Why study Renaissance Magic?
01. Importance of magic to Renaissance culture and literature.
02. Unsolved problems of intellectual history.
03. Religious dimension of magical and anti-magical discourse.
04. Magical texts as objects of study, evidence for occult literary cultures.
05. Literary theory interest in magical modes of signification.
06. Philosophical/theological interest in Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, etc.
07. Reconstructing magical worldview for contemporary occultist or entertainment purposes.
08. Ethical and Social Justice angles--examining marginalization of magic.
09. History of Law--witchcraft and systems of evidence, ancient roman laws against magic.
10. History of Science--alchemy and ancient metallurgy, development of experimental methods, weight and measure, matter theory.
11. Theorizing religion, magic, and science.
12. Compelling material, oft-neglected, for a historical novel, film, or RPG.
It s the first time I come across this image. I did a comprehensive study of the talismans of Paracelsus in occult literature, but this certainly escaped my scrutiny. Can zou please provide a source for it?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I found it while searching with Google image so I don't know what text it comes from. If you do discover a source please let us know! I'd love to hear more about your study of Paracelsian talismans--want to do a guest post?
ReplyDeleteThe engraving is from a German encyclopaedia known as Bilder Atlas (F.A. Brockhaus, Germany, 1895).
ReplyDeleteFrom this website: http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/300945/view