{"product_id":"the-alchemical-feminine-women-gender-and-sexuality-in-alchemical-images-by-m-e-warlick","title":"The Alchemical Feminine: Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Alchemical Images by M.E. Warlick","description":"\u003cdiv id=\"div_block-304-42290\" class=\"ct-div-block\"\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"headline-305-42290\" class=\"ct-headline product-meta-heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"div_block-306-42290\" class=\"ct-div-block\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"-product-description-307-42290\" class=\"oxy-product-description oxy-woo-element\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"s2\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003eThe product of more than 25 years of research, M.E. Warlick's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s4\"\u003eThe Alchemical \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s4\"\u003eFeminine\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003e is a pioneering analysis of a hitherto neglected aspect of alchemy. Framing the subject's rich and diverse iconography within chronological, geographical, and thematic terms, Warlick's argument examines the shifting presentation and emphasis given to the feminine within an ever more masculine domain. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"s2\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003eSummarising the book, the author notes: 'The images of women compiled in this volume evolved from alchemical philosophy, in which gendered and sexualized concepts are used to describe physical matter and laboratory processes. When alchemical imagery arose in the late Middle Ages, and over the next three centuries, images of women developed in ways that reflected wider social pressures. Building on scholarly studies of the increasing exclusion of women from public arenas in the early modern period, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s4\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Alchemical Feminine\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003eexamines the transformations of alchemical images of women and the increasing masculinization of earlier feminine imagery.'\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"s6\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003eWhe\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003en\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003ealchemy returned \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003efrom the Middle East\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003eto the Latin West, metals were thought to be composed of hot, dry, fixed\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003ePhilosophic Sulphur (masculine), and cool, moist, volatile\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003ePhilosophic Mercury (feminine). In the laboratory, these lovers fused in a 'Chemical Wedding' that produced their child, the 'Philosophers’ Stone,' a mysterious catalyst enabling the transformation of base metals into silver and gold. As alchemical imagery developed, women appeared as \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003ephilosophers, religious figures, royal queens, sexual partners, cosmological personifications, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003emythological\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003edeities, allegorical symbols of Nature and the wives of fools. Herbal alchemy also had ancient \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003eroots\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003e,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003e and it is in this realm that women as alchemical practitioners can be found.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"s7\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s3\"\u003eWith more than 200 illustrations, this ground-breaking book examines the alchemical feminine and the thematic diversity of alchemical images of women.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublication date: November 19th.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Watkins Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56656360309110,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/0635\/6656\/files\/IMG_3783.heic?v=1776939850","url":"https:\/\/shop.watkinsbooks.com\/products\/the-alchemical-feminine-women-gender-and-sexuality-in-alchemical-images-by-m-e-warlick","provider":"Watkins Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}