Product Description

1918. Introduction by Walter Leslie Wilmshurst. "Alchemy is philosophy; it is the philosophy, the seeking out of the Sophia in the mind." Theory of Transmutation; The Golden Treatise; The True Subject; The Mysteries; Experimental Method; Manifestation of the Matter; Mental Requisites and Impediments; The Gross Work; The Six Keys; Rewards and Potencies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #883450 in Books
• Published on: 1942-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 692 pages

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Customer Reviews

the secrets of Alchemy
Mary Atwood published this book anonymously in 1850. When her father read it he felt strongly that she had revealed too much of the secrets of Alchemy which Mary referred to as "the ancient experiment of nature" and "the mother of sciences". The introduction to this book, which was added in a later reprint, explains the fascinating story of how Thomas South required his relatively young daughter to collect all the copies and the original manuscript and burn them in the garden. The then "Mary South" obediently followed her mentor's demands and managed to reacquire all but one of the one hundred copies printed. These she dutifully burned. Luckily for us the sole surviving work was never destroyed.

Mary's work is a masterful, exhaustive, and erudite documentation of the huge impact that hermetic philosophy has had on the human drama. To the astute and subtle of mind she reveals the confusing entanglements and deliberate confusions of the Green Language and how the ancient authors used its symbolic code to secretly communicate to their peers the true purpose of the hermetic "Art" and "Great Work". This she does by pulling all the hermetic references from many hundreds of sources from Socrates, Homer, and Plato all the way through the ages to Isaac Newton into one tome.

Like all hermetic writings, Mary's work is at best a difficult read and at worst totally indecipherable. I suggest you acquire a very old and exhaustive dictionary because Mary's vocabulary is immense and unkindly influenced by too many hours spent reading too many treatises in Latin and Greek. Following the tradition of her study subjects, Mary's sentences often run on for pages as she assumes a certain subtlety of mind and discipline of education in her readers. She openly admits that she has little interest in writing for the masses and will suffer no one to understand her work without the willingness to commit one's life to the effort.

As to the secrets she revealed, these are not very easily found. In part 2, chapter 1, Mary declares she will offer the consenting reader a clue. Over the next forty pages she very subtly and cryptically asserts that Alchemy was no science of turning lead into gold but rather a science of turning common man (symbolized by lead) into an enlightened form of man (symbolized by gold). This is to be accomplished by understanding the Elementals of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. Of these, the first three are the Principles. Air symbolizes the conscious mind. Earth symbolizes the primeval mind. Water symbolizes the subconscious mind. The term "Elementals" includes Fire that symbolizes sentience. To "know thyself" in this way was the beginning of their philosophy. The second great secret Mary reveals and which her father was probably most upset about is that the hermetic path is not just a philosophical undertaking but also involves a rite of initiation called simply "Hands" or "the Manual Method". In chapter one of part four Mary actually describes the sensation of this rite without revealing the method of inducing it. Elsewhere she describes it as being similar to hypnotism. To persons knowledgeable in the Green Language she reveals the true purpose of this rite and the effects thereof.

Do not suppose that by the preceding I have uncovered for you the whole of Mary Atwood's great work. Rather, I only tease you with the barest scraps of what her book has to offer you if you are willing to navigate the labyrinth of learning a new language.

Alchemy as Truth with a capital "T"
Just excellent. Alchemy truly is about spiritual transformation and Atwood makes this point abundantly clear in the amazing and wonderful book. A very satisfying read!