Fulcanelli and the Alchemical Revival: The Man Behind the Mystery of the Cathedrals [Paperback]

Genevi?ve Dubois (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2005

Sheds new light on the identity of the alchemist Fulcanelli

• Provides new understanding of the relationships between the most important figures of the esoteric milieu of Paris in the first half of the 20th century

• Includes a wealth of rarely seen documents, photos, and letters

Fulcanelli, operative alchemist and author of The Mystery of the Cathedrals and The Dwellings of the Philosophers--two of the most important esoteric works of the twentieth century--remains himself a mystery. The true identity of the man who allegedly succeeded in creating the philosopher’s stone has never been discovered, despite ardent searches by many--even the OSS (the wartime U.S. intelligence agency, later to become the CIA) claimed to have looked for him following the end of World War II. Genevi趥 Dubois looks at the esoteric milieu of Paris at the turn of the century, a time that witnessed a great revival of the alchemical tradition, and investigates some of its salient personalities. Could one of these have been this enigmatic man, reported to have last appeared in Seville, Spain, in 1952 when he would have been 113 years of age?

The trail followed by the author encounters such figures as Papus, Ren頇u鮯n, Schwaller de Lubicz, Pierre Dujols, Eugene Canseliet, and Jean-Julien Champagne. Working from rare documents, letters, and photos, Dubois suggests that one of these men could have been hiding his activity behind the pseudonym of Fulcanelli or that Fulcanelli may even have been a composite fabricated by several of these individuals working together. Beyond its attempt to reveal the actual identity of Fulcanelli, Fulcanelli and the Alchemical Revival also presents an explanation of the alchemical doctrine and reveals the unsuspected relationships among the important twentieth-century truth seekers it highlights.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you are of a forensic bent and love to figure out puzzles, this book is ideal for you. It has a wealth of knowledge, with supporting notes and detailed bibliography that are full of references to many areas of further research."
(Jennifer Hoskins, New Dawn, Mar-Apr 2007 )

From the Back Cover

HERMETIC STUDIES / ALCHEMY 

Fulcanelli, operative alchemist and author of The Mystery of the Cathedrals and The Dwellings of the Philosophers--two of the most important esoteric works of the twentieth century--remains himself a mystery. The true identity of the man who allegedly succeeded in creating the philosopher’s stone has never been discovered, despite ardent searches by many--even the OSS (the wartime U.S. intelligence agency that later became the CIA) tried to find him following the end of World War II. Genevi趥 Dubois looks at the esoteric milieu of Paris at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, a time that witnessed a great revival of the alchemical tradition, and investigates some of its salient personalities. Could one of these have been this enigmatic man, who was reported to have last appeared in Seville, Spain, in 1952, when he would have been 113 years of age?

Along the author’s trail we encounter such figures as Papus, Ren頇u鮯n, Ren頓chwaller de Lubicz, Pierre Dujols, Eugene Canseliet, and Jean-Julien Champagne. Working from rare documents, letters, and archival photos, Dubois suggests that one of these men could have been hiding his activity behind the pseudonym Fulcanelli, or that Fulcanelli may even have been a composite fabricated by several of these individuals working together. Beyond its attempt to reveal the actual identity of Fulcanelli, Fulcanelli and the Alchemical Revival presents an explanation of the alchemical doctrine and reveals the unsuspected relationships among the important twentieth-century truth seekers it highlights

GENEVIȖE DUBOIS, author of several books in French on alchemical and hermetic studies, is a member of the ARK’ALL Foundation devoted to the study of operative alchemy. She lives in France.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Destiny Books; Tra edition (November 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594770824
• ISBN-13: 978-1594770821
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Designed to destroy Fulcanelli, January 20, 2006

By 

Henry See - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fulcanelli and the Alchemical Revival: The Man Behind the Mystery of the Cathedrals (Paperback)

Do you ever read a book and feel like you need a long, hot shower when you're done? That is how I felt after finishing the original French version of this book. Dubois tries to make the case that Fulcanelli didn't really exist, that he was a "committee". The point of such an argument is to destroy the reality of the adept and give the credit for his work to Schwaller. Dubois takes great pleasure in the character assassinations of Jean-Julien Champagne and Eugène Canseliet.

Moreover the book is poorly written and goes off on tangents that have nothing to do with her "argument".

If you can read French, you will learn much more about the man known as Fulcanelli reading Patrick Rivière's book Fulcanelli in the Qui suis-je? series published by Pardès.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fulcanelli and alchemical revival, January 17, 2010

By 

Baruj Salinas - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fulcanelli and the Alchemical Revival: The Man Behind the Mystery of the Cathedrals (Paperback)

The book (at least the translation) is written in a haphazzard way. Although the material is interesting.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Reveals Fulcanelli as a "hoax"?, November 10, 2007

By 

Zadius Sky (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fulcanelli and the Alchemical Revival: The Man Behind the Mystery of the Cathedrals (Paperback)

I came across Genevieve Dubois's book after searching for more information on the great alchemist of 20th century by the name of Fulcanelli. After reading this book, I found myself in a state of confusion and disgust. What Dubois has brought forth is the notion that Fulcanelli is nothing but a simple myth, as being "spread" by a number of individuals as stated in this book (p. 77):

"[Jean-Julien] Champagne devoted years to maintaining the fiction of Fulcanelli's vocation as an adept. He had launched this fiction, and it was maintained by the whole group around him, all of whom must have promoted the myth: Gaston Sauvage, the Chacornacs, Pierre Dujols, Canselist, Jules Boucher."

And, Dubois branded Eugene Canseliet, a real disciple of Fulcanelli, as "the pivot in manipulations of which he remained quite unaware - a kind of hoax that would take a turn its perpetrators did not perhaps foresee" and as a "key to the tenacious spreading of the legend" (p. 60-1).

Throughout the book, the author made a strong and an unchanged argument that Fulcanelli has never existed and remained only as a hoax. In sum, she attempted to hinder the reader from searching for the real truth about Fulcanelli and being indirectly encouraged to "look no further."

This book was written by a mind of misconceptions and a poor logic, and it would lead the reader on the road to a distorted knowledge.

For any sincere reader of the Fulcanelli subject, Dubois's book is to be avoided.