Basically, I'm looking for books that discuss Alchemy, Arithmancy, Numerology and other magic-like concepts.

This means textbook-like books, not ones with plot.

Thank you in advance.

 

The Secret Teachings of all Ages by Manly P. Hall. Didn't read it myself, but heard it's one of the best about this subject.

 

This looks pretty good for alchemy.

It actually contains a paper written by Nicolas Flamel.

... maybe I'll get it.

 

@ Taure
That sounds amazing. If you do, post about it on DLP I'd love to hear about that stuff.

 

Thanks guys, I'll look at these.

 

You probably know this already, but just warning. Don't. Ever. Read. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. Bullshit. Pure bullshit

 

Thanks for the warning.

 

To be fair The Alchemist has very little to do with Alchemy.

I can't offer any good books, but I have a similar question - does anyone know good sources on Astrology? It's difficult to find books that aren't completely kray-kray and actually believe in it. I just want to know more about the history and practice, perhaps a comparison of different systems.

 

This thread has been dead for over a year, and I'm completely new. But alchemy is one of the things I actually came on this forum to talk about, because I find its depiction in HP fanfiction sadly lacking - so forgive me if I take a stab at some recommendations, in case anyone's still looking:

Patrick Harpur's Mercurius: the Marriage of Heaven and Earth only appears to be a novel; it is probably the best published introduction to alchemy for modern readers, exploring its nuances on many levels. For a while it was very hard to find, but recently it has begun being printed again by a publishing house in Australia, or so I hear.

Mercurius' mysterious sister novel is The Chymical Wedding by Lindsay Clarke, and while it's less exhaustive, it's also less obscure, and offers a more accessible fictionalization of the world of alchemy. (These two novels, and their authors, are strangely linked. I asked Patrick about it once and he gave me a very cheeky answer.)

Marguerite Yourcenar's L'Oeuvre au Noir, usually translated into English as The Abyss is a novel about the life of a single 16th century Renaissance alchemist and his long, lonely life in Bruges. Incredibly challenging and academic, and good luck finding an English translation, but it is an utter masterpiece.

In terms of actual alchemical texts, check out, of course, the Emerald Tablet, or the Tabula Smargadina. For centuries it's been considered the most introductory and also the most all-encompassing introduction to alchemy. Carl Jung's Psychology and Alchemy, contained in his collected works, will help you begin to get a grasp of what it is the alchemists were actually doing, but you will have to familiarize yourself with Jung's very specific perspective on the topic. From there you will probably be ready to wade into reading the manuscripts themselves, which are very easy to find on the internet.

also...

Flamel actually never practiced or wrote anything on alchemy (or did he?). Most of the works attributed to Flamel date from the early 17th century, a time when the Reformation had kicked into high gear, as had the printing press - the combination of these factors making it very easy for anyone to falsify anything, in some cases entire fake "secret societies." Flamel was one of these. The historical Flamel was a manuscript salesman, property investor, and scribe.

Although...there is a long alchemical tradition of misattribution and interpolation of texts, mistranslations and outright forgery - also secrecy, charlatanism, and deliberate obfuscation - so who can say if Flamel actually did achieve the Philosopher's Stone?

Anyways, sorry to bump a dead thread with a bunch of strange book recommendations Nice to meet you all ~

Φ.