http://www.economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=540820
A magic brew
Mar 22nd 2001
From The Economist print edition
THE QUEEN’S CONJUROR: THE SCIENCE AND MAGIC OF DR DEE.
By Benjamin Woolley.
Henry Holt; 410 pages; $25.
HarperCollins; £15.99
WHAT is the relationship between science and magic? The two were once closely
linked: such eminent researchers as Tycho Brahe, Nicolaus Copernicus and
Johannes Kepler all dabbled in astrology and other mystical activities
alongside their more orthodox scientific pursuits. The late 16th century was
a time of upheaval—cosmology was being redefined, the new world colonised,
new stars and comets were appearing in the sky—and the search for knowledge
took many forms. The astronomers who confirmed a supernova in the
constellation Cassiopeia also pondered its astrological meaning. It is in
this context, argues Benjamin Woolley, that the occult activities of John
Dee, a mathematician, philosopher and adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, should be
seen. Rather than unscientific, Dee’s seances with angels and spirits were
one of the many ways he tried to fathom the secrets of the universe.
Dee’s thirst for knowledge drove him to assemble one of the finest libraries
in Europe, and throughout his life he nurtured the dream of establishing what
would today be termed a research institute. His wide-ranging expertise meant
he was regarded as an authority on matters ranging from calendar reform to
navigation, cartography and the likelihood of the existence of the fabled
north-west passage to China. He was also learned in cryptography, astronomy
and the nascent science of optics. (That said, Mr Woolley slightly overdoes
his claim that Dee prefigured work done later by Galileo and Newton.) But
from his undergraduate days at Cambridge, when he staged a play whose
impressive special effects were attributed to black magic, Dee was stalked by
the accusation that he was meddling with diabolical forces. Which, indeed, he
was.
For much of his life Dee conducted seances or “actions” in which he
communicated with the spirit world through a medium, or “skryer”, who spoke
on their behalf. Dee’s most gifted skryer was a mysterious young man called
Edward Kelley, through whom Dee variously attempted to discover the location
of buried treasure, the secrets of the original language spoken by Adam in
the garden of Eden, and clues to the future course of European politics.
Because of his boundless curiosities, and because he moved between the worlds
of science, mysticism, religion, politics and espionage, Dee proves an ideal
character around whom to tell a number of intriguing stories. His fortunes
rose and fell precipitously during his career; he went from being penniless
to being a valued royal counsellor and back again several times, and was
imprisoned, denounced and deceived for his pains along the way.
Mr Woolley paints a subtle and sympathetic portrait of his subject, siding
neither with the “hard-headed rationalists” who dismiss Dee as a fool, nor
with the “muddle-headed mystics” who regard him as a Merlin-like wizard or
an English Nostradamus. It is a shame that Dee was not born a century later,
as he would have thrived in the scientific revolution. After all, Mr Woolley
argues, Dee’s main interest was magic, which is traditionally divided into
natural magic (obeying natural laws) and supernatural magic (involving
supernatural forces). The word “magic”, in other words, is a term which
includes understanding the world and exploiting that understanding. The
modern term for this is science.
