Atalanta Unveiled: Alchemical Initiation in the Emblems of Atalanta Fugiens

Dubbed 'the most prominent alchemical physician in Germany since Paracelsus,' Michael Maier was a Royal Physician, a diplomat and alchemist who produced a variety of works synthesising his interests in healing, alchemy, and esoteric philosophy. His intricate emblem books have been described as the world's first multimedia productions.? The Atalanta fugiens (1617) was designed to simultaneously stimulate the senses, the intellect and the spirit through engagement with the emblems, music, and text, to lead the reader on a path to self-initiation through the secrets of alchemical knowledge. In this richly illustrated book, Sasha Chaitow traces the coded mythical references in the images, providing evidence that the emblems need to be rearranged to decode Maier's full message.