This workshop/discussion group will provide an introduction to philosophical alchemy through a close reading of Michael Maier's 1617 emblem book Atalanta Fugiens. The alchemical androgyne represents the highest goal and attainment of the alchemical processes and we will discuss the symbology, poetics, and politics of such transformative and transforming images in the context of this book and esoteric thought in general. Arguably one of the earliest "multimedia" texts, combining image, poetry, theory and music, Atlanta Fugiens is a rich node for a variety of weird practices and hermetic theories, with underground affiliations networked across the void from ancient times to today.
We will meet for 3 two-hour sessions, with a possibility of extending: Sept 16, 23 and October 7th at 7 PM.
This event is free but please register with joemilutis AT gmail dot com so that you can be sent reading materials. The workshop is limited to 15 people.
Joe Milutis is the author of Ether: The Nothing That Connects Everything, which has been called an avant-esoteric "classic" by occultural critic Erik Davis, and Failure, A Writer's Life, which has been called "brilliantly idiosyncratic" (The Guardian) and a "glorious, weird, challenging oddity" (The Scotsman). His work has also appeared in, among other places, Cabinet, Triple Canopy, GaussPDF, Film Comment, ArtByte, Ctheory, and is forthcoming in Fence. http://joemilutis.com.