[While John Dee’s interest in spirit communications has been considered discreditable, that is because Christian authorities assumed that any spirit that talked through, well, anybody but them, was probably a demon. Dee was considerate of this, and didn’t necessarily trust anything or anyone.
The Faustian path is one taken by a lot of people in history – well educated, always seeking for more knowledge, they exhaust their resources, reach a pinnacle, and still grasping, find empty air. Faust dies on a dung heap, Dee dies broke. The quest for learning involves unhinging one’s self from the mundane. Drifting is a challenge, getting caught up in a current and lost happens far too often. The people who do this accept the risks. Dee was unable to secure a patron and a living. His hope lay in some advance in alchemy or spirit mining, but nothing was fruitful. The material world was the place to secure riches, but even that’s a gamble and requires more dedication that Dee seems willing to have given it.Dee took Faust’s path and paid the traditional price. From Charlotte Fell Smith, a small quote:]
“Search while thou wilt; and let thy reason goTo ransom truth, e’en to th’abyss below;Rally the scattered causes; and that lineWhich nature twists be able to untwine.It is thy Maker’s will; for unto noneBut unto reason can He e’er be known.”— Sir Thomas BrownePasted from <http://www.johndee.org/charlotte/pdf/charlotte.pdf>