Alchemical Emblems, Occult Diagrams, and Memory Arts

Furnace and Fugue has dropped, at long last!

2020-09-01T10:51:00.001-07:00

I'm super excited about this dope new digital edition of Atalanta Fugiens, which loyal readers of this blog will remember was a major haunt from the beginning and the theme of a grad school class in alchemical imagery that I taught at Starr King in Berkeley way back in 2005. I got to talk about Atalanta Fugiens with Joscelyn Godwin over beers at my first academic conference with the Association for the Study of Esotericism, and met lead scholar on the Furnace and Fugue Tara Nummedal at my first alchemy conference with the Chemical Heritage Foundation a year later in Philadelphia, where I got to handle a 17th century copy of the emblem book. So you can imagine my excitement to see this major interdisciplinary project, which brought together historians of science specializing in alchemy with musicologists and manuscript experts in order to pioneer new methods for digitally curating an edition, finally drop.

https://furnaceandfugue.org/

Tarot Method for Teachers, or How to Do Things with Signals.

2020-09-01T10:44:00.002-07:00

As a method of divination the Tarot combines a mechanical combinatorial (and architectural) "art of memory" technology with a set of esoteric symbols. Each card is considered a signal from the Book of Thoth and Kabbalah. This technology and knowledge base can be a resource for reflecting on a teacher's theory and practice when "the rubber hits the road." Positions in the layout and the meanings of cards become a structure for analyzing the emergent situation as teaching encounters student needs.

The Wand represents the Will in classical Tarot which intersects with many of the teacher's concerns not only about the engagement and discipline of students but also the teacher's leadership skills and voice of authority. The teacher has a natural motivation to earn student trust.

The Cup indicates an esoteric seeker's emotional capacity to undergo the rigors of initiation. A teacher must get a barometer reading of their mood and how it affects their practice. This can also symbolize the teacher's interest in deepening the understanding of their students.

The Sword stands for the capacity of the intellect to make discernments, its cutting power said to be able to destroy ideas or preconceived patterns of thinking. The teacher must use this Sword to adapt their lesson plan in the face of the emergent situation in the classroom.

The Disk (or Pentacle) in classical Tarot represents the Book of the magician's aspiration in which are written ritual formulas and talismans. The teacher relies on experience as the basis of their knowledge and must inscribe this Disk with their lesson plans and basic values.

When the Court Cards show up in a reading it could indicate the presence of a person, or an aspect of ones personality. They have elemental attributions so the Queen of Wands represents the watery part of fire, which could indicate a personality both zesty and emotional. So when a Court Card comes up in a reading the teacher might consider whose personalities are on their mind and which could be matched to the situation unfolding in the layout. The elemental attributions give much to consider in terms of "dignity" relationships with nearby cards.

The Trumps, on the other hand, when found in a traditional Tarot reading can indicate forces beyond the control of the querent, or deeply rooted archetypal dimensions of the personality. To a teacher they might represent disciplinary "big questions," institutional forces, parental impacts.

Call for Submissions: Rituals and Rites Exhibition

2018-11-27T13:29:00.002-08:00

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Last chance to apply to Rituals and Rites exhibition!

Don't miss the chance to explore new perspectives on how supernatural powers, part of the mythologies and folklore, of multiple cultures and cosmogonies, can be used today as a tool to examine “human nature” cross-cultural contexts as well as investigating the societal, evolutionary and psychological significance of ritual and rites process and form with regard to understanding what constitutes ‘human nature’ today.

Deadline to apply: 25th November

For any inquiries please email: chiara@artcoreuk.com

LAUNCH EVENT

Rituals and Rites exhibition launch

13th December 6-8pm at Artcore

Artcore warmly invite you to Ritual and Rites exhibition launch.

Rituals and Rites aims to explore new perspectives on how supernatural powers, part of the mythologies and folklore, of multiple cultures and cosmogonies, can be used today as a tool to examine “human nature” cross-cultural contexts as well as investigating the societal, evolutionary and psychological significance of ritual and rites process and form with regard to understanding what constitutes ‘human nature’ today.

The exhibition features works by artists who are examining the key categories of magico-religious belief and practice used by anthropologists (including myth, ritual, witchcraft and shamanism), as well as surveying theories regarding the continued importance of ritual and rites in a contemporary, globalised world with regard to topics such identity, shamanism, new magic and folklore.

Rituals and Rites encourages originality and challenges the norms with regard to the way we approach this topic as well as engaging critically with the way that we think about contemporary rituals and cultural difference, and to reflect on the kinds of cultural biases that we all employ when thinking about social, cultural or ethnic groups different to our own.

Come to join us to see innovative and critically informed works exhibiting for the first time in Artcore gallery.

Free
Thursday 13th November, 6-8pm
Book now at https://bit.ly/2FCzMl8.

For more information about the venue, please go to http://www.artcoreuk.com/

CFP: Alchemy in Sound and Nature

2018-11-13T17:30:00.001-08:00

In a Strange Garden-Alchemy in Sound and Nature

National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth 15/16^th March 2019

Call for Papers, pieces and performers: Deadline 20^th December 2018

In a Strange Garden comprises a one-day symposium, exhibition of rare alchemical texts and an experimental electronic music concert (Friday March 15^th) and concert (Saturday March 16^th) for artists and researchers of any or no affiliation, early career and practice-based researchers, sound artists, musicians and composers.

This is the second symposium of alchemy in sound art organised by Listen to the Voice of Fire and is looking for alchemically infused sound art investigations of Nature. You may take a very wide latitude of how you interpret this. Theoretical, practical, historical and exploratory approaches rooted in, inspired by textual specificity are welcome as are more general overall approaches inspired and motivated by alchemy (or more accurately, hermeticism).

In a Strange Garden seeks to generate approaches, musical ideas and discussion around these themes with view to developing an audio/text later in the year.

Themes of interest include and are not restricted to:

Historic and contemporary approaches to Sonic Mysticism
Sound, alchemy and psychogeography
Sound art and compositional responses to The Emerald Tablet
Alchemy and soundscape ecologies.
Alchemy in text/emblem/nature, sonification, algorithm and interactivity

Talks should be up to 20 minutes duration

Performances or fixed media (presented in person) can be up to 20 minutes duration

Proposals for experimental electronic performance are sought for concert held on the evening of Friday 15^th March at National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth

Indicative approaches: Cybernetics, Sound art, noise, soundscape, field recordings, data bending, psyche/drone, electroacoustic, no input mixing board, electronics including novel/hybrid/hacked instruments and /or new musical interfaces

Technical Details

Laptop/usb PowerPoint is available should you need it, please ensure you have the right connectors, PowerPoint is not obligatory.

Performers will have access to a small mixer and 2 channel active speakers and should ensure they bring all leads and peripherals.

Submission Details

Proposals for papers and presentations should be made by emailing 1 pdf document of your proposal, name, email contact, affiliation if appropriate and ensure you include active links to your music pages, duration of your performance/piece. Please indicate if you wish to present during the day and or the concert on Friday 15^th March.

Concert performance pieces of 15-20 minutes duration are welcome (please specify).

Email submission to: dir [at] aber.ac.uk

Please use the email subject: SOUND

Deadline for submission is 20^th December 2018

All confirmed performers/presentations must be made in person. This is a non-affiliated project, and not in receipt of any public funding. LVOF is not in a position to pay artists’ fees or make contributions to travel expenses.

Call for Papers: Apparitions and Revolutions

2017-09-19T21:31:00.002-07:00

The Department of Historical Studies at the University of Turin is issuing a call for
papers for a conference on “Apparitions and revolutions: The public use of
hierophanies in political and social transformations from late antiquity to contemporary
times” to be held in Turin on 7-9 November 2018. The intent is to ascertain, in a very
broad geographical (Europe and elsewhere) and chronological context (Late Antiquity
– the 20th century), if and how revolutions have been accompanied by hierophanic
phenomena (Mariophanies, christophanies, hagiophanies...). In this case revolution is
understood as any political, social, economic, cultural or religious transformation that
has profound and lasting consequences on the historical context in which it took place.
Naturally, we do not intend to make a catalog of apparitions (individual or collective)
associated with moments of rupture in the established order; rather, the idea is to draw
on significant case studies to grasp the forms, times and dynamics characterizing the
public use of hierophanies occurring in different geographic and political spaces. With
this in mind, the conference welcomes contributions ranging from political and
religious history to cultural studies and the history of ways of thinking. Proposals
displaying particularly broad analytical approaches (in terms of both chronology and
geography) will be given priority.
Proposals must be between 1,000 and 2,000 characters, to be presented in Italian,
French, English or Spanish, and accompanied by the applicant’s CV; they will be
assessed by the Scientific Committee. The texts of the articles for presentation at the
conference must be submitted for publication by 31 January 2019, without exception.
Expenses associated with participation in the conference are to be covered by the
applicants; upon request, the conference organizers reserve the right to possibly cover
accommodation costs for specifically junior researchers during their stay in Turin.
The deadline for proposal submissions (please send to paolo.cozzo@unito.it
with the subject “Apparitions and revolutions”) is 31 December 2017.

Call for Papers on Tarot and Divination, Literature

2017-09-09T13:42:00.001-07:00

Tarot and Other Methods of Divination
All Proposals & Abstracts Must Be Submitted Through The PCA Database.
Please submit a proposal to only one area at a time. Exceptions and rules

CALL FOR PAPERS

The “Tarot and Other Methods of Divination” area is open to proposals for papers on a diverse range of divination methods: astrology, I Ching, runes, tarot, etc. Approaches may include the biographical, historical, and theoretical, as well as the analysis of professional practice and of representations in literature (poetry, prose, drama), visual art (painting, sculpture, tarot cards, comics, graphic novels), film, television, games, etc.

In addition, I am looking for participants in the following 2018 sessions:

Divination Themes in Literature.
Note: Authors of papers that specifically address divination themes in mythopoeic literature are invited to submit their work to Mythlore.

“Spirit Communication: Facets and Fictions” Session participants are invited to share their research on tools and representations of tools in the arts (visual, literature, film, comics, etc.) that are used to facilitate communication with the spirit world for magical purposes, for contact with or information about the deceased, or other purposes. Such tools may be modern or historical and may include, but are not limited to, crystal balls, Ouija boards, pendulums, planchettes, mechanical devices, etc. Research focused on the materiality of three-dimensional tools and their functional and ritual operations in relation to the spirit realm is particularly welcome. Session proposal and chair: Cynthia Hogan, PhD, Ithaca College.

All conference participants should be prepared to present their work as scholarly research and/or for the benefit of an interested audience of academics.

Abstracts and proposals due no later than Oct. 1, 2017

Submissions should be made online at http://ncp.pcaaca.org. You can find detailed instructions for doing so here and should include your CV, short biography (100-150 words), and abstract (100-250 words).

For general information about the conference, see this website. I have also posted a frequently-asked-questions page on my website with additional recommendations pertinent to the area. Please feel free to contact me if you have other questions or would like to discuss your presentation.

Emily E. Auger, PhD
Independent Scholar
Website: http://emilyeauger.weebly.com/index.html
Email: augeremily@gmail.com

Nice introduction to William Blake's debt to Swedenborg

2017-05-25T05:37:00.003-07:00

http://css.gtu.edu/william-blake-glances-on-his-engagement-with-the-theosophy-of-emanuel-swedenborg/

“The coincidence is not a trivial one. Of all modern men the engraver’s apprentice was to grow up the likest to Emanuel Swedenborg; already by constitutional temperament and endowment was so: in faculty for theosophic dreaming, for the seeing of visions while broad awake, and in matter of fact hold of spiritual things. To savant and to artist alike, while yet on earth, the Heavens were opened.” (Life of William Blake, Alexander Gilchrist, p. 15)

Prometheus Trust Conference: “Deep Philosophy, Deep Ecology”

2017-01-21T16:09:00.002-08:00

PROMETHEUS TRUST TWELFTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

TO BE HELD ON 7-9 JULY 2017

AT PURLEY CHASE CENTRE, MANCETTER, WARWICKSHIRE CV9 2RQ

“Deep Philosophy, Deep Ecology”

Philosophy in the west – especially in its English-speaking part – has been considered an isolated and private venture, with little influence upon the way in which societies conduct themselves: like Earth itself in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, its description hovers between “harmless” and “mostly harmless”. But is this really the case? Can we trace today’s ecological crisis to the philosophy (or philosophies) adopted consciously or unconsciously in recent centuries? Perhaps the errors embedded within it are now revealed as very far from harmless – in fact a flawed philosophy may be the most toxic thing known to humankind.

Deep ecology – the view that solutions to the ecological crisis are to be found in a radical revision of humankind’s understanding of itself, the world in which it lives, and their mutual relation – has much to be commended. Deep ecologists argue that superficial changes in patterns of consumption while we retain an underlying view that we are set apart as the active and rational rulers and consumers of an irrational and passive world of materiality will not solve our ecological crisis.

But if we are to reject an inadequate philosophical worldview, how are we to find a better and more truthful one? Can we find a philosophy from which a truly wide-ranging justice can emerge? Perhaps we must wipe the philosophical slate clean and start again from the very beginning, or perhaps we may find in neglected philosophies from our past the key to the righting of relations between ourselves and the rest of reality. This is a challenge we cannot ignore without the gravest consequences to ourselves and our fellow companions on Earth. But although the task is great, the rewards of success are also great: it may be that a philosophy which addresses the needs of deep ecology will also contribute to the solution of other more purely human problems which now press upon us.

This notice represents a call for papers and presentations on this theme from all those interested in the subject, from whatever background or discipline – academic and non-academic, specialist and non-specialist.

Abstracts should be no more than 300 words and should be sent to conference@prometheustrust.co.uk at the latest by Friday, 7 April 2017. Acceptance of these will be confirmed as quickly as possible.

Papers should be around 2500-3000 words or 20 minutes’ presentation (we usually allow a further 15-20 minutes for a question and answer session after each presentation).

Bookings should be received by us not later than Saturday, 29 April 2017.

The Trustees are delighted to announce that the Thomas Taylor Lecture will be given by Professor Kevin Corrigan. The keynote speaker is yet to be arranged.

The formal conference begins with a keynote address on the Friday evening (the 7th) but we hope to arrange a "round table" day on the Friday for those able to attend - and overnight accommodation will be available on the Thursday 6th. A round table day will, we hope, enable those who would like to make a contribution to the general discussion to do so without going through the process of producing a formal paper. Do write and tell us if this is of interest to you.

CFP: Otherwise than the Binary: Towards Feminist Reading of Ancient Greek Philosophy, Magic and Mystery Traditions

2016-10-15T17:23:00.002-07:00

A now common critique of the Western philosophical tradition is that it harbors an inherent sexism wherein “universal reason” is far from neutral but is, rather, positively viewed as masculine, setting itself over against the feminine domain of unreason, madness and mystery. Theorists like Genevieve Lloyd have argued that Greek modes of thought, particularly Pythagorean and Platonic, insofar as they appear to privilege identity over difference, the Limit over the Unlimited, the One over the Many, logos over pathos, the intelligible over the bodily, etc., all harbor and reinforce a gendered hierarchy. To be sure, the overall goal of this volume will be to examine whether or not the Greek worldview neatly falls within this “phallologocentric” tradition. Are there ways of thinking antiquity differently, namely, as a expounding and celebrating philosophies of difference and possibly complementary to feminism's concern with the overcoming of traditional and patriarchal metaphysics?

Despite the tradition of representing Greeks as a world of sober rationality, scholars like Dodds, Rohde, Onians, Vernant, and Detienne challenged this model by emphasizing the 'irrational' aspects of Ancient Greek thought and practice. For example, Parmenides, a philosopher who is lauded as the ‘father of logic’ expresses his philosophy in an esoteric poem that describes his experience in meeting a goddess. Socrates, in the Phaedrus, praises love as a kind of divine madness. In recent years, issues of gender in the Ancient Greek world are of crucial significance to our understanding of the culture of the time, providing necessary context for our reception of core philosophical texts. The work of feminist pioneers in classics, such as Nicole Loraux and Froma Zeitlin, has sparked a continuing discussion of how gender constructions in the Ancient Greek world shaped the philosophical ideas that continue to persist in our contemporary philosophical discussions.

We invite analyses on topics that engage with Greek philosophy, magic, mystery traditions in relationship to questioning the classical representations of gender, where it often falls on a neat binary in which the masculine is privileged. The final volume will be designed to reflect as many different topics as possible, including but not limited to: Pythagorean tradition, sacred geometry, Platonism, Neoplatonists such as Plotinus and Iamblichus, mystery traditions and rituals such as the Thesmophoria and other Ancient Greek festivals, Theurgy, The Eleusinian Mysteries, Dionysian practices, divination, curse tablets, sorcery, Orphic traditions, Presocratics such as Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Empedocles, Hekate, and the magical papyri.

Please send a 300-500 word abstract to layne@gonzaga.edu by February 1, 2017.

Include your name, affiliation, and a brief biography in the accompanying email. If your abstract is accepted, finished articles will be due by Nov. 15, 2017.

Please direct any inquiries about the project to the editors at their institutional addresses, provided below.

Dr. Danielle A. Layne, Philosophy Department, Gonzaga University, layne@gonzaga.edu
Dr. Jessica Elbert Decker, Philosophy Department, CSU San Marcos, jmayock@csusm.edu

Bibliography of Great Women Scholars (for Cameo)

2016-05-02T12:02:00.001-07:00

Great Women Scholars of Alchemy, Magic, and Esotericism

Frances Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition
Allison Coudert, Religion, Magic, and Science in Early Modern Europe and America
Hillary Gatti, Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science
Deborah Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature
Pamela Smith, The Body of the Artisan
Claire Fanger, Conjuring Spirits + Invoking Angels
Margaret Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans
Marsha Keith Schuchard, Emanuel Swedenborg, Secret Agent on Earth and in Heaven
Paula Findlen, Possessing Nature
Tara Nummedal, Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire
Jenny Rampling (editor of Ambix, papers at academia.edu)
Anke Timmermann, Verse and Transmutation: A Corpus of Middle English Alchemical Poetry
Meredith K. Ray, Daughters of Alchemy
Sara Abel Rappe, Reading Neoplatonism
Ruth Majercik, The Chaldaean Oracles
Sienna Latham (MA thesis on women alchemists)
Sasha Chaitow (MA thesis on Atalanta Fugiens)
Emma Clark (et al.) Iamblichus, De Mysteriis
Sarah Klitenic Wear (with John Dillon), Dionysius the Areopagite and the Neoplatonist Tradition
Pauliina Remes, Neoplatonism
Rebecca Lesses, Ritual Practices to Gain Power
Naomi Janowitz, Icons of Power

Upcoming Conferences Dealing with Esotericism

2016-02-02T02:36:00.003-08:00

Association For the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism, Eighth International Conference -- Mystic and Esoteric Movements in Theory and Practice: Mysticism and Esotericism in the World of Technologies

Association for the Study of Esotericism Call For Papers For Our Sixth International Conference Cartographies of the Soul

Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult

Trans- States: The art of crossing over

Rocky Mountain Alchemy Conference

Scientiae: Disciplines of Knowing in the Early Modern World

Magical Cutup/Collages

2016-01-21T02:48:00.000-08:00

Arabic Occult Manuscripts and Ars Notoria sive flores aurei

2016-01-20T21:29:00.003-08:00

Dank Alchemical / Occult / Esoteric Memes

2015-10-04T13:11:00.001-07:00

Dank Bands / Musical Memes

2015-10-04T12:49:00.001-07:00

McLuhan Matrix

2015-09-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Zardoz Matrix

2015-09-14T13:50:00.001-07:00

Martha Nussbaum Memes -- Do Not Despise Your Inner Life

2015-09-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

Tarot of "Still Does Her Job" -- 22 Major Arcana

2015-09-12T22:04:00.001-07:00

Memes for #DailyDune #Dunesbury

2015-09-09T00:28:00.001-07:00

Meme Madness for #StillsuitSunday

2015-08-31T00:41:00.002-07:00

RIP Wes Craven -- movie poster parody tribute memes, quotes

2015-08-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

(The following quotes and memes are not my work.)

Esoteric Meme Experiments: silly, sexy, psychedelic and sad

2015-08-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

Screenshots from my magical Livejournal GDorn, 2003-2005

2015-08-09T01:23:00.002-07:00

Ancient, Medieval, Alchemical, and Video Game Dragons

2015-07-27T19:03:00.000-07:00