Brian Johnson

@bjohnsonfreelance.bsky.social

283 Followers 389 Following

Literary, nonfiction, and TTRPG editor | Humanities research consultant | Former CRM archaeologist | Translator of grimoires | Scholar of the arcane https://bjohnsonfreelance.com/

Blue sky and puffy clouds reflected in a slow-moving stream with trees overhanging either bank.
Rubricated Latin text in a 15th-century manuscript: "Quarta pars tractatus quarti de modis spetialibus imaginum octavi orbis et modis compositionum per exempla"
Rear end of a 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne, which resembles — proverbially — a suspicious, stoned vampire.
Text, reading: "An exposition upon the Sphere of the Cosmos, by Cecco of Ascoli, A most Illustrious man. Surpassing worldly glory is to live after death in the minds of human beings. These indeed are the ones who, thanks to writing, elevate their own understanding. Therefore, I, Cecco of Ascoli, shall first present expositions upon The Sphere, and then upon other books as I proceed to read them, according to the ability of my vital spirit, if it should please heaven by whose consent all things are disposed."
A brown rabbit splooting on the lawn, viewed from behind right.
The cover of a book titled "An Exposition Upon the Sphere of the Cosmos: the astrological nigromancy of Cecco d'Ascoli", by Mathew Hadfield and Brian Johnson, depicting a medieval illustration reminiscent of the heavenly spheres.
Late medieval illustration of astronomers viewing the Earth as a globe-sized sphere floating in space, the Sun illuminating one side while the other faces the starry night sky. The whole planet is covered with tiny houses, complete with shadows creating the illusion of three-dimensional form.
A still from the movie _Independence Day_, depicting the White House being exploded by an energy beam fired from an alien spacecraft floating in the sky above.
Cover of the book _Sabriel_, by Garth Nix
A honey bee, viewed ventrally through a windshield, a cloudy sky and some trees in the background.
An open manuscript book, displaying pages filled with many densely-written lines of text.
Text in a word processor, with this passage highlighted: "When you wish to perform anything with these names, take the greater names of that same hour, and of that day or night, and the names of the sign or month, and of the quarter of the year, and the names of the four parts of the world, and the names of the hosts of that day, and the names of their altitudes."
Text: "Here we wish to speak of the division of the shining ones, and in what manner they exist; and in order that the whole world — that is, those who have eyes — may know how to distinguish the cosmic illuminators, it is necessary that we reveal their division and names, and for this reason we shall reveal the names of the seven principals". The words "shining ones" and "illuminators" are highlighted yellow.
14th-century Latin script, reading: "...illi qui habent oculos sciant dividere claritates mundi oportet quod..."
The word "claritates" in 14th-century Latin script.
Manuscript page from Vatican, pal.lat.1480.
A short passage of Latin script on a page from a 15th-century manuscript.
Latin script in an Italian humanist bookhand, reading: "...cora[m] facie mea propter ista no[m]i[n]a quae sunt, Abguitasii, Karasceman, Nacdyras, Petharcetays, Hacaptena, Yegnypedaya, Sachocych. O, deus qui creasti Gabriele[m]..."
The slanderous lies of a senile tyrant, which do not bear repeating.
A page of text written in the Kurrentschrift style of German script.
Two paperback books on a shelf, "A Similitude of Nature" by Brian Johnson, and "The Black Raven" by Brian Johnson and Alexander Cummins.
"Federal food aid will not go out starting Nov. 1 amid government shutdown, Trump administration says"
A wrinkled, beige and brown mass (praying mantis egg capsule) affixed to a branch in the recess of some leafy vegetation.
Cover image of _Clanbook Tzimisce_, depicting a monstrous vampire in 18th-century attire messily drinking blood from a goblet. Visages of several misshapen creatures loom in the background.
A red book cover with black print, reading "Jose Leitao / Cypriani Magici / Septem Horae Magicae / An Iberian Book of Pacts and Treasure Hunting" along with an abstract geometric figure.
Secretary hand script in black ink with some red capitals on a beige manuscript page, reading "When he is appeared binde him as followeth; I Coniure the[e] spirit; N. that arte appeared to me and to my fellowe in this Christall, Stone; I Coniure the[e] by all the"...
Secretary hand script in black ink with some red capitals on a beige manuscript page, reading "To make a spirit appeare in a Christall; I Coniure the[e] .N. by the father[,] the sonne and the holy ghost The [which] is the beginninge and the endinge; The firste and the laste; And by the latter daye of iudgmente; That thou N"...
Cursive script in black ink on a beige manuscript page, reading "Temple Wisdom page 21 Book 3rd agla, the Mighty God for ever"
The books _Lucifer: the Devil in the Middle Ages_ by Jeffrey Burton Russell, and _Angels and Angelology in the Middle Ages_ by David Keck, lying on a desktop before a computer monitor displaying an open word-processor document.
A pile of open books scattered across a desktop, in front of a computer monitor filled with dense text; the topmost book is David Rankine's _Book of Treasure Spirits_. An empty coffee mug sits nearby.
Black and white photograph of Nazis burning a pile of books looted, inter alia, from the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, 1933.
A praying mantis, brown with a green abdomen, perched amidst wildflowers.
The book "Solomonic Magic: Methodology, Texts, and Histories" in front of a computer screen displaying a word processor document outlining the gene-node theory of textual criticism discussed in the book.
Cover of Neal Stephenson's novel _Snow Crash_
Parchment manuscript page, with Middle English text in very degraded black ink with red capitals.
A small, newly potted tomato plant.
Praying mantis, viewed from the ventral side through a window on which it is walking.
Plain text, which reads [abbreviated]: A Similitude of Nature shares the work of Giorgio Anselmi, an astrologer, physician, and magician of the Italian Renaissance whose pivotal contribution to the history of thought about the natural world remains little-known in the present day. By the late Middle Ages, the science of constructing powerful talismanic images according to propitious astrological conditions had reached a high degree of sophistication, and was largely accepted as a mainstream application of natural philosophy. In some ways, however, practice lagged behind theory. The classical texts on the subject made their prescriptions in terms of the abstract signs of the Zodiac, even though the slowly increasing discrepancy between those coordinates and the visible constellations to which they correspond had been known for centuries. Aristotelian science dictated that it was the motions of the heavenly bodies per se which induced change in the sublunary world, and any astrological art that intended to operate rationally (and, importantly, avoid allegations of commerce with demons) must perforce base itself upon them, yet no effective synthesis of purely astro-physical observation had yet attained general acceptance in the field of natural astrological magic. One attempt at such a synthesis arrived in the early years of the fifteenth century, when Giorgio Anselmi, within the pages of his Divinum opus de magia disciplina, propounded a treatise on composing magical images according to the eighth celestial sphere of Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology, that of the fixed stars. Drawing upon astrological techniques passed down from authorities like Hermes and Thabit ibn Qurra, alongside a knowledge of the stars as mapped by astronomers from Ptolemy to al-Sufi, Anselmi posited precise rules for crafting images “in the composition of which only the disposition of the heavenly sphere is attended to”, and which have the power to attract good fortune, heal illness, and besto…
A black, faux leather hardback book, with the title "the black raven" and a raven, ring, and moon armorial device stamped in black matte.
A black faux-leather hardcover book, with "The Black Raven" and a raven, ring, and moon armorial device in matte black embossing.
Image of a man tapping his head with a knowing grin. The caption says "you don't have to purchase on Amazon to leave a review on Amazon".
A tiny, newly-potted tomato plant in a large white-glazed urn filled with soil, surrounded by a tall red wire cage for it to grow onto. It sits in bright sunshine on a wooden deck.
A stack of books on a shelf, one facing forward, several of which are copies of "The Black Raven" by Cummins and Johnson
Detail from a Medieval textile, depicting a man — evidently running, to judge by the position of his legs — carrying a frog/toad and snake, alongside a stork (with Latin caption 'ciconia'), all racing sunward as a winged embodiment of cold ('frigus') flies after them. The panel is identified as a representation of the month of March ('Marcius').
Text on a white background, reading: "p. 95 translating: …profunditas scientiae suae expandens voluit Deo equari: replace: God willed the depth of their knowledge to be expanded. with: The depth of his knowledge expanding, he willed to be equal to God."
First part of an excerpt of a letter from Ben Franklin to Samuel Danforth: "...and tho’ living-on in one’s Children, as we both may do, is a good thing, I cannot but fancy it might be better to continue living ourselves at the same time. I rejoice therefore in your kind Intentions of including me in the Benefits of that inestimable Stone, which curing all Diseases, even old Age itself, will enable us to see the future glorious State of our America, enjoying in full Security her own Liberties..."
Latin text from a manuscript, reading: "Explicit. Rome. 4. Ianuarii. 1494. die Saturni. horam meridiei pulsante"
Puerta del Vino, the Alhambra, Granada: a medieval arched gate, built of reddish stone and brick.