MPH Seminar: Alchemy 1 – The Adepts

So this evening we want to start with some of the phases of alchemy and summarize at least part of the historical position as a foundation for the interpretations which have to follow ter alterative cause is combined two words Godly and chemistry which is the science of mixtures or the making of formulas

There some Bel the word K of which is eluded chemistry originally was a name for Egypt and therefore the Alchemy could be translated the divine art of Egypt certainly we must accept it as the divine art of chemistry or the advancement of chemistry along a very special and symbolical

Line I’d like to pause for a moment and consider it historical orientation like many other subjects which are under more or less constant anal it there are numerous misunderstandings European Alchemy is not of great Antiquity and the rumors about its roots in the mysterious past are highly symbolized actually we have almost

Nothing on the subject of alchemy in European literature prior to the beginning of the 15th century ad and nearly all of the so-call earlier works are backdated that is they were prepared and printed after the year 1500 but with fictitious dates added to them there is very little of alchemy in

The incon printing of the first 50 years of printing between 1445 and 1500 and we have very little evidence that the alchemical writings attributed to ancient authors are genuine for example there are books presumably alchemical writings of Aristotle which are certainly comparatively modern also a number of fictitious characters were invented

During the 16th and 17th centuries as having lived in a much earlier date but these inventions of unreal persons have no historical Foundation actually we find the phenomenon of the rise of alchemical symbolism and thought almost par in the rise of European astrological speculation and the rising of secret

Societies and the Ros of crism in Europe now Alchemy is not limited to European countries that may not and remnants of it and references to it are to be found in the writings of many ancient Asiatic peoples if the rise of alchemy in China like that in Europe

Is comparatively late when compared to the fabulous and legendary accounts thereof so we must recognize we’re in the presence of a Rel serious situation namely that a art or cult arose in Europe of which was given an Antiquity by means of a certain exaggeration on the part of those working with

It and actually Alchemy as we are going to consider it developed within the period between about the year 1500 and the year 1700 during these two centuries this symbolism developed and elaborated itself almost Beyond human imagination most of the symbols employed by the Alchemists were derived from earlier

Sources but there was also a wonderful uh mixture of creative Ingenuity evident in the designs and figures some are obviously derived from athology there are some from natural history as it was understood or misunderstood by the writers of that period certain parts of it belong to the symbolisms of ancient religious cults a

Part was taken from the older symbolism of astrology still other elements are almost unique to Alchemy and do not occur elsewhere thus historically speaking we are dealing with a body of L that Rose to prominence perished for two centuries and then gradually declined with the rise of chemistry as we know it

Today I think we should bear in mind that there was an alom in Antiquity very roughly and inadequately drawn but that actually while we say that Alchemy is the mother of chemistry we might be wiser to realize that there was also chemistry prior to Alchemy and that Alchemy did not simply

Give rise to chemistry chemistry on an earlier date gave rise to Alchemy and this in turn uh declined again and chemistry once more emerge as the principal carrier of tradition in this field of learning now in consideration of these elements and factors we are not in the present merely

Of a great traditional account handed down for thousands of years but of a cleverly devised program integrated and perfected within a comparatively short period of time uh this integration has a definite bearing upon the perpetuation of certain schools of philosophy and mysticism that originated in Antiquity and also passed

Through various vicissitudes in the rise of European culture let us try to draw picture of Europe at the time of the emergence of alchemy Europe itself was coming out of the Dark Ages it had just passed through the Renaissance of the Reformation the human mind was begin to

Break the tremendous bonds that bound me evil man to a reactionary traditionalism the human mind was also rebelling against the dogmatic theology which dominated this entire period of European history for several hundred years men had been unable to use their minds in the first place there was no

Way of training Minds there were no schools there were no universities there was practically no opportunity for the average citizen to become educated the second problem was that Europe was devastated by natural and man-made catastrophes the bubanic plague swept Europe and during the course of about 300 years his periodic ra ravages total

Somewhere in the neighborhood of some 50 to 100 million human beings died of this plag during this same period also the rise of the Inquisition is to be and the tremendous attack of heresy upon liberalism and freeth thinking of all kinds even such schools and universities as did come into existence under the

Great Cher school system of Charlamagne were limited by a most reactionary patristic philosophy even the physican did not dare to perform autopsy did not dare to desect the human body he was bound completely to the writings of gay and abina authorities traditional authorities whose writings covered the

Field from the minor ailments of the human body to the probable causes of volcanic eruptions these traditional textbooks did not give any opportunity or any individualism to the mind of the person he was simply schooled according to tradition schooled within a very narrow boundary of acceptances and rejections within the church itself a

Number of systems of philosophy had Arisen the particularly the philosophy of St Thomas aquinus this man had a magnificent mind but found that he was Again by the limitations of his church and his time he was unable to break through into the free atmosphere of thinking rebels of that period like

Bruno savola and even paracelis paid with our lives or with their worldly goods and honor for their efforts to break through this traditional pattern in this same period of demonism the demonology and necromancy flourish the mysterious magic attributed to King Solomon was restored the Grim wasse came

Into existence and Men went out the crossroads at night to invoke spirits it was a time of rather dismal intellectual benness yet this oppression forced upon man was not exactly in order with his growth and evolution a more ancient man had achieved much more the GRE or Roman

Civilization had given to the world a magnificent culture the philosophical attainments of Egypt and the near East were spectacular and these achievements and accomplishments did not simply die they could not human being will not stop thinking and cannot stop thinking because someone tells him he must thus there was beneath the surface

Of European thought and European life a tremendous surge of intellectualism a search which could not break through but which did begin to rear as soon as the Protestant Reformation began to lift the boundaries on human things now against this pressure from within the individual himself the pressure of his own

Inadequacy uh there was the force of a limiting condition of environment internal pressure plus this tremendous adamant boundary fixed upon his thinking and living resulted in an explosion resulted in a definite breaking through from the internal psychic life of the human being now we cannot say I don’t agree

With some psychologists who affirm that Alchemy simply emerged from the individual that it did remotely and originally do so and that its forms undoubtedly were influenced by the pressures of the human psyche we do not deny but I cannot accept that it was merely a spontaneous Outburst it was too well organized too

Well developed too carefully thought through it is far more reasonable and likly that it represented a new appearance of a tradition struggling to restore its own place as a leader in the intellectual life of the human being now we know as I have told you in other lectures that after the

Crusades as the returning Crusaders and the Templars and many other groups brought back to Europe a great deal of wisdom from the near East also the rise of bish culture in Spain resulted in a liberation of the human mind and a return ter of lines and Departments of

Knowledge hither to Long removed from European civilization and culture we know that all through this transition period secret societies originating in Antiquity and perpetuated quietly but strenuously by certain individuals did move beneath the surface of European life and politics these societies striving for survival and also for their major purpose which was the

Liberation of the human mind continued to operate quietly but effectively as we know from the stories of the troubadors the gills and many other groups now as far as it is possible to determine Alchemy was devised as a means of perpetuating a secret kind of knowledge under the symb ISM of

Chemistry now why was chemistry chosen let us read reply by asking another question why did the dians and later Masonic organizations use architecture for exactly the same purose in other words we know that the dians believe that the building of a temple was a symbol symbolization of the

Building of society and of the human soul but at a time when it seemed advisable to move in secrecy the active properties of the esoteric law were concealed under appropriate figures and devices and just as the building of Solomon’s Temple came to mean the building of human society so the

Transmutation of metal came to mean the transmutation of the personal and Collective life of humanity the symbolism was a Dro because the Alchemist had Hit Upon a basic truth namely that all Departments of nature can be brought under one General pattern and any science thoroughly understood is

A key to nearly all other forms of earning thus in alchemy the entire weight of an important philosophical system was trusted to chemistry and chemical symm we may say that this was suitable and proper for the reason that against this symbolism there was no well integrated body of opposition and these

Philosophers revealed themselves as philosophers they would have been persecuted had they Advanced their ideas on a religious level they would have been executed had they attempted to develop psychological training they would probably have fallen victim to the Inquisition but as chemists they had several appeals first of all medicine and the chem Sciences

Were accepted by theology they were accepted as necessary and the church had no direct opposition to the advancement of Medical Science it did not in it particularly but it accepted it the second thing is that this symbolism strangely intrigued the covetousness of the human mind during the rise of alchemical symbolism

Many princes powerful leaders of whole church State hired and maintained Alchemist and carrying elaborate research programs because Alchemy promised to transmute base metal into gold and to discover the universal medicine and the elixir of life and there wasn’t a rogue in Europe who didn’t want to live longer and there

Wasn’t a king in Europe who did not want additional funds in the treasury so um the appeal to the capity and the selfishness of mankind help to protect The Alchemist from persecution he had Hit Upon a wonderful formula and even though he did suffer to some degree from

The greed of princes still for the most part he was cated to imp pamp and we remember the street of the gold makers in Prague in Czechoslovakia where a whole colony of these Alchemists worked together for a number of years under the princes of bohemia and other Royal

Papers that must have been rather interesting to realize that these Alchemists were supported maintained nursed along uh by the very tyrants who Alchemy expected to eliminate but it was um only timely could carry the step as we must by degrees now we have many hints for example

That Alchemy was a well integrated kind of chemical Guild just as the tailor and the shoe makers and the various gills were closely integrated bodies with their obligations with their Trade union patterns so the chemists formed the guild and the great Guild of the chemist gradually turned into the Guilds of alchemy

Now let us take another parallel to this because I think it is helpful to us and we want penetration as well as coverage I have made considerable research on the activity of architectural Guild in Europe during the period of the great Cathedral Builders and we’ve come across a number of very interesting

Facts when a great Community or a powerful uh PR of the church uh was resolved to build a cathedral uh it was a great undertaking in those days and if you visit the marvelous Cathedral at CH or notam or one of the wonderful churches in Florence Verona you will realize how

Great an undertaking these Cathedrals really were uh the local Villages of course could do very little because at that time the village around the was just a little mass of Huts practically around This Magnificent building even today the cathedral towns of Europe can be seen for miles but only

The cathedral standing what appears to be alone but actually surrounded by the low buildings of the of the citizens when the time came to build a cathedral uh the designer the architect or the sponsor let it be known to the wandering journeyman perhaps in town at that time

There was a carpenter or one or two stone masons who passed through on their apprenti ships these were told and in 3 months all Europe knew these wandering Journeymen traveling from place to place told everyone along the way told they in turn told everyone else that they met

And so on until in three or four months the whole of Europe knew that this great building was contemplated as a result of that uh qualified workmen in all of the lines uh naturally involved in such a project began to congregate now today we would say they

Would come and uh probably come up with their trailers or something of that nature and build little uh Community or something of that nature or move into hotels and boarding houses such things didn’t exist at that time when these Builders came they brought their families with them they drove

Their Capital they brought all their worldly Goods because they never expected to leave that community alive in those days to build a cathedral was a matter of two or 300 years these men and their sons and their son Sons would work on that building and would continue until it was

Finished under such conditions uh these Builders some coming from countes that did not even speak the language the land in which they were to work did not mingle with the citizens did not move into the community or the town they built their own City a comparatively permanent one and in one

Of the cathedrals in which I made some research we learned that a town composed of nearly 15,000 human beings who bu in a few weeks on the side of the work this town simp came into existence and it was all made up of workmen Craftsman who recog recognized

Each other by certain secret signs who had their Master’s marks and who were known to be qualified for various work there were apprentices and there were Craftsmen and there were masters of the work as soon as this community came into existence and build homes for those who

Were to work there in the midst of this great Community they built that community house and they then sent to the nearby town where the work was to be done and communicated with to The Architects and the financing committee and demanded their proper share or their proper token

For it was up to the community where they worked to supply each one of these men with a pair of gloves a white lamb skin apron and a certain amount of raw Heights and skins to cover the roof of his communion house as soon as this had been properly

Taken care of this community created by these workmen held a session elected his own offices created its own mayor or in this case Master of the work his assistance to prepare the work of the day and to lay out the program for all the other workmen these men and their Community

Live completely apart from the rest of the country in which they live and as the records of the time shows they did not even follow in the religion of the community these people had their own religion and several early fathers writing of these communities of Builders shook their head sadly over their quills

And said that we think that some of them were not as good Orthodox Christians as they should have been quite possible because from the near East came men who worked in silk Fabrics in covers of stones and gems from North Africa came men’s skill in design and archestra from Bulgaria

Romania from the great Slavic States from all parts of Europe they came Christian Muslim Jew everything you can think of but all bound together by the great gilds into which they had been initiated these gills created their own world they created their own cooperatives they had their own ways of

Taking care of the widows and the father they took care of their own s they brought their own positions they did everything and they created a form of government which we call day democracy and that democracy began within the structure of the guilds now if you attended a great

Meeting of the guild Masters you would attend something was very interesting you would find these men gathered in the communion house or in the community center and here on certain intervals prescribed by their laws and their Traditions they broke bread together and because not one of the was

Greater than another they were seated around the circular table and in the midst of the table was the Gill cup and this Gill cup had on the on the lip all around the edge of the cup little hooks and on each of these hooks was the crest and shield of a gild

Master this cup was filled with wine and each of the Masters drank from the cup performing a ritualistic Eucharist and rededicating their lives to the great service of of The Architects of the universe they were worshiping through building their laws were their own their secrets were inv violent their Mysteries were

Perpetuated the power of these men can Well Be Imagined when we realize for example but a few days after he placed his famous bow on the church nor Martin Luther who was by an instance a guildsman because he belonged to the Guild of the watchmakers soon after he had uh made

His public statement against the sale of papal indulgences Luther was called before his Guild and here in solemn assembly he was placed under the protection of the gills and given a medal he must always wear and which he should show in time of emergency from that time on although

Luther had a hard time he was under the protection of this body and was one of the few of the great reformers of the period who survived the gills were very powerful now here is a gild which we know definitely was dedicated to building buildings but we also know from the inscriptions which

They placed upon the stones from the mysterious carvings they hid far in recondite places in the masonry from their wonderful use of emblems and figures that they were more than just bu they were the perpetuation of the secret schools of architecture known as the dionan artifices in Greece the

Vetruvian colia in Rome and the famous Architects called the Kine Builders who had their refuge in Lake KOMO these were all initiate schools from Antiquity concealing the secrets of human regeneration under the story of architect and here’s one group of G now let us pass for a moment to another

Group and this is the group of the chemists the doctors the chemists and those who had to do with research in metals metalurgy and things of that nature all who touch fire as a means of working the elements of that craft were bound together and this mysterious body of

Chemists although it did not build cities at the foot of cathedrals and do things of that nature was an integrated body and it was also in close relation to the crafts of the builders after a great deal of research I was finally able to recover ancient drawings of the original doors of the

Cathedral of milter dam in Paris the reason this was important was that the original doors which were removed at the time of the French Revolution that these doors which were casting BRS and I suppose to have been the work of the devil all such interesting things were at that time

On these doors was the complete formula of alchemical transmutation the doors were a mass of hermetic symbols now these doors could not have been placed there by the chemists unless these chemists had also been in very intimate association with the cathedral Builders it was part of the same type of

Guild another guild that is of very great interest to us is the bookmaker guild the printers and if you study the copons and trade emblems and symbols of the great presses like lenberg and fuss and kton you will find that each one of these presses had its Master’s Mark and

That these book Builders and makers were also bound together in the fraternity which is the reason why it was possible through the med evil and early modern period for ciphers and secret devices of all kinds to be introduced into the books this could not have taken place had it not been for the

Gills this tremendous body of men who were bound together by a common purpose and that common purpose was the restoration of the golden age in the world and when we go directly and strictly into the alchemical symbolis and we come upon a number of inations and in order to trace these inations we

Have to go step by step through an inconceivable elrin of Clues and hints implications we know for example but the term adet as we know it in the west is first applied to the alchemical Masters as the various building crafts erected a grandm the Alchemists elected or appointed or accepted into their bodies

Certain masters of ARS whom they call adits in alchemy this ter has a very special and definite meaning it should not be confused with the Eastern or Oriental concept of adep or even the rosac crucian or mystical concept the adep was the master Alchemist or one fully possessed of the

Mysteries of the art now in the builders craft you have the Masters the fow crafts and the apprentices in the alchemical guild you had the Adit the illuminate and the initiate those were the three degrees and these represented those who had attained to one or two or even the third

Step of knowledge concerning the mysteries of chemistry the addicts gathering together in the performance of their equivalent to the master build Eucharist gathering around the great gild cup which in this case was the wonderful almic of alchemy also appointed their ruler who was called The adep

King and there’s one of the very rare tracks which is almost unobtainable uh states that in alchemy there was the king Emperor the supreme ruler of the entire School scattered throughout the world that under him were the princes of the blood the highest Adept Masters below them were the Dukes the

Herbs the Barons the knights and the squires of this hierarchy therefore it was customary to refer to a certain Alchemist as a duke or as an Earl depending upon his place in this great mysterious Empire which existed in a strange Str Dimension extending through all other Empires and binding them together by a

Strange level of traditions now material relating to this as I have said is exceedingly hard to find we find a few references in of it or to it in kumra a very early alchemical master and we also find references to it and they were called the adeps in Alchemy

A very interesting and early work but in wandering through one of the old libraries of Europe I was able to find this manuscript which perhaps comes a little nearer to some of this problem and we will find moves anywhere else and as far as I’m able to find out this is the only

Copy of it that exists and this is called the true adeps illuminates and initiates of the heric Arts this is in the form of a kind of uh biographical uh glosser it is almost in the form of a certain biographical who who in alchemy and from the first page of this

We learn the definitions as they were used within the body of the alchemical school the term addict is properly applied to one who has learned the great work and who has performed it that is the proper term for an add the term illuminate or illuminist is probably related to one who has

Experienced The Mystery of the work but does not know how it is performed this is a rather curious differentiation the term initiate is one who has achieved to the knowledge of the method but has not performed the work now this uh is the way in which the Guild of chemists was

Divided following this is a list prefaced by the fact that it must always and ever be remembered that there are false ads false inits and false initiates but that the genuine ones can be determined only by those who have the knowledge to investigate the secret marks and

Symbols then we have here a list of the adeps of the school both imaginary and historical and also the degrees of their development within the school we learn from this book for instance that according to the alchemical tradition Moses was an adet we learned that Solon was an adet

And this brings us very close to the fact that Solomon was also supposed to have been a great architect and a master of those Mysteries then we learn also as we go on uh through these lists some of the other names involved in this the Apostle John a Sublime illuminate Hermes an

Adct Aus an ad abalonus of rose and initiate and initiate Tomy and eluminate Virgil and initial you can go right down through this book and you will find all of the principal names and their ranks in the school we also learned that abena was an initiate Albert the Great albertus Magnus was an

Adct St Thomas aquinus was an intient Roger Bacon was an initi Raymond Looney was an adct I won’t try to read them all because many of the names are not particularly important to us now but this work carries on through all of the different steps of alchemy pointing out that these

Different teachers masters of the schools were actually bound together in a pattern now when we take an alchemical tradition and we come to the discovery that it includes Aus and Homer we know that we are not dealing with chemistry because these men were not chemists we were dealing with an esoteric

System of which the alchemical schools in Europe were comparatively recent development da and illuminate one of the interesting things we find as we go along through here is that a number of names that are a little better known to us are also to be found if we go near the end of the

List we know for instance that this list strangely enough ends with a comparatively familiar name and that is Baron Emanuel swedenborg and illuminate now when we study swedenborg and his association with St Germaine and cro we have reasons to believe that the book is probably correct but this is as

Far as I know the only who’s who of the Hermetic ad but the principle behind it is that the entire work was an integration was a definite system devised for a purpose and that purpose was concealed under a series of alchemical or magical symbols and devices the meanings of

Which we will try to explain at least in part as this series progresses now the next thing that I want to to bring up in connection with the alchemical tradition is to try to orient what basically Alchemy stood for generally and broadly we know what it meant we know that by transmutation was

Implied regeneration we also know that the symbolism of alchemy was exact why because it was based upon an exact science chemistry we also realize that as we go into it that perhaps the nearest parallel we can find to it in our common experience in the modern world is

Yoga in other words Alchemy was an esoteric discipline it was a discipline based upon an exact science of human regeneration now just as in almost all of the exact Sciences of antiquity it is assume that the keys were lost and that therefore the mystery of the cult or

Sect is no longer to be found this I question very greatly the second point that I think we should try to realize and understand is that the Alchemists were not only interested in the Regeneration of man but in the restoration of the philosophic Empire as established in the concept of

PL this restoration of the philosophic empire was to be undertaken by a broad political program so Ally penetrated and permeated practically every political and social state of the world extending as far as China throughout India throughout the near East and even extending into the Central and South American areas the Western

Hemisphere where chemistry had reached a fairly High degree of proficiency around the alchemical speculation as it we have developed a great number of overtones and these overtones can best be understood by reference perhaps to some of the Alchemist themselves following this list we find for example that certain Alchemists are more reliable more

Careful and obviously more informed than others among the best and greatest informed of these ad alch was Raymond Lou another one highly proficient and skilled was basil valentinus M of St Benet a third very highly efficient one was George Ripley the English chemist and the four equally at least

Recognized and remembered for his important country contributions to the subject was Michael cus these were among the great names in alchemy therefore when we read them taking a work such as the triumphant Chariot of antimonium by Bassel Valentine we come always upon lines like this wo wo wo unto the gold

Makers and another line in Ripley which says that whoever believes that the transmutation of physical Metals is the end of alchemy as a fool all these things are Tross to in very little is made of because at that time it wasn’t advisable to unveil the secrets too completely but the

Alchemists themselves have left in their published and outer writings irrefutable proof that they were not to be considered nearly as chemists that they were to be considered as the instruments of a secret purpose and art and that this art they had inherited or brought down from a remote Antiquity the alchemical symbolism

Itself was very recent but the method or mystery behind it uh was very old the second and another important point is that the alchemical tradition moving into Europe christianized itself intensely but this christianization was part of its original symbolism gradually therefore we find the introduction of Christian figures

And symbols into the alchemic arms but wherever they are used they are used in the purely alchemical sense not in the sense of theology just as the mystical symbols of astrology and Magic used by bigy were not to be used in the magical astrological sense but in a purely mystical sense

A matter which had been of considerable concern uh to students of the subject one of the main names associated with early Alchemy was parus bonheim this great Swiss physician tells us that he was initiated into the mysteries of the spiritual Arc of Chemistry by masters of these Arts of this art in

Constantinople and that it was among Muslims that he gained his first great knowledge of the secrets of transcendent chemistry in all probability he studed to the bishers and other Eastern groups who had under another symbolism the symbolism in some cases of music or song or poetry had come to the same as did

The famous trador and the plad of rosad in France all of these groups were bound together D’s Inferno was not intended to be a literal description of the another world Milton’s Paradise loss was not intended merely to be a story based upon a great religious fantasy these things

Were tied together they were part of a pattern and if you had the key you could unlock the pattern if you did not have the key it remained hopelessly a mystery to you but to possess the key was to have a knowledge of the trans B arts and all that they

Imply in the system of alchemical speculation two names I’d like to mention espcially connected with the problem of alchemy this evening one is the French alist Nicholas flal the story of plel is almost unbelievable he was a poor man who made his living by writing documents and acting as a notre

On one of his in one of his experiences wandering around he found a mysterious book which was called The Book of Abraham the Jew this book was written upon tablets of some mysterious fiberlike substance and it contained only a certain number of leaves and on these leaves were the entire formers of the

Transmutations of metals LEL studied these leaves very carefully for a number of years and finally hit upon the B and as a result of having found the formula he prebuilt a number of Institutions for the poor orphanages and churches and chapels in France and finally caused the entire formula to be

Carved in beautiful designs upon the arches of the Church of the innocence in Paris when I was in Paris just before the War I went in search of the Church of the Innocence unfortunately it has departed from us and where it where it once stood is now a small and almost deserted

Park I happened to be able to get hold of the gardener or caretaker who watched this park and he told me that every so often that they when they were planting and weeding and uh making the little flower beds to look as best they could

Uh they would take up Bones from the old Cemetery of the Church of the Innocence and then a number of stones and a number of inscribed sections from the church have been taken into the courtyard of the kunun museum in palis where they stood around in various

Places I went over there and looked them over some of them still showed sections of the alchemical designs of Nicholas theal uh this mysterious man was persecuted terrifically to gain the secret from him but never devolved it and he said finally to have gone to Asia where he lived for a great length

Of time in company with gishes and other Mystics he was quite a remarkable person and a wonderful story about him could easily be written another interesting personality in the tradition of alchemy is the mysterious character Elias adeta the king of the ades he shows up once in a while but has

The same elusiveness as the mysterious character of the wandering jew the ad King is described in some detail in one or two alchemical Works he is said to have lived forever to have spoken every language in the world and it was his peculiar Habit to wander about Europe in Disguise always

Appearing in the costume of the country which he visited always appearing to conform with his laws and customs appearing at will and disappearing at will and the story of of Elias adepa is one of the most fantastic in the entire circle of metaphysical literature typical example the story of

Of Elias EPA will be found in the writings of men like Sodus an alchemist working in his laboratory struggling desperate very devout very sincere very noble man finally came to the point where he could no longer find any further Clues to the mysterious SE search which he was

Advancing he came to the point where there were no longer any answers he did not know what to do next he had got everything that he could think of and conceive of and had studied and worked and labored and prayed and meditated and gone as far as he could in

This emergency it was not uncomon for a knock to be heard on the front door of his house my serious man would come in and he would go to the laboratory of the chemist and sit down and talk to him for a few moments and then tell him what to

Do and then when asked who he was he would probably smile and say just a wondering chemist who kind of had an idea a little advice at this time and would walk out the door and never be seen and heard of again gradually the records of this mysterious wander gained

Proportion and for over 200 years the story of eliasa wanding about Europe is to be found in Choice archives in this field of research and one in a few cases he told his name he was Elias the adep he was the mysterious adep King who

Was to come to rule over the world then he would vanish again like the mysterious bod saas of Shambala are not to be seen or heard of anymore as these stories build and as the Legends accumulate the parallel between this concept and that of the Oriental Mysteries become very obvious

And we know that we were dealing in Europe with an advanced system of speculation and Art and Science uh which normally would not have existed and could not have existed and which had to conceal itself for its own ction out of the alchemical puror of the

15th and 16th century came the Ruan of the early 17th century and let us remember definitely that all opinion and Prejudice to the contrary that there was no evidence of the existence of Rosicrucianism in Europe prior to the year 1610 that the story like that of alchemy

Has a much older origin but that this origin is fantasy is Legend lore symbolism all that we accept but actually this society which combin certain hermetic and alchemical factors with those of other Sciences of the time such as cabalism magic actually came into existence about 1610 nearly all of the

Alchemists then flourishing in Europe became immediately involved in this new heresy the Brotherhood of the rosie Frost it also was strangely short lived and Elusive there are number of accounts of rosac Cru adeps including one who whistled RS out of houses but we won’t take into

Serious in the first 10 years of rosac crucian excitement after the publication of the F confess frus about 900 books were written dealing with a subject by persons who knew nothing about it whatsoever many of these books were in the form of open letters published at the expense of

The author in stating his own qualifications and asking a brother of the society to contact him in some way because he had no way of contacting the society itself naturally most of these letters and open Epistles were ignored no one has ever been able to find out who the

Dominant persons were behind this movement any more than that of the original Alchemy but that they all sprang from a common root that they all had certain Works in common we cannot doubt that they fulfilled a very useful function in the unfoldment of the European mind is also quite definite and

Evidence now from this General survey which is naturally exceedingly brief and which only touches a few of the interesting phases of it I want to try to start a series of rather brief definitions of some of the elements of alchemy as we have to contact them and work with them in the

Future first of all Alchemy as we say has three steps or degrees of adeps one being the adep himself one the illuminate and one the initiate it likewise had three great works or achievements uh with with which it was concerned primarily under the title or general Collective term the magnopus or the great

Work the first and supreme work of The Alchemist was the formation or the production by Art and Genius of the philosopher stone the lapos philosophorum now the creation of the philosopher stone was associated identically with with the Adept himself uh the adep called the master of the school and the philosophers called

Parallel in other words the adep and the stone had something in common almost something in identity the second work of the great School of alchemy was the transmutation of Base metal this the uh formation of physical chemistry for the production of synthetic minerals and metals was associated with the third

Spec in the cycle namely the initiate in other words the initiate was the transmuter of metals the illuminist who was between these two was identified with the search for the universal medicine so we have the three steps in relationship to the three grades the creation of the stone being

The work of the edit the discovery of the universal medicine being the work of the illuminate and the transmutation of Base metal being the work of the Edition these three then represented the keys to the works of the graves or differentiated the labors of the three classes or orders of Alchemists the transmutation

Of based metal into gold was the work of science uh the creation of the universal medicine was the work of philosophy the for the casting of the lapis philosophorum or the great Stone was the work of religion thus religion philosophy and science were the three grades as in

Almost all of of the great mystical things as schools and systems the first grade was of course the grade of the spirit the second the grade of the soul and the third the grade of the body thus the body with the transmuter of minerals the soul the

Discover of the medicine and the spirit of the precipitator of the stone V Welling the great German adct gives us a very series of definitions indicating that these accomplishments conceal the rituals rights and secret cermonies of the graves and that therefore under the heading for instance of the transmutation of

Metals uh we have an interesting symbolism The Alchemist represented Metals under usually seven symbols these seven symbols being identical with the planetary symbols of astrology thus for instance blad with Saturn iron with Mars and so on these were the base metals and they were formed together in

The form of a Sixpoint star composed of two interlac triangles and in the center a seventh point so that the six points on the points of the stars and the seventh in the center constituted the seven metal now the Alchemists also Drew this and find in

Seum in the form of seven of these six pointed star patterns arranged in a circle like a reath in each one A different symbol of a different metal was in the center and the other six surrounded it on the points of the Stars each one therefore told us a

Simple point that The Alchemist himself made out namely that each one of the metals contains all of the others now if we take the points of the metals and we change these into the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences we shall then have a key to the great social reform of the

Transmutational level of alchemy in other words your seven metals are the seven Departments of human society they are the seven Arts and Sciences they represent the seven races the seven continents of all of the great systems of sep by which the world’s life and progress are made each of these contains within

Itself the seeds of all others and the alist says the seed of universality is within every particular of nature every atom contains all the rest every Center contains an infinite circumference locked within its own essential nature also The Alchemist pointed out that every base metal contained within

Itself pure gold now the amount of pure gold contained within any atom or any minut particle of man might be so slight as to be practically Beyond Discovery but Alchemy said you do not create B you make it grow the seed of the divine metal is within all base

Metals and that the transmutation of a base substance is not actually a change into something that does not previously or did not not previously exist but the release of that which is forever present in all compounds and in all elements so that Alchemy is the nourishing and the feeding of the seed

Of gold in everything now if you go into cus of spanheim to find out the mystery of gold uh the old abbit tells us that gold represents life it represents life it represents reality it represents being it represents Spirit represents truth gold is reality Integrity of or validity in one of its innumerable

Forms therefore if you take a science like mathematics as one of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences you will then find that within that mathematics is the seed of universal intelligence or universal life and the problem of The Alchemist is to make the seed of reality grow rather

Than to prit the outer forms of these Arts and Sciences to remain unregenerated thus in the field of learning Alchemy was the Regeneration of Arts and Sciences not by reforming them as eventually but by releasing through them the seed of Truth which is locked in one of them to make the seed

Grow to accomplish the mysterious multiplication from the mango seed like the fabled legend of Indian magic was the problem of alchemy recognize the Divine truth in things and to nourish that truth and bring it forth that it might have conquest and dominion over all other base elements now in the transmutation of

Metals another important point was brought out and that is that the outer bodies of the metals are irreconcilable therefore that you cannot interforce iron and Lead together and cause them to accomplish an alchemical mystery you can fuse them to produce an alloy of some kind but you cannot force

Them together to release their own spiritual power therefore before metals or elements can be given a new birth in the spirit must died and the death of elements the destruction of minerals the complete elimination of the formal nature of the forms of things uh is part of the alchemical

Procedure therefore Alchemy was was a death and a resurrection and come very very close to philosophical symbolism as we come to this level all of the outer bodies and structures of metals must die before the spirits of these metals can unite to form uh the mysterious transmuting agent which is called the Red

Lion this again has very great significance and The Alchemist finds comfort in the words of the scripture but unless a man be born again he shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven for every one of the forms of nature must die before the life within that form can be liberated or

Released therefore Alchemy then approaches the problem of human intelligence and it says that before the individual can become wise You Must Destroy the false mind uh which presumes to possess knowledge he must destroy opinions before facts can come he must tear down old walls before he can build a new house and in

The doctrines of the alchemical Mysteries it was first necessary to destroy the personality or the individuality of metals before they could be brought together to form uh the transmuting agent now in the transmuting agent itself called the red lion or the powder of projection which was one of the great

Symbols of alchemy the master was said to carry particularly Elias adepa who was the Elias the artist that the master carried with him a little box which contained the powder of projection and that one grain of this PO would transmute into pure gold 100,000 times it own

Ways here we are obviously in the presence of an advanced type of symbolism because obviously the power of projection represents Consciousness itself all on the level of knowledge truth which transforms ignorance and Consciousness itself which can transform body up to 100,000 times its own weight therefore the power of

Projection is consciousness Itself by means to which all base substances can be transformed or changed the Red Lion is the symbol in alchemy of Illumination the mysterious Enlightenment from within which is the reir of the soul of Ls this illumination according to Alem was achieved through the blending of seven Arts and Sciences

Which were the seven sacred Arts and Sciences of the angs thus we perceive in symbolism a little way we don’t want to go too far now because we have to examine these things in Greater detail so we then consider the creation of the universal medicine which was the work of the

Illuminists now how is this Universal medicine to be found the basis of this medicine goes back into a very ancient symbolism and that is the production of the spirits of meals and the spirits of spirit of gold which can be captured in wine the Opus paracelis explained that in certain parts of

Switzerland uh when it was gold in the soil great bines sending their tals and Roots into the Earth gathered up this gold of all forms of vegetation the grape is the one which has the greatest Affinity to gold and that if in areas where gold is in the

Soil the Dead The Vines of grapes are burned and the ashes of these uh from this Burning are washed gold will be found in them now if you study this symbolism a little further you will begin to recognize the peculiar use of the grape of the wine of the

Eucharist and of the mysterious symbols of the early Christian Church uh the gold which is gathered for the gra is the symbol of of mystical mystical ecstasy or the mystical experience in man for this experience gathers the available Consciousness and we remember that the kristos or the symbol of the Illuminator

And the initiator refers to himself by saying I am the vine this mysterious Vine of Life the great the symbol of the dionan Eucharist and later brought into the church is therefore closely associated as with the Grail with illumination the universal medicine is the mystical experience theising within the

Individual it is the basis of the healing of himself and of all Nations and the bringing of power of the power of the healing of all sickness for sickness is healed by the mystery of Grace and in alchemy the gra and the grace are identical in

Mean so we have here a heavy mystical overtone overshadowing the physical or alchemical symbolism as we generally accept it you will find work on this on this subject and the development of it in the work by General Ethan Alan hitar American civil law General and his m of

Alchemy now the lapis phorum or the diamond Stone The Diamond St uh also is reminiscent of Many Many religious systems in Tibetan Buddhism the diamond Soul appears as one of the most important symbols of the world deity in alchemy the Ruby diamond is the the most important of all

The symbols it is a synthetic Stone so made that it has a drop of blood in the center I have seen in Europe two or three movie diamonds made by Art and nature by alchemical transmutation we recently have read in the paper that at last a completely synthetic diamond absolutely perfect has

Been discovered and this undoubtedly is the same basis basic principle as the idea of alchemy for this reason Alchemy says very simply that which occurs psychologically within man will also occur physically in chemistry in other words Alchemy does not deny that Bas metals can be transmuted but it says that the laws

Used in this are the same laws as those used in the transmutation of man himself therefore if the individual gains the secret art for the transmutation of his own nature he can also transmute physical substances because one set of laws is involved if however he attempts to transmute base Metals without having the

Secret of the transmutation within his own Consciousness he will not only fail to transmute his Consciousness but will be unable to transmute the metals many Alchemists began their work as experimental chemists and this brings us another important key to the thing these experimental chemists began by sincere and inevitable conviction that they

Could transmute base Metals physically so they took the writings of The Alchemist with their strange descriptions of mysterious monsters of Agents of black birds of double-headed phoenixes of kings and queens of the celestial hemaphrodite of the crystal homunculus and all these other emblems of alchemy and they began to ponder them

Trying to find out how to make an Hest that’s how they started Out they called their family Goods they went out and bought all kinds of equipment and Olympics retorts test tubes and furnaces and with Bellows and arry they blew and they P like P mirandela who spent many years working on this subject but did not arrive or eugenus SES who finally was

Killed by an experiment in his own Laboratory but these artists struggling to understand the symbols fighting day by day with the processes and their retours Gathering their do of ples of Glass on the various figurations of the constellations seeking for the gold bearing gra Vine working with the formulas studying the designs and

Symbols these very physical chemist as Michael S Deus tell us who was one of them started with this simple intent to transmute Bas battles to become rich but they hadn’t gone very far when something began to happen to them they began to find within themselves a realization that they were

Too Limited in their own perspective as they went along in their researches they found they depended upon faculties Kina the no of M reading one of the simplest things they had to face was the problem of trying to find out what the author had concealed Behind these strange devices these devices became meditation

Wheels they became like Buddhist mandalas they began to challenge the individual who studi them and there months went on and years went on and this individual went further and further into the ARs he began to sense within himself other dimensions that he had not previously considered and after he had been working

More than 10 years in his laboratory sja suddenly came to the realization that Alchemy was not a physical science but a spiritual one he discovered it itself it grew on him so to say he learned step by step through the unfoldment of his own faculties he found then that this

Mysterious twisting road that led through the symbols was a constant coaxing of something out of himself he finally grew to be so intuitive that he could read between the lines and as he began to read between the lines he began to see the larger dimensions of the

AR until at last he cried out in in dismay and distress the think that he had wasted so much time on the outer shadow or something that was so much more important than he had originally believed gradually he found that the study of these symbols released something out of his own

Nature and he began to sense the real mysteries of alchemy so we have another definition that has to seek in somewhere along the line might well in right now namely that the initiate is the intellect that the illuminist is the intuition and that the adaptus is the Consciousness that they’re all inside of

Himself and all his were but the alchemical adct is the mysterious Power Of Consciousness operating through will and yoga that every human being is his own adct and theas artista the master of the ADV who appears and disappears without leaving Trace coming when he is most needed disappearing no one knows where

Represents these flashes of Consciousness by which the individual suddenly and briefly senses his own internal but there is something within himself that does not respond to his demands but somehow responds to his needs Elias the arst which is own Consciousness The Great Fire of alchemy

Is his own will by means of which these Mysteries are wrought the illuminist is his own psychic nature particularly is intuitional and inspirational part the initiate is his mind uh which can always know the secret but can never experience it so the Adept himself in all his Parts is the

Alchemist growing step by step in the experiences of his own art as we recognize these principles gradually coming more and more clearly to us we also can go on further uh in the alchemical transmutation we have a bottle it’s a very interesting bottle it’s a kind of a bulgy bottle with a long

Sometimes a rather long neck and within this bottle are a number of strange devices one of the more common frequent of which is a peacock with an extended tail in many iridescent colors and the uh initiate seeking the stone is told to watch for the appearance of the peacock’s tail in the

Bottle and the emblems of Solomon Tris Mosen called the Splender Solus we have a good many examples of this wonderful Adventure taking place in a glass bottle this was called the Hermetic wound in the rights and in the ancient Mysteries and this undoubtedly has one very simple meaning this glass bottle is

The human soul and it is within this soul that the mystery of the seven transmutations takes place now you remember in the last series when we were talking about about yoga I pointed out the importance of recognizing that the human soul corresponds with the orbits of the seven

Planets and that the soul of man represents this field of the Seven cardal Virtues the seven deadly sins which reflect downward into the physical phenomenon of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences therefore the second part of the work the work of the umate takes place within the soul and

The bottle it must contain the universal medicine this Universal medicine is achieved through the mystery of the seven parts of the human soul the doctrine which originally originated probably in Egypt where there is specific reference to the seven Souls of man and how they in turn influence the destiny of his

Life now when we get up into the higher level of the dep we also begin to see this cut diamond with its various facets and symbols and the further we go into that diamond and the study of it the closer we get to the Great geometric solids of Plato and

Pagas the diamond is a symbol of a symmetrical geometric solid the sign of the perfect form in nature the diam soul is itself of course a symbol of the universe it is a symb symbol of Consciousness it is the symbol of spirit it is the symbol of the perfect power

Which is released or made possible available to man through regeneration now all these different elements become more than mere hints we must accept them as hints we must work with them as best we can until we gain more and more knowledge of them daring also in alchemy you have another

Mysterious symbolism which is called uh the ladder of the sages or Homer’s golden chain which binds the ship of life to the Pinnacle Olympus H’s golden chain is a sequence of seven interlocking Elemental symbols by means of which spirit and body are united the soul is therefore the symbol

Of Union and there comes out of this another an important emblem and that is the rise of the term hermetic hermetic is associated with the later Egyptian Divinity Hermes Who belongs to the period of the Gnostic revivals in North Africa is a very mysterious being around whom the great

Vision of the pandri of Hermes has been compiled we use the word htic today to symbolize something that is sealed so that air cannot get in the semantically sealed jars or bottles this is again again the reference to Alchemy Hermes was the patron of alchemy which was also referred to as the Hermetic

Art now Hermes carries always the caducus or the wing staff he’s represented with wings on his heels and wings on his hat and usually dressed somewhat in the G of a Roman soldier he’s a kind of an effective looking little fellow in his own way but very

Few students have really given him a great deal of thought now Mercury in the old astrological symbolism had to do with the intellect and to a certain degree it still has that relation in in alchemy because mind unites spirit and bodies mind is the link between man as an

Internal and man as an external being the Mind man EXs into himself from environment and through the Mind man expresses the inner nature of his own consciousness thus mind is a common ground within himself but The Alchemist use mind much more in the sense that we used the

Psyche of the Soul or to them it included both male and female attributes and represented a psychic field or pattern and Mercury was therefore the common Sol or Quicksilver by which All Metals could be United or brought into synthesis Mercury was the absorb power so that actually according to

Their Doctrine the philosopher stone was composed with the Union of salt Mercury or sulfur sulfur representing Consciousness or Spirit salt representing Earth or body and Mercury representing mind all the solent in this symbolism using the Hermetic analogy we come upon a number of very interesting and important parallels

Each of which we will gradually develop along with other symbolism Mercury now emerges as something that unites or forms a common ground absorbing into itself things otherwise irreconcilable let us try to understand that in terms of human experience in something that is permitted to us what

Is there about us as beings or what faculty of power do we possess by which we can reconcile opposites by which we can bind together through experience things held differently or regarded as irreconcilable in nature or quality what is this most mysterious and absolving agent uh the Greeks and later the herst

And the Alchemists declared that the psychic field of man was capable of accepting from above spiritual ual powers and reducing them uh to the level of mind and emotion and that this also the soul was able to cause bodily elements and external phenomena to ascend into this middle Zone and be

Absorbed into Soul qu so that the soul was the common denominator the link uh the common field into which both spirit and matter pass p and in which they seem to die to be reborn again as one body or being so we can say that in the in in the Hermetic allegory Consciousness

Which is the spiritual power descending into the field of mercury or into the soul manifests itself as intellect and uh intuition whereas body elements or energies ascending into the soul also took on an attribute or aspect of intellect and intuition so that they took on an overtone and were reconciled in this

Field and that therefore man through a kind of experience within himself achieve and alate which he transmuted the Opposites of his own nature and cause them to become one being within the sphere of Soul power so we have the the formula very simple uh we have the king and queen

Which are spirit and body or God in nature producing the humulus or the crystal creature which is man man therefore is Hermes man is the unifier man is the personification of the principle of the Hermetic medicine in man Heaven and Earth are mingle in man the Divine and the human

Are brought together in one structure in man all opposites of nature meet and in man in his own nature and in his own existence in his own attitude the creation of the diamond soul is made possible thus her of mercury is man man composed of certain powers and faculties

Particularly the seven powers of the Soul these seven powers of the Soul being the basis of the harmony or synthesis by which the Divine and the human or the Divine and the lawful are brought together thus man becomes the potential Alchemist so we have in the old symbolism Heaven Earth and The

Alchemist now we find many such symbols represented as a Divine being Earth represented as a wonderful PE of Life the king and queen again holding between them man who is the potential ad who is the potential Redeemer of all things of the transmuter of universe in which he is

Placed now this Heaven Earth man B begins to bring another uh Point into consideration which we have in alchemy so we have a trinity of terms which are found in certain of the old alchemical ABC books as they are called the abcarian writings of early Alchemy and here we have God nature and

Art now Alchemy was called Art and it was called Art in a definition which says an art perfects nature Alchemy says there are no miracles to be performed by art art merely anticipates nature and achieves its greatest work by becoming a handmade of nature uh bacon the English philosopher

Refers to art as the power to perfect nature through intelligent cooperation so art becomes the symbol of in nature all things are growing all things are unfolding their life and all things are moving inevitably and victoriously towards Perfection or toward the state of pure and complete being but the path is slow

The means are continuous and the achievements are imperceptible at any given time now in a field of man’s researches such as culture for example comes along a person like L Burbank or a man like Dr Cara who begins to fulfill the alchemical advid of art perfects nature

Verbank became a great student of plant life and he finally learned how to use the laws governing plant life to hasten the growth of plants he didn’t break any laws he didn’t perform any miracles he simply used knowledge and helps a plant to help itself this is Art which is man’s

Voluntary cooperation with the plan of Life the plan will be perfected without but it will take millions of years man will perfect himself over a great period of experience by prent Era man will go on suffering dying until he learns how to live this is the long road he will continue to make

Mistakes will learn ultimately the laws governing his own conduct and in the fullness of time will learn to keep those laws but man may also do many things he may learn how to work with laws he may learn that through his own voluntary cooperation he can make things

Grow more rapidly through will wisdom and discipline he can make himself grow more rapidly not by performing a miracle but by cooperating with nature so we find Alchemy defis as a servant of nature not a magician waving a w but a gardener working with a spade

In a garden and in the opening sections of Michael Mayers one of his books we have Alchemy as the gardener working with a F very carefully cating around the rose bush there’s no description given but there’s none necessary this is AR the Garder making possible the more immediate and perfect growth of the

Flower the Roose of course is always hero love and not prosect for the human soul so Soul gardening is an AR and The Alchemist is the gardener in this great and Mysterious Garden of the metals so we find around the gardener growing on various trees symbols of all the metals

He is a gardener working in the field of metals he is making them to grow the artist also is the gardener working in the garden of his own soul making it to grow releasing the seven powers and faculties which are exoterically represented by the seven senses of man unfolding all the

Potentials there keeping faith with the law making the go law to reveal itself through working with it through following its own rules and causing the law to fulfill itself more immediately through obedience another symbolism appropriate to the idea is the garden of weeding his garden he has valuable

Plants there which he wishes to protect therefore he takes away the weeds he fertilizes the ground he cultivates it and makes it possible for his precious plants to grow better now also we find the garden sometimes symbolized as a little fenced in enclosure in which as like is not you

Will find two animals a lion and a unicorn and we will all remember the good old earthy Ride The Lion and the Unicorn fighting for the crown you will find that The Lion and the Unicorn for instance are the supporters of the crest of Great Britain pretty Empire unicorn is a very wonderful

Creature with one horn in his for made like a horse the Unicorn is a very very sensitive and delicate animal and always likes to be around kindly people the Unicorn will very patiently and lovingly follow the mysterious virgin of the world Sophia who is the only one that

Can put a bridal on it this is a very interesting bit of symbolism also because what is one horn but one pointed and what is one pointed except will or Consciousness itself therefore the Unicorn represents the power will the conscious will of the individual the lion of course the Red

Lion we know to be the symbol of of the mystery or of the uh of the great powder of transmutation of we know that the lion in this case represents wisdom the will and wisdom captured in a God can accomplish great and wonderful things because the struggle of Will and

Wisdom seeking for the crown of course the crown is K the symbol in the in the Hebrew kalala of the supreme power of the Supreme reality of all things uh the crown of power and rulership there are many many uses of alchemical symbolism in other Departments of

Living uh we also find for example uh in the alchemical uh Doctrine constant references to various symbols used in the Bible we find for instance that the complete transmutation and the production of the mysterious Universal medicine is believed to be contained within the Cal of Salon in other words the PSAL which

Is Salon contains the complete formula for the production of universal medicine The Alchemist can break it down and show you word for word line for line how that follows through the various uh researches and various cycles of transmutation another very important chemical formula is said to be concealed

In the Lord’s Prayer though the Alchemists who recognized that that is true were telling two stories at one time they were telling that they had found that the Lord’s Prayer was an exact example of psychic chemistry but they were also telling you that the end of psychic chemistry was the

Achievement of the spiritual State represented for the Lord’s Prayer it worked both ways and that also that the state of Holiness or piety or the state of prayerful contemplation of reality was the alchemical transmutation that the transmutation of fear into faith for example was the overcoming overcoming of the black symbol of

Itrio all these things worked out on moral and ethical levels the only difference between them and our general concept of knowledge lies in the exactitude of the symbol for example The Alchemist says the sun in the air and the sky that is represented in the Earth by

Gold therefore the gold and the sun are the same thing exactly in vibratory principle that the gold in the Earth and the Sun and the sky are polarized uh to the pulse point in the human heart and therefore that the human heart the Sun and gold are all pathetic

Ratio to each other and that they are of an identical and proper nature and that they have certain powers in common Dr late Dr Rudolph Steiner in his researches in Switzerland in connection with the use of the talismanic metals of the Ancients in healing disease discovered what we have also learned

Later by other means namely that portable gold or what we might turn uh biological gold is a heart remedy and that a syllable go goes directly into the walls of the heart thus the sympathy that was represented in alchemy was recognized as an existing fact in nature and that

These different principles all work together now the same thing was true with other parts of the universe everything that was morally true was scientifically true if it is true for example that wisdom is better than in that can be proved on terms of chemistry it can be

Proved in terms of Music In Color in tone in sound in everything that all values that exist ethically also exist scientifically and that the polarities of all of the elements are to be find found in the moral and spiritual life of the individual and that which constitutes a

Good life also constitutes an exact working formula for a chemical compound that just as surely as man is able to integrate certain patterns in his own living the laws governing these patterns are exactly the same as those used in architecture and a and a happy harmonious well integrated home can be

Mathematically diagram and the diagram will be the perfect structure for ailing this is what leonado meant by certain of his cannons in other words there is a dynamic which extends from one level of life to another theist knew that if you played a certain chord of music that this chord in its

Mathematical vibration could and could be and was equivalent to the basic key to the structure of a building the basic key to a chemical compound a basic formula law everything all these things work together com therefore if you have a perfect method of purifying a metal you have a

Perfect method of purifying a government a perfect method of purifying a human body and a human soul and a human mind if you can make certain elements work together you can make certain philosophies work together certain Sciences meet certain races mingle all these things are ruled by the same

Laws there is one master pattern which is the great archetype and all AR Sciences unfold this archetype and whatever is true of the individual is true of the collective whenever the law is working in nature it must work in man and just as surely as certain energies in space

Unite to produce worlds so certain energies in man must be the legal to produce the development and unfoldment of his body and his functions there is only one set of laws and these laws become the keys to the Hermetic art well the Hermetic art is nothing but the reduction of good

Intentions to a science these Arts tell you that if you have seven powers or that of metals in nature you have seven organs in the body you have seven gland structures of importance within the body you have seven principal artifices in the body you have seven principal centers in the

Brain all of these are tied together by a sympathy and as you have certain planets in the sky so you have certain planets in the soul and as these planets by their forms release certain psychic energies and intensities through man these seven energies have in their turn created the

Arts and es which are nothing but rationalizations by man along the lines of his own energy man is able to build a house and the master architecture because he has a principle of architecture in his own soul that principle of architecture within his own soul is represented by one of the seven

Metals if therefore he lacked a certain element within his Constitution he would lack lack a dimension of Consciousness if gold was removed from his body he would not only die but assuming that he did not die a proportion or dimension of Consciousness would depart from him every one of these things is tied

Together calling one tremendous allinclusive pattern and the pattern itself was described in the htic Arts as the tomb of Christian Rosen Cross or in this tomb was all of the symbolism of a miniature universe and in the ceiling of it burned the ever burning lamp which was the symbol of

Consciousness as therefore the Consciousness in nature produces the world so the Consciousness in man sets up searies within himself these searies are all on sympathy with each other exactly like tuning fors which at the same pitch will react to the sound one of the other the same way diseases represent

Certain pervers ities in vibratory rates these diseases can be reached by sounding their Keynotes they can be neutralized by other rates of vibration representing their antipodes this was the basis of the sympathetic Medicine of paropsis we treated the ailments of Mars with the power of Venus and the ailments of Saturn with the

Power of Jupiter but when you say Saturn and Jupiter as planets are also referring to elements the minerals the medication to degrees of Consciousness to sense perceptions to Soul perceptions to intuitional faculties into the whole G because all of these things move on the same vibration patterns thus we have in alchemy this

Concept of one Universe in which a series of formulas exist now The Alchemist took the universal formula or space which is the largest and he reduced it to the formula that he could follow in his laboratory and we can borrow a little bit from Welling in order that we may understand his

Symbolism a little better in his great work on salt sulfur and Mercury B Welling says that he took a tiny grain of the universal medicine and placed it on the surface of water in a small R which isometrically sealed he then placed this R talk on a

Sand furnace and a sand furnace is one in which the temperature is maintained at about of the human body which is very important never got too warm the heat was applied only through sand there was a thick layer of sand between the Heat and the retor resting in the sand and

Bob Welling says that after a certain time when uh the heat within the bottle reach that temperature of incubation or the the temperature as he said s that is achieved by the hen sitting on an egg when that peculiar natural heat level was reached this grain of The

Elixir or the mysterious powder began to move and he said as he watched it it began to spin and as it spun it through parts of itself off and these parts that flew off began to move around it and in a half an hour he saw unfold

Within the ret a complete solar system why because every unit must follow the law of the ire now if he had used a different level of analogy he could have taken that same grain placed it within another type of bottle with another group of elements to

Work with and under the same heat in a length of time this this grain of the Eternal Elixir would have begun to move in a different direction would gradually had taken the whirling proportions of the human embryo and would have ultimately developed into a human body called

Theun would have done exactly the same thing and he would have had the shiny human being in the body now we also have in the parasian theory the possibility of Reviving all kinds of forms from their own ashes this he we have under various symbolism a plant burned to ashes within

A sealed bottle and then under a certain type of pressure and under certain use of alchemical formulas heated to a certain degree a plant or a shadow of it will grow again in the bottle in ashes years ago I had an interesting experience with which we will try to explain

This uh a man came to me who had spent many years up in the northern part of Canada along the kondik he was an old gold Min and he said there’s something that I’ve never been able to understand namely that gold grow so we could work out of a believe

That for 10 years and come back to it and there was more gold there he said we were convinced this gold accumulated in some way drawn by whatever amount of gold are still left in the vein the little part that we didn’t get the seeds

Were still lay and this gold grew and he said as a proof of that he said I took a piece of ore with a small amount of gold still in it and I placed that gold in an a metrically sealed jar small jaar it goes up a little bottle about this size about

2 in in diamet he said I have not unsealed this and I want to show it to you he said when I placed it in there many years ago was just a grain of gold in it but now many years later that little grain of gold has become a perfect

Little tree it has grown from its own seed the growth of metals and he said I will tell you something else and show to and it was indoubly exactly as he had described and I’m inclined to believe him because we have the same record exactly from the Swiss gold miners of

The 16th and 17th centuries who said that they had actually made gold grow but one interesting thing this old minor told me why he said it didn’t grow nearly as rapidly until I happened to discover something namely that it grew more if I kept it on

Me therefore I used after many months I carried it inside my clothing this little body and said whenever it was close to me it grew and of course the answer was body heat as long as it was close to his body it grew and reports of these experiments

Has been carried on for hundreds of years and uh the concept of gold growing in the Rocks gold growing in the human body body growing all of these things tie up with the alchemical tradition which it is which is that all things and that as the metals grow under

Certain conditions so man grows and what is the gentle heat which which matures the metals and the Buddhist might answer the fire of aspiration by which all things grow but there is a certain moood or Spirit within man a war of man’s own soul that makes him

Grow and in the presence of this war within himself and this war is the warm of the mother hen sitting on the egg Ron in itself is a rather interesting thing because it is the one of love it is the W of service of protection all these things work

Together and in alchemy the universe is one mass of these interrelated laws laws which can be diagrammed on one level played on a musical instrument on another and on a third level if applied inwardly transform The Sinner into the saint there are living laws living living pattern living archetypes forever

Reproducing themselves on all levels The Alchemist says that you can discover these on one level you can then apply this key to all other levels and have then indeed the key to the mystery of the universe so this is a little something of the background and from that we must

Go on to the psychology of this and the science of it and I’ll try to show you as we go along the symbols the arst the books the manuscripts by which this symbolism this concept is unfolded and it is the great Medic alory or the Great

Law of analogy As Above So Below as with the Lesser so with the greater all things different in multitude and magnitude but all identical in the great pattern of vital principles that sustain them to know these principles then is to be the magician to be the master of all

Things by knowing the law laws and obeying laws an art is man’s learning to obey his constructive and wonderful ability to take these principles and amplify them so that they work more rapidly and perect themselves more perfectly man working with law therefore is the master Alchemist and if he works with the law

The the law works for him and he sees things grow and multiply in days months or years which might otherwise require ages unless they receive the cultivation of thetic God this is the concept on which we must later build a more detailed account of the alchemical procedures now our time is up for

Tonight

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