Cart 0
The First Alchemists
Click to zoom

Share this book

The First Alchemists : The Spiritual and Practical Origins of the Noble and Holy Art

Book Details

Format Paperback / Softback
ISBN-10 1644116839
ISBN-13 9781644116838
Publisher Inner Traditions Bear and Company
Imprint Inner Traditions Bear and Company
Country of Manufacture GB
Country of Publication GB
Publication Date Jan 18th, 2024
Print length 320 Pages
Weight 518 grams
Dimensions 15.20 x 22.80 x 2.10 cms
Ksh 4,500.00
Werezi Extended Catalogue Delivery in 14 days

Delivery Location

Delivery fee: Select location

Delivery in 14 days

Secure
Quality
Fast
Explores the origins and practices of early alchemy
Explores the origins and practices of early alchemy.

Investigating the origins of alchemy and the legend of the Philosopher’s Stone, Tobias Churton explores the oldest surviving alchemical texts, the original purpose of the “Royal Art,” and the first alchemists themselves. He reveals the theories and philosophies behind the art and how early apparatus and methods were employed by alchemists through the ages.

Showing how women dominated early alchemy, Churton looks at the first known alchemist, the Jewess Maria the Prophetess, inventor of the bain marie, still in use worldwide today. He also looks at early alchemist Cleopatra (not the well-known Egyptian queen) and 3rd–4th century Egyptian female artisan Theosebeia, who had a guild of adepts working under her. He examines in depth the work of Zosimos of Panopolis and shows how Zosimos’s historic work inspired the medieval view of alchemy as an initiatory path whose stages follow the transmutation of base metals into gold.

Exploring the latest research on early practices in Upper Egypt, the author discusses the political and industrial realities facing the first alchemists. He examines the late antique “Stockholm” and “Leiden” papyri, which offer detailed knowledge of the first known Greco-Egyptian chemical recipes for gold and silver dyes for metal and stone, and purple dyes for wool. He emphasizes how changing color in early alchemy was misinterpreted to imply transmutation of one metal into another. He reveals how the alchemical secrets for working with the “living statues” of the Egyptian temples was jealously guarded by the priesthood and how secrecy helped to reinforce beliefs that alchemical knowledge came from forbidden, celestial sources. He also investigates the mysterious relation between alchemy, spiritual gnosis, Hermeticism, and the Book of Enoch.

Revealing the hidden legacy of the early alchemists, Churton shows how their secret workings provided a transmission line for ancient heretical doctrines to survive into the Renaissance and beyond.

Get The First Alchemists by at the best price and quality guaranteed only at Werezi Africa's largest book ecommerce store. The book was published by Inner Traditions Bear and Company and it has pages.

Mind, Body, & Spirit

Price

Ksh 4,500.00

Shopping Cart

Africa largest book store

Sub Total:
Ebooks

Digital Library
Coming Soon

Our digital collection is currently being curated to ensure the best possible reading experience on Werezi. We'll be launching our Ebooks platform shortly.