Summer solstice: Odissey, XIII

When the bright star that heralds the approach of dawn began to show. the ship drew near to land. Now there is in Ithaca a haven of the old merman Phorcys, which lies between two points that break the line of the sea and shut the harbour in. These shelter it from the storms of [...]

Virgil’s Virgo

Muses of Sicily, essay we now A somewhat loftier task! Not all men love Coppice or lowly tamarisk: sing we woods, Woods worthy of a Consul let them be. Now the last age by Cumae’s Sibyl sung Has come and gone, and the majestic roll Of circling centuries begins anew: Justice returns, returns old Saturn’s reign, With a new breed of men sent [...]

Of Comets or blazing stars, Plinius book II

Of Comets or blazing stars, and cœlestiall prodigies, their nature, situation, and diverse sorts. THESE blazing starres the Greekes call Cometas, our Romanes Crinitas: dreadfull to be seene, with bloudie haires, and all over rough and shagged in the top like the bush of haire upon the head. The same Greekes call those starres Pogonias, which [...]

Hermes 14 stars, stones, herbs

The like consideration is to be had in all things concerning the figures of the fixed Stars: so they will have the Terrestiall [terrestrial] Ram to be under the rule of the Celestiall Aries: and the Terrestiall Bull, and Ox to be under the Celestiall Taurus. So also that Cancer should rule over Crabs, and [...]

Italian Pasta

XLII. Pasta (Trij) Nature: Warm and moist in the second degree. Optimum: That which is prepared with great care. Usefulness: It is good for the chest and for the throat. Dangers: It is harmful to weak intestines and to the stomach. Neutralization of the Dangers: With sweet barley. Effects: Very nourishing. It is good for a hot stomach, for the young, [...]

Dante, Fedeli d’amore and Templars

Seaching a little in the net helped me to understand because Dante travelled to Ireland and told  his secret experience in Divina Commedia.  It was because Fedeli d’Amore were a direct rib of  Templars, easy! <!– –>

Marcus Aurelius illness

At the height of the Roman empire Galen (On Humours)  wrote that the basic element of every living creature was the humour. The four humours - yellow bile, blood, phlegm and black bile - were each charged with either active or passive qualities. They were related to the four elements of earth, air, fire and [...]

Great conjunction 1524

Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini

Sembra che Urbano VIII  invece di dedicarsi alle faccende della Chiesa passasse il tempo a partecipare a rituali insieme a Tommaso Campanella  - ampiamente descritti nel De siderali fato vitando - per scongiurare  l’eclisse del 1624 che cadeva proprio sul suo Ascendente, a 20° della Vergine. <!– –>

Au rebours….

He finally decided on minerals whose reflections vary; for the Compostelle hyacinth, mahogany red; the beryl, glaucous green; the balas ruby, vinegar rose; the Sudermanian ruby, pale slate. Their feeble sparklings sufficed to light the darkness of the shell and preserved the values of the flowering stones which they encircled with a slender garland of [...]