Magic and Theurgy in Giordano Bruno episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 20, 2025 · 48 MIN

Magic and Theurgy in Giordano Bruno

from ANGELA'S SYMPOSIUM 📖 Academic Study on Witchcraft, Paganism, esotericism, magick and the Occult · host Dr Angela Puca

In this video, I explore the magical dimension of Bruno’s thought—an aspect often overlooked or dismissed in favour of his more fashionable reputation as a forerunner of modern astronomy. But Bruno was no mere proto-scientist. He was a visionary who believed that the universe was infinite, ensouled, and fundamentally magical—a living network of correspondences that could be navigated through imagination, desire, and memory.Drawing from his key texts—De Magia, De Vinculis in Genere, On the Composition of Images, Signs and Ideas—and supported by the work of scholars like Frances Yates, Ioan Couliano, Karen DeLeón-Jones, and Manuel Mertens, I show how Bruno developed a magical system where cosmology, ritual, and philosophy collapse into one another. His art of memory wasn’t just a mental exercise—it was a theurgical practice. His use of images wasn’t ornamental—it was a means of binding the soul to the divine. And his vision of the magician wasn’t that of a trickster or charlatan, but of a philosopher in ecstatic alignment with the cosmos.CONNECT & SUPPORT💖MY COURSES 👩🏻‍🎓 https://drangelapuca.com/coursesWEBSITE & NEWSLETTER 💌 https://www.drangelapuca.com/#newsletterBOOK A TUTORING OR A LECTURE 📖https://drangelapuca.com/servicesBECOME MY PATRON! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/angelapucaSUPPORT ME ON KO-FI ☕️https://ko-fi.com/drangelapucaONE-OFF DONATIONS 💰 https://paypal.me/angelasymposiumJOIN MEMBERSHIPS 👥 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPSbip_LX2AxbGeAQfLp-Ig/joinMY PODCAST 🎙 https://open.spotify.com/show/2TKoWTGe6OKRokHN2zUIxM?si=dd9f50a734b14f86MY MERCH 👕 https://drangelapuca.creator-spring.com/FOLLOW ME👣- YouTube (@drangelapuca)🌟- Instagram (@drangelapuca) 📸- TikTok (@drangelapuca) 🎵- Twitter (@angelapuca11) 🐦- Facebook (Dr Angela Puca) 👥RECOMMENDED READINGS 📖REFERENCES 📚Primary Texts by Giordano BrunoBruno, G., & Morehead, W. (1713). Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante: Or the Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast. John Humphreys.Bruno, G. (1991). On the composition of images, signs and ideas (C. Doria, Trans.; D. Higgins, Ed.). Willis, Locker & Owens.Bruno, G. (2000). Cause, principle and unity: And essays on magic (R. J. Blackwell, R. de Lucca, & A. C. Leone, Trans.). Cambridge University Press.Bruno, G., Tocco, F., & Vitelli, H. (Eds.). (1962). De vinculis in genere. F. Frommann.Bruno, G. (2013). On the heroic frenzies: A translation of De gli eroici furori (1585) (S. L. Sears, Trans.). University of Toronto Press.Secondary Literature and Scholarly StudiesCouliano, I. P. (1987). Eros and magic in the Renaissance. University of Chicago Press.DeLeón-Jones, K. S. (1997). Giordano Bruno and the Kabbalah: Prophets, magicians, and rabbis. Yale University Press.Greer, J. M., & Warnock, C. (2011). The complete Picatrix: The occult classic of astrological magic (Liber Atratus edition). Adocentyn Press.Karnowska, M. (2011). Mag znaczy filozof: magia Giordana Bruna w świetle jego traktatu O magii. Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latinae, 21(2), 181–189.Mertens, M. (2018). Magic and memory in Giordano Bruno: The art of a heroic spirit. Brill.Walker, D. P. (2000). Spiritual and demonic magic: From Ficino to Campanella. Pennsylvania State University Press.Yates, F. A. (1964). Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic tradition. University of Chicago Press.MY SET-UP 🛠️- Canon 90D camera 📸 https://amzn.to/3yQclh0- Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 📷 https://amzn.to/3JjU1BS- Teleprompter 🗒️ https://amzn.to/3linWCB- Shure SM7B Microphone 🎙️ https://amzn.to/3Jm5IYK- Microphone stand 🎤 https://amzn.to/3FueJOn- Lights 💡 https://amzn.to/3Zdk8k1- DJI Wireless microphones 📡 https://amzn.to/3NWAVVQ⚠️ Copyright of Dr Angela Puca, in all of its parts ⚠️Music by Erose MusicBand. Check them out!

In this video, I explore the magical dimension of Bruno’s thought—an aspect often overlooked or dismissed in favour of his more fashionable reputation as a forerunner of modern astronomy. But Bruno was no mere proto-scientist. He was a visionary who believed that the universe was infinite, ensouled, and fundamentally magical—a living network of correspondences that could be navigated through imagination, desire, and memory.Drawing from his key texts—De Magia, De Vinculis in Genere, On the Composition of Images, Signs and Ideas—and supported by the work of scholars like Frances Yates, Ioan Couliano, Karen DeLeón-Jones, and Manuel Mertens, I show how Bruno developed a magical system where cosmology, ritual, and philosophy collapse into one another. His art of memory wasn’t just a mental exercise—it was a theurgical practice. His use of images wasn’t ornamental—it was a means of binding the soul to the divine. And his vision of the magician wasn’t that of a trickster or charlatan, but of a philosopher in ecstatic alignment with the cosmos.CONNECT & SUPPORT💖MY COURSES 👩🏻‍🎓 https://drangelapuca.com/coursesWEBSITE & NEWSLETTER 💌 https://www.drangelapuca.com/#newsletterBOOK A TUTORING OR A LECTURE 📖https://drangelapuca.com/servicesBECOME MY PATRON! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/angelapucaSUPPORT ME ON KO-FI ☕️https://ko-fi.com/drangelapucaONE-OFF DONATIONS 💰 https://paypal.me/angelasymposiumJOIN MEMBERSHIPS 👥 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPSbip_LX2AxbGeAQfLp-Ig/joinMY PODCAST 🎙 https://open.spotify.com/show/2TKoWTGe6OKRokHN2zUIxM?si=dd9f50a734b14f86MY MERCH 👕 https://drangelapuca.creator-spring.com/FOLLOW ME👣- YouTube (@drangelapuca)🌟- Instagram (@drangelapuca) 📸- TikTok (@drangelapuca) 🎵- Twitter (@angelapuca11) 🐦- Facebook (Dr Angela Puca) 👥RECOMMENDED READINGS 📖REFERENCES 📚Primary Texts by Giordano BrunoBruno, G., & Morehead, W. (1713). Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante: Or the Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast. John Humphreys.Bruno, G. (1991). On the composition of images, signs and ideas (C. Doria, Trans.; D. Higgins, Ed.). Willis, Locker & Owens.Bruno, G. (2000). Cause, principle and unity: And essays on magic (R. J. Blackwell, R. de Lucca, & A. C. Leone, Trans.). Cambridge University Press.Bruno, G., Tocco, F., & Vitelli, H. (Eds.). (1962). De vinculis in genere. F. Frommann.Bruno, G. (2013). On the heroic frenzies: A translation of De gli eroici furori (1585) (S. L. Sears, Trans.). University of Toronto Press.Secondary Literature and Scholarly StudiesCouliano, I. P. (1987). Eros and magic in the Renaissance. University of Chicago Press.DeLeón-Jones, K. S. (1997). Giordano Bruno and the Kabbalah: Prophets, magicians, and rabbis. Yale University Press.Greer, J. M., & Warnock, C. (2011). The complete Picatrix: The occult classic of astrological magic (Liber Atratus edition). Adocentyn Press.Karnowska, M. (2011). Mag znaczy filozof: magia Giordana Bruna w świetle jego traktatu O magii. Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latinae, 21(2), 181–189.Mertens, M. (2018). Magic and memory in Giordano Bruno: The art of a heroic spirit. Brill.Walker, D. P. (2000). Spiritual and demonic magic: From Ficino to Campanella. Pennsylvania State University Press.Yates, F. A. (1964). Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic tradition. University of Chicago Press.MY SET-UP 🛠️- Canon 90D camera 📸 https://amzn.to/3yQclh0- Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 📷 https://amzn.to/3JjU1BS- Teleprompter 🗒️ https://amzn.to/3linWCB- Shure SM7B Microphone 🎙️ https://amzn.to/3Jm5IYK- Microphone stand 🎤 https://amzn.to/3FueJOn- Lights 💡 https://amzn.to/3Zdk8k1- DJI Wireless microphones 📡 https://amzn.to/3NWAVVQ⚠️ Copyright of Dr Angela Puca, in all of its parts ⚠️Music by Erose MusicBand. Check them out!

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Magic and Theurgy in Giordano Bruno

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In this video, I explore the magical dimension of Bruno’s thought—an aspect often overlooked or dismissed in favour of his more fashionable reputation as a forerunner of modern astronomy. But Bruno was no mere proto-scientist. He was a visionary who...

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