Living Human Heritage Publications Professor Dr. Theodor Abt – förlag

The images published are from the almost complete manuscript of the Mushaf as-suwar, one of the oldest available manuscripts of perhaps the first Greek alchemist, which contains a collection of 13 book written by Zosimos of Panaoplois as a dialogue between the teacher Zosimos and this student Theosobeia. Zosimos collected the teaching of past alchemists and thus consolidated the knowledge of symbolic alchemy of his time.

This second commentary on Muhammed ibn Umail's Hall ar-rumuz (See CALA I) gives important additions and clarifications that had become possible in the light of other texts of Ibn Umail and authors quoted by him, which at the time when Dr von Franz wrote her first commentary (see CALA I A) were either poorly translated into Latin or not yet available in any European language. That allowed an enlarged understanding of this text, based on Ibn Umail's own reflections. The text is accompanied by 100 illustrations that help the reader better to understand the symbolic world of Ibn Umail.

This is the long-awaited book by Theodor Abt, who has been training analysts internationally in the art of picture interpretation since 30 years. His long experience in this field has led him to develop his own method, resulting in this book. Some 150 colour pictures accompany the text, making this book a valuable resource to have on the bookshelf for consultation in the following areas: Formal aspects; The symbolism of space; The symbolism of colours; The symbolism of numbers.

This first imperfect edition of Rutbat al-hakim is based mainly on three manuscripts [Ms. Paris Arabe 2612, Ms. Istanbul, Süleymaniye, Hajji Mahmud 6224, and Ms. Teheran, Kitabkhaneh Milla Malek 5346], "in order to provide a reasonably reliable text as originally composed by the author without any of the corrections and alterations introduced by later scholars of alchemy who used the book as their teaching manual. The correct identification of the author as Maslama b. Qasim al-Qurtubi (d. 353/964) was first proposed by Maribel Fierro in an article in 1996. For CALA the early dating of the Rutbat al-hakim is significant, since Maslama al-Qurtubi is the first author to mention the Arabic translation of the Mushaf as-suwar attributed to Zosimos of Panopolis (Arabic Akhmim) of which a manuscript dated in 668/1211 has been published by Theodor Abt in CALA II. Maslama al-Qurtubi states that he considered Zosimos as his master and teacher among pre-Islamic alchemists. It should be noted, that the version of the Mushaf as-suwar Maslama had, differed significantly from the published version which represents a translation produced much later in Egypt. The two Arabic versions evidently are based on different Greek originals. -- From the Introduction by the Editor The publication of this fourth volume of the Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA IV) is a milestone in achieving our aim to make the wealth of Arabic alchemy more easily accessible for research. Maslama b. Qasim al-Qurtubi (died 353/964), the author of this Rutbat al-hakim, provides a basic teaching of alchemy, quoting extensively from Zosimos Mushaf as-suwar. Zosimos was an alchemist who lived in the 3rd/4th century and is generally considered to be the first alchemist known to us by his true name. The significance of the present publication is to be seen in the relationship to the earlier volumes of this series, especially to CALA II and CALA III. The author of the Rutbat al-hakim emphasises the importance of understanding symbols (rumuz). The publication of the Rutbat al-hakim as CALA IV rounds up the first four publications in this series: They started with the Kitab hall ar-rumuz (Book of the Explanation of the Symbols), written by the Arab alchemist Muhammad ibn Umail (10th century). Then in the next volumes, in CALA II and CALA III, there came a further clarification of the symbols given by the Greek alchemist Zosimos, and now, in CALA IV, we find an overview of the knowledge and significance of the symbols (rumuz), written by another Arab alchemist. -- From the Foreword by the Series Editor

Regina Abt-Baechi presents the psychological interpretation of the three fairy tales The Magic Horse, Ferdinand Faithful and Ferdinand Unfaithful as well as The Goosegirl. Her interpretation is based on the earlier short interpretatins by Barbara Hannah and Marie-Louise von Franz. The author ponders carefully over each motif and symbol ot the fairy tales. She thereby focuses on the Archetypal Basis of the Psyche, connecting it to examples of typical individual experiences. Thus the meaning of the whole fairy tale emerges more and more clearly. Together, the interpretation and the illustrations - painted by the author - convey to the reader the experience, that these archetypal dreamlike stories can become truly alive in one's soul.

As in his earlier publications, the author shows in his new book the collective relevance of great dreams for understanding and dealing with collective problems. The book begins with a presentation of some dreams which were collected by Charlotte Berath in Germany during the years 1933-1939 and later published in her book. The Third Reich of Dreams. The nightmares of a nation, 1933-1939. These dreams foreshadow the approaching collective disaster. Dr Abt's latest work is based on dreams from the author's psychological practice and his talks with Marie-Louise von Franz. This new dream series foreshadows a possible similar danger that needs to be taken seriously. In addition to the collective problem of a new poisonous ideology, which becomes visible not only in Switzerland, the presented dream symbols also show hopeful-constructive images, indicating how a bridge into our future could be created.