Alchemy Archive Reference
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Alchemy Journal Vol.7 No.2
Alchemy Journal Vol.7 No.2 Vol.7 No.2 Autumn 2006 CONTENTS ARTICLES Fulcanelli's Identity The Alchemical Art Planetary Attributions of Plants FEATURES New Releases From the Fire Announcements Lectures EDITORIAL From the Editor Submissions Subscriptions Resources Return to Top Some of the reliable information that we know about Fulcanelli comes from the Prefaces written by Canseliet, while other information comes The Illustration above was drawn by artist-alchemist Juliene Champagne. It is from a 1926 French edition of Fulcanelli: Mystery of the from such other Cathedrals sources as various interviews that were http://www.alchemylab.com/AJ7-2.htm (1 of 19)11/1/2006 10:14:47 PM Alchemy Journal Vol.7 No.2 Fulcanelli's Most Likely Identity - Part I later conducted with Canseliet. It almost seems as though Canseliet deliberately By Christer Böke and John Koopmans left behind a number of tantalizing clues. Editor’s Note: This article is being published in as a two part series. In Part I, the authors summarize what is known about Fulcanelli based on primary sources of information provided by his trusted confidant, Eugene Canseliet, establish an approach they will use to review whether or not several proposed candidates are in fact the true identify of the famous and mysterious Master Alchemist, and attempt to establish the date of his birth and “departure” or death. Part II of the article, to be published in the next issue of the Journal, reveals the authors’ belief about the likelihood of these candidates actually being Fulcanelli and presents their proposed answer to the question: Who was Fulcanelli? Introduction ARTICLES The 20th century Master Alchemist, Fulcanelli, is well-known to the alchemical community through the two highly regarded books that bear his name: Le Mystère des Cathédrales (1926), and Les Demeures Fulcanelli's Identity Philosophales (1930). -
Mystical Practices of Alchemy
Mystical Practices of Alchemy The language of secret symbols has always hidden alchemy from the curiosity of the uninitiated. We still do not actually know alchemy’s true nature: for some it is the making of gold from other metals, for others – finding the elixir of immortality, and select groups throughout history have tried to accomplish complete transformation of the human body and soul. Royal art Alchemy is the mother of chemistry. It is in alchemical laboratories that for the first time scientists obtained sulfur, nitric and hydrochloric acid, saltpeter, lead, and many drugs. Medieval alchemists set very specific tasks. One of the European heads of alchemy, Rodger Bacon (13th century) wrote the following: “Alchemy is the science of how to prepare a compound or elixir, which, if added to base metals will transform them into sophisticated metals.” By transforming base metals into precious, alchemy challenges nature itself. Even though in Medieval Europe alchemy was practically illegal, many religious and secular people patronized it depending on hoping to get the “contemptible metal”. Not only did they patronize it, they actually practiced it themselves. Alchemy became a real “royal art”. Augustus II the Strong (1670-1733) whose claim of the Polish crown required significant resources transformed Dresden into the true capital of alchemy. For the purpose of filling the national treasury with gold, he brought the talented alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger. To what extent did Böttger succeed in filling the treasury with gold, history remains silent. Alchemists in Europe were a lot, but the adepts – the ones who knew the secret of the Philosopher’s stone – were very few. -
Slater V. Baker and Stapleton (C.B. 1767): Unpublished Monographs by Robert D. Miller
SLATER V. BAKER AND STAPLETON (C.B. 1767): UNPUBLISHED MONOGRAPHS BY ROBERT D. MILLER ROBERT D. MILLER, J.D., M.S. HYG. HONORARY FELLOW MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOETHICS DEPARTMENT SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON PRINTED BY AUTHOR MADISON, WISCONSIN 2019 © ROBERT DESLE MILLER 2019 BOUND BY GRIMM BOOK BINDERY, MONONA, WI AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION These unpublished monographs are being deposited in several libraries. They have their roots in my experience as a law student. I have been interested in the case of Slater v. Baker and Stapleton since I first learned of it in law school. I was privileged to be a member of the Yale School Class of 1974. I took an elective course with Dr. Jay Katz on the protection of human subjects and then served as a research assistant to Dr. Katz in the summers of 1973 and 1974. Dr. Katz’s course used his new book EXPERIMENTATION WITH HUMAN BEINGS (New York: Russell Sage Foundation 1972). On pages 526-527, there are excerpts from Slater v. Baker. I sought out and read Slater v. Baker. It seemed that there must be an interesting backstory to the case, but it was not accessible at that time. I then practiced health law for nearly forty years, representing hospitals and doctors, and writing six editions of a textbook on hospital law. I applied my interest in experimentation with human beings by serving on various Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) during that period. IRBs are federally required committees that review and approve experiments with humans at hospitals, universities and other institutions. -
260 Paul Kléber Monod This Is an Ambitious Book. Monod's
260 book reviews Paul Kléber Monod Solomon’s Secret Arts: The Occult in the Age of Enlightenment, New Haven and London: Yale University Press 2013. x + 430 pp. isbn 978-0-300-12358-6. This is an ambitious book. Monod’s subject is the occult, by which he means ‘a type of thinking expressed either in writing or in action, that allowed the boundary between the natural and the supernatural to be crossed by the ac- tions of human beings’ (p. 5). Although he cites the work of Antoine Faivre, Wouter Hanegraaff and others, readers of Aries will doubtless be interested to learn Monod’s reasoning for using the term occult in preference to West- ern esotericism. In short, while acknowledging the important contribution of the ‘esoteric approach’ he also highlights its perceived ‘shortcomings’, namely a tendency to regard relevant texts as ‘comprising a discrete and largely self- referential intellectual tradition, hermetically sealed so as to ward off the taint of other forms of thought, not to mention social trends and popular practices’. Moreover, ‘scholars of esoteric religion’ apparently ‘have a tendency to inter- pret whatever they are studying with the greatest seriousness, so that hucksters and charlatans turn into philosophers, and minor references in obscure eso- teric works take on labyrinthine significances’ (p. 10). In practice, what Monod understands here as the occult is largely restricted to alchemy, astrology and rit- ual magic; a maelstrom which, among other things, pulled in readers of Hermes Trismegistus, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, Jacob Boehme and the Kabbalah, outwardly respectable scientists and anti-Trinitarians (sometimes one and the same); Philadelphians; French Prophets; Freemasons; students of Ancient Britain and the Druids; cunning folk; authors of popular Gothic novels; certain followers of Emmanuel Swedenborg; Neoplatonists; advocates of Ani- mal magnetism; and Judaized millenarians. -
Tensions Between Scientia and Ars in Medieval Natural Philosophy and Magic Isabelle Draelants
The notion of ‘Properties’ : Tensions between Scientia and Ars in medieval natural philosophy and magic Isabelle Draelants To cite this version: Isabelle Draelants. The notion of ‘Properties’ : Tensions between Scientia and Ars in medieval natural philosophy and magic. Sophie PAGE – Catherine RIDER, eds., The Routledge History of Medieval Magic, p. 169-186, 2019. halshs-03092184 HAL Id: halshs-03092184 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03092184 Submitted on 16 Jan 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. This article was downloaded by: University College London On: 27 Nov 2019 Access details: subscription number 11237 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG, UK The Routledge History of Medieval Magic Sophie Page, Catherine Rider The notion of properties Publication details https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315613192-14 Isabelle Draelants Published online on: 20 Feb 2019 How to cite :- Isabelle Draelants. 20 Feb 2019, The notion of properties from: The Routledge History of Medieval Magic Routledge Accessed on: 27 Nov 2019 https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315613192-14 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR DOCUMENT Full terms and conditions of use: https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/legal-notices/terms This Document PDF may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. -
A Lexicon of Alchemy
A Lexicon of Alchemy by Martin Rulandus the Elder Translated by Arthur E. Waite John M. Watkins London 1893 / 1964 (250 Copies) A Lexicon of Alchemy or Alchemical Dictionary Containing a full and plain explanation of all obscure words, Hermetic subjects, and arcane phrases of Paracelsus. by Martin Rulandus Philosopher, Doctor, and Private Physician to the August Person of the Emperor. [With the Privilege of His majesty the Emperor for the space of ten years] By the care and expense of Zachariah Palthenus, Bookseller, in the Free Republic of Frankfurt. 1612 PREFACE To the Most Reverend and Most Serene Prince and Lord, The Lord Henry JULIUS, Bishop of Halberstadt, Duke of Brunswick, and Burgrave of Luna; His Lordship’s mos devout and humble servant wishes Health and Peace. In the deep considerations of the Hermetic and Paracelsian writings, that has well-nigh come to pass which of old overtook the Sons of Shem at the building of the Tower of Babel. For these, carried away by vainglory, with audacious foolhardiness to rear up a vast pile into heaven, so to secure unto themselves an immortal name, but, disordered by a confusion and multiplicity of barbarous tongues, were ingloriously forced. In like manner, the searchers of Hermetic works, deterred by the obscurity of the terms which are met with in so many places, and by the difficulty of interpreting the hieroglyphs, hold the most noble art in contempt; while others, desiring to penetrate by main force into the mysteries of the terms and subjects, endeavour to tear away the concealed truth from the folds of its coverings, but bestow all their trouble in vain, and have only the reward of the children of Shem for their incredible pain and labour. -
Ethan Allen Hitchcock Alchemy Collection in the St
A Guide to the Ethan Allen Hitchcock Alchemy Collection in the St. Louis Mercantile Library The St. Louis Mercantile Library Association Major-General Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1798 - 1870) A GUIDE TO THE ETHAN ALLEN HITCHCOCK COLLECTION OF THE ST. LOUIS MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION A collective effort produced by the NEH Project Staff of the St. Louis Mercantile Library Copyright (c) 1989 St. Louis Mercantile Library Association St. Louis, Missouri TABLE OF CONTENTS Project Staff................................ i Foreword and Acknowledgments................. 1 A Guide to the Ethan Allen Hitchcock Collection. .. 6 Aoppendix. 109 NEH PROJECT STAFF Project Director: John Neal Hoover* Archivist: Ann Morris, 1987-1989 Archivist: Betsy B. Stoll, 1989 Consultant: Louisa Bowen Typist: ' Betsy B. Stoll This project was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities * Charles F. Bryan, Jr. Ph.D., Executive Director of the Mercantile Library 1986-1988; Jerrold L. Brooks, Ph.D. Executive Director of the Mercantile Library, 1989; John Neal Hoover, MA, MLS, Acting Librarian, 1988, 1989, during the period funded by NEH as Project Director -i- FOREWORD & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: For over one thousand years, the field of alchemy gathered to it strands of religion, the occult, chemistry, pure sciences, astrology and magic into a broad general philosophical world view which was, quite apart from the stereotypical view of the charlatan gold maker, concerned with the forming of a basis of knowledge on all aspects of life's mysteries. As late as the early nineteenth century, when many of the modern fields of the true sciences of mind and matter were young and undeveloped, alchemy was a beacon for many people looking for a philosophical basis to the better understanding of life--to the basic religious and philosophical truths. -
Renaissance Man, Series One, Part 2
Renaissance Man, Series One, Part 2 RENAISSANCE MAN: THE RECONSTRUCTED LIBRARIES OF EUROPEAN SCHOLARS, 1450-1700 Series One: The Books and Manuscripts of John Dee, 1527-1608 Part 2: John Dee's Manuscripts from Corpus Christi College, Oxford Contents listing EDITORIAL PREFACE PUBLISHER'S NOTE CONTENTS OF REELS DETAILED LISTING Renaissance Man, Series One, Part 2 Editorial Preface by Dr Julian Roberts Research on John Dee (1527-1609) is gradually showing him to be one of the most interesting and complex figures of the late English renaissance. Although he was long regarded – for example in the Dictionary of National Biography – as alternately a charlatan and a dupe, he was revealed by E G R Taylor in 1930 as the teacher of the most important Elizabethan navigators. Research since then has underlined his role in the teaching of mathematics and astronomy, in astrology, alchemy, British antiquities, hermeticism, cabala and occultism, and, posthumously, in the Rosicrucian “movement” that swept Europe in the second and third decades of the seventeenth century. Dee thus stood, in the middle of the sixteenth century, at the watershed between magic and science, looking back at one and forward to the other. Central to all these interests was a great library, the largest that had ever been built up by one man in England. Dee’s omnivorous reading (demonstrated by his characteristic annotation) and the availability of his library to others fed many of the intellectual streams of Elizabethan England, and he was well known to Continental scholars, even before his ultimately disastrous visit to eastern Europe in 1583-89. -
The Alchemists Handbook: Manual for Practical Laboratory Alchemy Free
FREE THE ALCHEMISTS HANDBOOK: MANUAL FOR PRACTICAL LABORATORY ALCHEMY PDF Frater Albertus | 128 pages | 15 Jan 1997 | RED WHEEL/WEISER | 9780877286554 | English | Maine, United States Alchemist's Handbook: Manual for Practical Laboratory Alchemy Without question, the greatest practical introduction to laboratory alchemy. This book is not intended to be all that you will ever need to read to practice alchemy; rather, it provides philosophy and Frater Albertus Spagyricus Dr. Based on the Paracelsian concept of three essentials, Body, Soul and Spirit, Frater Albertus developed a system of teaching alchemical concepts using the spagyric technique of separation and cohobation. The unique gradated courses allowed students to explore aspects of the vegetable, mineral and animal kingdoms in an understandable and accessible way. Previous to this, one had to be a member of The Alchemists Handbook: Manual for Practical Laboratory Alchemy fraternity or secret society in order to gain access to structured teaching. After his death inthe college ceased operations in the United States but continued to carry on the tradition in Australia. Frater Albertus had a profound effect on the way Alchemy and particularly the Spagyric method was disseminated and understood in the mid to late 20th century. His works were translated into many languages. Frater Albertus. Formerly handed down under oath of secrecy, this clear, concise handbook discusses: the fundamental principles of alchemy; directions for the formation of an inexpensive home laboratory, with illustrations of the necessary equipment; step-by-step instructions for the work of the Lesser Circulation, the alchemical The Alchemists Handbook: Manual for Practical Laboratory Alchemy within the plant kingdom? The Alchemist's Handbook Albertus Frater. -
A Short Course in Forgetting Chemistry
[This is from What Painting Is (New York: Routledge, 1998). This was originally posted on www.jameselkins.com. This version is unillustrated: some illustrations are on the website. Some alchemical symbols have dropped out of this file. See the website for context, other material from the book, and for contact information for the author. (September 2009).] 1 A short course in forgetting chemistry Painting is alchemy. Its materials are worked without knowledge of their properties, by blind experiment, by the feel of the paint. A painter knows what to do by the tug of the brush as it pulls through a mixture of oils, and by the look of colored slurries on the palette. Drawing is a matter of touch: the pressure of the charcoal on the slightly yielding paper, the sticky slip of the oil crayon between the fingers. Artists become expert in distinguishing between degrees of gloss and wetness—and they do so without knowing how they do it, or how chemicals create their effects. Monet’s paintings are a case in point. They seem especially simple to many people, as if Monet were the master of certain moods—of moist bluish twilight or candent yellow beaches— but nothing more: as if he had no sense that painting could be anything but a method for fixing light onto canvas. In his singleminded pursuit of the grain and feel of light, he seems to forget who he is, and who he is painting. He has only a weak attachment to people, and he treats the figures who stray into his pictures as if they were colored dolls instead of friends and relatives.i Instead his attention is riveted to the blurry shapes that come forward through the imperfect atmosphere, and on the shifting tints of light that somehow congeal into meadows and oceans and haystacks. -
Medicine, Astrology, and Written Records
Casebooks in Early Modern England: Medicine, Astrology, and Written Records Lauren Kassell Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Volume 88, Number 4, Winter 2014, pp. 595-625 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2014.0066 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/564670 [ Access provided at 5 Oct 2021 13:50 GMT with no institutional affiliation ] Casebooks in Early Modern England: Medicine, Astrology, and Written Records LAUREN KASSELL Summary: Casebooks are the richest sources that we have for encounters between early modern medical practitioners and their patients. This article compares astrological and medical records across two centuries, focused on England, and charts developments in the ways in which practitioners kept records and reflected on their practices. Astrologers had a long history of working from particular moments, stellar configurations, and events to general rules. These practices required systematic notation. Physicians increasingly modeled themselves on Hip- pocrates, recording details of cases as the basis for reasoned expositions of the histories of disease. Medical records, as other scholars have demonstrated, shaped the production of medical knowledge. Instead, this article focuses on the nature of casebooks as artifacts of the medical encounter. It establishes that casebooks were serial records of practice, akin to diaries, testimonials, and registers; identi- fies extant English casebooks and the practices that led to their production and preservation; and concludes that the processes of writing, ordering, and preserv- ing medical records are as important for understanding the medical encounter as the records themselves. Keywords: casebooks, medical records, astrology, paper technologies, cases, patients, Simon Forman, Richard Napier This research has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, through an Enhancement Award 2004–9 and a Strategic Award 2009–14 on “Generation to Reproduction” (grants 074298 and 088708). -
Die Edelgeborne Jungfer Alchymia: the Final Stage of European Alchemy
50 Bull. Hist. Chem., VOLUME 25, Number 1 (2000) DIE EDELGEBORNE JUNGFER ALCHYMIA: THE FINAL STAGE OF EUROPEAN ALCHEMY Vladimír Karpenko, Charles University, Czech Republic Introduction followed the Thirty Years War. German titles represent one third out of all alchemical books that appeared over The term “alchemy” encompasses a broad spectrum of the whole studied period (4). This is a witness of the activities that appeared in the Hellenistic world in the live interest paid to alchemy in Central Europe; the first centuries of our era and then, through Arabic me- majority of these books are still awaiting scholarly re- diation, reached Latin Europe by the mid 12thcentury. search. Out of numerous attempts to define this science, that Alchemical literature underwent gradual change, proposed by Sheppard (1) appears the most suitable be- being at the beginning often theoretical explanations of cause it includes the two main goals of alchemy: the the composition of matter and recipes for the prepara- enhancement of matter and the improvement of human tion of philosopher’s stone, elixirs, etc. Yet none of these existence. Concerning the former, it should be achieved miracles was effected; no true transmutation of metals by the transmutation of base metals into precious ones, succeeded. An example of the fate of alchemical claims while the second main direction strove for improvement to cure all illnesses was their failure during epidemics of humans by extending their life, the further stage of of plague that broke out in Europe by the mid 14th cen- which was seen as attaining a higher spiritual level.