Visualization In Medieval Alchemy

Book: Visualization In Medieval Alchemy by Barbara Obrist

This paper explores major trends in visualization of medieval theories of natural and artificial transformation of substances in relation to their philosophical and theological bases. The function of pictorial forms is analyzed in terms of the prevailing conceptions of science and methods of transmitting knowledge. The documents under examination date from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. In these, pictorial representations include lists and tables, geometrical figures, depictions of furnaces and apparatus, and figurative elements mainly from the vegetable and animal realms. An effort is made to trace the earliest evidence of these differing pictorial types.

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Black Powder Or Blackpowder Or Gunpowder

What is the composition of black powder ? The French call it either poudre a canon (gunpowder) or poudre noire (blackpowder). The loose powder was called serpentine. The name black powder is of relatively recent origin, as it appeared only after other explosives were devised which lacked the black luster of free carbon. Obviously, the stuff wasn't called gunpowder before the gun was invented, around 1313. The invention of the gun is often credited to brother Berthold Schwarz (Schwartz), a Franciscan friar from Freiburg with a bogus last name ("Black" in German) indicating his interest in alchemy, the black art; the real name of "Black Bert" was most probably Constantine Anelzin. He "invented" gunpowder only in the sense that he found a new use for old serpentine and thus made the new name meaningful. Black powder was the first explosive ever devised, and it remained the only one for centuries. It is composed of the following three solid ingredients: * Saltpeter: KNO3 niter (or, more rarely, NaNO3 Chilean nitrate). * Sulphur: S. ["sulfur" and "sulphur" are equally acceptable spellings] * Carbon: C. Often in the impure form of charcoal from wood (willow). However, simply mixing the ingredients produces only inferior meal powder... To obtain what's now considered proper black powder, the ingedients must be "incorporated" in a damp state. This allows the application of great pressure to form a dense cake, ultimately broken down into dry grains. This process is called corning, and it was first introduced in France in 1429. Early forms of blackpowder may have existed in China around AD 700, using crude recipes calling for equal weights of the three components... Such mixtures would only burn violently without exploding... Also, explosion cannot occur if raw saltpeter is used, and the refining of saltpeter is not mentioned before 1240 in a book on military technology by the Syrian scholar Hassan Al-Rammah, entitled al-furusiyya wa al-manasib al-harbiyya. The first Chinese author to describe an explosive formula was apparently Huo Lung Ching, in 1412. In a six-page tract entitled Liber Ignium ("Book of Fires"), Marcus Graecus [an otherwise unknown author, possibly a fictitious one] describes 35 incendiary recipes, including a formula which was once standard for English blackpowder: [...] 1 lb of native sulfur, 2 lb of linden or willow charcoal, 6 lb of saltpeter, which three things are very finely powdered on a marble slab. The latin version of this pamphlet did not appear before 1280 or 1300 and may have originated around that time, although the claim has been made that it was an expanded translation by Spaniards of a more ancient Arabic text (dated AD 848) and/or a Greek version that did not include the last four formulas... Roger Bacon (c.1214-1292) investigated black powder before 1249, when he devised the recipe he communicated in 1268: 40% more saltpeter than either sulphur or carbon (7:5:5 formula by weight). However, the first unmistakable blackpowder explosive composition is the "German formula" (4:1:1) proposed by Albertus Magnus (c.1200-1280). The English standard formula around 1350 called for less sulphur and more charcoal (6:1:2). The most commonly quoted modern gunpowder composition seems to date from around 1800 and calls for 75% saltpeter (niter) oxidizer, with 10% sulfur (S) and 15% charcoal (C). The potassium sulphide solid residue forms a thick white smoke, capable of obscuring entire battlefields. Newer propellants leave little or no such residue when properly exploded. They are thus collectively known as smokeless powders. The simplest idea for a smokeless dark powder is called ammonpulver (AP) and involves ammonium nitrate (AN) with 10% to 20% charcoal, although the stoichiometry of the following reactions translates into only 7% to 13% carbon, by weight: 2 NH4NO3 + C-CO2 + 4 H2O + 2 N2 + 629.6 kJ (874.4 cal/g) NH4NO3 + C-CO + 2 H2O + N2 + 228.6 kJ (593.5 cal/g) Other smokeless powders of historical interest include the following propellants: * Guncotton, or nitrocellulose (also known as pyropowder, pyrocellulose, trinitrocellulose and cellulose nitrate) invented in 1845 by the Swiss chemist Christian Schonbein (1799-1869). * Poudre B (flakes of nitrocellulose gelatinized with ether and alcohol) invented in 1884 by Paul Vieille (1854-1934) for the 1886 Lebel rifle. * Ballistite (nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, with diphenylamine stabilizer) invented by the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) in 1887. Sir James Dewar (1842-1923) * Cordite N (nitroguanidine, nitrocellulose, and nitroglycerin) invented by Frederick Augustus Abel and James Dewar in 1889. Sulfurless powder (12.93% carbon) would yield 772.6 cal/g, with 60% smoke: 4 KNO3 + 5 C-2 K2CO3 + 3 CO2 + 2 N2 + 1501.4 kJ It takes 92.9 g of this mix to release a mole of gas, whereas only 67.6 g of black powder would suffice (as sulfur prevents the wasteful production of carbonate).

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The Benedictine Brother Basilius Valentinus

The Benedictine brother Basilius Valentinus has become a legend in the history of science. But was there really a monk by that name, who lived and worked in a German monastery in the fifteenth century as the legend claims? The historians of science seem not to be able to agree. Here follows the opinion of Sylvain Matton who edited the French edition of the Triumphal Chariot of Antimony (Retz, Paris 1977): On the identity of Basilius Valentinus. "Thus, as they present themselves to us, the writings of Basil Valentine seem to have been edited by a Paracelcist at the end of the sixteenth century or the beginning of the seventeenth. We say 'as they present themselves to us', because one may not entirely exclude that more ancient writings, perhaps of the fifteenth century, have been revised, expounded upon, interpolated, even rewritten. But with this hypothesis, if one does not keep (sic) the legend of the fortuitous discovery of Valentines writings in the trunk of a pillar at the cathedral of Erfurt, it is hard to explain the absence of any manuscript, the oldest one dating from 1582."

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The Coelum Philosophorum Or Book Of Vexations

Book: The Coelum Philosophorum Or Book Of Vexations by Paracelsus

THE COELUM PHILOSOPHORUM, OR BOOK OF VEXATIONS; By PHILIPPUS THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS. THE SCIENCE AND nature OF ALCHEMY, AND WHAT OPINION SHOULD BE FORMED THEREOF. Regulated by the Seven Rules or Fundamental Canons according to the seven commonly known Metals; and containing a Preface with certain Treatises and Appendices. YOU who are skilled in Alchemy, and as many others as promise yourselves great riches or chiefly desire to make gold and silver, which Alchemy in different ways promises and teaches; equally, too, you who willingly undergo toil and vexations, and wish not to be freed from them, until you have attained your rewards, and the fulfilment of the promises made to you; experience teaches this every day, that out of thousands of you not even one accomplishes his desire. Is this a failure of nature or of Art? I say, no; but it is rather the fault of fate, or of the unskilfulness of the operator. Since, therefore, the characters of the sign of the stars and planets of heaven, together with the other names, inverted words, receipts, materials, and instruments are thoroughly well known to such as are acquainted with this art, it would be altogether superfluous to recur to these same subjects in the present book, although the use of such signs, names, and characters at the proper time is by no means without advantage. But herein will be noticed another way of treating Alchemy different from the previous method, and deduced by Seven Canons from the sevenfold series of the metals. This, indeed, will not give scope for a pompous parade of words, but, nevertheless, in the consideration of those Canons everything which should be separated from Alchemy will be treated at sufficient length, and, moreover, many secrets of other things are herein contained. Hence, too, result certain marvellous speculations and new operations which frequently differ from the writings and opinions of ancient operators and natural philosophers, but have been discovered and confirmed by full proof and experimentation.

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Alchemy Ancient And Modern

Book: Alchemy Ancient And Modern by Herbert Stanley Redgrove

IT is exceedingly gratifying to me that a second edition of this book should be called for. But still more welcome is the change in the attitude of the educated world towards the old-time alchemists and their theories which has taken place during the past few years. The theory of the origin of Alchemy put forward in Chapter I has led to considerable discussion; but whilst this theory has met with general acceptance, some of its earlier critics took it as implying far more than is actually the case. As a result of further research my conviction of its truth has become more fully confirmed, and in my recent work entitled Bygone beliefs (Rider, 1920), under the title of "The Quest of the Philosopher's Stone," I have found it possible to adduce further evidence in this connection. At the same time, whilst I became increasingly convinced that the main alchemistic hypotheses were drawn from the domain of mystical theology and applied to physics and chemistry by way of analogy, it also became evident to me that the crude physiology of bygone ages and remnants of the old phallic faith formed a further and subsidiary source of alchemistic theory. I have barely, if at all, touched on this matter in the present work; the reader who is interested will find it dealt with in some detail in "The Phallic Element in Alchemical Doctrine" in my Bygone Beliefs. In view of recent research in the domain of Radioactivity and the consequent advance in knowledge that has resulted since this book was first published, I have carefully considered the advisability of rewriting the whole of the last chapter, but came to the conclusion that the time for this was not yet ripe, and that, apart from a few minor emendations, the chapter had better remain very much as it originally stood. My reason for this course was that, whilst considerably more is known to-day, than was the case in 1911, concerning the very complex transmutations undergone spontaneously by the radioactive elements -- knowledge helping further to elucidate the problem of the constitution of the so-called "elements" of the chemist -- the problem really cognate to my subject, namely that of effecting a transmutation of one element into another at will, remains in almost the same state of indeterminateness as in 1911. In 1913, Sir William Ramsay1 thought he had obtained evidence for the transmutation of hydrogen into helium by the action of the electric discharge, and Professors Collie and Patterson 2 thought they had obtained evidence of the transmutation of hydrogen into neon by similar means. But these observations (as well as Sir William Ramsay's earlier transmutational experiments) failed to be satisfactorily confirmed; 3 and since the death of the latter, little, if anything, appears to have been done to settle the questions raised by his experiments. Reference must, however, be made to a very interesting investigation by Sir Ernest Rutherford on the "Collision of -Particles with Light Atoms,"4 from which it appears certain that when bombarded with the swiftly-moving -particles given off by radium-C, the atoms of nitrogen may be disintegrated, one of the products being hydrogen. The other product is possibly helium,5 though this has not been proved. In view of Rutherford's results a further repetition of Ramsay's experiments would certainly appear to be advisable. As concerns the spontaneous transmutations undergone by the radioactive elements, the facts appear to indicate (or, at least, can be brought into some sort of order by supposing) the atom to consist of a central nucleus and an outer shell, as suggested by Sir Ernest Rutherford. The nucleus may be compared to the sun of a solar system. It is excessively small, but in it the mass of the atom is almost entirely concentrated. It is positively charged, the charge being neutralised by that of the free electrons which revolve like planets about it, and which by their orbits account for the volume of the atom. The atomic weight of the element depends upon the central sun; but the chemical properties of the element are determined by the number of electrons in the shell; this number is the same as that representing the position of the element in the periodic system. Radioactive change originates in the atomic nucleus. The expulsion of an particle therefrom decreases the atomic weight by 4 units, necessitates (since the -particle carries two positive charges) the removal of two electrons from the shell in order to maintain electrical neutrality, and hence changes the chemical nature of the body, transmuting the element into one occupying a position two places to the left in the periodic system (for example, the change of radium into niton). But radioactivity sometimes results in the expulsion of a particle from the nucleus. This results in the addition of an electron to the shell, and hence changes the chemical character of the element, transmuting it into one occupying a position one place to the right in the periodic system, but without altering its atomic weight. Consequently, the expulsion of one and two particles from the nucleus, whilst decreasing the atomic weight of the element by 4, leaves the number of electrons in the shell, and thus the chemical properties of the element, unaltered. These remarkable conclusions are amply borne out by the facts, and the discovery of elements (called "isobares") having the same atomic weight but different chemical properties, and of those (called "isotopes") having identical chemical characters but different atomic weights, must be regarded as one of the most significant and important discoveries of recent years. Some further reference to this theory will be found in ** 77 and 81: the reader who wishes to follow the matter further should consult the fourth edition of Professor Frederick Soddy's The Interpretation of Radium (1920), and the two chapters on the subject in his Science and Life (1920), one of which is a popular exposition and the other a more technical one. These advances in knowledge all point to the possibility of effecting transmutations at will, but so far attempts to achieve this, as I have already indicated, cannot be regarded as altogether satisfactory. Several methods of making gold, or rather elements chemically identical with gold, once the method of controlling radioactive change is discovered (as assuredly it will be) are suggested by Sir Ernest Rutherford's theory of the nuclear atom. Thus, the expulsion of two -particles from bismuth or one from thallium would yield the required result. Or lead could be converted into mercury by the expulsion of one -particle, and this into thallium by the expulsion of one -particle, yielding gold by the further expulsion of an -particle. But, as Professor Soddy remarks in his Science and Life just referred to, "if man ever achieves this further control over Nature, it is quite certain that the last thing he would want to do would be to turn lead or mercury into gold -- for the sake of gold. The energy that would be liberated, if the control of these sub-atomic processes were as possible as is the control of ordinary chemical changes, such as combustion, would far exceed in importance and value the gold. Rather it would pay to transmute gold into silver or some base metal." In *101 of the book I suggest that the question of the effect on the world of finance of the discovery of an inexpensive method of transmuting base metal into gold on a large scale is one that should appeal to a novelist specially gifted with imagination. Since the words were first written a work has appeared in which something approximating to what was suggested has been attempted and very admirably achieved. My reference is to Mr. H. G. Wells's novel, The World Set Free, published in 1914. In conclusion I should like to thank the very many reviewers who found so many good things to say concerning the first edition of this book. For kind assistance in reading the proofs of this edition my best thanks are due also and are hereby tendered to my wife, and my good friend Gerald Druce, Esq., M.Sc.

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Edward Kelley Biography

Edward Kelley or Kelly, also known as Edward Talbot (August 1, 1555 - 1597) was a convicted criminal and self-declared spirit medium who worked with John Dee in his magical investigations. Besides the 'ability' to summon spirits or angels on a crystal ball, which John Dee so valued, Kelley also claimed to possess the secret of transmuting base metals into gold. Legends began to surround Kelley shortly after his death. His flamboyant biography, and his relative notoriety among English-speaking historians (chiefly because of his association with Dee) may have made him the source for the folklorical image of the alchemist-charlatan. Birth and Early Career A horoscope drawn up by Dee indicates that Kelley was born in Worcester on August 1, 1555. Kelley's early life is obscure, but most accounts say that he first worked as an apothecary's apprentice. He may have studied at Oxford under the name of Talbot; whether or not he attended university, Kelley was educated and knew Latin and possibly some Greek. According to several accounts, Kelley was pilloried in Lancaster for forgery or counterfeiting. With Dee in England Kelley approached John Dee in 1582, initially under the name Edward Talbot. Dee had already been trying to contact angels with the help of a "scryer" or crystal-gazer, but he had not been successful. Kelley professed the ability to do so, and impressed Dee with his first trial. Kelley became Dee's regular scryer. Dee and Kelley devoted huge amounts of time and energy in these "spiritual conferences." From 1582 to 1589, Kelley's life was closely tied to Dee's. About a year after entering into Dee's service, Kelley appeared with an alchemical book (The Book of Dunstan) and a quantity of a red powder which, Kelley claimed, he and a certain John Blokley had been led to by a "spiritual creature" at Northwick Hill. (Accounts of Kelley's finding the book and the powder in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey were first published by Elias Ashmole, but are contradicted by Dee's diaries.) With the powder (whose secret was presumably hidden in the book) Kelley believed he could prepare a red "tincture" which would allow him to transmute base metals into gold. He reportedly demonstrated its power a few times over the years, including in Bohemia (present Czech Republic) where he and Dee resided for many years. With Dee in the Continent In 1583, Dee became acquainted with Prince Albert Lasky, a Polish nobleman interested in alchemy. Dee, along with Kelley and their families, accompanied Lasky to the Continent. Dee sought the patronage of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague and King Stefan of Poland; Dee apparently failed to impress either monarch. Dee and Kelley lived a nomadic life in Central Europe. They continued with their spiritual conferences, though Kelley was more interested in alchemy than in scrying.In 1586, Kelley and Dee found the patronage of the wealthy Bohemian count Vilem Rozmberk. They settled in the town of Trebon and continued their researches. In 1587, Kelley revealed to Dee that the angels had ordered them to share everything they had including their wives. It has been speculated that this was a way for Kelley to end the fruitless spiritual conferences so that he could concentrate on alchemy, which, under the patronage of Rozmberk was beginning to make Kelley wealthy. Dee, anguished by the order of the angels, subsequently broke off the spiritual conferences even though he did share his (beautiful) wife. He did not see Kelley again after 1588, and returned to England the following year. Apogee and fall By 1590, Kelley was living an opulent life. He received several estates and large sums of money from Rozmberk. He convinced many influential people that he was able to produce gold. Rudolf made Kelley a "Baron of the Kingdom," but eventually he tired of waiting for results. Rudolf had Kelley arrested in May of 1591 and imprisoned in Krivoklat Castle (Purglitz in German) outside Prague. Rudolf apparently never doubted Kelley's ability to produce gold on a large scale, and hoped that imprisonment would induce him to cooperate. Rudolf may also have feared that Kelley would return to England. Around 1594, Kelley agreed to cooperate and produce gold; he was released and restored to his former status. Again he failed to produce, and was again imprisoned, this time in Hnevin Castle in Most. Kelley died in 1597 at the age of forty-two. A tradition has him dying while trying to escape: the story goes that he used an insufficiently long rope to lower himself from a tower, fell and broke his leg, and died from his injuries.

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The Testimony Of Nicholas Flamel Part 1

Written in France in the late 1750s and published in London in 1806. The original document was written in the hand of Nicolas Flamel in a coded alphabet consisting of 96 letters. It was written in secrecy and intended only for his nephew. A Parisian scribe named Father Pernetti and a Monsieur de Saint Marc were finally able to break the code in 1758. 1. I Nicholas Flamel, a scrivener of Paris, in the year 1414, in the reign of our gracious Prince Charles VI, whom God preserve; and after the death of my faithful partner Perenelle, am seized with a desire and a delight, in remembrance of her, and in your behalf, dear nephew, to write out the whole magistery of the secret of the Powder of Projection, or the Philosophical Tincture, which God hath willed to impart to his very insignificant servant, and which I have found out, as thou also wilt find out in working as I shall declare unto you. 2. And for this cause do not forget to pray to God to bestow on thee the understanding of the reason of the truth of nature, which thou wilt see in this book, wherein I have written the secrets word for word, sheet by sheet, and also as I have done and wrought with thy dear aunt Perenelle, whom I very much regret. 3. Take heed before thou workest, to seek the right way as a man of understanding. The reason of nature is Mercury, Sun and Moon, as I have said in my book, in which are those figures which thou seest under the arches of the Innocents at Paris. But I erred greatly upwards of 23 years and a half, in labouring without being able to marry the Moon, that is quicksilver, to the Sun, and to extract from them the seminal dung, which is a deadly poison; for I was then ignorant of the agent or medium, in order to fortify the Mercury: for without this agent, Mercury is as common water. 4. Know in what manner Mercury is to be fortified by a metallic agent, without which it never can penetrate into the belly of the Sun and of the Moon; afterward it must be hardened, which cannot be affected without the sulfurous spirit of gold or silver. You must therefore first open them with a metallic agent, that is to say with royal Saturnia, and afterward you must actuate the Mercury by a philosophic means, that you may afterward by this Mercury dissolve into a liquor gold and Luna, and draw from their putrefaction the generative dung. 5. And know thou, that there is no other way nor means to work in this art, than that which I give thee word for word; an operation, unless it be taught as I now do, not at all easy to perform, but which on the contrary is very difficult to find out. 6. Believe steadfastly, that the whole philosophic industry consists in the preparation of the Mercury of the wise, for in it is the whole of what we are seeking for, and which has always been sought for by all ancient wise men; and that we, no more than they, have done nothing without this Mercury, prepared with Sun or Moon: for without these three, there is nothing in the whole world capable of accomplishing the said philosophical and medicinal tincture. It is expedient then that we learn to extract from them the living and spiritual seed. 7. Aim therefore at nothing but Sun, Moon and Mercury prepared by a philosophical industry, which wets not the hands, but the metal, and which has in itself a metallic sulfurous soul, namely, the ignited light of sulfur. And in order that you may not stray from the right path, apply yourself to metals; for there the aforesaid sulfur is found in all; but thou wilt easily find it, even almost similar to gold, in the cavern and depths of Mars, which is iron, and of Venus, which is copper, nearly as much in the one as in the other; and even if you pay attention to it, this sulfur has the power of tingeing moist and cold Luna, which is fine silver, into pure yellow and good Sun; but this ought to be done by a spiritual medium, viz. the key which opens all metals, which I am going to make known to you. Learn therefore, that among the minerals there is one which is a thief, and eats up all except Sun and Moon, who render the thief very good; for when he has them in his belly, he is good to prepare the quicksilver, as I shall presently make known to you. 8. Therefore do not stray out of the right road, but trust to my words, and then give thyself up to the practice, which I am going to bestow on thee in the name of the Father, of Son, and Holy Ghost. The Practice. 9. Take thou in the first place the eldest or first-born child of Saturn, not the vulgar, 9 parts; of the saber chalibs of the God of War, 4 parts. Put this latter into a crucible, and when it comes to a melting redness, cast therein the 9 parts of Saturn, and immediately this will redden the other. Cleanse thou carefully the filth that arises on the surface of the saturnia, with saltpetre and tartar, four or five times. The operation will be rightly done when thou seest upon the matter an astral sign like a star. 10. Then is made the key and the saber, which opens and cuts through all metals, but chiefly Sun, Moon and Venus, which it eats, devours and keeps in his belly, and by this means thou art in the right road of truth, if thou has operated properly. For this Saturnia is the royal triumphant herb, for it is a little imperfect king, whom we raise up by a philosophic artifice to the degree of the greatest glory and honor. It is also the queen, that is to say the Moon and the wife of the Sun: it is therefore both male and female, and our hermaphrodite Mercury. This Mercury or Saturnia is represented in the seven first pages of the book of Abraham the Jew, by two serpent encircling a golden rod. Take care to prepare a sufficient quantity of it, for much is required, that is to say about 12 or 13 lbs. of it, or even more, according as you wish to work on a large or a small scale. 11. Marry thou therefore the young god Mercury, that is to say quicksilver with this which is the philosophic Mercury, that you may actuate by him and fortify the said running quicksilver, seven or even ten or eleven times with the said agent, which is called the key, or a steel sharpened saber, for it cuts, scythes and penetrates all the bodies of the metals. Then wilt thou have the double and treble water represented by the rose tree in the book of Abraham the Jew, which issues out of the foot of an oak, namely our Saturnia, which is the royal key, and goes to precipitate itself into the abyss, as says the same author, that is to say, into the receiver, adapted to the neck of the retort, where the double Mercury throws itself by means of a suitable fire. 12. But here are found thorns and insuperable difficulties, unless God reveals this secret, or a master bestows it. For Mercury does not marry with royal Saturnia: it is experient to find a secret means to unite them: for unless thou knowest the artifice by which this union and peace are effected between these aforesaid argent-vives, you will do nothing to any purpose. I would not conceal any thing from thee, my dear nephew; I tell thee, therefore, that without Sun or Moon this work will profit thee nothing. Thou must therefore cause this old man, or voracious wolf, to devour gold or silver in the weight and measure as I am now about to inform thee. Listen therefore to my words, that thou mayest not err, as I have done in this work. I say, therefore, that you must give gold to our old dragon to eat. Remark how well you ought to operate. For if you give but little gold to the melted Saturnia, the gold is indeed opened, but the quicksilver will not take; and here is an incongruity, which is not at all profitable. I have a long while and greatly laboured in this affliction, before I found out the means to succeed in it. If therefore you give him much gold to devour, the gold will not indeed be so much opened nor disposed, but then it will take the quicksilver, and they will both marry. Thus the means is discovered. Conceal this secret, for it is the whole, and neither trust it to paper, or to any thing else which may be seen. For we should become the cause of great mischief. I give it thee under the seal of secrecy and of thy conscience, for the love I bear thee. 13. Take thou ten ounces of the red Sun, that is to so say, very fine, clean and purified nine or ten times by means of the voracious wolf alone: two ounces of the royal Saturnia; melt this in a crucible, and when it is melted, cast into it the ten ounces of fine gold; melt these two together, and stir them with a lighted charcoal. Then will thy gold be a little opened. Pour it on a marble slab or into an iron mortar, reduce it to a powder, and grind it well with three pounds of quicksilver. Make them to curd like cheese, in the grinding and working them to and fro: wash this amalgama with pure common water until it comes out clear, and that the whole mass appears clear and white like fine Luna. The conjunction of the gold with the royal golden Saturnia is effected, when the mass is soft to the touch like butter.

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Alchemy And Masonry

Many of you may have familiarity with the term “Alchemist”. For most this term conjures images of early experimenters attempting to chemically convert lead or base metals into gold, and the search for the chemical elixir of life. These experimenters did indeed exist, their work being the forerunner of modern chemistry. As there were “operative” alchemists, so there were also “speculative” alchemists. Speculative alchemists are often associated with Hermetic philosophy, and employ symbols of metals, elements, the planets, and chemical processes to describe and understand the spiritual process of personal improvement. The founder of Hermetic philosophy was an Egyptian sage Hermes Trismegisus. To the Egyptians he was credited as the author of all the arts and sciences. Deified by different cultures, he was known as Thoth by the Egyptians, Mercury by the Romans and Hermes to the Greeks. While in all probability there actually existed a great sage by the name of Hermes, it is impossible to extricate the historical man from the mass of legendary accounts of him[1]. One of the famous writings of Hermes was the Emerald Table, which contains thirteen sentences summarizing Hermetic thought.

In the Sixteenth through Eighteenth century, Hermeticism became connected with Alchemy; and by what seemed mere chemical jargon and meaningless symbols, their true explanations were concealed from the masses and from the church, who would have likely pronounced many Alchemists as heretics.

Unbeknownst to most Masons, many of the symbols found in symbolic, or “Blue Lodge” Masonry came to us from Alchemy. In his book, “Symbolism of the Blue Degrees of Freemasonry” , Albert Pike describes these relationships and states that “By this and many other proofs we know that the symbols of Freemasonry were introduced into it by the Hermetic philosophers of England…”. Manly P. Hall in his work, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, states, “…he [Hermes] was the author of the Masonic initiatory rituals…Nearly all of the Masonic symbols are Hermetic in character”. In spite of this, I was surprised to find a dearth of research regarding the relationship between Alchemy and Masonry.

Since Albert Pike informs us of the strong connection in Blue Lodge Masonry with that of Alchemy, I wondered if that connection continued into the Scottish Rite Lodge of Perfection, which in many ways is a continuation and completion of the Blue Lodge degrees. In this paper we will survey the symbols of the Scottish Rite degrees from the 4th through the 14th to see if we can find any connection with the symbols of Alchemy. My goal is twofold in doing this: first, to expose the reader to the connection between Alchemy and Freemasonry, and second to encourage other Masonic researchers to explore this very interesting and largely untapped area of study. It should be noted that I am a Masonic researcher and not an Alchemist. This paper is written from the viewpoint of that of a Masonic researcher. Let us know explore the Lodge of Perfection in a hunt for Scottish Chemistry!

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Real Alchemy A Primer Of Practical Alchemy

Book: Real Alchemy A Primer Of Practical Alchemy by Robert Allen Bartlett

A ground-breaking modern manual on an ancient art, Real Alchemy draws on both modern scientific technology and ancient methods. A laboratory scientist and chemist, Robert Allen Bartlett provides an overview of the history of alchemy, as well as an exploration of the theories behind the practice. Clean, clear, simple, and easy to read, Real Alchemy provides excellent directions regarding the production of plant products and transitions the reader-student into the basics of mineral work--what some consider the true domain of alchemy. New students to practical laboratory alchemy will enjoy reading Real Alchemy and hopefully find the encouragement needed to undertake their own alchemical journey. Bartlett also explains what the ancients really meant when they used the term "Philosopher's Stone" and describes several very real and practical methods for its achievement. Is the fabled Philosopher's Stone an elixir of long life or is it a method of transforming lead into gold? Judge for yourself. The 3 traditional pillars of the Hermetic arts are Alchemy, Astrology, and Qabalah. None of these are stagnant but are all living, growing and evolving arts which are completely compatible with both religion and science. This amazing tome, written by one of the foremost living authorites on Alchemy, combines practical modern science with the ancient Alchemical sciences and gives working students a firm fondation on which to build their temples. This book is truely a treasure which provides years of practicle work, and with it one could ascend to mastery in this both ancient and sacred art/scence/religion/philosophy (Magick.) For a deeper understanding of the philosophy I suggest "Sorcerer's Stone," by Hauck. And for a more guided introduction to the subject, especially for students with a background in other schools of magick, I suggest, "The Path of Alchemy," by Stavish. These three books I have called (semi jokingly but still in truth) the "Holy Trinity of Modern Alchemy." They compliment one another perfectly, each focuses in a slightly different manner and the combined information is a very nice place to start your journey in preparation for the actual process. Read all three, make sure you understand them well, and then slowley and with utmost care begin your Great Work!

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Sympathy In Alchemy

The anthropomorphic perception of matter that assigned to the metal a human soul correlated with an occult system according to which the supposed affinity between substances expressed itself in a mutual attraction or rejection, that is, either “sympathy” or “antipathy.” Such a bond linked, in particular, our world “below” to the world “above,” the microcosm of man to the macrocosm of planetary divinities. The system of correspondences elaborated, for example, by the second-century astrologer Antiochus of Athens (Sheppard, Ambix 7, p. 46) embraced, in addition to “above” and “below,” also elements, metals, and colors. Already Maria Prophetissa (fl. early third century), also known as the “founding mother of alchemy,” heralded the principle of parallelism: “Just as man results [from the association] of liquids, of solids, and of spirit, so does copper.” Zosimos of Panopolis in Egypt (fl. c. 300), recognizing the identity between the behavior of matter and the events in his own (unconscious) psyche, condensed this complex insight into the formula “What is within is also without.”

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Newton And Alchemy

In 1936, the world of Isaac Newton scholarship received a rude shock. In that year the venerable auction house of Sotheby's released a catalogue describing three hundred twenty-nine lots of Newton's manuscripts, mostly in his own handwriting, of which over a third were filled with content that was undeniably alchemical. These manuscripts, which had been labeled "not fit to be printed" upon Newton's death in 1727, raised a host of interesting questions in 1936 as they do even today. Was the founder of classical physics an alchemist? And if so, what does this mean? Did he pursue his alchemical interests for scientific reasons, or simply because he was swept up by the old dream of transmuting base metals into gold? Did Newton discover a secret theological meaning in alchemical texts, which often describe the transmutational secret as a special gift revealed by God to his chosen sons? Or was Newton perhaps attracted to the graphic and mysterious imagery of alchemy, with its illustrations of hermaphrodites, couples copulating within flasks, poisonous dragons, green lions, and dying toads? None of these questions are made easier by the fact that Newton's laboratory notebooks, even the one containing the first full description of his brilliant discovery that white light is really a mixture of immutable spectral colors, are filled with recipes patently elaborated from the very alchemical sources that overflow the manuscripts sold by Sotheby's in 1936. Here too, alongside sober explanations of optical and physical phenomena such as freezing and boiling, we find "Neptune's Trident," "Mercury's Caducean Rod," and of course the "Green Lyon," all symbolizing substances derived from Newton's alchemical readings. Whatever the ultimate purpose of Newton's alchemical investigations may have been, it is clear that we cannot erect a watertight dam separating them from his other scientific endeavors. We have adopted the seventeenth-century term "chymistry" to describe the sum of alchemical pursuits as they existed in Newton's day. In the early modern world, chymistry included three basic domains. First, chymists laid claim to a large group of technologies ranging from the making of pigments and dyes and the manufacture of mineral acids to the distillation of "strong waters" for drink. While often supporting themselves by making these items of commerce, however, chymical practitioners were also at the forefront of early modern pharmacology, having placed a radically new emphasis on mineral-based drugs and an equally important stress on the use of laboratory technologies such as distillation and sublimation in their production. Chymical medicine, or iatrochemistry, was one of the important new fields of early modern science, and the second basic division of the discipline. Third and finally, the attempt to make gold from less precious materials, often referred to by the Greek term chrysopoeia, remained a seemingly viable research project for many seventeenth century chymists. Newton was involved in all three of chymistry's major branches in varying degrees, and we make no attempt to impose an anachronistic division of the discipline into modern categories. It is important, rather, to see how chemical technology and medicine were connected to Newton's involvement to the "Great Work," just as it is important to see how his chymistry was related to his other intellectual and technical pursuits.

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Secret Investigations Of Newton

The studies into Newton’s unpublished papers mentioned above have revealed that during the greater part of his scientific career, his secret passions in fact lay in alchemy[18] and matters of theology (such as the nature of the holy Trinity, the dimensions of Solomon’s Temple, biblical prophecies and biblical chronology). It will therefore not come as a surprise that the true source for our anecdote in fact derives from Newton’s latter interests. More than 50 years ago the American historian of science I. Bernard Cohen was able to trace it back to the highly regarded Newton biographies by the English physicist David Brewster (1781-1868) in which it is cited in full as: ‘... when Dr. Halley ventured to say anything disrespectful to religion, he invariably checked him, with the remark, “I have studied these things – you have not”.’ The fact that Halley and Newton often quarreled on theological matters is confirmed by another remark recorded by John Conduitt, who in turn heard it from his wife (and Newton’s niece) Catherine Conduitt (nee Barton; 1679-1739). However, these altercations were never so intense as to cause a rift between these two great scientists.

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Mercury Conjunct Saturn

As the teachings cannot be paid for, equally, alchemy cannot be taught. Mercury or Hermes has always been regarded as the progenitor and teacher of the alchemists. This tells us in their own language that the true 'teacher' of alchemy is Life itself. What is taught in the formal manner is an introduction to systems which ultimately act as a filter on direct experience of life and consciousness, and one day must be transcended if one is to ever be truly free. Every system or discipline, whether physiological, psychological or metaphysical is a limitation, a narrow passage which gives order to the chaos. The inevitable emergence from these coccoons of 'reason' and 'language' must be faced by anyone who becomes an advocate or 'professor' of such a system. Life will do this, simply because life is that volatile spirit that frees up all fixidity. Through tunnels of Set concretions of a time, away. Funnels that let us live in open-eyed Beyond. R.D.

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Alchemical Poetry The Royal Marriage From Metallic Verses

Doubt is the alchemical substance out of which revelation is born. The Royal Marriage from Metallic Verses Into this chalice Two waters flow Without doubt or malice Love grows Two souls breathe A single breath of air Two spirits feed Making us more aware Outwardly the same Inwardly one Wedded in name Never undone We laugh at secret things Cry when the other despairs Embrace this new being To which none can compare Your king rules my heart Your queen governs my reality Neither can ever depart This eternal, sacred unity

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Alchemical Poetry Place In Space The Residence Of Motion

Transcribed by Adam McLean from MS. Sloane 3797, folios 3-5. Place in Space the residence of Motion, or the Secret Mystery of Nature's progress, being an Elucidation of the Blessed Trinity. Father - Son - and Holy Ghost. Space - Place - and Motion. Space, Place, Father & Son are inseparable fixed & immoveable. Motion ye Holy Ghost Is that which brings all things to the Blessed determination of the Dei, as in the Gloria Patri, Filii & Spiriti Sancti, etc. Space is the Circle of Created World Space is the Place wherein this Engine's rolled As Place a Center circled in by Space So Space ye Circle is of place's place Place is a Center yet Exchange of Place The Lineal motion is to Space's Space Place in it Self is ever fixed and still Which doth ye Vacant Space of Spaces fill Space can not Move because it all Contains Yet Space is Motion, place where Power reigns Nor Space nor Place do ever Stir nor Move Yet place in Space is restless Motions Grove Great is the magic of this motion's race Motion in Space doth pass from place to place Thus Motion caught in all including Space Standing in centers moved to Circle's place Motion is that which runs the world about Yet it a place is never found without Place it is Still from Motion never free Move and not move how can it ever be. This riddle placed in Space of mental motion Is plane to sense without erratic notion Motion's confined to various centriq place Never to pass ye boundless bounds of Space Thus each beginning doth its end contain And End once made it must begin again For what was done by one Creating Word Must by this Three in one be understood If any ask how this could ever be done Tell them the word is Father, Ghost and Son Before that time was made Creatural God in himself was the great all in all But to extend the virtue of his power Of nothing all things made for his one bower Thus was the great abyssive might Formed into Creature, whence produced was Light This light to nature joined both firmly stood As primo genitors and to beings food The product of this all including one In Triple Creature most divinely shown Prangeth it self by measure of formation To be the being's being of Creation Thus were the heavens and the Earth begot Both out of darkness unto Light was brought From whence was made twixt one and t'other Father, & Mother, Sister, & Brother Four in number as the Elements are Conjointly work to procreate their par Fire is the Father, and the mother is air Brother and Sister, Earth and Water, are These in their number weight and Measure Make of this world the hidden treasure Joined them thro light let them unite together That they may live in love and be for Ever So is the Quatrant four in one The Matter Form and Essence of our Stone.

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What Is Alchemy

Book: What Is Alchemy by Arthur Edward Waite

In his earlier writings on alchemy Waite maintained that the spiritual interpretation of alchemy was first systematically presented by Mrs. Atwood in her Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery -a point of view that he was later to reject completely, to the extent of saying that the book 'is not, however, final or satisfactory as a critical study, indeed, in some respects it is a morass rather than a pathway' (The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry, 1911, Vol.2, p. 414). For this he was taken to task, in the pages of the Occult Review, by Isabelle de Steiger; but he justified himself by stating that 'What I said of the Suggestive Enquiry in 1888 and 1893 was in the light of my knowledge at those dates; that which I have recorded since has been under a fuller and clearer light' (Occult Review, Vol. 15, No.1. January 1912, p. 50). Nonetheless, his early essays on alchemy retain their value for the obscure information they contain and for their critical comments on Madame Blavatsky's dubious manipulation of her source material on alchemy. First printed in the monthly journal The Unknown World from August to December 1894 and in April, 1895. It was reprinted in The Alchemical Papers of Arthur Edward Waite, ed. J. Ray Shute, Monroe, N.C., 1939, a privately printed collection limited to seventy copies.

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Alchemical Poetry Two Prayers For Alchemists

by Karl von Eckartshausen (1752-1803) I. 1. Light Supreme, who art the Divine in nature and dwellest in its innermost parts as in Heaven, hallowed be thy qualities and laws! 2. Wherever thou art, all is brought to perfection; may the realm of thy Knowledge become subject unto thee. 3. May our will in all our work be only thee, self-moving Power of Light! And as in the whole of nature thou accomplishest all things, so accomplish all things in our work also. 4. Give us of the Dew of Heaven, and the Fat of the Earth, the Fruits of Sun and Moon from the Tree of Life. 5. And forgive us all errors which we have committed in our work without knowledge of thee, as we seek to turn from their errors those who have offended our precepts. And leave us not to our own darkness and our own science, but deliver us from all evil through the perfection of thy Work, Amen. II. Hail, pure self-moving Source, O Form, pure for receiving the Light! The Light of all things unites itself with thee alone. Most blessed art thou among all receptive forms, and blessed is the Fruit that thou conceivest, the Essence of Light united with warm substance. Pure Form, mother of the most perfect Being, lift thyself up to the Light for us, now as we toil and in the hour when we complete the Work!

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Alchemical Poetry I Am On Fire Watch Me Burn

Rake the clutter and make a fire, arrange the stones to circle the pyre, drag your belongings one by one, break up the moon to inflame the sun. Heave on reluctant years of learning watch as photographs rejoice in burning. Throw them in, achieve annihilation: each crackle unveils a violation. I am on fire, watch me burn; awaiting the wretched tide to turn, the colors blister, the patina darkens, no mirror can hold me, mutation harkens. Remove your clothes and cast them in lick the flames, invite them in! Pants, shirt, underwear, even rings join in the perfect kindling of things. Look into the flames, see them howl, heap on the knick-knacks with a shovel; pretty boxes, drawers, and tins, observe the snake loose it’s skin. Draw a circle, make a bowl begin a dance to express your soul; anything to further feed the flames who delight in eating your remains. From the smoke ascends a stair do not hesitate, be aware if fear should cause you to look back; dash the things you do not lack. As hungry angels gather around, give them your body most profound and a voice of darkest birds, only ask that they leave you words. A single sentence may cause a stir, send out a search party, provoke a cure, clenching torches they’re sure to follow . . . Pause to mourn a fallen swallow. Having left a set of prints in mulch, spewed my semen, built a church, I rejoice in living the life I burned. by Peter Valentyne

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The Book Concerning The Tincture Of The Philosophers

Book: The Book Concerning The Tincture Of The Philosophers by Paracelsus

The Book Concerning The Tincture Of The Philosophers by Paracelsus WRITTEN AGAINST THOSE SOPHISTS BORN SINCE THE DELUGE, IN THE AGE OF OUR Lord JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD; By PH. THEOPHRASTUS BOMBAST, of HOHENHEIM, Philosopher of the Monarchia, Prince of Spagyrists, Chief Astronomer, Surpassing Physician, and Trismegistus of Mechanical Arcana. SINCE you, O Sophist, everywhere abuse me with such fatuous and mendacious words, on the ground that being sprung from rude Helvetia I can understand and know nothing: and also because being a duly qualified physician I still wander from one district to another; therefore I have proposed by means of this treatise to disclose to the ignorant and inexperienced: what good arts existed in the first age; what my art avails against you and yours against me; what should be thought of each, and how my posterity in this age of grace will imitate me. Look at Hermes, Archelaus, and others in the first age: see what Spagyrists and what Philosophers then existed. By this they testify that their enemies, who are your patrons, O Sophist, at the present time are but mere empty forms and idols. Although this would not be attested by those who are falsely considered your authentic fathers and saints, yet the ancient Emerald Table shews more art and experience in Philosophy, Alchemy, Magic, and the like, than could ever be taught by you and your crowd of followers. If you do not yet understand, from the aforesaid facts, what and how great treasures these are, tell me why no prince or king was ever able to subdue the Egyptians. Then tell me why the Emperor Diocletian ordered all the Spagyric books to be burnt (so far as he could lay his hands upon them). Unless the contents of those books had been known, they would have been obliged to bear still his intolerable yoke, - a yoke, O Sophist, which shall one day be put upon the neck of yourself and your colleagues.

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Alchemical Poetry Between

In describing the interaction Between mind and matter, Jung discussed the nature of the psychoid realm. Spiritually, this is the place where we can contact spirit. Between Between the memories and the plans Is there room for this moment to simply be? Between the thoughts and impulses Is there any pause for me? Between the rules and declarations Is there space for spontaneity? Between the echo and the heartbeats Is there Silence enough for serenity?

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