The Stone of the Philosophers: Now Available!

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This work is quite interesting; written by Edward Kelly (sometimes spelled 'Kelley') while he was under imprisonment (either for murder or for failing to make gold using alchemy!) it is a discourse proving, he believes, several alchemical principles he held at the time, by referring to other parties' works; philosophers, alchemical authors, and works of alchemy of both known and unknown origin; the Rosary, the Turba, and many others.

The main overarching principle is quite clear and not veiled at all, possibly because Kelly wished to escape the dungeons of Rudolph II: That gold, silver, and mercury, and those in their elemental forms, are the only materials used within the main great work of alchemy. Kelly allows one exception; the work of Saturn, the creating of elixir using lead and/or antimony a-la Hollandus. Under duress, or apparently so, Kelly created a short but monumentally clear work containing little of the ambiguity of most contemporary chemical works.

34 pages.

Alchemy Books For Sale

The following is a continuously edited list of works which I have released which pertain to alchemy. All links are to Amazon.

THE CHEMICAL ART
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Ficinus' philosophical work containing an extremely interesting conversation between a necromancer and Satan among other things, with regards to alchemy.

A TRACT OF GREAT PRICE
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An interesting philosophical work of unknown authorship. It relates the generation of metals to the ascension of vapors and their mixing with other materials.

CONCERNING THE TINCTURE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS
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A spurious Paracelsian work of note, openly threatening the enemies of "true" alchemical lore.

THE AURORA OF THE PHILOSOPHERS
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Paracelsus' work relating the occult to past civilizations and attempting to refute errors in then-modern alchemical philosophy.

THE GOLDEN CHAIN OF HOMER
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A series of statements regarding reality and the practice of creating and transmuting.

THE ROSARY OF THE PHILOSOPHERS
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The longest alchemical text; a series of intricate illustrations and partly metaphoric chemical experiments; equal parts philosophy and physicality.

THE THREE ELIXIRS OF ALCHEMY
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A short work attributed to Hollandus- speaks of the creation of elixir, a universal medicine of cosmic capabilities.

THE TWELVE KEYS OF BASIL VALENTINE
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Mostly philosophical and part metaphor- almost certainly a spurious work of later date. This version omits the attractive but useless woodcuts of later editions.

THREE TREATISES ON ALCHEMY
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The Transmutation of Metals, The Celestial Ruby, and A Fount of Chemical Truth by Philalethes.

THE MIRROR OF ALCHEMY
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Roger Bacon's hands-on experimentation with replicating natural forces to create metals.

A WORK OF SATURN
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Details the creation of universal medicine through purifying and processing lead.

APHORISMS OF URBIGERUS
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A series of 100 alchemical aphorisms which detail the creation of elixir.

ON THE PHILADELPHIAN GOLD
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A philosophical dialogue between Philadelphus and Philochrysus on the topic of spiritual matter.

THE SECRET WORK OF HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY
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A less difficult alchemical manuscript explaining the creation of the stone of the philosophers.

THREE WORKS ON ALCHEMY
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Trithemius' "Everburning Lights", Philalethes' "Alkahest", and Pontanus' "Philosophic Fire".

TURBA PHILOSOPHORUM
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One of the better known and earliest alchemical works in the form of a lengthy dialogue.

TRACT ON THE TINCTURE AND OIL OF ANTIMONY
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A Baconian work of note. Short, but in depth medicinal and chemical practice. Mostly literal.

STONE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS
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One of the most interesting works of Kelly, created while under imprisonment. A very literal work claiming that only gold, silver, and quicksilver are used outside of any works of Saturn.

GOLDEN TRACTATE OF HERMES
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A largely explanatory work which seeks to make the process of alchemy more understood.

A SUBTLE ALLEGORY
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A short work by Maier relating alchemy in the tale of the Phoenix as a metaphor.

THE TOMB OF SEMIRAMIS
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A short work re-adapting and clarifying Hollandus' system of elixir creation.

THE SIX KEYS OF EUDOXUS
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A six-step program to crafting the philosopher's stone and attendant compounds.

FREHER'S PROCESS
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A short and semi-transparent spiritual counterpart to physical alchemy.

THE ONLY TRUE WAY
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A very short tract explaining some major alchemical terms while criticizing past alchemists as frauds.

AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURAL PHILOSOPHERS' TINCTURE
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A short tract on the compounds prepared for alchemy, using a lot of spiritual metaphor and secondary sources.

CONCERNING THE HERMETIC ART
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A short academic work detailing some physical and some spiritual alchemical topics.

AULA LUCIS
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A short and mostly physical tract that refers to Lully, Trithemius, Philalethes, and more.

THE ALCHEMICAL CATECHISM
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A short work in the form of question and answer explaining most significant physical alchemical topics.

NEW CHEMICAL LIGHT
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About a hundred pages of Waite-transcribed lore regarding physical alchemy, from Sendivogius.

THE ROMANCE AND MYSTERY OF ALCHEMY AND PHARMACY
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A fine edition containing herbal recipes, fictional and nonfictional medical lore, and quite a bit on the subject of alchemy.

A COLLECTION OF ALCHEMY
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A compilation of fourteen premiere alchemical works, with a substantial preface, appendix, reading list, and list of terms.

The Mirror of Alchemy: Now Available!

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The Mirror of Alchemy is one of those many alchemical works misattributed to an author who had nothing to do with the crafting of the work. Dating to no earlier than the 16th century, the Mirror is ascribed to Roger Bacon, who lived and died several centuries earlier.

This does nothing to denigrate the value of the work, however- here we have the most explicit and literal description of the basic tenets of alchemy; that the laboratory setup used to make elixir is as literal a representation of nature as possible- a graduated vessel resembling a triangular mountain, made of fired clay, the presence of argent vive and sulfur (oddly with little mention of salt) and other methods to create a universal medicine- the tincture of the philosophers, the dragon- the peacock-colored, shining substances of alchemical lore.

24 pages.

A Twofer! Coming Soon: Aurora of the Philosophers and Operation of Demons

Two literary materials (both fairly short and quick edits) will soon be available and will be posted here, presumably on different days; Paracelsus' extremely good "Aurora of the Philosophers" and Psellus' "Operation of Demons."

The first text, by Paracelsus, is partially philosophy, partly how-to, and partly warning to the reader to avoid alchemical charlatans- counterfeiters especially, using various chemical means to make fake currency. The philosophical content includes a deep and rather insightful analysis of the origins of magick itself- not merely alchemy.

Psellus' work ruminates through a Socratit dialogue on the topic of categorizing demons: What are they? What do they appear as? How many categories of them exist? It also provides an amusingly modern explanation (without meaning to) of the force of possession, attributing one such case noted in the text as the result of some sort of hallucinogenic drug. This work was already translated into English in the 1840s and needed precious little actual editing beyond a foreword to explain the work, new formatting, and some de-antiquation of a few lingering archaic references.

Golden Chain of Homer: Now Available!

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When works of alchemy are made, mostly they fixate on obscure philosophy- the only exceptions I have encountered are this work and some of Paracelsus' materials. The Golden Chain of Homer, however, is explicit and describes actual alchemical experiments and their recipes.

For those interested in alchemy this work is highly recommended; it may be seen as a somewhat dense but spectacular overview of the philosophy and the working of alchemy itself. Disclaimer: I in no way endorse the practice of these experiments.

64 pages.

Coming Soon: The Golden Chain of Homer

When we discuss alchemical texts we are most often reviewing elaborate systems of symbolism involving celestial and other phenomena. With the Golden Chain of Homer, this is assuredly not the case. Of middling length, (64 pages,) the work ruminates far more on the actual chemical processes behind alchemy; humidification and distillation especially. "Released" (and almost surely written) by Anton Kirchweger in the early 1700s, it was first worked into English not long after by Bacstrom, although the text was not strictly full length in this work. To keep with proper tradition, it is this "shortened" manuscript which I have edited.

Unlike most works, which provide theory without practice or philosophy without physicality, the Golden Chain includes several literal experiments (which I do not condone the working of, for legal reasons!) including a rather strange experiment in which sterilized sediment is used to grow "plants" (almost surely mold)- a telltale sign that the work predates microscopy to a great extent.

I definitely recommend this specific edition for those interested in alchemy, along with a shorter manuscript on the Aurum Potabile which I have just finished editing but must format and work through the cover design for.

A Manuscript of Alchemy: Now Available!

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Another text on alchemy, this time rather short (only 26 pages) but well worth a read anyways. Written by some unknown "German sage" many centuries ago, and like the Chemical Art, it is partly philosophical, ascribing natural forces, especially the action of the sun on mountains, deep-earth vapors, and other movements and forces, to the creation of gold and silver within the planet's crust- indeed, the basic premise spoken of here is astonishingly not unlike modern explanations of volcanism and plate tectonics.

I believe that the tract is steganographic, and that the underlying but veiled meaning of the entire treatise is that alchemy, as physically described by quack alchemists in the Renaissance, does not indeed work and can only create a similitude of naturally occurring substances, almost literally begging the reader to go into the mountains to mine veins of ore which may be revealed by the presence of rifts and holes where hollow areas have become uncovered. Either way, philosophically it is an extremely important if vastly underrated work.

Book of the Chemical Art: Now Available!

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Now we come to an important (and well made) philosophical treatise regarding alchemy, one all the more easily appreciated because it gives us a snapshot of the Renaissance, courtesy of Ficinus, and the opinions given at that era concerning alchemy as it related to what was, even then, considered folkish superstition. Specifically refuting some of the more physical aspects of court alchemy (insofar as it was used to crudely make artificial "gold" from other materials) as well as some folk magick, the work applauds and supports philosophical alchemy.

It ends with a short tract created when one Illardus supposedly held council with Satan through the use of necromancy- this final passage was almost surely tacked on at some Renaissance-era date to the rest of the (more philosophical, anti-superstitious) text.

Rosary of the Philosophers Now Available!

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After two weeks of waiting the files for the Rosary have been verified by Amazon- as such, it is now happily available!

This text is substantially longer than most of the other titles I have edited, at around 170 pages; it is an alchemical work with numerous illustrations to which I have added a substantial foreword. It dwells on various physical processes like mortification and sublimation and through these tells a sort of slightly veiled spiritual and philosophical story while shrouding the same in chemical references.

Quite a nice work, one of the foremost titles on alchemy available anywhere.

Rosary of the Philosophers Update: Illustrating Begins... Notes on Alchemy

One of the illustrations present in the Rosary of the Philosophers.

 
Illustrating has begun for the Rosary of the Philosophers and is now approximately half completed. Many of the woodcuts present show the typical Sol and Luna being combined; the process by which the philosophical (alchemical) arts are completed. The work explains that for both pure sulfur and pure mercury, the solar and lunar element are present; in sulfur the physical outward appearance is that of the sun while the inward, hidden mercurial element is its true nature, and likewise the reverse is true for pure mercury, argent vive, in which the solar element is hidden within, while it presents its lunar, silvery nature tangibly.

It should be noted that alchemy and most alchemical works (including this one) are essentially steganographies- the foliated earth so often alluded to here is nothing more than organic material (compost) that has been leeched of its saltpeter content, such that the nitrates begin accumulating as a crust upon its surface- a process in altered form used in the production of the base matter from which gunpowder was and still is made (black powder, that is.) A true alchemical secret since such acts were, in those days, little other than wizardry to most.

Coming Soon: December 2015 to Mid-2016

The following is a general (and malleable) list of the releases which will be featured here on this blog courtesy of yours truly, and some of my general plans for the next year or so in my writing, editing, and illustrating. (One of my subscribers confirmed the good overall quality of the Grand Grimoire re-release; which is pleasing- I figured the end result would be a much more polished release worthy of the amount of sales it gets.)

1. The "Rosary of the Philosophers" - Originally translated into English in the 18th century, this somewhat longer work is alchemical in nature and is nearly edited as we speak. It will be the last or second to last work I release in 2015 (My work on sonic occultism is complete and needs illustrating only.)

2. Hollandus' "Opus Alchymy" - A short tract containing three sections regarding alchemical processes.

3. "The Wise Man's Crown" - A 17th century Alchemical Treatise. John Heydon's (sic) "Rosy Crucian Crown" - An interesting alchemical work of largely unclassifiable content, being part story, part notations to those the author felt appropriate to address, and part natural science treatise.

4. "Aradia" or the Witches' Gospel - A work of middling length containing paganistic philosophical references.

5. A re-editing of the Grimorium Verum and Black Pullet, specifically for illustration purposes. Added to this, adding the formerly absent illustrations to several prior works.

6. Several of my own works.

7. Any new alchemical texts I can get my hands on. I have copies of one of Paracelsus' and one of Plotinus' work as well. If time allows I want them done and available by mid 2016.

I still need to acquire more occult works and as always will investigate any occult texts related to me; the limitation of the internet in searching for physical works especially is limited, unless one has a substantial budget- the work of creating inexpensive but attractive occult releases is made more difficult, oddly, by the lack of availability of inexpensive copies of these same texts, and I am in some cases forging a trail that is difficult to forge.