Levenda, Peter (Peter Levenda)

The Tantric Alchemist: Thomas Vaughan and the Indian Tantric Tradition Levenda, Peter (Peter Levenda)

Brief Description: The Tantric Alchemist is a work on alchemy as decoded by Tantra and a work on Tantra as understood by alchemists. It uncovers works by Thomas Vaughan and suggests how he and his wifea 17th-century Welsh couple unique in the history of western alchemymet their fate when dealing with forces they knew only too well, but which were stronger than their ability to control them. Using the works of Vaughan as his text, Levenda applies the twilight language of Tantra to the surreal prose of the alchemist and in the process lays bare the lineaments of the arcane tradition that gave rise to the legend of Christian Rosenkreutz, the reputed founder of Rosicrucianism who learned his art in the East; and to the 19th- and 20th-century occult movements lead by such luminaries as P. B. Randolph, Theodore Reuss, Helena Blavatsky, and Aleister Crowley who also sought (and discovered) this technology in the religions and cultures of Asia. Readers will find that the many disparate threads of an authentic spiritual tradition are woven together here in a startling tapestry that revealswithout pretense or euphemismthe psycho-sexual technique that is at the root of both Tantra and alchemy: that is to say, of both Asian and European forms of esoteric praxis. Publisher Marketing:"The Tantric Alchemist" is a work on alchemy as decoded by Tantra and a work on Tantra as understood by alchemists. It uncovers works by Thomas Vaughan and suggests how he and his wife--a 17th-century Welsh couple unique in the history of western alchemy--met their fate when dealing with forces they knew only too well, but which were stronger than their ability to control them. Using the works of Vaughan as his text, Levenda applies the "twilight language" of Tantra to the surreal prose of the alchemist and in the process lays bare the lineaments of the arcane tradition that gave rise to the legend of Christian Rosenkreutz, the reputed founder of Rosicrucianism who learned his art in the East; and to the 19th- and 20th-century occult movements lead by such luminaries as P. B. Randolph, Theodore Reuss, Helena Blavatsky, and Aleister Crowley who also sought (and discovered) this technology in the religions and cultures of Asia. Readers will find that the many disparate threads of an authentic spiritual tradition are woven together here in a startling tapestry that reveals--without pretense or euphemism--the psycho-sexual technique that is at the root of both Tantra and alchemy: that is to say, of both Asian and European forms of esoteric praxis.

Contributor Bio:  Levenda, Peter Peter Levenda is an author of esoterica and historical investigation, from "Unholy Alliance: A History of Nazi Involvement with the Occult" (foreword by Norman Mailer) and his most recent "Ratline: Soviet Spies, Nazi Priests and the Disappearance of Adolf Hitler", to the more specifically esoteric such as "Tantric Temples: Eros and Magic in Java and Stairway to Heaven: Chinese Alchemists, Jewish Kabbalists and the Art of Spiritual Transformation". In addition, his Sinister Forces trilogy bears forewords by investigative journalists Jim Hougan, Dick Russell and Paul Krassner. He has appeared numerous times as an expert on Nazi occult beliefs on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, and TNT, in shows ranging from Brad Meltzer's "Decoded" to "The Nostradamus Effect".