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Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul
Spiritual attainment has frequently been described as a transformation whereby a human's leaden, dull nature is returned to its golden state. This wonderfully insightful volume introduces some of the metaphors useful for establishing attitudes required for the soul's advancement: trust, confidence, hope, and detachment. It is a reminder that when any substance or entity undergoes dissolution, it must eventually be resolved or re-crystalized in a new, possibly higher and more noble form.
206 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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1369 people want to read
About the author
Titus Burckhardt
72 books104 followersTitus Burckhardt (Ibrahim Izz al-Din after his Islamic name), a German Swiss, was born in Florence, Italy in 1908 and died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1984.He devoted all his life to the study and exposition of the different aspects of Wisdom tradition.
He was an eminent member of the "Traditionalist School" of twentieth-century authors. He was a frequent contributor to the journal Studies in Comparative Religion along with other prominent members of the school.
Burckhardt was the scion of a patrician family of Basel. He was the great-nephew of the art-historian Jacob Burckhardt and the son of the sculptor Carl Burckhardt. Titus Burckhardt was a contemporary of Frithjof Schuon – leading exponent of traditionalist thought in the twentieth century – and the two spent their early school days together in Basel around the time of the First World War. This was the beginning of an intimate friendship and harmonious intellectual and spiritual relationship that was to last a lifetime.
Burckhardt was, as his grandfather, a connoisseur of Islamic art, architecture and civilisation. He compiled and published work from the Sufi masters: Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Abd-al-karim Jili (1365–1424) and Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (1760–1823).
He was an eminent member of the "Traditionalist School" of twentieth-century authors. He was a frequent contributor to the journal Studies in Comparative Religion along with other prominent members of the school.
Burckhardt was the scion of a patrician family of Basel. He was the great-nephew of the art-historian Jacob Burckhardt and the son of the sculptor Carl Burckhardt. Titus Burckhardt was a contemporary of Frithjof Schuon – leading exponent of traditionalist thought in the twentieth century – and the two spent their early school days together in Basel around the time of the First World War. This was the beginning of an intimate friendship and harmonious intellectual and spiritual relationship that was to last a lifetime.
Burckhardt was, as his grandfather, a connoisseur of Islamic art, architecture and civilisation. He compiled and published work from the Sufi masters: Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Abd-al-karim Jili (1365–1424) and Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (1760–1823).
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 19, 2016
Better than almost any other book on alchemy, but it is still almost totally overshadowed by a far more systematic and comprehensive study, Julius Evola's masterpiece 'The Hermetic Tradition', to which it functions as a good supplement.
August 1, 2011
I would not have read this book in graduate school, where I was trained to read the introduction and the conclusion first, and to look carefully at the publication date before pursuing it further. However since I am no longer under those dictates, and have the time, I read this book very carefully and in the order the author intended. It raised many questions on the current proto-science take on alchemy, and the period perceptions of terminology we take for granted, being post-periodic table, post Jung and post-modern. I found the author's sexism repellent, but was able to take in much of his argument-that the collective unconscious is a Jungian perspective derived largely from Herbert Silberer-something I know already. But Burckhardt makes clear that Jung's perspective confines revelatory inspiration to a hereditary knowledge, something from the basement of human knowledge rather than from any sort of divine revelation the traditional view of genius-it came not just from the extraordinary perceptions of an individual, it also came from a supra-conscious intelligence. This is an important historical distinction-today we think of genius as an exemplary human being like Newton, but traditionally such genius was thought to be an indwelling of divine characteristics based on the receptivity of what we now know as genius. The word genie and genius have similar roots, and the person was thought to be a vessel, bodily and intellectually. Patricia Fara explores this concept in her Biography of Newton, The Making of Genius.
Proto-science approaches to alchemy ignore the invocation of many alchemists for angelic guidance, something the irritating Granger drew to my attention in his analysis of Harry Potter, and the fact that magic in Rowling's books involves the invocation of good spirits (like Harry's parents). Burckhardt was his source, and it appears that Rene Guenon is a major source for Burckhardt, which of course involves further reading. Burckhardt is a good source for Hindu and Buddhist connections for alchemical theories, although I find him less than trustworthy in locating the historical tradition in Alexandria, then Constantinople, then Spain. He is however a good introductory source for Islamic influence, especially give n that he was a forerunner in translating the Sufi tradition.
It seems more likely that international congress of ideas had been going on for quite some time, and that the influence of the East, and Islam is something neglected in most Western historical courses, something Burckhart was trying to relieve. I am still looking for a good overview source of history of influence from the East, so if one is readily at hand, let me know. It is clear to me that during the Nestorian dispersion to the East, and during Crusades, the survivors brought back pieces of other cultures, which were probably of greater influence than we have been taught to encompass. Generally we are taught to think that such influences came through the Jesuits, like Matteo Ricci, much later. See The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci I was surprised to find Chinese influences in alchemical illustrations until I recognized that the huge import of Chinese porcelains would have been accompanied by such "cloud hung" landscapes. And indeed alchemical research helped Europe find it's own sources of porcelian, see The Arcanum by Janet Gleeson. Liebniz had a period of Orientalism, but I have no citation for that. And yes, I have read Edgar Wind.
Proto-science approaches to alchemy ignore the invocation of many alchemists for angelic guidance, something the irritating Granger drew to my attention in his analysis of Harry Potter, and the fact that magic in Rowling's books involves the invocation of good spirits (like Harry's parents). Burckhardt was his source, and it appears that Rene Guenon is a major source for Burckhardt, which of course involves further reading. Burckhardt is a good source for Hindu and Buddhist connections for alchemical theories, although I find him less than trustworthy in locating the historical tradition in Alexandria, then Constantinople, then Spain. He is however a good introductory source for Islamic influence, especially give n that he was a forerunner in translating the Sufi tradition.
It seems more likely that international congress of ideas had been going on for quite some time, and that the influence of the East, and Islam is something neglected in most Western historical courses, something Burckhart was trying to relieve. I am still looking for a good overview source of history of influence from the East, so if one is readily at hand, let me know. It is clear to me that during the Nestorian dispersion to the East, and during Crusades, the survivors brought back pieces of other cultures, which were probably of greater influence than we have been taught to encompass. Generally we are taught to think that such influences came through the Jesuits, like Matteo Ricci, much later. See The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci I was surprised to find Chinese influences in alchemical illustrations until I recognized that the huge import of Chinese porcelains would have been accompanied by such "cloud hung" landscapes. And indeed alchemical research helped Europe find it's own sources of porcelian, see The Arcanum by Janet Gleeson. Liebniz had a period of Orientalism, but I have no citation for that. And yes, I have read Edgar Wind.
April 15, 2009
Burckhardt is a great author. His biography indicates a man of wide interests and profound scholarship. He is accessible in what he writes and often his views are stimulating and original; they are always informative.
He provides an introduction to the symbolic and spiritual basis of Alchemy, or the Science of the Soul as his sub-title suggests. It is full of interesting lore like the possible origin of the signes/glyphs for the various planets and why they are as they are. I love thinking like this - for he seeks to really understand and then make that understanding available.
He provides an introduction to the symbolic and spiritual basis of Alchemy, or the Science of the Soul as his sub-title suggests. It is full of interesting lore like the possible origin of the signes/glyphs for the various planets and why they are as they are. I love thinking like this - for he seeks to really understand and then make that understanding available.
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August 23, 2023Uma boa descrição do que era a alquimia de verdade, além disto, uma boa explicação de como perceber as coisas simbolicamente no geral.
January 4, 2024
Given the apparent stature of Titus Burckhardt, I expected this book to be a scholarly and well-researched overview of alchemy with an emphasis on the ways in which it could be interpreted as a spiritual work.
Instead what I got was roughly 200 pages of vague, directionless prose without much of a logical structure, punctuated by seemingly made-up metaphysical terms and tenuous analogies to non-Western religions and belief systems. His writing is almost stream-of-consciousness at times, which would be cool if this book was intended to be a non-scholarly piece of alchemical art, but it isn't. It confuses more than it educates, and it's also hard to tell where his research ends and where his own ideas begin – though the bibliography shows his research is based on a very small number of sources to begin with.
Burckhardt frequently attacks Jung's interpretation of alchemy, and psychoanalysis in general. At first I was actually very interested to see where Burckhardt would go with this, because there's a real argument to be made that the spiritual and metaphysical aspects of alchemy have often been ignored in favor of Jungian psychological interpretations. However, Burckhardt basically squanders all of his opportunities to challenge Jung's ideas as rigorously and coherently as Jung presents them, preferring instead to throw as much spiritual jargon at the wall as he can, in hopes that something sticks.
There also appear to be some semantic mixups, for example "Sulphur" gets mixed up with "Quicksilver" in one spot, though perhaps this was an error on the translator's part. Anyway – would not recommend.
Instead what I got was roughly 200 pages of vague, directionless prose without much of a logical structure, punctuated by seemingly made-up metaphysical terms and tenuous analogies to non-Western religions and belief systems. His writing is almost stream-of-consciousness at times, which would be cool if this book was intended to be a non-scholarly piece of alchemical art, but it isn't. It confuses more than it educates, and it's also hard to tell where his research ends and where his own ideas begin – though the bibliography shows his research is based on a very small number of sources to begin with.
Burckhardt frequently attacks Jung's interpretation of alchemy, and psychoanalysis in general. At first I was actually very interested to see where Burckhardt would go with this, because there's a real argument to be made that the spiritual and metaphysical aspects of alchemy have often been ignored in favor of Jungian psychological interpretations. However, Burckhardt basically squanders all of his opportunities to challenge Jung's ideas as rigorously and coherently as Jung presents them, preferring instead to throw as much spiritual jargon at the wall as he can, in hopes that something sticks.
There also appear to be some semantic mixups, for example "Sulphur" gets mixed up with "Quicksilver" in one spot, though perhaps this was an error on the translator's part. Anyway – would not recommend.
October 29, 2022
Book of the Day – Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul
Today’s Book of the Day is ALCHEMY: SCIENCE OF THE COSMOS, SCIENCE OF THE SOUL written by Titus Burckhardt and published in 1997 by Fons Vitae (the book was originally published in 1960, in German, under the title Alchemie, Sinn- und Weltbild).
Eminent Swiss metaphysician and scholar Dr. Titus Burckhardt (1908 – 1984) was an expert and a leading member of the Perennialist or Traditionalist School.
He has written many books on metaphysics, cosmology, anthropology, esoterism, alchemy, Sufism, symbolism, and sacred art in German, French, and English.
The Traditionalist or Perennialist School is a group of scholars and thinkers who believe in the existence of some perennial wisdom, philosophy, and truth that represent the common source for all the major world religions.
Some famous exponents of this school of thought are René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, William Stoddart, Harry Oldmeadow, Jean-Louis Michon, Huston Smith, and Marco Pallis.
Alchemy has always been studying philosophy, science, and spirituality looking for the root and the path towards spiritual attainment, seen as a holistic transformation of human nature. As a curious learner and researcher of this fascinating subject, I want to introduce you to this amazing work.
This book can be considered as an introduction to the symbolic and spiritual basis of Alchemy, or the Science of the Soul, as the author suggests. With its valuable insight, it offers the readers some of the tools needed to grow the personal attitudes required for the soul’s advancement: trust, confidence, hope, and detachment.
One of the core ideas of the book is of course the concept of the seven stages of the Alchemical Process: Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Distillation, and Coagulation. So, once our old nature dissolves, we can coagulate it into a new, higher, and more noble form.
Alchemy, in this book, is not just the precursor of chemistry or psychology, it represents a true science of the Cosmos, that then reflects itself into a science of the human, and divine, Soul.
A science that connects the soul, in both its human and universal declensions, to the cosmos, here seen as microcosm and the macrocosm, intimately bound one to each other.
Burckhardt clearly states this when he says that “spiritual alchemy was not necessarily involved in outward metallurgical operations, even when it made use of them as similes. It is nevertheless to be supposed that originally the inward and outward work went hand in hand, for, within the framework of an organic civilization orientated towards man’s highest goal, a craft can only have meaning when it serves a spiritual way“.
So, this book represents a way for the readers to be, in a certain way, initiated to the most intimate meaning of Alchemy starting from what we can actually perceive here, “down”. So, if Alchemy‘s goal is to bring men from the materia prima into a state of purity which makes possible the transformation into the unity of Soul and Spirit, the author here, without requiring the readers to pass through all the steps of the progress, shares the essential knowledge needed to grasp the key meaning of this knowledge.
It is worth noticing that Burckhardt has also written several outstanding books on Islamic esotericism and Sufism as well as on the traditional art of the East and West. So he uses both his knowledge of western and eastern cultures to satisfactorily explain the basic alchemic doctrine.
The chapters of the book describe nearly every key aspect of Alchemy, from an explanation of its language to the discussion of planets and metals, the elements, the materia prima, the alchemical marriage, the alchemy of prayer, the history of Nicolas Flamel, and the Emerald Tablet.
The book is also rich in images, that add great value to the text, acting as a sort of further explanation of the concept described in the chapters.
I recommend this book to everyone interested in Alchemy, culture, art, and comparative religion, even if some of the themes are dealt with in a language that may be considered “old fashioned” by some of the youngest readers.
Today’s Book of the Day is ALCHEMY: SCIENCE OF THE COSMOS, SCIENCE OF THE SOUL written by Titus Burckhardt and published in 1997 by Fons Vitae (the book was originally published in 1960, in German, under the title Alchemie, Sinn- und Weltbild).
Eminent Swiss metaphysician and scholar Dr. Titus Burckhardt (1908 – 1984) was an expert and a leading member of the Perennialist or Traditionalist School.
He has written many books on metaphysics, cosmology, anthropology, esoterism, alchemy, Sufism, symbolism, and sacred art in German, French, and English.
The Traditionalist or Perennialist School is a group of scholars and thinkers who believe in the existence of some perennial wisdom, philosophy, and truth that represent the common source for all the major world religions.
Some famous exponents of this school of thought are René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, William Stoddart, Harry Oldmeadow, Jean-Louis Michon, Huston Smith, and Marco Pallis.
Alchemy has always been studying philosophy, science, and spirituality looking for the root and the path towards spiritual attainment, seen as a holistic transformation of human nature. As a curious learner and researcher of this fascinating subject, I want to introduce you to this amazing work.
This book can be considered as an introduction to the symbolic and spiritual basis of Alchemy, or the Science of the Soul, as the author suggests. With its valuable insight, it offers the readers some of the tools needed to grow the personal attitudes required for the soul’s advancement: trust, confidence, hope, and detachment.
One of the core ideas of the book is of course the concept of the seven stages of the Alchemical Process: Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Distillation, and Coagulation. So, once our old nature dissolves, we can coagulate it into a new, higher, and more noble form.
Alchemy, in this book, is not just the precursor of chemistry or psychology, it represents a true science of the Cosmos, that then reflects itself into a science of the human, and divine, Soul.
A science that connects the soul, in both its human and universal declensions, to the cosmos, here seen as microcosm and the macrocosm, intimately bound one to each other.
Burckhardt clearly states this when he says that “spiritual alchemy was not necessarily involved in outward metallurgical operations, even when it made use of them as similes. It is nevertheless to be supposed that originally the inward and outward work went hand in hand, for, within the framework of an organic civilization orientated towards man’s highest goal, a craft can only have meaning when it serves a spiritual way“.
So, this book represents a way for the readers to be, in a certain way, initiated to the most intimate meaning of Alchemy starting from what we can actually perceive here, “down”. So, if Alchemy‘s goal is to bring men from the materia prima into a state of purity which makes possible the transformation into the unity of Soul and Spirit, the author here, without requiring the readers to pass through all the steps of the progress, shares the essential knowledge needed to grasp the key meaning of this knowledge.
It is worth noticing that Burckhardt has also written several outstanding books on Islamic esotericism and Sufism as well as on the traditional art of the East and West. So he uses both his knowledge of western and eastern cultures to satisfactorily explain the basic alchemic doctrine.
The chapters of the book describe nearly every key aspect of Alchemy, from an explanation of its language to the discussion of planets and metals, the elements, the materia prima, the alchemical marriage, the alchemy of prayer, the history of Nicolas Flamel, and the Emerald Tablet.
The book is also rich in images, that add great value to the text, acting as a sort of further explanation of the concept described in the chapters.
I recommend this book to everyone interested in Alchemy, culture, art, and comparative religion, even if some of the themes are dealt with in a language that may be considered “old fashioned” by some of the youngest readers.
May 13, 2024
Introduction
The Origin of Western Alchemy
Nature and Language of Alchemy
The Hermetic Wisdom
Spirit and Matter
Planets and Metals
The Rotation of the Elements
Of Materia prima
Universal Nature
‘Nature can overcome Nature'
Sulphur, Quicksilver, and Salt
Of the 'Chemical Marriage'
The Alchemy of Prayer
The Athanor
The Story of Nicolas Flamel and his Wife Perrenelle
The Stages of the Work
The Emerald Tablet
Conclusion
“One must not explain this art in obscure words only; on the other hand, one must not explain it so clearly that all may understand it. I therefore teach it in such a way that nothing will remain hidden to the wise man, even though it may strike mediocre minds as quite obscure; the foolish and the ignorant, for their part, will understand none of it at all...”—Geber
…the requirement that the pupil of Hermes must only seek to transmute elements in order to help the poor - or nature herself - in need, recalls the Buddhist vow to seek the highest enlightenment only with a view to the salvation of all creatures. Compassion alone delivers us from the artfulness of the ego, which in its every action seeks only to mirror itself.
The Origin of Western Alchemy
Nature and Language of Alchemy
The Hermetic Wisdom
Spirit and Matter
Planets and Metals
The Rotation of the Elements
Of Materia prima
Universal Nature
‘Nature can overcome Nature'
Sulphur, Quicksilver, and Salt
Of the 'Chemical Marriage'
The Alchemy of Prayer
The Athanor
The Story of Nicolas Flamel and his Wife Perrenelle
The Stages of the Work
The Emerald Tablet
Conclusion
“One must not explain this art in obscure words only; on the other hand, one must not explain it so clearly that all may understand it. I therefore teach it in such a way that nothing will remain hidden to the wise man, even though it may strike mediocre minds as quite obscure; the foolish and the ignorant, for their part, will understand none of it at all...”—Geber
…the requirement that the pupil of Hermes must only seek to transmute elements in order to help the poor - or nature herself - in need, recalls the Buddhist vow to seek the highest enlightenment only with a view to the salvation of all creatures. Compassion alone delivers us from the artfulness of the ego, which in its every action seeks only to mirror itself.
November 17, 2024
O que inicialmente parece um livro extremamente confuso, mal escrito e cheio de opiniões terríveis se revelou um livro recheado de profundo conhecimento. Acho super interessante como o texto se transformou depois que li Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed do Hanegraaff e reli a primeira metade do livro e minhas anotações. Burckhardt utiliza várias das tecnologias antigas que ele mesmo explica para codificar o próprio texto. A experiência de leitura se pareceu com a de ler literatura ergódica, uma espécie de jogo no qual eu precisei ler e reler vário trechos do texto para decodificar algo que apareceria muito mais tarde no livro, ou conceitos ocultados por símbolos que só fizeram sentido quando juntei várias pequenas pepitas de conhecimento espalhadas pelo livro. Poderia dizer que isso tudo na verdade é resultado de um texto mal escrito, mas como o próprio autor coloca: "[...] in the domain of the sacred there is no chance, [...] things which seem mere coincidences are in reality preordained".
September 21, 2022
Essential reading for understanding the spiritual and philosophical underpinnings of alchemy in our reductionist modern times. Excellent introduction to a traditionalist view of alchemy as opposed to Jungian or purely historical.
July 31, 2018
Wisdom traditionalism at its best
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December 20, 2020Nicholas Flamel gerçekmiş 😱 neden söylemediniz?
August 16, 2021
Best summary on the subject I've found.
October 4, 2021
Okült konulara merakı olanlara önerebilirim.
"Simya en azından İsa'dan önceki ilk bin yılın ortasından beri ve muhtemelen tarih öncesi devirlerden bu yana var olmuştur." Sf 18
"Simya en azından İsa'dan önceki ilk bin yılın ortasından beri ve muhtemelen tarih öncesi devirlerden bu yana var olmuştur." Sf 18
March 14, 2022
Not exactly a beginners book, but a great read for those interested of the subject.
April 27, 2022
Modern dönemde simya ile ilgili yazılmış en önemli eser olabilir. Titizlikle çevrilmiş.
November 17, 2023
Simples, claro, elucidativo. Perfeito como leitura introdutória ao tema. Além disso, é recheado de referências bibliográficas para quem deseja se aprofundar mais no assunto. Amei.
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October 18, 2024A bit of a slog but an interesting read nonetheless. I appreciate the attempt to make clear the connections between the physical and spiritual practices of alchemy
October 31, 2025
It served me as an introduction to christian esotericism.
September 28, 2021
Exclusive.
June 29, 2023
A Captivating Journey into the Mysteries of Alchemy: "Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul" by Titus Burckhardt
In this concise yet comprehensive book, Burckhardt delves into the multifaceted aspects of alchemy, blending historical accounts, symbolic interpretations, and spiritual insights. He navigates through the intricate tapestry of alchemical symbolism, shedding light on its intricate relationships with cosmology, psychology, and spirituality. Through his meticulous research and profound understanding, Burckhardt elucidates the interconnectedness of alchemy's outer laboratory experiments and its inner spiritual dimensions. What sets "Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul" apart is the author's deep appreciation for the spiritual underpinnings of alchemy. Burckhardt emphasizes the alchemist's quest for self-realization and the union of opposites, drawing parallels between alchemical symbolism and the teachings of various wisdom traditions, such as Sufism and Hermeticism.
Furthermore, the book is adorned with exquisite illustrations, providing visual representations of key alchemical concepts and symbols. These enriching visuals, combined with Burckhardt's evocative prose, enhance the reader's engagement with the subject matter and facilitate a deeper understanding of alchemy. This book is not only an exquisite masterpiece that provides a comprehensive and enlightening exploration of alchemy's profound wisdom but also an invaluable companion that will leave you with a newfound appreciation for the intricate interplay between the cosmos and the soul.
In this concise yet comprehensive book, Burckhardt delves into the multifaceted aspects of alchemy, blending historical accounts, symbolic interpretations, and spiritual insights. He navigates through the intricate tapestry of alchemical symbolism, shedding light on its intricate relationships with cosmology, psychology, and spirituality. Through his meticulous research and profound understanding, Burckhardt elucidates the interconnectedness of alchemy's outer laboratory experiments and its inner spiritual dimensions. What sets "Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul" apart is the author's deep appreciation for the spiritual underpinnings of alchemy. Burckhardt emphasizes the alchemist's quest for self-realization and the union of opposites, drawing parallels between alchemical symbolism and the teachings of various wisdom traditions, such as Sufism and Hermeticism.
Furthermore, the book is adorned with exquisite illustrations, providing visual representations of key alchemical concepts and symbols. These enriching visuals, combined with Burckhardt's evocative prose, enhance the reader's engagement with the subject matter and facilitate a deeper understanding of alchemy. This book is not only an exquisite masterpiece that provides a comprehensive and enlightening exploration of alchemy's profound wisdom but also an invaluable companion that will leave you with a newfound appreciation for the intricate interplay between the cosmos and the soul.
August 17, 2010
Best overview of the subject.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews