The SHAC Spring meeting

To be held on Saturday 29 March 2025 at University College London

on the subject of

The  Biographies of Alchemists and Chemists.

Over the last few years a number of excellent biographies of alchemists and chemists have been published and more are in preparation. So, now seems an appropriate juncture to consider the genre and content of such biographies as well as how they relate to the evolving historiography. In addition to reflective papers devoted to specific people, offers on topics, such as, for example, collective biographies of alchemists and chemists, autobiographies, the market for such texts, and the value of the biographic genre and so on will be welcomed.

As 2025 marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of SHAC, there will be an associated round table at this meeting where members will be able to recollect their connection(s) with SHAC.

Offers of papers with a short description should be sent to the SHAC chair, Professor Frank James (frank.james[at]ucl.ac.uk), by 17 December 2024.

Best wishes

Rob Johnstone

Hon Treasurer, SHAC

The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC), in collaboration with the Allard Pierson of the University of Amsterdam and the Centre for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (HHP), will hold its Annual Autumn Meeting at the Allard Pierson, Amsterdam, on 11 October 2024, starting at 9:30 am and ending at 16:30 pm. The meeting will be hybrid, although we strongly encourage in-person attendance.

You can register here: https://allardpierson.nl/en/events/en-autumn-meeting-shac/

The emphasis will be on the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica State collection, one of the extensive collections housed at the Allard Pierson. This library holds approximately 4,400 rare manuscripts and printed works related to the hermetic tradition, assembled by the Dutch entrepreneur Joost Ritman.

The keynote of the day is Professor Stephen Clucas (Birkbeck, University of London):
‘Thomas Harriot and the alchemy of the Northumberland Circle’

Speakers and topics will include:
Sergei Zotov: ‘An image series in the Traumgedichte der siebe Säulen’
Tjalling Janssen: ‘Elemental beings, discourses of nature, and Paracelsian reception in Georg von Welling’s Opus mago-cabbalisticum et theosophicum’
Corey Andrews: ‘Alchemy in the Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer (Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians), with reference to an ‘extended’ 20th-century manuscript’
Kyra Gerber: “Es komt alles und allein” – Marginalia in a rare early edition of Kunrath’s work
Amber Richter: ‘The Fruit that Blossoms from the Daughter: The Hidden Dryads in Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens’
Peter Forshaw: ‘Abraham Le Juif’s Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques’
Jennifer Rampling: ‘George Ripley’

The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Joshua Werrett (University of Oxford) who will present:

Imitatio Christi and the Aesthetics of Martyrdom in The Visions of Zosimos of Panopolis

This will be live on Thursday, 19 September 2024, beginning at 5.00pm BST (6.00pm CEST, 12 noon EST, 9.00am PDT). The format will be a talk of 20-30 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion of half an hour.

As with recent seminars the Zoom link can be freely accessed by anyone, member of SHAC or not, by booking through the following Ticket Source link:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/society-for-the-history-of-alchemy-and-chemistry/t-dvqkvvg

The seminar will be also accessible live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/live/CELBazvrfeQ

Most previous on-line seminars can be found on the SHAC YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SocietyforHistoryofAlchemyandChemistry

Imitatio Christi and the Aesthetics of Martyrdom in The Visions of Zosimos of Panopolis

Joshua Werrett

The alchemical practice of Zosimos of Panopolis is not just about the transformation of metals; it is about the transformation of the self. This double meaning is found throughout Zosimos’ works, but is perhaps most noticeable in his Visions. In this text, Zosimos uses alchemy as a theurgic practice to understand salvation, a practice which is allegorised as having four major stages: baptism; violent punishment; the separation of body and soul in death; and rebirth as a spiritual entity. These steps, taken by several characters throughout the text, clearly mimic major points in the life and death of Christ. In this talk, I present the argument that the imitation of Christ and the imitation of early Christian martyrs, themselves imitating Christ, are key motifs in the violent, redemptive, sacrificial aesthetics of Zosimos’ text. Analysing the main ideas, images, and phrases in The Visions, I conclude that themes from the New Testament and martyrological literature are pervasive. Overall, I hope to demonstrate that those being reborn as spirits throughout Zosimos’ text are not being reborn in a vacuum; rather, Zosimos suggests that, in being reborn, they follow in the footsteps of alchemists and Christian martyrs before them, in a long imitative line of suffering and transformation, which ultimately starts with Christ.

The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC) invites proposals for the 2025 iteration of its annual postgraduate and early career workshop, ‘Alchemy and Chemistry as Vessels for Cultural Discourse’. This conference seeks to explore the interface between (al)chemical work and various facets of culture outside of the laboratory. For as long as the disciplines have been studied, alchemy and chemistry have not only been integral to scientific discourse, but have also served as mirrors reflecting the social, political, and religious currents of their times.

Papers might explore, for example, the ways in which alchemical iconography reflects the political tensions of the climate in which they were produced, as well as the role of chemistry in the Industrial Revolution or the discipline of astrochemistry reflecting a Zeitgeist of interest in worlds beyond our own.

Selected papers from the conference will be considered for publication in a special edition (or special series) of Ambix: Journal for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry.

We welcome proposals for 20 minute talks by graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early career scholars who have received their doctorate no more than three years ago. If you are interested in presenting your work, please send an abstract of approximately 300 words and a short bio to SHAC Student Representative Josh Werrett, at studentrep@ambix.org. The deadline for submissions is 30th September 2024.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Josh Werrett at the above email address.