[Video Class] Wine, Alchemy, and The Quintessence with Brian Cotnoir

Wine, Alchemy, and The Quintessence
Teacher: Brian Cotnoir
Length: 2 hours
Recorded: December 2020

Wine has a long history blended with myth, medicine and ritual, this remarkable product of nature plays a central role in alchemical practice. Tonight’s talk will be a mytho-poetic exploration of wine from its history and myth to its use in alchemy. We will also look at some basic alchemical practices and how to extract the quintessence of wine.  

Brian Cotnoir is an alchemist, artist, and filmmaker. A contributor to Frater Albertus’ Parachemy, he is also the author of a series of Alchemy Zines. His books include Alchemy: The Poetry of Matter, The Weiser Concise Guide to Alchemy, Alchemical Meditations, On the Quintessence of Wine, and the Emerald Tablet, his translations of and commentary on, the earliest Arabic and Latin versions of this seminal text. His Emerald Tablet was part of the Language of the Birds: Occult and Art show in 2016 in New York City. An alchemical composition of his “Egonomen nekros,” was part of the 2018 exhibition at Green-Wood Cemetery, The Power of Image: Life, Death, and Rebirth. 

He occasionally gives talks and has presented workshops and seminars around the world on various aspects of alchemical theory and practice based on his research. 

His film work has been screened at Museum of Modern Art, Sundance Film Festival, HBO, PBS and other international venues. Khepri Press, launched in 2014 with the publication of the Emerald Tablet, is the vehicle and portal for his alchemical work.