Franz Hartmann (1838-1912) was a German medical doctor, initiate, theosophist, occultist, astrologer, and writer. Described as "one of the most important theosophical writers of his time", his works include several books on esoteric studies (including Magic: White and Black, Alchemy and Astrology, Occult Science in Medicine, The Four Pillars of Occult Medicine and In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom) and biographies of Jakob Böhme and Paracelsus. He translated the Bhagavad Gita into German and was the editor of the journals Lotusblüthen (1893-1900) and Neue Lotusblüten (1908-1913). He collaborated with the mystic Carl Kellner and was at one time a co-worker of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott at Adyar. In 1896 he founded a German Theosophical Society, also supporting the Guido-Von-List-Society (Guido-Von-List-Gesellschaft). According to Theodor Reuss he was one of the original founders of the magical order that would later be known as Ordo Templi Orientis, along with Reuss and Carl Kellner.
The Hartmann's work Axioms of Alchemy, which we propose to our readers today, is one of the most interesting studies of Alchemy written by the great German initiate.
