Since it is not possible for everyone to follow its reactions in the laboratory, I am devoting this chapter to the manifestation of the Quintessence in everyday life, for it is not merely in the laboratory that this vital principle evinces itself, but through all phases and conditions of existence.
Vitamines.
First, what of our food? The physicist has found that for a food to be really worthy of that name it must contain a certain vital essence, which he has called the Vitamine. Without this vital quality, which I believe to be this same Quintessence or Divine Energy, any type of food whatsoever is just so much dead matter. For instance, expeditions on which the men have subsisted entirely on a diet of tinned food have invariably shown that whilst ingesting the bulk of food necessary for the satisfaction of their hunger, they yet suffered from starvation since that food was devoid of its vital principle--the Quintessence or Vitamine. Most of us have read at some time or another of the sufferings of the early navigators who would sail for weeks without sighting land, living the while on dried food. From those islands which could provide anything in the way of fresh meat and fruit they would replenish their miserable stores, and for a time whilst these fresh provisions lasted, the crew would improve in health and vitality, but with the exhaustion of the supply would come depletion of vitality, scurvy, and other trials occasioned by a deficiency diet. Citrous fruits, in particular, were found to be extremely effective for combating scurvy, and British sailors at one time in their history were called 'limies' by reason of the citrous fruit included in their food quota.
This food problem, then, which we have confronting us is surely a proposition of vast dimensions. From all sides we are bombarded with demands for a fitter people, for an A 1 nation, but if this high standard of national health is to be attained, then the food problem of the people must be tackled in all seriousness. While the peoples of the world depend for their sustenance (as the greater part of our Western civilization does today) on a diet of highly refined food, from which all real food value has been extracted in the process of refinement, there is little hope of any improvement in their physical status, and this lack of vitally charged food may easily be a reason, and a very important reason, for such diseases as cancer and kindred complaints; infantile paralysis, sleepy sickness, and influenza. As a preventative to many diseases, medical men are now recommending Vitamin D, but actually this question of Vitamines is only touching the edge of a problem which is of very real importance and urgency to each one of us--the necessity for a diet incorporating in its constituents that vital energy or quintessence without which a food is no food at all.
Digestion.
From the food itself let us turn our attention to the digestion of that food in the human body. In the process of digestion we find a much more complex action taking place than physiology has so far been able to demonstrate. The process of ingesting food into the human stomach is really a mild form of poisoning, and in order to utilize to the best advantage the foodstuffs he is taking, the human being must transmute those foodstuffs, provided for him by the animal and vegetable kingdoms, into a form that the cells of his body can readily take up and assimilate. Without this process of change in digestion, man would probably die of poisoning! For an example of this changing process, take albumen. Albumen in the process of digestion is split up into its amino acids and then brought together again as a human albumen capable of absorption and assimilation by the cells of the human body.
Can any physiologist explain how this change takes place? Physiologically there is no explanation which would elucidate this process, but that it does take place is a fact. In its enactment we have an instance of transmutation, of man taking into his body a lower form of life for its transmutation into something higher, and what is that but an alchemical process? The transmutation of a lower substance into a higher, when it takes place in the body of man, is definitely a function of the unconscious part of the mind--a function not consciously performed by the ordinary individual owing to the fact that the Mind of Man, in the process of building form from the Amoeba upwards, has relegated such functions to the unconscious or subconscious part of the mind, leaving the surface consciousness to carry on with outside problems. Thus whilst all this work of digestion, circulation, breathing, etc., is being carried on by the deeper strata of the mind, the upper strata are free, as I have just said, to deal with the demands of everyday life. How many of us realize, I wonder, that here in this very process of digestion is taking place an act of magic which the average man cannot understand, complacently though he accepts it. Occultists have taught that this process of the transmutation of food in the human body can be helped by the conscious part of the mind (by what some schools would call auto-suggestion).
Thus we have an example of man as the medium through which a transmutation of a lower form of matter into a higher may take place.
Breathing.
To take another function of the human body--that of breathing. What has physiology to tell us of the process of breathing? We are taught that the most important function of breathing is the taking of oxygen into the lungs to revivify that venous blood which has lost its oxygen in its circulation of the body, and has to be replaced before it can pass on into the arterial circulation once more.
This is one function of breath, but another, which physiology has so far not touched, is the breathing in of the natural electricity or Vital Principle (the Quintessence) in the atmosphere, which the human body uses as nervous energy. Here again the unseen
alchemist is at work, engaged in the absorption of the air around him and its transmutation into something higher for the work in his own body.
This question of breathing brings another in its train--the question of
The Heart's Action.
Is the heart, as physiology states, an instrument for the pumping of blood through the blood-vessels of the body? Impossible; it would require a much larger and more powerful organ than the heart to pump blood through some of the tiny blood-vessels in the body. The heart is the regulator of the flow, not the pump, the circulation of the body being an electrical process, with the arteries as the positive and the veins as the negative charges. The venous blood being negative is drawn to the lungs which are positive, and there re-charged with the air intaken by the lungs. After receiving its positive charge the blood is repelled from the lungs (since two positive charges repel one another) and flows through the heart to the Aorta, the rate of its flow being regulated by the heart's beat. The Aorta divides and sub-divides throughout the body, giving up its charge to the nervous system, which passage causes the blood once again to become negative, and necessitates its return (through the veins) to the lungs for re-charging. In these days of knowledge of electricity and magnetism, it is only logical to conclude that these so-called mechanical actions of the organs of the body are electrical.
The atom of oxygen is like a sponge that holds a certain amount of etheric force or electricity (the Quintessence), each atom enclosing within itself a charge of vital energy. The human body is a chemical laboratory and the so-called atoms of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, etc., contain within themselves charges of Vital Energy. The Yogi, in describing his breathing exercises, speaks of a certain vital principle of energy which he calls 'Prana,' which is in actual fact another instance of the manifestation of the Quintessence. In his system of breathing the mind is so centered on the act of breathing that this Quintessence of the air is consciously taken in for the revitalization of every part of his body. When you take a holiday in the mountains or by the sea, with beneficial results, the real benefit obtained is from this Quintessence or Vital Energy in the air which you breathe in.
The alchemist, by his laboratory process, is taking this Quintessence or Vital Energy from metals, since he has found in his experience that it is obtained from minerals and metals in a more perfect form than from plant life, the minerals being of the first manifestation.
Mittwoch, 7. Juli 2010
The Quintessence
Space, whether inter-planetary, inter-material, or inter-organic, is filled with a subtle fluid or gas, which we call, as did the ancients, Aith-in-Solintaire Aether. This fluid or gas, unchangeable in composition, indestructible, invisible, pervades everything and all matter. Metal, mineral, tree, plant, animal, man; each is charged with the Ether in varying degrees. All life on the planet is charged in like manner; a world is built up in this fluid, and moves through a sea of it.
Ether, which the occultist terms astral light, determines the constitution of bodies. Hardness and softness, solidity and liquidity, all depend on the relative proportion of ethereal and ponderable matter of which they are composed.
The arbitrary division and classification of physical science, the whole range of physical phenomena, proceeds from the Primary Aether, for Science has reduced matter as we know it to Ether, which, although not solid matter, is still matter. When most of us speak of matter, of course, we usually visualize solid substance, but it has been proved by Science that matter is not actually solid, but merely a stress, a strain in the Ether. The atoms, and finer still, the electrons and protons of which it is composed, all move in a sea of Ether, so that in accordance with this theory, the very air we breathe, the very bodies we inhabit, all must likewise be moving in this sea of Ether, the parent element from which all manifestation has come.
This principle that all things proceed from one is demonstrable in the physical; in the principles of Biology, the multicellular organisms, complex as they may be in their structure, nevertheless arise from a single cell. Science postulates that all matter is composed of atoms: the atoms, however, are composed of protons and electrons, and the electrons in their turn are evidently composed of Ether. This Ether is a universal connecting medium filling all Space to the furthest limits, penetrating the interstices of the atoms without a break in its continuity, and so completely does it fill Space that it is sometimes identified with Space, and has, in fact, been spoken of as Absolute Space.
'The Ether of Space,' according to Sir Oliver Lodge, 'is a theme of unknown and apparently infinite magnitude, and of a reality beyond the present conception of man. It is that of which everyday material consists, a link between the worlds, a consummate substance of overpowering grandeur. By a kind of instinct one feels it to be the home of spiritual existence, the realm of the awe-inspiring and supernal. It is co-extensive with the physical universe, and is absent from no part of space. Beyond the furthest star it extends, in the heart of the atom it has its being. It permeates and controls and dominates all. It eludes the human senses and can only be envisaged by the powers of the mind.
'Yet the Ether is a physical thing; it is not a physical entity, it has definite properties. It is not matter any more than hydrogen and oxygen are water, but it is the vehicle of both matter and spirit. . . '
Now the occultist has divided matter, seen and unseen, into seven principles or planes, and of these the fifth principle, or Quintessence, corresponds to Science's Ether of Space. If we are willing to admit that there is truth in this statement, then we may begin to see that alchemy is based on absolute Law. All the forces of our scientists have originated in the Vital Principle, that one Collective Life of our Solar System, which life is a part of, or rather one of the aspects of, the One Universal Life.
During life there is present in man a finely diffused form of matter, a vapour filling not merely every part of his physical body, but actually stored in some parts; a matter constantly renewed by the vital chemistry, a matter as easily disposed of as the breath, once the breath has served its purpose. Of this matter Paracelsus wrote
'The Archaeus is an essence that is equally distributed in all parts of the human body. . . . The Spiritus Vitae takes its origin from the Spiritus Mundi. Being an emanation of the latter, it contains the elements of all cosmic influences, and is therefore the cause by which the action of the cosmic forces act upon the body of man.'
This Archaeus is of a magnetic nature and is not enclosed in a body but radiates within and around it like a luminous sphere. Alchemy and alchemy alone, within historical period, and in so-called civilised countries, has succeeded in obtaining a real element, or a particle of homogeneous matter, the Mysterium Magnum of Paracelsus. By his age-old science the alchemist may set free this Vital Principle in his laboratory, destroy the body of the metal on which he is working, purify its salt, and bring its principles together in a higher form. This process, which is after all but a miniature reproduction of a superior process in operation around us all the time, undoubtedly proceeds from Master Intelligences who have lived at some time or another on this Earth.
It is a pity that Science must always reject old ideas and cast them away as useless before rediscovering them as something new to be incorporated in its current theories. To discard the alchemist's theories is as intelligent as to dismiss as rubbish Einstein's Theory of Relativity merely because one does not happen to understand his language. Some of our scientific men have realized this, for F. Hoefer in 'Histoire de la Chimie' (Paris 1866) remarks: 'The systems which confront the intelligence remain basically unchanged through the ages, although they assume different forms. Thus, through mistaking form for basis, one conceives an unfavourable opinion of the sequence. We must remember that there is nothing so disastrous in Science as the arrogant dogmatism which despises the past and admires nothing but the present.'
If Science would but try to understand the conception of the Universe as taught by occultism throughout the ages, taking as its starting-point the teaching of the One Life in Manifestation, its seven planes of consciousness, its infinite forces, and as the basis of its philosophy the Hermetic axiom 'as above, so below,' it would found a system based on eternal Truth instead of on a quicksand of theories. Science will never really understand the truth about life until it reaches this realization, which cannot be attained through its instruments and appliances, but only through the inner powers of the mind.
'Nothing of true value is located in the body of a substance, but in the virtue thereof, and this is the principle of the Quintessence, which reduces, say 20 lbs. of a given substance into a single ounce, and that ounce far exceeds the 20 lbs. in potency. Hence the less there is of body, the more in proportion is the virtue thereof.'
Paracelsus has said:
'The Magi in their wisdom asserted that all creatures might be brought to one unified substance, which substance they affirm, may by purification and purgation, attain to so high a degree of subtlety, such divine nature and occult property, as to work wonderful results. For they considered that by returning to the earth, and by a supreme and magical separation, a certain perfect substance would come forth, which is at length, by many industrious and prolonged preparations, exalted and raised up above the range of vegetable substances into mineral, above mineral into metallic, and above perfect metallic substances into a perpetual and divine Quintessence, including in itself the essence of all celestial and terrestrial creatures.'
By this Quintessence or quintum esse, Paracelsus meant the nucleus of the essences and properties of all things in the universal world.
From the 'Golden Casket' of Benedictus Figulus comes the following:
'For the elements and their compounds in addition to crass matter, are composed of a subtle substance, or intrinsic radical humidity, diffused through the elemental parts, simple and wholly incorruptible, long preserving the things themselves in vigour, and called the Spirit of the World, proceeding from the Soul of the World, the one certain Life filling and fathoming all things, so that from the three genera, or creatures, Intellectual, Celestial and Corruptible, there is formed the One Machine of the Whole World. This spirit by its virtue fecundates all subjects natural and artificial, pouring into them those hidden properties which we have been wont to call the Fifth Essence, or Quintessence. . . . But this is the root of life, i.e., the Fifth Essence, created by the Almighty for the preservation of the four qualities of the human body, even as Heaven is for the preservation of the Universe. Therefore is this Fifth Essence and Spiritual Medicine, which is of Nature and the Heart of Heaven, and not of a mortal and corrupt quality, indeed possible. The Fount of Medicine, the preservation of Life, the restoration of Health, and in this may be cherished the renewal of lost youth and serene health be found.'
Turning from the words of the alchemists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to those of a twentieth century scientist, let me quote from Sir Oliver Lodge's 'Ether and Reality' once again:
'Apollonius of Tyana is said to have asked the Brahmins of what they supposed the Cosmos to be composed.
'"Of the five elements."
'"How can there be a fifth," demanded Apollonius, "beside water and air and earth and fire?"
'"There is the ether," replied the Brahmin, "which we must regard as the element of which the gods are made; for just as all mortal creatures inhale the air, so do immortal and divine natures inhale the ether."'
And:
'What you choose to call this unifying "Something" is of no consequence. The Ancients sometimes spoke of the "Ether," possibly as an addition to the usual four elements, and Sir Isaac Newton adopted this term for the connecting medium. The optical medium connects the particles together in a solid or a liquid, and the same medium connects the heavenly bodies together into systems and clusters and constellations and nebulae and Milky Way.
'All pieces of matter and all particles are connected together by the Ether and by nothing else. In it they move freely, and of it they may be composed. We must study the kind of connexion between matter and Ether.
'The particles embedded in the Ether are not independent of it, they are closely connected with it, it is probable that they are formed out of it: they are not like grains of sand suspended in water, they seem more like minute crystals formed in a mother liquor. . .'
Again:
'Speculatively and intuitively we feel to be more in direct touch with the ether than with matter. How we can act on matter is a mystery. How
we have constructed and how we move our bodies, we do not know. We are apt to identify ourselves with our bodies. But there is evidence which shows that we are really independent, that we continue in existence, and can leave our bodies behind. Matter is not part of our real being, not of our essential nature it is but an instrument that we use for a time and then discard. Probably we do not act directly upon matter at all. Our will, our mind, our psychic life, probably act directly upon the Ether; and only through it, indirectly, on Matter. Ether is our real primary and permanent instrument. It is in connexion with the Ether that our real being consists; and through it we are able to manipulate the atoms of matter, to move them, to rearrange them, and thus 'employ them to express our thoughts and feelings and to manifest ourselves to other individual entities who in the long course of evolution have been enabled to construct and employ similar most ingenious, though imperfect, instruments of manifestation. By this means we can become aware of a multitude of existences, the whole animal and vegetable kingdom, of which otherwise we might have remained ignorant; by this means our conceptions of existence have been enlarged and extended, the possibilities of friendship enhanced, the perception of a new realm of law and order attained. And thus is our own nature enriched by the effort and experiences belonging to a new and most interesting-- though from our point of view imperfect and rebellious--physical mode of existence.'
And his closing words:
'It is the primary instrument of Mind, the vehicle of Soul, the habitation of Spirit. Truly it may be called the Living Garment of God.'
This comparison between the writings of scientists of different centuries is interesting, since it seems to me that while there may be some difference in actual verbal expression, each man refers to the same principle.
Ether, which the occultist terms astral light, determines the constitution of bodies. Hardness and softness, solidity and liquidity, all depend on the relative proportion of ethereal and ponderable matter of which they are composed.
The arbitrary division and classification of physical science, the whole range of physical phenomena, proceeds from the Primary Aether, for Science has reduced matter as we know it to Ether, which, although not solid matter, is still matter. When most of us speak of matter, of course, we usually visualize solid substance, but it has been proved by Science that matter is not actually solid, but merely a stress, a strain in the Ether. The atoms, and finer still, the electrons and protons of which it is composed, all move in a sea of Ether, so that in accordance with this theory, the very air we breathe, the very bodies we inhabit, all must likewise be moving in this sea of Ether, the parent element from which all manifestation has come.
This principle that all things proceed from one is demonstrable in the physical; in the principles of Biology, the multicellular organisms, complex as they may be in their structure, nevertheless arise from a single cell. Science postulates that all matter is composed of atoms: the atoms, however, are composed of protons and electrons, and the electrons in their turn are evidently composed of Ether. This Ether is a universal connecting medium filling all Space to the furthest limits, penetrating the interstices of the atoms without a break in its continuity, and so completely does it fill Space that it is sometimes identified with Space, and has, in fact, been spoken of as Absolute Space.
'The Ether of Space,' according to Sir Oliver Lodge, 'is a theme of unknown and apparently infinite magnitude, and of a reality beyond the present conception of man. It is that of which everyday material consists, a link between the worlds, a consummate substance of overpowering grandeur. By a kind of instinct one feels it to be the home of spiritual existence, the realm of the awe-inspiring and supernal. It is co-extensive with the physical universe, and is absent from no part of space. Beyond the furthest star it extends, in the heart of the atom it has its being. It permeates and controls and dominates all. It eludes the human senses and can only be envisaged by the powers of the mind.
'Yet the Ether is a physical thing; it is not a physical entity, it has definite properties. It is not matter any more than hydrogen and oxygen are water, but it is the vehicle of both matter and spirit. . . '
Now the occultist has divided matter, seen and unseen, into seven principles or planes, and of these the fifth principle, or Quintessence, corresponds to Science's Ether of Space. If we are willing to admit that there is truth in this statement, then we may begin to see that alchemy is based on absolute Law. All the forces of our scientists have originated in the Vital Principle, that one Collective Life of our Solar System, which life is a part of, or rather one of the aspects of, the One Universal Life.
During life there is present in man a finely diffused form of matter, a vapour filling not merely every part of his physical body, but actually stored in some parts; a matter constantly renewed by the vital chemistry, a matter as easily disposed of as the breath, once the breath has served its purpose. Of this matter Paracelsus wrote
'The Archaeus is an essence that is equally distributed in all parts of the human body. . . . The Spiritus Vitae takes its origin from the Spiritus Mundi. Being an emanation of the latter, it contains the elements of all cosmic influences, and is therefore the cause by which the action of the cosmic forces act upon the body of man.'
This Archaeus is of a magnetic nature and is not enclosed in a body but radiates within and around it like a luminous sphere. Alchemy and alchemy alone, within historical period, and in so-called civilised countries, has succeeded in obtaining a real element, or a particle of homogeneous matter, the Mysterium Magnum of Paracelsus. By his age-old science the alchemist may set free this Vital Principle in his laboratory, destroy the body of the metal on which he is working, purify its salt, and bring its principles together in a higher form. This process, which is after all but a miniature reproduction of a superior process in operation around us all the time, undoubtedly proceeds from Master Intelligences who have lived at some time or another on this Earth.
It is a pity that Science must always reject old ideas and cast them away as useless before rediscovering them as something new to be incorporated in its current theories. To discard the alchemist's theories is as intelligent as to dismiss as rubbish Einstein's Theory of Relativity merely because one does not happen to understand his language. Some of our scientific men have realized this, for F. Hoefer in 'Histoire de la Chimie' (Paris 1866) remarks: 'The systems which confront the intelligence remain basically unchanged through the ages, although they assume different forms. Thus, through mistaking form for basis, one conceives an unfavourable opinion of the sequence. We must remember that there is nothing so disastrous in Science as the arrogant dogmatism which despises the past and admires nothing but the present.'
If Science would but try to understand the conception of the Universe as taught by occultism throughout the ages, taking as its starting-point the teaching of the One Life in Manifestation, its seven planes of consciousness, its infinite forces, and as the basis of its philosophy the Hermetic axiom 'as above, so below,' it would found a system based on eternal Truth instead of on a quicksand of theories. Science will never really understand the truth about life until it reaches this realization, which cannot be attained through its instruments and appliances, but only through the inner powers of the mind.
'Nothing of true value is located in the body of a substance, but in the virtue thereof, and this is the principle of the Quintessence, which reduces, say 20 lbs. of a given substance into a single ounce, and that ounce far exceeds the 20 lbs. in potency. Hence the less there is of body, the more in proportion is the virtue thereof.'
Paracelsus has said:
'The Magi in their wisdom asserted that all creatures might be brought to one unified substance, which substance they affirm, may by purification and purgation, attain to so high a degree of subtlety, such divine nature and occult property, as to work wonderful results. For they considered that by returning to the earth, and by a supreme and magical separation, a certain perfect substance would come forth, which is at length, by many industrious and prolonged preparations, exalted and raised up above the range of vegetable substances into mineral, above mineral into metallic, and above perfect metallic substances into a perpetual and divine Quintessence, including in itself the essence of all celestial and terrestrial creatures.'
By this Quintessence or quintum esse, Paracelsus meant the nucleus of the essences and properties of all things in the universal world.
From the 'Golden Casket' of Benedictus Figulus comes the following:
'For the elements and their compounds in addition to crass matter, are composed of a subtle substance, or intrinsic radical humidity, diffused through the elemental parts, simple and wholly incorruptible, long preserving the things themselves in vigour, and called the Spirit of the World, proceeding from the Soul of the World, the one certain Life filling and fathoming all things, so that from the three genera, or creatures, Intellectual, Celestial and Corruptible, there is formed the One Machine of the Whole World. This spirit by its virtue fecundates all subjects natural and artificial, pouring into them those hidden properties which we have been wont to call the Fifth Essence, or Quintessence. . . . But this is the root of life, i.e., the Fifth Essence, created by the Almighty for the preservation of the four qualities of the human body, even as Heaven is for the preservation of the Universe. Therefore is this Fifth Essence and Spiritual Medicine, which is of Nature and the Heart of Heaven, and not of a mortal and corrupt quality, indeed possible. The Fount of Medicine, the preservation of Life, the restoration of Health, and in this may be cherished the renewal of lost youth and serene health be found.'
Turning from the words of the alchemists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to those of a twentieth century scientist, let me quote from Sir Oliver Lodge's 'Ether and Reality' once again:
'Apollonius of Tyana is said to have asked the Brahmins of what they supposed the Cosmos to be composed.
'"Of the five elements."
'"How can there be a fifth," demanded Apollonius, "beside water and air and earth and fire?"
'"There is the ether," replied the Brahmin, "which we must regard as the element of which the gods are made; for just as all mortal creatures inhale the air, so do immortal and divine natures inhale the ether."'
And:
'What you choose to call this unifying "Something" is of no consequence. The Ancients sometimes spoke of the "Ether," possibly as an addition to the usual four elements, and Sir Isaac Newton adopted this term for the connecting medium. The optical medium connects the particles together in a solid or a liquid, and the same medium connects the heavenly bodies together into systems and clusters and constellations and nebulae and Milky Way.
'All pieces of matter and all particles are connected together by the Ether and by nothing else. In it they move freely, and of it they may be composed. We must study the kind of connexion between matter and Ether.
'The particles embedded in the Ether are not independent of it, they are closely connected with it, it is probable that they are formed out of it: they are not like grains of sand suspended in water, they seem more like minute crystals formed in a mother liquor. . .'
Again:
'Speculatively and intuitively we feel to be more in direct touch with the ether than with matter. How we can act on matter is a mystery. How
we have constructed and how we move our bodies, we do not know. We are apt to identify ourselves with our bodies. But there is evidence which shows that we are really independent, that we continue in existence, and can leave our bodies behind. Matter is not part of our real being, not of our essential nature it is but an instrument that we use for a time and then discard. Probably we do not act directly upon matter at all. Our will, our mind, our psychic life, probably act directly upon the Ether; and only through it, indirectly, on Matter. Ether is our real primary and permanent instrument. It is in connexion with the Ether that our real being consists; and through it we are able to manipulate the atoms of matter, to move them, to rearrange them, and thus 'employ them to express our thoughts and feelings and to manifest ourselves to other individual entities who in the long course of evolution have been enabled to construct and employ similar most ingenious, though imperfect, instruments of manifestation. By this means we can become aware of a multitude of existences, the whole animal and vegetable kingdom, of which otherwise we might have remained ignorant; by this means our conceptions of existence have been enlarged and extended, the possibilities of friendship enhanced, the perception of a new realm of law and order attained. And thus is our own nature enriched by the effort and experiences belonging to a new and most interesting-- though from our point of view imperfect and rebellious--physical mode of existence.'
And his closing words:
'It is the primary instrument of Mind, the vehicle of Soul, the habitation of Spirit. Truly it may be called the Living Garment of God.'
This comparison between the writings of scientists of different centuries is interesting, since it seems to me that while there may be some difference in actual verbal expression, each man refers to the same principle.
The Spirit of Mercury
In the previous chapter I spoke of the substances Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt as being analagous to the Spirit, Soul, and Body. What I intend to convey is that the Spirit of the Metal is the Spirit of Mercury (a volatile essence which in its gaseous state is an Aether), the Sulphur is the Soul or the Blood, and the Salt the Ashes or the Body.
Again I quote from Basilius Valentinus, Father of Modern Chemistry:
'Of the Spirit of Mercury.'
'Though I have a peculiar Stile in writing, which will seem strange unto many, causing strange Thoughts and Fancies in their Brains, yet there is reason enough for my so doing; I say enough, that I may remain by my own experience, not esteeming much of others prating, because it is concealed in my knowledge, Seeing having alwaies the preheminence before Hearing, and Reason hath the praise before Folly: Wherefore I now say, that all visible, tangible things are made of the Spirit of Mercury, which excels all earthly things of the whole world, all things being made out of it, having their Off-spring only from it; for all is found therein which can perform all whatsoever the Artist desires to find; It is the beginning to operate Metals, when it is become a spiritual Essence, which is meer Air flying to and fro without wings; it is a moving wind, which after it is expelled its dwelling by Vulcan, it is driven into its Chaos, where it again enters, and resolves itself into the Elements, where it is elevated and attracted by the Sydereal Stars after a Magnetical manner unto themselves, out of love, whence he proceeded before, and was operated because it affects its like again, and attracts it to it. But if this Spirit of Mercury can be caught, and made corporal, it resolves into a Body, and becomes a pure, clear, transparent water, which is the true spiritual water, and the first Mercurial Root of the Minerals and Metals, spiritual, intangible, incombustible, without any mixture of earthly Aquosity; it is that Celestial water, whereof very much hath been written; for by this Spirit of Mercury all Metals, may if need require, be broken, opened, and resolved into their first Matter, without Corrosive; it renews the age of Man or Beast, even as the Eagles; it consumes all evil, and conducts a long Age to long Life. This Spirit of Mercury is the Master-Key of my Second Key, whereof I wrote in the beginning; wherefore I will call; Come ye Blessed of the Lord, be anointed, and refreshed with water, and embalm your Bodies, that they may not putrefie or stink; for this Celestial Water is the beginning, the Oyl, and the means, seeing it burns not, because it is made of spiritual Sulphur; the Salt Balsam is corporal, which is united with the Water by the Oyl, whereof I will afterwards treat more at large, when I shall write of them, and mention them.
'And that I may further declare what is the Essence, Matter and Form of the Spirit of Mercury, I say, that its Essence is blessed, its Matter spiritual, and its Form earthly, which yet must be understood by an incomprehensible way; these are indeed harsh Expressions, many will think, thy Proposals are all vain, strange Effusions, raising wonderful Imaginations, and true it is that they are strange, and require strange people to understand these Sayings; it is not written for Peasants, how they should grease Cart-wheels, nor is it written unto those who have no knowledge of the Art, though they be never so learned, or think themselves so; for I only account them Learned, who next unto Gods Word, learn to know Earthly things, which must be pondered and judged by the Understanding, founded upon a true Knowledge, to distinguish Light from Darkness, who choose that which is good, and reject the evil.
'It is needless for you to know what the beginning of this Spirit of Mercury requires, because it can in no wise help nor advantage you, only take notice of this, that its beginning is supernatural, out of the Celestial, Sydereal and Elementary, bestowed on it from the beginning of the first Creation, that it may enter further into an Earthly Substance. But because this is necessary which hath been declared to you, leave the Celestial to the Soul, apprehend it by Faith, and let the Sydereal likewise alone, because these Sydereal Impressions are invisible and intangible, the Elements have already brought forth the Spirit perfect into the world by the Nutriment, therefore let that alone likewise; for man cannot make the Elements, but only the Creator, and remain by thy made Spirit which is already formal and unformal, tangible and intangible, and yet is presented visibly. So have you enough of the first Matter, out of which all Metals and Minerals grow, and is one only thing, and such a matter which unites itself with the Sulphur in the following Chapter, and enters into a Coagulation with the Salt of the first Chapter, that it may be one Body, and a perfect Medicine of all Metals, not only to bring forth in the Earth at the beginning, as in the great World, but also by help of the vaporous Body to transmute and change, together with the augmentation in the lesser World: Let not this seem strange to you, seeing the Most High hath permitted, and Nature undertaken it.
'Many will not believe this, esteeming it impossible, despise and vilifie these Mysteries, which they understand not in the least, they may remain Fools and Idiots till an illumination follows, which cannot be without God's Will, but remains till the time predestinate. But wise and discreet men, who have truly shed the sweat of their Brows, will be my sufficient witnesses, and confirm the Truth, and indeed believe and hold for a truth all that which I write in this case, as true as Heaven and Hell are preordained, and proposed as Rewards of good and evil to the Elect and Reprobate. Now I write not only with my hands, but my Mind, Will and heart constrain me to it: Those who are highly conceited, illuminated, and world-wise, hate, envy, scandalize, defame and persecute this Mystery to the utmost Rind, or innermost Kernel, which hath its beginning out of the Center; but I know assuredly, there will come a time, when my Marrow is wasted, and my Bones dried up, that some will take my part heartily, after I am in the Pit; and if God would permit it, they would willingly raise me from the dead; but that cannot be; wherefore I have left them my Writings, that their Faith and Hope may have a Seal of Certainty and Truth, to testifie of me what my last Will and Testament was, which I ordained for the poor, and all the Lovers of Mysteries, though it did not behove me to have wrote so much, yet I could not refrain without prejudice to my Soul, but to drive a Light or Flash through a Cloud, that the Day might be observed, and the dark Night, thick and gloomy, rainy Weather expelled.
'Now how the Archaeus operates further by the Spirit of Mercury in the Earth, or Veins of the Earth, take this Advice, that after the spiritual Seed is formed by the impression of the Stars from above, and fed by the Elements, it is a Seed, and turns itself into a Mercurial Water, as first of all the great World was made of nothing, for when the Spirit moved upon the Water, the Celestial Heat must needs raise a Life in the cold waterish and earthly Creatures; in the great World it was Gods Power, and the Operation of the Celestial Lights; in the little World it is likewise Gods Power, and the Operation to work into the Earth by his Divine and Holy Breath. Moreover the Almighty gave and Ordained means to accomplish it, that one Creature had obtained power to operate in the other, and the one to help and assist the other, to perform and fulfil all the Works of the Lord; and so an influence was permitted the Earth to bring forth by the Lights of Heaven, as also an internal Heat, to warm and digest that which was too cold for the Earth, by reason of its humidity, as unto every Creature a peculiar fashion according to its kind; so that a subtile sulphurous Vapour is stirred up by the Starry Heaven, not the common, but another more clarified and pure Vapour, distinct from others, which unites itself with the Mercurial Substance; by whose warm property, in process of time, the superfluous Moisture is dryed up, and then when the soulish property comes to it, which gives a preservation to the Body and Balsam, operating first into the Earth by a spiritual and sydereal influence, then are Metals generated of it, as it pleaseth the Mixture of the three Principles, the Body being formed according as it assumes unto it the greatest part of those three. But if the Spirit of Mercury be intended and qualified from above upon Animals, it becomes an Animal Substance; if it goes upon Vegetables by order,
it becomes a Vegetable Work; but if, by reason of its infused nature, it fall on Minerals, it becomes Minerals and Metals, yet each one hath its distinction as they are wrought, the Animals for themselves, the Vegetables on another manner and form by themselves, and so likewise the Minerals, each one a several way, whereof to write particularly would be too tedious, and yield large and Various Narrations.
. . . . .
'This is the summe in brief, that without the Spirit of Mercury, which is the only true Key, you can never make Corporal Gold potable, nor the Philosophers' Stone. Let it remain by this Conclusion, be silent; for I my self will at present say no more, because Silence is enjoyned thee and me by the orderly Judge, recommending the Execution and further search thereof to another, who hath not as yet reduced the Matter into a right Order.'
And here the words of Alexander von Suchten, from the 'Blessed Casket of Nature's Marvels' by Benedictus Figulus:
'The primary matter of man and the primary matter of the great world are one and the same thing. But this primary matter of the world and of man is a Crystalline Water of which Holy Writ says "Before God created Heaven and Earth, the Spirit of the Lord brooded over the waters." This water became a primary matter of both. But where remains the Spirit of the Lord, which brooded over the waters, after the two worlds, i.e. heaven and earth, and man had been created from the same? I reply, in the primary matter of man and of the world, God who is Perfection, has wished to dwell in Man. But here the following question might be put; how did man know--since the primary matter of man and the world is a crystalline water--how could man know whether the Spirit of the Lord had remained in this primary matter of the world, or of man? I reply, he knew it by the Art of Water, for Water was his teacher. This teacher shewed him how the world dies, how the Spirit departs from it, how the body is without spirit, the spirit without body. He saw how the spirit returns to the body, and the body revives. He saw by the decay of the world that it did not become again what it had been before. Hence it became plain to him that God dwells not in that which passes away, but in that which is eternal.'
Again I quote from Basilius Valentinus, Father of Modern Chemistry:
'Of the Spirit of Mercury.'
'Though I have a peculiar Stile in writing, which will seem strange unto many, causing strange Thoughts and Fancies in their Brains, yet there is reason enough for my so doing; I say enough, that I may remain by my own experience, not esteeming much of others prating, because it is concealed in my knowledge, Seeing having alwaies the preheminence before Hearing, and Reason hath the praise before Folly: Wherefore I now say, that all visible, tangible things are made of the Spirit of Mercury, which excels all earthly things of the whole world, all things being made out of it, having their Off-spring only from it; for all is found therein which can perform all whatsoever the Artist desires to find; It is the beginning to operate Metals, when it is become a spiritual Essence, which is meer Air flying to and fro without wings; it is a moving wind, which after it is expelled its dwelling by Vulcan, it is driven into its Chaos, where it again enters, and resolves itself into the Elements, where it is elevated and attracted by the Sydereal Stars after a Magnetical manner unto themselves, out of love, whence he proceeded before, and was operated because it affects its like again, and attracts it to it. But if this Spirit of Mercury can be caught, and made corporal, it resolves into a Body, and becomes a pure, clear, transparent water, which is the true spiritual water, and the first Mercurial Root of the Minerals and Metals, spiritual, intangible, incombustible, without any mixture of earthly Aquosity; it is that Celestial water, whereof very much hath been written; for by this Spirit of Mercury all Metals, may if need require, be broken, opened, and resolved into their first Matter, without Corrosive; it renews the age of Man or Beast, even as the Eagles; it consumes all evil, and conducts a long Age to long Life. This Spirit of Mercury is the Master-Key of my Second Key, whereof I wrote in the beginning; wherefore I will call; Come ye Blessed of the Lord, be anointed, and refreshed with water, and embalm your Bodies, that they may not putrefie or stink; for this Celestial Water is the beginning, the Oyl, and the means, seeing it burns not, because it is made of spiritual Sulphur; the Salt Balsam is corporal, which is united with the Water by the Oyl, whereof I will afterwards treat more at large, when I shall write of them, and mention them.
'And that I may further declare what is the Essence, Matter and Form of the Spirit of Mercury, I say, that its Essence is blessed, its Matter spiritual, and its Form earthly, which yet must be understood by an incomprehensible way; these are indeed harsh Expressions, many will think, thy Proposals are all vain, strange Effusions, raising wonderful Imaginations, and true it is that they are strange, and require strange people to understand these Sayings; it is not written for Peasants, how they should grease Cart-wheels, nor is it written unto those who have no knowledge of the Art, though they be never so learned, or think themselves so; for I only account them Learned, who next unto Gods Word, learn to know Earthly things, which must be pondered and judged by the Understanding, founded upon a true Knowledge, to distinguish Light from Darkness, who choose that which is good, and reject the evil.
'It is needless for you to know what the beginning of this Spirit of Mercury requires, because it can in no wise help nor advantage you, only take notice of this, that its beginning is supernatural, out of the Celestial, Sydereal and Elementary, bestowed on it from the beginning of the first Creation, that it may enter further into an Earthly Substance. But because this is necessary which hath been declared to you, leave the Celestial to the Soul, apprehend it by Faith, and let the Sydereal likewise alone, because these Sydereal Impressions are invisible and intangible, the Elements have already brought forth the Spirit perfect into the world by the Nutriment, therefore let that alone likewise; for man cannot make the Elements, but only the Creator, and remain by thy made Spirit which is already formal and unformal, tangible and intangible, and yet is presented visibly. So have you enough of the first Matter, out of which all Metals and Minerals grow, and is one only thing, and such a matter which unites itself with the Sulphur in the following Chapter, and enters into a Coagulation with the Salt of the first Chapter, that it may be one Body, and a perfect Medicine of all Metals, not only to bring forth in the Earth at the beginning, as in the great World, but also by help of the vaporous Body to transmute and change, together with the augmentation in the lesser World: Let not this seem strange to you, seeing the Most High hath permitted, and Nature undertaken it.
'Many will not believe this, esteeming it impossible, despise and vilifie these Mysteries, which they understand not in the least, they may remain Fools and Idiots till an illumination follows, which cannot be without God's Will, but remains till the time predestinate. But wise and discreet men, who have truly shed the sweat of their Brows, will be my sufficient witnesses, and confirm the Truth, and indeed believe and hold for a truth all that which I write in this case, as true as Heaven and Hell are preordained, and proposed as Rewards of good and evil to the Elect and Reprobate. Now I write not only with my hands, but my Mind, Will and heart constrain me to it: Those who are highly conceited, illuminated, and world-wise, hate, envy, scandalize, defame and persecute this Mystery to the utmost Rind, or innermost Kernel, which hath its beginning out of the Center; but I know assuredly, there will come a time, when my Marrow is wasted, and my Bones dried up, that some will take my part heartily, after I am in the Pit; and if God would permit it, they would willingly raise me from the dead; but that cannot be; wherefore I have left them my Writings, that their Faith and Hope may have a Seal of Certainty and Truth, to testifie of me what my last Will and Testament was, which I ordained for the poor, and all the Lovers of Mysteries, though it did not behove me to have wrote so much, yet I could not refrain without prejudice to my Soul, but to drive a Light or Flash through a Cloud, that the Day might be observed, and the dark Night, thick and gloomy, rainy Weather expelled.
'Now how the Archaeus operates further by the Spirit of Mercury in the Earth, or Veins of the Earth, take this Advice, that after the spiritual Seed is formed by the impression of the Stars from above, and fed by the Elements, it is a Seed, and turns itself into a Mercurial Water, as first of all the great World was made of nothing, for when the Spirit moved upon the Water, the Celestial Heat must needs raise a Life in the cold waterish and earthly Creatures; in the great World it was Gods Power, and the Operation of the Celestial Lights; in the little World it is likewise Gods Power, and the Operation to work into the Earth by his Divine and Holy Breath. Moreover the Almighty gave and Ordained means to accomplish it, that one Creature had obtained power to operate in the other, and the one to help and assist the other, to perform and fulfil all the Works of the Lord; and so an influence was permitted the Earth to bring forth by the Lights of Heaven, as also an internal Heat, to warm and digest that which was too cold for the Earth, by reason of its humidity, as unto every Creature a peculiar fashion according to its kind; so that a subtile sulphurous Vapour is stirred up by the Starry Heaven, not the common, but another more clarified and pure Vapour, distinct from others, which unites itself with the Mercurial Substance; by whose warm property, in process of time, the superfluous Moisture is dryed up, and then when the soulish property comes to it, which gives a preservation to the Body and Balsam, operating first into the Earth by a spiritual and sydereal influence, then are Metals generated of it, as it pleaseth the Mixture of the three Principles, the Body being formed according as it assumes unto it the greatest part of those three. But if the Spirit of Mercury be intended and qualified from above upon Animals, it becomes an Animal Substance; if it goes upon Vegetables by order,
it becomes a Vegetable Work; but if, by reason of its infused nature, it fall on Minerals, it becomes Minerals and Metals, yet each one hath its distinction as they are wrought, the Animals for themselves, the Vegetables on another manner and form by themselves, and so likewise the Minerals, each one a several way, whereof to write particularly would be too tedious, and yield large and Various Narrations.
. . . . .
'This is the summe in brief, that without the Spirit of Mercury, which is the only true Key, you can never make Corporal Gold potable, nor the Philosophers' Stone. Let it remain by this Conclusion, be silent; for I my self will at present say no more, because Silence is enjoyned thee and me by the orderly Judge, recommending the Execution and further search thereof to another, who hath not as yet reduced the Matter into a right Order.'
And here the words of Alexander von Suchten, from the 'Blessed Casket of Nature's Marvels' by Benedictus Figulus:
'The primary matter of man and the primary matter of the great world are one and the same thing. But this primary matter of the world and of man is a Crystalline Water of which Holy Writ says "Before God created Heaven and Earth, the Spirit of the Lord brooded over the waters." This water became a primary matter of both. But where remains the Spirit of the Lord, which brooded over the waters, after the two worlds, i.e. heaven and earth, and man had been created from the same? I reply, in the primary matter of man and of the world, God who is Perfection, has wished to dwell in Man. But here the following question might be put; how did man know--since the primary matter of man and the world is a crystalline water--how could man know whether the Spirit of the Lord had remained in this primary matter of the world, or of man? I reply, he knew it by the Art of Water, for Water was his teacher. This teacher shewed him how the world dies, how the Spirit departs from it, how the body is without spirit, the spirit without body. He saw how the spirit returns to the body, and the body revives. He saw by the decay of the world that it did not become again what it had been before. Hence it became plain to him that God dwells not in that which passes away, but in that which is eternal.'
The Seed of Metals
In this section I am placing before my readers some alchemystical teachings, together with my own interpretation of the theory of alchemy, in an attempt to clarify some of the apparent jargon in which the alchemist expressed his thoughts, and to demonstrate the scientific truth contained therein--a truth as self-evident and comprehensible as any scientific theory of today.
Instead of dealing with chemistry, occultism, and religion as distinct and separate subjects, alchemy has definitely taught the unity of all Life and Manifestation. It has attempted, and I think successfully, to correlate chemistry, occultism, religion, astrology, magic, and mythology, and to present them all as parts of the One Manifestation. It has attempted also to show that as the health and well-being of the body are as necessary to true religion as true religion is necessary to a healthy and balanced body, so occultism, elucidating as it does the unseen aspects of man, is necessary to both. By true religion, of course, I mean, not the dogmatic teaching of any one church or sect, but the Law of Life and Living; and by occultism, the manifestation of Powers working through and with Man to his ultimate perfection.
That all things proceed from One Thing by the Will of the One Being, that is, that all Manifestation proceeds from one, is the axiom that lies at the root of the theory of all alchemical science. The Hermetic Tract expressed it thus: 'As all things were produced from One by the Mediation of One, so all things are produced from this One Thing by adaptation,' or, in other words, the One in Manifestation has become many. From this One, this Seed, as it were, which the alchemist has called the Alkahest, have proceeded three, Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, and again from these three have proceeded the many.
Now we must remember that these terms are used by the alchemist very much as the modern chemist uses his terms, which when all is said, convey about as much or as little to the lay mind as do those of the alchemist. The alchemist's Mercury, therefore, must not be confused with the metallic mercury which it resembles neither in texture nor appearance, neither must the Sulphur necessarily possess the qualities of sulphur as we know it, but to a student of alchemy these two substances, together with their salt, convey the idea of the Spirit, the Soul, and the Body. As Paracelsus said: "It is not, however, the common Mercury and the common Sulphur which are the matter of metals, but the Mercury and the Sulphur of the Philosophers are incorporated and inborn in perfect metals and in the forms of them."
It may perhaps simplify matters a little if I give at this point some of the alchemical terms used. The Spirit of Mercury, alternatively called the Quintessence of the Philosophers, Aqua Vitae, Water of Paradise,
Azoth, Mercury of the Philosophers, has also on account of its extreme volatility been termed the Eagle, for unless its container be very efficiently sealed, it rises into the air and is lost. Now as I have stated in a previous paragraph, when this Spirit of Mercury or Seed of Metals is divided, from it issue two, the White Mercury and the Sulphur, whose oily tincture, being the golden red of the Sun, has earned for it the name of the Red Lion, the Sun, according to astrology, being in the constellation of Leo the Lion. These two, the White and the Red, are looked upon as the female and male principles, the negative and the positive, Lune the Mother and Sol the Father, or Lune the Queen and Sol the King. This idea of the male and female, or positive and negative elements, is as old as time; take, for example, the following extract from the Chinese, translated by Edward Chalmers Werner:
'Mu Kung, or Tung Wang Kung, the God of the Immortals, was also called I Chun Ming and Yu Huang Chun, the Prince Yu Huang.
'The primitive vapour congealed, remained inactive for a time, and then produced living beings, beginning with the formation of Mu Kung, the purest substance of the Eastern Air, and sovereign of the active male principle (yang) and of all the countries of the East. His palace is in the misty heavens, violet clouds form its dome, blue clouds its walls. Hsien Tung "the Immortal Youth" and Yu nu "the Jade Maiden" are his servants. He keeps the register of all the Immortals, male and female.
'Hsi Wang Mu was formed of the pure quintessence of the Western Air, in the legendary continent of Shin Chou. She is often called the Golden Mother of the Tortoise.
'As Mu Kung, formed of the Eastern Air, is the active principle of the male air, and sovereign of the Eastern Air, so Hsi Wang Mu, born of the Western Air, is the passive or female principle (yin) and sovereign of the Western Air. These two principles, cooperating, engender Heaven and Earth and all the beings of the universe, and of the subsistence of all that exists.'
At this point, too, I should explain that the metals have been recognized as the manifestation of planetary influences and named in accordance. Thus
Gold is termed the Sun
Silver is termed the Moon
Mercury is termed the Mercury
Tin is termed the Jupiter
Iron is termed the Mars
Copper is termed the Venus
Lead is termed the Saturn
According to this teaching the metal is formed as the result of certain stellar vibrations or waves of energy and consequently carries the characteristic of the planet by which it is influenced. Thus:
Gold is the manifestation of the perfect metal even as the Sun is the manifestation of Life on this planet:
Silver, the colour of white, is the Moon, the negative aspect of the Sun:
Mercury, as the planet Mercury, is of a volatile nature, its surface being in constant movement:
Iron is strength and force, Mars being the planet of energy and force:
Copper is Venus, closely approaching the colour of gold, Venus being the planet of beauty, and of love:
Lead is Saturn the Tester, cold, and known in cabbalistic teachings as the root of metals:
Tin is Jupiter, the planet of benevolence and opulence.
All metals are in a constant state of progression. By this I mean that Gold, the perfect metal, stands at the head, the summit of perfection, as it were, whilst all other metals are on the way towards eventually becoming gold; thus the alchemist merely does by art what nature does slowly through the years. Species, says Friar Bacon, are not transmuted, but rather their subject matter. It is the subject matter of the metals, the radical moisture of which they are uniformly composed, that the alchemist maintains may be withdrawn by art and transported from inferior forms, being set free by the force of a superior ferment or attraction.
Metals have always been recognized by the alchemists as living, breathing substances, each one having as its component parts Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, the difference in the consistency and characteristics of the metal being due to the proportion of these three principles one to the other.
To illustrate this point, let me quote from Basilius Valentinus, one of the greatest alchemists of the fifteenth century:
'Therefore the metal of Mars (Iron) is found to have the least portion of Mercury, but more of Sulphur and Salt.
'The reader must moreover know concerning the generation of copper, and observe that it is generated of much Sulphur, but its Mercury and Salt are in an equality....
'Among all metals Gold bath the pre-eminence because the sidereal and elementary operation hath digested and refined the Mercury in this Metal the more perfectly to a sufficient ripeness. .
'Good Jupiter (Tin) possesses almost the middle or mean place between metals, it being not too hot, nor too cold, nor too warm, nor too moist, it hath no excess of Mercury, nor of Salt, and it hath the least of Sulphur in it....
'I tell thee that Saturn is generated of little Sulphur, little Salt, and much unripe gross Mercury, which Mercury is to be esteemed a froth that floats upon the Water in comparison of that Mercury which is found in Sol (Gold).'
These quotations will illustrate what I intend to convey by my reference to the proportionate relationships of the three substances.
To revert to the subject of the seed of metals, from the 'Speculum' of Arnaud de Villeneuve come these words: 'There is in Nature a certain fine essence, which being discovered and brought by art to perfection converts to itself proportionately all imperfect bodies that it touches,' so that the first matter of all metals and substances is a fixed something altered by the diversities of place, temperature, etc. This 'Essence' has always been recognized by alchemists as the Seed of Metals.
To illustrate my meaning in regard to the Seed of the Species, I quote the following from 'Ether and Reality,' by Sir Oliver Lodge (Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton):
'Matter exists not only in the organic forms of solids, liquids and gases and in the disintegrated forms of electrons and protons, it exists also as the complex molecules known as protoplasm, which for some reason or other has shewn itself to be the vehicle of life. Some forms of matter are endowed with or animated by life. This property of animation is a great mystery; we do not know what Life is, we only see what it can do. We perceive that it can enter into relation with matter, that it has a character and identity of its own, and that it builds up matter to correspond with or to represent identity. Life can take a variety of forms, and every form is characterized by a certain shape; the life of an oak is transmitted to an oak, the life of an elm to an elm. "To every seed his own body." One form of life takes the shape of a bud, another of a fish, another of a quadruped. The varieties of life are innumerable, and are studied in the great science of biology.
'Consider any piece of matter. . . . Contemplate any solid object; a vase, it may be, or a jewel, or a statue; what is it that holds the atoms together in that particular shape? If the atoms were not connected they would be moving about at random, like the atoms of a gas; but they are connected, crystallized as it were, together by the forces of cohesion. Even in a liquid they are held together into a body of definite size, though not a definite shape; a liquid has size though not shape; a gas has neither; a solid has both. The shape is most definite and law-abiding in a crystal; but in a plant or animal it has a definite character too--not so definite as in a crystal, a good deal of variety is possible, yet an animal or vegetable body has an undoubted character of its own, even to minute detail. And this character is handed down from one generation to another, modified perhaps, but only slowly, by the age-long process of Evolution.'
This extract from Sir Oliver Lodge I have quoted in full, for in the words 'to every seed his own body' lies the whole doctrine of alchemy, which has recognized a metallic seed peculiar to all metals.
Instead of dealing with chemistry, occultism, and religion as distinct and separate subjects, alchemy has definitely taught the unity of all Life and Manifestation. It has attempted, and I think successfully, to correlate chemistry, occultism, religion, astrology, magic, and mythology, and to present them all as parts of the One Manifestation. It has attempted also to show that as the health and well-being of the body are as necessary to true religion as true religion is necessary to a healthy and balanced body, so occultism, elucidating as it does the unseen aspects of man, is necessary to both. By true religion, of course, I mean, not the dogmatic teaching of any one church or sect, but the Law of Life and Living; and by occultism, the manifestation of Powers working through and with Man to his ultimate perfection.
That all things proceed from One Thing by the Will of the One Being, that is, that all Manifestation proceeds from one, is the axiom that lies at the root of the theory of all alchemical science. The Hermetic Tract expressed it thus: 'As all things were produced from One by the Mediation of One, so all things are produced from this One Thing by adaptation,' or, in other words, the One in Manifestation has become many. From this One, this Seed, as it were, which the alchemist has called the Alkahest, have proceeded three, Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, and again from these three have proceeded the many.
Now we must remember that these terms are used by the alchemist very much as the modern chemist uses his terms, which when all is said, convey about as much or as little to the lay mind as do those of the alchemist. The alchemist's Mercury, therefore, must not be confused with the metallic mercury which it resembles neither in texture nor appearance, neither must the Sulphur necessarily possess the qualities of sulphur as we know it, but to a student of alchemy these two substances, together with their salt, convey the idea of the Spirit, the Soul, and the Body. As Paracelsus said: "It is not, however, the common Mercury and the common Sulphur which are the matter of metals, but the Mercury and the Sulphur of the Philosophers are incorporated and inborn in perfect metals and in the forms of them."
It may perhaps simplify matters a little if I give at this point some of the alchemical terms used. The Spirit of Mercury, alternatively called the Quintessence of the Philosophers, Aqua Vitae, Water of Paradise,
Azoth, Mercury of the Philosophers, has also on account of its extreme volatility been termed the Eagle, for unless its container be very efficiently sealed, it rises into the air and is lost. Now as I have stated in a previous paragraph, when this Spirit of Mercury or Seed of Metals is divided, from it issue two, the White Mercury and the Sulphur, whose oily tincture, being the golden red of the Sun, has earned for it the name of the Red Lion, the Sun, according to astrology, being in the constellation of Leo the Lion. These two, the White and the Red, are looked upon as the female and male principles, the negative and the positive, Lune the Mother and Sol the Father, or Lune the Queen and Sol the King. This idea of the male and female, or positive and negative elements, is as old as time; take, for example, the following extract from the Chinese, translated by Edward Chalmers Werner:
'Mu Kung, or Tung Wang Kung, the God of the Immortals, was also called I Chun Ming and Yu Huang Chun, the Prince Yu Huang.
'The primitive vapour congealed, remained inactive for a time, and then produced living beings, beginning with the formation of Mu Kung, the purest substance of the Eastern Air, and sovereign of the active male principle (yang) and of all the countries of the East. His palace is in the misty heavens, violet clouds form its dome, blue clouds its walls. Hsien Tung "the Immortal Youth" and Yu nu "the Jade Maiden" are his servants. He keeps the register of all the Immortals, male and female.
'Hsi Wang Mu was formed of the pure quintessence of the Western Air, in the legendary continent of Shin Chou. She is often called the Golden Mother of the Tortoise.
'As Mu Kung, formed of the Eastern Air, is the active principle of the male air, and sovereign of the Eastern Air, so Hsi Wang Mu, born of the Western Air, is the passive or female principle (yin) and sovereign of the Western Air. These two principles, cooperating, engender Heaven and Earth and all the beings of the universe, and of the subsistence of all that exists.'
At this point, too, I should explain that the metals have been recognized as the manifestation of planetary influences and named in accordance. Thus
Gold is termed the Sun
Silver is termed the Moon
Mercury is termed the Mercury
Tin is termed the Jupiter
Iron is termed the Mars
Copper is termed the Venus
Lead is termed the Saturn
According to this teaching the metal is formed as the result of certain stellar vibrations or waves of energy and consequently carries the characteristic of the planet by which it is influenced. Thus:
Gold is the manifestation of the perfect metal even as the Sun is the manifestation of Life on this planet:
Silver, the colour of white, is the Moon, the negative aspect of the Sun:
Mercury, as the planet Mercury, is of a volatile nature, its surface being in constant movement:
Iron is strength and force, Mars being the planet of energy and force:
Copper is Venus, closely approaching the colour of gold, Venus being the planet of beauty, and of love:
Lead is Saturn the Tester, cold, and known in cabbalistic teachings as the root of metals:
Tin is Jupiter, the planet of benevolence and opulence.
All metals are in a constant state of progression. By this I mean that Gold, the perfect metal, stands at the head, the summit of perfection, as it were, whilst all other metals are on the way towards eventually becoming gold; thus the alchemist merely does by art what nature does slowly through the years. Species, says Friar Bacon, are not transmuted, but rather their subject matter. It is the subject matter of the metals, the radical moisture of which they are uniformly composed, that the alchemist maintains may be withdrawn by art and transported from inferior forms, being set free by the force of a superior ferment or attraction.
Metals have always been recognized by the alchemists as living, breathing substances, each one having as its component parts Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, the difference in the consistency and characteristics of the metal being due to the proportion of these three principles one to the other.
To illustrate this point, let me quote from Basilius Valentinus, one of the greatest alchemists of the fifteenth century:
'Therefore the metal of Mars (Iron) is found to have the least portion of Mercury, but more of Sulphur and Salt.
'The reader must moreover know concerning the generation of copper, and observe that it is generated of much Sulphur, but its Mercury and Salt are in an equality....
'Among all metals Gold bath the pre-eminence because the sidereal and elementary operation hath digested and refined the Mercury in this Metal the more perfectly to a sufficient ripeness. .
'Good Jupiter (Tin) possesses almost the middle or mean place between metals, it being not too hot, nor too cold, nor too warm, nor too moist, it hath no excess of Mercury, nor of Salt, and it hath the least of Sulphur in it....
'I tell thee that Saturn is generated of little Sulphur, little Salt, and much unripe gross Mercury, which Mercury is to be esteemed a froth that floats upon the Water in comparison of that Mercury which is found in Sol (Gold).'
These quotations will illustrate what I intend to convey by my reference to the proportionate relationships of the three substances.
To revert to the subject of the seed of metals, from the 'Speculum' of Arnaud de Villeneuve come these words: 'There is in Nature a certain fine essence, which being discovered and brought by art to perfection converts to itself proportionately all imperfect bodies that it touches,' so that the first matter of all metals and substances is a fixed something altered by the diversities of place, temperature, etc. This 'Essence' has always been recognized by alchemists as the Seed of Metals.
To illustrate my meaning in regard to the Seed of the Species, I quote the following from 'Ether and Reality,' by Sir Oliver Lodge (Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton):
'Matter exists not only in the organic forms of solids, liquids and gases and in the disintegrated forms of electrons and protons, it exists also as the complex molecules known as protoplasm, which for some reason or other has shewn itself to be the vehicle of life. Some forms of matter are endowed with or animated by life. This property of animation is a great mystery; we do not know what Life is, we only see what it can do. We perceive that it can enter into relation with matter, that it has a character and identity of its own, and that it builds up matter to correspond with or to represent identity. Life can take a variety of forms, and every form is characterized by a certain shape; the life of an oak is transmitted to an oak, the life of an elm to an elm. "To every seed his own body." One form of life takes the shape of a bud, another of a fish, another of a quadruped. The varieties of life are innumerable, and are studied in the great science of biology.
'Consider any piece of matter. . . . Contemplate any solid object; a vase, it may be, or a jewel, or a statue; what is it that holds the atoms together in that particular shape? If the atoms were not connected they would be moving about at random, like the atoms of a gas; but they are connected, crystallized as it were, together by the forces of cohesion. Even in a liquid they are held together into a body of definite size, though not a definite shape; a liquid has size though not shape; a gas has neither; a solid has both. The shape is most definite and law-abiding in a crystal; but in a plant or animal it has a definite character too--not so definite as in a crystal, a good deal of variety is possible, yet an animal or vegetable body has an undoubted character of its own, even to minute detail. And this character is handed down from one generation to another, modified perhaps, but only slowly, by the age-long process of Evolution.'
This extract from Sir Oliver Lodge I have quoted in full, for in the words 'to every seed his own body' lies the whole doctrine of alchemy, which has recognized a metallic seed peculiar to all metals.
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