‘Alchemy manuscripts, in English, now on line’

     

The Rosicrucian Order announced the availability of 16 alchemy manuscripts, translated into English, available on its website. From the publicity:

The Alchemical Manuscript Series is a collection of rare, centuries-old alchemical material made available to English readers. It includes translations of important works by the eminent Alchemists Basil Valentine, Anton Kirchweger, Isaac Hollandus, George Ripley, S. Bacstrom, M.D., Alexander Van Suchten, Baron Urbigerus, Johann Becker, and Artephius.
     

‘Rose Circle 2011’

     

Yes, that’s correct, 2011! I cannot even comprehend that five years have passed since this stellar event in New York City took place, but this Flashback Friday edition of The Magpie Mason does indeed reach back exactly to February 26, 2011, when the Rose Circle Research Foundation hosted Christopher McIntosh and Steve Burkle for invaluable talks on Rosicrucianism and Alchemy, with David Lindez doing a great job as emcee.

Here’s the catch: While I know I still have my notes from this conference somewhere at Magpie headquarters, I can’t put my hands on them easily. The notebook will turn up, as it does every so often, and I will update this post with information from those notes, but for now here is my photographic record from the Renaissance Room in Masonic Hall. A partial record. I shot more than 160 photos during the event, but these are among the most colorful. Others show some PowerPoint projections that simply do not belong on the web, so there’s that.

Some of the architecture of the Renaissance Room at Masonic Hall, the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of New York, Free and Accepted Masons. 

This is the northwest corner of the lodge room, looking to the ceiling, with pipe organ at left.

I do not recall how Jason appeared at the lectern—
but I am sure he has a good reason for it!

Steve Burkle was the first of the two speakers to address the audience. I have forgotten the title of his presentation, but he discussed aspects of the practical application of spiritual alchemy concepts, among other things, to wit:

And Steve always works a fish story into his lectures!

Seriously, he is one of the best speakers around.

David Lindez stepped ‘unto the breach,’ as it were, to serve as master of ceremonies, providing comment and context to the proceedings. (I have my moments in public speaking. Sometimes I am coherent. Sometimes I can see that I grabbed the audience. I would never attempt to emcee a Rose Circle conference.)

That is Gene and Phillipe in the rear. Don’t know the gentlemen in front.

Here are Sam and Bob from New Jersey.

I regret not knowing the names of this couple because
they are regulars at Rose Circle events.

Geoffrey from Old No. 2.

Mario, Sr. and Mario, Jr.

Michael and Joe.

Henry at center, with Richard and Nick behind him.

The incomparable Janet Wintermute perusing the index of McIntosh’s
book. (If I didn’t use her full name, she’d kill me.)

To be a fly on the wall of that room.

I don't recall how many attended the conference,
but it pretty much was a sold out affair.

Dr. Christopher McIntosh spoke on ‘Rosicrucianism and the Search for a New World Order,’ which was based on his book The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason, an utterly mind-roasting history of early European Rosicrucianism and its effects on society. The text had been published a second time since 1992 just weeks before this conference, bringing down the retail price of the book from more than $1,000 to around twenty bucks or so.

Equipment, such as mic stands, is unavoidable, but
sometimes it can drive a photographer nuts.

I’m afraid I don’t know the gentleman with the microphone,
but that’s the inimitable Jonny Clockworks at left.

Never mind McIntosh, Burkle, and Lindez (although David’s
devilish smile is priceless), look at that room!

Oscar Alleyne. All this time I didn’t realize
I had such a good photo of him on file.

You have to appreciate an audience member who drafts his questions on the pages of his own notebook (to say nothing of coordinating his sport jacket with said notebook) in preparation for the Q&A!

David and Piers A. Vaughan. Sorry to say the Rose Circle
website store is sold out of those ties!

Piers, our president, makes Christopher a Fellow in the Rose Circle.

And—sigh—it’s over.

     

‘Salamander and Sons: the presses stopped’

     

Atalanta Fugiens by Michael Maier, 1618.

“According to Paracelsus, the salamander lives in fire, but not in dark, material fire, but rather in the essential ‘spirit-fire of nature.’”

Alexander Roob
Alchemy and Mysticism


Another essential publisher has gone out of business. From the unhappy publicity:

Closure Announcement

Salamander and Sons collapsed financially, and ceased publishing operations effective 31 December 2015.

The press will remain partially operational, until its complete closure on 31 March 2016.

During the first quarter of 2016, it will remain possible to purchase titles from the Salamander and Sons back list, consisting of books published between 2007 and 2015.

All remaining Salamander and Sons stock will be heavily discounted, as any stock unsold after 31 March 2016 will be destroyed.

Wholesale and other bulk orders are encouraged, as such orders will be even more heavily discounted.

Sales revenue generated will be utilized to square accounts with authors, process refunds of pre-orders for two failed fine binding projects, and to settle with creditors.

Note that it may take until 30 June 2016 for all matters administrative (including refunds, etc.) to be tended to. Thanks for your understanding.


Click here to see the remaining stock available to you. Titles by Greer, Hardacre, Millar, and others should be snapped up.
     

‘Elias Ashmole’s alchemy anthology’

     
Initiated into Freemasonry on this date in 1646: Elias Ashmole!

It’s been a while since I posted an unsolicited promotional announcement of Ouroboros Press’ wonderful publications, but the books these people produce are of such luxurious and dazzling quality, that I am happy to help spread the word.

Courtesy Ouroboros Press

Ouroboros’ latest is Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, the Complete and Corrected Edition, which is “An Annotated Catalogue of Printed Books on Alchemy, Chemistry and Cognate Subjects.” Manly Hall called the text “marvelous” and by “the most learned antiquarian of his age.”

In Freemasonry, Ashmole is merely a curiosity, remembered only because someone discovered his brief notes among his personal papers recording the day—October 16, 1646—when he was initiated into the fraternity. Outside Masonry however, Elias Ashmole (1617-92) was an aristocrat, public official, Fellow of the Royal Society, gentleman, doctor of medicine, Royalist for Charles II, and, among other admirable pursuits, the benefactor of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University—regarded as the first public museum in the West.

Courtesy Ouroboros Press

“Wherefore you that love to converse with the Dead, or consult with their Monuments, draw near: perhaps you may find more benefit in them then the Living; There you may meet with the Genii of our Hermetique Philosophers, learne the Language in which they woo’d and courted Dame Nature, and enjoy them more freely, and at Greater Command, (to satisfie your Doubts) than when they were in the Flesh; For, they have Written more then they would Speake; and left their Lines so Rich, as if they had dissolved Gold in their Inke, and clad their Words with the Soveraign Moysture.”

Elias Ashmole
Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum


This book, first published in 1652, is an anthology of poetry written by diverse English authors on alchemy. I’m sure there are other editions available, but none like this. From the publicity:

Courtesy Ouroboros Press

The Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum is a major collection of English alchemical texts which encapsulate the arcana of the Magnum Opus in poetic form. Originally gathered by Elias Ashmole from several rare medieval manuscripts, the text represents the largest collection of verse concerning the production of the Philosopher’s Stone to be brought together in one volume. Ashmole’s pride in English literature was amplified through the consideration he gave to the project. In deciding which texts should be included in the book, he details ancient British examples among the Druids and the Bardic Tradition and explains that poesy is much better than mere verse. Here we find well-known names in the alchemical corpus, among whom are included: Thomas Norton, George Ripley, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Daston, Pearce the Black Monke, Richard Carpenter, Abraham Andrews, Thomas Charnock, William Bloomefield, Edward Kelley, John Dee, Thomas Robinson, William Backhouse, John Gower, John Lydgate, W. Redman, and several anonymous authors. This who’s who of English alchemists is placed in historical context by a Prolegomena by Ashmole, which supports his thesis that England may be proud of its alchemical literary heritage. In addition, Ashmole has provided ample annotations and commentary on each of the texts as supplementary material in the concluding chapter of the book. The text has a new introduction by William Kiesel and a full bibliography of alchemical and bibliographic materials used in researching the text.

Click here for a full list of the contents.

This complete edition of Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum goes beyond the mere reprinting of the original pages as past facsimiles have done. Using the original errata sheets provided by Ashmole, the entire text has been corrected and reset in a more readable typeface and features clear reproductions of the original engravings produced by Robert Vaughan. In addition, this edition features a more complete version of the Breviary of Natural Philosophy by Thomas Charnock by employing a complete manuscript of the text not available to Ashmole in 1652. This is the most ambitious publishing project embraced by Ouroboros Press in its years of laboring to bring source works of western esotericism to scholars and collectors alike. Over a dozen individuals and institutions worked hard to bring the book into this complete and corrected edition. This is fine esoteric book arts at its best, a volume Elias Ashmole himself would be proud of.


“In scope, these poems encompass all of the aspects of the great work: theory and practice, instructions on furnaces and vessels, or on substances to be avoided, and allegorical accounts intended to convey the most important secrets.”

Didier Kahn, author of Alchemical Poetry in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: A Preliminary Survey and Synthesis Part I — Preliminary Survey
Ambix Volume 57, Number 3, November 2010

Courtesy Ouroboros Press

Robert Vaughan’s Engraving.

Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum features several engraved plates by Robert Vaughan (not to be confused with Thomas Vaughan, author of Lumen de Lumen.) C. H. Josten notes “these engravings are probably the earliest engraved reproductions of miniatures from an illuminated manuscript.” The manuscripts in question are preserved in the British Library. The engravings are certainly among the most beautifully rendered in the alchemical corpus. Heralding from the emblematic tradition, such engravings are by now hallmarks of the famous alchemical books extant. According to Ashmole’s diary, Vaughan actually came to stay with him where the artist “wrought and finished all the Cutts.” The images themselves feature several alchemical scenes depicting famous alchemists, work in laboratories, astrological charts, as well as allegorical themes, and the larger images are each surrounded by foliated borders which are also populated with animals, insects, and birds. The book also has a few engraved ornamental grotesques, alchemical dragons, trees, and fleurons scattered throughout the text.

Courtesy Ouroboros Press

The Folding Plate: John Goddard’s Diagram.

In addition to Vaughan’s engravings there is a folding plate by another artist which is to be found in the Compound of Alchemie, or Twelve Gates by George Ripley. This typographical diagram labeled “Here followeth the Figure conteyning all the secrets of the Treatise both great & small” was originally rendered by John Goddard. Again in keeping with the original, the folding plate is included in the Ouroboros Press edition with the Latin parts translated into English by Darius Klein.

Text designed by William Berkson, is based on an early font cut by William Caslon who in the 18th century made British printers’ dependence on Dutch type a thing of the past. Caslon’s typeface was also popular in America and it was utilized by Mary Katherine Goddard of Baltimore for the printing of the Declaration of Independence. The Fleurons Garamont ornaments, based on 16th century originals, were designed by Bruce Rogers, the famous American book and type designer. The fine engravings by Robert Vaughan were scanned from a first edition copy of the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum which was originally owned by Isaac Newton.


Two versions of this text are still available.

Trade Cloth Edition: Gilt-stamped cloth over boards in letterpress printed dust jacket. Over thirty alchemical texts in 528 pages. Illustrated, bibliography and table of obscure words. $75.00

Special deluxe bindings in leather and vellum will be executed with traditional bookbinding technique by the studios of Ars Obscura Bookbinding utilizing antique book presses.

Deluxe Leather Edition: Full tanned goat with gilt-stamped spine bands and central ‘grotesque’ ornament to boards. Ebony and gilt leather spine label, silk bookmark and hand-marbled endpapers. Limited to 200 copies only. $250.00


Click here to make your purchase.
     

‘Born on this date: Jung and Huxley’

     
First published in 2014, this has become one of the most visited posts in Magpie history, so here it is again.

It’s a notable pairing. Born on this date were C.G. Jung in 1875, and Aldous Huxley in 1894. Both accomplished so much for which the world is indebted. As a pioneer in psychoanalysis, Jung advanced our understanding of the mind and human behavior by defining the characteristics of introversion and extroversion; by providing us the concept of the collective unconscious; and by postulating how the identity of the individual is shaped by archetypal symbols. He examined man through a microscope. Aldous Huxley saw man through a telescope, predicting social dysfunction with eerie prescience. His Brave New World (1931) has been warning one feckless generation after another of the perils of surrendering one’s humanity for the promise of a better society. His book predates the rise of Hitler and the bloodiest years of Stalin, to name a few, thus lacking the hindsight that benefitted Orwell, and yet that foresight is what makes Huxley’s story even more scary. It also doesn’t help that emerging technologies seem to vindicate his predictions; in a television interview with Mike Wallace decades after the publication of Brave New World, Huxley said there never could be a drug like Soma. Today we know otherwise.

Carl Jung was the spiritual scientist among the psychoanalysts. Freud dismissed Jung’s explorations of mysticism, which partially caused the break between the two. His research into symbolism, particularly as regards alchemy, garners him devotees around the world to this day. There are those of us who enjoy the study of various esoteric streams who see Jung’s research as essential to balancing the headiness of the highly speculative and undefinable intuitive.

The C.G. Jung Foundation and the C.G. Jung Institute of New York will present an advanced seminar on Wednesdays, from January 28 through May 13, 2015, titled “The Alchemical Opus: Demystifying What It Means for the Client to Work in Psychotherapy.” The course description:

The alchemists used the term “opus,” or “the work,” to refer to their process of changing base metals into gold. This implies not a magical transformation of material, but one of labor and persistence. Descriptions of alchemists and their processes show us that transformation requires our active engagement—dedicated work, in fact—to achieve the psychological growth that we hope for. Psychotherapy serves as the modern version of alchemy in its efforts to forge and create a personality that is, like gold, malleable but incorruptible. But in an era of re-parenting and corrective emotional experience, clients are often not aware of what work they need to do to make their time in psychotherapy effective in bringing about change.

This course will utilize contemporary research, timeless stories, and ancient images to explore the clinical dimensions of the clients’ role in psychotherapy. Both therapists and clients are invited to attend.

Learning Objectives:

• Summarize basic alchemical concepts and apply them to clinical work.
• Identify archetypal patterns underlying clinical work.
• Identify and apply effective clinical practices based on research.
• Recognize differences between clients’ resistance and lack of information about how to use therapy.
• List 8 of possible 10 tools that their clients will be able to utilize to make their work in therapy more effective.
• Identify which tools clients may be avoiding or unaware of, and identify strategies to help them use these tools.
• Use techniques to help patients effectively and productively channel their emotions.
• Help patients to utilize the therapeutic relationship more effectively.
• Encourage patients to assume appropriate responsibility for their actions without self-attack.
• Instruct patients to utilize stories, literature, and basic schemas to achieve their goals.
• Help clients to recognize and challenge cognitive assumptions that prohibit progress.
• Identify clients’ opportunities to utilize challenging issues for growth.
• Identify appropriate tasks for clients to use in pursuing their psychological growth outside of sessions.

Instructor: Gary Trosclair, LCSW, DMA


Those who pursue the spiritual alchemy found in Rosicrucianism and other disciplines recognize an obvious kindred thinking in this science. There is no reason why the two approaches cannot complement each other.

Aldous Huxley too was concerned with the soul of man. In addition to his social theorizing, he was a magpie himself, studying the world’s religions and producing the book The Perennial Philosophy. Before anyone had heard of Joseph Campbell, Huxley’s study of comparative religion finds there is a “Natural Theology” common to all the religious teachings he examined that offers “an absolute standard of faith by which we can judge both our moral depravity as individuals and the insane and often criminal behavior of the national societies we have created.” People everywhere endeavor to find communion with God, and if they cannot be saintly themselves, they can follow the examples of those who were.

Speaking of birthdays, I’m going to be late for a friend’s party if I don’t sign off. Have a good night. Please enjoy these videos:

     

‘Alchemy exhibit on the Summer Solstice’

     

Courtesy Rosicrucian Alchemy Museum

The Rosicrucian Order is constructing its Alchemy Museum, to be the first of its kind in the United States. Located at Rosicrucian Park in San Jose, California, the two-story structure is being built amid the Order’s Egyptian Museum and Alchemical Herb Garden. It will feature a fully equipped laboratory and an auditorium for classes in both operative and spiritual alchemy.

In the meantime, the Order is four weeks away from opening an Alchemy exhibit in the Egyptian Museum. Just in time for the solstice, the exhibit will open Saturday, June 20. A dedication ceremony will be held at six o’clock. On Sunday the 21st, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Dennis William Hauck will lead a workshop. And at 7:30, the Order will host its annual Summer Solstice Ceremony.

From the publicity:

All Day Alchemy Workshop

with Dennis William Hauck

Sunday, June 21, 2015

10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Spend the day with one of the world’s few practicing alchemists, and probe the intertwined mysteries of mind and matter. Learn how to use the alchemists’ secret formulae in practical work on all levels of body, mind, and spirit. Resonate with the magical imagery of the alchemists’ drawings, harness the archetypal power of the elements, and experience alchemical change within your own being, as you progress through each of the operations of transformation.

The alchemists not only tried to change base metals into gold, but also to rejuvenate their bodies, integrate their personalities, and perfect the very essence of their souls. Although they spoke of furnaces, retorts, and chemicals, they were really talking about changes taking place within themselves. In this unique and inspiring workshop, the secret principles of this ancient art will be revealed using the alchemists’ own writings, drawings, and meditations.

Dennis William Hauck is known for his ability to present these teachings in a way that comes alive in people. While studying for his doctorate in mathematics at the University of Vienna, he completed a three-year apprenticeship in alchemy and was later initiated into a variety of Hermetic traditions in Europe, Egypt, and the United States. He has since translated several old manuscripts and written a number of bestselling books on alchemy, including The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation, Sorcerer’s Stone: A Beginner’s Guide to Alchemy, Secret of the Emerald Tablet, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Alchemy. More info on the lecturer here.

In preparing to complete the Alchemy Museum, the Rosicrucian Order welcomes some donations. Click here to see how you might assist.
     

‘At the C.G. Jung Foundation’

     
I just wanted to share this partial list of upcoming workshops and classes offered by the C.G. Jung Foundation in the coming weeks and months. The foundation is located at 28 East 39th Street in Manhattan. Click here to register.

Restoring Wholeness: The Symbolism

of the Kabbalah and the Repair of the Soul

Saturday, February 28

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Led by 
Richard Kradin, MD

In his late works, C.G. Jung exhibited a keen interest in alchemy, arguing that in many instances the alchemical work was in fact directed at the purification of the soul. Although Jung was acquainted with many of the symbols of the Kabbalah, he did not systematically examine its comparable role as a cure of the soul.

While esoteric symbolism of the Kabbalistic texts is difficult to penetrate, it is abundantly clear that the aim of the Kabbalists was to revivify the soul and to recreate personal connection with the divine by focusing on a re-visioning of the one’s daily efforts and meditations. It is also evident that this system shares much with Jung’s approach to the harmonization of the psyche as discussed in Jung’s last treatise Mysterium Coniunctionis.

In this workshop, we will review the history, symbolism, and practices of the Kabbalists with emphasis on how their approach pertains to the restoration the ego-Self axis. Dream imagery and active imagination will be adopted for the purpose of illustrating how Kabbalah and Jungian analysis are in fact parallel traditions.

Richard Kradin, MD is a Jungian psychoanalyst, and professor at Harvard Medical School who practices at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He is the author of Pathologies of the Mind/Body Interface, The Placebo Response, and The Herald Dream. He is the recipient of the Gravida Prize for his paper, “The Psychosomatic Symptom: A Siren’s Song,” published in the Journal of Analytical Psychology.

Finding Spiritual Gold

in the Second Half of Life

Saturday, March 14

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Led by
 Jane Selinske, Ed.D., LCSW, LP

C.G. Jung was one of the first to unite psychology and spirituality in his work and he is often referred to as the father of the “second half of life psychology.” Jung treated many patients during his career and stated “there had never been one in the second half of life whose problem in the last resort was not finding a religious outlook on life.” He felt the second half of life had spiritual treasures yet to be discovered. In his Collected Works Volume 8, Jung wrote “The Stages of Life,” in which he put forth the psychological transition that occurred in midlife. In the second half of life Jung emphasized the importance of consciousness and attainment of spiritual value, meaning and purpose.

In Finding Spiritual Gold in the Second Half of Life, participants will be assisted to understand what it means to find a new or deeper spiritual outlook on life. Dependence upon the ego in the first half of life needs to be replaced by a relationship to the Self and a living out of an awareness of one’s potential through the individuation process. According to Jung, “Individuation is the life in God, as mandala psychology clearly shows.” Ultimately, by tapping into the wisdom of Jung’s second half of life stage, attendees will join with the secret our ancestors knew: that as the body declines, the presence of soul rises into consciousness.

Jane Selinske, EdD, LCSW, LP, MT-BC, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Montclair, New Jersey, a practitioner of Mandala Assessment, and a Board Certified Music Therapist. She is on the faculty of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, the Institute for Expressive Analysis in New York and the C.G. Jung Foundation.

What is Creative Living?

5 consecutive Mondays

7 to 8:40 p.m.

Beginning February 23

Instructor: David Rottman, MA

What does Jung have to say about self-expression, rewarding relationships, fulfilling work, and living with a sense of meaning and purpose in life? These harmonious dimensions of human experience have an archetypal basis just as much as anything else. In this course, we will explore what depth psychology has to say about how we can augment the free energy of our consciousness, to create a more abundant and vital life.

Archetypes of the Feminine

in Ancient Images and Mythologies

5 consecutive Tuesdays

6:30 to 8:10 p.m.

Beginning February 24

Instructor: Ilona Melker, LCSW

“Nature must not win the game,
but she cannot lose.”

- Jung

We will begin our exploration of archetypes of the Feminine with images from the Neolithic period, followed by a look at the Phyrgian Cybele, who emerges as Demeter in ancient Greece, and Magna Mater in Rome. Then we will turn our attention to Mesopotamia and the myths concerning the Goddess Inanna. Finally, we will consider her struggles and confrontation with the emerging hero archetype as it is told in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The class will rely on readings from: 
In Search of God the Mother: The Cult of Anatolian Cybele by Lynn E. Roller; 
Inanna Lady of the Largest Heart, Poems translated by Betty De Shong Meador; and the Epic of Gilgamesh.