The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Dr Stefania Buosi-Moncunill (University of Barcelona) who will present:
From Sacred Plants to Golden Wine: The Alchemist’s Art of Healing
This will be live on Thursday, 27 November 2025, beginning at 5.00pm (London time). The format will be a talk of 20-30 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion of half an hour.
As with recent seminars the Zoom link can be freely accessed by anyone, member of SHAC or not, by booking through the following Ticket Source link:
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/society-for-the-history-of-alchemy-and-chemistry/shac-on-line-seminar-dr-stefania-buosi-moncunill-university-of-barcelona/e-aggypq
The seminar will be also accessible live on YouTube at
Both the Zoom and YouTube links will go live just before the seminar
Most previous on-line seminars can be found on the SHAC YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SocietyforHistoryofAlchemyandChemistry
From Sacred Plants to Golden Wine: The Alchemist’s Art of Healing
Stefania Buosi-Moncunill
This presentation explores the many healing dimensions of medical alchemy as it was practiced within the Occitan-Catalan school of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It is based on extensive archival and philological research and forms part of the forthcoming collected volume The Medical Legacy of Medieval Alchemy: Elixirs, Healing Waters, and Precious Stones (Palgrave, 2025), co-edited with Lawrence M. Principe (Johns Hopkins University).
At the heart of the Occitan-Catalan medico-alchemical tradition lies the idea of a medicina integralis, a holistic vision in which the healing of the body and the regeneration of the spirit converge in a single quest for harmony with the cosmos. Remedies such as theriac, aurum potabile, and the elixir were not mere pharmacological compounds, but true thresholds of transformation leading toward deeper states of balance and knowledge.
Best regards
The SHAC Officers