Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts by Herbert Silberer (e book reader free .txt) 📕
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I Corinthians XV, 40 ff.: “There are celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial.... There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon.”
Ephesians II, 14 ff.: “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments [pg 164] contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”
If we note the two contraries that are to be united according to the procedure of the hermetic philosophers with [Symbol: Sun] and [Symbol: Moon] [sun and moon, gold and silver, etc.] and represent them united with the cross [Symbol: +] we get [Symbol: Mercury with a sun]; i.e., [Symbol: Mercury], the symbol of mercury. This ideogram conceals the concept, Easter. All these ideas, as we know, did not originate with Christianity.
II Corinthians V, 1: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
John VII, 38: “He that believeth on me ... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
I mention right here that the hermetic philosophers do not pursue speculative theology, but that, as is clearly evident from their writings, they made the content of the religious doctrine a part of their life. That was their work, a work of mysticism. Everything that the reader is inclined to conceive in the passages above, as probably belonging merely to the other life, they as Mystics, sought to represent to themselves on earth, though without prejudice to the hope of a life beyond. I presume that they therefore speak of two stones, a celestial and a terrestrial. The celestial stone is the eternal blessedness and, as far as the Christian world of ideas is [pg 165] considered, is Christ, who has aided mankind to attain it. The terrestrial stone is the mystical Christ whom each may cause to be crucified and resurrected in himself, whereby he attains a kingdom of heaven on earth with those peculiar qualities that have been allegorically attributed to the philosopher's stone. Therefore the terrestrial stone is called a reflection of the celestial and so it is said that from lead, etc., the stone may be easily produced and “in a short time,” i.e., not only after death.
At any rate in primitive symbolism there seems to be a religious idea at the bottom of the recommendation to use the sputum lunæ (moon spittle) or sperm astrale (star semen), star mucus, in short of an efflux from the world of light above us, as first material for the work of our illumination. [In many alchemistic recipes such things are recommended. Misunderstanding led to a so-called shooting star substance being eagerly hunted for. What was found and thought to be star mucus was a gelatinous plant.] So it is in this passage from John IX, 5, ff.: “As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world. When he [Jesus] had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam [which is by interpretation: Sent]. He went his way, therefore, washed, and came seeing.” The transference of a virtue by the receiving of a secretion is a quite common primitive idea.
As Michael Maier (Symbola Aureae Mensae Lib. [pg 166] XI) informs us, Melchior Cibinensis, a Hungarian priest, expressed the secrets of the forbidden art in the holy form of the Mass. For as birth, life, exaltation, suffering in fire and then death were, as it were, ascribed to the Philosopher's Stone in black and gloomy colors, and finally resurrection and life in red and other beautiful colors, so he compared his preparation with the work of the salvation of man (and the “terrestrial” stone with the “celestial” stone), namely, with the birth, life, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ. (Höhler, Herm. Phil., p. 156.) The making of the Philosopher's Stone is, so to speak, the Imitation of Christ.
Hitchcock (H. A., p. 143) believes that Irenaeus Philaletha has clearly alluded in a passage of his writings to the two mental processes, analysis and synthesis, which lead to the same end. “To seek the unity through Sol, I take it, is to employ the intellect upon the Idea of Unity, by analysis that terminates in the parts; whereas to study upon Mercury, here used for nature at large, is to work synthetically, and by combining the parts, reach an idea of the unity. The two lead to the same thing, beginning as it were from opposite extremes; for the analysis of any one thing, completely made, must terminate in the parts, while the parts, upon a synthetical construction, must reproduce the unity. One of the two ways indicated by Irenaeus is spoken of as a herculean labor, which I suppose to be the second, the reconstruction of a unity by a recombination of the parts, which in respect to nature is undoubtedly a [pg 167] herculean undertaking. The more hopeful method is by meditation, etc.”
Some of the writers tell us to put “one of the bodies into the alembic,” that is to say, take the soul into the thought or study and apply the fire (of intellect) to it, until it “goes over” into spirit. Then, “putting this by for use,” put in “the other body,” which is to be subjected to a similar trial until it “goes over” also; after which the two may be united, being found essentially or substantially the same.
The two methods of which Irenaeus speaks are also called in alchemy (with reference to chemical procedures) the wet and the dry ways. The wet way is that which leads to unity through mental elaboration. The philosophy of the Indian didactic poetry Bhagavad-Gita also knows the two ways and calls them Samkhya and Yoga.
Bh-G. V. 4ff.
“Samkhya” and “Yoga” have later been elaborated into whole philosophical systems. Originally, however, they are merely “different methods of arriving at the same end, namely the attainment of the Atman [all spirit] which on the one hand is [pg 168] spread out as the whole infinite universe and on the other is to be completely and wholly found in the inner life. In the first sense Atman can be gained by meditation on the multiplex phenomena of the universe and their essential unity, and this meditation is called Samkhya [from sam + khya, reflection, meditation]; on the other hand, Atman is attainable by retirement from the outer world and concentration upon one's own inner world and this concentration is called Yoga.” (Deussen, Allg. Gesch. d. Phil., I, 3, p. 15.)
For the practice of alchemy a moral behavior is required, which is hardly necessary as a precondition of merely chemical work. The disciple of the art is to free his character, according to the directions of the masters from all bad habits, especially to abjure pride, is diligently to devote himself to prayer, perform works of love, etc.; no one is to direct his senses to this study if he has not previously purified his heart, renounced the love of worldly things, and surrendered himself completely to God. (Höhler, Herm. Phil., pp. 62 ff.)
The sloppers, who strive to make gold in a chemical laboratory often waste in it their entire estate. The adepts, however, assure us that even a poor man can obtain the stone; many, indeed, say the poor have a better materia than the rich. Rom. II, 11: “For there is no respect of persons with God.” Matth. XIX, 24: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” The alchemist [pg 169] Khunrath says somewhere, the cost of making gold amounts to thirty dollars; we understand this when we remember that Jesus was sold for thirty pence.
Ruland (Lex., p. 26) defines alchemy very finely: [In reference to Tab. Smar., 9] “Alchemy is the separation of the impure from a purer substance.” This is quite as true of the chemical as of the spiritual alchemy.
Why the hermetic philosophers write not literally but in figures may be accounted for in several ways. We should first of all remember that because of their free doctrine, which was indeed not at variance with true Christianity but with the narrow-minded church, they had to fear the persecution of the latter, and that for this reason they veiled their teachings. Hitchcock notices also a further point. The alchemists often declare that the knowledge of their secret is dangerous (for the generality of people). It appears that they did not deem that the time was ripe for a religion that was based more on ideal requirements, on moral freedom, than on fear of hell fire, expectation of rewards and on externally visible marks and pledges. Besides we shall see later that a really clear language is in the nature of things neither possible nor from an educational point of view to be recommended.
Still the mystical purpose of the authors of those times when the precautionary measures were not necessary appears clearer under the alchemistic clothing, although no general rule applying to it can be set forth. Other reasons, e.g., intellectual and conventional [pg 170] ones, influenced them to retain the symbolism.
Very clearly mystical are the writings of a number of hermetic artists, who are permeated by the spiritual doctrine of Jacob Boehme. This theosophist makes such full use of the alchemistic symbolism, that we find it wherever we open his writings. I will not even begin to quote him, but will only call the reader's attention to his brief and beautifully thoughtful description of the mystical process of moral perfection, which stands as “Processus” at the end of the 5th chapter of his book, “De Signatura Rerum.” (Ausg., Gichtel Col., 2218 f.)
An anonymous author who has absorbed much of the “Philosophicus Teutonicus,” wrote the book, “Amor Proximi,” much valued by the amateurs of the high art. It does not require great penetration to recognize this pious manual, clothed throughout in alchemistic garments, as a mystical work. The same is true of the formerly famous “Wasserstein der Weisen” (1st ed. appeared 1619), and similar books. Here are some illustrative pages from “Amor Proximi”:
“This [Symbol: water] [[Symbol: water] of life] is now the creature not foreign or external but most intimate in every one, although hidden.... See Christ is not outside of us, but intimately within us, although hidden.” (P. 32.)
“Whoever is to work out a thing practically must first have a fundamental knowledge of a thing; in order that man shall macrocosmically and magically [pg 171] work out the image of God, all God's kingdom, in himself; he must have its right knowledge in himself....” (P. 29.)
“Christ is the great Universal; [The Grand Mastery is also called by the alchemists the ‘universal’; it tinctures all metals to gold and heals all diseases (universal medicine); there is a somewhat more circumscribed ‘particular,’ which tinctures only a special metal and cures only single diseases.]
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