Sounds while Imbibing

[Lux Natura]

I had read in the past (do not recall where) of some alchemists who had experienced sounds or various tones at certain parts of the work.

I have now hear a unique sound / series of tones three times. The first time I brushed it off, barely paying attention to it, thinking it was something else causing it in the lab. The second day, it happened again, and I thought whatever it was, must have been some extremely unlikely coincidence, but I noted it as being most likely being produced by the material I am working with. Today, I heard it again.

It is happening when I am imbibing material, after I add a bit more liquid and seal it back up. This time I paid close attention - it is coming from the material somehow. It is vibrating the glass container I am using, and the container is ringing.

Tomorrow, when I imbibe, I will record the sound, as I am interested in seeing the spectrograph of it. It is two tones, that I can hear quite easily, and they are both falling in pitch as the sound occurs. I almost want to say I can hear the two tones as each being a series of very fast pulses. If the spectrograph shows anything interesting, I will post it here. For now, I am interested in people who have links to or resources dealing with this phenomenon, links to other alchemists who have written about this (as I am sure I have read about it, but cannot place who the author was or what the context was) or who have also experienced this as well.

I have my own theories as to what can be causing this sound, but I will hold on to those for a bit first to see if there is any interest in discussion on this topic.

 

[ArgentSeeker]

Alchemy website that has some very plain and direct discussions of alchemical concepts, but more particularly entries on sound, music, and ritual as it directly relates to alchemy:

The Sound Sacrifice

Sacrifice is the metaphor of a banquet that the earth offers to the sky and that sky cannot refuse, thereby finding mutual sustenance. By the end of the third labor, the learned alchemist had already…

labyrinthdesigners.org

Also, Canseliet writes about it in alchemy explained. There was an english translation I had, but I can't find it right this moment. Here's a machine translation of this link:

Canseliet Eugene - La Alquimia Explicada - PDFCOFFEE.COM

La Alquimia Explicada Sobre Sus Textos Clásicos Canseliet ÍNDICE EPÍGRAFE...

pdfcoffee.com

Qué prodigiosa armonía la de esta operación, qué suave poesía igualmente, cuyo vocablo griego revela sin ambages, la esencia no solamente abstracta y metafísica, sino también positiva y científica: , Poiesis, confección, ejecución, operación. Ya no tengo dudas ahora, mi buen viejo, y si Dios lo quiere, tendré este anochecer la confirmación, el negro dura 6 días y la hebdomas hebdomadum de los Adeptos, que termina el 7º día, el del reposo, es muy real. En el curso de este último deben sucederse rápidamente las dos etapas del blanco y del rojo, con, ciertamente, la ausencia de toda dificultad que recuerda la quietud del domingo o día del Señor. Es así que deberé escuchar este anochecer la nota que cierra el último día de trabajo, es decir la 6ª, al mismo tiempo que la serie sonora cuyo crescendo se ha mostrado tan seguramente sensible a mi oído como la progresión graduada del peso y del calor en su constante sincronismo. He aquí los pesos advertidos al mismo tiempo en que se hacían oír cada uno de los ligeros silbidos (+ comprendido): RE MI FA SOL LA SI 333,65 354,8 368,6 396 423,5 440,60 Me mantengo al presente a 500º según me lo permite, tan bien como es posible, mi excelente piro, pero cuyas divisiones van de 20 en 20. el aparato es sin embargo muy justo ya que no sufre el compost, cuya costra protectora es inmutable y no se eleva, pese al enorme aumento de peso que ha pasado ya en el presente a 440, 6. Advierto que los niveles sonoros no son rigurosamente de 24 h., que varían de 10 a 12 minutos, tal como lo verifico sobre el reloj de pared que es de una gran exactitud. Ello me parece particularmente singular. Desde este tiempo, en el curso de más de veinte años, a causa de la temperatura contraria, no hemos ensayado más que cuatro veces la realización de la fase última, sin triunfar en ella, pero también, gracias a Dios, sin provocar la ruptura del huevo. Ésta, hay que convenir bien en ello, es, en realidad, una explosión violenta ciertamente y aparentemente sin peligro, pero de la que no podemos prever exactamente las consecuencias y que en definitiva, no queremos renovar. La brusca detención de la cocción de la tercera obra por la apertura accidental de la vasija filosofal, libera una inimaginable acumulación de energía cósmica cuya acción catalítica puede hacerse sentir, de insospechada manera, sin que límite alguno la detenga en el espacio. Estuvimos en condiciones de constatar el fenómeno, a la vez inesperado y grandioso, en 1938, cuando una elaboración desafortunada nos entregó sin embargo el gran misterio de la gama cromática; cuando, sobre todo, los cielos se mostraban más clementes que hoy en día y que, por otra parte, los depósitos de armamento atómico no existían en los cuatro rincones del mundo. Hay que aguardar y merecer el gran milagro; estar presto, cada primavera, a utilizar la imprevisible semana de las semanas —hebdomas hebdomadum — en la que se encuentran, excepcionalmente, el trabajo del hombre y de la Naturaleza. Que el estudiante, así como nosotros mismos, guarde constantemente en la mente, que nuestra Búsqueda es Grande más allá de toda otra. En el coraje, la humildad y la paciencia, importa que el alquimista no se deje sorprender. FIN

What a prodigious harmony this operation possesses, what gentle poetry as well, whose Greek word reveals without ambiguity the essence not merely abstract and metaphysical, but also positive and scientific: ποιησιζ, Poiesis, making, execution, operation.

I have no doubts now, my good old friend, and God willing, I shall have this evening the confirmation, the black lasts 6 days and the hebdomas hebdomadum of the Adepts, which ends on the 7th day, the day of rest, is very real. In the course of this last day must rapidly succeed the two stages of white and red, with, certainly, the absence of all difficulty that recalls the stillness of Sunday or the Lord's day. Thus I must listen this evening for the note that closes the last day of work, that is the 6th, at the same time as the sound series whose crescendo has shown itself to my ear as surely perceptible as the graduated progression of weight and heat in their constant synchronism. Here are the weights observed at the same time that each of the slight whistles was heard (+ understood):

RE MI FA SOL LA SI
333.65 354.8 368.6 396 423.5 440.60

I maintain at present at 500° as permitted, as well as possible, by my excellent pyrometer, whose divisions go by 20s. The apparatus is nevertheless very accurate since it does not disturb the compost, whose protective crust is immutable and does not rise, despite the enormous increase in weight which has now passed to 440.6. I note that the sound levels are not strictly 24 hours; they vary by 10 to 12 minutes, as I verify on the wall clock which is of great accuracy. This seems to me particularly singular.

For this time, in the course of more than twenty years, due to contrary temperature, we have attempted the realization of the final phase only four times, without triumphing in it, but also, thank God, without provoking the rupture of the egg. This, it must be well agreed, is in reality a violent explosion certainly and apparently without danger, but from which we cannot exactly foresee the consequences and which, ultimately, we do not wish to repeat.

The sudden stopping of the cooking of the third work by the accidental opening of the philosophical vessel releases an unimaginable accumulation of cosmic energy whose catalytic action can make itself felt, in unsuspected manner, without any limit to stop it in space. We were in a position to verify the phenomenon, at once unexpected and grandiose, in 1938, when an unfortunate elaboration nevertheless delivered to us the great mystery of the chromatic scale; when, above all, the heavens showed themselves more clement than nowadays and when, moreover, the stockpiles of atomic armament did not exist in the four corners of the world.

One must wait and deserve the great miracle; be ready, each spring, to utilize the unpredictable week of weeks — hebdomas hebdomadum — in which are found, exceptionally, the work of Man and of Nature.

May the student, as well as we ourselves, keep constantly in mind, that our Quest is Great beyond all others.

In courage, humility and patience, it is important that the alchemist not let himself be surprised.

END

So, if you're doing the thing, keep it on a scale and check the weight. If it's going up, might have something good.

Also, this image, which says :

MUSICA SANCTA tristia spiritúúm mali morum fúga gvili spiritvs hwhy totu ter psallit, ni cordi gaudio pio perfuso – Sacred Music, defence against sorrow and bad thoughts, because the spirit of God sings with threefold joy in the heart and imbues it with pious affection.

More here: https://alkemiskaakademin.se/The Alchemical Room.pdf

 

[Lux Natura]

Thanks @ArgentSeeker. I think I may have read that from Canseliet in the past too.

In my case, the temperature is at 50C, unlike his 500C. For sure the material is increasing in mass - for one, I am imbibing it, and it is ultimately capturing the water of crystallization as the material changes. There is another increase in mass that is occurring as well for a different reason - I cannot measure it (unless I did have a very precise scale, or worked with large quantities), and it is something pulled from the air inside the sealed flask when it is incubating.

I've heard other types of sounds before in the work, but more of a "cracking sound", from when the heat is turned off. I think in those cases the material is absorbing a tiny amount of moisture or something else from the air, and that cracking is from a large amounts of the crystal lattice suddenly reorienting itself to a more stable form, shearing, and releasing that excess energy / tension as friction (sound). It sounds like many small bits of glass breaking, cascades of crackling.

This sound is different - it is a sinusoidal tone for sure. I cannot, as of yet, wrap my head around a reasonable explanation (and perhaps an "unreasonable" one is what is required), but my feeling is that the sound is being released as excess energy from within the system that is not needed. There may be other forms of energy being released as well that I cannot easily observer, such as minute amounts of EM radiation, for example, but here I am just theorizing.

Notably, it happens a few seconds after imbibing - adding a few drops of liquid, so that has an interplay. It's not any sort of acid-base interaction, that I know for sure. When the material is dry enough, I give it a bit more moisture, and that is when the sound is released. This makes me think that its that addition of moisture, slightly redissolving the material, that allows the material to release excess energy which it has held on to for now, but ultimately does not need. Almost like it feeds on the moisture, digests and keeps what it needs, and what it does not need it holds on to, in a sort of storage, and when moisture is available again, that is a transition point where it can release that unneeded "something", while it takes on more of that which it needs.

It's in a sealed container, and the moisture added "disappears", that is, it is incorporated as the mass changes its form. It's why I mention "water of crystallization" at the beginning - some portion of the salt in the matter is turning into various hydrate forms over time as it incubates.

Piezoelectricity also occurred to me as an explanation, especially if there are components of the matter that can act as various conductive poles, as within that salt matrix the addition of moisture would increase the capacity for current to pass, which, if passed through correct crystal (salt) structures, would produce vibrations.

I had noted that it seemed like the sound was vibrating the glass container. There may be something going on where the vibrations are being passed onto the container, and the container is acting like a speaker, or allowing a sound to build up at the resonant frequency of the container.

I had imbibed the material this morning, and recorded the sound with my phone. The phone was placed beside the container to record the sound. I was incorrect in that the pitch was dropping - it was rising.

The first tone dominant frequency is 608Hz, rising to 624Hz. The second tone dominant frequency is 778Hz, rising to 872Hz.

Here is the video of the sound showing spectrum analysis.

At this point, I am shifting to letting the sound be my guide, i.e, when it is no longer making a sound after imbibing, no more imbibing is needed.

 

[ArgentSeeker]

That is very cool. I wouldn't mess with it, but a fun experiment might be to play something back at it. I hope this run pans out.

More:

Atorène: Fire and Weights in Canseliet’s Last Cooking

Canseliet dared to publish his secret correspondence to a friend on the whistles emitted by his Egg. Atorène, in “Le Laboratoire Alchimique” 1981, analyzes the musical proportions of the Egg densities…

labyrinthdesigners.org

Canseliet & the Details of the Last Cooking

After publishing Canseliet’s epistolary chronicle with a friend regarding the observations on weight increases and emissions of the musical whistling scale, the time has come to also disclose the…

labyrinthdesigners.org

Canseliet, the Art of Music & Weight

The Philosophical Egg as a musical instrument? Here Canseliet dares to describe an unbelievable scale of whistling notes coming from its Crystal Dome.

labyrinthdesigners.org