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A CHRISTIAN-HERMETIC-JUDAIC INITIATION... the infusion of elements from Jewish mysticism, in order to achieve a pure Christian solution free from pagan tints. Hence his talk about “creating souls,” rather than “creating gods,” become of utmost importance. Sections 28-29 elaborate on the theme of the supernatural abilities of man by an act of remarkable syncretism, fusing Enoch, Hermes, and the most mystical cabbalistic book, the Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation).'° Lazzarelli seems to have followed a path rather similar to that of Pico just a few years earlier, but it also seems that he discovered Enoch and merkabah mysticism quite independently of the Count of Mirandola. Lazzarelli starts unfolding the “novelty of novelties” by referring to the mysteries of Eleusis, recalling the state of ecstasy in which one is transported out of the self. But this is a secret and should be hidden from profane, unqualified persons. Then Hermes is mentioned, who, in his Teleios logos (that is, the Asclepius) speaks more openly. From the Hermetic sage he then turns to the Old Testament patriarch: “Likewise, the wise men of the Hebrews say that Enoch in a book he wrote makes mention of the higher and lower king; and the one who unites them both will daily harvest the gladness from above. And in my opinion that is exactly the heart of this mystery” (29.1, Lazzarelli, 257). There is a mention of Enoch’s book in the New Testament (Jude 14-15) but there is nothing about its content there. We also know that neither of the three books today associated with the name of Enoch was known before the late eighteenth century.*° What is behind Lazzarelli’s reference then? Scholars have not been able to identify any concrete text yet, but it is known that during the Middle Ages, Hermes and Enoch were quite strongly intertwined with each other, and various magical texts were circulating under their names. It is also known that Lazzarelli had a good command of Hebrew by this time, and he had friends among Jewish intellectuals, quite likely even Yohanan Alemanno,”' one of the most outstanding Jewish philosophers of the day. Through these acquaintances, he might have got access to Sefer Hekhalot, that is 3 Enoch, but this remains pure speculation. It is a fact, on the other hand, that together with Enoch, Lazzarelli also refers to the Sefer Yetzirach, at that time attributed to the Patriarch Abraham, an early medieval key mystical treatise behind the development of the Zohar: Abraham too, in his book entitled Sepher Izira—that is to say the Book of Formation—teaches that this is how new men are formed: one must go to For an English critical edition and commentary see Kaplan ed., Sefer Yetzirach (1997). See the historiographical introductions in Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. On Alemanno see Idel, Hermeticism and Judaism, 66-67; Ruderman ed. 1992, passim; Ruderman, Early Modern Jewry (2010), 119-22; Zinguer ed., Hebraic Aspects of the Renaissance (2011), 192-210. 20 21 Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 151 6 2020. 06.15. 11:04:17
