Music as Alchemy


Book Description

How are conductors' silent gestures magicked into sound by a group of more than a hundred brilliant but belligerent musicians? The mute choreography of great conductors has fascinated and frustrated musicians and music-lovers for centuries. Orchestras can be inspired to the heights of musical and expressive possibility by their maestros, or flabbergasted that someone who doesn't even make a sound should be elevated to demigod-like status by the public. This is the first book to go inside the rehearsal rooms of some of the most inspirational orchestral partnerships in the world - how Simon Rattle works at the Berlin Philharmonic, how Mariss Jansons deals with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and how Claudio Abbado creates the world's most luxurious pick-up band every year with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. From London to Budapest, Bamberg to Vienna, great orchestral concerts are recreated as a collection of countless human and musical stories.




The Mystic Art of Alchemy


Book Description

The Mystic Art of Alchemy is a comprehensive guide to the ancient practice of alchemy, and how it can be used as a tool for spiritual transformation. Drawing from both historical and contemporary sources, this book explores the symbolism and practices of alchemy, and how they can be applied to our modern lives. Through clear and accessible language, readers will learn about the key principles of alchemy, such as transformation, transmutation, and the importance of balance and harmony. They will also discover the role of alchemy in the evolution of consciousness, and how it can help us to cultivate a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. With practical techniques and exercises, The Mystic Art of Alchemy provides readers with the tools they need to begin their own alchemical journey. Whether seeking personal transformation, spiritual growth, or simply a deeper understanding of this ancient practice, this book is an essential resource for anyone interested in the mystic art of alchemy.




Music and Esotericism


Book Description

This collection of essays analyzes the relationships that exist between esotericism and music from Antiquity to the 20th century, investigating ways in which magic, astrology, alchemy, divination, and cabbala interact with music. The volume seeks to dissolve artificial barriers between the history of art, music, science, and intellectual history by establishing an interdisciplinary dialogue about music as viewed against a specific cultural background. The synthesis of scientific and historical contexts with respect to music, explored here on a large scale for the first time, opens up a wealth of new approaches to music historical research, music performance, and musical composition. Each chapter presents either a unique example of music functioning within esoteric and scientific traditions or a demonstration of the influence of those traditions upon selected musical works. L’ouvrage analyse les relations entre l’ésotérisme et la musique de l’Antiquité au 20ème siècle étudiant comment la magie, l’astrologie, l’alchimie, la divination et la cabale ont interagit avec la musique. Il vise à dépasser les frontières entre l’histoire de l’art, l’histoire de la musique et l’histoire des sciences et des idées afin de nouer un dialogue interdisciplinaire sur la musique autour de contextes historiques et scientifiques précis. L’ouvrage offre une première synthèse sur les rapports entre ésotérisme et musique ainsi que diverses pistes de recherche à poursuivre.




From Alchemy to Chemistry


Book Description

Broad, humanistic treatment focuses on great figures of chemistry and ideas that revolutionized the science. Much on alchemy, also development of modern chemistry, atomic theory, elements, organic chemistry, more. 50 illustrations.




Routledge Library Editions: Alchemy


Book Description

Reissuing seminal works originally published between 1916 and 1995, Routledge Library Editions: Alchemy (7 volume set) offers a selection of scholarship covering various facets of alchemical traditions. Some texts examine alchemy itself while some offer insight into the motives for alchemical research and others outlay portraits of people such as Giordano Bruno and John Dee.




Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times


Book Description

This volume introduces what has sometimes been called "the third component of western culture." It traces the historical development of those religious traditions which have rejected a world view based on the primacy of pure rationality or doctrinal faith, emphasizing instead the importance of inner enlightenment or gnosis: a revelatory experience which was typically believed to entail an encounter with one's true self as well as with the ground of being, God. The contributors to this book demonstrate this perspective as fundamental to a variety of interconnected traditions. In Antiquity, one finds the gnostics and hermetics; in the Middle Ages several Christian sects. The medieval Cathars can, to a certain extent, be considered part of the same tradition. Starting with the Italian humanist Renaissance, hermetic philosophy became of central importance to a new religious synthesis that can be referred to as Western Esotericism." The development of this tradition is described from Renaissance hermeticists and practitioners of spiritual alchemy to the emergence of Rosicrucianism and Christian theosophy in the seventeenth century, and from post-enlightenment aspects of Romanticism and occultism to the present-day New Age movement.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy


Book Description

More than magic... Where else can one combine chemistry and philosophy to turn base metal into gold while discovering a magical elixir to prolong life? Here's a simple and straightforward guide to alchemy that explains its basic principles. Written by one of the world's few practicing alchemists, it's a concise reference guide that provides easy-to-follow information so that anybody can be a wizard-in-training.




Alchemy Course


Book Description

Entrance to the Alchemical Amphitheatre By Marcus Katz, M.A. (Western esotericism) Learn to live a Transformative life through Magical Alchemy! An Alchemy course in six monthly modules available as a download or paperback book version! In this thoroughly researched course, combining a range of learning styles, you'll experience four simple alchemical experiments using household materials, seven unique praxis meditations, the Ritual of the Dew for transforming your life, and Alchemical Adorations, amongst a range of readings and alchemical exercises. Suitable for beginners and adepts alike, using research of the highest academic level, informed through thirty years practical experience of teaching and western esoteric studies. Find out who wrote the Rosicrucian Manifestos, why Alchemy and Dreaming are related, the secrets of the Emerald Tablet, and much, much more!




Alchemical Poetry, 1575-1700


Book Description

Of interest to interdisciplinary historians as well as those in various other fields, this book presents the first publication of 14 poems ranging from 12 to 3,000 lines. The poems are printed in the chronological order of their composition, from Elizabethan to Augustan times, but nine of them are verse translations of works from earlier periods in the development of alchemy. Each has a textual and historical introduction and explanatory note by the Editor. Renaissance alchemy is acknowledged as an important element in the histories of early modern science and medicine. This book emphasises these poems’ expression of and shaping influence on religious, social and political values and institutions of their time too and is a useful reference work with much to offer for cultural studies and literary studies as well as science and history.




The Magic Flute


Book Description

This book demonstrates for the first time that Mozart's opera "Die Zauberflote" is an enactment of the alchemical "opus magnum," in the form of a "chemical wedding," using Paracelsus's "tria principia" doctrine that was strongly prevalent among Freemasons towards the end of the 18th century.