Ars Alchemica: Foundations of Practical Alchemy: Being a Prima in the Paracelsian Art of Solve et Coagula

Alchemy the Great Arte indeed the Royal Arte has held a fascination for mankind for all time, its imagery and symbols have been used by various people to try and describe their teachings on a wide array of mystical thoughts and deeds. Yet science would deny the arte and many would consider it to be little more than a superstitious trifle, something belonging to another age.  However therein lies its safety, as others dismiss it and decry the students and practitioners thereof as being foolish. They, the critics, have put in place their own barriers which impedes their understanding not only of the arte itself but the wider mysteries of life. And as such alchemy has survived centuries of persecution, particularly in the early centuries of Christianity, when the great alchemical minds of Alexandria were persecuted and the arte went underground.  Yet it didn’t quite go away, enough survived the centuries to create a modern renaissance and this work hopefully will contribute something to this.

During 1972 I was reading a copy of the old occult magazineMan, Myth & Magicwhich contained an article concerning the work of a modern alchemist; at the time this fired my imagination and the romance of the mystery has always stayed with me.  Later I discovered Regardie’s alchemical workThe Philosopher’s Stone,of which I could make no sense, and thus it was many years before I found ingress into the arte.