Spiritual Alchemy

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.