Leading on from parts one and two…
Hasler intends to open his exploration of existing ‘repertoires’ of speculative music with alchemy, before progressing to astrology and then cabala. Whether unconsciously intended or not, this scheme recalls Agrippa’s division of both the universe and his magnum opus into three realms: natural, celestial/mathematical and divine/intellectual.
However, Hasler quickly runs into a problem with considering alchemy as a single discipline: it cannot be divorced from the symbolism and practice of astrology. Alchemy is, as John Dee called it, astronomia inferior, of which “celestial astronomy is the source and guide.” Or to put it in terms of a well-worn Hermetic rubric: “As above, so below.”
An engraving of “The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus”, cornerstone of alchemical and Hermetic philosophy.
By his own admission, in his acknowledgements (p.iv), Hasler has not conducted any new research with historical or archival material in the course of producing his thesis. At first I was rather disappointed by this, and felt myself becoming frustrated by the lack of depth – historical and theoretical – as I began to read the first half of the thesis, which treats the symbolic relationships established between astrology, alchemy, cabala and music. However, these frustrations were unfounded: to treat the various subjects here at a depth that would please the speculative-music-obsessive such as myself would be beyond the scope of what is essentially a composition PhD and thus geared toward the practical end of producing a portfolio of compositions, which are commented on at length in the latter half of the thesis. 
