A profound transformation occured in Western culture during the Renaissance fueled in large part by the rediscovery of the mythological, pagan imagination. While the Greek gods and goddesses had never been entirely eclipsed during the ?Dark Ages,? with the Renaissance their presence once again became a powerful force in Western civilization. This large format and highly illustrated book provides new perspectives on this phenomenon, demonstrating how the pagan revival permeated every aspect of Renaissance life and culture. echoes of which have survived to today's neo-pagan movement.Joscelyn Godwin explains how the European imagination was seduced by the pagan gods, and how people of wealth and leisure began to decorate their villas and palaces with images of them, write stories about them, and even produce music and dramatic pageants about them. In one of the most fascinating chapters, he explores the ?garden magic? of the Renaissance villas, and takes the reader on a stunning tour of these complex esoteric landscapes, in which transformations of the soul become possible. Godwin investigates how the pagan imagination existed side-by-side ? sometimes uneasily ? with the official symbols and doctrines of the Church, and documents how pagan themes were used to enhance both public and private life.In its deepest and most vibrant form, we discover how the pagan dream of the Renaissance represented nostalgia for a classical world untroubled by sin and in no need of redemption.

?The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance is a gem of a book, and I mean that with all the resonance of alchemy, beauty, magic, and art. It?s an exquisitely written tour of a still rather unknown practice in Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries when art was linked directly to the mysteries that comprise human life. If you want a doorway to a world far richer than the one of inanimate machinery and mere information that is ours, enter the dream of this book, which doesn?t just describe but evokes the genius of those times.? ? Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and The Soul?s Religion.