Description
Karin Di Giacomo 2019 Key Note Lecture: Gnosis, Magic and Alchemy -A Hermetic Perspective
Gnosis as the direct, unmediated connection with the spiritual dimension of creation is an indwelling faculty -like music – of every human being. It is immanent in our Being, an unalienable ability to directly contact the deeper and higher strata of knowing. Gnosis is also calledthe “Knowledge if the Heart” or the faculty of the higher, intuitive mind (higher manas) and it is a pure and direct path to knowing and understanding our world, our Cosmos and the myriads of forms of creation. Gnosis transcends the visible appearances, it moves us into a world of causative energies and forces and the path to their manifestation. In Magic we work with these ‘occult’ energies and forces’ and the insights we gather in the fruit of the gnostic Tree of Knowledge. We can anchor magic in the visible world of manifestation, and “charge’ or imbue these forces into objects such as charms and Talismans, we can also work witht he sheer forces in ritual and ceremonial magic; we can create spells and charms in written form, in the potent use of fragrance and with true dance, music and art, all of which are upstreamm of the rational, linear mind. In Alchemy, we are taking Magic a step further, aligning ourselves with the great forces of Evolution, Nature and Spirit. It is a dance between the manifest outer work and the spiritual, inner world – Ora et Labora. Alchemy constitutes an ever evolving balance towards the highest evolutionary expression of a plant Arcanum, a mystery made visible and a cure for all illness. In alchemy we use the gnostic path to applied knowledge and become co-creators through the Art. In this lecture Karin Di Giacomo will delineate the Hermetic system, which offers a simple, powerful map for occult work across all the Kingdoms of Nature.
Biography
Healing for more that 50 years. She holds two Master’s Degrees (Economics and Psychology) and is a Germen Heilpraktiker (Naturopath). Her esoteric work and experience span Mysticism, Gnosis, High Magic and Hermeticism and is deeply informed by Archetypal Psychology, Visionary Art and Mythology. She has lived and worked in Centers of consciousness like Esalen, ZIST and Crestone and has worked e.g. as an international business consultant, University lecturer and Non-Profit Manager. She has co-authored a book on Herbal Remedies for Children and extensively translated books and articles for an Anthropological Publishing House. In the 1980’s she was a founding member of the American ‘Philosophers of Nature’, making alchemical training available through correspondence courses to American students of the Art. Her translation of a book on standardization or alchemical processes supported that endeavor. For a span of time she worked with an adept to cast Astrological Talismans in the Renaissance Tradition and Memory Seals designed by the Renaissance Magus Giordano Bruno. A few of these seals will be on display at the symposium.
