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Alchemy
This new and completely redesigned edition creates a colourful and vibrant guide to the secret art. Klossowski de Rola elucidates the mysterious language and polyvalent symbolism from a variety of perspectives practical, spiritual, elemental and historical and explains how the true alchemist differs from the modern chemist and the false practitioner. Gold is only a by-product and emblem of the Great Work of the alchemist. The latter part of the book comprises the full text of a seventeenth-century exposition upon an alchemists dream-poem, and five richly illustrated Themes sections, reproducing full sequences of alchemical thought, art and paraphernalia.
Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, son of the artist Balthus and a lifelong student of alchemy, is also the author of The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 27, 2017
This book reads very easily in comparison to many books on the Art. It falls in middle ground as those with little knowledge of alchemy may find it uninteresting, and those with a lot of alchemical knowledge may find it doesn't contain enough to add to their current repertoire of knowledge. With that in mind, there is a ton of historical illustrations provided, and the writing isn't dry.
February 9, 2021
I started writing a very negative review as I found little in this book to recommend it to anybody....including myself. In fact, unlike most books, there is even nothing about the author ....who he is; what else he has written; what position he holds, etc. So I googled him and found that he is basically an artist of sorts and is probably most famous for being the offspring of a (distinctly strange....maybe weird) artist father, who specialised in painting young women in eroto-masochistic sorts of positions. That's not to denigrate the author of the current book but merely to set the stage for a, distinctly, unusual family. So Stanislas has established himself as a kind of guru on Alchemy and tries to make the point that Alchemy is far more than trying to transmute lead into gold: it's more about unlocking "the hidden reality of the highest order which constitutes the underlying essence of all truths and religions". The perfection of this essence is termed the absolute; it can be perceived and realised, as the Beauty of all Beauty, the Love of all Love and the high Most high".
Ok: let's stop right there, because this kind of illustrates the emptiness of this work for me. It's language made into gobbled-gook ...posing as being profound. If you start to unravel this language he's saying that there is some kind of universal to beauty (all kinds of beauty .....so one could imagine the beauty of a sunset, or the beauty of a young woman, or the beauty of an equation ...to a mathematician.......but what about the beauty of a foul smelling plant (to humans) but which is attractive to blow flies....presumably the blow flies find something beautiful in it.
So it seems to me, that right from the start, there is inconsistency in this Alchemical claim. How can something be both repulsive (to humans) and beautiful (to blow flies) yet possess the same universal of beauty? The project seems hopelessly enmeshed in an anthropomorphic perspective of reality. ....which is clearly not universal.
What I found most fascinating, however, was the alchemist's tricks for refuting criticism of their writings or works. Basically they seem to take the line that everything that is written is in code and not to be read as it appears. You have to know the decoding key. However, even if you have this key, they have another trick put their sleeves. Even if you decode the message there will be traps set and mistruths to set people off in the wrong direction. "The texts invariably contain elaborate devices to deter the unworthy. They are couched in a language, often so obscure and so impenetrable that their study requires years and years of devoted attention, of reading and re-reading before their exegesis may even be attempted. For secrecy is inextricably woven into the fabric of alchemy, and is still involved by modern alchemists". OK ....one might grant this but ask the question ..why bother?
We are told that there is true alchemy and false alchemy.....so, it seems to me, that whenever something inconsistent shows up or something is clearly a failure ...the claim can immediately be made..."Oh that is not TRUE Alchemy!"
The alchemists were mocked by Chaucer and the retort by Artephius was "Poor fool! Will you be simple enough to believe that we teach openly and clearly the greatest and most important of all secrets".
Stanislas plays down the relationship between chemistry and Alchemy but it's pretty clear to me that Alchemy fed into chemistry (though the pathway was never straightforward and was probably confounded by the philosophical pretentious of Alchemy).
He does describe in some detail the "Great work of the Alchemists" ....and there are three "stones", or three works, or three degrees of perfection" (take your pick) with the Great Work.
And much of the production of these "stones" seems to involve sealing stuff in bottles, heating, cooling distilling, re-heating etc etc. multiple times .....and it can all be confounded by the weather or the timing etc., etc.,....so there are plenty of "cop-outs" for things that don't work.
Stanislas talks about "Armand Barbault, a contemporary Alchemist who achieved , after twelve years what he calls in his book L'Or du millieme matin (Paris 1969) the "vegetable gold" or Elixir of the first degree. ...This elixir was thoroughly analysed and tested by German and Swiss laboratories and doctors. It proved its great value and efficacy, especially in the treatment of very serious heart and kidney aliments. But it could not be fully analysed nor therefore synthesised. It's preparation required such peculiar care and took so long , that eventually all hopes of commercialisation were abandoned. The scientists who examined it declared that they were in the presence of a new state of matter". Well this sounds to me just fanciful (at best) and untrue. (Scientists would be most unlikely to declare that this was a "new sort of matter"...that is patently ridiculous ......but, of course the Alchemists have all their cop-outs ready. I notice that there is no reference to a published paper detailing the testing that this elixir was subject to. And it was "efficacious in treating both serious heart and kidney aliments"....Well it would be most unlikely to do both. Most unlikely to do one. And in the absence of double blind trials one can say nothing about effectiveness.
I'm also a little unsure about Stanislas' claims to true knowledge. After all, we are given no information about how he came to acquire this true knowledge..and maybe he is just practicing false Alchemy. What is the source of his authority? And why should any one trust him...given that the alchemists are laying all these traps for the "unworthy"....and, presumably most of the readers (like me) are unworthy.
There are a lot of pictures extracted from a (relatively small) number of mediaeval documents. ...seemingly from around the 11-14th centuries. (Didn't they learn anything after this?) One thing is pretty clear and that is that they were not great at drawing.
Fortunately we have Stanislas to interpret the obscure coding in all the pictures ....which seem a confabulation of ancient greek mythology with contemporary ideas about witchcraft and Chinese/Greek ideas about air fire water and earth as the fundamentals.
I would not recommend reading this book. It's pretty much a waste of space except for the delightful expose about how to dodge criticism and obscure everything under a fog of words. Clarity is clearly not a virtue when it comes to the Alchemists explaining themselves.
I give it two stars because at least the obfuscating tactics were interesting.
Ok: let's stop right there, because this kind of illustrates the emptiness of this work for me. It's language made into gobbled-gook ...posing as being profound. If you start to unravel this language he's saying that there is some kind of universal to beauty (all kinds of beauty .....so one could imagine the beauty of a sunset, or the beauty of a young woman, or the beauty of an equation ...to a mathematician.......but what about the beauty of a foul smelling plant (to humans) but which is attractive to blow flies....presumably the blow flies find something beautiful in it.
So it seems to me, that right from the start, there is inconsistency in this Alchemical claim. How can something be both repulsive (to humans) and beautiful (to blow flies) yet possess the same universal of beauty? The project seems hopelessly enmeshed in an anthropomorphic perspective of reality. ....which is clearly not universal.
What I found most fascinating, however, was the alchemist's tricks for refuting criticism of their writings or works. Basically they seem to take the line that everything that is written is in code and not to be read as it appears. You have to know the decoding key. However, even if you have this key, they have another trick put their sleeves. Even if you decode the message there will be traps set and mistruths to set people off in the wrong direction. "The texts invariably contain elaborate devices to deter the unworthy. They are couched in a language, often so obscure and so impenetrable that their study requires years and years of devoted attention, of reading and re-reading before their exegesis may even be attempted. For secrecy is inextricably woven into the fabric of alchemy, and is still involved by modern alchemists". OK ....one might grant this but ask the question ..why bother?
We are told that there is true alchemy and false alchemy.....so, it seems to me, that whenever something inconsistent shows up or something is clearly a failure ...the claim can immediately be made..."Oh that is not TRUE Alchemy!"
The alchemists were mocked by Chaucer and the retort by Artephius was "Poor fool! Will you be simple enough to believe that we teach openly and clearly the greatest and most important of all secrets".
Stanislas plays down the relationship between chemistry and Alchemy but it's pretty clear to me that Alchemy fed into chemistry (though the pathway was never straightforward and was probably confounded by the philosophical pretentious of Alchemy).
He does describe in some detail the "Great work of the Alchemists" ....and there are three "stones", or three works, or three degrees of perfection" (take your pick) with the Great Work.
And much of the production of these "stones" seems to involve sealing stuff in bottles, heating, cooling distilling, re-heating etc etc. multiple times .....and it can all be confounded by the weather or the timing etc., etc.,....so there are plenty of "cop-outs" for things that don't work.
Stanislas talks about "Armand Barbault, a contemporary Alchemist who achieved , after twelve years what he calls in his book L'Or du millieme matin (Paris 1969) the "vegetable gold" or Elixir of the first degree. ...This elixir was thoroughly analysed and tested by German and Swiss laboratories and doctors. It proved its great value and efficacy, especially in the treatment of very serious heart and kidney aliments. But it could not be fully analysed nor therefore synthesised. It's preparation required such peculiar care and took so long , that eventually all hopes of commercialisation were abandoned. The scientists who examined it declared that they were in the presence of a new state of matter". Well this sounds to me just fanciful (at best) and untrue. (Scientists would be most unlikely to declare that this was a "new sort of matter"...that is patently ridiculous ......but, of course the Alchemists have all their cop-outs ready. I notice that there is no reference to a published paper detailing the testing that this elixir was subject to. And it was "efficacious in treating both serious heart and kidney aliments"....Well it would be most unlikely to do both. Most unlikely to do one. And in the absence of double blind trials one can say nothing about effectiveness.
I'm also a little unsure about Stanislas' claims to true knowledge. After all, we are given no information about how he came to acquire this true knowledge..and maybe he is just practicing false Alchemy. What is the source of his authority? And why should any one trust him...given that the alchemists are laying all these traps for the "unworthy"....and, presumably most of the readers (like me) are unworthy.
There are a lot of pictures extracted from a (relatively small) number of mediaeval documents. ...seemingly from around the 11-14th centuries. (Didn't they learn anything after this?) One thing is pretty clear and that is that they were not great at drawing.
Fortunately we have Stanislas to interpret the obscure coding in all the pictures ....which seem a confabulation of ancient greek mythology with contemporary ideas about witchcraft and Chinese/Greek ideas about air fire water and earth as the fundamentals.
I would not recommend reading this book. It's pretty much a waste of space except for the delightful expose about how to dodge criticism and obscure everything under a fog of words. Clarity is clearly not a virtue when it comes to the Alchemists explaining themselves.
I give it two stars because at least the obfuscating tactics were interesting.
May 24, 2020
Superb illustrations but useless presentation.
April 13, 2018
Un execlente texto que cumple como introductorio contextual para entender la simbologia hermetica alquimica introduciendonos en que consiste la gran obra y que esta no se limita a la esfera mundana de la transmutación de los metales si no la obtención de la perfeccion espiritual y la cura de todos los males que aquejan al hombre . Klossowski de Rola figura prominente en la Europa de los 60's hijo del pintor Balthus y amigo cercano de sendas bandas musicales como los Beatles y los monkeys , una vez introducidos a la gran obra , sus contenidos , procesos y etapas , los simbolos y repesenatciones que su usuaron para ocultar los conocimientos de la gran obra a los no iniciados y pénsamiento a grandes rasgos de los pocos hombres iniciados que buscaron y se entregaron a la realización de la Opus magnun de la naturaleza y el universo, nos presenta una selección de iluminaciones y grabados hermeticos de varias granbdes obras alquimicas(entre ellas el hermoso Splendor Solis ) en donde se ilustra de forma figurativa los procesos de la gran obra y sus etapas atravez de la imagineria hermetica y sus simbolos explicados de forma breve por el autor haciuendo familiares y dando un sentido a las imagenes y figuras . Ante todo de un inicio y deja de forma implicita el autor , nunca hay un interpretación unica y es evidente al ser este una introduccion y familiarización que el lector interesado debera profundizar aun más leyendo ya sea documentos academicos o textos enfocados a cada uno de las obras citadas o bien investigaciones documentales más extensas como el libro "El juego Aureo "del mismo autor ademas que sin duda sera indispensable completar este lirbo con alguno sobre la historia de alquimia o algunos inbteresante manuales de arte como Alquimia & mística de la editorial TASCHEN
En su contra aparte de ser de un nivel basico es que la distribución de la imagenes en la edición Mitos y misterios del del prado conserva el defecto de tener las descripciones desajustadas a la imagenes en virtud de darle más epacio a los garbados e ilumiaciones en pagina completa dificultando un poco la lectura y que esta resente desde la edicion inglesa.
Por lo demas un excelente libro para estudiantes de arte o interesados para introducirse y familiarisarse con el lenguaje , la imageneria y en ultima instancia el arte hermetico alquimico con aras de profundisar lo aprendido posteriormente.
En su contra aparte de ser de un nivel basico es que la distribución de la imagenes en la edición Mitos y misterios del del prado conserva el defecto de tener las descripciones desajustadas a la imagenes en virtud de darle más epacio a los garbados e ilumiaciones en pagina completa dificultando un poco la lectura y que esta resente desde la edicion inglesa.
Por lo demas un excelente libro para estudiantes de arte o interesados para introducirse y familiarisarse con el lenguaje , la imageneria y en ultima instancia el arte hermetico alquimico con aras de profundisar lo aprendido posteriormente.
February 21, 2018
Es un libro que me ordenado mi cajón de sastre alquímico.
Muy recomendable.
Muy recomendable.
March 15, 2015
As an introduction, I think this book does well in giving an overview of a notoriously obfuscated topic. The pictures are lovely and drawn from different sources and periods in history. There is enough in the text to enable the reader to start to appreciate if not make a little sense of alchemical writing and illustrations.
It's not written for the acolyte so don't expect to be given what you need to 'become an an alchemist'. Don't expect to get an answer to the question, "does it work?" either. The book feels more like a stroll through a museum, inspecting beautiful, arcane objects and reading a little bit about their history and meaning.
For a student who wants to go a bit further, the second half of the book reproduces text from Philatheles' commentary on Ripley's vision and presents about 150 engravings and illustrations covering the work and its operations from medieval and Renaissance sources. It's wonderful to have all these in one place for perusal and reference - a visual feast, which will provide intrigue, mystery and insight and ensure that I keep going back to this book for another look.
It's not written for the acolyte so don't expect to be given what you need to 'become an an alchemist'. Don't expect to get an answer to the question, "does it work?" either. The book feels more like a stroll through a museum, inspecting beautiful, arcane objects and reading a little bit about their history and meaning.
For a student who wants to go a bit further, the second half of the book reproduces text from Philatheles' commentary on Ripley's vision and presents about 150 engravings and illustrations covering the work and its operations from medieval and Renaissance sources. It's wonderful to have all these in one place for perusal and reference - a visual feast, which will provide intrigue, mystery and insight and ensure that I keep going back to this book for another look.
November 20, 2023
While I found the subject fascinating with its historical research and explanation of much of alchemy's symbolism, the text was so challenging to read I barely could get to the end. The pages were all in color with a font that barely stood out from the ochre, soft green, vermillion, and sky blue background. In my opinion, such challenging text should be in a clear font on a white page or at the least larger text. I did enjoy the cosmic diagrams and the sacerdotal art and found myself transported to a time when the lines between alchemy and science blurred.
May 29, 2008
I thought this was a good introduction to the metaphor of alchemy and the symbolism associated with it.
October 24, 2015
The book was OK, however it was more aimed at the people who has a lot of knowledge on alchemy.
But the main reason I'm giving it a 2 star is because horribly misplaced captures for the images.
But the main reason I'm giving it a 2 star is because horribly misplaced captures for the images.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews