Alain Ekorong
Born near Barenton at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Guillaume Postel was not only an original thinker, but also a very public figure. After he studied oriental languages, he was commissioned by King François 1 to buy manuscripts in the Near East. Notably, Postel mastered Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, and many other Semitic languages. In 1536, seeking an alliance with the Ottoman Turks, King Francis I named him official interpreter to Suleiman the Magnificent in Constantinople. This enabled him to publish in 1538 De originibus seu de hebraicae linguae et gentis antiquitate, the first of several publications in French, Latin, and Hebrew on the affairs of the Middle East. In the early 1540s, he formulated his theory, drawn from his knowledge of the Turks, that peace will be achieved through a universal religion. In this universal religion, Jews, Muslims, and heathens could be converted to Christianity, through careful reasoning and logic and not war, by demonstrating to all common foundations in all religions, and that Christianity best represented these similarities. This will be developed in his major work De orbis terrae Concordia (1543–4). After briefly contemplating becoming a Jesuit, he travelled around the Middle East, Italy, and Eastern Europe. He was interrogated by the Inquisition in 1555 for his religious views then judged to be insane and sent to prison for 4 years in Rome. Postel was also prolific in his translation of several Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic texts. Most notably among them, works on astronomy by al-Tusi and other Arabic astronomers, and his Latin translations of the Zohar, the Sefer Yetzirah, and the Sefer Bahir, the three most fundamental texts of the Jewish Kabbalah. From this moment on, Postel will become a staunch advocate of the integration of magic and Kabbalah in the quest for world peace and harmony.
As one of the most influential Christian kabbalists of his time, Guillaume Postel has been largely ignored by scholars who often discard his work as too obscure to be seriously analyzed. It was only at the start of the twentieth century that comprehensive research on his work was launched, notably under the efforts of French scholar François Secret.1 Recently, works by William Bouwsma, Marion Kuntz, and Yvonne Petry,2 among others, have shed more light on his vast enterprise. A prolific author, he published more than 60 books, a renowned publicist, Guillaume Postel represents what one could call the “other” French Renaissance, a renaissance whose humanism draws some of its foundational principles heavily from medieval thought. As Bouwsma puts it, “he was a sort of mystic truly entrenched in the problems of his time.”3 It is this mystical understanding of these issues that often pushed him to the margins of sanity and put him at odds with both political and religious authorities. Jean Dupebe, in his study of Postel’s troubles with both political and religious authorities “Poursuites contre Postel en 1553,” successfully demonstrates the unique nature and context of his work. He writes:
Le vendredi matin 7 avril 1553 apres Pâques, l’avocat du Roi, Me Denis Riant apporte a la Grand-Chambre du Parlement “letters dudict seigneur (…) par lesquelles le Roy aiant entendu que ung nomme Postel auoyt fait et compose ung liure plain dheresies et blasphemes contre lhonneur de Dieu et de la Religion crestienne et iceluy faict imprimer en ceste ville de Paris contre les inhibitions et defenses cideuant faictes par ledict seigneur (…) mande a ladicte court faire prendre ledict Postel prisonnier et en faire punition exemplaire a tous aultres et aussi limprimeur qui a imprime ledict liure.”4
(On Friday morning the 7th of April 1553 after Easter, the King’s lawyer, Denis Riant, brings to attention of the Chamber of the Parliament “letters of the aforementioned lord (…) Having heard that a certain Postel, ignoring his inhibitions and prohibitions, had written and published in this city of Paris a book full of heresy and blasphemy against the honor of God and the Christian Religion, the King summoned the court to send its author to prison and to punish the others, including the publisher of this book…”)
As Dupebe shows, the two books that land Postel in troubled waters are Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes du nouveau monde and La doctrine du siecle doré.5 The apparent scandal stems from Postel’s original understanding of the role of women: in his quest for Harmonia mundi or World Peace, Postel’s most controversial view lies in his theory of the Feminine Principle. Borrowing primarily from kabbalistic theories and alchemy, Postel believed that World Peace could only be reached through the Shechinah or the Indwelling Presence of God. It is this gendered quest toward universal harmony that this essay intends to explore. I will investigate Postel’s understanding of the concept of the Shechinah, its function, and its use in the construction of this harmonious world. In this essay, I contend that beyond Postel’s “folie” or eccentricity,6 his desire to elevate the Feminine Principle in a genuine attempt to find World Peace or Harmonia Mundi is unique within the French Renaissance. I wish to depart from Yvonne Petry’s understanding of gender roles7 within his work by focusing my analysis on a number of foundational principles of the Kabbalah. But what is Kabbalah? And why was it so important to Postel?
Meaning literally “receiving,” the Kabbalah is generally understood as a body of esoteric principles purportedly handed down from generation to generation, and designed to rationally bridge the gap, through teaching and studying, between the Unknowable Infinite Creator (the Ein Sof) and the Finite Universe. It is an attempt to comprehend the paradox between these two worlds, and to understand the nature of the relationship between God and humans. What attracted Postel is precisely the possibility of attaining harmony by understanding this paradox. For this same reason, the concept of the Shechinah was fundamental in this quest. Generally defined as a nest for the “Indwelling Presence” of God within the universe, the Shechinah fascinated Postel precisely because of this Infinite possibility she carried within her.
In her book Gender, Kabbalah and the Reformation, Yvonne Petry suggests that Postel “retained the Neoplatonic world-view with regard to male/female relationships […] however, he transformed it into an entirely unique and personal theology.”8 If it is true that Postel, in his quest for world harmony and unity, borrows some of its foundation from Neoplatonism, it is important to underline the kabbalistic nature of his discourse on women in Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes du Nouveau Monde. Marion Kuntz, William Bouwsma, and Yvonne Petry demonstrate, in their work, the inherent contradictions of Postel’s views on women, which occur when attempting to reconcile his religious views with his political ideologies:
By unraveling his thought processes and comparing his religious and political opinions, we can gain some insight into the problems he encountered and his attempts to resolve them. Points to consider are how Postel applied male/female symbolism to the political realm, how this related to his idea of power in the world, and finally, what his actual relationships were with rulers of his day.9
In my view, because Postel’s views on women evolved with time, it is counterproductive, at least from a philosophical standpoint, to attempt to understand his positions as a male/female dichotomy. Such a reading would do some disservice to the author’s struggles to translate some important, inherent, and fundamental contradictions into a powerful discourse on equality and peace. This is what Peter Redpath attempts to demonstrate: “Eccentric elements in the thinking of Postel are easy to discover since they seem to appear on almost every page he writes. What is difficult to discover about Postel, however, is what he is actually saying behind all his symbolism and enigmatic language.”10 For Redpath, because “the victories [of women] are primarily spiritual ones [in Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes du nouveau monde],” it makes more sense to analyze Postel’s thought within a “meditative and metaphysical” framework.11 However, Redpath’s analysis of Postel’s views of women never goes beyond a traditional understanding of male/female dichotomy. This traditional view tends to create a clear separation between man and woman based on either male or female gender even though Postel, as we will show later, clearly transcends this apparent division. This misunderstanding is evident when the Redpath discusses Postel’s discourse on the Animus and the Anima. Although he is able to capture Postel’s subsequent subdivisions of the Animus and the Anima,12 he fails to bring the kabbalistic dimension of this discourse evident in the figure of Mother Johanna, the influential Venetian woman Postel met while in Italy. Moreover, his conclusion on the “nature and role” of women is rather disappointing:
Granted, Postel may have mental problems, still, I think the metaphysical and spiritual background of Postel accounts for much of his peculiar way of expressing himself. On the metaphysical side, it is not uncommon for neo-Platonic and Augustinian thinkers to attempt to drive their readers into an aporia. Rather it seems a pedagogical necessity. If Postel does not make sense, one reason for this is that Postel does not want to make sense.13
But I would argue that Postel could make sense and if he does not succeed in making sense, it is precisely because his contemporaries and modern researchers generally do not integrate kabbalistic doctrines into this discourse. Similarly, when scholars do take into consideration the Kabbalah as Petry does, it is pushed into the background.14 In an attempt to fully integrate Postel’s own kabbalistic theories in his discourse, my essay will mostly focus on Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes because this text constitutes one of the rare instances where the “eccentric” author clearly purports to use these ancient Jewish philosophies to demonstrate rationally the centrality of the Feminine Principle in the Restitution of all things. This inner movement clearly borrows from Lurianic Kabbalah15 its threefold evolution of the universe: Tzimtzum (or Contraction of God that formed a metaphysical void), The Shevirat-ha-Kelim (or the Breaking of the Vessels that created a separation of the opposites, in particular, a split between the masculine and the feminine aspects of both God and the Primordial Man), and the Tikkun-ha-Olam (or the Restoration of the World overcoming chaos and evil, giving meaning to that which is senseless, and concretizing abstract values, thus assuring the completion of Ein-sof or the Infinite God).16 The idea of Restitution, then, should be fully comprehended through these kabbalistic lenses.
From the outset of the book, Postel sets the framework of his discourse on women. A quick look at the chapter titles reflects this predisposition. Titles such as “Des admirables excellences & faictz du sexe féminin & comment il faut qu’il domine le monde,” “Satisfaction de la commune querelle dont l’on charge à tort le sexe feminin,” “Des souverains biens qui son venus au monde par les femmes,” “Des femmes d’esprit & entendement singulier & la cause pourquoi,” “Particulieres histoires des sages femmes,” “Histoires des prudentes & savantes femmes,” are perfect examples of Postel’s attempt to delve into the debate on women from an original angle, at least within this historical context. His intention is to transform the so-called inferiority of women into a powerful case for their centrality or even their superiority. In Postel’s view, positioning women in higher dimensions or realms is important in the Restitution of all things. As Yvonne Petry suggests,
There is a rather paradoxical attitude at work in Postel… This paradox lay at the core of his theology. He combined the concept of women’s inferiority with recognition of the paradoxical message in the New Testament. He argued that the virtues extolled by Jesus were more often found in women than in men. In this way he defended women, arguing that since they were more humble they were ultimately more spiritual. He was still using the Aristotelian paradigm, but reversed its meaning through reference to the New Testament theology. Postel used women’s inferiority as a rhetorical device.17
Postel’ stance on women is complex and his discourse goes far beyond mere rhetoric. The foundation of his positions lies with the enigmatic figure of Madre Zuana [Joanna].18 As Yvonne Petry notes, “Postel’s discussion of knowledgeable women turns out to be an introduction to the person of Joanna.”19 For Marion Kuntz, “As Postel worked on his translation of the Zohar, he became ever more convinced that the restitution of all things as interpreted by his Mother Johanna was confirmed not only in the ‘most divine and rare books of the Zohar’, but also in the books of the ancient [Jewish] interpreters.”20 It is here that any investigation of Postel’s theory of women must be launched. Bouwsma shows how Postel developed an extraordinary story concerning the Venetian woman known as Madre Zuana (Joanna).21 According to Bouwsma, Postel thought Madre Zuana was responsible for the divine grace believed to have descended upon Venice, a city in which she was working for the poor. For Postel, thanks to Mother Joanna’s mysticism, Venice had been chosen by God to be the New Jerusalem. He went so far as to call Mother Joanna the Virgin of Venice. In fact, throughout his work, Postel constantly glorifies the city as a sanctuary for this new Virgin upon which the Spirit of God has descended, and in which the living Christ is supposed to have found his palace. This process, often called immutation, is believed to have occurred in Venice in 1540 in a small hospital named by Postel Xenodochius because it was used by the Venetian Virgin (Mother Joanna) to “receive foreigners.”22 He refers to her as, “the moon that reflects rays of the sun.”23 For Postel, “[…] il faut qu’a tous Jesus soit Pere mental et Jehanne mere spirituelle, Adam nouveau et Eve nouvelle, deux en une spirituelle chair” (“It is important that Jesus be the spiritual father and Johanna the spiritual mother, the new Adam and the New Eve, two in one spiritual flesh”).24 This description of the Venetian Virgin, in order to be rationally linked to the Christ and to the figure of Eve, uses the kabbalistic theory of the Shechinah to ground Postel’s argumentation. This technique is borrowed from Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and subsequent Christian Kabbalists who believed that Christian dogmas could be better and rationally explained through magic and kabbalah. Pico is credited with having initiated this strand of Christian Cabala25 in Renaissance Florence. His intentions were to harmonize Christian beliefs with magic and kabbalah, which he saw as the most primal form of Jewish theosophy started since Moses and foreshadowing, in his opinion, the teachings of Jesus.26
This connection is clearly made by Postel himself in chapter 14 of Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes. At the end of this chapter, Postel explains in great detail the original position held by women in his theory of restitution of all things.
Vray est que dedans les livres des auditeurs de Moyse en lieux innumerables est de ladicte Mere du monde27 parlé. Mais tres-clairement se voit tel mystere caché par le Sainct Esprit dedans Jeremie, 23:33 où il repète les mesmes sentences du Messie soubz masculin genre, & en apres soubz le feminin, disant : Voicy les jours viennent, dict le Seigneur Dieu, & je susciteray pour David le Germe Le Juste & le Germe La Juste, & regèra Roy, & fera estre sage, & fera jugement & justice en la terre… Par cecy se voit que la Nature feminine au 33e chapitre, & la Nature masculine au 24e doit regner. Mais il y ha infiniment plus d’excellence de regne dedans & avec le regne feminin que avec le masculin; car Dieu par moindre force se monstre, & se veult, pour accroistre sa gloire, manifester plus excellent que par la plus grande. Et par ainsi adjoint la mesme difference masculine & feminine disant : & c’est icy le Nom qu’ils appeleront LUY (au 23e c.) & qu’ils appeleront ELLE (au 24e c.), Jehovah ou le Seigneur Tetragrammaton est nostre Justice… L’arbre des Noms divins, le Zohar et le Racanati, avec les commentaires de Ruth et le livre Bahir enseigneront le reste.28
(It is true that in the books compiled by the interpreters of Moses, the name of the Mother of the World is mentioned in several places. One can clearly see such a mystery hidden by the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah 23:33, in which the same sentences are repeated using the masculine and feminine gender in this manner: Here comes the days, said the Lord, I will instill in David the Germ of the Masculine Just and the Germ of the Feminine Just, will create a wise being, will provide judgment and justice on earth… Through this, one observes that in chapter 33 the Feminine and in chapter 24 the Masculine must reign. But there is infinitely more excellence within the Feminine reign than there is in the Masculine reign, because God, in order to increase his glory, more easily manifests his excellence in the bigger reign. Thus, he attributes the same masculine and feminine difference by saying: here is the Name they will call HIM (c. 23) and the one they will call HER (ch. 24), Jehovah or the Tetragrammaton Lord is our Justice… The tree of The Divines Names, the Zohar and the Recanati, with commentaries of Ruth and the Book of the Bahir will teach the rest.)
Three main elements can be drawn from this excerpt. First, the Feminine is essentially equal to the Masculine. Therefore, it is possible to repeat, as was the case in Jeremiah 23, the “same sentences” under both the masculine and the feminine. At this point, one must recognize Postel’s belief that both the Masculine and the Feminine carry the “same difference.” Here, the concept of “same difference” can be understood as a hyphen (trait d’union) between radical alterity and sameness, a hyphen in which difference would be located within the Potential and not in the distance and the trace. The importance of the hyphen lies in its dual and somewhat paradoxical function: it both differentiates and connects at the same time, thus carrying with its essence the notion of potentiality. As a connector, the hyphen (here the “same difference”) establishes a potential union whereas as a separator, it creates a difference in which something is waiting to happen, a potential or a possibility or reunion. In French, it’s much easier to visualize this dichotomy in the phrase trait d’union (the “trait” as in the expression “tirer un trait,” to “draw a line” constitutes separation; and “union” reunites). Postel’s “same difference” is therefore not simply a repeating of difference but rather a sort of derridean differance, a difference void of concept precisely because God’s infinite nature transcends human narration. Put differently, and borrowing from John Caputo’s analysis in The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida, it seems that what Postel argues for here is the recognition of the Potential not as a “transcendental ulteriority” because it is “deferred,” but really a “quasi transcendental anteriority”29 since the divine presence has already filled the feminine. Second, since the divine presence dwells in the feminine (the Shechinah), the Potential can be understood as the immanent force or energy capable of recreating the divine union. This Potential is similar to the sap that flows through the sephirotic tree of life.30 Postel also states that the Feminine Potential is filled with much more excellence than the Masculine one. In other words, the potential difference of the Feminine allows far more effectively the Divine Reign. Third, in reading this excerpt, one senses that Postel prepares the reader what he will argue later: both the Feminine and the Masculine are essential principles that can be found in both the Male and the Female because, as the Lord promises, “je susciteray pour David le Germe Le Juste & le Germe La Juste.”31 Here, Postel is subtly asserting the notion that Feminine and Masculine qualities transcend gender dichotomies. In other words, the separation of the masculine and the feminine does not necessarily translate into a male/female dichotomy.
At this point, a reading of the Zohar or Book of Splendor, “widely revered as a sacred text of unquestionable value”32 and its affirmation of this transcendence is useful:
And you may ask if the sojourner is not both male and female33 , will the Shechinah then leave him? 34
Come and behold: He who goes on a journey should pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, BEFORE HE LEAVES, so as to draw upon himself his Master’s Shechinah, when still at home and still both male and female. And when he prayed and praised, and the Shechinah rests upon him, then he can go on his way. Now that the Shechinah is with him, he can be male and female in the city, THAT IS, AT HOME and in the field, ON HIS JOURNEY. BECAUSE THE SHECHINAH IS JOINED TO HIM, it is written: “Righteousness shall go before him,” with RIGHTEOUSNESS REPRESENTING THE SHECHINAH, “and then he shall place his footsteps on the way.”35
The Zohar seems to refer to the metamorphical stature of the Shechinah, her ability to embody and transform the living spirit into a potentially dual gender. It is this capacity of the Shechinah to infuse both genders with the sap of the Holy One that attracts Postel. In this regard, even though his political posture seemed at times hypocritical, his philosophical discourse on women, especially in Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, purports to adopt a vertical movement that follows the mystical path of the Shechinah described in the Zohar. This sort of analysis is justified by Postel himself, who, in the excerpt previously quoted, seeks the authority to validate such a discourse. He invokes four foundational kabbalistic texts: The Tree of the Divine Names, the Zohar, and the Recanati, with commentaries of Ruth, and the Book of the Bahir. Once again, Pico della Mirandola had a great influence on Postel here. As Gershom Scholem asserts in his book Kabbalah, “Pico began his kabbalistic studies in 1486, and when he displayed his 900 famous theses for public debate in Rome he included among them 47 propositions taken directly from kabbalistic sources, the majority from the Recanati’s commentary on the Torah, and 72 more propositions that represented his own conclusions from his kabbalistic research.”36 Thus, even though the framework of this essay is not vast enough to accommodate the type of investigation Postel proposes, it is vital to, at the very least, understand the substance and the nature of the relationships that link the Divine Names in the tree of life.
According to kabbalistic theories, the sephirots (or “enumerations,” Sephiroth, Sefiroth, singular: Sephirah, in Hebrew), are the ten attributes that God (who is referred to as Ein Sof, “Limitless Light, Light Without End”) created and through which he can manifest himself not only in the physical but also in the metaphysical universe. The tree is divided in Upper Sephirots (1. Keter, “Supreme crown,” 2. Hokhmah, “Wisdom,” 3. Binah, “Intelligence”), Middle Sephirots (4. Gedullah or Hesed, “Greatness,” 5. Gevurah or Din, “Power,” 6. Tiferet or Rahamim, “Beauty”), and Lower Sephirots (7. Nezah, “Lasting Endurance,” 8. Hod, “Majesty,” 9. Yesod, “Foundation of the World,” and 10. Malkhut, “Kingdom”).37 Keter, or Supreme Crown, is the highest sephirot and the closest to the Ein Sof. Hokhmah, or Wisdom, as the first created sephirah, is the medium through which God’s Will flows up to Malkhut. According to the Zohar, she is the “sap of all creation” and the “potentiality of that is” (I:2a). Thus the importance of the word “potentiality,” which is directly connected to the concept of the Potential mentioned above. Binah or Intelligence is conceived as a “palace” erected around Hokhmah to receive and distribute the “sap” to the lower levels of the tree. From a cognitive standpoint, Binah is an expansion or the realization of Hidden Thought (also believed to be the “sap”) in Hokhmah. She is also viewed as the reasoning process itself, a dialectical movement in which intellectual attributes of God are put in motion in order to recreate a “perfect world.” Equally fundamental is the belief that Binah, when in relationship with the last Lower sephirot Malkhut (or Shechinah), is actually the Celestial Mother. In other words, Binah seems to transmit to the Shechinah a combination of feminine and masculine virtues because the Celestial mother, albeit carrying with her maternal qualities, generally embodies the most fundamental divine metaphors.
By analyzing Postel’s thought within kabbalistic discourses, it is possible to assert that the dichotomy superior/masculine versus inferior/feminine does not translate into an affirmation of women’s inferiority. As various relations within the tree show, there are two Mothers: a Celestial (Superior) Mother, Binah, and a Terrestrial (Inferior) Mother, Malkhut, also called Shechinah. The structure of the Sephirotic tree clearly shows that there is in fact, in each human being, the Archetypal Mother, which is none other than the divine presence, the sap circulating within the body. This apparent, but necessary, contradiction stems from the complexity of the Shechinah (the tenth and last sephirah) herself. According to Scholem, “the Shechinah – literally in-dwelling, namely of God in world – is taken to mean simply God himself in His omnipresence and activity in the world and especially in Israel.”38 Therefore, she has a dual movement within herself. Arthur Green in A Guide to the Zohar, suggests that “as Malkhut (“kingdom”), it represents the realms over which the King (Tif’eret) has dominion, sustaining and protecting her as the true king takes responsibility for his kingdom. At the same time, it is this sephirah that is charged with the lower worlds.”39 In this sense, “the tenth sephirah is a passive-receptive female with regard to the sefirot above Her, receiving their energies and being fulfilled by their presence within Her. But She is ruler, source of life, and font of all blessing for the worlds below, including the human soul.”40 Therefore, one possible explanation of internal contradictions within Postel’s discourse on women is this inward-outward essence of the Shechinah. In fact, one has to understand Postel’s distinction between feminine and masculine as prehuman since the Shechinah is indeed the link between the higher and the lower worlds. This is the reason why, as Green notes, “the kabbalist sees himself as a devotee of the Shechinah, a spiritual knight of the Matronita.”41 This devotion might well explain the fact that Postel actually claimed that Mother Joanna descended upon him and took possession of his body. To kabbalists this possession of the body by the Mother symbolizes the normal outcome of the mystic voyage of the sap.
Fig. 2.1 The sephirots.
These Divine Names sought by Guillaume Postel are none other than the quest for the Harmonia Mundi or World Peace. The imperious presence of the Shechinah (or the Feminine) in the World, is a vital part of this quest, as Postel emphasizes in chapter 13:
Au surplus, j’ay au precedent chapitre monstré comme mesme intelligence, esprit, ange ou vertu qui presidoit en Saiinct …combien qu’il y ha six cens ans que à tres-grand regret ladicte Sechinah, ou esprit feminin ne trouve sur qui aller …mais principalement depuis l’election … le Pape Paule, passant par la mere du monde … est venue en Elie Pandochien …Car le pere Jesus conduit Jehan Cain, & la mere Johanna conduit Jehan Abel.42
(Moreover, I have shown in the previous chapter how even intelligence, spirit, angel and virtue presided over the life of Saint John, the first annunciator of the Lord. Thus, it is with great regret that for six hundred years the Shechinah or the feminine principle has been in exile. However, since the election of Pope Paul through the Mother of the world, her spirit descended upon her son Elias Pandochian. From this moment Mother Johanna directs John Abel the way Father Jesus directs Cain.)
The italicized segments evidently show the centrality of the Shechinah in the process of Restitution of all Things. The idea is that, according to Postel, the Feminine Spirit descends (as an indwelling presence) upon the World in order to extend to humans the “sap” of the Good. As we suggested previously, in this excerpt Postel “receives” a prophetic mission and is filled with the same divine presence that lies with the Shechinah. For Postel, if Jesus instructs and directs Cain, similarly, Mother Johanna instructs and directs Abel. There is an obvious desire by Postel to transform a story of fratricide into a more harmonious relationship. But above all, he wants to emphasize the power of the Shechina, and her ability to “pass” her divine nature on to the world. This excerpt is almost a paraphrase of the Zohar, which constantly refers to the exile of the Shechinah and the imperious necessity for her to find a body. Postel’s notion of immutation thus finds its justification within this sacred kabbalistic text.
The paradoxical position suggested by Petry is therefore a necessary one and pertains to the positionality of the Shechinah/Malkhut within the relational organization of the Divine Names of the Tree. One must remember that in the midrashic tradition, Malkhut, also called the Crown, the Face of Israël, or “Knesset Yisrael” (“the Community of Israël”),43 has come to symbolize the mystery of the union of the Sons and Daughters of Israël with God, and a tension towards harmony. In this context, the Shechinah also represents the Eternal God. She is not only an image of God, but his Love. If Postel sometimes represents the Shechinah as inferior, it is precisely because according to the Zohar, there are in fact two Shechinahs who are in exile with the children of Israel:
HE FURTHER EXPLAINED: Come and behold. There is the Shechinah below and above THE CHEST OF ZEIR ANPIN. The Shechinah above abides in the twelve borders of the holy Chariots and the twelve supernal living creatures. The Shechinah below abides in the twelve holy tribes. The Shechinah includes of above and below and they all shine simultaneously. AND THEN, “THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY” (YESHAYAH 6:3), AND THE SHECHINAH IS REVEALED BELOW IN THIS WORLD. When the children of Yisrael were in exile, the Shechinah was not perfected below or above. This is because the Shechinah is in exile with them.44
The Servant-Shechinah corresponds to the last Sephira (feminine for Sephirot) called Malkhut or the Crown of Israel. She is both inferior (external) and immanent (internal). This dualism is highly important in Postel’s understanding of the Feminine Principle. As the King’s Daughter but also his Inner part, Malkhut, understood through the medium of the third Sephira Binah (Intelligence), represents the Transcendent Face (Arich Anpin) within the sephirotic hierarchy. In kabbalistic language, to see the Inner Shechinah is similar to seeing the Panim, or Faces, that are constantly hidden from the Lower Worlds or from Human Intelligence; and to see the Outer Shechinah is similar to seeing the Ashorim or Backsides that represent the ordinary human vision.45 Thus, understanding Postel’s discourse on women requires a complex association of elements, drawn from the Zohar, and centered around the Shechinah. If Postel is able to link Mother Joanna to Eve, it’s precisely because the zoharic concept of the Shechinah also carries with it qualities generally attributed to the Virgin Mary: Femininity, Candor, Humility, and Charity. Like the Virgin Mary, the Shechinah is the perfect medium because she represents God’s desire to communicate with Israel.
Postel, in his quest for “world unity,” has visions of the Shechinah, visions similar to those Ezekiel has in his dreams. Therefore, one should not underestimate both the power and the importance of these visions. As the Zohar asserts:
Come and behold: It is said of Isaiah, “and I saw Hashem” (Yeshayah 6:1), WHICH IS THE SHECHINAH, CALLED “ET (LIT. ‘THE’).” And of Ezekiel it is written: “And I saw visions of Elohim.” Here “Et” IS THE SHECHINAH, and there “visions” IS THE SHECHINAH, for what one saw, so did the other, NAMELY ONLY THE SHECHINAH. Happy is the portion of Moses. There was no prophet as perfect as he, FOR HE SAW THE ILLUMINATING MIRROR, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN.46
In fact, here, the Shechinah has a messianic mission. She is charged with the task of bringing God’s love to Israel and therefore saving them from their sins. It is for this reason that Postel seeks in Mother Joanna a form of redemption. For “la mere Johanna conduit Jehan Abel” (“Mother Joanna directs John Abel,” cited above). Chapter 11 is, for this matter, an evident intertext of the Zohar:
C’est donc le moyen par lequel ladicte Dame & espouse de l’Aigneau aura victoire de tout le monde inférieure & corruptible. C’est pourquoy Dieu ha voulu que les armes, lettres & imprimeries feussent en souveraine excellence préparées avant que les deux enfantz ressuscitassent, l’un pour l’authorité sacrée ou Papale, l’autre pour la temporelle & Royale, affin que par de telz moyens peussent contraindre tout le monde à l’obédience de l’eternelle loy & au vray usage de la raison …47
(Thus, it is the medium through which the aforementioned Lady and Spouse of the Lamb will conquer the inferior and corruptible world. This is why God wanted arms, letters, and printing houses to be perfectly prepared before the two children could be resuscitated, one for the sacred or Papal authority, the other for the temporal and Royal authority, so that through this medium, everyone could be forced to obey the eternal law and constrained to the true use of reason.)
In this excerpt, the association of “ladicte Dame” and “espouse de l’Aigneau” borrows from the Zohar the necessary union of the human world (“monde inférieure & corruptible”) with the spirit of God indwelled into the Shechinah for a final victory. The Shechinah is the “illuminating mirror” referred to in the Zohar through which the human world will be again reunited with the divine world. The Shechinah is not only a prophet and a pope, she is the second Messiah. And, since Postel also sees Mother Joanna as the Shechinah, he himself becomes a prophet because, in his mind, she has descended upon him in a process we have called immutation. For Kuntz, “Joanna’s prophecy confirmed his own previously formulated beliefs about world peace; later, after his spiritual immutation in 1551, he became a prophet with a clearly defined [goal that] had Joanna at its centre.”48 In Postel’s view’ “Ladicte Dame & espouse de l’Aigneau,” is in fact Joanna and thus a figure of the Shechinah, and her messianic mission is clearly revealed. She is indeed charged with the task of saving the “monde inférieure & corruptible” (the lower and corruptible world). The two “enfants” (‘infants’) are of course Abel and Cain, who represent, beyond the myth of Good and Evil, Postel’s attempt to reach a peaceful end to a tragic relationship.
Thus, for Postel, “contraindre tout le monde à l’obédience de l’eternelle loy” (“to force everyone to respect the eternal law”) is to assert that the Shechinah is linked to a messianic vision in a special way because she is the path to redemption and salvation. As one reads in the Zohar:
We have learned that Yisrael are detained in exile for three things: For treating the Shechinah with contempt in exile; for turning away their face from the Shechinah, AS IT IS WRITTEN, “FOR THEY HAVE TURNED THEIR BACK TO ME, AND NOT THEIR FACE” (YIRMEYAH 2:27). Finally, for defiling themselves before the Shechinah, WITHOUT CONSIDERING THAT THE SHECHINAH IS WITH THEM IN EXILE. We explained them all in our Mishnah.49
The moment “Yisrael” sinned, it also confined the Shechinah to exile by separating Her from God. Thus, the era of reunion of the Shechinah and the Holy One is a messianic period because,
The Holy One, blessed be He then exiled the King’s children, NAMELY YISRAEL, together with the Queen, WHO IS THE SHECHINAH, and swore He shall not return to His place until the Queen return to Hers. THUS a man who is charitable with the Shechinah and repents, and in all Her Torah and precepts MEDITATES only on redeeming the Shechinah FROM EXILE, acts with piety towards his Maker and it is as if he redeemed Him and His Shechinah and His children FROM EXILE.50
Postel is evidently struggling to incorporate this powerful concept of the Shechinah into his (perhaps nationalistic and imperialistic) attempt to achieve world peace. I believe that one can find fault in this nationalistic endeavor because after all, as Petry and others have rightly asserted, Postel’s vision is fundamentally based on his belief that the French held a certain supremacy over the rest of the world: “Postel argued for French supremacy on the basis of inheritance and primogeniture.”51 However, one should not ignore why some of his views were so controversial. One foundation of this controversy lies with the power invested in the Shechinah, notably her apparent dualism that allows her to transcend gender dichotomies. For Postel then, in Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, this tension between male and female is essentially transitory because it lays down the foundation for unity. Thus, when inferiority is invoked, it is not, I believe, a hierarchical difference but rather, a necessary internal arrangement within the tree of life.
Once this fundamental and essential position of the Shechinah is established, Postel can then justify his argument by invoking feats accomplished by important women in the history of Europe. Postel makes his position clear:
C’est une commune querelle qu’on ha contre le dit sexe, de dire & ecrire que les Femmes ont perdu & gasté le monde, ce que n’ayant esté faict en nulle sorte, qu’il n’y aye eu plus d’hommes, ou pour le moins autant de consentantz à la malice comme de Femmes, il fault accuser les plus & non les moins coulpables. Cela est pour certain que là où elles sont le plus accusées, est en ce qu’elles ont seduict les hommes, & par eulx ainsi seduicts, faict ou faict faire de grandes ruines & alterations au dict monde. Mais, on debvroit à mon tres-certain jugement en beaucoup plus accuser les hommes qui ont esté si lourdautz et malusantz de la plus grande excellence que Dieu leur ha baillée […]52
(It is a common accusation people have against the aforementioned gender, to say and write that Women have caused the Fall and perverted the world… but since there are as many consenting guilty men to this supposed malice, we must blame the latter more and not less. It is certain that because they seduced men and consequently caused through them great ruins and alterations of the world, one must, in my opinion blame men more because of their laziness and misuse of the greatest excellence given to them by God.)
Here, Postel wants to shift to men the blame constantly attributed to women. For him, if women are to blame for the Fall, men should bear a greater responsibility. In the context of the Reformation, this position departs from that of his contemporaries. If it is true, as Petry suggests, that seeds of such a position can be found in the medieval period, it is equally important to realize that when interpreted within the kabbalistic context, his discourse is quite original. One could argue that if Postel confers to men a greater responsibility, it is precisely because they are supposedly superior.
However, there is an evident aporia in Postel’s position: it is a dialectical attempt to transcend a contradiction in order to reach his harmonia mundi. In other words, Postel seems to suggest that one must transcend the dichotomy that occurred during the Fall in order to restore unity. For men must first recognize their essential flaw by regaining the Shechinah’s inner faith. Put differently, this “excellence” that was granted by the Holy One was none other than the Shechinah, the Face of God. Once again, Postel insists on the fact that this Feminine Principle can be found in both male and female and that it transcends gender:
Il est pour certain que l’homme ou masle est comme le monde superieur & inferieur : le tout reduict en un souverain abregé ; toutefoys l’abregé du monde inferieur y est moins puissant que le superieur, & au contraire est la Femme en laquelle domine le monde inferieur. Cela est aussi tout certain que l’un & l’autre, tant l’homme comme la Femme, ha formelle partie divisée en deux parties : l’une la raisonnable ou supérieure, l’autre la sensuelle ou inferieure.53
(It is certain that the man or male is composed of both the higher and the lower worlds: the whole reduced to an abridged omnipotent: yet the abridged version of the lower world is not as powerful as the higher world; contrary to the Woman in which the lower world dominates. It is also true that in both the Man and the Woman, the formal aspect of their being is divided in two parts: one reasonable or higher, the other sensual or lower.)
Thus, both man and woman carry within them both the higher and the lower worlds. As we have demonstrated, this is clearly borrowed from the Zohar. Postel’s idea of salvation through the Feminine Principle has some of its roots in “medieval notions of sexuality,”54 since he clearly glorifies virginity. However, Postel, at least in the context of Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, also departs from what Petry calls a desire to elevate “virginity as the highest female virtue.”55 He clearly refutes this by insisting on women’s intellectual and mystical attributes. While discussing Mother Joanna’s unique abilities, Postel writes:
Et quant à parler du sçavoir feminin, si tres-grand et eminent estoit en elle. Quant aux choses divines, avec toutes les doctrines secretes & depuis plus de trois mille ans cachées & propres des 72 auditeurs de Moyse ‘a tous les Latins …, icelle qui n’apprint oncques latin, ne Grec, n’Hebreu, ne autre langue ou lecture, me scavoit tellement ouvrir & declarer quand je tournoys le Zohar, livre tres-difficile et contenant l’ancienne Doctrine Evangelique en latin […] elle ne m’eust clairement exposé.56
(Regarding feminine knowledge, it was great and eminent in her [Mother Joanna]. As for divine matters, all the doctrines specific to the 72 auditors of Moses and hidden for more than three thousand years kept secret from the Romans… a woman who had never studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew or any other language was not only able to open and read in Latin the Zohar to me, a very hermetic book containing the ancient Evangelic Doctrine, but also clearly expound upon it.)
There are two highly important elements in this excerpt. First, Postel views “feminine knowledge” as “great” and “eminent.” Furthermore, this high knowledge is actually part of her essence (note the imperfect “estoit,” which suggests an ontological presence). Second, he mentions Mother Joanna’s ability to explain the most difficult of all books: the Zohar. This is not innocent. According to kabbalists, an understanding of the Zohar places its reader in the highest spheres of knowledge. The view that women also possess Reason/Intelligence is clearly stated at the beginning of the book when Postel attempts to demonstrate that both men and women are infused with this “superior intellect”: “La Mente donc ha deux degrez, l’un pour l’homme, l’autre pour la Femme& l’Esprit semblablement” (“The Mind has two levels, one for the man, and the other for the woman and the spirit similarly”).57 A bit further in the book, he links this “superior intellect” to the debate on Anima and Animus.
L’Ame (anima) despend du corps & est constituée dedans le sang ; l’Anime (Animus) est immortel divinement crée & uni en une nature avec l’Ame, comme l’element de la terre avec l’eau ; la Mente ou Vertu Supérieure, ou l’Intellect Agent respond au feu & se conjoinct avec l’Anime; l’Esprit respondant à l’air se conjoinct à l’Ame comme avec la terre.58
(The Soul (anima) depends on the body and is formed in the blood; the Spirit (Animus) is immortal and divinely created and united in one nature with the Soul, the same way earth is united with water; Mind or Superior Virtue, or Intellect Agent is associated with fire and unites itself with the Soul; the Spirit, associated with air, unites itself with the Soul the same way earth unites with water.)
Even though Postel was not always consistent in his entire work with his use of the Anima and the Animus,59 one must recognize the originality of the introduction of “Menthe ou Vertu Supérieure” in his discussion. I would like to suggest that this concept is directly linked to his understanding of the Zohar, especially, to the idea that the “essence” or “sap” of God is believed to circulate through the tree of life. I contend that this “menthe” is none other than the Shechinah, the necessary and missing ingredient in his quest for unity and peace, at least as he envisions it. Far from separating the Animus from the Anima, Postel insists on their unity (“uni en une nature avec l’Ame”). He also borrows from alchemy its lexicon in order to attain this essential unity: air, water, earth, and fire are all part of the alchemist’s quest for the Great Work. One could argue that the “menthe,” analyzed within this quest, constitutes the fifth and vital element required to find the Philosophical Stone. However, this would not be in contradiction with the zoharic nature of his work. In fact, Postel always claimed, after his “immutation” with Mother Joanna, to be a magus. This was the purpose of naming himself Rorispergius (or “Sovereign Astrologue”). As such, he would perform the magic of calling all humans to find the Truth (or God’s Image). This explains why he saw the Zohar as “alchemical manuscript.”60 In his view, his work was similar to that of an alchemist in his lab. As Kuntz puts it “in Postel’s terminology the magician is he who discover the pure gold of nature, the laboratory which God has provided for man.”61 We now know that the development of what is usually referred to as Christian Kabbalah was also influenced by various hermetic traditions, including alchemy and neoplatonism. Christian kabbalists “believed that they had discovered in the Kabbalah an original divine revelation to mankind that had been lost and would now be restored, and with the aid of which it was possible not only to understand the teachings of Pythagoras, Plato, and the Orphics […] but also the secret of the Catholic faith.”62 It is evident that he is greatly influenced by the concept of the two Shechinah put forth by the Zohar. There is, in Les très merveilleuses victoires, a conscious effort to constantly explore and represent these two levels:
Donc il faut y aye deux degrés de raisonnabileté & deux de sensualite. Pour parler correct & bien distinctement j’appelle la superieure partie Animus ou l’Anime, & l’inferieure Anima ou l’Ame, comme feirent les anciens Italiens. Donc il y ha en l’un [l’homme] & l’autre [la femme] trois parties. L’anime, l’ame & le corps, lequel corps est aussi divisé en deux parties : l’une insensible comme les humeurs, les os, la moelle, la semence, les cheveux & poilz avec substance du cerveau & l’autre sensible, comme les nerfs, veines, arteres, muscles, peau & toute espece de chair…63
(It follows that there must be two levels of reasonability and two levels of sensuality. In truth and to speak clearly, I call the higher degree Animus or Spirit, and the lower degree Anima or Soul, the same way ancient Italians did. Therefore, there are one (the man) and the other (the woman) three parties. The spirit, the soul and the body, which in turn is divided in two parts: one insensitive part composed of things such as humors, bones, the marrow, the seed, hair and bristle with the substance of the brain; the other sensitive part composed of things such as nerves, veins, arteries, muscles, skin and any kind of flesh…)
For Postel, there are in both man and woman three parts: the Animus, the Anima, and the Body. The latter is in turn divided in two parts: insensitive and sensitive. Although one could dispute this arbitrary separation, what is constant is his desire to represent a similarity between both genders. In truth, Postel’s quest for world harmony is deeply entrenched in a sort of alchemical quest for the Androgynous Man (or Rebis). His allusion to the Four Elements, his bridging of opposites through the concept of the Potential coupled with the quintessential reunion with the Divine presence in the Shechinah all point to the alchemical nature of his entire work.
For Postel, women’s attributes transcend maternal qualities and he intends to demonstrate their divine nature by recounting their feats:
J’ay mis […] le Chapitre précédent […] pour les sages Femmes, c’est à sçavoir qui ses sont adonnées au sçavoir d’immortalité, pour les distinguer de celles qui non-seulement aux divines lettres, mais aussi aux humaines, ont été très-excellentes, ou encore de présent sont.64
(I dedicated the previous chapter to intelligent Women, those who devoted themselves to the knowledge of immortality so as to distinguish them from those who have excelled or continue to excel not only in divine letters but also in human ones as well.)
Women, according to him, have excelled in many areas and he wants to celebrate them. A quick look at the list of women he mentions confirms this desire to celebrate women’s intellectual attributes. First, he tells the story of Luigia Sigea:
Laquelle l’an 22 de son aage, l’an 1548, par expérience monstra, escripvant au Pape Paule (de respondre en Arabic & en Chalde, à laquelle fus par ledict Pape prier) en Latin, en Grec, en Hebreu, en Chalde & en Arabic par tout doctissimement, combien il y ha en elle de sçavoir. Car oultre la congnoisance des dites langues, elle a veu tous les cours des disciplines & sacrées & humaines, chose qui montre que à la Femme n’est rien impossible.65
(Which from the age of 22, in the year 1548, showed by experience and by writing to Pope Paul in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean and Arabic with such learning, what knowledge she had. For other than the knowledge of the aforementioned languages, she was exposed to all sorts of subjects, both sacred and profane, proof that to Woman nothing is impossible.)
Here, Postel refers to Luisa Sigea, a renowned Spanish poetess who spent most of her life serving Maria de Portugal (1521–1577). She was known for her precocious and libertine intelligence. As a humanist, she is believed to have represented a case of an exceptionally learned woman of the Spanish Renaissance seeking to perform in a nonreligious milieu. For example, Sigea’s vernacular poems, such as “Un fin, una esperanza, un como, un cuando” and “Pasados tengo hasta ahora”, can be viewed as an attempt to revisit and to challenge the traditional poetic female subject often used in Petrarchan poetry. Here, as Mar Martinez Gongora states, “she revises the traditional trajectory of the Petrarchan poetic subject in order to replace the elusive woman, viewed as a passive object of the male gaze and ultimately responsible for his spiritual perfection, into a female subject able to articulate her own poetic voice, a voice impregnated by melancholy and sorrow.”66 Sigea refutes the Aristotelian concept of melancholy as an exclusive male artistic genius, by constructing a female subject that would embody special characteristics she viewed as powerful and unique. According to Góngora, “his use of melancholy coincides with her personal frustration with the lack of professional opportunities open to a female humanist in the Spanish courts of the Renaissance.”67 One notes the insistence on the knowledge (“congnoisance”) of many languages, a clear sign of intellectual ability. Most striking though, is the firm assertion that “à la Femme n’est rien impossible,” to a woman nothing is impossible.
This limitless and infinite possibility is obviously borrowed from the Zohar, since, as we have shown, the Shechinah is said to have inherited from the Ein Sof his infinite nature. One could even argue that here, one senses that Postel wants to posit himself as an advocate for women, for the recognition of their ability. This is perhaps the reason he invokes the next woman: “signora Isabella Rosera, gentilfemme Espagnole.” It is said that Isabella Rosera devoted herself to the conversion of the Jews, dazzled multitudes with her eloquence in the cathedral in Barcelona, and expounded the subtleties of Duns Scotus before prelates and cardinals at Rome.68 Postel then concludes with a powerful woman, Marguerite of France: “Mais qui congnoistra Madame Marguerite de France, la pourra vrayement estimer le Parangon des lettres & heritiere de l’excellent siecle …”69 (“Yet, anyone who meets Mme. Marguerite of France will no doubt consider her as the Model of letters and the heiress of this great century…”). It is fundamental to underline the word “parangon” of letters. Postel sees her not only as a literary model, but also as a gem or a precious stone representing the intellectual elite. Such an elevation cannot be ignored in a century where women were still struggling for social recognition and deference. This is perhaps the reason why Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes created a scandal. It is certainly one of the reasons he was cast as heretic and fell from grace. Jean Dupebe, quoting Antoine Couillard in his attempt to justify Postel’s fall from grace in the political sphere, writes: “Par audacieuse presumption il auait non seulement publicquement presché, mais aussi escript & faict imprimer un oeuvre, qui a bon droict fut incontinent censuré, comme le plus depraué & scandaleux, qu’oncque ait esté veu en toutes le(s) Gaulles” (“…because of his audacious presumption, he had not only publicly preached, but also written and had published a work, which was rightly censured, as the most depraved and scandalous that had ever been seen in all of Gaul”).70 The book, addressed to Marguerite of France, certainly annoyed political authorities as its censure clearly suggests. But more importantly, this book was negatively received in religious circles since it was evident that Postel was attempting to connect the virtues and intelligence of Marguerite of France to Mother Joanna’s mystical knowledge of the divine.
In a final analysis, one can see that in Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, Guillaume Postel, far from viewing women as inferior, intends to laud their intellectual qualities. There is no doubt that his views on women changed with time and context but what stands out in Postel’s discourse on women is how his quest in women seems to be the foundation for world harmony. In this regard, his use of both alchemy and kabbalah is original in that the feminine principle is the single important element in achieving peace among human beings. His discourse is unique in that it touches at least three very important areas of human society: religion, politics, and science. The reason Postel was considered a heretic was mainly because of the place he gave to women in the restitution of all things. In a time when women were mainly portrayed as evil, one must admire Postel’s courage. Politically speaking, his whole body of work, and particularly Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, created outrage, as we have shown, in political circles. Because he devoted the great part of life to establishing a universal monarchy,71 it is safe to assume that political authorities also feared the centrality of women in such a structure. Postel, with his diplomatic duties and his knowledge of Turkish culture, was among the firsts to raise the concept of a European Union. In his Republique des Turcs, Postel makes a very modern argument on the type of relationship that could be possible with the Turks.72 With regards to science, Postel’s quest for knowledge was remarkable because it was driven by this view of the importance of the feminine. His attraction to oriental languages and philosophies was certainly based on his desire to demonstrate the importance of the restitution of all things: most notably Hebrew as a divine language and the feminine principle. It is no surprise that Postel has now been acknowledged as “the first Orientalist and the first comparative linguist.”73 Considering the context of the Renaissance, Postel can quite easily be called a “feminist” because of the way he inverts, subverts, or even transcends gender roles. In my view, the kabbalistic (and also alchemical) nature of his understanding of the universe, and his attraction to the concept of the Shechinah set this book apart. I would argue that perhaps his idea of Restitutio, borrowed from lurianic kabbalah and its concept of the Tikkun (Restoration), constitute the sort of triumphant esotericism that makes Postel both controversial and appealing.
1 François Secret has published an important body of work on Postel that includes titles such as, “Le Zôhar chez les kabbalistes chrétiens de la renaissance,” in Mémoires de la société des études juives, III (Paris: Librairie Durlacher, 1958); Les kabbalistes chrétiens de la Renaissance (Paris: Dunod, 1964); Guillaume Postel (1510–1581) et son interprétation du candélabre de Moyse (Nieuwkoop: B. De Graaf, 1966); Le thrésor des prophéties de l’univers, a manuscript published with his introduction and notes (Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Idées. No. 27. La Haye: Martinus Nijhoff, 1969); Bibliographie des manuscrits de Guillaume Postel (Genève: Droz, 1970).
2 See important works by William J. Bouwsma, Concordia Mundi: The career and thought of Guillaume Postel (1510–1581) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957); Marion L. Kuntz, Guillaume Postel: Prophet of the Restitution of all Things, His Life and Thought (London: Martinus Nijhoff, 1981); and Yvonne Petry, Gender, Kabbalah and the Reformation: The Mystical Theology of Guillaume Postel (1510–1581) (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2004).
3 Bouwsma, p. 57.
4 Jean Dupebe, “Poursuites contre Postel en 1553,” Guillaume Postel, 1581–1981: actes du colloque international d’Avranches, 5–9 septembre 1981 (Paris: Editions de la Maisnie, 1985), pp. 29–39 (30). All translations of French quotes in this essay are my own.
5 Dupebe, 31. See also Guillaume Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes du nouveau monde (Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1970).
6 See here an excellent article by Peter A. Redpath “The nature of woman and her role in religion according to Guillaume Postel,” published in a special volume of Actes du Colloque International d’Avranches (Guillaume Postel, 1581–1981), 137–49.
7 See Yvonne Petry in her book Gender, Kabbalah and the Reformation.
8 Petry, p. 53.
9 Petry, p. 51.
10 Redpath, p. 137.
11 Redpath, p. 138.
12 Redpath, pp. 140–41.
13 Redpath, p. 149.
14 Petry’s book is quite interesting in this regard. Although she refers to the kabbalistic context quite successfully, an analysis of important kabbalistic concepts (such as the Shechinah) valued by Postel is nonexistent.
15 Isaac Luria (1534–1572), also known as the “Ari Zaal” or “Divine Rabbi Isaac” developed a complex doctrine called the Shevirat-ha-Kelim or the Breaking of the Vessels in which the main idea revolves around a three-phased evolution of the world: 1) contraction, 2) shattering (similar to twentieth century Big Bang theory), and 3) repair. This doctrine has greatly influenced subsequent kabbalistic theories.
16 See here Gershom Gerhard Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism (New York: Schocken Books, 1996).
17 Petry, p. 145.
18 According to Postel, while in Venice, he received guidance from an illiterate woman called Madre Zuana, or Mother Joanna, the “Venetian Virgin.” He frequently refers to her as the mother of the world, the Shechinah, and the second Messiah.
19 Petry, p. 142.
20 Kuntz, p. 84.
21 See Bouwsma, Concordia Mundi.
22 Guillaume Postel, De Orbis terrae Concordia: libri quatuor… (Basel: Oporinus, 1544), p. 432.
23 De Orbis, p. 433.
24 De Orbis, p. 8.
25 When referring to the Christian recuperation of the Jewish Kabbalah, critics usually write Cabala. We use this form here only.
26 Pico will develop, in his 900 Theses, a comprehensive use of magic and the kabbalah with the goal of rationally proving the divine and messianic essence of Jesus. For more on Pico’s theses, as well as an excellent English translation, see Stephen Alan Farmer, Syncretism in the West: Pico’s 900 Theses (1486): The Evolution of Traditional, Religious, and Philosophical Systems, with Text, Translation, and Commentary (Tempe, AZ: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1998).
27 My emphasis.
28 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, pp. 70–71.
29 John Caputo, The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997), p. 3.
30 The sephirotic tree of life is presented later in this essay.
31 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 70.
32 Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, p. 1.
33 All italicized excerpts in quotes are my emphasis.
34 Zohar 3, Beresheet B:51. All citations from the Zohar are drawn from: http://www.kabbalah.com/k/index.php/p=zohar
35 Zohar 3, Tehilim 85: 14.
36 Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah (New York: New York Times Book Co., 1974), p. 197.
37 I am using as my model Gershom Scholem’s structuration of the tree of life in his work Kabbalah. I also adopt his terminology throughout this essay in order to facilitate the argument.
38 Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 105.
39 Arthur Green, A guide to the Zohar (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004), p. 50.
40 Green, p. 52.
41 Green, p. 52.
42 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, pp. 62–3.
43 Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 111.
44 Zohar 9, Vayetze: 27.
45 Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 76.
46 Zohar 19, Yitro: 19.
47 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 49.
48 See, Kuntz, p. 100.
49 Zohar 32, Acharei Mot: 56.
50 Zohar 49, Ki Tetze: 22.
51 Petry, p. 53.
52 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 8.
53 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 15.
54 Petry, p. 104.
55 Petry, p. 107.
56 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 89.
57 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 17.
58 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 37.
59 Petry, p. 57.
60 Kuntz, p. 168.
61 Kuntz. P. 170.
62 Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 197.
63 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 15.
64 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 21.
65 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 24.
66 Mar Martinez Góngora, “Poesía, Melancolía y Subjetividad Femenina: La Humanista Luisa Sigea,” Neophilologus, 90/3 (2006): 423–43 (423).
67 Góngora, p. 423.
68 See René Maulde-La-Clavière and George Herbert Ely, The Women of the Renaissance: A Study of Feminism (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd., 1900), p. 409.
69 Postel, Les très merveilleuses victoires des femmes, p. 22.
70 “Poursuites contre Postel en 1553,” p. 38.
71 Kuntz, p. 171.
72 Guillaume Postel, De la Republique des Turcs, et là ou l’occasion s’offrira, des meurs et loy de tous Muhamedistes…Histoire et considération de l’origine, loy et coustume des Tartares, Persiens, Arabes, Turcs…(Poitiers: Chez E. de Marnef, 1560).
73 Kuntz, p. 172.