from Hieronymous Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights tryptich

SYMPATHY OR THE DEVIL:

RENAISSANCE MAGIC AND THE

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AMBIVALENCE OF IDOLS

Wouter J. Hanegraaff

Every sign by itself seems dead. What givesit life? - In use it is alive. Is life breathed into itthere? - Or is the use its life?

Ludwig Wit tgenstein, PhilosophicalInvestigations, Para 432.

Renaissance controversies over theacceptability of magic revolved largelyaround two quite brief but notoriousfragments of the Hermet ic Asclepius [1]. Inthese so-called "god-making" passages,Hermes Trismegistus describes in admiringterms the ancient Egypt ian pract ice by whichthe priests used to draw down the powers ofthe cosmos into their temple statues. Ingeneral, the texts of the Asclepius as well asthe Corpus Hermeticum are concerned morewith a spiritual path of init iat ic rebirth thanwith overt magical pract ice, and indeed thereis no reason in principle why a consecrat ionof statues or even an evocat ion of godswould have to be construed as magic ratherthan as a religious ceremony [2]. But it couldhardly be denied that Hermes seemed to callfor a breach of the Second Commandment.Not surprisingly, Saint August ine hadcondemned the passages in De Civitate Deiand even devoted hermet icists of theRenaissance period might refer to them asan embarrassing lapsus Hermetis . Such asolut ion was hardly possible for thosehermet icists whose interests led them topresent magia as the sublime synthesis ofancient wisdom as well as the foundat ion for

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From H. C. Agrippa, Three Books of OccultPhilosophy , (London: 1651)

an innovat ive ritual pract ice. In this context , itwas pract ically impossible to avoid "gravenimages" as receptacles and mediums forcosmic powers; and any such referencewould inevitably evoke in the mind of thereaders the statues of the Asclepius.

-2-It seems to me that the quest ion of Hermet icidolatry provides an archimedean point f romwhich access can be gained to the complexphenomenon of Renaissance magic. Themagical use of images touches upon all theimportant issues: the relat ion between magicand paganism, magic and religion,personalist ic and non-personalist icexplanat ions of magical ef fects, and magicand the creat ive imaginat ion. It wouldobviously be impossible to broach all theseissues within the scope of one art icle. I willconcentrate here on some of the early Italianhermet icists, and especially on the quest ionof hermet ic praxis in Marsilio Ficino,Francesco Cattani da Diacceto, andLodovico Lazzarelli. I will be mainly concernedwith two quest ions. The f irst one concernsthe ambivalence of images with respect tothe two main explanatory f rameworksprovided for their magical ef f icacy: naturalexplanat ions in terms of cosmic sympathy,and supernatural explanat ions in terms ofevil demons. Secondly, I will at tempt to shedsome light upon an intriguing problem: thesuggest ion that some types of hermet icpract ice aimed not just at drawing down "thegods" into images, but more radically atcreating the souls of gods.

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Hermet ism and Telestikè

One might perhaps expect that the "god-making passages" of the Asclepius weremerely an embarrassment to Renaissancemagi , which they would prefer to ignorewhen possible. In fact , however, thesepassages have direct ly inf luenced thedevelopment of Renaissance magic. In orderto demonstrate their importance, it will benecessary to quote them in some detail [3].The f irst ment ion of statues occurs inAsclepius 23-24:

[Hermes] And since this discourse proclaimsto us the kinship and assocat ion betweenhumans and gods, Asclepius, you mustrecognize mankind's power and strength.Just as the master and father - or God, touse his most august name - is maker of theheavenly gods, so it is mankind who fashionsthe temple gods who are content to be nearto humans. Not only is mankind glorif ied; heglorif ies as well. He not only advancestoward God; he also makes the gods strong....

All plainly admit that the race of gods sprangfrom the cleanest

-3-part of nature and that their signs are likeheads that stand for the whole being. Butthe f igures of gods that humans form havebeen formed of both natures - f rom thedivine, which is purer and more divine by far,and from the material of which they are built ,whose nature falls short of the human - and

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they represent not only the heads but all thelimbs and the whole body. Always mindful ofits nature and origin, humanity persists inimitat ing divinity, represent ing its gods insemblance of its own features, just as thefather and master made his gods eternal toresemble him.

[Asclepius] Are you talking about statues,Trismegistus?

[Hermes] Statues, Asclepius, yes. See howlit t le t rust you have! [4] I mean statuesensouled and conscious, f illed with spirit anddoing great deeds; statues that foreknowthe future and predict it by lots, by prophecy,by dreams and by many other means;statues that make people ill and cure them,bringing them pain and pleasure as eachdeserves .

This is followed immediately by the famouslament for the future decline of Egypt: asbarbarians will occupy it , the divinit ies willwithdraw to heaven, and the ancient land ofthe gods 'will be f illed completely with tombsand corpses'. The theme of statues isreturned to in Asclepius 37-38, towards theend of the t reat ise:

[Hermes ] What we have said of mankind iswondrous, but less wondrous than this: itexceeds the wonderment of all wonders thathumans have been able to discover thedivine nature and how to make it . Ourancestors erred gravely on the theory ofdivinity; they were unbelieving and inat tent iveto worship and reverence for God. But thenthey discovered the art of making gods. To

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their discovery they added a conformablepower arising f rom the nature of matter.Because they could not make souls, theymixed this power in and called up the soulsof demons or angels and implanted them inlikenesses through holy and divine mysteries,whence the idols could have the power to dogood and evil. ... Anger comes easily toearthly and material gods because humanshave made and assembled them from bothnatures. ...

[Asclepius] And the quality of these godswho are considered

-4-earthly - what sort of thing is it ,

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Hermes Trismegistus

earthly - what sort of thing is it ,Trismegistus?

[Hermes] It comes from a mixture of plants,stones and spices, Asclepius, that have inthem a natural power of divinity. And this iswhy those gods are entertained withconstant sacrif ices, with hymns, praises andsweet sounds in tune with heaven'sharmony: so that the heavenly ingredientent iced into the idol by constantcommunicat ion with heaven may gladlyendure its long stay among humankind. Thusdoes man fashion his gods.

This reference to the astral connect ion ofimages would naturally evoke the quest ionof astrological determinism. It is thereforelogical that the discourse on statues isfollowed by a discussion of the Heimarmenè:the cosmic order of necessity. This turns outto be the f inal topic of Hermes' instruct ion;having completed it , he leaves the sanctuarytogether with his three pupils (Asclepius, Tatand Hammon). What follows is highlysignif icant. Obviously impressed by Hermes'discourse on the gods, Asclepius commits apainful blunder:

As they lef t the sanctuary, they beganpraying to God and turning to the south ...,and they were already saying their prayerwhen in a hushed voice Asclepius asked:"Tat, do you think we should suggest thatyour father tell them to add frankincenseand spices as we pray to God?"

When Trismegistus heard him, he wasdisturbed and said: "A bad omen, Asclepius,

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very bad. To burn incense and such stuf fwhen you entreat God smacks of sacrilege.For he lacks nothing who is himself all thingsor in whom all things are. Rather let usworship him by giving thanks for God f indsmortal grat itude to be the best incense"(Copenhaver 1992, 92; cf . Fowden 1986,143).

This is followed by the hymn of thanksgivingwhich concludes the Asclepius. The readercannot help suspect ing that Hermes musthave felt rather f rustrated at the doubtfulef fect of his teaching. Asclepius hasobviously missed the point : instead ofat t aining gnosis and of fering prayers ofthanksgiving to the one divinity, he t ries toapproach the lat ter as though he were justanother "earthly god". This dist inct ion mustbe kept in mind when looking at Ficino'smagic.

-5-Challenging the perspect ive of A.J.Festugière's monumental classic onhermet ism, in which the Egypt ian elementswere reduced to the status of merely 'un peude couleur locale' (Festugière 1944 I, 85),modern research has demonstrated thathermet ism grew from Egypt ian roots (Mahé1978/1982; Fowden 1986). From thefragment of Logos teleios (the Greek originalof the Asclepius) discovered at NagHammadi, which diverges interest ingly f romthe Lat in version, one is almost tempted tosuspect that Asclepius is not familiar withEgypt ian religion and needs to be init iatedinto its ABC by Hermes. His apparent

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into its ABC by Hermes. His apparentassumption that statues are merely piecesof stone is energet ically rejected by Hermes:

[Asclepius] Trismegistus, you are not talkingabout idols, are you?

[Hermes] Asclepius, you yourself are talkingabout idols. You see that again you yourself ,Asclepius, are also a disbeliever of thediscourse. You say about those who havesoul and breath, they they are idols - thesewho bring about these great events. You aresaying about these who give prophecies thatthey are idols - these who give [men sicknessand] healing ... (Robinson 1988, 344).

The indignant tones of Hermes' reprimandseem to ref lect the perspect ive of a culturein which the very word for "sculptor" (scnh)meant "the one who makes alive" (Zandee1992, 112). [5] Egypt ian statues used to bemade alive by a ritual known as "opening ofthe mouth". Under Greek inf luence, however,the gods who "possessed" the statue mightalso be interpreted as platonic ideas, asattested by a passing reference to statues inCorpus Hermeticum XVII, which must havesounded signif icant for Ficino:

[Tat] Thus, there are ref lect ions of theincorporeals in corporeals and of corporealsin incorporeals - f rom the sensible to theintelligible cosmos, that is, f rom theintelligible to the sensible. Therefore, myKing, adore the statues, because they, too,possess forms [ideas] f rom the intelligiblecosmos.

Moving on now from the Egypt ian to the PDFmyURL.com

From H.C. Agrippa, Three Books of OccultPhilosophy , (London: 1651)

Greek factor: Garth Fowden hasdemonstrated the signif icant cont inuit iesbetween

-6-hermet ism and neoplatonic theurgy (1986,126-153). From our perspect ive, mostimportant is the brand of theurgy known astelestikè, which concentrated on theconsecrat ing and animat ing of statues so asto obtain oracles f rom them (Dodds 1951,292-295; Boyancé 1955; Lewy 1978, 247-248, 495-496; Majercik 1989). Telestikèseems to have been part of theurgy from itsvery origins in a (no longer extant) book ofthat t it le writ ten during the 2nd century C.E.by Julian the theurgist , the assumed authorof the basic 'code of theurgy' known as theOracula Chaldaica (Luck 1989, 185ff).According to Proclus, Julian helped theEmperor Marcus Aurelius in his campaignagainst the Dacians by means of aconsecrated human head made of clay;when turned against the enemy, it sent outf lashes of lightning which drove thebarbarians away in a panic (Lewy 1978, 247-248; Luck 1989, 186). Like theurgy generally,the ef f icacy of telestikè was explained interms of sympatheia (Dodds, 1951, 292-293;Boyancé 1955, 195). Each god had its"correspondences" in the animal, vegetableand mineral world, and such naturalsubstances could therefore be used as asymbolon of its divine cause. Thesubstances in quest ion were known only tothe priest (telestès), who concealed theminside the statue. The surviving sources

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permit no more than a tentat ivereconstruct ion of the rituals in which suchstatues were used [6]. According toIamblichus, theurgic ritual permit ted asupreme experience beyond anything thatmight be at tained by rat ional philosophy orexpressed in words:

Intellectual understanding does not connecttheurgists with divine beings, for what wouldprevent those who philosophize theoret icallyfrom having theurgic union with the gods?But this is not t rue; rather, it is the perfectaccomplishment of inef fable acts, religiouslyperformed and beyond all understanding,and it is the power of inef fable symbolscomprehended by the gods alone, thatestablishes theurgical union. Thus we do notperform these acts intellectually; for thentheir ef f icacy would be intellectual and woulddepend on us, neither of which is t rue. Infact , these very symbols, by themselves,perform their own work, without our thinking;and the inef fable power of the gods towhom these symbols elevate us, recognizesby itself its own images. It is not awakenedby our thinking (Myst . 96,13-97,9; Shaw'stranslat ion, 1985, 10)

-7-Theurgy is the work of the gods on man, notthe work of man on the gods. Neither therat ionale behind its operat ions nor themeaning of its symbols can be understoodby mere humans, nor need they be: what isessent ial is that the ritual is performedcorrect ly [7].

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Plot inus, as well, famously referred to hismyst ical ecstasies which carried him beyondthe realm of the expressible: 'Many t imes ithas happened: raised up out of the body intomyself , apart f rom all other things but self -encentered, I have seen a marvellous andimmense beauty ... and I at tained thecondit ion of the divine' (Ennead IV.8.1;quoted according to Fowden 1986, 111).Nevertheless, in spite of the similarity interms of the goal to be at tained, Plot inusseems to be the except ion to the rule thatneoplatonists sought to achieve it bytheurgic ritual. On the one hand, as has beenforcefully argued by Gregory Shaw, thismeans that the t radit ional percept ion ofPlot inus as the representat ive parexcellence of neoplatonism is in need ofcorrect ion [8]; and on the other, it meansthat lat ter-day neoplatonists such as Ficinocan hardly be blamed for having read hiswork in the context of neoplatonic theurgy.The crucial Plot inian reference in thatrespect, to which I will return, is to be foundin Ennead IV.3.11.

As for the ef fect of theurgical rites, theevidence suggests that they usually worked(Luck 1989, 188): they produced ef fectswhich great ly impressed the part icipants andlef t them in no doubt that they had beenvisited by the gods and had gained access todivine insights. E.R. Dodds suggested in 1951that theurgy knew two main modes ofoperat ion: telestikè, on the one hand, andtrance phenomena similar to modernspiritualism, on the other (Dodds 1951,292ff). This dist inct ion seems to have beenaccepted my most modern scholars (Luck

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1989, 192). Obviously, however, merely torecognize such similarit ies can hardly countas an "explanat ion". Rather, it suggests thatneoplatonic theurgy as well as modernspiritualism need to be approached as twoculture-specif ic instances of a highly complexcross-cultural domain in which the study oft rance phenomena intersects with the studyof ritual, and the study of which seems torequire a combinat ion of dif ferent disciplinaryperspect ives. Modern studies in this domaindemonstrate that its signif icance is matchedonly by its extreme complexity [9], and we areas yet very far f rom even an approximateunderstanding.

With respect to the subject at hand, I merelywish to make two brief observat ions. First ly,since a pract ice of animated statues orimages is not part of modern spiritualistpract ice, Dodds' parallel with the lat ter

-8-does not direct ly af fect the interpretat ion of

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A likeness of H. C. Agrippa

does not direct ly af fect the interpretat ion oftelestikè. It will be important, however, toinvest igate in which ways certain types of"altered states of consciousness" maycontribute to the subject ive percept ion ofimages and statues as being "alive".Secondly, with respect to all the phenomenament ioned (theurgy, Renaissance magic, aswell as occult ist spiritualism), it is importantto dist inguish between the twocomplementary phenomena of "possession"and "soul f light" [10]. Telestikè clearly impliesthe belief that invisible beings "takepossession" of a material receptacle (thestatue); ecstat ic experiences such asreferred to by Plot inus, however, imply thatthe soul leaves the body. What is puzzling inIamblichean theurgy is the suggest ion thatthe one is inseparable f rom the other:possession of statues seems to have beenseen as a means for having ecstat icexperiences. As far as spirit possession inhuman mediums is concerned, thephenomenology of the subject does suggestexplanat ions for such a combinat ion: thespirit may manifest itself through themedium, while the lat ter is privately having anecstat ic experience (one soul leaves thebody, another takes its place) [11]. Since thisis obviously not possible in the case ofstatues, the quest ion remains how tointerpret the suggest ion that telestikè is away towards inef fable divine revelat ions.

The unclear relat ion between the animat ionof statues and myst ical ecstasy returns inthe context of the Renaissance, wheremagia was presented as the sublimesynthesis of religion and natural philosophy.

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It will be useful to have a brief look at thegreat summa of Renaissance magic, the DeOcculta Philosophia Libri Tres, published byCornelius Agrippa in 1533. Magical use ofimages recurs in many parts of this work, butI have found only one explicit ment ion of thestatues of the Asclepius. This one occurs inchapter I, 38, simply as an example of thepossibility of drawing down 'celest ial, vital,intellectual and divine' gif ts f rom above [12].There is a signif icant implicit reference,however, in chapter II, 50 (on the use ofcelest ial images):

But know this, that such images worknothing, unless they be vivif ied in such a waythat either a natural, or celest ial, or heroic,or animast ical, or demonic, or angelic virtueis in them or adheres to them. But who willgive a soul to an image and make a stone tolive, or metal, or wood, or wax, and 'raise outof stones Children unto Abraham'. Certainlyno insensit ive sculptor will come into the

-9-possession of this arcanum, nor will he beable to give what he does not have: nobodyhas [such powers], but he who has gainedcontrol over the elements, has overcomenature, has transcended the heavens andthe angels, and at tains to the Archetypeitself , as a cooperator of which he canindeed do anything, as will be discussed later[13].

Agrippa has just been explaining at lengththat images can be used for magical ends,and he now emphasizes that they only have

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this power because they are vivif ied byhigher virtues. Nevertheless, he cont inues bystat ing that only the perfect magus has thepower to 'give a soul to an image' and makestatues alive. In so doing, he imparts to themsomething which he has gained as a result ofhaving completed the myst ical ascent andattained to the Archetype itself . This canonly mean that the soul imparted to statuesis the soul of the supreme divinity itself . Inspite of their resemblance, then, the twoprocedures are not considered to be thesame: the former works with created powers,while the lat ter works with the power of theCreator himself . The former refers to magiaas a a means for pragmatic ends, while thelat ter refers to the culminat ion of magia asmyst ical religion. Indeed, De OccultaPhilosophia ends with a discussion ofecstat ic experiences (furor and raptus) whichenable the magus to receive divine oraclesand prophecies. The ult imate goal ofAgrippa's magia therefore seems to besimilar or ident ical to that of neoplatonictheurgy. The animat ion of statues or imagesis, however, not described as a meanstowards this goal: if they work with createdpowers they serve various pragmatic anduseful ends, whereas the ability to animatestatues with divine souls is merely a side-ef fect of myst ical at tainment.

In all this, it must be remembered thatAgrippa was an intellectual and atheoret ician of magic, rather than apract it ioner. He was a 'nonmyst ical myst ic'who did not himself lay claim to exaltedspiritual powers (Nauert 1965, 188). Peuckertwas right to describe De Occulta Philosophia

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Another image from H.C. Agrippa, ThreeBooks of Occult Philosophy , (London: 1651).

as essent ially 'a neoplatonic credo' ratherthan a manual for magical pract ice (1948,114ff): in spite of its notoriety, it is bound todisappoint those who want to actually domagic rather than just read about it .Agrippa's biography contains remarkably lit t leevidence which would suggest that the mostnotorious magus of the 16th century everdevoted much of his t ime to pract icing hismagic. In this, he may have dif fered fromsome of the Italians.

-10-Magical Theory

That Marsilio Ficino could not possibly avoidthe problem of Hermet ic idolatry is obviousfrom the very t it le and subt it le of hisfoundat ional book on magic, De VitaCoelitus Comparanda (VCC) [14]. The maint it le has been translated variously as "OnObtaining Life f rom the Heavens" or, morepoet ically, "On Making Your Life Agree withthe Heavens" (Ficino [Kaske & Clark, eds.]1989, 243; Ficino [Boer, t ransl.] 1980, 83) [15].Indeed, Ficino's "magic" consists in variousprocedures for aligning one's life with theheavenly bodies, so that one may at t ract themost favourable and benef icent combinat ionof celest ial "gif ts". Plot inus had referred tosuch procedures in a manner which broughtthem into immediate connect ion with theHermet ic statues:

And I think that the wise men of old, whomade temples and statues in the wish thatthe gods should be present to them, lookingto the nature of the All, had in mind that the

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nature of soul is everywhere easy to at t ract ,but that if someone were to constructsomething sympathet ic to it and able toreceive a part of it , it would of all thingsreceive soul most easily (Ennead 4.3.11) [16]

Ficino presented his book as a commentaryon Plot inus, in an obvious at tempt to hidebehind the lat ter's authority in dealing withsuch risky subjects. Thus, the subt it le reads:"In What, According to Plot inus, the Powerof Attract ing Favor f rom the HeavensConsists, Namely, That Well-adaptedPhysical Forms Can Easily Allure the World-soul and the Souls of the Stars and theDaemons". What, then, were these "well-adapted physical forms", and what was thenature of the "souls" they at t racted?

As to the former, Ficino most ly speaks ofimagines, meaning talismans. These aredif ferent f rom amulets. Amulets are objectswhich transmit celest ial inf luences by virtueof the material of which they are made;talismans contain art if icial marks (pictures,signs, words) (Copenhaver 1984, 530). Theacceptability of amulets and talismans wasdebated: August ine had condemned both,but Thomas Aquinas allowed the former(Copenhaver 1984, 531-532). Talismanswere unacceptable to both authorit ies,because any

-11-art if icial sign could be construed as amessage directed from one intelligence (themaker or user of the talisman) to another,i.e., a demon. Talismans could obviously be

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seen as merely the 'portable counterparts'(Kaske & Clark 1989, 26) of the idolatrousstatues described in the Asclepius: the godswho "possessed" both were really demons.Thus, any magical use of imagines, in thebroadest sense of the word, implied demonicmagic and idolatry. Ficino was acutely awareof these opinions, and his discussions in DeVita Coelitus Comparanda are full ofhesitat ion and ambiguity: he keeps repeat ingthat he is not defending the use of statuesand images but only report ing others'opinions on them.

Ficino certainly did not wish to summon evildemons, and he probably took the warningsof August ine and Aquinas seriously. However,f rom a (neo)platonic perspect ive thescholast ic argument that any art if icial signcould only be a message to demons did nothave the same force of convict ion. The keyto his approach lies in the fundamentaldoctrine of sympatheia.

In considering the meaning of "sympathet icmagic", one easily forgets the everyday-meaning of the word "sympathy". But forFicino, sympathy was an obvious equivalentfor love (amor). Love was the foundat ion ofmagic: 'But why do we consider love to be amagician? Because the whole power ofmagic reposes on love. The work of magic isthe at t ract ion of one thing by another'(Ficino 1561, II, 1348 [VI, 10]) [17]. As we willsee, this way of describing the dynamics ofcosmic at t ract ion was not "merely symbolic",but was intended with a realism which is hardfor us to understand today. Moreover, theseneoplatonists were not thinking of "platonic

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love"! Frequent ly the connotat ions areexplicit ly sexual [18]. This basic concept ionthat "love makes the world go round" foundits necessary complement in the assumptionof a counter-force. The magical worldview ofcorrespondences would obviously have'collapse[d] into undif ferent iated likeness'without the understanding that certainthings do not correspond (Tomlinson 1993,49). Similarit ies stood against dissimilarit ies,the forces of sympathy against those ofant ipathy; the harmony of the cosmos couldnot be conceived without assuming that theforces of love and friendship werecounteracted by those of strife and host ily(cf . Agrippa I, 17).

All this conf irms the conclusion which wasalready stressed forcefully by Eugenio Garinin the 1950s. The universe of

-12-Renaissance magic was thoroughlyanimated, by means of the all-pervadingspiritus mundi . This means that thedist inct ion between natural and supernaturalcausat ion could not be drawn the way wehave become accustomed to draw it . It isfatally anachronist ic to understand it in thesense of a contrast between "material" and"spiritual". When Ficino referred to theplanets and decans as "gods", he did notimply that they were supernatural beingswho might choose to "intervene" in humanaffairs. Only the intelligible sphere above thef ixed stars - the domain of God and theworld of ideas - could be designated assupernatural; and Ficino was at pains to

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supernatural; and Ficino was at pains topoint out, as we saw, that his magic was notconcerned with supercelest ial beings (Walker1958, 53). Accordingly, Ficino could conceiveof his "spiritual magic" (magic based upont h e spiritus mundi ) as not religious butnatural , without denying for a moment thatthe heavenly bodies were animated beings.

The working of universal sympathy could beexplained in dif ferent ways. Kaske & Clarkehave well summarized the opt ions:

From Plot inus, the Corpus Hermeticum, andhis own inst inct ive beliefs, Ficino knew thatthe universe is one living creature whoseparts all aid and travail or rejoice with eachother. Within this great macro-microcosmanalogy ... Ficino sees endless contributoryanalogies, called congruitates, of substance,quality, or act ivity, and also ... "forms" or"images". For him, analogy can operate as acause; a lower thing can at t ract a higher bybeing analogous to it , appealing to the loveof like for like, and when it does, he calls itillicium, "a lure", or esca, "a bait". Scholarsdisagree as to whether any go-between ...mediates this sympathy or whether it allhappens, as Plot inus says, spontaneously,by pre-established harmony (Kaske & Clark49).

To begin with the lat ter: the magical use ofnon-causal correspondences was basedupon a doctrine of "natural symbols", andwas crucially concerned with images. In aclassic art icle writ ten in 1948, Ernst Gombrichopposes this concept to our commonunderstanding that images must be eitherrepresentat ions or convent ional symbols

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referring to abstract ideas. In a neoplatoniccontext , and part icularly under the inf luenceof Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita, a thirdpossibility was developed which helps toexplain the close connect ion between magicand pictorial art in Renaissance

-13-culture. The convent ional view of symbolsassumed that they were merely analternat ive for discursive descript ions. InDionysian terms, however, the symbolbecame not a mere subst itute for thespoken word, but a start ing-point forcontemplat ion of ideal t ruths which arebeyond verbal expression. The role of suchsymbols in the context of a t ripart iteneoplatonic worldview was explained by Picodella Mirandola in his Heptaplus:

Truly, whatever is in the lower world is also inthe higher ones, but of better stamp;likewise, whatever is in the higher ones isalso seen in the lowest, but in a degeneratecondit ion and with a nature one might calladulterated ... [A]mong us there is the f irewhich is an element; the sun is f ire in the sky;in the ult ramundane region the f ire is theseraphic intellect . But see how they dif fer.The elemental f ire burns, the celest ial giveslife, and the super-celest ial loves (Pico dellaMirandola 1489, 2nd Proem).

The implicat ions were farreaching. Aspointed out by Gombrich, 'the concept ion ofan inherent and essent ial symbolismpervading the whole order of things of fereda key to they whole universe' (1948, 168). It

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opened a possibility for interpret ing themysterious myths and imagery of theancients, such as the Egypt ian hieroglyphs;but even any aspect of the natural worldcould be approached as 'a hieroglyph ofrevealed truth' (1948, 168). The key to thisconcept ion is that the correspondencebetween symbol and reality was notconsidered to be convent ional, but real .Symbols did not "stand for" abstractconcepts, but somehow embodied supremerealit ies. It has been of ten emphasized(Peuckert 1948, 106-107; Coudert 1978, 67)that this concept ion had immediate magicalimplicat ions. If the visual symbol was not justa convent ional sign but embodied its supra-celest ial essence in a real way, it was naturalto t reat the two as interchangeable.Gombrich (1948, 176) has emphasized thecentrality to magic of this 'most extremeposit ion', which removes not only thedist inct ion between symbolizat ion andrepresentat ion but threatens even thedist inct ion between the symbol and what itsymbolizes. In short , the peculiar images ofplanetary deit ies used by Renaissancemagicians were neither convent ionalsymbols for the planets, nor literalrepresentat ions of demonic beings; rather,the very essence of the power embodied inthe star was present - realiter , not idealiter(Deghaye 1984) - in the image.

-14-From a neoplatonic perspect ive, therefore,the ef f icacy of images did not necessarilyhave to be at t ributed either to demonic

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intervent ion, or to a causal medium whichtransmit ted heavenly inf luences. It could beexplained in terms the causal ef f icacy of formas such, which worked by mere analogy,even without any intermediate body (Kaske& Clark 1989, 40; Ficino VCC 17; cf . Vickers1984, 1988).

Nevertheless, a causal explanat ion waspossible as well. Celest ial inf luence might betransmit ted from the heavenly bodies toimages by means of the spiritus mundi . Here,we have to do with the neoplatonic not ionof a "subt le body" (see Dodds 1963; Klein1956; Walker 1958a): 'Spirit is a very tenuousbody, as if now it were soul and not body,and now body and not soul' (VCC 3, 31-33;cf . Agrippa Occ.Phil. I,14) [19]. From theperspect ive of Ficino and his followers, toreduce the spiritus to a material mediumwould be equivalent to ignoring the veryessence of the concept, which was intendedprecisely to bridge the gap between soul andbody. But for this very same reason, it couldnot be denied that mediat ion by means ofspiritus might involve the mediat ion ofanimated beings, referred to as daemones.Such beings might be seen as wholly posit iveforces, and the use of their powers might beconceived of as a natural process:

... paraphrasing Hermes Trismegistus,[Plot inus] says that the ancient priests orMagi used to capture in statues and materialsacrif ices something divine and wonderful.He holds, moreover, with HermesTrismegistus that through these materialsthey did not, properly speaking, capturedivinit ies wholly separate f rom matter but

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deit ies who are merely cosmic ... - cosmic, Isay, that is, a life or something vital f rom theAnima Mundi and the souls of the spheresand of the stars or even a mot ion and, as itwere, a vital presence from the daemons.Indeed, the same Hermes, whom Plot inusfollows, holds that daemons of this kind -airy ones, not celest ial, let alone any higher -are themselves present all along in thematerials and that Hermes himelf puttogether statues from herbs, t rees, stones,and spices, which had within themselves, ashe says, a natural force of divinity. He addedsongs resembling the heavenly bodies; hesays the divinit ies take delight in such songsand so stay a

-15-longer t ime in the statues and help people orharm them (VCC 26, 77-89).

To be sure, Ficino remained highly ambiguousabout these "opinions of Plot inus andHermes", and he ends the chapter inquest ion (the f inal one of De Vita CoelitusComparanda) by siding with ThomasAquinas. This is not surprising, for alreadyFrancesco Giorgi, in his important DeHarmonia Mundi Totius (1525), commentedupon the fundamental ambivalence of anot ion of spiritus which, in all its uses, ischaracterized by 'a mediat ion between twoextremes; [it ] f its equally well the Holy Spirit ,angels as God's, or demons as Satan's,messengers and servants, medical spirits inman, or the medium in which celest ialinf luences are conveyed' (Walker 1958a,113).

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113).

In sum: the fundamental fact about all theexplanatory concepts used by Renaissancemagic in the tradit ion of Ficino (sympathy,co rrespo ndence, spiritus etc.) is theirambiguity. Indeed, they had to be ambiguous,for this is what made it possible for them toexplain the magical interconnect ion of spiritand matter in the context of a thoroughlyanimated cosmos. But the very sameambiguity made it impossible, even fordevout ly Christ ian magi such as Ficino, everto be completely certain whether the ef fectof magical images really reposed on thenatural processes of universal sympathy or,as the crit ics claimed, on the devil and hishelpers. This uncertainty is evident in Ficino'sown work. Contrary to what is somet imessuggested, I believe that his cont inuoushesitancy in the VCC and his explicitsubmission to the authority of the church(VCC, Ad lectorem) is not merely due to fearfor the censors but ref lects genuine worries[20].

Magical Praxis

Marsilio Ficino

A good example of Ficino's caut ion anddoubt can be found in VCC chapter 15.Ficino hints at actual magical pract ice, butstops short at admit t ing that he ever did usetalismans:

As soon as I had explored these things thusfar, while I was st ill a youth, I great ly rejoiced,and I planned to engrave a lodestone as bestI could with the f igure of the celest ial Bear

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when the

-16-Moon was in one of her better aspects withit and then to suspend it f rom my neck withan iron thread. Then at last , I was hoping, Iwould share in the power of thatconstellat ion. But when I had exploredfurther, I found in the end that the inf luenceof that constellat ion is very Saturnine andMart ial, I learned from the Platonists that evildemons are most ly northern ... I learned fromthe theologians and Iamblichus that makersof images are of ten possessed by evildaemons and deceived ... (316).

Ficino says that he 'planned' to make anastral talisman and use it , but that hisenthusiasm was dimmed when he had'explored further' and 'found' that theinf luence might be less benign than he hadhoped. The reader is lef t wondering whetherthese 'explorat ions' were literary or pract ical,and whether Ficino's conclusion was basedupon reasoning or upon pract ical experience.I f ind it hard to imagine that Ficino did notindeed experiment with talismans, at least inhis youth; but his suspicion that theiref f icacy might be caused by the devil ratherthan by sympathy may well have beengenuine.

D.P. Walker (1958, 30) has provided us with a'conjectural interpretat ion' of Ficino's De VitaCoelitus Comparanda, which pictures Ficinoas engaged in ritual pract ice. The primarymodus operandi of such a ritual would haveconsisted in subject ing all the f ive senses

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simultaneously to the inf luence of oneheavenly body or constellat ion. Here, it mustbe kept in mind that Ficino thought of thebodily senses as the f ive lower stages in asevenfold hierarchy. The order is: (1)touching (2) tast ing (3) smelling (4) hearing(5) seeing (6) imaginat ion (7) reason. Theseseven 'pleasures' are discussed (De Vita II,15) in the context of a fascinat ingjuxtaposit ion of Venus and Mercurius, whoare pictured as compet ing for the allegianceof human beings. Venus stands for thesenses, Mercurius for reason; and during thecourse of the 'f ive ages of man', the powerof Mercurius should gradually gaindominance over the power of Venus. Ficino'sdiscussion clearly ref lects the perspect ive ofa philosopher who knew that he was bornunder the sign of Saturn (i.e. Mercurius) and,at 56, considered himself an old man (Boer1980, xxiii). We are not surprised, therefore,to see him warn his younger readers that'Venus comes before your face as a f riend,secret ly as an enemy'. Venus seduces you bythe pleasures of 'touching' (i.e., bodilypleasure), but she is not really interested inyou: she merely uses you as an instrumentfor procreat ion:

-17-Venus endowed you with only one pleasure,and that harmful, with which she harms youbut prof its those to come, lit t le by lit t ledraining you as it were through a secret pipe,f illing and procreat ing another thing withyour f luid, and leaving you f inally as if youwere an old skin of a cicada drained upon the

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Another image from H.C. Agrippa, Three Booksof Occult Philosophy , (London: 1651).

ground, while she looks af ter the f reshcicada (De Vita II, 15) [21].

Barely better than sexual pleasure is thesecond sense, smelling, which Ficino seemsto associate most ly with glut tony. These twopleasures ( "promised, rather than given" byVenus) are ult imately 'lethal' (letiferas). Ficino,however, has an alternat ive:

but I promise you with the kindness of afather and a brother f ive pleasures, and f ive Igive, pure, perpetual, and wholesome, ofwhich the lowest is smelling; the higher, inhearing; the more sublime, in seeing; themore eminent, in the imaginat ion; the higherand more divine in the reason (De Vita II, 15)[22].

Thus, the reject ion of the two lowest sensesis compensated for by the addit ion of twohigher, supra-sensual pleasures. It is in thiscontext that we must understand theconjectural ritual described by Walker, bywhich Ficino tried to 'draw down' the powerof the sun. Obviously there is no 'touching'here; but even the second sense (tast ing) isgiven its due in the ref ined form of sippingsome wine from t ime to t ime. Ficinoaddresses the sense of smelling by burningthe correct (i.e., "solar") sort of f rankincense.He addresses hearing by playing a lira dabraccio or lute decorated with a picture ofOrpheus charming animals, t rees and rocks;and he sings the Orphic Hymn of the Sun.The highest bodily sense, sight, isrepresented by his contemplat ion of atalisman. And of course he takes care that 'inday-t ime he is in sunlight , and at night he

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"represents the sun by f ire"' (Walker 1958,30). Walker does not ment ion the twohighest 'pleasures', imaginat ion and reason,but they are crucial for understanding themeaning of such rituals. Within aneoplatonic/hermet ic context , the "outward"ritual could not possibly be ef fect ive unless itwould be complemented by an appropriate"inward" state of mind: it is only by means oft h e imaginatio that it was consideredpossible to bridge the gap between thesensual world - the observable realit ies ofritual pract ice - and the intellectual world.

-18-Diacceto

Walker has called at tent ion to the far moreexplicit and detailed descript ion of ritualpract ice found in the work of Ficino's pupilFrancesco da Diacceto (1466-1522).Diacceto's f irst contact with Ficino seems todate f rom 1492 (Kristeller 1956, 297), i.e.,several years af ter the publicat ion of De VitaCoelitus Comparanda. He became one ofFicino's favorite pupils, and af ter themaster's death in 1499 he came to beconsidered his successor. Indeed, hisphilosophical work is completely in line withFicinian neoplatonism; but Walkeremphasizes that, being theologically naive,he was less concerned than his master tochrist ianize Plato or Plot inus. Accordingly, heis 'much less discreet, and hence moreinformat ive, than Ficino on the subject ofNeoplatonic magic and astrology' (Walker31). For the complete f ragment in quest ion, Irefer the reader to Walker's t ranslat ion

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refer the reader to Walker's t ranslat ion(1958, 32-33). It is part of Diacceto's mostimportant work, De Pulchro, which survives inonly one manuscript . It was begun in 1496and f inished in the year of Ficino's death,1499. The informat ion allows us to analyzethe dif ferent aspects of the ritual as follows:

1. Intellectual f ramework.

a. Elect ive astrology [23]. The correct t imingof the ritual was essent ial. For example, thepract it ioner who wanted to at t ract 'solariangif ts' should pract ice the ritual while the sunwas ascending in Leo or Aries and on the dayand in the hour of the sun. Likewise, animage of the sun [see 2e] has to be engraved'when the sun is ascending in the f irst face ofLeo'; solarian unguents [2c] have to be madeunder the same celest ial aspect.

b. Astral correspondences. The pract it ionerhad to know precisely which 'plants, animals,odours, f igures, harmonies, hymns andceremonies' correspond to each planet (inthis case: to the sun).

2. Ritual paraphernalia.

a. Clothing: the pract it ioner is dressed in 'asolarian mant le of a solarian colour, such asgold, and crowned with a mitre of laurel'.

b. An altar, made of solarian materials.

c. Smells: Myrrh and frankincense, 'the sun'sown fumigat ions'; unguents, made fromsaffron, balsam, yellow honey 'and

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-19-anything else of that kind'.

d. Sounding object : a musical instrument('cithara').

e. Visual objects: the f loor is strewn with'heliotrope and suchlike f lowers'; there is 'animage of the sun in gold or chrysolite orcarbuncle, that is, of the kind they thinkcorresponds to each of the sun's gif ts'; thereis ment ion of 'the cock and the ram' [24] [i.e.,probably an image of them].

3. Ritual act ion.

a. Burning of myrrh and frankincense.

b. Singing of the Orphic hymn of the sun,addressed to the divine Henad, the Mind, andthe Soul of the sun ('since One, Mind, Soul,are the principles of all things'); accompaniedby 'a threefold harmony, of voice, of cithara,and ...'

c. '... of the whole body, of the kind he hasdiscovered belongs to the sun', i.e., a solariandance. This dance must be neither toocomplex and frivolous nor too solemn, butone which 'both is joyful by its simplicity andat t imes does not avoid a mood of gravity'.

4. Mental disposit ion.

To all the foregoing, the pract it ioner 'addswhat he believes to be the most important: astrongly emot ional disposit ion of theimaginat ion, by which, as with pregnantwomen, the spirit is stamped with this kind of

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imprint , and f lying out through the channelsof the body, especially through the eyes,ferments and solidif ies, like rennet, thekindred power of the heavens'.

5. Goal of the ritual.

In general: 'to acquire solarian gif ts'. As forprecise applicat ion, Diacceto ment ions curingdiseases; in this case, what is needed is 'animage of the sun enthroned, crowned, andwearing a saffron cloak, likewise a raven andthe f igure of the sun' [25].

I would like to make the following comments.First ly, we must realize that rituals of thissort could not be organized ad hoc butwould require quite a deal of preparat ion.The fact that images and unguents had tobe engraved and prepared under the correctastrologial constellat ion means that eitherthe pract it ioner himself had to plan the ritualwell in advance (wait ing for one correctmoment to engrave an image, then for anext one to make unguents - unless thesetwo act ivit ies could be done simultaneously,which is hard to imagine -, and f inally for anext one to actually do the ritual), or that

-20-he had access to prefabricated materials.The last opt ion would imply the existence ofan organized business of manufacturingastral magical tools in Florence in this period;I do not know whether any evidence to thatef fect exists. If it did not exist , ritual pract icemust have involved the pract it ioner in a lotof planning and calculat ing; rituals therefore

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cannot have been very f requent, and areunlikely to have been used for t rivialpurposes. Secondly, as noted by Walker, thesolarian clothing and the altar are notment ioned by Ficino. This is hardly surprising.Precisely this combinat ion would make thepract ice look like a religious ceremonycompet ing with Catholic ritual: it seemed toturn the pract ioner into a priest , addressingstrange gods [26] at an "alternat ive altar". IfFicino himself did use these paraphernalia, hewould obviously have kept silent about themin his writ ings; and it would have to be kept asecret generally, probably known only toclose pupils such as Diacceto. Absence ofproof is therefore certainly no proof ofabsence; but it is equally possible that thesolarian clothing and altar are addit ionsinvented by Diacceto. In this case, since DePulchro was writ ten in Florence in the closepresence of Ficino, the lat ter must at leasthave known about them. Thirdly, not ice thatthere is no direct suggest ion that the imageof the sun (any more than the heliotropes,raven, cock and ram) funct ioned as areceptacle "possessed by" a god. Judgingfrom the evidence, they merely served torender the power of the sun physicallypresent, and we have seen that suchpresence was not thought of as "merelysymbolic" but as actual and real. This bringsus back to the central problem of the"ambivalence of idols". There can be lit t ledoubt that Ficino and Diacceto believed thepower of the "gods" to be actually presentduring the rite: in the image of the sun, nodoubt - but also in the music, the odours, thef lowers, the clothing, and the altar. But we

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should realize that a belief that the ritualcaused the image of the sun to be"animated" and "possessed" by an intelligentbeing - the way the statues of the Aclepiuswere possesed by the Egypt ian deit ies -would have implied that not only this imagewas "possessed", but all the othercorresponding paraphernalia as well: thef lowers, the music, even the smells! Clearlythis was not intended. Explanat ions in termsof universal sympathy, on the other hand,could easily account for the ritual. Again andagain, Ficino argues that just as the stringsof one well-tuned lute are moved bythemselves in harmony with the sound madeby another lute, just so the magus whobrings himself in

-21-harmony with the sun will receive the powerof the sun. This does not automat ically imply,however, that Ficino's and Diacceto's magicwas indeed merely spiritual and not demonic.The sharp dist inct ion between these twoalternat ives is a rather art if icial construct ionintroduced by Walker: Ficino himself , as wehave seen, constant ly blurs them [27].

Walker refers to these rites as 'religious ormagical' (1958, 30). This formulat ion ref lectsan unfortunate hiatus in his foundat ionalstudy of Renaissance "magic": even inWalker's 'General Theory of Natural Magic'(pp. 75-84), the whole discussion is basedupon an intuit ional def init ion, which assumesa dist inct ion between "magic" and "religion"without ever spelling it out . When we readthat 'magic was always on the point of

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that 'magic was always on the point ofturning into art , science, pract icalpsychology, or, above all, religion' (1958, 75-76), this clearly begs the quest ion of howWalker def ines magic and demarcates it f romreligion. Some scattered hints suggest thathe may have thought in Frazerian terms [28].Given the untenability of the lat ter'sdist inct ion between religion and magic, whichbecomes most evident precisely in the caseof idols and images (Hanegraaff 1998), this isall the more reason to ask ourselves on whatbasis Ficino's assumed ritual pract ice shouldbe referred to as magic at all. I suggest thatthe ambivalence derives mainly f rom thequest ion of the assumed goal of the ritual.Ficino's De Vita is presented as a t reat ise onhealth, i.e., oriented towards pragmatic ends;but the discussion also makes clear thatSaturnine intellectuals cannot at tain healthunless they follow their calling, i.e., unlessthey free themselves from the senses andstrive for contemplat ion of the intellectualworld. We encountered essent ially the sametension in Agrippa, where a concentrat ion onpragmatic goals is eventually replaced by aconcentrat ion on the "religious" goals ofprophecy and myst ical ecstasy. Thisconstellat ion seems, indeed, to be a generalcharacterist ic of so-called "Renaissancemagic". Again and again, even in the explicit ly"magical" occult philosophy of Agrippa, thegeneral f ramework is one of a spiritual pathoriented towards the at tainment of gnosis.The pragmatic aspect oriented towardsshort-term goals may get a lot of at tent ion,but in the end it is always subordinate to thelong-term goal of myst ical at tainment.

Lazzarelli PDFmyURL.com

Lazzarelli

It may not be superf luous to repeat that , ofthe authors discussed so

-22-far, only Agrippa explicit ly referred to thispath towards gnosis as magia. Ficino's DeVita is explicit ly about health, not magic.Diacceto's De Pulchro takes the problem ofbeauty as the start ing point for acomprehensive treatment of metaphysics(Kristeller 1956, 305); magic is discussed onlyas part of a broader f ramework, whichdescribes the ascent of the soul to theintelligible world, and culminates in anecstat ic experience. Similarly, LodovicoLazzarelli's Crater Hermetis is about aprocess of myst ical rebirth and"regenerat ion" rather than about magic.What makes this text relevant for us is theremarkable role played in the process by the"making of gods".

Lit t le is known about the author [29].Lazzarelli (1450-1500) was one of the manyminor Italian humanists of the period, part ofwhose works are st ill accessible only inmanuscript . He seems to have studiedmathematics and astrology, and Greek aswell as Hebrew. We are told that Lazzarelliexorcized impure spirits by the sign of thecross, predicted the future, and at one t imefell under the suspicion of magical pract ice(Kristeller 1938, 226). Especially interest ing ishis connect ion with the strange f igure ofGiovanni "Mercurio" da Correggio (?1451-?),a wandering prophet who made aspectacular appearance in Rome on palm

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sunday 1485. The episode has beendescribed in detail in an anonymous EpistolaEnoch, at t ributed to Lazzarelli [30]. Correggiorode to the Vat ican on a black horse, thenlef t the city, to return riding a donkey, clothedin a blood-stained linen robe, and carrying acrown of thorns on his head. Correggiopresented himself to the people as Jesus ofNazareth's chosen servant and son, andreferred to himself as Pimander. This, as wellas his added name Mercurio, demonstratehis self -ident if icat ion as the hermetic Christ[31]. Lazzarelli appears to have seen inGiovanni da Correggio his spiritual master,who had ef fected his "spiritual regenerat ion"[32]. It is in this context that the CraterHermetis must be understood.

This fascinat ing and enigmat ic work certainlydoes not hide its dependence upon thehermet ic Asclepius. Both works are writ tenas a dialogue in which a master instructs hispupils into the way towards spiritual rebirthand the at tainment of gnosis; and in bothcases, as will be seen, the instruct ionculminates in the supreme mystery of the"making of gods". This open and explicitemphasis on precisely the most controversialaspect of the ent ire hermet ic legacy, which istreated not as an embarrassment but as themost crucial part of "hermet ic rebirth", issurprising to say the least. The CraterHermetis ref lects the inf luence, not only ofthe Asclepius,

-23-but of the Corpus Hermeticum as well. Thet it le itself is a reference to the "mixing bowl"

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t it le itself is a reference to the "mixing bowl"discussed in C.H. IV; and, as in C.H. XVI andXVII, the instruct ion is addressed to a king.The instructor is Lazzarelli himself , whotherefore takes the place tradit ionallyreserved for Hermes or Asclepius; the pupil isKing Ferdinand of Sicily and Aragon (died in1494). In the original version of the Crater ,writ ten not long before 1494, there is asecond pupil present as well: a culturedintellectual called Pontanus [33].

Both pupils are instructed by Lazzarelli in theway towards self -knowledge, which isknowledge of God (Crater 18,2). This "wayof Hermes" (to adopt here the formulat ion ofGarth Fowden: 1986, 110-111) is presentedas both Christ ian and hermet ic (Crater 4,1).Lazzarelli's own spiritual authority rests uponthe gnosis imparted to him by Pimander, whois none other than Jesus Christ : 'He that wasPimander in the mind of Hermes, has deignedto take up residence within me as ChristJesus, and has consoled me by illuminat ingmy mind with the light of Truth, being theeverlast ing Consoler' (Crater 1,2) [34]. Whatthe reader (and, presumably, the king)cannot know is that Lazzarelli owed thisenlightenment to his master, the "hermet icChrist" Giovanni da Correggio [35]. Af ter along prayer to God (Crater 5,3), Lazzarellibegin his instruct ion. Again and again,however, he is interrupted by quest ions putto him by the king. The lat ter is the very typeof the enthusiast ic pupil, who is curiousabout everything and is not easily sat isf ied,thus forcing Lazzarelli into long digressionsand elaborat ions. Finally, however, Lazzarellicomes to speak into more detail about Godand the knowledge of God. His discourse

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and the knowledge of God. His discoursedoes not miss its ef fect on the king, who(echoing similar statements by pupils in theoriginal hermet ic dialogues), exclaims 'I feelwholly changed by your words today,Lazzarelli, wholly in ecstasy, wholly beyondmyself ' (Crater 22,1). Lazzarelli commentsthat the king is in fact experiencing thebeginning of his t ransformat ion ortransmutat ion (immutatio) into a "t rue humanbeing". He cont inues his instruct ion with along hymn of divine contemplat ion, whichhas the ef fect of inst illing an ardent love forGod in the hearts of his pupils (Crater 24,1).Now that his pupils are in the required stateof spiritual exaltat ion, Lazzarelli f inally beginsto unveil the supreme mystery of gnosis.

The mystery reposes upon the knowledge ofGod's fertility. Man, being created in God'simage, shares in this same divine power of

-24-fert ility; and likewise has he received fromGod the faculty of immortality. Now, thesetwo - fert ility and immortality - make possiblethe creat ion of a 'divine of fspring' (divinamsobolem; Crater 25,3). This is not a quest ionof bodily but of spiritual procreat ion (Crater25,2), and it must be taken notmetaphorically but literally: Lazzarelliemphasizes that he is speaking about'mental generat ion in a literal sense' (deunivoca mentis generatione; Crater 25,4).Not surprisingly, the king st ill does not have aclue of what Lazzarelli is talking about; hebecomes ever more excited and impat ient,and exhorts Lazzarelli to f inally come to the

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point . In response, Lazzarelli sings the "hymnof divine generat ion", which at last makesclear that he is referring to the mystery ofgod-making referred to in the Asclepius.Couplets 11-13 of Crater 27,1 are a closeparaphrasis of the lat ter's chapters 23-24and 37-38.

This is certainly the newest novelty ofnovelt iesand a greater miracle than all othersthat man has discovered the nature of God[36]and knows how to make itFor just as the Lord or God the begetter(genitor )generates the celest ials and procreates theangelswho are the forms of things, the heads [37]and f irst examples of all,just so the true man creates divine souls(divas animas )which the ancient host used to call gods ofthe earth,who are glad to live close to human beingsand rejoice at the welfare of man.

(Crater 27,1) [38]

T h i s arcanum arcanorum, Lazzarellicont inues, is known to him not only f rom theauthority of the ancients, but f rom personalexperience (Crater 28,1). It is the suprememystery, which must not be divulged to theprofane and the inexperienced. For thisreason, few ancient authorit ies have openlydiscussed it . But Hermes in teleios logos hasspoken about it , and Enoch seems to havedone the same. Moreover, Abraham in the

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book Sepher Izira has described how "newhumans" can be made. One must go to alonely mountain

-25-where no catt le grazes, and from the middleof it take Adama, i.e., red virginal earth; f romthis, one must make the form of a man, onthe members of which let ters must beapplied in the correct manner. According toLazzarelli, this must be read metaphorically:the lonely mountains are the divine sageswho are avoided and despised by themult itude, the catt le means the bodilysenses which must be disregarded, andAdama is the mind of the wise man fromwhich a new man is formed by wordspronounced in myst ical fashion. Finally, Christhimself has revealed this secret , and it canbe found in a concealed form in the books ofthe Old and the New Testament.

The king now desires to learn how toaccomplish this great work. But since it hasgrown late, Lazzarelli proposes to postponefurther explicat ion for a later opportunity,adding that the mystery of divine generat ionshould preferably be discussed in another,more remote and secret place. In thiscontext , he adds a remark which isinterest ing with respect to the tensionbetween magical arts and myst icalcontemplat ion:

For about the word in Genesis [39] "Abrahamgave to Isaac all that he possessed, but tothe sons of his concubines he gavepresents", the kabbalists say that what was

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given to the sons of the concubines is theScemoth Sceltoma, that is to say, the namesof impurity, i.e. the art of magic. But what wasgiven to Isaac were certain divine secrets,which ... were called Kabbalah, a name whichin our t ime is becoming known to some. Buthow it works is unknown to all, with theexcept ion of one person (Crater 30, 3)[40].

Apparent ly, Lazzarelli realizes that hisdescript ion of the mystery of "god-making"evokes associat ions with magic, and isconcerned to demarcate the lat ter f rom thetrue mystery of (re)generat ion. The CraterHermetis ends, like the Asclepius, with ahymn of thanksgiving to God. About thefurther instruct ions promised by Lazzarelli tothe king, no more is known to us.

What is to be made of Lazzarelli's suprememystery of "generat ing souls"? Several ofthe greatest modern scholars in the f ieldhave proposed interpretat ions, and it is withconsiderable t repidat ion that I venture to addmy voice to theirs. I would like to begin bycalling

-26-at tent ion to the innovat ive elements inLazzarelli's adaptat ion of the Asclepius. 1.T he Asclepius celebrates the 'wonder of allwonders' that man has discovered 'the divinenature (divinam naturam) and how to makeit '; Lazzarelli, however, writes specif ically 'thenature of God (naturam Dei) and ... how tomake it '. 2. The Asclepius states that theancestors make statues but could not makesouls, and therefore called up the souls of

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demons or angels and at t racted them intothe statues; Lazzarelli, however, statesprecisely that man has discovered how tomake divine souls.

What can he possibly have had in mind?Kristeller has emphasized that Lazzarelliinterprets the fragment of Sepher Izira (onwhich, see below) not literally butallegorically, and suggests that the same istrue of his references to hermet ic "god-making". The divas animas are not demons,as one might think at f irst sight , but 'humanbeings like he himself who, by the ef fect ofthe generatio, are elevated to a divine modeof existence and have received the faculty ofprophesying and doing miracles' (Kristeller1938, 239). This regenerat ion is ef fected bythe master, who imparts his wisdom to hisdisciple and thus elevates him to a superiorlevel of existence. This interpretat ion indeedf its very well with the general tendency ofthe Crater Hermetis to describe the pupil asbeing transported to ever more exaltedstates of ecstasy merely by listening to thewords of the master. Nevertheless, asremarked by Moreschini (1985, 215-216), thisinterpretat ion seems to dispose too easily ofthe purely hermet ic, i.e., pagan - side ofLazzarelli's Asclepius references. Indeed, I donot see how Kristeller's interpretat ion mightaccount for the third couplet quoted above.Moreschini maintains that Lazzarelli mayindeed have thought of "creat ing demons",thereby adopt ing the interpretat ion given byD.P. Walker in 1958. Walker saw in Lazzarelli'smystery more than just a descript ion ofChrist ian regenerat ion: 'It was a magicaloperat ion by which the master provided his

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disciple with a good demon. The operat ionconsisted mainly of words sung in somespecial manner. These sounds themselvesbecame the demon ... Lazzarelli was notsummoning demons; he was making them'(Walker 1958, 70-71). But how? We do notknow whether Lazzarelli had read Ficino's DeVita Coelitus Comparanda, but if he had, hecould have read there the following passageon the magical power of music:

Now the very matter of song, indeed, isaltogether purer and

-27-more similar to the heavens than is thematter of medicine. For this too is air, hot orwarm, st ill breathing and somehow living; likean animal it is composed of certain parts andlimbs of its own and not only possessesmotion and displays passion but even carriesmeaning like a mind, so that it can be said tobe a kind of airy and rat ional animal (VCC 21,81-85) [41].

Walker refers to this same passage in orderto explain the nature of Lazzarelli's "god-making"; and Michael J.B. Allen hassuggested more recent ly that Ficino indeedbroached the possibility that by makingmusic we are in fact 'making demons' (Allen1989, 172;Tomlinson 1993, 125) [42]. Such aconcept ion could be supported by theoriesof the imaginat ion as found in al-Kindi'sinf luent ial De radiis: 'when man, using hisimaginat ion, conceives of some corporealthing, this thing acquires an actual existenceaccording to the species in the imaginat ive

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spirit ' [43]. It seems that Ficino was not alonein taking such ideas seriously. From aneoplatonic context , it was only natural toassume that the intermediate faculty of theimaginatio would correspond to anintermediate soul or "subt le body" (Klein1956, 22), and the idea that a living soul ordemon can be created by the humanimaginat ion is indeed a recurring one at leastsince Ficino [44]. If we interpret the CraterHermetis f rom this perspect ive, I suggestthat Lazzarelli adapted the Asclepiusprecisely in order to demonstrate thesuperiority of Correggio's Christianhermet icism. The ancient Egypt ians, who'erred gravely on the theory of divinity', wereobliged to drawn down divine souls becausethey could not themselves make them(Asclepius, 37). The Christ ian hermet icist ,however, has the correct doctrine [45]; hehas discovered the nature of God himselfand can therefore do what the ancientscould not: create divine souls. It is fully in linewith this, that the Crater Hermetis containsno trace of astral magic: to draw down gif tsfrom the stars by magical means hasbecome superf luous for those who haveinherited Abraham's gif t to Isaac, i.e., thedivine mysteries of kabbalah.

St ill the quest ion remains why, in order toachieve spiritual gnosis, it should beconsidered important for the pupils to be'provided with a good demon'. Indeed, wehave not yet reached the end of the story. Ina fascinat ing art icle which opens up vast newvistas on the relat ion between hermet icismand Judaism, Moshe Idel has approached ourproblem from the perspect ive of Lazzarelli's

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-28-reference to the Sepher Yezira (Book ofCreat ion): the foundat ional text of Jewishspeculat ion on the making of a golem orart if icial man. Several commentators (Walker1958, 68 nt 5; Secret 1964, 75; Coudert1978, 78 nt 91) have been puzzled by thefact that the text referred to by Lazzarellidoes not in fact appear in the knownversions of the Sepher Yezira ; but this riddleis explained by its appearance in acommentary on it writ ten by the earlythirteenth-century author Elazar of Worms[46], which in turn was included in theCollectanaea of Pico della Mirandola'sJewish teacher, Yohanan Alemanno (Idel1988a, 68; cf . 1990, 190 nt 53). Now, not onlywere Alemanno and Lazzarelli living innorthern Italy in exact ly the same period, buttheir interpretat ions of the meaning of theSepher Yezira display suggest ive similarit iesas well. Idel's discussion makes it extremelylikely that Lazzarelli's peculiar interpretat ionof the "golem" passage - i.e., as referring tospiritual rebirth rather than the magicalcreat ion of an art if icial anthropoid - wasderived via Alemanno from the "prophet ic orecstat ic kabbalah" of Abraham Abulaf ia (13thcent .) [47]. In his Collectanaea, Alemannoquoted extensively f rom Abulaf ia's Life of theWorld to Come, which contains the followingpassage:

The greatest deed of the deeds is to makesouls, which is the secret [meaning] of [theverse]: and the souls which they had made inHaran [48]. Since God made man perfect , in

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Haran [48]. Since God made man perfect , inthe image of God He made him, and[therefore] this deed is with us the best of alldeeds. This is why every learned person isobliged to make souls more than he isobliged to make bodies; his obligat ion tocreate bodies being intended to refer only tohis making souls, this being the way a mancan imitate his creator [49].

I think that this passage might well containthe key to Lazzarelli's Crater . Just as Godcreated Adam, so man can create souls ofAdama; both processes are presented asgeneratio mentis, analogous but superior tosexual generat ion. All the evidence indicatesthat this should be understood in thecontext of those tendencies in Jewishesotericism which saw the creat ion of thegolem not as a magical means to achievepragmatic ends, but as an end in itself : 'aritual of init iat ion into the secret of creat ion',culminat ing in an ecstat ic experience(Scholem 1965, 177, 184). Abulaf ia himselfridiculed the 'folly of those who study theBook Yetsirah in order to make a calf ; forthose who do so are themselves calves' [50].

-29-Idel therefore provides us with what seemsto be the essent ial missing piece.Nevertheless, it seems to me that his owninterpretat ion of Lazzarelli's mystery of"creat ing souls" is not supported butcontradicted by the evidence he adduces.According to Idel, 'Lazzarelli did not createdemons, but at t racted them into the body ofthe king. ... The king played the role of an idol

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into which the divine soul was introduced. InJewish terms, the king is conceived of as agolem, and Lazzarelli's task was to vivify himby at t ract ing the spiritual powers into theking's limbs by incantat ions of combinat ionsof let ters' (Idel 1988a, 68). This in factamounts to an interpretat ion in terms ofmagically induced "spirit possession". Ideldefends this interpretat ion by arguing thatthis accords with the passage in theAsclepius 'concerning the incapacity of manto create souls, but his ability to at t ract soulsinto already exist ing idols'. Of course this istrue; but for some reason Idel ignores thefact that it is precisely on this crucial pointthat Lazzarelli diverges f rom the Asclepius,and that the very relevance of his Abulaf iaquotat ion rest upon that same divergence.His evidence therefore militates against hisinterpretat ion rather than in favour of it .

I summarize my interpretat ion. First ly, I see noevidence that Lazzarelli understood theAsclepius passages as referring either totelestikè or (contra Idel) to astral magic: incontrast to the original meaning, nothing is"drawn down" or "captured" into statues orimages. Secondly, I see no evidence either(contra Idel) that the mystery involved "spiritpossession": no 'demons', 'divine souls' or'spiritual powers' were at t racted into the king.Thirdly, however, the mystery involved morethan just 'ordinary Christ ian regenerat ion' or'the familiar regenerat ion of conversion'(Walker 1958, 70; contra Kristeller): the talkof "creat ing gods" was more than just ametaphor. Fourthly, the importance of"creat ing souls" does not imply (contraWalker) that the goal of the whole process

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was to 'provide the king with a good demon'.

The goal was, rather, the at tainment of asuperior gnosis, which naturally entailed theattainment of superhuman powers. The "t ruehuman being", who had 'discovered thenature of God' himself , would partake of thelat ter's creat ive/generat ive power; and hewould indeed know 'how to make it ', i.e. howto procreate a 'divine of fspring'. Such a manwould indeed be able to 'do anything' (to

-30-quote Agrippa, whose reasoning is closelyanalogous). Since the ability to create soulsis the example par excellence of God'screat ive/generat ive power, man's at tainmentof divine perfect ion quite simply requiredthat ability. Perhaps the "t rue human being"would not even have to demonstrate orprove his power, either to others or tohimself ; the conf ident certainty of his powersfollowed from his personal experience ofrebirth. Lazzarelli must have read andinterpreted Hermes Trismegistus' Asclepiusas the prophet ic announcement of a mysterywhich was dest ined to at tain to its fulf illmentin Christ ianity. For Hermes Trismegistus, thegreatest pagan sage, the supreme miraclehad consisted in man's discovery of thedivine nature and the procedure for drawingdown the souls of the gods into statues.The creation of such souls st ill lay beyond hishorizon. Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio, the"hermet ic Christ", had now brought the newand f inal hermet ic revelat ion ('the newestnovelty of novelt ies'), which surpassed evenHermes' wisdom: through Christ , man could

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Hermes' wisdom: through Christ , man couldovercome his alienat ion and at tain to thecondit ion of the Creator himself .

All things considered, there is nothing toosurprising about the fact that Lazzarelli'steaching culminates in the making of souls.The essent ial simplicity of his religious(rather than magical) doctrine is perhapsbest illustrated by the following dialogue,which emerged spontaneously in animprovised piece of children's theatre(Sexson 1992, 61):

Boy: What are you?

Zeus: Gods.

Boy: What are Gods ?

Buddha: We make things.

Indeed, a God who cannot make things canhardly be called a God. What else could aprocess of spiritual "divinizat ion" beexpected to culminate in, if not in the mostdif f icult of all accomplishments: the creat ionof souls?

Conclusion

We started with the cult of animated templestatues, moved on from there to the pract iceof astral magic, and ended with an init iat icprocess

-31-of "spiritual rebirth". At f irst sight these mightseem to be quite dif ferent types of human

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act ivity, but in fact they appear cont inually toshade into each other. The few examples Ihave been able to discuss here demonstratethe impossibility of drawing too sharpdist inct ions, not only between "natural" and"demonic" magic, but between "magic" and"religion" as well. Unambiguous lines ofdemarcat ion between such categories donot exist except in the realm of pure theory,and can be (approximately) imposed uponreality only in the terms of strict discursivelanguage. Such a procedure is quitelegit imate in itself , but only as long as onedoes not forget its strict ly heurist ic insteadof descript ive nature. Whenever we returnfrom the realm of theory to that of reality,the sharp lines begin to blur before our eyes,and we f ind that we are looking at anintermediate spectrum f illed not with wordsbut with images. It seems to me thatprecisely this phenomenon def ines thenecessary boundary condit ions for anyscholarly study of "magic", as well as theinevitable limitat ions of its possible results.

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1998 Western Esotericism and the Scienceof Religions (Gnost ica 2), Louvain.

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-35-Merkur, Dan,

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-37-NOTES

1 In her just if ied concern to emphasize theimportance of magic in the Renaissance,Frances Yates misleadingly suggests thatthese fragments are representat ive of thetreat ise as a whole: 'The Asclepius purportsto describe the religion of the Egypt ians, andby what magic rites and processes theEgypt ians drew down the powers of thecosmos into the statues of their gods'(1964, 3). Actually, the art of drawing downthe souls of demons or angels into statuesis ment ioned only in chapters 23-24 and 37-38. The rest of the Asclepius contains lit t lethat might be associated with magic oridolatry.

2 All depends, of course, on one's def init ionof magic. As an example of how dif f icult it isto dist inguish between prayer and spell, see

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for example the so-called voces magicae(strings of vowels and consonants) found inthe Papyri Magicae Graecae, but also in theHermet ic Discourse on the Eight and theNinth (Nag Hammadi VI,6), which describes aceremonial process of myst ical rebirth (Mahé1997).

3 Lat in orig.: Nock & Festugière 1946; engl.t ransl.: Copenhaver 1992.

4 Cf. the Greek Nag Hammadi parallel (infra).

5 Cf. Zosimus, The Final Quittance [hèteleutaia apoche] (see re-ed. in Festugière1944 I, app. I): 'Do not roam about searchingfor God; but sit calmly at home, and God,who is everywhere, and not conf ined in thesmallest place like the daemons, will come toyou' (quoted according to Fowden 1986,122). God 'lacks nothing' because he iseverywhere and nowhere [Zosimus, loc.cit .],cf . for example Corpus Hermeticum XI, 20-22; but the daemons lack their f reedom ofmovement, which is why they need to bekept happy by 'sacrif ices, hymns, songs ofpraise'. Cf. also Iamblichus, Myst. V, 14: 'toof fer material sacrif ices to immaterial gods isinappropriate, but very suitable to all materialgods' (quoted according to Fowden 1992,143 nt 2). On the cont inuit ies betweenhermet ism and Iamblichean theurgy, see infra.

6 Luck (1989, 187-188) infers an ascet icdiscipline of prolonged silence, the use ofmaterial things such as herbs and stones, aswell as spoken or writ ten words, the use ofmagic tools such as the "bull-roarer" and in

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some cases psychedelic drugs (192-194). Healso ment ions the enigmat ic reference to the"understanding warmed by f ire", which wouldenable the theurgist to 'understand all oftheology in a f lash'. I wonder about thesimilarit ies with the ritual pract ice describedby the 13th-century Jewish myst ic AbrahamAbulaf ia. The approach towards the 'inf lux ofdivine power' into the myst ic, which permitshim an understanding beyond verbalexpression, seems

-38-to have been accompanied by a sensat ion ofwarmth in the heart (see Scholem 1946, 136;Idel 1988, 39).

7 'Theurgic union is at tained ony by theperfect ive operat ion of unspeakable actscorrect ly performed, acts which are beyondall understanding, and by the power of theunutterable symbols intelligible only to thegods' (Iamblichus, Myst . 2,11; cf . Luck 1989,186).

8 See Shaw 1985, 3: 'It is a curious fact thatNeoplatonism today is ident if ied withPlot inus and an intellectual myst icism whichdenied formal religious worship, for in thehistory of the t radit ion Plot inus stands nearlyalone in this at t itude. In fact , Neoplatonismwas far more inf luenced by the SyrianIamblichus and his theurgical myst icism thanby Plot inus'. And even Plot inus may not havebeen wholly averse towards theurgy. At leastone well-known anecdote, related byPorphyry (Vita Plotini , ch. 10), suggests that

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he was perfect ly willing to part icipate in atheurgic ritual (see discussion in Luck 1989,207-208).

9 One good example would be CarloGinzburg's great study of the Witches'Sabbath (Ginzburg 1991).

10 With respect to Ficino's magic, this pointhas been emphasized in the importantrecent study of Tomlinson (1993, ch. 5), whomakes good use of the relevantanthropological literature. I prefer the term"soul f light" over Tomlinson's "soul loss". Thelat ter term might suggest that theexperience is somehow negat ive (i.e.,something is "lost"), whereas in fact it isusually evaluated posit ively.

11 This combinat ion can frequent ly beencountered in reports of contemporary"channeling" mediums in the context of theNew Age movement (Hanegraaff 1996, ch.1).

12 Agrippa also refers to August ine'sreference to the Asclepius, but withoutment ioning that this authority in factcondemns the pract ice.

-39-Cf also Occ.Phil . III, 58, which quotes Hermes'opinion that it is a sacrilige to approach theone God in the manner appropriate to theterrestrial gods.

13 Illud autem scias nihil operari imagines PDFmyURL.com

eiusmodi, nisi vivif icentur ita quod ipsis autnaturalis aut coelest is aut heroica autanimast ica aut daemoniaca vel angelicavirtus insit aut adsistat . At quis modo animamdabit imagini et vivif icabit lapidem autmetallum aut lignum aut ceram atque "exlapidibus suscitabit f ilios Abrahae"? Certenon penetrat hoc arcanum ad art if icem duraecervicis nec dare poterit illa qui non habet:habet autem nemo, nisi qui iam cohibit iselement is, victa natura, superat is coelis,progressus angelos, ad ipsum Archetypumusque trascendit , cuius tunc cooperatoref fectus potest omnia, sicut de hoc dicemusin sequent ibus (ed. Perrone Compagni, 373).

14 Not ice, however, that VCC is not explicit lypresented as a book on magic. It is the thirdand f inal volume of a t reat ise on the healthof intellectuals, ent it led De Vita.

15 Boer's t ranslat ion has an at t ract ive poet iccharm but his accuracy has been crit icized(Allen 1982). The edit ion by Kaske & Clark isvast ly superior for scholarly purposes.

16 Transl. Armstrong 1984. About theestablishment of this passage as the basisf o r De Vita Coelitus Comparanda, see thediscussion by Kaske & Clark in their edit ion,p. 25ff ; cf . Copenhaver 1986, 352-353.

17 Sed cur magum putamus amorem? Quiatota vis magicae in amore consist it . Magicaeopus est , at t ract io rei unius ab alia.

18 See the chapter on "Magic and love" inthe invaluable study by Alain Godet (1982),

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where we read that 'these act ions [ofmagical fascinat ion] take place, exact ly aswith love, through the belly; their center isnot the divine 'anima rat ionalis' but the'spiritus animalis', which is understood to beanimal-like, resp. the 'anima sensit iva' ... Andjust like the lover expresses his feelings witha glowing gaze and passionate words, justso the sorcerer uses sweet words ..., andfrom his eyes f low the disastrous part icles orrays, with the help of

-40-which he knows how to subject the weakermind to his power'. On neoplatonic conceptsof "love" and "sympathy" in the context ofFicino's magic, cf . especially Beierwaltes 1978and Müller-Jahncke 1979, 32ff .

19 Ipse [= spiritus] vero est corpustenuissimum, quasi non corpus et quasi iamanima, item quasi non anima et quasi iamcorpus.

20 Cf. Walker 1958, 51: 'It is clear that Ficinois strongly at t racted by this kind of magic ortheurgy, that he considers it valuable, andalso it is clear that he is aware that it isdangerous'.

21 Unam profecto noxiamque Venus vobisindidit voluptatem, qua noceret quidemvobis, prodesset vero futuris, exhaurienspaulat im vos per latentem quandam quasif istulam, aliudque vestris liquoribus implensatque procreans, vos tandem quasivetustum quoddam spolium cicadarum iam

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exhaustum humi relinquens, cicadae interimteneriori prospiciens.

22 ego vero benef icio patris atque fratrisquinque promit to vobis, quinque praestopuras, perpetuas, salutares, quarum inf imaest in olfactu, superior in auditu, sublimior inaspectu, eminent ior in imaginat ione, inrat ione excelsior atque divinior.

23 For terminological dist inct ions betweenvarious types of astrology, see Kaske & Clark1989, 32-38. Elect ive astrology is a matter of't iming one's act ivit ies to coincide with thepredicted dominance of favorable stars' (o.c.,37).

24 Walker t ranslates aries as goat, but "ram"is certainly more appropriate both literallyand astrologically. Ficino ment ions aries once(VCC 1.103), in a list of solarian animals. Thecock (gallus) is ment ioned far more of ten inthe same capacity: VCC 1.103; 13.67; 14.12,25, 26, 28; 15.74, 76; 18.63.

25 The raven was considered a solariananimal (Ficino VCC 14, 25).

-41-Diacceto's descript ion of how to use the sunfor curing diseases literally repeats Ficino(VCC 18, 52-54): 'For curing diseases theyfashioned an image of the Sun in gold, in hishour, when the f irst face of Leo wasascending with him: a king on a throne in ayellow garment and a raven and the form ofthe Sun'. Ficino, in turn, is dependent on the

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Picatrix (Kaske & Clark 1989, 448 nt 10).

26 Like Ficino, Diacceto refers to the planetsas "gods" (Walker 1958, 32).

27 See the discussions in Tomlinson 1993(part ly with reference to Allen and Couliano),esp. 125-127.

28 See esp. Walker 1958, 105: 'His [i.e.,Ficino's] magic is eminent ly private, individualand subject ive, and hence is nearer to beinga religion than a bogus science'. This seemsto ref lect the Frazerian view of "magic" aspseudo-science, but it remains unclear whythe 'private, individual and subject ive' natureof a ritual would make it into "religion" (inDurkheimian terms, it would rather be areason to speak of magic). On p. 83, we readthat 'The product ion of ef fects by appliedpsychology or magic dif fers f rom manyreligious pract ices only in that no divinecause is assumed' (with a note reference toWilliam James' Varieties of ReligiousExperience). Here, magic seems to be usedas a synonym for applied psychology ratherthan pseudo-science; and religion ischaracterized merely by doctrinal opinionsabout the causality involved.

29 The two fundamental discussions remainKristeller 1938 & 1960.

30 Published by Brini 1955. On the at t ribut ionto Lazzarelli, see Kristeller 1938, 230-231. Onthe connect ions between Lazzarelli andCorreggio, see Kristeller 1938, 1956a, 1960.

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31 Mercurius is a common pseudonym forHermes, and the Corpus Hermeticumt ranslated by Ficino was known as thePimander (referring to the f irst text of thecollect ion, "Poimandres").

-42-32 See esp. his second "preface" addressedto Correggio, published in Kristeller 1938,244-245.

33 I.e., Giovanni Pontano. This second pupil issuppressed in the version of the CraterHermetis published by Lefèvre d'Étaples in1505, and translated into French by M.Gabriel du Preau in 1549. The redactor ofthe 1505 publicat ion adapted the text inother respects as well, apparent ly concernedto minimize any too strict connect ionbetween Christ ianity and Hermet ism(Moreschini 1985, 200). Moreschini's modernedit ion of the Crater is based upon themanuscript version (XIII AA 34) in theBiblioteca Nazionale of Naples, whichtherefore ref lects Lazzarelli's originalintent ion. Here I foreshadow the annotatedEnglish t ranslat ion of Lazzarelli's Hermet icwrit ings, current ly in preparat ion (Bouthoorn& Hanegraaff forthcoming).

34 Ipse qui in Hermet is mente Pimander erat ,in me Christus Iesus incolatum faceredignatus est .

35 Cf. Lazzarelli, IInd Preface (addressed toCorreggio), in: Kristeller 1938, 244-245.

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36 Not ice that Lazzarelli speaks of 'naturamDei', instead of 'divinam naturam' (Asclepius37).

37 Cf. Asclepius 23: 'deorum genus omniumconfessione manifestum est de mundissimaparte naturae esse prognatum signaqueeorum sola quasi capita pro omnibus esse'(Nock & Festugière [ 1946] comment that'signa' means "astral forms", which are likeheads without body, while the statues ofgods (species deorum) fabricated by mandepict the whole body).

-43-38 Haec certe novitatum novitas nova, / etmirabilibusmaius id omnibus, / naturam quiahomo iam reperit Dei / atque ipsam sapiensfacit . // Nam sicut Dominus vel genitor Deus /caelestes generans procreat angelos, / quirerum species, qui capita omnium /exemplaria primaque: // divas sic animasverus homo facit , / quod terrae vocitat turbavetus deos, / qui gaudent homini vivereproximos, / laetanturque hominis bono. NB:line four is dif f icult to t ranslate (lit .: andknowing [this], makes it [i.e., the nature ofGod).

39 Genesis 25, 5-6.

40 Super eo enim verbo in Geneseos libro:"deditque Habraamus cuncta quaepossederat Isaaco, f iliis autem concubinarumlargitus est munera", sic Cabalistae enarrantquia quae data sunt concubinarum f iliisfuerunt Scemoth Sceltoma, id est nomina

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fuerunt Scemoth Sceltoma, id est nominaimmundit iae, ars videlicet magica. Quaeautem data sunt Isaaco fuerunt quaedamdivina secreta, quae ... Cabalam vocant.Quod nomen nostro tempore apud quosdamcognitum esse coepit . Eius tamen operat io,si unum tantum excipio, omnes penitus latet .NB: It has sometimes been assumed that the'one person' who knows the working ofKabbalah must have been the founder ofChrist ian kabbalah Pico della Mirandola(Secret 1964, 74, who rejects the suggest ionbecause the chronology does not f it , butdoes not propose an alternat ive). To me, itseems obvious that Lazzarelli must have inmind his master Giovanni da Correggio.

41 Iam vero materia ipsa concentus purior estadmodum coeloque similior quam materiamedicinae. Est enim aer et hic quidem calenssive tepens, spirans adhuc et quodammodovivens, suis quibusdam art iculis artubusquecompositus sicut animal, nec solum motumferens af fectumque praeferens, verum et iamsignif icatum afferens quasi mentem, utanimal quoddam aerium et rat ionalequodammodo dici possit .

42 On this whole subject , see the balanceddiscussion in Tomlinson 1993, ch. 4.

43 [Praeterea] cum homo concipit remaliquam corpoream ymaginat ione., illa resrecipit actualem existent iam secundumspeciem in spiritu ymaginario (Al-Kindi, DeRadiis, cap. V; ed. d'Alverny & Hudry, p. 231).Translat ion following Tomlinson (1993, 122);cf . the less precise t ranslat ion in Couliano1987, 121.

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-44-44 Fabio Paolini, Hebdomades (1589): 'Somepeople assert that the feelings andconcept ions of our souls can by the force ofthe imaginat ion be rendered volat ile andcorporeal, so that, in accordance with theirquality, they can be carried up to certainstars and planets ... and ... will come downagain to us and will obey us in whatever wewant ' (quoted according to Walker 1958,136). Hayim Vital (1543-1620), Concerningthe Revolution of Souls: 'If a just and piousman applies himself to the law and prays withattent ion, f rom these ut terances going forthfrom his mouth, angels and sacred spirits willbe created, who will always last and persist '(quoted according to Coudert 1978, 72). Incontemporary occult ist magic, there existsthe belief 'that one can create an ent ity onthe astral plane, by envisioning it ; and then,through ritual, sacrif ice, prayer, and otheract ions, store astral force within the ent ity,for later magical use' (Merkur 1998).

45 It seems more than accidental thatLazzarelli introduces his mystery of soul-making as the 'newest novelty of novelt iesand a greater miracles than all others',whereas the Asclepius merely speaks of 'thewonderment of all wonders'. Lazzarelli'sChrist ian hermet icism is new and withoutprecedent, and superior even to the greatestwonder of the ancients.

46 Idel 1988a, 68. The f irst to point this outw a s Gershom Scholem, in his HebrewElements of the Cabala and Its Symbolism

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(Jerusalem 1976). Unfortunately, thediscussio n of Lazzarelli found there isomit ted in the english version (Scholem1965).

47 I am not convinced by Idel's suggest ionsas to the relevance to Lazzarelli of thespecif ically magical part of the golemtechnique (see Idel 1988a, 68-69).

48 Genesis 12:5. On Jewish-esotericinterpretat ions of this enigmat ic verse, seeScholem 1965, 170ff .

49 Quoted according to Idel 1988a, 70.

50 Quoted in Scholem 1965, 188. On suchcontrasts between the golem and the goldencalf , interpreted as a magically animatedstatue, see Scholem's reference to theanonymous Book of Life (13th cent.)(Scholem 1965, 183).

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