The Forbidden Tome of All Forbidden Tomes

2025-09-25T20:04:35Z

...or at least it looks like that. The deluxe limited edition of my new translation of John Dee's Propaedeumata Aphoristica, Dee's first major publication, will be released next month, and there are still copies that haven't been preordered yet. The photo on the left is the riveted leather traycase marked with Dee's hieroglyphic monad. The photo below is the volume itself, with gold leaf and brass corner protectors on the cover, handsewn signatures, ribbed spine, fine Spanish endpapers, and a sewn in satin ribbon bookmark. Yes, I know it looks like the ultimate Lovecraftian tome! Azoth Press always does a good job with its fine editions, but to my mind this one's exceptional even for them. Yeah, I'm feeling a little giddy about it.

The book itself is probably the best general introduction to the worldview of Renaissance astrological magic ever written, and I've included a commentary to help unpack it. It's also essential if you want to make sense of Dee's cryptic Monas Hieroglyphica.

The deluxe edition will set you back $550 and can be purchased here. For those whose quests into eldritch and forbidden lore aren't quite so well financed, there's also a very nice hardback edition, not bound in the skins of beasts better left unnamed, for $69, which can be ordered here.

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Help with Hebrew

2024-07-21T02:07:03Z

I'm currently doing a lot of work on the writings of John Dee, Queen Elizabeth I's court astrologer. He's of interest partly because I translate Latin the way some people do crossword puzzles -- it's a relaxing game, and that's something I've had some need for in recent months -- and partly out of a great deal of dissatisfaction with the existing translations of his two early works, the Propaedeumata Aphoristica ("Aphorisms on Astrology and Magic") and the Monas Hieroglyphica ("Hieroglyphic Monad").

My new translation of the first of those, with detailed commentary, has just gone to the publisher and I'm busy on the second, with good results so far. One of the awkward details, though, is that none of the scholarly translations bother to translate the one short passage of Hebrew in the text. Here it is, scanned from a copy of the original:

I know there are people who read me who have a working knowledge of Biblical Hebrew, and some may also know people who are scholars of that language. If any of my readers can translate this into English, I would be most grateful! Thank you in advance for your help.

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Toward Ecosophy

The Forbidden Tome of All Forbidden Tomes

Help with Hebrew