The First Alchemists: The Spiritual and Practical Origins of the Noble and Holy Art

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Tobias Churton

The First Alchemists

The Spiritual and Practical Origins of the Noble and Holy Art

Tobias Churton

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English

Inner Traditions Bear and Company
18 January 2024

Explores the origins and practices of early alchemy

• Examines the oldest surviving alchemical texts, the original purpose of the “Royal Art,” and the first alchemists, showing how women dominated early alchemy

• Looks at the historical setting for the first alchemists, with detailed accounts of their apparatus, recipes, chemical processes, and the ingredients they used

• Reveals how changing the color of materials was more important in early alchemy than transmuting base metals into gold

Investigating the origins of alchemy and the legend of the Philosopher’s Stone, Tobias Churton explores the oldest surviving alchemical texts, the original purpose of the “Royal Art,” and the first alchemists themselves.

Showing how women dominated early alchemy, Churton looks at the first known alchemist, the Jewess Maria the Prophetess, the early alchemist Cleopatra (not the well-known Egyptian queen), and 3rd–4th century Egyptian female artisan Theosebeia, who had a guild of adepts working under her. He examines in depth the work of Zosimos of Panopolis, whose work inspired the medieval view of alchemy as an initiatory path for the transmutation of base metals into gold.

The author also discusses the political and industrial realities facing the first alchemists. He examines the late antique “Stockholm” and “Leiden” papyri, which offer detailed knowledge of the first known Graeco-Egyptian chemical recipes for gold and silver dyes for metal and stone and purple dyes for wool. He reveals how the alchemical secrets for working with the “living statues” of the Egyptian temples was jealously guarded by the priesthood and how secrecy helped to reinforce beliefs that alchemical knowledge came from forbidden, celestial sources. He also investigates the mysterious relation between alchemy, spiritual gnosis, Hermeticism, and the Book of Enoch.

By: Tobias Churton
Imprint: Inner Traditions Bear and Company
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 515g
ISBN: 9781644116838
ISBN 10: 1644116839
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 18 January 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Tobias Churton scholar, lecturer, composer, and religious TV director, is author of 27 published books, including biographies of William Blake, Aleister Crowley, G. I. Gurdjieff, and Elias Ashmole. A theology graduate of Brasenose College, Oxford, he was appointed Honorary Fellow in 2005 to lecture in Western Esotericism at Exeter University and is Britain’s leading scholar in the field, specializing in Gnostic, Hermetic, Rosicrucian, biblical, and Masonic studies. Invited to join Professor Boccaccini’s Enoch Seminar in 2019, his most recent books include Aleister Crowley in Paris and The Lost Pillars of Enoch.

Reviews for The First Alchemists: The Spiritual and Practical Origins of the Noble and Holy Art

“In this remarkable and necessary work on early alchemy, Churton outlines a program of research and experimentation into this rich but mostly unexplored area of Greco-Egyptian alchemical philosophies and practices. The depth and range of the material are breathtaking, and it is very satisfying to see the topic of glass addressed so thoroughly. I strongly recommend studying and working with The First Alchemists and going deeper, letting Tobias Churton light the way.” * Brian Cotnoir, author of On Alchemy, Alchemy, and Practical Alchemy * “The subject of alchemy has always been shrouded in dense fog. Here at last is a book that probes deeply and lucidly into this age-old pursuit, taking us right back to its roots in the Middle East, examining seminal sources and investigating key avatars of alchemy—of both ancient and more recent times—and what precisely they were trying to achieve. Alchemy has both a practical and a spiritual side. Tobias Churton, writing with his customary eloquence, shines a clear light on both aspects.” * Christopher McIntosh, author of Occult Russia and Beyond the North Wind *