noch lebenden, doch ungenannten
Philosopho, den Filiis doctrinae zur Lehre, den Fratribus Aureae Crucis
aber zur Nachrichtung beschrieben. Anno, M.D.C.XXV.

If I add that this book is an hermetic treatise (alchemistic), it may
furnish a general classification for it, but will hardly give any definite
idea of its nature, not merely on account of the oblivion into which this
kind of writing has now fallen, but also because the few ideas usually
connected with it produce a distorted picture. The hermetic art, as it is
treated here, the principles of which strike us to-day as fantastic, is
related to several "secret" sciences and organizations, some of which have
been discredited: magic, kabbala, rosicrucianism, etc. It is particularly
closely connected with alchemy so that the terms "hermetic art" and
"alchemy" (and even "royal art") are often used synonymously. This
"art"--to call it by the name that not without some justification it
applies to itself--leads us by virtue of its many ramifications into a
large number of provinces, which furnish us desirable material for our
research.

So I will first, purposely advancing on one line, regard the parable as a
dream or a fairy tale and analyze it psychoanalytically. This treatment
will, for the information of the reader, be preceded by a short exposition
of psychoanalysis as a method of interpretation of dreams and fairy tales.
Then I will, still seeking for the roots of the matter, introduce the
doctrines that the pictorial language of the parable symbolizes. I will
give consideration to the chemical viewpoint of alchemy and also the
hermetic philosophy and its hieroglyphic educational methods.

Connections will be developed with religious and ethical topics, and we
shall have to take into account the historical and psychological relations
of hermetic thought with rosicrucianism in its various forms, and
freemasonry. And when we begin, at the conclusion of the analytical
section of my work, to apply to the solution of our parable and of several
folk tales the insight we have gained, we shall be confronted with a
problem in which we shall face two apparently contradictory
interpretations, according to whether we follow the lead of psychoanalysis
or of the hermetic, hieroglyphic solution. The question will then arise
whether and how the contradiction occurs. How shall we bring into relation
with each other and reconcile the two different interpretations which are
quite diff