Post #11. The Rebirth of the Magus: Magic and Power in Renaissance London

 

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The arrival of the Renaissance in London was not just a rebirth of art and science; it was a rebirth of magic. The intellectual ferment of the 16th century, fuelled by the rediscovery of ancient texts and a new spirit of humanism, created the perfect environment for a magical revival. The rigid dogmatism of the medieval church began to crumble, and in its place arose a new kind of figure: the Renaissance magus, a scholar, a scientist, and a powerful magician who sought to command the very forces of the universe.

London, as a burgeoning centre of global trade, royal power, and intellectual life, became the epicentre of this magical renaissance. The city was a melting pot of new ideas, a place where the ancient wisdom of Plato and Hermes Trismegistus mingled with the practical magic of the grimoires and the transformative philosophy of alchemy.

Dr John Dee. The Renaissance Magician 

The Neo-Platonic Revolution: Magic as High Philosophy

The key to this magical revival was the rediscovery of the works of Plato and the Neoplatonists, and, most importantly, the Corpus Hermeticum, a collection of texts attributed to the mythical Egyptian sage Hermes Trismegistus. These texts, brought to Europe after the fall of Constantinople, offered a new and intoxicating vision of the magician.

In the Hermetic worldview, man was not a lowly sinner, but a divine being, a microcosm of the macrocosm, capable of ascending the celestial ladder and attaining union with God. Magic was not the grubby, demonic practice of the medieval grimoires; it was a high and noble art, a form of spiritual technology for purifying the soul and commanding the forces of nature. The universe was not a fallen, sinful place, but a living, divine organism, bound together by a web of sympathies and correspondences that a skilled magus could learn to manipulate.

The Court of Queen Elizabeth I: A Magical Epicentre

This new, more intellectual brand of magic found a powerful patron in Queen Elizabeth I. Her court was a hotbed of esoteric speculation and magical practice. The Queen herself was a master of political alchemy, transforming the lead of a divided, bankrupt nation into the gold of a burgeoning empire. She surrounded herself with men who were not just politicians and explorers, but also astrologers, alchemists, and magicians.

• Astrology as Statecraft: The timing of major state events, including the Queen's own coronation, was determined by astrological calculations. The belief that the stars influenced the fate of nations was not a fringe superstition; it was a central tenet of political science.

• The Cult of Elizabeth: The elaborate cult of personality that grew up around the Virgin Queen was itself a form of magic. Elizabeth was portrayed as Astraea, the virgin goddess of the Golden Age, or as Diana, the chaste goddess of the moon. This was a deliberate strategy to create a powerful, magical image — a national egregore that could unite the country and project its power abroad.

• Exploration as Magical Quest: The great voyages of exploration undertaken by figures like Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh were not just commercial ventures. They were magical quests, attempts to unlock the secrets of the globe, to discover new sources of power, and to establish a new English empire that would rival that of Catholic Spain.

The Rise of the Cunning Man and the Service Magician

While the high magic of the Neoplatonists was being practiced in the court, a more practical kind of magic continued to thrive on the streets of London. This was the world of the "cunning man" or "wise woman," the local magical practitioner who offered a range of services to the general populace: finding lost goods, healing the sick, casting horoscopes, and providing charms for protection or love.

Figures like Simon Forman, whose detailed casebooks provide a fascinating glimpse into the everyday magical life of Elizabethan London, represent a new kind of professional magician. They were not just village sorcerers; they were savvy entrepreneurs, using their knowledge of astrology, medicine, and practical magic to build successful businesses. They were the bridge between the high magic of the court and the folk magic of the common people, and they played a crucial role in the magical economy of the city.

Renaissance London was a city saturated with magic, from the highest levels of the court to the humblest back alleys. It was a time of immense intellectual excitement and spiritual possibility, a time when it seemed that anything was possible, that the secrets of the universe were within reach. And at the very centre of this magical whirlwind stood one man, a figure who would come to define the very ideal of the Renaissance magus: Dr John Dee.

In our next post, we will begin our exploration of the life and work of John Dee, the Queen's conjurer, the man who conversed with angels and sought to build a universal magical empire.

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. But some pages are written in the language of stars and spirits. Follow the Secret City series.

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Solomon Jones (Author/Researcher)

The Renaissance Magical Revival (Sources)

Primary Sources:

•Ficino, Marsilio. Three Books on Life. Medieval & Renaissance Texts, 1989

•Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man, 1486

•Corpus Hermeticum, translated by Ficino, 1471

Secondary Sources:

•Yates, Frances. Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. University of Chicago Press, 1964.

•Walker, D.P. Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella. Warburg Institute, 1958.

•Copenhaver, Brian. Hermetica. Cambridge University Press, 1992.

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