The Truth About Alchemy...
The philosophy of this ancient discipline is mysterious, both necessarily and deliberately. Necessarily, because it took into account the invisible world which cannot be observed by the senses and, therefore, could not be described in a logical fashion. Deliberately because the knowledge, which the alchemists believed themselves to be able to obtain, would confer a degree of power which, in the hands of the uninitiated, would be disastrous to the world. I believe alchemy can best be appreciated and better understood by reading the original texts and contemplating its elaborate symbolism, rather than by pointless and empty theoretical speculation.
"Western alchemy offers us two concomitant themes: the transmutation of base metals into gold, which is regarded as the ultimate stage in a process of perfection, and a religious conception of the regeneration of the soul. These two interpretations give rise to two dominate schools of thought. The one school, the materialists who regard alchemy as a chemical process at time covered allegorically in terms of religious experiences. The other mystical which conceives alchemy as a spiritual process disguised in the language of chemistry."
-Ed Reither, University of New Orleans 1976 "Alchemey, The Science Of Enlightenment"
"There is also the marriage, the coniunctio, the union of Sun and Moon, Sol and Luna, the masculine father principles of radiance, light, heat, and energy with the feminine mother principles of magnetism, mystery, beauty, feeling, and water. The inner marriage as described in alchemy, sometimes as a "chemical wedding," is akin to the Taoist's blending of yang and yin, or the Tantric yogi's fusion of Siva and Sakti in the pingala and ida energy channels of the subtle body. Sometimes the alchemical marriage is said to be between the King and the Queen: these are the male and female aspects of the person, the ego. The King is often shown being purified, purged in a hot bath or furnace, freed of black dross, sweating out the impurities, the attachments that link ego to the world of sense objects. Sometimes the marriage is described as being between a red man (air rubeus) and a white woman (mulier candida): the red, fiery, martial, choleric masculine and the purified, innocent, virginal, venusian feminine. These are all aspects of what Jung would call unifying with the anima, female psyche, or the animus, male psyche." -Metzner, Ralph 'Alchemy and personal transformation'
The method of the early alchemists was deliberately chaotic. Authors and Masters of early manuscripts state that they deliberately tried to conceal the practice from all who had not been initiated into a certain secret which enabled them to understand this Great Art.
When a young alchemist/pupil first attempted to follow the recipes in the manuscripts, almost always they were unsuccessful. In fact most alchemists never did understand, or as the alchemists themselves like to say, innerstand the texts. The innerstanding was to come to the alchemists through an older more experienced Master.
At some stage in his practice, the young alchemist would meet an older alchemist, who knew him to be a worthy man of the secret. He would then pass the secret to the young initiate, allowing him to work successfully. This secret was not always revealed by an older alchemists; in England in 1525, Thomas Chamok said he had no master.
Alchemists theories come to the reader today in dark sayings, enigmatic allegories and poetic utterances. It is impossible to understand the essence of alchemists texts on an intellectual level. A quote from century Chinese alchemists Tisan T'uing Ch'l quote demonstrates this point:
"One, knowing the white should hold firm to the black. For then divine light will come in due course. The white is the essence of gold and the black is the bases of water. One is one in number. At the beginning Yin-Yang (Sulfur-Mercury) is black, with yellow sprouts. The master of the five metals and the river chariot of the north. Hence lead is black on the outside, but holds gold flowers in its bosom. "
Before finishing this introduction on the difficulty and complexity of the subject, a word must be said about the alchemists themselves. Alchemists were of many kinds, as many as the colors of the rainbow which is so very important in their imagery and symbolism- At one end of the spectrum were the impostors or charlatans, using pretended knowledge of the "Divine Art" as a means of making money and gaining fame. At the other end were the devotees of the mystical alchemy. Between these extremes were many types, some called puffers, souffeurs or kitchen cooks. The intentions of many of these men were honest but their knowledge was insufficient to understand the true nature of alchemy. The difficulty is brought up by John Hopkins when he says: "the difficulty in understanding alchemists is because we try to understand them through our rational scientific minds when their philosophy was not scientific but more of a transcendental idealism."
An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King
By an Anonymous Sage and Lover of Truth
(From A.W. Waite, The Hermetic Museum, Vol. 2: 169-170)
Chapter VII
Of the First Operation -- Preparation of Mercury
by means of the Flying Eagles
Know, my brother, that the exact preparation of the Eagles of the Sages, is the highest effort of our Art. In this first section of our work, nothing is to be done without hard and persevering toil; though it is quite true that afterwards the substance develops under the influence of gentle heat without any imposition of hands.
. . . . Let me tell you now how this part of the work is performed. Take 4 parts of our fiery Dragon, in whose belly is hidden the magic Chalybs, and 9 parts of our Magnet; mingle them by means of a fierce fire, in the form of a mineral water, the foam of which must be taken away. Remove the shell, and take the kernel. Purge what remains once more by means of fire and the Sun, which may be done easily if Saturn shall have seen himself in the mirror of Mars. Then you will obtain our Chameleon, or Chaos, in which all the virtues of our Art are potentially present. This is the infant Hermaphrodite, who, through the bite of a mad dog, has been rendered so fearful of water, that though of a kindred nature, it always eschews and avoids it. But in the grove of Diana are two doves that soothe its rabid madness if applied by the art of the nymph Mercury. Take it and plunge it under water till it perish therein; then the rabid and black dog will appear panting and half suffocated—drive him down with vigorous blows, and the darkness will be dispelled. Give it wings when the Moon is full, and it will fly away as an Eagle, leaving the doves of Diana dead (though, when first taken they should be living). Repeat this seven times, and your work is done; the gentle coction which follows is child's play and a woman's work.
