Spiritual alchemy, plant alchemy, or metal alchemy?
Metal alchemy, I do not know a good intro. I am partly through "Mercurius" by Patrick Harpur. He actually describes the metal alchemy process in detail, though I do not know if it is accurate or not. (And he actually shares a lot of other alchemy tidbits, but I don't know if it would make sense without having a background in it.) The alchemy stuff is mixed in with a story (fiction or not, I really cannot tell). The story is interesting enough that I have barely taken notes the first read through, just so I can find out how the story ends. I have ordered a used copy of the book, so I can keep it and go through it again in more detail. (What is helpful to me is he explains some Jung, who I have not studied, but he doesn't think Jung is the end-all and be-all. That suits me.)
Plant alchemy, I have read Mark Stavish's The Path of Alchemy and it seems to be a pretty straightforward intro to plant alchemy/spagyrics. I have not done the exercises, though. I want to learn herbalism first before I start trying to do tinctures, etc.
Spiritual alchemy, there is not a good intro. I am trying to write an intro as part of the LWB that goes with the alchemy oracle I am developing, but it is just for the model I developed (and you know about models :-) ). If you would like a draft copy to read, though, I don't mind sharing so long as you give me feedback. (I never intended to be an author and writing is a struggle for me.)
If you like Greek, I think understanding the Tetractys helps. I think it is a better model than the Tree of Life for spiritual alchemy. A Study of Numbers (de Lubicz) and Sacred Geometry (Robert Lawlor, not on the biblio page cause I just finished it a month ago) and Iamblichus Theology of Arithmetic are good for understanding the Tetractys.
I found Heindel's Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and Wirth's Tarot of the Magician very helpful when building my model, though their model ends up being very different from mine. (Basically, they think Spirit splits into Soul and Body. I understand things better considering the Spirit as a Cosmic Atom and the Soul as a Logoidal Atom (from Cosmic Doctrine). This works better with Greek, too, as Thomas Taylor said Hera is the Fount of Souls. Hera (to me) is the feminine Zeus, which is third generation, so she is analogous to the Spirit of Ain Soph, so Logoid Atom and Cosmic Atom unite and form an atom on a "lower" Plane, which is a Body for the Soul and Spirit.) (So, yeah, Cosmic Doctrine by Dion Fortune figures in a little...)
After that, I spent a great deal of time with Splendor Solis. My thoughts from a year ago are here: https://druidalchemist.com/splendor-solis/. I need to go an update them, cause I've read more since then. The Book of Lambspring is good, though I think I missed a lot. Mercurius (the book I am currently reading) never mentions it, but many of the scenes in the story mimic scenes from Lambspring, so I am planning on going back through and seeing what more I can get out of it.
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Metal alchemy, I do not know a good intro. I am partly through "Mercurius" by Patrick Harpur. He actually describes the metal alchemy process in detail, though I do not know if it is accurate or not. (And he actually shares a lot of other alchemy tidbits, but I don't know if it would make sense without having a background in it.) The alchemy stuff is mixed in with a story (fiction or not, I really cannot tell). The story is interesting enough that I have barely taken notes the first read through, just so I can find out how the story ends. I have ordered a used copy of the book, so I can keep it and go through it again in more detail. (What is helpful to me is he explains some Jung, who I have not studied, but he doesn't think Jung is the end-all and be-all. That suits me.)
Plant alchemy, I have read Mark Stavish's The Path of Alchemy and it seems to be a pretty straightforward intro to plant alchemy/spagyrics. I have not done the exercises, though. I want to learn herbalism first before I start trying to do tinctures, etc.
Spiritual alchemy, there is not a good intro. I am trying to write an intro as part of the LWB that goes with the alchemy oracle I am developing, but it is just for the model I developed (and you know about models :-) ). If you would like a draft copy to read, though, I don't mind sharing so long as you give me feedback. (I never intended to be an author and writing is a struggle for me.)
The stuff that I have read that I found worthwhile is listed here: https://druidalchemist.com/bibliography/
If you like Greek, I think understanding the Tetractys helps. I think it is a better model than the Tree of Life for spiritual alchemy. A Study of Numbers (de Lubicz) and Sacred Geometry (Robert Lawlor, not on the biblio page cause I just finished it a month ago) and Iamblichus Theology of Arithmetic are good for understanding the Tetractys.
I found Heindel's Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and Wirth's Tarot of the Magician very helpful when building my model, though their model ends up being very different from mine. (Basically, they think Spirit splits into Soul and Body. I understand things better considering the Spirit as a Cosmic Atom and the Soul as a Logoidal Atom (from Cosmic Doctrine). This works better with Greek, too, as Thomas Taylor said Hera is the Fount of Souls. Hera (to me) is the feminine Zeus, which is third generation, so she is analogous to the Spirit of Ain Soph, so Logoid Atom and Cosmic Atom unite and form an atom on a "lower" Plane, which is a Body for the Soul and Spirit.) (So, yeah, Cosmic Doctrine by Dion Fortune figures in a little...)
After that, I spent a great deal of time with Splendor Solis. My thoughts from a year ago are here: https://druidalchemist.com/splendor-solis/. I need to go an update them, cause I've read more since then. The Book of Lambspring is good, though I think I missed a lot. Mercurius (the book I am currently reading) never mentions it, but many of the scenes in the story mimic scenes from Lambspring, so I am planning on going back through and seeing what more I can get out of it.
I hope this helps.