The influence of the magical world – the astrological forces of the shifting starry heavens, the impact of both helpful and haunting wandering spirits, and the myriad of stray witchcrafts – upon our physical bodies has been a perennial concern throughout human history.
In this class, professional diviner, magician, and historian Dr Alexander Cummins will take us through the history and magic of melothesia: the practice of understanding occult influences – from the stars to restless spirits and everything in between – upon the human body.
Such a study begins with the infamous “Zodiacal Man” diagrams so popular throughout Western magic, medicine, and astrology: that were used to chart the underlying causes as well as symptoms of various maladies, distempers, and dysfunctions. These maps of an “occulted anatomy” also provided schema for establishing therapeutic treatments and regimen, and even informed works of magical protection and prevention as well as cure.
Such a class aims to not only celebrate enchantment and magical ways of viewing the body, but also the actual anatomisation of occult philosophy and sorcerous activity themselves. That is to say, not only how magic could be located in the body, but how the body could inform and enrich our engagements with the spirits and sorceries of the world.
