What is Spiritual alchemy? Emerging from the early 20th century quasi-vitalist, mystical interpretation of Mircea Eliade and the psychologizing interpretation of Carl Jung – both marked by a profoundly ahistorical approach – a position now known as the “new historiography” has attempted to re-locate alchemical theory and practice precisely as a historically developing theory of nature and the transformation of nature. However, many on the channel ask the same resounding question: “But what about the spiritual aspect of alchemy? Isn’t alchemy really about inner or spiritual transformation and not changing lead into gold?” In this episode, the first of several in a series, I’m going to explore just that question – the origins and development of spiritual alchemy in the European alchemical tradition. From radical mysticism of salvation, the alchemy of Paracelsus and heretical Protestants will emerge a theory of alchemical salvation with Christ as the philosophers’ stone and will lay the groundwork for Theosophy and Occult spirituality for centuries to come.
