Overview of Magic and Sorcery in the Renaissance
"Man peeks into the Heavens"
The Renaissance of the 16th century was a time when Magic was not only a popular subject of written literary works and plays but also a very real entity in the culture and in the intellectual world. The magic of this time had a lot do with man’s relation to the world and their place between earth and God. There were primarily two types of magic from the Renaissance era, learned or high magic and lower folk magic.
High or learned magic was more sophisticated and revered as a science to be studied. It had structure with organized ceremonies and detailed instructions that were passes from scholar to scholar through books. There are two types of learned magic, demonic and natural. Natural Magic was a sort of intermediary between science and more superstitious magic. Practiced mostly by men these magi also practiced more pure science, such as astronomy and botany. The purpose for natural magic was to explain the occult phenomena movement such as magnets. Natural magic focused on the sorcery that produced results, and not so much on the rituals. Such as if certain plants were involved in a healing incantation, natural magic scholars would argue that there was a healing property in the plant and it had nothing to do the actual spoken incantation. The occult movement, which natural magicians sought out to defend with natural magic, was a very common and studied subject of the Renaissance era. The occult movement was primarily influenced by Middle East practices such as the Hebrews and their interpretations of the Torah. The occult movement derived from the belief that direct contact to God. They would practice magic rituals such as divination and spoken incantations to call God. The occult movement produced alchemy, which a more scientific form of magic, practiced by almost every serious magician, regardless of background interested in the essence of materials, rocks, chemicals and plants for example, the philosopher’s stone, which granted the power of eternal life. Many magicians were also physicians, and therefore strove to use alchemy to create potions or elixirs to heal patients.
Through the understanding of minerals and different herbs alchemist physicians were able to create better medicines. Some learned magicians became well known for their creative and original ideas about magic, such as John Dee’s who believed that the angles communicated to him how to contact them through an alphabet, which he transcribed and created echonian magic. Learned or higher magic was considered to be somewhat more credible then folk magic because scholars and higher educated people practiced it.
Popular or folk magic was practiced was historically by lower class common folk and even more specifically common women folk. Folk magic was mostly used for common practices such as fortune tailing, love or luck. Practices and ceremonies of folk magic Charms or incantations would include simple objects such as coins, rocks or other common household items. Most of the practitioners of popular magic were illiterate and the passed traditions down orally, so most of the spells and incantations were lost with the dying out of the art. The most common name for the people who practiced this form of magic was called the “cunning folk”. Cunning folk were traditionally illiterate, country, lower class. They were individuals who stood out for “knowing” more than other’s around them through a hereditary ability, supernatural source or from being able to understand the minimal written text of the cunning folk. The cunning folk would be employed for their skills, healing the sick, telling fortunes, indentifying thieves, and inducing love just to name a few. There is little record of their thought because they lacked education and really had no use for writing it down because they would just apply common magic to everyday life. Cunning folk differentiated from the known “witch” of the time, because cunning folk held a significant place in society, both magical and mundane. The would be perceived as being in the “grey area”, a little bit magic and little bit normal.
Whether it was learned or popular, magic played an influential role in renaissance thought. The belief in Magic during the renaissance period was strongly present in both intellectual thought as well as it was very much present in the culture. Magical beliefs were widely accessible and accepted. Magic provided for the renaissance idea of “Divine power in man”. It was thought that man since he stands between the Great Heaven and Hell, could reach into either world and use their powers for his own purpose. Magic was omnipresent in the Intellect world of the renaissance, an instrument to help man free himself from the constraints of the usual order of nature. Magic expresses the divine power of man as the Gods creation in the image of God. Magic provided for the renaissance thought of the exalted position of man as the link joining the spiritual and earthly through magical powers.
With all of this talk of man finding his relation to God, the church could not be left out, as it was probably the most influential entity in the culture of the Renaissance. The more magic became popular in everyday practices, the more the Church feared and wanted Magic out. Although some practices may not even be used for evil, the church decided not to differentiate between daily magic and dark magic that can alter a person’s soul. Actually Church believed that good magic could be worse because if it was good it was under Gods power and therefore more uncontrollable and off-limits. The church banned any symbols, tools, spoken incantations or sacrifices, which led to renunciation of all occult sciences. The irony of this banishment lies in the fact that church practices usually use symbols, spoken word, tools and some form of sacrifices in their ceremonies. The church deemed no magical rites were tolerated unless it was associated with the church! Remember this was all happening at time when there was great division and confusion between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, and magical rituals are more closely related to Catholics traditional practices.
Although renounced by the church, magic still held an influential role in the literary world of the Renaissance. Plays and prose works of literature of that time was full of the fantastic and wonders of magic and sorcery. Some of the greatest works to come out of the Renaissance incorporated magic into its text, such as the well-known play Dr.Fasutus. This story is centered around the magical idea of dealing with the devil to supersede the natural order of things and achieve man’s position of being divine on earth. This is a tragic play is about the darkest and most feared of all magic, calling upon demons and even worse the Devil himself to use their powers for his own benefit. Another popular text of the Renaissance era was the play by Edmund Spenser called The faerie Queen A Romantic Christian Epic Poem that magic, specifically dark magic conjured by archimago takes place in the story. Magical elements can be found thought out many works of the era, such plays by Shakespeare, The Tempest and Midsummer nights dream.
Although it feel as if the Renaissance era was long ago, and culture today is much more intelligent, less persuaded by magical ideas. The truth is that today’s culture is not as far removed from renaissance thinking and magical influence, as it believed to be, even basic chemistry stemmed from Alchemy. The fact that magical realms such as wizarding communities and other supernatural elements are still so common in pop-culture today shows our similarity with the Renaissance interests in magic. Magic was a very important influence during the Renaissance era, it sparked ideas for modern day science, questioning traditions, and church reform and inspired some of the greatest literary works studied today. To simply demean magic as false trickery or play forms of Vegas entertainment is to reduce a great significance in the history of culture.
High or learned magic was more sophisticated and revered as a science to be studied. It had structure with organized ceremonies and detailed instructions that were passes from scholar to scholar through books. There are two types of learned magic, demonic and natural. Natural Magic was a sort of intermediary between science and more superstitious magic. Practiced mostly by men these magi also practiced more pure science, such as astronomy and botany. The purpose for natural magic was to explain the occult phenomena movement such as magnets. Natural magic focused on the sorcery that produced results, and not so much on the rituals. Such as if certain plants were involved in a healing incantation, natural magic scholars would argue that there was a healing property in the plant and it had nothing to do the actual spoken incantation. The occult movement, which natural magicians sought out to defend with natural magic, was a very common and studied subject of the Renaissance era. The occult movement was primarily influenced by Middle East practices such as the Hebrews and their interpretations of the Torah. The occult movement derived from the belief that direct contact to God. They would practice magic rituals such as divination and spoken incantations to call God. The occult movement produced alchemy, which a more scientific form of magic, practiced by almost every serious magician, regardless of background interested in the essence of materials, rocks, chemicals and plants for example, the philosopher’s stone, which granted the power of eternal life. Many magicians were also physicians, and therefore strove to use alchemy to create potions or elixirs to heal patients.
Through the understanding of minerals and different herbs alchemist physicians were able to create better medicines. Some learned magicians became well known for their creative and original ideas about magic, such as John Dee’s who believed that the angles communicated to him how to contact them through an alphabet, which he transcribed and created echonian magic. Learned or higher magic was considered to be somewhat more credible then folk magic because scholars and higher educated people practiced it.
Popular or folk magic was practiced was historically by lower class common folk and even more specifically common women folk. Folk magic was mostly used for common practices such as fortune tailing, love or luck. Practices and ceremonies of folk magic Charms or incantations would include simple objects such as coins, rocks or other common household items. Most of the practitioners of popular magic were illiterate and the passed traditions down orally, so most of the spells and incantations were lost with the dying out of the art. The most common name for the people who practiced this form of magic was called the “cunning folk”. Cunning folk were traditionally illiterate, country, lower class. They were individuals who stood out for “knowing” more than other’s around them through a hereditary ability, supernatural source or from being able to understand the minimal written text of the cunning folk. The cunning folk would be employed for their skills, healing the sick, telling fortunes, indentifying thieves, and inducing love just to name a few. There is little record of their thought because they lacked education and really had no use for writing it down because they would just apply common magic to everyday life. Cunning folk differentiated from the known “witch” of the time, because cunning folk held a significant place in society, both magical and mundane. The would be perceived as being in the “grey area”, a little bit magic and little bit normal.
Whether it was learned or popular, magic played an influential role in renaissance thought. The belief in Magic during the renaissance period was strongly present in both intellectual thought as well as it was very much present in the culture. Magical beliefs were widely accessible and accepted. Magic provided for the renaissance idea of “Divine power in man”. It was thought that man since he stands between the Great Heaven and Hell, could reach into either world and use their powers for his own purpose. Magic was omnipresent in the Intellect world of the renaissance, an instrument to help man free himself from the constraints of the usual order of nature. Magic expresses the divine power of man as the Gods creation in the image of God. Magic provided for the renaissance thought of the exalted position of man as the link joining the spiritual and earthly through magical powers.
With all of this talk of man finding his relation to God, the church could not be left out, as it was probably the most influential entity in the culture of the Renaissance. The more magic became popular in everyday practices, the more the Church feared and wanted Magic out. Although some practices may not even be used for evil, the church decided not to differentiate between daily magic and dark magic that can alter a person’s soul. Actually Church believed that good magic could be worse because if it was good it was under Gods power and therefore more uncontrollable and off-limits. The church banned any symbols, tools, spoken incantations or sacrifices, which led to renunciation of all occult sciences. The irony of this banishment lies in the fact that church practices usually use symbols, spoken word, tools and some form of sacrifices in their ceremonies. The church deemed no magical rites were tolerated unless it was associated with the church! Remember this was all happening at time when there was great division and confusion between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, and magical rituals are more closely related to Catholics traditional practices.
Although renounced by the church, magic still held an influential role in the literary world of the Renaissance. Plays and prose works of literature of that time was full of the fantastic and wonders of magic and sorcery. Some of the greatest works to come out of the Renaissance incorporated magic into its text, such as the well-known play Dr.Fasutus. This story is centered around the magical idea of dealing with the devil to supersede the natural order of things and achieve man’s position of being divine on earth. This is a tragic play is about the darkest and most feared of all magic, calling upon demons and even worse the Devil himself to use their powers for his own benefit. Another popular text of the Renaissance era was the play by Edmund Spenser called The faerie Queen A Romantic Christian Epic Poem that magic, specifically dark magic conjured by archimago takes place in the story. Magical elements can be found thought out many works of the era, such plays by Shakespeare, The Tempest and Midsummer nights dream.
Although it feel as if the Renaissance era was long ago, and culture today is much more intelligent, less persuaded by magical ideas. The truth is that today’s culture is not as far removed from renaissance thinking and magical influence, as it believed to be, even basic chemistry stemmed from Alchemy. The fact that magical realms such as wizarding communities and other supernatural elements are still so common in pop-culture today shows our similarity with the Renaissance interests in magic. Magic was a very important influence during the Renaissance era, it sparked ideas for modern day science, questioning traditions, and church reform and inspired some of the greatest literary works studied today. To simply demean magic as false trickery or play forms of Vegas entertainment is to reduce a great significance in the history of culture.
