Hermeticism in the context of "Renaissance magic"

Western esotericism and the arts surveys documented intersections between Western esotericism—notably Hermeticism, Christian Kabbalah, Alchemy, and Astrology—and the visual arts, literature, and the performing arts from the late Middle Ages to the present. Scholarship highlights recurring vectors: Renaissance and early modern image–text programmes (emblems, alchemical series, Kabbalistic diagrams) that formalised "operative images"; encyclopedic displays and diagrams in early modern erudition; nineteenth-century Spirit photography and related "psychic" image technologies; fin de siècle milieux linking occult orders with salon culture; early twentieth-century abstraction tied to Theosophy/Anthroposophy; ritual poetics on stage and in experimental film; and later artist-authored Tarot and neo-alchemical process art.

Aby Warburg's reading of the Palazzo Schifanoia frescoes in Ferrara established a foundational model for interpreting astrological programs in Renaissance art, while Barbara Obrist documented the late-medieval shift toward serial illustration and diagrammatic representation in alchemical manuscripts. Early modern encyclopedic projects—epitomized by Athanasius Kircher—wove hieroglyphs, cosmology, and spectacular display into ambitious image-systems that influenced the period's visual culture. In parallel, historians of science and craft have emphasized how chymistry's "wider worlds" intersected with literature, theatre, and the visual arts. Classic studies have traced how esoteric metaphysics and "spiritual" aesthetics contributed to early abstraction (e.g., Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint), while recent scholarship reassesses the role of Spiritualism/Spiritism within abstract art and Surrealism's image-making and poetics.

Robert Fludd, also known as Robertus de Fluctibus (17 January 1574 – 8 September 1637), was a prominent English Paracelsian physician with both scientific and occult interests. He is remembered as an astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist, and Rosicrucian.

Fludd is best known for his compilations in occult philosophy. He had a celebrated exchange of views with Johannes Kepler concerning the scientific and hermetic approaches to knowledge.

The concept of the anima mundi (Latin), world soul (Ancient Greek: ψυχὴ κόσμου, psychḕ kósmou), or soul of the world (ψυχὴ τοῦ κόσμου, psychḕ toû kósmou) posits an intrinsic connection between all living beings, suggesting that the world is animated by a soul much like the human body. Rooted in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, the idea holds that the world soul infuses the cosmos with life and intelligence. This notion has been influential across various systems of thought, including Stoicism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, and Hermeticism, shaping metaphysical and cosmological frameworks throughout history.

In ancient philosophy, Plato's dialogue Timaeus introduces the universe as a living creature endowed with a soul and reason, constructed by the demiurge according to a rational pattern expressed through mathematical principles. Plato describes the world soul as a mixture of sameness and difference, forming a unified, harmonious entity that permeates the cosmos. This soul animates the universe, ensuring its rational structure and function according to a divine plan, with the motions of the seven classical planets reflecting the deep connection between mathematics and reality in Platonic thought.

The ouroboros (/ˌʊərəˈbɒrəs/) or uroboros (/ˌjʊərəˈbɒrəs/) is an ancient symbol depicting a snake or dragon eating its own tail. The ouroboros entered Western tradition via ancient Egyptian iconography and the Greek magical tradition. It was adopted as a symbol in Gnosticism and Hermeticism and, most notably, in alchemy. Some snakes, such as rat snakes, have been known to consume themselves.

In alchemy, the Magnum Opus or Great Work is a term for the process of working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone. It has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation in the Hermetic tradition, attached to laboratory processes and chemical color changes, used as a model for the individuation process, and as a device in art and literature. The magnum opus has been carried forward in New Age and neo-Hermetic movements which sometimes attached new symbolism and significance to the processes. The original process philosophy has four stages:

• nigredo, the blackening or melanosis
• albedo, the whitening or leucosis
• citrinitas, the yellowing or xanthosis
• rubedo, the reddening, purpling, or iosis

The origin of these four phases can be traced at least as far back as the first century. Zosimus of Panopolis wrote that it was known to Mary the Jewess. The development of black, white, yellow, and red can also be found in the Physika kai Mystika of Pseudo-Democritus, which is often considered to be one of the oldest books on alchemy. After the 15th century, many writers tended to compress citrinitas into rubedo and consider only three stages. Other color stages are sometimes mentioned, most notably the cauda pavonis (peacock's tail) in which an array of colors appear.

Ceremonial magic (also known as magick, ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an extension of ritual magic, and in most cases synonymous with it. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires. Ceremonial magic is part of Hermeticism and Western esotericism.

The synonym magick is an archaic spelling of 'magic' used during the Renaissance, which was revived by Aleister Crowley to differentiate occult magic from stage magic. He defined it as "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will", including ordinary acts of will as well as ritual magic. Crowley wrote that "it is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature". John Symonds and Kenneth Grant attach a deeper occult significance to this preference.

A divine embodiment or godform refers to the visualized appearance of the deity assumed in theurgical, tantric, and other mystical practices. This process of ritual embodiment is aimed at transforming the practitioner, aligning them with divine powers for spiritual ascent or transformation. The concept is found across diverse traditions, including Western esotericism, Eastern spirituality, and mysticism, where it serves as a method for achieving personal enlightenment, union with the divine, or other spiritual goals.

In Western esotericism, divine embodiment is most commonly associated with theurgy, particularly in the works of Neoplatonists like Iamblichus, where the practitioner assumes a divine form through ritual or meditation to transcend the material world and reach higher spiritual realms. This concept was influenced by ancient Greek practices of invoking gods and embodying divine forces, seen in both the public cults and private rituals. The idea was later adapted and expanded in Hermeticism, particularly through the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where practitioners would visualize themselves as deities to channel spiritual power.