THE ALCHEMICAL ENGRAVINGS OF MYLIUS: With the Text of Part Four of the First Book of the Philosophia Reformata

Glasgow, 1984. Cloth bound in very good condition; A bit of spotting to covers.. Transalted by Patricia Tahil; Commentary by Adam McLean; Limited edition of 250 copies signed, dated and numbered by Adam McLean; Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks No. 19; Hand-Bound in simulated brown leather with gilt spine title; 130 pages; 50 illustrations. Johann Daniel Mylius was one of the most important philosophical or Rosicrucian alchemists of the early 17th century. His 'Reformation of Philosophy', published in 1622, included a famous series of 28 engravings which form a multi-faceted complex of symbolism. These emblems provide a sophisticated symbolic system that opens the soul to spiritual archetypes, and which can be explored on many different levels, being like the Tarot trumps system, archetypally pure and at the same time sufficiently rich symbolically, that its depths cannot be plumbed intellectually, nor its symbolic import easily exhausted. Patricia Tahil has translated the section of the text that describes the emblems and relates them to alchemical ideas. Adam McLean provides an extensive commentary, outlining the interrelationships of the symbols of the emblems and suggests ways in which we can work with them further in meditation.