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ALCHEMY AND HERMETIC MAILING LIST

NEWSLETTER No 1 - Feb 1997

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In the 1980's I produced the series of 23 Magnum Opus Hermetic
Sourceworks, however I ceased producting these in 1987. Some of
the books in this series remained unsold and a number of people
were disappointed at not being able to purchase copies. I have
in the last weeks, bound up 25 copies of the Steganographia, the
Heptarchia Mystica and the Five Books of John Dee, and these are
now immediately available. These books are expensive due to the fact
that they are hand bound in a high quality simulated leather and it takes
me over two hours to bind up each book.
You can buy copies direct from my web pages using your credit card -

http://www.alchemywebsite.com/bookshop/magnum_opus.html

or e-mail me at for alternative methods
of payment - though Bankers orders, personal cheques etc., will
generally be more expensive.


I will shortly be reprinting the 'Commentary on the Rosicrucian Vault'
from the Hermetic Research Series, which has similarly not been
available for nearly 10 years, and will issue a couple of new alchemical
titles in a month or so. Full details will be announced in the next newsletter.

Adam McLean


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No. 12. The Steganographia of Trithemius
Translated by Fiona Tait and Christopher Upton. Edited with an
Introduction by Adam McLean
The Steganographia of Trithemius (the great occult
teacher of both Agrippa and Paracelsus) was written at the end of
the fifteenth century, and became one of the most influential and
notorious of occult texts throughout the sixteenth and seventeen
th centuries. It works on two levels - as a grimoire or book of
conjuration of spirits, and simultaneously as a code book - and
contains lists of spiritual messengers associated with the
divisions of space and time, a Cabalistic Angel magic. The
Steganographia which circulated secretly in manuscript during the
16th century was highly valued. John Dee, whose Enochian system
of angelic magic was influenced by the Steganographia, noted that
'One Thousand Crowns' had been offered for a copy of this work.
On one level it reveals ways of encoding secret information in
outwardly innocent texts, and thus the publication of this item
will have a considerable impact upon our view of the ways in
which the esoteric orders of the 16th and 17th centuries may have
conveyed information and preserved their secrets.
This volume includes Books I and III of the Steganographia,
together with an extract from Gustavus Selenus'
Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiae, providing an analysis of the
method of encoding in the Steganographia.
Limited edition of 250 copies. 141pages. A5 hardbound.
£50.00 (air mail) £48 (surface)

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No. 17. The Heptarchia Mystica of John Dee
Transcribed from Ms Sloane 3191 in the British Library. Introduced and
annotated by Robert Turner
This magical note book written by Dee during 1582-83 is an elaborate
and spiritual account of planetary magical operations for invoking the
planetary angels, and includes a list of the forms in which some of these
spirits appear, together with some magic letter squares and sigils. The
angel Uriel is foremost in these operations which obviously are the
foundation upon which much of the Enochian or Angelic workings were
built. Robert Turner has transcribed the text from the original manuscript
and provides explanatory notes and commentary on this important text.
The Heptarchia Mystica seems to be a work standing between the 16th
century magical systems derived from Peter of Abano or the Picatrix,
and the unique system that Dee and Kelley brought into being in their
Angelic Magic.
Limited edition of 250 copies 141 pages many illustrations. A5 hardbound.
£43.00 (air mail) £40 (surface)

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No. 20. The Five Books of Mystical Exercises of John Dee
An Angelic Revelation of Cabalistic Magic and other Mysteries Occult
and Divine revealed to Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly A.D. 1581 - 1583.
Transcribed from Sloane 3188 in the British Library by Joseph Peterson
The Mysteriorum Libri Quinti manuscript has been much quoted
during the last few years, however esotericists and scholars have till now
not had available the complete text in print. Joseph Peterson has
diligently prepared this edition transcribing the difficult handwritten
text, and provides an introduction, summarised contents of the Five
Books, an Index Verborum to the Angelic words in the text, and an
extremely useful index to the text itself.
Limited edition of 250 copies. xvi + 285 pages with illustrations in the text. A5 hardbound.
£60.00 (air mail) £56 (surface)

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