Ostanes, One Nature etc

Suddenly a column sprang open by itself in the middle. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing inside. Ostanes son told us that there were books of his father inside. “But when we looked, we found nothing but this formula of great value: One nature delights in another, one nature conquers another, and one nature dominates another. Great was our admiration for how he concentrated the whole knowledge in a few words.”

Indeed whoever wrote it was an author of substantial alchemical relevance. Comparable to Tabula Smaragdina’s. Sinesius ascribed the statement to Ostanes and quoted: “this Ostanes was the first to give the formula One Nature, etc.” Diogenes Laertius endorses the status reached by Ostanes’ phrase and tries writing about it. Nevertheless, he does not seem to have fully understood the stoical aphorism: “ Nature is an imponderable Fire Technikon”, that’s to say, a fire operating as a craft activity. Matter and Tool.

We must always remember that Ostanes was known as “the Sovereign of the seven sounds”, in the very sense that he was acknowledged to have reached the end of the last cooking of the philosophical egg and, so, to have successfully obtained the “heavenly” response of the upper octave”. After so many years, I have concluded that sounds and breezes are what the ancient alchemists generically defined with the name “nature”. And the alchemists of the Baroque age called it “Ars Musicae”, the art of music. Not only it concerns everything that happened in the last cooking, but very likely it represents the same machine of sacred art. To such an extent, what is defined as “Windrose or Compass” often hides this aspect of Alchemy.

The flexibility of alchemical symbology allows us to give the word “nature” more than one meaning: in philosophy/theurgy, nature indicates the connections between macrocosm and microcosm through a third medium; in alchemical physics, nature can only be a form of vibration of matter; in laboratory alchemy, it is the Mercurius, which can often be considered synonymous with Secret Fire. If these divisions did not make sense in ancient times, today, today they are recognized, but sadly kept separate in different branches of alchemical and hermetic knowledge.

From the day of the legendary opening of the column on, Pseudo Democritus, aka Bolos of Mende, the supposed discoverer, used this statement as a refrain in most of his Physika & Mystika. In his work, we can find one of the few hermetic allusions to sympathy, while his contemporaries had instead talked of marriages and syngeneic.

The very detail of the column that splits should have made us understand immediately that we are in the field of vibrations: the symbol of the column, in addition to representing the foundations of Alchemy, also stands for “drum of the world”. But let’s get back to the history of alchemy now.

Pseudo-Democritus seems to have been a contemporary of Democritus of Abdera, the greek philosopher and physicist. And Ostanes, according to Pliny, has been said to be the chief of the Magi accompanying Xerxes in his invasion of Greece. But we know Pliny was not less fanciful and more accurate than Herodotus was. As a truth of fact, both pseudo-Democritus, aka Bolos, and Ostanes are authors of uncertain origin and existence. You will find more deep historical references elsewhere, but be aware that clearly stated documents are currently nonexistent.

“Nature” is a very ancient allegory for Secret Fire. As well as “Soul and Spirit ” in the renaissance period and “Light” from the eighteenth century. So we can now translate the sentence in more explicit language: ” One Secret Fire delights in another Secret Fire, one Secret Fire conquers another Secret Fire, one Secret Fire dominates another Secret Fire.” Secret Fire is our Materia Prima, or Metals Seed, or Primitive Mercurius, or Mercurius, or Mercurius Philosophorum, or Sulphur, or Salt, or Philosophers Stone, or simply Secret Fire. Our Fire and Waters. Matter and Tool. Alpha and Omega. In all its densities, our Secret Fire attracts itself, wakens itself, dis- solves itself, expands, and condenses itself. Or, in an even more explicit wording: “ One Mercurius delights in another more coagulated Mercurius, one coagulated Mercurius conquers another even more coagulated Mercurius, one fixed Mercurius dominates another volatile Mercurius”. Mercurius or Universal Solvent dissolves bodies to extract a Mercurius more coagulated, which we call Soul. Be aware that consanguinity is involved with the Syngeneia concept of marriage.

Then two Mercurii become Rebis or Mercurius Philosophorum because of the more coagulated Mercurius, Sulphur, or Soul’s tendency to dominate less coagulate Mercurius or Solvent. I suggest you always remain in a laboratory domain and try not to run away with poetry, at least too much. ( see an Opus Magnum scheme) Diogenes Laertius was right when warns to look for qualities and not for materials. Indeed all the actions here involved are produced by Solve et Coagula’s movements inside the chemical material. In Alchemy, we basically and roughly have two works: alchemist’s in Labors of Hercules ( to achieve Solvent/Mercurius) and the work by Secret Fire/Mercurius Philosophorum passing metamorphosis and colors from black to red through white during the Main Work. Solve et coagula operations in the labors of Hercules are operated by an alchemist ( dissolving and sublimating or making earth), while the same operations in the main work are to be operated by Secret Fire itself while Alchemist will be a bystander. In this sense, Secret Fire/Nature dissolves, attracts, and dominates itself. But if you substitute the wording Secret Fire with Soul and Spirit, you will be able to understand the double nature of Secret Fire, which is not just double but quadruple. At least.

We can now avail ourselves of the ubiquitous Fulcanelli and his The Mysteries of Cathedrals, 1926: In its subtle state is a universal Spirit, and we call our Mercury, but when it descends and penetrates the world, it thickens and coagulates to become the soul, and we call our Sulphur. Lower it freezes in a body, and we call our Salt. As well as in The Dwellings of Philosophers, 1929. Talking about the etymology of the word Spider in latin languages ( an allegory for Soul), Fulcanelli notices that the verb means to take, seize, drag, or draw. That’s to say, what takes, attracts, and captures. So our magnet, the power locked in the body called by the wises our magnesia. Because of its attraction, hence given magnetic properties. It seems pretty clear that only a duality can give rise to a contest, a fight, an attraction, a love ( Amor), and domination. But bear in mind that the matters are always the same single matter. Who says that the alchemical coagulation par excellence is that of metallic gold dissolved in our Universal Dissolvent nastily forgets to point out that this metallic gold is previously to be reduced in Mercurius. In this way, becoming a Sulphur. Thus our Secret Fire/Light/Nature/Mercurius is sometimes woman, passive and dissolving, sometimes male, active, raising and coagulating. The very moving material can be considered an athanor in itself.

Think of a very old person who might be kept all ages qualities at the moment of his/her death. Not just inner qualities but also physical. In Alchemy, as you proceed, you can add and may conserve not to lose anything. In Philosophers Stone, we have all densities kept inside. Where chemistry ends, alchemy begins. It is just a question of going over boundaries, opening break Materia Tertia or raw Matter. And Secret Fire comes to light. Secret Fire attracts itself, wakens itself, dissolves itself, expands itself, and condenses itself. When white Mercurius comes out of the blackness, it/she/he is a powerful magnet for the Secret Fire already out there, the one descending from Stars and Suns. At that moment, white Mercurius can be fecundated or brought de Potentia ad Acto. When working in Alchemy, it is recommended not to look for materials but for Mirrors.

To coagulate means giving a shape, a form, to something. A Soul, or more coagulated Mercurius, or Sulfur, can give shape to his Solvent. Like a piece of metallic gold gives shape to metallic mercury in an amalgam. But this is not enough since, to amalgamate, two similar substances must mirror each other. For one nature delights in another nature, one nature conquers another nature; one nature dominates another. Diogenes Laertius was right when warns to look for qualities and not for materials. Indeed all the actions here involved are produced by Solve et Coagula’s movements inside the chemical material. In Alchemy, we basically and roughly have two works: alchemist’s in Labors of Hercules ( to achieve Solvent/Mercurius), and the work by Secret Fire/Mercurius Philosophorum passing metamorphosis and colors from black to red through white during the Main Work.

Thus our Secret Fire/Light/Nature/Mercurius is sometimes woman, passive and dissolving, sometimes male, active, raising and coagulating. The very moving material can be considered an athanor in itself. Think of a very old person who might be kept all ages qualities at the moment of his/her death. Not just inner qualities but also physical. In Alchemy, as you proceed, you can add and may conserve not to lose anything. In Philosophers Stone, we have all densities kept inside. Where chemistry ends, alchemy begins. It is just a question of going over boundaries, of opening break Materia Tertia or raw Matter. And Secret Fire comes to light. Secret Fire attracts itself, wakens itself, dissolves itself, expands itself, and condenses itself. When white Mercurius comes out of the blackness, it/she/he is a powerful magnet for the Secret Fire already out there, the one descending from Stars and Suns. At that moment, white Mercurius can be fecundated or brought de Potentia ad Acto. When working in Alchemy, it is recommended not to look for materials but for Mirrors. For one nature delights in another nature, one nature conquers another nature; one nature dominates another.

So far, I have expressed myself in a baroque language. I want to conclude with an archaic language: Ostanes’ two natures are Macrocosm and Microcosm.

As for pseudo-Democritus, his happiness was short-lived. He soon realized that knowledge of marriages and syngeneic was not much without signatures.