The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance

The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance PDF Author: Joscelyn Godwin
Publisher: Weiser Books
ISBN: 1609259157
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance recounts the almost untold story of how the rediscovery of the pagan, mythological imagination during the Renaissance brought a profound transformation to European culture. This highly illustrated book, available for the first time in paperback, shows that the pagan imagination existed side-by-side -- often uneasily -- with the official symbols, doctrines, and art of the Church. Godwin carefully documents how pagan themes and gods enhanced both public and private life. Palaces and villas were decorated with mythological images/ stories, music, and dramatic pageants were written about pagan themes/ and landscapes were designed to transform the soul. This was a time of great social and cultural change, when the pagan idea represented nostalgia for a classical world untroubled by the idea of sin and in no need of redemption.A stunning book with hundreds of photos that bring alive this period with all its rich conflict between Christianity and classicism.

The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance

The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance PDF Author: Joscelyn Godwin
Publisher: Weiser Books
ISBN: 1609259157
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 484

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance recounts the almost untold story of how the rediscovery of the pagan, mythological imagination during the Renaissance brought a profound transformation to European culture. This highly illustrated book, available for the first time in paperback, shows that the pagan imagination existed side-by-side -- often uneasily -- with the official symbols, doctrines, and art of the Church. Godwin carefully documents how pagan themes and gods enhanced both public and private life. Palaces and villas were decorated with mythological images/ stories, music, and dramatic pageants were written about pagan themes/ and landscapes were designed to transform the soul. This was a time of great social and cultural change, when the pagan idea represented nostalgia for a classical world untroubled by the idea of sin and in no need of redemption.A stunning book with hundreds of photos that bring alive this period with all its rich conflict between Christianity and classicism.

The Earth, The Gods and The Soul - A History of Pagan Philosophy

The Earth, The Gods and The Soul - A History of Pagan Philosophy PDF Author: Brendan Myers
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
ISBN: 1780993188
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Philosophy was invented by pagans. Yet this fact is almost always ignored by those who write the history of ideas. This book tells the history of the pagan philosophers, and the various places where their ideas appeared, from ancient times to the 21st century. The Pagan philosophers are a surprisingly diverse group: from kings of great empires to exiled lonely wanderers, from devout religious teachers to con artists, drug addicts, and social radicals. Three traditions of thought emerge from their work: Pantheism, NeoPlatonism, and Humanism, corresponding to the immensities of the Earth, the Gods, and the Soul. From ancient schools like the Stoics and the Druids, to modern feminists and deep ecologists, the pagan philosophers examined these three immensities with systematic critical reason, and sometimes with poetry and mystical vision. This book tells their story for the first time in one volume, and invites you to examine the immensities with them. And as a special feature, the book includes summaries of the ideas of leading modern pagan intellectuals, in their own words: Emma Restall Orr, Michael York, John Michael Greer, Vivianne Crowley, and more ,

Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe PDF Author: Kocku Von Stuckrad
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004184228
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Addressing discourses of perfect knowledge in Western culture between 1200 and 1800, this book integrates the study of Western esotericism in a larger analytical framework of European history of religion.

Structures of Feeling in Seventeenth-century Cultural Expression

Structures of Feeling in Seventeenth-century Cultural Expression PDF Author: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442640626
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
Essays based on papers presented at four international conferences held at the UCLA Clark Library, 2005.

The Philosophy of Gemistos Plethon

The Philosophy of Gemistos Plethon PDF Author: Vojtech Hladký
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317021487
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
George Gemistos Plethon (c. 1360-1454) was a remarkable and influential thinker, active at the time of transition between the Byzantine Middle Ages and the Italian Renaissance. His works cover literary, historical, scientific, but most notably philosophical issues. Plethon is arguably the most important of the Byzantine Platonists and the earliest representative of Platonism in the Renaissance, the movement which generally exercised a huge influence on the development of early modern thought. Thus his treatise on the differences between Plato and Aristotle triggered the Plato-Aristotle controversy of the 15th century, and his ideas impacted on Italian Renaissance thinkers such as Ficino. This book provides a new study of Gemistos’ philosophy. The first part is dedicated to the discussion of his 'public philosophy'. As an important public figure, Gemistos wrote several public speeches concerning the political situation in the Peloponnese as well as funeral orations on deceased members of the ruling Palaiologos family. They contain remarkable Platonic ideas, adjusted to the contemporary late Byzantine situation. In the second, most extensive, part of the book the Platonism of Plethon is presented in a systematic way. It is identical with the so-called philosophia perennis, that is, the rational view of the world common to various places and ages. Throughout Plethon’s writings, it is remarkably coherent in its framework, possesses quite original features, and displays the influence of ancient Middle and Neo-Platonic discussions. Plethon thus turns out to be not just a commentator on an ancient tradition, but an original Platonic thinker in his own right. In the third part the notorious question of the paganism of Gemistos is reconsidered. He is usually taken for a Platonizing polytheist who gathered around himself a kind of heterodox circle. The whole issue is examined in depth again and all the major evidence discussed, with the result that Gemistos seems rat

The Vatican Heresy

The Vatican Heresy PDF Author: Robert Bauval
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1591437563
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Reveals how the largest Sun Temple in the world, built according to Hermetic principles, is located at one of Christianity’s holiest sites: the Vatican • Shows how famous Renaissance philosophers and scientists called for a Hermetic reformation of Christianity by building a magical Temple of the Sun in Rome • Explains how the Vatican architect Bernini designed St. Peter’s Square to reflect heliocentric and Hermetic principles • Reveals how the design was masterminded by Bernini, Jesuit scholars, the mystical Queen Christine of Sweden, and several popes In 16th century Italy, in the midst of the Renaissance, two powerful movements took hold. The first, the Hermetic Movement, was inspired by an ancient set of books housed in the library of Cosimo de’ Medici and written by the Egyptian sage Hermes Trismegistus. The movement expounded the return of the “true religion of the world” based on a form of natural magic that could draw down the powers of the heavens and incorporate them into statues and physical structures. The other movement, the Heliocentric Movement launched by Copernicus, was a direct challenge to the Vatican’s biblical interpretation of a geocentric world system. Declared a heresy by the Pope, those who promoted it risked the full force of the Inquisition. Exploring the meeting point of these two movements, authors Robert Bauval and Chiara Hohenzollern reveal how the most outspoken and famous philosophers, alchemists, and scientists of the Renaissance, such as Giordano Bruno and Marsilio Ficino, called for a Hermetic reformation of the Christian religion by building a magical utopic city, an architectural version of the heliocentric system. Using contemporary documents and the latest cutting-edge theses, the authors show that this Temple of the Sun was built in Rome, directly in front of the Vatican’s Basilica of St. Peter. They explain how the Vatican architect Bernini designed St. Peter’s Square to reflect the esoteric principles of the Hermetica and how the square is a detailed representation of the heliocentric system. Revealing the magical architectural plan masterminded by the Renaissance’s greatest minds, including Bernini, Jesuit scholars, Queen Christine of Sweden, and several popes, the authors expose the ultimate heresy of all time blessed by the Vatican itself.

The Real Rule of Four

The Real Rule of Four PDF Author: Joscelyn Godwin
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1609258908
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason’s The Rule of Four is already a bookselling phenomenon. The Ivy League super-achievers drew upon an authentic 1499 Renaissance text to create their thriller about two Princeton undergraduates who try to unravel the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (pronounced “HIP-ne-RO-to-MA-kia PO-li-FEE-li”). The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is an erotic, pagan epic, written in a private language peppered with words taken from Latin and Greek and decorated with Egyptian hieroglyphs. It was not translated into English for 500 years, until 1999, when Joscelyn Godwin finally achieved that near-impossible task. The Real Rule of Four, Professor Godwin carefully investigates each aspect of the history of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and its use in The Rule of Four, including: What is the Hypnerotomachia? Who wrote the Hypnerotomachia? (A central theme of The Rule of Four) What does the Hypnerotomachia mean? Places and people in The Rule of Four Glossary of names and terms in The Rule of Four Lavishly illustrated with reproductions of the many beautiful woodcuts in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a fold-out color map and photographs of the featured locations at Princeton University, The Real Rule of Four is an indispensable guide to the many fans of Caldwell and Thomason’s best-selling novel.

Astral High Magic: De Imaginibus of Thabit Ibn Qurra

Astral High Magic: De Imaginibus of Thabit Ibn Qurra PDF Author: John Michael Greer
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1257796097
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
De Imaginibus, "On Images" is, after Picatrix, the most important text for medieval and Renaissance astrological magic. De Imaginibus represents the height of astrological magic technique and goes far beyond merely planetary talismans in using the full range of traditional astrological technique developed by the sophisticated Harranian Sabians. De Imaginibus explains how to create house based talismans, how to use horary questions to forecast and anchor talismans and how to tune talismans to individual natal charts. The translator, John Michael Greer, is a noted Latinist and esoteric author. He is the co-translator of the Complete Picatrix. This translation was made from Francis Carmody's Latin critical edition of the astronomical works of Thabit Ibn Qurra and contains two variant texts along with extensive commentary by Christopher Warnock, the leading astrological magician and examples of talisman elections using Thabit's methods.

Handbook of Greek Sculpture

Handbook of Greek Sculpture PDF Author: Olga Palagia
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1614519749
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 1478

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Book Description
The Handbook of Greek Sculpture aims to provide a detailed examination of current research and directions in the field. Bringing together an international cast of contributors from Greece, Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, and the United States, the volume incorporates new areas of research, such as the sculptures of Messene and Macedonia, sculpture in Roman Greece, and the contribution of Greek sculptors in Rome, as well as important aspects of Greek sculpture like techniques and patronage. The written sources (literary and epigraphical) are explored in dedicated chapters, as are function and iconography and the reception of Greek sculpture in modern Europe. Inspired by recent exhibitions on Lysippos and Praxiteles, the book also revisits the style and the personal contributions of the great masters.

The Quest For Hermes Trismegistus

The Quest For Hermes Trismegistus PDF Author: Gary Lachman
Publisher: Floris Books
ISBN: 0863158498
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
From the sands of Alexandria via the Renaissance palaces of the Medicis, to our own times, this spiritual adventure story traces the profound influence of Hermes Trismegistus -- the 'thrice-great one', as he was often called -- on the western mind. For centuries his name ranked among the most illustrious of the ancient world. Considered by some a contemporary of Moses and a forerunner of Christ, this almost mythical figure arose in fourth century BC Alexandria, from a fusion of the Egyptian god Thoth and the Greek god Hermes. Master of magic, writing, science, and philosophy, Hermes was thought to have walked with gods and be the source of the divine wisdom granted to man at the dawn of time. Gary Lachman has written many books exploring ancient traditions for the modern mind. In The Quest for Hermes Trismegistus, he brings to life the mysterious character of this great spiritual guide, exposing the many theories and stories surrounding him, and revitalizing his teachings for the modern world. Through centuries of wars, conquests and religious persecutions, the fragile pages of the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus have still survived. This is a book for all thinkers and enquirers who want to recover that lost knowledge and awaken a shift in human consciousness.