|
ALCHEMY
ALCHEMICAL
TEXTS
| PERSONAL WRITINGS | ALCHEMY
AND ISLAM
SUGGESTED BOOKS | LINKS
ALCHEMY
Louis Cattiaux, Maria Paritura
|
|
Alchemy
symbolizes all that Man can aspire to spiritually become
in his present state. The promises of gold, longevity
and health are symbols of inner regeneration, and refer
to the Golden Age of Indo-European Tradition that we
find both in Platonic Dialogues and in the traditions
of Ancient India. Alchemy itself is the great symbol
of the Initiatic Path, which is a solitary and difficult
road, filled with obstacles, but that is the only path
to follow in order to return Home. By your own efforts,
try to understand this Art. |
QUOTES
ON ALCHEMY
compiled by Adam
McLean
 |
The
science of alchymy I like very well, and indeed, 'tis
the philosophy of the ancients. I like it not only for
the profits it brings in melting metals, in decocting,
preparing, extracting and distilling herbs, roots; I
like it also for the sake of the allegory and secret
signification, which is exceedingly fine, touching the
resurrection of the dead at the last day.
- Martin Luther's Table talk
|
back
The
matter lies before the eyes of all; everybody sees it, touches
it, loves it, but knows it not. It is glorious and vile, precious
and of small account, and is found everywhere... But, to be
brief, our Matter has as many names as there are things in
this world; that is why the foolish know it not.
- The Golden Tract
back
|
I
had discovered, early in my researches, that their doctrine
was no mere chemical fantasy, but a philosophy they
applied to the world, to the elements, and to man himself.
- W.B. Yeats, Rosa Alchemica
|
|
back
 |
It
is erroneous to confuse alchemy with chemistry. Modem
chemistry is a science
dealing only with the outward manifestations of matter.
It never produces anything new. One can mix, compose and
decompose two or three chemical substances any number
of times, and make them reappear in different forms, but
in the end there is no increase in substance; there is
only the combination of the substances used at the outset.
Alchemy neither composes nor mixes: it increases and activates
that which already exists in a latent state. Therefore
alchemy can be more accurately compared with botany or
agriculture than with chemistry. In fact, the growth of
a plant, a tree or an animal is an alchemical process
taking place in the alchemical laboratory of nature and
conducted by the Great Alchemist, the active power of
God in nature.
- Franz Hartmann |
back
Transmute yourselves from dead stones into living philosophical
stones.
- Gerhardt Dorn
back
Scholasticism with its subtle argumentation,
Theology with its ambiguous phraseology,
Astrology, so vast and so complex,
are all children's games when compared with alchemy.
- Albert Poisson
back
These are not fables. You will touch with your hands, you
will see with your own
eyes, the Azoth, the Mercury of Philosophers, which alone
will suffice to obtain for you our Stone. . . . Darkness will
appear on the face of the Abyss; Night, Saturn and the Antimony
of the Sages will appear; blackness, and the raven's head
of the alchemists, and all the colors of the world, will appear
at the hour of conjunction; the rainbow also, and the peacock's
tail. Finally, after the matter has passed from ashen-colored
to white and yellow, you will see the Philosopher's Stone,
our King and Dominator Supreme, issue forth from his glassy
sepulcher to mount his bed or his throne in his glorified
body. . . diaphanous as crystal; compact and most weighty,
as easily fusible by fire as resin, as flowing as wax and
more so than quicksilver . . . the color of saffron when powdered,
but red as rubies when in an integral mass...
- H. Khunrath, Amphitheatrum
back
The
alchemical tradition assumes that every physical art or
science is a body of knowledge which exists only because
it is ensouled by invisible powers and processes. Physical
chemistry, as it is practiced in the modern world, is
concerned principally with pharmaceutical or industrial
research projects. It is confined within the boundaries
of an all-pervading materialism, which binds labor to
the advancement of physical objectives.
- Manly P. Hall, Meditation Symbols in Eastern
and Western Mysticism |
|
back
The alchemical operation consisted essentially in separating
the prima materia, the so-called chaos, into
the active principle, the soul, and the passive principle,
the body, which were then reunited in personified form in
the coniunctio or "chymical marriage"...
the ritual cohabitation of Sol and Luna.
- C. G. Jung, Mysterium Coniunctionis
back
|
|
Crave
wisdom of God, the sense to understand,
Else meddle not herewith, nor take it in hand.
For it will cost thee much wordly wealth;
But trust not to other, but do it thyself.
Learn, therefore, first to cleanse, purify and sublime,
To dissolve, congeal, distill and sometime
To conjoin and separate, and how to do all,
That when you think to rise, thou do not fall,
Trust to thyself and not to another;
I can say no more to thee if thou were my brother.
- Simon Forman, 1597 |
back
One becomes two, two becomes three, and by means of the third
and fourth
achieves unity; thus two are but one....
Invert nature and you will find that what you seek...
Join the male and the female, and you will find what is sought...
- Maria the Jewess, 300 A.D.
back
Once I had this beautiful book in my possession, I did nothing
but study it night and day, learning very well all the operations
it described, but not knowing with what material it should
be started. This caused me great sorrow, kept me in solitude,
and made me sigh incessantly. My wife Perenelle, whom I loved
like myself was greatly astonished at this, so I showed her
this beautiful book, with which, the moment she saw it, she
fell as much in love as I, taking extreme pleasure in contemplating
the beautiful covers, engravings, images, and portraits, of
which figures she understood as little as I did. Nevertheless,
it was for me a great consolation to talk about it with her,
and to consider what could be done in order to find out their
meaning.
- Nicolas Flamel (supposedly 14th century) Book of the
Hieroglyphic figures, 1612
back
Alchemy
is the art of manipulating life, and consciousness in matter,
to help it evolve, or to solve problems of inner disharmonies.
- Jean Dubuis |
|
back
King Calid: Give me yet the explanation upon this thing.
Morienus: Why should I use many words unto you? For
this thing is extracted from thee, and thou art its ore; in
thee they find it, and, to speak more plainly, from thee they
take it; and when thou hast experienced this, the love and
delight of it will be increased in thee. And thou shalt know
that this thing subsists truly and beyond all doubt.
King Calid: Have you at any time known any other Stone
that may be likened unto this Stone, by whose effect and power
this self same thing might be perpetrated?
Morienus: I have not known any Stone which might be
likened to this Stone, or which may have the effect of it.
For in this Stone the Four Elements are contained, and it
is likened to the world and the composition of the world.
- De Transmutatione Metallica, section entitled The
Interrogations of King Calid, and the Answers of Morienus
in MS Sloane 3697
back
|
