The letter G at times appears in Hermetic literature. Five points of view: Reghini, Fulcanelli, Guénon, Valmont de Bomare, and two clues from an uncertain tradition and the art of Grammatica.
From the most complex explanations of the symbol’s origin to the simplest ones, perhaps the most intriguing. But how was a standard letter G selected to represent our missed-out factor?
I usually insert an author’s excerpt in his precise contest. But this time, due to the complexity of the topic, I will quote different authors in the same article. The letter “G” has hardly ever been acceptably disclosed by any author. Gathering as much information as possible while assembling the puzzle seems crucial.
I have chosen Valmont de Bomare as the main thread on the letter “G” because he provides the most articulate, elongated, and lucid theory on the topic among the philosophers mentioned above. Moreover, he dedicates an entire chapter of his treatise on Mineralogy to a possible explanation for the capital “G”. he is a scientist. Or, better, I should say a “natural philosopher”, as those interested in physics used to define themselves until the eighteenth century. While Reghini, Fulcanelli, and Guénon, although in a very evocative way, take uncertain etymologies to explain the mystery, Valmont de Bomare, differently from the others, overtly publishes his thought without needing to veil it. Of course, he was a scientist.
Nevertheless, his concept is the most disputable among those proposed in the article. But let’s start. Some quoted authors will prompt the letter “G”; others limit themselves to hint at it. My exploration will start from the most convoluted theories, ending with the most simplified ones.
“G” as Geometry. Arturo Reghini, in his “I Numeri Sacri nella tradizione pitagorica massonica”, or sacred numbers in the Pythagorean masonic tradition, tries a Pythagorean explanation: “… and, since in rituals after 1737, the letter G appears in the inner of the pentagram, it is also said that the companion’s task is to know the letter G and its meaning as well. All the rituals, we say all, take care to remember that the letter G is the Geometry initial, and the Scottish ones also observe that it is the initial of God. Other rituals and catechisms say that it is the initial of gnosis, etc. generation” (1). Nevertheless, Reghini omits here to say that Pythagoras was Greek by origin, and consequently, his preferred letter “G” should have been a Greek ” Γ” ( γεωμετρία). Of course, G could be a late latin translation for Γ. There was no need for a translation since Greek words were ubiquitous among Renaissance and Baroque age philosophers, but Freemasons. So we are entitled to suppose that the latin letter “G” intended as Geometry was a late masonic symbol. It remains the intriguing fact of geometry as a physical tool to evocate or even produce this unknown and essential factor. The old and hidden discipline of Sacred Geometry was attributed to the pursuit of something as essential as forbidden.
“G” as Hermetic Heart. Guénon talks of the Egyptian downward triangle as a symbol of the heart, vase, and bowl. So, according to Guénon of the Grail, the ” Cavern Heart” is a well-known traditional expression. The term “Guha”, in Sanskrit generally designates a cavern ( I translated it from Italian, which is not a precise idiom. The Italian word cavern designates both cavern and cave). The word “Guha” is also put on the Heart’s inner cavity. The same word “Guha” derives from the root “Guh”, whose meaning is “to cover”, or “to hide”, and the equivalent of the Greek Kruptos, from which the word Crypt, synonymous with cavern-cave… these ideas refer to the most inner point, consequently the most hidden”. To thoroughly examine the symbol of the Cavern-Heart will take away too much time and space. For now, you must know that we are before one of the most important and hidden symbols in Alchemy and Hermeticism. The alchemical Hearth has various synonyms beyond vase, bowl, and Grail (2): scarab, sun in earth, magnet, inner center, the seed of metals, our gold, our sun, and our moon… it is the reason why Alchemy is for to call the universe.
“G” as Mercurius Philosophorum/Secret Fire. Fulcanelli, in his Les Demeures Philosophales, Paris 1926, Chapter on Louis d’Estissac, while warning readers not to take for granted that the word “Antimony” stood for mineral stibnite, mentions the letter “G”: “In Arab language, Kohl means powdered antimony oxy-sulfide, that’s to say what the Arab women did use to dye eyebrows black. Greek women used the same substance, which they called Πλατνοφθαλμον, that’s to say ” Big Eye” because the usage of it made her eyes look bigger. But don’t let you be charmed by the too-easy poetic clue since there was not the smallest particle of stibnite in the Greek playophthalmon (sublimed mercury sulfide), the kohl of Arabs and the Cohol, or Cohel, of Turks. The last two were obtained by calcining a granulated tin and barb (oak apple) mixture. Such is the chemical composition of eastern women’s kohl, which the ancient alchemists used as a standard for teaching the secret preparation of antimony.
Here is the solar eye, which the Egyptians called “Ouija”. It still is among Masonic emblems, surrounded by glory in the center of a triangle. This symbol gives the same meaning as the letter “G”, a seventh of the alphabet, the initial common name of the wise subject, figured out by a bright star. This is the matter that Artephius called “saturnine antimony” (3) and Tullius regulus of antimony, the true and only stibium of Michael Maier and all Adepts. As for the mineral stibnite, it has none of the qualities required (4), and, whatever one wants to try it, he never got out of it the secret solvent or philosophical Mercurius… if Philalethes assures us that it alone is our path (στιβια), there still are insufficient pieces of evidence to invoke that these teachers have sought to designate the common antimony as a generator of philosophical mercurius. This substance is too far from the perfection, purity, and spirituality than radical humid, or seed of metals, which could not be found in the earth to be useful”.
Fulcanelli often uses to affirm and deny, even in the same chapter. Don’t worry about it: this has always been his security lock. Of course, in other paragraphs, the French alchemist will talk of mineral stibnite shrouding it among obscure symbolism not to be easily recognized. Stibnite is just one of the paths (extraordinarily difficult) to achieve Mercurius Philosophorum. One out of the many. But “Antimonium” is also one of the symbol-words standings for Mercurius Philosophorum/Secret Fire at large, that’s to say, prepared out of every raw matter (but some do contain more than others). The antimony of Wises, or little Sun, indeed. Antimony of Wises and Antimonium are to be added to the Cavern-Heart as mentioned earlier synonyms list, along with Mercurius Philosophorum, Sulphur, and Secret Fire.
“G“ is the seventh letter. From Fulcanelli again: “… if Basil Valentine gives him the name of a pilgrim or traveler (στιδευσ ), it is because it must go through six cities before taking up residence in the seventh“. But when referring to an alphabet for the seventh letter, Fulcanelli omits again to specify what it is, assuming the latin alphabet. But this shouldn’t be taken for granted since, especially in Alchemy, Greek and Arab alphabets are important regarding etymology and initials. Fulcanelli, in his last phrase, is rather sibylline. He doesn’t say this Mercurius/Secret Fire extracted from raw matter is far from perfection, nor is it a powerful magnet. He limits himself to suggest a celestial intervention: he didn’t feel like revealing this prepared magnet’s main purpose is to “attract” a star from the sky. The reader should notice that it usually needs six operations to get the right purification.
“G” as Gurh. Before directly reading Valmont de Bomare’s Mineralogie, let Canseliet introduce him. In his L’Alchimie Expliquée sur ses Textes Classiques, Paris 1972, or Alchemy explained on its classic texts, Fulcanelli’s disciple and friend seem to believe in Valmont de Bomare’s Guhr. In the chapter entitled ” Hermetic Idiom and Cabala”, Canseliet tries an etymology for the name Gulliver: ” So Gulli is the genitive of Gullus, which means boat, vessel, craft. Ver is the latin for springtime. So the spring of vessel ( I wonder why not the vessel of spring since an Englishman has written Gulliver).
I spare you all Canseliet’s anagrams on Jonathan Swift’s book ( he couldn’t help even phonetically to rearrange the letters of his name: Canseliet = Quand sel y est, or when there is salt, in French) when he finally gets to Guhr: With the word Gurh, writes Valmont de Bomare, one means a grey-whitish liquid matter leaking from mountains… ( we will follow the entire text in the original Valmont’s work). Let’s instead read Canseliet’s commentary: ” Concerning metals generation, that never changed the alchemists’ theory according to it metals are perpetually produced in the deep of the earth, while it’s thought that they had been formed together with the planet formation. It would be too naive for alchemists to argue that their water was the same we drink”.
Of course, Canseliet doesn’t mention, in 1972, the necessity for this strange substance to undergo that formal examination Valmont would have made if available in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Eventually, Valmont de Bomare “Minéralogie, ou Nouvelle Exposition du Règne Minerale” Paris 1774, or Mineralogy or New Exposition of Mineral Reign. The author is listing all the possible piles of earth or clays:
Tome 1, page 130: “Second order, that’s to say calcareous piles of earth. Species 48. 4. Leaking clay or clay’s Guhr.
“… It is specified for the term Guhr a grey-whitish liquid matter, or otherwise colored, which leaks from mountains: it is composed of mineral or earth substances so subtle to remain suspended in water, before precipitating. As there isn’t such a thing as pure guhr, we are here talking of calcareous or clayey guhr. It is observed that guhr does exist in all species. There is, for instance, a metallic guhr (guhr metallicum). We have the white guhr – guhr cretaceum Vulgare, Guhr album Wallerius. Lac lunae Betlehemicum Henckel ( or lake of Moon of Betlehem). This species of calcareous guhr is as white as milk, made by friction in the bottom of mines and outdoor places. When the gurh is leaking or resting, some particles sink to form a kind of incrustation or calcareous ostéo-glue. Ashy guhr ( guhr cinereun Wallerius). This species is not different from the previous but in color and texture. Properties are taken by evaporation and mixing earthy and vegetal or metallic parts, making this grey aspect thick as mush. It is also believed that this guhr is a kind of powdered limestone moistened by water.
Flower of natural limestone ( calx nativa, Woodward. calx nativa aquis supernatans vel mixta, Wallerius. Flos calcis Kundmann. Cremor thermis supernatans, Hoffmann). This earth is commonly found in warm waters, always mixed with water, or floating on the surface. It is the same as the previous species, but the metallic parts have been naturally separated by precipitation; for this reason, it is exclusively found in thermal waters. The sometimes noticed phosphorescent property is probably due to animal parts commonly encountered in clay.
The last species comprises mixed calcareous earth ( calx nativa humo mixta, Creta pulverulent, humacea, alba vel cinerea, Wallerius. Terra aceldema Nieremberg). This kind has more calcareous than greasy parts. It is a little dry, rarely compact, rough, and colored. We have observed that the clay of the first deposit form horizontal and parallel layers in the mountains. Marine animals’ bones mainly form this clay. Some waters, percolating through this clay, or calcareous earth, have fractioned and detached particles carrying them through subterranean conduits. These clayish waters have all the same detached parts of these conduits. They can take all colors and masses; there will be a difference between this kind and the clay precipitated and deposited. That’s the origin of mixed clays. The different areas are due to how the earth is suspended in the jiggling water and precipitates. From that, the difference in colors, densities, and purity.”
On page 345 of Mineralogie’s second volume, a dictionary defines the term Guhr: “from the German word Guhren, meaning spring from the earth like a water source. Guhr is whatever earth is reduced subtly by the friction of subterranean waters and is preferably found in subterranean cavities of mountains. That one hardened is often rich in metals; when reddish, it is often metal itself.”