Magic According to Giordano Bruno
Hermetism at the Service of Mnemotechnics
"umbra profunda sumus"
"We are a profound shadow"
 

Giordano Bruno was more than a philosopher. He came across as a magus when he wrote and published his works on mnemotechnics.

 

Frances Yates, whose research aims at redefining Brunian philosophy within the hermetic and magic context of his era, has shown that a parallel can be drawn between this figurative art and magic, since it could be used to obtain universal knowledge. The art of memory, which was all the rage among intellectual circles during the Renaissance, enabled archetypal images to be printed.

 

Bruno's first two works on mnemotechnics, which were centred on the solar cult and contained hermetic overtones, proved to be real guides towards obtaining "all the powers of the soul". De Umbris Idearum is presented as a dialogue between three characters: Hermes, Philothine and Logifer, the first of whom is familiar with the magic art of revealed images, which he will pass on to his two disciples. Mnemotechnics is related to the sun, and the entire work expands on the theme of solar magic taught by Trismegistus.

 

This is followed by a mystic catalogue of 150 images on which the magic system of the memory is based, which is greatly inspired by Agrippa's The Occult Philosophy . The images of the 36 decans are shown in succession: the images of the 7 planets, the 28 images of the lunar houses, and finally the image of Draco Lunae.

 

For example, the first image of Saturn is described as follows: "A man with a stag's head, on a dragon, holding an owl in his right hand which is devouring a snake".

 
Illustration of Cantus Circaeus

Cantus Circaeus follows the same line of thought and presents Circe, the daughter of the Sun, as a magus reciting long planetary incantations.

The initial pages of the work summarise all the names of the Sun, its attributes, the associated animals and plants whose powers enable the solar soul to be attracted to oneself. Circe then reiterates her formulae for each planetary power: the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury.
Bruno appears to be a master in the art of inventing systems of magic and talismanic images. As shown by Frances Yates, the Hermetic nature of his works is striking, since the images are entirely removed of their Christian meaning and appeal to Egyptian hermetism, which Bruno considered to be superior to Christianity. That is the reason for which The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast, written two years later, was such a eulogy to the Egyptians' magic religion, and according to Frances Yates, inspired by the occult Asclepius.

 
 

For his last work published in 1591, Bruno once again focused on magic and astrological mnemotechnics. On the Composition of Signs, Images and Ideas is presented as a planetary catalogue centred around the Sun and its attributes.

Bruno's final treatise, with its incredible level of sophistication and illustrations of the classic planetary representations, reveals the scrupulous breakdown of the memory. Its complex process revolves around 12 principles, to which secondary principles are sometimes added, and which Frances Yates has listed as follows:

The Sun - an illustration of On the Composition of Signs, Images and
Ideas - Frankfurt - 1591

 

  Elementary Principles Elementary Principles
1 Jupiter Juno
2 Saturn  
3 Mars  
4 Mercury  
5 Minerva  
6 Apollo  
7 Asclepius Circe, Arion, Orpheus
8 Sol  
9 Luna  
10 Venus  
11 Cupid  
12 Tellus Ocean, Neptune, Pluto

For each of his principles, there is a corresponding magic image where Bruno multiplies the negative and positive attributes. As with De Umbris Idearum, the sun is portrayed as a unifier and corresponds to wealth, abundance or even fertility. Circe always plays the role of a magician, powerful and whose power is two-edged.

Frances Yates explains that Brunian magic, concealed behind its mnemotechnical aspect, would enable the initiate to appropriate the beneficial powers of each principle in order to become the "Solar, Jupiterian or Venusian Magus". In other words, his art of the memory expresses the way to attract the influence of the stars, identify with a power and advance towards the divine so as to become one.

 
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Treatise « Against the Mathematicians »

At the beginning of 1588, Bruno left Wittenberg and headed for Prague, where he stayed for approximately six months. Prague was also home to the court of Emperor Rudolph II, who took under his wing astrologers and alchemists from all across Europe to help him in his melancholy quest for the philosopher's stone. Bruno was not a practising alchemical Hermetist, but he tried to attract the emperor's attention to his "mathesis" and dedicated a book to him, published in Prague under the provocative title of Articuli adversus mathematicos.
This treatise "Against the Mathematicians" is illustrated with a curious collection of diagrams shown below.
 
 

They vaguely appear to be geometric, but with the occasional intrusion of some rather interesting objects, such as snakes or lutes. One of them, bearing the Egyptian title of « Theuti Radius » (fig. 13a), is decorated with a pattern of zigzags and dots, and resembles a variation on the theme based on the characters of the planets. Another equally decorative diagram is called « Theuti circulus ». A small curvilinear object can be found in another diagram (fig. 13b). The representation of the "links" with the demons can be seen in this "verse".There is every likelihood that Bruno engraved the plates with these diagrams himself, since their style is similar to that of De triplici minimo, which were engraved by Bruno's own hand, if we are to believe the printer's story.

  

 

 

 

 

 

Three diagrams (fig. 11a, b, c) are variations on the theme of intersecting circles. The text plainly confirms that the first diagram represents the universal mens, the second the intellectus, and the third the « figure of love », which harmonises the opposites and unifies the multiplicity in one. These three figures, which are said to be the most « fertile », represent the Hermetic trinity, as defined by Bruno in the « Thirty Statues ». The third, the amoris figura (fig. 11c), even bears the letters of the word Magic inscribed in the diagram. Also note that Bruno used the star in this treatise to signify « amor ».

  

 
 

The emperor gave Bruno a sum of money for his mathesis « Against the Mathematicians », but did not offer him the slightest employment. Bruno continued his journey to Helmstedt.
The scientific or genuinely philosophical approach is not the only way to understand Giordano Bruno. His new philosophy is analysed by specialists as a religious message. Some diagrams of his works might actually correspond to a sect's symbols.

  
 
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