> Your unnamed colleague of Stonehenge recommended me, no doubt, on the strength of my reputation, such as it is, of being a correspondent, and indeed I do like to share and discuss my findings with as wide a selection of the learned as I can. Accordingly, I welcome your approach in the spirit it was intended and accept your desire to build links across the hermetic order.
-> You present an interesting proposal; while I believe that my House does have worthwhile insights into the study of beauty, I am not sure I possess the wit and skill necessary to explain them in a manner suited to a correspondent, or at least one who had not previously received an instruction in the Enigma. [he expostulates on the difficulties for a paragraph or two, sections of which seem to degenerate into posing riddles at times]
+> You present an interesting proposal; while I believe that my House does have worthwhile insights into the study of beauty, I am not sure I possess the wit and skill necessary to explain them in a manner suited to a correspondent, or at least one who had not previously received an instruction in the Enigma. [_he expostulates on the difficulties for a paragraph or two, sections of which seem to degenerate into posing riddles at times_]
> Still, a failure can frequently be instructive, even if not precisely in the manner expected; and the nature of apt action as it relates to the theory of magic is one of the less impenetrable topics, especially to one who has already studied ethics to some degree. Accordingly, I would be willing to enter into a correspondence on either of the topics you suggest, though I suspect you will find magical theory more immediately approachable. I am not sure how frequently we will be able to exchange letters; the lines of communication across the border from Cordoba are not always open, alas.
-[a few more paragraphs about Alden's magical interests; he's mostly a Creo expert but a fairly academic one, and he talks about the theory of using magic to bring something towards what he refers to as harmony in some detail]
+> [_a few more paragraphs about Alden's magical interests; he's mostly a Creo expert but a fairly academic one, and he talks about the theory of using magic to bring something towards what he refers to as harmony in some detail_]
> Regarding your second matter [...]
> I await your honouring me with further correspondence,
> Alden Ex Criamon
+
+To Alden, Autumn 1222
+
+>To Alden of Criamon, Alexios of the Schola Pythagoranis sends his greetings and respects.
+
+>My apologies for my foolishness in not mentioning your colleagues name, it was an oversight which I blushed for once my letter was dispatched, too late to recall. It was a certain Sifféd of your house that told me you might be willing to correspond.
+
+>To discuss magic theory with you would be a joy, the nature of my research is such that I attempt to synthesise the viewpoints of many of the learned and to add your unique understanding of magic would be extremely helpful to me. I can but humbly hope that some of my own insights will similarly be useful to you.
+
+>One thought that occurred to me as I studied your comments was that it might be possible to wind magic, not just into the technical components of a piece of art, the paints, the surface but into the artwork itself. A spell is after all a piece of writing in and of itself, would writing one with the skill and beauty of the poet strengthen the magic? If so, would it be possible to paint a picture and so weave a spell? Or to play a tune on a flute and do likewise, you reference harmony and art is in many ways a way to create an aesthetic harmony.
+
+>_[Alexios continues in this vein for some time, referencing classic hermetic theory but also Greek philosophers and weaving them into the riddles that Alden expounded]_
+
+As for the second matter, that is most helpful. I think my sodales and I might well decide to investigate this and travel to the Levant to do so some day. If there are any introductions you might make to colleagues who would be able to help us in investigating this matter, that would be of great aid.
+
+I remain, sir, your obedient servants, Alexios.
~jdamery / ArtibusWiki.git / blobdiff