spirituality 02.pdf

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spirituality - lesson 2: alchemy

engraving from michael maier's 1618 treatise on alchemy

alchemy is the process by which someone tries to gain a better understanding ofthe functioning of the cosmos by looking at the principles of it's underlying form.not merely a chemical task, alchemy is the pursuit of a higher form of being, inessence a spiritual transformation. an alchemist will rise through the heirachy ofknowledge through investigation and experimentation with nature until hebecomes, in the chinese alchemical language, a 'zhenren' or 'authentic man'. it isthen that the alchemist ascends to a higher state of being and is cut free from thelimitations of individuality.

the origins of alchemy are difficult to ascertain. early evidence of its activity is inthe middle east, greece, china and egypt. the name alchemy itself is believed toarabic, with 'al' meaning 'the' and 'kimya' meaning chemistry, or 'khemeia'

meaning 'preparation of the black ore'. 'khem' is also the arabic word for egypt. inany case the power to create metals is an ancient one, dating back to about 2500BC, where people were learning the art of smelting iron.

the investigation of nature in this spiritually creative way has given the activity ofalchemy a sense of mysticism and magic. to most people however alchemy onlyis the skill that transforms impure into pure and in today's popular culturealchemy is associated with the production of gold and the elixir of life.


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distillation equipment from greek alchemical manuscripts

goldhas been attractive to the eyes of humans since the beginning of existence. it'spossession throughout time has always been indicative of power and wealth.

seen as a perfect metal gold symbolises excellence, wisdom, flawlessness andlight. gold was representative of the sun - the giver of life and the centre of manybeliefs at the time. hindu sages believed that gold was mineral light and amaterial token of divine intelligence. ancient incas believed gold was the sweat ofthe sun and used it to make everything from ceremonial head-dresses to fishhooks. the mystical power that gold created (or seemed to have) has been thedriving force of wars and trading through the ages and those with power oftenturned to alchemy to obtain it.

the popular goal of the alchemist was the creation of gold from a base metal.ancient beliefs held that magical powers were present in fluxes and alloys. so

whilst the creation of gold had it's obvious benefits it was the process oftransmutation that allowed the alchemist to search for a way to achieve spiritualperfection. the changing of a base metal into gold was symbolic of thetransmutation of his soul to a state of union with god.


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left: kerotakis, in which a substance is heated on a plate within the vesselright: digestion apparatus with condensing flask above, probably for fractionaldistillationboth illustrations of chemical apparatus from a medieval syrian manuscript

more than goldhowever, alchemy goes deeper than simply the creation of sought-aftersubstances. as in philosophy, the chief study of alchemy is the operations ofNATURE (remember that some of the great philosophers in history were alsoconsidered alchemists).

NATURE is not visible and yet it operates visibly, its volatile spirit animating thematerial world and giving universal life. NATURE can be seen as four regions;the dry, the moist, the warm and the cold and differentiated into male and female.GOD is seen as the beginning and end of NATURE. alchemist try to be likeNATURE, that is be truthful, simple, patient and preserving.

internal alchemy(called neidan in chinese alchemy) alchemical work takes place on severaldifferent levels. whilst there is the activity in physical substances, manipulation ofetheric forces there is also a parallel investigation of the inner soul. traditionallythe actions of external investigation are reflected internally, there is a period ofpreparation and a closing ritual so that the powerful energies are formed within asafe structure. these help the alchemist return to the outer world and not get lostin between. the symbol of the alchemical vessel is associated with the inner andouter worlds of alchemy, reflecting the energies contained within a protectivecircle. the practice of internal alchemy needed much practice as the the forces inthe psyche can be powerful and disruptive. symbols were used as a form ofcontrol in the contemplation of inner energy, helping focus thought.

symbolsin their true nature are patterns of energy. meditating upon a symbol forces it toshift in shape and manifest itself in ways that help progress transcendentalknowledge. in inner alchemy there are three fundamental archetype symbols; the

crucible, the retort and the still.


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the crucible is an open dish that substances can be put into and transformed,usually through heat. in external alchemy a metal might be purified and theimpure material removed, this can also be reflected in internal alchemy. theinternal crucible allows the soul to shed its impure forces and let others enterfrom the universal spiritual flow.

the retort is a sealed flask. using the retort therefore one must have everything

one needs within the soul because it is sealed from the rest of the universe. itsymbolises the synthesis of the new and is often represented by a man and awoman in a flask, producing a baby. the symbols are used to unite our polarities -masculine and feminine, light and fear, life and death.

the still represents the process of turning new information or process into a storethat we can draw from at a later point. it is a process to gaining understanding ofsomething so that we may be able to use that understanding if we need to.

in these cases symbols represent or act as inner apparatus, a focus foremblematic meditation to find spiritual richness. in the 16th and 17th centuries

emblematic engravings popular and very beautiful. not merely the representationof symbols these engravings were pictorial aids to help experiment in the interiormind and distill internal energy.

of course, symbols are also extremely important in external alchemy but it shouldalso be noted that these pictorial elements appear relatively late in the history ofalchemy. they would be used in texts, for recipes, descriptions of ingredients andprocesses - both astrological and chemical. plato, who was considered analchemist firmly believe that the knowledge of alchemy should not be writtendown for the unintelligent masses to access. but by the 13th century pictorialrepresentations of alchemical practices were developed to order the governing

principles of the practice. visualisation was also in the forms made in writing, forexample text written in rectangular or square forms were semantic points of viewand circular forms referred to perfection and cycles in the universe. physicalapparatus could be obviously represented in pictorial form, howeverunobservable processes could not be represented in this diagrammatic way.instead it was far more symbolic, using figures and conceptual elements.


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illustration of still heads from andreas libavius alchymia, 1606


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letter symbolism designating metals and alchemical operations from the book ofthe holy trinity


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hand with alchemical symbols at the fingertips

mercury in the form of a serpent decapitating the sun and the soon with gold andsilver flowers in a vessel on the fire, circa 15th century


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engraving of astrological chart

the aritsotilian elements of earth, water, air and fire


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'as above, so it is below'astrology is intimately linked to alchemy. this form of divination looks at thepositioning of planets and heavenly bodies with the intention of forecasting orsimply understanding movements on earth. in ancient alchemical knowledgemetals are ruled over by particular planets, for example the moon corresponds tosilver, venus to copper, mars to iron and of course the sun to gold. the art ofastrology views the macrocosm of the universe and uses it to deciphers patterns

within NATURE. alchemists relied on astrology to tell them when the mostopportune moment to carry out an experiment was. isaac newton, theastronomer and physicist was also known to be an alchemist, he sought tounderstand the structure of all matter that GOD had created.

in modern societyastrology is still prevalent. we can see horoscopes in daily newspapers and findastrologers determining our future from our birth date. likewise, there continue tobe people who use alchemy as a process by which to achieve either spiritualenlightenment, inner purification or to make herbal elixirs (plant alchemy).as faras the transmutation of base metals into gold, there are still those who continue

to practice this art of alchemy. even though science has not yet given theanswers, like a lot of things in life, the journey is as important as the so-calledend.

for more examples of alchemic art see 'the alchemy art gallery' and the 'levitywebsite'
http://www.alchemylab.com/art_gallery.htmhttp://www.alchemylab.com/art_gallery.htmhttp://www.alchemylab.com/art_gallery.htmhttp://www.levity.com/alchemy/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/http://www.alchemylab.com/art_gallery.htm

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