The Return of the Notory Art

[ecosophia]

I'm very excited to report that one of the keystones of medieval and Renaissance Hermeticism is available again -- the Ars Notoria or Notory (not "notary") Art.

The Notory Art is a system of angel magic practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance for a very distinctive purpose. Its goal was to prime the mind to absorb knowledge in the seven classical liberal arts -- grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy -- as well as the occult or "exceptive" arts of magic and divination, so that the practitioner found it easy to pick up and retain an encyclopedic knowledge of occultism and ordinary learning alike. The process involved an intensive series of prayers and incantations repeated while contemplating mandala-like patterns called notae (thus the name of the art). Yes, that's a nota below on the right.

Everybody in the Renaissance Hermetic scene studied and used the Notory Art.  In England, for example, the list includes John Dee, Simon Forman, Robert Fludd, William Lilly, Elias Ashmole, and Thomas Rudd -- i.e., every one of the major figures of the English occult Renaissance. With the coming of the scientific revolution, though, it dropped out of use -- one text, Robert Turner's translation of a variant method, stayed in circulation, but the notae themselves and the ritual procedure that made them work lingered in a handful of medieval manuscripts.

A few years back Stephen Skinner brought out a nice hardback volume that included one set of notae and the Robert Turner text. Now, though, the original texts have been translated and the Notory Art is back, with very good color illos of the notae and a solid, accurate annotated translation of the prayers and instructions straight from the original medieval  manuscripts. This is something I've wanted to see for decades. Advanced Hermetic magic? Here it is.

The downside is that it's not cheap. It's an 880-page hardback in a slipcase with plenty of illustrations, and it costs $US195.00. Nor is this for everyone -- it requires a lot of hard work , and some background in medieval or Renaissance Hermetic occultism is probably a good idea before you tackle the months-long process of contemplating the notae.  Even so, it's available again, and I suspect that in a year or two we'll see a sudden upsurge in remarkably well-educated Hermetic occultists...

My only connection with this project is that I got an advance copy and wrote an enthusiastic blurb for it. If you're interested, you can get a copy here if you're in the US, and at your favorite online or brick-and-mortar bookstore if you're elsewhere.

Comments

[jpc_w]

I can't help but wonder if Frater Acher's theurgical explorations shook enough dust off the old traditions to make them visible again.

As it happens, I have the practical volume B of Skinner's Ars, with the goal of at least looking at it once I'm doing the CGD Druid work. Should I keep that as a companion volume to this, or donate it to a local magical library and just concentrate on this volume?

[ecosophia]

I haven't had the chance to compare the two closely as I just got my copy of the new translation, so I'm not sure what to suggest.

[open_space]

FWIW I like Skinner's books and if I recall correctly it includes five complete sets of notae from different manuscripts, practical magical advice, commentary and footnotes. This one looks nicer though.

[ecosophia]

Glad to hear it. Have you tried the practices yet?

[open_space]

Not the whole thing, but I did try a shorter version just with the verba ignota and the notae for grammar to learn french --according to Skinner the prayers were a latter addition and are actually not necessarily for the method if you have an active spiritual life.

Bruno's Ars Memoriae

[(Anonymous)]

On a related note, Kickstarter has a new translation of Giordano Bruno's Ars Memoriae, which I recall you also translated.

The Kickstarter project is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackletterpress/giordano-bruno-ars-memoriae?ref=discovery&term=art%20of%20memory.

Re: Bruno's Ars Memoriae

[ecosophia]

Glad to hear it. If they can do a more useful translation than mine, more power to 'em.

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting! Does doing the work (like the prayers) presuppose that you're a Christian?

[ecosophia]

The prayers are phrased in Christian terms, so you have to have some tolerance for that set of symbolism. That's one of the reasons I suggested a background in medieval and Renaissance Hermeticism, which involves the same sort of language.

[milkyway1]

Hi JMG,

1. Is this generally compatible with all the systems you teach (i.e. both the SOP-based systems and the GD-based systems)? Or are there certain things it shouldn‘t be mixed or combined with?

2. Is the goal purely (encyclopaedic) knowledge? Or is it also working towards better application of that knowledge?

Milkyway

[ecosophia]

1) I don't know yet. I'll be finding out in due time. ;-)

2) If I understand correctly -- I'm still studying the text -- it's knowledge plus wisdom. The applications are up to you.

[milkyway1]

Thanks!

About 1) Fair enough… ;-) Would you care to keep us updated if any incompatibilities should arise? Pretty please with cherry on top?

Milkyway

[ecosophia]

Of course!

[readoldthings]

Do you happen to know if the original Latin texts are available online?

[ecosophia]

They are indeed. The translator of this edition has posted a useful guide on his blog:

https://www.matthiascastle.com/post/where-are-the-original-latin-texts-of-the-ars-notoria-tradition

[(Anonymous)]

Delighted to see this!

JPM

[(Anonymous)]

can you recomend good introduction to the renaissance hermetic occultism?

[ecosophia]

Sure. The best introductions I know of are Chris Warnock's books and courses, available via his website https://www.renaissanceastrology.com/ .

[thinking_turtle]

For those interested in checking it out, I found a 1999 translation available on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/ars_notoria

[ecosophia]

That's a very nice edition of the 1657 Robert Turner translation mentioned above, without the notae. That said, it's worth a look.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG, I feel like this opened a door for me, and I ordered a copy. I'm hoping after initial investigations I'll be able to make it work with my current practice. I've been searching on the internet for whatever information I can get since it'll be awhile before my copy arrives. Something I've found is that after some initial work, you have to wait for a confirmatory dream? Is that true? It's kind of an exciting prospect, but also makes me nervous in the case I didn't get one. Luke Z

[ecosophia]

That's correct. You do the initial practices and then either you get a certain kind of dream or you don't, and that determines whether it's time to go ahead with the work. It's a sensible safety measure -- your subconscious knows whether you're ready for the practice, and can tell you one way or the other. (And if you don't get the dream, wait a little while and try again...)

Skinner vs. Castle

[milkyway1]

I went to the „Look Inside“ feature of the big river last night, and read the first few pages of both Skinner and this edition.

One thing that struck me is how much they seem to differ in their assessment of the Christian prayers:

Skinner seems to be of the (tentative) opinion that the Christian parts had been plugged onto the rest of the system later on, to make it more palatable to the church. He also says that preliminary experiments seem to suggest that the Christian prayers could be left out, i.e. that they are not an essential part of the system. He also seems to be of the opinion that there is a definite separation between the Christian prayers and the actual orations.

Castle, in the few pages I could read, seems to take the Christian elements as essential parts of the workings, and iirc, he also implied somewhere that the Christian prayers and the orations belong closely together (they form one coherent block, so to speak). He also noted in the first few pages something about the purifying effect of the Christian practices, which stood out to me.

(Note that all this is based on the first few, publicly available pages of each book. I‘m not suggesting that this is all they say! But the difference was so striking that it got me wondering, and I wanted to post this here while the thread is still active…)

So there clearly seems to be room for serious experimentation: with or without the Christian prayers; with or without other Christian elements (e.g. the timing which seems to be based on monasterical habits); with or without other forms of personal „purification“ instead of the (Christian) elements like confession.

The main issue will probably be that not many people can manage such a rigid schedule in addition to the rest of their lives… I.e. the amount of experimentation which will be done might be limited for practical reasons. ;-)

But if any of you folks (i.e. not just JMG) compare the two editions and have any thoughts, or if anybody starts experimenting further down the line, it would be great if you could report back, or publish your findings somewhere and post a link (and I hope JMG would be ok with that)! :-)

(And nope, I‘m not encouraging anybody to experiment with a system which they haven‘t mastered yet! Just hoping that further down the line, somebody will have the capacity to investigate these things - as in my own current life situation, if that will ever happen at all, it will be a lot further down the line… ;-) ).

Milkyway

Re: Skinner vs. Castle

[ecosophia]

I plan on reviewing Skinner's version once I've finished with Castle's, and then comparing both with the Latin originals. So we'll see!

Re: Skinner vs. Castle

[open_space]

A note on experimentation from a warning in the book: it should be taken seriously and the initial permission asked but other than that I also think its very ripe ground for experimentation.

For Skinner's books, you need both at the same time (version A and B) btw.

There is a definitive separation between the orations and the prayers so I would be interested in reading Castle's version to see what he has to say about it. The prayers are done through the 4 months period and the verba ignota oration are done while looking at the nota which is done only at the 4 month.

There is a 15 day preparatory period and you also have to ask permission to the angels before starting, which respond via a dream with a yes or a no. This step I wouldn't modify much, nor the reverence to the angels or the preparation of the angel water, with its prayers and Psalms. Though if people are experienced enough to enter into a scrying vision instead of having to induce a dream I think it would be possible, but I wouldn't proceed without explicit permission.

The Ars Notoria was very popular, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone took the original constantinoplan method (according to Skinner's hypothesis) and then someone in Bologna added the prayers to make it more effective to them but separating the prayers from the timings seem tricky. Which one is the important one? The initial prayers and confession seem to be about purification but the latter seem more about raising consciousness which leaves space for modification.

Perhaps even a modern ceremonial one where one times the operation astrologically and then performs the rest ritually? I think the 4 month period could be greatly reduced for a less intensive approach.

Re: Skinner vs. Castle

[milkyway1]

Thanks!

Milkyway

[(Anonymous)]

Does it have by any chance the Latin originals as well? Celadon

[ecosophia]

No, Castle used the critical edition recently produced by Julien Veronese. Fortunately this is in Veronese's doctoral dissertation, which can be downloaded free of charge --

https://shs.hal.science/tel-02975213

(The critical edition begins on p. 683 and runs through p. 986.)

Very exciting.

[cs2]

This is something I would like to at least read, and own in order to pass on to the future if nothing else. I'm working through the Dolmen Arch course and quite content with it as a path. But this sounds fascinating and worth a look even if I don't end up doing the practices.