<p>IIumber 3
Spring 1979
A Collectio~
& THE HE
[Contents
1 Editorial
3 News and Information
5 The Feminine Partner in the
A 1 chemi cal Jance
Magenta Wise
8 The Golden Chain of Homer
1To 3 of a series of 4
15 Paganism and the Hermetic
Occult Tradition - Part TWO
L A . Howard
18 The Spiritual Implications
of Nuclear Power
Adam NcLean
24 Hermetic Eleditation No 3
Regular Feature
25 3r John Dee's
"Hieroglyphic !Conad"
Gareth Knight
29 The First Matter
Kenneth Clark
36 Alchemical Bandala lio 3
Regular Feature
38 The Four Fire Festivals
Part Two - Brigantia
Colin Idurray
41 Reviews
.&.Corn 4 M he Esoteric
JOURNAL
r
TFZ ~ .
I E I C
JOUREAL i s published
quarterly
12 Antigua Street
Edinburgh 1
Xdited by Adan 1.1cLean
111 material copyright the individ-
ual contributors. Material not cred-
ited, copyright the Hermetic Journal.
ISSN 0141-6391
C
1 Edi
One i s often asked the question,
'What i s the value of Alchemy today?'
fair question and we should not
try to zvoid a fair answer.
Implicit behind this question, lies
perhaps sometimes a note of criticism
that hermetic students in their read-
ing and investigation of ancient
texts, are trying to recapture a
romantic nedievalism, to escape the
realities of the present world by
pursuing the unrealities of the Mad-
ieval world view. Of course this may
be the motivation for a few individ-
uals, but there is a deeper, under
lying spiritual current working here.
Alchemy is concerned with the unfold-
ing of the spiritual in relation to
matter, and in this sense has a
definite significznce for this period
of deep descent into materialism.
For Alchemy bears within itself,
pointers for humanity, towards ths
~iay out of a materialistic world
view. Alchemy can reveal the spirit-
ual potentialities of matter..
The I.Iedieva1 alchemists still poss-
essing an openness to the etheric-
spiritual forces thzt ~~rorked
in mzt-
erial processes, were abl