Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul

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Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul

by Titus Burckhardt, William Stoddart (Translation)

4.31 of 5 stars 4.31 · rating details · 35 ratings · 3 reviews

Spiritual attainment has frequently been described as a transformation whereby a human's leaden, dull nature is returned to its golden state. This wonderfully insightful volume introduces some of the metaphors useful for establishing attitudes required for the soul's advancement: trust, confidence, hope, and detachment. It is a reminder that when any substance or entity un...more

Paperback, 206 pages

Published January 1st 1997 by Fons Vitae (first published 1960)

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Aug 01, 2011 Lissa Notreallywolf rated it 4 of 5 stars

I would not have read this book in graduate school, where I was trained to read the introduction and the conclusion first, and to look carefully at the publication date before pursuing it further. However since I am no longer under those dictates, and have the time, I read this book very carefully and in the order the author intended. It raised many questions on the current proto-science take on alchemy, and the period perceptions of terminology we take for granted, being post-periodic table, po...more I would not have read this book in graduate school, where I was trained to read the introduction and the conclusion first, and to look carefully at the publication date before pursuing it further. However since I am no longer under those dictates, and have the time, I read this book very carefully and in the order the author intended. It raised many questions on the current proto-science take on alchemy, and the period perceptions of terminology we take for granted, being post-periodic table, post Jung and post-modern. I found the author's sexism repellent, but was able to take in much of his argument-that the collective unconscious is a Jungian perspective derived largely from Herbert Silberer-something I know already. But Burckhardt makes clear that Jung's perspective confines revelatory inspiration to a hereditary knowledge, something from the basement of human knowledge rather than from any sort of divine revelation the traditional view of genius-it came not just from the extraordinary perceptions of an individual, it also came from a supra-conscious intelligence. This is an important historical distinction-today we think of genius as an exemplary human being like Newton, but traditionally such genius was thought to be an indwelling of divine characteristics based on the receptivity of what we now know as genius. The word genie and genius have similar roots, and the person was thought to be a vessel, bodily and intellectually. Patricia Fara explores this concept in her Biography of Newton, The Making of Genius.
Proto-science approaches to alchemy ignore the invocation of many alchemists for angelic guidance, something the irritating Granger drew to my attention in his analysis of Harry Potter, and the fact that magic in Rowling's books involves the invocation of good spirits (like Harry's parents). Burckhardt was his source, and it appears that Rene Guenon is a major source for Burckhardt, which of course involves further reading. Burckhardt is a good source for Hindu and Buddhist connections for alchemical theories, although I find him less than trustworthy in locating the historical tradition in Alexandria, then Constantinople, then Spain. He is however a good introductory source for Islamic influence, especially give n that he was a forerunner in translating the Sufi tradition.

It seems more likely that international congress of ideas had been going on for quite some time, and that the influence of the East, and Islam is something neglected in most Western historical courses, something Burckhart was trying to relieve. I am still looking for a good overview source of history of influence from the East, so if one is readily at hand, let me know. It is clear to me that during the Nestorian dispersion to the East, and during Crusades, the survivors brought back pieces of other cultures, which were probably of greater influence than we have been taught to encompass. Generally we are taught to think that such influences came through the Jesuits, like Matteo Ricci, much later. See The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci I was surprised to find Chinese influences in alchemical illustrations until I recognized that the huge import of Chinese porcelains would have been accompanied by such "cloud hung" landscapes. And indeed alchemical research helped Europe find it's own sources of porcelian, see The Arcanum by Janet Gleeson. Liebniz had a period of Orientalism, but I have no citation for that. And yes, I have read Edgar Wind.(less)

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Apr 15, 2009 Murray rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: spirituality, myth-and-symbology, ideal-philosophy

Burckhardt is a great author. His biography indicates a man of wide interests and profound scholarship. He is accessible in what he writes and often his views are stimulating and original; they are always informative.
He provides an introduction to the symbolic and spiritual basis of Alchemy, or the Science of the Soul as his sub-title suggests. It is full of interesting lore like the possible origin of the signes/glyphs for the various planets and why they are as they are. I love thinking like...more

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Aug 17, 2010 Erik rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Best overview of the subject.

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