August Strindberg: Playwright, Artist, Author – and his “Celestographs” (Alchemical Shots of the Night Sky)

Johan August Strindberg (January 1849 – 14 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. In the 1890s, he photographed the night sky without a camera or even a lens. These “Celestographs,” as he called them, were both a folly and an innovative work of experimental art. The National Library of Sweden has …

The Sabians and their role in the development of astrological, alchemical and magical traditions

"In what is now southern Turkey stand the remnants of a city called Harran. Part of long ago Babylon, Harran was once the site of the Temple of the Moon god-Sin, one of seven temples in seven cities sacred to the seven classical planets.  Unlike the other great celestial temples, though, the Temple of the …