The First Alchemists

This is an important historical study of the spiritual and practical origins of alchemy at a time when there is rising interest in the topic following the pioneering work of C.G. Jung and his application of the principles of refinement and transformation to our inner life. The book examines the origins of alchemy ('the noble and holy art') in Roman Egypt, the pioneers of Graeco-Egyptian Jewish-alchemy, and the remarkable career and work of Zosimos, followed by answers to the questions of what the first alchemists did, where and how they did it, and a fascinating chapter on the relationship between alchemy and gnosis. The making and staining of glass was an important metaphor for alchemy in addition to the refinement of metals. Zosimos understood the art as having the dual purpose of purifying metals and human souls – a form of sacramental theurgy and an analogy of redemption – awakening the divine spark.

Churton describes the work of the early alchemists as actually 'applied science capable of repeated demonstration under controlled conditions,' and he criticises the misunderstanding of alchemy in terms of a lack of knowledge of what the first alchemists were actually doing. They were practitioners living in a spiritual-physical universe as their fundamental worldview, to which, in the view of Zosimos, Aristotle was a stranger. Interestingly, the Greek word for transformation means to turn inside out, literally bringing out what is hidden. The chapter on alchemy and gnosis highlights 'the curious interplay at work between the symbolic language and practical processes of the sacred art' and the symbolic language and myths of Gnostic writers who insist that what is within must be brought forth – turned inside out, and outside in so as to achieve direct knowledge of the depths, and to separate the wheat from the chaff. Later students like Ashmole, Boyle and Newton still supported the principle that 'the ultimate upholder of universal order was the spiritual Logos' – a timely reminder for our own time. The book will appeal mainly to scholars and serious students of the field since it is both authoritative and ground-breaking.