This is a follow-up video to the book review I wrote on the Hermetic tradition.
Now, if you don't read all my book reviews, no worries.
I don't judge you at all.
It's fine.
Well, okay, I judge you a little bit, but it's all good.
Now, anyway, I thought to mention something when we talked about the Hermetic tradition.
So, this is a book about alchemy, by the way, and I wanted to point something out, and that is that you can view alchemy in a few different ways.
So, this book, when he's talking about alchemy, when Julius Evola as an esoteric master, he's talking about alchemy, what he means is a metaphysics and spiritual teachings.
So, this is not about the pseudoscience of turning a certain metal into gold, that there were some charlatans back in the day during the Middle Ages.
They claimed to be able to do this, but yeah, we now know that they couldn't.
Then, of course, you have alchemy as the humble origins of chemistry, so the modern science of chemistry.
So, you have basically three different things that you can view alchemy as the charlatan pseudoscience, a collection of spiritual teachings, or the humble origins of modern chemistry.
What this book is, and what is interesting to us, what is interesting to me in my journey for in my quest for esoteric knowledge, that is, of course, the spiritual teaching within.
So, perhaps you read my book reviews on introduction to magic.
It's quite many teachings are similar.
You will recognize some teachings in here if you have read Introduction to Magic, because of course they draw quite heavily upon the teachings of older mystics and alchemists.
So, basically, something to keep in mind here as well, that which I mentioned in the book review, by the way, first link in the description box below.
In the cast of characters, I name a few different alchemists that Evola draws upon their teachings to explain alchemy.
Now, these individuals, they were also quite accomplished in other areas in terms of philosophy or medicine and stuff like that.
So, you had, of course, many charlatans, pseudoscience, but you also had many men who are interested in alchemy as a spiritual teaching, and that is what I found interesting as well.
Now, when you see certain alchemical symbols, you see a symbol for gold or salt or mercury, sulfur, whatever it might be, the formulas, they aren't to transform actual material things such as sulfur or salt.
It's metaphors for what's going on here.
So, you can say that it's not about finding gold or creating gold, it's about finding God or create finding God within you or finding the animating life force or whatever we shall call it.
So, that is what alchemy is about.
And when we're talking about, you know, separating, separate these substances, it can be to separate soul, body, spirit, and then joining them again, liberating something.
So, it's quite similar as to certain teachings you find in Hindu metaphysics, in Hindu spirituality.
Which also brings me to my second point.
This will be the book review, the next book review I write, and I've read some of it already.
And yeah, I can see that the Hindu spirituality and the teachings of the alchemists, yeah, they are similar in many ways.
And as you all know, I meditate every day, I do breathing exercises, so getting a bit more deeper into it is highly interesting.
So, anyway, I just wanted to point that out: that you have you can view it in three different ways: alchemy, as the origins of modern chemistry, as a pseudo-science for charlatans, and then most importantly for us, a set of spiritual teachings.
So, anyway, if that all sounds interesting, check out the book review, and thank you for watching.
