Seeing the Word: John Dee and Renaissance Occultism

«Evening, May 28th, 1583. The philosopher John Dee sits in his chamber in Mortlake, deeply involved in a conversation with his assistant Edward Kelley. With trembling voice he fumes at the gossip and slander of the simple people, at the malicious whisperings about sorcery and witchcraft that seem to be humming in every street corner and every bedchamber in London.» — el prólogo abre con la escena que Håkansson reconstruye del diario: Dee en su cámara de Mortlake con Edward Kelley, indignado por las murmuraciones de hechicería que corren por Londres

«“Suddenly”, he writes in his diary, “there seemed to come out of my Oratory a Spirituall creature, like a pretty girle of 7 or 9 yeares of age”» — del diario de Dee, citado por Håkansson: la criatura espiritual que sale del oratorio con figura de niña de siete o nueve años

«The creature, dressed in a red and green gown, “seemed to play up and down and seemed to go in and out of my bokes lying in heaps, and as she should ever go between them, the bokes seemed to give place sufficiently, dividing one heap from the other, while she passed between them”» — el diario de Dee describe cómo la criatura pasaba entre los montones de libros y los libros le cedían el paso, separando un montón de otro

«“I rejoyce in the name of Jesus, and I am a poor little Maiden, Madini, I am the last but one of my Mothers children, I have little Baby-children at home.”» — la criatura se nombra Madini en el diario de Dee; la grafía isabelina va tal cual la imprime el troceo

«For three years his alchemical vessels had lain idle in his laboratory and his research in the mathematical sciences had been left untended, while he was pursuing his studies in natural philosophy by less orthodox means. He was talking to angels.» — Håkansson fija el desplazamiento y lo cierra en renglón aparte: los vasos alquímicos y la investigación matemática quedaron ociosos mientras Dee seguía la filosofía natural por vías menos ortodoxas

«He had written extensively on such widely differing subjects as navigation technology, mechanics, geometry, logic, astrology, alchemy, history, heraldry and genealogy» — Håkansson enumera la amplitud de lo que Dee escribió antes de que las conferencias espirituales se volvieran su ocupación principal

«He had become Queen Elizabeth’s confidant, treating Her Majesty’s toothache as proficiently as he calculated her horoscope. Visitors came flocking from all over Europe to his home a few miles from London to see his laboratories and his imposing library, and by correspondence and travels he kept in touch with scholars on the Continent, who at times sent him their works in the hope of a competent opinion» — según Håkansson, Dee fue confidente de Isabel I y su casa de Mortlake recibía visitantes de toda Europa y obras enviadas en busca de dictamen

«“in zeale to the best lerning and knowledge”, he confidently stated in a letter to Lord Burghley, “I know most assuredly that this land never bred any man, whose account therein can evidently be proved greater than myne”» — Håkansson cita la carta de Dee a Lord Burghley, donde Dee declara que esa tierra no ha criado hombre con mayor celo por el mejor saber

«so vehemently bent to studie, that for those yeares I did inviolably keepe this in order; only to sleepe four houres every night; to allow to meate and drink (and some refreshing after) two houres every day; and of the other eighteen houres all (except the tyme of going to and being at divine service) was spent in my studies and learning.» — Dee, en la Compendious Rehersall que Håkansson cita en sangría, declara su régimen: cuatro horas de sueño, dos de comida y dieciocho de estudio

«Despite his insatiable thirst for scholarly studies, however, he allowed himself the time to construct a mechanical scarab for the performance of Aristophanes’ drama Peace, in which an actor was flown up to Jupiter’s palace — “whereat was great wondring, and many vain reportes spread abroad of the meanes how that was effected”» — Håkansson cuenta el escarabajo mecánico que Dee construyó para la Paz de Aristófanes, y la cita de Dee sobre los relatos vanos que corrieron por el modo en que se hizo

«he was allowed to “read freely and publiquely Euclide’s Elements Geometricall” — “a thing”, he emphasized, “never done publiquely in any University in Christendome”» — según Håkansson, Dee leyó públicamente los Elementos de Euclides en París a los veintitrés años, y Dee subraya que eso no se había hecho nunca en universidad alguna de la cristiandad

«Dee’s “great Ability in Astrologie, and the more secret parts of Learning (to which he had a strong propensity and unwearyed Fancy,) drew from the Envious and Vulgar, many rash, lewd, and lying Scandalls» — Elias Ashmole, un siglo más tarde y citado por Håkansson, atribuye los escándalos a la habilidad de Dee en astrología y en las partes más secretas del saber

«Mathematics and astrology was commonly associated with sorcery and black magic and the university libraries were ransacked for dubious works.» — Håkansson describe el clima tras la muerte de Enrique VIII: matemáticas y astrología se asociaban con la hechicería y la magia negra, y se registraban las bibliotecas universitarias

«“Many manuscripts, guilty of no other superstition then Red letters in the Front, were» — Ashmole, citado por Håkansson, sobre los manuscritos que ardieron sin más superstición que las letras rojas del frente; el troceo reemite la marca de plana a media palabra y el tramo se corta ahí, la frase sigue en *demned to the Fire*

«Indeed (such was Learnings misfortune, at that great Devastation of our English Libraries, that) where a Red letter or a Mathematicall Diagram appeared they were sufficient to entitle the Booke to be Popish or Diabolicall”» — Ashmole añade que bastaban una letra roja o un diagrama matemático para que un libro quedara por papista o diabólico

«Having calculated a horoscope for the royal family, he came under suspicion of having “endeavored with enchantments to destroy Queene Mary”» — Håkansson data la sospecha bajo María Tudor: tras calcular el horóscopo de la familia real, a Dee se le imputó haber intentado destruir a la reina con encantamientos

«to make an investigation of what they termed his “lewde and vayne practices of calculing and conjuring”, his home was sealed and he spent the summer of 1555 behind locked doors under the stern supervision of Bishop Edmund Bonner. Apparently, the bishop could not find anything suspicious about Dee’s religious attitude, however, and he was soon allowed to return to his work.» — Håkansson consigna la investigación del Consejo Privado por prácticas de calcular y conjurar, el sello de la casa y el verano de 1555 bajo la vigilancia del obispo Edmund Bonner; la frase empieza en *warranted* en la plana anterior

«Why “shall any honest Student, and Modest Christian Philosopher, be counted, & called a Coniurer?” Why “shall the folly of Idiotes, and the Mallice of the Scornfull” deprive him “who seeketh ... heavenly wisdome, & knowledge of pure veritie ... his honest name and fame?”, he lamented in his colourful prose» — Dee, citado por Håkansson, pregunta por qué un estudiante honesto y filósofo cristiano modesto ha de ser tenido por conjurador

«The slander became a less impending threat when the English crown was committed to Mary’s half-sister Elizabeth Tudor, with whom Dee had already become acquainted. Before her accession, Dee was commissioned to calculate a suitable day for the coronation and the fortunate result tempted the celebrities of London to make avid use of his services as an astrologer.» — Håkansson data el alivio en la llegada de Isabel Tudor, para cuya coronación Dee calculó el día, y el efecto sobre su clientela astrológica en Londres

«When “a certain image of wax, with a great pin stuck into it about the breast of it” was found at Lincoln’s Inn Fields some time afterwards, Dee was urgently summoned to the court to “prevent the mischiefe” which the Privy Council assumed was directed against the Queen — “I did satisfie her Majesties desire ... within few houres, in godly and artificiall manner”» — el episodio de la imagen de cera con un alfiler hallada en Lincoln's Inn Fields, y la respuesta de Dee, que dice haber satisfecho el deseo de la reina de manera piadosa y artificiosa

«With his family and servants he settled down in Mortlake, a few miles from London, and over the years the house was transformed into one of the largest libraries in England, lodging more than four thousand volumes in Latin, Greek, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Hebrew, Czech, Armenian and Swedish» — Håkansson cifra la biblioteca de Mortlake en más de cuatro mil volúmenes y enumera las lenguas que reunía

«Thus it was not merely his fancy for bombast that made him dub his home Mortlacense Hospitale Philosophorum peregrinantium, “Mortlake Hospice for wandering Philosophers”, a place so well known that Gerard Mercator addressed his letter to him with the words “To the most famous Dr John Dee, his Master and most esteemed Patron. Home at Mortlake on the Thames near London.”» — Håkansson glosa el nombre con que Dee bautizó su casa, hospicio de filósofos errantes, y cita la dirección con que Gerard Mercator le escribía

«as in a manner out of a dunghill, in the corner of a Church, where very many were utterly spoiled by rotting, through the rain continually for many years before falling on them, through the decaied roofe of that Church, lying desolate and wast at this houre» — Dee describe de dónde sacó esos monumentos difícilmente obtenidos: de un rincón de iglesia donde la lluvia los pudría por el techo hundido

«Like many Renaissance scholars, Dee assiduously strove to create the Philosopher’s Stone, the substance by which all metals could be turned into gold. One has, perhaps, to assume that his attempts were as futile as everyone else’s — although his son Arthur would later claim that he as a child had used pieces of gold as toys.» — Håkansson dice que Dee buscó la piedra filosofal como tantos eruditos del Renacimiento y pone al lado, sin arbitrar, la afirmación posterior de su hijo Arthur de haber jugado de niño con trozos de oro

«“O God Almighty”, he pleads in one of his manuscripts, “thow knowest ... [t]hat I haue from my youth vp, desyred & prayed vnto the[e] for pure and sownd wisdome and vnderstanding of some of thy truthes”» — la plegaria de Dee que Håkansson cita: desde su juventud ha pedido sabiduría pura y sólida y entendimiento de algunas verdades divinas

«he had realized that the knowledge he desired could not be attained by any “vulgar Schole doctrine, or humane Invention”, but by God’s “extraordinary gift” only: “I haue red in thy bokes, & records, how Enoch enioyed thy favor and conversation, with Moyses thow wast familiar”; how “thy good Angels were sent, by thy disposition, to instruct them”» — Dee concluye que el conocimiento que busca no se alcanza por doctrina de escuela ni invención humana sino por don extraordinario de Dios, y aduce a Enoc y a Moisés instruidos por los ángeles

«Indeed, did not the Scripture itself relate how God’s angels were sent to instruct the biblical prophets even “in worldy and domesticall affaires”, as when Samuel with God’s aid found the asses which Saul had lost? “And thinking wth my self, the lack of thy wisdome, to me, to be of more importance, then the Value of an Asse or two... I did fly vnto the harty prayer, full oft, & in sundry manners...”» — Dee argumenta que si los ángeles fueron enviados a asuntos domésticos como las asnas perdidas de Saúl, con mayor razón para la falta de sabiduría

«Seated by the “show-stone” he had been given by a friend, a crystal globe of the same kind he claimed that “the high priests did vse” by God’s “owne ordering”, he raised his humble prayers to God, asking Him to send His angels to instruct him. In May 1581 he briefly noted in his diary: “I had sight in Χρυσταλλω [Crystallo] offerd me, and I saw.”» — Håkansson fecha en mayo de 1581 la anotación del diario donde Dee dice haber tenido vista ofrecida en el cristal; el troceo conserva la palabra griega en alfabeto griego dentro de la cita

«At night his sleep was disturbed by “very strange knocking and rapping” in his chamber, inexplicable fires arose in the house» — del diario de Dee: golpes y ruidos muy extraños de noche y fuegos inexplicables en la casa

«Soon, however, Dee seems to have realized that he did not possess the necessary gift himself and he made inquiries for an experienced “scryer”, capable of seeing “Spirituall apparitions, in Christalline receptacles, or in open ayre”» — según Håkansson, Dee se dio cuenta de que no tenía él mismo el don y buscó un scryer capaz de ver apariciones espirituales en receptáculos cristalinos o al aire libre

«The turning-point came in March 1582. A certain “Mr. Edward Talbot” had some days earlier been introduced to Dee by a friend who had visited him at Mortlake. In the evening on the 10th of March, Talbot arrived alone and said that he was “willing and desyrous to see or shew something in spirituall practise”» — Håkansson fija el punto de viraje en marzo de 1582, con la llegada a Mortlake de un tal Mr. Edward Talbot dispuesto a ver o mostrar algo en práctica espiritual

«At first, Dee excused himself “as not, in the vulgarly accownted Magik, neyther studied or excercised”» — Dee, en su diario, se excusa diciendo que no está estudiado ni ejercitado en lo que vulgarmente se tiene por magia

«Should I, for my xx. or xxv yeares of Studie: for two or three thousand Markes spending: seuen or eight thousand Miles going ... only for good learninges sake: And that, in all maner of wethers: in all maner of waies and passages: both early and late: in daunger of violence by man: in daunger of destruction by wilde beastes: in hunger: in thirst: in perilous heates by day ... in daungerous dampes of colde, by night, almost bereuing life.» — el pasaje en sangría de Dee que Håkansson reproduce: veinte o veinticinco años de estudio, miles de marcos gastados y millas andadas en todo tiempo y con peligro de violencia, de bestias, de hambre y de frío

«Should I (I pray you) for all this ... no more luckily, haue fished, with so large, and costly, a Nette, so long time in drawing (and that with the help and aduise of Lady Philosophie, & Queene Theologie) ... to haue catched and drawen up, a Frog? Nay, a Deuill? For, so, doth the the Common peuish Pratler Imagine and Iangle: And, so, doth the Malicious scorner, secretly wishe, & brauely and boldly face down, behinde my backe.» — la segunda mitad de ese mismo pasaje de Dee: haber pescado con red tan grande y costosa, con ayuda de la Dama Filosofía y la Reina Teología, para sacar una rana o un demonio, que es lo que imagina el charlatán

«In supplications to the Queen, Dee in vain requested royal support to preserve the literary treasures of the Middle Ages lying neglected in ruined monasteries and country churches» — según Håkansson, Dee pidió sin éxito apoyo real para preservar los tesoros literarios de la Edad Media abandonados en monasterios en ruinas e iglesias rurales

«In his library more than seven hundred manuscripts lay rescued from the desolation of the Reformation: “hardly gotten moniments”, Dee wrote, which he had found and lifted up» — Håkansson cifra en más de setecientos los manuscritos que la biblioteca de Dee guardaba rescatados de la desolación de la Reforma, y Dee los llama monumentos difícilmente obtenidos

«But Mortlake was not merely a library: it was a place dedicated to the wonders of knowledge, where the visitors could marvel at strange astronomical instruments, a magnet, a star globe on which “were set down divers Comettes, their places, and motions, as of me they have been observed”» — Håkansson describe Mortlake como lugar dedicado a las maravillas del saber: instrumentos astronómicos extraños, un imán y el globo estelar con los cometas que Dee dice haber observado él mismo

«and “an excellent watch-clock ... by which ... the time might sensibly be measured in the seconds of an hour, that is, not to fail the 360th part of an houre.”» — del inventario de Dee: el reloj con el que el tiempo podía medirse sensiblemente en segundos, sin fallar la trescientos sesentava parte de una hora

«A “great case or frame of boxes” contained hundreds of old documents, seals and coats of arms, and on the wall or in the ceiling hung “one great bladder with about 4 pound weight, of a very sweetish thing, like a brownish gum in it, artificially prepaired by thirty tymes purifying of it...”» — el arcón de cientos de documentos, sellos y escudos, y la vejiga con cerca de cuatro libras de una goma parda purificada treinta veces que colgaba del techo

«In the outbuildings Dee had installed three alchemical laboratories, “replenished with Chemical stuff” which had taken him more» — Håkansson consigna los tres laboratorios alquímicos instalados en las dependencias, provistos de material químico; el corte de chunk trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *than twenty years to collect*

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«III. The Language of Magic 240 Magic and religion 243 Dee and medieval ritual magic 246 True faith and orthodox faith 255 Trithemius and ritual magic 259 Natural and celestial magic in medieval philosophy 268 Renaissance magic and Dee’s Propaedeumata aphoristica 274 Magic in Dee’s Monas hieroglyphica 289 Neoplatonic theurgy and Renaissance magic 301 The magical power of language 309 Dee, the medicina Dei, and the end of the world 318 Epilogue 332 Acknowledgements 338 References 340 Index 370» — el índice de contenidos, segunda mitad: la tercera parte con sus secciones, el epílogo, los agradecimientos, las referencias y el índice, con sus folios impresos

«To Susan and Åse of course» — la dedicatoria del volumen; los dos nombres reaparecen en los agradecimientos, Susan Hydén y Åse Piltz

«Prologue “I come as sent by God.” 7 Introduction Understanding early modern occultism. Retrospection and reassessment 35 I. Symbolic exegesis, language, and history 73 The Word of God and the languages of man 84 The Word of God and the Book of Nature 96 John Dee: nature, language, and the Word of God 100 The wisdom of the ancients and the unity of knowledge 109 Roger Bacon and the universal grammar 119 The inner word and man’s quest for reformation 129» — el índice de contenidos, primer tramo: prólogo, introducción y la primera parte con sus secciones y folios impresos

«II. The Language of Symbols 139 The Neoplatonic tradition of hieroglyphics 139 Emblematics and the Book of Nature 147 The mimetic metaphor 157 Allegorical imagery and the wisdom of the ancients 162 Dee and the mind of the adept 166 The kabbalistic teachings 170 Christian kabbalah 174 Dee and kabbalah 180 The Pythagorean scheme of creation 184 Dee’s mathematical kabbalah 192 Scriptural exegesis 200 The power of mathematical symbolism 202 “Occult” intellection and Mens adepta 209 Alchemy and the transmutation of the human soul 223 Trithemius and magical theology 231» — el índice de contenidos, segundo tramo: la segunda parte, El lenguaje de los símbolos, con sus secciones y folios impresos