Jean Dubuis was born in 1919 and died on April 10, 2010. He founded "Le Philosophes du Nature" (LPN) in France in 1979, and the organization became known in the United States as the Philosophers of Nature (PON) under the leadership of Russ House. Dubuis' mystical studies began after he experienced a profound awakening, at the age of twelve, in the island sanctuary of Mont Saint-Michel. This awakening led to a lifetime of experience in European and American esoteric circles. For over sixty years, he studied and practiced alchemy, cabbala, and related arts and sciences, and prior to founding LPN, Dubuis was intimately associated with the development of Martinism and Rosicrucianism. Professionally, Dubuis worked in the field of nuclear physics with the Nobel Prize winner Jolliot-Curie, and was employed by an international electronics firm for over thirty years.

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Manfred Junius passed on March 7, 2004. He died in Adelaide, Australia. He was a professor for ayurvedic medicine, founder of the faculty for ayurvedic medicine at the Australasian Academy of Natural Medicine, guest lecturer at the Institute of Indian Medicine in Poona, India, and holder of a professorship of Indian music at the Sangit Samiti, the biggest Indian music college in Allahabad. He was a manufacturer of spagyric remedies at Australerba, Adelaide, Australia. We do not only lose one of the last great alchemists of the 20th century, but also a very wise man, whose biggest wish it was to connect people by the spirit of hermetic philosophy without any prejudices. See Memorial Page.

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Titus Burckhardt

Titus Burckhardt, a German Swiss, was born in Florence, Italy, in 1908 and died in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1984. He devoted his life to the study and exposition of the different aspects of the wisdom tradition and alchemy. In the age of modern science and technocracy, Burckhardt was one of the most remarkable exponents of universal truth, in the realm of metaphysics as well as in the realm of cosmology and traditional art. In a world of existentialism, psychoanalysis, and sociology, he was a major voice of the philosophia perennis, that "wisdom uncreate" that is expressed in alchemy, Platonism, Vedanta, Sufism, Taoism, and other authentic esoteric teachings. He was the author of Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul.

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Hans Schimmer

Hans Schimmer was born in 1924 and died of pneumonia on December 28, 2009, in Vienna, Austria. He was instrumental in re-organizing and expanding the Alchemy Guild in the 1960s and became its first President. An extremely private, intelligent, and cultured man, Hans considered himself a "parachemist" and always tried to present alchemy in practical terms as the "complete form of chemistry." Hans was a traditionalist and always cautioned that the Guild must be conservative in sharing its goals, philosophy, and teachings with the uninitiated, and never demean those teachings by "casting pearls before swine." He believed all true alchemists must be individually initiated into the mysteries of alchemy in one-on-one meetings with  adept alchemists who could guage the level at which each student should work. His private initiations covered spiritual as well as practical laboratory work. He will be sorely missed by his former students and all members of the Alchemy Guild. 

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Hans Nintzel

Hans Nintzel passed on December 3, 2000. Hans W. Nintzel was one of the most significant of the twentieth century's alchemical enthusiasts. He was among Frater Albertus' earliest pupils, and in the 1970's and 1980's, he worked on the R.A.M.S. project (the Restoration of Alchemical Manuscripts Society.) He struggled to make rare alchemical material available to the English speaking audience. (see  R.A.M.S. website) Hans often lectured on Qabala and alchemy, and organised a number of workshops on practical alchemy, demonstrating alchemical procedures and practical work. In the late 1980's, he began to have health problems that slowed him down. Nevertheless he kept up a considerable correspondence with his colleagues and friends in the Work and continued to be a focus of inspiration. See Memorial Page.

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Dr. Albert Richard Riedel

Frater Albertus Spagyricus (Dr. Albert Richard Riedel) was the founder of the Paracelsus Research Society in Salt Lake City, which later evolved into the Paracelsus College. He was born on May 5, 1911 and died on July 14, 1984. Based on the Paracelsian concept of three essentials, Body, Soul and Spirit, Frater Albertus developed a system of teaching alchemical concepts using the spagyric technique of separation and cohobation. The unique gradated courses allowed students to explore aspects of the vegetable, mineral and animal kingdoms in an understandable and accessible way. Previous to this, one had to be a member of a fraternity or secret society in order to gain access to structured teaching. After his death in 1984, the college ceased operations in the United States but continued to carry on the tradition in Australia. Frater Albertus had a profound effect on the way Alchemy and particularly the Spagyric method was disseminated and understood in the mid to late 20th century. He was the author of The Alchemist's Handbook and many other titles.