The arcane formulas or mental alchemy. A supplementary volume to The arcane teaching

This volume presents William Walker Atkinson’s practical-psychological approach to “mental alchemy,” a popular New Thought adaptation of older alchemical language. It is historically significant as part of the early 20th-century effort to reinterpret alchemy as a discipline of self-transformation, and readers will find brief lessons on concentration, mental discipline, and the symbolic language of transformation.

William Walker Atkinson was an influential American writer in the New Thought, mental science, and occult-metaphysical milieu of the early twentieth century. Writing under numerous pseudonyms, he produced a large body of popular works on mental training, esoteric philosophy, and practical self-culture that shaped modern metaphysical literature.