Alchemical Traditions:
From Antiquity to the Avant-Garde

Edited by Aaron Cheak, PhD

Numen Book 2013
684 pages; 40 Illustrations
Rubedo Press 2019 (revised and expanded edition, forthcoming)
(Revised edition available for pre-order through Rubedo Press)

Table of Contents

Front Matter

Acknowledgements
Peer Reviewers
List of Illustrations

Part I: Cornerstones 

Ancient Alchemies, East and West

 

Introduction to Part One: 
Circumambulating the Alchemical Mysterium
—Aaron Cheak

1. The Perfect Black: Egypt and Alchemy
—Aaron Cheak

2. Telestic Transformation and Philosophical Rebirth: 
From Ancient Egypt to Neoplatonism
—Algis Uždavinys

3. Metallurgy and Demiurgy: 
The Roots of Greek Alchemy in the Mythology of Hephaestos (Discussions)
—Rod Blackhirst

4. Taking from Water to Fill in Fire: 
The History and Dynamics of Taoist Alchemy
—Aaron Cheak

5. Mercury and Immortality:
The Hindu Alchemical Tradition
—David Gordon White

6. Iatrochemistry, Metaphysiology, Gnōsis:
Tibetan Alchemy in the Kālacakra Tantra
—Kim Lai

PART II: TRANSFORMATIONS

Alchemies of the Spirit, Body, and Word 

Introduction to Part Two: 
On the Origins and Nature of European Alchemy
—Aaron Cheak

7. The Alchemical Khiasmos:
Counter-Stretched Harmony and Divine Self-Perception
—Aaron Cheak & Sabrina Dalla Valle

8. Altus’ Ominous Aphorism:
Reading as Alchemical Process
—Mirco Mannucci

9. Turris Philosophorum:
On the Alchemical Iconography of the Tower
—Christopher A. Plaisance

10. Of Ether, Entheogens and Colloidal Gold:
Heinrich Khunrath and the Making of a Philosophers’ Stone
—Hereward Tilton

11. Becoming an Angel:
The Mundus Imaginalis of Henry Corbin and the Platonic Path of Self-Knowledge
—Angela Voss

12. The Kiss of Death:
Amor, Corpus Resurrectionis and the Alchemical Transfiguration of Eros
—Paul Scarpari

13. Agent of All Mutations:
Metallurgical, Biological and Spiritual Evolution in the Alchemy of René Schwaller de Lubicz
—Aaron Cheak

14. Take Two Emerald Tablets in the Morning:
Surrealism and the Alchemical Transubstantiation of the World
—Leon Marvell

15. Incredible Lunatic of the Future:
The Alchemical Horticulture of Alan Chadwick
—Rod Blackhirst

16. Alchemical Endgame:
‘Checkmate’ in Beckett and Eliot
—Dan Mellamphy

End matter

Abbreviations
Bibliography
Author Biographies


Author Biographies
Images and extracts
Praise for Alchemical Traditions
Introduction to Part One: Circumambulating the Alchemical Mysterium
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