Author, researcher, speaker. My first book, The Map and the Manuscript: Journeys in the Mysteries of the Two Rennes, was published by Ignotum Press in 2022. I blog here on topics connected with the book, including landscape alignments, ancient sites, France, the Pyrenees, Jean Richer, Rennes-les-Bains, alchemy, geometry, Jung, Gérard de Nerval, Le Serpent Rouge, the Affair of Rennes, and more.
Jean Richer on Shakespeare and Ophiucus, and Søren Kierkegaard on How to be Fooled.
Professor Jean Richer, the concealed author of Le Serpent Rouge, sprinkled his works with clues as to his hidden authorship of the celebrated mystery poem. The images above appear in his extraordinary 1988 book on astrological symbolism in the works of Shakespeare, in a chapter on the play of Antony and Cleopatra. In this series of essays, Richer analyses the writings of the author of the Shakespeare works (Francis Bacon, but that's another story), and shows how they are grounded in the archetype of the zodiac. It is an extraordinary tour-de-force of analysis and scholarship which demonstrates his profound insight and ability to reveal the deep structure of astrological symbolism embedded in classic texts. On the left, he shows an image of the constellation of Ophiucus from a 1549 work on astronomy. Next to it, on the same page, he displayed an image from the Astrolabium Planum of Engel, published in 1488. It shows the symbolism of the 30th degree of Scorpio, described by Richer as "un Grand Serpent". Notice that the serpent is identical to the serpent held in the arms of Ophiucus. Thus, Richer is clearly signalling his understanding that the so-called sign of Ophiucus was considered to be part of the sign of Scorpio. This insight is the key to unlocking the geography of Le Serpent Rouge. See The Map and the Manuscript for the details. This is by no means the only example of the trail of clues left by Richer. I did not include this one, and many of the others, in my book, because there comes a point where simply piling up the evidence makes no difference. People see what they are ready to see, and cannot see what they do not want to see. Søren Kierkegaard, the celebrated Danish theologian, poet, and philosopher, put it very well. He wrote: "There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true." Perhaps it wasn't specifically intended to be about the Rennes Affair, but it certainly applies.
|
|
Beyond the Map and the Manuscript
Author, researcher, speaker. My first book, The Map and the Manuscript: Journeys in the Mysteries of the Two Rennes, was published by Ignotum Press in 2022. I blog here on topics connected with the book, including landscape alignments, ancient sites, France, the Pyrenees, Jean Richer, Rennes-les-Bains, alchemy, geometry, Jung, Gérard de Nerval, Le Serpent Rouge, the Affair of Rennes, and more.
Beyond the Map and the Manuscript Revisiting the Château d'Arques: Geometry in Stone Château d'Arques, Arques, Aude, France. Shown above is the main tower of the château, an imposing tall square structure with impressive turrets on the corners, aligned to the cardinal directions. The photograph is taken looking north; the side of the tower facing the viewer, with the door, is the south side of the tower. Image credit: Cathar Wars (@CatharWars) at https://x.com/CatharWars The Château d'Arques...
Beyond the Map and the Manuscript Clive Prince's review of The Map and the Manuscript Illustration accompanying the Clive Prince article at Magonia Review. This week, Magonia Review has published a review of The Map and the Manuscript. It was written by Clive Prince, author with Lynn Picknett of many well- known books, including The Sion Revelation, which remains one of the best overviews of the affair of Rennes in print. The review is very positive. Prince has clearly read the book...
Beyond the Map and the Manuscript The Alignments of Brigantia Published in 1976, Guy Ragland Phillips' Brigantia: A Mysteriography, is a special book. It's a wide-ranging compendium of folk knowledge and oral history about the land fomerly known as Brigantia, now corresponding roughly to northern England. Yet such a description barely does it justice. What makes this book one of my favourites is that it records traditions and local lore which have surely all but passed away now. It is truly a...