> People saw how wonderful and brilliant the
> ancients were, and felt they had left that 'path'
> and wanted to be like the ancients. Thye borrowed
> symbols and basic ideas, which is different from a
> direct survival of the original ideal. Yes, there
> are some similar principles seen in alchemy as
> what the ancients felt, but it is not _the_
> original principle. If anything, we could
> alchemists the 'Great Pretenders'.


Duh? The idea of alchemy i.e. transformation on all levels was originally that of the AE philospohy of life. What some made it to during the Middle Ages is another story altogether. The roots of the very idea are in AE (like you write), just like those of Hermeticism and Gnosticism. So when Ants writes, that the is no link, I don't agree! Moreover, I don't agree with your saying that the alchemists were the "Great Pretenders". It might look that way, after all, the ancient Egypt has been used to give credence for weirder thoughts, but basicallt I think it is a question of the Middle Agers ignoring the basic and original meaning of the symbols they were looking at. Heheh, like reading the Bible and trying to find the original thought in it.



Ritva