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Digital Āyurveda
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Artist: Juan Villegas
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| Deciphering the Hermeticae Philosophiae Medulla |
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Posted by: Paul Ferguson - 08-03-2023, 06:41 PM - Forum: Articles on alchemy
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"This article presents the decryption, historical analysis, and alchemical interpretation of an alchemical cipher found in a shared notebook of John and Arthur Dee (British Library MS Sloane 1902). The cipher is an early example of a Bellaso/Della Porta/Vigenère type, a strong encryption method which was historically deemed indecipherable. The essay explores the medical and alchemical context for the manuscript into which the cipher was copied and provides the transcription, plaintext solution (in Latin), and English translation of the encrypted text. Further, it interprets the enciphered text through the lens of alchemical practice and provides evidence for the dissemination of this cipher as part of a larger alchemical knowledge network."
Open access.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....23.2201744
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| The Role of the Scroll |
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Posted by: Paul Ferguson - 07-29-2023, 09:45 PM - Forum: Reviews and book notices
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A beautifully illustrated, full-color guide to scrolls and their uses in medieval life.
Scrolls have always been shrouded by a kind of aura, a quality of somehow standing outside of time. They hold our attention with their age, beauty, and perplexing format. Beginning in the fourth century, the codex―or book―became the preferred medium for long texts. Why, then, did some people in the Middle Ages continue to make scrolls?
https://www.amazon.com/Role-Scroll-Illus...0393285030
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| Pansophia and Perfection |
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Posted by: Paul Ferguson - 07-25-2023, 11:00 PM - Forum: Articles on alchemy
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The Nature of Utopia in the Early Seventeenth Century
Thesis by Michael James Macaulay.
“The Rosicrucian manifestos show specific leanings to particular forms of Renaissance magic. Astrology is largely ignored, while natural magic and Kabbalah are only briefly mentioned in order to show how defective they had been before 'CRC' had found them. It may also be significant that 'CRC' turned his back on Egypt, the home of Hermes Trismegistus. The most important occult practice in the manifestos is, overwhelmingly alchemy. Alchemical references permeate throughout the manifestos. CRC's tomb can be seen as a recreation of an alchemist's laboratory, with its lamps and instruments. Even the 'artificial songs' are more alchemical than Orphic. It was a popular notion that music would aid the production of the philosopher's stone: Maier, for example, produced several alchemical compositions. Though it has not, to my knowledge, been suggested before, the life of 'CRC' could be an allegory for the spread of alchemical knowledge into Europe.”
http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1657/1/1657.pdf?EThOS%20(BL)
Direct download.
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| Occult Principles in the Making of Newton’s Natural Philosophy |
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Posted by: Paul Ferguson - 07-25-2023, 10:35 PM - Forum: Articles on alchemy
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"This thesis... looks in detail at the development of similar “occult” and non-mechanical ways of thinking by earlier English thinkers; from the earliest English “scientists”: John Dee (1527–1608), William Gilbert (1544–1603), and Francis Bacon (1561–1626), to members of the Royal Society of London, the first scientific society (founded in 1660), including Robert Boyle (1627–1691), Robert Hooke (1635–1703), and others. This thesis shows, therefore, that the occult ways of thinking that can be seen to have shaped Newton’s new
physics were already current in English thought (and were by no means confined to alchemy), and already provided a powerful and fruitful alternative to the mechanical
philosophy which was dominant in Continental Europe. The power and fruitfulness of these English ideas is shown by the very fact that these ideas can all be seen, as
this thesis shows, to have culminated in the highly successful work of Sir Isaac Newton."
Thesis by Xiaona Wang.
https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/18...sAllowed=y
(No landing-page - immediate download)
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