Overview

With an introduction and translation by José Leitão, the Bibliotheca Valenciana binds together three of Jerónimo Cortez's great works, the Non Plus Ultra Do Lunario, the Physiognomy and Various Secrets of Nature, and the Treatise of the Animals, presented and compiled for the first time into one English language volume. Coming out of the Spanish 17th century, little is known about Cortez himself, though his impact on the newly created and emergent Iberian middle classes broke with the centuries-old academic establishment previously monopolized by the wealthy, educated nobility and of course by the priests who served the masses. By offering the historically underprivileged the knowledge of the stars, the land, and of their own bodies, Cortez's books quickly placed themselves in a revolutionary cultural crossroads from where they would influence local folklore, folk magic, and the grimoires of later centuries, such as the literary continuum of the Iberian Books of St. Cyprian. The works by Cortez, while subtle in their visibility, are of an extremely long-lasting influence on Iberian and South American conceptions of the universe and its functioning, framing folk, medical, agricultural, magical and religious conceptions to the present day. The Lunario in particular, Cortez's crown jewel, was the definitive work on its subjects in Spain and later Portugal and Brazil, taking information from and feeding it back into magical and medical lore with each new printing. Today Cortez's works not only have value as historical documents, but also as a powerful, rich and broad bridge offering access to the way our ancestors thought about and acted upon the world in which they lived, no longer in the role of passive victims of destiny, but as active directors of their reality.

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9781907881817

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Reviews

Jose LeitaÌ o has done a remarkable job of shining a light on the folk magical, astrological and cultural persistences present in regional Portuguese lifeways. These topic areas are under-explored within the culture and certainly - up until now - from outside of it. Jose deftly manages the translation and contextualisation of these texts. Indeed, so bright is the light he shines on specifically Portuguese folk customs that some of it spills out into and illuminates the folk practices found in other parts of Europe. A fantastic and fantastical achievement from a thoughtful and intelligent writer. -- Gordon White, runesoup.com

Jos� LeitaÌ o has done a remarkable job of shining a light on the folk magical, astrological and cultural persistences present in regional Portuguese lifeways. These topic areas are under-explored within the culture and certainly - up until now - from outside of it. Jos� deftly manages the translation and contextualisation of these texts. Indeed, so bright is the light he shines on specifically Portuguese folk customs that some of it spills out into and illuminates the folk practices found in other parts of Europe. A fantastic and fantastical achievement from a thoughtful and intelligent writer. -- Gordon White, runesoup.com

Author Information

José Leitão is a Portuguese Saint Cyprian devotee, mostly known as the translator of the first English version of one of the traditional Portuguese grimoires attributed to Saint Cyprian, The Book of St. Cyprian: The Sorcerer's Treasure (published by Hadean Press in 2014). He is also the author of The Immaterial Book of St. Cyprian (Rubedo Press, 2017), dealing with intangible traditions surrounding the Book of St. Cyprian as a cultural item, and various essays and papers focusing on Portuguese religious and esoteric topics, ranging from modernist poetry, 17th century prophetic alchemy, to folk magic. He holds a PhD in experimental physics from the University of Delft and finished a second Master's degree in religious studies at the University of Amsterdam in 2016. Currently he is compiling into a single volume an extensive collection of manuscripts and low circulation Portuguese Saint Cyprian literature to further progress the international understanding of the Sorcerer Saint. He is also quite busy in hoping to be lucky with various funding applications for an expedition into the political minefield of academic witchcraft studies. Jerónimo Cortez was a Valencian author who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries. He was the author of four works: the Arithmetica Practica; the El Non Plus Ultra del Lunario y pronostico perpetuo geral, y particular para cada Reyno, y Provincia; the Fisionomia y varios secretos de Naturaleza; and the Tratado de Los Animales Terrestres, y Volantes, y sus Propriedades.

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