Prospero's Books

Put in Swiss cheese and out come quarks

"Imagination, Casubon, use your imagination! What happens in those atomic machines, in those megatronic positrons or whatever they're called? Matter is broken down; you put in Swiss cheese and out come quarks, black holes, churned uranium! It's magic made flesh, Hermes and Hermès. Here on the left, the engraving of Paracelsus, old abracadabra with his alembics, against a gold background, and on the right, quasars, the Cuisinart of heavy water, gravitational galactic antimatter, et cetera. Don't you see? The real magician isn't the bleary-eyed guy who doesn't understand a thing; it's the scientist who has grasped the hidden secrets of the universe. Discover the miraculous all around us!"

--Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum, 369-70.

The magic of life's design

"Truly random events offer neither excitement nor creativity. Not much, at any rate. With life, however, there is a flowering, unfolding, and experiencing that we can't even wrap our logical minds around. When the whip-poor-will sings his melody in the moonlight, and it is answered by your own heart beating a bit faster in awed appreciation, who in their right mind would say that it was all conjured by imbecilic billiard balls slamming each other by the laws of chance? No observant person would be able to utter such a thing, which is why it always strikes me as slightly amazing that any scientist can aver, with a straight face, that they stand there at the lectern--a conscious, functioning organism with trillions of perfectly functioning parts--as the sole result of falling dice. Our least gesture affirms the magic of life's design" (45).

--Robert Lanza, MD, with Bob Berman, Biocentrism

Cosmos, Nature, and Culture

This weekend I'm presenting a paper in Phoenix at "Cosmos, Nature, and Culture: A Transdisciplinary Conference," sponsored by the Metanexus Institute. I've just posted the paper, "A 'Mirror up to Nature': Cosmos, Nature, and Culture in Shakespeare," on this site. It's my first long essay that grew directly from writing I've done for this blog.

If you're a reader of this blog and would be interested in getting together with me in Phoenix this weekend, please let me know.

Meditations on the Tarot 7: The Chariot

(This post is seventh in a series on the book Meditations on the Tarot. See the first for explanation.)

7. The Chariot

• The number 7: The number 7 can remind us of the "seven archetypal miracles" in the Gospel of John and "the seven aspects of the name of the Master: 'I am the true vine', 'I am the way, the truth and the life', 'I am the door' . . . ." The number also represents the seven colors of the rainbow and the seven distinct tones of a musical scale (150).

• The charioteer: "The charioteer . . . is the victor over trials, i.e. the temptations, and if he is master, then it is thanks to himself. He is alone, standing in his chariot; no one is present to applaud him or to pay homage to him; he has no weapons--the sceptre that he holds not being a weapon. If he is master, his mastership was acquired in solitude and he owes it to the trials alone, and not to anyone or anything external to himself. The victory achieved in solitude  . . . what glory and what danger it comprises at one and the same time! It is the only real glory, for it in no way depends on human favour and judgement; it is intrinsic glory . . . . It is, however, at the same time the most real and the most serious spiritual danger which exists. 'Pride" and 'vaingloriousness', the traditional names which one gives to it, do not suffice to characterise it in an adequate way. It is more than this . . . . a kind of mystical megalomania, where one deifies . . . one's ego, and where one sees the divine only within oneself and becomes blind to the divine above and outside of oneself" (152). "The personage on this seventh Card signifies at one and the same time the 'triumpher' and the 'Triumpher'--the megalomaniac and the integrated man, master of himself" (164-65).

• The columns: "The four columns supporting the canopy on the chariot . . . signify the four elements taken in a vertical sense, i.e. in their analogous meaning through the three worlds--the spiritual world, the soul world and the physical world" (165).

• The canopy: "The function of a canopy . . . is to protect the person who is found beneath it. . . . Taken in its spiritual sense, at which one arrives by way of analogy, the canopy above the man wearing a yellow royal crown expresses two contrary things: that the crowned man is a megalomaniac in the condition of 'splendid isolation', separated from heaven by the canopy, or else that the crowned man is an initiate in the mystery of spiritual well-being and that he does not identify himself with heaven, being consciousness of the difference which exists between himself and that which is above him" (165). "Tabernacles . . . are these not tents, baldachins, canopies under which man is united in love with the Divine, without identifying himself with it or being absorbed by it?" (166).

• Overall: "The 'triumpher' of the seventh Arcanum is the true adept of Hermeticism, i.e. an adept of mysticism, gnosis and magic--divine, human and natural. He is not running. He stands upright. He is not seated, deep in meditation. He hold a sceptre which serves him to bridle the two horses (one blue and one red) which draw his chariot. He is not absent, plunged into exalted ecstasy. He is on his way and he goes forward, standing upright all the while in his vehicle. The two horses, the one blue and the other red, have relieved him of the effort of walking. The instinctive forces of 'yes' and 'no', attraction and repulsion, arterial blood and venous blood, trust and mistrust, faith and doubt, life and death and, lastly, 'right' and 'left'--symbolised by the pillars of Jachin and Boaz--have become motive forces in him, obedient to his sceptre. They serve him voluntarily as he is their true master. He trusts them and they trust him--this is mastership according to Hermeticism. For in Hermeticism mastership does not signify the subjugation of the lower by the higher, but rather the alliance of superconsciousness, consciousness and instinctive--or sub-consciousness.This is the Hermetic ideal of peace in the microcosm--the prototype of peace within a humanity divided into races, nations, classes and beliefs" (168).

In this Letter, the author summarizes the lessons of the book so far:

1. "The Magician is a warning against the intellectual jugglery of the metaphysician, heedless of experience, and against charlatancy of every kind--and at the same time it teaches 'concentration without effort' and the use of the method of analog.
2. "The High Priestess warns us of the dangers of gnosticism in teaching the discipline of true gnosis."
3. "The Empress evokes the dangers of mediumship and magic in revealing to us the mysteries of sacred magic."
4. "The Emperor warns us of the will-to-power and teaches us the power of the cross."
5. "The Pope confronts us with the humanistic cult of personality and the magical pentagram in which this culminates, and opposes to this holy poverty, obedience to the Divine, and the magic of the five wounds."
6. "The Lover warns us of the three temptations and teaches us the three sacred vows."
7. "The Chariot, lastly, warns us of the danger of megalomania and teaches us the real triumph achieved by the self" (164).

Meditations on the Tarot 4: The Emperor

(This post is fourth in a series on the book Meditations on the Tarot. See the first for explanation.)

4. The Emperor

• The number 4: The number 4 reminds us again of the four stages of Christian Hermeticism (introduced in Letter 2): mystic experience, gnosis, sacred magic, and Hermetic philosophy. In Letter 2, Hermetic philosophy is represented by the book; here, by the authority of the Emperor. "Hermetic philosophy . . . has a human ideal to which it aspires. Its spiritual exercises, its arcana, follow the practical aim of realising the man of authority, the 'father-man'. This is the man who is more human than all others . . . the man worthy of 'the throne of David'" (96).

• The Emperor's crown: The crown "is the sign of legitimacy, on the one hand, but it is also the sign of a task or a mission by which the crown is charged from above" (78). "The crown of the Emperor signifies the renunciation of freedom of intellectual movement" (79).

• His stance: "The Emperor has renounced ease, being not seated. He has renounced walking, being in a leaning position and having his legs crossed. He may neither advance in order to take the offensive, nor move back in order to retreat. His station is by his seat and his coat-of-arms. He is on sentry duty and as such he does not have freedom of movement. He is a guardian bound to his post" (78).

• His hands: "The Emperor has . . . renounced all action having pledged his right hand to the sceptre that he holds before him, whereas his left hand holds his fastened belt. It is no longer free, because the Emperor restrains himself with it. It serves the function of holding the impulsive and instinctive nature of the Emperor in check, so that it does not intervene and divert him from his post as guardian. The Emperor has therefore renounced movement by means of his legs and action by means of his arms" (78).

• His sceptre: "The Emperor has renounced compulsion and violence. He has no weapons" (78). "The Emperor reigns by pure authority; he reigns over free beings, i.e. not by means of the sword, but by means of the sceptre. The sceptre itself bears a globe with a cross above. The sceptre therefore expresses in as clear as possible a manner the central idea of the Arcanum: just as the world (the globe) is ruled by the cross, so is the power of the Emperor over the terrestrial globe subject to the sign of the cross" (85).

• His shield and throne: "The shield bearing an eagle rests on the ground at his side. The Emperor does not hold it with his hand, as the Empress does. The shield is certainly there, but it belongs rather to the throne than to the person of the Emperor. . . . The Emperor does not have a personal mission; he has renounced this in favour of the throne. . . . This is the fourth renunciation of the emperor [the others being freedom of intellectual movement, of physical movement, and of action]--the renunciation of a personal mission or a name, in the esoteric meaning of the word" (79).

• The field in which he stands: "The Emperor is alone in open air in an uncultivated field and with a tuft of grass as his only company--save for the sky and the earth. The Card teaches us the arcanum of the authority of the Emperor, although it may be unrecognised, occult, unknown and unappreciated. . . . It is authority as such and it is the post of authority as such which is expressed here. Authority is the magic of spiritual profundity filled with wisdom. Or, in other words, it is the result of magic based on gnosis due to mystical experience. Authority is the second HE of the divine hame YHVH. But it is not the second HE taken separately; it is only when the whole divine name manifests itself. For this reason it is more correct to say that authority is the completely-manifested divine name" (87).

Meditations on the Tarot 3: The Empress

(This post is third in a series on the book Meditations on the Tarot. See the first for explanation.)

3. The Empress

• The number 3: This number reminds us that the third stage in Hermetic Christian practice is sacred magic. (See the discussion of the High Priestess's tiara for all four stages.) Sacred magic is the sublimation of "lower" human nature--and conscious participation in the evolution of the Cosmos. "Instead of aspiring to power over the forces of Nature by means of the destruction of matter, Hermeticism aspires to conscious participation with the constructive forces of the world on the basis of an alliance and a cordial communion with them" (68). The number three also reminds us of the Trinity, of course, and of Jesus's statement "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John xiv, 6). "This formula is at the same time the summation of the first three Arcana of the Tarot, i.e. the arcanum of the true way of mystical spontaneity, the arcanum of revealed truth or gnosis, and the arcanum of transforming life or sacred magic" (66). The role of the sacred magician is to align his or her "human will" with "divine will" (56).

• The crown of the Empress: "The crown is the divine authorization of magic. It is only magic crowned from above which is not usurpatory. The crown is that which renders it legitimate" (54). "The crowned head indicates the power of the Divine over consciousness" (54).

• Her right (to us) arm, holding a sceptre: "The right arm . . . , which bears a sceptre topped by a cross mounted on a globe of gold, represents the power of consciousness over force" (54). The globe of the sceptre "is formed by two cups, one [symbolizing the Divine will] upside down, supporting the cross and turned downwards or 'below', the other [symbolizing the human will] turned upwards and supported by the staff, is open towards the 'above'" (59-60). The power of sacred magic "results from the influx from the cross which flows from the upper cup into the empty lower cup and from there descends through the staff in order to be concentrated at its extremity as . . . a drop. Or to express it in other words: the Holy Blood from above concentrates itself and becomes a 'drop' of human blood by the human word and action. Perhaps you will say: but this is the Holy Grail, it is the mystical Eucharist of which you speak! Yes, this is exactly to do with the Holy Grail . . . . For it is there, and only there, that the power of sacred magic resides" (60).

• Her left (to us) arm, holding a shield: "The left arm, which carries a shield bearig an eagle, signifies the power of energy over matter" (54). "The aim of sacred magic . . . is represented by the shield that the Empress holds in place of the book which the High Priestess holds. Sacred gnosis has as its aim the communicable expression (or 'book') of mystical revelation, whilst the aim of sacred magic is liberating action, i.e. the restoration of freedom to beings who have partially or totally lost it. . . . it is nothing other than to give the freeedom to see, to hear, to walk to live, to follow an ideal and to be truly oneself" (61).

• Her throne: "The throne on which the Empress is seated represents . . . the role of sacred magic in the world. . . . It is . . . the mineral, plant, animal and human realms of Nature--in a word, Nature in its entirety--which constitute the domain of sacred magic. The reason for the existence of sacred magic stems from the Fall and the whole domain of the Fall--comprising fallen Nature, fallen man and the fallen hierarchies" (62). "Browning was right in having said, 'Nature is supernatural'. For its supernatural origin still manifests itself in its vital elan. To want to live! Good Lord, what a profession of faith, what a manifestation of hope and what ardour of love!" (72) The throne is the phenomenon of the whole of sacred magic as it has manifested itself, as it is manifesting itself, and as it will manifest itself in the history of mankind. It is the historical body which reveals its soul and spirit. By 'body' I mean that which makes possible direct action in the world of facts. . . . This body is like a tree which has a certain number of branches which bear many leaves, but whose roots are in heaven. . . . Is this the Tree of the Sephiroth of the Cabala? . . . . Or, again, the Tree of Life?" (65) "The Tree of Life is the source of the miracles of generation, transformation, rejuvination, healing and liberation. Conscious participation with it, ad perpetranda miracula rei unis [to accomplish the miracles of the one thing] as the Emerald Table expresses it, is the 'great work' of sacred magic" (67).

• The "wings" of her throne: "The throne of the Empress has a back. It strongly resembles two wings . . . . Could not one see the back here in the form of two petrified and immobilised wings, but which had once been genuine wings and which are again potentially so?" (63)

Meditations on the Tarot 2: The High Priestess

(See my post on Arcanum 1 for explanation.)

2. The High Priestess

• The number 2: This number reminds us that the goal of Christian mysticism is not loss of the self but the "unity of two," the self and God, through love. This love is symbolized in Genesis by "the divine Breath and its Reflection" (33), the creative act of the Spirit moving across the reflective face of the water. [In reflecting on our direct experience of the Divine, we reenact the Creation.] The Christian mystics' "union with the Divine is not the absorption of their being by Divine Being, but rather the experience of the breath of Divine Love" (36).
• The Priestess as woman: The word sophia, wisdom, is feminine. "The intellect being the reflection--or light--of the fire principle of love, can only be the feminine principle, Sophia or Wisdom, who assists the Creator in the work of creation, according to the Old Testament. The gnostic tradition also considers Sophia as the feminine principle. Pure intellect is that which reflects; love is that which acts" (39).
• Her three-layered, bejeweled tiara and her book: The three-layered crown and book symbolize the four stages of Hermetic Christian practice: "It is by way of three stages that the crystallisation of the pure act descends through the three higher and invisible planes before arriving at the fourth stage--the book" (40). "The first [stage] is the pure reflection or a kind of imaginative repetition of the experience. The second stage is its entrance into memory. The third stage is its assimilation in thought and feeling, in a manner where it becomes a 'message' or inner word. The fourth stage, lastly, is reached when it becomes a communicable symbol or 'writing', or 'book'--i.e. when it is formulated" (41). Each of these stages has a corresponding "sense" and can be represented by a letter of the Tetragrammaton: the "mystical sense" (Yodh), the "gnostic sense" (He), the "magical" sense (Vav), and the "Hermetic-philosophical sense" (He). "Full consciousness of the sacred name YHVH can only be attained by the united experience of these four senses and the practice of four different methods. . . . He who dares to aspire to the experience of the unique essence of Being will develop the mystical sense. . . . If he wants not only to live but also to learn to understand what he lives through, he will develop the gnostic sense. And if he wants to put into practice what he has understood from mystical experience, he will develop the magical sense. If, lastly, he wants all that he has experienced, understood and practised to be not limited to himself and his time, but to become communicable to others and to be transmitted to future generations, he must develop the Hermetic-philosophical sense, and in practising it he will 'write his book'" (42).
• Her seated position: "To be seated signifies a relationship between the vertical and horizontal which corresponds to the task of the outward projection (horizontal, book) of the descending revelation (vertical, tiara). This position indicates the practical method of gnosis, just as the standing Magician indicates the practical method of mysticism. The Magician dares--for this reason he is standing. The High Priestess knows--this is why she is seated. The transformation from to dare to to know consists in the change of position from that of the Magician to that of the High Priestess" (40). [The Masonic ring I wear carries an early American Masonic motto: Vide, Aude, Tace--Know, Dare, Be Silent.]

The course of true love . . .

This week my students and I are reading Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and talking about systems. I gave my students a copy of Barry Commoner's "four laws of ecology," from his pioneering 1971 book The Closing Circle:

1. Everything is connected to everything else.
2. Everything must go somewhere.
3. Nature knows best.
4. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Shakespeare understood all these.The four plots of Dream are intricately intertwined, and what happens at one level of the play affects the other levels. Everything is connected to everything else.

One of the most familiar lines of the play--and arguably the line that best summarizes the whole work--is Lysander's, in the very first scene:

The course of true love never did run smooth.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Book of the Year

The second annual Prospero's Books Book of the Year is Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life, by physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies.

A few sentences from the first pages of the book (especially when read alongside this blog's description, at the top left of each page) may suggest why it was chosen:

About 350 years ago, the greatest magician who ever lived finally stumbled on the key to the universe--a cosmic code that would open the floodgates of knowledge. This was Isaac Newton--mystic, theologian, and alchemist--and in spite of his mystical leanings, he did more than anyone to change the age of magic into the age of science . . . .

The word science is derived from the Latin scientia, simply meaning "knowledge." Originally it was just one of many arcane methods used to probe beyond the limitations of our senses in the hope of accessing an unseen reality. The particular brand of "magic" employed by the early scientists involved hitherto unfamiliar and specialized procedures, such as manipulating mathematical symbols on pieces of paper and coaxing matter to behave in strange ways. . . .

The ancients were right: beneath the surface complexity of nature lies a hidden subtext, written a subtle mathematical code. This cosmic code contains contains the secret rules on which the universe runs (4).

(The 2006 Book of the Year was The Museum of Lost Wonder.)

Come in! Wander around!

The Museum of Lost Wonder, Prospero's Books' 2006 Book of the Year, has a wonderful animated tour on its Web site.

I could live there.

Come in! Wander around! Push buttons!