12 h 56 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 12 h 56 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the dragons and furnaces of alchemy reveal as much about the mind as they do about metals?
In Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts, Herbert Silberer asks why alchemists, mystics and magicians speak through strange pictures. Kings, queens, lions and eggs become clues in a study of how symbols work—and how one image can carry more than one meaning.
Silberer begins with his own observations at the edge of sleep, where a thought breaks off and a picture takes its place. He then brings psychological interpretation to alchemy, reading its sealed vessels and changing matter as images of inner change, not only as attempts to turn base metal into gold.
What you’ll discover
- Thoughts becoming pictures Follow Silberer's observations of the moment before sleep, when thinking gives way to images.
- More than one meaning Explore a method that lets the same symbol speak on different levels.
- An alchemical cast Meet the kings, queens, lions and dragons that make alchemical writing so puzzling.
- A drama of change Consider Silberer's reading of alchemy as a record of inward transformation as well as failed chemistry.
- Psychology meets mysticism Examine how Silberer brings questions about the mind to the strange pictures of mystical writing.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love symbols, dreams, myths and secret societies, or if you wonder what alchemists were really after.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A strange parable is the starting point
- Dreams and myths share one language
- The family drama behind the lion
- Alchemy was symbol first and recipe second
- A path of inner change, carried into the lodge
- One image can carry three meanings at once
- Turning inward leads to rebirth and carries risk
- The goal is union, love and an inner royal art
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Le symbolisme caché de l’alchimie et des arts occultes
by Herbert Silberer · 1914
A wanderer subdues a lion, guards two lovers in a glass prison, and meets a king, but what does it all mean?
Challenging5–10 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
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In short
A man walks through a green forest, loses the path, and is blown onto a narrow track he cannot leave. He joins a company of old scholars, kills their lion, and guards two lovers in a glass prison.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A strange parable is the starting point
Silberer begins with a story he found in a Rosicrucian book printed around 1785.
The narrator strolls through a forest, grieving over the fall of Adam and Eve, and a strong wind pushes him onto a narrow, overgrown path. He cannot turn back. He arrives at a meadow where elders with beards gray as ice debate a great secret hidden in nature. They admit him on one condition. He must learn to know their lion and subdue it. He seizes the beast and forces out its blood. He finds red blood and white bones inside, and is told he must bring the lion back to life.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1914
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 8 h 20 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Silberer, Herbert. Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/hidden-symbolism-of-alchemy-and-the-occult-arts.
Silberer, H. (2026). Hidden symbolism of alchemy and the occult arts. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/hidden-symbolism-of-alchemy-and-the-occult-arts (Original work published 1914)
Silberer, Herbert. Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/hidden-symbolism-of-alchemy-and-the-occult-arts.
@book{silberer2026hidden,
author = {Silberer, Herbert},
title = {Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/hidden-symbolism-of-alchemy-and-the-occult-arts},
note = {First published 1914}
}
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What is Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts about?
It examines an old alchemical parable and reads it three ways, as a dream, as a chemical process and as a spiritual path. Along the way it explains dream theory, alchemy, Rosicrucians, freemasonry and mysticism.
What is the parable of the wanderer and the lion?
It is an anonymous tale from a Rosicrucian book printed around 1785. A wanderer enters a meadow of scholars, kills their lion, guards two lovers in a crystal chamber, and finally meets a king.
What did the alchemists mean by the philosopher's stone?
In Silberer's account it is both a material goal and a symbol. For the best alchemists it stood for the refined person, a soul made pure and joined to God, not merely gold made from lead.
The author
Herbert Silberer
1882–1923 · Austrian psychoanalyst
Herbert Silberer was an Austrian psychologist and writer born in Vienna in 1882. He lived in Vienna and died there in 1923. He wrote about dreams, symbolism, and psychoanalysis. His book on mysticism and symbolism appeared in German in 1914 and in English as Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts in 1917.
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