The Tantric Alchemist: Thomas Vaughan and the Indian Tantric Tradition

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 a...