421 years after the stake in Campo de 'Fiori, an in-depth study on the premises, contents and implications of Giordano Bruno's magic, which operationally declines the fantastic faculties of man and the profound knowledge of universal psychological dynamics.
di Luke of James
1. Introduction:
the misunderstanding about Giordano BrunoΒ
Giordano Bruno is among the most controversial and equivocal figures in the history of sapiential thought. Often excluded from official philosophy due to its anti-systematic nature and syncretism, more often than not snubbed by lovers of esotericism, approximated to a Renaissance philosopher out of time and first of the Copernicans by popular channels, consecrated by too many to martyrs to freedom of thought and 'anticlericalism. Each of these trends more or less captures a facet of an extraordinary character, without however ever understanding him. It is true, in fact, that Bruno was a philosopher, but he was sui generis, with his work as eclectic as it is elusive, not very illustrative and didactic, more inclined to hint inspired than to systematic exposition. Likewise, it would be difficult to deny it the derivation of Brunian thought from areas linked to a Wisdom that one does not hesitate to define as occult or esoteric, such as those of Neo-Platonism, Ficini, Pichiani or Agrippani, on the other hand, Bruno continued, throughout his life, to behave as a "free hitter" in the field of wisdom research, quoting, re-elaborating, harshly criticizing this or that author, this or that doctrine.
And if on the one hand a certain "hermeticism" of Bruno seems widely established, how badly it reconciles with this the criticism of Nolan addressed to none other than Hermes Trismegistus, guilty of having introduced writing and therefore having made men set aside the very precious mnemonic faculty. Bruno's reconnection to one prisca wisdom or to a previous author or contemporary ideas, such as those of Copernicus, was never, therefore, an ideal affiliation, a "bond" (this is a fundamental word, as we shall see), but the discovery and absorption of coherent contributions to the formation of a thought that Nolan sewed, from time to time, always letting himself be carried away by a variety of stimuli, interests, purposes, practical compromises. Finally, if it is true that pur he died at the stake set by the Catholic Church in Campo dΓ© Fiori, in 1600, because he was consistent with his ideal up to the end, this was due to the innate "prophetic" tendency of his figure which was not to testify to decidedly later democratic and libertarian principles, nor to be shared by an elitist spirit like his.Β
On the judgments made up to now on Bruno, in addition to so much ignorance and bad faith, weighs the little diffusion of a good part of his literary production, of a purely magical, symbolic and operational nature. Fortunately, this aspect has also been studied in various ways over the last century [1]. The purpose of this article is to be a worthy, albeit concise, illustration of βmagicalβ dimension of the philosopher from Nola, true key to interpretation, in the opinion of the writer, of two themes very dear to his thought: mnemonics and seals.Β
2. The premises:
the pneuma between gnoseology and cosmology
Brunian's magical dimension rests on some gnoseological and cosmological foundations common to ancient philosophy, but which in Bruno, rather than being reduced to mere theoretical starting points, take on the role of indispensable operational tools. In the first place, a long philosophical tradition, handed down at times almost implicitly, meant that knowledge was not possible if not through internal images. [2]. The stimulus of the senses, as well as the inner life of the subject, would in fact be blind and deaf without an imaginal mediation through which the object of knowledge becomes a thin and pneumatic image that can be known by the soul. The inner image digestible by the soul in a process that is both cognitive and vital is called "ghost", that is, etymologically, "what appears". This term serves to indicate, at the same time, the visual nature of the inner contents and, in a more disturbing way, their fallacy. According to the tradition referred to, therefore, existence as a cognitive act (and not only human) would not be possible without this interior theater of ghosts, from time to time imposed by the sensorial life, manufactured by the conscience or emerging from the unconscious.
All this phantasmagoria is based on a precise internal sense, "pneuma" or, according to the Stoics, "hegemonikon", the ruler of the interior life, thanks to which the translation of the sensorial and inner life into phantoms knowable by the soul takes place. According to the different traditions, this internal sense finds its place in the heart, as a fundamental organ of the subtle physiology of the individual, and it is precisely for this fantastic function that the attention of many religious or initiatory traditions is reserved for the heart. [3], which subordinate the spiritual elevation to practices of "cleaning" or "purification" of the heart, which thus become, according to what has been said, a real illumination of the inner life of the subject from the ghosts of the demonic nature, vice and ignorance .Β
Another fundamental premise of Brunian magic is, indeed, a universal postulate of ancient wisdom: the continuity between macrocosm and microcosm. In other words, the individual sphere, including the subtle one, traces and reproduces the structure of the Universe, permeated and vivified by the Anima Mundi. The pneumatic omnipervasiveness and the analogical concatenation between the different levels of reality are the elements that allow the magical action. However, this structural aspect must be integrated with a dynamic conception that explains and encodes the pneumatic relationships of the cosmos. In this context, the most significant influence in the Renaissance era was that of De Radiis [4] by Al Kindi, an Arab sage of the XNUMXth century. According to Al Kindi, the universe is pervaded by radiations or subtle rays that determine its phenomena. These rays do not come exclusively from the stars but - and this is the cipher of Al Kindi's thought - also from the elements, which is why every phenomenal entity, on the basis of its elementary compound and its position in space and time, sends in each direction personal subtle radiations, of different quantitative and qualitative intensity, and, in turn, differently absorbs and receives the universal radiations and of what surrounds it according to the different conformation of its pre-existing matter.
Everything, therefore, is formed, reacts, approaches, moves away, transforms, perishes through its very personal action and reaction in the pneumatic radiation frame. What is even more important, however, is that not only entities, but also their actions, such as gestures and words (which for this reason can be magical), and their inner motions, such as passions, wills, imagination, are suitable for produce rays which, by radiating, affect the surrounding reality. Thus, even the single desire, when conceived, imprints in the soul of the subject an image that, coveted and enlivened by the imagination, emits rays on the surrounding environment making sure that the most receptive elements are arranged until the desired thing comes true. Al Kindi's theory of radiation it found a more or less conscious reception in Ficino's doctrine of Love.Β
Having said this, before moving on to the Brunian declination of the concepts summarized up to now, it is not without interest and usefulness to provide an explanation of some concrete phenomena in the light of the aforementioned pneumatic theories. First of all, already in medieval times, it was believed that the visual phenomenon consisted in the irradiation from the eyes of pneumatic beams that enveloped the external object and then returned to the individual subject, returning the ghost of what was seen to its internal sense. From this, the importance of sight, as a pneumatic sense, in two of the most recurrent magical and subtle phenomena, one in ordinary life, the other in folklore: falling in love and the evil eye. Falling in love would, in fact, be a real "fantastic infection" [5], where the ghost of the beloved ends up impressing itself on the pneumatic apparatus of the lover, conditioning the subsequent production of fantasies and, in the most serious or frustrating cases, even replacing the sense of the other's self. According to these theories, falling in love takes place precisely through the gaze that goes, a true pneumatic dart, from the eyes of the beloved to those of the lover, particularly sensitive, mostly due to astrological concordances, to the erotic influence of the beloved. The mechanism presupposed to the "evil eye" is no different [6], in which, through the gaze, it is possible to infect the subtle faculties of the injured individual with a bad influence or a morbid ghost.Β
Finally, one last look should be granted to sacrifice theory illustrated by Al Kindi consistent with his doctrine. According to the Arab sage, in fact, each animal is a microcosm which, by its very existence, radiates and supports the surrounding environment. The natural death of the animal is not magically significant, as it is produced by the turning of the balance of things. Death by human hand through the sacrificial rite, on the other hand, causes a void in the macrocosmic place previously occupied by the animal which is replaced (as a "birth chart") by the pneumatic image forged by the intention and will of the officiant, which, through its own particular radiation, will act on the surrounding environment producing the desired effects.
3. Giordano Bruno:
fantastic sense, eros and magic
To understand Bruno's magical operation, one cannot ignore two fundamental texts of his production: the Seal of Seals, a work in Latin whose central part is dedicated to a very interesting illustration of the variegated series of excitations, ecstasies, kidnappings and illuminations through βcontraction of the fantastic senseβ; the De vinculis in general [7], an incomplete work in Latin that illustrates the general theory of the "constraints" that bind all the components of the universe and the methods for their "manipulation". What is immediately evident is that Giordano Bruno, far from breaking with previous traditions, nevertheless prepared to provide a psychological, voluntaristic and erotic declination of radiant and fantastic pneumatology indeed synthesized. In the Seal of Seals, the philosopher of Nola lists up to fifteen types of "contraction" of the fantastic sense or imagination, which preside over a varied phenomenology from time to time mystical, spiritual, ecstatic or miraculous. From the Brunian text it is easy to understand how these "contractions" consist in the temporary or definitive withdrawal of the subtle faculties of man from the sensorial and bodily sphere, according to dynamics well known to the most disparate wisdom traditions. Below, we try to review them.
The first contraction of imagination it is the "spatial" one, due to the loneliness of the individual. In this case, the sensory deprivation would determine a retention of the subtle faculties of the individual which causes his spiritual elevation. This happened, according to Bruno, with the various hermits of the history of humanity. The second fantastic contraction occurs to those who, "out of imprudence" according to Bruno, "went off to high precipices". The stressful psycho-physical condition of the mountaineer and climber, therefore, would also be suitable for causing the fantastic contraction. [8]. A third contraction is that of the steadfast strength of a mind that does not err (is it a special recollection?), Capable of perceiving events that have taken place at great distances. The fourth contraction is that caused by the tension of the soul towards something to know, which prepares the soul for revealing visions and dreams. The fifth contraction of the imagination, on the other hand, is linked to the fervor due to faith, both in religious practice, as in magical or medical practice, which thus allows miracles, prodigies, healing.
Other types of contract are linked to forts affections of the soul, such as strong feelings, intense fears or very intense perceptions, through which miraculous healings would also be possible through the concentration of vital spirits in the area affected by pathologies. Obviously, even the amorous or affective ardor implies fantastic contractions, which would make women capable of imprinting a more or less desired shape on the child. Contractions of the fantastic sense also occur through sleep, which suspends the sensory apparatus, or the occlusion of individual sense channels (think of closing the eyes), which intensifies the remaining senses. The further fantastic contraction, considered very shameful by Bruno, is that caused by a libidinous stimulation and the assumption, through body anointing or ingestion, of substances with psychotropic qualities, such as herbs or fats. The details provided by Bruno, not without caution, including the reference to a I fly out of the body, suggest that the sage was not describing practices of a witch nature. The twelfth fantastic contraction is that induced by the melancholic and saturnine spirit cultivated through mystical and ascetic practices. It would be precisely the very high fantastic contraction generated by these practices that would cause the appearance of sores and stigmata belonging to the holy models introjected into the subject's imagination. The other type of contraction, held in the highest regard by Bruno, is that induced by a pious contemplative activity, which led St. Thomas Aquinas to levitate. Fantastic contractions can also be induced by nutrition or its absence.
The last contraction, the highest according to Bruno because it belongs to true philosophers, is that which, contracting the spirit around thelove of virtue and wisdom, manifests itself in the irreversible impassivity for bodily events, including painful ones. Bruno, in the passage in question, almost in a moving presentiment of his destiny, cites legendary tortures, such as those of Anaxarchus of Abdera and San separate yourself from the passions of the body so much that you feel no pain at all "," Should I consider the love of virtue intense that it is unable to dispel the fear of a temporary fact? I could easily believe that he who is afraid of corporal facts has never been joined to divine facts ". According to tradition, Giordano Bruno suffered the tortures inflicted by the Church without showing suffering. He certainly he did not abjure.
Bruno's listing of fantastic contractions is extremely heterogeneous. They are contemplated physiological phenomena, pathological changes, affections and stupefaction, meditation techniques and expressions of pure spirituality. In turn, the effects of this rich typology include, from time to time, everyday phenomena, paranormal, miraculous or prodigious, even symptoms of sanctity. Even in these brilliant pages Bruno does not deny himself and shows himself as profound and wise as eclectic and elusive. However, Bruno's intention is clear to provide the reader with an illustrative illustration of the various extraordinary - and not always positive - possibilities deriving from the abstraction of the pneumatic and subtle faculties from the sensory life, fundamental, as we have already been able to understand, for the its philosophy and magical operation. Nor should the judgment expressed by Nolan on some of these contractions be overlooked. Beyond the great group of phenomena to which he shows himself, all in all, indifferent, Bruno, in fact, explicitly abhors the shameful witchcraft methodology and severely judges the mystical way, while taking into high consideration the contractions due to contemplation and love for wisdom: the followers of the former, in fact, are to be counted among those who "with their fantasy troubled by the vain meditation of ghosts go towards a miserable madness"; the others usefully pursue the "consideration that leads to intelligence, judgment and moderation of the passions".Β
Eros and Magic, in the Renaissance conception, they are identified or, at least, are strongly analogous. Eros is a magical phenomenon, Magic obeys the universal laws of Eros, but it is with Giordano Bruno that the rays of Al Kindi become "constraints", Bonds that behave erotically and, therefore, manipulable according to a very specific science. Eros and Magic, in fact, postulate the manipulation of one's own and others' ghosts. In the De Vinculis in general, Bruno starts from conception of Love as a force that binds and orders everything and, therefore, the first and most powerful of the bonds. Having paid the tribute, according to the Platonic and Neoplatonic tradition, to this metaphysical and cosmic dimension of Love, Giordano Bruno illustrates all the more or less concrete dynamics of attraction, especially the erotic one between people, and then moves on to explain the methodology magic of constraint manipulation. One wonders why the insistence on the erotic bond. There are four hypotheses that can be advanced: because Eros is paradigmatic for any type of bond; because Bruno intends to reconnect with the tradition of loving treatment, which sees among his acolytes of the second millennium illustrious names such as Cappellano, Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola; to establish laws to make oneself immune to the different types of constraints; prepare a "therapeutic manual" to heal others from the suffering of love.
In our opinion, an answer that is at least plausible cannot be reached if one does not have in mind the approach used by Bruno in the illustration of fantastic contractions. As there the philosopher explained the different typologies of a phenomenology, from its most common to the rarest expressions, from the most disturbing to the most Olympic, also in this case he tries to explain the entire dynamics of the constraint, assuming that of the Eros. However, in the face of such a general treatment, it is natural to derive practical and even therapeutic applications. Nor should it be forgotten that Bruno, in every writing, always remains philosopher devoted to wisdom and that no page of his literary production betrays this vow. The De vinculis in general it is, therefore, also an operational indication for the true philosopher who wants to free himself from the bonds that prevent its elevation and, in turn, bind Truth and Wisdom to himself. What, evidently, is really extraneous to the Brunian intent is, instead, the desire to reconnect with a literary tradition of love, given the minimalist style and the concrete cut given by Bruno.
So much said, the Bruniano bond is a subtle bond that is established due to "beauty", in a broad sense, of the binding, capable of resonating in the interiority of the bound. The phantom of the binding, that is, is akin to a fantastic image that is valuable in the bound. The intersubjective bond is, psychoanalytically, a kind of transference. To free oneself from a bond it is therefore necessary to discover the inner ghosts involved and to break the correspondence, unconsciously created, between them and the ghost of the constraint perceived from the outside. We always love images and shadows. To bind, on the other hand, it is necessary to know the inner ghosts of the bound future and arouse in him a corresponding desire for the ghost of oneself. That would be enough for every relational dynamic, especially the erotic one. Bruno however - and here we understand the sapiential purpose of the work - does not intend to prepare a new one ars amatoria, but aims to educate the perfect ghost manipulator, the Wizard.
The Brunian manipulator must, first of all, free himself from any bond, including that generated by self-love (even if it is admitted that this bond can serve some magical operations). The first manipulative activity is, therefore, the one to be carried out within oneself, freeing the heart from the images that darken it and from egoic ghosts. Bruno's manipulator is, therefore, a wise man who has already transcended himself and who, therefore, does not bend the manipulative and fantastic art to sinfully personal ends. Having abdicated from self-love, he has achieved a serene immunity to bonds, escaping the normal complex of relationships characterized by reciprocal bonds. Presumably, then, the emancipation of the fantastic sense from innumerable personal bonds is the source of a further typology of contraction of the imagination which, as mentioned, presides over phenomena of spiritual elevation.
At this point, in order to be able to arouse the most varied sensations or emotions in others, he must not only know them perfectly, but must also awaken them to the maximum in himself, according to the transitive property of magic, so that, in order to provoke an emotion or an affection , the operator must first of all develop it in himself. To use the erotic metaphor, the beloved, in order to manipulate the other, must know how to arouse himself intensely in order to provoke the same sensation in the lover. The perfect manipulator, however, whether magician or lover, despite having produced the emotion within himself, must not desire, in order not to end up in turn bound. Brunian's recommendation of abstinence from autoeroticism. Prescription not at all moralistic but strictly technical. In the absence of a reference system (such as the yogic or Taoist one, where the retention of the semen has important spiritual purposes), it can be considered that the retention of the semen is recommended by Bruno to constantly keep up the emotional and sensational fire of the manipulator, as well as to avoid hasty fulfillments of the fantastic activity. Furthermore, in ancient times, ejaculation and speech were seen as manifest modalities of emission of the individual pneuma, which is why seed retention avoided pneumatic weakening. Thus, made immune from bonds, overexcited his own pneumatic apparatus with the sensations to arouse in others, the manipulator can proceed with the application, intensification and enjoyment of the bond according to the characteristics of the constraint and the variety of words, gestures, fantasies of which he can dispose, encyclopedically listed by Bruno in his work.
The masses are also binding according to the same scheme, obviously with an exponentially greater difficulty. The example set by the philosopher himself is that of religions, forging real ghosts capable of conveying and redirecting the passions, emotions, thoughts, even covertly erotic, of the masses. Let me be clear, Bruno does not completely disregard religiosity, but provides a "technical" explanation for it in the light of the hermeneutic criterion provided by the science of constraints. In this regard, losing himself in almost oriental echoes, he states:
Even assuming that there is no hell, the imaginary belief in hell without a foundation of truth truly produces a real hell: the fantastic image has its truth, with the consequence that it reacts really and really and powerfully whoever lets himself be bound and the infernal torment becomes eternal with the eternity of the conviction of faith; and the soul, even though stripped of the body, nevertheless retains the same aspect and in spite of everything perseveres with it unhappy over the centuries, indeed even more powerfully at times out of indiscipline or delight or acquired appearances.
But, assuming that Eros, therefore the bond, binds the whole Universe, Brunian's manipulative technique can be applied to any "other" of the crowded Renaissance cosmos. First and foremost, the ego is another. Or, in intrasubjective magic, the subject can, through the introversion of his own manipulative will, operate on his own inner ghosts, both for therapeutic and spiritual purposes, untying itself from the ghosts of the earth and binding, in a progressive solve and coagulate, to the Olympic ones of Good and Truth (and some would well say that the greatest wisdom lies in not being tied to any ghost, however supreme it may be). Intersubjective magic addresses the other from itself, but the "others", in the Renaissance universe, are not only men, but a large group of subhuman beings, such as gnomes, elementals, demons, etc., and superhuman beings, such as heroes and divinity. All of them can be manipulated with the science of constraints, knowing the tangle of correspondences, analogies, supports (visual, vocal ...) through which they can be constrained.
Extrasubjective magic, on the other hand, is that which is aimed at objects, the inanimate world, all entities without a psychic structure at least in part analogous to the human one of the operator. Yet, as mentioned, even the external objectivity is endowed with a thin and pneumatic substratum, just as obedient to the Brunian constraint as to the radiations of Al Kindi. It is the same tradition to pass on fantastic images and laws, more or less original, useful for the magical action within, inter and extra-subjective, just as they can also emerge from the remote depths of the personal and collective unconscious. On the basis of these premises, at least three different types of "magical" operators can be identified, according to their relationship with the unconscious phantasmagorias: the possessed, who passively and involuntarily undergoes ghosts; the shaman, who masters them after being subjugated; the magician, artist of their manipulation.
4. Elements of Bruniana's Operation:
Mnemonics & Seals
Two other elements of Giordano Bruno's operations need to be examined. The first, the mnemonics [9], contributed widely to his fame in life and, indirectly, also to his downfall [10]. The second concerns Giordano Bruno's great activity as a tireless and meticulous draftsman of dozens of seals [11], until today passed quite quietly. Regarding mnemonics, it is not the intention of this paper to analyze all the traditions that converged in Brun's reflection on memory and all the techniques mastered and suggested by Nolan. We can limit ourselves to remembering that for Bruno ideas are better captured by the mnemonic faculty if associated to imagines agents, that is, images that impress, better if erotically, the subject. These images were then, from time to time, organized according to different schemes and combinations, until they formed a real theater of memory.Β
This suggests one of the fundamental purposes of Brunian's "passion" for mnemonics, far superior to the mere utility of favoring the memorization of data in an era dating back. In fact, the analogy between the phantasmagoria of inner images, erotically manipulable, which composes the individual existence and the theater of mental images, erotically charged, in which the mnemonic technique is resolved. The mastery of the latter in an extensive and constant way, therefore, beyond the Platonicizing references to a doctrine of reminiscence, can be translated more concretely into the general ability to discipline one's own inner imaginal contents. The mnemonic technique thus becomes a manipulative ability of the fantastic, an operative declination of the doctrine of constraints.
The other technical aspect of Bruno is constituted by the personal application in the design of dozens and dozens of seals, mostly geometric images, mostly mandalic, with sober but constant graphic (eg hearts) and floral decorations. These hermetic diagrams they were not accompanied by an explanation and, more often than not, they did not even show evident relevance to the accompanying text. It is therefore difficult to establish the conceptual meaning referable to each diagram, even when accompanied by a title. We can only proceed by hypothesis, for example by considering that the βAtrium Venerisβ diagram refers to the Venusian context because it is based on the kaleidoscopic reproduction of the hexagram, as an encounter between two triangles with opposite vertices and therefore sexually polarizable in the opposite direction. However, this is still a hypothesis. However, this reflection can aim at identifying the function of the seal for Bruno, without discovering the meanings of the individual figures.Β
The idiotic hypothesis of meaningless decorations, even if advanced, has been rejected [12], and the secret code of a Brunian organization [13], unsupported by any testimony, the magical hypothesis remains, likely, as long as there is a contextualization. Bruno, in fact, did not support the superstitious idea of ββmagical automatisms, nor did his discourse accept astrological themes dominant, instead, in Renaissance magic. In addition, on the aesthetic level, the rigorous geometry of the vast majority of Brunian diagrams, the sober figurativism of a few seals, the absence of traditional, alchemical, astrological or alphabetic symbols (the letters in Bruno often indicate the angles, as in the common geometric design), the lack of recourse to construction techniques of the same previously established [14], make these figures foreign to previous magical uses. Their magical potential, therefore, given their peculiarity, can only be understood with reference to the doctrine of the fantastic sense and constraints.Β
In the first instance, there can be no doubt that the contemplation of the seals and, even more so, their realization (carried out manually by Bruno himself, while certainly being able to turn to technically more qualified people) can cause a contraction of the fantastic sense, circumscribing the "psychic fireβOf the subject on a few points and figures and related meanings. As seen, for Bruno this contraction was prodromal to phenomena of heterogeneous transcendence of ordinary consciousness, even philosophically / spiritually considerable. Added to this is the possibility of recognizing, in such diagrams, real imagines agentes that can be easily memorized with their meaningful contents. The charming floral, ornamental and figurative decorations applied by Bruno to the rigorous geometric shapes, far from being the graphic reproduction of optical phenomena [15], as hypothesized, they instead corroborate the conclusion just given. Such decorations are, in fact, beautiful and the bond is primarily beauty, which binds the soul through the visual sense and the imagination. Through the realization / contemplation of these and other diagrams, therefore, they can be mnemonically introjected imagines agents in its own fantastic sense, already contracted by meditation, coming to readily dispose of ghosts useful for inner manipulation or to communicate / impose in inter and extrapersonal magic [16].
5. Conclusions
It is believed to have sufficiently done justice to an aspect of Bruno variously studied but still ignored by most: that of a βsecularβ magical operation based on an incisive deepening of the human psyche, whose dynamics are enlarged in a vitalistic universal holism. Even more, the doctrine of the constraint is able to impose itself today as a hermeneutic criterion of many of the psychological, social, anthropological and political phenomena that characterize and differentiate modernity. The cynical and secular cut used by Bruno in De Vinculis in general it recalls, in fact, that of another great Renaissance work, The Prince of Machiavelli, but can only agree with Culiano in believing that the former has, by influence and foresight, surpassed the latter.
Se Machiavelli, in fact, prepares a manual for the perfection of the Prince, difficult to apply in the liberal and democratic political systems that gradually emerged in the twentieth century, Bruno advocates the fantastic manipulation of the media and advertising era, based on the well-studied exploitation of the voluptuous tendencies of the mass to direct their consumption or opinion. If Macchiavelli incenses Cesare Borgia, Giordano Bruno predicts Don Draper by Mad Men and over [17]. Yet, as a true scholar, alongside the mere description of the constraint phenomenon, Bruno leaves traces useful for true philosophers to heal themselves and ascend through the struggle from lower ties, among which modern seductions, virtual and consumerist, are added. This is, perhaps, the most precious Brunian heritage, certainly the one less subject to simplistic definitions and more immune to ideological manipulations (!) Which, even if suggestive, of Bruno have given back, up to now, a ghost that approaches the puppet.Β
Note:
[1] See, ex ceteris, YATES FA, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Laterza, 1969; CULIANU IP, Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, Boringhieri, 2006, to which this essay is freely inspired; BRUNO G., The Seal of Seals and the Hermetic Diagrams, edited by NICOLA U., Mimesis, 1995.
[2] Β Above all, v. PLATO, Convivio, VI, 6: βUsing the instruments of the senses, (the Spirit) captures the images of external bodies; now, the soul itself cannot perceive these images directly, since the incorporeal substance, superior to that of bodies, cannot be induced by them to receive images. Present everywhere in the spirit, the soul can easily contemplate the images of the bodies, shining in him as in a mirror. It is with these images that it can evaluate the bodies themselves β.
[3] Β On the value of the heart in Hesychast ascesis, with interesting comparisons with Christian mysticism and Sufism, cf. E.MONTANARI, Fatigue of the heart, Java Bookl, 2003.
[4]Β In Italian, v. AL KINDI, De Radiis o Theory of the Magical Artsin Picatrix / De Radiis, The sum of hermetic magic through Arab mediationMimesis, 2018.
[5] Β See EVOLA J., Metaphysics of Sex, Mediterranee, 2006, in particular the paragraph "The magnetic theory of love" and related bibliography, pp. 47 ff.Β
[6] Β For an overview of the phenomenon, see PETOIA E., Malocchio and jettison: the forms, the history, the analysis of an ancient and universal superstition from the first literary testimonies to the present day, Newton Compton, 1995.
[7] Β BRUNO G., De Magia - De vinculis in general, Image Library, 1986.
[8] Β On the inner phenomenology and the higher possibilities of mountaineering, see EVOLA J., Meditations on the peaks, Ed. Mediterranee, 2003.
[9] Β See BRUNO G., Mnemotechnical works, vol. I and II, Adelphi, 2004.
[10] Β Reference is made here to the legend according to which Nolan was denounced to the Inquisition by the patrician Giovanni Francesco Mocenigo, his Venetian patron, because the latter was not successful with mnemonic techniques.
[11] Β In particular, reference is made to the illustrations accompanying the original editions of One hundred and sixty articles against mathematicians (Prague, 1588) e De triple minimum (Frankfurt, 1591), published in Italy in BRUNO G., The seal of seals, cit.Β
[12] Β This is Tocco Felice (Catanzaro, 11 September 1845 - Florence, 6 June 1911), philosopher and historian of philosophy. About Bruno he wrote The Latin works of G. Bruno exhibited and compared with the Italian ones, Florence, 1889, The unpublished works of G. Bruno, Naples, 1891 and The most recent sources of Bruno's philosophy, Naples, 1892.
[13] Β Hypothesis reported but not endorsed by YATES, op. quoted, pp. 439 ff.
[14] Β In Agrippa, the diagram evoking a planetary demon derives from a mechanical application of numerical and literal correspondences: each letter of an angelic name is equivalent to a number of a preformed planetary magic square; connecting the numbers-letters we have the magic sign that constitutes the graphic archetype of the power that we want to evoke. Β
[15] Β NICOLA U., in the afterword to BRUNO G., The Seal of Seals, cit., pp. 73 ff., Argues that these decorations reproduce optical phenomena that the diagrams would cause in meditating subjects, for which the figures would tend to "move", revealing an internal vitality consistent with the universal vitalism supported by Brunian philosophy.Β
[16] Β The difference between this magical application of the seal and the one it would have in the magic of the rays of Al Kindi, where the only realization of the seal would be ex if suitable to radiate and receive rays corresponding to the influences, planetary and not only, which one wishes to attract.Β
[17] Β mad man is an American television series, which aired from 2007 to 2015 for seven seasons, focusing on the New York advertising world of the 60s. In this scene, as in many others, the protagonist Don Draper does nothing but derive from the psychological knowledge of the people of his time the idea of ββa massively usable ghost (advertising) in order to guide their consumerist tendencies. Don explains to copyrighter Peggy how advertising is based on a transitive property quite similar to magic, since the sensations to arouse in the consumer are the same as those felt by the creator copyrighter.
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