Alchemical Feminine, the (previously announced)
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Author: Warlick, M.E.
The images of women in this pioneering volume evolved from alchemical philosophy, in which gendered and sexualised concepts are used to describe physical matter and laboratory processes. When alchemical imagery arose in the late Middle Ages, images of women developed in ways that reflected wider social pressures. This title examines the transformations of alchemical images of women in the early modern period and the increasing masculinisation of earlier feminine imagery. When alchemy returned to the Latin West, metals were thought to be composed of hot, dry, fixed Philosophic Sulphur and cool, moist, volatile Philosophic Mercury. In the laboratory, these lovers fused in a “Chemical Wedding” that produced their child, the “Philosophers’ Stone,” a mysterious catalyst enabling the transformation of base metals into silver and gold. As alchemical imagery developed, women appeared as ancient philosophers, religious figures, royal queens, sexual partners, cosmological personifications, deities, allegorical symbols of Nature and the wives of fools. Herbal alchemy also had ancient roots and it is in this realm that women as alchemical practitioners can be found. Using abundant illustrations, this book examines the alchemical feminine and the thematic diversity of alchemical images of women.
ISBN 9781399947718. Fulgur Press. hb. 292 pages. 130 colour, 64 b/w ills. 30.5 x 22.9 cm.
available
The images of women in this pioneering volume evolved from alchemical philosophy, in which gendered and sexualised concepts are used to describe physical matter and laboratory processes. When alchemical imagery arose in the late Middle Ages, images of women developed in ways that reflected wider social pressures. This title examines the transformations of alchemical images of women in the early modern period and the increasing masculinisation of earlier feminine imagery. When alchemy returned to the Latin West, metals were thought to be composed of hot, dry, fixed Philosophic Sulphur and cool, moist, volatile Philosophic Mercury. In the laboratory, these lovers fused in a “Chemical Wedding” that produced their child, the “Philosophers’ Stone,” a mysterious catalyst enabling the transformation of base metals into silver and gold. As alchemical imagery developed, women appeared as ancient philosophers, religious figures, royal queens, sexual partners, cosmological personifications, deities, allegorical symbols of Nature and the wives of fools. Herbal alchemy also had ancient roots and it is in this realm that women as alchemical practitioners can be found. Using abundant illustrations, this book examines the alchemical feminine and the thematic diversity of alchemical images of women.
ISBN 9781399947718. Fulgur Press. hb. 292 pages. 130 colour, 64 b/w ills. 30.5 x 22.9 cm.
available