{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/2950", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 2950, "subject": "Azoth misc", "messages": 6, "voices": 4, "first": "2002-02-11T09:32:36+00:00", "last": "2002-02-16T05:09:08+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "jingram", "address": "jingram at usc.edu" }, "date": "2002-02-11T09:32:36+00:00", "subject": "(urth) (whorl): Azoth misc", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Rostrum's recent post reminded me of another tidbit, which I hope\nisn't too redundant with long-ago posts . . .\n\nSepia\n\n[taken from http://azothgallery.com/azoth_defined.html]\n\n\nAZOTH. In 16 th century portraits painted of Paracelsus, the pommel of his\nsword, upon which rests his hand, bears the inscription \"Azoth.\" From the\npoem set beneath a contemporary newspaper \"broadside\" published of\nParacelsus, we may gather that Azoth was the name of a secret medicine, an\nelixir vitae, i.e. infallible remedy or alexipharmakon (~ counter poison),\nhe kept hidden within his swords pommel. Azoth is also the secret name of\nMercurius, extracted from cinnabar, the universal quicksilver medicine\nwhich comprised the virtues of all other medicines. Hence, it is also the\nname for the \"philosophers stone.\" It is spiritus animatus, the animated\nspirit.\n\n[. . . ]\n\n\n\"Concerning the nature of Azoth there is much controversy. Some view it as\nthe invisible, eternal fire; others as electricity; still others as\nmagnetism. Transcendalists refer to it as the astral light.\"\n\nIsaac Myer, in a discussion of Ain Soph and Space, says: \"The Ain Soph at\nfirst was filling All and then made an absolute concentration into Itself\nwhich produced the Abyss, Deep, or Space, the Aveer Qadmon or Primitive\nAir, the Azoth; but this is not considered in the Qabbalah as a perfect\nvoid or vacuum, a perfectly empty Space, but is thought as the Waters or\nCrystalline Chaotic Sea, in which was a certain degree of Light inferior\nto that by which all the created (worlds and hierarchies) were made.\" --\nSecret Teachings of the Ages, Page Number: CXVII" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Alice K. Turner", "address": "aturner3 at nyc.rr.com" }, "date": "2002-02-12T16:30:47+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) (whorl): Azoth misc", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "From Sepia:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "[taken from http://azothgallery.com/azoth_defined.html]\n\n\nAZOTH. In 16 th century portraits painted of Paracelsus, the pommel of his\nsword, upon which rests his hand, bears the inscription \"Azoth.\" From the\npoem set beneath a contemporary newspaper \"broadside\" published of\nParacelsus, we may gather that Azoth was the name of a secret medicine, an\nelixir vitae, i.e. infallible remedy or alexipharmakon (~ counter poison),\nhe kept hidden within his swords pommel. Azoth is also the secret name of\nMercurius, extracted from cinnabar, the universal quicksilver medicine\nwhich comprised the virtues of all other medicines. Hence, it is also the\nname for the \"philosophers stone.\" It is spiritus animatus, the animated\nspirit.\n\n[. . . ]\n\n\n\"Concerning the nature of Azoth there is much controversy. Some view it as\nthe invisible, eternal fire; others as electricity; still others as\nmagnetism. Transcendalists refer to it as the astral light.\"\n\nIsaac Myer, in a discussion of Ain Soph and Space, says: \"The Ain Soph at\nfirst was filling All and then made an absolute concentration into Itself\nwhich produced the Abyss, Deep, or Space, the Aveer Qadmon or Primitive\nAir, the Azoth; but this is not considered in the Qabbalah as a perfect\nvoid or vacuum, a perfectly empty Space, but is thought as the Waters or\nCrystalline Chaotic Sea, in which was a certain degree of Light inferior\nto that by which all the created (worlds and hierarchies) were made.\" --\nSecret Teachings of the Ages, Page Number: CXVII" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Thank you for this--it is particularly interesting to me as I have just\nfinished reading THE ABYSS, by Margaret Yourcenar, an account of a fictional\n16th c. intellectual/astrologer/philosopher named Zeno, who is clearly based\non Paracelsus. I had mildly wondered why the book had that title--it might\nhave been explained somewhere but if so it went right by me. I have also\nrecently read THE CHYMICAL WEDDING, by Lindsay Clarke. which is very much up\nthe same path (though a contemporary novel). so a post like this is a real\npleasure.\n\n-alga" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jason Ingram", "address": "j_ingram at mac.com" }, "date": "2002-02-14T09:28:26+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth): Azoth misc", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Alga,\n\nThose titles sound interesting. I've been researching related topics \n(which are more pertinent to John Crowley, but still relevant to \nWolfe), and fictional accounts should help to sustain interest.\n\nOne more tangent:\n\nThe Abyss also can refer to a barrier between lower and higher Sefiroth, \naround a 'secret sefira' called Daleth. Serious Kabbalist scholars such \nas Gershom Scholem tend to denigrate the vision of the Kabbalah \ndeveloped within Western magical traditions, the source of that use of \n\"the abyss.\" However, it might relate to Yourcenar's approach.\n\nSepia" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Tuesday, February 12, 2002, at 08:30 AM, Alice K. Turner wrote:\nThank you for this--it is particularly interesting to me as I have just\nfinished reading THE ABYSS, by Margaret Yourcenar, an account of a \nfictional\n16th c. intellectual/astrologer/philosopher named Zeno, who is clearly \nbased\non Paracelsus. I had mildly wondered why the book had that title--it \nmight\nhave been explained somewhere but if so it went right by me. I have also\nrecently read THE CHYMICAL WEDDING, by Lindsay Clarke. which is very \nmuch up\nthe same path (though a contemporary novel). so a post like this is a \nreal\npleasure.\n\n-alga" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Alice K. Turner", "address": "aturner3 at nyc.rr.com" }, "date": "2002-02-15T03:16:59+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth): Azoth misc", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "From Jason Ingram:\n\nYou're right on the money. I borrowed these books from the library (together\nwith Frances Yates's -Theater of the World-) because of the year of\nresearching Crowley I have done with Michael (mantis). But I had read \"in\"\n(as Pierce would say) Gershom Scholem's -The Kabbalah-; it is a favorite of\nHarold Bloom, who is to a degree my guru. Our anthology of essays on Crowley\n(not just by us but by many others--Bloom introduces it) will come out in\nApril, and had we known you were a devote, we might have pressed you into\nservice to write something. I was turned onto them by a very interesting\nCrowley essay (which is in our book) by James Hynes, which you can read at\nhttp://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR25.6/hynes.html.\n\n-alga" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Those titles sound interesting. I've been researching related topics\n(which are more pertinent to John Crowley, but still relevant to\nWolfe), and fictional accounts should help to sustain interest.\n\nOne more tangent:\n\nThe Abyss also can refer to a barrier between lower and higher Sefiroth,\naround a 'secret sefira' called Daleth. Serious Kabbalist scholars such\nas Gershom Scholem tend to denigrate the vision of the Kabbalah\ndeveloped within Western magical traditions, the source of that use of\n\"the abyss.\" However, it might relate to Yourcenar's approach.\n\nSepia\n\nOn Tuesday, February 12, 2002, at 08:30 AM, Alice K. Turner wrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "Thank you for this--it is particularly interesting to me as I have just\nfinished reading THE ABYSS, by Margaret Yourcenar, an account of a\nfictional\n16th c. intellectual/astrologer/philosopher named Zeno, who is clearly\nbased\non Paracelsus. I had mildly wondered why the book had that title--it\nmight\nhave been explained somewhere but if so it went right by me. I have also\nrecently read THE CHYMICAL WEDDING, by Lindsay Clarke. which is very\nmuch up\nthe same path (though a contemporary novel). so a post like this is a\nreal\npleasure.\n\n-alga" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "--" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Andy Robertson", "address": "andywrobertson at clara.co.uk" }, "date": "2002-02-15T09:04:30+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth): Azoth misc", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I am not much up on Kabbalistic themes, but listmembers might find some\namusement in my attempts to fuse them with Lovecraft and Elementary Particle\nPhysics, at \"Domain Science letters\"\n\nhttp://home.clara.net/andywrobertson/dslindex.html\n\nWas Crowley's first novel, \"The Deep\" a Kabbalistic reference?\n\n hartshorn\n\n\n\n----- Original Message -----" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "From: \"Alice K. Turner\" \nThose titles sound interesting. I've been researching related topics\n(which are more pertinent to John Crowley, but still relevant to\nWolfe), and fictional accounts should help to sustain interest." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Alice K. Turner", "address": "aturner3 at nyc.rr.com" }, "date": "2002-02-16T05:09:08+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth): Azoth misc", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: \"Andy Robertson\" \nWas Crowley's first novel, \"The Deep\" a Kabbalistic reference?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I don't think so. I don't think he'd gotten interested at that early\npoint--it was long before he knew Bloom. I actually asked him about that\ntitle but he was evasive--said something like \"That was always the title for\nme,\" which threw me off, since I found the title puzzling.\n\n-alga" } ] } ] }