alchemy

Recent Appearances

Here are some of my recent appearances on podcasts, panels, readings, and interviews!

Podcasts

Mothers of Mayhem: An Extreme Horror Podcast

“In this episode Marian chats it up with members of the Queer Horror Community as they discuss the fact that anybody can be a shitty ass serial killer regardless of who they like to diddle. We’re kicking off Pride Month with one helluva fucking BANG. FEATURED GUESTS: Eve Harms, Mick Collins, Dylan Mottaz, Angelique Jordonna, Rowland Bercy Jr”

Brother Ghoulish’s Tomb

“I’m excited to welcome writer Eve Harms onto the Tomb to discuss her trans body horror Transmuted. Please check out the following link for more info on the book and to learn more about the author”

Ghoulish Podcast

“Eve Harms (author of Transmuted) knows a lot about alchemy, which is why we got together for the latest episode of GHOULISH to talk about a man who once boiled 1,200 gallons of piss.”

Cursed Morsels

“Eve and I talk about the limits of what science can teach us, do a competitive bracket to determine the best body horror movie of all time, and discuss the complexity and joy of gender identity exploration.”


Panels

Ghoulish Book Fest – DIY Horror

“The inaugural Ghoulish Book Festival occurred in downtown San Antonio, TX on April 30th and May 1st. If you missed it, do not fear. The panels were recorded and will be released through the podcast—including today’s episode of GHOULISH, which features Brian Asman as our moderator and Tom Deady, Jay Wilburn, Eve Harms, and Cynthia Pelayo as our panelists for a discussion about DIY horror.”


Readings

Gretchen Felker-Martin, Eve Harms, Hailey Piper – Arcade Asylum author series

The Arcade Asylum weird fiction author series, sponsored by the Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council, has been traditionally held in the historic Providence Arcade. As we work through the Covid pandemic, we are resurrecting the series with remote / zoom editions.

This edition features these three amazing authors: Gretchen Felker-Martin, Eve Harms, Hailey Piper


Blog Interviews

Ladies of Horror Fiction: Teresa Visits the 1st Ever Ghoulish Festival

Teresa interviewed me as a part of her write up on the Ghoulish Book Festival. Check it out

Queer Art & Conventional Discomfort; in dialogue with Gretchen Felker-Martin, Hailey Piper, and Eve Harms

Despina Durand interviewed Gretchen Felker-Martin, Hailey Piper, and I in a supplemental interview for the Arcade Asylum Virtual Authors Readings series. Check it out

Gwendolyn Kiste: Women in Horror Month Roundtable Series

I was a part of Kiste’s round table discussion series on different topics around women in horror.

Fright Girl Winter – Ask the Author: Eve Harms

Sonora Taylor interviewed me about writing Transmuted for Fright Girl Winter’s Ask the Author series. Check it out

Horror Writers Association – A Point of Pride: Interview with Eve Harms

Sumiko Saulson interviewed me for Pride Month 2021. Check it out

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The Hand of the Philosophers is an alchemical symbol first appearing in Isaac Holland’s Die Hand der Philosophen, 15th century. Each feature of the hand corresponds to a quality, element and/or ingredient of the alchemical process. The thumb features a crown & quarter moon and represents the chemical saltpetre, which Holland calls “The King & Lord of all salts.”

The index finger features the star with six points, the meaning of which is only available to initiated alchemists, and the salt Roman Vitriol. The middle features the Sun, and represents Sal ammoniac. Above the ring finger is a lantern, representing alum. The little finger represents both the lock and key of the “hand” as well as common salt. In the palm, the fish represents Mercury, and the fire is just fire.

Images: Sammlung Alchymistischer Schriften, 18th century, Die Hand der Philosophen, 15th century

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Engraving from Speculum Sophicum Rhodostauroticum (“The Mirror of the Wisdom of the Rosy Cross”), 1618, an early manuscript on the esoteric order of Rosicrucianism by Theophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, a likely pseudonym of the alchemist, physician, and astronomer Daniel Mögling

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An Aludel, also known as Hermetic Vase, the Philosopher’s Egg, and the Vase of the Philosophy, is a tool used in alchemy to turn to solids such as mercury, sulfur into gasses. The device is place in a furnace and the condensation is trapped at the top. Image: Alchemiae Gebri, 1545


📖 Purchase Book (affiliate link, free digital version linked above)

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Heavenly bodies are essential in alchemy, particularly the sun, moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. Symbols of these planets are common in alchemical art along with their Greek god counterparts, and the success of operations were sometimes tied to zodiacal time. Beyond times of the month, day and hour, these heavenly bodies also corresponded to metals, parts of the body, cardinal sins, and cardinal virtues. Images: Clavis artis, Zoroaster, 17th century and De naturae…historia, Robert Fludd, 1680

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Ulrich Ruosch’s Alchemical Manual, 1680, is a pocket sized manuscript containing an overview of alchemy and the meaning of planets, numbers, letters, and elements. Alchemical implements, philosophy, and symbolism representing each stage of the process are also found inside.

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Emblems from Sammlung unterschiedlicher bewährter chymischer Schriften, Johannes Isaac Holladus & Michael Sendivogius, 1746, including The Hand of the Philosophers and a Globus cruciger. Source: Embassy of the Free Mind

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The title plate from Michael Maier’s Arcana Arcanissima, 1614. Above are three figures from the Egyptian myth of the dismemberment of Osiris by his brother Typhon, and reassembling by his sister Isis. The Greek gods Hercules and Dionysus flank the sides and below are the Egyptian mythological creatures of Ibis, Apis, and Cynocephalus.

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Emblems from a German Alchemical Manuscript, Fidelis Werner, 1794. Source: University of Freiburg

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Haagenti, one of the 72 Spirits of Solomon, is an alchemical demon with the power to turn metals into gold and water into wine. He’s an infernal president who commands 33 legions of lesser demons. He can be bound with the angel Mihael’s name. Beyond his bestial form, he can also appear as a man. Image: 72goetia.com

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Emblems from Sammlung Alchymistischer Schriften (Collection of Alchemical Writings), 18th Century. The different colors and symbolic images represent stages of the alchemical process, and the composition acts as a guide for the process as a whole. Source: John Rylands Library

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Diagram of an alchemist’s furnace, 17th Century. From Manly P. Hall’s collection of alchemical manuscripts, Box 18, MS 102, v. 6. Source: Getty Research Institute

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