Monday, December 17, 2012

abstract from a paper on the Kabbalah of Rosenroth


"Dans le cadre de l’étude de la circulation des modèles et des savoirs en Europe, nous proposons de nous attacher ici à la figure de l’adam kadmon, littéralement « homme primordial », telle qu’elle apparaît dans la Kabbala denudata de Knorr de Rosenroth, à ses caractéristiques et au rôle qu’elle joue au sein du système mis en place par l’auteur. Œuvre composée dans le dernier quart du 17e siècle par le mystique et hébraïste allemand Christian Knorr de Rosenroth, la Kabbala denudata constitue, selon nous, une véritable charnière au sein du mouvement de la kabbale chrétienne et, plus largement, dans l’histoire de la spiritualité européenne. Publiée en 1677, l’œuvre est postérieure à la kabbale chrétienne classique et ouvre la voie à la reformulation de ses principes par l’ésotérisme moderne naissant.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Call For Papers - Celestial Magic

University of Wales Trinity Saint David
The Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture,
School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology
http://www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk/en/sophia/

Eleventh Annual Sophia Centre Conference
Second Call for Papers

'CELESTIAL MAGIC'

22-23 June 2013
Venue: Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, Bath, England

Keynote speakers

Prof. Peter Forshaw, Universitair Docent (Senior Lecturer/Assistant
Professor) for the History of Western Esotericism in the Early Modern Period
at the Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents,
University of Amsterdam.

Prof. Elliot R. Wolfson, Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic
Studies, New York University.


Conference Chairs
Dr Nicholas Campion, University of Wales Trinity Saint David,
n.campion@tsd.ac.uk
Dr Liz Greene, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and the University of
Bristol. l.greene@tsd.ac.uk

Conference Theme
Magic, loosely defined, is the attempt to engage with the world through the
imagination or psyche, in order to obtain some form of knowledge, benefit or
advantage. Celestial magic engages with the cosmos through stellar,
planetary or celestial symbolism, influences or intelligences. This academic
conference will explore the history, philosophy and practice of celestial
magic in past or present societies.
Topics may include:
Astronomy and magic in literature
Astral magic in the ancient world
Anthropological theory and astral magic
The use of astrology by magical societies
Astral divination and magic
Magical theory as a rational for astrology

The conference organisers invite proposals for papers of 30 minutes which
may deal with text, imagery, practice or theory. We welcome proposals on any
time period or culture. The deadline for submissions is 31 December 2012.

Please include an abstract of c. 150 words and a biography of c 100 words,
in the same document.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Alberti and Ficino

Leon Battista Alberti and Marsilio Ficino, though separated by twenty-nine years in age, had a close relationship as mentor and pupil. Concepts which can be found in Alberti's De Pictura (1435) and De Re Aedificatoria (1450) are infused in Ficino's De Amore (1469). The concepts include Alberti's theories of armonia, lineamenti, concinnitas, ornamento, and the pyramid of light in the theory of vision. In both Alberti and Ficino, harmonies shared by the body and music are manifestations of the harmonies of the soul. Beauty in body and matter is determined by beauty in mind (mens), that part of mind directed toward intellectus divinus, and beauty is made manifest in mind by the lineamenti, the lines in the mind which are distinguished from matter. Beauty is the internal perfection of the intellectus divinus, which is the good, which is a perfect harmony called concinnitas. Ornament is not beauty, but rather a physical complement to beauty. http://www.academia.edu/2223434/Alberti_and_Ficino

Call For Papers: Grimoires at UT Austin

"Text, Context, and Non-Text: Grimoires and Ritual Magic in culture, literature, and art."
Location: TexasUnited States
Call for Papers Date:2013-01-15
Date Submitted:2012-11-29
Announcement ID:199149
Text, Context, and Non-Text: Grimoires in Central Europe
April 5th and 6th 2013
The University of Texas at Austin
Conference sponsored by
the Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies,
the Texas Chair for Czech Studies,
and the Departments of History,
Germanic Studies, and Religious Studies
This conference is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of a large corpus of magic texts that figure prominently in the cultural and intellectual history of Europe. Its focus will be grimoires, real or imagined, whose legacy has reverberated throughout European culture in the form of folktales, literature (Faust, for example), and graphic art down to the present, at times being among the few treasured possessions brought to the New World.
Abstracts are requested that address any facet of this cultural legacy, in any country and in any era:
· TEXT refers to the content of the grimoire, its images and words, and issues arising from these directly--analysis of meaning, new manuscript finds, translations, etc.
· CONTEXT refers to the total situation in which the grimoire exists, with a view to politics, arts and letters, religion, folklore, etc.
· NON-TEXT refers to any situation in which the grimoire as object or as idea is more central than its content--the evocative indecipherability of existing grimoires, the grimoire as an emblem, key, or symbol, etc.
Abstracts for twenty-minute conference presentations from any discipline will be considered. Please send the abstract as part of an email to: textcontextnontext@gmail.com. Abstracts should be no more than 500 words long and accompanied by a brief (250 word) biography suitable for an introduction at the conference. The conference language is English. All abstracts should be submitted by December 15th (Jan 15th extended deadline.)
We look forward to welcoming a variety of exciting keynote speakers from Central Europe:
Prof. em. Leander Petzoldt of the University of Innsbruck, author of numerous books and collections of folklore, including Magie: Weltbild, Praktiken, Rituale (Magic: World View, Practices, Rituals)
Dr. Susanne Hose of the Sorbian Institute in Bautzen, Germany, author of numerous works on the motifs of magic and magicians (such as Krabat) in the folklore of Lusatia.
Jason Roberts
Email: textcontextnontext@gmail.com