The Philosopher's Stone

jmd

Alchemy transcends particular religious and social groups, and was very much part of what we today call 'science'. Alchemy, for example, in ancient India or China has many similarities with Alchemy in the West - though its cultural and religious milieu is quite distinct.

With regards to Kabbalah, it became established as such circa the tweflth century - one can quibble and also discuss Kabbalistic tradition in the form of Merkabah Mysticism and various other impulses earlier. Kabbalistic thought was also used by the Church, in late Mediaeval times and during the early Renaissance, to attempt to convert Jews to Christianity. It also became very much embedded, in the process, in the Western magical and Hermetic tradition(s)... by the time of Knorr von Rosenroth's Cabalah Denudata, Alchemical and Kabbalictic thought had already been interweaved through the works of numerous others.

One of the most beautiful - in terms of its diagrammes, is Michelspacher's Cabala...

I write this off the top of my head, and certainly a little digging will reveal numerous other authors and illustrators, from Pico and Trithemius to... well, to others :)

As to Newton's Alchemical interests, it remains a puzzle to me why it isn't more standardly generally acknowledged. After all, his presumption that the rainbow has seven bands of colours - rightly criticised by Goethe - emerges straight out of his Astrological and Alchemical interests and the seven planets ('planets' in the original sense of heavenly bodies moving against the 'fixed' stars, and thus including Sun & Moon).
 

baba-prague

I'm also no sage...

but I would like to throw in a recommendation for Frances Yates who is an excellent writer on the alchemy movement in Europe(if "movement" is the right word). She was an academic historian so her work is very well researched. Try the Rosicrucian Enlightenment:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0415267692/ref=nosim/aeclectic/

or any of her later books.

Kiama - you're right, the traditional way of showing the Alchemical Wedding is reminiscent of The Lovers. We see this painted all over Prague these days as there is a lot of interest in Prague's alchemical tradition - our local bar even has the Alchemical Wedding as a mural on the wall :)

There is a current working alchemy group in Czech Republic, but they are very secretive about what they do - of course!
 

John Meador

Czech Hermeticists

Hi Baba,
You are probably familiar with this, but perhaps others will also be interested:

"Universalia, the Society of Czech Hermeticists, which has now become Univerzalia and 'The Logos Group," the latter an informal grouping so far, including Vladislav Zadrobilek, publisher of Trigon Books and Logos magazine and former President of Universalia and Dr Lubos Antonin of the National Museum Castle Libraries Department, responsible for 300 Castle Libraries, of which a dozen have major collections of Alchemical Texts and Manuscripts."

" The major project that we are involved in is creating a full-scale, permanent Alchemy Museum in Kutna Hora, in the famous Sankturinovsky House on the Main Square. This building, with its tower where was located the alchemy laboratory of Hynek (1452-1492), son of King George of Podebrady (1420-1471), the 'Hussite King,'is being dedicated for the museum by the town of Kutna Hora, which in 1996 became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Initiators of this project include Dr. Ivo Sanc, the Mayor and Vice-Chairman of the Freedom Party and Roman Rozensky, a local Hermetic Scholar. This project will be gathering pace and will hopefully be realised next year with the support of many people both here and abroad."
http://www.levity.com/bohemia/projects.html

"On August 24th,<2003> fifteen months and a few days since its opening, the Alchemy Museum welcomed its 10,000th visitor, Katerina Brennerova of Chomutov, northern Bohemia, who received a T-shirt commemorating the occasion. The museum is located in the Sankturinovsky House, one of the oldest buildings in Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic. It was originally built in the 13th Century in Gothic style as a fortified building with a tower and later rebuilt in Baroque style. During its early days there was a metallurgy workshop in the cellar where silver ore was processed and refined. Admission is free. The director is Michal Pober. You can subscribe to the museum newsletter by sending an email to alchemymuseum.newsletter-subscribe@topica.com .
http://www.alchemylab.com/AJ4-2nf.htm

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/prague_c.html
http://azothgallery.com/alchemical/bookreviews/caezza_zadrobilek_rev.html
http://www.freemasonrytoday.com/prague.shtml
http://www.levity.com/bohemia/reading.html

Jan Svankmajer: Alchemical Wedding (1996)
http://www.illumin.co.uk/svank/art/alchemy/wedding.html

Happy New Year.
-John
 

TemperanceAngel

Fantastic links everyone, and fantastic thread too! XTAX
 

baba-prague

John - just to say thanks for all those links. I know the museum at Kutna Hora, and a fair bit about the founder. But it's good to have it all available for other people to see.
Now, the Svankmajers (husband and wife team) OH YES! I have been trying for some time to get to meet them. Two of my friends know them quite well and have offered an introduction. Fantastic work. But that's getting a bit off-thread.

The whole history of alchemy here is of course extremely interesting :)