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Spiritual Alchemy traces the early-modern antecedents of modern alchemy through generations of followers of Jacob Boehme, the cobbler and theosopher of Görlitz. Spiritual alchemy combines traditional elements of alchemical literature with Christian mysticism. In 1850, it inspired Mary Anne Atwood to write her landmark
Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, usually seen as the first modern interpretation of alchemy. Drawing extensively on manuscript and otherwise obscure sources, Zuber challenges the received wisdom that posits a rupture between pre-modern and modern forms of alchemy.
List of contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Conventions
- Introduction
- 1 The Radical Reformation, Paracelsian Networks, and Pseudo-Weigelian Alchemy
- 2 A Nuremberg Chymist and a Torgau Astrologer Read Pseudo-Weigel
- 3 Jacob Boehme's Spiritual Alchemy of Rebirth
- 4 Abraham von Franckenberg and the Ancient Wisdom of Rebirth
- 5 Georg Lorenz Seidenbecher, Franckenberg's Spiritual and Philosophical Son
- 6 Friedrich Breckling, the 1682 Boehme Edition, and Spiritual Alchemy
- 7 Collaboration, Counterfeit, and Calumny in Amsterdam
- 8 Dionysius Andreas Freher, Boehme's Apostle to the English
- 9 Mesmerists and Alchemists in Victorian London
- 10 Mary Anne Atwood and Her First Readers
- Epilogue
- List of Works Cited
- Index
About the author
Mike A. Zuber is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland's Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. He received his doctorate at the University of Amsterdam in 2017. Before joining the University of Queensland, he pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford with funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Summary
Most professional historians see the relationship between pre-modern and modern alchemy as one of discontinuity and contrast. Mike A. Zuber challenges this dominant understanding and explores aspects of alchemy that have been neglected by recent work in the history of science. The predominant focus on the scientific aspect of alchemy, such as laboratory experiment, practical techniques, and material ingredients, argues Zuber, marginalizes the things that render alchemy so fascinating: its rich and vivid imagery, reliance on the medium of manuscript, and complicated relationship with religion.
Spiritual Alchemy traces the early-modern antecedents of modern alchemy through generations of followers of Jacob Boehme, the cobbler and theosopher of Görlitz. As Boehme's disciples down the generations -- including the Silesian nobleman Abraham von Franckenberg and the London-based German immigrant Dionysius Andreas Freher, among others -- studied his writings, they drew on his spiritual alchemy, adapted it, and communicated it to their contemporaries. Spiritual alchemy combines traditional elements of alchemical literature with Christian mysticism. Defying the boundaries between science and religion, this combination was transmitted from Görlitz ultimately to England. In 1850, it inspired a young woman, later known as Mary Anne Atwood, to write her Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, usually seen as the first modern interpretation of alchemy. Drawing extensively on manuscript or otherwise obscure sources, Zuber documents continuity between pre-modern and modern forms of alchemy while exploring this hybrid phenomenon.
Additional text
This book is extremely good on the reading habits of its main protagonists, their social networks and how the texts under discussion were disseminated in a variety of contexts across geographical and temporal boundaries...Spiritual Alchemy remains a significant contribution to the field which will rightly prompt a great deal of reflection.
