{"id":7191,"date":"2014-03-13T20:40:08","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T00:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=7191"},"modified":"2014-03-13T23:55:30","modified_gmt":"2014-03-14T03:55:30","slug":"on-hermetic-sublimation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=7191","title":{"rendered":"On Hermetic Sublimation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Valentin Tomberg<\/strong>\u2019s discussion of \u201cThe Empress\u201d, he quotes Josephin Peladan<\/strong>\u2019s description of magic as \u201c’the sublimation of man’\u2026 of human nature\u201d. Thereafter, Tomberg offers a detailed discussion differentiating Sacred Magic, from \u201cpersonal and arbitrary magic\u201d, the latter which explains became more or less the earmark of Renaissance \u201cceremonial magic\u201d, of which he mostly looks askance.<\/p>\n

This is of interest to the Hermetist for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n

While Marsilio Ficino<\/strong> has been seen as \u201creviving\u201d Hermetic magic in the Renaissance, it has been pointed out that this is a distortion stemming from Frances Yates\u2019 selective uses of Ficino\u2019s translation of Asclepius<\/em>, and not Pimander<\/em>. Walter Haengraff<\/strong> summarizes the situation:<\/p>\n

\nWe are not dealing here with a straightforward case of a magical text influencing a later magical approach, but rather of an innovative interpretation of a non-magical text (i.e. The Corpus Hermetica<\/em>), resulting in a new perspective on how the attainment of a superior gnosis implies the acquisition of superhuman powers. Moreover the new perspective was not seen as magical either, but as something ‘better than magic’\u201d.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thus, the Hermetica is not a \u201cmagical\u201d text in the sense of what Tomberg calls \u201cpersonal and arbitrary magic\u201d, but rather a scripture inviting to gnosis, the \u201csublimation of man\u201d, and as a by-product, certain \u201cpowers\u201d might be arrived at—but not the other way around.<\/p>\n

Wouter Hanegraaff<\/strong>, who is a scholar by occupation, has produced a critical edition of Lodovico Lazzarelli<\/strong>‘s Crater Hermetis<\/em>—for the academic\/scholarly background, readers are referred to that work, Hanegraaff\u2019s \u201cBetter than Magic\u201d essay, and his related lecture series produced by the Ritman Library.\u00a0 In reference to Tomberg\u2019s meditation however, we only wish to consider certain of Lazzarelli\u2019s doctrines in \u201cCrater\u201d, in direct relation with the idea of \u201csublimation of man\u201d. In his \u201cCrater\u201d, Lazzerrelii (keeping in mind that he is considering himself to be a transmitter in the true Hermetic lineage) begins to introduce the central motif of his doctrine in 6.2. This could easily be considered \u201cdivine procreation\u201d, or \u201csublimation\u201d:<\/p>\n

\nHermes says that God, having created all things in the beginning, exclaimed: \u2018Increase, grow up and multiply, all you seeds and works of my hands. And you, who have been given an inheritance of mind, recognize your origin and take heed of your immortal nature, and know that the love of body is the cause of death.\u2019 And that matches what Moses says in the book of Genesis. These words of Hermes contain the tree of life, by which we live, as well as the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which brings us death. And as you see, the main point of this precept is that we should know ourselves\u201d.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It becomes quite interesting that the idea of \u201cliberation\u201d forms an element of Tomberg\u2019s meditation on Sacred Magic, the goal of which, similar to Lazzerrelli\u2019s above is \u201c\u2026to follow an ideal and be truly oneself\u201d. This sort of \u201cliberation\u201d, which is a healing, Tomberg illustrates with example from the Gospel, where Christ produces miraculous cures. Perhaps a bit of synchronicity, or just broad overlap\u2014but the second week of St. Ignatius\u2019 \u201cSpiritual Exercises\u201d, focusing on the Via Illuminativa, the Kataphatic way, seeks to affirm everything that Peter denied; seeks to lead one into friendship with God, is intimately tied to the idea of \u201cliberation\u201d—and likewise concentrates on the healings performed by Christ, such as making the hunchback woman upright (sublimated) on the Sabbath.<\/p>\n

Lazzarrelli later in 21.4, continues his discussion concerning what the \u201csublimation\u201d and \u201cself-knowledge\u201d engenders:<\/p>\n

\nThus you will come to understand the excellence of your own essence, and will in no way disparage yourself, despise yourself, will not trample in your own supper, but you will rise up out of the body. Free from yourself and from all the things of the senses, ascending absolutely and purely, to fly up to that transcendent and most shining darkness where God dwells, to take your place among the number of Powers, and having been received among the Powers you shall enjoy God, and henceforth begetting a divine offspring, you will procreate for God and not for yourself.\u00a0 Because like is always produced by like\u201d.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Consequently, as opposed to bells and whistles style \u201cceremonial magic\u201d, the \u201cSacred Magic\u201d, or Divine Gnosis to which the Hermetic Art invites us, might be more similar in practice to the Eastern idea of \u201cBramacharya\u201d — or, at least this appears to be what Lazzarelli is suggesting in his Hermetic transmission, as well as what we have read of Peladan above. In the applied Hermetism of Alchemy, just as on the Empresses\u2019 shield, is the Eagle, emblem of sublimation, distillation, which when \u201cflown\u201d after sufficient purgation, leads to the production of the Azoth, the \u201cPhilosophical Mercury\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Valentin Tomberg\u2019s discussion of \u201cThe Empress\u201d, he quotes Josephin Peladan\u2019s description of magic as \u201c’the sublimation of man’\u2026 of human nature\u201d. Thereafter, Tomberg offers a detailed discussion differentiating Sacred Magic, from \u201cpersonal and arbitrary magic\u201d, the latter which explains became more or less the earmark of Renaissance \u201cceremonial magic\u201d, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hermetism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}