Pherecydes the view that Chaos (Khaos) is Watery, deriving it
from kheisthai (to flow). The Primordial Chaos is
considered Watery because it is confused (mixed) and formless
(i.e., Cool and Moist). Similarly, according to the Pythagorean
Alkman (c. 600 BCE), in the beginning there was a “trackless
and featureless” waste of Waters. There is also an Orphic
theogony in which the first deities are Okeanos and Tethys,
corresponding to the Abyss (sweet subterranean water) and
Tiamat (bitter salt sea). Therefore Water (Chaos) precedes
Earth (Gaia), which gives matter its form.
As remarked in the discussion of Earth,
elemental Earth is Cool (connected) and Dry (form imposing).
Thus it is too rigid and inflexible to support life, but can be
given this flexibility by Water. Therefore Primal Mud, the
fertile loam of our Mother, is a combination of dry, crystalline
Earth with moistening Water. This is why Water, which gives to
inanimate Earth the ability to develop, transform and adapt, is
associated with the “vegetative soul” possessed by all living
things. It is also why many cosmogonies begin with Primal
Mud.
According to Pherecydes’ cosmogony,
the living Earth came into being when Zeus and
Khthoniê (She Beneath the Earth) married, and on the
third day of the wedding, the Unveiling
(Anakaluptêria), the craftsman Zeus wove an
elaborate, variegated Robe (pepoikilmenon Pharos),
which He gave to Khthoniê as a gift. It was adorned with
land and sea, with rivers and trees, with mountains and
meadows, with all of Earth and Okeanos, the Primal Ocean, and
with the Mansions of Okeanos. (These are the three great
divisions of the world: Earth, Encircling Ocean, and the Realms
beyond the Rim. Above the three is Heaven and below is the
Underworld; all together they are the Fivefold Cosmos.)
When Khthoniê, Queen of the Underworld, had
wrapped it around Her, She became Gaia, Mother Earth.
Likewise, the Orphic Poems say that the Earth is the Robe of
Persephone, of She Beneath the Earth. The Robe, after it had
been the cover of the sacred marriage bed, was hung upon the
Goddess’s Tree of Life. Thus the mantle of our world surrounds
Khthoniê’s Tree, the Tree of She Beneath the Earth.
As was explained in the Introduction,
Earth is overcome by Water, and so the result of combining
the two is more Watery than Earthy. That is, the Primal Mud is
more like chaotic elemental Water: formless (because Moist)
and confused (because Cool, and therefore mixing).
Nevertheless, the Primal Mud is both Dry and Wet,
corresponding to the elements Earth and Water, and so this
“Prime Matter,” which is the basis of the Great Art, is called the
“Dry Water” by the alchemists.
From this perspective, Water and Earth constitute the “gross
body”; Air and Fire provide the astral and radiant bodies,
respectively. In Empedocles’ terms, Earth and Water are the
body (sôma), Air is the soul
(psychê), and Fire is source of power
(kinêtikê). Alchemically, the body is the
Salt, which is joined by the Quicksilver (etheric body: Air) to the
Sulfur (radiant body: Fire). So also the Stoics say that the (Cool,
synthetic) “feminine” elements Earth and Water constitute
Hulê (Matter or Resource), whereas the (Warm,
analytic) “masculine” elements Air and Fire constitute
Logos (Word or Thought).
Earth and Water are the only tangible (touchable) elements;
Fire and Air are intangible. Since Water and Earth are both
Cool, their tendency is toward greater mixture; this is the
entropy of gross matter. They tend to the cold and dark
through the dissolution of form (because the mixture is
Watery).
The “igneous spirit” (the Heat residing in both Fire and Air)
gives motion to inert matter and makes it active. These
Elements tend to warmth and light through the generation of
energy. Thus Menstruum, the Living Mud, which
combines the Cool feminine elements Earth and Water
(represented by pubic triangles), is animated by
Semen, which combines the Warm masculine
elements Air and Fire (represented by the phallic triangles).
Therefore Warmth and Moisture are the two principles of
generation, which animate the sterile Earth and bring it to life.
In conclusion, Water is the spiritual principle of flexible
union, which permits both dissolution and transformation.
Water provides the Primordial Chaos, which combines with
Earth to yield the Primal Mud from which life is born. Water is
associated with Persephone, the agent of rebirth in the
Underworld, who brings the tears of mourning but also the
Ambrosia of immortality.
Why is this mediation necessary? In “Water,”
I said that Water + Earth constitutes the Primal
Mud, the “gross body,” which is potentially alive,
but not animate. On the other hand, Fire is the
principle of action, the efficient cause of all
motion, but it cannot act directly on Primal Mud
(for they are opposed, Primal Mud being
predominantly Watery). However, Air can mediate
between Fire and Primal Mud, because it has Warmth
(active differentiation) in common with Fire, and
Moisture (flexibility) in common with Water. Thus
Air is the active Spirit, which operates on the
passive structure of Earth and the flexibility of
Water. We may say that Air conveys the Fiery Power
and facilitates its embodiment. In general, as
mediator, Air transmits powers and influences, and
therefore Air is the vehicle of coordination and
communication
(see below, “Air, the
Governor”).
Thus the Stoics attributed to Heraclitus
(6th-5th cent. BCE) the idea that the soul is an
Exhalation or Warm Vaporization
(Anathumiasis) from bodily moisture; as we
might say, the Fiery Soul evokes the Breath Spirit
from the body’s Primal Mud to be the means by which
the two can unite.
So also, as mentioned in “Water,”
Prometheus molded human bodies from Earth and
Water, and gave Heavenly Fire to them. But they
were not complete before Athena breathed Air into
them.
Water,
for Water gives the power of growth and
development to lifeless matter (Earth), and I will
discuss the Mind with Fire;
here our concern is the Spirited Soul and its
vehicle, the aerial or spirit
body.
The Aerial Spirit’s role as a subtle, invisible
governing faculty was recognized in ancient times.
For example, Diogenes of Apollonia says, “It seems
to me that that which has intelligence is what
people call Air (Aêr), and that all
people are steered (kubernasthai) by this,
and that it has power over all things. For the
very thing seems to be a God and to reach
everywhere and to dispose all things and to be in
everything.” (It is significant that the word he
uses for “steered,” kubernasthai, is
related to kubernêtikos, meaning
“skilled in steering or guiding,” which is the
origin of our term cybernetics, referring
to the principles of intelligence and governance in
animals and machines. Air is the Cybernetic
Element.) Diogenes’ statement also suggests that
Air plays a role in the World Soul
(Psukhê tou Pantos) as well as in
individual souls, and that is our next topic.
I have already mentioned
that Anaximenes considers Air to be the First
Principle (Arkhê) of the cosmos; it
is infinite, eternal, ever-moving and divine; he
calls Air the Father of the Gods (which recalls
Zeus’s common title: Father of Gods and Humans).
Anaximenes also says, “Just as our Breath-Soul
(Psukhê), being Air
(Aêr), governs us, so Spirit-Breath
(Pneuma) and Air (Aêr)
encompass the whole cosmos.” This suggests that
the governance of the cosmos is accomplished by the
Spirit-Breath of the World Soul. Indeed, Philemon
says that Air, who is called Zeus, knows everything
done by Gods or mortals, because He is everywhere
at once. So also Empedocles points to the God’s
subtle nature: "He is a Spirit-Mind
(Phrên), holy and ineffable, and
only Spirit-Mind, which darts through the whole
cosmos with its swift thoughts.“ (Note that the
term translated Spirit-Mind, Phrên,
is the singular of Phrenes, Breast.) Here
again we see Air as a medium of communication and
governance, but on the cosmic scale.
However, just as we all breathe the same Air,
and the Air in my breast is continuous with that in
yours, so also the World Soul is continuous with
individual souls (an idea we also find in the
Upanishads, where Brahman, the World Soul
identified with Prâna (Breath), is
identical to Âtman, the individual
Life-breath). As the nervous system integrates the
activities of individual organs to work for the
sake of the organism, so the Air binds our
individual souls into one World Soul. Microcosm
and macrocosm unite.
Philo of Biblos (64-140 CE) translated a
“Phoenician History,” which was supposed to have
been written by Sanchuniathon before the Trojan War
(which is not unlikely) and to be based on Egyptian
scriptures attributed to Thoth. According to this
myth, in the beginning there was a Primal Wind, a
breath of mist and darkness (i.e.
Aêr); also there was
Môt, the muddy chaos of Erebus
(khaos tholeron Erebôdes), that is,
the formless Primal Mud. The Primal Wind
fertilized itself and became Desire
(Pothos, perhaps corresponding to Semitic
Rûah, which means Breath but also
connotes Desire). Further, Môt became the
Cosmic Egg, and the cosmos was born when Desire
opened the Cosmic Egg (as also in the Orphic
cosmogonies), which led to a separation of the
Elements.
According to Eudemus (4th cent. BCE), the
Phoenicians who lived in Sidon also believed that
the universe was born of Air. In the beginning was
Time (Khronos), Desire (Pothos)
and Fog (Omikhlê). Desire and Fog
united, giving birth to Aêr and
Aura (Moving Air).
When discussing alchemy, the first thing you must understand is that in relation to modern chemistry, alchemy is relevant only in terms of history. Moreover, the value of the alchemists philosophical system has nothing to do with the literal interpretation of alchemical operations; but rather the message is hidden behind allegories, symbols and formulas. So the essence of alchemy is not the transformation of metals, but rather the transformation of the self.
Alchemists tell us the story of the matter passing through four main states: nigredo, albedo, citrinitas, rubedo. In nigredo, the matter is full of impurities, “unpolished”, so that in the albedo to be “cleaned” divided into two opposing principles. Citrinitas represent the transmutation of silver into gold, or the stage of “wise old man” – according to Carl.G.Jung‘s analytical psychology. Finally, in the state of rubedo the two opposing principles come together (coniunctio), giving birth to the two-headed eagle (Atahnor logo ), which symbolizes the discovery of the authentic self, the last stage of consciousness.
A similar initiatic journey we can find in tarot, as Oswald Wirth notes, where the story begins with the fool, which in French is called Le Fou, resembling Le Feu (Fire), thus referring to the alchemical process of transforming lead into gold. Perhaps the word game may lead us to the principle always reminded by alchemist Theophrastus noted Ph. Paracelsus, who urges alchemists to pass their theories through the fire, i.e. to test, experiment. Fire also symbolizes the active principle, or libido – described by Jung as the [psychic] energy of the individual. Moreover, if we interpret fire as the potency or the will to transform of the individual, we conclude that the fire that burns in Athanor (the furnace of alchemists) is the necessary will that “burns impurities” – the fuel that turns lead into gold. Moreover, even Gaston Bachelard in “Psychoanalysis of Fire” talks about the Prometheus complex, wich is explained to be: “Oedipus complex in intellectual life“ – so fire is engine that makes us want to know more. Paracelsus said that no operation can be done without this fire.
It is reasonable to consider both alchemy and tarot philosophical systems expressed through allegory, which focuses on the hidden potential in every individual (i.e. nigredo, the fool), which with labor and continuous “polishing” is able to discover his authentic self:
„nigredo is the revelation of the incompleteness of substance, that needs processing to become gold. This is why the matter is crying for the help of a man, which, by knowing and understanding, will save its soul from the netherworld.”
Nigredo also symbolizes the shadow of self, or the self [unconsciously] confronting its shadow. In the state of albedo we become aware of the shadow of the self, and impurities (unnecessary, harmful concepts) are removed. Also, we become aware of the opposite concepts anima and animus, that will be joined togheter in an alchemical process in rubedo : the Sun (gold, male) and the Moon (silver, female) come together; thus this operation is also symbolizing the union of conscious and unconscious – the consciousness in its fullness. In this respect some Gnostics, and some psychoanalysts and historians of religions have concluded that The Great Art means combining masculine (Sulphur) and feminine (Mercury) – a process more or less sexual. Mircea Eliade, great historian of religions noticed:
„European alchemy defines the Great Art as the <secret> to combine the <Masculine> with the <feminine>.”
Another thing that Paracelsus and other alchemists repeated was that to fulfill the alchemic operation, each step needs to be done perfectly, in perfect order. This reminds us that we must be diligent, not to deviate from the path, otherwise we will not obtain the rubedo state. The alchemist is somebody that makes order out of chaos (ordo ab chao), and in a sense, I believe that two-headed eagle symbol is representative of the whole process of acceptance, integration and transformation of the shadow in the entire being. The two-headed eagle is anima and animus fusioned, it’s the man aware of its shadow – unconscious becoming conscious.
Oswald Wirth notes that these ancient mystical symbols and allegories used to be a bridge between the conscious mind, and the collective unconscious. As I mentioned above, nigredo can also symbolize shadow or [collective] unconscious – the source of archetypes and symbols. So the moment we get out of the darkness (nigredo) – that miserable state of ignorance and unawarness -, is the moment we become aware of our shadow, when we distinguish subject from the object in the process of shadow projection.
Anyway, the alchemists have used different formulas to write their “alchemical recipes” to keep the knowledge away from the profane. A thing that was pretty common between alchemists was to associate different metals and different stages of processing (e.g. rotting) with various mythological names, thereby converting an alchemical recipe into a story or a myth – or vice versa. For example, Apollo (Sun) corresponded to gold. Jean Marie Ragon goes further and states that in the Greek myth of Apollo killing the snake Python hides an alchemical process, a meeting between coarse material and the philosophical fire. Moreover, many psychoanalysts (e.g. Jung) were concerned with the interpretation of myths in a rather metaphorical way, believing there are hidden meanings behind metaphors, myths and alchemical works (see C.Jung’s interpretation of the text “Consurgens Aurora“) . I
wanted to mention this because most people are skeptical about alchemy
(I am one of them), but I think that in many cases, the skepticism is
due the literally interpretation of alchemical texts/ myths. And it seems clear that D’Espagnets alchemical recipe that included a red dragon and seven or nine clean eagles that turns into a swan, doesn’t ask us to get a red dragon itself (nor claimed it will turn into a swan). And regarding Count Saint-Germain’s The Most Holy Trinosophia, it would be really foolish to think that that fantastic trip really took place (in the physical world).
A conclusion, and also a review could be that alchemy is a complex philosophical system, well-built, revealed in stages. Behind the seemingly chemical formulas or mythological character, there are beautiful teachings hiding, and the ultimate knowledge is reserved to the one with a sharp mind, escaping from the labyrinths built by alchemists. I think that Mircea Eliade concluded very nice his work “Cosmogony and babylonian alchemy“, reminding us that everyone has the potential to become gold, to transform his flaws and troublesome self (lead) into gold:
„Transmutation of metals, which at one point becomes the basic idea of alchemy, has its justification in the belief that any metal can perfect itself to the ultimate stage of matter, turning into Gold.”
Human
beings have probably probed the cupola of the heavens in search of
meaning since the birth of ego consciousness. This was a time when
celestial and terrestrial events succeeded one another for reasons known
only to the divine autogenerator of the cosmos, when everything deemed
unconscious and inert could speak its mind, when magic was the world
language, and when the fundamental cohesion of all life was an
acknowledged and unspoken fact. Back then everything on the earth below
was thought to mimic and imitate conditions simulated in the Great
Above; the stars, planets, comets and other celestial bodies were the
shining genies whose words and whispers, actions and reactions,
agreements and disputations might incite minor and sometimes large-scale
consequences for the lives of all corporeal inhabitants. Eclipses,
conjunctions, oppositions, depressions, exaltations and other celestial
events worked like knee-jerk reactions, exacting benefic or malefic
influence, facilitating particular conditions, or awakening
transpersonal formative forces which would work through tribal
personalities. This Platonic-flavoured cosmos in which everything was
Aeolian, alive and functioned through a system of meaningful
correspondences entrenched itself deep in the collective psyche of human
beings and has never quite relinquished its hold.
Hence,
it would not be erroneous to suggest that the religious function of the
human psyche first found voice in archaic astrology, a philosophy which
assumes that the systematic, recurring but sometimes volatile
behaviours of the celestial inhabitants mediate over all corporeal
phenomena and their relationship to human life. Of course the mere fact
that exact situations involving the celestial bodies in the heavens are
recapitulated periodically and can be calculated with mathematical
precision can only mean that the qualities, influences and relevant
conditions that these events are inexplicably connected with are
predictable. If, then, the path of the human condition is foreseeable
through this sidereal divination then the oikoumene must, in
fact, have been hewn by a conscious and creative mind that transcribed
general details relating the fate of all its divine, semi-divine and
mortal inhabitants, as well as its own into the plastic and intangible
“ether” somewhere. Here we get a taste of the spiritual and holistic
origins of archaic astrology, which, when broken down anatomically,
consisted of three primary aims: to descry one’s future for a chance at
changing the trajectory of fate (astrology); for meteorological purposes
that included the prediction of weather (meteorology); and the
transcription of stellar cycles and arrangements whose movements would
have been tracked to determine an appropriate time for the inception of
agricultural endeavours (astronomy).
The
Chaldeans or Assyrians introduced tangible markers for the qualitative
and quantitative assessment of the heavens in the second millennium bce.
The star-gods, genies or divinities governed a pre-established and
insurmountable destiny that vacillated between auspicious and
inauspicious conditions brought on by specific stellar arrangements, and
all of life on earth basically swayed or reacted to the configuration
of these heavenly waters. Each was ascribed rulership over a specific
day or month, forcing a dissection of time. The Chaldeans proceeded to
define the band of sidereal space that encompasses the wheel of heaven
and interacts with the ecliptic orbit; the equinoctial markers, embraced
by the zodiacal signs of Aries and Libra, could be found at the
intersection of equator and ecliptic whilst their polar opposites, the
tropical or solstitial markers, were to be found in in Capricorn and
Cancer. The just mentioned zodiacal signs, twelve in all, were
represented zoomorphically, anthropomorphically or as composite
creatures using motifs derived from Babylonian mythology, and contained
an exact conformation of stars known as a constellation. With respect to
each individual “sign”, the stars contained in one constellation
pervaded the sidereal space taken up by the imagined zodiacal image in
the night skies.
Proceeding
along an analogous line of reasoning, the ancient Egyptians developed a
calendrical system by observing the heliacal rising and setting of
individual stars. In this arrangement the year was divided into
thirty-six ten-day periods known as decans, each heralded by the
heliacal rising of a particular star. The star Sothis or Sirius, a
celestial embodiment of the Egyptian goddess Hathor-Isis, stood sentry
over the thirty-six divisions as the inaugurator of the entire year. In
the third century bce,
when knowledge of oriental astrology and its esoteric philosophy of
astral determinism reached Egypt through a Hellenistic dispensation
enabled by Alexander the Great (356-323 bce),
the zodiacal and decanal systems merged and three decans were
incorporated into each zodiacal sign. A few acclaimed esotericists like René Adolphe Schwaller de Lubicz
(1887 – 1961) have argued against a Chaldean importation of astral
determinism into Egypt, claiming that the Egyptians were holistic
thinkers and believed that each part of the human body was under the
mediation of a different star-god or genie that could be invoked to heal
illnesses pertaining to its respective part. Despite its innovative
potential and viability, the theory is disparately related to the
current discussion and will not concern us for the time being.
A
little before Alexander’s conquest the holistic tradition of esoteric
astrology began to differentiate into subcategories. Meteorology became a
distinct branch but it wasn’t until the time of Johannes Kepler
(1571-1630) that the mechanistic natural protoscience known as astronomy
and the animistic qualitative cosmogony of astrology parted company.
The latter matured fully during the second century ce, a period when Claudius Ptolemy (90-168 ce) penned an astrological treatise entitled the Four Books, or Tetrabiblos
in Greek. It was a comprehensive volume of horoscopic astrology, a
subcategory of the divinatory art that seeks to comprehend meaning and
answer questions using a celestial chart or horoscope which captures an
exact moment in time. The work transcribed the qualities of the
astrological signs, the twelve zodiacal constellations on the wheel of
heaven that subsisted through the ages and remain both meaningful and
functional to this very day.
In
entertaining an esoteric interpretation on the zodiac one sees that the
universe is united as One but at the same time coloured by archetypal
forces or elemental blueprints that originate from a mother membrane and
act upon the existing spectrum of variegated consciousness. Of vital
importance is the acknowledgement of the twelve established signs as
functioning symbols; while our ancestors almost certainly imagined
shapes and signs in cupola of the star-studded night, their choice of
animals and figures , real or imagined, are not as random as some might
believe. As unlikely as it seems, the ascribed zoomorphic,
anthropomorphic or composite creatures exhibit qualities that correspond
dynamically to the inherent nature of the group of stars in their
respective corner of the heavens. To give an example the stars of Cancer
are symbolically depicted by the crab; the latter habitual tendency to
seek and never veer far from the comfort of its home, a trait almost
universal amongst all modes of being born under its section of the sky.
While individual stars may belong to a collective archetype in the
manner that a group of human cells belong to one organ and work in
conjunction with one another to achieve a common aim, their unique
positions, magnetism and gravitational force within the astral
configuration permits a degree of freedom from collective law. This is
why the zodiacal band of sidereal space was sometimes depicted in an
active state of unfurling like a parchment of Nile papyrus.
The name given to this precession of imagined figures that comprise real cosmic phenomenon–zoe-diac,
or circle of life–is wholly appropriate given that the general
archetypal patterns or transpersonal influences of being that exist
manifest through all complex life irrespective of time and space and are
deemed to repeat for all eternity like a broken record. The fiery,
restless, urgent and explosive Martian formative force that wishes to
subjugate, to divide and dissect, to compartmentalize, to create, to
own, to dominate and to ascend the evolutionary ladder, for instance, is
indigenous to the fixed stars of Aries. This energy seeps down into
consciousness, sometimes in copious amounts and sometimes in minute
quantities, depending on the trajectory of the sun’s annual circuit and
its conjunction with the stars of the respective constellation. In fact
the nature of the latter’s influence is determined by the conjunction of
the sun with the stars of the head, of the horns, of the hindquarters,
of the forepaws, and so forth. The bold head of the ram is aggression;
the horns raw abundance and virility; his hindquarters signpost stamina
but sometimes a gross overestimation of strength; his forepaws
vulnerability and restlessness. Notwithstanding its waxing and waning
powers, the Arian sign is ubiquitous and indestructible, an inhabitant
of the timeless zone that subjects and bends everything to its will.
This indissoluble will is why all animation is fated to endure an
endless cycle of everlasting repetition…
In
retrospect, the clusters of stars that represent the twelve zodiacal
signs of the macrocosm are like organs of the digestive, circulatory,
respiratory, reproductive, endocrine, and nervous systems of the human
being, the microcosm. They are all associated with different formative,
vital and archetypal energies, just like the various operative and
anatomical systems of the human body are all responsible for the
mediation of different tasks. The passage of the solar orb through the
physical space of each zodiacal cluster ensouls the archaeus or
“ethereal tissue” of its corresponding disposition which in turn
vibrates at the frequency of the physical world and energizes all living
and evolving forms of matter. Naturally, the presence of the qualities
characteristic of the vital force in the end product itself is a
vindication of this hidden transmutational process and a teleological
exponent of tidal interactions between the energetic macrocosm and its
constituent, the receptive microcosm.
The
force working through each zodiacal sign is at its apogee during a
2150-year period in which the stars of its constellation occupy the
vernal point of 21-22 March, a time when the formative forces of Mother
Nature have regenerated enough to infuse life back into our hallowed
planet. This is made possible through slight changes that occur in our
planet’s rotational axis known as axial precession, or precession of the equinoxes.
Those untutored to astronomy would be unfamiliar with this phenomenon,
and so it is quite necessary to engage brief explanation here. Most
people know that the axis of our earth is not vertical but tilted on an
angular radius of 23 degrees 27 arcminutes, an obliquity which generates
seasonal rotation as the solar orb seemingly ascends and descends 23.5
degrees from the equator over the course of the year. During this time
it will cross over the equator twice; these occurrences are called
equinoxes. As the sun rises on the day of an equinox it sluices through
an intersection formed by the celestial equator and the ecliptic. This
is otherwise called the vernal point, which is not fixed but shifts by
about a degree every seventy-two years due to rotational wobble of the
earth’s axis. It takes a period of about 26,000 years (the Platonic
Year) for the axial pole to trace out an imaginary circle around the
ecliptic pole on a radius equivalent to the axis and return to the same
spot. The direction is retrograde to the earth’s daily rotation. Save
for changing the coordinates of stars and constellations which would
otherwise seem fixed into the heavens from the perspective of an
observer, the volatile movement allows the vernal point to inhabit a
zodiacal constellation for a period of about 2160 years before moving
onto another. Hence if the vernal point were in Cancer it would
subsequently moves in an opposite direction to the sun through Gemini,
Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, and so forth.
What this phenomenon of axial precession
tells us is that our concept of time is eternal but measurable and
divisible as well. The primary measurers of this human construct are the
twelve constellations, star clusters associated with archetypal
energies that possesses, overwhelm and empower the sentient earth and
all consciousness. From a metaphysical standpoint, the transpersonal
force whose configuration of stars inhabit the vernal equinox achieves
full expression and activation, and will dominate the filtration of
vibrations leaking into the physical zone until the said annual
coordinate passes into another zodiacal sign. Each transpersonal power,
then, rules the vibratory composition of the physical plane for 2160
years, forfeits the position to the adjacent neighbor behind it, and
recaptures this privileged and glorious cosmic position after 26,000
years. Evidence for the validity of what might be described as an
astro-metaphysical phenomenon can be sought in the history of human
consciousness itself.
Taurus, for instance, a sign ruled by Venus and exalted by the moon, inhabited the vernal point between 4380 and 2220 bce.
The aforementioned planetary spheres embody formative forces whose
spirits are wholly feminine, and looking at the state of consciousness
prevenient on our planet at the time automatically vindicates the
paraphysical-physical connection. Anthropological studies reveal a
matriarchal situation in which human consciousness was fundamental
tribal in nature, driven by collective concerns; the individual “souls”
comprising the tribes themselves were imbued by receptivity and
intuition; their minds, on the other hand, were impressionable,
free-thinking, and all-embracing. Their sense of knowing was guided by
raw instinct rather than sense-based rationality and deductive
reasoning. This more tranquil mode of being facilitated an understanding
of the cosmos that has long been under rug swept and forgotten; as the
cause and origin of all life, Nature is the Great Mother Goddess whose
variegated, diverse forms are first-hand evidence of teleology and
meaning, the latter imminent when the relationship of all created forms
to one another is finally contemplated. An earth-based spirituality
works with created Nature, celebrating it through the medium of
unconditional engagement, artistic expression, reenactment, ritual,
transcendence, dance, and anything that might facilitate the impetus of
creation. There can be no greater advocate of this holistic, lunar or
right-brain consciousness than Minoan Crete, a Bronze-Age culture whose
unprecedented artistic and engineering feats were motivated by
everything feminine under the watchful gaze of the omniscient Taurian
eye.
Sadly
the situation was to change rather prominently with Aries, a zodiacal
sign that ruled the heavens and the earth between 2220 and 60bce.
Aries is ruled by Mars and exalted by the Sun, two planetary bodies
which channel a fiery, seedy, and visionary masculine energy of becoming
and differentiation. The energy effected a fundamental change to human
consciousness, now driven by a fully-developed ego that perceives itself
in relation to the Goddess-Self, or God-Self I should say. While in
feminine lunar consciousness the unconscious will was driven by
collective interest, ego-based consciousness shifted the soul’s axis of
rotation to a much more selfish gradient now addressing individual
desires, its self-serving needs and wants. This, in turn, forced a
catastrophic shift in perception of what encompasses the divine, now
understood as the subjugation, ensnarement and destruction of Mother
Nature and its conscious extensions. The impulsive and violent acts
themselves were made possible by the forgery of the Martian metal, iron,
which branded new weaponry including spears, swords, and war chariots,
revolutionized combat, and contributed greatly to the industrialization
of the entire planet. Gone was the earth-base spirituality of respecting
and venerating the bonds of life; the new, scarlet-colored ego of
humanity erroneously sought transcendence through materialistic values
of domination not conducive to the preservation of life. Changes to the
anatomy of the human psyche spurred by the rise of Martian-solar
consciousness generated a worldly domain of dissociated and disparate
empires ruled by sun-worshipping priestcraft and plagued by continual
warfare. In many ways the milieu of the Arian Age resembled a scene from
Dante’s Purgatory: the ancient Egyptians confronted the war-loving
Hittites for territorial expansion into the Near East; the Mycenaeans
burned and looted Cnossos and the Minoan temple-palaces; Homer’s
mythical era unfolded as a nine-year battle between the fated Trojans
and the rage-driven Greek heroes; the Assyrians fought the Babylonians
with their dreaded horse-driven chariots of war; the ancient world fell into the ambitious arms of Alexander the Great, the single greatest warrior in history and
the Romans warred against the barbaric Illyrian-Italic tribes to expand
their empire. These historic events unraveled beneath an omniscient
horde of blood-thirsty sun gods like Apollo, Helios, Mithras, and
Amun-Re.
In
juxtaposing the two zodiacal Ages, the metaphysical reality behind the
mechanistic veil of celestial appearances becomes much more tangible.
The same analysis can be exacted for the Christ consciousness of the
Piscean Age and the forthcoming Aquarian Age. Looking at the cosmos from
this esoteric trajectory goes far in spiritualizing the automaton of
contemporary science, surrendering to the sentient soul of Mother Nature
the dignified worship to which she is wholly entitled, and transforming
the ancient concept of individual and communal fate into a prospective
and endearing philosophy. Perhaps everything is predetermined to a
degree, encrypted in the twinkling hieroglyphs of the fated skies…
The 13 Moon, 28-day calendar is a new standard of time for all people
everywhere who desire a genuinely new world. If the calendar and time
we follow is irregular, artificial and mechanized, so becomes our mind.
As is our mind, so our world becomes, as is our world today: Irregular,
artificial and mechanized. But if the calendar we follow is harmonic and
in tune with natural cycles, so also will our mind become, and so we
may return to a way of life more spiritual and in harmony with nature.
The 13 Moon calendar synchronizes solar and galactic cycles on July 26
correlating with the star Sirius. Each of the 13 moons has a power,
action, and quality which define an annual program to synchronize our
consciousness with the galactic cycles.
As a perfect measure of cosmic time, this calendar is actually a synchronometer,
an instrument for measuring synchronicity. Followed daily, it gives us a
new lens in which to perceive events. In the New Time, synchronicity is
the norm.
The 13 Moon 28-day synchronometer is a harmonic timespace
matrix. It takes the moon 28 days to orbit the Earth; it makes this
orbit 13 times each year. The standard of measure is the 28-day cycle,
called a moon, because it is the median between the 29.5-day synodic
cycle of the moon (new moon to new moon) and the 27.1-day sidereal cycle
of the moon. Hence, it is a measure of Earth’s solar orbit using the
28-day lunar standard. This creates a perfect orbital measure of 13
moons of 28 days, totaling 364 days, or 52 perfect weeks of 7 days each.
Because the 365th day is no day of the moon or week at all, it is known as the “day out of time” – a day to celebrate peace through culture and time is art!
“The Thirteen Moon calendar is an evolutionary tool to assist
humanity in the unprecedented act of uniting itself on one issue
central to its complete well-being: time. The harmonic convergence of
humanity on this one issue, combined with the inescapable order,
perfection and simplicity of following the 13 Moon calendar will lift
the species as a simultaneous whole into the galactic timing frequency
of 13:20.”
José Argüelles/Valum Votan, The Call of Pacal Votan
The coming new era on our planet has everything to do with a change
of timing frequency. The 13 Moon-28-day calendar is a simple tool that
helps us to raise our frequency and gives us a new lens to view both our
day-to-day and planetary events.
Because both the Gregorian and 13 Moon calendars operate with 52
seven-day weeks annually (364 days), the 13 Moon calendar provides a
perfect daily transition tool for hooking back up with the
higher-dimensional order! It is simple to follow day-to-day as it is
marked with the dates of the Gregorian calendar.
The 13 Moon calendar is comprised of elegantly simple cycles.
Namely: The 7-day week and 28-day moon. Unlike the Gregorian calendar,
the days of the moon (month) and the days of the week line up perfectly,
week-to-week and moon-to-moon. This makes the 13 Moon/28-day calendar a
perpetual calendar.
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 vesselsmight 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 ofsuperstition and ignorance that reigned inEurope during the Middle Ages, Bacon’s achievements were attributed to his communication with devils. His fame spread through western Europenot 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 particularlypernicious. 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, hispersecutions 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’sBreviary 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 tohave 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 ofTheatrum 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.
(
This is a detail of an English alchemical scroll from the 16th century that provides a pictorial synopsis of alchemical philosophy, depicting the successive processes—through the White Stone, the Red Stone, and the Elixir Vitae—in the production of the Philosopher’s Stone.)
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.
Tin is a body clean, imperfect, engendered of ARGENT-VIVE pure, fixed, and not fixed clear, being white outwardly, but red inwardly, and of the like SULPHUR. Tin lacks only decoction, or digestion.
Alchemical Tin is the Manipura chakra of the yogis or the Jupiter center of esoteric astrology. In the body its location is approximately at the level of the solar plexus. In the order of “cleanness” it is second out from the Sun center, according to Bacon. It is imperfect. Like its super-conscious expression (Argent Vive), the self-conscious (sulphur) expression through this center is white outwardly but still red within. What Bacon is inferring is that, predominantly, sub-conscious elements are still expressed through this center, or alchemically speaking, tin’s sulphur is yet naturally attached to salt-ish tendencies.
In alchemy-speak when self-consciousness (sulphur) aligns its powers with super-consciousness (mercury or Argent Vive), the combination is called “white sulphur.” When self-conscious expressions are rooted in habitual sub-conscious tendencies or habit patterns, alchemists labeled this “red sulphur.” The effects within the personality complex show up as predominant tendencies toward pomposity, raw materialism, strong pride, and rigid conservatism, to name a few. These are some of the more base expressions exuding from an ill aspected Jupiter in a natal horoscope. This is the equivalent, alchemically speaking, of tin steeped in salt-ish tendencies, or as Roger Bacon says, “but red inwardly.” Bacon suggests that all that is needed to sublimate the finer tendencies within this center is “decoction,” or prolonged meditation. Meditation turns sulphur toward Argent Vive in ALL the metals.
Lead is an unclean and imperfect body, engendered of ARGENT-VIVE impure, not fixed, earth and dross, being somewhat white outwardly, but red inwardly, and of such a SULPHUR in part burning. It has not purity, fixation, color, and firing.
The alchemical metal lead is equivalent to the Muladhara chakra of the yogis and the Saturn force center of esoteric astrology. The following three metals: Lead, Copper, and Iron are very important forces centers. Commentary on these three calls for another adept’s insight into their natures. The mysterious Basil Valentine subsequently described these three force centers in the 1500s, 250 years after Bacon. His word choices are slightly different, but rather similar in spirit with Bacon. He wrote of Lead: “Saturn (Lead) is generated of little Sulphur, little Salt and much gross, unripe Mercury.”
Both sages agree that the Mercury, or Argent Vive, (super-conscious) expression through this chakra is “unripe, impure, gross and dross.” The Saturn Center or Metal in the normal human is of an energy that is mainly concerned with practical, materialistic manifestations. The survival instinct is priority, especially so through those centuries of both authors. Survival is not that less instinctual in these current times, it would appear. For this center to express super-consciousness as a positive influence calls for a combination from the other two, Copper and Iron, to turn Lead. In Lead self-consciousness (sulphur) tends to focus on the sub-conscious (salt) needs for sheer survival where food, shelter, and safety are the primary issues. “Me first!” is the most important.
Occult Aspects 