Aula Lucis
or, The House of Light
by Thomas Vaughan
Thomas Vaughan’s Aula Lucis, or The House of Light is a sublime discourse on the Alchemy of Light. Written in 1651 and first published in London in 1652, it traces the descent of Light into Matter and the means of its ultimate emancipation. Together with Vaughan’s Lumen de Lumine, or a New Magical Light, also included in this volume, these two works offer a profound insight into the mystery of the Prima Materia and the alchemical regeneration of metals and Man.
This volume brings together a pair of treatises which are unique in the history of alchemical literature. At the time of their inception, Lumen de Lumine and Aula Lucis were supposed to be published in one book. In his excellent introductory essay, Thomas Willard expounds on why this intended design did not come to fruition. It is therefore only right to join together in one volume what was once put asunder, and thus honour the original design of the author.
Far from being only a speculative philosopher, Vaughan was also a practising alchemist whose penetrating insight into the mysteries of Nature was tried and tested in the light of laboratory experience. Thus, in Lumen de Lumine, by means of an allegoric dream-vision, he introduces the reader to the secret School of Magic in which Thalia—the spirit of Nature—unfolds before the alchemist the cascade of First Matter and its various mineral and metallic generations. These are symbolically represented by the engraved Emblem of the School, created by the celebrated 17th-century artist Robert Vaughan and reproduced in the book. Following this, Thomas Vaughan adds eleven short essays, ranging in length from four sentences to fourteen small pages of text. All concern aspects of the alchemical work in both the practical sense—from the First Matter to the projection—and in the expanded sense including Magic and Cabala. The “Magical Aphorisms of Eugenius” which follow are elucidated in a commentary written exclusively for this edition by Prof. Thomas Willard.
“I have resolved with myself to discourse of Light, and to deliver it over to posterity,” writes Thomas Vaughan in the opening lines of Aula Lucis. In this luminous essay, which follows chronologically after Lumen de Lumine, he explains what the descent of Light into Matter truly means for anyone who wishes to have a better understanding of Nature, and especially for the prospective alchemist. At its heart, his thesis concerns not only the regeneration of metals, but the spiritual transmutation of Man. He writes: “He that desires to be happy, let him look after Light, for it is the Cause of Happiness, both temporal and eternal. In the House thereof it may be found, and the House is not far off nor hard to find, for the Light walks in before us and is the Guide to his own habitation.”
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Table of Contents
Publisher’s Foreword
Introduction
Lumen De Lumine
The Epistle Dedicatory
Lumen De Lumine
To the Reader
Lumen De Lumine, or A New Magical Light
Addendum: Magical Aphorisms of Eugenius
Aula Lucis
Dedication
Aula Lucis
To the present Readers
Aula Lucis, or The House of Light
Aula Lucis
Postscript
Appendix: The Alchemy of Light
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Including seven duotone illustrations.
Classic Hardcover Edition - limited to 700 hand-numbered copies
192 pages. Hand-bound in almond-coloured reconstituted leather, stamped in gold. Printed in duotone on Munken Pure Rough 100 gsm paper. Featuring dark brown endpapers, brown & oyster head & tail band and espresso-coloured silk ribbon. Presented with a white letterpress bookmark, stamped in gold.
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About the Author
The late Welsh alchemist Thomas Vaughan (1621–1666), also known as Eugenius Philalethes, is widely regarded as one of Britain’s most notable 17th century occultist and alchemical writers. He is believed to be one of the most profound and perhaps most recondite of all visionaries who have seen “the new East beyond the stars”. His magical and alchemical writings, published in the 1650s, established him as a leading interpreter of the Secret Tradition in his time. Aside from being a passionate exponent of alchemy, Vaughan was a mystical philosopher and a visionary largely influenced by the Rosicrucian movement of the 17th century. He translated and published the first English edition of the Rosicrucian Manifestos, Fama and Confessio Fraternitatis, alongside many of their lesser known works, such as “A Letter from the Brothers of R.C. Concerning the Invisible, Magical Mountain, & the Treasure therein Contained,” which he inserted into Lumen de Lumine.
