Saturday, October 4, 2008

Book Review: Alchemy & Mysticism


The Hermetic Museum: Alchemy & Mysticism by Alexander Roob is an art book published by Taschen that happens to be a good introduction to hermeticism. You won't be an expert after reading this book (or looking at the pictures), but you will have been exposed to all of the basic concepts. You'll also see many of the pictures as illustrations in other books. As you would expect from the title, much of the book is devoted to alchemy. However, astrology and qabalah are also covered. Each picture is accompanied by a blurb explaining the symbolism, and some quotes are also included.

Alchemy, simply put, is the art and science of transformation. It's not just about turning lead into gold; it's also about turning yourself into gold. As I mentioned in prior posts, symbols can be very helpful because they operate on many levels at once. With that in mind, I recommend this book to everyone on the hermetic path, even if you don't actually read any of it.

1 comment:

Mini Me said...

This is a great book for historical art. I found it in the clearance section of B&N awhile back, and it's a great addition to my library.