Thomas Rudd
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He that is a true magician, is brought forth a magician from his Mother's Womb; and whoso is otherwise, ought to recompense that defect of nature by education...
- Thomas Rudd; The Nine Celestial Keys
Dr. Thomas Rudd (1583-1656) is one of the great magicians of the last 500 years, but to date his work has not had the same level of exposure as those of the better known conjurers such as John Dee, Edward Kelley, Francis Barrett and Frederick Hockley. We know now that Rudd knew John Dee and that they shared a great many of the same interests[1]. These interests included alchemy and angelic evocations. They also shared an interest in the geometry of Euclid.
According to Skinner and Rankine, writing in The Keys to the Gateway of Magic, it is likely that Rudd was at the centre of a group of angel magicians during the 17th century. It would appear however that evidence for this is circumstantial.
A key difference in the manner in which Rudd approach evocation is in that he advocates first invoking beings from the lower ranks in the hierarchy of spiritual beings, rather than aiming straight for the top. This is clear in the manuscripts Rudd's Nine Hierarchies of Angels & Nine Celestial Keys.
Rudd's work is currently being studied by a number of scholars around the world, with a renewed interest.
[edit] References
- ^ Keys to the Gateway of Magic,Stephen Skinner & David Rankine, Golden Hoard Press, 2005
