Feature Articles
The Call of Fire: The Hermetic Quest of René Schwaller de Lubicz (A Bio-Bibliographic Study)
René Schwaller de Lubicz (1887-1961) was an Alsatian artist, alchemist, Egyptologist, Neopythagorean, and philosopher. His life’s work encompassed a surprisingly diverse spectrum of activity, from the creation of alchemically stained glass to the archaeology, architectonics and symbolic analysis of Egyptian temples. Taken in its entirety, however, the esotericism of de Lubicz is nothing less than a science of consciousness.
Rendering Darkness and Light Present: Jean Gebser and the Principle of Diaphany
This study appears in the inaugural volume of Diaphany: A Journal and Nocturne (Rubedo Press, 2015). It seeks to elucidate not only the concept of diaphany, but the fundamental experiences that underpin the living experience of the phenomenon. Rather than a purely conceptual approach, which risks mere abstraction, I have chosen to explore the principle of diaphany through Gebser’s life experiences, focusing on his poetic relationship to the work of Rainer Maria Rilke, and his engagement with death and the dead.
(Also available in PDF at academia.edu).
From Poetry to Kulturphilosophie: A Philosophical Biography of Jean Gebser with Critical Translations
A detailed biographical and bibliographic survey of Gebser's life and work as a whole, providing numerous translations from German texts hitherto unavailable to Anglophone readers. A lecture based on this material was presented at the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles at the 2013 Gebser conference.
Circumambulating the Alchemical Mysterium
This introduction to part one of Alchemical Traditions attempts to examine alchemy from etymological, historiographic, and phenomenological perspectives in order to "circumambulate" the mystery of alchemy. It encompasses both Eastern and Western alchemies within its circuitous ambit.
Waters Animating and Annihilating: Apotheosis by Drowning in the Greek Magical Papyri
This is a study of the symbolism of drowning and the dynamics of deification in the Greek Magical Papyri, the Egyptian underworld books, and Pythagorean and Orphic literature. It appeared in the anthology, Occult Traditions (ed. D. Z. Lycourinos, Numen Books, 2012). An earlier version was previously presented at the Amphora Classics and Ancient History Conference at the University of Queensland in 2008.
René Schwaller de Lubicz and the Hermetic Problem of Salt
This is a redaction of the first chapter from my 2011 PhD dissertation on the alchemy of René Schwaller de Lubicz. It attempts to provide a phenomenology of "salt" from linguistic, mythographic, chemical, philosophical, and alchemical perspectives. In doing this it seeks to introduce and explore the "juncture of transcendence and concretion" central to Schwaller de Lubicz's Hermeticism.
The Alchemical Chiasmus: Creativity, Counter-Stretched Harmony, and Divine Self-Perception.
This is a collaborative piece between Sabrina Dalla Valle and myself, originally appearing in Alchemical Traditions (2013) and subsequently published in Diaphany: A Journal and Nocturne (2015).