Books to Read: Alchemy

“The true University of these days is a Collection of Books.”
— Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), The Hero as a Man of Letters

Alchemy Books: transforming our mind into gold...
	*Alexander Roob, Alchemy and Mysticism: Hermetic Museum* (1997), Taschen, ISBN: 382288653X**— This 712-page book is two-inches thick and worth its weight in gold! There are beautiful color illustrations and woodcuts on almost every page. The quality of the reproductions is especially sharp and clear, making them useful for serious study. This book takes the reader on a fantastical journey through the pictorial world of alchemy and mysticism, magic and the Cabbala, the Freemasons and Rosicrucians. This unique selection of images with clear commentaries and source texts guides us on a magic carpet tour through the representations of the secret arts. The book is divided in four sections: Macrocosm, Opus Magnum, Microcosm, and Rotation with a well organized index to locate the hundreds of illustrations. The cover shows a miniature painting by Jehan Perréal at the court of Margaretha of Austria (1516) on sublimating the four elements into the uppermost blossom of the elixir or the “vegetable gold.” Avg. Review (2):
	*Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century* (1997), Thames & Hudson, ISBN: 0500279810*— Alchemy and the quest for the Philosopher's Stone have been a strand in the development of European culture from antiquity onwards. With the spread of printing, the whole fantastic iconography flowered as never before. This fascinating book presents a selection of the finest alchemical engravings, brought together for the first time, and describes their origins and meanings. The author has gathered these 533 rare illustrations that were hidden away in the hallowed precincts of the world's museums and research libraries. He was surprised to find superior graphic reproductions in this new paperback edition over his earlier hardcover edition. The book cover shows Emblema XXX: “the sun needs the moon, like the cock needs the hen” from Michael Maier's Atalanta fugiens: New Chemical Emblems regarding the Secrets of Nature* (1617). Avg. Review (1):
	*Marie-Louise von Franz, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology* (1981), Inner City Book, ISBN: 091912304X*— It was the genius of Carl Jung to discover in the “holy technique” of alchemy a parallel to the psychological individuation process. This book completely demystifies the subject of alchemy. Designed as an introduction to Jung's more detailed studies, and profusely illustrated, Alchemy* is a lucid and practical account of what the alchemists were really looking for— emotional balance and wholeness. Marie-Louise von Franz has a gift for translating esoteric symbolic material into everyday experience. For the images and motifs that so occupied the alchemists were of an archetypal nature, and as such they constantly turn up in modern dreams and drawings. This is an invaluable book for understanding dreams and indispensable for anyone interested in relationships and communication between the sexes. This book is an essential addition to the metaphysical reference shelf. The cover shows an Ouroboros from Eleazar's Donum Dei(1735)— a King serpent (In Coptic Ouro = king, in Hebrew ob = snake) swallowing its tail, a symbol of our cyclical cosmos. Avg. Review (1):