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When Giordano Bruno
wrote On the Composition of Images, Signs and Ideas in
1591, he seemed to be one of the last magi of the Renaissance. The
influence of Ficin and
Agrippa is more than noticeable, with some of the images revealed
being extremely close to those of his predecessors.
In accordance with the hermetic tradition, Bruno
believed in the invocation of heavenly bodies, as did Hermes,
followed by Ficin and then Agrippa. That is why
he included the talismanic system, which he subsequently adapted to
the art of mnemotechnics. The principle remained the same: inscribe
the image of the planet
to be invoked on the corresponding stone according to the following
descriptions: |
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SOL
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| The image of the sun (called the
eye of the world, the lamp, the attentive guardian
father, the sower and servant) is an eye that
looks in all directions, observing and enabling
us to see everywhere as if we all had one head,
one eyeball, one whole eye; a noble, material image
of God that can see the
past, present and future all at the same
time. All around him and in every direction, he
radiates light, heat and the semblance
of peace. |
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| TELLUS |
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She is presented as an enormous monster with
eyes all over the place - that is why she
is naked -, she is breathing flames of
azure blue light verging on cobalt blue in its
clarity, and she has eyebrows of blazing
gold swirling around her eyes, with wonderfully brilliant
eyes in the centre of their sockets. |
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| MARS |
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A stocky-looking man is
rising to his feet, his face bronzed and
irascible, horrible to look at, judicious, severe,
with a piercing look and fire in his eyes, smiling
like a lion with its mouth open wide. (…). In
his left hand, he is carrying an enormous sword that
looks to be made of solid bronze with
a rather stretched engraving of a dragon. |
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CUPIDO
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| An amazingly
handsome boy in the eyes of God and
all people. He is followed by the image of
the Sun, the Earth, the Moon and another first-born -
Gods, so to speak. In his hand, there
are three keys - the first is iron, the second
silver and the third gold. |
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SATURNUS
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| His skin is brown and
he has a dangling beard,
with long tufts of hair covering his eyebrows.
His skin is wrinkled, his eyes appear to be
blazing, he is wild and to look at
him instils fear. (…) In his right hand, he
is holding a stick, and in his left, olive and
fig branches, as well as a vine shoot rich
in grapes. |
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MINERVA
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A young heroic-looking girl with two dragons entwined
at her feet. She is holding a lance
in her right hand. In her left, however, she
is carrying a shield and wearing goat's armour
across her throat and chest. |
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APOLLO
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| He appears to be a most charming shepherd,
carrying a stick and a purse (…) he
is a bright young man with a beaming face,
pressing the blood of mutilated birds, and
then mixing it and offering the drink
of the divination. |
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MERCURIUS
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| Next comes the visible form
of the
most energetic of all gods, the herald, the
messenger, the judge. He is the effigy with half
of his face black and the other half white; he
is a young man with wings at his feet, wearing
a hat and holding a wand in his
right hand surrounded by two entwined snakes.
He is presenting the crown of dead souls
to Charon. |
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