The Civilizing Link of Nature: Cereals and Perfumes
Great names of medieval history, such as Johannes Trithemius, have left us certain writings. The intention of these authors was to open another level of understanding to those who give themselves the means to search. The writings of Jean Trithème were coded and followed a highly elaborate internal logic based on mathematical, geometric, and agrarian principles. This logic follows several guiding lines of the creation of the sensory world.
the alphabet
the calendar year
cosmological cycles
the organization of a state of thought
the organization of a social state linked to the living
The texts that were written allow for several lines of reflection. The reader‑researcher realizes that they are facing something else, something broader in understanding than a simple agrarian calendar that may appear at first glance.
Details reveal themselves during study and gradually lead us toward another form of understanding. The emergence of this new way of thinking comes through the practical application of agrarian models and the civilizing links that arise from them, along with their organization.
Cereal, Matrix of Civilization
A whole section is devoted to cereal cultivation, with a particular emphasis in our latitudes on wheat and its contribution to the intelligence and prosperity of a country. The study of the sky and its cycles enabled human beings to promote abundant harvests and protect themselves from famine. Cultural and cultic development can then take place.
Nature as Support and Synthesis of the Cosmos
Nature has something prodigious: in the ancient tradition, it becomes both the support and the synthesis of the cosmos and of its principle, the soul.
Unity of the Principle Creation and Nature
A path was offered to the neophyte in the temples in order to access certain levels of knowledge. Rigorous studies were required: common and administrative writing, mathematics, geometry, music, astronomy, and finally the alphabet in its ontological form, allowing the writing of sacred texts.
Word and Plants to Reveal the True Dimension of the Soul
The alphabet was then seen as the projective surface of the breath, of the creative Word, and the dimension of plants as its revelation. The study of perfumed oils, remedies, and nards served as the foundation of a teaching linked to the rebirth of the spirit and the treatment of the soul, both physical and spiritual.