About the Alchemical Academy
The Alchemical Academy was started in 2006 by Katarina Falkenberg and Tommy Westlund. Its goal is to spread knowledge on the alchemical wisdom tradition. The alchemist’s Magnum Opus (Great Work) is a process wherein one seeks to liberate the confined spirit from dark matter, in order that the spirit may be reunited with matter which, after much hard work, has been refined.
Western alchemy, with its roots in Egypt, and Eastern alchemy, with its roots in Taoism, constitute the foundation of the world’s mystery traditions. Alchemy is a mysticism of unity that strives for an experiential-based knowledge of the relationship between God, Man and Nature, which in the Microcosmos is the equivalent of the spirit, the soul and the body. The alchemical tradition places great weight on an inner unification of opposites, which is called The Alchemical Marriage, and the union between male and female also [is found in the androgynous picture of God].
The alchemists’ symbolic language speaks to the deepest parts of our subconscious and superconscious, and points out how the uniting of opposites – masculine and feminine, intellect and feeling, spirit and matter – can be accomplished both within and without. Such work can, to the highest degree, give rise to the transformation of the soul towards wholeness, which involves experiences of a physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual character.
The Alchemical Academy offers a transrational training with focus on integration, where we move beyond the dogmatic and egotistical, beyond dualism’s idea that we live in separation. We see the Universe’s opposites, such as light and dark, spirit and matter, as complimentary principles whose integration is a prerequisite for a more whole and freer world.
About the Founders
Katarina Falkenberg and Tommy Westlund have founded and run the Alchemical Academy, which is a centre for the eternal alchemical wisdom. The Academy’s purpose is to offer alchemical educations, workshops, grail knight education, mystery plays, transforming journeys and salons to spread the Western wisdom tradition to a broader audience. The Academy’s publishing house Arca Dei publishes newly written alchemical books and translations of classic works.
Katarina Falkenberg is CEO of the Alchemical Academy and has studied and practised alchemy for 30 years. She is an alchemical therapist and author with a background in theatre. Her alchemical novels The Alchemist’s Red Longing, which was awarded the Paracelsus Prize, and The Red Angel reveal the profound mysteries of the secret doctrine. Katarina is also a Gnostic priest, knight and high priestess in the Temple of Sophia. She leads priestess educations, goddess services, imaginations, etc., around the path of the divine heart.
Tommy Westlund is chairman of the board of the Alchemical Academy and has studied and practised alchemy and esotericism since 1990. He is a psychosynthesis therapist, apostolic Gnostic bishop, knight and adept in the Western initiatic traditions. Tommy is an Order chief in the Rosicrucian tradition and lectures internationally on the alchemical, hermetic and Freemasonic wisdom traditions.
Together, they have written the Swedish books Alchemy – the Divine Work, The Alchemy of the Heart – The Path to the Living Grail and The Rosicrucian Alchemical Wedding – Mystery Play anno 2016 as well as a dozen educational compendiums in the spagyric art, planetary alchemy, Egyptian alchemy, the Grail’s traditions, the Cathars’ mystique and more.
