Book Review, by Joseph Caezza

ALCHEMICAL COMPENDIUM I: A COLLECTION OF ALCHEMICAL TREATISES TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH , translated by Michael Dickman, 1999, Hermetic Studies No.
3, Glasgow,140pp.(36 pounds sterling)
see http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/alchemy/herm_studies3.html)

     Here is a superb collection of ten obscure 16th, 17th and 18th century French Alchemical tombs. The translator expresses reservations about whether or not these various authors refer to practical operative lab work or mere armchair psychospiritual babble. Careful reading and long
meditation reveal that all of these tracts concern operative manipulations. Each is "good". Each testifies to illuminated insight into the mystery of Being at the heart of Alchemy.

     Two tracts by Bernard Trevisan, "The Green Dream" and "Parabole" from his, Book of Natural Philosophy of Metals, open this compendium. Written in the oblique cabalistic manner these fables abound in surrealist images. Like other tracts in this collection they offer brief scenarios
reminiscent of Rosenkreutz's Chemical Wedding.

     The juiciest heart of this book appears in the next four tracts, "Concerning the Material of the Stone", " The Torch of Natural Philosophy", "The Hermetic Apocalypse" and "Nature Discovered". Flowing from anonymous sages who need not assert their academic authority by posting capital letters after their names, they invite us to consider the most subtle archetypal process of Nature. Often these texts vacillate between explicit lab manipulations and hallucinatory journeys accompanied
by bizarre happenings. A passage from the commentary to the "Hermetic Apocalypse" calls to mind the contemporary concept of the ‘Invisible College' made popular by Joscelyn Godwin in his ongoing series for Lapis magazine:

"The society of Unknown Philosophers is unbounded by notions of kingdom, realm or particular place; but spreads throughout the universe. An institution dictated by reason, illumined by religion and which follows after virtue, should be known to all men. Worldly protectors are without avail for admission to this choice assembly; worldly greatness is as nothing there; there is a man naught but a man, but veritably man."

Another tract, "Nature Discovered" by an Unknown Knight, remains remarkable as the little known work of an unquestionable adept. After an intense discourse on laboratory methods it features a section, "Christian Chemistry" that reveals the esoteric dimension of that great undiscovered treasure, the Roman Catholic Church. Even more impressive, the final section of this tract, "Poetic Chemistry" explicates with meticulous detail the alchemical import of Greek mythology.

     One tract alone, "A Most Curious Explication of the Hieroglyphic and Physical Enigmas and Figures to be Found on the Grand Portal of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris" by ‘Lord Esprit Gobineau de Montluisant, Gentleman of Chartres, Lover of Philosophy Natural and Alchemical', is worth the price of the entire compendium. Writing in the Spring of 1640 he gives us precious impressions of images mutilated during the French Revolution. Fulcanelli made a career out of deciphering symbolism hidden on the western facade of Notre Dame but he stood on the
shoulders of this savant.

     The two final tracts will be familiar to most hard core connoisseurs of this genre. "The Epistle on the Philosophical Fire" by John Pontanus offers in covert language one of the simplest procedures for elaborating the Philosopher's Stone. "A Letter to a True Disciple of Hermes Wherein are Six Cardinal Keys of the Secret Philosophy", comprises the final section of the Hermetic Triumph. Stanislas Klossowski de Rola describes this as "the best of the best of 17th century alchemical literature".

     The compendium, produced in a limited edition of only 300 copies, printed and bound by hand by Adam McLean himself comes signed, dated and numbered. Bound in leather with its title in gold lettering it already maintains status as a collectors item. This volume will serve as a worthy
reference for any serious student of Alchemy.

Return to Alchemical Dialectics