Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Chapter 3
What is Alchemy?
A Magnificent and Select Track on Philosophical Water
by Anonymous, 13th -17th Cen.
"Nature enjoys its Nature, Nature contains Nature,
improves Nature, reduces Nature,
Nature is superior to Nature."
Alchemy is the art of imitating and accelerating nature.
It is a natural art and science. In alchemy
we do really make anything, all we do is provide a condition for
Nature to do what Nature does. So the Philosopher's Stone
is not really made by the alchemist, it is made by
Nature. The alchemist only provides the conditions
so that Nature can operate effectively and without being disturbed.
The New Chemical Light,
by Michael Sendivogius, 17th Cen.
Many Sages, Scholars, and learned men have in all ages, and
(according to Hermes) even so early as the days before the Flood,
written much concerning the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone;
and if their books could be understood without a knowledge of the living processes of Nature,
one might almost say that they are calculated to
supersede the study of the real world around us.
But though they never departed from the simple ways of Nature,
they have something to teach us, which we,
in this more sophisticated times, still need to learn,
because we have applied ourselves to
what are regarded as the more advanced branches of knowledge,
and despise the study of so "simple" a thing as
natural Generation. Hence we pay more heed to impossible things than
to those objects which are broadly exhibited before our very own eyes;
we excel more in subtle speculations than in a sober study
of Nature, and of the meaning of the Sages.
It is one of the most remarkable features of human nature that
we neglect those things that seem familiar, and are eager for
new and strange information. The workman who has attained the highest degree of
excellence in his Art, neglects it, and applies himself
to something else, or else abuses his knowledge.
Our longing for an increase of knowledge urges us ever onward towards
some final goal, in which we imagine that we shall find full
rest and satisfaction.
...Nature, then, is one,
true, simple, self-contained, created by God
and informed with a certain universal spirit.
Its end and origin are God. Its unity is also found in God,
because God made all things.
Nature is the one source of all things:
nor is anything in the world outside Nature or contrary to Nature.
...if Art would produce any solid and permanent effect,
it must follow in the footsteps of Nature and be guided by
her methods. It must trust itself to the guidance of
Nature as far as Nature will lead, and go beyond her
by still adhering to her rules.
... Now in Art
you should closely imitate these natural processes.
There should be the Central Heat, the change of the water into air,
the driving upward of the air, its diffusion through
the pores of the earth, its reappearance as
condensed but volatilized water.
The New Pearl of Great Price, by Peter Bonus, 1338 AD
Nature, say Florus,
is one, and if any man strays away from her guidance
he mars his labor.
... In changing the base metals into
gold and silver by the projection of the Stone, it follows
(by an accelerated process) the method of nature,
and therefore is natural.
... The fact is that, in producing gold,
the Art of Alchemy does not pretend to imitate in
the work of Nature. It does not create metals, or
even develop them out of the metallic first substance; it only takes up the
unfinished handiwork of Nature (i.e. the imperfect metals),
and completes it (transmutes metals into gold).
An Alchemist then only makes the Stone
in the same way that you make a tree by planting the seed and
leaving it for a few years. Once the seed is set,
if the condition is right then it just grows by itself,
in accordance with Nature.
The Chemist Key, by Henry Nollius, 1617 AD
For as Men, Corn and Herbs are,
everyone of them, generated and born out of their own Specific seed,
so or in the same manner is the true Medicine of the Ancients
(that which there cannot be a better)
generated and prepared out of the most perfect bodies and essence.
... Everything generated or begotten is generated
and born of his own specific seed
(1) and in his proper (2) matrix.
The Root of the World,
by Roger Bacon, 13th Cen.
there is no true generation, but of things
agreeing in nature. So that things be not made but
according to their natures. The elder or oak trees
will not bring forth pears; nor can you gather grapes of thorns, or
figs of thistles, things bring not forth,
but only their like, or what agrees with the nature,
each tree its own fruits.
... Thus the wise men does that by art in a short time
which nature cannot perform in less than a revolution of a thousand years.
Yet notwithstanding, it is not we that make the metal,
but nature herself that does it.
Nor do or can we change one thing into another;
but it is nature that changes them. We are no more than servants in the work.
If you are wondering how this leads to the Philosopher's Stone,
I will explain it more clearly. The Philosopher's Stone
is a natural occurrence of Nature, in fact it is the aim of Nature.
Therefore if you can find a substance
which is very pure and infused with life-energy, then
put it under protected conditions which are advantageous for its natural development,
you will allow Nature to take its course in an accelerated manner.
When this is complete, Nature will have made for you
the Philosopher's Stone. It's very simple and
entirely natural, which is the biggest part of the secret.
I will explain again in another way: The Philosopher's
Stone is the name of the thing that you get when Nature has finished doing
what it does all day long. The Earth
and the entire universe is going through this process
If, however, you find a substance already quite matured by Nature,
clean it up, then put it under a closed system,
or microcosm, Nature will finish this thing long before it finish everything else.
So, you get the result of
Nature earlier and can enjoy all of its wonderful properties
while the rest of the world is still in ***.
The Glory of the World, Or, Table of Paradise,
by Anonymous, 1526 AD
the chemical development of our substance is internal,
and caused by the operation of Nature.
... Our wise Teacher Plato says: "Every husbandman who sows good seed,
first chooses a fertile field, ploughs and manures it well,
and weeds it of all tares;
he also takes care that his own grain is free from every foreign admixture.
When he has committed the seeds to the ground, he needs moisture,
or rain, to decompose the grain, and to raise it to
new life. He also requires fire, that is,
the warmth of the Sun, to bring it to maturity."
The needs of our Art are of an analogous nature.
First, you must prepare your seeds
i.e. Cleanse your Matter from all impurity, by a method which you will find
set forth at length in the Dicta of the Sages which I subjoin to this Treatise.
Then you must have good soil
in which to sow your Mercury and Sun;
this earth must first be weeded of all foreign elements if it is to yield
a good crop.
Man, the Best and Most Perfect God's Creature
by Benedictus Figulus, 1607 AD
For this composition, combining
as it does the virtues of all things, there may
truly be said that in one drop the whole world is present.
Book of the Chemical Art,
by Marsilius Ficinus, 15th Cen.
Besides the science of the stone is so sublime and
magnificent, that therein almost all Nature and the whole universe of
beings is beheld, as in a certain clear looking glass.
For it is like a lesser world
...God wrought out his compacted being of the world by certain harmony and
musical proportion alleyed to one another,
that which are in the superior world are in the inferior also, but
in a terrestrial manner; that witch likeness are the inferiors,
may also be seen in the superious,
in a celestial manner indeed, and according to the cause.
...Some Philosophers have compared the work of the stone to
the creation of the world. Likewise to the generation
of man, and to his naturalness.
An Anonymous Treatise Concerning the Philosopher's Stone,
by Anonymous, 12th - 17th Cen(?)
The inspired Apostle, St Peter,
tell us that the Earth and its work shall consume therein, and
a new world shall be born, beautiful and good,
as is described in the Apocalypse.
The Chemical Treatise, Or, The Ordinal of Alchemy,
by Thomas Norton, 1477 AD
The ancient writers call our Stone a microcosm;
and there can be no doubt that its composition greatly resembles that of
the world of which we live.
Aphorism of Urbigerus,
by Baro Urbigerus, 1690 AD
To understand aright,
how out of this our Chaos we are to form our Philosophical Microcosm,
we must first of necessity rightly comprehend
the great Mystery and Proceeding in the Creation of the Macrocosm:
it being extremely necessary to imitate and use the same Method
in the Creation of our little one, that the creator
of all things has used in the creation of the great One.
A Magnificent and Select Track on Philosophical Water,
by Anonymous, 13th - 17th Cen.
this water cannot be prepared using
strange methods in the world, but rather, it can be
prepared using natural means; together with Nature and from nature.
These words are bright and clear to those who understand.
Alchemy is therefore the art of
microcosm and the acceleration of Nature through the microcosm.
There is only one method for the entire work.
We only do one thing, and that is to allow Nature
to take its course. Admittedly however,
we do clean up our substance and remove what is not needed.
The Root of the World,
by Roger Bacon, 13th Cen. For the knowledge of this art consisteth not
in the multiplicity, or great number of things,
but in the unity; our stone is but one,
the matter is one, and the vessel is one. The government is one,
and the disposition is one. The whole Art and
work thereof is one, and begins in one matter,
and in one matter it is finished.
A Brief Guide to the Celestial Ruby,
by Eirenaeus Philalethes, 1694 AD
It is prepared from one substance, with which
the art of chemistry is conversant, to which nothing is added,
from which nothing is taken away, except that its superfluities are removed.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community