On Becoming an Alchemist: A Guide for the Modern Magician Paperback – December 23, 2008

On Becoming an Alchemist is my absolute favorite book.Some enthusiastic reviewers here are scholars of alchemy and hermeneutics. I'm a down-to-earth business professor who had never read about such esoteric subject matter as beings of the Above and the Below. And if I knew how occult this book was, I wouldn't have picked it up--lucky for me that I did not! I'm so inspired by it that I've given away at least 20 copies to friends and family. Not all have read it, but those that have have raved.MacCoun is so wise and so eloquent, and her rhetorical style so rational, she just makes *sense*. And while she deals with matters of the occult, her book is anything but abstract. It's an instruction manual with the grace of a zen koan. Even if you had no interest it its spiritual elements, the practices would yield valuable benefits. Take the Perceiving Style exercises: through fun and simple mind games, one gains experiential access to universal truth.My mother, a spiritual person, found herself grieving for the impossible while reading this book: she longed to have read it as a young woman--years before it was written. I cannot read it when I was younger, but I will undoubtedly read it again and again as I get older.MacCoun is a sage for any Age.

Wow, Catherine MacCoun really puts the alchemical process into directly applicable practices in our physical world. This isn’t a “self-help” book in the usual sense, because she encourages the reader to get extremely real in ways other authors don’t. This book will help you to see your world with new and non-judgmental eyes; you won’t see things as good or bad, simply parts of the process. The parts of this process that once seemed so abstract, now make more sense. What made sense before is now more abstract. I know it sounds crazy. There’s so much I wish I could say about this book and what I’ve learned, but you’ll just have to read for yourself! It is for you to understand in your own unique way. That being said: I’m about to read it again :D

This book is great in a journey of self development and understanding of yourself, I have been going on a bit of a self discovery journey (particularly through lock down) and this book came to me at the right time. I haven't been able to put it down and definitely something I will pick up again and again.

I’m so excited to read this book! However, it showed up in the mail with some greasy liquid stuff almost like a lotion bottle exploded. Yet it was my only purchase. Nothing else was shipped with it. Just a fair warning. Sad times. Wasted money but it’s only the condition I got it in. I can’t read the actual pages.

My reading spans 57 years at around two books completed a week - that's a bit over or under 6,000 books. Authors at the very top of meeting my particular predilections range from Aurobindo to Rudolf Steiner, Lee Child to John Steinbeck, Richard Tarnas to (now) Catherine MacCoun. The best writers are unique in their thinking and expression, and bring a great gift. I experience Catherine's thinking and expression as wonderfully unique, authentic, coherent, masterful - and, thankfully, very occasionally, short of perfection. "On Becoming An Alchemist" is a very great gift for which I'm very very grateful. Perhaps you will be too.

I have often been disappointed by books on alchemy which descend into complex discussions of laboratory work, or reduce everything to Jungian psychology. Catherine MacCoun has given us a rare, clear, and genuinely wise treatment of alchemy from the perspective of spiritual development and inner service. My only significant quibble is that I would like to see an expansion of her treatment of polarity beyond those dynamics which can fit into the masculine/feminine (or active/passive) box. At many points through the book, I found myself wishing someone had told me these things twenty years ago. Don't miss it.

Brilliant ideas buried under piles of fluff. 40 % of the book is just chit-chat and quaint stories to illustrate the ideas that don't need proof or illustration. But I guess if you want to become an alchemist, the author makes sure you get enough dross in the book to flex your alchemical muscle as you are getting to the kernel of gold.There is a lengthy description of depravities of HPB and her theosophical successors, but only a passing and rather diminutive mention of Rudolf Steiner, whose concepts and language the author appropriated and used throughout the book (imagination-inspiration-intuition, and several other). Ms. MacCoun, on the way to becoming a great alchemist, don't forget to say thank you to your teachers, and if you consider yourself a scholar, give them credit for supplying you with thoughts. That's just common courtesy.

Excellent! Leaves me feeling like I need no other book. The way Catherine has structured this book and her down to earth style of writing definitely add to the experience. I refer to this book often and will reread entire chapters. She beautifully explains the different stages of alchemy for personal development, such as fermentation and calcination. I especially love the way she explains the concepts of above and below.

I've had this book for about ten years as of this writing (give or take, I don't remember when I got it first). It influenced me a lot the first time I read it, most of all giving me "permission" for my spirituality to be messy, physical, and engaged with the world.Recently, after a kind of awakening experience I had, On Becoming An Alchemist became a very core part of my self work and my understanding of spirituality and magic. With this new consciousness that was coming into me, a lot of MacCoun's ideas were confirmed and many came to me in a new light, or in a deeper way.This book is definitely one of those you can - and probably should - read over and over, each time getting something new.This book for me is an approach to spirituality that not only doesn't shun the world, but makes the world a core part of it. Whatever is out there is in me, and vice versa. It makes living - actually living - something essential and not just a bothersome distraction from meditation. Whatever seems like a bothersome distraction right now is probably the place to start. Engage with it, and you'll find a part of your soul that you have been neglecting.I summarise Alchemy as I understand it from Catherine as: *uniting heaven and earth*. The Spirit comes down into the chalice of the body and soul. Gradually, the two learn to work together. The body and soul become an expression of the spirit. The spirit becomes able to manifest in the world and to live through the body.Incidentally, much of the book deals with developing clairvoyance/psychic perception, and I've never seen any other text that does so in such depth and detail and realness. Catherine's anti-bullshit filters are strong, and she prepares you for the pitfalls of psychic development wonderfully. I would say I wish I had this book ten years ago... but I did. Oh well, I wish I'd paid more attention to this book ten years ago. Psychic development is fraught and if you're going to try it, you *need* a book like this.In summary... anyone whose spirituality is looking to go into new places, places where the polarities of East/West, Heaven/Earth, Practical/Spiritual get reconciled... anyone who hates bullshit and flakiness, but craves spiritual depth like others crave the latest iPhone... anyone who wants something real and fresh and authentic... get this book.And someone please tell me where I can get more stuff like this because tbh I am wondering where the heck it's all at.CATHERING PLEASE WRITE ANOTHER BOOK(I'ma leave that typo there haha)

Her writing style is phenomenal

Brilliant writingClear and motivatingIta early in the morning and i despise amazon for forcing mentors keep writingDone

Muito interessante e didatico,embora algumas partes sejam de dificil entendimento.Bom de ler varias vezes para ter total compreensão da obra.

already done it.