Rosarium Philosophorum - The Rosary of the Philosopher


Book Description

The Rosarium philosophorum or Rosary of the philosophers, originally written in the 16th century, is one of the most important texts of European alchemy.




The Gospel of Lie


Book Description

In his last book, Joshua Lie examines how the Evangelists misquoted the Old Testament to prove Jesus was the Messiah and embarks on a journey where he misquotes the four Gospels themselves to advance a Jesus that no Christian has ever dreamt of. The Nag Hammadi Library, the Gospel of Judas, the mysteries of the Manicheans and the Cathars, the alchemical endeavors of Carl Jung and the terrifying visions of Lovecraft and William Blake - all sources that he blends together to paint his personal savior.




Jung in Love


Book Description

Love was the great mystery in C. G. Jung's life. His confrontation with love for a woman and a feminine soul animated the composition of Jung's great Red Book, the book he formally titled Liber Novus. C. G. Jung's relationships with women during these central years of life have generated several commentaries and critiques. But the power and depth of love has figured little in most of the romances about this period patched together by biographers, dramatists, and psychoanalysts. In consequence, a crux experience of Jung's life has been miscast and little understood. Three decades after the events chronicled in his Red Book, C. G. Jung turned to writing a commentary on the still hidden records. In Jung in Love, Lance Owens illustrates how Jung's four last books -- his "last quartet" of major works published after 1945 -- are summary statements about his experiences during the years he labored with Liber Novus. Owens illustrates how in the first volume of this "last quartet" -- The Psychology of the Transference, published in 1946 -- Jung employed a sixteenth-century alchemical text to provide context for what is in fact a statement about his own experience with love recounted both in his private journals and in Liber Novus. Based on long-sequestered documentary sources, Jung in Love offers a balanced and historically contextualized account of Jung's relationships with four women during the years that led him into the visionary experiences recorded in the Red Book: Emma Jung-Rauschenbach, Sabina Spielrein, Maria Moltzer and Toni Wolff. Jung in Love - The Mysterium in Liber Novus was originally published as a chapter in Das Rote Buch – C. G. Jungs Reise zum anderen Pol der Welt, ed. Thomas Arzt (Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, 2015). This English monograph edition adds illustrations and minor corrections to the previously published edition.




Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy


Book Description

This book is one of the best and most comprehensive about Hermetic philosophy and a perfect textbook for your first steps into alchemy. A real suggestive inquiry into the Hermetic mystery. Contents: Part I An Exoteric View of the Progress and Theory of Alchemy Chapter I A Preliminary Account of the Hermetic Philosophy, with the more Salient Points of its Public History Chapter II Of the Theory of Transmutation in General, and of the First Matter Chapter III The Golden Treatise of Hermes Trismegistus, Concerning the Physical Secret of the Philosopher's Stone. Part II A More Esoteric Consideration of the Hermetic Art & Its Mysteries Chapter I Of the True Subject of the Hermetic Art, & its Concealed Root Chapter II Of the Mysteries Chapter III The Mysteries Continued Chapter IV The Mysteries (Concluded) Part III Concerning the Laws and Vital Conditions of the Hermetic Experiment Chapter I Of the Experimental Method and Fermentation of the Philosophic Subject, According to the Paracelsian Alchemists and some Others Chapter II A Further Analysis of the Initial Principle, and its Eduction into Light Chapter III Of the Manifestation of the First Matter, and its Information by Light. Chapter IV Of the Mental Requisites and Impediments Incidental to Individuals Either as Masters or Students in the Hermetic Art Part IV The Hermetic Practice Chapter I Of the Vital Purification, Commonly Called the Gross Work Chapter II Of the Philosophic or Subtle Work Chapter III The Six Keys of Eudoxus, Opening Into the Most Secret Philosophy Chapter IV The Conclusion




The Religious Function of the Psyche


Book Description

Traditional concepts of God are no longer tenable for many people who nevertheless experience a strong sense of the sacred in their lives. The Religious Function of the Psyche offers a psychological model for the understanding of such experience, using the language and interpretive methods of depth psychology, particularly those of C.G. Jung and psychoanalytic self psychology. The problems of evil and suffering, and the notion of human development as an incarnation of spirit are dealt with by means of a religious approach to the psyche that can be brought easily into psychotherapeutic practice and applied by the individual in everyday life. The book offers an alternative approach to spirituality as well as providing an introduction to Jung and religion.




Atalanta Fugiens


Book Description

One of the finest alchemical emblem books and unique in its own right. Michael Maier's work is richly illustrated with original prints by M. Merian; each of the 50 emblems presented consists of a motto, print, epigram, and a three-part musical setting of the epigram, followed by an exposition of its meaning.




Alchemical Active Imagination


Book Description

A leading Jungian psychologist reveals the relationship between alchemy and analytical psychology, delving into the visionary work of a sixteenth-century alchemist Although alchemy is popularly regarded as the science that sought to transmute base physical matter, many of the medieval alchemists were more interested in developing a discipline that would lead to the psychological and spiritual transformation of the individual. C. G. Jung discovered in his study of alchemical texts a symbolic and imaginal language that expressed many of his own insights into psychological processes. In this book, Marie-Louise von Franz examines a text by the sixteenth-century alchemist and physician Gerhard Dorn in order to show the relationship of alchemy to the concepts and techniques of analytical psychology. In particular, she shows that the alchemists practiced a kind of meditation similar to Jung's technique of active imagination, which enables one to dialogue with the unconscious archetypal elements in the psyche. Originally delivered as a series of lectures at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, the book opens therapeutic insights into the relations among spirit, soul, and body in the practice of active imagination.




The Alchemical Virgin Mary in the Religious and Political Context of the Renaissance


Book Description

This study explores the survival of Roman Catholic doctrine and visual imagery in the alchemical treatises composed by members of the Lutheran and Anglican confessions during the Renaissance and Early Modern periods. It discusses the reasons for such unexpected confessional survivals in a time of extreme Protestant iconoclasm and religious reform. The book presents an analysis of the manner in which Catholic doctrines concerning the Virgin Mary, the Holy Trinity and the Eucharist were an essential factor in the development of alchemical theory and illustration from the medieval period to the seventeenth century. The role of the Joachimites, radical members of the Franciscan Order, in the history of alchemy is an important issue. The Apocalypse of St. John (the Book of Revelation) and other scriptural texts and specifically Roman Catholic Marian devotions are also considered regarding their influences on late medieval alchemy and on the sixteenth and seventeenth century alchemical literature composed by Protestants. Additional issues explored here include the role played by alchemy in strengthening the leaders of the European defence against the invading Ottoman Turks, as well as the importance of the figure of the Virgin Mary as the Apocalyptic Woman in the same cause. Special consideration is given to the role played by the apocalyptic Mary within alchemical texts and pictures as an emblem of the mercurial quintessence and also in her form as the Bride of the scriptural Wisdom books which also entered alchemical discourse. Additional issues discussed in this book include the little-regarded problem of “confessional” alchemy, namely, whether there were distinct “Protestant” and “Roman Catholic” types of alchemy. The treatises under consideration include the Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (1419; 1433), the Rosarium Philosophorum (1550), Reusner’s Pandora (1582; 1588) and the Pandora of Faustius (1706), as well as the work of Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, Johann Daniel Mylius, Jacob Boehme and pseudo-Nicolas Flamel, among many others. Their works are contextualised within the religious reforms instigated by Martin Luther, as well as within the unorthodox radical theology devised by Paracelsus and his alchemical followers. The Marian theology of Paracelsus is also of particular interest here.




The Home Blacksmith


Book Description

Geared toward answering the many questions that new blacksmiths often have, author Ryan Ridgway hopes to fill the void of inaccessible information for aspiring blacksmiths with this comprehensive volume. By explaining the physics of moving metal, the different styles of anvils and forges, and alternative fuel sources, Ridgway sets his book apart from less detailed volumes. With 40 practical, easy-to-follow projects, The Home Blacksmith shows hopeful blacksmiths how to make tools, such as hammers and chisels; farm implements, such as gate latches and hoof picks; and items for home use, including drawer pulls and candle holders.




Scientific Discourse in John Donne’s Eschatological Poetry


Book Description

Scientific Discourse in John Donne’s Eschatological Poetry offers a compelling critique of John Donne’s religious and erotic poetry, focusing on the intersection of two seemingly antithetical discourses: the language of the scientific revolution and of Christian eschatology. Throughout its three chapters, which correspond to three scientific disciplines – cartography, physics and alchemy – the volume examines the ways in which the references to early modern and medieval science in Donne’s poetry contribute to conceptualizing the Christian mystery of death.