Universal Magic in the Age of Enlightenment: Touzay Du Chenteau's Great Philosophic Chart and Its Context

by Joscelyn Godwin

This Chart, comprising four huge copperplates engraved in 1775 by Du Chenteau himself, is a monumental attempt to unite ceremonial magic, Kabbalah, alchemy, Hermetic philosophy, and the science of number. In memorable images, many borrowed from the Rosicrucian philosopher Robert Fludd, it depicts a cosmos emanating from the mind of God, structured by correspondences, and culminating in the human being (the Microcosm), whose body and soul reflect the Macrocosm. Du Chenteau, a practicing alchemist and member of esoteric Masonic orders, represents an “enlightenment” very different from the secular and materialistic trends of his time. His work is a visual encylopedia, forming a bridge between the late Renaissance world view and the occult revival of the nineteenth century. This edition sets Du Chenteau’s Chart in its historical context, traces all its sources, translates its texts from the original French, and explains its arcane imagery. An Appendix by Antoine Faivre, Professor at the Sorbonne, tells of Du Chenteau’s life, his friends, and his bizarre spiritual practices. Joscelyn Godwin is Emeritus Professor of Music, Colgate University. He has published two books on Robert Fludd and many other works on esoteric topics, including Harmonies of Heaven and Earth, The Theosophical Enlightenment, Music and the Occult, Upstate Cauldron, and, co-authored with Christian Goodwillie, Symbols in the Early Masonic Survivals in Upstate New York (Couper Press of Hamilton College and Upstate Institute of Colgate University, 2016).

194 pages, Perfect Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

Composer, musicologist and translator, known for his work on ancient music, paganism and music in the occult.