Imago Cosmi

This book takes the reader on an exploration of the Cosmos, from Mesopotamia and Egypt to China; it unveils the fascinating development of astronomy and mathematics. After an overview of the origins of these subjects, highlighting the contributions of Greek astronomers, the Arab culture, and Copernicus' solar system model, the book delves into the revolutionary work of Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton, leading to a comprehensive understanding of the solar system. Special attention is given to the instruments used by ancient astronomers, including the most important astronomical clocks and planetary machines. In light of this, the author examines Kepler's almost unknown design of a planetary machine and offers an interpretation using virtual reality techniques. The book also highlights the Chinese view of the Cosmos and the evolution of its astronomy and astronomical machines, offering readers a unique perspective and insight into the relationship between astronomy and technology in different cultures. Finally, the author provides a practical approach to understanding the construction and mechanics of astronomical machines, exploring the process of designing and manufacturing a Tellurium. The reading is enriched with short videos of the Tellurium, along with a translation of the description of the planetary machine by Christiaan Huygens. In addition, it provides a unique glimpse into the religious influences on astronomical studies during the mid-1700s through the translation of Johann Albrecht Bengel's book Cyclus. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of science and technology. It appeals to astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, and historians of science and technology alike, providing fascinating descriptions and insightful analysis of the vision of the Cosmos from its earliest conceptions to the present day.

Hidden mutualities link the work of major postcolonial writers with Christopher Marlowe’s drama of the Faustian pact – the manipulation of the material world in exchange for the soul – written as the ‘scientific’ world-view was emerging which accompanied the imperial expansion of Europe and has determined the economic and social structures of the colonial and postcolonial world. This fascinating study brings together researches in widely different fields to show how Doctor Faustus reflects a Gnostic / Hermetic tradition marginalized within the dominant European power structures. Rediscovered in the Renaissance, and combined with occult arts such as alchemy and magic, this living tradition informs the work of ‘Magus’ figures such as Pico della Mirandola, Marcilio Ficino, Trithemius, Johannes Reuchlin, Agrippa of Nettesheim, Paracelsus and John Dee, who are reflected in the Faust tradition and in Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The second part investigates the dual legacy of the Magus. A counterpoint between a law-governed objective material world and an occult visionary pursuit of the divine potential of the human imagination is traced through the examples of Johan Kepler, Robert Fludd, Isaac Newton, William Blake, Rudyard Kipling, Aleister Crowley, W.B. Yeats, Wolfgang Pauli and C.G. Jung. In the third part, textual analysis reveals how attention to these Faustian themes opens new and exciting critical perspectives in appreciating the works of postcolonial writers, in particular Dimetos by Athol Fugard, Disappearance by David Dabydeen, Omeros by Derek Walcott, and the novels of Wilson Harris.

Orion dominates the winter sky, flanked by Taurus the Bull on one side and Canis the Great Dog on the other-three key constellations for the Hopi and prehistoric Pueblo People of the American Southwest. When these stars appear in the entryway of the kiva roof, they synchronize the sacred rituals being performed below. Here we see how a complex ceremonial cycle mirrors the turning of the heavens. Stargates, UFOs, Indian Mothman, natural psychedelics, cannibal giants, psychic archaeology, earth chakra lines, and the Hopi-Egyptian connection-this book is packed with fascinating and little-known facts about one of the most mysterious and secretive tribes on the North American continent. You will come away with a deep appreciation of the way the Ancient Ones viewed the world above. Chapters include: What is a Kiva?; Stargates in Antiquity; New Mexico’s Orion Kivas; Colorado’s Orion Temple; Hopi Flying Saucers; Arizona’s Psychic Archaeology; Hopi Kachinas and Egyptian Stars; 2012 Supernova?; Book of Revelation and 2012; Indian Mothman and Sacred Datura; Tales of Giants and Cannibals; Chaco Canyon: Mirror of Sirius; Dog Stars in the Land of Enchantment; The Chaco-Chakra Meridian; Seven Spiritual Cities of Gold; Orion’s Global Legacy; more.

"Published with the support of the Philemon Foundation. This book is part of the Philemon Series of the Philemon Foundation."--Title page.

French Huguenots made enormous contributions to the life and culture of colonial New York during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Huguenot craftsmen were the city's most successful artisans, turning out unrivaled works of furniture which were distinguished by unique designs and arcane details. More than just decorative flourishes, however, the visual language employed by Huguenot artisans reflected a distinct belief system shaped during the religious wars of sixteenth-century France. In Fortress of the Soul, historian Neil Kamil traces the Huguenots' journey to New York from the Aunis-Saintonge region of southwestern France. There, in the sixteenth century, artisans had created a subterranean culture of clandestine workshops and meeting places inspired by the teachings of Bernard Palissy, a potter, alchemist, and philosopher who rejected the communal, militaristic ideology of the Huguenot majority which was centered in the walled city of La Rochelle. Palissy and his followers instead embraced a more fluid, portable, and discrete religious identity that encouraged members to practice their beliefs in secret while living safely—even prospering—as artisans in hostile communities. And when these artisans first fled France for England and Holland, then left Europe for America, they carried with them both their skills and their doctrine of artisanal security. Drawing on significant archival research and fresh interpretations of Huguenot material culture, Kamil offers an exhaustive and sophisticated study of the complex worldview of the Huguenot community. From the function of sacred violence and alchemy in the visual language of Huguenot artisans, to the impact among Protestants everywhere of the destruction of La Rochelle in 1628, to the ways in which New York's Huguenots interacted with each other and with other communities of religious dissenters and refugees, Fortress of the Soul brilliantly places American colonial history and material life firmly within the larger context of the early modern Atlantic world.

In the pre-modern times, while medicine was still relying on classical authorities on herbal remedies, a new engagement with the plant world emerged. This volume follows intertwined strands in the study of plants, examining newly introduced species that captured physicians' curiosity, expanded their therapeutic arsenal, and challenged their long-held medical theories. The development of herbaria, the creation of botanical gardens, and the inspection of plants contributed to a new understanding of the vegetal world. Increased attention to plants led to account for their therapeutic virtues, to test and produce new drugs, to recognize the physical properties of plants, and to develop a new plant science and medicine.

Taking into account the destructive powers of globalization, Making Worlds considers the interconnectedness of the world in the early modern period. This collection examines the interdisciplinary phenomenon of making worlds, with essays from scholars of history, literary studies, theatre and performance, art history, and anthropology. The volume advances questions about the history of globalization by focusing on how the expansion of global transit offered possibilities for interactions that included the testing of local identities through inventive experimentation with new and various forms of culture. Case studies show how the imposition of European economic, religious, political, and military models on other parts of the world unleashed unprecedented forces of invention as institutionalized powers came up against the creativity of peoples, cultural practices, materials, and techniques of making. In doing so, Making Worlds offers an important rethinking of how early globalization inconsistently generated ongoing dynamics of making, unmaking, and remaking worlds.

The writings of Jean Baudrillard have dramatically altered the face of critical theory and promise to pose challenges well into the 21st century. His work on simulation, media, the status of the image, the system of objects, hyperreality, and information technology continues to influence intellectual work in a diverse set of fields. This volume uniquely provides overviews of Baudrillard’s career while also simultaneously including examples of current works on and with Baudrillard that engage some of the many and varied ways Baudrillard’s work is being addressed, deployed, and critiqued in the present. As such, it offers chapters useful to the novice and the well-versed in critical theory and Baudrillard Studies alike. Contributors to the volume include John Armitage, John Beck, Ryan Bishop, Doug Kellner, John Phillips and Mark Poster. No less controversial today than he was in the past, Baudrillard continues to divide intellectuals and academicians, an issue this volume addresses by re-engaging the writing itself without falling into either simplistic dismissal or solipsistic cheerleading, but rather by taking the fecundity operative in the thought and meeting its consistent challenge. Baudrillard Now provokes sustained interaction with one of philosophy’s most important, provocative and stimulating thinkers.