I'd like to learn about the beliefs and development of alchemy. I'm not sure where to start. Medieval alchemy? Eastern alchemy? The Islamic world? Earlier periods?Please note that I am looking for factual secondary sources and not incomprehensible esoteric autism.
Jung read swathes of primary alchemical works, so you don't have to.He concluded that alchemy is bullshit, except as a metaphor for psychological processes.
>>24955411Check out The Green Book, and, The White Book by Heliophilus. Very good modern writing on the subject.
>>24955429This
>>24955411>incomprehensible esoteric autism.You are never going to comprehend it, so don't waste your time.
>>24955411A good place to start would be Litwa's Hermetica I and II, alongside Fowden's Egyptian Hermes and Faivre's Eternal Hermes, alternately you could read Mead's Thrice-Greatest Hermes but take his takes with a grain of salt.That might be a bit too autistic tho. And less explicitely alchemical in focus. So maybe just try the Alchemy Reader. I think there's a lot of overlap iirc but this is more alchemical and historical.Or. Perhaps best would be Atwood's A Suggestive Inquiry Concerning the Hermetic Mysteries...>>24955429>>24955748Normgroids>>24955728Skitzoid>>24955774Yano what. I think Principe's alchemy book forget title might be real good if seeking to avoid all spirituality. As far as practical alchemy goes.
