Best of
Alchemy

2004

Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art


Susan L. Aberth - 2004
    nineteen-year-old debutante, she escaped the stultifying demands of her wealthy English family by running away to Paris with her lover Max Ernst. She was immediately championed by Andre Breton, who responded enthusiastically to her fantastical, dark and satirical writing style and her interest in fairy tales and the occult. Her stories were included in Surrealist publications, and her paintings in the Surrealists' exhibitions. ended up in the 1940s as part of the circle of Surrealist European emigres living in Mexico City. Close friends with Luis Bunuel, Benjamin Peret, Octavio Paz and a host of both expatriate Surrealists and Mexican modernists, Carrington was at the centre of Mexican cultural life, while still maintaining her European connections. overview of this intriguing artist's rich body of work. The author considers Carrington's preoccupation with alchemy and the occult, and explores the influence of indigenous Mexican culture and beliefs on her production.

The Magician's Way: What It Really Takes to Find Your Treasure


William Whitecloud - 2004
    They take him on an astonishing journey and teach him to transform difficult situations into golden opportunities.Mark learns from wonderfully unlikely characters, from a billionaire to a beautiful topless waitress, and manifests an enormous financial windfall. But can his material success hold his family together? Mark embarks on the ultimate quest to understand how our values influence events.Author William Whitecloud brings a dazzling range of knowledge and experience -- from a childhood in Swaziland immersed in supernatural worldviews to hermetic philosophy and esoteric speculation on the financial markets -- to bear on this practical and magical look at what we really want, and how to get it.

Medical Astrology: A Guide to Planetary Pathology


Judith A. Hill - 2004
    Includes diagnosis, surgery dates, onset patterns, antidotes, death transits, the four elements and the three modes, effects of planets and lunar nodes in all signs. The Planetary Health Chart and nine key points of health assessment. Few books ever written in this field are as useful to the student.

Advantages of Poverty


Andrew Carnegie - 2004
    You will discover the attitude of selfless giving that motivated this innovative businessman who helped various communities, charities, and organizations to achieve greater success during his day. The wisdom of the steel tycoon who immigrated from Scotland will undoubtedly inspire you to recognize the advantages of an exceptional work ethic that overcomes poverty and lack. I have had to deal with great sums. Many millions of dollars have since passed through my hands. But the genuine satisfaction I had from that one dollar and twenty cents outweighs any subsequent pleasure in money-getting. It was the direct reward of honest, manual labor. --ANDREW CARNGIE

The Theory of Infinite Soluble Groups


John C. Lennox - 2004
    It covers all the major areas, including finitely generated soluble groups, soluble groups of finite rank, modules over group rings, algorithmic problems, applications of cohomology, and finitely presented groups, while remaining failry strictly within the boundaries of soluable group theory. An up-to-date survey of the area aimed at research students and academic algebraists and group theorists, it is a compendium ofinformation that will be especially useful as a reference work for researchers in the field.

Encyclopedia of Taoism (Routledgecurzon Encyclopedias of Religion)


Fabrizio Pregadio - 2004
    Taoist studies have progressed beyond any expectation in recent years. Researchers in a number of languages have investigated topics virtually unknown only a few years previously, while others have surveyed for the first time textual, doctrinal and ritual corpora. The Encyclopedia presents the full gamut of this new research. The work contains approximately 1,750 entries, which fall into the following broad categories: surveys of general topics; schools and traditions; persons; texts; terms; deities; immortals; temples and other sacred sites. Terms are given in their original characters, transliterated and translated. Entries are thoroughly cross-referenced and, in addition, 'see also' listings are given at the foot of many entries. Attached to each entry are references taking the reader to a master bibliography at the end of the work. There is chronology of Taoism and the whole is thoroughly indexed. There is no reference work comparable to the Encyclopedia of Taoism in scope and focus. Authored by an international body of experts, the Encyclopedia will be an essential addition to libraries serving students and scholars in the fields of religious studies, philosophy and religion, and Asian history and culture.

Pregnant Darkness: Alchemy and the Rebirth of Consciousness


Monika Wikman - 2004
    In The Pregnant Darkness, Wikman shows readers that the best way to cope with their darkest hours is by fostering a connection to the deeper current of life, those mysteries that give life form and meaning. Wikman's analysis of dream material leads readers into a practical explanation of alchemical symbolism. Far from being a quaint, ancient practice, The Pregnant Darkness shows that alchemy is at work in contemporary, everyday life. Alchemical symbolism, properly understood, can be applied to unraveling the meaning of visions in meditation, active imagination, and dream work. Wikman shows how readers can participate in the divine energies to help miraculous changes occur in their lives.Wikman writes: "In Greek mythology, Pegasus, upon taking to the air, pushed hard with a back hoof and penetrated the earth. A spring rose up where his hoof dashed the earth, and in this hole . . . the muses reside. One of the roles of the "religious function" of which Jung speaks is to bring us toward that inner spring of the muses where something beyond ego resides, instructs, and inspires. Like a hole created from Pegasus' leaping foot, contact with this inner spring often entails a crack in our field of ordinary consciousness. In the inner world, the spring of living symbols and accompanying presences is the source of dreams and visions, as well as the fountain of inspiration at the heart of poetry, art, ritual, mythology, and even religion."

Fulcanelli: His True Identity Revealed Light On His Work


Patrick Rivière - 2004
    Beginning with an overview of French alchemical life at the turn of the 20th century, Rivière carefully builds his case step-by-step with facts, documents, and photographs, introducing us to the well-known physicist who was known as Fulcanelli. Rivière also demolishes the scurrilous hypotheses that suggest Fulcanelli never existed. Rivière is uniquely suited to solving this mystery as his teacher was Fulcanelli's sole student, Eugène Canseliet.

Pauli and Jung: The Meeting of Two Great Minds


David Lindorff - 2004
    Desperate over this outcome, Pauli sought help from the eminent depth psychologist, C. G. Jung. Their long correspondence provides the powerful and unique record of a mature scientist's inner journey. It also has had a tremendous impact on scientific and psychological thought ever since. Pauli and Jung is a lucid interpretation of Pauli's ideas and dreams that forcefully validates his belief in the inseparable union of science and spirituality. Far ahead of their time, Wolfgang Pauli and C. G. Jung both knew this union is essential for the future of humanity and the survival of the planet.

The Golden Chain of Homer


Anton Josef Kirchweger - 2004
    

The Teachings and Practices of the Early Quanzhen Taoist Masters


Stephen Eskildsen - 2004
    The Quanzhen School was founded in the latter half of the twelfth century by the eccentric holy man Wan Zhe (1113-1170), whose work was continued by his famous disciples commonly known as the Seven Realized Ones. This study draws upon surviving texts to examine the Quanzhen masters' approaches to mental discipline, intense asceticism, cultivation of health and longevity, mystical experience, supernormal powers, death and dying, charity and evangelism, and ritual. From these primary sources, Eskildsen provides a clear understanding of the nature of Quanzhen Taoism and reveals its core emphasis to be the cultivation of clarity and purity of mind that occurs not only through seated meditation, but also throughout the daily activities of life.