DR.
THOM
CAVALLI (Ph.D.)
is a practicing Jungian psychologist,
writer, artist and teacher. He is a member of the Alchemy Guild and the
Hermetic Society. Dr. Cavalli’s breakthrough book, Alchemical
Psychology, Old Recipes for Living in the New World (Putnam 2002),
has become available in Europe, South America and recently, in Korea.
Thom received his doctorate in psychology from the California School of
Professional Psychology in San Diego in August 1979. His dissertation
work was a phenomenological study of the trickster archetype, alchemy
and the use of mind-altering drugs. The theme of his dissertation was
condensed and published in ARCHE in an article entitled The Cosmology
of Chance. Dr. Cavalli has been in private clinical practice for
over twenty-five years. In that time he has been licensed as a
psychologist, family therapist and a Qualified Medical Examiner. He has
provided many seminars and workshops to religious, magical, academic and
community groups on Jungian and Alchemical topics. Organizations that
have sponsored Dr. Cavalli’s presentations include the first
International Alchemy Conference, the Esalen Institute, the
Philosophical Research Society, the University of California at Irvine,
the California Graduate Institute, the Scottsdale Center for the Arts,
the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, the Bowers Museum and the
American Psychological Association. He has appeared on national
television, interviewed by an independent filmmaker at the Alchemy
conference in Prague, and recorded on radio at the University of
California, Irvine. Recently back from exploring the major mythic sites
of ancient Egypt, Thom is currently working on a new book that explores
the Egyptian God of the Dead, Osiris, the god’s myth and alchemical
meaning. For further information, visit his website,
www.AlchemicalPsychology.com.
His office is located in Santa Ana, California where he can be reached
by calling 714.731-3238 or email at
illavac@hotmail.com.
DR.
PRADHEEP CHHALLIYIL is a
biochemist who
works as a senior scientist at Genetic-ID Inc., which develops techniques to
detect genetically modified organisms in food. He
received his doctoral degree in cancer biology, and is known for
identifying a novel anti-cancer compound from the plant Cleistanthus
collinus. This important discovery was patented. In 1997, and Dr.
Chhalliyil was the
recipient of the Anna Gold Award for the best cancer research in India.
He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute
in Buffalo, New York, and then moved to Genetic-ID Inc. in Fairfield, Iowa, where
he
lives with his wife Priya and son Pranav. He is the author of Journey
to the Source,
a book about decoding the matrix trilogy (www.matrixjourney.com).
He is also the founder of the Sakthi Foundation (www.rightawareness.com).
He lectures at various conferences on
consciousness studies and focues on
combining both ancient and
modern scientific knowledge. His recent talk at
Yale University was well received by the academic community. (http://www.sacaaa.org/SAC%202008%20Proposed%20Program.pdf).
Email:
pradheepkumar@hotmail.com.
DR. KEVIN DUNN is a professor of
chemistry at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He attended the
University of Chicago and has a Ph.d. in Chemical Physics. His research
focuses on magnetic resonance and the vibrational characteristics of
molecules. Kevin is a practicing alchemist and magician who combines his
talents and insights into an amazing performance of chemical magic. His
has performed and lectured around the country on the magic of molecules
and is considered one of the country's pre-eminent parachemists. He is
the author of Caveman Chemistry,
a hands-on guide to the history of chemical technology. His email is
website is
DR.
BRUCE FISHER (Ph.D.)
worked as a professional chemist and college professor for 40 years,
having received a B.S degree in chemistry at the University of
Pennsylvania in 1952 and a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from M.I.T
in 1957. His professional accomplishments include the development of a
new artificial kidney dialysis membrane, as well as several new
synthetic polymers and specialty elastomer compounds, for which he
received numerous patents. He also worked at the Advanced Research
Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense in the area of
ballistic missile defense and reentry phenomenology. He retired in 1995
to devote his energies to teaching, lecturing, and writing on
philosophic and metaphysical topics, and is the author of over 20 books
covering such diverse topics as spiritual alchemy, kabbalah, occult
anatomy, St.-Germain, Pythagorean numerology, the Gurdjieff teachings
and music as the expression of the soul. Several of his books are in
Joost Ritman’s Biblioteca Hermetica in Amsterdam. He has been a student
of the ancient wisdom teachings for over 30 years, and has the unique
ability to integrate Eastern mysticism and Western occultism with modern
scientific views. He was for five years a regular lecturer at the
Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, founded by Manly P. Hall,
as well as involvement in several Rosicrucian organizations. He resides
in Prescott, Arizona with his wife, Suzanne, who is also a teacher and
student of music and metaphysics.
http://myweb.cableone.net/subru
JOHN
MICHAEL GREER is one of the world’s leading Hermeticists and
author of more than a dozen books on the Western mystery traditions. He
began studying with the Golden Dawn in his teens and followed the
"golden thread" of esoteric teachings into a wide range of subjects from
martial arts and Asian mystical traditions to environmental science and
sacred geometry. John graduated magna cum laude from the
University of Washington with a degree in the Comparative History of
Ideas, and his first book Paths of Wisdom: Cabala and the Western
Tradition was released by Llewellyn in 1996. Believing that many
modern esoteric groups had lost contact with sacred Nature, he began
studying in the Druid tradition and is now the Grand Archdruid of the
Ancient Order of Druids in America. He is also a
practicing geomancer and devout student of
sacred geometry. Among his many books are Inside A Magical
Lodge, Earth Divination & Earth Magic: A Practical Guide to
Geomancy, Natural Magic, The Encyclopedia of Natural Magic,
The New Encyclopedia of the Occult, Learning High Magic,
Druidry: A Green Way of Wisdom, and Encyclopedia of Secret
Societies. Interview at
www.twpt.com/johnmichaelgreer.htm.
Email:
info@aoda.org.
Website:
www.AODA.org.
DR.
BARON
GUDNI GUDNASON VON THORODDSEN (Ph.D.) is a spiritual alchemist and
teacher.
He began his quest
for deeper knowledge as a young man and at an early age was initiated into the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in England. He continued his study of the
Hermetic teachings at a secret
school in Salzburg, Austria, that taught alchemy in the old way; a Christian Kabbalah school in Bern, Switzerland; a Kabbalistic
alchemy school in Madrid, Spain; an astrology school in Cairo, Egypt; a shamanic
alchemy school near Alexandria; a Tantric school in the Congo, at other esoteric
schools in Romania and Sweden, and studied other traditions at several schools
in Tibet, India, and Japan. He also studied the ways of traditional human
culture and was awarded degrees in business and psychology, and he is the
recipient of many humanitarian awards. After 16 years of study, Gudni founded
his own school and is now a respected international teacher of the Hermetic
arts. Rocky Mountain Mystery School, 83 Galaxy Blvd. Unit 3, Toronto, M9W 5X6,
Canada (Phone: 416-625-3470). World Headquarters: Rocky Mountain Mystery School
International, Honbu Dojo, 3-31-11 New Life Center, Nishiwaseda Bekkan 2nd
Floor, Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo 169-0051, Japan (Phone: 81- 3-3205-0777).
Email: ggudnason@rmmscanadianhq.com. Websites:
www.rmmsint.com and
www.fratergedrm.com
DENNIS
WILLIAM HAUCK
is a
practicing alchemist, author, consultant, and lecturer
working to facilitate personal, institutional, and global
transformation through the application of the ancient principles of
alchemy. He writes and lectures on the universal principles of physical,
psychological, and spiritual transformation to a wide variety of audiences
that range from scientists and business leaders to religious and New Age
groups. Hauck's initiation into alchemy took place while he was in
graduate school in mathematics at the University of Vienna, and he has
since translated a number of important Latin and German alchemy
manuscripts dating back to the fourteenth century. A gifted speaker on
Hermetic and esoteric subjects, Hauck has been
interviewed on nearly three hundred radio and TV programs including such
popular national shows as "NPR's Morning Edition," "Sally Jessy
Raphael," "Geraldo," "Art Bell's Dreamland," "CNN Reports," and "Extra."
An instructor in the Alchemy Home Study Program, Dennis has initiated over 300 students
into the ancient art. His latest books are The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation
and Sorcerer's Stone: A Beginner's Guide to Alchemy.
His latest work The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy is due out
from Penguin in April 2008. He is currently working on a full translation of Gottlieb Latz' epic
work Alchimia and First Matter, a revealing study of the
mysterious "essential ingredient" in all alchemical work. Websites:
www.AlchemyLab.com,
www.Alchemergy.com, and
www.AlchemyCode.com.
ART KUNKIN was
the editor of Essentia, the quarterly alchemical journal of the
Paracelsus Research Society in the 1980s. After completing the seven
year alchemy course in Salt Lake City with Frater Albertus, Art became
president of a mining company and then, after the passing of Manly P.
Hall, became president of The Philosophical Research Society in Los
Angeles. He is a former Professor of Journalism at the Northridge campus
of California State University. Art founded the Los Angeles Free
Press in 1964 and has edited it since then. He has edited many other
publications including Whole Life Times, The Realist and Ancient
Wisdom For Modern Living. Art has studied meditation with Tibetan
Buddhists and Tibetan alchemists, Islamic Sufis, Hindu Yogis, Jewish
Kabbalists, Gurdjieff groups, Hawaiian Kahunas and Christian Mystics for
more than 40 years. For five years in the late 70s he was co-partner
with Andrew DaPassano of "The Way of The Magus" meditation school in Los
Angeles, which at its peak taught a Tibetan alchemical meditation to 300
students every week. Art has visited the laboratories of alchemists in
many European cities. He presently is on the advisory board of The
Institute of Mentalphysics, a 400 acre meditation retreat in Joshua
Tree, California. Art is the author of the eBook, Alchemy: The Secret
Of Life Extension, the contents of which are detailed on
his website:
www.alchemyrevealed.com.
The website also includes a Gnosis magazine interview with Art titled
"Practical Alchemy and Physical Immortality" as well as an excerpt from
the Time-Life book "Secrets of The Alchemists" about Art's laboratory
work. Art can be reached at
artkunkin@gmail.com
and 760-333-5416. He is interested in coordinating research on the
Secret Fire and the three forms of The Philosopher's Stone (Herbal,
Mineral, and Animal Stones) and would welcome inquiries on those subjects.
Download the
featured cover article of the June 2008 Fortean Times "The Last
Alchemist: Has the King of the Hippies Discovered the Secret of
Everlasting Life?"
DR. René
Lawson has an eclectic education and background. Her Ph.D. is
in psycholinguistics, M.A. is linguistics, and B.Sc. is English/Education
from the Ohio State University. René won a grant and studied chemistry
at Bridgewater College, Virginia while she was still in high school. She was
later awarded as a Johns Hopkins University Fellow. She worked as a
medical technologist and then became Director of Laboratory at Grady
Memorial Hospital, OH. Her main areas of expertise were enzymes and hemoglobinopathies. René lived and taught school in the Outback of
Australia and was also a student of the Aboriginal Dreamtime. In
Morocco, North Africa, she taught English as a Foreign Language and met
the Prince, the current King, at his sixteenth birthday party to
translate. She has been a middle school principal for twelve years,
specializing in gifted and talented education, as well as the
emotionally disturbed. Her psychotherapy studies were realized at
Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara (where she is known for her
fertility spell). As a member of the Women’s Gymnastic Team at The Ohio
State University, she won a gold medal in Free Floor Exercises at the
Buckiana Games. She studied classical piano with Sr. M. Chiara of the
des Beaux Arts, France. René won the Mozart Children’s Gold Medal Award
at twelve years of age. She joined the Ohio State Modern Dance Group as
an undergraduate. While at OSU, she was also an adjudicator for the
debate team. Richard Oliver Marshall,
student of Hans Krebs, Nobel Prize winner for Krebs/Citric Acid Cycle,
was her mentor. He regaled consciousness as the full activity of mind
and body, and the cycle of consciousness is akin to the citric acid
cycle occurring within the mitochondria of every cell in the body,
thereby producing cellular respiration for mind and body.
Amongst presentations/lectures in therapy, language,
brain-based learning, and the gifted. René is studying alchemy and
hypnotherapy.
ANDREW
MINKIN
began studying divination at the age of 14.
His formal studies of historical alchemy
began as a History of Religions student at
Pomona College. He published a thesis in
1991 on the impact of the Chinese divinatory
practice, the I Jing on western esoterica.
His laboratory alchemy began at the
Rose-Croix University. At age 21, was
Publicity Director for the Philosophical
Research Society under Art Kunkin, assisted
in public alchemy classes and studied Agni
Yoga with Burt Wilson. His formal education
in spiritual alchemy and astrology began in
1989 upon inheriting the library of James
Sabia, a former physician to Manly Palmer
Hall. Andrew has spoken at the Master
Astrologers community in Southern California
and has studied several different
astrological traditions. Andrew first
transitioned from graphic arts to computer
programming in 1994. His first computational
alchemy was a magic square solving program
in 1996. In the same year, he first received
visions of twenty-first century astrology.
It took until 2006 after leaving Microsoft
as a developer consultant to learn what was
necessary to realize the vision. His current
day job includes writing certification exams
and working for a start-up company,
Zilliant.
On 08/08/08, Andrew launched,
Archaeus Design Systems,
a web experiment in applying 21st century
tools to the traditions of alchemy and
astrology.
DR. MICHAEL
PEARCE is a British born artist with a
strong background in scenography -- painting and installation art.
Although he has lived in California since 1990, his love for Wiltshire
and Devon has never left him and has powerfully influenced his work. He
received his BA (Hons) from
Dartington College of
Arts, then left England to come to the US where he was
awarded a Masters in Fine Arts in Theatrical Design from the
University of Southern
California. To support his studies at Dartington he worked as
a street circus performer, fire blower and sidewalk performance artist.
Recently, he completed a PhD at Plymouth University, England, submitting
a dissertation on Neolithic British ritual art and architecture. He is
chair of the
Art Department
at
California Lutheran
University in Thousand Oaks. The paintings and installation
pieces that together complete Pearce’s body of work connect him to his
childhood experience of stone circles and long barrows and his study of
Hermeticism and alchemical philosophy. The works are marked by the use
of symbolism, male and female imageries and celestial references. His
paintings establish correspondences between life and death, masculine
and the feminine, the sun and the earth. He particularly admires the
work of artists Joseph
Beuys and Robert
Smithson and refers to them in his installation work, while
his paintings are rooted in the tradition of artists such as
Caravaggio, the German artist Cranach (Martin
Luther’s good friend), the British artist Francis
Bacon. Michael loves the work of the contemporary painter Odd
Nerdrum. A travelling man, he regularly returns to the West
of England, where he walks the stone circles, to reconnect his work with
his old inspiration. These experiences refresh not only his art but also
his teaching, bringing new life to his exchanges with his students.
Through imagining the rituals that took place in the Neolithic, before
there was any recorded history, he wishes to take us back to the origin
of our culture and of civilization. Expressing correspondences between
the Neolithic and contemporary societies, he points a way for art to
move forward. Michael's works will be on display in the hall of the
conference. Website:
www.GildedRaven.com.
ROBERT
ALLEN BARTLETT
is a
practicing alchemist and author.
A
natural born scientist, Robert's
interest in geology and the sciences
in general prompted him to construct
his own home laboratory when only 9
years old. Roberts interest in the
ancient use of natural materials
lead him to the study of alchemical
works at the age of 12, and it has
become his lifelong passion. In
1974, he left San Jose State
University to pursue an intensive
course of alchemical study at the
Paracelsus Research Society (later
Paracelsus College) under the
guidance of Dr. Albert Reidel (Frater
Albertus). During this time, Robert
lived in central Idaho where he
performed personal research on
botanical materials and worked
underground mining antimony (an
important alchemical resource). By
1976, at the prompting of Frater
Albertus, Robert returned to college
at Boise State University to
complete his degree in chemistry
with the view of working at the
newly formed Paralab, a commercial
offshoot of Paracelsus College.
During this time Robert was also
employed as a geochemical assayer
for the mining industry. In 1979, he
received his B.S. degree chemistry
and immediately began work at
Paralab as Chief Chemist. Working
closely with Frater Albertus, Robert
developed a wide range of mineral
and metallic preparations following
Western and Eastern alchemical
traditions for applications in
alternative health care. Later, he
was selected by Frater Albertus to
become a Director of Research at
Tristar, the future vision of Frater
Albertus which would combine the
Paracelsus College, Paralab, and a
Healing Arts Center into one
complex. Unfortunately with the
death of Frater Albertus in 1984,
both the college and Paralab closed
its doors and the Tristar dream was
never realized. Robert’s pursuit of
alchemical research never
diminished, as he continued his
chemistry career as a research
scientist for new ceramic materials,
then later as the Chemistry
Department Manager for a large
materials testing laboratory. In
this new environment, he was able to
document and perfect alchemical
experiments using the very latest in
scientific instrumentation. Robert
is currently living in the Pacific
Northwest with his wife and two
daughters where he has been teaching
classes and giving workshops on
practical alchemy since 2002. He has
currently been working closely with Bastyr University in Kenmore
Washington, presenting Herbal and
Medical Alchemy to the Community. He
is an instructor with
Flamel College and will be
presenting the
Spagyrics Workshop at the
conference. He also produces a line
of spagyric and homeopathic mineral
salts under the Terre Vitae label,
as well as the Eagleheart spagyric
tincture line, taking over for Paul
Randak. He has produced two books,
Real Alchemy, a Primer of
Practical Alchemy, and his
latest, The Way of the Crucible.
Both books available at
www.LuLu.com. His website is
www.RealAlchemy.org. 
KAREN
BARTLETT was born in New York City and grew up in an
Italian/Lithuanian family. Her grandmother immigrated from Italy and was
a Strega (Italian Witch) who taught Karen folk magick. On the Lithuanian
side, her aunt was a Gypsy who read Tarot cards for family members and
taught her and her sister the art. Karen was initiated into Welsh
Traditionalist Wicca at the age of 14 by the late Eddie Buzinski
(co-founder of the Welsh Tradition) along with Lady Rhiannon (of
Brooklyn's Warlock Shoppe in Brooklyn which later became Magickal Childe
in NYC). At 16, Karen became the youngest High Priestess ever. She was
soon hired by the late Herman Slater (author and proprietor of Magickal
Childe) to teach classes on pagan rituals. Karen went on to learn Karmic
Astrology from Larri Mangum, an astrologer and teacher at the Gurdjieff
Center in New York City. Later, Karen moved to Washington and taught
classes at the Avalon Wellness Center in Marysville. After meeting
her husband, 
MORGANNE
BAUM
JOSHUA
MADARA is a cybernetician-cum-magician and cybrarian who works in Seattle as
a software quality assurance engineer. His interests include analytical
synthesis and synthetic analysis of cybernetics and magic, and include a wide
variety of Hermetic subjects. He believes that psybernetics solved the paradox
of how fictional goals such as the statements of intent in magic rituals can
have real-world effects by showing that information alone can bring order to
chaotic systems when that information is in a feedback relation with that system
that might best be termed “bootstrap perception.” Read his alchemical work at
PAUL
HARDACRE