Alchemy

High magic and alchemy are twin branches of the magical system known as Hermetism, which is in turn the embodiment of the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. This last name means the thrice greatest Hermes and is the title given by the Greek to the Egyptian god Toth or Tehuti, the lord of wisdom and learning. Thoth was believed to be the scribe of the gods and therefore was in charge of all knowledge. Because the accumulated wisdom of egypt was concentrated in this god, the name Hermes was placed at the top of an extensive cycle of mystical literature produced in early Christian times. Most of these works known as Hermetic or Trismegistic literature, have disappeared over the centuries, but tradition says that all the Hermetic wisdom was inscribed in a legendary tablet that enclosed within its cryptic wording the entire system of modern and traditional magic. The message is short and abounds in symbolic terminology. Its true meaning must be found within mans own soul. Here follows the message of the Emerald Tablet....

True, without falsehood, certain and most true, that which is above is the same as that which is below, and that which is below is the same as that which is above, for the performance of the miracles of the One Thing.

And as all things are from One, by the meditation of One, so all things have their birth from this One Thing from adaptation.

The sun is its father, the moon is its mother, the wind carries it in its stomach, its nurse is the earth. This is the father of all perfection, or consummation of the whole world.

Its power is integrating, if it be turned into earth. You shall separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, suavely and with great integrity and skill.

Your skilful work ascends from earth to heaven and descends again to earth, and receives the power of the superiors and of the inferiors.

So thou hast the glory of the whole world, therefore let all obscurity flee from thee. This is the strong force of all forces, overcoming every subtle and penetrating every solid thing.

So the world was created, hence were all the wonderful adaptations, of which this is the manner. Therefore am I called Hermes Trismegistus having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.

What I have to tell is completed concerning the operation of the sun.

In this message lies the key to the mysteries. All forms of magic can be worked with the same formula hence 'that which is above is the same as that which is below' Macrocosmos is the same as microcosmos. The universe is the same as God, God is the same as man, man is the same as the cell, the cell is the same as the atom, the atom is the same as ......... and so on.

'You shall separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, suavely, and with great ingenuity and skill'. Herein is the first principle of what the ancients call hyper chemistry, or alchemy.

It has been said sometimes that alchemy is an abortive and ludicrous attempt at chemistry, but nothing could be further from the truth. Alchemy is an ancient science. In remote times men studied nature in its body, its life and its spirit. The study of nature led to the development of the laws of universal organization.

Studying its life brought about a formulation of the laws of transformation, including the transmutation of metals. The study of its spirit lead to the power of creation. After the 15th century the study of the body became the absolute domain of science. The study of life and spirit was regulate to a corner and became an object of scorn and contempt on the part of the scientists. Alchemy became the heir of these forgotten teachings.

Alchemist agree with chemists that there is unity in matter, but where chemistry teaches that atomic particles are the smallest units in matter, alchemist say there is an ultimate essence that they call Ether, or the universal fluid. Alchemist think of matter as being composed of molecules that are in turn divided into molecules, which are about one degree removed from Ether. Matter to the alchemist is therefore compact energy, which can be dissolved into free energy or force. For the alchemist energy and matter are the same thing, namely substance. The substance is the absolute, the one that Hermes Trismegistus describes in the emerald tablet. The one is divided into three parts, intelligence or force, energy and matter.

Alchemy teaches that matter is composed of identical atoms in various groupings. The differentiation between the groupings makes the variations between the elements. The Ether of which the atoms are composed, goes through a process of evolution. Based on this belief, alchemists claim that it is possible to transmute metals, to change one metal into another, such as lead into gold. This is done by extracting certain atoms from lead and re-grouping them into the atomic design of gold, which can be accomplished only by the philosophers stone, a chemical compound that can transmute base metals into either gold or silver.

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