Joscelyn Godwin

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Joscelyn Godwin

Professor of Music, Emeritus

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Music

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BA, MusB, MA Magdalene College, Cambridge (England) 1965, 1966, 1968; PhD Cornell University 1969; F.R.C.O., 1965

Cleveland State University 1969-71
Colgate University 1971-2006

Western Esoteric Tradition, Musicology, Translation (Italian, German, French, Latin), Baroque Music Performance (Harpsichord, Viola da Gamba, Recorder)

"Rejected Knowledge," Forteana, Eccentric Religious Movements, Regional History

Authored Books

Edited Books

Translated Books

  • Werner Walcker-Meyer, The Roman Organ of Aquincum. Ludwigsburg: Musikwissenschaftliches Verlagsgesellschaft, 1972.
  • Salomon Trismosin, Splendor Solis. Edinburgh: Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1981; Grand Rapids: Phanes Press; Barcelona: Moleiro.
  • René Guénon, The Multiple States of Being. Burdett, NY: Larson Publications, 1984.
  • Fabre d'Olivet, The Secret Lore of Music. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1988. Originally entitled Music Explained as Science and Art.
  • Johann Valentin AndreaeThe Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1991.
  • Antoine FaivreThe Eternal Hermes. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1994.
  • Francesco ColonnaHypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream. London & New York: Thames & Hudson, 1999 and re-editions.
  • Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger, co-translated with Constance Fontana. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 2003.
  • Hans KayserTextbook of Harmonics, co-translated with Ariel Godwin. Sacred Science Institute, 2006
  • Marco Baistrocchi, Agarttha: A Guenonian Manipulation? Fullerton, Ca.: Theosophical History, 2009 (Theosophical History Occasional Papers, No. XII).
  • Paul Bertrand [Georges Méautis] Theosophy and Theosophism. London: Newsletter of the Friends of Theosophical Archives, 2017.
  • Julius Evola and the UR Group, Introduction to Magic as Science of the Self, Volume II: The Path of Initiatic Wisdom. Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions, 2019.

 

Translated Books

  • Werner Walcker-Meyer, The Roman Organ of Aquincum. Ludwigsburg: Musikwissenschaftliches Verlagsgesellschaft, 1972.
  • Salomon Trismosin, Splendor Solis. Edinburgh: Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1981; Grand Rapids: Phanes Press; Barcelona: Moleiro.
  • René Guénon, The Multiple States of Being. Burdett, NY: Larson Publications, 1984.
  • Fabre d'Olivet, The Secret Lore of Music. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1988. Originally entitled Music Explained as Science and Art.
  • Johann Valentin AndreaeThe Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1991.
  • Antoine FaivreThe Eternal Hermes. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1994.
  • Francesco ColonnaHypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream. London & New York: Thames & Hudson, 1999 and re-editions.
  • Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger, co-translated with Constance Fontana. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 2003.
  • Hans KayserTextbook of Harmonics, co-translated with Ariel Godwin. Sacred Science Institute, 2006
  • Marco Baistrocchi, Agarttha: A Guenonian Manipulation? Fullerton, Ca.: Theosophical History, 2009 (Theosophical History Occasional Papers, No. XII).
  • Paul Bertrand [Georges Méautis] Theosophy and Theosophism. London: Newsletter of the Friends of Theosophical Archives, 2017.
  • Julius Evola and the UR Group, Introduction to Magic as Science of the Self, Volume II: The Path of Initiatic Wisdom. Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions, 2019.

 

Articles, Forewords & Minor Writings

*Texts accessible on the site "The Eudaimonia of Joscelyn Godwin" http://hermetic.com/godwin/         

            1. “Boethius’ Three Musicians.” Studies in Comparative Religion 4 (1970): 246-50.

            2. “Spiritual Currents in Music.” Studies in Comparative Religion 5 (1971): 110-25.

            3. “The Renaissance Flute.” The Consort 28 (1972): 70-81.

            4. “Robert Fludd on the Lute and Pandora.” Lute Society Journal 15 (1973): 11-19.

            5. “Robert Fludd’s Symbolic Recorder.” American Recorder 14/1  (1973): 17.

            6. “Instruments in Robert Fludd’s Utriusque cosmi...historia.”  Galpin Society Journal 26 (1973): 2-14.

            7. “The Survival of the Theorbo Principle.” Journal of the Lute Society of America 6 (1973): 4-16.

            8. “Eccentric Forms of the Guitar.” Journal of the Lute Society of America 7 (1974): 90-102.

            9. “Early Mendelssohn and Late Beethoven.” Music and Letters 55 (1974): 272-85.

            10. “Playing from Original Notation.” Early Music 2 (1974): 15-19.

            11. “Quest and Protest in Popular Songs.” The Golden Blade 26  (1974): 96-106.

            12. “Where is Music Going?” The Golden Blade 27 (1975): 122-36.

            13. “Mains divers acors: some instrument collections of the Ars Nova.” Early Music 5 (1977): 148-59.

            14. “Layers of Meaning in the Magic Flute.” Musical Quarterly 65 (1979): 471-92.

            15. “The Revival of Speculative Music.” Musical Quarterly 67 (1982): 373-86. German translation in Musiktherapeutische Umschau 7 (1986): 25-41. Dutch translation in Harmonisch labyrint (Hilversum: Verloren, 2007): 149-166. Spanish translation in La cadena aurea de Orfeo. El resurgimiento de la musica especulativa, tr. Carlos Varona Narvion (Madrid: Ediciones Siruela, 2009).

             *16. “Tolkien and the Primordial Tradition.” Temenos 3 (1983): 27-37.

            17. “The Rosicrucian Event in Perspective.” Journal of Rosicrucian Studies 1 (1983): 18-22.

            18. “Pythagoreans, Today?” Homage To Pythagoras: Lindisfarne  Letter 14 (1983): 135-42.

            19. “The Golden Chain of Orpheus: a Survey of Musical Esotericism in the West.” Temenos 4 (1984): 7-25; 5 (1984): 211-239. Reprinted in Sudhamahi Regunathan, Song of the Spirit... the World of Sacred Music (Delhi: Tibet House, 2000): 71-92. Spanish translation in La cadena aurea de Orfeo. El resurgimiento de la musica especulativa, tr. Carlos Varona Narvion (Madrid: Ediciones Siruela, 2009).

             *20. “Musical Alchemy: the Work of Composer and Listener.” Temenos 6 (1985): 57-75. (Revised version in Harmonies of Heaven and Earth)

            21. “Hearing Secret Harmonies.” The American Theosophist 73 (1985): 182-95. (Revised version in Harmonies of Heaven and Earth)

            22. “A Background for Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens (1617).” Hermetic Journal 29 (1985): 5-10.

            23. “Priests, Professors and Gurus.” Gnosis 2 (1986): 35-8.

            24. “Saint-Yves d’Alveydre and the Agarthian Connection.” Hermetic Journal 32 (1986): 24-34; 33 (1986): 31-8. Partly adapted in no. 76, below.

            25. Foreword to The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library, ed. D. Fideler and K.S. Guthrie. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1987.

            26. “Mystery Religions.” Dictionary of the Middle Ages, vol. 10. New  York: Scribners, 1987.

            27. “La genèse de l’Archéomètre de Saint-Yves d’Alveydre.” L’Initiation (Paris), no.2 of 1988: 60-71; no.4 of 1988: 153-166. (In French) Condensed version in English: “The Creation of a Universal System: Saint-Yves d’Alveydre and his Archeometer.” Alexandria 1 (1991): 229-249.

            28. “Facing the Traditionalists: an Approach to René Guénon and his Successors.” Gnosis 7 (1988): 23-27. Reprinted in Jay Kinney, ed., The Inner West  (New York: Tarcher/Penguin, 2004): 292-303.

            29. “H.P.B., Dorjeff, and the Mongolian Connection.” Theosophical History (London) 2/7 (1988): 253-60.   

             *30. Foreword to D.P. Walker, La Magie Spirituelle et Angélique  de Ficin à Campanella. Paris: Albin Michel, 1988. (In French)

            31. Foreword to Iamblichus, The Exhortation to Philosophy. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1988.

            32. “Kircher and the Occult.” In Athanasius Kircher und seine Beziehungen zur gelehrten Europa seiner Zeit (Wolfenbüttel: Herzog August Bibliothek, 1988): 17-36 and plates.

             *33. "Prelude to a Fugue. Reflections on Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, Opus 33." Temenos 9 (1989), 69-77.

            34. The Beginnings of Theosophy in France [40-page monograph]. London: Theosophical History Centre, 1989.

            35. “The Hidden Hand.” Part I: “The Provocation of the Hydesville Phenomena.” Theosophical History III/2 (1990): 35-43. Part II: “The Brotherhood of Light.” Theosophical History III/3 (1990): 66-76. Part III: “The Parting of East and West.” Theosophical History III/4 (1990): 107-117. Part IV: “The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.” Theosophical History III/5 (1991): 137-148.

            36. “Hargrave Jennings.” Hermetic Journal 1991: 49-77.

             *37. "Opera and the Amorous Initiation." Temenos 12 (1991), 129-140.

            38. “Schwaller de Lubicz, les Veilleurs et la connexion nazie.” Politica Hermetica 5 (1991), 101-108.

            39. Foreword to Basarab Nicolescu, Science, Meaning, and Evolution. NY: Parabola Books, 1991. 

            40. “The Lessons of History.” The Cerealogist 6 (1992): 14-15.

            41. “A Behemist Circle in Victorian England.” The Hermetic Journal 1992: 48-71.

            42. “Speculative Music: the Numbers behind the Notes.” A Compendium of Contemporary Musical Thought (London and New York: Routledge, 1992) vol. 1: 246-261.

            43. “Many Futures.” Voices on the Threshold of Tomorrow, ed. George and Trisha Feuerstein (Wheaton: Quest Books, 1993): 34-36.

            44. Foreword to Antoine Faivre, The Golden Fleece and Alchemy. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993.

            45. “Mentalism and the Cosmological Fallacy.” Alexandria 2 (1994): 195-204.

             *46. Foreword to Paul Johnson, The Masks of the Masters. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1994.

            47. “Annals of the Invisible College.” These articles were expanded into the book The Golden Thread.

                1. “The Hermetic Tradition.” Lapis 1 (1995): 39-41.

                2. “Zoroaster.” Lapis 2 (1996): 37-39.

                3. “Orpheus.” Lapis 3 (1996): 29-31.

                4. “Pythagoras.” Lapis 4 (1997): 41-43.

                5. “The Platonic Tradition.” Lapis 5 (1997): 31-33.

                6. “Roman Mysteries.” Lapis 6 (1998): 41-43.

                7. “Gnosis and Gnosticism.” Lapis 7 (1998): 39-41.

                8. “The Negative Theology.” Lapis 8 (1999): 59-61.

                9. “The Cathedrals.” Lapis 9 (1999): 51-53.

                10. “The Arts of the Imagination.” Lapis 10 (1999): 71-74.

                11. “New Gods.” Lapis 11 (2000): 00-00

                12. "The Philosopher's Dilemma." Lapis 12 (2000)

                13. "The Inward Way." Lapis 13 (2000)

                14. "The Religion of Art." Lapis 14 (2001)

                15. "Wise Men from the East." (Not published; revised version in The Golden Thread)

            48. “Il tempo trasformato in spazio. Riflessioni sull’occhio, sull’orecchio e sulla circolarità del tempo.” In A. Mayr, A. Colimberti, and G. Montaganoeds., L’Ascolto del Tempo. Musiche inudibili e ambiente ritmico  (Florence: MP x2 Editore, 1995): 49-58. (In Italian). Revised version, "Time Turned into Space. Reflections on the Eye, the Ear, and the Circularity of Time. Journal of Musicological Research 30 (2017). Published online: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/aaKRJJBrazDczQWvSpVe/full 

            49. “Athanasius Kircher.” In James Hardin, ed., German Baroque Writers, 1580-1660 (Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 164) (Detroit: Bruccoli Clark Layman, 1996): 185-194.

            50. “The Case Against Reincarnation.” Gnosis 42 (1997): 39-42.

            51. “Taste, Snobbery, and Spiritual Discernment.” Contemporary Music Review 14/3-4 (1997): 47-53.

            52. “Music and the Hermetic Tradition.” In R. van den Broeck and W. J. Hanegraaff, eds., Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times(Albany: SUNY Press, 1998): 183-196.

            53. “Stockhausen’s Donnerstag aus Licht and Gnosticism.” In R. van den Broeck and W. J. Hanegraaff, eds., Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times (Albany: SUNY Press, 1998): 347-358.

            54. “Swastika and Cross: Polar and Solar Symbolism.” Rûna 3 (1998): 8-13.

            55. "Airs and Angels." In BBC Promenade Concerts Programme, 1998: 7-10.

            56. "L'esoterismo evoliano visto dagli Stati Uniti." Studi Evoliani 1998 (1999): 19-25. (In Italian)

            57. “The Deepest of the Rosicrucians. Michael Maier (1569-1622).” In Ralph White, ed., The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited (Hudson: Lindisfarne Books, 1999): 101-123.

            58. “Out of Arctica? Herman Wirth’s Theory of Human Origins.” Rûna 5 (1999): 2-7.

            59. "Lady Caithness and Her Connection with Theosophy." Theosophical History VIII/4 (2000): 127-147.

            60. "The Survival of the Personality, according to Modern Esoteric Teachings." In Ésotérisme, gnoses & imaginaire symbolique. Mélanges offerts à Antoine Faivre (Leuven: Peeters, 2001): 403-413. German translation in Gnostika 22 (2002): 26-38. Czech translation forthcoming.

            61. "Evola, preistoria e teosofia." In Julius Evola, un pensiero per la fine del millennio (Rome: Fondazione Julius Evola, 2001): 37-49. (In Italian)

            62. Foreword to Julius Evola, Men Among the Ruins. (Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions International, 2002): vii-ix.

            *63.  “From the Diary of a Poliphilic Tourist.” In Massimo Maggiari, ed., The Waters of Hermes 2 (2002): 15-19.

            64. "Western Esoteric Tradition." In J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann, eds., Religions of the World (Santa Barbara: ABC Clio, 2002), vol. 4: 1414-1418.

            65. "Julius Evola: A Philosopher for the Age of the Titans." Tyr 1 (2002): 127-142. Revised and reissued as "Who Was Julius Evola, Really?" New Dawn 162 (May-June 2017): 60-68. Also published in German in Gnostika 62 (May 2018): 90-109.

            66. "Herman Wirth on Folksong." Tyr 2 (2004): 263-283.

            67. Foreword to Felice Vinci, The Baltic Origins of Homer’s Epic Tales. Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, 2005.

            68. “Esotericism without Religion: Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.” Tyr 3 (2006): 155-171. Also in A. Versluis et al., eds., Esotericism, Art, and Imagination. East Lansing: Michigan State University, 2008: 185-201.

            69.  Introduction to Michael Maier, La fuga de Atalanta (Girona: Ediciones Atalanta, 2007): 11-62. (In Spanish)

            70. "Kepler e Kircher sull'Armonia delle Sfere." In Alessandro Grossato, ed., Forme e correnti dell'esoterismo occidentale (Venice: Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 2008): 145-164. (In Italian)

            71. “Chambers of Marvels.” Art & Antiques (2008).

            72. “Agarttha: Taking the Lid off the Underground Kingdom.” New Dawn 109 (2008): 59-61. (Promotional article for The Kingdom of Agarttha.)

            73. “Twisting the Threads.” New Dawn Special Issue no. 5 (2008): 67-70. (Promotional article for The Golden Thread.)

          *74. “Teosofia e oltre” in Marco Iacona, ed., Il Maestro della Tradizione. Dialoghi su Julius Evola (Naples: Controcorrente, 2008): 73-80. (In Italian; English version on Hermetic.com)

            75. “Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of Marvels. New Dawn Special Issue no. 9 (2009): 9-14. (Promotional article for Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of the World.)

            76. “Curious Coincidences: The Parallel Lives of Fabre d’Olivet and J. F. H. von Dalberg.” Published online, 2009, in the Super-Enlightenment Project. http://collections.stanford.edu/supere/page.action?forward=author_curious&section=authors

            77. Introduction to Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, The Kingdom of Agarttha, tr. Jon Graham (Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, 2009): 1-27.

            78 "John Michell (1933-2009)." Temenos Academy Review, 12 (2009): 250-253. Reprinted as "Recipient of Revelation" in Michellany: A John Michell Reader (London: Michellany Editions, 2010): 91-94.

            79. "Western New York's Theosophical Enlightener." In Eugenia Victoria Ellis, ed., Claude Bragdon and the Beautiful Necessity (Rochester, NY: Cary Graphic Arts press/Rochester Institute of Technology, 2010): 21-24.

           80. "Is There a Keynote of Nature?" In Arthur Versluis, Claire Fanger, Lee, Irwin, Melinda Phillips, eds., Esotericism, Religion, and Nature (East Lansing: Association for the Study of Esotericism, distributed by Michigan State U.P., 2010): 53-71.

            81. “The Harmony of the Spheres.” In program book for Agostino Steffani's Niobe, Regina di Tebe (London: Royal Opera House, 2010): 29-33.

            82. “Athanasius Kircher’s Invention of the Hieroglyphic Tradition.” In Andreas B. Kilcher, ed., Constructing Tradition: Means and Myths of Transmission in Western Esotericism (Leiden: Brill, 2010): 427-447.

            83. Foreword to Gerhard Hallstadt, Blutleuchte. Jacksonville, Or.: Ajna, 2010, i-v. Also in French edition, Camion Noir, 2012.

            84. The Spirit House, or Brown's Free Hall, in Georgetown, New York [48-page monograph]. Hamilton, NY: The Upstate Institute at Colgate University, 2011.

            85. Foreword to John Fletcher, A Study of the Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, 'Germanus Incredibilis.' Leiden: Brill, 2011, xvii-xx.   

            86. Foreword to Alain Danielou, While the Gods Play (Spanish edition). Girona: Ediciones Atalanta, 2011, 11-18. (In Spanish)

            87. “Politica Romana pro and contra Julius Evola.” In Arthur Versluis, ed., Esotericism and Politics. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2012, 41-58.

             88.  “Blavatsky and the First Generation of Theosophy.” In O. Hammer & M. Rothstein, eds., Handbook of the Theosophical Current. Leiden: Brill, 2013, 15-31.

             89.  "When Does the Kali Yuga End?" New Dawn 138 (May-June 2013): 63-68.

             90. "George Barton Cutten and American Coin Silver." Silver Studies 31 (2014): 84-98. [Cutten was President of Colgate University, 1922-42]

             91. "Understanding the Traditionalists." New Dawn 147 (Nov.-Dec. 2014): 63-69.

             92. "A Walk through the Speculative Music Section." In H. T. Hakl, ed., Octagon: The Quest for Wholeness. Gaggenau: Scientia Nova, 2016, 113-18.

             93. “Pythagoras and the Pythagorean Tradition.” In Glenn Alexander Magee, ed., The Cambridge Handbook of Mysticism and Western Esotericism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016, 13-25.

            94. "Esoteric Theories of Color." In Peter J. Forshaw, ed., Lux in Tenebris: The Visual and the Symbolic in Western Esotericism. Leiden: Brill, 2017, 447-76.

             95.  "Astral Ascent in the Occult Revival." In Nicholas Campion, ed., Culture and Cosmos: Special Double Issue on Celestial Magic 19/1-2 (2015): 189-206. Published 2017.

               96."Antarctica in Myth, Fantasy & Reality." New Dawn, Special Issue 11/1 (2017): 45-55.

             97. "Who Was Julius Evola, Really?" New Dawn 162 (May-June 2017): 61-67. 

             98. "A Ruin Revived" and "Unmasking the Beaver Meadow Gang." Journal of the Chenango County Historical Society 7 (Summer 2018): 43-59.

            100. "Alain Daniélou and the Gods in the Age of Conflict." Tyr 5 (2018): 54-88.

            101."Music as Esoteric Practice." Temenos Academy Review 21 (2018): 160-81.

            102. "Queen Anne's Gift of Silver to the Onondaga Indian Chapel." Silver Studies 34 (2018): 22-38.

            103. "Music and Gnosis." In Garry Trompf et al., eds., The Gnostic World. London: Routledge, 2019, 688-92.

            104. "Magic for Grown-ups: the Work of the Ur Group." New Dawn 172 (Jan.-Feb. 2019): 65-69.

 

Forthcoming articles and minor writings

               "The Metaphysics of Music Therapy." For Proceedings of the ESSWE conference, Gothenburg, 2013.

               "The Mahatma Letters." For Tim Rudboeg and Erik Sand, eds., The Early Theosophical Society and the East. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

                "Rejected Knowledge as a Liberal Art." For Proceedings of the ESSWE conference, Erfurt, 2017.

               "Music and Its Powers in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499)." For Cahiers de recherches mediévales et humanistes, special number on Music and Magic, 1100-1600, ed. John Haines.

               "Meeting a Philosopher" [memoir of Anthony Damiani, founder of Wisdom's Goldenrod]. For Jedediah French and Angel Millar, ed., The Art and Science of Initiation. Lewis Masonic.

                   "Music? What Does That Have to Do with Esotericism?" For H.H.P. anniversary volume, 2019.

 

  • Honorary Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of London
  • ACLS Grant-in-Aid 1985-86