The Hermetic Art

About this book

Metals pass through the fire of an alchemist's furnace, yet A. S. Raleigh finds a second transformation in the person conducting the work. The Hermetic Art treats old alchemical operations as symbols of an inward process.

The book belongs to a modern esoteric interpretation of alchemy, in which purification and change become metaphors for spiritual development. Its account should not be mistaken for an agreed history of medieval laboratory practice. Raleigh's interest lies in the relation between the visible apparatus and the invisible changes he believes it represents. The furnace becomes a place for thinking about the soul.