ABSTRACT
Problems of disciplinary self-definition have recently reemerged in a manner somewhat surprising to scholars outside the field labeling itself "Western esotericism". These intersections of mathematics, mystical ritual, political action, and disciplinary definition also usefully open up inquiry in science history. When mathematics reaches its height, we find archemastrie, for which there is no Proclan precedent. This science is "experimentall" and thus has three prerogatives, of which the second is important for us: "experimentall" science can discover knowledge in the spheres of other sciences that they themselves cannot discover. Clulee argues that "archemastrie is less a distinct science with its own subject matter and principles than a catchword for the experiential methods that can be applied in all sciences". Borrowing a phrase from Quentin Skinner, Clulee argues that understanding of Dee is hampered by a "myth of coherence", and he rightly claims that Dee's thought did not spring forth, like Athena, fully formed.
