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Alchemy Academy archive November 1999 Back to alchemy academy archives. Subject: ACADEMY : Encyclopaedia Brittanica on alchemy From: Adam McLean Date: Mon 1 Nov 1999 >reference is made by Johann Plattner and Art Kunkin to the >1781/1771 edition of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. I have not personally checked this edition, but there is a transcription of the article from the 1771 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica published under the title 'Eighteenth Century chemistry as it relates to Alchemy' by Carl Stahl in the USA 1978. I have a copy of this. It refers to the 1771 edition. Roger Kessinger also reprints this article at a modest price. http://www.kessingerpub.com Adam McLean Subject: ACADEMY : Yvain: The Knight of the Lion Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 Greetings, Does anyone know of a reference to an alchemical interpretation to Chretien de Troyes' Yvain: The knight of the Lion? (12th Century French epic poem) I am reading it in a medieval class. It is filled with so many alchemical symbols, yet I can't seem to find a source for an interpretation. Subject: ACADEMY : Yvain: The Knight of the Lion From: Adam McLean Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 >Does anyone know of a reference to an alchemical interpretation >to Chretien de Troyes' Yvain: The knight of the Lion? (12th Century > French epic poem) I am reading it in a medieval class. It is filled >with so many alchemical symbols, yet I can't seem to find a >find a source for an interpretation. I am not surprised that you cannot find such an interpretation. I would be very surprised if there were any alchemical influences on such early French verse. While the symbolism might seem similar to alchemical imagery, this does not mean that there is an alchemical influence or that one can see the work of Chretien de Troyes through an alchemical interpretation. For example, lions appear as symbols in many contexts, but they are not necessarily alchemical. Now a "green lion", that would be more suggestive of an alchemical influence. Or an knight standing on a hermaphroditic dragon, holding a Sun shield and a Moon on his helmet. But general symbols must surely be seen within their cultural context and the sea of influences on Chretien. As he is a major figure, I feel sure the influences upon him have been well documented by scholars. Adam McLean Subject: ACADEMY : Yvain: The Knight of the Lion From: Stanislas Klossowski de Rola Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 Dear Adam, I beg to differ. The poetry of Chrestien de Troyes can be interpreted in the light of the Hermetick Philosophy as indeed Homer and Virgil can be read by that light. The fact that it has not been done hitherto is attributable to the poor state of scholarship in such matters and to the fatal lack of knowledge and preparation that usually prevent the modern scholar from deciphering, or even recognizing that he is in the presence of the hidden language of the Wise. Hence the exoteric interpretations always prevail. This state of affairs will only be remedied when more of us shall accept to sit, read and LEARN. ORA ET LABORA. Stanislas Klossowski de Rola Subject: ACADEMY : Yvain: The Knight of the Lion From: Hans Hammerschlag Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1999 Dear Adam and other list members : I dont know why I have not received copy from the list, of Adam's message to which Klossowski de Rola is referring to, so my words are not oriented towards agreeing or not with Adam words .. However, and having said that, I can only agree with Stanislas words in the sense that the whole Chretien de Troyes work and later arthurian/grail myths, as well as Homer and Virgil writings can definitely be interpreted in the light of Hermetick Philosophy. About the first, for whatever reasons, regrettably there is not much written about the deeper associations of this material with the Hermetick Philosophy. John Matthews on his book "The Grail - Quest for the eternal" published by Thames and Hudson, touches even though briefly, upon some very interesting aristas that go to the heart of the matter. On the second, Homer and Virgil's, traditional view from the Hermetick insight, only a few to be found, mainly in french and spanish, of which I find specially revealing the works arising from the true philosophic penmanship of Emmanuel d'Hooghvorst (in spanish refer to http://www.ttecla.es/lapuerta ). I wont take part in signaling towards a "poor state of scholarship", given that I am not a not a scholar but only a humble student of the Sacred Art. I personally feel that scholars do an oustanding job in providing us with the material that otherwise could not reach the hands of the many, such as myself, that do not have either the resources, expertise, nor the direct access to such material, and putting this material within the right historical and cultural timeframe, making valuable studies and commentaries about the materials in themselves, the true references about authorships, and among many other things also the interconnectedness of such materials with others of the same epoch. However it is true, that one can only see through a given work, within the frame of one's knowledge, and if such knowledge is strictly Academic and not Hermetick, in the sense of not being able to talk from within the knowledge of the "Argot", it will be impossible to go deeper than those layers of knowledge hidden within the outer and truly valuable layers of Scholarship. It is not a matter of anyone interpreting any given work as he/she may see fit, because that just would be a philosophical circus, but certainly in all true Hermetick Works, there are deeper meanings that only exists for those may have found the appropiate key to such understanding. Best regards to all, Hans Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemical printed books Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 From: Carl-Michael Edenborg I have reached a stage in the work with my doctor's dissertation where I compare prefaces to classical alchemical texts from different periods, trying to examine differences in attitude towards authority. I have been working with collection of the Royal Library and the collection of the Science Academy in Stockholm. Even though these collections are good, there are many objects missing. Now, I'd like to ask the members of this Academy if they know where in the world one can find the largest number of alchemical printed books at the same place? My own choice would be the Ferguson collection in Glasgow, but my knowledge is not great. Anyone's got a suggestion? Carl-Michael Edenborg Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemical printed books Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 From: Adam McLean Carl-Michael Edenborg wrote: >Now, I'd like to ask the members of this Academy if they know >where in the world one can find the largest number of alchemical >printed books at the same place? My own choice would be the Ferguson collection in Glasgow, but my knowledge is not great. Glasgow has the largest collection by far of alchemical printed books. The Ferguson collection and the Young collection (both in Glasgow) have well over 90% of all alchemical books in their holdings. The libraries are both easy to use and the fetching times very short so one can acheive a great deal within a few days. A full searchable database is on my Alchemy web site CD-Rom. and also on the web site in the form of individual pages. Adam McLean Subject: ACADEMY : Yvain: The Knight of the Lion Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1999 From: Catherine Fox-Anderson Dear Stanislas, I very much appreciate this line of discussion, and send my best wishes to you, Adam and Jose for their academic support, as well as to the many thoughtful participants over the last year. Hans, I understand your frustrations, and think also that what you and this academy represents is very important. There is much charlatanism to wade through. My own research has meant learning the hermetic tradition, as Adam exhorts, from within, while trying to find what you, Stanislaus, aptly call "exoteric" support for the literary content of the thesis. Happily to the possible originality of my thesis, not much if anything exists - although there are hints, traces, and sidepaths galore in terms of the hermetic and even latinamerican hermetic tradition. I believe hispanic-hermetic studies merits and is beginning to receive "mainstream" academic attention, both in terms of it's mystical; it's linguistic/literary; cabalistic; alchemical and socio-historical content and contexts. Still, I have found that I cannot study the Spanish language and culture, and now the hermetic tradition itself, without great caution, and wonder. I want to do honor to both, and because I am new to this, must go more slowly than a master's degree candidate may wish. However, many are the good teachers, including my own advisor, Harry Dennis; I am meeting new ones, such as Santiago Jubany, too. I thank all of you for the assistance you have offered. When I feel it is worthy to be shared with you, if anyone is interested, I will. Stanislas, I thank you for your assistance this year. The key for me right now is knowing who to ask what, when, and when to figure it out for myself! God's blessings to you in your study of the Great Art. Sincerely, Catherine Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 From: Susanna �kerman In a very interesting speech on Paracelsus last week here in Stockholm it was claimed that Paracelsus according to recent research was no alchemist. He practised Spagyria, the distillation of herbal medicines, but there is no evidence that he searched for the philosopher's stone or did practical alchemical experiments. Ursula Szulakowska in her recent article in "Cauda Pavonis" on Dee's alchemy describes Paracelsus so called "medical alchemy", which is nothing other than Spagyria I suppose. In view of his theorizing on the nature of Sulphur, Mercury and Salt in texts such as "Archidoxis", "Paragranum" and "Paramirum" I wonder whether Paracelsus should be regarded as an alchemist or whether it is better to see him as "merely" theorizing on such notions as the nature of the "archeus", the spirit in matter, etc. It is clear that he was regarded as an alchemical hero in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, but that this glamour was based mostly on texts written by practising "Paracelsians", i.e. followers in his tradition. What is the relation of medical Spagyria to alchemy in the experimental sense? Are we just quibbling over words when some do not regard Paracelsus as an alchemist "proper" or should one in fact realign the word alchemist for mere spagyrists also? I feel muddled. PS. I am treasurer in the Stockholm Paracelsus-society and we have discussed this question somewhat, (being no scholars) but with various results. Susanna �kerman Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy From: Penny Bayer Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 Dear Susanna, I am interested in your posting as I am trying to grapple with how Paracelsus related to alchemy. I note in the Oxford English Dictionary that the word "spagyrist" is given the meaning "the science of alchemy; an alchemist; alchemical, [probably invented by Paracelsus]" which seems quite a big clue. Paracelsus is concerned with the secret of eternal life, and ways of renewing and extending that life, which surely is one of the classic stereotypes, or true concerns, of an alchemist. In the Archidoxis he says "we have seen a man that sustained himself for many years by a medicine, viz by the quintessence of gold" (transl by JH, London 1660, p9) and later presents the Philosophers Stone as one of the important Arcanaes: he says that the Stone of the Philosophers works as the fire burns the defiled skin of the Salamander, so that the Stone purges the whole Humane body, and introduces new and younger youth-like virtues (p47). According to Jolande Jacobi his work also contains references to spiritual alchemy. I have been thinking about the idea of alchemy as a contested term in the early modern period. Some of Paracelsus' followers, like Oswald Croll, go to great lengths to distinguish themselves from the common riff-raff alchemists, regarding themselves as the true natural philosophers. Some Italian alchemists (who are happy to regard themselves as alchemists) go to great lengths to distinguish themselves from Arnold de Villa Nova, Ramon Lull etc. So there isn't one idea of what alchemy is, or just one seamless alchemical tradition. Best wishes Penny Bayer Subject: ACADEMY : Academic job opportunities From: Prof. Dr. W.J. Hanegraaff Date: 9 Nov 1999 The Chair "History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents" located at the University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Humanities, is looking for Two University Lecturers/Researchers (m/f) History of Esoteric Currents in Western Culture (Renaissance-Present) Recently a new institution for teaching and research has been created at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, devoted to the academic study of so-called "western-esoteric" currents in modern culture. In this context, "western esotericism" is understood in the technical academic sense of the word, as referring to a complex of interrelated currents that have existed in western society from the early modern period up to the present day. Accordingly, the field includes the revival of Hermetism and the so-called "Occult Philosophy" in the early modern period and its later developments; Alchemy, Paracelsianism and Rosicrucianism; Christian and post-Christian kabbalah; Theosophical and Illuminist currents; and various occultist and related developments during the 19th and 20th centuries, including the New Age movement. Western Esoteric currents have played - and continue to play - a significant role in the religious landscape of the modern west, but have tended to be neglected by academic research. The new institution in Amsterdam combines the world's second university chair in this field with the first initiative for a complete research group and the development of a standard academic teaching curriculum. In this context, the history of western esotericism will be studied and taught from an empirico-historical (religiously neutral) and interdisciplinary perspective, and with special attention to the complex nature of the relation between these currents and processes of modernization, rationalization and secularization. The general goal is to make a significant contribution to the academic professionalization of the study of western esotericism as a legitimate domain of study in its own right; a more specific goal is to demonstrate the relevance of this domain of research to our understanding of the foundations of modern western culture and society, and hence to stimulate cross-fertilization with other disciplines interested in the latter. The research focus on modernization requires particular emphasis. To date, there exists a widespread tendency to perceive "esoteric" or "occultist" traditions as inherently anti-modern, since they espouse "mystical" or "irrational" attitudes that are considered incompatible with rationality and science. This tendency is closely connected to the idea that such traditions are essentially static and conservative, in contrast to the dynamic and progressive nature of modernity. Recent research demonstrates such assumptions to be over-simplistic, and incompatible with the evidence. During all the phases of the emergence of modernity one finds, rather, a complex involvement of western esoteric currents with mainstream developments that are seen both as reflections of, and as contributions to, the emergence of the modern world (see, for example, the relation between the Hermetic revival and Renaissance humanism, alchemy and the scientific revolution, esoteric Freemasonry and the Enlightenment, Spiritualism and nineteenth-century positivism, modern Theosophy and evolutionist anthropology, Mesmerism and the rise of psychology, New Age religion and postmodern consumer culture). The complex and often paradoxical interrelation between western esotericism and the history of modernity cannot be understood without a critical contextual approach which recognizes that traditions associated with "magic and the occult" are subject to continuous change and creative innovation under the impact of new social and historical conditions, rather than being stale "revivals" or mere residues of past ages. The research program of the new institution at the University of Amsterdam will be based upon this axiom, and focus on exploring the complex involvement of western esotericism and mainstream modern culture. Innovative research in the direction sketched above must necessarily be based upon solid and detailed knowledge of the history and variable manifestations of western esotericism understood as a domain of research in its own right - with its own dynamics and characteristic themes and problems - rather than as a domain that derives its significance merely from the relevance it might have to areas of traditional academic interest. On these foundations, however, research should also broach questions and problems of a more general nature, related to the historical processes of modernization, rationalization and secularization. Given these requirements, candidates might have a background either in the historical study of western esotericism as such, or in research concentrating on aspects of the history of modernity relevant to the domain in question, or in both. In any case, they will be expected to be actively involved in a research program along the lines sketched above, and to display genuine interest in combining historical research into various aspects of western esotericism with theoretical reflection concerning questions of a more general nature. Candidates should fit the following profile: - Ph.D. (or equivalent) in a discipline of the humanities. - Specialization in, or relevant to, one or more areas of historical research belonging to the domain of "western esotericism", having resulted in academic publications of high quality. - Active interest in interdisciplinary research and teamwork in the context of the humanities and the social sciences, within a research program focused on the interrelations between western esotericism and processes of modernization. - Good didactic qualities. - Good command of the English language. Salary: according to the standard norms for University Lecturers in the Netherlands, with a maximum of f. 8682,-- bruto p./m. Letters of application, with C.V. and list of publications, should be sent Prof. Dr. W.J. Hanegraaff, Fac. of Humanities/Dept. Theology and Religious Studies, Oude Turfmarkt 147, NL-1012 GC Amsterdam, The Netherlands. e-mail: [email protected] Deadline for letters of application: January 1, 2000. Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross over England Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 From: Michael Thomas Martin Dear Friends, I am a graduate student working on a thesis on Shakespeare and alchemy. My research has led me to conclude that Shakespeare was more than familiar with the Rosicrucian movement. Yates suggests this in The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, as does Ron Heisler in some articles on the alchemy site. My question to all of you concerns the dates for the Rosicrucians. Alchemy was at the height of its popularity in England in the last decade of the sixteenth century, and Shakespeare, and everyone else worth his salt in those days, makes many references to it, good and bad. It is my suspicion, as it is Heisler's, that there was Rosicrucian activity in England prior to 1600, which is prior to the publication of any of the Rosicrucian material. This activity would have been hand-in-glove connected to the alchemical movement surrounding people like Dee and Sidney. I believe Shakespeare's references to alchemy and use of Rosicrucian themes, at least before 1600, reflect his pandering to the powerful players at court by using subjects/ideas which were current among the elite. Does anyone out there have any leads on dates for Rosicrucian activity in Englnd prior to 1600? Michael Martin Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross over England Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 From: Michael Srigley Dear Michael Martin, Where Shakespeare and alchemy is concerned, in addition to Ron Heisler's articles which you mention, you might consult Charles Nicholl's 'The Chemical Theatre' (London, 1980) which examines alchemical imagery in Shakespeare from Lear onwards (he does not deal with The Tempest). You might take a look at my 'Images of Regeneration: A Study of Shakespeare's The Tempest and Its Cultural Background' (1985) where the play's alchemical imagery and its possible connection with the Rosicrucians are discussed. It's my own impression that alchemical imagery in the plays down to about 1603 is incidental, and only becomes organic in several plays after that. It is possible that this is connected with the printing of the 'Theatrum Chemicum' in 1602 and the following years, which made available such works as Gerard Dorn's 'Philosophia chemica'. This presents Paracelsan alchemy (spagyrism?) as an alchemy of both mind and matter, and would have appealed to such authors as Shakespeare and John Donne. There is perhaps a distinction to be made between 'pandering' to current courtly interest in alchemy, and exploiting the rich imagery of alchemy which Shakespeare knew would be recognized by his audience. All best wishes, Michael Srigley Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy in Bologna and Santiago de Compostella From: Ernesto Fazioli Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 I'm a researcher for an italian group 'La Porta Della Luna'. We are working on a project concerning possible historical alchemical connections between Bologna (Italy) and Santiago de Compostella (Spain). Can you give me some information about this matter (alchemists, ideas or other)? We plan to organize an exposition and a book for "BOLOGNA 2000 City of European Culture" in co-operation with the city of Bologna. Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 From: Deborah E. Harkness Dear Colleagues: I was intrigued to read Susanna' message, in large part because I have been thinking a great deal about Paracelsus and Paracelsianism lately. More specifically, I have been trying to articulate exactly how interest in Paracelsus was developed in Elizabethan London, and have found a great number of physicians and surgeons. I have not however found very many Paracelsian alchemists in the more narrow sense of the term (ie a search for the philosophers stone). This may be too narrow a definition, I admit, but at the same time I wonder if historians of alchemy (following the lead of Brian Copenhaver, who attempted to sort out varieties of hermeticism) should renew our efforts to separate some of alchemy's tangled strands? I suggest this not so that we would end up with a bunch of totally discrete sub-specialties, but so we can begin to address the full complexity of Paracelsus' thought and its subsequent adoption. In the case of John Dee, for example, I believe he was very much influenced by Paracelsian cosmology and concepts about the natural philosopher as divine adept. But, Dee seems strongly opposed to Paracelsian three-principle alchemical theory. In the case of my London surgeons and physicians, however, they are interested in Paracelsian medical preparatives. Best, Deb Harkness To: Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 From: Dusan Djordjevic Mileusnic Dear all, While there is a discussion going on about Paracelsus and Alchemy on the Academy, just today I`ve found a Site with interesting material that might explain few things, or even state new problems. It is `Paracelsus Project of the University of Zurich`, with Dr. Urs Leo Gantenbein as Project Director. The address is http://www.mhiz.unizh.ch/Paracelsus.html I don`t recall there has been any information about this on the Academy. Am I right? Best wishes Dusan Djordjevic Mileusnic Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 From: Carl-Michael Edenborg I was the one who held the lecture on Paracelsus in Stockholm. I based my denial of Paracelsus being an alchemist on what I have understood is the result of the philological examinations of his texts: that all the alchemical texts published in his names are apocryphes (for example, I believe the Archidoxis is an apocryphe). I think that spagyria should be regarded as paracelsian chemistry or farmacology, not as alchemy (defined as the Work which has the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of life as goal). Carl-Michael Edenborg Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy in Bologna and Santiago de Compostella Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 From: Catherine Fox-Anderson Dear Academy, I would also be interested in any solid articles linking Santiago's route to alchemy. Have have read a few things that suggest symbolic connections (the Milky Way), and have read in one source that Santiago was the patron saint of alchemists, but have seen nothing very complete in this regard. Best of luck, Catherine Fox-Anderson Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross over England Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 From: Michael Thomas Martin Dear Michael Srigley and all, Thanks for your input. I am quite familiar with Nicholl's book, and I find it wonderful. In my research I have discovered that Shakespeare was experimenting with alchemical motifs as early as Romeo and Juliet in 1597, or thereabouts. Most researchers who know anything about Shakespeare's use of alchemy point to the Romances, but he was, in fact, exploring this trove of metaphor earlier. Though, it seems to me, in his early work he was ambivalent or even negative about the Work, while with the Romances he is most obviously sympathetic. This may have something to do with dissatisfaction with the Protestant and Catholic camps countered by the tolerance presented in Rosicrucianism. As for the Rosicrucian connection prior to 1600, I agree that evidence is spotty or even circumstantial, but the Rosicrucians didn't just precipitate out of thin air in 1602 or 1614. While most evidence points to Germany as the country of origin, it is not out of the question that there is an English connection, whether it be to the order of the Garter, or Dee and the Monas, both connected, in some regard as Yates suggests, to the marriage of Elizabeth Stuart and Prince Frederick. And, anyway, when it comes to evidence and the Rosicrucians, all evidence is pretty spotty. And please forgive me if I seemed a bit callous in suggesting that Shakespeare was only sucking up to the court in appropriating alchemical iconography. Without a doubt, the rich vocabulary found in alchemy would be food for any poet worth his salt. Michael Martin Subject: ACADEMY : Microcosmic and macrocosmic progression From: Massimo Marra Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 From the Historia Naturale of Ferrante Imperato (Naples 1599) cap. 21. "Sono dunque, nella minore, E nella maggiore. li gradi da considerarsi 1 Forma 1 Chao 2 Materia 2 Materia 3 Corpo 3 Forma 4 Licor Lunare 4 Ethre 5 Calcinazione 5 Elementi 6 Scioglimento 6 Mistione 7 Divacamento 7 Dissoluzione 8 Moltiplicamento 8 Alterazione 9 Spirto 9 Digestione 10 Argento vivo dimonto 10 Generazione 11 Solfo di natura 11 Colori 12 Tintura 12 Separazione 13 Sublimazione 13 Operazioni 14 Oglio 14 Essenza perfetta 15 Incerazione 15 Fermentazione 16 Pietra Filosofale 16 Veneno trasformante. This text (in Italian) shows the ascending progression of the Work from the chaos to the Philosophical stone from two different points of view : macrocosmic (Opra maggiore, opus maius) and microcosmic (Opra Minore, opus minus). I have found the same progression, in an inverted direction (from the Lapis and the venenum trasformans to the forma and chaos) in a Latin manuscipt quoted by G. Carbonelli (Sulle fonti storiche della chimica e dell'alchimia in Italia - Roma 1925 pag. 30\31) and bearing the title "Libellus Aureus" (Vat. Ott. Lat. 2132 cart. Fol 57) UNIVERSALIS MEDICINA 16 Lapis 16 venenum trasformans 15 Inceratio 15 fermentatio 14 Oleum 14 perfectum ens 13 Sublimatio 13 operatio 12 Tinctura 12 separatio 11 sulfur naturae 11 colores 10 argentum vivum exuberat 10 generatio 9 spiritus 9 digestio 8 moltiplicatio 8 alteratio 7 evacuatio 7 dissolutio 6 dissolutio 6 mixtio 5 calcinatio 5 elementa 4 lunaria 4 coelum 3 corpus 3 forma 2 materia 2 materia 1 forma 1 chaos It seems that the accomplishment of the macrocosmic opus is called Philosophical Stone. On the contrary, the accomplishment of the microcosmic opus is the Venenum (or the Elixir). I would appreciate very much to receive every information available about the "Libellus Aureus". It would be really interesting to know other texts that show the same progression, in order to trace the source texts of the Historia Naturale. Thank you in advance for your help. Best wishes. Massimo Marra Subject: ACADEMY : 19th century alchemy Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 From: Carl-Michael Edenborg Even if the alchemical tradition seems to have come to an abrupt end around 1790, individuals and small groups, without connection and continuity, still manifested their alchemical interest during the 19th century. There are the english swedenborgian alchemists around John Augustus Tulk, there are Barrett, there are the frenchman Cyliani, there are the swede Ekenstam, and a few others - before the hyperchemical revival in the 1880's in France, and Waite's work a little later. Does any one know if there are anything written concerning the 19th century alchemists? Carl-Michael Edenborg Subject: ACADEMY : Heidelberg masques Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 From: Bartosz Protas I wonder if anybody could tell me the titles of the masques that were performed at Heidelberg during the royal wedding of prince Frederick V and princess Elisabeth in 1613. Thank you in advance. Bartek Protas Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross over England From: William S. Aronstein Date: Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 Dear Mr. Martin, Your question about Shakespeare's possible use of Rosicrucian imagery brings to mind a most interesting book, which I commend to your attention, and about which I should like to seek enlightenment from the readers of this list. I refer to "The Byrom Collection," by Joy Hancox, London, Jonathan Cape, 1992. In this very interesting work, Ms. Hancox describes the discovery and initial analysis of a group of drawings that at one time belonged to John Byrom, FRS, a man with Freemasonic, Jacobite, and esoteric connections. Included in the collection are a number of highly stylized graphic plans for a number of major Elizabethan and Jacobean theatres, including the Globe and the Rose. These drawings encode the dimensions required to build the theatres in a series of interlocking circles and other geometric designs. It is difficult for me to describe them, but suffice it to say, they do not at all resemble the kind of architectural drawings in use today. I mention this because the theatres seem to have been constructed as microcosms, and the way in which they were designed may reflect esoteric thinking. The Bard himself notes that "all the world's a stage," &c. The manuscripts do seem to point to the existence of esoteric schools of thought and knowledge involving many of England's most interesting scientific and literary figures. I wonder if any reading this note are familiar with the book, the man, the ideas, and drawings of this type. Best of luck with your researches, William Aronstein Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 From: Urs Leo Gantenbein Since I am intensely investigating the teachings of Paracelsus as well as the history of alchemy at the turn of the Middle ages to the 16th century, I can clearly say that Paracelsus was deeply rooted in the lore and teachings of medieval alchemy. There are many hints in his true writings written by himself. Of course many "Paracelsian" writings dealing with metallic transmutation are apocryphes (for example Philosophia ad Athenienses, Thesaurus alchemistarum, Coelum philosophorum, Manuale de lapide philosophico). Paracelsus's being an alchemist begins with his knowledge of technical alchemy used in metallurgical engineering. There are several quotations scattered in his writings pointing in this direction. In his youth and also in later years Paracelsus spent some in time in Schwaz, which was a famous silver mining town in Tyrol, Austria. There he studied with Simon Fueger, a famous alchemist of his time. As I could confirm on the basis of recent MS findings, the mining places were important meeting-places for people doing technical, transmutational as well as medical alchemy. All was intertwined and cannot be looked at separately. Before asking whether Paracelsus was an alchemist we have to define what we want to understand under the term of alchemy. To my opinion an alchemical process always has to do with some change. Substances (material or immaterial ones) are changed in other substances. Very often in this process of change there is the idea of transmutation from a lower state to a higher one. This principle can be applied in very different areas: lead can be transmuted to gold, a lower mind to a higher spiritual one, a raw pharmaceutical material to a highly purified and efficient remedy. Paracelsus was against the making of gold, but this idea of transmutation from lower to higher can be found again and again in his genuine writings. As many may think medical alchemy did not start with Paracelsus. There were many "books of art", mostly existing only in MS form, where alchemical and medical items can be found mixed. There were also mineral and metallic remedies alchemically produced before Paracelsus. This is also a point which is subject to my researches and I hope I shall be able to present my results in the near future. Spagyrics is a term probably introduced by Paracelsus. It is an synonymous word for medical alchemy. "Separatio puri ab impuro", separation of the pure from the impure. This is the process of separation of the operative principle or substance from a base drug. It is a completely alchemical process, and in this way Paracelsus was an alchemist. By the way, according to my opinion the archidoxis is one of Paracelsus' genuine writings, although an early one. The tria prima sulfur - mercury - salt is not yet quoted there. Paracelsus refers to the archidoxis in a later work. To those understanding German I can recommend my paper: "Separatio puri ab impuro - Die Alchemie des Paracelsus", in: Nova Acta Paracelsica N.F. 11 (1987), 3-59. Thank you for hinting at the homepage of the Zurich Paracelsus Project: http://www.mhiz.unizh.ch/Paracelsus.html Urs Leo Gantenbein Subject: ACADEMY : 19th century alchemy Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 From: Gene Albinder Carl-Michael Edenborg wrote: >Does any one know if there are anything written concerning the 19th >century alchemists? Try Honore De Balzac. "The Quest Of The Absolute". Stirring little volume, I'll tell you. Respectfully, Gene Albinder. Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross over England From: Adam McLean Date: Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 >a most interesting book, which I commend to your attention, >and about which I should like to seek enlightenment from the >readers of this list. I refer to "The Byrom Collection," by Joy >Hancox, London, Jonathan Cape, 1992. In this very interesting >work, Ms. Hancox describes the discovery and initial analysis >of a group of drawings that at one time belonged to John >Byrom, FRS, a man with Freemasonic, Jacobite, and esoteric >connections. >Included in the collection are a number of highly stylized graphic >plans for a number of major Elizabethan and Jacobean theatres, >including the Globe and the Rose. These drawings encode the >dimensions required to build the theatres in a series of interlocking >circles and other geometric designs. Dear William, This book by Joy Hancox is absolute rubbish. And worse than that it was written when she knew the truth about these drawings and yet ignored this and proceeded to write a mischievous book based on her own nonsensical ill-informed speculation. The appearance of the Rose and the Globe theatres in her book was a bit of opportunism as both these theatres had been in the news while she was writing the book. The Rose theatre was at that time being excavated by archaeologists, and the Globe was being built by Sam Wannamaker and was much discussed in the press in the UK. Hancox probably thought linking her book to this might increase sales. I knew about these diagrams long before Hancox discovered them. They are geometric deconstructions of well known alchemical and hermetic emblems. The author of these diagrams was obviously trying to find geometrical structures underlying these engravings. I wrote about this in the Hermetic Journal years earlier in 1983 and you can read the article on the web site at http://www.levity.com/alchemy/innergeo.html The back of many of the Byrom figures have such cryptic phrases as 'Khun. tab. 2', 'Fl. Tom. II. p235', which when I met Hancox she suggested were a secret masonic code. When I explained to her that these were references to illustrations in books such as Khunrath's 'Amphitheatrum', and Fludd's 'Utriusque cosmi... historia Tome II', rather than being happy to find the truth she felt I had damaged the mystery with which she wanted to surround them. Some of the circular figures in her book are geometric deconstructions of the circular engravings from the first edition of Khunrath's 'Amphitheatre'. This is not my opinion or belief but can be easily demonstrated by imposing the figures onto the original emblem. Her original idea was that these were secret masonic diagrams of King Solomon's Temple !!! People like Hancox really annoy me. She seems totally uninterested in the truth of such matters, but only in promoting a fiction. Her motives for this were possibly pecuniary, but in any case the book was badly received and quickly remaindered. There is a lot more to this story I could tell - about the way in which these drawings were kept away from other scholars. Once Hancox knew I understood what these diagrams actually were, she did not give me further access to them. It makes me sick that people can treat this material (which belongs to the hermetic tradition) as a commodity to be fashioned to their own purposes. It reminds me of another similar situation in which I became involved, that of the publication of the Rudd manuscript from the Sloane collection as the 'Rosicrucian Secrets of John Dee'. This manuscript has nothing at all to do with John Dee, but was a late 17th century copy and paraphrase of various alchemical writings from the mid 17th century, some by Christopher Heydon. I pointed this out to the publishers, Aquarian Press, before they published the book and I provided them with full information on the origins of the texts in this book and the fact that they could have had nothing whatsoever to do with Dee. But they chose not to listen - they wanted to have John Dee's name attached to this book to add to its sales. Three or four times a year I have someone write to me believing this work to be by Dee. To me it is attrocious that people, knowing the truth about some manuscript or drawings, should instead mischievously publish this in such a way as to delude future readers and perpetuate untruths. I don't know how people can feel easy with such things on their conscience. Authors and publishers surely have some responsibility towards the truth. Sadly the truth about these diagrams is much more interesting than Hancox's book. Her actions in hypeing the importance of these (and their financial value) seem to have resulted in their being unavailable to other researchers. Adam McLean Subject: ACADEMY : Bryom drawings and Michel Le Blon From: Susanna �kerman Date: 11 Nov 1999 >This book by Joy Hancox is absolute rubbish. And worse than >that it was written when she knew the truth about these drawings >and yet ignored this. I have read Hancox book and found an interesting connection to Michel le Blon. Hancox reproduces his hermetic Zeus engraving and says that his signature appears on the back of some of these diagrams. Le Blon was Queen Christina's artmerchant and in 1650 offered her 20 manuscripts from Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel, one of which was described as "magia cabalistica... du quel il fait un grand etat". We do not know which manuscripts this was but I conjecture that it is the Latin version of Sefer-ha-Raziel, copied out at the court of Alfonso X the Wise (d. 1284), now in her Vatican collection as Reg. Lat. 1300. This is a very important book of "secrets" with angel magic and herbal medicines described. An English sixteenth century version by John Gwynne is in the British library with at one point Dee's monas sign written upside down in the margin. Le Blon earlier worked as art merchant for Charles I, but in Holland he is even suspected to be the author of one of the early Dutch replies to the Fama, signed M.B. 1615. This according to Govaert Snoek's De Rosenkruisers in Nederland, a dissertation at the University of Leiden in 1989 (available at the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica). According to Hancox, Le Blon was related by marriage to Theodore de Bry, the Rosicrucian printer. While in Stockholm in 1647-49 Le Blon translated Jakob Boehme's "little prayer book" and he is regarded to have belonged to a secret lodge of some sort together with the poets Reyer Anslo and Joost van den Vondel, who from their Mennonite and Anabaptist origins converted to Catholicism around 1655 (when Christina converted). Le Blon's project for classical sculptures for an academy in Stockholm was described by Artus Quillinus in a poem "De Zweedse Pallas" that is rumoured to contain an Hermetic and concealed understanding. I have written about this in an article "Queen Christina's Latin Sefer-ha-Raziel manuscript" published in A.P. Coudert, S. Hutton, R. H. Popkin and G. M. Weiner (eds.): Judeo-Christian Intellectual Culture in the Seventeenth Century. Kluwer, The Hague 1999. The question really arises to what end these drawings were made and why such a figure as Le Blon was involved with them. Someone should write a new study of the Byrom collection I suppose... Susanna �kerman Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy in Bologna and Santiago de Compostella From: Guy Ogilvy Date: Thu, 11 Nov 99 While on a pilgrimage to Santiago de C. last month, I heard tell of a book by Louis Charpentier*. It's French title is, I believe, 'Les Jacques et le Mystere de Compostelle', while the title of the Spanish translation is 'El Mysterio de Compostella'. I was informed that the book alludes to alchemy, astronomy/astrology and the pre-Christian history of Santiago and its pilgrimage routes. It may well refer to alchemical currents between S. de C. and Bologna, if there is such a connection. My initial attempts to track this book down have so far yielded no results. There appears to have been no English translation and the British Library has no information on it. Our French and Spanish forum members may be better placed to search it out. Guy Ogilvy *author of 'The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral' (NY: Avon Books, 1975) originally published in France as 'Les Mysteres De La Cathedrale de Chartres' (Paris: Robert Lafond, 1966). Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy, mining and early medical alchemy Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 From: Sophie Page With reference to Urs Leo Gantenbein's comment that > the mining places were important meeting-places >for people doing technical, transmutational as well as medical alchemy. All was intertwined and cannot be looked at separately. Albertus Magnus points to an indirect relationship between mining and alchemy as important contexts for 'an inquiry into the nature of metals' In his bk. of minerals (III.i.I) he writes: 'at one time I became a wanderer, making long journeys to mining districts, so that I could learn by observation the nature of metals. And for the same reason I have enquired into the transmutation of metals in alchemy, so as to learn from this, too, something of their nature and accidental properties.' >There were many "books of art", mostly existing only in MS form, >where alchemical and medical items can be found mixed. I have come across a number of anonymous, fluid (sharing some recipes but not all) and largely unremarked upon recipe collections in Medieval manuscripts - some in compilations containing alchemical texts, others in different kinds of compilations. I dont know if this is what you are referring to but I don't think these provide evidence for the existence of a kind of 'medical alchemy' - and practical recipes (for example for colours, metals etc) and magical recipes are also usually mixed in. I think that a Medieval audience for these MSS. would probably recognise and distinguish the different genres, but rather link them all as 'secrets' or 'experiments' than view them as a form of medical alchemy or magico-medical alchemy. Sophie Page Subject: ACADEMY : Liber Rasielis Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 From: Sophie Page Dear Susanna, I am very interested in the Medieval tradition of Liber Rasielis texts and unfortunately the library where I work has not yet acquired a copy of the book in which your article appears, so please excuse my ignorance. In the Medieval period a number of different treatises circulate under the name of Rasiel - Latin translations of different Hebrew treatises relating to the Cabala. Although the secondary literature mentions a number of what are clearly different Latin texts, no work has been done on identifying these as far as I am aware (with the exception of Alfonso X's version which was itself a compilation of origninally separate works). I dont know much about the later history of all the versions and I wondered if you could tell me whether the Alfonso X version predominates amongst the sixteenth and seventeenth century editions or whether the ambiguity of which text the works under this name originate from remains. Could I ask you for the MS. no. of the British Library MS with Dee's monas? I will look for your article in other London libraries and I apologise if these questions are answered within it. Since this is a magical rather than alchemical text it may be appropriate to take a discussion off the forum - my email is [email protected] Yours sincerely, Sophie Page Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy in Santiago de Compostela Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 From: Michael Thomas Martin The recent conversation on Santiago of Compostela lights upon my own recent musings on Romeo and Juliet and the journey of CRC as told in the Fama. The famous sonnet shared by Romeo and Juliet (1.5.92-105) which speaks of the pilgrimage of love in terms of religious pilgrimage, I believe, speaks to the shrine at Compostela (as it was the most popular site of pilgrimage through the Renaissance and R&J is built upon an alchemical motif). The journey of CRC in the Fama is also a pilgrimage of sorts and it brings him in a circle that travels counterclockwise (or anticlockwise as my European brothers and sisters would say). I find it interesting that the Masonic circumambulations also proceed in a counterclockwise fashion. Michael Martin Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy in Bologna and Santiago de Compostella From: Hans Hammerschlag Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 Guy, The publication references of the spanish version of the L. Charpentier book that you are referring to, are included below. However, as far as I understand this book has been out of print and unavailable for some time .... Hans titulo: El Misterio de Compostela autor: Charpentier, Louis ISBN: 84-01-31048-2 traductor: Bassols, Rosa M. traducido del: Frances lengua publ.: Castellano editor: PLAZA & JANES. Plaza & Janes Editores, S.A. prf: 01. SAN 004-539X. serie: Otros Mundos edicion: 3. ed. fecha aparici?n: 07-1978 colacion: 256 p. ; 15x22 cm encuadernacion: tela documento: 7800000 precio: 500 pta Fri Nov 12 17:39:28 1999 Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy From: Jose Rodr�guez Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 >I wonder whether Paracelsus should be regarded >as an alchemist or whether it is better to see him as "merely" theorizing >on such notions as the nature of the "archeus", the spirit in matter, etc. Dear Susanna: This message is a brief summary (sorry it is really very simple) with some conclusions of the recent research concerning the relationship between Paracelsus and alchemy. Paracelsus was a physician and his purposes are medical in all his authentic works. The alchemical texts searching for the philosopher's stone published in his names are apocryphes as Carl-Michael Edenborg suggests. In his "Liber Paragranum" he explains that the pillars in medicine are Philosophy, Alchemy, Astronomy and Ethic. Paracelsus thinks those are the four foundations of medical science and people who want to learn medicine have to know Philosophical, alchemical, astronomical and ethical theories. Concerning alchemy... why does the medic or physician have to study alchemy? First we have to understand that Paracelsus use the "his" Philosophy (The first pillar in his medicine) to go depply into the natural causes of the illness. He explains that the real physician is the man who knows the origin and the causes of the illness and in the Liber Paragranum (X, 278) he said that the old physicians use only the description but they don't percive the foundation [german: grunt] and the origin [german: herkommen] of all the things. His first objective is to observe Nature because he wants: "...to understand the origin [german: herkommen] of all the natural things" (Paragranum, VIII, 190). Besides he examines Nature and he concludes that all the things had been created with an intentionality and a purpose. Alchemy in Paracelsus works is the way to put into effect the purposes of all the natural things, because he said that alchemy is the science dedicated to improve [german: vollender] all the substances by means of three operations: Transformation (internal or external), Separation [german: scheiden] and Purification. Moreover this idea about how to work with the natural things (to look for an origin and then to improve) is an analogy that we can find in the alchemical texts where Quicksilver is considered the basic constituent of all metals: such transformation was said to be possible on the condition that metals were first reduced to their primary matter, Quicksilver. The subject of formless prime matter is of central importance to alchemy because it touches upon a crucial issue in the theory of alchemical transformations (changes: generations, growing, etc). Paracelsus sees the physician like a man who has to improve all the things by means of the transformations (he transform the illness into health, the plants and the mineral substances into medicines, etc.) so alchemy, like a transmutatorial science, has to be his principal tool in medicine. As a result he is not an alchemist, he is a physician who takes: - alchemical theories to explain and understand the transformations in the natural things. - alchemical operations to make transformations and produce medicines (Spagyria). Paracelsus was not specialy interested in making gold or silver. His first objective is to change illness into health. He jokes about the man who has the first objective making gold or silver. Jos� Rodr�guez Fri Nov 12 17:37:58 1999 Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy in Santiago de Compostela From: Jose Rodr�guez Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 I send a reference concerning "El Misterio de Compostela" Spanish edition. Louis Charpentier. "El Misterio de Compostela", Ed. Plaza y Janes, 1974, ISBN: 8401310482. The author builds a symbolic intepretation on Santiago's route and he mixes alchemical, astrological and "hermetic" (?) interpretation in all the symbols that the pilgrim finds during a peregrination to Santiago. Concerning alchemy his intepretations are absolutely free, as a result he makes some picturesque speculations without a solid historial background. He thinks that there are many alchemical symbols in the monuments along the Santiago's route, especially the medieval monastery in San Juan de la Pe�a, but it is a personal and subjective vision by Charpentier. There are no historical data to conclude that Santiago's route was originally an alchemical route or with alchemical purpose. I think there are no relationships between Santiago's route and alchemy in the Middle Ages literature (truly in Spain). The first references in spanish texts appears in the 16th century referring to a belief of french pilgrims. This myth was very popular ever since the pseudo-Nicholas Flammel published his "Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures which he caused to bee painted upon an Arch in St. Innocents Church-yard, in Paris" (1612). In this alchemical work appear a famous relationship betwen Santiago's route and the achemist: "...I made a vow to God and St. James of Gallicia, to demand the interpretation of them at some Jewish Priest in some Synagogue of Spain. Whereupon, with the consent of Perrenella, carrying with me the Extract of the Pictures, having taken the Pilgrims' habit and staff, in the same fashion as you may see me without this same Arch, in the Church-yard in the which I put these Hieroglyphical Figures, where I have also set against the wall, on the one and the other side, a Procession, in which are represented by order all the colours of the Stone, so as they come and go, with this writing in French: Much pleaseth God procession, If it be done in devotion. Which is as it were the beginning of King Hercules his Book, which entreateth of the colours of the Stone, entitled Iris, or the Rainbow, in these termes, The procession of the work: is very pleasant unto Nature: the which I have put there expressly for the great Clerks who shall understand the Allusion. In this same fashion, I say, I put myself upon my way; and so much I did that I arrived at Montjoy, and afterwards at St. James..." Jos� Rodr�guez Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy in Santiago de Compostela From: Adam McLean Date: 12 Nov 1999 The speculative view on Santiago de Compostela was articulated on the old alchemy discussion group on Sun, 06 Apr 1997 http://www.levity.com/alchemy/t_spain.html This is far from a scholarly view and may represent the ideas in Charpentier. Adam McLean Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross over England Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 From: Susanna �kerman Michael Martin wrote: >It is my suspicion, as it is Heisler's, that there was Rosicrucian >activity in England prior to 1600, which is prior to the publication >of any of the Rosicrucian material. This activity would have been >hand-in-glove connected to the alchemical movement surrounding >people like Dee and Sidney. You may consult my recent book "Rose Cross Over the Baltic - the Spread of Rosicrucianism in northern Europe." Brill, Leiden 1998, for some points on the Dee-connection and the political use of the Rosicrucian legend. It is remarkable that the Swedish Rosicrucian Johannes Bureus adapts his sign the Adulruna from John Dee's monas which Bureus according to his notes he read and ponders in 1609. I have also found that the emissar to the L�neburg "militia evangelica", described by Simon Studion in the Naometria, i.e. to the English, Danish, German Protestant and French diplomatic meeting in 1586 was from the English side Thomas Bodley. At the same time Philip Sidney is campaigning in the Netherlands. It is of interest to know that Bodley is regarded to have been introduced to a Pythagorean society at Forli in Italy before that and that he may have discussed such notions with Sir Robert Cotton who also set up a semi-public library in London where even Fludd studied. As for Rosicrucian activity before 1600 there is little evidence since the notion "rosicrucian" does not appear before the publication of the Fama. One can perhaps speak of esoteric understandings of a rosicrucian type before 1600 (such as prophetic chronology of a rosicrucian sort and monas- speculation, the influx of dew, alchemical or platonic-pythagorean secret societies etc.), but never are the specific elements of rosicrucianism present before the writing of the Christian Rosencreutz fiction in the Fama of 1610-1614. This is an important watershed to keep in mind. P.S. I have now published a short essay on Adam's pages "A medieval forerunner to the crest of J.V. Andreae" http://www.levity.com/alchemy/andreae_crest.html that may suggest proto-rosicrucianism in an Italian medieval context. But this is only with a stretch of the imagination. Susanna �kerman Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy in Santiago de Compostella Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 From: Alejandro Garcia Aviles: Charpentier's book on alchemy in Santiago's pilgrimage road: Following the chinese proverb, I am sending not the results of my own research, but the tools to do it yourself. Perhaps it will be useful for others looking for Spanish books: Availability: http://www.mcu.es/bases/spa/isbn/ISBN.html Shopping: http://www.marcialpons.es http://www.bol.es and many more, of course. Very interesting will be www.diegomarin.com (soon available), which purports to include the indexes of the books. Availability and Loan from many Spanish University libraries: http://www.baratz.es/RUECA http://www.buo.uniovi.es/Buo-Ruedo.html http://www.cbuc.es Spanish National Library (last resource): http://www.bne.es Alejandro Garcia Aviles Universidad de Murcia (Spain) Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy From: Hans Hammerschlag Date: 12 Nov 1999 Dear Jose, As always I find your participation to be particularly enriching and filled with lots of factual data ... You say : >Paracelsus was a physician and his purposes are medical in all his >authentic works. The alchemical texts searching for the philosopher's >stone published in his names are apocryphes as Carl-Michael >Edenborg suggests. I wonder if it would be possible then, under the auspices of this cybernetic assembly ... to draw up a tentative list, at least partial and conformed by the most widely works attributed to Paracelsus, siding which of this works are considered by the scholars to be authentic Paracelsus works and which arent . >As a result he is not an alchemist, he is a physician who takes: Of course then, the question would come to mind, as to which would be the criteria to be able to label appropriately anyone as an alchemist, at least under the scope of scholarship. Surely interesting subjects to be discussed ... or it seem so to me. Best regards to all, Hans Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 From: Michal Pober Urs Leo Gantenbein wrote: >In his youth and also in later years Paracelsus spent >some in time in Schwaz, which was a famous silver mining town >in Tyrol, Austria. There he studied with Simon Fueger, a famous >alchemist of his time. As I could confirm on the basis of recent >MS findings, the mining places were important meeting-places >for people doing technical, transmutational as well as medical >alchemy. All was intertwined and cannot be looked at separately. Dear Urs Leo Gantenbein, This comment was of particular interest to me and I wonder if you would be willing to share some more on this topic? I am also particularly interested in the intertwining to which you refer and since this may take us further distant from the specifically alchemical perhaps you could write to me off-line: [email protected] My interest stems from my life and projects in Kutna Hora and therefore my parallel and crossover interests in people like Lazarus Ercker and Georgius Agricola. best regards, michal pober Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Sun, 14 Nov 99 From: Urs Leo Gantenbein Dear Michal Pober In mining the raised ores had to be tested. The percentage of the desired metal had to be figured out, complicated processes were separating the constituens of the ore. These all were processes of technical alchemy. The early 16th century several textbooks of this technical kind of alchemy were coming out culminating in George Agricola's De Re Metallica. Furthermore, the various minerals being a by-product of mining were the base materials for other alchemical processes. Paracelsus says in his "Seven "Defenses" (Septem Defensiones): "It is necessary for a doctor to be an alchemist. When he wants to be a such one, so he has to see the mother from which the minerals grow. Now, the mountains won't come to him, but he has to go to them. Where the minerals are resting, there are the artists. When you want to look for artists being able to separate and prepare nature, then you have to look for them at the places where the minerals are." (my translation from German, Collected Works, ed. Sudhoff, vol. 11, p. 144). In this passage Paracelsus clearly indicates mining places to be the abode of alchemists, and he recommends doctors to go there to learn alchemy. In the Great Surgery (Grosse Wundarznei) Paracelsus gives credit to one of his teachers in alchemy: "I have also accumulated a large experience from many alchemists having investigated in such arts, as from the noble and esteemed Simon Fueger from Schwaz together with a number of his employed laboratory workes" (Collected Works, ed. Sudhoff, vol. 10, p. 354). Fueger is a historical personality. He was a rich and influentual so called "gewerke", an owner or feudal lord of parts of the Schwaz mines, having a great number of workers under his command, among them alchemists. In the same book Paracelsus confesses having also dealt with processes of metallic transmutation, but then to have overcome them for the sake of medical alchemy: "But then the aurifices and lunifices (gold and silver makers) have come and spoilt alchemy; they have tried to transmute the metals by the tincture. Such kind of art has come to me in many ways, always intermingled with the process to transmute in gold and silver, attaining nothing to for the renewal of man. By that I separated this process of metallic transmutation from the one giving health." (Collected Works, vol. 10, p. 352-353). There are many other quotations pointing in the same direction. Summarizing, Paracelsus says: Many alchemists live at mining places, he learned alchemy at such a place, he got in contact with metallic transmutation (and may have tried it), but then went to pure medical alchemy of spagirics. But the technical skill and the base alchemical procedures he learned in doing orthodox alchemy. Now let me come these MS findings I mentioned in my last mail. Together with Rudolf Gamper we are preparing a lengthy catalogue of the alchemical MSS and books of the Kantonsbibliothek (Vadiana) of St. Gall, Switzerland. There are many interesting items. Among them is a corpus of four volumes of which a certain Michael Cochem was the owner and main writer. Of Cochem nothing more is known. The corpus was written in the years 1522-1533, partly in Schwaz! One of these volumes is a copy of the famous Liber Trinitatis (Book of the Holy Trinity), the very one presently being exhibited at the Bibliotheca Hermetica Amsterdam. In this copy, there are several additions and marginals by Cochem. In his collection there is another very interesting book. It is a book of art mostly written by himself. Cochem had noted several recipes and processes, transmutational, medical and technical. By his widespread interest in medical items, he was clearly a physician doing alchemy. So we have a contemporary of Paracelsus with similar interests being at the same mining place (but not necessarily at the same time). With this few hints, it may now have become clear, why I came to the conclusion, that an alchemist very often did supposedly different things simultaneously, technical, transmutational and spagyrical. I think the same was true with Kutna Hora, which was an important mining place, too. Urs Leo Gantenbein Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 From: Michal Pober Dear Urs Leo Gantenbein, Many thanks for your marvellous and inspiring response to my question. You have made a very strong case for the interweaving of mining and metallurgy with at least Paracelsian Alchemy and thank you for the very intriguing information regarding Michael Cochem. I have been feeling this interweaving for some time, almost viscerally, even as an inspiration choosing to come and live in Kutna Hora - a lot more attractive than Jachymov, or Joachimsthal, where Agricola spent several years. Your message is very encouraging to delve deeper in search of how that web was woven here in Kutna Hora. Obviously Lazarus Ercker was of great significance but recently I have been made aware of a significant role played by a gentleman called Smisek. whose more mundane activities included increasing his personal wealth considerably by digging, illegally, a private mine through his basement! He will be featured at a conference which will be held here in the spring - dates still to be confirmed. It would be nice to imagine that Paracelsus came here but I've never heard any evidence of that. A definite oversight considering the extent of his travels. I will get back in due course when I have made some meaningful discoveries in this realm. In a similar vein I am also pursuing the theory that Edward Kelley's transmutations were something in the nature of what I understand you to be describing as 'technical alchemy'. A couple of significant relevant factors are K's connection with the gold-mines of Jilove and prior to that with mines and minting operations owned by the Rozmberks in Reichstein, or Reichenstein in Silesia, now Zloty Stok nr. Klodzko in Poland. With Best Regards, Michal Pober Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy From: John A. Norris Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 Dear Michal > I have been feeling this interweaving for some time, almost viscerally, > even as an inspiration choosing to come and live in Kutna Hora - > It would be nice to imagine that Paracelsus came here but I've never > heard any evidence of that. A definite oversight considering the extent > of his travels. Although I am not entirely up to date with which Paracelsian writings are now considered to be non authentic, it may be of interest to you that in the work of Paracelsus called "The Tincture of the Philosophers" [in The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus; trnsl. Arthur Edward Waite (1894); The Alchemical Press, Holmes Publishing Group, 1992; vol 1, pp 19-30], specific mention is made of Kutna Hora ["Kuttenberg" in the text]. This reference occurs in a discussion on the nature of vitriol, in which the author mentions vitriol from Kutna Hora in relation to its apparent ability to transmutate iron into copper. [The history and significance of this reaction has been discussed by Dr. Karpenko in a couple of papers, most notably in "Fe(s) + Cu(ii)(aq) -> Fe(ii)(aq) + Cu(s) Fifteen Centuries of Search"; J. Chem. Ed., pp. 1095-1098, v. 72, n. 12, Dec. 1995]. Regarding Paracelsus' status as an alchemist, it may be of interest to note that in the works I've read, he never claimed to have accomplished any metallic transmutation other than this one, but extrapolated the theoretical posibility of further metallic transmutations based on this readily repeatable and [at the time] convincing example of a transmutation between two base metals. Regards, J. Norris Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 From: Catherine Fox-Anderson Greetings to the Academy, I have been encountering, in the course of my investigations of alchemy and its modern historical context both in Spain and the Americas, information about links with neonazi groups and esoterism (not just in Spain, of course, but also in Germany). I am using recognized alchemical texts throughout my thesis (many from this wonderful website), and am researching of course the author of the novel, trying to determine why she might have chosen this symbolism. I don't believe she herself holds these political views, but I cannot conclude that yet; she has expressed interest in communicating with me and I pray that comes to pass. Such a connection to modern alchemy is of course disturbing, and seems to me a perversion of the concept of Divine Love that also runs thematically throughout alchemical texts. While this is a side issue to my thesis, which examines the theme of the chymical wedding in literature, I want to at least footnote such issues in my paper. I ran across a study, but unfortunately did not pick up on it at the time, about Jung's dabbling in such thought toward the end of his life. I'm currently searching anew for that book. A Spanish contact from Santiago Jubany's website gave me the names of esoteric organizations and intellectuals in Spain with such ties; I discovered I possess a book by at least one of them, if this is true. I recall this discussion last summer in the Academy or Forum; I'm having trouble with the search key for the archives. I'd appreciate help on this, as it has been a dark thread that has troubled me greatly; I don't believe the author of the book I'm studying for it's alchemical content shares such a vision, and am awaiting word from her. My contact in Spain said that such connections have caused, understandably, hesitation on the part of some modern Spanish academics who may be interested in a serious study of Spain's esoteric history. I have come to respect the opinion of this Academy's participants very much, and welcome your thoughts, as well as any studies you may know of in this regard. I have been invited by my university to present the paper at a Symposium on Hispanic literature in March, and want to have this issue more settled, of course, by then. I thank you very much. Best wishes to all of you in your searches. Catherine Fox-Anderson Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy From: Adam McLean Date: 16 Nov 1999 Catherine, Perhaps the name you are searching for is Julius Evola. He is thought to have had active Fascist connections at one period of his life and is a relatively well known modern writer on alchemy. There are two articles in the USA magazine Gnosis (now sadly defunct) No 14 1990, p12-20 and articles on the more general influences of fascism on twentieth centuty esotericism. You should be able to find this back issue of this magazine in a good US library. Adam McLean Subject: ACADEMY : Marlowe on Bruno Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 From: Bartosz Protas I came across a remark that in one of his works Christopher Marlowe makes an explicit reference to Giordano Bruno. Does anyone know which text is that? Bartek Protas Subject: ACADEMY : Marlowe on Bruno Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 From: Michael Srigley Dear Bartek Protas, Concerning Marlowe and Bruno, you will find the references to "Saxon Bruno" and his humiliation by the Pope in the 1604 ed. of Christopher Marlowe's 'Dr Faustus', given in Michael Keefer's 'Doctor Faustus: a 1604-version edition' (Oxford, 1991, pp. 97-101). A note on p. 99 points out that Bruno lectured in Wittenberg in Saxony in 1586-1588; this would explain the "Saxon Bruno". Roy T. Eriksen in his "'The Forme of Faustus Fortunes'": A Study of the Tragedie of Doctor Faustus" (Oslo, 1987) has much of interest to say on Marlowe's indebtedness to Bruno who, as you will know, was in England from 1583 to 1585. At the time of Bruno's dramatic lecture at Oxford in 1583, Marlowe was still a student at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and may well have been present at the lecture and if not, certainly heard about it. Hope this is of some help, Michael Srigley Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 From: Carl-Michael Edenborg Dear Catherine, As for C G Jungs nazism, see Richard Noll: The Jung Cult. I have also encountered some connections between modern alchemy and fascism. As for the french Fulcanelli-Canseliet tradition, I suppose it was quite conservative (christian-monarchist), but hardly fascist. Paracelsus, though, was a hero for the german nazists (see for ex. Peuckerts Paracelsus-biography, reprinted several times during the WW2, with false quotations by Paracelsus that made him into some sort of proto-Hitler!). C-M Edenborg Subject: ACADEMY : Wolves, Bears and Ravens Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 From: Aleks Pluskowski Dear members, I have just begun PhD research at the department of Archaeology, Cambridge concerning changing attitudes towards the wolf, bear and raven in Northern Europe (focusing on Scandinavia) from the 7th-15thC AD. While this is primarily an archaeological study, I aim to include as many variable sources as possible. My key interest is in 'belief' as a motivator for behaviour. I know that all three animals are used in alchemical iconography in the 16th and 17thC but I was wondering if anyone has come across references from the early medieval period, particularly from Scandinavia, north Germany or Britain. I'd be extremely grateful for any information on these animals concerning literary references or iconographic depictions on paper, wood, metal, stone or textiles. yours Aleks Pluskowski Subject: ACADEMY : Collected works of Glauber Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 From: Andrew Lange I have been looking for a volume of the Collected Works of Johann Rudolph Glauber which was republished in Amsterdam sometime in the 1970-80's. I held it once in my hand, but it was under the influence of my student finances that held me back. If anyone knows of an available copy, I'd appreciate it. Andrew Lange Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy From: Jose Rodr�guez Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 >which would be the criteria to be able to label appropriately anyone >as an alchemist, at least under the scope of scholarship. Dear Hans, Thanks for your kind message. Of course I am not a scholar of alchemy, only a humble amateur but I send you my opinion. Probably we could say he is an alchemist because he takes alchemical theories and practical operations, but really we could say he was a spagyrist because it is an alchemy strongly applied to medicine (spagyria). By this way we could say he was astrologer, physic (Philosophia Naturalis), philosopher (ethic questions) and it could be right since these are the four foundations in Paracelsus' medicine. I think that research on alchemists or alchemical texts under the scope of scholarship tries to reconstruct objectively his original ideas with a solid background of historical, philological... facts. To this effect in the real works by Paracelsus [Textus paramiri (1520), Liber paragranum (1530), Opus paramirum (1531-1535), etc.] alchemy, astrology, "Philosophia Naturalis" and Ethic are in a medical field. Paracelsus appears as a physician taking alchemical, astrological, philosophical and ethical ideas. Therefore overall he appears as a physician... and this is the conclusion that scholars try to transmit. What do you think? Best regards Hans. Jos� Rodr�guez Subject: ACADEMY : The monk Ferrarius. From: Jose Rodr�guez Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 I'm looking for information about the alchemist called "Ferrarius" or "Efferrarius". Are there solid studies dedicated to this author? Books, notes, articles... all references are appreciated. What are the dates of his texts? Especially his Thesaurum Thesaurus. I only found a short reference in: J. Telle. "Lexicon Mittelalters", IV, M�nchen-Z�rich, 1989, word: �Ferrarius�. Thanks all! Jose Rodr�guez Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy From: Heidi Heilemann Date: 17 Nov 1999 Paracelsus is often quoted as having said: All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy. What is the precise source of this oft-quoted line? Thanks in advance for any insight or leads, Heidi Heilemann Information Services Librarian Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism From: Diane Zervas Hirst Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 To members of the Alchemy Academy group and Catherine: For a cogent, historically informed (rather than inflamed) response to the Nazi-related accusations made in Richard Noll's book The Jung Cult, please see Sonu Shamdasani's "Cult Fictions: C.G. Jung and the Founding of Anallytical Psychology," London: Routledge, 1998 Diane Zervas Hirst Subject: ACADEMY : Wolves, Bears and Ravens Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 From: Andrew Lange One extraordinary book is The Great Bear: A Thematic Anthology of Oral Poetry in the Finno-Ugrian Languages by Lauri Honko, et al. Oxford University Press. Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 From: David Porreca Dear Heidi, >Paracelsus is often quoted as having said: >All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy. I believe this reference dates back to Plato, although the precise passage in his Republic escapes me. It originates with the Greek word 'pharmakon', which means both poison and remedy. David Porreca Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 From: Catherine Fox-Anderson Dear Diane, Thank you very much for the reference - this is the sort of thing I'm looking for. Do I understand your message to mean that you think the Noll book is inflamed or inaccurate? Regards, Catherine Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy in Santiago de Compostella Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 From: Michael Srigley Dear Friends, Could I add to the contributions of Ernesto Fazioli, Catherine Fox-Anderson and Guy Ogilvy on the topic of alchemy and Santiago de Compostella by drawing attention to Shakespeare's 'All's Well that Ends Well' (c. 1609). This combines clear references to alchemy with the episode of Helena's " pilgrimage to Saint Jacques le Grand; which holy undertaking with most austere sanctimony she accomplish'd" (IV.iii.45-51). She is reported to have died there, but turns up at the end of the play to reclaim her wayward husband. Earlier in the play she is presented as the daughter of a famous French physician from whom she has received a sovereign remedy which has "something in't / More than my father's skill (I.iii.242-3). With it she goes to the court of the French King who is dying of an incurable disease. Like her cure, she herself is described as "a medicine / That's able to breathe life into a stone, / Quicken a rock, and make you dance a canary, / With sprightly fire and motion" (II.i.70-73). She cures the king after he has been "relinquished of the artists ... both of Galen and Paracelsus" and "Of all the learned and authentic fellows" (II.ii.10-12), and in gratitude the King gives her a ring with special properties. At the end of the play this ring is associated by the King of France with alchemy: Plutus himself, That knows the tinct and multiplying medicine, Hath not in nature's mystery more science Than I have in this ring (V.iii.102-4). The power of both medicine and ring is attributed by Helena to "the greatest Grace lending grace". A possible connection (it has been criticized) between Helena's alchemical cure and Santiago de Compostella, following Fulcanelli, would lie in the fact that it was on a pilgrimage to this shrine that Nicolas Flamel met Abraham the Jew and received from him the ms. describing the opus alchemicum. The scallop-shell worn by pilgrims to this shrine, is, again according to Fulcanelli, closely associated with alchemy. Has this been confirmed from older sources? By the way, can anyone throw light on Helena's father, the physician, who is called in the play 'G�rard de Narbonne'? With all best wishes, Michael Srigley Subject: ACADEMY : Collected works of Glauber From: Jean-Pierre Valjean Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 Monsieur Lange, Both RAMS and AMORC publish the complete works of Glauber, minus the pictures. It is possible that Adam may have the pictures on his site. Valjean P.S. Please note that due to the ill health of Han Nintzel the R.A.M.S. volumes are currently unavailable. - Adam McLean Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 From: Johann Plattner Dear Heidi, It seems that Paracelsus is connected with this famous saying: "Sola dosis facit venenum !", what means "only the dose generates poison" ! I think this is a little bit different. Best wishes Johann Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy From: William S. Aronstein Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 As a young student in Freiburg-im-Breisgau, I was very struck and indeed surprised by a large sign in an apothecary's window, that carried a saying it attributed to Paracelsus. As I recall, it went something like this: "Alles ist Gift; nur das Dosis macht, das Etwas nicht Gift ist." (Everything is Poison; only the dose makes something not a poison.") It seemed an odd sign for a pharmacist's shop, although I later learned that the statement is indeed true, and that, for example, both water and oxygen are dangerous if taken in too high a dose. I wonder if the quote is genuine, and if Paracelsus would have said or written this in German or Latin. A Roman antecedent for the saying might be sought in the writings of Paracelsus' namesake, Celsus, a Latin author who although no physician is credited with the standard medical definition of inflammation. Best wishes, William S. Aronstein Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism Date: Sun, 21 Nov 99 From: Jon Marshall Some relatively reliable background to the facist use of the 'occult' can be found in: Elic Howe *Urania's Children* Also issued as *Astrology and the Third Reich* James Webb *The Occult Establishment* (Chapter "The Magi of the North") Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke *The Occult Roots of Nazism* and *Hitler's Priestess* I don't think there is much on alchemy in any of these sources. There is something on alchemy in Ravenscroft's *Spear of Destiny*, but that is best treated as fiction. One of the best books on Jung and Facisim is a collection of essays edited by Aryeh Maidenbaum & Stephen A. Martin, *Lingering Shadows* The infamous 1933 Radio Berlin interview is translated in *C.G. Jung Speaking* ed William Mcguire and RFC Hull. jon Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism From: Diane Zervas Hirst Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 Dear Catherine, There has been much discussion caused by Noll's book, and if you would like more information, I would be happy to supply you with the reviews of Noll's book that I know about. There is probably also discussion about it on www.cgjung.com Sincerely, Diane Zervas Hirst Subject: ACADEMY : Paracelsus and alchemy Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 From: Urs Leo Gantenbein Dear William Aronstein: This is indeed a genuine saying by Paracelsus, written by him in the Seven Defensions, and it is the most famous, too. In German it runs as follows: "alle ding sind gift und nichts ist on gift; alein die dosis macht das ein ding kein gift ist" (Paracelsus: Septem Defensiones, Collected Works ed. Karl Sudhoff, vol. 11, p. 138). In English: "All things are poisons and nothing is without poison; only the dose determines a thing not to be a poison." With best wishes Urs Leo Gantenbein Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and mining Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 From: Sophie Page Dear Urs Leo Gantenbein, I'm not sure if you know this already or if its relevant to your research - which sounds very interesting - but I came across a reference to Sir Philip Sidney and Kutna Hora in Roberts and Watsons' edition of John Dee's catalogue (pp.44-45) yesterday. In a letter to Hubert Lanuet (whom Dee believed to have discovered gold) of 1577 Philip Sidney asks him to send him the mining laws of Kutna Hora. A reference to this correspondence is given in a footnote. This may have nothing to do with alchemy ( I haven't seen the corresspondence myself) but the connection to Dee is suggestive. Best wishes, Sophie Page Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 From: Mike Dickman >There has been much discussion caused by Noll's book, There was certainly a lot of discussion about it on the now defunct Jung Circle, however there is the web-page at http://members.xoom.com/jungcircle/index.html and I'm sure Maureen Roberts would be pleased to take up cudgels with you any time. I might say - the infamous 1933 doc notwithstanding - that Jung, for all he might have been somewhat conservative at times in his political vision, was certainly in no wise a fascist and nor, when it comes down to it, did he countenance any of their views or subsequent actions. One might as well call Christ a barbarian for once having driven the money-lenders out of the temple, or Jacques Chirac a Buddhist because he once attended a teaching by HH Dalai Lama... Believe me: there are some real, dyed-in-the-wool fascists in the history of Western Occultism. One may point to the feet of clay of the mighty, but at the end of the day what they actually achieved is what they'll be judged by. One might be better off examining one's own feet for argillaceous tendencies. Respectfully, m Subject: ACADEMY : The monk Ferrarius From: Stanislas Klossowski de Rola Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 Dear Jose, I see that you have not received any response to your query regarding Ferrarius which is not surprising since very little indeed is known about him. His name and dates are the subject of much conjecture. Lenglet Du Fresnoy in his Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique (Paris 1642) Vol 1 p.220-221 writes: "Nous avons aussi le Trait� du Moine Efferari ou Ferrari, mais ce dernier est peu lu par les Connoisseurs; quoiqu'au milieu de beaucoup d'obscurit�, on y trouve quelques rayons de lumieres, mais qu'il faut y s�avoir d�couvrir. On le croit de la fin du treizi�me siecle, ou du moins du commencement du quatorzi�me, parce que citant Geber, La Tourbe & le Solitaire Morien, il ne dit pas un mot d'Arnauld de Villeneuve; ni de Raymond Lulle; c'�toient cependant deux Grands Maitres qui m�ritoient d'etre cit�s, s'il avoit v�cu apr�s eux." TRANSLATION: We also have the Treatise of the Monk Effari or Ferrari, but the latter is little read by the Connoisseurs; although in the middle of a lot of obscurity, one finds therein a few rays of light, but one must know how to find them. He is believed to be from the end of the thirteenth century, or at least from the beginning of the fourteenth, because while citing Geber, the Turba, & the Solitary Morienus, he does not say a word about Arnold of Villa Nova nor of Raymund Lull, those were however two Great Masters who would warrant being quoted, if he had lived after them. In the third volume the same author gives only two editions both 1647: The first is the third treatise in "Tractatus aliquot Chimici ingulares, summum Philosophorum arcanum continentes, in-8, Geismariae 1647" the second: " Fratris Ferarii, Tractatus integer, hactemus enim mutilatus d atus tantu, fuerat, Opera Combachii publicatus, cum aliis Authoribus Chimicis. 1647, in-12 I hope this helps. All the very best Stanislas Klossowski de Rola Subject: ACADEMY : Kutna Hora, Paracelsus, Mining Laws Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 From: Michal Pober Dear J. Norris, Sorry not to have acknowledged your message sooner. Yes indeed Kuttenberg and Kutna Hora are one and the same. The Czech means 'Mining Hill', I assume the German means something similar. >This reference occurs in a discussion on the nature of vitriol, in >which the author mentions vitriol from Kutna Hora in relation to its >apparent ability to transmutate iron into copper. >[The history and significance of this reaction has been discussed >by Dr. Karpenko in a couple of papers, most notably in >"Fe(s) + Cu(ii)(aq) -> Fe(ii)(aq) + Cu(s) Fifteen Centuries of Search"; >J. Chem. Ed., pp. 1095-1098, v. 72, n. 12, Dec. 1995]. Interestingly the message preceding yours in my in-box was from Dr Karpenko and he will give me that paper next week. Currently he is working on a very exciting find - an alchemical text from the late 15th C, apparently written by Hynek, the son of the Czech King, Jiri [George] of Podebrady who was also a well known poet, who allegedly had a laboratory in a tower in K.H. which will be part of the now developing Alchemy Museum here. Dr K. will be presenting a paper about this find at a conference here in May and the translation and the background will find its way into print soon. Re the Mining Laws, referred to by Sophie Page [and thanks for that very interesting connection of Sir Philip Sidney and Dee to our fair town!] next year will see the celebration of the 700th year of the Ius Regale Montanorum which will be the occasion of yet another conference, in October. Permit me one strange digression... The same evening that I received the first two messages referred to above I paid a visit to the adjacent teahouse and discovered that they had, for the first time, had a 'reading' and the story was 'Paracelsus' Rose' by Borges... Best Regards, Michal Pober Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and mining Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 From: Robert Vanloo I guess there must be question here of Hubert Languet, and not Lanuet, a well known French Huguenot who served the Saxony Elector. He was a familiar to most German and Bohemian princes of the time. Here is the explanation which I give in a book to be published next year : "L'herm�tisme politique des Rose-Croix" : "L'�lecteur de Saxe avait accueilli en ses terres en 1559 un huguenot c�l�bre, Hubert Languet (1518-1581), qu'il nomma son ambassadeur � la cour imp�riale de 1573 � 1577, apr�s l'avoir charg� de plusieurs missions diplomatiques aupr�s de Charles IX. Languet, qui �tait un ami tr�s proche de Sidney et de Duplessis-Mornay, fut le v�ritable lien entre les calvinistes fran�ais et les princes r�form�s d'Europe. Il �tait �galement tr�s �cout� par Guillaume d' Orange et fut charg� d'une mission en Angleterre au service du comte palatin Jean-Casimir." Robert Vanloo Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and mining Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 From: Urs Leo Gantenbein Dear Sophie Page: Thank you very much for this reference which I didn't know. I'm going to check it. Presently I am studying the handwritten remainings of the Zurich alchemists as Raphael Egli, Caspar Wolff, Johann Jacob Nuescheler, going back to the same period. They all looked for or even owned mining places. Urs Leo Gantenbein Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and mining Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 From: Sophie Page Apologies, I did mean Hubert Languet not Lanuet. The correspondence, for those interested, is ed. by S.A. Pears, 'The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney and Hubert Languet (1845), p. 128 (Languet to Sidney, Nov. 28 1577) and p. 227 (Sidney to Languet, Oct. 1 1577). Sophie Page Subject: ACADEMY : Kutna Hora, Paracelsus, Mining Laws Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 From: Dusan Djordjevic Mileusnic Dear Michal Pober, I was searching few things myself concerning Kutna Hora, in fact, the name itself. I was wondering what does it mean. I knew that Hora is mountain or hill (Gora, in Serbian), but I didn`t know what Kutna means. A friend of mine who lives now in Prague told me that there is a legend on how the town was founded. The legend says that there was a monk, named Antonin, from the nearby monastery Sedlec, who found silver on that mountain, and that he wanted to inform the abbot about this. In order to find that place for sure when he gets back, and to hide the silver, he put on it his `kutna`, - cowl, frock, the long robe - , so this means that Kutna Hora designates something like the mountain covered with a frock, or cowl. (?) Two alchemists are mentioned in this context - Krystof Putz and David Wolfram. Anything on these names? By the way, as I recall, you mentioned Ercker in some of your previous messages. There is an interesting site with images from Ercker`s book on metallurgy on www.library.upenn.edu/etext/collections/smith/ercker/ . All the best Dusan Djordjevic Mileusnic Subject: ACADEMY : Kutna Hora, Paracelsus, Mining Laws Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 From: Catherine Fox-Anderson Dear Michael, I'd be most interested in where one could find that short story- I have many of Borges' works in my collection, and am slowly pursuing his interest and his library of things Hermetic; this has also led to my concerns with his later-in-life links to fascist thought. I was informed by the Web master of the argentinian [email protected] that his wife, after Borges died, was a regular participant in that forum. It sounds as if it has been around for awhile, although I only recently discovered it. I am interested in this as a literary/historical side note to my thesis on alchemy in another Latin American writer, mindful of Adam's suggestion to examine alchemy and its allegories ( whether modern and earlier texts) in its context. It is interesting that one of the characters I'm studying has the surname Muzquiz, (a name which seems perhaps arabic in spelling?) which references a small carbon mining town in northern Mexico. If I encounter any information there in terms of alchemy, I'll let you know. Best wishes, Catherine Fox-Anderson Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross and Phillip Sidney Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 From: Michael Thomas Martin I have found the recent contributions here from Susanna Akerman and Robert Vanloo most intriguing. In regards to Sidney, who had connections to Dee, was a fine poet, and true Renaissance man, do either of you (or anyone else) suppose that there is a political antecedent between the Rose Cross brethren and some kind of humanistic/religious movement that Sidney may have been involved with? If there is, I suspect that this would be only one aspect of the Rosicrucian work, the political one, which inspired Andrae's "Christianopolis," Bacon's "New Atlantis," etc. Indeed, all of the Renaissance Utopias.This alchemical transformation of society is implicit in alchemical literature and explicit in the Rosicrucian material. Incidently, I have always found the meeting day in the House of the Holy Spirit interesting, at least as some interpret it: Corpus Christi. Why would a "Protestant" mystical movement choose the feast wherein the Catholic Church celebrates the transformation of the Eucharistic elements? Only through an appreciation of alchemy does this even begin to make sense. As for the political transformation of society and the RC movement, I have a hunch, and at this time it is only a hunch, that this sentiment, if not a proper "movement," goes back at least to "Le Roman de la Rose" where "Pope Holy" is shown as a great hypocrite and the figure "Idleness" is crowned with red roses. All the best, Michael Martin Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross and Phillip Sidney From: Robert Vanloo Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 Dear Michael, The point is that the political aspect of the publication of the Fama in 1614 and the Confessio in 1615, together with some other texts in connection with the Universal Reformatio has been largely underestimated during the past centuries, where just the hermetic and alleged initiatory side of the Rose-Cross prevailed. It is difficult to sum up a study of 350 p. here, but most recent discoveries tend to prove that Frances Yates was about right in the "Rosicrucian Enlightement" concerning the links between the spreading of the Rosicrucian manifestoes and the formation of the Evangelical Union in the German Empire where Christian von Anhalt (Croll and Sperber were his agents) and Peter Vok von Rosenberg (Willhelm's brother was Dee's patron in Bohemia) played an important role, together with Moritz of Hessen, even if she overestimated Dee's role in this respect. Nevertheless hermetism and alchemy were in certain respects an essential background to vangelical politics of the time, as Bruce T. Moran has shown in The alchemical world of the German court - occult philosophy and chemical medicine in the circle of Moritz of Hessen (1572-1632). Most recent historical documents concerning the origins of the Rose-Cross have been discovered in political collections : see Suzanna Akerman, Rose-cross over the Baltic, concerning Lotich, etc. and the discovery by Carlos Gilly of the printed Haselmayer's response to the Rosicrucians (1612) in the Weimar Anna-Amalia library amidst political works. In the frame of my own work I have also discovered in the Biblioth�que Royale de Bruxelles some forgotten documents concerning the Rose-Cross within a 3 books collection of � Pi�ces concernant les �v�nements qui ont donn� naissance � la Guerre de Trente Ans �, which will be published in my book. Other unpublished documents prove that Sidney's friend Duplessis-Mornay, le pape huguenot, so much praised by Johann-Valentin Andreae knew about the Rose-Cross as early as 1611, whereas most French writers still claim that their existence was not known in France before the publication of the Fama... Sorry for the quality of my English prose which I do not practice enough ! Robert Vanloo Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism From: Diane Zervas Hirst Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 Dear Catherine, There are reviews of Noll's book on Jung in the following: The Journal of Analytical Psychology, vol. 42 no. 4 Oct. 1997 (A. Stevens), pp. 671-690; and on Shamdasani's Cult Fictions in Ibid., vol. 43 no. 4 October 1998 (S. Naifeh, A. Stevens) pp. 603-608. Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism From: Adam Simon Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 The theme of this thread, before it focused on Noll and the Jung debate, raised issues about Alchemy, hermeticism and "fascism". A couple quick notes on that. Evola was not exactly a fascist. And though at times seemingly sympathetic to both Nazism and Italian Fascism he was regarded with suspicion by both sides. He has much in common with proto-nazi Right-wing esotericism (Mountain mysticism, etc) but is at core clearly different from them. Most importantly because Fascism was crucially a kind of Reactionary Modernism -- an apparent contradiction in terms -- which forcefully reconciled the mechanistic and technological (not to mention propagandistic) aspects of Modernity with an anti-enlightenment attitude -- while Evola, like the French traditionalists remained firm in his rejection of Modernity. In addition it must be said that what most people remember forcefully in the negative about Fascism was (is) its racial politics, and while Evola was heir to a plethora of 19th century esoteric doctrines of race (as was Steiner and many other clearly anti-fascist thinkers, the Fabians for example) he seems never to have been an anti-semite or racist. I suspect that Alchemy as a set of images is appropriatable by any political view (as we have seen in earlier threads and incarnations of Adam's mail list Alchemy lends itself to all kinds of bizarre intellectual uses). The way Alchemical imagery prevaded both sides of the English Civil war is a perfect example of this. The larger questions of the political context of Hermeticism in general are deeply and widely discussed in all the themed issues of the French journal Politica Hermetica and in the excellent works of both Nick Goodrick-Clark and Joscelyn Godwin who both manage to discuss and reveal some of the less savoury aspects of esoteric and hermetic thought in our century, without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Happy Thanksgiving to all on the list, Adam Simon Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism From: Robert Vanloo Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 I am sorry to say that Evola WAS a fascist. He joined Hitler's headquarters when Mussolini was liberated by a German commando in September 1943 and was involved in the "Salo Republic". After the war, he was a founder of the Italian neo-fascist organisation M.S.I. Like many Italian fascists he was never judged as the MSI served the CIA interests in its fight against Italian communism (Gladio and the rest...) His revolt against the modern world went further in this respect than Guenon who was never involved in politics directly, even during the Second World War. The most complete study on Evola is : BOUTIN Christophe "Politique et Tradition - Julius Evola dans le si�cle (1898-1974)", Ed. Kim�, Paris, 1992. Robert Vanloo Subject: ACADEMY : Grebner in Cambridge Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 From: Susanna �kerman Dear Robert Vanloo, I am glad to hear that there is research in order to push forward the findings hitherto made on the evangelical union that is mentioned in Simon Studion's Naometria. I look forward to reading your forthcoming book on the hermetic politics of the Rosicrucians. I wonder whether you have looked at Paul Grebner's Vaticinia "Sericum Mundi filum". There is one copy of it at Wolfenb�ttel in which Thomas Bodley is mentioned as the British delgate to L�neburg 1586, but there is also a corresponding document by Grebner at No. 970 of Trinity College; Cambridge. It is dated Hamburg 29 Sept 1585 with dedications to Henry IV of Navarre, Fredrick II of Denmark and Elisabeth of England plus the nobility of the Empire with further letters to Henry IV dated Hamburg 1586 and to Otto of Braunschweig. On f. 61 there is a picture of a "Synodus Regum ac Principum Europae", much as in the lively Wolfenbuttel copy. The title is "Sericum mundi filum sive vaticinum quo subita et plusquam miraculosa orbis terrarum mutatio..." It is too long 387 ff. to have a copy made for me and I have not been able to go to Cambridge to see it. But it probably tells the story in the same fashion as in Wolfenb�ttel, relating prophecies on a series of banners with a beginning in the 1572 new star and St. Bartholomew massacre with a culmination in the political initiatives of England, France, Denmark and the German princes. I wonder what you think of its connection to the L�neburg meeting in July 1586 that Simon Studion speaks of (the militia evangelica)? Have you investigated the matter and what is your opinion about the "Lion with the Rose" that Ron Heisler says appears in it? (as I relate in my book Rose Cross Over the Baltic). It may point to Philip Sidneys' campaign in the Netherlands in the same year and may give evidence adding to Francis Yates' British connection (Sidney-Dee) of the Rosicrucian scenario. Even if these machinations are not really at that time, yet, "Rosicrucian". I have recently asked Carlos Gilly about this and he replies that the lions that appear in Grebner are heraldic lions and not related to the Paracelsian Lion of the North (as found in the Confessio). But one may note that in the Lion of the North mythology in the case of Gustav Adolf there was a intentional conflation of the Lion as heraldic national sign with the Paracelsian lion whose primary mission is to reveal scripture and prepare the oncoming of the new age. In general Gilly disagrees with Yates' setting together Rosicrucianism and political inititives around Fredrik of W�rtemberg in 1618. However, there were speculations on Fredrick future role in the evangelical cause at an early stage, even if the Rosicrucians did not anticipate the exact Bohemian adventure in 1618. Nor does there emanate Rosicrucian writings from Fredrick's Bohemian court. Yet, much of political initiatives on 1610-1630 were prepared by diplomacy for an evangelical union in 1586 and onwards, and as is foreshadowed in Studion, in Helias Roeslins' chronology, and in Grebner's manuscripts that I thus commend to you. Susanna �kerman Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross and Phillip Sidney Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 From: Michael Thomas Martin Dear Robert Vanloo, Thanks so much for your valuable comments. I have increasingly been feeling that the Rosicrucians were a presence in Europe well before 1614, and your comments are a reassurance. I have yet to publish a book, and yet I exist. The Rosicrucians certainly existed before they published, though this is a concept many academics find hard to believe - as many of them are not thought to exist prior to publication! I look forward to your book's release, and only hope it is available in America soon thereafter. Your discovery of the texts sounds fascinating. Are they dated? And as for your English, it is superb - just be thankful I'm not writing in French! Michael Martin Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism From: Adam Simon Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 Dear Mr. Vanloo, Thanks for your correction on Evola. I have read little biographical information on him and appreciated also the bibliographical reference. I am not familiar with the "Salo Republic" which you mention (though I wonder is this what is referenced in the title of Pasolini's "Salo"?) Do you find Evola's fascism reflected in his hermetic and alchemical work? Clearly your own work, and Susanna Akerman's work and Moran's and even of course Yates's work all suggest the Hermetic and Alchemical worlds are hardly removed from the political worlds of their time. Any further thoughts you have on these topics (whether in relation to earlier Rosicrucian movements or 20th century movements) are of interest at least to me. I know there are many members of the list who are interested in Evola and I wonder if anyone else has an opinion on the relation between his thought and his politics. Also, I wonder if anyone has information on the political context of Fulcanelli and Schwaller De Lubicz and the French alchemical circles. In fact I am tempted to at least wonder if perhaps it is only recently (particularly post-Jung) that Alchemical thinking and reading and writing has become detached from political (in the broadest sense) concerns. Some esoteric and semi-Alchemical groups clearly remain(ed) very engaged with the social-political world (the Rosicrucians, the Theosophists, the Anthroposophists for example all seemed commited to a transformation of the world, not just the individual soul.) This may well be too off topic for the list and if so I apologize and would be pleased to recieve any thoughts you or others have off list at [email protected]. Thanks again. Adam Simon Subject: ACADEMY : The monk Ferrarius From: Jose Rodr�guez Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 Dear Stanislas: Thank you very much for your reply. I had not checked the " Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique" and your dates are very useful for me. Ferrarus' writings are really very interesting. He makes a lot of references to the pseudo-Geber (Paolo di Tarento) "Summa perfectionis" and this gives evidence to suppose a date at the first of the 14th century (see the beginning of the influence of the "Summa Perfectionis" in William Newman "Summa" critical edition). I think that this "obscure" author is a very interesting reference to know about the real origin of some popular texts on alchemy attributed since 15th century to Villanova, Flamel, etc. Thanks again! Jose Rodr�guez Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy Glossaries Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 From: Ahmad Y. Hassan Greetings to all members of Alchemy Academy I am interested in compiling a list of glossaries on alchemy ( Latin - English, Latin - German, Latin - French, or Latin with any other language including Arabic and Hebrew), whether in print or in manuscript form. Any information on such glossaries will be greatly appreciated. A. Al- Hassan Subject: ACADEMY : Dee, Kelly and mines Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 From: Sophie Page Whilst reading through 'The Diaries of John Dee' ed. E.Fenton (1998) today I found the following references to Dee, Kelly and mines. p.247. 19 Dec. 1589. Mr Adrian Gilbert came to me (i.e. John Dee) to Mortlake: and offered me as much as I could requier at his hands both for my goods carried away, and for the mines. p.269 (a note by Fenton) According to the Czech writer Ivan Svitak, Kelly had been awarded a Bohemian knighthood for helping to develop the abandoned gold-mines in Jilove, south of Prague (Svitak I, 'John Dee and Edward Kelley'. Kosmas 5, 125-38, 1986). Subject: ACADEMY : The monk Ferrarius Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 From: Eugene Beshenkovsky Dear Jose, Here is some information on Ferrarius which I have found while working with a wonderful web site at Karlsruhe: http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/kvk.html Tractatus aliquot chemici singulares summum philosophorum arcanum continentes ... Geismariae : S. K�hler ; [Drucker:] Schadewitz, 1647. 8vo. Enthalten:Tractatus chemicus excellentissimus / Frater Ferrarius.1647 Fratris Ferrarii_ Tractatus chemicus excellentissimus. Geismariae: sumptibus Sebaldi K�hlers, 1647. Bruder Ferrarii_ Sehr f�rtrefflicher chimischer Tractat / viel vermehret, auffs neue ins Teutsch �bersetzet und ... in den Truck gegeben von Johann Langen. Hamburg, 1673. 72 S. Von dem Stein der Weisen, wie man den recht bereiten soll / Fratris Ferrarii Monachi. Zum 1. mahl ins Teutsche �bers. Von Johann Langen. Franckfurt u.a. : Guth, 1673. - 50 S. Chymisches Zwey-Blat, das ist Zwey vortreffliche chymische Tract�tlein / beyde zum 1. mahl ins Teutsch �bers. v. Johann Langen. Franckfurt ; Hamburg : Guth, 1674. - 94, 72 S. Aus d. Lat. �bers. - Enth. u.a.: Philalethes, Eirenaeus: Er�ffneter Eingang zu de� K�nigs verschlossenem Pallaste. - Ferrarius dem Stein der Weisen, wie man den recht bereiten soll. - Des hochgelehrten Philalethae und anderer auserlesene chymische Tract�tlein, ... / Johann Langen [�bers.]. Wienn : Krau�, 1748. 358 S. ; 8vo Enthalten: Sehr f�rtreflicher chymischer Tractat / Bruder Ferrarius. They all look like different editions and translations of the same 'Tractatus chemicus'. You might find additional information in Chr. G. Joecher. Allgemeines Gelehrten Lexicon ... Revised and corrected by Adelung. There are recent reprints. All the best, Eugene Beshenkovsky Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 From: Carl-Michael Edenborg Dear Adam Simon, As for Schwaller de Lubicz, I have read a most interesting book, revealing this esotericist's participation in french racist-protofascist groups after WWI. I believe the title was something like "Al-Kemi", it was written by an american who worked with de Lubicz in the sixties. The trend is obvious: after the last turn-of-the-century, esoterism has been connected with extreme right-wing politics - christian, conservative, anti-modern. There are of course great exceptions, like for example the surrealist interest in alchemy and hermetic thought. But from the late sixties and on, there are many examples of connections between ecological, socialist trends and interest in esotericism. See for example the influential Carolyn Merchant-book: The Death of Nature, where the feminist author celebrates Paracelsus and the vitalistic tradition in opposition to modern natural science. One could also consider the interest in the cabala from many leading socialist thinkers - see Michael L�wy's book Redemption et Utopie (1988). Greetings / C-M Edenborg Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism From: Massimo Marra Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 >As for Schwaller de Lubicz, I have read a most interesting book, >revealing this esotericist's participation in french racist-protofascist >groups after WWI. I believe the title was something like "Al-Kemi", it >was written by an american who worked with de Lubicz in the sixties. The book is: Andr� Vandenbroeck - Al-Kemi, a memoir. Hermetic, Occult, Political and private Aspects of R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz. 1987 NewYork Lindisfarne press. ISBN 0-940262-31-2 Best wishes Massimo Marra Subject: ACADEMY : The Rose Cross and Phillip Sidney Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 From: Susanna �kerman Dear Michael Martin, You wrote: >The Rosicrucians certainly existed before they published, >though this is a concept many academics find hard to believe > - as many of them are not thought to exist prior to publication! I think the question is whether Rosicrucianism prior to 1610 had crystallized as the legend that it subsequently became. Is it not with the fiction of Christian Rosencreutz that we can speak of rosicrucianism? Before that there existed esoteric teachings, speculations on the Schechina, the Rose, and a death to the cross and a rejuvenation, but the fully formulated legend of CRC did not exist and thus did not focus the mind. I am to look into the Roman de la Rose in upcoming days and may return with an opinion on the notion of Rosicrucianism as existing in spirit long before 1610. The question is how one should look at this prehistory, as incidental or as essential for forming Rosicrucianism! Susanna Akerman Subject: ACADEMY : Kutna Hora, Paracelsus, Mining Laws From: Jerry Bujas Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 Dusan Djordjevic Mileusnic wrote: > The legend says > that there was a monk, named Antonin, from the nearby monastery > Sedlec, who found silver on that mountain, and that he wanted to > inform the abbot about this. In order to find that place for sure > when he gets back, and to hide the silver, he put on it his > `kutna`, - cowl, frock, the long robe - , so this means that Kutna Hora > designates something like the mountain covered with a frock, or cowl. (?) The word Kutna is spelled with "accent grave" over "a" (Kutna) which is an adjective derived from an atiquated word "kutat" - to dig. Kutna Hora is then a "mountain where digging takes place". Anyway, your interpretation deserves some merit, since it fits the legend so nicely. But, even if we disregard the accent, the word "kutna" would then have to assume a different form to become an adjective, and it still would not designate a mountain covered with a cowl. Jerry Bujas Subject: ACADEMY : The Romance of the Rose-Cross Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 From: Michael Thomas Martin Dear Susanna Akerman, Amen to all of your comments. Two things that puzzle me as far as pre-1610 dates go are: 1) The "'Ur' "Chemical Wedding" attributed to Andrae from about 1601-02. Did this document refer to CRC, or was he added later? 2) The date of "1604" which appears on the 'Mons Philosophorum' page of "Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreutzer..." (1788). Certainly, this would have been the year of the finding of CRC's vault. It also coincided with two separate super novas. But, why this year, especially if CRC is a fictional character? Wouldn't 1610 (or 1614, etc) have served better? These issues, obviously, are outside of connections, if any, to "Roman de la Rose" or anything else (Dante) prior to the late 16th century. Incidentally, does anyone out there suspect Andrae was not the force he's cracked up to be in Rosicrucianism? Michael Martin Subject: ACADEMY : The Romance of the Rose-Cross Date: 30 Nov 1999 From: Adam McLean Michael Martin wrote: > 2) The date of "1604" which appears on the 'Mons Philosophorum' > page of "Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreutzer..." (1788). This date appears because this illustration in the 'Geheime figuren' was actually taken from the early 17th century work - Alchymia vera, das ist: Der wahren und von Gott hoch gebenedeyten, Natur gemessen Edlen Kunst Alchimia wahre beschreibung Etliche kurtze und n�tzliche Tractatlein zusammen getragen,... Jetzo aber zum andermal auffgeleget und mit vielen sch�nen Tract�tlein vermehret und verbessert, durch I. P. S. M. S. n.p. 1604. Page 13. Woodcut of 'Mons philosophorum'. This acted as the frontispiece to a section of this book presenting a verse in German. That is why the date '1604' appears on it. Some years ago I thought the appearance of this item in the 'Geheime figuren' was a reference to the date derived from the 'Fama', but it is probably not so. There are no clearly and definitive 'Rosicrucian' symbols in this illustration which is a obviously a part of the allegorical emblematic alchemical material of this period. The author of the 'Geheime figuren' gathered together many illustrations and texts from diverse writers, many of which had no connection to what we now identify as 'Rosicrucianism'. In the late 18th century circles of the Golden and Rosy Cross, I suspect this was more uncritically accepted. Adam McLean Subject: ACADEMY : The Romance of the Rose-Cross Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 From: Ed Thompson I've been lurking on this list (as best I can with a dodgy server) following the Rosicrucian discussion with special interest - I'm working on a book combining (new) translations of Rosicrucian manifestos with the responses to them of J.V. Andreae, from the 1618 Invitatio through to his Specimen of 1624. It seems to me that Susanna �kerman is absolutely right to distinguish between the Rosicrucian legend that found expression around 1610 and the speculations and currents of thought which came before it. Neither is wholly independent of the other: the Fama didn't come into being in a vacuum, and it certainly provided a focus for subsequent discussion and speculation; but that doesn't justify us lumping them together. I am happy with the proposition that what might perhaps be called proto-rosicrucian ideas have a long and distinguished history, and one which is worth exploring. If only to avoid confusion, I would resist the idea that 'Rosicrucianism' existed before 1610, without some sort of footnote defining what the term means in the discussion. Otherwise, we are on the slippery slopes that lead to the Priory of Sion, the Holy Grail and other areas ... in which publication does not make one an academic. Ed Thompson Subject: ACADEMY : The Romance of the Rose-Cross Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 From: Robert Vanloo Dear Suzanna, Dear Michael, Thank you for your messages. I do not think it is possible to speak of "hermetic politics of the Rosicrucians" stricto sensu, but there is a parallel between the history of the Rose-Cross foundation and the main events concerning the formation of the Evangelical Union. "Rose-Cross over the Baltic" presents new interesting facts on the subject, concerning M. Lotich Pomer particularly, as does the new book by Roland Edighoffer "Les Rose-Croix et la Crise de Conscience Europ�enne au XVIIe si�cle", Dervy, Paris, 1998. In this respect, a careful study of the "Chemycal Weddings" compared to the "Naometria" proves that the real purpose of the "Weddings" was not alchemical but mostly prophetical and then political and that, as in the "Fama", the reference to the Lion of the North is omnipresent. And when during the third day one sees the unicorn kneeling before the lion, the heraldic reference to English monarchy serving the German protestant cause is obvious (remember "Weddings" were composed in 1605/6 when James I had just become King of England and brought to the English crown the 2 unicorns present in the coat of arms of Scotland). In fact the same bestiary is used together in alchemy, heraldry and Rose-Cross where the symbolism and its signification all intermingle. Studion puts it clearly in the "Naometria" : the Unicorn symbolizes the purity of the Evangelical faith and announces the coming of the Lion, and then he makes a reference to the unicorns in the arms of England... Duplessis-Mornay decided also to join the same 2 unicorns in his own coat of arms which is composed of a lion in majesty... In fact the seven days of the "Weddings" refer to the seven days of the Apocalypse and the weddings of the lamb announcing the birth of the Celestial Jerusalem and the New Church : I explain it in details in the book to come. It is built on the same model as the poem "Les Tragiques" by the French Huguenot Agrippa d'Aubign�. I am convinced that the mythical character of Christian RosenCreutz in the "Weddings" is well Andreae's invention, even if it existed "speculations on the Rose" prior to it as Suzanna writes it : Rose of the Alchemists, Rose of Luther, Rose of Studion (a ciphered rose appears in the Naometria), Andreae being particularly attentive to this universal symbol which he also had in his coat of arms. Also perhaps the Rose of the Rosenberg in Bohemia. The political exploitation of the myth of Christian RosenCreutz is the responsability of Moritz of Hessen with the heads of the Union, Christian von Anhalt, Peter Vok von Rosenberg, etc. Why the "Fama" was only published in 1614, whereas the manucript was circulating since 1610/11 is obvious : the document in the Biblioth�que Royale de Bruxelles shows clearly that this is in relation with the bicentennial of Jan Hus' martyrdom at Constance, as well as Jerome de Prague (1414/1415/1416). This is a long story, but I give every evidence in the book about this, together with the political meaning of all other dates concerning the mythical life of Christian Rose-Croix... Robert Vanloo Subject: ACADEMY : Modern Alchemy and fascism From: Jose Rodr�guez Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 Dear Catherine, There is a neo-nazi group called "Nueva Acr�polis" conecting fascism and esoterical ideas including achemy. It was founded in Argentina and right now it has headquarters in many countries. It is a dangerous group and in Spain they have a sect status because they show sectarian methods and they teach agressive ideas including racism and scorn against women. Their leader is a man called Jorge �ngel Livraga Rizzi. His web site is: http://www.acropolis.org/ In this site you can find some articles on achemy: "Alquimistas en la Corte de Rodolfo II". "Arnaldo de Vilanova. M�dico, alquimista y visionario". This sect has published books on alchemy too: - El Alquimista - Alquimia y Simbolismo en las Catedrales - Giordano Bruno There are interesting texts on his sectarian methods in those two ULR address: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/1348/ACROPOLIS.html http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/3627/lasecta.htm Other references in: http://moon.act.uji.es/~roc/a12/a12.html http://moon.act.uji.es/~roc/a12/d16.htm http://moon.act.uji.es/~roc/a12/es_na.htm http://moon.act.uji.es/~roc/a12/or_na.htm http://moon.act.uji.es/~roc/a12/aa12.htm Jose Rodr�guez Subject: ACADEMY : Early Science and Medicine From: Jose Rodr�guez Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 Dear members: I found a reference about a Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period. Early Science and Medicine Edited by Hans Thijssen, University of Nijmegen. Review Editor: Anita Guerrini UC Santa Barbara. Associate Editor: Christoph L�thy University of Nijmegen. Editorial Board: Stefano Caroti Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Brian Cophenhaver UC Los Angeles, Harold C. Cook University of Wisconsin, Madison, Fran�ois de Gandt Universit� Charles de Gaulle, Lille, Ann Hanson University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michael Hunter Birbeck College, University of London, Danielle Jacquart �cole Pratique, Paris, David C. Lindberg University of Wisconsin, Madison, Michael R. McVaugh University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, John E. Murdoch Harvard University, William R. Newman University of Indiana, Bloomington, John D. North University of Groningen, Abdelhamid I. Sabra Harvard University, Thomas B. Settle Polytechnic University of New York, Nancy Siraisi Hunter College, New York, and Robert S. Westman UC San Diego. Early Science and Medicine is an international quarterly dedicated to the history of science, medicine and technology from the earliest times through to the end of the seventeenth century. The need to treat in a single journal all aspects of scientific activity and thought before the eighteenth century is due to two factors: to the continued importance of ancient sources throughout the Middle Ages and the early modern period, and to the comparably low degree of specialization and the high degree of disciplinary interdependence characterizing the period before the professionalization of science. The journal, which limits itself to the Western, Byzantine and Arabic traditions, is particularly interested in emphasizing these elements of continuity and interconnectedness, and it encourages their diachronic study from a variety of viewpoints, including commented text editions and monographic studies of historical figures and scientific questions or practices. Early Science and Medicine, which contains an extended book review section, has recently also begun to dedicate special feature sections to emerging historiographic fields and methods of research. The main language of the journal is English, though contributions in French and German are also accepted. � (4 issues per year.) February, May, August, November � ISSN 1383-7427 Are there articles on alchemy in the first four numbers of this journal? Does anyone knows the index of this articles? Thanks all. Jose Rodr�guez |