9The author of this book, Dennis William Hauck, is a Hermetic scholar versed in both Eastern and Western techniques of alchemy and widely recognized as one of the world's leading experts on the subject. Now, in this book, he makes alchemy's secrets and powers accessible to everyone with the desire to experience physical, mental, and spiritual transformation. By providing clear explanations, moving meditations, and hands-on experiments making tinctures and elixirs, this beautifully illustrated guide passes on the knowledge and creative energy of alchemy's magnificent discipline-sending a golden arc of learning from thousands of years in the past into your life today. Hauck presents a fascinating history of alchemy-from the ancient Emerald Tablet to modern quantum chemistry - and elaborates on its arcane principles in an intimate, conversational way that anyone can understand. His portrayals of individual alchemists bring them alive and show how they built on each other's work through an "Underground River" of secret knowledge passed down through the ages.