Atalanta Fugiens

The online sample includes the first epigram with an English translation and I imagined that all of the epigrams would be similar. The joke was on me! Every other epigram is in Latin only.

Musicians and history buffs of this period will both appreciate this work, but it's a bit of a difficult read in places.

This is not the book itself! This is some reprint of some article or commentary describing the book. Do not buy it!

Very nicely printed book and fast arrival. thanks

I first heard of this work when I began reading about alchemy 35 years ago and I cannot explain why it’s taken me so long to read it. I have seen many of the engravings printed here in books about alchemy and I was aware that Michael Maier was a major figure in the history of the royal art. However, after an initial flurry of interest in the early Nineties – sparked by curiosity about New Age issues and concern about my health (i.e. being a lazy slob who smoked and drank) – my interest in alchemy waned. That was due to several factors: scepticism, pragmatism and a need to focus on today’s problems, which included making a living and a growing number of health problems among family and friends, for which my advice was to stick with orthodox medicine for the serious stuff (cancer, diabetes, covid) and to experiment with alternative remedies for the minor niggles (colds, lower back pain, indigestion). However, my interest in alchemy has been reawakened in recent years, due to advancing age, multiple bereavements and, I suppose, a quest for something beyond the daily grind. Whether Atalanta Fugiens is the fount of wisdom, I couldn’t say. It was written 400 years ago and has some questionable references to “women’s work” (cooking) and statements that fly in the face of medical orthodoxy. There are several ways you can approach this work, such as recruiting two people to sing the fugues with you (they’re for three voices). Another – and something that was recommended to me many years ago, is to meditate on the images. There are fifty of them and they do repay study. Be aware that although the commentaries have been translated from the original German into English, the Latin epigrams haven’t. That is difficult to explain, given that the title of each of the fifty “discourses” has been translated from Latin into English. That shouldn’t impede your understanding of the work as the images speak for themselves (if you study them closely) and the commentaries usually serve to amplify the epigrams. Read this book if you’re interested in alchemy (on whatever level – pseudo-science, psychology, cultural history or the road to immortality) as it is a classic text of the “sacred philosophy”.

Good for easy use and study

Very good...just what I wanted