The Queens Conjurer

All things that glow and move, all things that change and pass, I gather their delight as in a burning-glass; Judith Wright The Queen's Conjurer 1. 'Given to magic and uncanny arts' 'Art mathematical' to make strange works Genius of movement artificial Mechanical scarab perceived in flight Miracles and marvels to rival God, Pneumatics, mirrors, secret pulleys, springs; Much wonder does such kinaesthesia bring to an audience ignorant of such things 2. Rumours spread that he employs diabolic means "Hugger muggerey abounds, "they say "He has become a companion of Hell hounds" Conjuror of wicked and evil damned things. 3. In the Queen's Palace dispensing advice Master of all the marvels of science His chambers are but a labyrinth of books Botanic study, Astrology, Theology, hieroglyphic monad's from the zodiac All about him reeked of subjects mysterious crystal balls, cryptic maps, looking glasses, He dabbled in demonology, And in the languages of Angels to induce latent forces of heaven and earth. Alchemic distilling of smoking potions Clear bright liquids of thrixotropic sky Tinctures of lilac, jet and aquamarine Magical seals wrapt up in blood red silk Paraphernalia of the most dastardly ilk 4. Beware the blazing star, the fiery Trigon Beware the stranger, the melancholic one, His powers to summon up bright squadrons Beware of knowing unknowable things A shape-shifter brings unseemly doings. 5. Accusations of sorcery abound, Powder ground from the Philosopher's stone Strange Adamic alphabets, origins of a language God used to name living things Invocations to the four directions of wind Solstice, equinox and on full moons calling on all the secrets of Angels, Spells translated from Agrippa's Magic Book 6. Cryptic information from archangels A treasure of heavenly wisdom, or is it the basest of trickery? Alas In his obsession to know all, the Conjurer , fell under the spell of a wicked trickster. 7. Such a cauldron of knowledge was "Mortlake" A place for resurrecting wisdom, For conjuring ideas from old ways of thinking So many converged for this common cause A Polish prince clothed in robes of bright purple, seeking to obtain the Kingdom of Moldavia Sponsor of Paracelsus foreseen by Galvah Even a gentle Italian friar referring to formulas by Pythagoras motifs of magic to shadow ideas As spirits skipped brightly through addled minds Playful Madimi, morose Murifri, proclaiming, "Hell itself, of Earth, is weary " 8. Direct descendants of "Areopagus" a manifesto in Defense of Poesy" rotated in a zodiac of their own wit' Were Westonia's fiery words kindled here at mysterious Mortlake? 9. Prophecies came to them in visions, of the great 'Armada' and the Queen's be-heading Soon after a great tempest at midnight, all secretly embarked from Gravesend to fantastic and frightening domains from which none of them would return unchanged. In the dead of night past the Traitor's gate Fled this intelligencer for the Queen A spy, clandestine, eluding capture for the "Poyson of Supposed Prophecies' his 'heedless hap' left to the perils of the sea. 10. His life of secrets, of numbers and words The power of magic in all little things Trifling in the darkest of powers he landed in dire consequence, Twiddler of Thaumaturgy and wonders Genius of Inter- traffique of thought Tweaking his infinite 'twaberment' for his complete mastery over life. © Suzanne Delaney For John Dee Scientist of the Elizabethan Age His last entry was Pactum Factum, 'pact fulfilled.'