In its later articulations, the legend of the holy grail is an essentially ecclesiastical myth. According to these iterations of the tale, the grail is identified with the chalice from which Christ drank at the last super and into which his blood spilled later as his side was pierced on the cross. Likewise, these versions …
Marcus Manilius’s Astronomica is one of our oldest and most detailed historical sources for how ancient astrologers conceptualized the twelve places. Manilius is believed to have composed this work in the early first century, probably around 14 A.D.1 In contrast, Valens, whom astrologer Chris Brennan acclaims as “the single most important surviving source for studying …
Pico Della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man defined the spirit of the Renaissance, an age ours lauds as a rebirth of the classical tradition and a rediscovery of empirical science. It is thus surprising to learn that Pico’s supposedly enlightened text unequivocally advocates the practice of magic. Pico claims, for example, that magic …