![[Jules_Violle.png|hsmall center]] > [!caption|center no-title no-icon no-margin ] > French physicist Jules Violle, also known as the alchemist Fulcanelli Fulcanelli is inextricably linked to the modern idea of alchemy. Fulcanelli is only known through his books, _[[The Mystery of the Cathedrals]]_ (_Le Mystere des Cathedrales_) and _[[The Dwellings of the Philosophers]]_ (_Les Demeures Philosophales_), first published in French in Paris in 1926 and 1929 respectively. The books were published by Fulcanelli's pupils, Eugene Canseliet and Jean-Julien Champagne. Many claim to have met Fulcanelli but since the two books are the only definite link to his identity, and these two are the ones through whom these books came to be published, all these claims are inherently improvable. Also, considering Canseliet's and Champagne's known writings, Fulcanelli's text cannot be attributed to them. The text bespeaks a mastery of symbology, architecture, art and history and an exceptional intellectual clarity and refinement of expression. The same feat has not been duplicated since. There are rumors of a third book, _Finis Gloria Mundi_, but this appears never to have been published. In _Le Mystere_, Fulcanelli interprets messages encoded in the architecture and sculptures and reliefs of the French Gothic cathedrals. It appears that Fulcanelli cannot have inferred his expositions of alchemy from the art itself, rather he is using this art as a springboard for discussing a field of knowledge that he has been separately initiated to. The most quoted passage of Fulcanelli is the analysis of the symbols of the cyclic cross of Hendaye, added at the end of _Le Mystere_ in a subsequent edition. This passage discusses a double catastrophe to befall the world at a future time. This passage makes clear allusions to the end of a world age and a re-emergence on the other side of the change in a world created anew. This is among the more explicit references to something comparable to the Cassiopaean concept of [[The Wave|the Wave]]. There is an account of Eugene Canseliet having met Fulcanelli at a castle in the Pyrenees in 1954. This account described Fulcanelli as having acquired both male and female characteristics and other oddities of circumstance. However, upon Canseliet's return, events were only remembered as if through a hypnotic veil. In his _[[Fulcanelli His True Identity Revealed|Fulcanelli: His True Identity Revealed]]_, Patrick Rivière, a student of Canseliet's, determined that Fulcanelli's true identity was Jules Violle, famous French physicist. [[Laura Knight-Jadczyk]] discusses the subject of alchemy in the [Grail](http://cassiopaea.org/2011/02/22/the-grail-quest-and-the-destiny-of-man-i/) and _[Wave](http://cassiopaea.org/2010/05/08/the-wave-chapter-1-riding-the-wave/)_ series. The general conclusion is that alchemy is a branch of the science of spiritual transformation and access to higher densities but that any materialistic or literal interpretation of the symbols was bound to lead one astray. Further readings ---------------- * [The True Identity of Fulcanelli and The Da Vinci Code](http://cassiopaea.org/2010/09/22/the-true-identity-of-fulcanelli-and-the-da-vinci-code/) * [The Grail Quest and The Destiny of Man I](http://cassiopaea.org/2011/02/22/the-grail-quest-and-the-destiny-of-man-i/) * [Fulcanelli and Gurdjieff](https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,11495.0.html) * _[Mystery of the Cathedrals](http://www.amazon.com/Fulcanelli-Alchemist-Cathedrales-Esoteric-Intrepretation/dp/0914732145/)_ * _[The Dwellings of the Philosophers](http://www.amazon.com/Dwellings-Philosophers-Fulcanelli/dp/0963521160)_ * [Fulcanelli: His True Identity Revealed](http://www.redpillpress.com/shop/fulcanelli/) by Patrick Rivière * [Happy Birthday, Fulcanelli](http://www.sott.net/article/124992-Happy-Birthday-Fulcanelli) See also -------- * [[Alchemy]] * [[The Zelator]]