The History and Mystery of Alchemy is now available on Amazon...and it is only 99 cents.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DBS79VX
As above, so below.
“You are an alchemist;
make gold of that.” — William Shakespeare
Alchemy conjures up
images of mad medieval pseudo-scientists laboring in dark
labs in the hopes of turning base metals into gold, but
alchemy was much more than forbidden occult capitalism.
Alchemy is a phenomenon
that has been known to be around us for many years. Some
consider a butterfly hatching out of a caterpillar as an
alchemical process. Chickens don’t eat much calcium, yet
they lay eggs rich in calcium. Speaking of eggs, consider
the transformation process in the womb. Soil converts
aluminum to zinc. This is Alchemy.
In alchemy the sages of
old held hopes of discovering the answers to not only
transmutation, but also immortality and good health...they
felt it held the answers to the meaning of life. Alchemy
has had a definite impact and influence on our modern
life. From Alchemy grew Chemistry and Medicine. The
tinkerers of the past gave way to cures we still
use. Alchemy has also influenced literature, such as
Shakespeare, J.K. Rowling and Fullmetal Alchemist.
Consider the following humorous quote from Fullmetal
Alchemist:
“Water: 35 liters,
Carbon: 20 kg, Ammonia: 4 liters, Lime:1.5 kg, Phosphrus:
800 g, salt: 250g, saltpeter:100g, Sulfer: 80g, Fluorine:
7.5 g, iron: 5.6 g, Silicon: 3g, and 15 other elements in
small quantities.... that's the total chemical makeup of
the average adult body. Modern science knows all of this,
but there has never been a single example of successful
human transmutation. It's like there's some missing
ingredient..... Scientists have been trying to find it for
hundreds of years, pouring tons of money into research,
and to this day they don't have a theory. For that matter,
the elements found in a human being is all junk that you
can buy in any market with a child's allowance. Humans are
pretty cheaply made.”
― Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1
“Alchemy was (and is) considerably more than the attempt
to turn base metals into gold. To an alchemist, all
material things ripen toward perfection unless something
gets in the way. The alchemist's mission is to remove the
obstacles that keep material things from attaining their
perfection. For metals, that perfection is gold; for the
human body, health; for the human spirit, union with the
divine-and all these and many more are appropriate goals
for alchemical work.” ~John Michael Greer
"Alchemy is about
perfection—taking an imperfect thing and making it
perfect. According to alchemy, all things in creation have
within them the seed of perfection."~Rosemary Ellen Guiley
In the process of trying
to obtain a certain thing, the alchemists stumbled upon
many others. "During the centuries when alchemy
flourished, gunpowder was invented, the art of printing
was established, the compass was brought into use, the art
of painting and staining glass was begun and carried to
perfection, paper was made from rags, practical metallurgy
advanced by leaps and bounds, many new alloys of metals
came into use, glass mirrors were manufactured, and
considerable advances were made in practical medicine and
sanitation." M.M. Pattison Muir
Swiss psychologist Carl Jung saw in alchemical drawings and symbols images something that his patients were experiencing. And of course, alchemy is the foundation of modern chemistry...the "al" in front of the word "chemistry" coming from the Muslims of old.
Joseph Hayes explains our fascination with alchemy thusly: "It is not strange that a belief should have arisen that one metal could be changed into another, or that this belief should have taken such a strong hold upon the imagination of the people. Did not the church teach that the bread and wine were actually changed into the flesh and the blood of Christ? Men actually believed that such change in reality took place."
One goal of alchemy, the
transmutation of base substances into gold, is now known
to be impossible by chemical means but possible by
physical means. Although not financially worthwhile, Gold
was synthesized in particle accelerators as early as 1941.
Much of what is
contained in this book is historical, speculative,
sometimes repetitive, but always interesting. As I've seen
stated in certain books: "there is no art without
alchemy;" "without alchemy metallurgy cannot be fully
understood;" "perfume as we know it could not have taken
shape without alchemy;" and some state that born-again
Christianity would not have arisen without Alchemy.
In 2014 the Smithsonian Magazine published an article "Alchemy May Not Have Been the Pseudoscience We All Thought It Was." Maybe by reexamining Alchemy we can discover something we may have lost over time.
The Table of Contents are:
1. Alchemy in History by Lewis Spence
2. Ancient Mythical Accounts of
Alchemy, By John Edward Mercer 1921
3. Ancient Chemistry and Alchemy,
article in the Chemist and Druggist 1894
4. The History of Alchemy & the
Philosopher's Stone by Francis Lieber 1849
5. Alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone
by Charles Barnard 1883
6. Alchemy & the Philosopher's
Stone by C.J.S. Thompson 1897
7. The Biblical Patriarchs and the
Universal Remedy, article in Fraser's Magazine (Thomas
Crofton Croker) 1840
8. The Elixir of Life in Science and
Romance by William S. Walsh 1890
9. The Transmutation of Base Metals
into Gold, by John Phin 1906
10. Alchemist Heinrich Cornelius
Agrippa by Lewis Spence 1920
11. Alchemy and the Evolution of
Chemical Truth by M. Louis Olivier 1890
12. The Legend of Paracelsus by William
John Thoms 1834
13. Alchemy and the Alchemists, article
in the National Quarterly Review 1873
14. Isaac Newton and Alchemy (Article
in The Archaeological Journal)
15. The Useful History of Alchemy, by
W. B. D. Penniman, 1896
16. The Origin of the Word "Chemistry"
by Leo Suppan 1919
17. Religion and Alchemy By John Edward
Mercer 1921
18. Alchemy: The Third Column of
Medicine by Paracelsus
19. The History of Chemistry by Joseph
W. Hays
20. The Alchymists, or, Searchers for
the Philosopher's Stone and the Water of Life by
Charles Mackay LL.D 1852
21. Basil Valentine, Last of the
Alchemist, First of the Chemists
22. Magic and Medicine By Cuming
Walters 1896
23. Paracelsus the Genius and Impostor,
by Bram Stoker 1910
24. The Case for Occult Knowledge &
Medicine by Algernon Blackwood 1891
25. Alchemical and Magical Books Fatal
to their Authors, by P. H. Ditchfield
26. Alchemistic Symbols for Now Common
Metals
27. The Explanation of Material Changes
Given by Greek Thinkers, by M.M. Pattison Muir
28. A Sketch of Alchemical Theory by
M.M. Pattison Muir
29, The Phallic Element in Alchemical
Doctrine, by By H. Stanley Redgrove
30. The Dying Alchemist (A Poem) by Nathaniel Parker Willis 1894
My other books include:
The Folly
of Socialism: What Past Thinkers Knew About The
Socialist-Communist Ideology
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074G32LHV
And the Word was a god:
Conversations on the Most Disputed Text in the New Testament -
John 1:1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DHBBN3C
Halloween and the Strange in Story
and History
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075PZQ4RY
Forgotten
Bible Versions: Examining Translations of the Past
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073PPM5QN
The
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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071FYZKKJ
The Strange
History of Easter and the Christian Cross: An Anthology
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X9K33DR
The Dark
History of the Trinity Doctrine
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MS1AO7X
Forgotten Tales of Dogs
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0778T5QKW
The Absurdity of the Trinity
Doctrine: An Anthology
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L7FMK3M
Vampires and Werewolves in Lore and History: An Anthology
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZ1H9PU
70 Forgotten Ghost Stories -
Haunting Tales Lost to Time: An Anthology
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The Dark History of Christmas - An
Anthology: The Pagan Origins of our Winter Festival
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M2XTHPV
The
Companion Guide to Death: Grave Thoughts from Great Thinkers
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3YOV88
The
Mysterious Book of Genesis - Lilith, Enoch & Other Strange
Studies
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZLFLLV
Edgar Allan
Poe - An Exhumation: 30 Articles
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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0778T5QKW
The Doctrine of the Two Natures in Christ EXPOSED! [The Hypostatic Union]
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094HLGC1R
The Impersonality of the Holy Spirit
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LKPBJ7S
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