Magic Problems: Francesco Zorzi's Theory of Occult Operations

The article deals with a series of questions related to "occult operations" (De quibusdam occultis operationibus naturae et artis), found in the sixth tome of the In Scripturam Sacram Problemata, published in Venice in 1536 by the Observant Franciscan Francesco Zorzi. Beyond a certain veil of prudent ambiguity it is clear that Zorzi was looking for a theory of magic, capable of explaining the power of language and the effects on reality of occult operations. He refers to his previous theory of the world harmony, which he had explained in his 1525 treatise De Harmonia mundi, but he adds a new dimension to it: in rather explicit terms he details that neither Pico della Mirandola's theses on magic nor his own expositions of magical operations can be understood without recurring to Kabbalah and especially to the Zohar, the single most commented book in his lengthy Problemata. Zorzi is not ready to reveal many details of his operative practice and limits himself to explaining how the ritual ablution of the hands, the preliminary purification of the body conducive to any magic operation, should be performed. The order of the hands to be washed is tantamount to a "doctrine of the similar", explaining which Kabbalistic dimensions of the Godhead should be activated and with should be kept in check in order to succeed. Magic and Kabbalah, according to Pico's intuition, are thus presented as more than complementary: they are understood as synonyms.