![]() I think this old chestnut comes up because of the way historians have dealt with alchemy in the last hundred years or so. Why should we interest ourselves in it today? Most people would say that alchemy is just an old and outmoded form of chemistry. I hesitate to say that the alchemical process can work either on the material or on the spiritual level, because in one sense, in alchemy, they are completely integrated! In a way, alchemy is about the process of creation itself: how does one thing become another? How do things change state? How can we change our state of being? And can we, as so-called conscious human beings, learn how to make those changes? So, another way to put it is that alchemy is a way of using the life force to effect transformation, whether that’s on the physical, external level, or in a spiritual way. However, that is too simplistic, according to the ways in which the tradition of alchemy has been practised and understood over hundreds, even thousands, of years. In its most basic definition, it’s the transformation of base material or metal into gold. Maybe we could start by a brief definition of what you think alchemy is.Ĭ.G. The Red Dragon: the release of the three forces in the alchemical fire, from the Ripley Scroll 1490 Alchemy and Transformation Here follows the discussion which I had with Richard Smoley, slightly shortened: Perhaps this was a task given to me to undertake, rather than one I directly chose myself. I do not consider myself an alchemist, in the usual sense, and yet undeniably, we have a close relationship. (You will find it also as The Elements of Alchemy and Explore Alchemy, which I thought would be its last incarnation in 2007, but then suddenly Harper Collins decided they wished to re-publish the original 1984 version.) Surely the tricksy but ultimately helpful hand of Hermes has played a part in this somehow? Yes, I’m sure he did, since the publishers ‘forgot’ to tell me they were doing this, until just before it hit the shelves! And I am still proud to have produced an accessible, clear and reliable history of alchemy, while imbuing it with some meaning, rather than a dry recitation of the facts. ![]() And I got it done – somehow.Īlchemy: The Great Work came out in 1984, and, rather mysteriously, it has never been out of print since, weaving its way through different publishers, titles and editions. I used my own experience of working within genuine traditions to discern where integrity and value lay. I had to go for the jugular, as it were I couldn’t afford to waste time on peripheral material. However, I gritted my teeth, and learnt a valuable lesson – to use my own judgement. But my dreams of swiftly assembling a dazzlingly coherent study of alchemy were dashed when I saw just how complex and contradictory its history was. Luckily, they had a good collection of texts, to be supplemented by other books that I could lay my hands on. Armed only with blind confidence, I sallied forth to our local University Library in Exeter, to assemble my source material. Alchemy was on the list, but an author had let him down, and now he needed someone who could write it in six months. (Bob) Gilbert was lacking a script for a series currently being produced by the Aquarian Press, grandly entitled ‘Esoteric Themes and Perspectives’. Very, as it turned out! Commissioning editor R. So how hard could it be, I asked myself, when I was invited to write a short history of alchemy? Frances Yates was just emerging as a scholar who could piece some of this together. Of course, I came across alchemy when I began to devour material about these traditions, and I could see that there was a broad field of interrelated practices of a so-called ‘esoteric’ nature. Tarot was another tradition which I engaged with, and I began to learn and practice astrology. I had followed a path since my student days which primarily taught me about Kabbalah and the Tree of Life, and included Buddhist and Western meditation practices. My personal story with alchemy is an odd one, in that I never set out to study it or write about it. This discussion helped me to piece together my own thoughts about alchemy. It was published in the Australian journal ‘New Dawn’, and I’ve adapted it here for Cherry’s Cache. In 2015, author and editor Richard Smoley and I conducted a conversation about the whys and wherefores of alchemy. It’s spiced up with some glorious alchemical illustrations which I hope will light your path through it. From ‘Splendor Solis’, attributed to Salomon Trismosin, c.1582īefore we head into Christmas, I’d like to offer a further post on alchemy which gives some background to this very mysterious and enigmatic practice.
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