Alchemical Illuminations: The Splendor Solis and Nicholas Flamel
The presentation continues with a focus on one of the most famous and splendidly illuminated texts of the Hermetic Renaissance, The Splendor Solis, and the transition to the Rosicrucian era exemplified by the narrative and iconography in the work of Nicholas Flamel, with its synthesis of alchemy and the Christian Apocalypse.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
Perhaps the oldest and most enduring of all myths is the Nekyia: the descent to and return from the underworld. There are innumerable iterations of the myth from nearly all cultures, manifesting in literature, art, music, psychology, philosophy, film, and graphic media. The myth catalyzes the revelation of the archetypal iconography of the imagination leading to a radical transformation of consciousness. This series focuses alchemical narratives in foundational works of the hermetic tradition.
Bio
Professor Evans Lancing Smith edited the first collection of Joseph Campbell s writings and lectures on the Arthurian romances of the Middle Ages, a central focus of his celebrated scholarship. Throughout his life, Joseph Campbell was deeply engaged in the study of the Grail Quests and Arthurian legends of the European Middle Ages. In this new volume of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, editor Evans Lansing Smith collects Campbell s writings and lectures on Arthurian legends, including his never-before-published master s thesis on Arthurian myth, A Study of the Dolorous Stroke. Campbell s writing captures the incredible stories of such figures as Merlin, Gawain, and Guinevere as well as the larger patterns and meanings revealed in these myths. Merlin s death and Arthur receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, for example, are not just vibrant stories but also central to the mythologist s thinking. The Arthurian myths opened the world of comparative mythology to Campbell, turning his attention to the Near and Far Eastern roots of myth. Calling the Arthurian romances the world s first secular mythology, Campbell found metaphors in them for human stages of growth, development, and psychology. The myths exemplify the kind of love Campbell called amor, in which individuals become more fully themselves through connection. Campbell s infectious delight in his discoveries makes this volume essential for anyone intrigued by the stories we tell and the stories behind them.
Evans has degrees from Williams College, Antioch International, and The Claremont Graduate School. He is the author of ten books and numerous articles on comparative literature and mythology, and has taught at colleges in Switzerland, Maryland, Texas, and California, and at the C.G. Jung Institute in Kusnacht. In the late 1970s, he traveled with Joseph Campbell on study tours of Northern France, Egypt, and Kenya, with a focus on the Arthurian Romances of the Middle Ages and the Mythologies of the Ancient World. His books include:
The Descent to the Underworld in Literature, Painting, and Film: 1850-1950: The Modernist Nekyia
Figuring Poesis: A Mythical Geometry of Postmodernism
Haiku for Aphrodite
The Hero Journey in Literature
The Myth of the Descent to the Underworld in Postmodern Literature
Postmodern Magus: Myth and Poetics in the Works of James Merrill
Rape and Revelation
Ricorso and Revelation: An Archetypal Poetics of Modernism
Sacred Mysteries: Myths About Couples in Quest
Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld
His areas of emphasis include: Myth in Literature from Antiquity to Postmodernism; Arthurian Romances, and The Hermetic Tradition. He currently teaches: Myth and the Underworld; Alchemy and Hermeticism; Arthurian Romances and the Grail; Folklore and Fairytales; Theoretical Approaches to Mythological Studies; Cultural Mythologies; and Native Mythologies of the Americas.
Two Renaissance Alchemical Manuscripts: The Rosarium Philosophorum and the Ripley Scrolls
We move to the 16th century Hermetic Renaissance exemplified by the Rosarium philosophorum— which provides images of the complete cycle of the alchemical nekyia, from descent to return—followed by the enigmatic and gorgeous imagery of the Ripley Scrolls, with its multiple variations on the central themes of the myth.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
This is the third lecture in the series. Perhaps the oldest and most enduring of all myths is the Nekyia: the descent to and return from the underworld. There are innumerable iterations of the myth from nearly all cultures, manifesting in literature, art, music, psychology, philosophy, film, and graphic media. The myth catalyzes the revelation of the archetypal iconography of the imagination leading to a radical transformation of consciousness. This series focuses alchemical narratives in foundational works of the hermetic tradition.
Bio
Professor Evans Lancing Smith edited the first collection of Joseph Campbell s writings and lectures on the Arthurian romances of the Middle Ages, a central focus of his celebrated scholarship. Throughout his life, Joseph Campbell was deeply engaged in the study of the Grail Quests and Arthurian legends of the European Middle Ages. In this new volume of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, editor Evans Lansing Smith collects Campbell s writings and lectures on Arthurian legends, including his never-before-published master s thesis on Arthurian myth, A Study of the Dolorous Stroke. Campbell s writing captures the incredible stories of such figures as Merlin, Gawain, and Guinevere as well as the larger patterns and meanings revealed in these myths. Merlin s death and Arthur receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, for example, are not just vibrant stories but also central to the mythologist s thinking. The Arthurian myths opened the world of comparative mythology to Campbell, turning his attention to the Near and Far Eastern roots of myth. Calling the Arthurian romances the world s first secular mythology, Campbell found metaphors in them for human stages of growth, development, and psychology. The myths exemplify the kind of love Campbell called amor, in which individuals become more fully themselves through connection. Campbell s infectious delight in his discoveries makes this volume essential for anyone intrigued by the stories we tell and the stories behind them.
Evans has degrees from Williams College, Antioch International, and The Claremont Graduate School. He is the author of ten books and numerous articles on comparative literature and mythology, and has taught at colleges in Switzerland, Maryland, Texas, and California, and at the C.G. Jung Institute in Kusnacht. In the late 1970s, he traveled with Joseph Campbell on study tours of Northern France, Egypt, and Kenya, with a focus on the Arthurian Romances of the Middle Ages and the Mythologies of the Ancient World. His books include:
The Descent to the Underworld in Literature, Painting, and Film: 1850-1950: The Modernist Nekyia
Figuring Poesis: A Mythical Geometry of Postmodernism
Haiku for Aphrodite
The Hero Journey in Literature
The Myth of the Descent to the Underworld in Postmodern Literature
Postmodern Magus: Myth and Poetics in the Works of James Merrill
Rape and Revelation
Ricorso and Revelation: An Archetypal Poetics of Modernism
Sacred Mysteries: Myths About Couples in Quest
Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld
His areas of emphasis include: Myth in Literature from Antiquity to Postmodernism; Arthurian Romances, and The Hermetic Tradition. He currently teaches: Myth and the Underworld; Alchemy and Hermeticism; Arthurian Romances and the Grail; Folklore and Fairytales; Theoretical Approaches to Mythological Studies; Cultural Mythologies; and Native Mythologies of the Americas.
Early Arabic Alchemy: Ibn Umail to The Aurora Consurgens
Marie-Louise von Franz devoted the latter years of her life to the study of the Corpus Hermeticum Arabicum, a project that grew out of her extensive engagement with the Aurora Consurgence. The presentation focuses on the vision of Ibn Umail, illustrated by the spectacular text, and its adaptation and transmission in the scholastic alchemy of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
This is the second lecture in the series. Perhaps the oldest and most enduring of all myths is the Nekyia: the descent to and return from the underworld. There are innumerable iterations of the myth from nearly all cultures, manifesting in literature, art, music, psychology, philosophy, film, and graphic media. The myth catalyzes the revelation of the archetypal iconography of the imagination leading to a radical transformation of consciousness. This series focuses alchemical narratives in foundational works of the hermetic tradition.
Bio
Professor Evans Lancing Smith edited the first collection of Joseph Campbell s writings and lectures on the Arthurian romances of the Middle Ages, a central focus of his celebrated scholarship. Throughout his life, Joseph Campbell was deeply engaged in the study of the Grail Quests and Arthurian legends of the European Middle Ages. In this new volume of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, editor Evans Lansing Smith collects Campbell s writings and lectures on Arthurian legends, including his never-before-published master s thesis on Arthurian myth, A Study of the Dolorous Stroke. Campbell s writing captures the incredible stories of such figures as Merlin, Gawain, and Guinevere as well as the larger patterns and meanings revealed in these myths. Merlin s death and Arthur receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, for example, are not just vibrant stories but also central to the mythologist s thinking. The Arthurian myths opened the world of comparative mythology to Campbell, turning his attention to the Near and Far Eastern roots of myth. Calling the Arthurian romances the world s first secular mythology, Campbell found metaphors in them for human stages of growth, development, and psychology. The myths exemplify the kind of love Campbell called amor, in which individuals become more fully themselves through connection. Campbell s infectious delight in his discoveries makes this volume essential for anyone intrigued by the stories we tell and the stories behind them.
Evans has degrees from Williams College, Antioch International, and The Claremont Graduate School. He is the author of ten books and numerous articles on comparative literature and mythology, and has taught at colleges in Switzerland, Maryland, Texas, and California, and at the C.G. Jung Institute in Kusnacht. In the late 1970s, he traveled with Joseph Campbell on study tours of Northern France, Egypt, and Kenya, with a focus on the Arthurian Romances of the Middle Ages and the Mythologies of the Ancient World. His books include:
The Descent to the Underworld in Literature, Painting, and Film: 1850-1950: The Modernist Nekyia
Figuring Poesis: A Mythical Geometry of Postmodernism
Haiku for Aphrodite
The Hero Journey in Literature
The Myth of the Descent to the Underworld in Postmodern Literature
Postmodern Magus: Myth and Poetics in the Works of James Merrill
Rape and Revelation
Ricorso and Revelation: An Archetypal Poetics of Modernism
Sacred Mysteries: Myths About Couples in Quest
Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld
His areas of emphasis include: Myth in Literature from Antiquity to Postmodernism; Arthurian Romances, and The Hermetic Tradition. He currently teaches: Myth and the Underworld; Alchemy and Hermeticism; Arthurian Romances and the Grail; Folklore and Fairytales; Theoretical Approaches to Mythological Studies; Cultural Mythologies; and Native Mythologies of the Americas.
Alchemy in Antiquity: The Codex Marcianus and The Visions of Zosimos
This first session introduces the alchemical nekyia—a narrative journey evoking the archetypal iconography of underworld, seen as a temenos (a place of revelation and transformation). It also addresses the origins and transmission of alchemical ideas during Antiquity, with its synthesis of Egyptian mythology, pre-Socratic philosophy, and Platonism
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
This is the first lecture in the series. Perhaps the oldest and most enduring of all myths is the Nekyia: the descent to and return from the underworld. There are innumerable iterations of the myth from nearly all cultures, manifesting in literature, art, music, psychology, philosophy, film, and graphic media. The myth catalyzes the revelation of the archetypal iconography of the imagination leading to a radical transformation of consciousness. This series focuses alchemical narratives in foundational works of the hermetic tradition.
Bio
Professor Evans Lancing Smith edited the first collection of Joseph Campbell s writings and lectures on the Arthurian romances of the Middle Ages, a central focus of his celebrated scholarship. Throughout his life, Joseph Campbell was deeply engaged in the study of the Grail Quests and Arthurian legends of the European Middle Ages. In this new volume of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, editor Evans Lansing Smith collects Campbell s writings and lectures on Arthurian legends, including his never-before-published master s thesis on Arthurian myth, A Study of the Dolorous Stroke. Campbell s writing captures the incredible stories of such figures as Merlin, Gawain, and Guinevere as well as the larger patterns and meanings revealed in these myths. Merlin s death and Arthur receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, for example, are not just vibrant stories but also central to the mythologist s thinking. The Arthurian myths opened the world of comparative mythology to Campbell, turning his attention to the Near and Far Eastern roots of myth. Calling the Arthurian romances the world s first secular mythology, Campbell found metaphors in them for human stages of growth, development, and psychology. The myths exemplify the kind of love Campbell called amor, in which individuals become more fully themselves through connection. Campbell s infectious delight in his discoveries makes this volume essential for anyone intrigued by the stories we tell and the stories behind them.
Evans has degrees from Williams College, Antioch International, and The Claremont Graduate School. He is the author of ten books and numerous articles on comparative literature and mythology, and has taught at colleges in Switzerland, Maryland, Texas, and California, and at the C.G. Jung Institute in Kusnacht. In the late 1970s, he traveled with Joseph Campbell on study tours of Northern France, Egypt, and Kenya, with a focus on the Arthurian Romances of the Middle Ages and the Mythologies of the Ancient World. His books include:
The Descent to the Underworld in Literature, Painting, and Film: 1850-1950: The Modernist Nekyia
Figuring Poesis: A Mythical Geometry of Postmodernism
Haiku for Aphrodite
The Hero Journey in Literature
The Myth of the Descent to the Underworld in Postmodern Literature
Postmodern Magus: Myth and Poetics in the Works of James Merrill
Rape and Revelation
Ricorso and Revelation: An Archetypal Poetics of Modernism
Sacred Mysteries: Myths About Couples in Quest
Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld
His areas of emphasis include: Myth in Literature from Antiquity to Postmodernism; Arthurian Romances, and The Hermetic Tradition. He currently teaches: Myth and the Underworld; Alchemy and Hermeticism; Arthurian Romances and the Grail; Folklore and Fairytales; Theoretical Approaches to Mythological Studies; Cultural Mythologies; and Native Mythologies of the Americas.
Perhaps the oldest and most enduring of all myths is the Nekyia: the descent to and return from the underworld. There are innumerable iterations of the myth from nearly all cultures, manifesting in literature, art, music, psychology, philosophy, film, and graphic media. The myth catalyzes the revelation of the archetypal iconography of the imagination leading to a radical transformation of consciousness. This series focuses alchemical narratives in foundational works of the hermetic tradition.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
This first session introduces the alchemical nekyia—a narrative journey evoking the archetypal iconography of underworld, seen as a temenos (a place of revelation and transformation). It also addresses the origins and transmission of alchemical ideas during Antiquity, with its synthesis of Egyptian mythology, pre-Socratic philosophy, and Platonism
Marie-Louise von Franz devoted the latter years of her life to the study of the Corpus Hermeticum Arabicum, a project that grew out of her extensive engagement with the Aurora Consurgence. The presentation focuses on the vision of Ibn Umail, illustrated by the spectacular text, and its adaptation and transmission in the scholastic alchemy of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.
We move to the 16th century Hermetic Renaissance exemplified by the Rosarium philosophorum— which provides images of the complete cycle of the alchemical nekyia, from descent to return—followed by the enigmatic and gorgeous imagery of the Ripley Scrolls, with its multiple variations on the central themes of the myth.
The presentation continues with a focus on one of the most famous and splendidly illuminated texts of the Hermetic Renaissance, The Splendor Solis, and the transition to the Rosicrucian era exemplified by the narrative and iconography in the work of Nicholas Flamel, with its synthesis of alchemy and the Christian Apocalypse.
Second Series: The Rosicrucian Enlightenment and Romanticism
Dame Francis Yates was the first to explore the profound impact of hermeticism and alchemy on the politics, literature, and art of the 17th century, with a focus on the historical context of the Elizabethan Renaissance in England, and the Rosicrucian manifestoes in Europe. This session delves into the mysteries of perhaps the most extraordinary of all alchemical texts, the Atalanta Fugiens of Michael Maier.
This session focuses on alchemical and hermetic themes in brief selections from poetry of the Elizabethan era and early decades of the 17th century , and on to their survival during the Civil War and Restoration period, leading up to the Invisible College and foundation of the Royal Academy of Science.
The cultural transformations of the Enlightenment, or Early-Modern Era, involved the psychologicizing of alchemical mythologies in the secular poetics of Alexander Pope, whose Rape of the Lock acknowledges his debt to the French Rosicrucians. A century later, Goethe’s engagement with alchemy reflects the radical shift towards the Romantic era.
One of the secret undercurrents of the literature of the American Renaissance in the mid 19th century is the fascination with alchemy, which one finds in the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne—most famously in his short stories “The Birth Mark,” and “Rappacini’s Daughter.” By the end of the century, the ‘Occult Renaissance’ came to full flower in the poetry and visionary writings of W.B. Yeats, in the circles of the Golden Dawn.
At the same time that renewed interest in alchemy and hermeticism was being explored in both Freudian and Jungian circles, the great masterpieces of literary Modernism burst on the scene. For both Thomas Mann and James Joyce, the alchemical reduction to the elements, facilitating the creation of new and original forms, becomes a profound metaphor for the dynamics of poeisis, of central concern in Doctor Faustus and Finnegans Wake.
The reduction to the fundamental elements of aesthetic composition—geometrical figures like the rectangle, square, circle—is central to the dramatic emergence of abstraction in Modernist painting, and was undertaken by artists acutely aware of the theosophical hermeticism of the period.
Jung’s engagement with alchemy began in the late 1920s and dominated his late work, yielding such tomes as Mysterium Coniunctionis and Alchemical Studies from the Collected Works. At the same time that he was carving the famous Bollingen Stone, the great American Modernist poet H.D. was deeply immersed in the ‘occult’ themes that inform the poems she wrote during and after the Second World War: Trilogy and Hermetic Definition.
Leonora Carrington’s traumatic breakdown and incarceration in the Spanish asylum at Santander, in the early 1940s yielded an extraordinary psychological engagement with alchemical images and themes in her memoir Down Below, which is richly informed by the Surrealist obsession with hermeticism. This engagement became foundational in her other works (The Hearing Trumpet and The Stone Door) in her paintings (such as “The Garden of Paracelsus” and “The Burning of Giordano Bruno”).
Bio
Professor Evans Lancing Smith edited the first collection of Joseph Campbell s writings and lectures on the Arthurian romances of the Middle Ages, a central focus of his celebrated scholarship. Throughout his life, Joseph Campbell was deeply engaged in the study of the Grail Quests and Arthurian legends of the European Middle Ages. In this new volume of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, editor Evans Lansing Smith collects Campbell s writings and lectures on Arthurian legends, including his never-before-published master s thesis on Arthurian myth, A Study of the Dolorous Stroke. Campbell s writing captures the incredible stories of such figures as Merlin, Gawain, and Guinevere as well as the larger patterns and meanings revealed in these myths. Merlin s death and Arthur receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, for example, are not just vibrant stories but also central to the mythologist s thinking. The Arthurian myths opened the world of comparative mythology to Campbell, turning his attention to the Near and Far Eastern roots of myth. Calling the Arthurian romances the world s first secular mythology, Campbell found metaphors in them for human stages of growth, development, and psychology. The myths exemplify the kind of love Campbell called amor, in which individuals become more fully themselves through connection. Campbell s infectious delight in his discoveries makes this volume essential for anyone intrigued by the stories we tell and the stories behind them.
Evans has degrees from Williams College, Antioch International, and The Claremont Graduate School. He is the author of ten books and numerous articles on comparative literature and mythology, and has taught at colleges in Switzerland, Maryland, Texas, and California, and at the C.G. Jung Institute in Kusnacht. In the late 1970s, he traveled with Joseph Campbell on study tours of Northern France, Egypt, and Kenya, with a focus on the Arthurian Romances of the Middle Ages and the Mythologies of the Ancient World. His books include:
The Descent to the Underworld in Literature, Painting, and Film: 1850-1950: The Modernist Nekyia
Figuring Poesis: A Mythical Geometry of Postmodernism
Haiku for Aphrodite
The Hero Journey in Literature
The Myth of the Descent to the Underworld in Postmodern Literature
Postmodern Magus: Myth and Poetics in the Works of James Merrill
Rape and Revelation
Ricorso and Revelation: An Archetypal Poetics of Modernism
Sacred Mysteries: Myths About Couples in Quest
Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld
His areas of emphasis include: Myth in Literature from Antiquity to Postmodernism; Arthurian Romances, and The Hermetic Tradition. He currently teaches: Myth and the Underworld; Alchemy and Hermeticism; Arthurian Romances and the Grail; Folklore and Fairytales; Theoretical Approaches to Mythological Studies; Cultural Mythologies; and Native Mythologies of the Americas.
Soul to Sole: Old Boots Concealed in Ancient Buildings
The phenomenon of old, worn-out leather shoes having been deliberately concealed within ancient buildings is now an attested practice, acknowledged and recorded as ‘intentional deposits’ by archaeologists.
Evidence suggests that the concealers believed that they acted either as a prophylactic (an all-purpose measure taken to fend off a range of diseases) or were concealed to bring good luck, ward against the evil eye or to avert the attentions of the witch’s familiar.
Concealed shoes are found in building contexts all over the English-speaking world and are widespread across Europe. They are by far the most common charm used to protect buildings in post-medieval times. In medieval graffiti studies, shoe outlines are considered to be one of the universal motifs that occur all over England and throughout history.
Shoe and clothing caches have been found in chimneys, under floors, above ceilings and sometimes guarding ‘danger’ points such as doors, windows and stairs. The chimney, fireplace and hearth as well as its inglenooks were a particular focus for concealments.
Dating techniques have shown that the practice often coincided with periods of political and socio-economic stress such as at times of war, or when superstitious practices generally increased – such as during the height of the ‘Witch Craze’ in England, between the 16th to 17th centuries.
Picture credits:
Child’s shoe, connected to the Legend of the ‘Little Blue Lady’
Collection of shoes recovered renovations at Ightham Mote 14th century manor
Old 19th century postcard (photo credit: I Evans 2015)
Bio:
Wayne Perkins has been an archaeologist for over 22 years, seven of those spent excavating in France. He is a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
Mummified, Dried & Smoked Cats In the Archaeological Record
The discovery of dried or mummified cats – having been intentionally concealed within the wall cavities of old buildings – are now recognised as just one component of past ritual building protection.
Prosaic explanations have long been dismissed. In some instances, the cats had been posed into hunting scenes, ‘pegged’ into place, affixed with wire or inserted into the wall cavity ‘post mortem’ – which allowed for ‘pre-rigor-mortis’ posing and placement. In some cases, it is apparent that an attempt had been made to desiccate or smoke the cats prior to their insertion.
In many 17th century houses, they may have been immured to act as guardians for the home but whose prey may have been ‘spiritual’ vermin.
Witches were thought to work their evil by the means of familiars, often in the form of lesser animals. In the imaginations of the witch hunters of the Early Modern Period (c. AD 1550-1800), cats had become associated with the supernatural.
An Illustrated ZOOM talk by Wayne Perkins
Bio:
Wayne Perkins has been an archaeologist for over 22 years, seven of those spent excavating in France. He is a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
This lecture considers hair as a marker of monstrosity, beginning with ancient accounts of the hirsute women, who lived on an island on the west coast of Africa (possibly the Canary Islands or the Cape Verde Islands). From there we look at the theme in later times, travelling to Japan to visit the Harionago or ‘Barbed Woman’, familiar from modern horror films; the Hairy Women of Klipnocky, believed to roam the Appalachian Mountains; to the sideshow attraction of the ‘Bearded Lady’; the Medieval trend for a hirsute Mary Magdalene; and the long locks of Rapunzel. Join us and share the hair!
For a peak preview of some of the topics we’ll be looking at in this lecture, read Cindy LaCom’s ‘Ideological Aporia: When Victorian England’s Hairy Woman Met God and Darwin’, Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies, Issue 4.2 (Summer 2008): https://www.ncgsjournal.com/issue42/lacom.html
You may also be interested in M. A. Katritzky’s ‘A Wonderfull Monster Borne in Germany’: Hairy Girls in Medieval and Early Modern German Book, Court And Performance Culture’, German Life and Letters, Vol. 67.4 (September 2014): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/glal.12054
Image for Lecture = Portrait of Barbara van Beck. c.1650. Wellcome Images
Bio:
Marguerite Johnson is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland. She is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality, gender, and the body, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
This is the final lecture in a special six-part series, Professor Marguerite Johnson takes us on an uncanny journey across time and space into the wilds of human imagination. Each lecture introduces a particular case study – from vaginas that bite to penises that disappear – and is extensively illustrated along with written accounts of these bodily anomalies. Participants will also receive a reading list for those interested in pursuing the topics in more detail.
Image for Series: Mary Magdalene, 15th century, wood, from Altschwendt, Austria
Lecture 5: Birthing Bunnies (and other such things)
Complete with illustrations and contemporary written records, this lecture unpacks stories around women giving birth to animals, from rabbits to pigs. It considers the origins of such stories, exploring the possible explanations behind them, and addresses related topics, including witchcraft, psychological duress, miscarriage, early science, and fraud.
Image for Lecture = ‘Tannakin Skinker’, from A Monstrous Shape, or a Shapelesse Monster, 1640
Bio:
Marguerite Johnson is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland. She is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality, gender, and the body, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
This is the fifth lecture in a special six-part series, Professor Marguerite Johnson takes us on an uncanny journey across time and space into the wilds of human imagination. Each lecture introduces a particular case study – from vaginas that bite to penises that disappear – and is extensively illustrated along with written accounts of these bodily anomalies. Participants will also receive a reading list for those interested in pursuing the topics in more detail.
Image for Series: Mary Magdalene, 15th century, wood, from Altschwendt, Austria
Detecting the so-called ‘witch’s mark’ or ‘devil’s mark’ was a means of proving someone was a witch. This bodily marker was some physical aberration, supposedly inflicted by the devil to symbolise the pact made with the alleged witch. It usually manifested around a nipple or nipples, or could, in fact, be an extra nipple or several extra nipples, and was insensitive to pain. The association with nipples also furnished an additional belief that a devilish minion, an animal or imp, could suck at the aberrant site. In this illustrated lecture, complete with written extracts, we also consider the means by which the torturer tests the mark or marks to determine their authenticity, usually with an implement called a ‘witch pricker.’ We will also explore the authenticity of witch prickers and the trickery involved in using them.
For a peak preview of some of the topics we’ll be looking at in this lecture, read ‘The Devil’s Mark’, Law Explorer (November 9, 2015): https://lawexplores.com/the-devils-mark/
Image for Lecture = T. H. Matteson. ‘Examination of a Witch’. 1853. Creative Commons
Bio:
Marguerite Johnson is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland. She is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality, gender, and the body, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
This is the fourth lecture in a special six-part series, Professor Marguerite Johnson takes us on an uncanny journey across time and space into the wilds of human imagination. Each lecture introduces a particular case study – from vaginas that bite to penises that disappear – and is extensively illustrated along with written accounts of these bodily anomalies. Participants will also receive a reading list for those interested in pursuing the topics in more detail.
Image for Series: Mary Magdalene, 15th century, wood, from Altschwendt, Austria
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