Essence and Alchemy

Essence and Alchemy PDF Author: Mandy Aftel
Publisher: North Point Press
ISBN: 1429936126
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
An artisan perfumer reveals a lost art and its mysterious, sensual history. For centuries, people have taken what seems to be an instinctive pleasure in rubbing scents into their skin. Perfume has helped them to pray, to heal, and to make love. And as long as there has been perfume, there have been perfumers, or rather the priests, shamans, and apothecaries who were their predecessors. Yet, in many ways, perfumery is a lost art, its creative and sensual possibilities eclipsed by the synthetic ingredients of which contemporary perfumes are composed, which have none of the subtlety and complexity of essences derived from natural substances, nor their lush histories. Essence and Alchemy resurrects the social and metaphysical legacy that is entwined with the evolution of perfumery, from the dramas of the spice trade to the quests of the alchemists to whom today's perfumers owe a philosophical as well as a practical debt. Mandy Aftel tracks scent through the boudoir and the bath and into the sanctums of worship, offering insights on the relationship of scent to sex, solitude, and the soul. Along the way, she imparts instruction in the art of perfume compositions, complete with recipes, guiding the reader in a process of transformation of materials that continues to follow the alchemical dictum solve et coagula (dissolve and combine) and is itself aesthetically and spiritually transforming.

Essence and Alchemy

Essence and Alchemy PDF Author: Mandy Aftel
Publisher: North Point Press
ISBN: 1429936126
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
An artisan perfumer reveals a lost art and its mysterious, sensual history. For centuries, people have taken what seems to be an instinctive pleasure in rubbing scents into their skin. Perfume has helped them to pray, to heal, and to make love. And as long as there has been perfume, there have been perfumers, or rather the priests, shamans, and apothecaries who were their predecessors. Yet, in many ways, perfumery is a lost art, its creative and sensual possibilities eclipsed by the synthetic ingredients of which contemporary perfumes are composed, which have none of the subtlety and complexity of essences derived from natural substances, nor their lush histories. Essence and Alchemy resurrects the social and metaphysical legacy that is entwined with the evolution of perfumery, from the dramas of the spice trade to the quests of the alchemists to whom today's perfumers owe a philosophical as well as a practical debt. Mandy Aftel tracks scent through the boudoir and the bath and into the sanctums of worship, offering insights on the relationship of scent to sex, solitude, and the soul. Along the way, she imparts instruction in the art of perfume compositions, complete with recipes, guiding the reader in a process of transformation of materials that continues to follow the alchemical dictum solve et coagula (dissolve and combine) and is itself aesthetically and spiritually transforming.

CS12-1 Natural Alchemy: Evolution of Life

CS12-1 Natural Alchemy: Evolution of Life PDF Author: C. C. Zain
Publisher: light.org
ISBN: 0878874135
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This book is Part I of Course 12 in the 21 Brotherhood of Light Course series by C. C. Zain on the Hermetic Sciences, Astrology, Alchemy, Tarot, Kabbalah and the Occult. As human beings we live in kinship with all life forms. In addition to discussing the modern concepts of natural evolution, this book explores how and why the soul evolves by attracting increasingly more complex physical forms which enable it to achieve greater degrees of consciousness — ultimately arriving at Self Conscious Awareness as a human. The book presents a rare and unique perspective on how natural selection and adaptation are influenced by psychokinesis, extra-sensory perception and the inner plane environment.

Earth Alchemy

Earth Alchemy PDF Author: Anne Parker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1844093999
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
Exploring a European tradition formerly considered a lost art, this accessible guide offers day-to-day applications of earth-energy work. From the simple act of bed placement to choosing the location of a home, practical tools are offered for making living and working spaces healthier. Encouraging realignment with the natural earth patterns and influences on both personal and planetary levels, this exploration delves into work with trees, alignment of stones, and the value of sacred sites. Geomancers, feng shui enthusiasts, and those simply looking for more health and harmony in their lives will benefit from the hands-on, practical tools for building stable, flourishing relationships within daily environments and the world.

Practical Alchemy

Practical Alchemy PDF Author: Brian Cotnoir
Publisher: Weiser Books
ISBN: 1633412253
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
A concise guide to the history, theory, and practice of alchemy (the “great work”)—the art of working with the energies of nature for spiritual development, healing, and transformation. Alchemy is a means of understanding and working in concert with the energies of nature for spiritual development, healing, and transformation. In this book, Brian Cotnoir offers a step-by-step introduction that explores alchemy’s mysteries while illustrating its use as a modern spiritual system of attainment. He provides an overview of the history of alchemy, from the first meldings of Egyptian technology to the Middle Ages—the golden age of alchemy—to contemporary techniques. He demystifies the relationship between alchemy and chemistry, and provides evidence that alchemy is much more than a medieval form of psychotherapy. The guide also includes practical laboratory experiments that safely and intelligently lead readers to an understanding of this ancient art and spiritual practice. Provides step-by-step instruction for beginning a practice in alchemy Explains the theory underlying the art and science of alchemy and how it works Demystifies the relationship between alchemy and chemistry, while going well beyond the “psychological interpretation” advanced by nonscientists Introduces the practice of alchemy to students of the Western magical arts This book was previously published as The Weiser Concise Guide to Alchemy. This new edition includes a foreword by Robert Allen Bartlett, author of Real Alchemy.

Secrets of Nature

Secrets of Nature PDF Author: William R. Newman
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262140751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
A fresh look at the role of astrology and alchemy in Renaissance thinking and everyday life.

Paracelsus

Paracelsus PDF Author: Bruce T. Moran
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1789141443
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Throughout his controversial life, the alchemist, physician, and social-religious radical known as Paracelsus combined traditions that were magical and empirical, scholarly and folk, learned and artisanal. He read ancient texts and then burned “the best” of them. He endorsed both Catholic and Reformation beliefs, but he also believed devoutly in a female deity. He traveled constantly, learning and teaching a new form of medicine based on the experience of miners, bathers, alchemists, midwives, and barber-surgeons. He argued for changes in the way the body was understood, how disease was defined, and how treatments were created, but he was also moved by mystical speculations, an alchemical view of nature, and an intriguing concept of creation. Bringing to light the ideas, diverse works, and major texts of this important Renaissance figure, Bruce T. Moran tells the story of how alchemy refashioned medical practice, showing how Paracelsus’s tenacity and endurance changed the medical world for the better and brought new perspectives to the study of nature.

Promethean Ambitions

Promethean Ambitions PDF Author: William R. Newman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226575241
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
In an age when the nature of reality is complicated daily by advances in bioengineering, cloning, and artificial intelligence, it is easy to forget that the ever-evolving boundary between nature and technology has long been a source of ethical and scientific concern: modern anxieties about the possibility of artificial life and the dangers of tinkering with nature more generally were shared by opponents of alchemy long before genetic science delivered us a cloned sheep named Dolly. In Promethean Ambitions, William R. Newman ambitiously uses alchemy to investigate the thinning boundary between the natural and the artificial. Focusing primarily on the period between 1200 and 1700, Newman examines the labors of pioneering alchemists and the impassioned—and often negative—responses to their efforts. By the thirteenth century, Newman argues, alchemy had become a benchmark for determining the abilities of both men and demons, representing the epitome of creative power in the natural world. Newman frames the art-nature debate by contrasting the supposed transmutational power of alchemy with the merely representational abilities of the pictorial and plastic arts—a dispute which found artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Bernard Palissy attacking alchemy as an irreligious fraud. The later assertion by the Paracelsian school that one could make an artificial human being—the homunculus—led to further disparagement of alchemy, but as Newman shows, the immense power over nature promised by the field contributed directly to the technological apologetics of Francis Bacon and his followers. By the mid-seventeenth century, the famous "father of modern chemistry," Robert Boyle, was employing the arguments of medieval alchemists to support the identity of naturally occurring substances with those manufactured by "chymical" means. In using history to highlight the art-nature debate, Newman here shows that alchemy was not an unformed and capricious precursor to chemistry; it was an art founded on coherent philosophical and empirical principles, with vocal supporters and even louder critics, that attracted individuals of first-rate intellect. The historical relationship that Newman charts between human creation and nature has innumerable implications today, and he ably links contemporary issues to alchemical debates on the natural versus the artificial.

CS12-2 Natural Alchemy: Evolution of Religion

CS12-2 Natural Alchemy: Evolution of Religion PDF Author: C. C. Zain
Publisher: light.org
ISBN: 0878874143
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
This book is Part II of Course 12 in the 21 Brotherhood of Light Course series by C. C. Zain on the Hermetic Sciences, Astrology, Alchemy, Tarot, Kabbalah and the Occult. Evolution of Religion explores how contemporary religious beliefs and rituals have evolved from a more ancient past. The book traces the origins of the most primitive religions and shows how these and their cultures gradually developed into today’s more complex systems of belief. This book offers a comparative analysis of several present-day religions such as Native American, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity as well as the ancient stellar religions. It then sets forth the basic tenets of “The Religion of the Stars” and the importance of astrology in religion’s road map.

Newton the Alchemist

Newton the Alchemist PDF Author: William R. Newman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691185034
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 568

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Book Description
A book that finally demystifies Newton’s experiments in alchemy When Isaac Newton’s alchemical papers surfaced at a Sotheby’s auction in 1936, the quantity and seeming incoherence of the manuscripts were shocking. No longer the exemplar of Enlightenment rationality, the legendary physicist suddenly became “the last of the magicians.” Newton the Alchemist unlocks the secrets of Newton’s alchemical quest, providing a radically new understanding of the uncommon genius who probed nature at its deepest levels in pursuit of empirical knowledge. In this evocative and superbly written book, William Newman blends in-depth analysis of newly available texts with laboratory replications of Newton’s actual experiments in alchemy. He does not justify Newton’s alchemical research as part of a religious search for God in the physical world, nor does he argue that Newton studied alchemy to learn about gravitational attraction. Newman traces the evolution of Newton’s alchemical ideas and practices over a span of more than three decades, showing how they proved fruitful in diverse scientific fields. A precise experimenter in the realm of “chymistry,” Newton put the riddles of alchemy to the test in his lab. He also used ideas drawn from the alchemical texts to great effect in his optical experimentation. In his hands, alchemy was a tool for attaining the material benefits associated with the philosopher’s stone and an instrument for acquiring scientific knowledge of the most sophisticated kind. Newton the Alchemist provides rare insights into a man who was neither Enlightenment rationalist nor irrational magus, but rather an alchemist who sought through experiment and empiricism to alter nature at its very heart.

200 Tips, Techniques, and Recipes for Natural Beauty

200 Tips, Techniques, and Recipes for Natural Beauty PDF Author: Shannon Buck
Publisher: Fair Winds Press (MA)
ISBN: 159233654X
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
200 Tips, Techniques, and Recipes for Natural Beauty is an instructive book which teaches readers how to make beauty products from organic, holistic products.