The Aurora of the Philosophers

A large collection of primary hermetic and alchemical treatises in English translation, including the Golden Chain of Homer, the Six Keys of Eudoxus, the Glory of the World and the Turba Philosophorum. The best single starting point for reading the sources directly.

Various Authors

A short question and answer text that teaches the principles of the art the way a catechism teaches doctrine. Each answer defines one term or one operation in plain language, which makes it an unusually easy first hermetic text.

Unknown

A Paracelsian anthology gathering the Book of the Revelation of Hermes and other treatises on the tincture and the universal medicine. Figulus assembled these to preserve the practical hermetic tradition he had learned.

Benedictus Figulus

A symbolic account of initiation attributed to the Comte de Saint-Germain, laid out in twelve sections of alchemical allegory. Manly P. Hall's translation adds commentary on each section and on the figure behind the manuscript.

Comte de Saint-Germain