Alchemy Online

Chapter 18 "The Third Eye"

2009-08-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

The Third Eye, also known as the inner eye is
the medium for us living to see and comprehend
the existence of the "things" unseen. But for
some other fields there are other uses and
opportunities it offers. Specially when you are
in search of the truth.

When you find yourself in the midst of
emptiness, void in knowledge of the world and
its inner sanctum, unconsciously your whole
being is craving for an understanding.
When opportunity knocks, there it begins!
The third eye emphasizes the truth of THEIR
existence, the existence of a more powerful
beings than us. More gifted and unimaginably
knowledgeable than a normal person who knows
only a 3-dimensionality.

"I want to open my third eye for this,
sacrificing the peace I'm experiencing
my whole life but, for a cause, I really
need to do this"

Chapter 17 "The New Dawn"

2009-07-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

Its been a very Long Time since I've posted
my blog entry. Its been Months, almost a year.
My Post today is very significant to to what
had happen. In our path, there would always
be hindrances, there's always something that
would bring you down resulting a failure to
your dreams and Goals. But that didn't stop
there, that is were you enter another chapter
in the book, though it ends, it continues to a
New Dawn.

In alchemy, whether physical or spiritual
you go in every stages. You enter each gates
you need to pass before you can proceed.
Just like searching for the Truth, there
are times when you think you have uncover
a mystery but the truth is that answer
evolve into a new question. In my months
of hibernation to my research, I've found
a new field, a new chapter to read and
discover, which I know, in the end, it would fill
up the puzzle of the answer i seek,

That field my fellow is "The Third Eye"...
Seeing the spirit world is an ever fulfillment
of my dreams, my curiosity, my quest.
Seeing the unseen (before).. the unbelieved
by many... If I would witness it in my eyes,
that would be more than a motivation to me,
I see it as..

"Everything that I have dreamed of are
to impossible to be in reality,but this...is
the most possible..."


I'll be posting the next research next week..

Chapter 16 "Strength"

2008-12-18T21:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes there are happenings in Life where you wonder, was it really inevitable? Or was it really meant for that to happen. You wonder, what if you can do something to stop it? What if that is your chance to prove yourself? What would happen if you have the strength, the strength to defend, to protect somebody?

It made me wonder what exactly is the meaning of strength? If we define it as how strong you are then what is Vigor exactly? It leaves me to think that strength doesn't define what exactly it conveys, not all physical, not all muscles and how much weight you can carry. I have experience many things, most of it does not involve any physical strength to deal with, but you know what made me think it needs strength? Because its hard, lets take for instance your emotional problems, you know you need strength dealing with them, you need courage and yet you do not punch walls (except some) , yell to death and etc2x. What your doing is fighting but then you don't wrestle with the flesh, what your doing is fighting with your mind, wrestle for the decision. Think again, look to that person who go to training everyday just to get stronger, do you think his muscles can help him when problem comes, except troubles coz you really need muscles to save your life^^. I hope you have got my point. Ill...assume...

And to that, when you seek for that power, (mention in the previous chapter) you do not seek for strength in physical alone, perhaps a deeper definition of strength, a deeper message for the word "Strong". If your thinking you need to be strong to achieve that power, you may think you need to be strong. Indeed you should and would be but do not think straight directly to it, think curve, there are more to a word than meets the eye. Look that deeper thought, do not look using your eyes alone, do not think with your mind head-on, do not write a letter with only your hands unto the paper, but seek deep inside your heart there's something inside it.

"The Strength of the Body is nothing, without the courage of the Heart"
-ME

(I've read the quote somewhere, Thanks whoever wrote this, thought I've got revisions in mine)

Chapter 15 "Sense"

2008-12-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

There are times you get the feeling your alone, sometimes you yourself wanted to be alone. A time to think again, a "Pause" to remake things. That which you cannot, then you seek for an outlet, a catalyst for your emotion to go, an instrument for you to blow those uncried tears.

We longed for something, something that would cover those mistakes, those things we wish to remake. If only life is a document that your writing in a computer... you have the option to be wrong you have the guts to make misspells, because you know you can still go back. But here, you cannot, thats why you search for that.

In your long search, you would learn many things, you would see many horizons, new faces of destiny. And for many, they End up seeking "the Power". The Power to make difference , whether for the good or for Bad. Sides doesn't really matter because it calls for your personal being, its your decision. That power, is any ability, any thing that would make you literally different from others. Though the possibility is uncertain the desire is strong. Why would One leave the option of becoming what you dreamed of? Truly, we all desires for one thing, that we may have supernatural abilities, to defend and protect ourselves? Not just that... there's more... The world in great vain, due to this people with no hearts towards your "Home". Somebody must take action, do what is needed to be done. Where is your Sense fellow? Did it pass just like the truth of yesterday had become? No, its still there, wake it up. You will find it!

Chapter 14 "Alchemical Symbols"

2008-10-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

Alchemic symbols, originally devised as part of the protoscience of alchemy, were used to denote some elements and some compounds until the 18th century. Note that while notation like this was mostly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists, so this page lists the most common.

Chapter 13 "Alchemy in wiki"

2008-10-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

Alchemy, a part of the Occult Tradition, is both a philosophy and a practice with an ultimately unknown aim, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing unusual properties. The practical aspect of alchemy generated the basics of inorganic chemistry, namely concerning procedures, equipment and the identification and use of many current substances.

Alchemy has been practiced in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Japan, Korea and China, in Classical Greece and Rome, in the Muslim civilizations, and then in Europe up to the 20th century—in a complex network of schools and philosophical systems spanning at least 2500 years.

Alchemy was known as the spagyric art after Greek words meaning to separate and to join together. Compare this with the primary dictum of Alchemy in Latin: SOLVE ET COAGULA — Separate, and Join Together.

The best-known goals of the alchemists were the transmutation of common metals into gold (called chrysopoeia) or silver (less well known is plant alchemy, or "spagyric"); the creation of a "panacea," or the elixir of life, a remedy that supposedly would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely; and the discovery of a universal solvent.^[1] Although these were not the only uses for the science, they were the ones most documented and well known. Starting with the Middle Ages, Arabic and European alchemists invested much effort on the search for the "philosopher's stone", a legendary substance that was believed to be an essential ingredient for either or both of those goals. The philosopher's stone was believed to mystically amplify the user's knowledge of alchemy so much that anything was attainable. Alchemists enjoyed prestige and support through the centuries, though not for their pursuit of those goals, nor the mystic and philosophical speculation that dominates their literature. Rather it came from their mundane contributions to the "chemical" industries of the day—ore testing and refining, metalworking, production of gunpowder, ink, dyes, paints, cosmetics, leather tanning, ceramics, glass manufacture, preparation of extracts, liquors, and so on (it seems that the preparation of aqua vitae, the "water of life", was a fairly popular "experiment" among European alchemists).

Starting with the Middle Ages, some alchemists increasingly came to view metaphysical aspects as the true foundation of alchemy; and organic and inorganic chemical substances, physical states, and molecular material processes as mere metaphors for spiritual entities, spiritual states and ultimately, spiritual transformations. In this sense, the literal meanings of 'Alchemical Formulas' were a blind, hiding their true spiritual philosophy, which being at odds with the Medieval Christian Church was a necessity that could have otherwise lead them to the "stake and rack" of the Inquisition under charges of heresy.^[2] Thus, both the transmutation of common metals into gold and the universal panacea symbolized evolution from an imperfect, diseased, corruptible and ephemeral state towards a perfect, healthy, incorruptible and everlasting state; and the philosopher's stone then represented some mystic key that would make this evolution possible. Applied to the alchemist himself, the twin goal symbolized his evolution from ignorance to enlightenment, and the stone represented some hidden spiritual truth or power that would lead to that goal. In texts that are written according to this view, the cryptic alchemical symbols, diagrams, and textual imagery of late alchemical works typically contain multiple layers of meanings, allegories, and references to other equally cryptic works; and must be laboriously "decoded" in order to discover their true meaning.

In his Alchemical Catechism, Paracelsus clearly denotes that his usage of the metals was a symbol:

Q. When the Philosophers speak of gold and silver, from which they extract their matter, are we to suppose that they refer to the vulgar gold and silver? A. By no means; vulgar silver and gold are dead, while those of the Philosophers are full of life.^[3]

Chapter 12 "The Journal"

2008-10-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

In part of the research, I'm including all of what is written in my journal book, as of now, I just discovered the dangers of what is along the way. If I may say, its beyond what you can imagine, I had catch a glimpse of some possible dark arts to be include to be able to attain the so called "Elixir of Life".

August 18th 2008;

At the first part of my research, I'm well aware of whatever might be the answer ahead, but it keeps me motivated from it. There are a lot of discoveries and information that I've read recently and it open my eyes. With regards to my religion, its quite difficult for me, specially with my current university status. I'm aware of what is happening to my life but i prefer not making it a hindrance not to pursue it. I've highlighted every crucial information about what I've found out and i'm planning to search its branch wherever the information may carry me.

(to be continued at my next post)
(please I need some votes whether I continue posting my journal here or separate in in another blog.) Thank you reader.

Chapter 11 "Caduceus"

2008-09-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

The caduceus or wand of Hermes is typically depicted as a short herald's staff entwined by two serpents in the form of a double helix, and sometimes surmounted by wings. In later Antiquity the caduceus may have provided the basis for the astrological symbol representing the planet Mercury and in Roman iconography was often depicted being carried in the left hand of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the gods, guide of the dead and protector of merchants, gamblers, liars and thieves.

The caduceus is sometimes used as a symbol for medicine, especially in North America, through confusion with the traditional medical symbol, the rod of Asclepius, which has only a single snake and no wings. Given the historically attested use of this emblem, its adoption as a symbol of medicine is a great irony.

As early as 1910, Dr. William Hayes Ward discovered that symbols similar to the classical caduceus appeared not infrequently on Mesopotamian cylinder seals. He suggested the symbol originated some time between 3000 and 4000 BCE, and that it might have been the source of the Greek caduceus. A.L. Frothingham incorporated Dr. Ward's research into his own work, published in 1916, in which he suggested that the prototype of Hermes was an "Oriental deity of Babylonian extraction" represented in his earliest form as a snake god. From this perspective, the caduceus was originally representative of Hermes himself, in his early form as the god Ningishzida, "messenger" of the "Earth Mother". However, more recent classical scholarship makes no mention of Babylonian origin for Hermes or the caduceus.

Among the Greeks the caduceus is thought to have originally been a herald's staff. The Latin word caduceus (possibly caduceum) is an adaptation of the Greek kerukeion, meaning "herald's wand (or staff)", deriving from kerux, meaning "herald" or "public messenger", which in turn is related to kerusso, meaning "to announce" (often in the capacity of herald). The staff of the herald is thought to have developed from a shepherd's crook, in the form of a forked olive branch adorned with first two fillets of wool, then with white ribbons and finally with two snakes intertwined. However no explanation as to how such an object would be practically used as a functional crook by shepherds is offered.

One Greek myth of origin of the caduceus is part of the story of Tiresias,who found two snakes copulating and killed the female with his staff. Tiresias was immediately turned into a woman, and so remained until he was able to repeat the act with the male snake seven years later. This staff later came in to the possession of the god Hermes, along with its transformative powers. Another myth relates how Hermes played a lyre fashioned from a tortoise shell for Apollo, and in return was appointed ambassador of the gods with the caduceus as a symbol of his office. Another tale suggests that Hermes (or more properly the Roman Mercury) saw two serpents entwined in mortal combat. Separating them with his wand he brought about peace between them, and as a result the wand with two serpents came to be seen as a sign of peace.

In Rome, Livy refers to the caduceator who negotiated peace arrangements under the diplomatic protection of the caduceus he carried.

Ive added this information, in case you want to find out what and where is the Symbol from.

Chapter 10 "The Hexagram"

2008-09-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

Throughout the research, readers might have notice the usage of the in the left side. What is this symbol is about exactly, and why is it seen for almost anywhere, everywhere. Games, Spell castings, Alchemy itself use the image. Below is a brief history of this image that may give us a view of what it really is.

Origins and shape

The hexagram is a mandala symbol called satkona yantra or sadkona yantra found on ancient South Indian Hindu temples built thousands of years ago. It symbolizes the nara-narayana, or perfect meditative state of balance achieved between Man and God, and if maintained, results in "moksha," or "nirvana" (release from the bounds of the earthly world and its material trappings).

Another theory about the origin of the shape is that it is simply 2 of the 3 letters in the name David: in its Hebrew spelling, David is transliterated as 'D-W-D'. In Biblical Hebrew, the letter 'D' (Dalet) was written in a form much like a triangle, similar to the Greek letter "Delta" (Δ). The symbol may have been a simple family crest formed by flipping and juxtaposing the two most prominent letters in the name. The letter "W" in this case could reference the compositing operation of the two Deltas.

Some researchers have theorized that the hexagram represents the astrological chart at the time of David's birth or anointment as king. The hexagram is also known as the "King's Star" in astrological circles.

In antique papyri, pentagrams, together with stars and other signs, are frequently found on amulets bearing the Jewish names of God, and used to guard against fever and other diseases. Curiously the hexagram is not found among these signs. In the great magic papyrus at Paris and London there are twenty-two signs side by side, and a circle with twelve signs, but neither a pentagram nor a hexagram.

Therefore, the syncretism of Hellenistic, Jewish, and Coptic influences probably did not originate the symbol.

It is also possible that as a simple geometric shape, like for example the triangle, circle, or square, the hexagram has been created by various different peoples with no connection to one another.

Usage by Christians

The hexagram may be found in some Churches and stained-glass windows. Example of this is one embedded in the ceiling of the Washington National Cathedral. Because the similar-looking sign called the encircled pentagram used in occultism, it was not used in church architecture until Christian architects, both Protestant and Catholic, began to accept the notion that the Star of David is an old Jewish sign.In Christianity it is often called the star of creation.

The Bible makes no direct mention of the Star of David, however, the Catechism of the Catholic Church of the year 528 refers to the star which led the Magi to Christ as "the Star of David". In the context, the phrase most likely meant "the star of the king of Israel" rather than the double triangle-shaped symbol used today.

Usage by Jews

Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Judaism and Jewish identity and is also known colloquially as the Jewish Star or "Star of David". Its usage as a sign of Jewish identity began in the Middle Ages, though its religious usage began earlier, with the current earliest archeological evidence being a stone bearing the shield from the arch of a 3-4th century synagogue in the Galilee. A more enduring symbol of Judaism, the menorah, has been in use since BCE.

Chapter 9 "Cabala the Spiritual Alchemy"

2008-09-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

Kabbalah is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mystical aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings meant to define the inner meaning of both the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and traditional Rabbinic literature, as well as to explain the significance of Jewish religious observances.

The origins of the actual term Kabbalah are unknown and disputed to belong either to Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021 - 1058) or else to the 13th century CE Spanish Kabbalist Bahya ben Asher. While other terms have been used in many religious documents from the 2nd century CE up to the present day, the term Kabbalah has become the main descriptive of Jewish esoteric knowledge and practices. The Kabbalistic literature, which served as the basis for most of the development of Kabbalistic thought, divides between early works such as Heichalot and Sefer Yetzirah (believed to be dated 1st or 2nd Century CE) and later works dated to the 13th century CE, of which the main book is the Zohar representing the main source for the Contemplative Kabbalah ("Kabbalah Iyunit").

According to Kabbalistic tradition, knowledge was transmitted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, and sages (Hakhamim in Hebrew), eventually to be "interwoven" into Jewish religious writings and culture. According to this tradition, Kabbalah was, in around the 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel,^[4] although there is little objective historical evidence to support this thesis.

Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin) to hide the knowledge and make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.^[5]Diaspora), unsupervised and unguided by the masters, might lead them into wrong practice and forbidden ways. As a result, the Kabbalah became secretive, forbidden and esoteric to Judaism (“Torat Ha’Sod” The Sanhedrin leaders were also concerned that the practice of Kabbalah by Jews deported on conquest to other countries (the Hebrew:for two and a half millennia.

It is hard to clarify with any degree of certainty the exact concepts within Kabbalah. There are several different schools of thought with very different outlooks; however, all are accepted as correct. Modern Halakhic authorities have tried to narrow the scope and diversity within Kabbalah, by restricting study to certain texts, notably Zohar and the teachings of the Isaac Luria as passed down through Haim Vital.However even this qualification does little to limit the scope of understanding and expression, as included in those works are commentaries on Abulafian writings, Sepher Yetzirah, Albotonian writings, and Brit Menuhah.It is therefore important to bear in mind when discussing things such as the Sephirot and their interactions that one is dealing with highly abstract concepts that at best can only be understood intuitively.

According to Lurianic cosmology, the Sephirot correspond to various levels of creation (ten sephirot in each of the four worlds, and four worlds within each of the larger four worlds, each containing ten sephirot, which themselves contain ten sephirot, to an infinite number of possibilities^[13]), and are emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The Sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator's will (ratzon)^[14], and they should not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different ways the one God reveals his will through the Emanations. It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.

The names of the ten Sephirot are:

Keter (will)
Chochmah (wisdom)
Binah (understanding)
Chesed (sometimes reffered to as Gedolah or Gedulah) (loving kindness)
Din (sometimes referred to as Gevurah or Geburah) (judgement)
Tiferet (harmony)
Netzach (victory)
Hod (glory)
Yesod (foundation)
Malchut (sovereignty)

Chapter 8 "Tree of Life"

2008-09-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

In connection to the search of the Philosopher's Stone, I have stumble into some information in some books, reviews, and the internet, one of these had really caught my attention, its the ideas and teachings by "Kabbalah" or "cabala" in english translation. These teachings (i dont know if its a religion) would be discuss on Chapter 9 so please be patient.
This post is suppose to focus on one of the important fields in the particular ideas in cabala, the "Tree of Life". (as seen above)

Go to this link for the Flash version(recomended):

http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/Animated.htm

I have read several physics books today, and I remember dealing with the dimensions, the parallel worlds they happen to mention, and some other ideas that says there are world out there but in different dimensions. Separated by our basic counting number (1-etc). They have said that we are in the Third dimension, having Length, Width, and thickness, and the base shape would be the "Triangle" as it has three sides, like having three properties or characteristics. Further explanation of the physics dimensions is that, lower dimensions a cannot comprehend higher dimension, that is why we people cannot determine what 4th dimension is, we of course are capable of understanding the 2 dimensional world coz its lower that where we are. It is believe in that book that the Last dimension (10th) is where God is.
Notice the animated of the Tree of Life, every steps, every circle corresponds with a shape, second is the two axis direction, the 2 dimensional aspect, up and down, right and left...have you notice the connection between Physics and cabala? The next figure, the triangle, three properties, three sides, that could mean 3 dimension and so on. If we analyze these using both physics and cabala, we could say that:

Our true birth begins (1st dimension) , afterward we transfer to the 2 dimensional world, then transfer again (we can see it by means of death like what happen people), then to the third dimensional world. If we would think, souls, or ghost, or anything paranormal, they can walk through walls and go wherever they want, this is a manifestation of a higher dimensional living being. If us, 3 dimensional beings would go to the 2 dimensional world, these people living in the 2 dimensional would see us as a mighty thing, more like God in some point because, we are not hindered by the limitations of there dimension, see example below:

An example of a 2 dimensional world:
Fig 1:

They were like comic characters, they don't have thickness and the only direction they know is up down, right left. There world is like a floating paper in the air where in if the 3 dimensional being enters, only the portion of what had intersect the 3D the 2d can see.
See figure for visual:

If deaths we see in Earth is a mean of transferring to another dimension then Ghost and everything panoramic events which we cannot comprehend are the evidence.

Physics and the lessons of Spiritual alchemy conveys a message that everything is connected, Ancient Civilizations, there achievements, wonders of the world and how they're made, nature secrets, advance science, magistry, and everything! There are a lot of things we need to find out, be with me people.

The secret of the Philosopher's Stone and of prolonging human life is still hidden, but who know reader, this may be a clue that we need to think through, that idea of One, everything is connected and is a manifestation from a single root. I remember the first post's, the book of abraham said about the connection of all, maybe...we need to study all sciences and connect them all.! LOL..have a nice day...I'm gonna read some more to find something out again.

Chapter 7 "Secret Societies"

2008-09-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard about secret socities in recent times? Yes you may have, in movies, in different media types where fantasies are known to men. But there's something I've seen today that had open my mind in some things again.

It's about the Secret Societies practicing mystical arts at
recent times, this post doesn't aim to promote these groups
but I urged the readers better not to go with them.
These societies offers teachings towards cabala, alchemy, occult, voodoo, and magistracy.
Just like in Harry Potter series, the inter schools that teach different arts, its very similar,
there are a lot of books to be posted hereby after some few post, we will reach there as soon as possible.

*here..few were only given, there's still lots of em out there, search for them if
you were really interested.

Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around 5 million (including around 480,000 in England, Scotland and Ireland alone, and just under two million in the United States).^[1]^[2] The various forms all share moral and metaphysical ideals, which include, in most cases, a constitutional declaration of belief in a Supreme Being.^[3]

The fraternity is administratively organised into Grand Lodges (or sometimes Orients), each of which governs its own jurisdiction, which consists of subordinate (or constituent) Lodges. Grand Lodges recognise each other through a process of landmarks and regularity. There are also appendant bodies, which are organisations related to the main branch of Freemasonry, but with their own independent administration.

Freemasonry uses the metaphors of operative stonemasons' tools and implements, against the allegorical backdrop of the building of King Solomon's Temple, to convey what has been described by both Masons and critics as "a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols

The origins and early development of Freemasonry are a matter of some debate and conjecture. There is some evidence to suggest that there were Masonic Lodges in existence in Scotland as early as the late sixteenth century,^[6] and clear references to their existence in England by the mid seventeenth century.^[7] A poem known as "The Regius Manuscript" has been dated to approximately 1390 and is the oldest known Masonic text.^[8]

The first Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of England (GLE), was founded on 24 June 1717, when four existing London Lodges met for a joint dinner. This rapidly expanded into a regulatory body, which most English Lodges joined. However, a few lodges resented some of the modernisations that GLE endorsed, such as the creation of the Third Degree, and formed a rival Grand Lodge on 17 July 1751, which they called the "Antient Grand Lodge of England". The two competing Grand Lodges vied for supremacy—the "Moderns" (GLE) and the "Antients" (or "Ancients")—until they united 25 November 1813 to form the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE).

Rosicrucian Order

The term Rosicrucian (symbol: the Rose Cross) describes a secret society of mystics, allegedly formed in late mediaeval Germany, holding a doctrine "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe and the spiritual realm. " ^[1]

Between 1607 and 1616, two anonymous manifestos were published, first in Germany and later throughout Europe^{[citation needed]}. These were Fama Fraternitatis RC (The Fame of the Brotherhood of RC) and Confessio Fraternitatis (The Confession of the Brotherhood of RC). The influence of these documents, presenting a "most laudable Order" of mystic-philosopher-doctors and promoting a "Universal Reformation of Mankind", gave rise to an enthusiasm called by its historian Dame Frances Yates the "Rosicrucian Enlightenment".^[2]

In later centuries many masonic and occult societies have claimed to derive their doctrines, in whole or in part, from the original Rosicrucians. Several modern societies, which date the beginning of the Order to earlier centuries, have been formed for the study of Rosicrucianism and allied subjects. However, many researchers^[who?] on the history of Rosicrucianism argue that modern Rosicrucianists are in no sense directly linked to any real society of the early 17th century.

Order of the Golden Dawn

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (or, more commonly, the Golden Dawn) was a magical order of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, practicing a form of theurgy and spiritual development. It was possibly the single greatest influence on twentieth century Western occultism.^{[citation needed]} Concepts of magic and ritual that became core elements of many other traditions, including Wicca,^[1]^[2] Thelema, and other forms of magical spirituality popular today, are drawn from the Golden Dawn tradition.

The three founders, Dr. William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers were Freemasons and members of Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.),^[3] an appendant body to Freemasonry. Westcott, also a member of the Theosophical Society, appears to have been the initial driving force behind the establishment of the Golden Dawn.

The Golden Dawn system is based on an initiated hierarchal order similar to that of a Masonic Lodge, however women were admitted on an equal basis with men. The "Golden Dawn" is properly only the first or "outer" of three Orders, although all three are often collectively described as the "Golden Dawn". The First Order taught esoteric philosophy based on the Hermetic Qabalah and personal development through study and awareness of the four Classical Elements as well as the basics of astrology, tarot, and geomancy. The Second or "Inner" Order, the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (the Ruby Rose and Cross of Gold), taught magic proper, including scrying, astral travel, and Alchemy. The Third Order was that of the "Secret Chiefs", who were said to be great adepts no longer in incarnate form, but who directed the activities of the lower two orders by spirit communication with the Chiefs of the Second Order.

Influences on Golden Dawn concepts and work include: Christian mysticism, Qabalah, Hermeticism, the religion of Ancient Egypt, Theurgy, Freemasonry, Alchemy, Theosophy, Eliphas Levi, Papus, Enochian magic, and Renaissance grimoires.

The fundamental basis of the original Order of the Golden Dawn was a collection of documents known as the Cipher Manuscripts, written in English using a cipher attributed to Johannes Trithemius. The Manuscripts give the specific outlines of the Grade Rituals of the Order, and prescribe a curriculum of specifically graduated teachings that encompass the Hermetic Qabalah, Astrology, occult tarot, Geomancy, and Alchemy.

According to the documents of the Order, the manuscripts were passed on from Kenneth Mackenzie, a Masonic scholar, to Rev. A.F.A. Woodford, whom Francis King acknowledges as the fourth founder^[4] (although Woodford died shortly after the Order was founded).^[5] The documents did not excite Woodford, and in February 1886 he passed them on to Dr. Westcott, who managed to decode them in 1887.^[4] Westcott was pleased with his discovery, called on Mathers for a second opinion, and asked for cooperation in turning the manuscripts into a coherent system for lodge work. Mathers then called on William Robert Woodman to assist by being a third collaborator and Woodman, it seems, accepted.^[4] Likewise, Mathers and Dr. Westcott have been credited for developing the ritual outlines in the Cipher Manuscripts into a workable format.^[6] Mathers, however, is generally credited with the design of the curriculum and rituals of the Second Order, which he called the Rosae Rubae et Aureae Crucis ("Ruby Rose and Golden Cross", or the RR et AC).^[7]

However, the true origins of the Manuscript remain a mystery to this day. Many theories as to their genesis have been put forward; there is a lack of concrete evidence supporting any of the theories over the others.

Chapter 6 "The Sages"

2008-09-22T02:02:00.000-07:00

Early discussions mentioned about the SAGES, one who give the book to Flammel is a Sage, now, we should know who and what they really are. There are a lot of traces about the Great Sages throughout the history, most of them where involve in a very crucial details in historical books. Abraham himself had an advisor, a sage, an alchemist, a philosopher, named Melchizedek, Abraham's book and its contents could be a work of inspiration of Abraham of what he had learned from his Sage advisor. The sage that gave the book to Flammel also, though we cannot trace their background, is a member of the hidden order of the Sages that hid the book from the public, as mention in the Flammel's History section, the book, before Flammel had it, belonged to "the unknown sages" the "unknown masters". These people are rarely seen in public I believe soo, or it could be that they were around but we dont even know the traces or any marks where we could identify that a person is a sage.

SAGES are those people,(as defined from many dictionaries) are those who had complete or wide knowledge with regards to God, they knew much more things than a normal man. They often live in the forest, alone or with other sages in their hidden temples. The Magi people i had revealed to you, my uncle, which had his ability from his father, his father I think is a member of the secret society, so as the other Magi, which is Recanell, they shared lots in common with regards to what they do, what they're abilities are, considering there animal pets, weird pets to be exact. I'm in a deep observation here in my uncle, because of one important detail, this is mentioned in some of my past post, that the sages meet once a year in a specific place. I want to find out if my uncle goes to some place once a year, or anything that I may come up with. With regards to their transportation? Well, havnt I mention that my uncle hat a cat looking pet?or have i? And the Recanell person had a dog, all of those pet, as I heard from my closest relatives, you can ride them and one thing is sure...they're FAST!

The pets reminds me of the book "Do you wanna know who were the others?", I havnt read the book but I believe we here are not alone, theyre are still a lot of things waiting for men to be unvield. If we were alone, this world will be boring, that is why we love the Digital World today, because of the discoveries done yesterday, unfortunately man focus on Physical Science, I want to move unto the spiritual realm, the esoterics philosophies, because I'm always waiting when the world will changed and I've decided, I will be the one to start it.

This portion opens Public Responses from a popular posting site:

As I asked them "Who were the Sages", here are few and highlighted responses.

Main Entry: sage
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1: one (as a profound philosopher) distinguished for wisdom
2: a mature or venerable man of sound judgment

Sages are not magicians th ough they have the power to perform magic. They are the ones who have

given up worldly affairs and have devoted their life to God and prayers. They are not ordinary monks, like priest but have renounced worldy goods for God. They usually live in a cave or forest, and devote time to prayers and meditation. Over a period of time, they gain certain powers by which they can perform miracles, but they do not show off. Very rarely do they perform miracles and it is then that they b;ecome famous, but then it is only when they have permission. They are wise, kind and see God in all. They are humble and eat what they can get as alms. Such sages are rare and far inbetween generations

Melchizedek is a sage from the Old Testament who was considered to be something of a supernatural being. Abraham paid him tribute, which meant he was highly respected and was of an order higher than Abraham.
The Oxford English Dictionary explains a sage as 'a very wise man.'
My idea of a sage is of someone who's somewhat of a seer, or someone who has knowledge beyond the knowledge that can be learnt in earthly ways, such as by reading a book.

Sages see things differently from other people, they're open enough to see the larger picture so instead of dwelling on life's trivialties they're curious about things most people don't think about.
They're highly aware of God and know things, just know them without knowing how they know, except that the wisdom is from God. They contain so much of God compared to others that in a way they partly have the mind of God.
They're full of light and the light shines in the darkness, they don't fear God or any spiritual beings, including dark ones because they're so powerful they know they won't get hurt by them.
I read about a particularly strong sage who was loved by everyone, he was a monk and when he died a young lad saw the light in the sky from his spirit from miles away so the lad himself became a monk and sage. As you're aware sages don't have to be monks and I believe they can be anyone, even ordinary people that are walking among us.

Judging from the information obtained, there is a high possibility that this Magis's are one or One of the magi I mention is a Sage. Ladies and Gentlemen, Readers, analyzed things written here, and help me think, this is a research by the way and I need help, there may be a crucial point in my information that would trigger a new branch or a discovery thank you very much.

Chapter 5 "Mr Magi 2"

2008-09-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

This post is about another person, in which, more related to Alchemy, a person who can go back to his youth anytime he wants.

This person, named Leopoldo Recanell, an old man, dead as expected and buried 5 years ago in our province. He knows my aunt, they talk a lot, every time when work time is over, that would be in times of dusk. This man knows some native techniques of healing, and what had caught my attention is that my aunt saw a stone that he is using. There are a lot of stories from my aunt told by that person, my aunt said he had mention his dogs, which is definitely not an average dog, coz his have wings on its side, he said he had three of 'em. A black , a white, and one with both colors, black and white dots. One of the most amazing part is that one day, there's a kid on my aunts lawn, my aunt yeild at the kid coz the kid looks like he's stealing gingers in there. Then afternoon comes and the old man, as usual, came back from work, they talk a lot again and, the old man happen to mention about "he turn into a kid and they didn't know it", he claimed to be the kid that my aunt had yeild at, my aunt iss shock, full of unbelief, the old man recited the exact words my aunt said.

Hey, were not on the main purpose of this post yet, as mention several post's before this, The Philosopher's Stone is a substance that can cure any disease and a substance that can prolong human life. There are a lot of claims in the country that they have succeeded in creating this stone, I'm convinced by them a little, not as being convince by this case, considering this had happen nearest to me, and in my country, in my province.

The said man is buried, he died last 5 years ago i think, and... after a year everybody forget, his had finally moved on and they continue life as of nothing happen. One of his family relative went to Dapitan and in her surprise...she found Leopoldo Recanell there, ALIVE, still strong, and the most shocking part is that, he looks a little younger than before he died. Then now, because of his family had moved on and had a new family themselves he decided not to go back and stay there. He is in great passion of helping sick people and up to now, he still is healing a lot of people. I cant wait to meet these two magi's that I've mention to you. But I have no time to go to them, and the other one (my uncle) he wont tell me the secret "its bad" he reason out.(always)..

But here's what I believe, the only thing that would make it bad/evil is when you or any person use it in evil. Right? You can never tell whether things in this world is either for good or for Bad, that's why we were given a choice, that's for us to decide whether for bad or good. This research doesnt aim on anything like that, because all we wanted is to find out the

Chapter 4 "History of Alchemy

2008-09-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

The information below is taken from AlchemyLab.com . I have added this, as a part of what I've read and to be able to share to the readers what information that I have acquired from this material, considering that I can't summarized the whole plot. This post opens the "History of Alchemy", from its origin (as believe to be in Egypt) and furthermore related information to every nation, every tribe and tongue that had practiced the sacred science throughout the history.

The Alchemists

To most of us, the word "alchemy" calls up the picture of a medieval and slightly sinister laboratory in which an aged, black-robed wizard broods over the crucibles and alembics that are to bring within his reach the Philosopher's Stone, and with that discovery, the formula for the Elixir of life and the transmutation of metals. But one can scarcely dismiss so lightly the science -- or art, if you will --that won to its service the lifelong devotion of men of culture and attainment from every race and clime over a period of thousands of years, for the beginnings of alchemy are hidden in the mists of time. Such a science is something far more than an outlet for a few eccentric old men in their dotage.

What was the motive behind their constant strivings, their never-failing patience in the unravelling of the mysteries, the tenacity of purpose in the face of persecution and ridicule through the countless ages that led the alchemists to pursue undaunted their appointed way? Something far greater, surely, than a mere vainglorious desire to transmute the base metals into gold, or to brew a potion to prolong a little longer this earthly span, for the devotees of alchemy in the main cared little for such things.

The accounts of their lives almost without exception lead us to believe that they were concerned with things spiritual rather than with things temporal. They were men inspired by a vision, a vision of man made perfect, of man freed from disease and the limitations of warring faculties both mental and physical, standing godlike in the realization of a power that even at this very moment of time lies hidden in the deeper strata of consciousness, a vision of man made truly in the image and likeness of the One Divine Mind in its Perfection, Beauty, and Harmony.

To appreciate and understand the adepts' visions, it is necessary to trace the history of their philosophy. So let us for step back into the past to catch a glimpse of these men, of their work and ideals, and more important still, of the possibilities that their life-work might bring to those who today are seeking for fuller knowledge and wider horizons.

Chinese Alchemy

References about alchemy are to be found in the myths and legends of ancient China. From a book written by Edward Chalmers Werner, a late member of the Chinese Government's Historiological Bureau in Peking comes this quotation from old Chinese records: "Chang Tao-Ling, the first Taoist pope, was born in A.D. 35 in the reign of the Emperor Kuang Wu Ti of the Hari dynasty. His birthplace is variously given as T'ien-mu Shan, Lin-an-Hsien in Chekiang, Feng-yang Fu in Anhui, and even in the "Eye of Heaven Mountain." He devoted himself wholly to study and meditation, declining all offers to enter the service of the state. He preferred to take up his abode in the mountains of Western China where he persevered in the study of alchemy and in cultivating the virtues of purity and mental abstraction. From the hands of the alchemist Lao Tzu, he received supernaturally a mystical treatise, by following the instructions in which he was successful in his match for the Elixir of Life." This reference demonstrates that alchemy was studied in China before the commencement of the Christian era and its origin must lie even further back in Chinese history.

Egyptian Alchemy

From China we now travel to Egypt, from where alchemy as it is known in the West seems to have sprung. The great Egyptian adept king, named by the Greeks "Hermes Trismegistus" is thought to have been the founder of the art. Reputed to have lived about 1900 B.C., he was highly celebrated for his wisdom and skill in the operation of nature, but of the works attributed to him only a few fragments escaped the destroying hand of the Emperor Diocletian in the third century A.D. The main surviving documents attributed to him are the Emerald Tablet, the Asclepian Dialogues, and the Divine Pymander. If we may judge from these fragments (both preserved in the Latin by Fianus and translated into other languages in the sixteenth century), it would seem to be of inestimable loss to the world that none of these works have survived in their entirety.

The famous Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina) of Hermes is the primary document of alchemy. There have been various stories of the origin of the tract, one being that the original emerald slab upon which the precepts were said to be inscribed in Phoenician characters was discovered in the tomb of Hermes by Alexander the Great. In the Berne edition (1545) of the Summa Perfectionis, the Latin version is printed under the heading: "The Emerald Tables of Hermes the Thrice Great Concerning Chymistry, Translator unknown. The words of the secrets of Hermes, which were written on the Tablet of Emerald found between his hands in a dark cave wherein his body was discovered buried."

Arabian Alchemy

An Arabic version of the text was discovered in a work ascribed to Jabir (Geber), which was probably made about the ninth century. In any case, it must be one of the oldest alchemical fragments known, and that it is a piece of Hermetic teaching I have no doubt, as it corresponds to teachings of the Thrice-Greatest Hermes as they have been passed down to us in esoteric circles. The tablet teaches the unity of matter and the basic truth that all form is a manifestation from one root, the One Thing or Ether. This tablet, in conjunction with the works of the Corpus Hermeticum are well worth reading, particularly in the light of the general alchemical symbolism. Unhappily, the Emerald Tablet is all that remains to us of the genuine Egyptian sacred art of alchemy.

The third century A.D. seems to have been a period when alchemy was widely practiced, but it was also during this century, in the year 296, that Diocletian sought out and burnt all the Egyptian books on alchemy and the other Hermetic sciences, and in so doing destroyed all evidence of any progress made up to that date. In the fourth century, Zosimus the Panopolite wrote his treatise on The Divine Art of Making Gold and Silver, and in the fifth Morienus, a hermit of Rome, left his native city and set out to seek the sage Adfar, a solitary adept whose fame had reached him from Alexandria. Morienus found him, and after gaining his confidence became his disciple. After the death of his patron, Morienus came into touch with King Calid, and a very attractive work purporting to be a dialogue between himself and the king is still extant under the name of Morienus. In this century, Cedrennus also appeared, a magician who professed alchemy.

The next name of note, that of Geber, occurs in or about 750 A.D. Geber's real name was Abou Moussah Djfar-Al Sell, or simply "The Wise One." Born at Houran in Mesopotamia, he is generally esteemed by adepts as the greatest of them all after Hermes. Of the five hundred treatises said to have been composed by him, only three remain to posterity: The Sum of the Perfect Magistery, The Investigation of Perfection, and his Testament. It is to him, too, that we are indebted for the first mention of such important compounds as corrosive sublimate, red oxide of mercury, and nitrate of silver. Skillfully indeed did Geber veil his discoveries, for from his mysterious style of writing we derive the word "gibberish," but those who have really understood Geber, his adept peers, declare with one accord that he has declared the truth, albeit disguised, with great acuteness and precision.

About the same time, Rhasis, another Arabian alchemist, became famous for his practical displays in the art of transmutation of base metals into gold. In the tenth century, Alfarabi enjoyed the reputation of being the most learned man of his age, and still another great alchemist of that century was Avicenna, whose real name was Ebu Cinna. Born at Bokara in 980 A.D., he was the last of the Egyptian alchemical philosophers of note.

European Alchemy

About the period of the first Crusades, alchemy shifted its center to Spain, where it had been introduced by the Arabian Moors. In the twelfth Century Artephius wrote The Art of Prolonging Human Life and is reported to have lived throughout a period of one thousand years. He himself affirmed this:

"I, Artephius, having learnt all the art in the book of Hermes, was once as others, envious, but having now lived one thousand years or thereabouts (which thousand years have already passed over me since my nativity, by the grace of God alone and the use of this admirable Quintessence), as I have seen, through this long space of time, that men have been unable to perfect the same magistry on account of the obscurity of the words of the philosophers, moved by pity and good conscience, I have resolved, in these my last days, to publish in all sincerity and truly, so that men may have nothing more to desire concerning this work. I except one thing only, which is not lawful that I should write, because it can be revealed truly only by God or by a master. Nevertheless, this likewise may be learned from this book, provided one be not stiff-necked and have a little experience."

Of the thirteenth-century literature, a work called Tesero was attributed to Alphonso, the King of Castile, in 1272. William de Loris wrote Le Roman de Rose in 1282, assisted by Jean de Meung, who also wrote The Remonstrance of Nature to the Wandering Alchemist and The Reply of the Alchemist to Nature. Peter d'Apona, born near Padua in 1250, wrote several books on Hermetic sciences and was accused by the Inquisition of possessing seven spirits (each enclosed in a crystal vessel) who taught him the seven liberal arts and sciences. He died upon the rack.

Among other famous names appearing about this period is that of Arnold de Villeneuve or Villanova, whose most famous work is found in the Theatrum Chemicum. He studied medicine in Paris but was also a theologian and an alchemist. Like his friend, Peter d'Apona, he was accused of obtaining his knowledge from the devil and was charged by many different people with magical practices. Although he did not himself fall into the hands of the Inquisition, his books were condemned to be burnt in Tarragona by that body on account of their heretical content. Villanova's crime was that he maintained that works of faith and charity are more acceptable in the eyes of God than the Sacrificial Mass of the Church!

The authority of Albertus Magnus (1234-1314) is undoubtedly to be respected, since he renounced all material advantages to devote the greater part of a long life to the study of alchemical philosophy in the seclusion of a cloister. When Albertus died, his fame descended to his "sainted pupil" Aquinas, who in his Thesaurus Alchimae, speaks openly of the successes of Albertus and himself in the art of transmutation.

Raymond Lully is one of the medieval alchemists about whose life there is so much conflicting evidence that it is practically certain that his name was used as a cover by at least one other adept either at the same or a later period. The enormous output of writings attributed to Lully (they total about 486 treatises on a variety of subjects ranging from grammar and rhetoric to medicine and theology) also seems to suggest that his name became a popular pseudonym. Lully was born in Majorca about the year 1235, and after a somewhat dissolute youth, he was induced, apparently by the tragic termination of an unsuccessful love affair, to turn his thoughts to religion. He became imbued with a burning desire to spread the Hermetic teachings among the followers of Mohammed, and to this end devoted years to the study of Mohammedan writings, the better to refute the Moslem teachings. He traveled widely, not only in Europe, but in Asia and Africa, where his religious zeal nearly cost him his life on more than one occasion. Lully is said to have become acquainted with Arnold de Villanova and the Universal Science somewhat late in life, when his study of alchemy and the discovery of the Philosophers' Stone increased his former fame as a zealous Christian.

According to one story, his reputation eventually reached John Cremer, Abbot of Westminster at the time. After working at alchemy for thirty years, Cremer had still failed to achieve his aim, the Philosopher's Stone. Cremer therefore sought out Lully in Italy, and having gained his confidence, persuaded him to come to England, where he introduced him to King Edward II. Lully, being a great champion of Christendom, agreed to transmute base metals into gold on the condition that Edward carry on the Crusades with the money. He was given a room in the Tower of London for his work, and it is estimated that he transmuted 50,000 pounds worth of gold. After a time, however, Edward became avaricious, and to compel Lully to carry on the work of transmutation, made him prisoner. However, with Cremer's aid, Lully was able to escape from the Tower and return to the Continent. Records state that he lived to be one hundred and fifty years of age and was eventually killed by the Saracens in Asia. At that age he is reputed to have been able to run and jump like a young man.

During the fourteenth century, the science of alchemy fell into grave disrepute, for the alchemists claim to transmute metals offered great possibilities to any rogue with sufficient plausibility and lack of scruple to exploit the credulity or greed of his fellowmen. In fact, there proved to be no lack either of charlatans or victims. Rich merchants and others greedy for gain were induced to entrust to the alleged alchemists gold, silver, and precious stones in the hope of getting them multiplied, and Acts of Parliament were passed in England and Pope's Bulls issued over Christendom to forbid the practice of alchemy on pain of death. (Although Pope John XXII is said to have practiced the art himself and to have enriched the Vatican treasury by this means.) Before long, even the most earnest alchemists were disbelieved. For example, there lived about this time the two Isaacs Hollandus (a father and son), who were Dutch adepts and wrote De Triplici Ordinari Exiliris et Lapidis Theoria and Mineralia Opera Sue de Lapide Philosophico. The details of their operations on metals are the most explicit that had ever been given, yet because of their very lucidity, their work was widely discounted.

The English Alchemists

In England, the first known alchemist was Roger Bacon, who was a scholar of outstanding attainment. Born in Somersetshire in 1214, he made extraordinary progress even in his boyhood studies, and on reaching the required age joined the Franciscan Order. After graduating Oxford, he moved to Paris where he studied medicine and mathematics. On his return to England, he applied himself to the study of philosophy and languages with such success that he wrote grammars of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues.

Although Bacon has been described as a physician rather than an alchemist, we are indebted to him for many scientific discoveries. He was almost the only astronomer of his time, and in this capacity rectified the Julian calendar which, although submitted to Pope Clement IV in 1267, was not put into practice until a later papacy. He was responsible also for the physical analysis of convex glasses and lenses, the invention of spectacles and achromatic lenses, and for the theory of the telescope. As a student of chemistry, he called attention to the chemical role played by air in combustion, and having carefully studied the properties of saltpeter, taught its purification by dissolution in water and by crystallization.

Indeed, from his letters we learn that Bacon anticipated most of the achievements of modern science. He maintained that vessels might be constructed that would be capable of navigation without manual rowers, and which under the direction of a single man, could travel through the water at a speed hitherto undreamed of. He also predicted that it would be possible to construct cars that could be set in motion with amazing speeds ("independently of horses and other animals") and also flying machines that would beat the air with artificial wings.

It is scarcely surprising that in the atmosphere of superstition and ignorance that reigned in Europe during the Middle Ages, Bacon's achievements were attributed to his communication with devils. His fame spread through western Europe not as a savant but as a great magician. His great services to humanity were met with censure, not gratitude, and to the Church his teachings seemed particularly pernicious. The Church took her place as one of his foremost adversaries, and even the friars of his own order refused his writings a place in their library. His persecutions culminated in 1279 in imprisonment and a forced repentance of his labors in the cause of art and science.

Among his many writings, there are two or three works on alchemy, from which it is quite evident that not only did he study and practice the science but that he obtained his final objective, the Philosopher's Stone. Doubtless during his lifetime, his persecutions led him to conceal carefully his practice of the Hermetic art and to consider the revelation of such matters unfit for the uninitiated. "Truth," he wrote, "ought not to be shown to every ribald person, for then it would become most vile that which, in the hand of a philosopher, is the most precious of all things."

Sir George Ripley, Canon of Bridlington Cathedral in Yorkshire, placed alchemy on a higher level than many of his contemporaries by dealing with it as a spiritual and not merely a physical manifestation. He maintained that alchemy is concerned with the mode of our spirit's return to the God who gave it to us. He wrote in 1471 his Compound of Alchemy with its dedicatory epistle to King Edward IV. It is also reported in the Canon of Bridlington that he provided funds for the Knights of St. John by means of the Philosopher's Stone he concocted.

In the sixteenth century, Pierce the Black Monk, wrote the following about the Elixir: "Take earth of Earth, Earth's Mother (Water of Earth), Fire of Earth, and Water of the Wood. These are to lie together and then be parted. Alchemical gold is made of three pure soul, as purged as crystal. Body, seat, and spirit grow into a Stone, wherein there is no corruption. This is to be cast on Mercury and it shall become most worthy gold." Other works of the sixteenth century include Thomas Charnock's Breviary of Philosophy and Enigma published in 1572. He also wrote a memorandum in which he states that he attained the transmuting powder when his hairs were white with age.

Also in the sixteenth century lived Edward Kelly, born in 1555. He seems to have been an adventurer of sorts and lost his ears at Lancaster on an accusation of producing forged title deeds. Dr. John Dee, a widely respected and learned man of the Elizabethan era, was very interested in Kelly's clairvoyant visions, although it is difficult to determine whether Kelly really was a genuine seer since his life was such an extraordinary mixture of good and bad character. In some way or other, Kelly does appear to have come into possession of the Red and White Tinctures. Elias Ashmole printed at the end of Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum a tract entitled Sir Edward Kelly's Work that says: "It is generally reported that Doctor Dee and Sir Edward Kelly were so strangely fortunate as to find a very Iarge quantity of the Elixir in some part of the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, which was so incredibly rich in virtue (being one in 272,330), that they lost much in making projection by way of trial before they finally found out the true height of the medicine."

In March 1583, a prince of Poland, the Count Palatine of Siradia, Adalbert Alask, while visiting the Court of Queen Elizabeth, sought to meet with Dr. Dee to discuss his experiments, of which he became so convinced that he asked Dee and Kelly and their families to accompany him on his return to Cracow. The prince took them from Cracow to Prague in anticipation of favors at the hand of Emperor Rudolph II, but their attempt to get into touch with Rudolph was unsuccessful. In Prague at that time there was a great interest in alchemy, but in 1586, by reason of an edict of Pope Sixtus V, Dee and Kelly were forced to flee the city. They finally found peace and plenty at the Castle of Trebona in Bohemia as guests of Count Rosenberg, the Emperor's Viceroy in that country. During that time Kelly made projection of one minim on an ounce and a quarter of mercury and produced nearly an ounce of the best gold.

In February 1588, the two men parted ways, Dee making for England and Kelly for Prague, where Rosenberg had persuaded the Emperor to quash the Papal decree. Through the introduction of Rosenberg, Kelly was received and honored by Rudolph as one in possession of the Great Secret of Alchemy. From him he received besides a grant of land and the freedom of the city, a position of state and apparently a title, since he was known from that time forward as Sir Edward Kelly. These honors are evidence that Kelly had undoubtedly demonstrated to the Emperor his knowledge of transmutation, but the powder of projection had now diminished, and to the Emperor's command to produce it in ample quantities, he failed to accede, being either unable or unwilling to do so. As a result, Kelly was cast into prison at the Castle of Purglitz near Prague where he remained until 1591 when he was restored to favor. He was interned a second time, however, and in 1595, according to chronicles, and while attempting to escape from his prison, fell from a considerable height and was killed at the age of forty.

In the seventeenth century lived Thomas Vaughan, who used the pseudonym "Eugenius Philasthes" (and possibly "Eireneus Philalethes" as well) and wrote dozens of influential treatises on alchemy. Among Vaughan's most noteworthy books are An Open Entrance to the Shut Palace of the King, Ripley Revived, The Marrow of Alchemy, Metallorum Metamorphosis, Brevis Manuductio ad Rubinem Coelestum, Fone Chemicae Veritatis, and others to be found in the Musaeum Hermiticum. Vaughan came from Wales and his writings were regarded as an illustration of the spiritual approach to alchemy. Yet whatever the various interpretations put upon his work, Vaughan was undoubtedly endeavoring to show that alchemy was demonstrable, in every phase of physical, mental, and spiritual reality. His work Lumen de Lumine is an alchemical discourse that deals with those three aspects. His medicine is a spiritual substance inasmuch as it is the Quintessence or the Divine Life manifesting through all form, both physical and spiritual. His gold is the gold of the physical world as well as the wisdom of the spiritual world. His Stone is the touchstone that transmutes everything and is again both spiritual and physical. For instance, his statement "the Medicine can only be contained in a glass vessel" signifies a tangible glass container as well the purified body of the adept.

Thomas Vaughan was a Magus of the Rosicrucian Order, and he knew and understood that the science of alchemy must manifest throughout all planes of consciousness. Writing as Eireneus Philalethes in the preface to the An Open Entrance from the Collectanea Chymica (published by William Cooper in 1684), Vaughan says: "I being an adept anonymous, a lover of learning, and philosopher, decreed to write this little treatise of medicinal, chemical, and physical secrets in the year of he world's redemption 1645, in the three and twentieth year of my life, that I may pay my duty to the Sons of the Art, that I might appear to other adepts as their brother and equal. Therefore I presage that not a few will be enlightened by these my labors. These are no fables, but real experiments that I have made and know, as every other adept will conclude by these lines. In truth, many times I laid aside my pen, deciding to forbear from writing, being rather willing to have concealed the truth under a mask of envy. But God compelled me to write, and Him I could in no wise resist who alone knows the heart and unto whom be glory forever. I believe that many in this last age of the world will be rejoiced with the Great Secret, because I have written so faithfully, leaving of my own will nothing in doubt for a young beginner. I known many already who possess it in common with myself and are persuaded that I shall yet be acquainted in the immediate time to come. May God's most holy will be done therein. I acknowledge myself totally unworthy of bringing those things about, but in such matters I submit in adoration to Him, to whom all creation is subject, who created All to this end, and having created, preserves them."

He then goes on to give an account of the transmutation of base metals into silver and gold, and he gives examples of how the Medicine, administered to some at the point of death, affected their miraculous recovery. Of another occasion he writes: "On a time in a foreign country, I could have sold much pure alchemical silver (worth 600 pounds), but the buyers said unto me presently that they could see the metal was made by Art. When I asked their reasons, they answered: 'We know the silver that comes from England, Spain, and other places, but this is none of these kinds.' On hearing this I withdrew suddenly, leaving the silver behind me, along with the money, and never returning."

Again he remarks: "I have made the Stone. I do not possess it by theft but by the gift of God. I have made it and daily have it in my power, having formed it often with my own hands. I write the things that I know."

In the last chapter of the Open Entrance is his message to those who have attained the goal. "He who hath once, by the blessing of God, perfectly attained this Art," says Vaughan, "I know not what in the world he can wish but that he may be free from all the snares of wicked men, so as to serve God without distraction. But it would be a vain thing by outward pomp to seek for vulgar applause. Such trifles are not esteemed by those who truly have this Art -- nay, rather they despise them. He therefore whom God has blessed with this talent behaves thus. First, if he should live a thousand years and everyday provide for a thousand men, he could not want, for he may increase his Stone at his pleasure, both in weight and virtue so that if a man would, one man might transmute into perfect gold and silver all the imperfect metals that are in the whole world. Secondly, he may by this Art make precious stones and gems, such as cannot be paralleled in Nature for goodness and greatness. Thirdly and lastly, he has a Medicine Universal, both for prolonging life and curing all diseases, so that one true adept can easily cure all the sick people in the world. I mean his Medicine is sufficient. Now to the King, eternal, immortal and sole mighty, be everlasting praise for these His unspeakable gifts and invaluable treasures. Whosoever enjoys his talent, let him be sure to employ it to the glory of God and the good of his neighbors, lest he be found ungrateful to the Source that has blessed him with so great a talent and be in the last found guilty of disproving it and so condemned."

From England, there is also the story of a transmutation performed before King Gustavus Adolphus in 1620, the gold of which was coined into medals, bearing the king's effigy with the reverse Mercury and Venus; and of another at Berlin before the King of Prussia.

In the same century, Alexander Seton, a Scot, suffered indescribable torments for his knowledge of the art of transmutation. After practicing in his own country he went abroad, where he demonstrated his transmutations before men of good repute and integrity in Holland, Hamburg, Italy, Basle, Strasbourg, Cologne, and Munich. He was finally summoned to appear before the young Elector of Saxony, to whose court he went somewhat reluctantly. The Elector, on receiving proof of the authenticity of his projections, treated him with distinction, convinced that Seton held the secret of boundless wealth. But Seton refused to initiate the Elector into his secret and was imprisoned in Dresden. As his imprisonment could not shake his resolve, he was put to torture. He was pierced, racked, beaten, scarred with fire and molten lead, but still he held his peace. At length he was left in solitary confinement, until his escape was finally engineered by the Polish adept Sendivogius. Even to this dear friend, he refused to reveal the secret until shortly before his death. Two years after his escape from prison, he presented Sendivogius with his transmuting powder.

Alchemy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

The first man to teach the chemistry of the human body and to declare that the true purpose of alchemy was the preparation of medicine for the treatment of disease was one Jean Baptista Van Helmont, a disciple of Paracelsus. Van Helmont has been called the "Descartes of Medicine" for his probing philosophical discourses. But he was also an accomplished alchemist. In his treatise, De Natura Vitae Eternae, he wrote: "I have seen and I have touched the Philosopher's Stone more than once. The color of it was like saffron in powder but heavy and shining like pounded glass. I had once given me the fourth of a grain, and I made projection with this fourth part of a grain wrapped in paper upon eight ounces of quicksilver heated in a crucible. The result of the projection was eight ounces, lacking just eleven grains, of the most pure gold."

In his early thirties, Van Helmont retired to an old castle in Belgium near Brussels and remained there, almost unknown to his neighbors until his death in his sixty-seventh year. He never professed to have actually prepared the Philosopher's Stone, but he say he gained his knowledge from alchemists he contacted during his years of research.

Van Helmont also gives particulars of an Irish gentleman called Butler, a prisoner in the Castle of Vilvord in Flanders, who during his captivity performed strange cures by means of Hermetic medicine. The news of his cure of a Breton monk, a fellow-prisoner suffering from severe erysipelas, by the administration of almond milk in which he had merely dipped the Philosopher's Stone brought Van Helmont, accompanied by several noblemen, rushing to the castle to investigate. In their presence Butler cured an aged woman of "megrim" by dipping the Stone into olive oil and then anointing her head. There was also an abbess who had suffered for eighteen years with paralyzed fingers and a swollen arm. These disabilities were removed by applying the Stone a few times to her tongue.

In Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers (published in 1815), it is stated that prior to the events at Vilvord, Butler attracted some attention by his transmutations in London during the reign of King James I. Butler is said to have gained his knowledge in Arabia in a rather roundabout way. When a ship on which he had taken passage was captured by African pirates, he was taken prisoner and sold into slavery in Arabia. His Arab master was an alchemist with knowledge of the correct order of the processes. Butler assisted him in some of his operations, and when he later escaped from captivity, he carried off a large portion of a red powder, which was the alchemical Powder of Projection.

Dennis Zachare in his memoirs gives an interesting account of his pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone during this period. At the age of twenty, he set out to Bordeaux to undertake a college curriculum, and hence to Toulouse for a-course of law. In this town, he made the acquaintance of some students in possession of a number of alchemical books. It seems that at this time there was a craze for alchemical experiments among the students of Paris and other French towns, and this craze caught Zachare's imagination. His law studies were forsaken and his experiments in alchemy began. On his parents' death, having expended all his money on his new love, he returned home and from their estate raised further money to continue his research. For ten years, according to his own statement, after experiments of all sorts and meetings with countless men with various methods to sell, he finally sat down himself to study carefully the writings of the philosophers on the subject. He states that it was Raymond Lully's Testament, Codicil, and Epistle (addressed to King Robert) that gave him the key to the secret. From the study of this book and The Grand Rosary of Arnold de Villanova, he formulated a plan entirely different from any he had previously followed. After another fifteen months of toil, he says "I beheld with transport the evolution of the three successive colors that testify to the True Work. It came finally at Eastertide. I made a projection of my divine powder on quicksilver, and in less than an hour it was converted into fine gold. God knows how joyful I was, how I thanked Him for this great grace and favor and prayed for His Holy Spirit to pour yet more light upon me that I might use what I had already attained only to His praise and honor." In his only writing (titled Opusculum Chemicum), Zachare gives his own personal narrative and states that the Great Art is the gift of God alone. The methods and possibilities of the transmutation of metals and the Elixir as a medicine are also considered.

There is also the evidence of John Frederick Helvetius, as he testified in 1666. He made claim to be an adept, but admitted he received the Powder of Transmutation from another alchemist. He wrote: "On December 27th, 1666, in the forenoon, there came a certain man to my house who was unto me a complete stranger, but of an honest, grave and authoritative mien, clothed in a simple garb like that of a Memnonite. He was of middle height, his face was long and slightly pock-marked, his hair was black and straight, his chin close-shaven, his age about forty-three or forty-four, and his native place North Holland, so far as I could make out. After we had exchanged salutations, he inquired whether he might have some conversation with me. It was his idea to speak of the 'Pyrotechnic Art,' since he had read one of my tracts, being that directed against the Sympathetic Powder of Sir Kenelm Digby, in which I implied a suspicion whether the Great Arcanum of the Sages was not after all a gigantic hoax. He took therefore this opportunity of asking if indeed I could not believe that such a Grand Mystery might exist in the nature of things, being that by which a physician could restore any patient whose vitals were not irreparably destroyed. My answer allowed that such a Medicine would be a most desirable acquisition for any doctor and that none might tell how many secrets there may be hidden in Nature, but that as for me -- though I had read much on the truth of this Art -- it had never been my fortune to meet with a master of alchemical science. I inquired further whether he was himself a medical man since he spoke.so learnedly about medicine, but he disclaimed my suggestion modestly, describing himself as a blacksmith, who had always taken great interest in the extraction of medicines from metals by means of fire.

"After some further talk the 'craftsman Elias' -- for so he called himself -- addressed me thus: 'Seeing that you have read so much in the writings of the alchemists concerning the Stone, its substance, color, and its wonderful effects, may I be allowed to question whether you have yourself prepared it?'

"On my answering him in the negative, he took from his bag an ivory box of cunning workmanship in which there were three large pieces of a substance resembling glass or pale sulfur and informed me that here was enough of his tincture there to produce twenty tons of gold. When I held the treasure in my hands for some fifteen minutes listening to his accounting of its curative properties, I was compelled to return it (not without a certain degree of reluctance). After thanking him for his kindness, I asked why it was that his tincture did not display that ruby color that I had been taught to regard as characteristic of the Philosophers' Stone. He replied that the color made no difference and that the substance was sufficiently mature for all practical purposes. He brusquely refused my request for a piece of the substance, were it no larger than a coriander seed, adding in a milder tone that he could not do so for all the wealth which I possessed; not indeed on amount of its preciousness but for another reason that it was not lawful to divulge, Indeed, if fire could be destroyed by fire, he would cast it rather into the flames.

"Then, after some consideration, he asked whether I could not show him into a room at the back of the house, where we should be less liable to observation. Having led him into the parlor, he requested me to produce a gold coin, and while I was finding it he took from his breast pocket a green silk handkerchief wrapped about five gold medals, the metal of which was infinitely superior to that of my own money. Being filled with admiration, I asked my visitor how he had attained this most wonderful knowledge in the world, to which he replied that it was a gift bestowed upon him freely by a friend who had stayed a few days at his house, and who had taught him also how to change common flints and crystals into stones more precious than rubies and sapphires. 'He made known to me further," said the craftsman, 'the preparation of crocus of iron, an infallible cure for dysentery and of a metallic liquor, which was an efficacious remedy for dropsy, and of other medicines.' To this, however, I paid no great heed as I was impatient to hear about the Great Secret. The craftsman said further that his master caused him to bring a glass full of warm water to which he added a little white powder and then an ounce of silver, which melted like ice therein. 'Of this he emptied one half and gave the rest to me,' the craftsman related. 'Its taste resembled that of fresh milk, and the effect was most exhilarating.'

"I asked my visitor whether the potion was a preparation of the Philosophers' Stone, but he replied that I must not be so curious. He added presently that at the bidding of his master, he took down a piece of lead water-pipe and melted it in a pot. Then the master removed some sulfurous powder on the point of a knife from a little box, cast it into the molten lead, and after exposing the compound for a short time to a fierce fire, he poured forth a great mass of liquid gold upon the brick floor of the kitchen. The master told me to take one-sixteenth of this gold as a keepsake for myself and distribute the rest among the poor (which I did by handing over a large sum in trust for the Church of Sparrendaur). Before bidding me farewell, my friend taught me this Divine Art.'

"When my strange visitor concluded his narrative, I pleaded with him to prove his story by performing a transmutation in my presence. He answered that he could not do so on that occasion but that he would return in three weeks, and, if then at liberty, would do so. He returned punctually on the promised day and invited me to take a walk, in the course of which we spoke profoundly on the secrets of Nature he had found in fire, though I noticed that my companion was exceedingly reserved on the subject of the Great Secret. When I prayed him to entrust me with a morsel of his precious Stone, were it no larger than a grape seed, he handed it over like a princely donation. When I expressed a doubt whether it would be sufficient to tinge more than four grains of lead, he eagerly demanded it back. I complied, hoping that he would exchange it for a larger fragment, instead of which he divided it with his thumbnail, threw half in the fire and returned the rest, saying 'It is yet sufficient for you."

The narrative goes on to state that on the next day Helvetius prepared six drachms of lead, melted it in a crucible, and cast in the tincture. There was a hissing sound and a slight effervescence, and after fifteen minutes, Helvetius found that the lead had been transformed into the finest gold, which on cooling, glittered and shone as gold indeed. A goldsmith to whom he took this declared it to be the purest gold that he had ever seen and offered to buy it at fifty florins per ounce. Amongst others, the Controller of the Mint came to examine the gold and asked that a small part might be placed at his disposal for examination. Being put through the tests with aqua fortis and antimony it was pronounced pure gold of the finest quality. Helvetius adds in a later part of his writing that there was left in his heart by the craftsman a deeply seated conviction that "through metals and out of metals, themselves purified by highly refined and spiritualized metals, there may be prepared the Living Gold and Quicksilver of the Sages, which bring both metals and human bodies to perfection."

In Helvetius' writing there is also the testimony of another person by the name of Kuffle and of his conversion to a belief in alchemy that was the result of an experiment that he had been able to perform himself. However, there is no indication of the source from which he obtained his powder of projection. Secondly, there is an account of a silversmith named "Grit," who in the year 1664, at the city of the Hague, converted a pound of lead partly into gold and partly into silver, using a tincture he received from a man named John Caspar Knoettner. This projection was made in the presence of many witnesses and Helvetius himself examined the precious metals obtained from the operation.

In 1710, Sigmund Richter published his Perfect and True Preparation of the Philosophical Stone under the auspices of the Rosicrucians. Another representative of the Rosy Cross was the mysterious Lascaris, a descendant of the royal house of Lascaris, an old Byzantine family who spread the knowledge of the Hermetic art in Germany during the eighteenth century. Lascaris affirmed that when unbelievers beheld the amazing virtues of the Stone, they would no longer be able to regard alchemy as a delusive art. He appears to have performed transmutations in different parts of Germany but then disappeared and was never heard from again.

Our Debt to the Alchemists (by Reginald Merton)

If there were any of the alchemists who discovered the mineral agent of transformation, fewer still were able to find its application to the human body. Only a very few adepts knew of the essential agent, the sublime heat of the soul, which fuses the emotions, consumes the prison of leaden form and allows entry into the higher world. Raymond Lully made gold for the King of England. George Ripley gave a hundred thousand pounds of alchemical gold to the Knights of Rhodes, when they were attacked by the Turks. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden had an enormous number of gold pieces coined that were marked with a special mark because they were of "Hermetic origin." They had been made by an unknown man under the protection of the king, who was found at his death to possess a considerable quantity of gold. In 1580, the Elector Augustus of Saxony, who was an alchemist, left a fortune equivalent to seventeen million dollars. The source of the fortune of Pope John XXII, whose residence was Avignon and whose revenues were small, must be ascribed to alchemy (at his death there were in his treasury twenty-five million florins). This must be concluded also in the case of the eighty-four quintals of gold possessed in 1680 by Rudolph II of Germany.

The learned chemist Van Helmont and the doctor Helvetius, who were both skeptics with regard to the Philosopher's Stone and had even published books against it, were converted as a result of an identical adventure which befell them. An unknown man visited them and gave them a small quantity of projection powder; he asked them not to perform the transmutation until after his departure and then only with apparatus prepared by themselves, in order to avoid all possibility of fraud. The grain of powder given to Van Helmont was so minute that he smiled sarcastically; the unknown man smiled also and took back half of it, saying that what was left was enough to make a large quantity of gold. Both Van Helmont's and Helvetius' experiments were successful, and both men became acknowledged believers in alchemy. Van Helmont became the greatest "chemist" of his day. If we do not hear nowadays that Madame Curie has had a mysterious visitor who gave her a little powder " the color of the wild poppy and smelling of calcined sea salt," the reason may be that the secret is indeed lost; or, possibly, now that alchemists are no longer persecuted or burnt, it may be that they no longer need the favorable judgment of those in official power.

Until the end of the eighteenth century, it was customary to hang alchemists dressed in a grotesque gold robe on gilded gallows. If they escaped this punishment they were usually imprisoned by barons or kings, who either compelled them to make gold or extorted their secret from them in exchange for their liberty. Often they were left to starve in prison. Sometimes they were roasted by inches or had their limbs slowly broken. For when gold is the prize, religion and morality are thrown to the side and human laws set at naught. This is what happened to Alexander Sethon, called "the Cosmopolitan." He had had the wisdom to hide all his life and avoid the company of the powerful and was a truly wise man. However, marriage was his downfall. In order to please his ambitious wife, who was young and beautiful, he yielded to the invitation extended him by the Elector of Saxony, Christian II, to come to his court. Since Sethon was unwilling to disclose the secret of the Philosopher's Stone, which he had long possessed, he was scalded every day with molten lead, beaten with rods and punctured with needles till he died.

The famous alchemists Michael Sendivogius, Botticher, and Paykull all spent part of their lives in prison, and many men suffered death for no other crime than the study of alchemy. If a great number of these seekers were impelled by ambition or if there were among them charlatans and impostors, it does not diminish the fact that a great many of them cherished a genuine ideal of moral development. In any event, their work in the domain of physics and chemistry formed a solid basis for the few wretched fragmentary scraps of knowledge that are called modern science and are cause for great pride to a large number of ignorant men.

These "scientists" regard the alchemists as dreamers and fools, though every discovery of their infallible science is to be found in the "dreams and follies" of the alchemists. It is no longer a paradox, but a truth attested by recognized scientists themselves, that the few fragments of truth that our modern culture possesses are due to the pretended or genuine adepts who were hanged with a gilt dunce's cap on their heads. What is important is that not all of them saw in the Philosopher's Stone the mere vulgar, useless aim of making gold. A small number of them received, either through a master or through the silence of daily meditation, genuine higher truth. These were the men who, by having observed it in themselves, understood the symbolism of one of the most essential rules of alchemy: Use only one vessel, one fire, and one instrument. They knew the characteristics of the sole agent, of the Secret Fire, of the serpentine power which moves upwards in spirals -- of the great primitive force hidden in all matter, organic and inorganic -- which the Hindus call kundalini, a force that creates and destroys simultaneously. The alchemists calculated that the capacity for creation and the capacity for destruction were equal, that the possessor of the secret had power for evil as great as his power for good. And just as nobody trusts a child with a high explosive, so they kept the divine science to themselves, or, if they left a written account of the facts they had found, they always omitted the essential point, so that it could be understood only by someone who already knew.

Examples of such men were, in the seventeenth century, Thomas Vaughan (called Philalethes), and, in the eighteenth century, Lascaris. It is possible to form some idea of the lofty thought of Philalethes from his book Infroitus, but Lascaris has left us nothing. Little is known of their lives. Both of them wandered throughout Europe teaching those whom they considered worthy of being taught. They both made gold often but only for special reasons. They did not seek glory, but actually shunned it. They had knowledge enough to foresee persecution and avoid it. They had neither a permanent abode nor family. It is not even known when and where they died. It is probable that they attained the most highly developed state possible to man, that they accomplished the transmutation of their soul. In others words, while still living they were members of the spiritual world. They had regenerated their being, performed the task of mankind. They were twice born. They devoted themselves to helping their fellow men; this they did in the most useful way, which does not consist in healing the ills of the body or in improving men's physical state. They used a higher method, which in the first instance can be applied only to a small number, but eventually affects all of us. They helped the noblest minds to reach the goal that they had reached themselves. They sought such men in the towns through which they passed, and, generally, during their travels. They had no school and no regular teaching, because their teaching was on the border of the human and the divine. But they knew that a truthful word, a seed of gold sown at a certain time in a certain soul would bring results a thousand times greater than those that could accrue from the knowledge gained through books or ordinary science.

From the bottom of our hearts we ought to thank the modest men who held in their hands the magical Emerald Formula that makes a man master of the world, a formula which they took as much trouble to hide as they had taken to discover it. For however dazzling and bright the obverse of the alchemical medallion, its reverse is dark as night. The way of good is the same as the way of evil, and when a man has crossed the threshold of knowledge, he has more intelligence but no more capacity for love. For with knowledge comes pride, and egoism is created by the desire to uphold the development of qualities that he considers necessary. Through egoism he returns to the evil that he has tried to escape. Nature is full of traps, and the higher a man rises in the hierarchy of men, the more numerous and the better hidden are the traps.

Saint Anthony in his desert was surrounded by nothing but dreams. He stretched out his arms to grasp them, and if he did not succumb to temptation it was only because the phantoms vanished when he sought to seize them. But the living, almost immediately tangible reality of gold, which gives everything -- what superhuman strength would be necessary to resist it! That is what had to be weighed by the alchemical adepts who possessed the Triple Hermetic Truth. They had to remember those of their number who had failed and fallen to the wayside. And they had to ponder how apparently illogical and sad for mankind is the law by which the Tree of Wisdom is guarded by a serpent infinitely more powerful than the trickster serpent that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Chapter 3 "Nicholas Flammel"

2008-09-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

Nicholas Flammel, a “fictional character” many believe to be, but the Truth is, this man really did exist sometime in history precisely the between years 1330-1418. You know him to be the friend of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter the “The philosopher’s Stone series” , and some fantasy books published just recently, example: “The Magician”.

Nicholas Flammel in real life is a bookseller in Paris. He is an owner of a little property and a man who Pernelle married. Throughout the history, scholars and alchemist search for a clue, a single detail that would uncover the secret of this Alchemist’s mysterious life. Nicholas Flammel had been famous because of his reputed work on the Philosopher’s Stone, where he had obtain his knowledge from a book, “The Book of Abraham” (see earlier post for details). With the help of some Hebrew associated people, he and his wife had manage to decode the book gain enough understanding to be able to replicate the recipe for the Philosopher’s Stone.

*taken from wikipedia

According to the introduction to his work and additional details that have accrued since its publication, Flamel was the most accomplished of the European alchemists, and had learned his art from a Jewish converso on the road to Santiago de Compostela. "Others thought Flamel was the creation of seventeenth-century editors and publishers desperate to produce modern printed editions of supposedly ancient alchemical treatises then circulating in manuscript for an avid reading public," Deborah Harkness put it succinctly. The modern assertion that many references to him or his writings appear in alchemical texts of the 1500s, however, has not been linked to any particular source. The essence of his reputation is that he succeeded at the two magical goals of alchemy -- that he made the Philosopher's Stone which turns lead into gold, and that he and his wife Perenelle achieved immortality.

There is nothing legendary about the life of Nicolas Flamel. The Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris contains works copied in his own hand and original works written by him. All the official documents relating to his life have been found: his marriage contract, his deeds of gift, his will. His history rests solidly on those substantial material proofs for which men clamor if they are to believe in obvious things. To this indisputably authentic history, legend has added a few flowers. But in every spot where the flowers of legend grow, underneath there is the solid earth of truth.

Whether Nicolas Flamel was born at Pontoise or somewhere else, a question that historians have argued and investigated with extreme attention, seems to me to be entirely without importance. It is enough to know that towards the middle of the fourteenth century, Flamel was carrying on the trade of a bookseller and had a stall backing on to the columns of Saint-Jacques la Boucherie in Paris. It was not a big stall, for it measured only two feet by two and a half. However, it grew. He bought a house in the old rue de Marivaux and used the ground floor for his business. Copyists and illuminators did their work there. He himself gave a few writing lessons and taught nobles who could only sign their names with a cross. One of the copyists or illuminators acted also as a servant to him.

Nicolas Flamel married Pernelle, a good-looking, intelligent widow, slightly older than himself and the possessor of a little property. Every man meets once in his life the woman with whom he could live in peace and harmony. For Nicolas Flamel, Pernelle was that woman. Over and above her natural qualities, she had another which is still rarer. She was a woman who was capable of keeping a secret all her life without revealing it to anybody in confidence. But the story of Nicolas Flamel is the story of a book for the most part. The secret made its appearance with the book, and neither the death of its possessors nor the lapse of centuries led to the complete discovery of the secret.

Nicolas Flamel had acquired some knowledge of the Hermetic art. The ancient alchemy of the Egyptians and the Greeks that flourished among the Arabs had, thanks to them, penetrated to Christian countries. Nicolas Flamel did not, of course, regard alchemy as a mere vulgar search for the means of making gold. For every exalted mind the finding of the Philosopher's Stone was the finding of the essential secret of Nature, the secret of her unity and her laws, the possession of perfect wisdom. Flamel dreamed of sharing in this wisdom. His ideal was the highest that man could attain. And he knew that it could be realized through a book, for the secret of the Philosopher's Stone had already been found and transcribed in symbolic form. Somewhere it existed. It was in the hands of unknown sages who lived somewhere unknown. But how difficult it was for a small Paris bookseller to get into touch with those sages.

Nothing, really, has changed since the fourteenth century. In our day also many men strive desperately towards an ideal, the path which they know but cannot climb; and they hope to win the magic formula (which will make them new beings) from some miraculous visit or from a book written expressly for them. But for most, the visitor does not come and the book is not written. Yet for Nicolas Flamel the book was written. Perhaps because a bookseller is better situated than other people to receive a unique book; perhaps because the strength of his desire organized events without his knowledge, so that the book came when it was time. So strong was his desire, that the coming of the book was preceded by a dream, which shows that this wise and well-balanced bookseller had a tendency to mysticism.

Nicolas Flamel dreamed one night that an angel stood before him. The angel, who was radiant and winged like all angels, held a book in his hands and uttered these words, which were to remain in the memory of the hearer: "Look well at this book, Nicholas. At first you will understand nothing in it ¾ neither you nor any other man. But one day you will see in it that which no other man will be able to see." Flamel stretched out his hand to receive the present from the angel, and the whole scene disappeared in the golden light of dreams. Sometime after that the dream was partly realized.

One day, when Nicolas Flamel was alone in his shop, an unknown man in need of money appeared with a manuscript to sell. Flamel was no doubt tempted to receive him with disdainful arrogance, as do the booksellers of our day when some poor student offers to sell them part of his library. But the moment he saw the book he recognized it as the book that the angel had held out to him, and he paid two florins for it without bargaining. The book appeared to him indeed resplendent and instinct with divine virtue. It had a very old binding of worked copper, on which were engraved curious diagrams and certain characters, some of which were Greek and others in a language he could not decipher. The leaves of the book were not made of parchment, like those he was accustomed to copy and bind. They were made of the bark of young trees and were covered with very clear writing done with an iron point. These leaves were divided into groups of seven and consisted of three parts separated by a page without writing, but containing a diagram that was quite unintelligible to Flamel. On the first page were written words to the effect that the author of the manuscript was Abraham the Jew ¾ prince, priest, Levite, astrologer, and philosopher. Then followed great curses and threats against anyone who set eyes on it unless he was either a priest or a scribe. The mysterious word maranatha, which was many times repeated on every page, intensified the awe-inspiring character of the text and diagrams. But most impressive of all was the patined gold of the edges of the book, and the atmosphere of hallowed antiquity that there was about it.

go to link for more info of the word

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maranatha

Maranatha!

Was he qualified to read this book? Nicolas Flamel considered that being a scribe he might read the book without fear. He felt that the secret of life and of death, the secret of the unity of Nature, the secret of the duty of the wise man, had been concealed behind the symbol of the diagram and formula in the text by an initiate long since dead. He was aware that it is a rigid law for initiates that they must not reveal their knowledge, because if it is good and fruitful for the intelligent, it is bad for ordinary men. As Jesus has clearly expressed it, pearls must not be given as food to swine. Was he qualified to read this book? Nicolas Flamel considered that being a scribe he might read the book without fear. He felt that the secret of life and of death, the secret of the unity of Nature, the secret of the duty of the wise man, had been concealed behind the symbol of the diagram and formula in the text by an initiate long since dead. He was aware that it is a rigid law for initiates that they must not reveal their knowledge, because if it is good and fruitful for the intelligent, it is bad for ordinary men. As Jesus has clearly expressed it, pearls must not be given as food to swine.

He had the pearl in his hands. It was for him to rise in the scale of man in order to be worthy to understand its purity. He must have had in his heart a hymn of thanksgiving to Abraham the Jew, whose name was unknown to him, but who had thought and labored in past centuries and whose wisdom he was now inheriting. He must have pictured him a bald old man with a hooked nose, wearing the wretched robe of his race and wilting in some dark ghetto, in order that the light of his thought might not be lost. And he must have vowed to solve the riddle, to rekindle the light, to be patient and faithful, like the Jew who had died in the flesh but lived eternally in his manuscript.

Nicolas Flamel had studied the art of transmutation. He was in touch with all the learned men of his day. Manuscripts dealing with alchemy have been found, notably that of Almasatus, which were part of his personal library. He had knowledge of the symbols of which the alchemists made habitual use. But those that he saw in the book of Abraham the Jew remained dumb for him. In vain, he copied some of the mysterious pages and set them out in his shop, in the hope that some visitor conversant with the Cabala would help him to solve the problem. He met with nothing but the laughter of skeptics and the ignorance of pseudo-scholars ¾ just as he would today if he showed the book of Abraham the Jew either to pretentious occultists or to the scholars at the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.

Nicholas Flamel's Journey

For twenty-one years, he pondered the hidden meaning of the book. That is really not that long. He is favored among men for whom twenty-one years are enough to enable him to find the key of life. At the end of twenty-one years, Nicolas Flamel had developed in himself sufficient wisdom and strength to hold out against the storm of light involved by the coming of truth to the heart of man. Only then did events group themselves harmoniously according to his will and allow him to realize his desire. For everything good and great that happens to a man is the result of the co-ordination of his own voluntary effort and a malleable fate.

No one in Paris could help Nicolas Flamel understand the book. Now, this book had been written by a Jew, and part of its text was in ancient Hebrew. The Jews had recently been driven out of France by persecution. Nicolas Flamel knew that many of these Jews had migrated to Spain. In towns such as Malaga and Granada, which were still under the more enlightened dominion of the Arabs, there lived prosperous communities of Jews and flourishing synagogues, in which scholars and doctors were bred. Many Jews from the Christian towns of Spain took advantage of the tolerance extended by the Moorish kings and went to Granada to learn. There they copied Plato and Aristotle ¾ forbidden texts in the rest of Europe ¾ and returned home to spread abroad the knowledge of the ancients and of the Arab masters.

Nicolas Flamel thought that in Spain he might meet some erudite Cabalist who would translate the book of Abraham for him. Travelling was difficult, and without a strong-armed escort, safe passage was nearly impossible for a solitary traveler. Flamel made therefore a vow to St James of Compostela, the patron saint of his parish, to make a pilgrimage. This was also a means of concealing from his neighbors and friends the real purpose of his journey. The wise and faithful Pernelle was the only person who was aware of his real plans. He put on the pilgrim's attire and shell-adorned hat, took the staff, which ensured a certain measure of safety to a traveler in Christian countries, and started off for Galicia. Since he was a prudent man and did not wish to expose the precious manuscript to the risks of travel, he contented himself with taking with him a few carefully copied pages, which he hid in his modest baggage.

Nicolas Flamel has not recounted the adventures that befell him on his journey. Possibly he had none. It may be that adventures happen only to those who want to have them. He has told us merely that he went first to fulfil his vow to St James. Then he wandered about Spain, trying to get into relations with learned Jews. But they were suspicious of Christians, particularly of the French, who had expelled them from their country. Besides, he had not much time. He had to remember Pernelle waiting for him, and his shop, which was being managed only by his servants. To a man of over fifty on his first distant journey, the silent voice of his home makes a powerful appeal every evening.

In discouragement, he started his homeward journey. His way lay through Leon, where he stopped for the night at an inn and happened to sup at the same table as a French merchant from Boulogne, who was travelling on business. This merchant inspired him with confidence and trust, and he whispered a few words to him of his wish to find a learned Jew. By a lucky chance the French merchant was in relations with a certain Maestro Canches, an old man who lived at Leon, immersed in his books. Nothing was easier than to introduce this Maestro Canches to Nicolas Flamel, who decided to make one more attempt before leaving Spain.

One can easily appreciate the depth of the scene when the profane merchant of Boulogne has left them, and the two men are face to face. The gates of the ghetto close. Maestro Canches' only thought is expressed by a few polite words to rid himself as quickly as he can of this French bookseller, who has deliberately dulled the light in his eye and clothed himself in mediocrity (for the prudent traveler passes unnoticed). Flamel speaks, reticently at first. He admires the knowledge of the Jews. Thanks to his trade, he has read a great many books. At last he timidly lets fall a name, which hitherto has aroused not a spark of interest in anyone to whom he has spoken ¾ the name of Abraham the Jew, prince, priest, Levite, astrologer and philosopher. Suddenly Flamel sees the eyes of the feeble old man before him light up. Maestro Canches has heard of Abraham the Jew! He was a great master of the wandering race, perhaps the most venerable of all the sages who studied the mysteries of the Cabala, a higher initiate, one of those who rise the higher the better they succeed in remaining unknown. His book existed and disappeared centuries ago. But tradition says it has never been destroyed, that it is passed from hand to hand and that it always reaches the man whose destiny it is to receive it. Maestro Canches has dreamed all his life of finding it. He is very old, close to death, and now the hope that he has almost given up is near realization. The night goes by, and there is a light over the two heads bent over their work. Maestro Canches is translating the Hebrew from the time of Moses. He is explaining symbols that originated in ancient Chaldea. How the years fall from these two men, inspired by their common belief in truth.

But the few pages that Flamel had brought are not enough to allow the secret to be revealed. Maestro Canches made up his mind at once to accompany Flamel to Paris, but his extreme age was an obstacle. Furthermore, Jews were not allowed in France. He vowed to rise above his infirmity and convert his religion! For many years now, he had been above all religions. So the two men, united by their indissoluble bond, headed off along the Spanish roads north.

The ways of Nature are mysterious. The nearer Maestro Canches came to the realization of his dream, the more precarious became his health, and the breath of life weakened in him. Oh God! he prayed, grant me the days I need, and that I may cross the threshold of death only when I possess the liberating secret by which darkness becomes light and flesh spirit!

But the prayer was not heard. The inflexible law had appointed the hour of the old man's death. He fell ill at Orleans, and in spite of all Flamel's care, died seven days later. As he had converted and Flamel did not want to be suspected of bringing a Jew into France, he had him piously buried in the church of Sante-Croix and had masses said in his honor. For he rightly thought that a soul that had striven for so pure an aim and had passed at the moment of its fruition. could not rest in the realm of disembodied spirits.

Flamel continued his journey and reached Paris, where he found Pernelle, his shop, his copyists, and his manuscripts safe and sound. He laid aside his pilgrim's staff. But now everything was changed. It was with a joyous heart that he went his daily journey from house to shop, that he gave writing lessons to illiterates and discussed Hermetic science with the educated. From natural prudence, he continued to feign ignorance, in which he succeeded all the more easily because knowledge was within him. What Maestro Canches had already taught him in deciphering a few pages of the book of Abraham the Jew was sufficient to allow his understanding of the whole book. He spent three years more in searching and in completing his knowledge, but at the end of this period, the transmutation was accomplished. Having learned what materials were necessary to put together beforehand, he followed strictly the method of Abraham the Jew and changed a half-pound of mercury first into silver, and then into virgin gold. And simultaneously, he accomplished the same transmutation in his soul. From his passions, mixed in an invisible crucible, the substance of the eternal spirit emerged.

The Philosopher's Stone

From this point, according to historical records, the little bookseller became rich. He established many low-income houses for the poor, founded free hospitals, and endowed churches. But he did not use his riches to increase his personal comfort or to satisfy his vanity. He altered nothing in his modest life. With Pernelle, who had helped him in his search for the Philosopher's Stone, he devoted his life to helping his fellow men. "Husband and wife lavished succor on the poor, founded hospitals, built or repaired cemeteries, restored the front of Saint Genevieve des Ardents and endowed the institution of the Quinze-Vingts, the blind inmates of which, in memory of this fact, came every year to the church of Saint Jacques la Boucherie to pray for their benefactor, a practice which continued until 1789," wrote historian Louis Figuier.

At the same time that he was learning how to make gold out of any material, he acquired the wisdom of despising it in his heart. Thanks to the book of Abraham the Jew, he had risen above the satisfaction of his senses and the turmoil of his passions. He knew that man attains immortality only through the victory of spirit over matter, by essential purification, by the transmutation of the human into the divine. He devoted the last part of his life to what Christians call the working out of personal salvation. But he attained his object without fasting or asceticism, keeping the unimportant place that destiny had assigned him, continuing to copy manuscripts, buying and selling, in his new shop in the rue Saint-Jacques la Boucherie. For him, there was no more mystery about the Cemetery of the Innocents, which was near his house and under the arcades of which he liked to walk in the evenings. If he had the vaults and monuments restored at his own expense, it was nothing more than compliance with the custom of his time. He knew that the dead who had been laid to rest there were not concerned with stones and inscriptions and that they would return, when their hour came, in different forms, to perfect themselves and die anew. He knew the trifling extent to which he could help them. Yet he had no temptation to divulge the secret that had been entrusted to him through the book, for he was able to measure the lowest degree of virtue necessary for the possession of it, and he knew that the revelation of the secret to an undeveloped soul only increased the imperfection of that soul.

And when he was illuminating a manuscript and putting in with a fine brush a touch of skyblue into the eye of an angel, or of white into a wing, no smile played on his grave face, for he knew that pictures are useful to children; moreover, it is possible that beautiful fantasies which are pictured with love and sincerity may become realities in the dream of death. Though he knew how to make gold, Nicolas Flamel made it only three times in the whole of his life and then, not for himself, for he never changed his way of life; he did it only to mitigate the evils that he saw around him. And this is the single touchstone that convinces that he really attained the state of adept.

This "touchstone" test can be used by everyone and at all times. To distinguish a man's superiority, there is but a single sign: a practical and not an alleged-contempt for riches. However great may be a man's active virtues or the radiant power of his intelligence, if they are accompanied by the love of money that most eminent men possess, it is certain that they are tainted with baseness. What they create under the hypocritical pretext of good will bear within it the seeds of decay. Unselfishness and innocence alone is creative, and it alone can help to raise man.

Flamel's generous gifts aroused curiosity and even jealousy. It seemed amazing that a poor bookseller should found almshouses and hospitals should build houses with low rents, churches and convents. Rumors reached the ears of the king, Charles VI, who ordered Cramoisi, a member of the Council of State, to investigate the matter. But thanks to Flamel's prudence and reticence, the result of the inquiries was favorable to him.

The rest of Flamel's life passed without special event. It was actually the life of a scholar. He went from his house in the rue de Marivaux to his shop. He walked in the Cemetery of the Innocents, for the imagination of death was pleasant to him. He handled beautiful parchments. He illuminated missals. He paid devout attention to Pernelle as she grew old, and he knew that life holds few better things than the peace of daily work and a calm affection.

The "Death" of Flamel

Pernelle died first; Nicolas Flamel reached the age of eighty. He spent the last years of his life writing books on alchemy. He carefully settled his affairs and planned how he was to be buried: at the end of the nave of Saint Jacques la Boucherie. The tombstone to be laid over his body had already been made. On this stone, in the middle of various figures, there was carved a sun above a key and a closed book. It contains the symbols of his life and can still be seen at his gravesite in the Musee de Cluny in Paris. His death, to which he joyfully looked forward, was as circumspect and as perfect as his life.

As it is equally useful to study men's weaknesses as their finest qualities, we may mark Flamel's weakness. This sage, who attached importance only to the immortality of his soul and despised the ephemeral form of the body, was inspired as he grew old with a strange taste for the sculptural representation of his body and face. Whenever he had a church built, or even restored, he requested the sculptor to represent him, piously kneeling, in a comer of the pediment of the facade. He had himself twice sculptured on an arch in the Cemetery of the Innocents: once as he was in his youth and once old and infirm. When he had a new house built in the rue de Montmorency, on the outskirts of Paris, eleven saints were carved on the front, but a side door was surmounted with a bust of Flamel.

The bones of sages seldom rest in peace in their grave. Perhaps Nicolas Flamel knew this and tried to protect his remains by ordering a tombstone of great weight and by having a religious service held for him twelve times a year. But these precautions were useless. Hardly was Flamel dead when the report of his alchemical powers and of his concealment somewhere of an enormous quantity of gold spread through Paris and the world. Everyone who was seeking the famous projection powder, which turns all substances into gold, came prowling round all the places where he had lived in the hope of finding a minute portion of the precious powder. It was said also that the symbolical figures which he had had sculptured on various monuments gave, for those who could decipher it, the formula of the Philosopher's Stone. There was not a single alchemist but came in pilgrimage to study the sacred science on the, stones of Saint-Jacques- la Boucherie, or the Cemetery of the Innocents. The sculptures and inscriptions were broken off under cover of darkness and removed. The cellars of his house were searched and the walls examined.

According to author Albert Poisson, towards the middle of the sixteenth century a man who had a well-known name and good credentials, which were no doubt fictitious, presented himself before the parish board of Saint-Jacques la Boucherie. He said he wished to carry out the vow of a dead friend, a pious alchemist, who, on his deathbed, had given him a sum of money with which to repair Flamel's house. The board accepted the offer. The unknown man had the cellars ransacked under the pretext of strengthening the foundations; wherever he saw a hieroglyph he found some reason for knocking down the wall at that point. Having found nothing, he disappeared, forgetting to pay the workmen. Not long afterwards, a Capuchin friar and a German baron are said to have discovered in the house some stone vials full of a reddish powder ¾ allegedly the projection powder. By the seventeenth century, the various houses which had belonged to Flamel were despoiled of their ornaments and decorations, and there was nothing of them left but the four bare walls.

History of the Book of Abraham the Jew

What had happened to the book of Abraham the Jew ? Nicolas Flamel had bequeathed his papers and library to a nephew named Perrier, who was interested in alchemy and of whom he was very fond. Absolutely nothing is known of Perrier. He no doubt benefited by his uncle's teachings and spent a sage's life in the munificent obscurity that Flamel prized so dearly, but had not been able altogether to maintain during the last years of his life. For two centuries the precious heritage was handed down from father to son, without anything being heard of it. Traces of it are found again in the reign of Louis XIII. A descendant of Flamel, named Dubois, who must still have possessed a supply of the projection powder, threw off the wise reserve of his ancestor and used the powder to dazzle his contemporaries. In the presence of the King, he changed leaden balls with it into gold. As a result of this experiment, it is known he had many interviews with Cardinal de Richelieu, who wished to extract his secret. Dubois, who possessed the powder but was unable to understand either Flamel's manuscripts or the book of Abraham the Jew, could tell him nothing and was soon imprisoned at Vincennes. It was found that he had committed certain offences in the past, and this enabled Richelieu to get him condemned to death and confiscate his property for his own benefit. At the same time the proctor of the Chitelet, no doubt by order of Richelieu, seized the houses that Flamel had owned and had them searched from top to bottom. About this time, at the church of Saint-Jacques la Boucherie, robbers made their way in during the night, lifted Flamel's tombstone and broke open his coffin. It was after this incident that the rumor spread that the coffin had been found empty, and that it had never contained the body of Flamel, who was supposed to be still alive.

Through whatever means, it is believed Richelieu took possession of the book of Abraham the Jew. He built a laboratory at the Chateau of Rueil, which he often visited to read through the master's manuscripts and to try to interpret the sacred hieroglyphs. But that which a sage like Flamel had been able to understand only after twenty-one years of meditation was not likely to be at once accessible to a politician like Richelieu. Knowledge of the mutations of matter, of life and death, is more complex than the art of planning strategies or administering a kingdom. Richelieu's search gave no good results.

On the death of the cardinal, all traces of the book were lost, or rather, all traces of the text, for the diagrams have often been reproduced. Indeed, the book must have been copied, for it is recorded in the seventeenth century that the author of the Tresor des Recherches et Antiquites Gauloises made a journey to Milan to see a copy which belonged to the Seigneur of Cabrieres. In any case, the mysterious book has now disappeared. Perhaps a copy or the original itself rests under the dust of some provincial library. And it may be that a wise fate will send it at the proper time to a man who has the patience to ponder it, the knowledge to interpret it, the wisdom not to divulge it too soon.

Is Nicholas Flamel Still Alive?

But the mystery of the story of Flamel, which seemed to have come to an end, was revived in the seventeenth century. Louis VIV sent an archeologist named Paul Lucas on a mission to the East. He was to study antiquities and bring back any inscriptions or documents that could help forward the modest scientific efforts then being made in France. A scholar had in those days to be both a soldier and an adventurer. Paul Lucas united in himself the qualities of a Salomon Reinach and a Casanova. He was captured by Barbary corsairs, who robbed him, according to his own story, of the treasures he had brought from Greece and Palestine. The most valuable contribution that this official emissary made to science is summarized in the story he tells in his Voyage dans la Turquie, which he published in 1719. His account enables men of faith to reconstitute part of the history of the book of Abraham the Jew.

The story goes as follows: At Broussa Paul Lucas made the acquaintance of a kind of philosopher, who wore Turkish clothes, spoke almost every known language and, in outward appearance, belonged to the type of man of whom it is said that they " have no age." Thanks to his own cultured presence, Lucas came to know him fairly well, and this is what he learned. This philosopher was a member of a group of seven philosophers, who belonged to no particular country and traveled all over the world, having no other aim than the search for wisdom and their own development. Every twenty years they met at a pre-determined place, which happened that year to be Broussa. According to him, human life ought to have an infinitely longer duration than we admit; the average length should be a thousand years. A man could live a thousand years if he had knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone, which, besides being knowledge of the transmutation of metals, was also knowledge of the Elixir of life. The sages possessed it and kept it for themselves. In the West, there were only a few such sages. Nicolas Flamel had been one of them. Paul Lucas was astonished that a Turk, whom he had met by chance at Broussa, should be familiar with the story of Flamel. He was still more astonished when the Turk told him how the book of Abraham the Jew had come into Flamel's possession, for hitherto no one had known this.

“Abraham the Jew was a member of our group," the man told him. "He had determined not to lose sight of the descendants of his brothers who had taken refuge in France. He had a desire to see them, and in spite of all we could do to dissuade him he went to Paris. He made the acquaintance there of a rabbi who was seeking the Philosopher's Stone, and our friend became intimate with the rabbi and was able to explain much to him. But before he left the country the rabbi, by an act of treachery, killed our brother to get possession of his book and papers. The rabbi was arrested, convicted of this and other crimes and burned alive. The persecution of the Jews in France began not long afterwards, and they were expelled from the country. The book of Abraham was sold to Flamel by a Jewish man who did not know its value and was anxious to get rid of it before leaving Paris. Having discovered the Philosopher's Stone, Flamel was able to remain alive in the physical form he possessed at the time of his discovery. Pernelle's and his own funerals and the minute care he bestowed on the arrangements for them had been nothing but clever shams.”

But the most amazing thing that Paul Lucas heard was the statement made by the Turk that both Flamel and his wife Pernelle were still alive! Having discovered the Philosopher's Stone, Flamel had been able to remain alive in the physical form he possessed at the time of his discovery. Pernelle's and his own funerals and the minute care he bestowed on the arrangements for them had been nothing but clever shams. He had started out for India, the country of the initiates, where he still lived. The publication of Paul Lucas' book created a great sensation. In the seventeenth century, like today, there lived discerning men who believed that all truth came out of the East and that there were in India adepts who possessed powers infinitely greater than those that science so parsimoniously metes out to us. In fact, this is a belief that has existed at every period in modern human history.

Was Nicolas Flamel one of these adepts? Even if he was, can it reasonably be presumed that he was alive three centuries after his supposed death, by virtue of a deeper study than had yet been made of the life force and the means of prolonging it? Is it relevant to compare with Paul Lucas' story another tradition reported by Abbe Vilain, who says that in the seventeenth century, Flamel visited Monsieur Desalleurs, the French ambassador to the Sublime Porte? Every man, according to his feeling for the miraculous, must come to his own conclusion. I think, myself, that in accordance with the wisdom which he had always shown, Nicolas Flamel, after his discovery of the Philosopher's Stone, would have had no temptation to evade death; for he regarded death merely as the transition to a better state. In obeying, without seeking escape, the ancient and simple law that reduces man to dust when the curve of his life is ended, he gave proof of a wisdom that is none the less beautiful for being widespread.

The book of Abraham that is described here in some point of view is very different from what is the Origin of The Mormonism, considering that the book here is described to be in the property of the sages, and that the book contains Weird characters that is not in the capability of a normal man to understand it. Still, I myself haven’t read the Book of Mormon’s personally so I cant say they were or not the same book.

main source of this post is taken here
http://www.alchemylab.com/flamel.htm

Chapter 2 "Mr. Magi"

2008-09-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

This is a story about a person, who happens to be my uncle and something is quite different from him. What differs him (for me) from everyone is that he can do extraordinary stuff. Like making money out of leaves, or papers, he can also project some sort of tiny light that he can control wherever he wants to lit from his body.

Believe it or not its a fact, a strong fact, this post doesnt aim to display anything againts the religious teachings such us in Christian (I'm a christian myself), because as far as I know Christian dont believe in such things because those were works of evil in some way. But I happen to be more open-minded to all posibilities and I've read several philosopies that says God is All, even basic religion lessons know that, from the word then everthing means that anything could be a possible work of GOD. We should not hinder our minds to comprehend deeper magico-religous things around us, God wouldnt allow us to see and hear about this things if He knows it posses danger. But the threat is that we must be careful, considering we were given the choice whether we continue or not.

Let us meditate on this word and open our minds towards what it may convey: " Evil can only make its way to man is for good Men to do nothing" this passage is taken from a movie that I watch months ago. The message says (for me) that why would you hinder yourself discovering new things and understand the capabilities of Men if they are laid for you to see so? Seeing Evil in this world doesnt mean that a person that experience it is already evil, you as that person who knows, a person who comprehend, a person who understands evil, knows what is good! Believe me if you have enough knowledge then you would know what to do, since you understand how the worlds revolves and behaves, you undertand the nature of it, your mature enough to make good decisons for yourself and think of what actions you would do in the future. If a person doesnt have any knowledge of the world and just do the daily routine of his life, flowing with others wherein I could describe as "hook in the material world" then what would happen to him? What would make him differ from the others if he keeps on following them and not exploring the world on his own? If important decisions need to be made, there's a great possibility that he may not do the right decision considering that he doesnt know, he is not aware of what may affect him on that, or affect some other people on a simple decision. Then there Evil/Satan would come, he would poison that mind, and this person would be easily carried with him because he dont know! He doesnt care because he knows nothing! At this point really readers, I'm pointing out the idea "why not set off and explore the world?" we were here to inherit earth (but not harm it) then decide whats best for you and pray for guidance for your life.

This Mr. Magi named Amado Javier, is around 40's, 7 children's, a farmer, a possessor of a little agricultural property in the Brgy. Pisawak Siocon Zamboanga del Norte Philippines. He is the brother of my grandmother but I used to call him uncle considering he doesnt look that old (40's). My grandmother still in 50's used to tell us stories about their father, a good looking man, Spanish, who went to the Philippines and set there, that way he married my great grand'ma and became my great grandfather. He as described by my relatives can do some magic stuff, like my uncle (his son) can do also. He spokes latin phrases and something magical happens, like he can heal the sick, and soo on eith their story. Now, my great grand father died and my uncle inherit his book (they call it libreta in native language,i dont know if its a foreign term), this book is describe to be a small sturdy looking with no writings in it, just blank pages, and they said hidden characters are hidden in each page that only the owner is able to see it.

My Uncle's son is close to me and sometimes we talk about his fathers ability, he had mention to me that his fathers own a cat looking thing but the foot at the back is kinda higher than at the back and that would make the thing look like its smudge on the ground due to its small foot/finger in front. And also my cousin (also my grandmother, my Mom and his brothers, my relatives) told me that my uncle can transform money out of leaves and papers just by putting it on his pocket and minutes later, its a new real heck of CASH!

Im not interested in money making, but as a researcher of Alchemy his works and my objectives in a larger view unites. I want to find out about how did he transform it, in a sense its transforming an object into another, from leaf to cash, leaf to paper, its transmutation.

Chapter 1 "Book of Abraham the Jew"

2008-09-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

This research doesn't aim on one thing; alchemy itself, instead it includes almost all branches of the science of mysticism. Stories and parables, riddles, and a lot more things added up and formulated the uncertain history of mankind, every branch had evolve on its own and finally became an answer to questions of what had happen in the past. But the question is, is it really the truth? Let me ask you one thing, Are you convince that this research could somehow take a part of some flaws in the making of history? A lot of you, I'm quite sure that is not. If you are, your too open minded to things unseen. But the matter is, whats in history (that you believe had happen) that made you believe that its true? The data, and information are transferred only by Imperfect Humans right? Well, we can never the history we know today is the true event that had happen yesterday. My point is not to force you to believe that this research has something in it but what I'm pointing out is that, if this simple research is unbelievable then why believe in history that much? I'm not saying that all we know today is a LIE or some Hoax but let's be open minded that not all ideas that are told in history books are real.

Lots of books publish throughout the era that made us realize the truth, the uncertain happening THEY made up or if its a fact then it is. Still, its just written by somebody, and that somebody is a stranger we may or not trust that somebody it is up to us. Come to think of it, if they wrote history in books and other materials could they not wrote history itself on their own? I'm not saying that historians are liars and a bunch of fraud but I'm trying to point out the uncertainty and risk of believing whats only written.

The next idea is that, if they do wrote the whole truth, still they can hide something, we cannot force them to reveal the truth by such we have no control of it. We can easily agree that its true but what if they were hiding something or most likely they forgot a crucial part of history that must be written for certainty of men. I'm more convince that they are hiding something if the truth is what they wrote in history books.

Now for the main purpose of this

Post: (written below)

*P.S. Read it well

The Philosopher's Stone

(introduction)

Wisdom has different ways of making its way to man. It could happen during an unexpected time, or an unexpected moment. Like for example a charlatan playing on his brilliant tricks, as he go on to his routine, perhaps without knowing he accidentally created a true magical light. It could come any moment of our lives, anytime we had conviction to do it and be with it.

In the 14th century, the pure truth is transmitted to a book, guarded by the masters that it may not be held by people whose not worthy to have it. That book is the book of Abraham the Jew, This book has been believed to have the secrets of the formula to the Elixir of Life or the Philosopher's Stone, a substance enable to transmute any impure substance to pure and a new being. Many hermetist longed to received this brilliant book, waiting for somebody to give them, waiting for some miraculous visit into their homes by a sturdy looking sage. The book fell into the hands of precisely "the man who's destined to receive it". And he, with the help of the text and the hieroglyphic diagrams that taught the transmutation of metals into gold, accomplished the transmutation of his soul which is far rare than any wonderful operations made by man.

The book of Abraham had been pass down millions of years by the great masters and sages, it has been believed that philosopher's of the past that contributed into some few works with regards to alchemy have it in their hands. The next post and chapters would furthermore explain about the works of this philosophers and describing the sages and who they really are.

Before I start:

2008-09-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

I would like to pledge my sincere Gratitude first and foremost to God, because He made me and that's why I'm here writing whatever might come up and that i would encounter through this research. I'm hoping for funds for this research but I don't think I could have one but who knows. Before I start, I would like to tell the viewers/readers of this blog to be aware of dangers of what might came up. and I'm hoping for cooperation with my fellow blog mates to help me reach out those people knowledgeable of the topic to produce a better, believing, strong information to withstand any curiosity and confusion of the reader as well as myself.
To my beloved Spi mates in Ateneo de Zamboanga University I would like to bid goodbye in advance because I think I would have to leave any month from now or sooner. Im also looking forward to you r support and feedbacks guys. And I have a request, please pray that I may run my blogs(not just this one) succesfully and that may help and influence others to the path of truth, knowlegde and understanding towards the world. Thank you very much and a Blessed day everyone!