Abelard & Peterson: Tractatus de Intellectibus

[_Johannes]

Also, the avatar Agromanticus comes from Trithemius' description of Georgius Sabellicus, a vainglorious fraud who claimed he could perform the miracles of Christ. It does mean "field/earth diviner," which would be not an altogether inappropriate allusion to Joseph Smith's activities.

Aha - was this the chap who was the real-life inspiration for Dr Faustus? And if the name is an allusion to Trithemius' era, that's not too distant from the alleged time of Christian Rosenkreuz. We're being pointed to quite a specific time and place (15th century Germany).

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

Please post more. The writing reminds of "The Dying Earth" and "The Shadow of the Torturer" with a little Cormac McCarthy mixed in. I love it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_Earth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shado ... e_Torturer

[_Lemmie]

Im curious about the reference to the red-headed league:

That should do. I have no interest in making you Jabez of the Red-Headed League, so please return that volume to the shelf.

Jabez Wilson - A London pawnbroker. Jabez Wilson is an average man whose only remarkable feature is his shock of fiery red hair. His slow and trusting nature prevents him from seeing anything suspicious about either Vincent Spaulding or the preposterous Red-Headed League.

[From sparks notes]

The antagonist in that story is John Clay, a.k.a. Vincent Spaulding. Jabez is also a Freemason. The plot involves an attempt to rob a bank vault, which is referred to as a bank cave, at one point in the story.

It could, however, be just a simple comparison between Jaxon reading out the entry and Jabez being hired to copy out the Encyclopedia Britannica.

[_Kishkumen]

Aha - was this the chap who was the real-life inspiration for Dr Faustus? And if the name is an allusion to Trithemius' era, that's not too distant from the alleged time of Christian Rosenkreuz. We're being pointed to quite a specific time and place (15th century Germany).

In a sense, yes. I think he may have been the first person of this era to whom the name Faustus was applied (obviously in ancient Rome the name was more common, in particular I am thinking of the son of Sulla Felix, Faustus Sulla). The thing is, this can be a pointless hoax or an actual message, and it will be nearly impossible to distinguish the difference. Indeed, it should be, if it aspires to Rosicrucian status. I can also say that this is a rabbit hole of vertiginous depths. Once you get to Georgius Sabellicus alone, the possibilities are manifold. You might think of Sabellicus as a proto-Rosenkreutz, inasmuch as he is a person with an exaggerated and el-/allusive reputation, and also an anti-Rosenkreutz, as he is more closely identified with pagan learning and has a generally negative reputation (quite the opposite of the fictional Rosenkreutz).

Honestly, there are only a few people I know personally who could pull this off. Several of them already post on this board. Right away I felt like I was reading our dear consul, Symmachus. But there are a couple of other people of my acquaintance in the larger Mormon world who have the impressive chops to do this.

[_Kishkumen]

The antagonist in that story is John Clay, a.k.a. Vincent Spaulding. Jabez is also a Freemason. The plot involves an attempt to rob a bank vault, which is referred to as a bank cave, at one point in the story.

LOL. Wow.

OK. Vincent Spaulding ~ Solomon Spaulding

bank cave: Miner's Hill cave? Counterfeiting schemes?

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

Honestly, there are only a few people I know personally who could pull this off. Several of them already post on this board. Right away I felt like I was reading our dear consul, Symmachus. But there are a couple of other people of my acquaintance in the larger Mormon world who have the impressive chops to do this.

It's either someone in the Cassius 5 or Blixa.

It's brilliant writing!

[_Johannes]

I assumed it was you, Kishkumen!

In a sense, yes. I think he may have been the first person of this era to whom the name Faustus was applied (obviously in ancient Rome the name was more common, in particular I am thinking of the son of Sulla Felix, Faustus Sulla). The thing is, this can be a pointless hoax or an actual message, and it will be nearly impossible to distinguish the difference. Indeed, it should be, if it aspires to Rosicrucian status. I can also say that this is a rabbit hole of vertiginous depths. Once you get to Georgius Sabellicus alone, the possibilities are manifold. You might think of Sabellicus as a proto-Rosenkreutz, inasmuch as he is a person with an exaggerated and el-/allusive reputation, and also an anti-Rosenkreutz, as he is more closely identified with pagan learning and has a generally negative reputation (quite the opposite of the fictional Rosenkreutz).

Well, if Agromanticus is Faust, that opens up some possibilities. There is a prominent Mormon family named Faust, is there not - as in President Faust? But perhaps that is too much of a stretch.

[_Johannes]

Honestly, there are only a few people I know personally who could pull this off. Several of them already post on this board. Right away I felt like I was reading our dear consul, Symmachus. But there are a couple of other people of my acquaintance in the larger Mormon world who have the impressive chops to do this.

It's either someone in the Cassius 5 or Blixa.

It's brilliant writing!

Indeed. I take my hat off to the distinguished author.

[_Maksutov]

A new scripture in the making.

[_Gadianton]

that was entertaining.