Physics in Alchemy through its Symbolism

Indeed. For modern physicists, the microcosm is the particle or wave function, while the macrocosm is the agglomerations of atoms. Instead, for alchemists, the macrocosm is the distant cosmic archetype, while the microcosm is the single individual.

Modern physical theories change at different scales so physicists can’t assume forces behave the same way at the smallest scales as they do at the scale of agglomerations of atoms (think about what amazing things a photon or a neutrino can do compared to a human being in his molecular compactness). Alchemists speak of unspecified “stellar influences” which, in the form of Mercurius Sideribus (Mercurius of the stars), descend at night, attracted by the moon, and penetrate into the cracks in the earth’s crust. While the earthly Mercurius, that is the one prepared by the alchemist, is defined as the magnet of the stellar influences but above all of the Pole Star. The “mercurial” trait d’union between macrocosm and microcosm par excellence becomes the Philosophical Egg in the Last Cooking,

I believe that there is no one who can reasonably claim to be able to explain the physics of Alchemy. Physicists, because they do not know what Alchemy is, and alchemists, because they are often confused by the vast nomenclature. Words like Quintessences, Archaeus, Ether, Spheres, Nous, Divine Logos have been ringing in our ears for so long that they have now been distorted and reduced to banal instruments of automatisms and clichés.

We have already encountered the word Quintessence in the section dedicated to Alchemical Light. But the alchemists, more prosaically, would have placed the Quintessence in the realm of Air. Looking for a counterpart or an explanation in modern physics, at this point, is extremely difficult.

Baroque alchemists compared Quintessence to Ether, to the point of making it a synonym. The fact that scientists of their time attempted to make Ether alternatively a physical force and a state of matter has irreversibly separated the name Ether from the adjective “etheric”.And this left both alchemists and physicists in a cul de sac that lasted centuries, until the discovery of electrons and photons in the late nineteenth century, and the realization that the definition that best fit “Ether” was air. The result was that physicists abandoned Ether as the Fifth State of matter, while alchemists placed it in the category of “Alchemical Light”.

In fact, many modern alchemists compare Quintessence/Ether to plasma. But anyone who has ever worked either humid or dry knows that this plasma has little to do with real alchemical works and, if any, is only a matter of isolated and extemporaneous phenomena. In conclusion, Quintessence/Ether is not plasma.

In a poetic sense, becoming a “star” evokes the dematerialization of the body and the transfer to a sphere of eternal purity, fixed forever in the sky. Hence the idea that there could exist a part of the material body destined for immortality, to literally become an astral body.

Nineteenth-century theosophists saw lights entering and exiting the body and this seemed to be the ultimate discovery for modern alchemists. As an alchemist, I am not saying that there cannot be “theosophical” lights that concern the chakras, but Alchemy is something else. And these lights have nothing to do with the “Alchemical light“ which, instead, has more to do with air (its twilights and its movements of contraction and expansion). Ultimately the light of the chakras has been another formidable cul de sac for alchemists.

Jabir ibn Hayyan’s definition of “Fifth Nature”, Quintessece in latin, is in fact closer to air than to an imaginary Ether. We will see this later in the section on air.

We don’t understand the “thing” of air perhaps because we are so fascinated by the idea that we are made of the visible spectrum of light. Yet, light occupies only a tiny portion of the range of wavelengths available in nature and physics. 

When you enter the realm of microparticles and their wave functions, everything is possible. The only impossibility is uncritical affirmation. Of course, the photon has its potential to play a role in Alchemy, provided one does not become fascinated by its popular role as “the bringer of joy to the eyes”, because the photon can be dark and work in the dark, as we have seen in the section on Alchemical Light.

If we replace the adjective “Divine” with “mathematical” we will begin to look at things with different eyes. The puzzle is whether Logos should be understood as a “parameter” or a “word.” Or, rather, how a “word” can be a parameter at the same time.

Mercurius, Spiritus Mundi et Sideribus, Alkahest and Secret Fire are inalienable symbolic terms. They cannot be translated into simpler language, since they are the first building blocks for the understanding of Alchemy. If we grasp what is under at least one of these symbols, we can open with the same key all the closed doors of Alchemy – since they represent the same thing in progression of density.

Alchemists could fully understand the meaning and grandeur of “nature” only by obtaining the Philosopher’s Stone. But do not worry, even if this final goal is closed to almost everyone, it will not be difficult for us at the end of these questions and answers to guess what is hidden under the almost banal term “nature”.

Pay close attention to the Cicero’s sentence, but do not be distracted and diverted by the ordinary meaning that we moderns give to the all-encompassing concept of “nature”. The ancients gave it a specific and narrow meaning – present in all the mythologies of Genesis – which they also commonly misinterpreted.

If we start talking about “fixed” and “volatile” right from the start we risk falling into didactic chaos. In fact, we have to know that as many Mercurii as there are Sulfures (Latin plurals). There is the Sulfur that came out of the second work, therefore a Mercurius “washed” as long as it was possible. Then there is the Sulfur from the cosmos. Also, many say that the Philosophers’ Stone is all about Sulfur while others say it’s all Mercurius waiting for its cosmic Sulfur. It may be challenging even for an alchemist to divide and distinguish between Stellar Mercurius or Sideribus and Stellar Sulfur, and so we rely on the works: at the beginning there is Mercurius, then there is Sulfur. In fact, alchemists are not philosophers, but laboratory workers and mainly describe what they see.

Alchemists have devised an entire descending esoteric ladder: from the first step of the Mercurius Sideribus/of the stars, from the other positions of the Spiritus Mundi, of Secret Fire, of Mercurius, of Sulfur up to the last step of the salt/earthly body.

These impalpable things that “flow” from the most sidereal cosmos to the most abyssal depths of the earth are for the alchemists of aqueous nature, in fact they call them “our waters”.

Creation and decay with creation of other particles could be a fascinating hypothesis. After all, many particles arriving from the cosmos are subject to decay and creation of other particles. An example is the journey of muons, particles generated by cosmic rays.

The Spiritus Mundi, or spirit of the world, is ineffable by definition, but alchemists must handle it as material, otherwise they could not “work” it. We will see further how the spirit of the world is considered even more impalpable than Mercurius in the alchemical scale of densities that come from the stars. Some have defined it as plasma, but this state of matter, because that is what it is, appears only occasionally in some alchemical way and, in any case, must immediately be fixed in something more manageable, such as returning to a solid. The true state of Spiritus Mundi is “coming from the stars,” so it must be placed in the wave-particle category.

Many say that Spiritus Mundi can be defined as a wave – this can be seen above all from the dry alchemical path.

Ionizing radiation is electromagnetic waves or particle rays that have enough energy to knock electrons off atoms when they pass through matter. The thesis that the Spiritus Mundi could be an ionizing particle beam could be supported by extension of the alchemical works of volatilizations which are essentially ionizing works. But we will see this in the preparatory works section.

True, not only some of them openly compared the Mercurius to the electron, but they even identified their Mercurius with the electron. One name for everyone is Alexander von Bernus.

If the theory of the identification of alchemical Mercurius with the electron were true, one might conjecture that the theory of mercurial doubling is based on the attraction of the electronic spins, which in fact behave like small magnets.

Neutrinos are particles similar to electrons, but much lighter and above all neutral. They wander in droves among galaxies, are continuously emitted by the Sun and other stars, and enjoy crossing, without leaving a trace, the most massive planets. Unlike cosmic rays, neutrinos are insensitive to magnetic fields and travel in straight lines. Interacting only weakly with matter, they are indifferent to everything they pass through and can travel safely from one galaxy to another. Every time a large star ends its life cycle, the entire universe is crossed by these silent messengers. They will take time, because they will not be able to exceed the speed of light, but, sooner or later, they will be able to carry the news of the catastrophe everywhere.

The Nous of the ancient Greeks was not linked directly to the world of matter, but only through the medium “pneumatic” vehicle. 

From Tabula Smaragdina: “Pater eius est Sol, Mater eius Luna, portavit illud Ventus in ventre suo, nutrix eius Terra est”. Or Sun is its father, Moon, its mother, Wind carries it in its belly, Earth is its nurse.

The father could be that “spark” proper and immortal that we will see in Solar Alchemy; the mother only can “develop” the paternal spark into a real ray, which e will see in Lunar Alchemy; Wind could be the air movement for such a purpose of diffusion, or wavelength of a certain consistency, which we will see in Air Alchemy; The earth could be the final receptacle, or collection of all of this, that is, the body, Earth Alchemy.

In both Genesis and Operative Alchemy there are seven repetitions of similar situations. Or, to be more precise, six plus one because the seventh in the list of repetitions is often the result – for example, the repetitions of cycles of operations to obtain the Mercurius are at least six plus one. Generally speaking, we will have constant repetitions of seven, even the notes that are emitted by the philosophical egg should be seven, one per day (the week of weeks).

As an alchemist, I can hypothesize that the opening of a ray into seven through a prism is the symbol of the seven repetitions essential for the spiritualization of raw matter. In this regard, it has been hypothesized that they could be seven wavelengths very close to each other, so much so that the light broken down into seven colors by the prism would be their symbol.