Alchemy was a practice which served as a vault of wisdom throughout the centuries. Its practitioners were not lunatics as some movies want to portray them, but wise people who knew too much for their time and wished to transmit their knowledge to the initiated. Back then there was respect for knowledge and you had to be worthy to have it. Not like todays “all is free and effortless” days…
This is why they wrote whatever they wrote in code by using obscure language and symbols. The purpose of this thread is to discuss about this very important sector of human knowledge and share opinions on the subject.
I will start by posting Melancholy Ι of Albrecht Dürer.
A mystical engraving depicting a man who – despite his intelligence – cannot reach the so much wished apotheosis. Intelligence on its own does not guarantee the understanding of the mysteries of the universe…
lets say this pertains to the person, man or woman…
Does wisdom deliver the understanding, or could we say that the world keeps turning irrespective of both things. Sometimes i wonder if knowing necessarily changes outcomes, and especially if it changes the way we feel. Once the alchemist knows the world [tarot], they will surely see there is nothing they can do. Its like the Amazon Indian ritual where you let insects crawl all over you and bite you, then afterwards they wont bite anymore. Once complete the adherent is one with nature, all of which isn’t an intellectual process ~ we could say its mechanistic, in the sense that the mind becomes somewhat numb to the insects and bites, then this somehow promotes and non aggressive posture towards the insects, hence they don’t sense anything to attack [maybe pheromones also].
A small part of “Keynes MS. 28, King’s College Library, Cambridge University”:
Tabula Smaragdina
Hermetis Trismegistri
Philosophorum patris
Tis true without lying, certain & most true.
That which is below is like that which is above & that which
is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one
only thing
And as all things have been & arose from one by the
mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this
one thing by adaptation.
The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind
hath carried it in its belly, the earth is its nourse. The
father of all perfection in the whole world is here. Its
force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtile from
the gross sweetly with great indoustry. It ascends from the
earth to the heaven & again it descends to the earth
& receives the force of things superior & inferior.
By this means you shall have the glory of the whole
world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
Its force is above all force. For it vanquishes every
subtile thing & penetrates every solid thing.
So was the world created.
From this are & do come admirable adaptations
whereof the means (or process) is here in this.
Metal transformation? My my… It was a test. And you failed.
Money? Huh! Wealth? Huh! A wise man craves not these things!
Jokes aside, the metal transformation was actually the predecessor of modern chemistry.
While the mental transformation was the path to apotheosis which many wise men postulated over the centuries.
I have a book which refers to the ways of transforming the essence of materials (μεταστοιχείωση) - not to gold though.
For the latter, one has to follow a more lonely path.
Dont recall anything saying about money and wealth, but those things are form of material goods, which can alter the corporeal realm, so a wise man can crave these things if he understands the causal relationships properly.
One must introduce the essences of nobility and collective rigidity (ie. anentropy). Doing that on an atomic level isn’t impossible, but there are very few (perhaps only two) ways to get it done.
The key to transmutation or its prevention is the geometry and filtering of the skin. A properly impedance matched anentropic massage and diet works every time. The only real issue is having to tools, resources, and opportunity.
As James said, you are indeed changing every day.
With every decision you make, with every action you take.
Apotheosis is a goal you can get closer to day by day if you are really willing to do so…
