Magico-religous alchemy

[Frank Turley]

Mircea Eliade wrote the book, "The Forge and the Crucible," and it was first published in French in 1956. We later got the English translation. Eliade was born in Romania and became a student of the renowned psychologist, Carl Jung. Eliade came to the U.S. eventually to teach Religious Studies at the University of Chicago.

The book does not tell you how to make a dang thing. It is psychology in the broad sense, and includes the disciplines of religion and ethnology. For me, it was a somewhat difficult read, but worthy. Eliade discusses Chinese, Indian, and European alchemy. He includes some African tribal ideas on alchemy, and gets into initiation cermonies.

Turley Forge and Blacksmithing School : The Granddaddy of Blacksmithing Schools