The Hermetic Art of Memory ePub Edition

Including both the original Latin and translations of the works with extensive explanatory footnotes

During the intellectual swirl of the mystic Renaissance the phrase Art of Memory referred to a specific set of memory disciplines and techniques that had evolved from classical Greek mnemonics. This was a method whereby one would create a memory palace in the mind. This could be based on a real or imagined place which, using intensive imagination, one would build up in the memory to the degree that it could be visited with ease. This memory palace could then be used as a kind of memory storehouse. By placing items in different locations in the palace one could recall them with ease when the palace was next visited. In order to make the images memorable the characters, figures or items used were often dramatic and could sometimes be quite striking to contemporary sensibilities.