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the higher Rosicrucian tradition, but if I may describe that which is
greater in the terms of that which is lesser- because of the essential
difficulty with which I am confronted- it has undergone a great
change, not by a diminution of the sacraments but because they are
found everywhere. The alchemical maxim which might be inscribed
over the gate of any Rosicrucian temple is-
Est in Mercurio quicquid quaerunt sapientes.
The Eucharistic maxim which might be written over the laboratory of
the alchemist, in addition to Laborare ese orare, would be-
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.
The maxim which might be written over the temples of the official
churches is Corporis Mysterium, that the mystery of the body might
lead them more fully into the higher mystery of the soul. And, in fine,
that maxim which might, and will be, inscribed over the one temple of
the truly catholic religion when the faiths of this western world have
come into their own- that which is simplest of all, and of all most
pregnant, would be mysterium fidei, the mystery which endures for
ever and for ever passes into experience.
In conclusion as to this part, Rosicrucianism is the mystery of that
which dies in manifestation that the life of the manifest may be
ensured. I have found nothing in symbolism which accounts like
Rose-Cross symbolism for that formula which on one side is the
summary expression of mysticism: "And I look for the resurrection of
the dead and the life of the world to come."
And now in conclusion generally:-
I have spoken of three things only, and of one of them with great
brevity, because the published literatures have to be set aside, and of
that which remains it does not appear in the open face of day. The
initiations are many and so are the schools of thought, but those which
are true schools and those which are high orders issue from one root.
Est una sola res, and those whose heart of contemplation is fixed
upon this one thing may differ widely but can never be far apart.
Personally, I do not believe- and this has the ring of a commonplace-
that if they came to understand one another they would be found to
differ widely. I know not what systems of the eons may intervene
between that which is imperishable within us and the union wherein
the universe will, in fine, repose at the centre. But I know that the
great systems ay, even the great processes- of the times that are gone,
as of those which now encompass us- do not pass away, because that
which was from the beginning, is now and ever shall be- is one
motive, one aspiration, one term of thought remaining, as if in the
stillness of an everlasting present. We really understand one another,
and our collective aspirations are united, world without end.
ARS MEMORATIVA
An Introduction To The Hermetic Art Of
Memory
By John Michael Greer ©
Part One: The Uses of Memory
In the current occult revival, the Art of Memory is perhaps the most
thoroughly neglected of all the technical methods of Renaissance
esotericism. While the researches of the late Dame Frances Yates1
and, more recently, a revival of interest in the master mnemonist
Giordano Bruno2 have made the Art something of a known quantity
in academic circles, the same is not true in the wider community; to
mention the Art of Memory in most occult circles nowadays, to say
nothing of the general public, is to invite blank looks.
In its day, though, the mnemonic methods of the Art held a special
place among the contents of the practicing magician's mental toolkit.
The Neoplatonic philosophy which underlay the whole structure of
Renaissance magic gave memory, and thus techniques of mnemonics,
a crucial place in the work of inner transformation. In turn, this
interpretation of memory gave rise to a new understanding of the Art,
turning what had once been a purely practical way of storing useful
information into a meditative discipline calling on all the powers of
the will and the imagination.
This article seeks to reintroduce the Art of Memory to the modern
Western esoteric tradition as a practicable technique. This first part,
"The Uses of Memory," will give an overview of the nature and
development of the Art's methods, and explore some of the reasons
why the Art has value for the modern esotericist. The second part,
"The Garden of Memory," will present a basic Hermetic memory
system, designed along traditional lines and making use of
Renaissance magical symbolism, as a basis for experimentation and
practical use.
The Method And Its Development
It was once almost mandatory to begin a treatise on the Art of
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