Imaginal architectural devices and the ritual space of medieval necromancy.
Endeavour December 1, 2020 Andrea Franchetto
Magic circles and other ritual spaces in medieval and early modern manuscripts have been poorly understood. The author introduces a new category, imaginal architectural devices (IADs), to describe portable, temporary ritual spaces that function as strategic tools for orienting cognition, behavior, and belief. Drawing on spatial theory and cognitive studies, IADs operate at the interplay between mental projections and material culture, modifying the perception of space. The article applies this typology to analyze the circles described in the second section of the Liber Iuratus Honorii, a thirteenth-century handbook for conjuring spirits, and suggests future research on the transmission of IADs into contemporary ritual magic.