Eugène Léon Canseliet (18 December 1899,

Sarcelles Sarcelles () is a Communes of France, commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero#France, centre of Paris. Sarcelles is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of Franc ...

– 12 April 1982, Savignies), was a French writer and

alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

. He was a student of the mysterious alchemist known as Fulcanelli. He wrote the preface for each of his master's books (''Le Mystère des cathédrales'' and ''Les Demeures philosophales''). Later in his life after his master died, he took a quiet life in France and continued to study and practice what Fulcanelli taught him, taking on students. Though Canseliet took on students and chose to pass on much of the alchemical knowledge imparted to him by Fulcanelli, Canseliet chose universities and less esoteric intellectual circles than his master, and simply passed on knowledge relating to the Opus Minor choosing to keep the discretion customary of the great Hermetic Initiates. Canseliet met with the late Frater Albertus, a German-American alchemist who practiced in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

. According to Albertus, it was Canseliet who taught him the principle secret needed to perform the

Magnum Opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

. Canseliet believed, by way of Fulcanelli's teaching, that the only true method was the Dry Way, particularly the Star Regulus of Antimony, the path that Fulcanelli himself likely used. Some believe that Eugene Canseliet was actually Fulcanelli, but this is unlikely considering Canseliet's exceedingly young age at the time of the publishing of ''Mystery of the Cathedrals'' and ''Dwellings of the Philosophers''. This is further expounded by the vast historical, chemical, hermetic, and architectural knowledge possessed by the Initiate, Fulcanelli. Patrick Rivière wrote a book purportedly revealing the true identity of Fulcanelli to be a well to do Parisian physicist who was good friends with

Pierre Curie Pierre Curie ( ; ; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, Radiochemistry, radiochemist, and a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. He shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, ...

. Canseliet supported this claim of acquaintance, saying that Fulcanelli had many well to do aristocratic colleagues and acquaintances.

Selected works

* ''Deux logis alchimiques, en marge de la science et de l'histoire''. Paris, Jean Schemit, 1945, in-8, 157 p. Nouvelle édition augmentée à Paris, chez Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1979, 344 p. * ''Alchimie, études diverses de symbolisme hermétique et de pratique philosophale'', Paris, Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1964, in-8, 285 p. Nouvelle édition revue et augmentée, Paris, Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1978, 401 p. * ''L'Alchimie et son ″Livre muet"'' (″ Mutus Liber″). ''Introduction et commentaires par Eugène Canseliet'', Paris, Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1967, in-4, 140 p. * ''L'Alchimie expliquée sur ses textes classiques'', Paris, Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1972, 312 p.

Bibliography

* ''La Tourbe des Philosophes'', "Hommage aux 80 ans de Eugène CANSELIET", n°10, Grenoble, Editions de la Tourbe.

External links

Eugène Canseliet interviewed by Jacques Chancel at Radioscopie, on 23rd June 1978

''other articles on Canseliet and Champagne'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Canseliet, Eugene French alchemists French occult writers 1982 deaths 1899 births French male non-fiction writers 20th-century alchemists 20th-century French male writers