Giordano Bruno ~ Incantations of Circe

There can be no doubt as to the importance Giordano Bruno's life and writings had on the western esoteric tradition and the history of scientific thought. With this in mind, Ouroboros Press is pleased to be issuing the first English translation of Giordano Bruno's Cantus Circaeus, rendered from the original Latin by Darius Klein. Originally printed in Paris 1582, the eloquence of Klein's English translation is fitting for the words of the Nolan.

"To one who is about to behold the Daughter of the Sun, she who is learned in magical lore, and who comes forth from the hidden places; you shall go as a free man into the House of Circe, not bound by the fetters of Night."

From Giordano Bruno; Cantus Circaeus.

In the beginning of his Cantus Circaeus, Bruno portrays the doctrine of correspondence as used with the seven planetary invocations, which are themselves tokens of praxis in the Hermetic tradition. The incantatory litanies include the names, attributes, plants, stones, animals and other qualities associated with the astral bodies, and are thus memory palaces of planetary arcana. Through dialogue, Circe and her assistant Moeris, explicate the use of images in the imagination in order to facilitate use of the Art of Memory which constitutes the latter half of the text. Francis A Yates, author of Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition comments;

"Bruno's magic memory system thus represents the memory of the Magus, one who both knows the reality beyond the multiplicity of appearances through having conformed his imagination to the archetypal images, and also has powers through this insight. It is the direct descendant of Ficino's Neoplatonic interpretation of the celestial images, but carried to a much more daring extreme."

Francis A. Yates; Giordano and the Hermetic Tradition.

[Bust of Giordano Bruno by Maurizio Tazzuti]

Cantus Circaeus: The Incantations of Circe
First English Translation.

Now Available

Read a Review of Cantus Circaeus on 
Peter Stockinger's
Traditional Astrology Website

Heretic Vellum Edition: Small octavo, handbound in full vellum over boards with raised cords and leather spine label. Gilt stamped title and device. Marbled endsheets and silk ribbon bookmark. 144 pages, illustrated with woodcuts. Limited to 300 copies only.

Heretic Vellum Edition: $225.00

Standard Edition: Small octavo, full black cloth over boards with gilt title and device. In a printed dust jacket. 144 pages. Illustrated with woodcuts.

Standard Edition: $40.00

Please include shipping with your order.
$6.00 in the US or $12.00 abroad for up to 2 books.

Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery [handbound editions, allow 4-6 weeks].

Fine Esoteric Book Arts

Emerald Tablet of Hermes

Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis, perhaps better known as the the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, is the shortest and yet most refered to text in the whole of the alchemical corpus. Supposed to have been found engraved upon an Emerald, this hermetic document has been beautifully typeset in Centaur [a font designed by Bruce Rogers] and printed letterpress on fine Arches paperstock in two colors.

An alchemical emblem crowns the top of the broadside and features the enigmatic acrostic V.I.T.R.I.O.L., which was a substance used to pull metals out of hard stone by early metallurgists. The Latin translates as Visit the interior of the earth and through rectification you will find the hidden stone meant to point the way to the Philosopher's Stone.

Limited to 250 copies only this broadside is 13 x 18 inches and is suitable for framing. Let the words of Hermes Trismegistus adorn your library or laboratory. $25.00 postpaid, Ordering Instructions.