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.

Alberti and Ficino

Alberti and Ficino

by John Hendrix

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:	Texas, United 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

Visionary Architecture

Champoux’s dissertation, “Visionary Architecture: Monastic Magic and Cognition in John of Morigny’s ‘Liber florum,’” is concerned with the 14th-century Benedictine monk who participated in ritual magic and had visionary experiences. Besides being fascinating reading, John’s text, says Champoux, has altered the study and classification of medieval religions.

“Through a detailed examination of John’s visions and the historical context in which they were written, I argue that magic unsettled medieval theological boundaries and imbued John with a degree of creative license that forced theological interventions from his more orthodox peers,” says Champoux.

Patricia Miller, Champoux’s adviser, says this kind of research is rooted in the latter-day work of Hélène Cixous—specifically, her concept of “productive exile”—and of Michel Foucault, whose study of utopias and heterotopias has changed our understanding of space and time. Miller also points out that Champoux’s research rocks the fractious scholarly field of magic at its “conceptual and definitional core.”

“She is intellectually bold to enter into these discussions,” says Miller, who serves as the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion. “I think her approach—which emphasizes the idea of what magic does, intellectually, rather than what it is—will make a real contribution toward de-essentializing this topic and enabling its study as a legitimate expression of religion.”

http://www.syr.edu/news/articles/2011/dissertation-fellows-08-11.html

Giordano Bruno's Key of Transmutation

Renaissance Scholars and Their Demons - Ficino lecture

Society for Neo-Latin Studies: Annual Lecture
November 16th, 5 p.m., University College London
Dr Maude Vanhaelen (University of Warwick)
Renaissance scholars and their demons:
on Ficino and Iamblichus’ De Mysteriis

In 1486, Ficino suddenly interrupts his commentary on Plotinus’ Enneads and devotes three years to the translation of other Neoplatonic texts related to some of the most delicate doctrines of the time: pagan demonology, divination through dreams and theurgy. This paper examines the circumstances surrounding the production of these texts, and explores the ways in which they modify ancient and medieval doctrines of prophecy and divination. It also offers an overview of the immediate reception of Ficino’s translations: it shows that a network of humanists nourished a special interest in the doctrines revived by Ficino, prompting Savonarola to mount virulent attacks against his contemporaries’ revival of the pagan cult to malevolent ‘spirits’.



The lecture will take place in the Chadwick Building (G08), University College London, on Gower Street WC1E 6BT (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/find-us/

).

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Bruno's "Renaissance Dream of Knowledge" in England

The Renaissance Drama of Knowledge

Giordano Bruno in England

 

By Hilary Gatti

Giordano Bruno’s visit to Elizabethan England in the 1580s left its imprint on many fields of contemporary culture, ranging from the newly-developing science, the philosophy of knowledge and language, to the extraordinary flowering of Elizabethan poetry and drama.
This book explores Bruno's influence on English figures as different as the ninth Earl of Northumberland, Thomas Harriot, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. Originally published in 1989, it is of interest to students and teachers of history of ideas, cultural history, European drama and renaissance England.

Bruno's work had particular power and emphasis in the modern world due to his response to the cultural crisis which had developed - his impulse towards a new ‘faculty of knowing’ had a disruptive effect on existing orthodoxies – religious, scientific, philosophical, and political.

abstract from the publisher's website