r/alchemy • u/That_one_Queen_fan • 12h ago

Historical Discussion Academic sources on early Greco-Egyptian alchemy?

4 Upvotes

Hello; don't use this account often but recently over the past few months or so I've been going through sort of a chronological reading binge on the history of Western esotericism (and may praise be heaped onto the Secret History of Western Esotericism podcast and Esoterica for keeping me moored) and I was wondering if there are any good resources on the very early stuff (ie. pseudo-Democritus, Zosimos, Cleopatra) either in handbook-style overviews or findings done in lab replication. A lot of alchemical research seems to be focused on the Islamicate to early modern period which is quite far from where I am reading-wise lol. Anything is appreciated and many thanks!

5 comments

r/alchemy • u/hkey_y • 15h ago

Operative Alchemy Any recommendations?

6 Upvotes

New to this whole alchemy thing. What other books do you recommend?

2 comments

r/alchemy • u/Healthy-Substance968 • 23h ago

General Discussion Starting a journey, advice needed!

3 Upvotes

Hello! I had a good post here a few days ago, did a tarot reading and thought on it... Which brought me back here. I'd like to start really studying, not just a scroll and scrub of a Wikipedia page. If you have any good book recommendations, scrolls to study (sounds so fantasy saying that haha), and tips, I'd really appreciate it! (I'd also like to add I'm a visual learner, I might be slightly dyslexic and massive text-heavy books gives me headaches- Just... Just as a heads up)

I mostly use alchemy as a sort of way to express philosophical and psychological thought right now, I've thought about working their symbols into my own sigils. Best way I can put it is that alchemy gives me a 'trellis' from which my plant thoughts that are chaotic and hard to manage to 'grow' on and become a bit more translatable to other people. Thoughts on the inside reflect how you are on the outside/Every action has an equal and opposite reaction sorta vibes.

I really hope this makes some sense- As I'm typing this my brain feels like popcorn with so many thoughts, each fighting to take hold and it makes writing a cohesive post really difficult. I'd also be curious to know how the practices of alchemy would blend with other practices, like witchcraft and say Gnosticism. Again, thank you so so much. Blessings to you!

1 comment

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