Chapter 42
ALCHEMY
The following draws on Alchemy Rediscovered and Restored, by Archibald Cockren (www.sacred-texts.com/alc/arr), and on Alchemy, by Franz Hartmann.
Alchemy Is a Science
Alchemy is a science of the soul that results from an understanding of God, Nature, and Man. A perfect knowledge of any one of them cannot be obtained without knowledge of the other two, for these three are one and inseparable. Alchemy is not merely an intellectual but a spiritual science, because that which belongs to the spirit can only be spiritually known. Nevertheless, it is also a science dealing with material things, for spirit and matter are only two opposite manifestations, or poles, of the eternal One. Alchemy, in its more material aspect, teaches how minerals, metals, plants, animals, and men may be generated, or made to grow, from their “seeds” — in other words, how that generation which is accomplished over long periods of time, in the due course of evolution and natural law, may be accomplished in a comparatively short time, if these natural laws are guided and supplied with the proper material by the spiritual knowledge of man. There is no doubt that gold can be made to grow by alchemical means, though it requires an alchemist to make the experiment succeed; and he who is attracted by the material power of gold will not obtain the spiritual power necessary to practice the art.
It is therefore a grave mistake to confuse alchemy with chemistry. Modern chemistry is an artificial science that deals only with the external forms in which the elements of matter manifest themselves. It never produces anything truly new to creation; it can only recombine atoms and molecules into different substances. We may mix, compound, and decompose chemical bodies an unlimited number of times, and cause them to appear in various forms, but in the end we will have no augmentation of the underlying substances, nor anything more than a recombination of what we started with. Alchemy does not mix or compound anything; it causes that which already pre-exists in a latent state to become active and grow. Alchemy is therefore more comparable to biology than to chemistry; and, in fact, the growth of a plant, a tree, or an animal, or the evolution of whole species, are alchemical processes going on in the laboratory of nature, performed by the Great Alchemist — the power of the divine Mind acting in nature.
Alchemy Is an Art
Alchemy is also an art, and, as every art requires an artist to exercise it, so this divine science and art can be practiced only by those in possession of the divine power necessary for the purpose. It is true that the external manipulations required to produce certain alchemical preparations may, like an ordinary chemical process, be taught to anybody capable of reasoning; however, the results such a person would accomplish would be without life, for only he in whom the true life has awakened can awaken it from its sleep in matter and cause visible forms to grow from the primordial chaos of nature. Alchemy, in its highest aspect, deals with the spiritual regeneration of man, and teaches how a god may be made out of a human being — or, to express it more correctly, how to establish the conditions necessary for the development of divine powers in man, so that a human being may become a god by the power of God, in the same sense that a seed becomes a plant by the aid of the four elements and the action of the invisible fifth element (the Quintessence, or Life Force).
One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.C. G. Jung, Alchemical Studies
17th-century engraving of distillation apparatus. www.alchemywebsite.com
What Else Did the Alchemists Know?
They were right about lead to gold; what other secrets did the alchemists have? In 1926, the alchemical initiate Fulcanelli, whose real identity is still unknown, claimed that the secret of alchemy was openly displayed on the walls of the Gothic cathedrals. Victor Hugo and many others have written of the hermetic symbolism of the cathedrals; however, Fulcanelli went a step further and produced a masterpiece, Le Mystère des Cathédrales — a guided tour of the esoteric tradition in the West, as displayed on the walls of certain cathedrals and private homes in the Gothic style.
What Did Fulcanelli Know?
A couple of years ago, two researchers went back and took a closer look at the messages revealed by Fulcanelli. They found a prediction regarding the year 2002. Of course, that date has come and gone, but the authors have some interesting things to say about it on their web page. They were convinced that the catastrophe would be related to the superwaves of Paul LaViolette; Paul has made many predictions that have been fulfilled, so perhaps this one will also come to pass. I have my own prediction about weather on Earth: I believe that Dr. Robert Gagosian’s theory about the Gulf Stream stopping is correct, and that it will happen before 2012. And I am amazed that our scientists are trying to convince us that our wild weather is due to global warming. Just look at all these dramatic increases in sun-related catastrophes: the sun is freaking out, and nobody is talking about it. The changes in the sun are due to the fact that our solar system has traveled into an area of interstellar space that contains more ions of hydrogen, helium, and hydroxyl; this has caused the appearance of new states and activity regimes of the sun. But I digress; for more information about our sun’s problems, read Dmitriev — the man has all the info.
www.vincentbridges.com/RaisingtheDjed.htm — www.etheric.com/LaViolette/Predict.html — www.whoi.edu/institutes/occi/currenttopics/climatechange_wef.html (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20251026221800/https://www.whoi.edu/institutes/occi/currenttopics/climatechange_wef.html) — www.handpen.com/Bio/sun_freaks.html — www.tmgnow.com/repository/global/planetophysical1.html
The following is from an interview with the alchemist Jean Dubuis, conducted by Mark Stavish, a long-time student of esotericism.
Stavish: What are some of the practical benefits of alchemy? Dubuis: This is a very complicated problem. I think that with alchemy — or if you start with Kabbalah, or with a good hermetic initiatic discipline — you can find your inner path within a very short period of time. It is difficult for the mundane world to understand, but if you don’t take one of these paths, you will “go back up” in millions or billions of years. What the alchemist, cabbalist, or other hermeticist must try to do is shorten the suffering of humanity — not through soft-heartedness, to save lives or the like, in detail, but to put humanity back on the path that will allow it to go very rapidly to its own realization. After which, all of the trouble that appears in our material world disappears.
Stavish: What is the basic philosophy of alchemy? Dubuis: It is the science of life, of consciousness. The alchemist knows that there is a very solid link between matter, life, and consciousness. Alchemy is the art of manipulating life and consciousness in matter, to help it evolve, or to solve problems of inner disharmony. Matter exists only because it is created by the human seed. The human seed — the original man — created matter in order to involve and evolve. If we go beyond what I said, the absolute being is an auto-created being, and we must become, in its image, auto-created men; that is, from a seed of the origin, we are self-created.
Stavish: How do you define God? Dubuis: I can’t define it, because I don’t think it exists in the personal sense. There is a Universal State of Being that is completely impersonal. The answer to this question comes for some people who make the Experiment of Eternity; they then know that things are as they are because they can’t be otherwise. But no personal god acts on things. The only god in the universe is man.