History of Occultism (IV). The High Renaissance

01/08/2024

In the previous article, History of Occultism III. The Early Renaissance, we saw the giant leap forward that the Renaissance represented in the occult arts, and also in its confrontation with the Christian religion. The contrast with the Middle Ages is notable in all cultural aspects. Now we will look at the Cinquecento, the period of the Renaissance in which esoteric and philosophical ideas were sufficiently widespread to allow the development of products that were not introductory, but rather fully based on previous knowledge to create works imbued with messages that could be interpreted more openly.

It is also a time of religious and scientific confrontations, which nourish esoteric minds as a midpoint between faith and reality.

Art and Esotericism in the High Renaissance

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

Known for the overwhelming symbolism of his prints, such as the well-known series of prints about the Apocalypse, his esoteric work is "Melancholia." In it, a human angel contemplates the stars in frustration, while a "putto" or Cupid scribbles on a mill wheel beside him, and a greyhound sits at his feet. Behind the angel is a magic square whose nine numbers always add up to the same result: 34, which has been interpreted as the death of his mother on April 3, since the last row of that square also shows the year of her death: 15-14. In the background, we see a rather desolate landscape.

The most daring have attempted to identify the symbols of the compass, the square, the ball, etc., with Masonic iconography, although the Freemasons would emerge more than a century later. It seems more like an apology for Neoplatonic studies, achieving absolute knowledge through mathematics. Furthermore, "melancholy" in his time was not sadness; it was one of the four "humors" of human beings, which in turn was esoterically related to various elements that appear in the engraving, for example Saturn, a tortuous planet influential on artists.

Michelangelo Buonarrotti (1475-1564)

He needs no introduction: architect, sculptor, painter, and model artist for all of Florence and all of Renaissance Italy, he was a great connoisseur of iconography and symbolism. Through his relationships with the Medici and the Vatican, all of which had their ups and downs, he managed to create works that remain spectacular to this day. But in addition, due to the influence of his time or personal interest, there are multiple esoteric references in his works. Let's skip over the silhouette of the brain-God of Creation, or the negative skull that makes up the Apocalypse fresco. These are much more discreet and at the same time obvious. For example, in the Pietà, Jesus has an extra fang, as a symbol of humanity's imperfection and sins, or the appearance of the Sibyls of Cumae and Delphi in the Sistine Chapel. In this space, a study has also been recently conducted that could demonstrate that, through biblical figures, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are being represented, and therefore, a second Kabbalistic meaning for each of the scenes. More cloaks and postures have also been found, like those of the God of Creation, which would represent other organs of the human body: the kidneys, the spinal cord... and therefore, the entire work would be a human body, or, in other words, a representation of God. However, there are still more mysteries awaiting analysis: obscene gestures among the angels, twisted postures considered "strange" for someone who did not want to be a painter, but a sculptor, and precisely for this reason, a genius of anatomy.

On the other hand, we find philosophy and religion, as well as science, clashing in subtle and metaphorical ways, for example through Creation in the separation of light and darkness. The final point, the Last Judgment, breaks with the aesthetic of the shining, bearded Christ, but the most noteworthy detail is the direct, human presence of Christ, without the intervention of the Church, and with a group of Jews among the "righteous" who have been saved. It is known that Michelangelo was interested in the doctrine of Spiritualism, which stated that one could contact God without the need for intermediaries. Given his poor relationship with the Vatican, it is not surprising that he decided to design the Chapel to his own taste and interpretation, and not that of those who commissioned it.

The Dream of Polifilo (1499)

Continuing with symbolism, we find the work The Dream of Polifilo, attributed to the Dominican Francesco Colonna (1433-1527). It is a book with 168 woodcuts filled with hidden messages, which narrates how Polifilo undertakes a clearly initiatory journey (accompanied by nymphs, passing through forests and through the gates of dreams) to the fountain of Venus to find love and reconcile with Polia, who had rejected him and continues to reject him again, only kissing him when Cupid and Venus appear. At this moment, in the throes of happiness, Polifilo awakens.

For many, it is a unique humanistic work; for others, an extremely convoluted esoteric work. It was discovered that each initial letter of the chapter formed the phrase "Poliam frater Franciscus Columna peramavit" (Brother Francesco Colonna loves Polia passionately). The most superficial messages are those that have had the greatest impact, and, for example, some of its allegories appear in the emblems on the facade of the courtyard of the University of Salamanca.

The influence of this work has transcended its own time, having been studied by many learned individuals, most notably Carl Jung, who believed he identified several of his dream archetypes in it.

Esoteric Philosophy of the High Renaissance

Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim.

With his work Occult Philosophy, Agrippa (1486-1535) brought together the vast majority of existing Renaissance ideas about magic and its workings, although he also contributed his own ideas. However, the influence of Ficino is very noticeable. The work is divided into three parts: Natural or Physical Magic; Celestial or Mathematical Magic; and Ceremonial or Theological Magic.

For him, everything is imbued with soul (the stars, animals, plants, minerals, etc.), a hidden power from which magical phenomena originate; and therefore the existence of a hierarchy is necessary. Understanding the relationships of subordination and dominance, and those of attraction and rejection, allows for the manipulation of these souls to obtain new materials on a physical level (alchemy), and on a spiritual level, to obtain help and intercede from hidden spirits. The medical and magical applications of plants and minerals derive from celestial and divine influences.

He also wrote a work on occult numerology, where he analyzes and expounds on numerology and symbolism through the Hebrew Kabbalah and Pythagorean theories. Regarding natural hierarchies, he also addressed matters of demonology, understanding that demons are subordinate to God but freely affect human beings.

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600)

Giordano Bruno is the principal Renaissance martyr. His revolutionary ideas alerted the ecclesiastical authorities: first, he believed in the existence of several worlds and life on several planets, something that isn't so surprising today, but at the time was a complete attack on the ideas of Creation. He also believed that time and space were infinite, so there was no beginning and end as the Bible expressed it. And if one denied infinity, then one would be denying God, which put religious leaders between a rock and a hard place. Among the heretical accusations were being anti-Trinitarian, doubting Mary's virginity, or considering Jesus a skilled magician.

By the word "magician," Bruno referred to a manipulator of reality. For him, magic was a process that only required understanding the necessary pneuma, that is, the spirit or energy, and understanding its "eros," that is, its affection, its closeness to other objects and beings, so that they could interact and react. That is, action-reaction and interconnection, the foundations of modern science, medicine, and technology.

The magical process required a bit of imagination and a bit of faith: we must understand that for Bruno, the mind and spirit are the great creators through emotions, in other words, inspiration and reaction following an experience. This exposition is applicable to all areas, such as physical manipulation (alchemy, chemistry, art, literature, etc.) or in the realm of love, religion, or politics. This is how spirits move.

For Bruno, there were various types of magic (prodigious, religious, natural, predictive, etc.). But with the exception of false or conjuring magic, all types of magic converged in that the operator was a wise man (as the Persians indicated by the word magus), a connoisseur of the sciences, among which mathematics stood out. The world was created mathematically, and everything that "worked" did so through a series of mathematical and chemical reactions. The wise man, knowledgeable in these terms, could achieve prodigious things if he knew the numbers associated with each letter, symbol, element, etc., and performed the magical operation correctly.

Bruno was eventually accused of heresy and condemned to the stake. Today, a sculpture in Rome's Campo de' Fiori commemorates the place of his death and the untimely loss of one of the greatest scientific minds.

Paracelsus (1493-1541)

He is best known for this work, which is not actually his own, about magical plants. But, this work does contain, deep down, the esoteric thoughts of the authentic Paracelsus.

Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim was called Paracelsus because he considered himself to have surpassed the medicine of the ancient physician Celsus. He was a great connoisseur of the medicinal values of plants, of course, but above all, he was knowledgeable about alchemy and astrology. He believed that all living beings were made up of a balanced mixture of sulfur, mercury, and salt, and that various elements caused an imbalance that translated into alchemical transformations that caused different diseases.

He believed that God had created a remedy for every illness. He also said that "the truth is in nature, not in books," and believed that archaic or seemingly useless remedies could be perfect if the intake and treatment were carried out at the appropriate astrological moments. Paracelsus was against the separation of medicine and pharmacy and in favor of research through operations and laboratory tests. From alchemy to chemistry was a small step, but the external image of Paracelsus as an occultist and "savior" and his clashes with the followers of Galen caused more problems than progress.

His general works are tedious, and the most popular are, unsurprisingly, those intended for the manufacture of talismans and infusions.

Heinrich Khunrath (c. 1560-1605)

A disciple of Paracelsus, he was noted for developing a "Christian" natural magic whose purpose was to reach God. He also defended alchemy from an empiricist perspective and was one of the first to mention spiritual alchemy separately.

Augier Ferrer (1512-1588)

Born in Toulouse and a prominent poet, he was also an astrologer and dream interpreter. Some of his works were based on ancient studies, such as the Liber de Somniis (Book on Dreams), which includes ideas from Galen and Hippocrates; others are more detailed, such as the Jugements astronomiques sur les nativités (Astronomical Judgments on Births). Let us remember that astronomy and astrology were still intertwined.

Giovanni Battista della Porta (1535–1615)

Of Neapolitan origin, Della Porta was considered a philosopher and alchemist, but above all, he was a scientist, and the traces of his analytical and critical mind can be felt in his works. Magia naturalis (composed of four volumes, a total of 20 books) aroused both admiration and suspicion, as it raised entirely scientific and technical issues (the use of lenses, astronomy, geography, magnetism, cosmetics, even cooking...) with properly magical or alchemical issues (distillation, miracles, supernatural events, etc.). From him we read: "Magic, which is something evil and related to spirits, is sorcery; natural magic is another, which every excellent and wise man admits and embraces, and cultivates with great applause. None is held in higher esteem or more highly regarded by men of learning" (Chapter 2, Book I, Magia Naturalis).

Tomasso Campanella (1568 - 1639).

Friar Tomasso Campanella stood out for his theories that everything has feelings, including animals, plants, the elements, and the universe itself. Therefore, according to him, changes are not produced by "powers" but by "instincts and wills," which is what gives meaning to existence. If there is meaning, there is soul and spirit in everything. Applied to magic in Book IV (within his work De sensu reru et magia), he divides it into divine magic, impossible without the grace of God, natural magic, and diabolical magic, which he prefers not to discuss. He believes that natural magic consists of imitating nature, and its effects are both the cause and the product of human feelings, although sometimes one must be guided by complex homeopathic theories of questionable reality. All this is based on the idea that the universe is a divine reflection, whose multiple will remains that of God. For this reason, astrology is a great science to pay attention to in order to identify the wills of the macrocosm. A universalist esoteric-philosophical thought that, however, is not anthropocentric but rather balancing.

Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1525)

He was a philosopher who focused his work on the study of the immortality of the soul, as well as the separation of reason and faith, of the rational and the emotional. As for his more metaphysical and esoteric side, we have his De fato, about predestination, and De Naturalium effectuum causis sive de incantationibus (On the Causes of Natural Events, or On Enchantments) (ca. 1520), in which he tries to explain that the so-called influences of magic and astrology are really natural influences and relationships, so that the movement of a planet, for example, does not affect the Earth by "magic", but by a series of physical and mathematical processes.

of natural phenomena, of relationships, causes, and effects. However, since he also applied this to miracles, so that they could be explained according to the laws of nature, it fell under the jurisdiction of the Church, and this work was included on the Index of Prohibited Books.

Nostradamus (1503–566)

Nostradamus, whose real name was Michel de Nôtre-Dame, was a French apothecary who worked as a doctor during outbreaks of bubonic plague. He was criticized by universities (pharmacy was statutorily prohibited). However, he was recognized for his advances in the treatment of the plague through hygiene, nutrition, and the so-called "pink pill," which we know primarily contained vitamin C, and which is still used today in a multitude of medicines. At the end of his travels as a doctor, and having met various figures along the way, he published prophetic almanacs under his Latinized name, Nostradamus. He was interested in divination through revelation, trances, and even on a bronze tripod, like the Pythia of Delphi, and in the smell of herbs and oils. His success led him to continue writing up to a thousand prophetic poems, and the court to request his company to develop horoscopes, as Catherine de Medici did. At the same time, it caused Nostradamus's prophecies to become obscured, causing him to mix words from several ancient and modern languages, cut words or change their order, introduce anagrams... all with the most likely aim of avoiding mentioning specific places and names. Other scholars think that the purpose of this complexity was to ward off persecution by the Inquisition, by making his poems so incomprehensible. His most famous book, The Prophecies, was published in Lyon in 1555, and is still consulted today, although the Forer effect to which it is subjected is blatant. Nostradamus died of a heart attack, and his writings multiplied.

Francis Bacon (1516-1626)

He is a figure who moved in the world of science, philosophy, and even psychology. However, Bacon cannot be considered exactly someone in favor of the esoteric; on the contrary, he was very critical of magic and esotericism. In his works, he stated that alchemy and astrology were sciences that lacked imagination, showing a significant rejection of them, with the exception that he respected alchemy in its chemical aspect. In his work Novum Organum, he explained the rules that should be followed as a science, explaining those that alchemy did not comply with. His reinterpretation of natural magic, such as physical manipulation, and his considerations of its relationship with the Freemasons and Rosicrucians probably weighed heavily on his biography.

About the British astrologer and magician John Dee, we have a full article that we invite you to read, so as not to miss any key events in his work and life. Added to this whirlwind of thought are the advances of science: Nicolaus Copernicus is known for his mathematical studies and his heliocentric approach, that is, his claim that the Earth and planets revolved around the sun, and therefore that the Earth, Creation, was not the center of the universe. Not much later, the German Kepler, a defender of the Copernican system, would enunciate the laws of planetary motion and natural harmony, to which astrology and natural magic must adapt.

Pietro V. Carracedo Ahumada - pietrocarracedo@gmail.com

Bibliography:

- Coulianu. I.P. Eros y la magia en el Renacimiento. Siruela, 2007.

- Daxelmüller, C. Historia social de la magia. Herder, 2009

-Fernández Álvarez, M. Gran Hª. Universal. VI. Renacimiento y humanismo.. III. 8. Ed. Najera. Madrid, 1990

- Gerin Ricard, L. de; Historia del ocultismo. Luis de Caralt Ediciones, 1975

> History of Occultism (II). The Middle Ages

> History of Occultism (III). The Early Renaissance.

> John Dee (1527 - ca. 1609)