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Alchemy & Hermeticism
The First Alchemists by Tobias Churton
£22.50 £25.00
Showing how women dominated early alchemy, Churton looks at the first known alchemist, the Jewess Maria the Prophetess, inventor of the bain marie, still in use worldwide today. He also looks at early alchemist Cleopatra (not the well-known Egyptian queen) and 3rd–4th century Egyptian female artisan Theosebeia, who had a guild of adepts working under her. He examines in depth the work of Zosimos of Panopolis and shows how Zosimos’s historic work inspired the medieval view of alchemy as an initiatory path whose stages follow the transmutation of base metals into gold.
Exploring the latest research on early practices in Upper Egypt, the author discusses the political and industrial realities facing the first alchemists. He examines the late antique “Stockholm” and “Leiden” papyri, which offer detailed knowledge of the first known Greco-Egyptian chemical recipes for gold and silver dyes for metal and stone, and purple dyes for wool. He emphasizes how changing color in early alchemy was misinterpreted to imply transmutation of one metal into another.
He reveals how the alchemical secrets for working with the “living statues” of the Egyptian temples was jealously guarded by the priesthood and how secrecy helped to reinforce beliefs that alchemical knowledge came from forbidden, celestial sources. He also investigates the mysterious relation between alchemy, spiritual gnosis, Hermeticism, and the Book of Enoch. Revealing the hidden legacy of the early alchemists, Churton shows how their secret workings provided a transmission line for ancient heretical doctrines to survive into the Renaissance and beyond.
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On Alchemy by Brian Cotnoir
£11.69 £12.99
Alchemy is the art of transmuting base metal into gold - a material process that also functions as a metaphor for spiritual transformation and creativity. This book contains all the information and skills you need to start practising alchemy - to unite your inner spiritual work with your outer work, to decode the most complex alchemical texts and also, if you wish, to take up practical laboratory alchemy. The book is aimed at all those who are excited about alchemy's potential for spiritually enriching their lives and art, as well as practising alchemists who want key to the difficult texts and to explore how inner work can be united with their outer practice.
Mind-blowing exercises include:The practice of geometry to purify the inner eyeThe meditative practice of rehearsing a process from beginning to end to solve a problemObservation exercises using alchemical images and processesDreamwork to question the godsOn Alchemy puts the conceptual tools and practices of alchemy into the hands of readers and show creators of all types how to use art-making as a spiritual path.
Psycho-Aetheric Alchemy Volume 1 by David Chaim Smith
£18.99
"We are very happy to launch a new series of paperback books entitled Psycho-Aetheric Alchemy. This series will present innovative new works utilizing esoteric symbol systems established in the Lightning Flash of Alef books, published between 2017 and 2023. Volume One bears the title of the series and is based on a set of 72 concise contemplative passages presented in numbered sections. Each passage is accompanied by an image from the extended body of esoteric cartographs from 2006 until present."
Metacartograph: Psycho-Aetheric Alchemy Volume 3 by David Chaim Smith
£18.99
The Psycho-Aetheric Alchemy series presents innovative new works utilizing esoteric symbol systems established in the Lightning Flash of Alef books, published between 2017 and 2023. Volume three is titled Metacartograph. A metacartograph is the highest category of esoteric cartography, which is a type of sacred image making unaffiliated with either organized religion or secular culture. The work is completely in its own category, and constitutes a radical departure from the role of art in contemporary society. The cartographer gives their entire life over to the process to become an open channel for the sublime mystery at the heart of all things. The process is a form of prayer, both in its manufacture as well as its viewing. This volume delves into both aspects along with the practice of mystical contemplation that makes both possible.
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