Part 6

Professor Justus von Liebig says: “Alchemy was never anything different from Chemistry,” and to this we agree in so far as both deal with substantial things, having certain affinities, and not with anything existing outside of nature; but while ordinary (physical) chemistry employs merely physical (mechanical) forces for the purpose of composing and decomposing material substances without causing anything new to grow, Alchemy employs the power of life and uses animated forces, establishing conditions under which something visible may grow from something invisible, in the same sense as a tree grows from a seed in the alchemical laboratory of nature. Chemistry and Alchemy are therefore two aspects of one and the same science, the one is the lower, the other the higher part. The chemist who decomposes salt into NA and CL, and recombines it into NACL, practises chemistry; the gardener establishing in his hot house the conditions under which the seed of a plant of a lower type is made to develop into a plant of a higher type, and the schoolmaster who makes an intelligent being out of a dunce, are practicing Alchemy, because they produce something more noble than the materials employed, out of the latent potencies contained therein.

Without the alchemy of nature no “physiological chemistry” could take place; without the action of a universally existing life principle, no human form could grow out of an ovum or fœtus, no child develop into a man. The human stomach is an alchemical laboratory in which miracles are performed which no modern chemist can imitate by merely chemical means; milk and bread are transformed into blood and flesh within the living retort of the human body, and wonders performed which modern chemistry in spite of its progress cannot accomplish, because it does not control the organising power of life.

All that popular belief knows of ancient Alchemy is from the misunderstood writings of the ancients, who purposely wrote in a manner incomprehensible to the uninitiated, or from the writings of pretenders and frauds—for at that time there were as many selfish and ignorant people as there are to-day, wasting their time in useless efforts to apply a spiritual science to material purposes, and seeking to employ powers which they did not possess, in the hope of satisfying their curiosity and their greed. Of this kind of “Alchemy,” Paracelsus speaks with the greatest contempt.

For the purpose of practising chemistry physical powers and scientific acquisitions are required; for the purpose of practising alchemy living spiritual powers and wisdom are necessary. Chemistry belongs to the terrestrial man, the higher aspect of Alchemy belongs to the spiritually regenerated man having passed through the MYSTIC DEATH into the resurrection of the true and immortal life.

As there are three kingdoms in nature, intimately connected with each other, the kingdom of physical nature, the kingdom of the soul of the world (the astral plane), and the kingdom of the self-conscious spirit; so there are three aspects of Alchemy, intimately connected with each other, one belonging to the physical, the other to the astral, and the highest to the spiritual aspect of man. H. P. Blavatsky says:

“Everything which exists in the world around us is made up of three principles (substances) and four aspects. (The triple synthesis of the seven principles.) As Man is a complex unity, consisting of a body, a rational soul and an immortal spirit, so each object in nature possesses an objective exterior, a vital soul, and a divine spark which is purely spiritual and subjective. Thus, as with all natural objects, so every science has its three fundamental principles and may be applied through all three or by the use of one of them.”

These three states of existence in the universe were called by the ancient alchemists the Three Substances, and symbolized as Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury.

With the same right as the modern chemist symbolizes his chemical substances by means of letters; such as O for oxygen, H for hydrogen, N for nitrogen, C for carbogen, etc., which symbols are incomprehensible to those who do not know what they mean; the ancient alchemists expressed the nature of spiritual essences, powers and principles with which they dealt by certain alchemical signs, such as {symbol} for Salt, or the substantial principle in all things; {symbol} for Sulphur, or the energies contained therein; and for {symbol} Mercury, or the principle of intelligence latent in everything, whether manifested or not; but the living essences or states in the universe which become manifested upon these three planes they symbolized by the signs of the planets, as has already been specified above. These principles are eternal; but their manifestations differ according to the plane upon which they become manifest. Thus, for instance, love is eternal, manifesting itself in the kingdom of God as divine self-consciousness; upon the astral plane as affection, desire and passion; upon the physical plane as gravitation, attraction, chemical affinity, etc. The power is always the same; but its action appears different under different conditions.

“Above all a physician should know that man exists in three substances. That of which he is made has three aspects. Those three make up the whole man, and they are the man himself and he is they, and out of these three substances he receives all his good and evil concerning his physical body. Thus each thing exists in these three substances, and the three together constitute a body, and there is nothing added to it but the life. If you can see these true substances, you then have the eye by means of which a physician ought to be able to see. To see the exterior only is in the power of everybody; but to see within the interior and discover what is hidden, is an art that belongs to the physician.” (“Paramirum,” Lib. I. s.b.)

Those who have thus far followed our line of reasoning will now be ready to acknowledge that an understanding of this superior science, the acquisition of whose knowledge requires a life-time spent by a superior mind, and whose practice involves the evolution of superior faculties, is not to be obtained by a few hours’ perusal of a book on Alchemy, and that only those who are practical alchemists are entitled to judge it. Alchemy, far from being an “exploded humbug,” is in fact the noblest object for which all humanity and civilization strives. It is the realization of the highest ideal, a feat which cannot be accomplished by anything less than that ideal itself. H. P. Blavatsky says:—

“When there appeared on earth men endowed with a superior intelligence, they allowed this supreme power (the divine spark) to have full and uncontrolled action, and from it they learnt their first lessons. All that they had to do was to imitate it. But in order to reproduce the same effects by an effort of individual will, they were obliged to develop in their human constitution a (creative) power called KRIYASAKTI in occult phraseology.”

We should be extremely happy to make the acquaintance of a modern man of science who obeys divine law to such an extent as to let the power of God (the Holy Ghost) have full control over his thoughts, will, and desires. Such a person without selfish desires, without ambition or vanity, without any greed for money or fame, acting as an instrument of divine love, would be a rare specimen of humanity; but unfortunately such a saint and sage will hardly be found in our present generation; for a thousand links tie the human animal to the region of his desires, and how could he who is bound by a thousand chains to the Moon employ the energy of the Sun, whose influence he will not permit to enter his nature, and which therefore cannot nourish his body and grow into a power in him. Gold and silver may form an alloy; but they never become identical with each other. Thus their spiritual representatives, Divine Wisdom and the carnal intellect, will never be one and the same, although the light of wisdom will throw its reflection upon the terrestrial mind.

As stated before, there are three aspects of Alchemy:—

Terrestrial Alchemy. This in its lower aspect includes the whole science of chemistry with all the discoveries that may be made in the future. This alchemy still recognizes four elements, and the fifth, the one element, from which the four take their origin; in other words four states of matter and a fifth one (partly recognised by science); namely, the solid (substantial), liquid, fluidic, and ethereal state. These are described as follows:—

a. {symbol} (Earth.) That which gives substantiality to all things, whether solid, liquid, gaseous, ethereal or spiritual. (Solidity or Stability.)

b. {symbol} (Water.) That state which moves and renders things liquid on either plane of existence. (Motion).

c. {symbol} (Air.) That which enables things to assume a gaseous form. (Extension.)

d. {symbol} (Fire.) That which endows them with force. (Energy.)

e. {symbol} (Ether.) This fifth element, in which the attributes of all the other states have their basis, will be the principal object for scientific research in the coming centuries, and is in fact the first and the one element.

These elements represent themselves as the Tattwas enumerated in the preceding chapter, and correspond to them as follows, if we adopt the above line of order:—

a. Prithivi. Solidity. (Earth.)

b. Apas. Movement. Bulk. (Water.)

c. Vayu. Extension. (Air.)

d. Taijas. Energy. Intensity. (Fire.)

e. Akâsa. The one Tattwa forming the basis of the rest. (Sound.)

The limitation of space in these pages, no less than the insufficiency of our experience in regard to this subject, forbids us to enter into a closer investigation of the relations existing between this aspect of Alchemy and physical chemistry; but we have reason to affirm, that we are on the eve of great discoveries, which will to a certain extent revolutionize the popular chemistry of the present day.

Celestial Alchemy.—Even if it were within our power to describe the secrets of celestial alchemy, by means of which the universe was created and which includes the regeneration of man and the attainment of conscious immortality, and if this could be done publicly without profaning those mysteries, the explanation would probably be comprehensible only to those who, knowing it already, do not require it. Those who wish to investigate this subject for the love of wisdom will find the whole process fully described symbolically in “The Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the 16th and 17th Century,” a book easily comprehensible if studied by the light of wisdom, but unintelligible for the carnal mind, that sees all truths perverted. Some explanations have also been attempted in the book entitled “In the Pronaos of the Temple.” We will only say that there the Three Substances appear as the Three Beginnings; the first manifestation of the Unity as a Trinity, and the Seven Tattwas as the seven primitive spirits, or “living breaths” issuing from the bosom of Parabrahm.

The Universe is the Macrocosm, and Man the Microcosm, and as the first great Cause is the creator of the world and the cause of all evolution, so is individual man the creator in his own interior and external world, capable of causing certain superior states in his mind by the power of his will in obedience to the law, and to create forms by means of his thoughts, while the condition of his interior state will in time produce corresponding effects and transmutation in his physical body. Well will it pay him to devote all his time to this practice of Alchemy and obtain the pure gold of wisdom from the inferior metals represented by his animal passions. These passions are the capital lent to him by nature to make them into “silver and gold,” while he lives upon this earth: they are the steps upon which he can climb up to immortality and find his own true divine Self.