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We've been spending most our lives, living in a cacomage's paradise.
I recently read through Ioan Couliano's "Eros and Magic in the Renaissance". Frankly, it was a tough read. I found myself cursing my substandard education as I looked up words I didn't understand. I also used Bing AI as a reluctant translator for some Latin phrases Couliano didn't bother to translate for those of us with no Latin. (Bing will translate but takes some prompting for some reason, at least as of this writing).
I ended up being very pleased that I made the slog through the book; the challenge of reading it made me really study and try to work out what Couliano was getting at. To be honest, John Michael Greer has covered a lot of the same territory in a more accessible, reader friendly fashion, so I don't think I'd have been at a huge disadvantage in my magical studies if I hadn't read it, but it was worthwhile.
Couliano's basic premise is that we live in modern magician states that maintain order through manipulation via advertising, public relations, market research and the like. He bolsters his case by examining magic from the Renaissance, including works by notables like Giordano Bruno and Marsilio Ficino. He makes the case that a lot of what they regarded as magic we have rebranded, modernized, and put to use as tools to sway and control the masses.
Couliano spends a lot of time discussing Giordano Bruno, burned at the stake for heresy (and still held up as a martyr by modern science despite the fact that he was deeply involved in the study and practice of magic). There are many ways to transmit images designed to sway others to your will (Bruno calls them phantasms), but one of the most important portals the mage uses is through the eyes.
In modern society, the cacomage (a term for a black magician dedicated to manipulating others against their will for sleazy purposes) has possibly the best vehicle imaginable to access people's minds and nervous systems, the Internet. They also have the most sophisticated means of determining the triggers they can use to do their manipulations in the form of Big Data. Giordano Bruno would probably salivate at the chance to use some of our modern toys to ply his craft.
It isn't exactly an uncommon notion in the occult community that AI is sort of like one of the spirits mages of old consulted to gain information, and internet could certainly be seen as a powerful grimoire and magical scrying mirror as well. Like anything, of course, they are tools that can be used in many ways. Also like most tools, they have been thoroughly explored as potential weapons and exploited by bad actors for nefarious purposes.
After I finished Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, I read Ted Anton's Eros, Magic, and the Death of Professor Coulianu (his spelling of Couliano was different for linguistic reasons that evade me). It was another very worthwhile read that shed some light on some of Couliano's insights and political activism (he was a practicing magician who evidently attempted to use Bruno's methods to influence Romanian politics; he had a fair amount of success, until he ended up dead).
I picked up a recent translation of Bruno's De Magia and I'm reading my way through it. I like Bruno (his authorial voice at least), just like I found myself liking Couliano as I read his book and Anton's book about him. I definitely saw echoes of some of their ideas at work in our society, and even some in my own work (which must have gotten there by osmosis as I unconsciously imitated things I've read and studied in the mass media). All things considered though, I'm content to leave the manipulation and soul hunting to others; the price of that power seems pretty high from where I'm sitting.
I recently read through Ioan Couliano's "Eros and Magic in the Renaissance". Frankly, it was a tough read. I found myself cursing my substandard education as I looked up words I didn't understand. I also used Bing AI as a reluctant translator for some Latin phrases Couliano didn't bother to translate for those of us with no Latin. (Bing will translate but takes some prompting for some reason, at least as of this writing).
I ended up being very pleased that I made the slog through the book; the challenge of reading it made me really study and try to work out what Couliano was getting at. To be honest, John Michael Greer has covered a lot of the same territory in a more accessible, reader friendly fashion, so I don't think I'd have been at a huge disadvantage in my magical studies if I hadn't read it, but it was worthwhile.
Couliano's basic premise is that we live in modern magician states that maintain order through manipulation via advertising, public relations, market research and the like. He bolsters his case by examining magic from the Renaissance, including works by notables like Giordano Bruno and Marsilio Ficino. He makes the case that a lot of what they regarded as magic we have rebranded, modernized, and put to use as tools to sway and control the masses.
Couliano spends a lot of time discussing Giordano Bruno, burned at the stake for heresy (and still held up as a martyr by modern science despite the fact that he was deeply involved in the study and practice of magic). There are many ways to transmit images designed to sway others to your will (Bruno calls them phantasms), but one of the most important portals the mage uses is through the eyes.
In modern society, the cacomage (a term for a black magician dedicated to manipulating others against their will for sleazy purposes) has possibly the best vehicle imaginable to access people's minds and nervous systems, the Internet. They also have the most sophisticated means of determining the triggers they can use to do their manipulations in the form of Big Data. Giordano Bruno would probably salivate at the chance to use some of our modern toys to ply his craft.
It isn't exactly an uncommon notion in the occult community that AI is sort of like one of the spirits mages of old consulted to gain information, and internet could certainly be seen as a powerful grimoire and magical scrying mirror as well. Like anything, of course, they are tools that can be used in many ways. Also like most tools, they have been thoroughly explored as potential weapons and exploited by bad actors for nefarious purposes.
After I finished Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, I read Ted Anton's Eros, Magic, and the Death of Professor Coulianu (his spelling of Couliano was different for linguistic reasons that evade me). It was another very worthwhile read that shed some light on some of Couliano's insights and political activism (he was a practicing magician who evidently attempted to use Bruno's methods to influence Romanian politics; he had a fair amount of success, until he ended up dead).
I picked up a recent translation of Bruno's De Magia and I'm reading my way through it. I like Bruno (his authorial voice at least), just like I found myself liking Couliano as I read his book and Anton's book about him. I definitely saw echoes of some of their ideas at work in our society, and even some in my own work (which must have gotten there by osmosis as I unconsciously imitated things I've read and studied in the mass media). All things considered though, I'm content to leave the manipulation and soul hunting to others; the price of that power seems pretty high from where I'm sitting.