Franciscans and the Elixir of Life

Franciscans and the Elixir of Life PDF Author: Zachary A. Matus
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812294068
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
One of the major ambitions of medieval alchemists was to discover the elixir of life, a sovereign remedy capable not only of healing the body but of transforming it. Given the widespread belief that care for the body came at the cost of care for the soul, it might seem surprising that any Franciscan would pursue the elixir, but those who did were among its most outspoken and optimistic advocates. They believed they could distill a substance that would purify, transmute, and ennoble the human body as well as the soul. In an age when Christians across Europe were seeking material evidence for their faith and corporeal means of practicing their devotion, alchemy, and the elixir in particular, offered a way to bridge the terrestrial and the celestial. Framed as a history around science, Franciscans and the Elixir of Life focuses on alchemy as a material practice and investigates the Franciscan discourses and traditions that shaped the pursuit of the elixir, providing a rich examination of alchemy and religiosity. Zachary A. Matus makes new connections between alchemy, ritual life, apocalypticism, and the particular commitment of the Franciscan Order to the natural world, shedding new light on the question of why so many people claimed to have made, seen, or used alchemical compounds that could never have existed.

Franciscans and the Elixir of Life

Franciscans and the Elixir of Life PDF Author: Zachary A. Matus
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812294068
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
One of the major ambitions of medieval alchemists was to discover the elixir of life, a sovereign remedy capable not only of healing the body but of transforming it. Given the widespread belief that care for the body came at the cost of care for the soul, it might seem surprising that any Franciscan would pursue the elixir, but those who did were among its most outspoken and optimistic advocates. They believed they could distill a substance that would purify, transmute, and ennoble the human body as well as the soul. In an age when Christians across Europe were seeking material evidence for their faith and corporeal means of practicing their devotion, alchemy, and the elixir in particular, offered a way to bridge the terrestrial and the celestial. Framed as a history around science, Franciscans and the Elixir of Life focuses on alchemy as a material practice and investigates the Franciscan discourses and traditions that shaped the pursuit of the elixir, providing a rich examination of alchemy and religiosity. Zachary A. Matus makes new connections between alchemy, ritual life, apocalypticism, and the particular commitment of the Franciscan Order to the natural world, shedding new light on the question of why so many people claimed to have made, seen, or used alchemical compounds that could never have existed.

A Guide to Mystical France

A Guide to Mystical France PDF Author: Nick Inman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1844098168
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
France is one of the most visited countries in the world -- and one of the least known. This book takes you beyond the superficial coverage of conventional guidebooks -- history, architecture, etc. -- in search of the deeper truths. A Guide to Mystical France takes you deep under the psychic skin of France into the invisible dimensions that our materialistic world does its best to ignore. Science stops at the most interesting questions. To describe, say a painted prehistoric cave as a sacred space used for ritual is to beg more questions than it answers. It is impossible to fully appreciate the cathedral of Notre-Dame, Mont St Michel, or the alignments of Carnac if you do not understand the reasons these structures were built and they way they have been used over the centuries. The book makes no assumptions. The reader is not required to believe anything. He is merely pointed in the direction of the invisible and the hidden and left to judge for himself. You get much more out of a visit if you look for what isn’t there as well as what is. Only by engaging with such enigmas in an open-minded, non-logical way can we begin to unravel them. This approach also makes sightseeing more satisfying and more meaningful. Covered here are a multitude of fascinating themes: the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, Black Virgins, prehistoric cave paintings, labyrinths, ley-lines, symbolism and sacred geometry, the tarot, etc. The backdrops for the drama includes such legendary places as Chartres, Rennes-le-Chateau, churches carved out of the rock and mountain sanctuaries. The cast list, meanwhile, includes Templars, Cathars, mystics, Gurdjieff, King Arthur, Nostradamus and alchemists such as the enigmatic Fulcanelli (who is rumoured to be immortal).

The Belle Époque

The Belle Époque PDF Author: Dominique Kalifa
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231554389
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
The years before the First World War have long been romanticized as a zenith of French culture—the “Belle Époque.” The era is seen as the height of a lost way of life that remains emblematic of what it means to be French. In a vast range of texts and images, it appears as a carefree time full of joie de vivre, fanfare and frills, artistic daring, and scientific innovation. The Moulin Rouge shared the stage with the Universal Exposition, Toulouse-Lautrec rubbed elbows with Marie Curie and La Belle Otero, and Fantômas invented automatic writing. This book traces the making—and the imagining—of the Belle Époque to reveal how and why it became a cultural myth. Dominique Kalifa lifts the veil on a period shrouded in nostalgia, explaining the century-long need to continuously reinvent and even sanctify this moment. He sifts through images handed down in memoirs and reminiscences, literature and film, art and history to explore the many facets of the era, including its worldwide reception. The Belle Époque was born in France, but it quickly went global as other countries adopted the concept to write their own histories. In shedding light on how the Belle Époque has been celebrated and reimagined, Kalifa also offers a nuanced meditation on time, history, and memory.

They Desire a Better Country/Ils désirent une patrie meilleure

They Desire a Better Country/Ils désirent une patrie meilleure PDF Author: Lawrence Scanlan
Publisher: Figure 1 Publishing
ISBN: 1773270060
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 567

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Book Description
Twice a year, in summer and in winter, appointments to the Order of Canada are posted in newspapers across the country. The range of professions represented are often dizzying, but there are common themes in the choices: excellence, service to the nation, passion, innovation, commitment, dedication, brilliance. The order’s motto effectively captures the generous and selfless spirit of these people: Desiderantes meliorem patriam—they desire a better country. The Order of Canada—our nation’s highest honour—was launched fifty years ago in 1967 by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. Since then, almost seven thousand Canadians have received the award for service to their communities, the nation, and, in some cases, the world. To celebrate the Order of Canada’s fiftieth anniversary in 2017, the Rideau Hall Foundation commissioned this exceptional book with the aim of encouraging Canadians to learn about some of the remarkable individuals who have garnered this prestigious award. And though this book captures only a handful of their stories, it is a reflection of the inspiration all Order of Canada members bestow upon us.

Moon Energy

Moon Energy PDF Author: Stéphanie Lafranque
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510754040
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Follow the Moon Cycles to Find Your Feminine Power The lunar months influence our daily lives in the same way they influence tides, seasons, and the universe. For women, the moon is a marvelous tool to better understand themselves, reconnect with their nature, and feel empowered to follow their inner movements. Moon Energy offers a month-by-month guide to the lunar energies to help you respect your monthly rhythms, settle your intentions, and take actions to focus on yourself. Discover which qualities, spirit plants, pagan celebrations, and mythical female figures correspond to each moon phase, and live to the fullest during the strong moments of each cycle. Cleverly illustrated by the poetic and vivid drawings of Franco-Mexican artist Vic Oh, Moon Energy will show you the path to discovering your inner goddess.

International Film Guide

International Film Guide PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Motion pictures
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description


Wells Meets Deleuze

Wells Meets Deleuze PDF Author: Michael Starr
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476668353
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
The writings of H.G. Wells have had a profound influence on literary and cinematic depictions of the present and the possible future, and modern science fiction continues to be indebted to his "scientific romances," such as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds and The Island of Doctor Moreau. Interpreted and adapted for more than a century, Wells's texts have resisted easy categorization and are perennial subjects for emerging critical and theoretical perspectives. The author examines Wells's works through the post-structuralist philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. Via this critical perspective, concepts now synonymous with science fiction--such as time travel, alien invasion and transhumanism--demonstrate the intrinsic relevance of Wells to the genre and contemporary thought.

Méliès Boots

Méliès Boots PDF Author: Matthew Solomon
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472902954
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Before he became an influential cinematic innovator, Georges Méliès (1861–1938) was a maker of deluxe French footwear, an illusionist, and a caricaturist. Proceeding from these beginnings, Méliès Boots traces how the full trajectory of Georges Méliès’ career during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, along with the larger cultural and historical contexts in which Méliès operated, shaped his cinematic oeuvre. Solomon examines Méliès’ unpublished drawings and published caricatures, the role of laughter in his magic theater productions, and the constituent elements of what Méliès called "the new profession of the cinéaste." The book also reveals Méliès' connections to the Incohérents, a group of ephemeral artists from the 1880s, demonstrating the group’s relevance for Méliès, early cinema, and modernity. By positioning Méliès in relation to the material culture of his time, Solomon demonstrates that Méliès’ work was expressive of a distinctly modern, and modernist, sensibility that appeared in France during the 1880s in the wake of the Second Industrial Revolution.

White

White PDF Author: Michel Pastoureau
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691243492
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
From the acclaimed author of Blue, a beautifully illustrated history of the color white in visual culture, from antiquity to today As a pigment, white is often thought to represent an absence of color, but it is without doubt an important color in its own right, just like red, blue, green, or yellow—and, like them, white has its own intriguing history. In this richly illustrated book, Michel Pastoureau, a celebrated authority on the history of colors, presents a fascinating visual, social, and cultural history of the color white in European societies, from antiquity to today. Illustrated throughout with a wealth of captivating images ranging from the ancient world to the twenty-first century, White examines the evolving place, perception, and meaning of this deceptively simple but complex hue in art, fashion, literature, religion, science, and everyday life across the millennia. Before the seventeenth century, white’s status as a true color was never contested. On the contrary, from antiquity until the height of the Middle Ages, white formed with red and black a chromatic triad that played a central role in life and art. Nor has white always been thought of as the opposite of black. Through the Middle Ages, the true opposite of white was red. White also has an especially rich symbolic history, and the color has often been associated with purity, virginity, innocence, wisdom, peace, beauty, and cleanliness. With its striking design and compelling text, White is a colorful history of a surprisingly vivid and various color.

The Deinhardt-Schlomann Series of Technical Dictionaries in Six Languages

The Deinhardt-Schlomann Series of Technical Dictionaries in Six Languages PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Industrial arts
Languages : en
Pages : 968

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Book Description