Alchemy’s Origin
Alchemy, consistent with esoteric writers, is said to be the invention of an historic Egyptian sage called Hermes Trismegistus. The "Father of Alchemy" lived in an unknown age of Egyptian history, though he is thought by a few Rosicrucian schools to have lived during the time of Moses and the Exodus of the Israelites. If actual, being an Initiate of the mysteries of Isis and Osiris, Moses ought to were tutored by using Hermes himself, which later enabled him to perform his task and to comprehend his I AM Presence symbolised by way of the burning bush. The diverse precepts and the Ten Commandments of the Lord of Hosts revealed to the Israelites via Moses are the primary alchemical steps of purification and putrefaction. Further steps had been later delivered to the Mosaic revelation through the Nazarene Master. Indeed, the Christ declared that he got here now not to abolish the previous revelation, however to satisfy it.
It is notion by means of some that "Hermes Trismegistus" constituted a identify assumed by way of outstanding hierophants of the Mystery Schools, in a somewhat similar manner that Zoroaster, the founder of the "Fire Religion" is regarded via certain pupils. Incidentally, alchemy can also be taken into consideration a Fire Religion, or as a minimum a philosophy, because of its symbology of hearth associated with the alchemical concepts, its prerequisite within the artwork of transmutation, and to the honour and honor paid to it by using alchemists.
Jewish mystics perceive Hermes because the antediluvian prophet Enoch, or Idris, as the Muslims call him; even as historic Egyptians see Hermes as Thoth, the god of Wisdom, Learning, and Writing. He became given this apotheosis together with Imhotep, the remarkable architect under the reign of King Zoser of the Fourth Dynasty. It might seem that both men were overshadowed by way of the archetypal discern of Thoth, and had been acknowledged as such with the aid of both the inner and outer circles of initiates of the Mystery Schools. Thoth, or his Greek counterpart, Mercury, became a messenger of the gods; and as an archetypal incarnation of this god, Hermes lived as much as his call through his literary productivity. Ancient writers declared that the "Trice Greatest" wrote lots of books on what later have become referred to as Hermeticism and Alchemy. It is unfortunate that little or no of Hermes’ works survived the conflagration and destruction of libraries and books by way of Roman and Christian zeal within the early sunrise of the Piscean Age. The international as an entire remains unaware of the incredible loss, and it’s going to make the effort earlier than the invocation is made through the loads for the Greater Light, for disclosure of everlasting standards that might shine upon the paths of men, and consequently, for a complete recuperation and status quo of an occult library of the arena, with an archive and database of every regarded system and subculture of the metaphysical facet of existence. Although little is known of Hermes, it’s miles obvious thru the works attributed to him that he become an intermediary of the Wisdom Ray of the Supreme Being.
One of the maximum famed works on Hermetic doctrine written, and in concise form, is the Smaragdine Tablet attributed to the authorship of Hermes. Its discovery is traditionally believed to had been made by Alexander of Macedonia in a cave close to Hebron. This conqueror of nations who had Aristotle for a Master, changed into on the lookout for immortality. Although he did not gain his private immortality, Alexander did uncover a philosophical jewel that would have given him what he had sought if he had best carried out the ideas that the Emerald Tablet contained. Tradition relates that the Tablet became wrought out of artificial emerald, because of transmutation, with the Hermetic doctrine embossed on it.
Alchemy, as a philosophy and an artwork in the Western hemisphere inside the past millenia, existed concurrently in different historic cultures and civilizations–it became practiced intensely by using Hindu Yogis and Taoists, in India and China. This parallel boom is probably the end result of the Great White Brotherhood’s periodic presentation of a spiritual approach designed for the development of positive styles of temperaments and perception-framework of these aspirants belonging to a sure technology and level of mankind’s collective evolution.
Based on this parallel boom of alchemy within the Orient and the regions of the Fertile Crescent counseled to some Esoteric historians that alchemy may have had a commonplace origin in that sunken continent Atlan, or Atlantis, as it is more commonly regarded. Esoteric Tradition pronounces that a handful of the Atlantean Root Race survived the submergence of the land and transmigrated to Egypt, China, and the Americas. It is reasonable to anticipate that they delivered with them their sciences, art, and lifestyle, which prompted the population indigenous to the areas where they settled. This could explain the similarities in the traditions and beliefs of local cultures to be discovered each East and West.
Principles of Alchemy are the ideas that Nature herself works with, and for that reason alchemy, scientifically, existed within the internal planes long before it became brought down to the earth aircraft by means of Master teachers. A have a look at of Nature’s mysteries might display to the discerning student that the higher Intelligences, the Elohim, and the Great Architect of the Universe utilized alchemical standards to precipitate the starry our bodies out of Chaos, out of Cosmic Root Substance or "Sunyata," as termed via the Buddhist. Qabalists consider that Adam turned into taught by way of the angels in Paradise the artwork of transmutation, to prepare him for his "Fall" and his climb again toward his Monad, toward godhood–his involution and evolution from a Divine Consciousness to Divine Self-Consciousness.
There is not any wellknown concurrence among pupils as to the foundation of the word "alchemy." The consensus is that the phrase is derived from the phrase "Khem," the ancient name for Egypt, brought to the Arabic article "al," which means "the," as a result forming the phrase "al-Khemy." However, Sir Wallis Budge is of the opinion that alchemy comes from the Egyptian word "khemein," that means the "black powder" or "ore" which is presumed to be an aspect in alchemy. No depend where it secured its name, the phrase "alchemy," it’d seem, first got here into prominence within the Mystery Schools in Alexandria.
Purpose of Alchemy
But just what’s alchemy, and what position does it play within the promoting of the welfare of mankind? If alchemy has any authentic fee, it should be based totally upon eternal values, upon the matters that help Heaven’s purposes; in different phrases, upon God’s plan of humankind’s turning into into the proper Elohimic picture of the divine. If alchemy simply had a mundane objective, masterminds of the Ages might now not have worried themselves with it. It would had been considered as some thing so trivial, so temporary, as to distract Man from the real paintings of extricating himself, specifically, from his bondage to the carnal self, the kama manas, or animal soul; and generally, from samsara. Greed turned into by no means the impulse that prompted the invention of alchemy. It turned into, is, and continually can be Man’s preference for Truth and enlightenment of his authentic nature and estate that motivates him to are trying to find thru each channel and avenue for that positive something that he subconsciously feels he had "lost" and that’s his to re-accumulate–call it "the Lost Word," "the Philosopher’s Stone," or "the Holy Grail," it matters now not. Alchemy teaches Man the concepts of regeneration and resurrection, laws of introduction and transmutation; laws that could assist Man to regain his former estate lost in "the Fall." This "Fall" from Paradise symbolically represents involution of the human life wave into bodily count. The way returned to the Throne of God is scientifically known as "evolution," and the acceleration of the latter is the art of the airtight gnosis. This Path of Return is esoterically and graphically symbolised by Jacob’s Ladder, and the trails of the Qaballistic "Tree of Life."
The drama of Jesus’ lifestyles is an alchemical allegory of the stairs of regeneration and ascension to the I AM Presence inside, the "Father who artwork in Heaven." Orthodox Christianity does now not apprehend or is unaware of this crucial truth, and because of the lack of mystical insight among most members of its priesthood coupled with the absence of esoteric truths in the doctrines and dogmas of the Church, the average Christian is ignorant and unaware of the authentic message of Christianity–of the Light, the Christ substance, and the true saving blood that Christ added to humankind. Esoteric Christianity is fundamentally an alchemical technological know-how and religion; its promulgator was a Master Alchemist–being taught within the initiatory halls of the Mystery Schools. It is associated within the Gospels how the Master transmuted water into wine, extended loaves and fishes, and walked on water–all of which have been manifestations of the carried out standards of alchemy, the Hermetic philosophy–or possibly these occasions have been all allegories conveying some spiritual coaching.
Alchemy is defined as an art of transmutation and precipitation–the converting of base metals into gold. The work of alchemical transmutation is special as "the Labor of the Sun." This "Eye of Ra" symbolically represents the perfection with which Nature is progressively unfolding in her creations. At the bodily stage the Sun of Perfection is represented with the aid of gold. Alchemy is the technological know-how and artwork which hasten the creations of Nature to acquire perfection at their very own respective level. Gold is the perfection acquire by way of metals and minerals. Minerals, however, are also following any other line of perfection–that of its capacity to sustain existence and awareness. And Man, the acme of natural life, is evolving to the kingdom wherein he acquires perfection in Divine Self-Awareness.
From the above it could be summarized that alchemy is the art of raising vibrations of an item so one can hasten its development or evolution right into a higher expression or nation. The result is perfection of the item of the transmutation.
Alchemy’s Transmission to Christendom
Alexandria changed into the philosophical capital of Egypt, and perhaps of the complete civilized worlds within the early centuries of Christianity. Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Alchemy and Hermeticism flowered abundantly; these philosophies are intrinsically associated, and to recognize the Royal Art fully, the pupil of alchemy is cautioned by way of Master teachers to be familiar with their doctrines. Alexandria’s Golden Age of occult philosophy did no longer remaining lengthy, for the reptilian mind of the fallen angels had seized manipulate of the growing new faith of Christianity (no offence to our Christian brothers and sisters). The philosophical little children of Hermes were persecuted and murdered brutally via Christian fundamentalists and fanatics. Fear and hatred had been aroused most of the masses and the ousting of the so-known as pagan religions from the land ensued. One unhappy event changed into the merciless assassination of Hypathia, an illustrious daughter of the Mysteries–the Widow Isis, and propounder of Neoplatonism. She hardly had a philosophical same throughout her day, and this brought on the envy and jealousy of a positive priest who contrived her murder.
During the decline of the Roman Empire, the Secret Doctrine, or the Ancient Wisdom had been handed on to the guardianship of the Arabian and Persian mystics. The tenets of occult knowledge had been later included into the Muslim faith with its better aspects promulgated secretly in the traditional oral way in certain sects, Orders, and mystical agencies which include the Sufi and Dervish Orders, and the various community of Druzes in Lebanon and Syria.
In the eighth to the eleventh centuries A.D., within the technology of the golden period of alchemic-Islamic subculture, we hear of eminent names inside the area of the Royal Art, including al-Farabi, Rhazes, Geber and Avicenna. These guys studied the mystery teachings and occult wisdom of the Egyptian and Greek colleges. They had been maximum substantially motivated by using Hermetic, Alchemic and Neoplatonic ideas, and the knowledge that they received become synthesized with Islamic and Sufic doctrines. The Sufi adepts produced one of the most lovely symbols of spiritual unfoldment and development: the rose. Its symbolism is akin to the lotus followed through Hindu mystics.
The Knights Templer turned into an critical hyperlink between both East and West, among Islamic way of life and the arena of Christendom. The alchemical doctrine became passed on with the aid of the Sufi adepts to these "Knights of the Holy Sepulchre," because the Templers were firstly referred to as. Even the mythical Christian Rosencruez of Rosicrucianism is stated to have obtained his occult understanding from the Sufi Masters and adepts in Arabia.
After the days of the disbandment of the Templer Order by means of Philip the Fair of France, and the death-sentence in their closing Grand Master, Jacques de Molay in 1314, the surviving Knights sought refuge in numerous nations; and in England some of them founded an alchemical Order which later became known as the "Elder Brothers of the Rose Cross." It is stated that this Order comprised 33 members and that this group exists even to this very day in our laptop age.
When the believers of Allah invaded and settled in Iberia, they delivered with them the Secret Teachings. Colleges had been established that had mysticism, metaphysics, and alchemy in the curriculum. With the establishment of the numerous faculties, the Ancient Wisdom ultimately took definite root in European soil, and it unfold step by step for the duration of the other areas of the Continent. This expansion became no doubt the result of the efforts placed forth by the religious hierarchy of this planet. Man’s evolution is split into sure steps, degrees, and cycles, and those have "time-tables" or schedules associated with them. It turned into expedient that the Flames of Truth and Freedom accept to the custodian of the Islamic world if it had been now not to be extinguished through some of the ungodly minds of Christendom of the Dark Ages which might have brought about a setback to the Divine Plan already hooked up.
The deviation from the right use of unfastened will by means of Christian fundamentalists had made them improper vessels for the Christic wine. In spite of exoteric Christianity’s blind attack on th Light that gave it delivery, the esoteric circle persisted its life clandestinely, maintaining the secret teachings of Jesus and transmitting it to a selected few who had the vision of the divine plan inside their hearts and minds.
Idries Shah, the eminent Sufi of cutting-edge times, mentions in his ebook "The Sufis," how an Englishman, one Robert of Chester, turned into instrumentally in 1144 A.D., in introducing alchemy to the Christian world via translating an alchemical manuscript initially written in Arabic. There have been many others like him, for bearers of the Flame have been no longer few.
Levels of Alchemy
Most of the ideas of alchemy conveyed to the general public have been made up of pictures, mandalas, and jargon. These obscure languages have been important considering the generation that alchemical science was struggling–struggling for a reputation from the hundreds as a device of religious development inside the midst of ecclesiastical persecution. The mentality of the loads of the Middle Ages were no longer a whole lot extraordinary from the time of Jesus. Ignorance, superstition, and worry still ruled the day. The letter of the regulation, as propagandized by means of Orthodox Christianity have been still at odds, and at battle with the spirit of the regulation, as advanced through enlightened mystics. The inquisition, which lasted for hundreds of years, showed how far the Church had strayed from the original precepts of Christianity. The Christ taught love, forgiveness, charity and kindness; the Church Fathers and Christian leaders only knew private ambition, with sadism, and egoism set-up upon an unholy pedestal. The personal "I" changed into worshipped, the "Yekhidah," or the Divine I AM, was forgotten.
Neophytes of the Mysteries have been given the keys of interpretation of Sacred literature once they have been widely wide-spread inside the numerous mystery brotherhoods. The candidates of alchemical initiation have been noticed by means of the Masters once they had demonstrated their sincerity, and the sacrifices and attempt that that they had made. To the world at large, the life of the Masters changed into unknown and unsuspected, even though their presence in the international of fellows turned into hinted at in various alchemical manuscripts. It was only within the closing century that Helena P. Blavatsky, among others, who introduced their existence to the world’s interest; and even then, the sector scoffed and derided at the idea. This is a little unreasonable, as humans of numerous spiritual unfoldment and mental improvement may also effortlessly be visible and diagnosed. If a few ladies and men are greater ideal than others, why must no longer there be males and females totally ideal from our human point of view?
Esoterically, when a Master alchemist gave a student of alchemy the "Philosopher’s Stone," what become certainly conveyed were the lessons of the Ancient Wisdom, and a certain yogic system that once implemented and practiced, might transmute an initiate into a god.
To the general public eye, alchemical icons and terminology conveyed no sense in any way, but the mystiqueness of alchemical texts and pictures aroused hobby in ability practitioners of the Royal Art, and it turned the average man or woman into a seeker. This became possibly one of the intentions of the authors of alchemical manuscripts. Modern chemistry, feeling a bit confused by means of alchemical thoughts, contemptuously considers her sire as a pseudo-science, within the same manner that astrology is usually frowned upon through the students of astronomy. Modern research will in time trade the evaluations and prejudicial ideals of a materialistically-willing technological know-how; already pioneers of quantum physics are hypothesising what the Ancient Wisdom has been coaching for a while.
One key to expertise alchemy is to determine the goals and the situation of transmutation. Without maintaining this principle in mind, one might be lost inside the alchemical desert. Alchemy is categorized into 4 levels:
1) Physical alchemy
2) Biological alchemy
3) Psychological alchemy
four) Transcendental alchemy
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