This discussion forum has grown out of a series of other such discussion groups on the theme of alchemy that I have organised over the last twelve years. Many of these degenerated due to the participants not having any real scholarly solidity. People with diverse belief systems all seem to want to claim alchemy as reflecting their individual beliefs. My view is, that alchemy must be investigated and discussed in a scholarly way, using established methods of textual analysis, contextualising and historical referencing. Very few of the people interested in alchemy today seem to adopt that approach. My most successful discussion group on this subject was the Alchemy Academy, which ran from April 1999 up to the present. You can see the archives on
http://www.alchemywebsite.com/a-archive1.html
This Alchemy Academy was tightly moderated by myself, and adopted a scholarly approach to alchemy. There are some wonderful enlightening discussions its archives. It is hoped that this present discussion forum will carry this impulse on further.
As to what exactly constitutes a scholarly or academic approach, if you have any doubts on this matter then you are obviously not a scholar.
Because of the expansion of the idea of alchemy during the 20th century, during which time it became conflated and muddled with magic, occultism, new-age ideas, shamanism, kitchen chemistry, Jungian and other psychological approaches, discussions on this Forum will be restricted to historical alchemy (primarily pre-Nineteeth century). Discussions should use the usual scholarly tools, giving references and sources. Mere opinion is pointless.
As moderator, I reserve the right to delete postings which are obviously lacking any scholarly merit, or adopt an unsubstantiated and opinionated tone. Scholars often disagree and argue about matters, but they back up their arguments with references to the source material. Mere exchange of opinions will not be welcomed on this Forum.
No bona fide scholars will have any problems posting on this Forum, and it is my task as moderator to keep the discussion environment friendly to those with a scholarly approach.
Last edited on Wed Feb 13th, 2008 02:31 pm by alchemyd
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