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Ph.D theses on alchemy

A provisional list of some Ph.D. theses on alchemy and hermeticism.
Microfilms of most of these can be ordered on Inter-Library loan through many educational institutions and libraries.
Back to reference library . Theses authors A-H . Theses authors I-O.

89. Palkowski, Daniel Henry.
'Views of time': an analytical and philosophical commentary. (Original composition) (Theosophy).
Order No: AAC 9232122 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (0054) Degree: DMA Date: 1992 pp: 234
Source: DAI-A 53/07, p. 2155, Jan 1993
Subject: MUSIC (0413)
Abstract: My project towards the D.M.A. degree shall consist of a large scale work for chamber orchestra, accompanied by a paper that will treat of the philosophical and analytical aspects of the work. The composition, entitled Views of Time, is a reflection in part of my interest in Theosophy over the past several years. It is in eight sections, which are programmatic 'images' of the four alchemical elements fire, air, earth and water:-
Fire I (Flame) - Fanfare.
Earth I (Strata) - Process.
Water I (Flow) - Ostinato.
Air I (Diffusion) - Cadence.
Fire II (Lightning) - Stretto.
Earth II (Avalanche) - Moto Perpetuo.
Water II (Rain) - Berceuse.
Air II (Ripples on a Sunlit Pond) - Coda
The instrumentation is for double winds, double horns and trumpets, one trombone and tuba, harp, piano, four percussionists playing a wide variety of instruments, and full strings with the addition of a solo electric bass guitar. The Air I portion of the piece combines unusual percussion techniques with electronic sound, realized in real time on computer, using the new MAX programming environment developed at IRCAM. The score is mostly written in standard notation, although Air I uses a new form of graphic tablature which I've used previously in my composition Periodic tables. The paper will consist of five chapters. The opening two chapters will discuss precompositional materials of rhythm and pitch, respectively. The third will take up issues of orchestration and special techniques. The fourth chapter will be a discussion of the electronic and computer elements of the Air I section, and the fifth and final chapter will be an analytical description of the work from beginning to end, giving a measure by measure overview of the music. An additional addendum will close the paper, and will be a discussion of the philosophical nature of the piece, it origins and inspirations, and my original operating procedure towards shaping these inspirations into a musical form.
90. Panisnick, George David.
The philosophical significance of the concept of the philosopher's stone as used in the hermetic and alchemical writings of Paracelsus.
Order No: NOT AVAILABLE FROM UMI ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII (0085) Degree: PHD Date: 1975
Source: ADD X1976
Subject: PHILOSOPHY (0422)
91. Pelvet, Pierre
L'Alchimie en France dans la premiere moite du vingtieme siecle.
Nature : Doctorat de 3e cycle. Matter : Philosophie. Date : 1981. University : PARIS 10 Directeur: Dumery, Henry.
92. Perifano, Alfredo.
L'Alchimie a la cour de Come 1er de Medicis: Culture scientifique et systeme politique.
Nature : Doctorat (Nouveau Doctorat). Discipline : Etudes Italiennes. Date : 1990. University : Paris 8. Directeur : Plaisance, Michel. Registration number : 90PA080514.
"Cosimo de Medici (1519-1574) felt a great interest towards alchemy as his contemporaries attest. he devoted himself to an intense activity of distillation and experimentation in his laboratory called "Duke's fonderia". Various manuscripts of alchemy dedicated to the Duke show this interest and favour towards alchemy at the Florence court, as well as the relationship between alchemy, medicine, pharmacology, metallurgy and botany. Even if alchemy was never admitted as an..."
93. Placer, Angeles J.
El metal de la Voz: la genesis alquimica de America en Pablo Neruda (Spanish text, Chile).
Order No: AAC 9333270 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: CORNELL UNIVERSITY (0058) Degree: PHD Date: 1993 pp: 212
Source: DAI-A 54/09, p. 3454, Mar 1994
Language: SPANISH
Subject: LITERATURE, LATIN AMERICAN (0312)
Abstract: This dissertation studies alchemical symbolism in the poetry of one of the most important Latin American poets of this century: Pablo Neruda. Despite the avalanche of critical studies his works have generated, the presence of alchemical symbolism in his poetry has remained undetected until now. Alchemy, viewed in retrospect, is a chemistry in its embryonic stages. Its most generalized meaning is that of the art of transmuting base metals into gold. But this is only the most external and physical aspect of alchemy. It also stands for a spiritual quest. Gold, the last stage in the chain of transmutations, symbolizes the perfection of the soul. During the XVII century, the symbolism and the philosophy of alchemy, along with that of Kabala and natural magic, penetrated the realm of literature as a major force in determining the course of modern poetry. The first chapter examines how the Corpus Hermeticum, a compendium of esoteric doctrines, played a seminal role in the revival of hermetic philosophy in the XVI century. These doctrines, including alchemy, were later absorbed by the Romantics and inherited by XIX and XX century poets. Carl Jung and Mircea Eliade recodified the alchemical repertoire of symbols in the XX century. The present critical approach to Neruda is based on their interpretations of alchemy. The second chapter examines Neruda's alchemical vision of the world and of the poetic word. In Residencia en la tierra Neruda's alchemy is expressed as a desire to discover, within physical matter, a poetic lesson of creation. In Canto general alchemy is figured as a descent into the core of the American earth. This return to the telluric cavity is poeticized as a return to origins or as the genesis of the American continent. The dissertation concludes with the study of La espada encendida, in which Neruda's alchemical poetics reaches its culmination. This poem develops as a drama portraying the conjunction of opposites, in turn the central structural metaphor of the opus alchemicum. La espada encendida narrates the cosmogony of America, its genesis founded on the imagery of alchemical symbolism. This alchemical reading of La espada encendida, rather than a simple act of critical rescue for a work considered marginal within the poet's opus, relocates the hermeneutic center, not only of Neruda's poetry, but also of a larger tradition of Latin American writers.
94. Principe, Laurence.
The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and his Alchemical Quest
Diisertation abstracts. UMI order number is 9629490.
95. Pyle, Kevin Lewis.
The effects of Isaac Casaubon's dating of the 'Corpus Hermeticum' upon alchemy.
Order No: AAC 1350177 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON (2502) Degree: MA Date: 1992 pp: 181
Advisor: LACKNER, BEDE K.
Source: MAI 31/01, p. 125, Spring 1993
Subject: HISTORY, GENERAL (0578); HISTORY OF SCIENCE (0585); PHILOSOPHY (0422)
Abstract: Alchemy is a field which, until a few decades ago, has received dubious acceptance as a subject of serious study in the history of thought. Indeed the very word Alchemy invokes thoughts and images which have little to do with what it was about or stood for. In addition there are few works which deal with the immense influence Alchemy had over the religious, political and social institutions of its time, namely the Renaissance and Reformation. Alchemy, and its parent philosophy Hermeticism, were stated to have been born during or before the time of Moses and contained the wisdom of the ancients. Isaac Casaubon's dating of the 'bible' of the Alchemist's, the Corpus Hermeticum, proved this to be false. It would seem at this point that Alchemy was dead, but this dissertation will explain why such was not the case.
96. Rabinovitch, Celia.
The surreal and the sacred: archaic, occult, and daemonic elements in modern art, 1914-1940.
Order No: AAC NN75896 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: MCGILL UNIVERSITY (CANADA) (0781) Degree: PHD Date: 1984 pp: 429
Source: DAI-A 54/02, p. 563, Aug 1993
Subject: RELIGION, HISTORY OF (0320); ART HISTORY (0377)
ISBN: 0-315-75896-1
Abstract: Surrealism is examined through its history and phenomenology. The frame of reference is shifted from the history of art to the history of religions; the premises of modern art historiography examined; and Surrealism placed within an interdisciplinary context. The conjunction between the Surreal and the sacred is developed through the phenomenological clues of the uncanny, the weird, and the irrational--popular perceptions of the Surreal. The Surreal is seen as the transition between the ordinary and the extra-ordinary: as the threshold of the sacred. The origins of the Surrealist impulse to 'transform life' are traced to occultism, alchemy, and hermetic philosophy, that attempt to create 'the union of opposites'. Historically, Surrealism stems from this heterodox tradition of archaic, occult, and daemonic elements in European cultures, yet it radically opposes them to the accepted religion and conventional mentality. In so doing, Surrealism creates a new orientation based upon the power of contradiction and ambivalence.
97. Ridgway, Jeanette Fuller.
Prospero's alchemy: The metaphor of psychological change in William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' (Jungian, rebirth, transformation)
Order No: AAC 8515891 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES (0031) Degree: PHD
Date: 1984 pp: 303
Source: DAI-A 46/05, p. 1289, Nov 1985
Subject: LITERATURE, ENGLISH (0593)
Abstract: The metaphor of spiritual alchemy informs the theme of psychological change in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Prospero, by subjecting his enemies to ordeals that cause emotional stress and motivate examination of self, implements a project that corresponds with alchemical process. Many critics continue to view Prospero's influence upon the human characters largely in terms of magic. The power of the magus in fact expresses a wider range of arts; holy magic is only one branch of natural philosophy; spiritual alchemy, another branch, also attempts to perfect man. In his lifelong researches into the history of alchemy, Carl Jung connected the formation of alchemical symbols with his hypothesis of the collective unconscious, and the alchemical process itself with the process of individuation. Alchemical symbols correspond with archetypal symbols appearing in dreams of individuals unacquainted with the opus alchymicum; the parallel symbols point to stages in an acitivity in the human psyche making for the spiritual development of the individual human being. The narrative of The Tempest is rich in the imagery of alchemical change; the plot displays steps of a metaphorical process of spiritual alchemy in which the moral condition of some characters shows marked development. Prospero's project in The Tempest corresponds in method and in result with the opus and its psychological implications; aided by Ariel, Prospero brings about redemptive change as he reveals to the human characters a clearer sense of self.
98. Rockwood, Robert John Remington.
Alchemical forms of thought in Book I of Spenser's 'Faerie Queene.'
Order No: AAC 7329208 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA (0070) Degree: PHD Date: 1972 pp: 340
Source: DAI-A 34/06, p. 3355, Dec 1973
Subject: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, GENERAL (0586)
99. Russell, Anthony Presti.
The 'subtle knot': spirits and the hermetic imagination in the poetics of Dante, Michelangelo, Sidney and Donne.
Order No: AAC 9414917 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: YALE UNIVERSITY (0265) Degree: PHD Date: 1993 pp: 473
Advisor: GREENE, THOMAS
Source: DAI-A 54/12, p. 4435, Jun 1994
Subject: LITERATURE, COMPARATIVE (0295); LITERATURE, MEDIEVAL (0297); PHILOSOPHY (0422)
Abstract: This dissertation explores the influence of hermetic notions of the imagination on ideas about poetry and the poetic imagination in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. The principal hypothesis is that in this period concepts of the imagination as a pneumatic power intimately related to cosmic spirits were revived for the purpose of expanding traditional views regarding poetic epistemology. The writers addressed in this thesis seem to have desired to define their poetic discourse as more than allegorical or didactic mimesis whose links to the vagaries of fancy had to be occluded. The central focus of this work is on the ways in which poetic articulations of erotic psycho-physiology provided opportunities for exploring indirectly this epistemology of the hermetic imagination. The first two chapters consider the ways in which pneumatic concepts of the imagination survived in the Christian Middle Ages. The first chapter examines medical opinions about spirits and faculty psychology, and the philosophical revival of Neoplatonic cosmology in the twelfth century. The second chapter argues that in the Vita Nuova Dante attempted to describe his love for Beatrice as a hermetic imaginative experience closely linked to poetic epistemology. The next chapter considers the poetry of Michelangelo in relation to the Neoplatonic revival of interest in spirits, imagination, and magic. The fourth chapter argues that Sidney's theory of poetry as mediating between history and philosophy is indebted to concepts of the imagination as a spirit that integrates body and soul. The fifth chapter examines the poetry of John Donne. His frequent references to hermeticism and to alchemy are viewed as revealing a divided attitude towards the poetic imagination. On the one hand, Donne associates hermetic epistemology with the capacity of poetry to articulate profound intuitions about the vital interconnectedness of the universe. On the other hand, he views occult beliefs as examples of how the imagination constructs unreal illusions. Finally, the last chapter suggests that poetic allusions to 'musica mundana' in the works of writers such as Milton and Crashaw reflect the continuing influence of hermetic epistemology on concepts of the poetic imagination in the later seventeenth century.
100. Sandqvist, Mona.
Alkemins tecken i G�ran Sonnevis "Det om�jliga" .[Published by Lund University Press: Lund 1989. ISBN 91-7966-072-X.]
ABSTRACT

G�ran Sonnevi�s "Det om�jliga" (The Impossible) is a very long poem,
consisting of two parts, a short one and a very long one with four divisions
of 3, 5, 17 respectively 257 pieces. It was published in 1975 and is dated
17.4.58-25.6.75. Some main themes appear as chronological chains: one
self-biographical chain concerned with memories from childhood and youth,
another describing events in the personal life of the I; one concerned with
historical events and still another with actualities in the political field
during the sixties and early seventies: the Vietnam war, the Soviet invasion
in Prag 1968, the military putch in Chile 1973, etc.
In a commentary supplied to "Det om�jliga" Sonnevi insists on it�s
being one poem and not a suite of poems. The starting point of this
investigation was the question what it is that constitutes this oneness. The
search for an answer led up to another problem. The iteration of key word is
a characteristic trait in Sonnevi�s poetry. It became evident that a great
many of these reiterated words were central to the symbolic language of
alchemy - signs, sign combinations and structures like metal, gold, stone,
rose, center, circle, incest, sister, light-shadow, fly-fall, journey
upwards - journey down to the land of Death, movement outwards - movementn inwards, the colours black - white - green - red, the birth of the child,the union, etc. This led up to the main question of this dissertation: what
is the function of the alchemical signs in "Det om�jliga"?
A hypothesis was that the alchemical signs, very general and
multivalent as they are, serve as a means to realise a "great wholeness"
with many views of reality "functioning concomitantly, penetrating each
other and illuminating each other" - something that Sonnevi according to an
interview before the publication of the poem had been dreaming of for a long
time. Consequently, my method comes up to showing how the alchemical signs can be used in other symbolic systems or codes as well - and how, in fact, they are used by Sonnevi in connection to a lot of such codes in the poem.
An exemple: Jung�s psychological vocabulary and categories are in a
high degree influenced by his studies in alchemy. A few hints to Jung�s
autobiography in the poem make Jungs ideas a possible context for the
interpretation of the poem as a whole. Thus, it becomes relevant sometimes
to interprete words like incest, sister, shadow, sea, union in accordance
with the signification they have in Jung�s system.
Another exemple: The mutual influence between the symbol worlds of
alchemy and cabbalah in history explains the fact that many symbols in
Jewish mysticism are interrelated to those of alchemy. Thus, Sonnevi�s
alchemical key words can easyly take up significations that are used by
Celan, Kafka and Buber, all three using these old Jewish signs.
Likewise it is possible to create intertextual relations to Dante�s
use of the symbolism of descent and ascension - and the similar use made by
Goethe in Faust.
By means of the language of alchemy Sonnevi succeeds in establishing
a dialogue between himself and tradition - from the age-old and modern
shamanism, the kabbalah, Dante, Goethe, romantic poets, Marxism, Jung, up to modern science and techniques and to ecology as a scientific discipline and as a political movement. As a unifying theme of all these connections you
can see the alchemical utopian striving towards something better - gold,
paradise, redemption, recovery of the heavenly origin and wholeness or of
celestial light. The dark side of this striving is also present, in its
utmost extreme the nazi chiliasm, with its roots in occult traditions.
The possibility of a metaphysical "oneness to get back to" is
discarded in clear words in the poem; still, the central interest of it is
the listening and the reaction to an overwhelming number of voices talking
of the possibility of a newborn world. Thus, the writing of the poem appears
as an integrative therapy - a means for the writing I to find a way to "live
better". This willingness to open oneself to the other, this critical and
loving listening to "the voices" is a dominating attitude and a recommended
means to a necessary radical change of the death-menaced world - recommended in the clear conscience of the ambiguity of all human action and creation.
101. Sandqvist, Mona.
The alchemy signs in Goran Sonnevi's 'Det omojliga' (Jungian, symbolism, Sweden) [Alkemins tecken i Goran Sonnevis 'Det omojliga']
Order No: NOT AVAILABLE FROM UMI ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: LUNDS UNIVERSITET (SWEDEN) (0899) Degree: FILDR Date: 1989 pp: 446
Source: DAI-C 50/03, p. 418, Fall 1989
Language: SWEDISH
Subject: LITERATURE, MODERN (0298)
ISBN: 91-7966-072-X Publisher: LUND UNIVERSITY PRESS, BOX 141, S-221 00 LUND, SWEDEN
Abstract: The iteration of key words is a characteristic trait in Sonnevi's poetry. A great many of the reiterated words in "Det omojliga" are central to the symbolic language of alchemy--signs and sign oppositions like stone, rose, center, circle, birth, child, sister, union, light-shadow, black-white-green-red, earth-air-water-fire, ascension-descent, expansion-contraction, etc. Together with more specific hints like gold, metal, incest, the alchemists, they raise the question: what is the function of the alchemical signs in "Det omojliga"?
The hypothesis tested here is that the alchemical signs serve as a means for Sonnevi to realize a dream mentioned in an interview: to write "a great totality" with several views of reality "functioning concomitantly, penetrating each other and illuminating each other". Consequently, the method of this dissertation aims at showing how the alchemical signs are used by Sonnevi with reference to many other symbolic systems, other codes. For instance, Jung's psychological vocabulary and categories are highly influenced by alchemical symbolism. A few intertextual hints make Jung present in the poem--which among other things makes it relevant to interpret words like circle, center, incest, shadow, union in accordance with the signification they have in Jung's system. Many symbols in Jewish mysticism are interrelated to those of alchemy. Thus, Sonnevi's alchemical key words can easily take up significations from the works of Celan, Kafka and Buber, all three using these old Jewish signs. Likewise, alchemical vocabulary makes it possible to create intertextual relations to Dante's use of the symbolism of descent and ascension--and the similar use made by Goethe in Faust.
Thus, by means of the language of alchemy Sonnevi succeeds in establishing a dialogue between himself and tradition--from ancient and modern shamanism, the kabbalah, Dante, Goethe, Romantic poets, Marxism, Jung, up to modern science, technology and ecological thinking. As a unifying theme of all these connections one can see the alchemical Utopian striving towards something better--gold, paradise, redemption, health, recovery of the heavenly origin and oneness of celestial light. The dark side of this striving is also present, in its utmost extreme Nazi kiliasm, with its roots in occult traditions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
102. Schuler, Robert Michael.
Hermetic and alchemical traditions of the English Renaissance and seventeenth century, with an essay on their relation to alchemical poetry, as Illustrated by an edition of "Blomfild's Blossoms", 1557.
Order No: AAC 7203701 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER (0051) Degree: PHD Date: 1971 pp: 540
Source: DAI-A 32/07, p. 3963, Jan 1972
Subject: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, GENERAL (0586)
103. Shafer, Ingrid Hedwig.
The infinite circle: The chiliastic soul in Hegel, Jung, and Hesse with particular emphasis on Hegelian and Jungian elements in Hesse's 'Glasperlenspiel' (mysticism)
Order No: AAC 8425548 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA (0169) Degree: PHD Date: 1984 pp: 150
Source: DAI-A 45/08, p. 2550, Feb 1985
Subject: PHILOSOPHY (0422); LITERATURE, GERMANIC (0311);PSYCHOLOGY, GENERAL (0621)
Abstract: This interdisciplinary study combines some of the methodological and substantive approaches of philosophy, literary criticism and Jungian psychology to the examination of a mystical concept of atemporal cosmic identity the author calls Chiliastic Soul in G. W. F. Hegel, C. G. Jung, and H. Hesse with particular emphasis on Hegel's Phenomenology, Jung's Mysterium Coniunctionis, and Hesse's Glass Bead Game.
In the first part of the study the Chiliastic Soul concept is developed as the process or path of its own becoming in the variations of Hegel's "Path of Comprehension," the spiritual odyssey from the divine or absolute perspective, Jung's "Path of Individuation," the spiritual odyssey from the human or subjective perspective, and Hesse's "Path of Awakening," which represents a fusion or synthesis of the Hegelian and Jungian approaches. This part concludes with the application of Evelyn Underhill's analysis of the Mystical Way to the Paths of Comprehension, Individuation, and Awakening, respectively.
In the second part of the study the Chiliastic Soul concept is discussed as the goal of unity. This is done by focusing on the Castalian "game" and the death of Joseph Knecht. In addition, evidence is presented for certain fundamental conceptual similarities in the thought of Hesse and Hegel and Hesse and Jung, respectively. The author argues not only for the relevance of dialectics as key to a full understanding of Hesse but for the proposition that Hegel, Jung, and Hesse share a primary intuition of ultimate unity or non-duality which shows striking parallels to the metaphysical foundations of the I Ching, Lao-Tze's tao, and the Vedantic atman-brahman identity. Finally, the death of Joseph Knecht is interpreted as affirmation of transformation in the light of Jungian alchemical symbolism.
104. Shay, Cari Lee Gabiou.
The transmutation of alchemy into science and political thought.
Order No: AAC 7503916 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: UNIVERSITY OF OREGON (0171) Degree: PHD Date: 1974 pp: 369
Source: DAI-A 35/08, p. 5490, Feb 1975
Subject: POLITICAL SCIENCE, GENERAL (0615)
105. Sivin, Nathan.
Preliminary studies in Chinese alchemy: The 'Tan Ching Yao Chueh', attributed to Sun Ssu-Mo (581? - after 672).
Order No: NOT AVAILABLE FROM UMI ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: HARVARD UNIVERSITY (0084) Degree: PHD Date: 1966
Source: ADD X1966
Subject: HISTORY, GENERAL (0578)
106. Smith, Pamela Helen
Alchemy, credit, and the commerce of words and things: Johann Joachim Becher at the courts of the Holy Roman Empire, 1635-1682 (German Empire)
Order No: AAC 9113729 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY (0098) Degree: PHD Date: 1991 pp: 531
Source: DAI-A 51/12, p. 4255, Jun 1991
Subject: HISTORY OF SCIENCE (0585); HISTORY, MODERN (0582); HISTORY, EUROPEAN (0335)
Abstract: Historians have approached Johann Joachim Becher (1635-82) from two very different points of view. Economic historians consider him to have articulated a coherent set of cameralist axioms, while historians of chemistry consider him to have formulated one of the first complete and integrated theories of chemical reaction. Becher was not an atypical figure in the seventeenth-century Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. A minor polymath and mercantilist projector, he published works in politics, economics, chemistry, alchemy, moral philosophy, universal language and ethics, and was engaged as court physician, mathematician, and commercial adviser at three of the most important courts in the German Empire, as well as travelling widely throughout Europe.
As an autodidact and adept in alchemy and the mechanical arts, Becher sought a position at the noble court from which he could advance his commercial schemes. By means of these projects, he attempted to provide a material solution to the economic difficulties that German territories and their noble sovereigns were experiencing in the seventeenth century as the results of a drop in land values and an increased need for specie. Although drawn from a world of large-scale commerce that was external to the noble court, his commercial projects sought to maintain the language and symbols of the traditional landed court culture and power. Becher attempted to draw the noble territorial ruler into the commercial transactions of the exchange economy by translating the movable values of the commercial society into the stable, immovable values of landed nobility. He accomplished this by using his knowledge of nature as a court physician and (al)chemical adept. Alchemy in particular provided a language and a theory by which Becher could talk to the court about new sources of revenue.
In carrying out his projects, Becher sought both to employ artisans to manufacture commercial goods, and to capture their knowledge and methods so that their techniques could be reproduced by persons outside of artisanal culture. He thus acted as a physical intermediary between the court and artisans (the holders of productive knowledge), and between the realms of theory and practice. Becher sought to draw the material productivity of artisans and their knowledge within the sphere of governing and state.
107. Solomon, Julie Robin.
Between magic and travel: Francis Bacon and the theaters of human knowing.
Order No: AAC 8725210 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA (0175) Degree: PHD Date: 1987 pp: 342
Source: DAI-A 48/08, p. 2070, Feb 1988
Subject: LITERATURE, ENGLISH (0593)
Abstract: Disjuncture describes the context within which Francis Bacon produced his scientific writings. Bacon's scientific ideas took shape through his straddling of two preeminent cognitive spaces: that of the Jacobean court and that of London's commercial marketplace. These two separate, but intertwining, spheres are best characterized, from an epistemological perspective, as theaters of knowing--as fields of cognitve action (to exploit the military connotation of the term) or as spaces in which ways of knowing could be imaginatively projected and dramatically enacted.
A senior official in the court of James I, Francis Bacon hoped to interest the King in his scientific ideas by casting science as a suitable tool of which the King and his royal administration could make profitable use. Bacon advocated a science which required the passive reception of knowledge from the natural world, rather than the imposition of knowledge upon it, thereby distinguishing his new natural science from the practices of scientific and magical predecessors who sought to actively produce change in the natural order of things. Bacon's science which purported to eliminate human subjectivity from scientific investigation depoliticized scientific activity, making science safe for monarchy and creating that "privileged" channel through which human beings gained truth about the natural world.
Paradoxically, to construct a science suitable for monarchy, Bacon had to reject the kind of natural philosophy which was favored at the Jacobean court. While James patronized alchemists and entertained himself with masques which imaged natural philosophy as a magical activity, Bacon rejected magic to advocate a science largely modeled on the experience of European explorers and merchant travellers. The Baconian scientist was to know like a traveller--to observe, collect, and appropriate natural knowledge from outside the self--not like a magician who imposed his learned desire upon the world around him.
Drawing upon the discourse of contemporary merchants, travel writers, and the literary genre of romance, Bacon constructs a scientific language which replaces the magician with the traveller and displaces the sovereignty of kings unto the sovereignty of nature. Baconian science inevitably privileges the experience of the English commercial class whose relatively unlimited and recurrent access to the products and virtues of the natural world led to their material, and subsequent political, empowerment.
108. Sumner, Cheryl Lynn.
The artistic observation of the Copernican universe, 1543-1750.
Order No: AAC 9014612 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY (0071) Degree: PHD Date: 1989 pp: 184
Advisor: BUCHER, FRANCOIS
Source: DAI-A 51/02, p. 326, Aug 1990
Subject: FINE ARTS (0357); HISTORY OF SCIENCE (0585)
Abstract: Although historians have focused on the relationship between art and science in the past few decades, the representations of the heliocentric theory in art from 1543-1750 have not been studied thoroughly. In this dissertation, images representing the Copernican universe have been compiled and analyzed to determine the kind of artistic response to the "Copernican revolution." Art historians have interpreted the retention of traditional ideas and the lack of great numbers of examples as evidence that artists remained unaffected by the heliocentric theory except through their interest in the telescopic images. This study proves that artists during the Renaissance were cognizant of Copernican ideas and did respond to his discoveries but through traditional methods, often combining symbols of the new astronomy with astrological, alchemical and mystical imagery. Traditionally, the scientific diagram has been ignored as a legitimate art form, but the diagram was the most important vehicle for artistic expression of the Copernican universe. A stylistic analysis of the known diagrams representing the heliocentric universe is included. This analysis illustrates that while astronomers grappled with the dynamics of celestial mechanics, the artist also struggled to depict the concepts of dynamics. A chronological study of the diagrams underscores this fact. By the early eighteenth century, artists had moved from the standard format developed in the Middle Ages to conscious attempts to render the movement and flux of the heavens. With the work of Sir Isaac Newton in universal gravitation and the development of calculus in particular the bonds between the artists and scientists, once so strong in the Renaissance, began to separate.
109. Szydlo, Zbigniew.
The alchemy of Michael Sendivogius.
Ph.D. thesis. London. 1992.
110. Tereszkiewicz, Mary Veronica.
The psychophysiological relationship between healing energy alchemical teachers and healing energy alchemical learners (heater, healer)
Order No: AAC 1327551 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES (0392)
Degree: MA Date: 1986 pp: 181
Source: MAI 24/04, p. 419, Winter 1986
Subject: PSYCHOLOGY, GENERAL (0621)
111. Torres Caballero, Benjamin.
Eros recuperado: Una interpretacion Jungiana de 'cie anos de soledad'. (Spanish text) (Garcia Marquez, alchemy, synchronicity, archetypes, unus mundus)
Order No: AAC 8523459 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA (0175) Degree: PHD Date: 1985 pp: 297
Source: DAI-A 46/08, p. 2309, Feb 1986
Subject: LITERATURE, LATIN AMERICAN (0312)
Abstract: The purpose of "Eros recuperado" is to elucidate a comprehensive interpretation of Cien anos de soledad from the standpoint of C. G. Jung's analytical psychology.
The "Introduccion" summarizes Jung's view on the role of the unconscious in the creative process, and presents jungian analyses of Ernesto Sabato's Sobre heroes y tumbas and the works of Carlos Fuentes relying primarily on Emilse Beatriz Cersosimo's "Sobre heroes y tumbas": de los caracteres a la metaf(')isica and on Gloria B. Duran's The Archetypes of Carlos Fuentes: From Witch to Androgyne, respectively.
Chapter 1, "Busqueda de la piedra filosofal. Caracterizacion en Cien anos de soledad," analyzes the fictional characters utilizing the four psychic functions in analytical psychology (Thinking, Feeling, Intuition, Sensation) and the archetypes, especially the Wise Old Man, the anima, the puer aeternus and the Self. The first two generations of the Buend(')ia family present unidimensional characters, representative of single psychic functions. The collective consciousness of the Buend(')ia family presents with each successive generation a progressive synthesis, analogous to the progressive integration of the psychic functions leading to the Self. The incestuous relationship between Amaranta (')Ursula and Aureliano Babilonia symbolizes the harmonious integration of conscious and unconscious, represented by their offspring, the last Aureliano with his pig's tail. This entire process is also elucidated as analogous to the alchemical work, culminating in the last Aureliano, who represents the filius philosophorum or philosopher's stone of alchemy.
Chapter 2, "De uroboros a mandala. Historia como evolucion ps(')iquica en Cien anos de soledad," points out the analogies between the evolution of consciousness on an individual level, the evolution of Western Civilization and the evolution of the Buend(')ia clan.
Chapter 3, "El unus mundus. El concepto de la realidad en Cien anos de soledad," explicates the extraordinary events that take place in the novel employing the concepts of the collective unconscious, the archetypes, synchronicity and the unus mundus, an underlying current uniting psyche and matter.
Chapter 4, "El uroboros. La estructura circular de Cien anos de soledad" establishes the parallel between the circular structure of the novel and the circular and repetitive nature of the alchemical work.
112. Vercammen, Dany.
Neijia wushu, the internal school of chinese martial arts: the texts with historical and philosophical backgrounds and the relationship with Qigong [Neijia wushu de inwendige school der chinese vechtkunsten: de teksten met historische en filosofische achtergronden en de relatie met Qigong].
Order No: NOT AVAILABLE FROM UMI ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT TE GENT (BELGIUM) (0215) Degree: PHD Date: 1990 pp: 615
Source: DAI-C 54/01, p. 53, Spring 1993
Language: DUTCH
Subject: HISTORY, ASIA, AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA (0332) Location: RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GENT, CENTRAL LIBRARY, ROZIER 9, B-9000 GENT, BELGIUM
Abstract: This dissertation deals with the history and philosophy of the internal school of Chinese martial arts (neijia wushu or neijiaquan). It discusses in detail the history of taijiquan, xingyiquan and baguazhang, i.e. those martial arts that are traditionally called neijiaquan, and gives basic information on the original neijiaquan from the Ming dynasty, from which the name of the school was borrowed. Myths and legends, historical facts and assertions by former and present masters of the arts are analysed and synthesized into a scientific historical account of the development of the internal school. The relationship between qigong and neijia wushu is viewed in its historical perspective. The fundamental texts of taijiquan, xingyiquan and baguazhang are translated into Dutch and used as a means to analyse the philosophical backgrounds. The influence of three main schools of Chinese philosophy (Taoism, Neo-Confucianism, and the philosophy of the Book of Changes) on the authors of the neijiaquan texts is explained. Special attention is paid to Taoist exercises, and especially to Taoist alchemy, as some authors frequently use its terminology. The esoteric language and dark passages in texts and general philosophy are illuminated. The result is a detailed analysis of the complex philosophical elements in the texts. The author also describes how the philosophical theories translate into exercises resembling Taoist religious practices. For each of the three forms of neijiaquan diagrams and text illustrate exercises that may be seen as microcosmic models of macrocosmic evolution (cosmogony). Indexes of names of places and persons mentioned in the dissertation, and glossaries of Taoist alchemical terminology, and neijiaquan terminology are included.
113. Walter, Michael Lee.
The role of alchemy and medicine in Indo-Tibetan Tantrism.
Order No: AAC 8024583 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: INDIANA UNIVERSITY (0093) Degree: PHD Date: 1980 pp: 239
Source: DAI-A 41/05, p. 2115, Nov 1980
Subject: LITERATURE, ASIAN (0305)
Abstract: The present work explores scientific aspects of Tantric customs and practices involving the traditional sciences of medicine and alchemy. The approach to this subject is framed by an opening discussion of their place in some doctrines and methods shared by Gnosticism and Tantrism. In the first group of materials studied, an analysis of a Rnin-ma sadhana from a Klon-chen-pa collection followed by a chapter from Padma-glin-pa's life of Padmasambhava (with its parallel from the Rgyal po bka'i than yig) serve to make clear the Gnostic character of Padma. His role as an alchemist, like the other roles he fills in various circumstances in 'Padmaist' literature, can be seen as analogous to that of Hermes as a culture-bringer within an esoteric religious tradition. Those practical alchemical and medical materials ascribed to Padma also share certain distinctive characteristics, such as the need to extract the 'essences' of various substances as well as the presence of a guruparampara within them oriented to Padma as a manifestation of Amitayus. The second half of the work brings forward materials with a different orientation and procedure. While these seek--as had those in the first group--to strengthen and prolong life as well as bestow success in magic (siddhi), they approach these goals from a more traditionally Tantric position. The Bdud rtsi bam po brgyad pa, composed by Vimalamitra in the eighth century as a commentary to the Bdud rtsi rol pa'i rgyud, is an early example of Tantric works in Tibet which combined sadhana, magic and esoteric scientific procedures. Vimala had introduced the principal tradition of Rdzogs-chen practice into Tibet, so that the Bam po brgyad pa and Rol pa'i rgyud are also representatives of the Lun Anuyoga stage within that yoga. In contrast to the 'Padmaist' materials Vimala is only the transmitter of these traditions; their Tantric instruction is their essential function. Biographical materials relative to Vimala which may shed light on these processes have also been surveyed. The conclusions which have been drawn from the above materials show that at least two alchemical and medical systems were put forward within the Tantric subculture of eighth century Tibet; aspects of these systems are noted.
114. Warlick, M. E.
Max Ernst's collage novel, 'Une Semaine de bonte': Feuilleton sources and alchemical interpretation. (volumes i and ii) (surrealism, French novels, occultism)
Order No: AAC 8508550 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK (0117) Degree: PHD
Date: 1984 pp: 468
Source: DAI-A 46/06, p. 1427, Dec 1985
Subject: FINE ARTS (0357); LITERATURE, ROMANCE (0313)
Abstract: This study adds two important perspectives to the previous analyses of Max Ernst's surrealist collage novel, Une Semaine de bonte. The first is an investigation of the development of nineteenth century popular French novels and their illustrations, some of which Ernst used to construct his collages. Secondly, I propose that this novel, both in its structure and iconography, reveals Ernst's interest in alchemy. This research builds upon previous literature which is summarized in Chapter One.
The majority of wood engravings used to create the collages for this novel were illustrations in late nineteenth-century popular French novels. This literature has rarely been discussed as a cohesive whole and its illustrations have been largely overlooked. Chapter Two summarizes the literary development of the serial novel in the French press. Chapter Three discusses the wood engravings which were used to illustrate those novels and which forecast many of the images in Ernst's novel. Three novels are identified as sources for the collages in Une Semaine de bonte. While Ernst's novel is more than a simple parody of popular French fiction, it takes on new dimensions when viewed in the context of this extensive and overlooked tradition.
Additionally, Ernst's manipulation of these images and organization of the collages throughout the novel reveal his interest in alchemy. Chapter Four reviews the often disputed relationship between the surrealists and occultism, specifically in light of the changing attitudes toward alchemy in the early twentieth century. Ernst's writings on alchemy and the evidence of alchemical symbolism in his early works are also summarized. Chapter Five is a thorough analysis of the alchemical symbolism in Une Semaine de bonte. All of the major characters and many of the situations portrayed in the collages can be interpreted alchemically. Additionally, the sequence of the elements which rule each chapter, beginning with mud (earth), and continuing through water, fire, and blood (or air, since that chapter is filled with bird imagery) represents the traditional progression of the alchemical process.
This review of Une Semaine de bonte documents Ernst's extensive knowledge of alchemical symbolism and points to a new level of interpretation of many of his other works as well.
115. Weingord, Stella.
Jacques Cazotte, alchimiste. (French text)
Order No: AAC 8820911 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (0046) Degree: PHD Date: 1988 pp: 286
Advisor: MORRIS, MADELEINE
Source: DAI-A 49/08, p. 2256, Feb 1989
Subject: PHILOSOPHY (0422)
Abstract: The life and works of Jacques Cazotte, mystic, prophet and visionary, reflect the despair and hopes of the Siecle des Lumieres. Though hostile to many forms of the "mouvement philosophique," Cazotte moved with the most advanced trends of his time in recognizing the potential of the perfectibility of the individual.
Like all Illuminists, Cazotte subscribes to the theory of "regeneration and reintegration," believing that man has within himself the means to be free and to recover his original state of perfection, thus permitting his reconciliation with God and the Universe. His works illustrate not only the eternal struggle between God and Evil present in Nature and within Man, but also the importance of the principles of Liberty and Free Will leading to redemption and happiness.
Cazotte's creative powers transported him out of everyday reality into the world of the fantastic and the imaginary. From the Songs, Ballads and Contes of his early years to the Diable amoureux of his maturity, to the Songes and Revelations of his old age, Cazotte creates and maintains a symbolical composition. While he does not use a language particular to a specific "initiation," the orientation of his thinking recalls the symbolism of the alchemical endeavor whose supreme goal was the regeneration of Man. Accordingly, Cazotte the mystic strives for the spiritual "transmutation" of his heroes through their moral and physical trials, representing symbolically the alchemical "operations" through which base metals must pass before they can reach the stage of gold, symbol of perfection and purity.
Cazotte's last years saw him in a defiant rebellion against the Revolution, perceived as the "devil's work," and against the enemies of his beloved king, whom he equated with Christ himself. His writings now reveal a unique fusion of the mystic and the political activist.
Remembered primarily for his masterpiece Le Diable amoureux and for his tragic, self-prophesized death at the guillotine, Cazotte's non-conformism and non-traditional views of his era are reflected today in our age of technological and scientific wonder, which in many instances surpass the wildest dreams of the promoter of the fantastic, of the prophet and the visionary.
116. Weinhold, Janae B.
A resource guide for planetary education (alchemy, geomancy).
Order No: AAC 8725100 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: THE UNION FOR EXPERIMENTING COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (0557) Degree: PHD Date: 1987 pp: 330
Source: DAI-A 48/08, p. 2029, Feb 1988
Subject: EDUCATION, PSYCHOLOGY (0525)
Abstract: Aims and Theoretical Context. This two part project is a model of learning designed to develop planetary consciousness by teaching people about their relationship to the planet. Part One, the contextual component, explores the many conceptual frameworks that view the world in holistic ways: systems theory, quantum theory; mythology; cultural anthropology; geomancy and Eastern and Western forms of Tantra Yoga. Alchemy is used as the metaphor to unify these different perspectives and then is used to develop a transformational theory of learning. The object of the project is to develop a model of learning that has transformational effects on both the learner and the larger environment.
Format. As part of the project, a model of learning using alchemical concepts was developed and pilot-tested with a group of counselor trainees. The results of the research are included in Part One of the project. Part Two of the project is a Resource Guide in Planetary Education. It is an encyclopedia-like document that contains information about the paradigm shift that is happening in education. The Resource Guide synthesizes information from psychology, education, quantum physics, systems theory and global education. It uses an action-oriented, experiential approach to develop whole-brain, whole-person learning. The goal of the Guide is to encourage active participation in personal and planetary transformation.
117. Welsh, Susan Granite.
The alchemy of revolution: a Jungian approach to social transformation.
Order No: AAC 9104009 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: THE FIELDING INSTITUTE (0565) Degree: PHD Date: 1990 pp: 403
Advisor: MCWHINNEY, WILL
Source: DAI-B 51/09, p. 4644, Mar 1991
Subject: PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL (0451); SOCIOLOGY, SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT (0700); POLITICAL SCIENCE, GENERAL (0615)
Abstract: Alchemy is a procedure for transformation of the spirit. My thesis is that it is also a model for carrying out grand socio-political revolution. The closeness of the modeling is tested by comparing the alchemic process to the Russian Revolution from the end of the 19th century to the time of Lenin's ascendancy.
Alchemy has long been held to be either a grossly misguided effort to gain wealth through transforming base materials into gold, or, by the more acute observers, a method of spiritual transformation conducted without benefit of religious authority. It clearly is the latter, as has been recognized in the work of Israel Regardie, Titus Burckhardt, Carl Jung and many of his followers. These scholars have recognized that from ancient sources in the Middle East alchemy spread throughout Europe and the Far East as a systematic procedure for "refining" the spirit along a course that paralleled the methods of purification of metals, and thus used the metallurgic language and appearances to identify the various stages that a person may go through to attain maturity, i.e., a clear spirit, in mid-life. The process in its many variations is discussed in this dissertation as a foundation for extending its application to social transformation.
The study shows that the four stages of alchemic procedure can be viewed as an example of an "equilibrium" model of social change, following a sequence of (a) a disequilibrating event, (b) a retreat-for-a-better-start, (c) an exploration for a new identity, and (d) an adoption of an action mode based on the new identity.
The research presented here is hermeneutical, first in the reinterpretation of alchemic texts, and second, in reviewing events that led up to the Russian Revolution. Much of the alchemic material was obtained through Jung's work, though other authors and original sources were used to deepen the understanding of the arcane material. Information on the Russian culture and history was obtained from both primary source writings in newspapers, letters and other standard (secondary) sources. Where possible, several source accounts of the historical events were consulted.
The work gives strong support to the paralleling of this revolutionary event with the alchemic process. It has also been highly suggestive of events in the rebirth of revolution occurring since mid-1989. In addition to providing a suggestive model for social change, the work has deepened our understanding of the role of the feminine archetypes in social change, has provided a model which imposes order on seeming unrelated phenomena, has suggested the appropriateness of looking at the collective unconscious at a social level and provides archetypes through which we can view the experience of revolution.
118. Wolcott, Nancy Dunn.
Alchemy and alcoholism based on the psychology of C. G. Jung: The stages of alchemy and the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous as a therapeutic model.
Order No: AAC 7909902 ProQuest - Dissertation Abstracts
School: THE UNION FOR EXPERIMENTING COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (0557) Degree: PHD Date: 1978 pp: 375
Source: DAI-B 39/12, p. 6105, Jun 1979
Subject: PSYCHOLOGY, GENERAL (0621)