Alchemy was called the “machine of the world”. Alchemy was born when everything was lost,
1. Physics at the Neolithic Gate
All the science of the ancients was necessarily within the reach of the Neolithic, that’s to say, without modern equipment and devices. Today we would say that they could only count on themselves and nature. One of the main processes employed was to induce, or exploit, changes in the state of raw matter. In fact, if we look carefully, alchemical processes all involve changes in the state of matter, either subtle and continuous or sudden and violent.
Something arcane happens in the state changes of matter
2. Light in Alchemy soon became the Arcane of Arcana
It was during the Baroque age, and with the support of new discoveries in optical science, that light in Alchemy began to be openly discussed and treated. Light became the arcane of arcana, the secret of the ancients, the reason for Alchemy existence, the hidden message, the private channel, the communication between the world of the living and the world of the dead, the meeting point between spirit and matter, the knowledge of oneʼs archetype, the origin, the beginning of the immortalsʼ chain, the legacy as well as memory. In short, everything.
Don’t take the concept of light in Alchemy for granted
3. Rays and Optics according to the Ancient Authors
The concept of alchemical light is neither simple nor univocal, but expands in rivulets that are, alas, all too expected. Not only stellar rays striking everywhere, creating ripple effects, but also sounds, objects, voices, and writing. The cosmic emissions penetrating the Earth’s crust go far beyond not only our current understanding of energy, but also the alchemists’ definitions of spirits and entities. For optics scholars from the Middle Ages to the Baroque era, the primary imperative was to construct lenses, mirrors, and devices capable of collecting and enclosing everything that unknowingly streamed into or penetrated us.
Rays Everywhere. Light as Spark, Image, Sound, Object.
- Al-Kindi, Everything Emits Rays
- Grosseteste, Light as the First Corporeal Form
- Roger Bacon, Forms as Alchemical Seeds
- J.Dee, Optical Instruments as Short Paths
- Paracelsus, the Soul is Life in Itself
- Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, Light as Elixir
- Plato, Spindles of Light
- Iamblichus, Eaters of Light
4. Alchemy is Physics, not Chemistry. But we can’t figure out what it is.
It was Fulcanell who wrote (or rather Canseliet for him): “Alchemy is physics, not chemistry, which should become very evident in the final stages of the Great Work”. Many know what he meant, but no one has understood why. Starting from the assumption that alchemical texts were often written by laypersons through suggestions-conjectures-assignments, and imagining them as climbers on a cold, windy night of solitude-resilience-resourcefulness desperately seeking any certainty that would save their task, we can easily understand how, in any given era, the hold they cling to is the science of the times in which they/we live. The astonishing thing is that, whatever the state of the art of science, those “inspired” are almost always right: Alchemy adapts to everything, and everything adapts to Alchemy.
Particles, quasi-particles, wave functions, spintronics, and fields. Apparently, everything goes.
- A Neolithic-Proof Private Channel
- Physics in Alchemy, Particles and Wave Functions
- Physics in Alchemy, the Theory of Fields and Baits
- Physics in Alchemy, the Relevance of Sound
- Physics in Alchemy, Time and Memory
- Physics in Alchemy through its Symbolism
- A few notes on the importance of gravity in Alchemy
- Hands emerging from the Clouds
5. Destruction and Immortality in Alchemy
Although only memories remain, alchemists cannot help but notice the similarities between the philosophical theories of palingenesis and metempsychosis of humans and that of metals. As long as metals are involved, alchemists dare to claim their resurrection and immortality, but few reach that final stage that reveals the analogy between metals and beings endowed with DNA. Once that veil has been lifted, alchemists will be able to understand the reason for the beginning: that is, Nigredo, the perfect black, the foundation of Alchemy. Of the many legends circulating about the longevity – or even immortality – of mythical alchemists we have no reliable biographical documentation. Of those registered in the birth and death lists, one can only observe an average longevity, with average illnesses, heart attacks and accidents. Nevertheless, alchemists do believe that they follow the great chains synchronisms, which, ultimately, appears to them as an acceptable transmutation.
From death and a kind of rebirth, the circle that alchemists close in the word “transmutation”.
- Entropy and Rarefaction in Alchemy
- Palingenesis, Seeds in the Wind
- J.J Becher, the Observation of a Decomposing Corpse or the Separation of the Volatile from the Fixed
- Paracelsus, the Legend of the Little Birds Reborn from the Ashes or the Indelible Signature
- Phoenix and Son of Phoenix, Reference Points for a Signature
- Can Transmutation be a Mere Rearrangement?
6. Ladders, Chains, Archetypes, Canons and Processions.
Metamorphoses can not occur in a void between one being and one object and another. Alchemical doctrine descends directly from ancient cosmogonies, that is, from a swarming and coming and going of entities and densities within and outside of which anything can happen. Chains and densities where contacts count more than individualities and where the ascent-descent fades into a cosmogony that the alchemists thinks they can travel almost entirely. If the world of metamorphosis is to be self-constituting, disorder cannot exist and everything must be codified and weighed.
Is the world of metamorphoses self-constituting?
Xn. Body, Matter, Spirit and Soul. The Alchemical Physis.
It might seem that alchemists toyed with the soul, spirit, matter, and body of metals, as well as that of the winds and underground waterways, of the moon and the sun, and of course the stars. Yet few know the boundaries between soul and spirit like an alchemist, nor see the formation of the body from matter. Above all, some of them can witness the spectacle of entering a private channel, where a small genesis is said to take place. With metals, everything seems so inviting, until we reach very dangerous thresholds, where, by fate or wisdom, we decide to stop and have witnessed the simple human condition. As with so many things in life, going is exciting, returning safely is magnificent.
The Enigma of the Three salts
- Plotinus, the Field of the Soul
- Matter is Incorporeal
- The Enigma of the Three Salts, i.e. the Alchemical Physis
7. The Foundation of Alchemical Symbolism
Since a caste of scientists did not yet exist, the ancients used a strange lexicon to explain or memorize rather complex phenomena. They had to draw vocabulary from the human activities – as well as social customs – of their time in the same way that scientists use terminology that today may seem exhaustive to us, but may become obsolete and obscure in a few decades. So, Doubles, Seeds, Unions, Births, and Processions became the basis of alchemical symbolism. The archaic lexicon is now so distant from our modern way of life that it seems not only alien but also irritating. For example, take the amount of female nudity or fairly explicit sexual acts or physiological acts in general used as valid allegories of alchemical operations so fundamental as to represent true Arcana.
Behind the archaic alchemical symbolism lies the very old-fashioned popular imaginary.
- The Foundations of Alchemical Symbolism, Increase and Decrease
- The Foundations of Alchemical Symbolism, Doubles
- The Foundations of Alchemical Symbolism, Chains and Processions
- The Foundations of Alchemical Symbolism, Unions, Embryos, and Births
- The Foundations of Alchemical Symbolism, Seeds
- The Foundations of Alchemical Symbolism, Banquets and Sacrifices
- The Foundations of Alchemical Symbolism, Physiology as Popular Imaginary
8. Flow and Reflux of the Philosophical Sea
In Construction