Richard, > I haven't read Beat's book yet I have Beat Krummenacher's book at home. It explains very clearly the principles of Spagyrics, and the approach is completely Hermetic, which makes itvery logical and reminiscent of the Kybalion. The Theory part is only a few pages long but it explains with remarkable clarity how the laws of vibration and polarity apply to Spagyrics, the correspondance between Salt-Sulfur-Mercury and the components of a vibration, the way homeopathy/allopathy works, how spagyrics rid the plants of its negative polarity etc... Great book. Too bad it's so short. Most of the books on Alchemy are either super-cryptic to the non-initiate or not very useful, and very few books actually explain what Spagyrics or Alchemy is about. The subject is still very much shrouded in mystery, I guess because the time is not ripe for this leaf of the Tarot to be openly revealed!! I also read Beat's posts explaining that the Philosopher's Stone could be realized by the profane regardless of his spiritual maturity and provided that the proper procedures are followed. So that probably also explains the secret. Richard, I remember you once posted a message asking the group and Rawn about the purpose of Alchemy and I don't remember reading the answer anywhere on this forum!! So if the question is not too off-topic, what is the purpose of Alchemy, what is transmutation and what is the relationship to Quaballah?? Fraternally, Olivier