. Alchemy in Magical Grimoires

[zoas23]

There is often a lot of alchemy in magical grimoires... but quite often the alchemical ideas of the magical grimoires are not very easy to be taken to a "Lab practice" in a literal way... and sometimes they don't even make sense in a strict alchemical context limited to "Lab practices".

i.e, I am thinking of the case of the "Treatise of the Reintegration of Beings" by Martinez de Pasqually : http://www.martinismeoperatifquebec.org/treatiseofreintegration.pdf (I know nothing about this Canadian Martinist Order, it's simply the first result that google gave me for the text).

I love his Treatise and it certainly has an alchemical vision of the Genesis and an alchemical vision of the mission of Man on earth. Saint-Martin followed the same ideas (he was one of the students of Pasqually) and also wrote extensively on the same subjects using exactly the same alchemical ideas.

I know Martinist Orders that do not practice at all any kind of "Lab Alchemy" and some others that do... However, I have NEVER seen any Martinist Order using the ALCHEMICAL ideas of Pasqually, Saint-Martin or Willermoz in a Lab...

i.e, I like the writer Demetrius Semelas and he has interesting texts on Martinism and interesting texts on Alchemy... The interesting thing of his texts on Alchemy is that they completely contradict the Alchemical ideas of Pasqually and Saint-Martin (I am unable to say if Semelas himself was a good alchemist or a bad alchemist, but that's not the point... for me the point is that when he wrote about Alchemy, he completely ignored the ideas of Pasqually... and probably it is because they don't really make a lot of sense when they are "translated" to a physical practice in the context of a Lab).

The ideas of Pasqually and his "alchemical genesis" are quite similar to the ideas of Ali Puli and his "alchemical genesis" (explained in the Centrum Naturae Concentratum)... I mean, there are obvious philosophical coincidences... but if you go to the details, at some given point, Pasqually doesn't make much sense in the context of a Lab.

I would even bet that someone who knows 10 different paths to make the Stone would be unable to make the Stone (at a Lab) strictly following the ideas of Pasqually without "cheating" (cheating = doing something that goes against the alchemical process he describes).

For the records, I really really like Pasqually and Saint-Martin... but I don't think their alchemical ideas have much value in the context of a Lab... and probably that's because they were not thinking about taking those ideas to a Lab and had other contexts in mind.

This is just an example, but I think the same thing is true for the vast majority of the Magical Grimoires.

 

[Andro]

Hi TI,

Thanks for yet another set of inspiring insights.

More recently, I am leaning towards the view that the Emerald Tablet can, in fact, also be taken quite literally (in addition to the multi-layered allegorical aspects), when it comes to the actual work.

Magnetism is an interesting force. I haven't studied it enough, but there are some 'alternative' books on magnetism. Here's a free one I've saved from Sribd: Uncovering the Missing Secrets of Magnetism.

Perhaps the magnetism is just a "carrier" for this Force...
Perhaps everyThing in the Universe is just a carrier of The Force.

(You probably already know this, but check out posts by Andro for further info on the carrier/passenger idea)

Going back once more to the Emerald Tablet, it is quite explicit about the Wind/Air carrying IT in its 'belly'. We have a carrier/passenger model here as well, IMO.

And by the way how can you point the round flask North?

The part to which a funnel is connected? Or the part to which an actual magnet is connected?


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[True Initiate]

The part to which a funnel is connected? Or the part to which an actual magnet is connected?

This makes sense. Cyliani mentions pole star in his writings:

The other crystal vase was sealed with a glass stopper. It was very thick and on it was engraved similarly that which now follows: Astral spirit or ardent spirit which is a projection from the pole star.

This vase was adorned with a silver crown decorated with nine brilliant stars.

It is also interesting that his Vases were made of Crystal (quartz). If you remember what Albert Pike wrote about the Vases of Nature and Art needed for the Great Work:



And if you compare all this to the first chapter in Compass of the Wise called The Vessel everything fits perfectly together.

Magnetism is an interesting force. I haven't studied it enough, but there are some 'alternative' books on magnetism. Here's a free one I've saved from Sribd: Uncovering the Missing Secrets of Magnetism.

This looks like a good book especially since there aren't many formulas and equations to be found so i will give it a shot this weekend.

My favourite alternative work on Magnetism comes from a freemason Ed Leedskalnin Magnetic Current.

http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Magnets/Leedskalnin/Magnetic-Current_Edward-Leedskalnin_51pp.pdf

Basically he teaches that magnetism is caused by small particles which he separates in North Pole and South Pole particles which are the basis of everything. Electrons, protons are in fact mistaken for those particles.

Going back once more to the Emerald Tablet, it is quite explicit about the Wind/Air carrying IT in its 'belly'. We have a carrier/passenger model here as well, IMO.

Ed Leedskalnin explanations is that Earth as a giant magnet sends Noth Pole particles upward and South Pole particles downard in the Northern Hemisphere and in Southern Hemisphere is vice versa. This explanation could fit the bill.

 

[True Initiate]

There is often a lot of alchemy in magical grimoires... but quite often the alchemical ideas of the magical grimoires are not very easy to be taken to a "Lab practice" in a literal way... and sometimes they don't even make sense in a strict alchemical context limited to "Lab practices".

My original idea was to search for the missing Keys of Alchemy in grimoires and later put the two together like a single puzzle. Reality is that there are many puzzles and some Authors have invented their own puzzle which have nothing in common with other authors puzzles.

 

[True Initiate]

Éliphas Lévi book The History of Magic is perhaps his greatest work he ever wrote. It is full of references to Alchemy and especially the secret fire of the alchemists. This could take a couple of days to highlight every noteworthy passage that relates to Alchemy in some way.



The next section is very interesting since he writes about Magi and the powers they possessed.

 

[True Initiate]

In this section we almost got alchemical recipe! This is as good as it gets when magicians write about Alchemy.



I guess very few will notice the reference to acid and magnetism and maybe i should patent such a discovery?

Above the word acid number 1 is to be found which means a comment is attached.

 

[True Initiate]

The next paragraph, i think will bring much joy to some readers of this thread!

 

[Dendritic Xylem]

Good find!

 

[Kiorionis]

Awesome stuff indeed!

For the internal arts, and something I've been struggling with lately, I can see correspondences of the lion as pride or ego, in order to tame the serpent power without going 'insane'

 

[zoas23]

If you are interested in Eliphas Levi and Electricity, I would suggest to read Bulwer Lyttons' "The Forthcoming Race" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vril#Literary_significance_and_reception )

... and remember that Levy and Lytton were friends.

I don't agree with many of the ideas of the wiki page, but the quote by Lytton is interesting when he explains that his "Vrill" was electricity.

 

[True Initiate]

Today i made a strange discovery. In the Bible there is a story of Jacob who fell asleep with his head resting on a piece of rock and dreamt about a ladder that is connecting heaven with earth and the angels ascending and descending on it. This ladder to heaven was also termed Jacob's ladder.



In alchemical literature we find this motif in some Ms like in Mutus Liber:



A Jacob's ladder also stands for a high voltage traveling arc and it is a device for producing a continuous train of large sparks that ascend upwards. It was named for the "ladder to heaven" described in the Bible. So instead of ascending angels we have ascending electric arcs.



I found it strange that someone would actually name modern electric phenomena after old Bible tale. It's kinda strange, doesn't it?

 

[zoas23]

I found it strange that someone would actually name modern electric phenomena after old Bible tale. It's kinda strange, doesn't it?

Or maybe the one who discovered it had a Jewish or Christian culture... and simply related both things.

One of my favorite books is about this Biblical event: http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book21.html ("On Dreams" by Philo of Alexandria).
Philo, who was 100% skeptical about the literal interpretations of the Torah wrote this fantastic book that completely deconstructs the story and seeks for the meaning behind each "element" of it.
(though I don't see any reference to electricity in his book).

 

[True Initiate]

Now that i think about it Ezekiel in his prophetic vision sees wheel within a wheel which turns around.



The first thing that comes to my mind is that this was a type of double magnetic wheel:



or even better something like this:

The book you posted sounds interesting. I will skim through it.

 

[alfr]

hi TI very interesting thanks

my best regard

 

[True Initiate]

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky is one of the few women in Hermetics that made a name for herself and her books are quite popular even today. There are couple of gems in her books so let's start with the book called The Veil of Isis.



Schweigger proves that the symbols of all the mythologies have a scientific foundation and substance. * It is only through recent discoveries of the physical electro-magnetical powers of nature that such experts in Mesmerism as Ennemoser, Schweigger and Bart, in Germany, Baron Du Potet and Regazzoni, in France and Italy, were enabled to trace with almost faultless accuracy the true relation which each Theomythos bore to some one of these powers. The Idaeic finger, which had such importance in the magic art of healing, means an iron finger, which is attracted and repulsed in turn by magnetic, natural forces. It produced, in Samothrace, wonders of healing by restoring affected organs to their normal condition.

Bart goes deeper than Schweigger into the significations of the old myths, and studies the subject from both its spiritual and physical aspects. He treats at length of the Phrygian Dactyls, those "magicians and exorcists of sickness," and of the Cabeirian Theurgists. He says: "While we treat of the close union of the Dactyls and magnetic forces, we are not necessarily confined to the magnetic stone, and our views of nature but take a glance at magnetism in its whole meaning. Then it is clear how the initiated, who called themselves Dactyls, created astonishment in the people through their magic arts, working as they did, miracles of a healing nature. To this united themselves many other things which the priesthood of antiquity was wont to practice; the cultivation of the land and of morals, the advancement of art and science, mysteries, and secret consecrations. All this was done by the priestly Cabeirians, and wherefore not guided and supported by the mysterious spirits of nature?" ** Schweigger is of the same opinion, and demonstrates that the phenomena of ancient Theurgy were produced by magnetic powers "under the guidance of spirits."

**************************************************************************

Christopher Columbus discovered America, and Americus Vespucius reaped the glory and usurped his dues. Theophrastus Paracelsus rediscovered the occult properties of the magnet--"the bone of Horus" which, twelve centuries before his time, had played such an important part in the theurgic mysteries--and he very naturally became the founder of the school of magnetism and of mediaeval magico-theurgy. But Mesmer, who lived nearly three hundred years after him, and as a disciple of his school brought the magnetic wonders before the public, reaped the glory that was due to the fire-philosopher, while the great master died in a hospital!

So goes the world: new discoveries, evolving from old sciences; new men--the same old nature!

******************************************************************************************************************

I didn't realize that Paracelsus was rediscoverer of magnetism! Does anybody know in which book Paracelsus teaches about magnetism?
The bone of Horus was a magnet? Are you serious?!!

 

[True Initiate]

Let's pause a little and look closely at the bone of Horus. Roman historian Plutarch wrote:

Moreover, they call the loadstone “Bone of Horus,” and iron “Bone of Typhon,” as Manethōs relates; for just as iron often resembles that which is attracted to and follows after the loadstone, and often is turned away from it, and repelled to an opposite direction

Manethōs was egyptian a priest who lived around 3rd century BC!

 

[True Initiate]

Back to the Helena Blavatsky i think this next paragraph is a true gem!

There has been an infinite confusion of names to express one and the same thing.

The chaos of the ancients; the Zoroastrian sacred fire, or the Antusbyrum of the Parsees; the Hermes-fire; the Elmes-fire of the ancient Germans; the lightning of Cybele; the burning torch of Apollo; the flame on the altar of Pan; the inextinguishable fire in the temple on the Acropolis, and in that of Vesta; the fire-flame of Pluto's helm; the brilliant sparks on the hats of the Dioscuri, on the Gorgon head, the helm of Pallas, and the staff of Mercury; the πυρ ασβεστον the Egyptian Phtha, or Ra; the Grecian Zeus Cataibates (the descending); * the pentecostal fire-tongues; the burning bush of Moses; the pillar of fire of the Exodus, and the "burning lamp" of Abram; the eternal fire of the "bottomless pit"; the Delphic oracular vapors; the Sidereal light of the Rosicrucians; the AKASA of the Hindu adepts; the Astral light of Eliphas Levi; the nerve-aura and the fluid of the magnetists; the od of Reichenbach; the fire-globe, or meteor-cat of Babinet; the Psychod and ectenic force of Thury; the psychic force of Sergeant Cox and Mr. Crookes; the atmospheric magnetism of some naturalists; galvanism; and finally, electricity, are but various names for many different manifestations, or effects of the same mysterious, all-pervading cause--the Greek Archeus, or Αρχαιοσ.

Sir E. Bulwer-Lytton, in his Coming Race, describes it as the VRIL, ** used by the subterranean populations, and allowed his readers to take it for a fiction. "These people," he says, "consider that in the vril they had arrived at the unity in natural energic agencies"; and proceeds to show that Faraday intimated them "under the more cautious term of correlation," thus:

"I have long held an opinion, almost amounting to a conviction, in common, I believe, with many other lovers of natural knowledge, that the various forms under which the forces of matter are made manifest, HAVE ONE COMMON ORIGIN; or, in other words, are so directly related and naturally dependent, that they are convertible, as it were, into one another, and possess equivalents of power in their action."

Absurd and unscientific as may appear our comparison of a fictitious vril invented by the great novelist, and the primal force of the equally great experimentalist, with the kabalistic astral light, it is nevertheless the true definition of this force.

 

[True Initiate]

In the sixth Chapter Blavatski returns to Paracelsus yet again:

And now to the doctrine of Paracelsus. His incomprehensible, though lively style must be read like the biblio-rolls of Ezekiel, "within and without." The peril of propounding heterodox theories was great in those days; the Church was powerful, and sorcerers were burnt by the dozens. For this reason, we find Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Eugenius Philalethes as notable for their pious declarations as they were famous for their achievements in alchemy and magic. The full views of Paracelsus on the occult properties of the magnet are explained partially in his famous book, Archidaxarum, in which he describes the wonderful tincture, a medicine extracted from the magnet and called Magisterium Magnetis, and partially in the De Ente Dei, and De Ente Astrorum, Lib. I. But the explanations are all given in a diction unintelligible to the profane. "Every peasant sees," said he, "that a magnet will attract iron, but a wise man must inquire for himself. . . . I have discovered that the magnet, besides this visible power, that of attracting iron, possesses another and concealed power."

He demonstrates further that in man lies hidden a "sidereal force," which is that emanation from the stars and celestial bodies of which the spiritual form of man--the astral spirit--is composed. This identity of essence, which we may term the spirit of cometary matter, always stands in direct relation with the stars from which it was drawn, and thus there exists a mutual attraction between the two, both being magnets. The identical composition of the earth and all other planetary bodies and man's terrestrial body was a fundamental idea in his philosophy. "The body comes from the elements, the [astral] spirit from the stars. . . . Man eats and drinks of the elements, for the sustenance of his blood and flesh; from the stars are the intellect and thoughts sustained in his spirit." The spectroscope has made good his theory as to the identical composition of man and stars; the physicists now lecture to their classes upon the magnetic attractions of the sun and planets. *

 

[True Initiate]

I am having trouble finding Magisterium Magnetis in Paracelsus books. It should be in 4th book of Archidaxarum!

UPDATE:

I have found something about magnetism in his Archidoxes



in the Chapter The extraction of Magisteries, out of Pearls, Corrals and Gems but i am not sure if this is what i am looking for.

 

[Dendritic Xylem]

https://books.google.com/books?id=d...s "I have discovered that the magnet"&f=false

 

[True Initiate]

Thank you for the book, i am already 200 pages in. Amazing book!

 

[Salazius]

http://www.mindserpent.com/American...1854_ennemoser_the_history_of_magic_vol_1.pdf

http://www.mindserpent.com/American...1854_ennemoser_the_history_of_magic_vol_2.pdf

 

[True Initiate]

I heartily recommend to all readers of this thread to read those 2 books posted by Dendritic Xylem and Salazius. I am taking a break to read them. Thanks guys!

 

[ghetto alchemist]

Hey Tafkap (The artist formerly known as puffer), I am very much enjoying reading this thread.

I'd really like to have a read of that chapter "The extraction of Magisteries, out of Pearls, Corrals and Gems"
Do you have a link to access the source text?

Also just want to say that not everyone reading about alchemy is necessarily going to be an adult,
so maybe you could be mindful of advertising banners attached to the alchemy texts linked from here.
Just pointing it out is all.

 

[Kiorionis]

Hey Tafkap (The artist formerly known as puffer), I am very much enjoying reading this thread.

I'd really like to have a read of that chapter "The extraction of Magisteries, out of Pearls, Corrals and Gems"
Do you have a link to access the source text?

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A28630.0001.001/1:10.2.1?rgn=div3;view=fulltext

The beginning of the section on Magisteries:

HAving thus finished the Precedent Books of the most excellent Medicaments; we have intended to adjoyn this Book of Magiste∣ries; And first of all to declare what a Magi∣stery is; This therefore is a Magistery, viz. that which can be Extracted out of things, without a∣ny Separation or Preparation of the Elements; and yet notwithstanding, the Powers and Virtues of the things, are by the addition of some thing, Attracted into that matter, and conserved there.