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Alchemy Academy archive
June 2000

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Subject: ACADEMY : Secretum secretorum
From: José Rodríguez
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2000

>the _Secretum secretorum_ (The compilation based on the "Kitab
>Sirr al Asrar" -"The Book of Secret of Secrets"- a book of practical
>technical recipes by the physician and chemist Abu Bakr
>Muhammed ibn Zakariya al-Razi (known in the West as Rhazes).
>Is this the same _Secretum secretorum_ as that text edited by Bacon?
>If NOT, does anyone know if there is a published edition or translation
>of it?. My problem is that I am looking for technical recipes, and other than
>medical ones, I'm not spotting them in the Steele edition.

Dear Mark:
Bacon became immensely interested in a pseudo-Aristotelian
text, "Secretum secretorum" (Secret of Secrets), which is thought
to have been written by Aristotle for Alexander the Great, his pupil,
on kingship. This pseudo-Aristotelian text was one of the most
widely read books of the Middle Ages and there were diferents
versions. The first was introduced to medieval Europe by the
translator John of Seville in Toledo (Spain) arround 1130. The text
contained a lot of ethic questions and occult lore ranging from
astrology to the magical properties of plants, gems, and numbers,
as well as a strange account of a unified science. According to the
text, only a person with the proper moral and intellectual background
could discover this unified science. This is the text that Steele
edited in 1920. The complet version did not appear until 1220-1230
and includes some alchemical references and an early copy of
the "tabula smaragdina". There is a copy in the National Library of
Madrid (ms 921).

There is a useful article on this question:

- STEVEN J. WILLIAMS (1994), "The early circulation of the
pseudo-Aristotelian 'Secret of Secrets' in the west", in "Micrologus",
nº 2, pp. 127-144.

Other references:
- MARIO GRIGNASCHI, 'L'Origine et les métamorphoses du Sirr
al-'asrâr', Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Age,
43 (1976), 7-112.
- MARIO GRIGNASCHI, 'La diffusion du Secretum Secretorum dans
l'Europe occidentale', Archive D'Histoire Doctrinale et Litterature du
Moyen Age, 48 (1980), 7-70.
- MARIO GRIGNASCHI, 'Remarques sur la formation et l'interprétation
du Sirr al-'asrâr' en: W. F. Ryan y Ch. B. Schmitt, Pseudo-Aristotle
The Secret of Secrets. Sources and Influences (London: The
Warburg Institute, University of London, 1982), 3-33.

On the one hand of course there is another book called "Kitab al-asrar"
(Secret of Secrets) on practical technical recipes, clasification of mineral
substances, description of the alchemical laboratory, etc. by Abu Bakr
Muhammed ibn Zakariya al-Razi. A latin translation appears in Europe
as "Liber secretorum", " Liber Secretorum Alkimie" or "Liber secretorum
de voce Bubacaris" (Bubacaris = Abu Bakr). I think this is the text that
you are looking for.

There is an extensive german edition of this text in:

- J. RUSKA, (1935), "Ubersetzung und Bearbeitung von al-Razi's Buch
Geheimnis der Geheimnisse", in: "Quellen und Studien", IV, Helf 3,
pp. 1-87 (=153-238).

There is an arabic edition in:
M. T. DANECHPAJOUH, (1964), "Kitâb al-Asrâr", Teheran.

Best wishes

José Rodríguez

Subject: ACADEMY : Secretum secretorum
From: Iain Jamieson
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000

José Rodríguez wrote:

> On the one hand of course there is another book called "Kitab al-asrar"
> (Secret of Secrets) on practical technical recipes, clasification of
> mineral substances, description of the alchemical laboratory, etc.
> by Abu Bakr Muhammed ibn Zakariya al-Razi. A latin translation
> appears in Europe as "Liber secretorum", " Liber Secretorum
> Alkimie" or "Liber secretorum de voce Bubacaris" (Bubacaris =
> Abu Bakr). I think this is the text that you are looking for.
>
> There is an extensive german edition of this text in:
> - J. RUSKA, (1935), "Ubersetzung und Bearbeitung von al-Razi's Buch
> Geheimnis der Geheimnisse", in: "Quellen und Studien", IV, Helf 3,
> pp. 1-87 (=153-238).
> There is an arabic edition in:
> M. T. DANECHPAJOUH, (1964), "Kitâb al-Asrâr", Teheran.

Dear Mark, et al.,

There seems to be some confusion here. There are in fact two texts
by al-Razi with similar titles. The first, the 'Kitab al-asrar', The Book of
Secrets, is the text translated by Julius Ruska, who also published a
further important supplemental paper, 'Die alchemie ar-Razi's', Der
Islam, 22(1935), 281-319.

There is in addition the important study by H.E. Stapleton, R.F. Azo, & M.
Hidayat Husain, 'Chemistry in Iraq and Persia in the tenth century A.D.',
Memoirs of the Asiatic Soc. of Bengal 8(1927), 317-417. This contains a
translation of the first two sections of the 'Kitab al-asrar', along with
extracts from the third section.

The second work is the 'Sirr-al-asrar', The Secret of Secrets, which was
wrongly thought by Ruska to be identical with the first work, but is in fact
a completely separate treatise. This text was published, along with a
Russian translation by U.I. Karimov, Tashkent, 1957. I've not seen this,
but there is a good review by N.A. Figurovsky, Ambix, 10(1962), 146-149.

A useful overview of Ruska's studies to1936 on al-Razi is:
R.Winderlich, 'Ruska's researches on the alchemy of al-Razi',
Journal of Chemical Education, 13(1936), 313-315.

In addition it is worth consulting:

G. Heym, 'Al-Razi and alchemy', Ambix,1(1938), 184-191.
J.R. Partington, 'The chemistry of Razi', Ambix, 1(1938), 192-196.

Best wishes

Iain Jamieson

Subject: ACADEMY : Proverb about alchemy
Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000
From: John Friedman

Can anyone identify the Latin tag "In stercoribus enim vivit
alchemia"?

Thanks much,

John B. Friedman

Subject: ACADEMY : Secretum secretorum
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000
From: Ed Thompson

May I add a couple of other references to the Secret of Secrets:

I have the Arabic title noted down as 'Kitabu sirri l-asrar', which
apparently gave its mediaeval transliterators endless difficulties as it
was rendered at various times 'tuosesar', 'cirotesar', 'curoscesca'.
'tymessar'. 'cyretesar', 'tyralaceare', 'cyralaurar', 'dyalicerar' and
'cyralacerar' (Steele 'Secrees' p.x, note 1).

There is a very useful edition edited by M. Manzalaoui as "Secretum
Secretorum: Nine English Versions" for the Early English Text Society,
OUP, 1977.

Robert Steele (ed.) "Ludgate and Burgh's Secrees of Old Philosophres: a
version of the Secreta Secretorum" for the Early English Text Society,
London 1894; and

Robert Steele (ed.) "Three Prose Versions of the Secreta Secretorum" Early
English Text Society Extra Series 74, London 1898

See also W.F. Ryan and Charles B. Schmitt (eds) "Pseudo-Aristotle, the
Secret of Secrets: sources and influences" 1982, Warburg Institute
Surveys, University of London Press.

Ed Thompson

Subject: ACADEMY : Secretum secretorum
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000
From: Mark Clarke

>On the one hand of course there is another book called "Kitab
>al-asrar" (Secret of Secrets) on practical technical recipes,

Thank you, José Rodríguez, for sorting out the exact question I
was troubled with: yes, this one is the one I was looking for. Thank
you VERY much for your full and timely answer, and Thank you
very much to everyone who replied.

Mark Clark

Subject: ACADEMY : Image of Fountain
From: Veerle Fraeters
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000

Dear all,

I have a question regarding La fontaine des amoureux de science of
Jean de Valenciennes, edited - as some of you pointed out to me
last year, for which I am grateful - by Pïerre Rigaud in Lyon in 1590
and 1618 and reprinted in Stanlislas Klossowki, Alchimie, Florilège
de l'art secret, 1974, p. 19-29.

In this poem a reference is made to an illustration (v. 400-401: La
fontaine à Dame Nature / Que tu vois cy près en figure; Klossowki,
p. 23). The edition of Rigaud though, does not contain any
illustrations (I consulted the copies in the Bibliotheca Philosophica
Hermetica in Amsterdam).

Does any of you whether there are manuscripts extant of La
fontaine, and whether this manuscript tradition - if it exists -
contains illustrations?

I have a second question which is related to the first. If I understand
Van Lennep correctly (the Dutch version of his Alchimie is badly
translated), Denis Moliniers L'alchemie de Flamel (hs. Parijs,
bibliothèque de l'arsenal, 6577, 18th century; Van Lennep, ill. 271)
contains an illustration of a fountain surrounded by anthropomorphic
representations of the seven planets. This illustration is also
contained in a late sixteenth century Dutch manuscript (hs.
Londen, Sloane, 1277).

Does any one of you know the origin of this illustration? Is there
any possibility that it might be the original illustration of the
Fontaine des amoureux de science?

Any references regarding these questions will be very much
welcomed by
Veerle Johanna Fraeters

Subject: ACADEMY : Image of Fountain
From: Adam McLean
Date: 6 June 2000

Veerle Johanna Fraeters asked:

>Denis Moliniers L'alchemie de Flamel (hs. Parijs, bibliothèque
> de l'arsenal, 6577, 18th century; contains an illustration of a fountain
>surrounded by anthropomorphic representations of the seven
>planets.

>Does any one of you know the origin of this illustration? Is there
>any possibility that it might be the original illustration of the
>Fontaine des amoureux de science?

This illustration is found in the 'Solidonius' series of manuscripts.
I have located 15 copies of this. Most of these are of a late date,
18th century, but one in particular at Tartu University Library,
Estonia,

Figurae Magico-Chymicae [Coloured figures of the 'Solidonius
series'. Manuscript of J.S. Helffendorff. In German.]

is claimed in the library catalogue to be 16th century. I would
suggest one would need to see this manuscript and examine
tha paper and handwriting before readily accepting this early
date. However, this version is in German and there is another
copy in Salzburg

Salzburg Universitätsbibliothek. MS. M II 373.
2. f1-16 Hans Siegmund Helffdorffer, Alchimie [In German.]
[Title]: Sollodonia oder Philosophi erfinder alß herscher unnd
über die element.
[22 illustrations with text. End of 16th or early 17th Century.]

So an early date may be okay.

I don't think this is directly related to the 'Fontaine des amoureux
de science' piece as this illustration is part of a connected
series of illustations and cannot really be understood apart from
its series.

I attach to this message a copy of the illustration from one of the
Solidonius manuscripts in Glasgow University Library.

Best wishes,

Adam McLean

Subject: ACADEMY : Gold- und Rosenkreutz
From: Hereward Tilton
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000

Dear Alchemy Academy,
Does anyone know the time of the first appearance of the term Gold-
und Rosenkreutz or Gold and Rosy Cross? According to McIntosh
in his Rose Cross and the Age of Reason, it first appears in 1710
in Richter's work. However, other sources I have read suggest an
earlier date, particularly in the work of Robert Fludd (although I
have not been able to trace such an appearance in his work).

Any ideas?

Hereward Tilton

Subject: ACADEMY : Newton's [alchemical?] papers
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000
From: Rafal T. Prinke

Just a short note about one item of (possible) interest on
the programme of this year Digital Resources in the Humanities
conference in Sheffield:

Dolores Iorizzo and John Young
'Networking Newton Transcription, Annotation and Facsimile,
*Electronic* Edition of Newton's Non-Scientific Papers'

Is anyone here going to participate? I tried to find
the authors on the Web without success. It would certainly
be interesting for us to know more about that project.

The whole programme is at:

http://www.shef.ac.uk/~drh2000/prog.htm

Best regards,

Rafal

Subject: ACADEMY : Gold- und Rosenkreutz
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000
From: Susanna Åkerman

Hereward Tilton asked:
>Does anyone know the time of the first appearance of the term Gold-
>und Rosenkreutz or Gold and Rosy Cross? According to McIntosh
>in his Rose Cross and the Age of Reason, it first appears in 1710
>in Richter's work. However, other sources I have read suggest an
>earlier date, particularly in the work of Robert Fludd (although I
>have not been able to trace such an appearance in his work).

This question has been asked on 6 February to the Academy when
José Rodriguez wrote,

>I read some alchemical text explaining about the "Brethren of the
>Golden Cross" (see: «Aureum saeculum redivivum» by Madhatano
>or the «Aureus tractatus» by Johann Grassoff).
>
>Is "fratres aureae crucis" a reference to the " fratres rosae crucis"
>and the Rosicrucian movement? Are there other references about
>the Golden Cross?

I then made a reply to José:

I have been told, and think I have read at one point, that Robert Fludd
makes a distinction between the golden and rosy cross in his defense of
the Rosicrucians, but I have no access to the text for now. It must be in
Fludd's longer "Tractatus apologeticus integritatem societatis roseae
crucis defendens" (1617) that is meant. William Huffman translates the
shorter Apology in his collection "Robert Fludd - Essential Readings"
(Aquarian/Thorson, London, 1992), but it does not occur there.

For your convenience I repeat the rest of my reply:

Madathanus' mentioning of the "aureae crucis frater" at the end of "Aureum
Saeculum redivivum" (1622) is not as far as I know mentioned in
correspondence of other Rosicrucians at the time, the 1620's. (Perhaps,
though, Carlos Gilly has found something like this in the minutiae of his
research.) As you can read in my article on the Porta Magica raised in Rome
in 1680 by Massimiliano Palombara where the emblem from Madathanus'
"Aureum saeculum redivivum" is used, there may be a connection from
it to Palombara's mentioning of "a company entitled the rosy cross or
as others say the golden cross" in his Ms. "La Bugia" (c:a 1666).
Palombara knew Francesco Maria Santinelli, Queen Christina's
employee 1656-1658, who, in a poem printed in 1659 entitled "Carlo V",
expresses his hope for "la mia aurea rose croce fortuna." Santinelli
was in the year before, according to Christina's papers, accused of
stealing some sort of jewel from Palombara.

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/queen_christina.html

The emblem from Madathanus has, because of Palombara's door,
been regarded as Rosicrucian in the 18th century tradition. Mino Gabriele
suggests its design is similar to the well known emblem of Michael Maier
where a man with a pair of compasses draws a triangle within a square.
There seems to be no trace of any mentioning of Madathanus' "golden
brothers" in texts of the early seventeenth century. (Caveat for a future
finding of them). There is an occult tradition, however, which says
that some alchemists received a golden cross upon initiation in
rosicrucianism, while others received a rose, seemingly marking out
two directions in the order, the golden one being alchemical, the rosy
one being the theosophical direction. This is probably based on
Fludd's statement, although that statemment only draws
the distinction.

It would be good to have the question settled. I have contacted
Carlos Gilly to this end, but have had no reply. I have heard that he
has identified Italian documents that tell of the rules of Richter's order
before 1710! Can someone take a look at Fludd's treatise?

Susanna Akerman

Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and medieval universities
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000
From: Adam McLean

Today I found an interesting article which should be of interest to
many of us on this group.

Chiara Crisciani. Alchemy and medieval universities. Some
proposals for research

http://cis.alma.unibo.it/NewsLetter/101997Nw/cresci.htm

Subject: ACADEMY : Newton's [alchemical?] papers
From: Dr L Kassell
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000

In response to the query about the project to edit Newton's
non-scientific papers. Details about this project, which is headed
by Rob Iliffe (Editorial Director, Imperial College), Scott Mandelbrote
(Editorial Director, Peterhouse College, Cambridge), and Harvey
Shoolman (Managing Director, Imperial College) can be found at

http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/.

Subject: ACADEMY : Calculus alba ?
From: Mike Dickman
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000

A friend of mine is looking for the (textual) source of the term
'calculus alba' and also wonders whether she has it declined
correctly... Any ideas?

m

Subject: ACADEMY : Calculus alba ?
From: Adam McLean
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000

>A friend of mine is looking for the (textual) source of the term
>'calculus alba' and also wonders whether she has it declined
>correctly... Any ideas?

Calculus is a masculine noun so the adjective should
agree in gender - thus 'Calculus albus'.

This can only be loosely translated as the "white stone" as
'calculus' is not really used with the general sense of a "stone"
as is 'lapis, lapidis', but is more specifically used with the sense
of a 'pebble' or the round stones used in mathematical calculations
(in the abacus for example). It is also applied to kidney stones,
or any hard stoney material in the body. In Basil Valentine's
Triumphal chariot we find. "I will now proceed to describe the
uses of this Elixir..... It invigorates the brain and the whole
nervous system, the stomach, the liver, and the kidneys, breaks
up the calculus and expels it..."

If these are seen as nouns in apposition (and we would need
the context to see if this were so) then alba, albae is a feminine
noun meaning a "pearl, or white precious stone". 'Calculus alba'
would then mean "a pebble, a white precious stone".

This at any rate is what I understand. In 16th and 17th century
Latin the classical meanings often became broadened, so it
would not surprise me if this term appeared in an alchemical
context meaning "the white stone". Many alchemists were not
not too good at Latin !!!!

Adam McLean

Subject: ACADEMY : Fisher collection of alchemist paintings
From: Adam McLean
Date: 20 June 2000

I have been informed that the world famous Fisher collection of some
200 paintings, many of alchemists and their laboratories has now been
given to the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia.

Does anyone have any further information on this? Will the collection
be more accessible in future?

Adam McLean

Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and chi'a
From: Mateus Nicolau Carneiro da Cunha
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000

I am reading an extremely interesting book by Henry Corbin's
student Pierre Lory, 'Alchimie et Mystique en terre d'Islam'. It is
about Jabir's philosophy (Jabir=Geber), and shows how Jabir's
alchemical writings are permeated with radical chi'ism. Jabir is
supposed to have been a direct student of Imam Jafar Sadiq,
by the way. Would anybody like to expound on this?

yours,

Subject: ACADEMY : Fisher collection of alchemist paintings
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000
From: Teresa H. Thompson

There is a website at www.chemheritage.org that may be useful.

I don't know a great deal about these artworks, but I do know that the
collection consists of oils, prints, and engravings that were donated to
the Chemical Heritage foundation by Chester Garfield Fisher, founder of
Fisher Scientific International, Inc., 1902. He began collecting these
works in 1920. Many of the pieces are very small, though some are quite
large. Most of the collection is European in origin, from my
understanding. I am on their mailing list, so I should be receiving more
information very soon via snail mail. There is to be an official
opening/reception this week in Philadelphia, should any of your contacts
like to attend. They are quite friendly and very proud of the collection.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation has had this collection since March of
this year and displays them on a rotating basis, usually about 25 or so at
a time. They are not all housed in the same location. Some are at a
warehouse nearby, and I have inquired as an artist if I might make an
appointment to see all of them for purposes of research. Apparently it is
difficult, though not impossible, with certain credentials. Perhaps others
will have an interest or be able to get there before I can. The person to
contact about this is Marge Gapp, the curator.

The Gallery is called the Chester G. Fisher Gallery which is part of the
Donald F. amd Mildred Topp Othmer Library (and archives) of Chemical
History.

Yours truly,
Teresa H. Thompson

Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and chi'a
From: Jon Marshal
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2000

Mateus Nicolau Carneiro da Cunha wrote:

> I am reading an extremely interesting book by Henry Corbin's
> student Pierre Lory, 'Alchimie et Mystique en terre d'Islam'. It is
> about Jabir's philosophy (Jabir=Geber), and shows how Jabir's
> alchemical writings are permeated with radical chi'ism.

Just out of interest, given that there is a strong argument (primarily
from William Newman but going back to Berthelot and Ruska) that
the Geber of the summa perfectionis, and if I remember correctly
the other latin texts, is not Jabir, but a 13th Century European
using his name - does Lory include the latin texts as part of his
study or not? And if so, could you please describe what he has to
say in favour of them being by Jabir?

jon

Subject: ACADEMY : German Women Writers and Alchemy
From: Cindy Brewer
Date : 21 June 2000

I wondered if anyone could help me on the matter of
German women writers and alchemy.

I'm a German Lit. professor at Brigham Young University. I am
looking for texts by German women writers of the 18th and 19th
century in which Alchemy plays some role. Alchemy need not
be the main theme in the work. Since alchemy involves the
construction of a subject and discovering essence I think it would
be interesting to see how the topic is handled in texts by women,
who were generally denied access to the sciences and status as
subject.

Cindy Brewer

Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and chi'a
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000
From : Mike Dickman

Could you give me the publisher for the Lory please?

Thanks,
m

Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and chi'a
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000
From : Adam McLean

>Could you give me the publisher for the Lory please?

Lory, Pierre. Alchimie et mystique en terre d'Islam.
Editions Verdier. Lagrasse, 1989.

In their "Islam spirituel" studies.

Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and chi'a
From: Mateus Nicolau Carneiro da Cunha
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000

Jon Marshall wrote:

>Just out of interest, given that there is a strong argument (primarily
>from William Newman but going back to Berthelot and Ruska) that
>the Geber of the summa perfectionis, and if I remember correctly
>the other latin texts, is not Jabir, but a 13th Century European
>using his name - does Lory include the latin texts as part of his
>study or not? And if so, could you please describe what he has to
>say in favour of them being by Jabir?

Jon,

It is the huge arabic corpus of Jabîr's alchemical writings that is
studied by Lory, he doesn't deal with the problem of Latin
pseudoepigraphy. However, he does criticise Kraus's opinions
regarding the arabic texts.

Mateus

Subject: ACADEMY : German Women Writers and Alchemy
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000
From: Arthur J Versluis

Dear Cindy,

You will find somewhat alchemically influenced theosophic writings
by women in my new anthology *

Wisdom's Book: The Sophia Anthology, (St Paul: Paragon House,
2000).

See in particular Jane Leade, et. al.

Best wishes
Arthur Versluis

Subject: ACADEMY : Alchemy and chi'a
From: Mike Dickman
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000

Thanks Adam. That being the case, though, perhaps I should also
point out Lory's "Jabir al Khayyân - Dix Traités d'alchimie: Les dix
premiers Traités du Livre des Soixante dix" [EDITIONS SINDBAD,
Paris 1983]

m

Subject: ACADEMY : French printed alchemical connections in the 19th c.
From: Diane Zervas Hirstk
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000

I am trying to find out more about what relatively accessible French
printed alchemical collections would have been available to
Symbolist artists and writers in lt. 19th c. Paris. I would be grateful
for any general hints the discussion group might provide.

Diane Zervas Hirst

Subject: ACADEMY : French printed alchemical connections in the 19th c.
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000
From: ME Warlick

Hi Diane,

You may know of the symbolist activities around Edmond Bailly's
bookshop, La Librairie de l'Art Independent, described in Victor-Emile
Michelet's "Les Compagnons de la hierophanie: souvenirs du mouvement
hermetiste a la fin du XIX siecle," (1936; reprint, Nice: Belisane, 1977).
(please excuse the absence of accents). Berthelot's translations of early
alchemical manuscripts were available by then. Also, look for books
published by those firms specializing in hermetic texts including Chacornac,
Chamuel, Balliere, Editions de la Sirene and Dorbon-Aine. Some of these
books were advertized in the hermetic periodicals of the time, including
L'Initiation, La Revue Spirite, Le Spiritisme, Journal du Magnetisme, Voile
d'Isis, La Lumiere, and L'Hyperchimie, the journal of the Societe Alchimique
de France, which was published by Francois Jollivet-Castelot and his group
of friends. They also had access to many original manuscripts. I've found
few of the printed books of this period to be profusely illustrated, with
the exception of those published by Albert Poisson, and none that would give
any sense of the continuity of illustrations in the original printed texts.
Chamuel published Basil Valentine's 12 Keys in 1899, but that's one of the
few complete sets of images I've found. It is much later that the facsimile
texts begin to appear. Hope this is helpful.

M.E. Warlick

Subject: ACADEMY : Western Esotericism conference
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000
From: Michal Pober

Dear Friends,

I recently received this Draft Programme from Samten de Wet in
Capetown:

[WEBSITE: http://web.utk.edu/~rhackett/durban.html
For the INTERNATIONAL Association for the History of Religions.
2000 - XVIII Quinquennial Congress :
which will be held in Durban, 5-12 August 2000.

WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM I

CONVENORS: Wouter J. Hanegraaff and J. A. M. Snoek

CHAIR: Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Introductory Address
Kocku von Stuckrad, "The Beginning of a Mutual Enrichment: Jewish
Mystical Discourse and Hermetic Esotericism in Late Antiquity"
Annine van der Meer, "The Harran of the Sabians in the First
Millennium A.D.: Cradle of a Hermetic Tradition?"

WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM II
CONVENOR and CHAIR: Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek

Chair: Antoine Faivre
Wouter J. Hanegraaff, "Lodovico Lazzarelli's Use of Jewish Mystical
Sources"
Italo Ronca, "Astrological Medicine, Natural Magic, and Catholic
Orthodoxy in Marsilio Ficino's Third Book on Life"
Jean-Pierre Brach, "Christian Kabbalah"

WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM III
CONVENOR and CHAIR: Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek

Chair: Jane Williams-Hogan

Susanna Akerman,"Der Löwe aus der Mitternacht and Johannes
Bureus' Roscrucian Papers"
Arthur Versluis, "Jacob Böhme and Kabbalah"
Elliott Wolfson, "Secrecy and the Disclosure of Withholding in
Kabbalistic Hermeneutics"

WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM IV
CONVENORS: Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek

Chair: Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Albert Roodnat, "J.B. van Helmont's Concept of Butler's Stone and
Middle-Life"
Allison P. Coudert, "Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosophy and
Esotericism at the Court of Sulzbach"
W. Trompf, "Esoteric Newton and the Kabbalists' Nosh: Natural
Law between Mediaevalie and Modernity"

WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM V

CONVENOR and CHAIR: Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek
Chair: Jan Snoek

Olle Hjern, "Esoteric Christianity in Sweden: Emmanuel Swedenborg,
the Last Judgement and the New Age"
Jane Williams-Hogan, "Emanuel Swedenborg and the Jewish
Kabbalah: Organic or Syncretic Relationship?"
Tomas Mansikka and Nils G. Holm, "Philalethes and Swedenborg:
August Nordenskjöld and the Revival of Utopian Alchemy"

WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM VI
CONVENORS: Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek

CHAIRr:Antoine Faivre

Martha Keith Schuchard, "Judaized Scots, Jacobite Jews, and the
Development of Kabbalistic Freemasonry"
John Collett, "The Integration of Kabbalah with Other Religious
Ideas in Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma, 1871"
Pierre Riffard, "Esoterisms and Religion"

WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM VII
CONVENORS Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek

Chair: Antoine Faivre
Henrik Bogdan, "Kabbalah and Western Esoteric Rituals of Initiation"
Marco Pasi, "British Occultism and Kabbalah: From the Golden
Dawn to Israel Regardie"
Yuri Stoyanov, "Enochic Apocalypticism and Mysticism in Some
Currents of Modern Western Esotericism"

WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM VIII
CONVENORS: Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek

Chair: Arthur Versluis

Jan Snoek, "Influence of Kabbalism on Freemasonry?"
Ralph Liedtke, "Hermeticicsm and Kabbalah in Friedrich von
Hardenberg"
Jean-Pierre Laurant, "The Nineteenth Century Reads Kabbalah"

WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND JEWISH MYSTICISM IX

CONVENORS: Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jan A. M. Snoek

CHAIR: Jan Snoek
Eliane Moura Silva, "Esoteric Spirituality in Brazil: The Communion of
Thought Esoteric Circle (1908-1943)"
Ana Maria Binet, "Jewish Mysticism and Western Esotericism in the
Works of a Portuguese Poet, Fernando Pessoa"
Collette Rayment, "Hiroshima and the Emanations of Glory"

Antoine Faivre, Concluding Address

RELIGION, ASIA AND THE HIMALAYAS
CONVENOR and CHAIR: Miranda Shaw

William Harman, "A Kinder, Gentler Mariyamman and Middle Class
Respectability"
Janice Glowski, "Living Goddess as Animate Image: Contextualizing
Kumari Worship in Nepal"
Miranda Shaw, "The Vasundhara Vrata in Nepal: Women As Living
Bodhisattvas"

Academic Program Committee Chair:
Rosalind I J Hackett

Congress Organisers: velia@iafrica.com
International Association for the History of Religions

Best Regards,

Michal Pober

Subject: ACADEMY : Western Esotericism conference
From: Mike Dickman
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000

The full program, be it said, runs to 28 pages in Times Roman
10pt. It looks like a big one.

m

Subject: ACADEMY : French printed alchemical connections in the 19th c.
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000
From: Pierre Stibia

Hi Diane

If you are looking for alchemical documents written in French (or Latin,
German, Italian, English, ...), an excellent source could be found at
the Bibliothèque de France

gallica.bnf.fr

(do not type the usual "http://www.etc.").

You can download from this site a very large number of printed
alchemical documents (in .PDF format). See also documents related
to the old "chymie", you will find some "perles rares" !...

Regards.

Pierre Stibia

Subject: ACADEMY : German Women Writers and Alchemy
From: Jackson Wiley
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000

Dear Cindy,

In regards to your quest for info on German women prominent
in alchemical/rosicrucian I came across the following book
reference in an article by Manly Hall the Fall 1983 Journal of
The Philosophical Research Journal entitled: "Protestant Mysticism
From the 17th to the 20th centuries(pages 58-69,71)".

On page 63
"In his book 'Heavens On Earth', Mark Holloway makes a special
point of the importance of women in the mystical communities of
the 17th century. He mentions Anna VanSchurman of Utrecht and
an American woman, Anne Hutchinson. The psychic teachings
revealed through women came into the keeping of square-toed
German burghers, devout but stern and stubborn. What they believed,
they communicated with vigor, and faced many hardships to
defend their insights; but in a world that had struggled with
desperate sincerity for religious tolerance,there was no patience
for psychic revelations. Protestant fundamentalism was sincere,
resolute, and inflexible. Members of families were turned against
each other, and finally government intervention was necessary
to ease the almost constant squabbling"

Top of page 63:

"It is a mistake, therefore, to assume that women played a
secondary role in the diffusion of mystical beliefs. It would seem
that the sibyls of old spoke again through women like Jane
Leade and several others mentioned in earlier writings."

Hope this helps,

Jackson W. Wiley

Subject: ACADEMY : German Women Writers and Alchemy
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000
From: Susanna Åkerman

Dear Cindy,

One poet author who writes of crossmysticism in the Rosicrucian
tradition is Anna Owena Hoyers (or Hoya). She published at
Hamburg in the 1630s. She is a little early for you, but she is
interesting to know about. Her works are difficult to get at. But
perhaps she has been republished in recent years.

Susanna Akerman

Subject: ACADEMY : German Women Writers and Alchemy
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000
From: Susanna Åkerman

Dear Cindy,

Found a reprint of Hoyer's 1650 edition of poems at Wolfenbuttel

Titel: Geistliche und weltliche Poemata / Anna Ovena Hoyers. Hrsg.
von Barbara Becker-Cantarino [Baerbel Becker-Cantarino]
Verfasser: Anna Ovena Hoyers
Beteiligt: Baerbel Becker-Cantarino
Ausgabe: Repr. d. Ausg.: Amsterdam, 1650
Erschienen: Tuebingen : Niemeyer, 1986
Umfang: 304, 200 S.
Schriftenreihe: Deutsche Neudrucke : Reihe Barock ; 36
ISBN: 3-484-16036-5
Signatur at Wolffenbuttel: GE 44-0140

Best wishes,
Susanna