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About dENNIS

Dennis William Hauck

My History and Views

I grew up in the stark urban environment of South Chicago and the Calumet Region, but it was the short time my family lived in the suburban prairielands that had the greatest impact on my life. There, I developed a deep appreciation for Nature and its mysteries, and at an early age, I began keeping detailed journals about my thoughts and observations. In my junior year of high school, I was admitted to a unique quantum physics program at the University of Chicago, which really opened my eyes to the wonders of Nature. After graduating high school, I attended a local college and German language school in Innsbruck, Austria, before receiving a scholarship to the University of Vienna.


While in Vienna, I discovered a treasure trove of alchemical manuscripts in the 700-year-old university library. Fascinated by the highly symbolic writings and illustrations, I joined a group of university chemists who studied alchemy and Hermeticism. From those meetings, I was inspired by the idea that consciousness is a powerful force that can be applied to experimental work. I then sought initiation into the craft of alchemy and apprenticed for two years with a practicing alchemist. I was fascinated by the lore of the Emerald Tablet, which was said to be the common source for much of the practical and metaphysical work of the alchemists, and I traveled to Egypt tracing its roots. I uncovered unpublished versions of the Tablet and have since become a leading authority on its history and meaning.

I was convinced that consciousness is a secret force of Nature ignored by scientists yet embraced by alchemists, who understood its importance and formulated universal principles of transformation that are part of the very fabric of the universe. The alchemists' "Philosopher's Stone" is a heightened state of awareness that exists in the formative realm between energy and matter, suspended in the twilight between what exists and what does not exist.


Since the eighth century, alchemists have been describing the human brain as a kind of magical touchstone created from a hidden Substance that is distributed throughout the universe. That quantum-level Substance, which is the source of reality, is universal consciousness. For me, consciousness is the logos, the original ordering principle in the cosmos, the anti-entropic power that organizes the primal chaos into more perfect forms.

I believe that since consciousness exists on all levels of reality, there is never a complete extinction of consciousness-only a change in its intensity or concentration. The spectrum of consciousness ranges from a non-verbal unconscious realm to a fully conscious level of expanded awareness, which is direct knowing of reality (or Gnosis). At the absolute zero-state level of consciousness (death), we exist beyond duality only as a monadic sense of being without object, knowledge, thought, or memory. At that level, each of us exists in complete innocence and the pure potential of light itself-a primordial "I am that I am" state. Various religious and spiritual traditions attach a variety of attributes of the "soul" at this level, such as reincarnation and transmigration into other dimensions.

My Bio

Dennis William Hauck is an author and researcher in consciousness studies. According to the Cambridge Dictionary of International Biography (Cambridge 1990), his work focuses on the nature of consciousness and the subtle interactions between mind and matter. Hauck attempts to merge various philosophical and scientific traditions into a broader science of consciousness and has contributed to many related areas, including the history of science, psychology and alchemy, and the serious study of exceptional human experiences.


According to Dr. Bernard Lightman in A Companion to the History of Science (Wiley-Blackwell 2016): "Dennis William Hauck is a prolific author and has been at the center of efforts to institutionalize modern alchemy through a number of organizations, conferences, and journals. For Hauck, classical science has its limits, in that it can explain only our physical reality, not the deeper hidden reality from which the physical stems. He decided that alchemy offered one path to that hidden reality, and so, knowing that this path of discredited 'pseudoscience' might forever taint his career, Hauck decided it was worth the risk to discover solid evidence and challenge the dominant Newtonian paradigm."

Hauck authored over a dozen books, including How the Alchemists Meditated: The Ancient Roots of Spiritual Alchemy (Alchemergy 2025), In the Mind of the Universe: The Monad and You! (Alchemergy 2024), The Monad Manifesto: Merging Science and Spirituality (Alchemergy 2022), Alchemy: Energize Your Life by Freeing Your Mind (Penguin 2021), The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy (Penguin 2008), and The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation (Penguin 1999). He also  translated a number of important manuscripts dating back to the fourteenth century.


He also contributed to a number of anthologies, including Awaken to a Dream (Watermark 1991), Magic of Our Universe (Camelot 1999), Nine Windows to Wholeness: Jungian Sandplay (Sanity Press 2002), Get the Picture: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies (Moment Point 2007), and Ceremonial Magick: A Comprehensive Guide to the Western Mystery Tradition (Llewellyn 2020). His books have been featured in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Harper's, and hundreds of other periodicals. He has been interviewed on nearly 300 radio and TV programs, including "NPR's Morning Edition," "CBS This Morning", "Sally Jessy Raphael," "Geraldo," "The O'Reilly Factor," "Extra," and "CNN Reports."


David Metcalfe, editor of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Consciousness Studies, writes: "According to Dennis William Hauck, a contemporary explorer of consciousness and author of numerous books on the subject, some of the giants of twentieth-century science, mathematics, and philosophy-such as Max Planck, Kurt Godel, and Ludwig Wittgenstein-rather than dispelling the alchemical worldview have actually helped bring contemporary theory in line with the ancient art in its exposition as a practical outgrowth of Neoplatonic and Hermetic cosmology. Hauck points out that Einstein proved an ancient tenet of alchemy that was previously unknown in physics: the fundamental idea that 'All Is One' and the equivalence between energy and matter. Einstein's equation of the universe is E = Mc2, where E is energy, M is mass, and c is the speed of light. This is a mathematical restatement of the ancient Three Essentials concept of the alchemists in which Sulfur is energy, Salt is mass or matter, and Mercury represents light and consciousness."


Hauck serves as project curator of the Alchemy Museum in San Jose, California (AlchemyMuseum.info) and is the founding president of the International Alchemy Guild (AlchemyGuild.org). He is the founding editor of the Alchemy Journal and director of the International Alchemy Conference (AlchemyConference.net), as well as the founder of the Alchemy Study Program (AlchemyStudy.com). Hauck founded a number of popular Facebook groups about alchemy including Alchemy Study, Monad Manifesto, Alchemical Elixirs, Alchemy Guild, Alchemergy Films, and Alchemy Museum. He also created several award-winning websites, such as AlchemyStudy.com, AlchemyConference.net, AlchemyJournal.org, AlchemyGuild.org, AlchemergyFilms.net, AlchemyLab.com, and AlchemyMuseum.info.

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