The Golden Quest: A Comparative Study of Common Mythological Motifs in Oriental and Occidental Traditions of Alchemy (original) (raw)

Alchemy in the Ancient World: From Science to Magic

Illinois Classical Studies, 1990

"Alchemy" is the anglicised Byzantine name given to what its practitioners referred to as "the Art" (τἐχνη) or "Knowledge" (ἐπιστήμη), often characterised as divine (θεία), sacred (ἱερά) or mystic (μυστική). While this "techne" underwent many changes in the course of its life of over two thousand years (and there are traces of it even in modern times, as I will discuss), a recognisable common denominator in all the writings is the search for a method of transforming base metals (copper, iron, lead, tin) into noble (electrum, gold or silver). There is unfortunately no modern critical edition of any of these writings (the extant editions being old or uncritical or both), though the Budé has begun the process. In this essay I sketch the background and origins of the ancient alchemy, as well as its later transmutation into a mystical art of personal transformation. Finally I turn to the modern period and briefly examine the influence of this mystical tradition in our own world-picture.

Divine Images: Zosimos of Panopolis's Spiritual Approach to Alchemy

La Rosa di Paracelso, 2019

Zosimos of Panopolis (ca. 275 CE), who was an alchemist and scribal priest, is the earliest known writer in the Greco-Egyptian alchemical corpus to describe a spiritual approach to alchemy. In this article I offer an explanation for why Zosimos insists that alchemy is both a spiritual and technical undertaking, and why he thinks it should be practiced in this manner even by metallurgists outside of the temples. Using divine images as a theme, I examine Zosimos’s views of divine statues, as well as his emphasis on the inner work of realizing the divine image within the self. Particular attention is given to his text, On Apparatus and Furnaces (Letter Omega), because it expounds a theology of divine images and illustrates how Zosimos conveys spiritual teachings to metallurgists who are unaffiliated with the temple. I argue that Zosimos promotes gnosis, a profound inner experience of divine reality, as a spiritual approach to alchemy because he believes it offers exceptional insight into the human condition and the natural order, and encourages excellence in one’s craft.

Secrets of the God Makers: Re-Thinking the Origins of Greco-Egyptian Alchemy

Syllecta Classica, 2018

The earliest alchemical texts have an Egyptian provenance and date to the Roman period. Surprisingly little attention is given to the socio-cultural contexts of the craftsmen who produced them. This paper argues that alchemy originated in the Egyptian priesthood among temple metallurgists who were responsible for making cultic objects. Access to metallurgical recipes was restricted, but with the rise of trade guilds in the Roman period, craft secrets began to circulate more freely. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that these economic shifts are the best explanation for the emergence of alchemical texts in Roman Egypt.

Alchemical Traditions: From Antiquity to the Avant-Garde

2013

Spanning the world’s artistic, scientific and religious traditions, alchemy has embraced and continues to embrace the complete spectrum of existence. From metallurgy to metaphysics, alchemy engages the technical, fine and hieratic arts in order to provide a living phenomenology of the one, single, elusive process that acts through all things. Ultimately—in its guise as « ars transmutationis »—alchemy penetrates to the heart of the transfiguring spiritual intensity that underpins the perfection of life, from mineral to human. Despite this profoundly all-embracing purview, however, alchemy continues to be conceived as either proto-chemistry or proto-psychology. The present volume seeks to redress this false dichotomy by exploring alchemy as a quintessentially integral phenomenon. Opening wide the full spectrum of alchemy—from east to west, in history and practice, from antiquity to the avant garde—our aim is to penetrate as deeply as possible, within the limits of a single volume, into the rich practical and experiential traditions of the alchemical mysterium. Featuring both well-established scholars and emerging, cutting-edge researchers, this book synthesises a quintessentially high caliber of academic authorities on the vast and baroque heritage of the alchemical world. As a whole, the volume seeks to strike the perfect balance—the golden mean—between strict, historical objectivity and empathic, phenomenological insight. Drawn from international ranks (Europe, the Antipodes, the Americas) and cutting across disciplinary boundaries (Egyptology, Classics, Sinology, Indology, Tibetology, philosophy, religious studies, Renaissance studies, history of science, art history, critical theory, media studies), the contributors to this volume include some of the most gifted investigators into the world’s esoteric lineages." Featuring Aaron CHEAK ∙ Algis UŽDAVINYS ∙ Rodney BLACKHIRST ∙ David Gordon WHITE ∙ Kim LAI ∙ Sabrina DALLA VALLE ∙ Christopher A. PLAISANCE ∙ Hereward TILTON ∙ Angela VOSS ∙ Paul SCARPARI ∙ Leon MARVELL ∙ Mirco MANNUCCI ∙ Dan MELLAMPHY Egyptian alchemy ∙ Greek alchemy ∙ Hellenistic alchemy ∙ Taoist alchemy ∙ Hindu Tantric alchemy ∙ Tibetan Buddhist alchemy ∙ Islamicate alchemy ∙ European alchemy ∙ Surrealist alchemy ∙ Erotic alchemy ∙ Laboratory alchemy ∙ Alchemy of the word ∙ Alchemy of the body ∙ Alchemy of the spirit ∙ and more. CONTENTS Acknowledgements Peer Reviewers List of Illustrations PART I—CORNERSTONES: Ancient Alchemies, East and West Introduction to Part One: Circumambulating the Alchemical Mysterium —Aaron Cheak 1. The Perfect Black: Egypt and Alchemy —Aaron Cheak 2. Telestic Transformation and Philosophical Rebirth: From Ancient Egypt to Neoplatonism —Algis Uždavinys 3. Metallurgy and Demiurgy: The Roots of Greek Alchemy in the Mythology of Hephaestos (Discussions) —Rod Blackhirst 4. Taking from Water to Fill in Fire: The History and Dynamics of Taoist Alchemy —Aaron Cheak 5. Mercury and Immortality: The Hindu Alchemical Tradition —David Gordon White 6. Iatrochemistry, Metaphysiology, Gnōsis: Tibetan Alchemy in the Kālacakra Tantra —Kim Lai PART II: TRANSFORMATIONS: Alchemies of the Spirit, Body and Word Introduction to Part Two: Interzone: On the Origins and Nature of European Alchemy —Aaron Cheak 7. The Alchemical Khiasmos: Counter-Stretched Harmony and Divine Self-Perception —Aaron Cheak & Sabrina Dalla Valle 8. Altus’ Ominous Aphorism: Reading as Alchemical Process —Mirco Mannucci 9. Turris Philosophorum: On the Alchemical Iconography of the Tower —Christopher A. Plaisance 10. Of Ether, Entheogens and Colloidal Gold: Heinrich Khunrath and the Making of a Philosophers’ Stone —Hereward Tilton 11. Becoming an Angel: The Mundus Imaginalis of Henry Corbin and the Platonic Path of Self-Knowledge —Angela Voss 12. The Kiss of Death: Amor, Corpus Resurrectionis and the Alchemical Transfiguration of Eros —Paul Scarpari 13. Agent of All Mutations: Metallurgical, Biological and Spiritual Evolution in the Alchemy of René Schwaller de Lubicz —Aaron Cheak 14. Take Two Emerald Tablets in the Morning: Surrealism and the Alchemical Transubstantiation of the World —Leon Marvell 15. Incredible Lunatic of the Future: The Alchemical Horticulture of Alan Chadwick —Rod Blackhirst 16. Alchemical Endgame: ‘Checkmate’ in Beckett and Eliot —Dan Mellamphy End matter: Abbreviations Bibliography Author Biographies

Defining Greco-Egyptian Alchemy

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies, 2022

This paper was originally written for a conference panel responding to Radcliffe Edmonds’s survey of Greco-Roman magic, _Drawing Down the Moon_. I discuss his chapter on alchemy in light of two new books on Greco-Egyptian alchemy that were published while his manuscript was in press: my own work _Becoming Gold_, and Olivier Dufault’s _Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity_. I explain why new definitions of Greco-Egyptian alchemy are needed and provide one at the end.