Kathryn LaFevers Evans Adjunct Faculty Pacifica Graduate Institute Engaged Humanities and the Creative Life Presented

at: ACLA 2008 Annual Meeting, April 24-27 Arrivals and Departures, Port of Long Beach Prophetic Migrations Mythopoetic Transmission of the Esoteric Tradition Embodies the Role of the Intellectual from Generation to Generation Intellectuals of the esoteric tradition, welcomed at last into Academia, embody the role of transmitting that tradition to the current generation of students. The purpose, in our global society, of Intellectuals or Academics to transmit spiritual knowledge is evident within the phenomenology of esotericism. This essay offers an anthropocentric model of the phenomenon such Intellectuals engage in of teaching, or transmitting, the esoteric tradition within any academic discipline, envisioning a perennial renaissance of esoteric ideas in the emergent present. Voiced in his paper Communities of the False, presented at The Southern Comparative Literature Association 32nd Annual Conference, social theorist Gregory Flaxman challenges us to answer the pressing question of just what is the role of the Intellectual in our Academy and society? The question is not, what is the role of the Economist in Academia, nor the Chemist, nor the Computer Scientist, for these roles fill obvious practical needs in society. Students are drawn to study these disciplines out of intellectual interest in them certainly, but more purposely out of the intention for monetary gain in receiving jobs after graduation. What intention can we expect this generations students of Esotericism within any discipline to bring with them to the classroom if not the intention for receiving spiritual as well as intellectual gain?

2 Now that access to esoteric knowledge and access to alternative spiritual traditions is afforded to society through an effervescing cultic milieu, why would students seeking spiritual meaning in life choose an Academic venue? Flaxmans question to us is more precisely then, of what practical use are we to society as Intellectuals teaching in Academia? What legacy, what role, do we inherit from our predecessors in the esoteric tradition? Here I offer an answer to that challenge: the esoteric phenomenon of a mythopoetic transmission of tradition that Jacques Lefvre dtaples employs in De Magia naturali Book II embodies the role of the Intellectual in our Academy.1 Lefvres mythopoesis is anthropomorphic and anthropocentric, narrowing the focus of this paper to the teacher as the shamanic Pillar itself, embodiment of and transmitter of the esoteric tradition, unifying social with spiritual in our world today. A general observation must be mentioned before employing details of Flaxmans presentation and of Lefvres treatise. A distillation, from the thoughts of prominent Intellectuals on the definition of religion, is that religious inspiration is objectified into the world as ritual, which is then translated into myth (i.e. literature). That architecture is seen as a descent from Above to below. To delineate that sequence in reverse order, religion is transmitted through myth or story via ritual performance of the received religious inspiration. That architecture is seen as an ascent from below to Above. Religion, or spirituality, is thus a unified cyclic phenomenon of inspiration, ritual, and myth, which is at the same time both received from the divine Above and transmitted from below by an individual. This individual, then, enacts the religious or spiritual phenomenon of transmission, and embodies the spiritual tradition. What mythic image better embodies and tells this inspirational story of esotericism than that of the axis mundi, World Tree, or Pillar?

Olomouc, Universitni Knivhovna, ms MI 119, ff. 174-342; Book II begins f. 198; further references cited per Evans transcription-translation work-in-progress pagination, eg. Book II begins page 50 cited Evans Ch. 1 II:50, f. 198.

3 For an explanation of this answer in the mythopoetic image of a unified Pillar I turn to Moshe Idel. First though, the challenge to Academia by Gregory Flaxman: his concern over our collective fate had been piqued by the Intellectuals interpretation of the definition of utopia regarding Thomas Mores Utopia. My understanding of his argument is that the definition of utopia as no place should be supplemented simultaneously with the definition of eutopia as place. Flaxman perceived this paradox within Mores Utopia, as what he called a bifurcation, which More strove to unify through his mythic story, and which unification is also the role of the Intellectual in the real world. In that unification of the bifurcation, we then do not perpetuate Communities of the False through continuing to polarize society. Onto this architecture of place unified with no placeof earthly below unified with ethereal AboveFlaxman poeticizes his three Intellectuals: the Proletariat, the Bourgeois, and the Theologian. The Proletariat sets his/her feet on the earthly ground of place, the Bourgeois intermediately so, whereas the Theologian sets his/her vision on no place. Flaxmans challenge to the Intellectual to unify these perspectives thus parallels the practical purpose of theoretical philosophy, seen in the architecture termed Coincidence of Oppositeslover below and Beloved Aboveunified as one Pillar and grounding the spiritual to the social. Paul J. W. Millers Introduction to the translation of Picos On the Dignity of Man reminds us that, This Renaissance humanism was not a philosophy at all, but a cultural and educational program (Pico xiii). Lefvre would have intended On Natural Magic Book II, at least in part, as a number mysticism or numerical ascension exercise manual for students. The reason humanists placed such an emphasis on the practical half of philosophy is that they believed in Gods continual accessibility to humans through our very body. Theirs was an

4 anthropomorphic spirituality that conceived of divine union as a reality literally within each human. Miller explains thus: The natural world, in this sort of interpretation, is a physical embodiment or model of philosophic and religious truth, not a mere symbol or metaphor of a supernatural order: nature actually embodies Gods goodness and wisdom. The parallel between one part of nature and another, between man and nature, or between man and God, is not a poetic fiction but a real isomorphism or identity of structure. (xii) Of particular interest is that this phenomenon, which Lefvres practitioners of Pythagorean philosophy or Kabbalah (the subject matter of Book II) experience as a unity between the Coincidence of Opposites, Pearl Epstein reveals in Kabbalah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic how neurologists now characterize this phenomenon: as a depolarization of the electric charges in the network of the nervous system (71). For this reason, natural magic is called the practical half of philosophy, because it creates results in the real world through an active practice. Through collapsing mythopoetic parts into a phenomenological unity we find that the Intellectual can embody and effect the transmission of tradition that is the heritage of esotericism and our purpose in Academia. In pagan terms within De Magia naturali Book II, through the ascending knots, chains, and love-nexus of Jupiter and Venus, the ternary is computed from the monad (Evans Ch. 7 II:72, f. 209). Thus, God, celestial realms, and man are embodied in a mythopoetic, anthropomorphic male-female unity. The unchanging constant in Lefvres writings may be simply this consistent and systematic intent on ascent to the divine, with numerical ascension essentially the only magic and mysticism of which he writes.

5 Moshe Idel, in Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism: Pillars, Lines, Ladders, explains the Pillar in the final Concluding Remarks as a unified whole even though it has distinguishable parts (205-6). The cosmic tree, the path itself, the Pillar from earth to heaven is referred to as the Great Aion, identical to the foundation and also to the righteous themselves (80-1). One value in bringing De Magia naturali out of obscurity is that it clearly shows the Medieval Neoplatonic mythopoetic approach to Kabbalistic theosophy through architectural, sexual and geometrical imagery. Moshe Idels book, which concerns itself with ascension via the Homeric catena aurea, golden chains, shows that one image common to the Neoplatonic approach to Kabbalah is the chain of being (167). As we will see, the vinculum or chain in De Magia naturali Book II is the nexus of tradition and transmission, a unified Pillar. The primal exilic metaphor of the Fall, descent from One to two, that forms the scaffolding of Book IIwhich is the Coincidence of Opposites and always implies an ascension in returnleads one to agree with Lefvres categorizing of Book II as Pythagorean philosophy or Christian Kabbalah. Reuchlin later summarizes in On the Art of the Kabbalah: De Arte Cabalistica: This is Pythagoras in a nutshell. Two is the first number; one is the basis of number (155). Each number in Lefvres Book II, whether of body below or soul Above, is also called a soul, each ascending to a planetary mind in accordance with its qualities, so that the souls of Saturn are of the Saturnian mind. There are three levels of soul-numbers grouped into hierarchical minds, beginning with the elemental mind, rising to the second mind, and then to the supernal mind (Evans Ch. 6 II:64-67, ff. 205-207v; Ch. 7 II:67-75, ff. 207v-211v). In an anthropomorphic, anthropocentric mythopoesis, Lefvre collapses the technique of numerical ascension along with the teacher of it into a unified image of the Pillar as a chain. He perpetuates the myth of Syra (a slave named by the Roman playwright Terence in Adelphi, and

6 by Plautus in Mercator) as an Assyrian magician, the teacher who is enslaved as the chain or magical technique itself. Catena, synonymous with vincula, is used here as a double-entendre for a slaves fetter or shackle, and a womans gold or silver necklace chain, the Homeric catena aurea (The Perseus Digital Library): Adiecisti o Germane in catena Maga, quam audiui Assirios nominare Sranisi mihi recula memoria est. You have cast into chains the magician, O Germain, who I heard the Assyrians name Syranisi, if my memory serves me. Nodi, nexus et vincula sunt Jovem atque Venerem, et Sras proinde nuncupant, quae ut catena quedam de clo, imo de Idea ad infima demittantur. . . The knots, nexus and chains are Jove and also Venus, and in like manner they call by name Syras, which as the chains they let down in this manner from heaven to the lowest they let down from Idea to the lowest. . . . . .ne nos diuorum aprehendorum prsidio destituant, per quas, si quis digne satis cognosceret ascensum, per Saturnalium catenam ad mentem conscenderet Saturniam. . . .they leave us not alone, those who sufficiently worthy, with guardianship of deities to lay hold upon, through whom was learned the ascent, by Saturnian chains ascending to the Saturnian mind. (Evans Ch. 4 II:57, f. 202v) In support of my argument that Academia might embrace phenomenological ascesis, exercise, Idel in his Introduction points out that Eliade had shifted our attention to the modes of achieving spiritual experiences, the techniques, in such books as Yoga and Shamanism:

7 These works represent a major methodological breakthrough in the study of the history of religion by shifting the center of interest from theoretical views and beliefs to modes of achieving religious experiences. The importance of technique is also evident in Ioan P. Culianus Eros and Magic, in which the magical techniques are emphasized as central to Giordano Brunos world view. (6) Idel points out that Scholems prevailing theory of Kabbalah as theological interpretation misses the experiential nature of this mystical lore (17). The impact of the Christian emphasis on theology and faith has imbalanced the perception of Jewish mysticism away from its technical, ritualistic and linguistic facets (19). Idel proposes unifying our understanding of the contending ideologies of mysticism and magic: Ascending on high and bringing down some form of esoteric knowledge, either in the form of magical names, of remedies or of a magical reading of the Torah, can be understood as a model that I propose calling mystical-magical. The first action the ascent on high represents the mystical phase of the model, as it allows the religious perfectus contact with the divine or celestial entities. His bringing down of the secret lore, which in many cases has magical qualities, represents the magical aspect of this model. (31) Ascent has practical implications, for when the righteous soul ascends to the source it can know the future. In ascensio mentis, human Intellect as his real image is mans vehicle of ascent to the divine Intellect (40-2). Our Coincidence of Opposites, in terms of human and divine, Idel mythologizes as the biblical verse, Make thee two trumpets of silver, of a whole piece shall thou make them (46). According to his explanatory definition, the same mythological image infers Lefvres male-female Coincidence of Opposites: The Hebrew word for trumpets

8 Hatzotzerot is interpreted as Hatzi-Tzurah namely half of the form, which together, since they are two halves, create a perfect form (46). Through the mythopoesis of virgin bride and bridegroom, Idel explains that as Israel ascends to the Holy One by degrees, experiencing always a new union, the pleasure in the process is more important than attainment of the goals. He ties all of the mythopoetic as if scenarios to Neoplatonism. While in Neo-Aristotelian language, Imagination ascends beyond itself to the supernal source, actualizing Intellect, until he merits that the spirit rest upon him (50-3). Lefvres phenomenological ladder ascends from Imagination, to Reason, to Intellect. And Intellect is equated with Intuition of the supernal mind. Idel explains further that this ascent in the supernal world is part of the mystical-magical model. Most importantly, is that it is not a rare experience, but is practiced daily by the Kabbalist. The ascendent Kabbalist triggers the descent of the influx and serves as pipeline for its transmission into the world (48). The Neoplatonic concept of the cosmic soul was also adapted by Jewish Kabbalists into the mundane Jerusalem (human soul, center of the lower world) and the supernal Jerusalem (cosmic soul, center of the spiritual world) (Idel 176). Lefvre delineates the inferior terrestrial numbers of the body and the Superior celestial numbers of the soul, forming the first binary relationship: the first [number] is therefore the binary. This binary, which embodies the primal exilic metaphor of the Fall, he unites mythologically by means of the mountain of the binary (synonymous with the axis mundi or Pillar). The first binary contains within it all other numbers (Evans Ch. 7 II:68-9, f. 207-208v). Idels mysticalmagical model is thus embodied in Book II as an elliptical continuum with a heavenly center and an earthly center, but an ellipsoid that perpetually weaves itself along the knots, nexus and chains, or Idels the ladder of the ascensions, out of the spherically centered love-nexus (Evans Ch. 4 II:57, f. 202v; Idel 170).

9 In Epsteins analysis, she concurs with my interpretation of the cosmic tree as anthropomorphic, representing mans nervous system joining Heaven and Earth, and the ascension of mans Spirit through the internal spheres back up to God (69-72). Idel likens the practical function of the tzaddiq in Hasidism to that of the primal shaman, in that the shaman plays a dual role of sacred and social, and through ritual mediation with the sacred heals society as a collective patient. Presenting examples throughout his book of the paradox that is duality the bifurcation that Flaxman enjoins us to unifyIdel also directly challenges Academia to recognize the connection between the realms of sacred and social in future studies of the shamans and magicians (154). My answer to Flaxmans challenge regarding the Intellectuals role in our global society is that our Academic community needs to embrace the phenomenon of teacher as shamanic Pillar, embodiment of, and transmitter of, the esoteric tradition, unifying social with spiritual in our world today.

10 Works Cited Epstein, Perle. Kabbalah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic. Fwd. Edward Hoffman. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1978. Idel, Moshe. Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism: Pillars, Lines, Ladders. Pasts Incorporated CEU Studies in the Humanities. Eds. Sorin Antohi and Laszlo Kontler. Vol. 2. New York: CEU P, 2005. Lefvre dtaples, Jacques. De Magia naturali. Alternative for Jacobi fabri Stapulensis. Magici naturalis. POKM0145-a, POKM0145-b. Olomouc ms. MI 119. Columbia Rare Book & Manuscript Lib., New York. Perseus Latin Dictionary. Perseus Project. Tufts U. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi- bin/resolveform?lang=Latin Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni. On the Dignity of Man, On Being and the One, Heptaplus. Trans. Charles Glenn Wallis, Paul J. W. Miller and Douglas Carmichael. Cambridge, Mass: Hackett Publishing Co., Inc., 1998. Reuchlin, Johannes. On the Art of the Kabbalah: De Arte Cabalistica. Trans. Martin and Sarah Goodman. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1994.