Past Articles

AR 49 Star of Wonder

AR 48 Jupiter in Libra

AR 47 Once in a Blue Moon

AR 46 Sedna Enters the Arena

AR 45 Royal Stars of Persia

AR 44 Ancient Formulas for Immortality

AR 43 Twelve Gates of Heaven

AR 42 Jupiter in Virgo

AR 41 Geometry of the Spheres

AR 40 Saturn in Cancer, June, 2003 to July, 2005

AR 39 The Poles of the Zodiac

AR 38
Uranus In
Pisces
2003-2011

AR 37
Twelfth Planet, Plutinos or
Planet X

AR 36
Eclipses – Promise or Peril?

AR35
Solar Fire

AR34
The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology

AR 33
Children of the Gods

AR 32
Wheels Within Wheels

AR 31
Horoscopes of Destiny

AR 30
Zodicac of Dendera

AR 29
A Star Is Born

AR 28
Age of Aquarius

AR 27
Persia's Royal Stars of Ancients

AR 23
The Lore of a Shaman

“Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, suavely and with great ingenuity.” Hermes Trismegistus, The Emerald Tablet

According to legend, Alexander the Great found the Emerald Tablet when he discovered the tomb of Hermes. The words on the magical tablet had been etched into the green stone and were clasped between the hands of the entombed master magician. Most scholars believe the story to be myth, but the tale speaks to the archaic origins of what is commonly associated with alchemical laboratories and cryptic treatises in Medieval Europe. Although attributed to the legendary Hermes Trismegistus, the “Thrice Great,” the Emerald Tablet is likely a more modern work which probably originated in Greek Alexandria.

To trace the origins of alchemy we must follow a trail that has gone cold in the outer world, but still runs pure and true as an ancient underground stream. The waters of this stream originate at least five millennia past in the head waters of the mother cultures of Earth, including China, India and Egypt, flowing into the present as tributaries of the Perennial Tradition.

Out of Egypt

The word Egypt derives from the Greek “Aigyptos” which is how the Greeks rendered Het-Ka-Ptah, the temple of Ptah at Memphis. But Khem, or Khemit, was what Pharonic Egypt called their own country, and they carved the names as heiroglyphs into temple walls. These heiroglyphs are written as K-M-T and written in English as Khemit, (sometimes Khem), and translated as “Black Land.” There is a graphic picture of these heiroglyphs in Stephen Mehler’s book, The Land of Osiris (Fig 10, pg 41).

Later, invading Arabs added the Arabic article “Al” which means “the,” resulting in Al Khem. So the origin of the word alchemy was rooted in the hieroglyphic and symbolic name of the ancient land. Alchemy has come down to us through time as the body of hidden wisdom and spiritual transformation that was once practiced in the temples of Khemit.

The glyphs are still visible on temple walls and are comprised of three ideograms: a bent knee, meaning “slope,” which we pronounce like the letter K. Hieroglyphics can be interpreted on several levels, and this glyph carries the deeper significance of “high” or “exalted.” The second image is an owl, with the suggestion of keen sight in the darkness. This glyph is pronounced like the letter M.

The third component is a half-circle, described as a loaf of bread, which is like the letter T. The loaf glyph is a feminine suffix, indicating the “gender” of the word. This last glyph carries the symbolism of the pregnant, primordial mound out of which all was born as well as the leavening process of baking bread. The composite hieroglyph usually contains an equal-armed crossed at the end which designates a dwelling place. Author Moira Timms has noted that the Hebrew word for the Pleiades in the Bible (Job 39:31), is spelled KMH, spelled Kimah in English.

Some scholars believe the name represented the dark, alluvial soil which bordered the Nile. Symbolically blackness cloaks and conceals, and the path of spiritual mastery has ever been about hiding and revealing. In alchemical language, the first phase of transformation is called Nigredo, “black earth,” and is symbolized by a black raven. The majestic temples of the Black Land stood along the rich banks of the river Nile, and great secrets were taught inside these walls.

The hidden wisdom that has flowed faithfully in the underground steam is often called the Hermetic Tradition because the Egyptian god of this province was Thoth; Hermes to the Greeks and Mercury to the Romans. Thoth-Hermes was god of wisdom and consciousness and also measurement and choice. Thoth was the guardian of the wisdom itself, but Isis was revered as queen of magic. Magic is the application of knowledge and principles to achieve specific results. Egypt was a land of magic and goddess Isis ruled supreme in this art, bringing her dead husband Osiris back to life long enough to conceive their son Horus.

Understood alchemically, the Egyptian myth of Isis, Osiris and Horus tells the perennial story of spiritual transformation and immortality, incorporating the recurring themes of alchemical and mythical literature. The journey of transformation always includes death and rebirth, descent and return from the underworld, struggle with a monstrous adversary (serpent, dragon, etc.), quest for a priceless treasure, sacred marriage and the birth of a divine child.

Joseph Campbell, the great scholar of myth, has observed that spirituality is like the flowering or fulfillment of human endeavor rather than a supernatural virtue artificially imposed upon us. We are meant to invoke and participate in this flowering, cultivating the plant in a crucible.

Treasure Hunt

Some of the stupendous claims of Medieval alchemists, which include transmutation of metals, prolonging life and the miraculous cure of diseases, are true as genuine alchemists who have accomplished the Great Work do possess extraordinary power over physical conditions. And yet this picture is misleading and incomplete for the Great Work must first be performed on the alchemist. The athanor, the alchemist’s furnace, is the human organism, and the transformation which occurs in this furnace is said to take place through the “essence of fire.”

Likewise, the Philosopher’s Stone, which is the symbol for what is accomplished by the Great Work, is the perfected human personality and not a substance produced in a chemical laboratory. However, by means of this transformed personality, sometimes called the Stone of the Wise, works of power are achieved as the true alchemical adept commands the forces of nature.

There are actually three kinds of alchemists. First there are authentic magicians who have accomplished the Magnum Opus or Great Work. Second, are those who have read the works of authentic alchemists and attempt to perform chemical experiments, mistaking metaphor for meaning. In the second category are students of genuine alchemists who may have been given a quantity of transmuting agent but are not able to produce this on their own. It is likely that those in this category were the ones who were revered, feared and tortured for their efforts at turning lead into gold. Lastly are the charlatans, motivated only by greed, who attempt to fool or impress people.

Numerous alchemical treatises survive. Some have been written by “those who know,” while others are clouded attempts to understand the veiled words. The cryptic and confusing language of alchemy is written in code, intending to conceal meaning from the “profane” or truly dangerous and reveal meaning to true seekers or those who already know. For the sincere student the exercise of reflecting on the strange language stretches the mind and increases receptivity to intuition. Slowly, significance dawns.

Alchemy is inseparable from both astrology and magic when understood as a process of personal transformation. Astrology’s relationship to alchemy and spiritual growth is both diagnostic and magical. The component symbols of astrology correlate with the symbols of alchemy in the west and Yoga in the east, and astrology is one means of working consciously with our own transformation.

Alchemy accelerates the process of spiritual growth, forcing the process like a hot house plant. True alchemy is not about turning physical lead into gold. Likewise true astrology is not about attaining fame, riches or romance. Both relate to a spiritual discipline in which the transformation is inner and the gold is the crown of spiritual adeptship.

Heaven on Earth

The wisdom of the East remains today in the discipline of Yoga, and the tenets of Yoga are parallel to the principles of alchemy and astrology. First there is one, all-encompassing energy which pervades existence. This energy is seen to manifest as three qualities which describes how the energy moves in form. These qualities are called Sulfur, Mercury and Salt in alchemy; Rajas, Sattva and Tamas in Yoga; and Cardinal, Mutable and Fixed in the language of astrology. In terms of human personality these qualities manifest as desire, intelligence and form.

The one energy is also described as having five modes of expression. In alchemy and astrology these are the four elements Fire, Earth, Air and Water and the mysterious fifth element called Ether, Quintessence, or Akasha in Yoga philosophy. The elements reveal how condensed in matter the energy has become from the relatively free state of fire to the fixed and grounded state of solid matter. In Yoga the same principles are described as Tattvas, and these symbols are expressed in terms of geometry.

Next are the seven metals or “interior stars of alchemy” which relate to the physical planets known to the ancients and to the seven chakras of Yoga philosophy. The interior “planets” act like transformers. Saturn correlates with the alchemical metal lead, Mars with the metal iron, and Jupiter corresponds with alchemical tin. The metal of the planet Venus is copper, the Moon is silver, and Mercury corresponds with the metal Mercury, often called Quicksilver.

The Sun is alchemical gold and corresponds to the heart chakra. Considering the stated goal of the alchemist, turning lead into gold, reflecting on this correlation can bring insight. According to the ancient Egyptians the seat of true wisdom and the principle of Ma’at, right relationship to all things, resided in the heart. The heart was weighed against Ma’at’s feather of truth after death. The fate of the soul depended on what hung in the balance.

Astrologically there are twelve signs of the zodiac, and there are said to be twelve stages in the process of alchemical transmutation, beginning with “calcination” which corresponds to the first and fiery sign of Aries. Each stage of the alchemical process can be understood as a phase on the path of the zodiac wheel.

Lead into Gold

Hermes Trismegistus

To the true alchemist the chemical vessel known as the retort was like a mirror for the inner transformations occurring within. If each stage corresponds to both a chemical substance and a zodiac sign the alchemist knows and can interpret the battle ground of inner change required. For example, the eighth stage called Putrefaction, is said to correspond to Scorpio and to Sodium Chloride. Understood correctly each outer chemical experiment reflected the transformation occurring within the consciousness of the experimenter.

An occult aphorism states, “Equilibrium is the basis of the Great Work.” Bringing balance and harmony to our nature is key to realizing alchemical gold. Astrology can be practiced as alchemical magic because a deep understanding of the birth chart reveals strengths, weaknesses and karmic patterns. Learning to work with planetary energies as real frequencies can increase inherent strengths and talents, balance difficult areas, and develop traits which are missing.

Observing the planets ongoing motions (transits and progressions) can further provide a sort of “weather forecast” which shows the likelihood that certain “experiments” will succeed or fail, according to timing and conditions. Learning to temper these influences within the crucible of the personality is the real purpose of astrology and the ultimate golden fruit of alchemy.