Alchemical Set and Setting

Alchemical Set and Setting: Early Masonic lodges were held in pubs and alehouses, where

basic alchemical skills of brewing, fermenting, and distilling were practiced on site. This

presentation discusses themes of soothing unhappiness, restoring peace to troubled minds, and

providing healing to the world which we find in early Rosicrucian and Masonic literature. Taking

an entheogenic approach to alchemy, this presentation considers research on the importance of

mindset and environmental setting in the use of psychedelics. We time travel a magical itinerary

through alchemical settings from the cabinets of curiosity and alchemist’s lab to Masonic

chambers of reflection and tracing boards to early museums and hospitals. Reflecting on

contemporary therapeutic experiments and techniques, we close with considerations of the

importance of music, prayer, and poetry on the mindset in the transformative process.

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Nathan Schick is Senior Warden of Glendale Lodge #23 in Glendale, Arizona. He is the author

of The Grand Communication: Freemasonry’s Alchemical Quest for Divine Communion (Tria

Prima Press, 2023). Schick teaches in the School of History, Philosophy and Religious Studies

at Arizona State University. He enjoys homebrewing beer and making wine, mead, and cider.

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