Through the Eyes of an Alchemist

In recent times many scholars have attempted to understand the Monas Hieroglyphica of Dr John Dee with little success. The explanation for this failure is almost universally ascribed to the loss of hidden or secret knowledge known only to Dee and his selected initiates. While this may be a factor, it is arguably more important that that we have lost the contemporary common knowledge and the way of examining it, both of which were so ubiquitous that no scholar would have thought it sensible or necessary to explain them. Thus, an investigation and understanding of Dee's intellectual context is necessary if any attempt is to be made to understand his work. However this work is not only important with regards to the Monas. The Renaissance was a time of great intellectual upheaval, during which the very way that knowledge was thought about was revolutionised. By understanding the way in which all knowledge was believed to be interrelated, as exemplified in the Monas, we can better understand the intellectual landscape from which our modern way of thinking emerged.