Splendor Solis

As someone who has recently become fascinated with alchemy, I was excited to read this book. I had not heard of the famous alchemical text 'Splendor Solis' so I was eager to learn more about this elusive piece. This book was a full English translation of 'Splendor Solis' with full colour plates of the artwork included, so it was essentially a concise biography of the manuscript.

'Splendor Solis' was a 16th century piece detailing the Great Work of alchemy- transmuting base materials into the famous Philosopher’s Stone. This book was an in-depth look and modern translation of the original copy. Included was a brief history of 'Splendor Solis,' looking at its revival in the 20th century, and how to properly read this manuscript. Readers should not try to analyze the famous text using psycho-spiritual techniques whereby the scientific and chemical process of alchemy becomes unimportant. I appreciated the authors strong argument for reading 'Splendor Solis' as it is, because at the end of the day, it is a material and physical experience. The history and authorship chapters were fascinating because as with most famous occult texts, the author is unknown. I thought the illustrations of the manuscripts were beautiful and moving and I can understand why it is such an important piece in alchemical history.

Overall as someone fairly new to alchemy, I thought the translations and explanations of the text were fairly easy to understand and I cannot wait to learn more about this beautiful art.

What a fascinating read! I've always been interested in alchemy and the beautiful alchemical manuscripts that describe this art, so this collection of essays about the 'Splendor Solis' was a really interesting read. Everything is very well-laid out and written accessibly. I particularly enjoyed reading about the different provenances of the information that makes up this text. A super book.