Ebook: The hermetic tradition: symbols and teachings of the royal art

Cover Image; Title Page; Table of Contents; Foreword; Translator's Note; Preface; Part One: The Symbols and Teachings; Introduction to Part One: The Tree, the Serpent, and the Titans; Chapter One: The Plurality and Duality of Civilizations; Chapter Two: Living Nature; Chapter Three: The Hermetic Knowledge; Chapter Four: "One the All" and the Dragon Ouroboros; Chapter Five: The Hermetic Presence; Chapter Six: Creation and Myth; Chapter Seven: "Woman," "Water," "Mercury," and "Poison"; Chapter Eight: The Separation: Sun and Moon; Chapter Nine.· Frozen and Flowing Waters;This important survey of alchemical symbols and doctrines sets forth the mysterious worldview and teachings of the practitioners of the "royal art." One of the leading exponents of the Hermetic tradition, Julius Evola demonstrates the singularity of subject matter that lies behind the words of all adepts in all ages, showing how alchemy'often misunderstood as primitive chemistry or a mere template for the Jungian process of "individuation"'is nothing less than a universal secret science of human and natural transformation. First published in 1931 in Italian. This is the first English translation. Draws from a host of sources in the Western esoteric tradition'works on theurgy, magic, and gnosticism from neoplatonic, Arab, and medieval sources.