Terence McKenna Channels John Dee

Good morn, good readers.

I woke early to a cloudy Sunday in the Old South, however, this dark little gem has polished my resolve. Wrap yourself in melancholy and join Terence McKenna for this trip through the history of The Great Work.

Terence McKenna’s The Alchemical Dream: Rebirth of the Great Work is a 2008 film produced by the good people at Sacred Mysteries.

Here’s the propaganda from the website:

In the mid-1990′s Terence McKenna and Mystic Fire’s Sheldon Rocklin teamed up to make this rich and exciting film. Little did they know that this would be their last film. Originally titled Coincidencia Oppositorum: The Unity of Opposites and filmed in Prague with Terence portraying his usual erudite rendition of the Irish Bard, this filmed classic takes us on a journey into the alchemical renaissance of King Frederick V and his wife Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia. Playing the role of John Dee, court magician for Queen Elizabeth of England, Terence McKenna shows us how the promise of a return to the tradition of alchemy was almost instituted in Europe. He also shows us that this early attempt at the creation of an alchemical kingdom actually lead to the European Renaissance and the institution of Cartesian science and the beginnings of rationalism within the western mindset. This incredible film is not only beautifully filmed but is Terence McKenna’s finest performance and a worthy eulogy to his genius.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Sleepless Film Festival presents The Alchemical Dream…

The story of alchemy is a fairy tale – maybe more of an angel tale? – of sorts and, like any great fairy tale, this one comes with pictures:

Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom 1604

One of Goosen van Vreeswijk's "flying bird" images. “‘To make the Bird fly’ is to free the Spirit from its material prison, that it may soar in the alchemical sky and bring back Below the benefits of what is Above.

The engraving, Tabula Smaradina (“Emerald Tablet”) is Merian’s interpretation of the alchemical cosmology, a schemata and representation of the order of things. It appears (first) in Johann Daniel Mylius Tractatus III Seu Basilica Philosophica… (1618) and makes subsequent appearances in other works by the author, as well as in Lukas Jennis’ Musaeum Hermeticum, 1625

An engraving from Michael Maier's alchemical text, Atalanta fugiens, (1618), showing the Sun and Moon as the twin complementary principles of the alchemical work.

Engraving from Trismosin Aureum vellus, 1708

Frontispiece from Monte-Snyders Metamorpohosis planetarum, 1663

Woodcut 8 from the Rosarium philosophorum, 1550

Stay Awake!

Joe Nolan

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