Dear Joe, Both Alchemy and Initiation are founded upon the same essential Hermetic principles. Alchemy applies those principles to the transformation of physical matter. Initiation applies them to the transformation of human beings. They are similar in their foundations but dissimilar in their purpose and application. Many similarities can be drawn between these two Hermetic Arts, but when it comes to the *details*, similarity ends. My best to you, :) Rawn Clark 13 Jan 2003 rawnclark@... rawn@... http://www.ABardonCompanion.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BardonPraxis