The Queen’s Conjuror – the Life and Magic of Dr. Dee.

 

Comment.

Dr. John Dee is now considered to be the English Renaissance person. This was not always the case, however, because his first biographers, as the author of this fine biography points out, were either `hard-headed rationalists or muddle-headed mystics.' In present time, researchers and historians agree that Dee was a true Renaissance person because he sought to connect or reconcile rationalism with magic, science and the supernatural. This was not unusual for the time. Copernicus cited the mystic Hermes Trismegistus in his Magnum Opus, proposing the heliocentric universe. Isaac Newton began his career as an alchemist, before moving on to modern methods of pure science. John Dee was the most important scientist of the Elizabethan age. But this is only a recent recognition because throughout the ages he was considered a charlatan, crook, blockhead and "companion of hellhounds".

Benjamin Woolley's fine biography combines history, science, espionage, and common sense and attempts to answer how a man of genius that had such a major influence in mathematics, astronomy, cartography, navigation, and science in general, could die a pauper and in obscurity. 

In 1659, a scholar by the name of Meric Casaubon copied and published a collection of Dee's documents, which contained recordings of spiritual conversations with angels and archangels, and other dialogues, which could be interpreted dubious at best. After the publication Dee's reputation as a credible philosopher went steadily downhill and has taken centuries to recover. Woolley has done some fine research, using Dee's actual diaries, and has painstakingly pieced together his life and career. 
 
The Elizabethan age was a turning point in Western history. The Reformation was a battle for power and knowledge and a bloody war in the name of religion. But it also set the stage for the Enlightenment, and Dr. John Dee was a precursor to the Age of Reason. He was a man of `science', collecting and studying every ancient text he could get his hands on, (his library is the stuff of legend) but rational knowledge, he honestly believed, would only take him so far - he desired heavenly knowledge and wisdom. And it is possible that his spiritual research into divine nature could have been the cause of his downfall. Dee did not seek worldly gain, riches, and material pleasure; his only desire was to attain the secrets of the Holy. Did he pay the ultimate price for this activity? 
 
The Queen's Conjurer is not a dense historical text, but an informative and enlightening piece of research. It casts some light on an intriguing figure, removing him from modern occult history and into the mainstream.