Author: Jenny Lee
Publisher: Bis Pub
ISBN: 9789063693763
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
Material Alchemy has been devised to showcase the most innovative, thought-provoking design approaches to materials within the 21st century. Enlisting the help of luminaries from the world of science, technology, and design showcases new responses to material innovation and provides key insights into how material will be utilised to shape our future environments. Unlike existing publications that singularly examine and showcase materials from an industrial and technical standpoint for commercial application, this publication explores materials from a conceptual, historical and narrative point of view. Exploring key topics such as synthetic biology, how designers and scientists are designing with living matter, utilising the laboratory as a means to cultivate and grow new materials. To technological innovations, how new technologies such as 3D printing are revolutionising the manufacturing industry. Showcasing the work by technologists and artisans, how these collaborative partnerships are evolving to redefine materiality in the 21st century. The book not only provides new insights into how designers, scientists and artisans are exploring materiality, it also presents opportunities to physically engage with materials through the following chapters: Low-Tech, High-Tech, Molecular Gastronomy and The Laboratory. In addition to this, the publication features interactive content that merges the analogue with the digital. Using image recognition software to trigger hidden content in the form of animations that visually demonstrate how to carry out each workshop, or to transport you to the alchemists conceptual film to further explain the narrative of their research. The use of materials within art, design and architecture is a dynamic and growing area of research. How we use and define a material no longer applies in the 21st century, a material is more than just a material to clothe and shelter us, our desire for intrinsic value and connectedness has driven the way for new interpretations of materiality, as opposed to merely applying materials for commercial applications.
Material Alchemy
Author: Jenny Lee
Publisher: Bis Pub
ISBN: 9789063693763
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
Material Alchemy has been devised to showcase the most innovative, thought-provoking design approaches to materials within the 21st century. Enlisting the help of luminaries from the world of science, technology, and design showcases new responses to material innovation and provides key insights into how material will be utilised to shape our future environments. Unlike existing publications that singularly examine and showcase materials from an industrial and technical standpoint for commercial application, this publication explores materials from a conceptual, historical and narrative point of view. Exploring key topics such as synthetic biology, how designers and scientists are designing with living matter, utilising the laboratory as a means to cultivate and grow new materials. To technological innovations, how new technologies such as 3D printing are revolutionising the manufacturing industry. Showcasing the work by technologists and artisans, how these collaborative partnerships are evolving to redefine materiality in the 21st century. The book not only provides new insights into how designers, scientists and artisans are exploring materiality, it also presents opportunities to physically engage with materials through the following chapters: Low-Tech, High-Tech, Molecular Gastronomy and The Laboratory. In addition to this, the publication features interactive content that merges the analogue with the digital. Using image recognition software to trigger hidden content in the form of animations that visually demonstrate how to carry out each workshop, or to transport you to the alchemists conceptual film to further explain the narrative of their research. The use of materials within art, design and architecture is a dynamic and growing area of research. How we use and define a material no longer applies in the 21st century, a material is more than just a material to clothe and shelter us, our desire for intrinsic value and connectedness has driven the way for new interpretations of materiality, as opposed to merely applying materials for commercial applications.
Publisher: Bis Pub
ISBN: 9789063693763
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
Material Alchemy has been devised to showcase the most innovative, thought-provoking design approaches to materials within the 21st century. Enlisting the help of luminaries from the world of science, technology, and design showcases new responses to material innovation and provides key insights into how material will be utilised to shape our future environments. Unlike existing publications that singularly examine and showcase materials from an industrial and technical standpoint for commercial application, this publication explores materials from a conceptual, historical and narrative point of view. Exploring key topics such as synthetic biology, how designers and scientists are designing with living matter, utilising the laboratory as a means to cultivate and grow new materials. To technological innovations, how new technologies such as 3D printing are revolutionising the manufacturing industry. Showcasing the work by technologists and artisans, how these collaborative partnerships are evolving to redefine materiality in the 21st century. The book not only provides new insights into how designers, scientists and artisans are exploring materiality, it also presents opportunities to physically engage with materials through the following chapters: Low-Tech, High-Tech, Molecular Gastronomy and The Laboratory. In addition to this, the publication features interactive content that merges the analogue with the digital. Using image recognition software to trigger hidden content in the form of animations that visually demonstrate how to carry out each workshop, or to transport you to the alchemists conceptual film to further explain the narrative of their research. The use of materials within art, design and architecture is a dynamic and growing area of research. How we use and define a material no longer applies in the 21st century, a material is more than just a material to clothe and shelter us, our desire for intrinsic value and connectedness has driven the way for new interpretations of materiality, as opposed to merely applying materials for commercial applications.
The Alchemy of Us
Author: Ainissa Ramirez
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262542269
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
A “timely, informative, and fascinating” study of 8 inventions—and how they shaped our world—with “totally compelling” insights on little-known inventors throughout history (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction) In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines 8 inventions and reveals how they shaped the human experience: • Clocks • Steel rails • Copper communication cables • Photographic film • Light bulbs • Hard disks • Scientific labware • Silicon chips Ramirez tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer. She describes how our pursuit of precision in timepieces changed how we sleep; how the railroad helped commercialize Christmas; how the necessary brevity of the telegram influenced Hemingway’s writing style; and how a young chemist exposed the use of Polaroid’s cameras to create passbooks to track black citizens in apartheid South Africa. These fascinating and inspiring stories offer new perspectives on our relationships with technologies. Ramirez shows not only how materials were shaped by inventors but also how those materials shaped culture, chronicling each invention and its consequences—intended and unintended. Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, Ramirez showcases little-known inventors—particularly people of color and women—who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology. She also shows that innovation is universal—whether it's splicing beats with two turntables and a microphone or splicing genes with two test tubes and CRISPR.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262542269
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
A “timely, informative, and fascinating” study of 8 inventions—and how they shaped our world—with “totally compelling” insights on little-known inventors throughout history (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction) In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines 8 inventions and reveals how they shaped the human experience: • Clocks • Steel rails • Copper communication cables • Photographic film • Light bulbs • Hard disks • Scientific labware • Silicon chips Ramirez tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer. She describes how our pursuit of precision in timepieces changed how we sleep; how the railroad helped commercialize Christmas; how the necessary brevity of the telegram influenced Hemingway’s writing style; and how a young chemist exposed the use of Polaroid’s cameras to create passbooks to track black citizens in apartheid South Africa. These fascinating and inspiring stories offer new perspectives on our relationships with technologies. Ramirez shows not only how materials were shaped by inventors but also how those materials shaped culture, chronicling each invention and its consequences—intended and unintended. Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, Ramirez showcases little-known inventors—particularly people of color and women—who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology. She also shows that innovation is universal—whether it's splicing beats with two turntables and a microphone or splicing genes with two test tubes and CRISPR.
The Alchemy of Empire
Author: Rajani Sudan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780823270729
Category : Enlightenment
Languages : en
Pages : 163
Book Description
The Alchemy of Empire unravels the non-European origins of Enlightenment science. Focusing on the abject materials of empire-building, this study traces the genealogies of substances like mud, mortar, ice, and paper, and forms of knowledge like inoculation, arguing that East India Company employees deployed the paradigm of alchemy in order to make sense of the new worlds they confronted.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780823270729
Category : Enlightenment
Languages : en
Pages : 163
Book Description
The Alchemy of Empire unravels the non-European origins of Enlightenment science. Focusing on the abject materials of empire-building, this study traces the genealogies of substances like mud, mortar, ice, and paper, and forms of knowledge like inoculation, arguing that East India Company employees deployed the paradigm of alchemy in order to make sense of the new worlds they confronted.
The Experimental Fire
Author: Jennifer M. Rampling
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022671084X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 427
Book Description
“Presents the largely uncharted history of English alchemy from its medieval roots until the end of the seventeenth century . . . an astounding eye for detail.” —Annals of Science In medieval and early modern Europe, the practice of alchemy promised extraordinary physical transformations. Who would not be amazed to see base metals turned into silver and gold, hard iron into soft water, and deadly poison into elixirs that could heal the human body? To defend such claims, alchemists turned to the past, scouring ancient books for evidence of a lost alchemical heritage and seeking to translate their secret language and obscure imagery into replicable, practical effects. Tracing the development of alchemy in England over four hundred years, from the beginning of the fourteenth century to the end of the seventeenth, Jennifer M. Rampling illuminates the role of alchemical reading and experimental practice in the broader context of national and scientific history. Using new manuscript sources, she shows how practitioners like George Ripley, John Dee, and Edward Kelley, as well as many previously unknown alchemists, devised new practical approaches to alchemy while seeking the support of English monarchs. By reconstructing their alchemical ideas, practices, and disputes, Rampling reveals how English alchemy was continually reinvented over the space of four centuries, resulting in changes to the science itself. In so doing, The Experimental Fire bridges the intellectual history of chemistry and the wider worlds of early modern patronage, medicine, and science. “An engaging piece of scholarly work . . . it humanizes the alchemist, showing him or her to be a historical personage caught up in the circumstances of the era and seeking to survive the upheavals and challenges of historical reality . . . bound to make an important contribution to the history of science, social history, history of scholarship, and the history of the book.” —Early Science and Medicine
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022671084X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 427
Book Description
“Presents the largely uncharted history of English alchemy from its medieval roots until the end of the seventeenth century . . . an astounding eye for detail.” —Annals of Science In medieval and early modern Europe, the practice of alchemy promised extraordinary physical transformations. Who would not be amazed to see base metals turned into silver and gold, hard iron into soft water, and deadly poison into elixirs that could heal the human body? To defend such claims, alchemists turned to the past, scouring ancient books for evidence of a lost alchemical heritage and seeking to translate their secret language and obscure imagery into replicable, practical effects. Tracing the development of alchemy in England over four hundred years, from the beginning of the fourteenth century to the end of the seventeenth, Jennifer M. Rampling illuminates the role of alchemical reading and experimental practice in the broader context of national and scientific history. Using new manuscript sources, she shows how practitioners like George Ripley, John Dee, and Edward Kelley, as well as many previously unknown alchemists, devised new practical approaches to alchemy while seeking the support of English monarchs. By reconstructing their alchemical ideas, practices, and disputes, Rampling reveals how English alchemy was continually reinvented over the space of four centuries, resulting in changes to the science itself. In so doing, The Experimental Fire bridges the intellectual history of chemistry and the wider worlds of early modern patronage, medicine, and science. “An engaging piece of scholarly work . . . it humanizes the alchemist, showing him or her to be a historical personage caught up in the circumstances of the era and seeking to survive the upheavals and challenges of historical reality . . . bound to make an important contribution to the history of science, social history, history of scholarship, and the history of the book.” —Early Science and Medicine
The Business of Alchemy
Author: Pamela H. Smith
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400883571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337
Book Description
In The Business of Alchemy, Pamela Smith explores the relationships among alchemy, the court, and commerce in order to illuminate the cultural history of the Holy Roman Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In showing how an overriding concern with religious salvation was transformed into a concentration on material increase and economic policies, Smith depicts the rise of modern science and early capitalism. In pursuing this narrative, she focuses on that ideal prey of the cultural historian, an intellectual of the second rank whose career and ideas typify those of a generation. Smith follows the career of Johann Joachim Becher (1635-1682) from university to court, his projects from New World colonies to an old-world Pansophic Panopticon, and his ideas from alchemy to economics. Teasing out the many meanings of alchemy for Becher and his contemporaries, she argues that it provided Becher with not only a direct key to power over nature but also a language by which he could convince his princely patrons that their power too must rest on liquid wealth. Agrarian society regarded merchants with suspicion as the nonproductive exploiters of others' labor; however, territorial princes turned to commerce for revenue as the cost of maintaining the state increased. Placing Becher’s career in its social and intellectual context, Smith shows how he attempted to help his patrons assimilate commercial values into noble court culture and to understand the production of surplus capital as natural and legitimate. With emphasis on the practices of natural philosophy and extensive use of archival materials, Smith brings alive the moment of cultural transformation in which science and the modern state emerged.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400883571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337
Book Description
In The Business of Alchemy, Pamela Smith explores the relationships among alchemy, the court, and commerce in order to illuminate the cultural history of the Holy Roman Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In showing how an overriding concern with religious salvation was transformed into a concentration on material increase and economic policies, Smith depicts the rise of modern science and early capitalism. In pursuing this narrative, she focuses on that ideal prey of the cultural historian, an intellectual of the second rank whose career and ideas typify those of a generation. Smith follows the career of Johann Joachim Becher (1635-1682) from university to court, his projects from New World colonies to an old-world Pansophic Panopticon, and his ideas from alchemy to economics. Teasing out the many meanings of alchemy for Becher and his contemporaries, she argues that it provided Becher with not only a direct key to power over nature but also a language by which he could convince his princely patrons that their power too must rest on liquid wealth. Agrarian society regarded merchants with suspicion as the nonproductive exploiters of others' labor; however, territorial princes turned to commerce for revenue as the cost of maintaining the state increased. Placing Becher’s career in its social and intellectual context, Smith shows how he attempted to help his patrons assimilate commercial values into noble court culture and to understand the production of surplus capital as natural and legitimate. With emphasis on the practices of natural philosophy and extensive use of archival materials, Smith brings alive the moment of cultural transformation in which science and the modern state emerged.
Art & Alchemy
Author: Jacob Wamberg
Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press
ISBN: 9788763502672
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
These richly illustrated articles cover the representation of alchemy in art from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century. The authors, who are artists, curators and art historians from the US and Europe, address such topics as alchemical gender symbolism in Renaissance, Mannerist and modernist art; Netherlandish 17th-century portrayals of alchemists; and alchemy as the forerunner of photography. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.
Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press
ISBN: 9788763502672
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
These richly illustrated articles cover the representation of alchemy in art from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century. The authors, who are artists, curators and art historians from the US and Europe, address such topics as alchemical gender symbolism in Renaissance, Mannerist and modernist art; Netherlandish 17th-century portrayals of alchemists; and alchemy as the forerunner of photography. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.
The Arcane Formulas: Or Mental Alchemy
Author: William Walker Atkinson
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 935859683X
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 58
Book Description
"The Arcane Formulas, or Mental Alchemy" is a book written by William Walker Atkinson, an influential figure in the New Thought movement. In "The Arcane Formulas," Atkinson presents a comprehensive guide to harnessing the power of the mind and utilizing mental alchemy for personal and spiritual growth. He explores various techniques and principles that enable individuals to tap into their mental faculties and bring about positive changes in their lives. Atkinson discusses the concept of mental transmutation, the process of transforming one's thoughts, emotions, and desires into higher and more refined states of consciousness. The book also delves into the principles of visualization, concentration, and affirmation as potent tools for mental alchemy. Atkinson explains how to direct one's thoughts and emotions towards specific goals and desired outcomes, emphasizing the importance of clarity, focus, and belief in the creative process. "The Arcane Formulas" offers a wealth of insights and teachings on the nature of the mind, the power of thought, and the transformative potential of mental alchemy. It serves as a valuable resource for individuals seeking to harness their mental faculties, unlock their inner potential, and create a life of abundance, success, and spiritual fulfillment.
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 935859683X
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 58
Book Description
"The Arcane Formulas, or Mental Alchemy" is a book written by William Walker Atkinson, an influential figure in the New Thought movement. In "The Arcane Formulas," Atkinson presents a comprehensive guide to harnessing the power of the mind and utilizing mental alchemy for personal and spiritual growth. He explores various techniques and principles that enable individuals to tap into their mental faculties and bring about positive changes in their lives. Atkinson discusses the concept of mental transmutation, the process of transforming one's thoughts, emotions, and desires into higher and more refined states of consciousness. The book also delves into the principles of visualization, concentration, and affirmation as potent tools for mental alchemy. Atkinson explains how to direct one's thoughts and emotions towards specific goals and desired outcomes, emphasizing the importance of clarity, focus, and belief in the creative process. "The Arcane Formulas" offers a wealth of insights and teachings on the nature of the mind, the power of thought, and the transformative potential of mental alchemy. It serves as a valuable resource for individuals seeking to harness their mental faculties, unlock their inner potential, and create a life of abundance, success, and spiritual fulfillment.
Making Marvels
Author: Wolfram Koeppe
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588396770
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 315
Book Description
Featuring more than 150 treasures from several of the world’s most prestigious collections, Making Marvels explores the vital intersection of art, technology, and political power at the courts of early modern Europe. It was there, from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, that a remarkable outpouring of creativity and learning gave rise to exquisite objects that were at once beautiful works of art and technological wonders. By amassing vast, glittering collections of these ingeniously crafted objects, princes flaunted their wealth and competed for mastery over the known world. More than mere status symbols, however, many of these marvels ushered in significant advancements that have had a lasting influence on astronomy, engineering, and even international politics. Incisive texts by leading scholars situate these works within the rich, complex symbolism of life at court, where science and splendor were pursued with equal vigor and together contributed to a culture of magnificence.
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588396770
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 315
Book Description
Featuring more than 150 treasures from several of the world’s most prestigious collections, Making Marvels explores the vital intersection of art, technology, and political power at the courts of early modern Europe. It was there, from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, that a remarkable outpouring of creativity and learning gave rise to exquisite objects that were at once beautiful works of art and technological wonders. By amassing vast, glittering collections of these ingeniously crafted objects, princes flaunted their wealth and competed for mastery over the known world. More than mere status symbols, however, many of these marvels ushered in significant advancements that have had a lasting influence on astronomy, engineering, and even international politics. Incisive texts by leading scholars situate these works within the rich, complex symbolism of life at court, where science and splendor were pursued with equal vigor and together contributed to a culture of magnificence.
ALCHEMY UNVEILED
Author: Johannes Helmond
Publisher: New Leaf Distribution
ISBN: 1885928327
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 181
Book Description
Publisher: New Leaf Distribution
ISBN: 1885928327
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 181
Book Description
Green Hermeticism
Author: Peter Lamborn Wilson
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 1584205458
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
Hermeticism, or alchemy, is the ancient, primordial mystery science of nature through which people in all times and places have, for the sake of world evolution, sought to unite Heaven and Earth--divinity, cosmos, earth, and humanity, as a single whole. Selfless, intimate, dedicated to healing and harmony, Hermeticism has accompanied and sustained every religious epoch and revelation. It may be found in all historical cultures, from the traditions of India and China in the East to the Judeo-Christian West. It could even be said that Hermeticism is the primal cosmological revelation and the common ground of all spiritual traditions. Nevertheless, in the great revival of mystical, esoteric traditions and practices during the last century, Hermetic tradition--in fact, Nature herself--has been largely ignored. Today, when the Earth seems most under attack, Green Hermeticism is especially appropriate. The book explores not only the ancient Masters' inner science, but also their science of Nature. During spring and summer 2006, Pir Zia Khan convened a series of gatherings to begin to unfold the contemporary meaning of ancient, sacred science for our time. Green Hermeticism is a partial record of that meeting. Peter Lamborn Wilson, explores the many ramifications of the alternative worldview offered by Hermeticism; Christopher Bamford provides a broad historical overview of the tradition from the Ancient Mysteries to contemporary manifestations of the alchemical tradition; while Kevin Townley brings a practical dimension to the gathering teaching the preparation of herbal elixirs and demonstrating that cosmology and philosophy can become a truly healing path for the Earth. Green Hermeticism is necessary reading for anyone seeking a spiritual and cultural path for the healing of the current ecological and cultural crisis. "In Alchemy, there is an injunction to quicken, or revive, the dead, which is illustrated by a dead tree growing verdant again. That is exactly what this wonderful and rare work does in awakening human consciousness to its Divine potential and Ultimate Destiny. Art thus helps Nature to achieve its ideal Perfection. The authors must be congratulated for their insightful words. I wholeheartedly recommend reading it again and again, and again." --Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, author Alchemy: The Secret Art and The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century "Environmental solutions today are largely technical, but the planetary crisis is also a crisis of soul--or better yet, of the Imagination. Too tricky for religion, too poetic for reductionist science, Green Hermeticism reheats a prophetic imagination still in love with the material world--a new alchemy of ancient nature." --Erik Davis, author, The Visionary State: A Journey through California's Spiritual Landscape "Just when you felt numb and disenfranchised, thinking the world had become bleak and dead, along comes this rare, much needed book to remind us that there is still some sanity, depth, and creative energy percolating up from the heart of Reality. Thank God (and the Goddess Nature) for this smart and inspiring breath of fresh air! Green Hermeticism is where the wasteland ends--and where the world becomes re-enchanted with genuine living thought that goes beyond superficialities. It's a rare pleasure to be in the presence of living minds who actually know something wonderful and have not been deadened by the opiates of capital or the tenure track. Very highly recommended." --David Fideler, publisher (Phanes Press) editor (Alexandria), author of Jesus Christ, Sun of God and translator of Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition (with Sabrineh Fideler) "The publication of Green Hermeticism has the sense we so rarely get, of a genuine moment in cultural history. It is not just the eloquence of its authors' knowledge and arguments or that they are showing us, once again, the depth and range and beauty of alchemy, and the Hermetic tradition, and what Peter Lamborn Wilson calls Romantic Science. Nor is it even the links they establish between the Hermetic tradition and ecology, and the value of a science that perceives the world as alive rather than a machine. What makes this work significant is the sense that it shows us how we can use these ideas and knowledge to create a genuine counter to destruction and despair, an alchemy of our politics as well as of our spirit." --Rachel Pollack, author of 78 Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot "Green Hermeticism reminds us that the art of the Great Work is to enter more deeply into the dynamic and practical wisdom of the universe, which is our laboratory, where work and prayer combine. When we engage with the All, we know ourselves to be one kindred with all in the viriditas--God's greening power--where body, soul, and spirit honor each other." --Caitlín & John Matthews, authors of Walkers Between the Worlds: The Western Mysteries from Shaman to Magus
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 1584205458
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
Hermeticism, or alchemy, is the ancient, primordial mystery science of nature through which people in all times and places have, for the sake of world evolution, sought to unite Heaven and Earth--divinity, cosmos, earth, and humanity, as a single whole. Selfless, intimate, dedicated to healing and harmony, Hermeticism has accompanied and sustained every religious epoch and revelation. It may be found in all historical cultures, from the traditions of India and China in the East to the Judeo-Christian West. It could even be said that Hermeticism is the primal cosmological revelation and the common ground of all spiritual traditions. Nevertheless, in the great revival of mystical, esoteric traditions and practices during the last century, Hermetic tradition--in fact, Nature herself--has been largely ignored. Today, when the Earth seems most under attack, Green Hermeticism is especially appropriate. The book explores not only the ancient Masters' inner science, but also their science of Nature. During spring and summer 2006, Pir Zia Khan convened a series of gatherings to begin to unfold the contemporary meaning of ancient, sacred science for our time. Green Hermeticism is a partial record of that meeting. Peter Lamborn Wilson, explores the many ramifications of the alternative worldview offered by Hermeticism; Christopher Bamford provides a broad historical overview of the tradition from the Ancient Mysteries to contemporary manifestations of the alchemical tradition; while Kevin Townley brings a practical dimension to the gathering teaching the preparation of herbal elixirs and demonstrating that cosmology and philosophy can become a truly healing path for the Earth. Green Hermeticism is necessary reading for anyone seeking a spiritual and cultural path for the healing of the current ecological and cultural crisis. "In Alchemy, there is an injunction to quicken, or revive, the dead, which is illustrated by a dead tree growing verdant again. That is exactly what this wonderful and rare work does in awakening human consciousness to its Divine potential and Ultimate Destiny. Art thus helps Nature to achieve its ideal Perfection. The authors must be congratulated for their insightful words. I wholeheartedly recommend reading it again and again, and again." --Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, author Alchemy: The Secret Art and The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century "Environmental solutions today are largely technical, but the planetary crisis is also a crisis of soul--or better yet, of the Imagination. Too tricky for religion, too poetic for reductionist science, Green Hermeticism reheats a prophetic imagination still in love with the material world--a new alchemy of ancient nature." --Erik Davis, author, The Visionary State: A Journey through California's Spiritual Landscape "Just when you felt numb and disenfranchised, thinking the world had become bleak and dead, along comes this rare, much needed book to remind us that there is still some sanity, depth, and creative energy percolating up from the heart of Reality. Thank God (and the Goddess Nature) for this smart and inspiring breath of fresh air! Green Hermeticism is where the wasteland ends--and where the world becomes re-enchanted with genuine living thought that goes beyond superficialities. It's a rare pleasure to be in the presence of living minds who actually know something wonderful and have not been deadened by the opiates of capital or the tenure track. Very highly recommended." --David Fideler, publisher (Phanes Press) editor (Alexandria), author of Jesus Christ, Sun of God and translator of Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition (with Sabrineh Fideler) "The publication of Green Hermeticism has the sense we so rarely get, of a genuine moment in cultural history. It is not just the eloquence of its authors' knowledge and arguments or that they are showing us, once again, the depth and range and beauty of alchemy, and the Hermetic tradition, and what Peter Lamborn Wilson calls Romantic Science. Nor is it even the links they establish between the Hermetic tradition and ecology, and the value of a science that perceives the world as alive rather than a machine. What makes this work significant is the sense that it shows us how we can use these ideas and knowledge to create a genuine counter to destruction and despair, an alchemy of our politics as well as of our spirit." --Rachel Pollack, author of 78 Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot "Green Hermeticism reminds us that the art of the Great Work is to enter more deeply into the dynamic and practical wisdom of the universe, which is our laboratory, where work and prayer combine. When we engage with the All, we know ourselves to be one kindred with all in the viriditas--God's greening power--where body, soul, and spirit honor each other." --Caitlín & John Matthews, authors of Walkers Between the Worlds: The Western Mysteries from Shaman to Magus