{"id":10942,"date":"2018-04-23T19:22:08","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T19:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?page_id=10942"},"modified":"2018-04-24T00:13:42","modified_gmt":"2018-04-24T00:13:42","slug":"attrell-2018-congress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/abstracts\/attrell-2018-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Attrell (2018 Congress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Attrell
\n(University of Waterloo<\/em>)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cReaching the Goal of the Sage:
\nWhat’s It Take?”<\/h2>\n

Abstract of Paper
\nTo be presented at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies
\n(Kalamazoo, 2018)<\/h3>\n

Session 1 of 2 on
\n\u201cOccult Blockbusters of the Islamicate World, I:\u00a0 The Picatrix (A Medieval Bestseller)\u201d<\/h4>\n

Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence and the Societas Magica<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Organized by David Porreca (University of Waterloo)<\/h4>\n

2018 Congress Program<\/a><\/h4>\n

[Published on 23 April 2018<\/em>]<\/p>\n

The Picatrix<\/em>, or the Latin version of the Arabic Gayat Al-Hakim<\/em> (“The Goal of the Sage”), is a medieval text of astral magic which was cobbled together from numerous aphorisms and fragments drawn from ancient metaphysical, natural-philosophical, astrological, magical, and alchemical sources.\u00a0 Some of them are traceable to their original authors (Plato, Aristotle, Empedocles, et alia<\/em>), whilst others were entirely pseudepigraphically attributed to such famous minds.<\/p>\n

The Picatrix<\/em> is a compendious work, itself assembled by \u201ca wise philosopher, the noble and honored Picatrix<\/em>, [who] compiled this tome from over two hundred books of philosophy, which he then named after himself,\u201d according to the text\u2019s prologue. It puts in the mouths of such ancient philosophers (or \u201cSages\u201d) a great quantity of instructions for magical operations replete with detailed astrological hours, guidelines for the creation of talismans, and lists of magical recipes \u2014 which doubtless the likes of Plato and Pythagoras never discussed. Nevertheless, the thread which binds all these disparate and mysterious fragments is the author\u2019s insistence that the ultimate \u201cgoal of the sage\u201d is the ability to use magic.<\/p>\n

The goal of this presentation will be to determine, according to our author, what it takes to be a sage? What is the underlying philosophical worldview which determines what constitutes ‘wisdom’? Who are all the philosophers mentioned by the Picatrix<\/em>, where do they come from, and what distinguishes them as \u201csages\u201d from the base individuals around them? And lastly, to what extent does our compiler understand the historical nature of those sages he venerates so deeply \u2013 in other words, how does he imagine them? What we will find is that the Picatrix<\/em> and its comprising sources fit squarely within the tradition of \u201cPlatonic Orientalism,\u201d a nebulous philosophical school of mystical idealism or \u201cancient wisdom\u201d which was believed to have come to ancient Greece via \u201cthe Orient\u201d, before it was re-exported into the lands conquered by Alexander the Great, and reinterpreted through a variety of local cultural lenses.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Note: See also the Abstract for the Paper in this same Session by Daniel Attrell’s Co-Editor for the new translation: Porreca (2018 Congress)<\/a> .<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Also, you know, both these Authors spoke about aspects of their study of the subject, in the making, at our co-sponsored Session at the 2013 Congress. As described in our announcement for the 2013 International Congress on Medieval Studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then, Dan spoke about “High Times: Astral Magic and the Curious World of Psychoactive Substances in the Picatrix<\/em>“, whilst David opined on the subject of “What Motivated Magic? The Picatrix<\/em> as a Sample of Social History”.<\/p>\n

\"Poster<\/a><\/p>\n

We celebrate their accomplishments, and thank our lucky stars that we could witness stages along the way! Looking forward to the book.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

\"Sarah<\/a>

“Listening to Dan”. Sarah Layman, David Porreca, and Dan Attrell at the 2017 Reception of the Societas Magica. Photography \u00a9 Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Attrell (University of Waterloo) \u201cReaching the Goal of the Sage: What’s It Take?” Abstract of Paper To be presented at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, 2018) Session 1 of 2 on \u201cOccult Blockbusters of the Islamicate World, I:\u00a0 The Picatrix (A Medieval Bestseller)\u201d Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10222,"parent":1023,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10942"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10950,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10942\/revisions\/10950"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}