouvrage De Hegel Nietzsche . Magee soutient, contre Adriaan Peperzak, grand commentateur de la philosophie hglienne du droit, que laccord de Hegel avec les Rosicruciens nest pas un simple jeu dapparence, un clin dil sans profondeur, mais lexpression dune position paternaliste, chrtienne, traditionnelle et anti-individualiste, qui le rapproche dun Wllner, mme sil est plus libral que ce dernier (pp. 252253). En tout cas, Magee a raison de souligner limportance de la communaut politique et religieuse aux yeux de Hegel, car mme le philosophe dpend de sa communaut religieuse (et Hegel sest toujours proclam strict luthrien). Par suite, et aprs le cardinal de Lubac, Magee souligne la similitude entre la conception hglienne de la philosophie de la religion et la doctrine de Joachim de Flore. Car cest un fait que Hegel comprend lpoque moderne comme lge de lesprit. Et lesprit est dabord chez Hegel la communaut humaine. Ce livre est riche dune information considrable; il est illustr de reproductions de gravures qui illustraient les uvres de Bhme ou dtinger, ce qui le rend trs agrable lire. On peut exprimer quelques rserves, par exemple sur limportance de Matre Eckhart chez Hegel, puisque la recontre est tardive et fugitive. En revanche, pour Bhme, elle est indiscutable et profonde, mme sil ne faut pas suivre aveuglment les indications de Rosenkranz dans sa biographie de Hegel, ni celle de Harris dans son analyse rcente des premires annes de Hegel. On doit souligner aussi le renouveau dintrt pour le rapport de Hegel la mystique et lhtrodoxie. On peut mentionner ainsi le petit livre de David Knig, Hegel et la mystique germanique (LHarmattan: Paris 1999) et louvrage plus considrable de Cyril ORegan, The Heterodox Hegel (SUNY Press: Albany 1994). Entre les interprtations athes de Hegel (comme celle du regrett Grard Lebrun dans La patience du concept , Paris, Gallimard 1972) et les interprtations chrtiennes orthodoxes (comme celle de Marie-Dominique Goutierre dans Hegel. Lintelligence de la foi ?, Paris: Fayard 1997), il existe donc une troisime voie dont le livre de Magee est un tmoignage privilgi. Jean-Louis Vieillard-Baron

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Peter Koslowski, Philosophie der Offenbarung: Antiker Gnostizismus, Franz von Baader, Schelling, Schningh: Paderborn 2001. 918 pp. ISBN 3-50674795-9. Mit der Tradition der Gnosis tritt neben die Philosophie und die Theologie eine dritte Mglichkeit des Denkens, welche die seit der Scholastik und der Reformation berkommene Trennung von Theologie und Philosophie nicht gelten lsst. Diese Tradition, die mit dem Eintritt des Christentums in die antike Welt und im Gnostizismus der Antike beginnt, findet ihre Ausprgung in zwei Formen einer Einheit von Philosophie und Religion: der theosophischen Gnosis und dem Gnostizismus. Mit dieser Feststellung (Vorwort, S. V), die im folgenden das spannungsvolle Gegenber dieser beiden Erkenntnisarten klar herausstellt, erffnet Peter Koslowski, Professor fr Philosophie und Grndungsdirektor des Zentrums fr konomie und Wirtschaftskultur in Hannover, seinen ebenso vielschichtigen wie breit angelegten, daher voluminsen Entwurf, mit dem er die berkommenen Bestimmungen der Scholastik und des deutschen Idealismus zu einer Philosophie des Christentums als metaphysischen Empirismus hin zu berschreiten beabsichtigt. Eine dieser beiden Ausprgungen erblickt Koslowski in der Theosophie als einer spekulativen Theorie der Gesamtwirklichkeit, und zwar in bereinstimmung mit der orthodoxen Form der Religion. Unntig zu sagen, dass darunter nicht die anglo-indische Theosophie von H.P. Blavatsky gemeint sein kann, sondern die sehr viel ltere und wirkmchtigere geistigreligise Strmung, die in nachreformatorischer Zeit insbesondere durch Jakob Bhme vertreten ist. Dieser Theosophie sieht der Autor mit dem antiken Gnostizismus konfrontiert, der aus kirchlich-theologischer Perspektive betrachtet heterodoxe, nicht zuletzt dualistisch geprgte Elemente enthlt. Wenn die Philosophien Franz von Baaders und Schellings, wie es hier geschieht, als eine Wiederaufnahme und als wissenschaftliche Vertiefung dieser Tradition empfunden werden knnen, so gewinnt man den Eindruck, dass bei Baader das originre theosophische Element strker zum Tragen kommt als bei Schelling oder Hegel. Das ergibt sich schon aus Baaders Nhe zu dem schlesischen Mystiker und Theosophen. Koslowski folgert: Mit Baader und Schelling kann man den Zugang einer spekulativen Religionsphilosophie Philosophie der Offenbarung nennen. Der spekulativen Philosophie als Gnosis oder Philosophie der Offenbarung liegt ein metaphysischer Empirismus zugrunde. Gnosis als Philosophie der Offenbarung will den Inhalt der Religion im spekulativen Denken und in der metaphysischen Erfahrung erreichen (Vorwort, S.. V). Die hier gemeinte theosophische Gnosis wird als Philosophie einer Religion (gewer-

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tet), die durch spekulative Einsicht und metaphysische Erfahrung den Inhalt der Religion zu erschliessen suche. Wie stark Koslowski der spekulativen Dogmatik Baaders verpflichtet ist, wurde bereits in einer Reihe seiner frheren Arbeiten, etwa seit den achtziger Jahren, erkennbar, insbesondere im Zusammenhang der von ihm herausgegebene Dokumentation zu der 1991 in Mnchen veranstalteten Baader-Tagung (in Die Philosophie, Theologie und Gnosis Franz von Baaders, Passagen: Wien 1993), an der u.a. auch P. Deghaye und A. Faivre beteiligt waren. Und gerade weil die tief in der abendlndischen Esoterik verankerte Geistigkeit Baaders in der neueren Geistesgeschichte lange Zeit vernachlssigt worden ist, empfiehlt es sich, den erwhnten aspektereichen Sammelband mit dem vorliegenden Opus in Verbindung zu bringen. Koslowski zeigt, wie beide Philosophien der Offenbarung, die Baadersche und die Schellingsche, als zwei verwandte, jedoch auch zu unterscheidende Formen einer Offenbarungsphilosophie auf ltere Traditionen zurckgehen. Dabei macht er in mehreren Durchgngen deutlich, inwiefern die als theosophische Gnosis bezeichnete Gattung auf der einen Seite, dem in einer Reihe von Einzelbewegungen sich manifestierenden antiken Gnostizismus auf der anderen, samt seinen Nachfahren gegeneinander abzusetzen sind. Einheit und Differenz der Gnosis in Gnostizismus und theosophischer Gnosis werden so aufgewiesen, dass sowohl Gnosis als Allgemeinbegriff fr religise Erkenntnis und Gnostizismus als Epochenbegriff handhabbar werden. Gotteserkenntnis und das Von-Gott-Erkanntwerden (cogitor ergo sum) verlangen einen Wechselbezug. In je einem Buchteil sind Baaders und Schellings Philosophie als offenbarende Philosophie bzw. als vollendeter Gnostizismus entfaltet, der schliesslich in Schellings Sptwerk der Philosophie der Offenbarung einmndet. Der abschliessende Teil nimmt auf Baaders Idealismus-Kritik bezug und fhrt an Weichenstellungen heran, wie sie in der Debatte um Modernitt und Postmodernitt zum Ausdruck kommen. Was den hier verwendeten Offenbarungsbegriff anlangt, so handelt es sich um den von Jakob Bhme eingefhrten, der mit dem Real-Idealismus Baaders korrespondiert. Dabei lassen sich drei Offenbarungsarten unterscheiden: die innere Selbstoffenbarung Gottes, die Offenbarung Gottes in der Natur als Schpfung und die Offenbarung im engeren Sinn als Tatoffenbarung Gottes in der Geschichte und Inkarnation. Angesichts der ausgebreiteten Themen- und Materialflle drften sich der Leserschaft vielfltige Ansatzpunkte fr das weiterfhrende Denken ergeben. Solche Punkte finden sich beispielsweise in den Ausfhrungen ber Bhmes Theo-Philosophie der Offenbarung (S. 207 ff.) und dessen Vorstellungen von

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Wesen und Ursprung des Bsen, ebenso ber Wesen und Entfaltung der Natur als Inbegriff des ausgesprochenen Wortes Gottes. Darber wird nicht versumt, Baaders Deutung der Drei-Prinzipien-Lehre zu beleuchten. So wird einmal mehr deutlich, welche entscheidenden Anregungen nicht allein Baader und Schelling, sondern auch Hegel von dem Philosophus teutonicus neben ungezhlten anderen empfangen haben, auch wenn dies oftmals ohne die zu erwartende Quellenangabe geschehen ist und deshalb bislang zu wenig Beachtung gefunden hat. Weitere Gesichtspunkte ergeben sich aus dem Einbezug der Weisheitstradition, die zwischen Christentum und Judentum besteht, wie sie sich bald als christliche, bald als jdische Gnosis oder Kabbalah, auch als christliche Kabbalah darstellt. Zweifellos ist dem Verfasser zuzustimmen, dass die esoterisch ausgerichtete jdische berlieferung fr Kontinuitt und Wirkungsmchtigkeit der Theosophie von erheblicher Bedeutung ist, fhrte doch Baader die gesamte Theosophie seit dem Urchristentum auf die Kabbala zurck. Dazu kommt, in welcher Weise sowohl Bhme und Henry More, sodann Saint-Martin und viele andere der Kabbalah verpflichtet sind, wie unterschiedlich auch ihr Verstndnis der jdischen Mystik und Theosophie im einzelnen ausgeprgt gewesen sein mag. Alles in allem enthlt das aus umfassender Quellenkenntnis geschpfte, den heutigen Forschungsstand bercksichtigende Werk eine Flle von Anregungen. Es drfte den Fortgang des Gesprchs zwischen Philosophie und Theologie frdern, insbesondere mit der geistesgeschichtlichen Forschung, die wesentliche Bereiche der abendlndischen Esoterik einbezieht. Gerhard Wehr

Marco Pasi, Aleister Crowley e la tentazione della politica (collana Temi di Storia), Milano: FrancoAngeli 1999. 224 pp. ISBN 88-464-1600-7. Su Edward Alexander Crowley (Aleister Crowley, 1875-1947) un fatto si continua a spendere, ormai da alcuni decenni (e la tendenza non pare, ragionevolmente, venire meno) una considerevole dose dinchiostro. Non solo: lincidenza di questo prolifico autore, personaggio e magista, ha da tempo travalicato i confini dellinteresse e dellapprofondimento letterario, sconfinando ampiamente in rimandi che dicono relazione alla trasmissione culturale tramite i canali della musica, della cinematografia, e di altre forme fra laltro della comunicazione artistica contemporanea; sorta di profezia che si autoadempie, secondo lottica di Robert Merton.
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altres vero, e a suo modo curioso, che anche ladozione di questo soggetto come un campo di approfondimento sistematico, quale icona rappresentativa, del mondo cosiddetto occultista che, vale la pena ricordarlo, presenta momenti di analogia i quali per non sempre coincidono con lesperienza reperibile nelle correnti dellesoterismo (in tal senso ci pare appropriata la distinzione operata da Jean-Pierre Laurant, il quale, illustrando lorigine dei sostantivi esoterismo e occultismo, li identifica come falsi gemelli) , non coincida necessariamente, e verrebbe da dire malauguratamente, con uno studio e una produzione scientifica relativa ad ambienti moderni e contemporanei dello scenario occultista, che pure hanno generato socializzazioni organizzate del pensiero magico certamente non inferiori al lascito del profeta delleone di Horus (Crowley), sia quanto alla sofisticazione concettuale, alla produzione letteraria e alla solidit duratura dellambiente umano di riferimento (per non dire delle polemiche e divisioni interne ai rispettivi mondi; cifra apparentemente coessenziale a tali dinamiche). Pensiamo, per fare due esempi straordinariamente significativi di contesti assolutamente privi di approfondimento postumo di genere accademico, al deposito di Vctor Manuel Gmez Rodrguez (Samael Aun Weor, 1917-1977) e del suo movimento gnostico, e a quello di Ciro Formisano (Giuliano Kremmerz, 1861-1930) e dellermetismo kremmerziano. Eppure, si sentiva il bisogno di uno studio serio e accurato su Aleister Crowley come quello di cui qui ci occupiamo, elaborato sulla base della tesi di laurea in Filosofia discussa dallautore presso lUniversit Statale di Milano nellanno accademico 1993-1994 sotto la guida di Giorgio Galli, e pubblicato diversi anni dopo, anche sulla scorta di una lunga e complessa gestazione. Se ne sentiva il bisogno perch, come precisa Marco Pasi nella Introduzione , solo recentemente, con il formarsi di un nuovo campo di ricerca per lo studio dei nuovi movimenti religiosi, si cominciato a studiare lautore, andando oltre il personaggio, con migliore metodo e maggiore attenzione. Ci si accorti infatti che Crowley rappresenta una fonte fondamentale e apparentemente imprescindibile per tutta una serie di correnti della nuova religiosit, che vanno dal neopaganesimo al satanismo (p. 19). Peraltro, Aleister Crowley e la tentazione della politica ha il pregio di inserirsi nel solco degli studi eruditi o di ambito universitario su Crowley pensiamo qui, fra gli altri, a John Symonds, The Beast 666: The Life of Aleister Crowley (London: Pindar Press 1997) e a Christian Bouchet, Aleister Crowley et le Mouvement Thlmite (Chteau-Thbaud: Les Editions du Chaos 1998) non soffermandosi anzitutto sugli aspetti biografici del magista nato a Leamington in una devota famiglia di Plymouth Brethren, che pure sono puntualmente ripercorsi nel primo capitolo (Una vita inqualificabile, pp. 25-

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47), quanto invece muovendosi in una direzione specifica della sua opera e del suo pensiero, ovvero il suo rapporto con la politica (p. 20). Cos, la ricerca di Marco Pasi svolta su due piani: quello degli eventi e dei fatti e quello delle idee (p. 22). Il livello di analisi concreto (la biografia) e quello analitico (le idee), permettono cos allautore di offrire lingrandimento di un segmento significativo del pensiero di Crowley, al punto che nellottica di una storia delle idee crowleyane lapproccio con la politica come ricorda Giorgio Galli nella Prefazione getta una luce significativa (p. 7). In cinque densi capitoli (oltre al primo gi citato: Politica magica, pp. 48-99; Amicizie pericolose, pp. 100-136; La Bocca dellInferno, pp. 137-162; Controiniziazione e complotto, pp. 163-187; senza dimenticare le utili appendici documentali e bibliografiche, seguite dallindice dei nomi) sono cos inseguiti i molteplici fili del dipanarsi del pensiero politico di Crowley alla luce della tentazione per la politica del medesimo, anche attraverso la descrizione di talune frequentazioni con persone che ebbero con lui un rapporto pi o meno duraturo, e che soprattutto, in un modo o nellaltro, furono coinvolte nella politica del loro tempo (p. 100): cos il generale John Frederick Charles Fuller (18781966), il giornalista Thomas Driberg (1905-1976), il corrispondente da Mosca per il New York Times Walter Duranty (1883-1957), il multiforme Gerald Hamilton (1890-1970), lagente di servizi Maxwell Knight (1900-1968), o Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935). Ma contro semplificazioni che talora sono state avanzate, Marco Pasi mette in guardia opportunamente, negando la tesi per cui il pensiero e la dottrina di Crowley siano intrinsecamente legati a una concezione politica di estrema destra o filonazista (p. 188) e suggerendo invece una distinzione fra due fasi distinte nella vita del mago inglese una prima romantica e una seconda pragmatica la quale ci offre una chiave per comprendere il senso del rapporto che Crowley ebbe con la politica e le motivazioni di alcuni suoi comportamenti che, in altro modo, potrebbero apparire soltanto stravaganti, dettati semplicemente da quel bisogno di trasgressione che pure fu una carateristica costante della sua vita (p. 189). A tal punto che il lettore non pu terminare di compulsare questo pregevole volume senza chiedersi se in Aleister Crowley abbia prevalso la tentazione della politica o la politica della tentazione. PierLuigi Zoccatelli

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Hans Thomas Hakl, Der verborgene Geist von Eranos: Unbekannte Begegnungen von Wissenschaft und Esoterik. Eine alternative Geistesgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts . Scientia nova: Bretten 2001. 473 pp. ISBN 3-93516402-5. Shortly after the end of the First World War, Olga Froebe-Kapteyn moved with her father to Casa Gabriella, a large villa near Ascona on the shore of the Lago Maggiore. In 1927 her father died, leaving her not only the sumptuous mansion, but also a considerable fortune. By then, Froebe-Kapteyn had developed a keen personal interest in various esoteric and utopian currents. Especially significant in view of further developments was her friendship with Alice Bailey, founder of a theosophical movement. Froebe-Kapteyn had a conference hall built on her property, and in 1930 invited the Baileys and other prominent esotericists to hold a three-week course, somewhat grandiosely called the School of Spiritual Research. However, Froebe-Kapteyns aims soon went beyond the confines of the theosophical world view. The political situation in the years between the two world wars was such that antimodernist and antirationalist movements appealed to many educated people in the German-speaking world. Various Eastern religious philosophies were en vogue, leading to a steady stream of books on Yoga, Buddhism and Taoism. Vlkisch movements appealed to many others, whereas yet others found refuge in the occult. Froebe-Kapteyn, who was very much part of this cultural trend, decided to focus her endeavors on a more exclusively academic group of people, and in 1933 extended invitations to a number of the most prominent intellectuals who were interested in alternative spiritual ventures. The theme of the first (1933) of what would become a long series of conferences was Yoga and meditation East and West. At the suggestion of the theologian Rudolf Otto the conferences were given the name Eranos, the Greek word for a banquet to which each participant brings food to be shared by all. Several of the leading scholars of religion were invited: Carl Gustav Jung, Heinrich Zimmer and Friedrich Heiler joined the first session. The list of participants over the next years reads like a Whos Who of scholars and intellectuals interested in religion. Among them one finds the expert on Jewish mysticism Gershom Scholem, the scholar of Iranian Islam Henry Corbin, the Zen Buddhist D. T. Suzuki, the Tibetologist Giuseppe Tucci, the physicist Wolfgang Pauli, the Americanist Paul Radin, the historian of religions Mircea Eliade and the Christian existentialist philosopher Paul Tillich. Despite the theosophical inclinations of Olga Froebe-Kapteyn, the sessions were soon dominated by the theories of Carl Jung. The Eranos lectures were published in
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a series of yearbooks, which contributed to making Jungian understandings of religion one of the most influential hermeneutic frameworks from the 1930s and onwards. From the very beginning, the sessions at the Casa Gabriella were characterized by a tension between the scholarly personae of the lecturers and the overarching objectives of the Eranos venture. Those who spoke at Eranos were some of the most prominent figures in their respective professions. All of them had produced solid academic publications. Nevertheless, the atmosphere at Ascona was as much religious as it was scholarly; that is, many of the major speakers used their insights into various religions in order to promote faith. The religious nature of the Eranos conferences is obvious from the fact that several of the key speakers would conduct rituals. Thus, Heiler performed an ecumenical mass with Erwin Rousselle, a scholar of Taoism, as his assistant. Major decisions regarding the direction Eranos should take were settled through divination. Indeed, the Casa Gabriella itself was given a sacralized role within the movement, analogous to that of the temples and shrines of other religions. In his book, Hakl documents the intriguing double role of the conferences for the intellectual and religious history of the 20th century. The Jungian emphasis meant that Eranos became a forum for the dissemination of a specific interpretation of Western esoteric thought. Since the participants were eminent scholars, the sessions at the Casa Gabriella gave shape to one of the most influential schools in religious studies of the 20th century. In time, and not least due to the efforts of individuals such as Joseph Campbell, its tenets were popularized, and from the 1960s and onwards also entered the cultural mainstream. The New Age thus drew on the world view of Eranos as one of its main sources of inspiration. Considering the intellectual stature of the people involved and the importance of the Eranos conferences in the religious history of the mid-twentieth century, it is surprising that so little solid research has been done on this movement. The main work to date, Steven Wasserstroms Religion after Religion (1999), has a more narrow focus, since it concentrates on a limited period in the history of Eranos and focuses on three of the scholars who took part in the proceedings: Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade and Henry Corbin. Hakl has taken a much broader grip on the movement. He has interviewed Eranos speakers, perused private correspondence and surveyed an impressive amount of published material by and on the movers and shakers at the Casa Gabriella. His book thus fills an important lacuna and will certainly be the standard reference on the history of Eranos. Toward the end of his book, Hakl notes that a scientific study of a phenom-

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enon can answer the question How does it work?, but cannot help us understand why it exists in the first place. In a sense, Hakls book does just the converse. As the author clearly shows, Eranos existed because it fulfilled the aspirations of a number of influential, religiously inclined intellectuals. And not least importantly, it existed because it was financially supported by oil billionaires Paul and Mary Mellon. Hakl has done a superb job at documenting the events, the individuals and the personal relationships that enabled Eranos to come into existence and allowed it to be a driving force throughout several decades of Western intellectual history. Much of the other aspect of Eranos, however, still remains understudied. How did the conferences work? Or, to pose the question more precisely, how were the beliefs and the praxis of Eranos constituted? For a book on what was essentially a new religious movement, there is surprisingly little analysis of the doctrines and practices that were developed by the inner circle of participants. Thus, Hakl repeatedly notes the importance of Jungian thought, of Goethean science and of German Romanticism, but gives his readers few specific details regarding the reception of such currents and how their doctrines were syncretized. Hakls main ambition in uncovering the relations to other social movements has been to exonerate the Eranos conferences from the recurrent accusations of having been dominated by people with anti-Semitic and extreme right-wing ideas. His careful uncovering of biographical evidence shows that most speakers were in fact not sympathetic to Nazism. It would seem that Eranos has been indicted through guilt by association, since a few individuals with extreme political views, such as the prominent Nazi party member J. W. Hauer, were invited to hold lectures. In fact, one of the rules at Ascona was an injunction against discussing politics. This rule made it possible for people from the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum to participate in the same conferences. Hakls research on the political position of Eranos is important, especially considering the links between certain other esoteric movements and National Socialism around the 1930s. Nevertheless, the fact that the conferences were not a hotbed of Nazism hardly implies that they were free from ideological tenor. Their purpose was to find a spiritual path that could help people to overcome the purported crisis of modern life. However, it is obvious from the contributions of the key participants that Eranos did not just promote a generic spirituality. There was a distinct party line that demarcated this belief system from countless other available religious options. Eranos generated a powerful myth in the sense of Roland Barthes: the contingent and historically situated claims of the participants were rhetorically represented as transcendent truths. The tenets of the Asconan faith were, like those of any other religious

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movement, supported by unverifiable metaphysical presuppositions. Three basic beliefs were shared by most participants. Religious myths and symbols are manifestations of underlying archetypes. The existence of such archetypes is proof of the spiritual unity of mankind and thus of the existence of a philosophia perennis . Gaining insight into these archetypes leads one to the soteriological goal of the movement, individuation. There is an inherent circularity in the Jungian concept of archetypes. Diverse symbols can be understood as manifestations of the same underlying essence. However, the essence itself cannot be observed, and can therefore only be inferred from the surface symbols. How can we know which symbols have their roots in any given archetype? Since there is no process of discovery or any independent means of validation, the concept of archetypes is best understood as a social construction. The entire belief system is dependent on ones willingness to accept the premise that certain individuals have prophetic insight into the hidden world of archetypal essences and therefore can speak with oracular authority. The sessions at Ascona provided the ritual setting in which this rhetorical tour de force could be accomplished. Authority was protected by a rule that strictly prohibited any questions and comments from the audience. In Religion after Religion, Wasserstrom may have overstated his case in discussing the unsavory political implications of the views developed at Eranos. Hakl also notes the fact that so many of the participants were committed to antidemocratic political perspectives, but is perhaps too willing to give the movement and its major players the benefit of the doubt. It would seem that the antimodernism and elitism of the conferences had a distinct potential for attracting radical conservatives. Hakls sympathetic attitude towards the topos of the spiritual quest may have made it difficult for him to pose crucial questions about Eranos as an ideological movement and social formation. Hakls focus on people and external events, and his concomitant low emphasis on the belief system promoted at the conferences, the spirit of Eranos to quote the title of his book, may thus partly be due to the authors own stance. Nonetheless, for any further analysis of the world view of Eranos, Hakls meticulous map of a significant current in Western religious thought will be the indispensable foundation. Olav Hammer

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Olav Hammer, Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age, Brill: Leiden/Boston/Kln 2001. 547 pp. ISBN 90-0412016-5. This voluminous work explores the paradoxical relation between modernity and what Hammer calls the Modern Esoteric Tradition, the movement that according to the author started with theosophy in the final decades of the nineteenth century and that is still thriving in present-day New Age religion. Hammers main thesis is that modern esotericism is not just a bunch of outdated, pre-modern doctrines that somehow survived the onslaught of modernity. Theosophy and the like are much rather deeply indebted to their modern cultural context, even to the extent of being its product. In particular, the Modern Esoteric Tradition makes use of typically modern rhetorical devices (Hammer speaks of discursive strategies) in order to legitimise and defend the epistemological claims embedded in the Traditions core texts. Hammer does not view the teachings of Madame Blavatsky or Rudolf Steiner as perennial wisdom or clairvoyant insights but as human, historical constructions that try to win over a specifically modern audience with specifically modern means. Methodologically speaking, Hammer thus takes an anti-hermeneutic, analytic stance. As to the scope of the book, Hammer limits himself to the core texts of theosophy, anthroposophy, Alice Bailey, Edgar Cayce, and New Age religion. He is not so much interested in the similarities and differences between the teachings of these movements or figures, nor in their historical development, but in the discursive strategies that help selling their respective doctrines to a modern, post-Enlightenment audience. The first of these strategies relies on the concept of tradition. Hammer gives a fascinating account of the diverse ways in which the Modern Esoteric Tradition fashions itself as the heir of an unending tradition of perennial wisdom. He richly documents the modes in which esoterical authors construct an imaginary history, in which an ideal primeval state is projected on either real or imaginary civilisations, such as India, Atlantis, Tibet and Egypt, whose perennial knowledge has allegedly been saved from the materialism of the present age. Hammer concludes that the differences between the various historiographic myths are the outcome of historical contingencies, such as processes of schism or simply reflect the individual predilections of the various leaders. Paradoxical though this may seem, the construction of tradition is, according to Hammer, a product of modernisation. Citing Weber, he interprets this as nostalgia for a pure and unbroken past that tries to counteract the disenchantment inherent in modern civilisation. However, Hammers explanation is not entirely convincing. The traditionalism of the moderns, as Hammer
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presents it, is not structurally different from that of the philosophia perennis of certain Renaissance thinkers (Pico, Ficino, Patrizi). Their perennial master narratives employed the same mechanisms of appropriating history, for both types reduce the complexity and variety of the traditions they wish to appropriate, both look for an underlying spiritual unity behind the variety of religious and philosophical traditions, both have a tendency to synonymise basic concepts or elements from various traditions. Renaissance and modern perennialists to a large extent even share what Hammer calls a u-shaped view of history, according to which a utopian past is believed to be presently redeemed from its historic demise. The only difference is one of scale: Hammer speaks of a globalisation of traditions. Modern esoteric authors can pick from a much bigger stock, including Maya Indians, Australian Aboriginals and the like. Hammer is probably right in pointing to Romantic historiography as the direct background of modern traditionalism. Nevertheless, given the strong parallels with earlier, pre-Enlightenment traditions, the moderns appeal to tradition would appear to be more than just the nostalgia of the disenchanted. The second strategy Hammer discusses is an appeal to science, or scientism, as he calls it. Hammer outlines the ambiguous attitude of the Modern Esoteric Tradition vis--vis modern science. On the one hand, science is portrayed as materialistic and morally dubious. On the other hand, in order to win over their audience, esoteric authors are happily proclaiming the alleged rationality and scientific credibility of their teachings. Hammer provides insightful analyses of the diverse forms of scientism from eighteenth-century Mesmerism to New Age quantum metaphysics. He devotes special attention to the use of evolutionary biology by theosophy and anthroposophy and gives an interesting discussion of the problematic status of miracles, especially in New Age religion. Again, Hammer rightly points to the Romantic predecessors of esoteric (pseudo-) science. The final strategy is an appeal to personal experience. In a lengthy and somewhat propagandistic methodological introduction, Hammer presents his arguments for adopting a constructivist model that interprets an appeal to personal experience again as a rhetorical, strategic device, which functions in a concrete and historical setting, and is not the expression of an unanalysable phenomenon of inner life that links man to the supernatural. Hammer gives an interesting outline of what he calls the democratisation of experience. While early theosophy only lent authority to the revelations of a few privileged initiates, Rudolf Steiner described a method by which in principle everyone could gain personal access to higher worlds. The do-it-yourself character of the major part of contemporary New Age religion is in this sense a continuation of early twentieth-century Anthroposophy. Nevertheless, according to Hammer,

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this democratisation is only apparent. In reality, the reports of inner experiences by followers of Steiner and others are far less personal than they claim to be. In most cases narratives of experience closely follow the clichs prescribed by a select number of authoritative texts, using the same vocabulary and literary models. Hammers conclusion certainly has a degree of plausibility, but needs further corroboration by empirical fact. The crowning part of Hammers book is his last chapter, which presents a case study of the concept of reincarnation and its use in regressive therapies etc. He shows how initially the truth of reincarnation was defended by an appeal to the experience of spiritist mediums or esoteric leaders such as Madame Blavatsky. Later, an appeal to the perennial and universal tradition (the Early Church, Hindus, American Indians, etc.) became more important, serving as a remedy against the doubt produced by secularisation. Hammer has a very clear, easily readable style and a nice sense of humour that has obviously helped him come to terms with lost Atlantean continents, mythical Himalayan Masters, and other sources he professedly does not believe in. Nevertheless, Hammers use of the analytic method has its flaws. He ascribes strategic motives to esoteric texts that are not acknowledged or even emphatically denied by the authors and adherents of these texts. As is usual for such an approach, Hammer invokes sociological, anthropological, or psychological models in order to legitimise claims that are not supported by the texts. However, he does not always escape the pitfall inherent in such an approach, namely reductionism. In a number of cases, Hammer simply fails to do justice to the text he discusses. A case in point is Steiners discussion of Egyptian mythology. On the basis of a few side-remarks with which Steiner ends his gyptische Mythen und Mysterien , Hammer concludes that Steiners mythic historiography of Egypt can thus be seen as in part a veiled reference to the struggle between anthroposophy and its detractors (p. 116). Thus he not only promotes a few, typically Steinerian, afterthoughts to the very core of the text, but also ignores the many other references to Egyptian mythology in Steiners works that are not accompanied by references to detractors. Moreover, Hammers work is not free of uninformative Pauschalurteile that seem to have been inspired more by ideology than by historical fact. Nevertheless, the conclusion remains that this book is an important contribution to the growing scholarship on modern esotericism. By studying the ambiguous and problematic relation between modern culture and the esoteric tradition shaped by it, the author deepens our insight into the paradoxical nature of modernity itself. Cees Leijenhorst

BOOKS RECEIVED Michael J.B. Allen, Synoptic Art: Marsilio Ficino on the History of Platonic Interpretation , Leo S. Olschki: Florence 1998. Gian Carlo Benelli, Storia di un altro occidente, Bonacci: Roma 2000. Allison P. Coudert, Leibniz and the Kabbalah , Kluwer: Dordrecht/Boston/ London 1995. Allison P. Coudert, Richard H. Popkin & Gordon M. Weiner (eds.), Leibniz, Mysticism and Religion, Kluwer: Dordrecht/Boston/London 1998. Allison P. Coudert, The Impact of the Kabbalah in the Seventeenth Century: The Life and Thought of Francis Mercury van Helmont (1614-1698), E.J. Brill: Leiden/Boston/Kln 1999. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity, New York University Press: New York & London 2002. Anthony Grafton & Moshe Idel (Hrsg.), Der Magus: Seine Ursprnge und seine Geschichte in verschiedenen Kulturen , Akademie Verlag: Berlin 2001. Julia Iwersen, Gnosis: Zur Einfhrung , Junius: Hamburg 2001. Philo of Alexandria, On the Creation of the Cosmos according to Moses (David T. Runia, Introduction, Translation and Commentary), E.J. Brill: Leiden, Boston & Kln 2001. Kocku von Stuckrad, Das Ringen um die Astrologie: Jdische und christliche Beitrge zum antiken Zeitverstndnis, Walter de Gruyter: Berlin/New York 2000. Anne-Charlott Trepp & Hartmut Lehmann (eds.), Antike Weisheit und kulturelle Praxis: Hermetismus in der frhen Neuzeit , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Gttingen 2001.

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Aries Vol. 2, no. 2

RECENT AND UPCOMING CONGRESSES

Aries aspires to keep its readers informed about recent and upcoming congresses relevant to the study of Western esotericism; but for this, the editors are dependent on the information they receive. Readers are therefore invited to send Congress Programs as well als Calls for Papers and announcements of upcoming congresses to the editorial address, if possible in electronic form. In doing so, please take into account that Aries is published in the months of January and July, and that copy must have reached the editors five months in advance (i.e. August 1 and February 1 resp.).

Lactualit de la Tradition et la prsence de lislam en Europe (org.: Institut des Hautes Etudes Islamiques), Paris (France), 06.10.2001. Papers included: Jean-Pierre Laurant, Ren Gunon et la pense contemporaine; Abd-Allah Yahya Darolles, Lhritage spirituel de Ren Gunon; Bruno Etienne, Rflexions et propositions pour une spiritualit en Occident au XXIme sicle; Yahya Pallavicini, La Madrasa Shadhiliyya; Pre Andr Gence, Mtaphysique, vie spirituelle et christianisme; Abd-al-Latif Conti, Lintgrit de la Tradition; Shaykh Mohamed Aiouaz, Ren Gunon et lislam; Abd-al-Haqq Guiderdoni, La fonction dun centre spirituel; Shaykh Abd-al-Wahid Pallavicini, Ren Gunon musulman: conversion ou convergence? Information: Institut des Hautes Etudes Islamiques, tel.: (+33) 04-92435665, fax: (+33) 04-92435939, e-mail: ihei.mail@laposte.net Literatur, Wissenschaften und Okkultismus in der Frhen Moderne (org. Christine Maillard, Universit Marc Bloch, Strasbourg; Michael Titzmann, Universitt Passau), Passau (Germany), 12-13.10.2001. Papers included: Christine Maillard, Einfhrende Bemerkungen zur Lage von Esoterik und Okkultismus in Frankreich und im deutschsprachigen Raum (1890-1930); Aurlie Chon, Indienrezeption und Esoterik um 1900 (Blavatsky, Steiner); Franoise Willmann, Geheimwissenschaft vs Naturwissenschaft: Abgrenzungs- und Annherungsversuche; Frdrique Blau, Herbert Silberers Werk als Beispiel fr die Rezeption von Mystik und Okkultismus in der Psychoanalyse; Gustav Frank, Probleme der Sichtbarkeit: das metaphorisch Fantastische und das buchstblich Okkulte; Monique Mombert, Eine rassistische Gnosis: die Ostara-Hefte (1924-1930); Dieter Mller, Zur Thematisierung okkulter Wissensmengen in Th. Manns Der Zauberberg; Markus Schneider, Hermaphroditismus in der fantastischen Literatur der Frhen Moderne; Marianne Wnsch, Die Korrelation von Ok Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Aries Vol. 2, no. 2

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kultismus und Psychoanalyse in der Fantastischen Literatur der Frhen Moderne; Michael Titzmann, Verknpfungen von Okkultismus und Naturwissenschaft in der Literatur der Frhen Moderne. Beter, Ketzer und Propheten. Heterodoxe Religiositt in der Frhen Neuzeit (org. Universitt Passau), Passau (Germany), 24-26.10.2001. Papers included: Johann Anselm Steiger, Versuchung orthodox und heterodox. Auslegungsgeschichtliche Aspekte zur Definition von tentatio bei Luther, Christian Hohburg und in der lutherischen Orthodoxie; Volker Kapp, Skandalse Orthodoxie bei Nicolas Caussin; Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, Robert Fludds mystische Anatomi; Wilhelm Khlmann, Das hretische Potential des Paracelsismus gesehen im Lichte seiner Gegner; Maximilian Lanzinner, Johannes Kepler konfessionslos im konfessionellen Zeitalter?; Friedrich P. Vollhardt, Was heit Heterodoxie? Explikationsversuche in der apologetischen Literatur der Frhen Neuzeit; Hartmut Laufhtte, Der Heterodoxieverdacht gegen C.R. von Greiffenberg; Guillaume von Gemert, Sebastian Francks Traktat von der Welt. Umfeld Stellenwert Wirkung; Barbara Bauer, Glaubensflchtlinge und Hretiker. Bernardino Ochino, David Joris und Sebastian Castellio; Dietrich Blaufu, Pietismus impius est? Philipp Jacob Speners Abwehr des Heterodoxieverdachts; Ferdinand van Ingen, Jacob Bhme und die schlesischen Dichter Daniel Czepko, Johannes Scheffler und Quirinus Kuhlmann; Christine Maillard, Eine Wissensform unter Heterodoxieverdacht: die spekulative Alchimie nach 1600; Werner Korthaase, Ein Pansoph als Adjunkt des Propheten Wirklich-Unwirkliches in der Welt des J.A. Comenius; Axel Schmitt, Kabbala als Herme(neu)tik. Schriftspekulation und die materiale Grammatizitt des Wissens; Rosmarie Zeller, Auf der Suche nach der prisca theologia et philosophia. Henry Moore, Knorr von Rosenroth und die Kabbala; Walter Hartinger, Glaube auf Abwegen. Zauberpraktiken der Frhen Neuzeit in Ostbayern; Manfred Hinz, Protestanten, Jesuiten und die Progymnasmata. Zur methodischen Reorganisation des Rhetorikunterrichts im 16. Jhdt; Roberto Righi, fascinum und fascinatio bei den Jesuiten. Von del Rio bis Kircher; Jrg Baur, Valentin Ernst Lschers Praenotiones theologicae (1712). Die Lutherische Sptorthodoxie im polemischen Diskurs mit den zeitgenssischen Heterodoxien; Ernst Rohmer, Dichter und Prophet. Die Darbietung genealogischen Wissens in der deutschsprachigen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts als theologisches Problem; Dieter Breuer, Der Bekrafftigte Origenes Das Ehepaar Petersen und die Leugnung der Ewigkeit der Hllenstrafen; Werner Schnabel Jesus-liebende Herzen. Justinian Ernst von Welz und seine Soziettsplne; Michael Titzmann, Korrelation und Konfrontation

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religiser und wissenschaftlicher Diskurse in den europischen Utopien der Frhen Neuzeit. Information: Prof.dr. Hartmut Laufhtte, Universitt Passau, D-94030 Passau (Germany), tel.: (+49) 0851-5092770, fax: (+49): 0851-5092772, e-mail: laufhu01@pers.uni-passau.de; prof.dr. Michael Titzmann, Universitt Passau, D-94030 Passau (Germany), tel. (+49): 0851-5092842, fax: (+49): 80515092857, e-mail: michael.titzmann@uni-passau.de Forme del neoplatonismo dall eredit ficiniana ai platonici di Cambridge (org. Comitato nazionale per le celebrazioni di Marsilio Ficino Nel V centenario della morte), Firenze (Italy), 25-27.10.2001. Papers incluced: Cesare Vasoli, Ficino a Pisa: dal Verino al Mazzoni; Giovanna Chiara Graziati, Praesagium naturale, artificiosum, divinum: aspetti del platonismo ficiniano in rapporto De mysteriis di Giamblico; James Hankins, Francesco Verino Secondo and the Invention of the Platonic Academy of Florence; Stphane Toussaint, Ce que Ficin cuide excuser: prisca theologia e mysteria platonica, definizioni, sviluppi, degenerazioni dal secolo XVI al XVII. Riflessioni intorno a Cristoforo Marcello e Pierre Le Loyer; Michael J.B. Allen, Ficino and the language of the Past; John Monfasani, Edigio da Viterbo come Alter Orpheus ; Nicoletta Tirinnanzi, Le Divinae Institutiones di Lattanzio fra Ficino e Bruno; Thomas Leinkauf, Aspekte der Wirkungsgeschichte von Ficinos Denken im 16. Jahrhundert: Reuchlin, Tholosanus, Patrizi, Bodin, Fernel; Elisabetta Scapparone, Bodin interprete di Ficino: il problema dellanima; Germana Ernst, Echi ficiniani in Campanella; Dominic Baker-Smith, Civitas philosophica: Ideas and Community in Thomas More; Mario Turchetti, Note sul platonismo del Rinascimento: la Repubblica di Platone nella Repubblica di Bodin; Gianni Paganini, Alle origini del mortal god: Hobbes, Lipsius e il Corpus Hermeticum ; Santo Burgio, Motivi neoplatonici nel pensiero di Lipsio; Sarah Hutton, Ficinos English Successors: the Cambridge Platonists and the Continuity of Renaissance Platonism; Edward P. Mahoney, Marsilio Ficino and Ralph Cudworth on the Hierarchy of Being; Marialuisa Baldi, Il vero e il bene in Ralph Cudworth; Jean-Louis Breteau, Ralph Cudworth, lecteur de Ficin; Roberto Bondi, I platonici di Cambridge e lantica sapienza; Paolo Casini, La prisca philosophia a Cambridge: Cudworth, More, Newton; Luisa Simonutti, Spiritus naturae e antispinozismo: More e Limborch; Giambattista Gori, Il platonismo implicito di Malebranche fra tradizione e controversie filosofiche; Giancarlo Carabelli, Loracolo di Trofonio; Christia Mercer, Neoplatonism in the Development of Leibnizs Philosophy.

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Come nasce una religione. Il carisma profetico come fattore di innovazione. How a religion originates. The profetic charisma as a factor of innovation (org. Centro di alti studi in scienze religiose), Piacenza (Italy), 1-3.11.2001. Papers included: Giovanni Filoramo, Gilles Dorival, Denis Gril, Prophtes et charismes. Problmes mthodologiques et questions de terminologie (grec, hbreu, arabe); Enrico Norelli, Parole di profeti, parole sui profeti. Discorsi su profeti e profezia nelle polemiche sul montanismo (II-III sec.); Uri Rubin, The Prophet and Satan: Aspects of Muhammads Anti- Demonic Powers; Ali Amir-Moezzi, Iman comme prophte de la religion sotrique dans lIslam Shiite ancien; Constantinos Macris, Le charisme dans le monde paen: le cas du pythagorisme; Michel Tardieu, Ladieu Kapilavastu; Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith as charismatic. Information: Dott. Giorgia Gottardi, Via S. Eufemia 12, I-29100 Piacenza (Italy), tel.: (+39) 0523-311113, fax: (+39) 0523-311131, e-mail: opmaz@tin.it, website: http://www.lafondazione.com The Visual Arts and Freemasonry , (org. Canonbury Masonic Research Centre), London (Great-Britain), 3-4.11.2001. Papers included: Andrew Prescott, John Pine, Engraver and Freemason; Joe Rock, The secret Life of Richard Cooper Senior, 1696-1764; Solomons Temple: From Villalpando to Stukeley; Matthew Scanlan, Nicholas Stone, accepted Freemason and his Contemporaries, 1587-1647; David Vickers, Royal Cubits in Architectural Design; Jose Anes, A Hermetic Palace near Lisbon; Ursula Terner, Symbols in Masonic Art: an Iconographic Study of Masonic Certificates; Robert A. Gilbert, The World Adorned: the Image of Freemasonry in Book Design; Leon Zeldis, Iconography of the Tracing Boards; Andrea Kroon, Masonic Lacquer Ware: 18th & 19th Century Exports from Deshima, Japan; Jan Snoek, The Mystery of the Burkhardt Jewels; Pascan Begou, Two Artists of the Parisian Lodge Voltaire: Juan Gris & Jacques Lipschitz; Jacques Huyghebaert, Alphonse Mucha, Painter & Freemason, 1860-1939; David Bellman, Beyond the Craft Alvin Langdon Coburn, Artist & Photographer, 1882-1966. Information: Carole McGilvery, tel. (+44) 020-72266256, fax: (+44) 02073596194, e-mail: mcgilvery@canonbury.ac.uk, website: http:// www.canonbury.ac.uk

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Esoterismo e Religione nel pensiero di Ren Gunon (org. Accademia di Romania), Roma (Italy), 10.11.2001. Papers included: Gianfranco de Turris, Apertura dei lavori; Alfredo Cattabiani, Introduzione critica al pensiero di Ren Gunon; Giovanni Oman, Una testimonianza; Enrico Montanari, Gunon e lesoterismo cristiano-orientale; Alberto Ventura, Gunon e lesoterismo islamico; Alessandro Grossato, Gunon e il Re del Mondo; Piero Di Vona, Julius Evola e Ren Gunon: un confronto; Roberto Scagno, Ren Gunon e Mircea Eliade; Francesco Zambon, Gunon e il mito del Graal; Dag Tassore, Gunon e la mistica delle crociate; Angelo Iacovella, Tra due colonne. Ren Gunon e la massoneria. Information: Segreteria del Convegno, tel.: (+39) 06-39722159. Gerolamo Cardano nel suo tempo (org. Instituto di Studi Superiori dellInsubria Gerolamo Cardano), Varese (Italy), 16-27.11.2001. Papers included: Carlo Maccagni, G. Cardano e le tecniche del suo tempo; Fabio Casciati, G. Cardano: uno dei polymath pi affascinanti nel percorso tra San Tommaso e Galileo verso la Meccanica; Gigliola di Renzo Villata, Il dibattito sul primato tra scienze naturali e scienze guiridiche nel Rinascimento; Giovanni Barone-Adesi, De ludo aleae: la passione per il gioco e la nascita della teoria della probabilit; Luigi Zanzi, G. Cardane e lUmanesimo italiano; Guido Canziani, La filosofia e le arti nel pensiero di G. Cardano; Claudio Bonvecchio, Il teatro delle immagini e la magia di G. Cardano; Ugo Baldini, G. Cardano e i censori dellInquisizione; Giuseppe Armocida, La medicina dellOttocento e il caso di G. Cardano; Giulio Giorello, Scienza e magia nel Rinascimento; Paolo Pissavino, G. Cardano politico; Paolo Freguglia, Sulla teoria delle equazioni algebriche tra Cinque e Seicento; Marco Somalvico, Risoluzione algebrica delle equazioni in G. Cardano e dimostrazione logica dei teoremi in Intelligenza Arteficiale; Gaetona Aurelio Lanzarone, Aspetti pre-informatici nellepoca e nellopera di G. Cardano; Daniele Sabaino, G. Cardano e la teoria musicale del suo tempo; Eugenio Di Rienzo, La fortuna di G. Cardano in Francia; Alberto Scium, La professione medica nellet del diritto comune tra esigenza di sperimentazione e rispetto delle norme deontologiche; Veronica Gavagna, Un manoscritto inedito di G. Cardano: Commentaria in Euclidis Elementa; Giovanna Galimberti Biffino, LElogio di Nerone di G. Cardano: un panegirico comparato; Claudia Storti Storchi, G. Cardano giureconsulto e la giustizia. Information: Segreteria organizzativa ASK studio, Villa Porro Pirelli, via Tabacchi 20, Induno Olona, Varese (Italy), tel. (+39) 0332-840500, fax: (+30) 0332-204028, e-mail: ask@skylink.it

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La tradizione ermetica dal mondo tardo-antico allUmanesimo (org. Instituto Universitario orientale dipartimento di filosofia e politica; Instituto Italiano per gli studi filosofici con il contributo e il patronicio della Provincia di Napoli), Napoli (Italy), 20-24.11.2001. Papers included: Jean-Pierre Mah, Thorie et pratique dans lAsclepius; Paolo Lucentini, La dottrina del male nellAsclepius; Francesco Paparella, La metafora del cerchio: Proclo e il Liber viginti quattuor philosophorum; Ilaria Parri, Tempo ed eternit nellAsclepius; Mark Damien, The cosmology of the De sex rerum principiis; David Porreca, La rception dHerms Trismgiste par Alain de Lille et ses contemporains; Alessandro Palazzo, Le fonti ermetiche nel De summo bono di Ulrico di Strasburgo; Antonella Sannino, Il concetto ermetico di natura in Bertoldo di Moosburg; Pasquale Arf, Ermete Trismegisto e Nicola Cusano; Martin Thurner, La definizione ermetica delluomo come secundus deus nel De beryllo di Nicola Cusano; Carmela Baffioni, Un esemplare arabo del Liber de quattuor confectionibus?; Charles Burnett, Arabic Hermetic sources of Adelard of Baths Liber prestigiorum Thebidis secundum Ptolomeum et Hermetem; Massimo Pappacena, La figura di Ermete Trismegisto nella tradizione araba; Antonella Straface, Simbolismo ermetico e letteratura religiosa shiita; Pinella Travaglia, Asclepio e la produzione artificiale della vita nella Agricoltura Nabatea; Paul Kunitzsch, Origin and history of Liber de stellis beibeniis; Vittoria Perrone Compagni, I testi magici di Ermete; Danielle Jacquart, Le De urina non visa attribu Herms; Nicolas Weill-Parot, Arnaud de Villeneuve, Antonio da Montolmo et les images hermtiques; Moshe Idel, Hermetic tradition and Jewish Kabbalah; Ida Zatelli, HermesEnoch nella tradizione antica; Fabrizio Lelli, Tradizione e testi dellErmetismo ebraico; Franoise Hudry, Le Livre des XXIV philosophes et la gnration en Dieu; Paolo Lucentini; I Ventiquattro filosofi: linterna vita e i nomi di Dio; Zenon Kaluza, Comme une branche damandier en fleurs: propos du Liber XXIV philosophorum; Sylvain Matton, Herms Trismgiste dans la littrature alchemique mdivale; Michela Pereira, I Septem Tractatus e lalchima ermetica; Concetta Pennuto, La formazione ermetica di Marsilio Ficino tra filosofia e medicina; Teodoro Katinis, Luso delle immagini nel Consilio contro la pestilentia di Marsilio Ficino; Irene Caiazzo e Jean-Marc Mandosio, La Tabula smaragdina e i suoi commentari medievali; Vera Segre Rutz, Gli erbari di Ermete; Isabelle Draelants, La virtus universalis: un concept dorigine hermtique?; Annunziata Russo, Linsegnamento di Ermete negli scritti degli Alawiyyn; Mariangela Monaca, Ermete e la divinazione nei Papyri Graecae Magicae; Sophie Page, Hermetic magic texts in Medieval English monasteries; Francesco Dal-

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lAglio, Magia e astrologia in Niceta Coniate; Benedek Lng, On 15th century magical handbooks from Krakw. Information: Ilaria Parri, tel: (+39) 055-491935, e-mail: i.parri@dada.it; Antonella Sannino, tel: (+39) 081-5312661, e-mail: antosanni@hotmail.com; Pinella Travaglia, tel: (+39) 081-5641943, e-mail: pinellatravaglia@hotmail.com XVII colloque international Ren Gunon, lectures et enjeux (org. Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes-Politica Hermetica), Sorbonne, Paris (France), 12.12.2001. Papers included: Philippe Faure, Tradition et histoire en Occident selon Gunon: un regard sur le Moyen Age; Jrme Rousse-Lacordaire, Des ractions catholiques loeuvre de Gunon: entre hostilit et mfiance; Franois Chenique, Ren Gunon et le bouddhisme; Gunon et lIslam (round table with Yahya Pallavicini, Thierry Zarcone, Zakia Zouanat); Le regard port par les maons franais sur loeuvre de Gunon (round table with Claude Gagne, Francis Laget, Pierre Mollier); Les approches littraires de loeuvre et le status du texte (round table with Xavier Accart, Philippe Barthelet, Alessandro Grossato). Information: jplaurant@olisys.fr Lalchemie dans les arts et les littratures du Moyen ge et de la Renaissance Orient-Occident (org. LUniversit de Paris-Sorbonne Paris-IV, Le Groupe de Recherche Arliocor [CNRS UPRESA 8092], Le Centre de Recherche dOc [E.A. 2554], Sorbonne, Paris [France]), 13-15.12.2001. Papers included: Barbara Obrist, Art et nature dans lalchimie de la fin du Moyen ge et de la Renaissance; Pierre Leroy, Les sens de lHistoire selon les alchimistes musulmans; Catherine Guimbard, La qute du pote: essai dinterprtation alchimique (Dante, Francesco da Barberino); Manijeh Nouri-Ortega, Gazzli, lalchimie du bonheur; Dominique Jaillard, La transmutation alchimique de la comdie chez G. Bruno; Annie Gasse, Crocodiles, serpents et formules magiques: la Renaissance lcoute de lgypte pharaonique; Franois Antonovich, Rodolphe II de Bavire, prince, mcne et alchimiste (avec diapositives); Christine Maillard, Alchimie et htrodoxie: critiques et mises en cause du christianisme chymique dans lespace germanique au XVIIe sicle; Alain Richard, Ignis Innaturalis ou la voie sche. Explication de panneaux de bois sculpt (XIV e-XVe s.); Sergio Foti, Gographie de la perfection. Paysages et mythes alchimiques dans un rcit de Sohravardi; Silvia Chitimia, Lalchimie dans les Balkans; Catherine Despeux, Alchimie symbolique et reprsentations du corps dans la Chine du M.A. (Xe-XIVe s.); Antoine Calvet, Prsentation du Liber experimentorum

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atrribu Arnaud de Villeneuve (Paris, BnF, Lat. 7349, XV e s.); Pierre Marsone, Lalchimie intrieure chinoise: symbolique et spiritualit dun travail sur le corps; Genevive Brunel-Lobrichon, Douceline ou lalchimie du corps; ric Phalippou, Agapes alchimiques dans une communaut zoroastrienne de Bombay; Barbara Spaggiari, Le vocabulaire alchimique dans le Testamentum catalan; Suzanne Thiolier-Mjean, LAlchimiste dans la littrature mdivale doc et dol. tudes de quelques cas; Claire Kappler, Allusions et mtaphores alchimiques dans quelques romans damour persans. Information: tel. + fax: (+33) 01-40462744 or (+33) 01-45445629, e-mail: ceroc5@hotmail.com Sulla Soglia Del Sacro: Esoterismo e Iniziazione. Nelle Grandi Religioni e Nella Tradizione Massonica (org. Collegio Circoscrizionale dei Maestri venerabili della Toscana), Firenze (Italy), 01-03.03.2002. Papers included: Mario Vitali, La dimensione iniziatica nel Dionisismo; Paolo Renner, Liniziazione sacerdotale cristiana; Alessandro Catastini, LIniziazione nel mondo ebraico; Alessandro Ventura, La dimensione iniziatica sufica; Pietero Mander, LIniziazione nel mondo mesopotamico; Antonio Carile, Regalit sacra ed Iniziazione nel mondo bizantino; Mariano Bianca, Rituali e simboli nellIniziazione massonica; Marco Zecchi, Liniziazione nella cultura religiosa egizia; Giorgio Renato Franci, La tradizione iniziatica nelle religioni dellIndia; Antonio Panaino, Iniziazione e dimensione iniziatica nella tradizione mazdaica; Paolo Chiozzi, Antropologia dellIniziazione; Silvio Calzolari, Iniziazione nelle tradizione orientali; Vinicio Serino, Iniziazione ed ermetismo; Claudio Bonvecchio, Esoterismo e Iniziazione; Morris Ghezzi, Sociologia dellIniziazione massonica; Natale Mario di Luca, LIniziazione massonica nei paesi europei; Dino Fioravanti, Massoneria nel contesto degli scenari iniziatici contemporanei; Moreno Neri, La simbologia astrologica dellIniziazione; Maurizio Nicosia, LInziazione massonica come viatico; Antonio Calderisi, Esoterismo, linguaggio e comunicazione; Vittorio Vanni, Iniziazione nel rituale Emulation. Information: Collegio Circoscrizionale dei MMVV della Toscana, Borgo Albizi 18, I-50122 Firenze, Italy, tel.: (+39) 055-2340543/4, fax: (+39) 0552341233. Secrecy, History, and Publics. Sweet Briar College, Virginia, U.S.A., 1517.3.2002. Papers included: Maureen Cavanaugh, Of Private Mysteries and Public Documents: The Eleusinian Mysteries and Athenian Democracy; Sandra Blakely, Samothracia Ferrea: Magnetism, Mysteries, and Iron Rings; Ayse

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Tuzlak, A World without Light and Yet Radiant: Secrecy and Masculinity in Mithraism; Wendy Bellion, The Invisible Lady: Politics of Sight in Early National America; Katherine A. Chavigny, Public Anxieties in a Democratic Age: Secret Societies after Antimasonry; William D. Moore, The Lodge Goat: Secrecy, Masculinity, and Fraternal High Jinks in the United States; Chaim Hames, Exotericism and Esotericism in Thirteenth Century Kabbalah; G.M. McVey, Trithemius Keys: Angelic Language and Cryptography; Cynthia J. Cupples, The Good Nun whom Monsieur and the King Know: Secrecy and Political Prophecy in the Reign of Louis XIII; Jon Mikalson, What Herodotus explicitly refuses to tell us about the Gods and why; Fritz Graf, Confessing Loud and Clear: Confession, Secrecy, and the Anatolian Confession Stelae; Sarah Iles Johnston, Secrecy or Privacy? Problems of Definition and their Relevance to Ancient Greek Religion; Richard Seaford, Secrecy, Money, and Metaphysics among the Early Greeks; Adam Crabtree, Secrets from Ourselves: The Alternate Consciousness Revolution; Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Are there Secrets in Swedenborgs Secrets of Heaven?; David Carrasco, [title unknown]; Christopher Faraone, Secret Talismans and Hidden Pharmaka: Protective Statues in the Graeco-Roman World; Moshe Idel, [title unknown]; Margaret Jacob, The Paradox of Enlightenment: Secrecy at the Heart of Modernity; Steven C. Bullock, The Rise and Fall of American Masonic Secrecy; Michael Barkun, Searching for the Controllers: Secrecy and Knowledge in American Conspiracism; Alexei V. Pimenov, The Holy Grail, Aryan Heritage, and Nazi Esotericism: Otto Rahn and Jakob Wilhelm Hauer. In Search for an Alternative to Christianity; Guillermo de Los Reyes, Three Centuries of Tempestuous Mexican Freemasonry; Antonio Lara, Matthew Carey: Smuggling the Webb Monitors; Paul Rich, Freemasonry and Mormonism in Contention. Information: tel. 434 381 6249. E-mail: cgutierrez@sbc.edu. Website: www.secrecy.sbc.edu Swedenborg in Stuttgart (org.: Eberhard Zwink, in verbinding mit der Deutschen Swedenborg-Gesellschaft), Wrttembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart, 22-23.3.2002. Gerhard Lukert, Emanuel Swedenborg und religionsgeschichtliche Parallelen zu seinen Visionen; Eberhard Zwink, Kostbarkeiten aus der SwedenborgSammlung Sammlung Mittnacht. Information: zwink@wlb-stuttgart.de

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The dark side. The seventh international RLA conference (org. Society for Studies in Religion, Literature and Arts) Sydney (Australia), 05-07.10.2002. Information: Carole M. Cusack, Society for Studies in Religion, Literature and the Arts, The Department of Studies in Religion, A20, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Tel.: (+61) 02-93516837, fax: (+61) 02-93517758, email: ccusack@mail.usyd.edu.au http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/Arts/departs/religion/rla/index.htm Mathesis, Naturphilosophie und Arkanwissenschaft im Umkreis Friedrich Christoph Oetingers (1702-1782) (org. Institut fr Geschichtliche Landeskunde und Historische Hilfswissenschaften, Eberhard-Karls-Universitt Tbingen und Wrttembergische Landsbibliothek Stuttgart), Universitt Tbingen (Germany), 9-11.10.2002. Papers include: Sonja-Maria Bauer, Das Studium der Artistenfakultt in Tbingen zur Studienzeit Oetingers; Gerhard Betsch, Der Tbinger Professor Matheseos Johann Conrad Creiling und seine Schule; Karin Reich, Mathematik der Aufklrung (Abraham Gotthelf Kstner u.a.); Martin WeyerMenkhoff, Friedrich Christoph Oetinger: Wrttembergischer Theologe und Naturforscher; Rdiger Thiele, Die Variationsrechnung und ihre Bedeutung fr das teleologische Denken im 18. Jahrhundert; Daniel Hohrath, Mathematik fr den Kriegsstaat: Georg Bernhard Bilfinger und die Fortifikation; Joseph Smolka und Josef Haubelt, Das Phnomen der Elektrizitt: Prokop Divisch und Johann Ludwig Fricker; Herbert Henck, Johann Ludwig Frickers spekulative Musiktheorie; Robert Iliffe, The disciplines and the coherence of Newtons natural philosophy; Martin Mulsow, Wolffianer und Pythagoreer. Vernnftige Hermetik und gelehrte Esoterik im Deutschland des 18. Jahrhunderts; Guntrum Spindler, Oetinger und die Philosophie von Leibniz und Wolff; Tonino Griffero, Figuren, Symbolik und Emblematik in Oetingers signature rerum; Eberhard Zwink, Vom Wissen zur Weisheit: Oetinger und Swedenborg; Reinhard Breymayer, Oetingers verborgene Fehde mit Christian Thomasius (1655-1728). Information: Institut fr Geschichtliche Landeskunde und Historische Hilfswissenschaften, Universitt Tbingen, PD Dr. Sabine Holtz, e-mail: sabine.holtz@uni-tuebingen.de http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/referate/theologie/oetsymp.html