The Elixir & the Stone: The Tradition of Magic & Alchemy

by Michael;Leigh Baigent

Since the seventeenth century, science has been contending with philosophy, organized religion and the arts for domination over Western civilization and society. By the middle of the twentieth century, the battle appeared to be won; scientific rationalism and skepticism were triumphant. Yet in the last few decades a strong and potent counter-current has emerged. One manifestation of this has been the so-called occult revival.In The Elixir and the Stone , Baigent and Leigh argue that this occult revival — and indeed the entire revolution in attitudes which has taken place recently — owes a profound debt to Hermeticism, a body of esoteric teaching which flourished in Alexandria two thousand years ago and which then went underground. The authors trace the history of this intriguing and all-encompassing philosophy — which has much in common with contemporary holistic thought — charting it’s origin in the Egyptian mysteries, and demonstrating how it continued to exercise enormous influence through the magicians and magi of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.Many remarkable characters feature in the narrative, including the Franciscan friar Roger Bacon and the Elizabethan magus John Dee; prototype of Shakespeare’s Prospero in The Tempest, but the central figure that emerges is that of Faust himself — one of the defining myths of Western civilization.The Elixir and the Stone is a remarkably rich and ambitious book that adds up to a little short of an alternative history of the intellectual world. Perhaps for the first time it puts into their true context those shadowy alchemists and magicians who have haunted the imaginations of people for centuries. Moreover it offers a way of looking at the world that is in one sense ‘alternative’, but in another, deeply historical.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Alchemy, Spirituality, Religion, Philosophy, Esoterica

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[John Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Elixir and the Stone was, at times, a fascinating and enlightening book about the history and transformation of Hermeticism throughout history.

Touching on everything from Christianity, Islam, Greek Mythology, Ancient Egyptian and Roman Empire’s, Shakespeare, Freemasonry, Carl Jung - and everything in between - the book sets out to enlighten the reader as the the interconnectedness of all aspects of human history and understanding; all aspects of our faiths and our sciences.

Whilst the book largely sets out what it intends, it is not without some major flaws.

At times the book is massively thought provoking, at others it is as dry as dust.
Recounting of historical events can become tedious and superfluous to the narrative points.
Sometimes the writers over emphasise ideas by (at times excessive) repetition of key points and ideas all throughout the book, and often within the same chapters.

The book then diverts into a “Part Two” section which bears no resemblance to “Part One”. Part two discusses, aspects of more modern history - televised politics, advertising, mass media manipulation of cultural ideas, rock & roll.

It’s a jarring shift and even the book comments on the sudden shift as being disconnected from the rest of the book.

I reckon that part two may have been written separately to part one with each of the two authors writing their own section. Weird.

I’m still happy to give this book 4 stars as it was a greatly encouraging read for someone who loves romantic, philosophical and all encompassing theories on why we are here as a species and what we can achieve if we all think and work as one connected whole.

Admittedly not for everyone, and definitely outdated and dry in places.

[Angelo Mifsud · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable and fascinating read. It discusses the alternate way of how the early religions and early Christianity look at the world which opens a new aspect of our intellectual history.

[Jason Parker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty painful read for me. Started skipping chapters. Gave up.
Lots of assertions. Some nonsense. This and Ancient traces started the downfall of these types of books for me.

[Lord Beardsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a half-historical, half-philosophical look at Hermeticism, Magic, and Alchemy and the way humanity has interected with these concepts throughout history up until the present (the present being the 1990s, when this book was written).

I found it incredibly fascinating, especially when they explored the different artists, writers, philosophers and various visionaries and how they approached the concept of magic. Magic being a metaphysical state of mind and conscious alteration of your world vision.

Around the second half of the book, it deviated into a grumpy old man poopy pants rant about how television is evil and how commercials suck, they're right, but their argument as to how this relates to magic was not *all the time* really backed up. It probably should have been given its own seperate book. However, I do believe that the basic concepts of the powers of suggestion, etc. definitely play a key part in advertising...but seriously guys. Did it need 100 pages in this book? Mm, not so much.

Otherwise, quite fascinating and inspiring! Hup hup!

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's the usual Baigent and Leigh book - quite interesting, however, it's more of a timeline/history of alchemy and hermetic though rather than an exploration of hermetic philosophy and what it all means. The latter part of the book changes into a critique of modern 20th century society - which was interesting also but not really what I was wanting to learn about. As with most of the books in this genre, it's all the little facts you learn about that make these books interesting - they are a veritable gold mine of information - but you have to disregard the usually dodgy conspiracy theories.

[Dr.J.G.]

This might partially or more answer the question of what knowledge was taken from Egypt in Judaic tradition. Hermeticism, Roger Bacon, occult, being keywords here, perhaps the knowledge had gone underground for a good reason and any inquiry into it was - is, too - met with diverting attention and query, disrupting dialogue, hostility, attempt to provoke a general furor against anyone who questions into this, direct insults, and more.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. I wish I had done more research on the subject matter before hand. This is an alternate history of hermetic thought. Who and how the ideas passed through history. It does not talk about the theory of hermeticism or alchemy. I recommend that anyone who is interested in this book have a firm grasp on the teachings before hand.

[Dian · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I have a read a lot of books by Baigent and Leigh and I have to tell you, this one was not good. I had a hard time getting past the poor writing and the giant leaps of logic. While there may be some good stuff in here somewhere I gave up before I really got to it.

[Andy Lawless · Rating 4 out of 5]

A combination of historical, philosophical look at Hermeticism, Magic, and Alchemy and the way humanity has interected with these concepts throughout history up until the mid 1990.s.

[Herbert Haller · Rating 4 out of 5]

where does mysthicism come from? What is fact, what is mystics? A very good history of science through the centuries!

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into this one but I'm sure it's very interesting for those into the history of religious thought and ideas.

[Sallie · Rating 1 out of 5]

When the first sentence mentions the word "Jesus" I was like maybe not then!

[C.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Elixir and the Stone is an alternative history of the intellectual world, and more specifically of the Hermetic undercurrent in the development of European culture. Hermeticism is the belief in the unity of all things: the concept that there is a macrocosm (usually described as the universe or a deity) and a microcosm (man) which are interconnected and representative of one another. ‘As above, so below’. Hermetic thought encompasses astrology, alchemy and theurgy and as such is the foundation of most of what we call ‘occult’ today.

The journey begins in Alexandria in the first century AD, describing a bustling cosmopolitan culture in pursuit of knowledge, and proceeds to describe the rise of Christianity and Islam from the perspective of those not conforming to either. We are then given a chronological overview of the way philosophy has shaped society throughout Europe and Mesopotamia ever since, with surprising insights into moments when opposing religions lived alongside one another harmoniously. Famous fictional magicians such as Merlin and Faust are used to link the sections together, showing how their stories emerged from real characters.
This is more than just a historical record however, as it endeavours to highlight the effects of Hermeticism upon areas of life we may not have noticed it. I particularly enjoyed the well written section on the magic effect of arts and literature on the soul, and the idea that they could be used as talismans:

‘For Pythagoreans and the Alexandrian Hermeticists, the cosmos comprised of a single vast musical instrument in tune with itself, producing its own music to which it incessantly vibrated and resonated. Humanity and the Gods, earth and heaven, microcosm and macrocosm were all linked by harmony and reflected the same harmonious proportions. These proportions could be defined and described in mathematical terms.’

Unfortunately the commentary on the history of alternative thought seems to end quite abruptly around Isaac Newton (who is little known to have been an alchemist as well as a physicist), and the text switches to a critique of the prevailing attitudes of modern times. This is a bit confusing at first, as up to this point the subject matter is dealt with in a factual manner save for the occasional speculation as to the cause of events.

The main theme of the critique is that the acceptance of Descartes’ ‘I think, therefore I am’ in the 17th Century sparked off a large scale change in outlook which was in opposition to the hermetic idea of unity.

‘Synthesis was supplanted by analysis – an analysis so intoxicated with its own capacity for dissection that it lost the capacity for resembling what it had dismantled. And organism was supplanted by mechanism. The cosmos came to be increasingly perceived as a species of machine, a vast clockwork contraption – created by some divine architect or engineer perhaps but now left as an automation to its own devices.’

For me, this immediately brings to mind the ‘God is dead and we have killed him’ stance taken by Nietzsche, although Existentialism isn’t mentioned at any point.

The rise of what the authors would call ‘fragmented’ scientific thought is generally considered to be a development for humanity. But a good case is laid out here that we have in some ways taken a step backwards and are in need of recovery. This is very much a matter of opinion, but is thought provoking none the less.

There is some discussion on the psychology of Carl Jung mixed in to this part of the book, but next to no acknowledgement of modern Hermetic systems such as the Golden Dawn which I think would have been a highly relevant addition and a natural continuation. The authors seem to hold disdain for characters such as Aleister Crowley, and the struggle of the modern magician is described as:

‘If he is seen to take himself too seriously, he is regarded as a deluded fool and a laughing stock. If his attitude remains inscrutable, he will be castigated as a cynical and manipulative charlatan.’

There is surely some truth in this statement, but I don’t think it applies solely to modern magicians –John Dee and Edward Kelley certainly faced this very same issue in the 16th Century – and it felt like a poor excuse for skirting around their contributions. Similarly the Freemasons and Rosicrucians were skimmed over, though I suspect this may be due to the same authors having published a whole separate book on that subject.

Part 2, which is the last 50 pages, is a further deviation from the original format and reads more like two essays. There is a write up of the ‘magic’ of rock and pop music, and its apparent links to the hypnotic drumming of voodoo; and a discussion of how we use the concept of the protective magic circle in everyday life without realising it.

In summary, this is an enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in the Hermeticism. It is not too heavy-going, but as it is not within the scope of the book to describe esoteric theory in any detail, it does command a certain amount of knowledge in the subject to begin with. It succeeds in putting key philosophies, writers and practitioners into a timeline, and offering some alternative ideas about history and the causes and effects we are seeing in our world today.


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