The real root of alchemy is to be sought less in philosophical doctrines than in the projections of individual investigators. I mean by this that while working on his chemical experiments the operator had certain psychic experiences which appeared to him as the particular behavior of the chemical process. Since it was a question of projection, he was naturally unconscious of the fact that the experience had nothing to do with matter itself . . . He experienced his projection as a property of matter; but what he was in reality experiencing was his own unconscious. In this way he recapitulated the whole history of man’s knowledge of nature. As we all know, science began with the stars, and mankind discovered in them the dominants of the unconscious, the “gods,” as well as the curious psychological qualities of the zodiac: a complete projected theory of human character. Astrology is a primordial experience similar to alchemy. Such projections repeat themselves whenever man tries to explore an empty darkness and involuntarily fills it with living form.
Carl Jung, Psychology and Alchemy
Hildegard von Bingen’s 23 litterae ignotae, letters for her constructed mystical language Lingua Ignota, ca. 1200.
The Arbatel De Magia Veterum (Arbatel: On the Magic of the Ancients) is a grimoire of ceremonial magic that was published in 1575 in Switzerland. It was likely edited by Theodor Zwinger, and published by Pietro Perna. The actual author of the text remains unknown, but scholars suggest Jacques Gohory as a possible candidate.
The Arbatel mainly focuses on the relationship between humanity, celestial hierarchies, and the positive relationship between the two. The Olympian spirits featured in it are entirely unique to this grimoire. Unlike other grimoires, the Arbatel exhorts the magus to remain active in their community (instead of isolating themselves), favoring kindness, charity, and honesty over remote and obscure rituals. The teachings of Swiss alchemist Paracelsus greatly influenced the writing of this work, though it is also deeply rooted in classical culture, Ancient Greek philosophy, the Sibylline oracles and the philosophy of Plotinus.
Originally written in Latin, these selected ten pages come from a later German translation of the work, dated to 1686.
The spiritual correlative of what we find externally in the world as the relations between the signs of the Zodiac and the seven planets familiar in Spiritual Science.
Rudolf Steiner, Human and Cosmic Thought: Lecture III
Galdrakver (‘Little Book Of Magic’) The ‘Little Book Of Magic’ is a seventeenth-century Icelandic manuscript, written on animal skin and containing magical staves, sigils, prayers, charms and related texts.
It is known to have once been owned by Icelandic Bishop Hannes Finnson who was alive from 1739 until 1796 and known for having a vast library containing many volumes of magic related texts and manuscripts. Full manuscript here.
A stone marker at a holy site dedicated to the dual lunar cult of Tanit and Astarte; Phoenician night goddesses worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity, alongside their horned consort Ba'al Hammon, “Lord of Braziers”, classically associated with Saturn.