alkymiens mysterier - merelle[1]

Alkymiens Mysterier

M erélle In 1990 there appeared a small book in danish, ”Alkymiens Mysterier”, “The Mysteries of Alchemy”. It is written by the danish female alchemist, “Merelle”, which is a pseudonym, modelled over Flamels wife, Pernelle, and the Ocean, “La Mer”. The book is short, unpretentious, and was only published in small numbers. This work should be of interest for the Lovers of Art, as it seems that she has succeeded in producing a “Stone”, that has the power to Transmute, and there are photographs in the book of the Stone and its Transmuted product. Apparently, she has not tested the Stone for its Medical Virtue, nor is it clear, if the Stone is a Universal Stone, or one specified for the Mineral Kingdom. In the following we will try to give a synopsis of the book, and the technical data she gives, for the production of such a Stone. *)

M erèlle Alkym iens M ysterier

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Contents THE HERETIC SCIENCE 3 P rejud ices and opinions on alchem y

Magic Chemistry of Nature 6 O ld knowledge of the Lunar P ow ers

A KINGS VISION 14 T he D ragon and its significance THE RED SPRING 19 T he cruel history of Iron THE BLUE MOON METAL 25 T he W oundrous B eing of S ilver THE ROSE AND THE CROSS 33 B lood and tears, victory and defeat FAIRY TALES AND ALCHEMY 39 M ythic anim als and allegorical beings THE PHILOSOPHERS STONE 48 About the production of the m agic red pow der THE ELUSIVE SMILE OF THE CHESHIRE CAT 60 Isaac N ew tons alchem ical illusion THE ENIGMATIC SPHINX 63 T he code of a secret science CLAY, THE ANCIENT MATTER 70 N atures obedient slave POSTSCRIPT 74 Another world


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C hapter 1 (forew ord )

T he Heretic Science

T o be an alchem ist or even give the slightest hint, that one is engaged in that kind of hokus pokus, can usually get good citizens to sm ile overbearingly, for alchem y isn’t som ething that one can take serious in our age. So that usually settles the m atter, but it has not alw ays been so. In the m edieval age it was a dubious affair to be involved in the production of gold -, w hich is one of the issues in alchem y - and if an alchem ist d id succeed in producing gold, he or she could count on having a storm y and uneasy life from then on. T he m edieval age had both its m ale and fem ale alchem ists, but m ost preferred to rem ain anonym ous, and they still do so. T here are several reasons for w hy alchem ists w ill not step forw ard and tell that they are trying to m ake gold -, or even have done so-, for it is w ith gold as it is w ith guns: both can have a highly dem oralizing effect on weak souls and bring forth their worst sides. T his has been the experience of alchem ists through the ages, and the w isest of them kept their know ledge and ability for them selves. B esides, and this m ight be the m ost essential part, gold cannot be m ade sceptics say in our days, for it is an unchangeable elem ent, and so it w ill rem ain. T herefore one cannot sell gold, that has been m ade in an artificial m anner, or, w ith other words, “hom em ade”. F or custom s and authorities need to see both nam e and address of those that buy and sell precious m etals, and if the papers are not in order, you are doom ed. If one sells it anyw ay, one is a crim inal, that cannot account for the gold. T his is the case in a nutshell. N evertheless alchem ists have through all ages dared to claim , that gold can be m ade, and this being even the finest and purest 24 karat gold. It can be done by a trick, and m anipulation of natural law s. W hat should one believe, for here statem ent stands against statem ent? T his in itself is very exciting and challenging, and the d isbelievers have never stopped a budd ing alchem ist from attem pting the process. B ut what is alchem y actually? T he best explanation given, could be the one that stem s from the germ an chem ist, doctor and alchem ist, J. R . Glauber, who lived in the 17 th century. He is no m ore rem em bered as an alchem ist, but as the chem ist that discovered karlsbadersalt, which in our days is called sodium sulphate. H is era had a special nam e for it, namely sal mirabile Glauberi , Glaubers w onderful salt. F or it w as effective against even the hardest case of constipation. Glauber d iscovered it w hen he w orked w ith a chem ical/alchem ical process, for he d idn’t m ake a a sharp distinction between chem istry and alchem y. About the Art of Alchem y he has said som ething very relevant and essential. F ollow ing quotation is from a chem ic/alchem ic w ork of his, published in P aris 1659:


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Alchemy is a thought, an image, a discovery, through which the species of metals go from one natural state to another. French: In another work, that also was published in French, Glauber says about the purely chemical side of alchemy: The ancients have given this art the name alchemy, that is, saltfusion. French: Glaubers explanation of what alchem y is, sounds very m odern, for in these years physicist all over the world have been working w ith fusion of deuterium at room tem perature, cold fusion. B ut the question is: w hat d id Glauber understand by the term “fusion”? I decided to find out, and cam e to an astounding conclusion. J. R . Glauber was a respected chem ist and a reasonable m an. He knew the gold process, and has described it several tim es in his books, but he did not produce gold in large am ounts. T his would only give him problem s he states in one of his scripts. Here we still are today, for if gold can be m ade artificially in a lab, the w orld econom y and gold m arkets w ould collapse. T his used to be, and still is, a d ilem m a. In the 13th and 14th century, alchem y w as so w idespread in Europe, that the pope in 1307 issued a ban against gold, that was m ade by alchem ists. He dem anded that that all, that m ade artificial gold, should be outlaw ed. At the sam e tim e there w here heavy fines to those w ho traded it. W hen som ething is forbidden, one would assum e that there is a reason for that. O ne w ouldn’t forb id som ething that doesn’t exist. Henry the 4th of England issued in 1404 a so called “act”, according to which it was a crim e against the state and the crow n to practice goldm aking. Later, in 1688, it was again allowed, for m any com petent chem ists and alchem ists had m oved abroad, and that w as a thorn in the eye of the English king. He therefore issued a so called “act of repeal”, according to which the whole am ount of silver and gold produced, should be reported to “T heir M ajesties M int” in the T ow er of London. F ull m arket price w ould be paid , and no questions asked. T his is historically interesting, for there is the possibility, that there is still artificially m ade gold bars in B ank of England. B ut w e w ill never know the w hole truth. T he w ord alchem y itself, is thought to com e from the Egyptian w ord “chem ”, that m eans “black earth”. F rom this we have the term alchem y. B ut there is also the possibility that the term alchem y could com e from the arabic word “El-kim ya”, which possibly has root in the even older Sum erian word “ki”, that m eans “earth”, or that which today is term ed “salts” in chem istry. It is in this sense that Glauber defined alchem y as a “fusion of salts”. B ut he couldn’t have known about the S um erian culture, for it w as first brought to light after the great archaeological excavations around N inive in the m iddle of the 18th century.


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T oday alchem y has wound up on the sam e shelf as ghosts and U F O ´s. M any have seen them , alm ost everybody has heard about them , but nobody really believes in them . T here is som ething absurd and am biguous about these things, and w ithout personal know ledge, one cannot have an inform ed opinion. After eight years of working w ith alchem y, I feel that the tim e is ripe to transm it som e of the observations and experiences I have reaped. T hey range from a purely philosophic attitude to alchem y, through fairy tales and religion, to an earthbound and practical work, that has confirm ed the old alchem ists thoughts and statem ents from the past up to our ow n age. T o begin in alchem y dem ands a naive soul com bined w ith an attitude that goes against the grain of established science, that still m aintains that gold cannot be m ade. Y et, if one enters the great w ork that alchem y is, there is a rew ard to be found, and it is a great one. F or an am azing and wondrous world, that one didn’t know existed, opens up. O ne can experience it personally.


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M agic C he m istry of N ature

It is a form of creative chem istry one m eets in N ature. It is m ore than just chem ical form ulas, circuits and exchange of m atters. T he alchem ists say that nature has soul, and that it owes it life to “Gods spirit that floats over the w aters”. S pirit is the spark that ignites natures enigm atic m achinery. It is also the catalyst and the fuel, and we cannot m atch its results, even though we try through genetic m anipulation and D N A research. F or exam ple w here do w e find the b iologist, w ho can create som ething as sim ple as a carrot seed? T he carrot can, but in reality no one know s how it does so. T he genetic engineers think they have com e closer to solving the riddle of life. B ut a link is m issing- and returning to the carrot- it is its latent ability to recreate itself in its ow n im age. T his ability, or w ill, com es into expression w hen it m akes seeds, that give an identical form , w hen it sprouts next spring. T his ability to recreate itself in its ow n im age is the basic idea behind alchem y. Here the purpose is to create the m ystical elixier of life, also called The Philosophers Stone, that can transm ute vulgar m etals into gold. F or this product is gold, that has recreated itself, and it is done by the alchem ists m anipulation w ith the m atter. Alchem y is based on a natural process. T he practising alchem ists of the past observed nature and noted certain law s of a rhythm ical nature. T hey realized that “tim e” was of decisive im portance. Also processes of heat and cold, that follow each other, not to forget the light that com es from the m oon, stars, and sun. In order to arrive at the m ythical and life giving P hilosophers S tone , that could be either a liquid or a powder, one should work in unison w ith natural laws, and not against them . Nature uses a kind of tricks, and they can be im itated through cunning and going along less travelled roads. T herefore alchem y is also the w izards and the jugglers dom ain. U sing these paths w ill lead one to a daw ning insight into the occult sides of natures chem istry, and it is extrem ely colourful. N atures laws slightly resem ble those of chem istry, but chem istry lacks som ething, especially the tim e dim ension. T his was a conclusion, that I arrived at after innum erous failed experim ents, w here I thought that I could im itate the linear m ethods of conventional chem istry. B ut it d idn’t w ork, som ething w as lacking. Am ong other things, it just w ent to fast. T he separate links in the chain lacked “tim e”, that is, their ow n built in tim e. T he R ussian born researcher and philosopher, P . D . O uspensky from the beginning of this century, says som ething about tim e, which is highly relevant in alchem y. In his book A N ew M odel of the U niverse, that has been translated from R ussian, he says: ”T here is m ore “tim e” in a liquid than a solid , and m ore “tim e” in gasses than a liquid .” He also says that the finer and finely divided a substance is, the m ore energy it contains and the less space it occupies.


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W hat O uspensky says about tim e, energy and space, is som ething that alchem ists have know n about for a long tim e, and also express in their w ritings, especially the oldest ones. T he alchem ists aim w as to raise the energy in the m atter, w hile at the sam e tim e occupying less and less space. T herefore the single particles in the m atter should end becom ing so fine, and have so high an energy, that they could penetrate into courser bodies and transm ute them into gold. T herefore it is self evident that they worked w ith the atom s of gold. T his has never been said loud and clear by any m odern alchem ist or author of books about the sub ject. In Alchem ical m anuscripts, one m eets, again and again, allusions to a U niversal Solvent, to be found in N ature. It was som ething that was in everything, and to be found everyw here. It cost nothing and any child could aquire it. W ithout this m atter one w ould get now here in alchem y, for it w as the basis for the W ork. B ut w hat m ysterious substance w as it, and how should one get hold of it? T he follow ing im ages (A&B ) reveal a part of the riddle. T hey are from a collection of pictures w ithout any text, w hich has the title “Mutus Liber”, that is, “the M ute B ook”, for there w ere no explanations to w hat took place on the im ages. T hey are of french origin, and the originals are kept at the N ational Library in P aris. B ut it is not known who originated these unusual im ages, that all pertain to the Alchem ical P rocess. T he Artist, and perhaps the Alchem ist him self, used the pseudonym Altus. In one im age (A) som e round bowls are seen on a m eadow outside a village. T he bow ls are the centerpiece of the im age, and the cattle- a bull and a sheep-are on their w ay tow ards them . T hese bow ls seem to contain w ater, for the m oon is reflected on the surface of the content. Its very early m orning. T he m oon hasn’t settled yet, but the sun is about to rise behind the dark night clouds. At closer thought the sun and m oon naturally cannot be on the sky beside each other, since the sun rises in the east, and the fullm oon settles in the w est. B ut the supernatural glow around the sun probably ind icates that the tim e of the day is in focus, and that the fullm oon is the central issue. It has been a night w ith fullm oon, and one still senses the silent, fairy tale like atm osphere over the m eadow behind the sm all tow n w ith its church spire and m edieval build ings. Som e strange rays em anate from the sky over the town. T here seem to be two kinds, and they spread like a fan over the ground. It is these rays that are im portant in relation to alchem y, for they tell us, that som ething com es from heaven itself. T he six flat bowls on the m eadows grass form a connection between the rays from heaven, and the cattle, that seem very interested in the m oonlt bow ls. T hose who have dogs or cats, know , how attractive waterpuddles or b irdbaths are to the anim als, especially if the sun has shined on the w ater after a dow npouring. T hen they drink the water w ith great relish. Som ething m ust have happened to it, and the anim als know this. It tastes different than water that has stood in a bowl indoors. B ut what about the water in the bowls on the m eadow? A part of the explanation is to be found on the sm aller im ages below the m ain m otive.


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T he w om an in the picture at the low er left, pours w ater from one of the bow ls on the m eadow through a funnel and dow n into a bottle that is held by a m an. O n the picture on the lower right side, we see her hand the bottle to a m ythological figure, that seem s to be a com bination of N eptun w ith his trident and M ercury w ith w ings on head and feet. T his figure is a central sym bol in alchem y. He is the Lord of W aters and m essenger of the Gods in one and the sam e person. At the sam e tim e he is the sym bol of the liquid in the bottle, and the picture shows he has a “hand” in the process. T he liquid is a part of the alchem ical w ork. T he sym bolic figure is only present as a m essenger, for on the follow ing im ages in the book one sees the m an and wom an pour the contents of the bottle into a flask, that is sealed and put into an oven to be heated. B ut what has really happened to the water that was on the m eadow in the m oonlight, for of this Mutus Liber, the silent book, reveals us nought? By coincidence I cam e into possesion of an older danish book that solved the riddle, but it had nothing to do w ith alchem y. T he book consists of a collection of m agazines from 1862 about experim ents and observations concerning physics and chem istry (Tidsskrift for Physik og Kemi, København 1862) Am ong them was a paper about the atm ospheres action on water, w hen left out in the open, and w hat happened to the water in a chem ical sense. A researcher by the nam e Schønbein had noted, that water, that was left to evaporate out in the open air, form ed saltpetersour am m onia from the airs nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. Schønbein had m oistened som e linnen cloths w ith d istilled w ater and afterw ards exposed them to air, so that the water could evaporate slowly. W hen the cloths had dried, he took them , and soaked them in distilled water. Som e substance was now drawn out of the cloths and d issolved in the w ater. It show ed itself to be saltpetersour am m onia, as he called it, w ith the chem ical form ula N H 4NO 2. T he researcher now explains, that w hat happened w as, a socalled “nitrification”. T w o nitrogen atom s from the air had joined w ith four hydrogen atom s in the follow ing way: 2 N + 4 H= N .N H4. T his again becom es a saltpetersour am m onium salt: N H4N O 2, in that tw o oxygen atom s attach them selves to the com pound. In this w ay, saltpetersour salts are form ed in the ground, says Schønbein. T he sam e takes place in plants, from w hose surface a continual evaporation takes place. In this w ay the plants form the nitrates needed for further grow th. At the end of the article about water evaporation Schønbein adds, that it shouldnt be necesarry to add artificial fertilizer to the ground, for N ature is able to handle that issue all by herself. Indeed! In continuation of these thoughts w e can add that w e here have a further reason for he preservation of the worlds forests, am ong these the rain forests, for in these a strong evaporation takes place, and during this the necesarry nitrogen com pounds are form ed.


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Schønbeins experim ents w ith linnen cloths, that w ere exposed to the air, are a parellel to what happens on the other im age from Mutus Liber. Here, linnencloths are attached to sticks in the grass to collect the dew from the night sky. T he scenery is the sam e as on the previous im age. T he m oon is settling, and the sun is about to rise up behind the dark night clouds. T here is the sam e m ysterious bundle of rays from heaven, and on the coloured im age, one sees how there are two different rays, a red and a yellow one. B ut the place seem s to be a different one. It is not the sam e m eadow , and the village is also another one. In the foreground stands two people who w ring the liquid from the cloths into a large vessel. T he tw o im ages tell us that one can collect dew from the night sky in tw o fashions, either by putting bow ls out on the m eadow , or collecting the dew on linnen cloths. T he old alchem ists also knew that som ething happens w ith the w ater in N ature. At the sam e tim e they knew that a night w ith fullm oon gave the best result and therefore they collected the dew at that tim e. I have done the experim ent m yself several tim es and d iscovered that it is so. T here really form s a salt in the water left outside during a fullm oon night. O ne m ust rem em ber to use d istilled w ater, and it has to be reduced very slow ly. In the bow l is then left a fine w hite salt, that is w atersoluble. T he chem ist, Schønbein, d id not know that the m oons light gives the best result. Such an idea would probably have seem ed to be both absurd and rid iculous to him , for he was a traditional chem ist. T he old alchem ists had their own explanation for what happened to w ater and dew that had been exposed to the rays of the m oon. T he water becom es active they said, and thereby able to dissolve m atters. It should be reduced to a fine salt, and this they called “W ater that does not wet the hands”. T hereby they m ent a dry, water soluble salt. T he alchem ical expression “w ater that does not w et the hands”, has been m entioned again and agin in m odern literature on the subject, but none of the w riters have proposed what this m atter m ight be. So, purely chem ically speaking, it is a nitrite, m ore precisely am m onium nitrite. W e use it today for the production of pure nitrogen. T his is done by the heating of concentrated am m onium nitrite. N itrogen contais an enourm ous am ount of energy, m ore than oxygen and hydrogen. T his energy can be utilized by plants in N ature and they do so according to the alchem ists-especially during the night and particularly by m oonlight. D id the alchem ists know som ething about the character of m oon light, that w e don’t know about today? According to old “superstition”, or perhaps know ledge, one should get rid of w arts during fullm oon, for then they w ouldnt com e again. It w as also an ancient belief, that one shouldn’t let ones laundry hang our during the night, for the devil w ould do tricks w ih it. Behind this belief was udoubtably the fact, that the clothes w ould get som e saltpetersour am m onia, w hich could w eaken the fabric and m ake it fragile.


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O n the countryside it w as said , that if one w anted to get rid of w eeds, it w as also best to do so during fullm oon. M aybe the knowledge of the alchem ists wasn’t an aquired one, but a transm itted m em ory from a rem ote past, w here hum ans m ight have had a m ore thorough know ledge of the forces of N ature. D uring the m edieval age, existed a m ethod for producing gold, that w as quite strange. It consisted in using the m oonlit dew from N ature. T he m ethod was sim ple and efficient and was perhaps used by com m on folks in those days. And nature did m ost of the work, for one just had to collect the dew from the m eadow , just before sunrise. T he procedure is described in a m odern work by Jean M averick: L’Art Metallique Des Anciens (T he M etallick Art of the Ancients, P hoenix, Genova) In this work is collected a num ber of ancient recipes for the production of gold and silver, and they can give sm all am ounts of these noble m etals as a result. B ut the processes are quite d ifficult, and they require an old fashioned open fire place. I have tried som e of them , but not the follow ing. F or it utilizes m ercury and I do not like that m etal. Neither did other alchem ists, for the y knew the dangers of this m atter. Here follows the recipe for producing gold from dew and m ercury. In m ay, during fullm oon, one spreads out linnen cloths over the dew wet grass. Early the next m orning, one w rings the cloth dew out of the cloths into a vessel. T hen one needs tw o pounds of m ercury (yes, it really says tw o pounds, so apparently it w as both cheep and easily available in those days. An old french pound is 489 gram ) O ne then pours a little of the dew water over the the m ercury and lets it cook ver a low heat, until the dew has evaporated. T hen a new portion of dew is added and further cooked, until it also has evaporated. O ne continues so, until one has used all the dew . F inally the m ercury is poured through a sieve of fine gauze or linnen. W hen the cloth has dried , som e of the m ercury has been transm uted into gold and caught in the fabric. O ne can then continue working w ith the rem aining m ercury, when one has collected a new portion of dew . T his can be done for a few days, w hile the full m oon is still present. Its as sim ple as that states the recipe. T his is a true transm utation of m ercury into gold, and the m ethod has undoubtably been used in m edieval europe. But we dont know what happened to those people w ho w orked w ith m ercury in this m anner. T here w as a great risk of them getting braindam age w hile collecting gold. T hat m ercury can be turned into gold is perhaps not so unlikely. In the periodic system gold com es just before m ercury. T he two m etalls have the atom ic num bers 7 9 and 80, w hich m eans they have respectively 7 9 and 80 protons or positve charges in their nucleus. So m ercury only has to give of one proton to becom e gold, or, in other words, loose one positive charge. B ut how can this be accom plished w ith som ething a sim ple as dew ?


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If the described m ethod using dew and m ercury is true, then the explanation m ust lie in am m onium salt, that has been form ed in the dew during the night. T he am m onium ion itself is strange jest of Natures m aking, for it does not exist in free form . In reality it doesnt exist. If one tries to isolate it, it w ill decom pose into am m onia and hydrogen. O ne of the great alchem ist from the past, Le T revisan, has said , that gold w as originally form ed from m ercury, that had undergone a long process of natural m aturation in the bowels of the earth. T hen it worked its way to the surface, for it sought the light. If this is indeed the case, then we m ight have an explanation for a very strange phenom ena, that takes place now and then in our day and age. F or it happens that dentists have observed, that one of their clients have form ed a golden surface on a tooth, that originally w as equipped w ith a com m on old fashioned silver/m ercury am algam filling. As is com m only know n, such a filling contains som e m ercury, that w ith the passage of tim e can be dissolved and disappear. B ut one m ight speculate, that som e of the m ercury was heated and “m atured” for so long in the oral cavity, that the m ercury turned to gold and precipitated n the surface of the tooth. T his is of course a very rare incident, for the process m ust be dependent on the acid concentration in the m outh, and the m atters that otherw ise are present. It is probably also a necessary condition that the P H value in the m outh has to be the sam e as in the dew w ater that one collects in N ature during fullm oon. T he salt that is form ed is slightly acid ic. In the m ountains one also finds gold in the upperm ost m ineral layers. F rom here it can be carried aw ay by bursts of rain and w aterfalls. O ne w ill usually find gold in the surface layers and the less noble m etals in the deeper layers. T he alchem ists say it is because it seeks the sun. F or they are related. If we again study the two im ages from Mutus Liber, then it is w orth noting, that the cattle, that is approaching the bow ls or the linnen cloths, are horned cattle. T his is an occult allusion to som ething both astrological and chem ical. In astrology it is said that everything begins w ith the sign of Aries, fir it is the first spring sign and sym bolic of initiative and activity. C oncerning alchem y, it is also in a spring sign that the work begins, but that is not to be taken literally, w hich has also been stated by som e alchem ists. T he horned cattle in the two im ages from Mutus Liber allude to som ething that is present in the horns of the anim als, and which was im portant when one was to start the alchem ical work. F or here “spring” started due to a m atter extracted from anim al horns, especially from deer antlers, but also the goats and the bulls horns could be used. T he very best w ould be the horns of unicorns-if one should be able to get hold of such a thing-or so w e are told in the old tales. F rom the horns of anim als one extracted “hartshorn”, “hjortetakssalt”, “deer antler salt”. It was used in alchem y, but also found use in baking. I is still used for baking, for it m akes the cakes rise and be crispy.


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C hem ically speaking, “deer antler salt” is am m onium bicarbonate, so this salt contains the sam e m ysterious am m onium as the dew from the m eadow . B ut this am m onium dissappears during baking, instead am m onia and carbon dioxide are form ed. T here is a further occult significance inherent in the tw o anim als, the ram and the bull, for they sym bolize two im portant m inerals, from which could be produced the strong acids, sulphuric acid and and “sulphursour” acid . Astrologers are fam iliar w ith the fact, that the m etal iron and the planet M ars has to do w ith the sign of Aries, w hile copper and the planet V enus rules the sign of T aurus. T he ram s m ineral is the light green iron sulphate, also called iron vitriol. T he bulls m ineral is the blue copper sulphate, or copper vitriol. F rom these two m inerals the alchem ists produced- as d id the chem ists- m ixtures of strong acids by distilling the m inerals w ith am m onium containing salts, f. x. am m onium chloride or am m onium nitrate. T hereby they got solvents for both gold and silver. F or these m etalls w here to be brought into liquid form , before one could continue w ith the process. T he alchem ists m ade all the acids they needed, them selves, for exam ple nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, and “aqua R egis”. T he m ethod is described in several ancient m anuscripts. It w as based on clay, com m on clay of the type, that now adays is used for m aking x-m ass decorations. I w ill later describe how these acids where m ade, and it is quite interesting, for w hat actually happens is a natural process. T here is a lot of sym bols in the cattle on the m eadow , the bow ls w ith dew , the linnen cloths, not to m ention the strange rays em anating from the night sky, and like a fan spread over all living. P erhaps there are even m ore sym bols, but its hard to tell, for Mutus Liber is after all the m ute book of alchem y. O ne first truly discovers the m eaning of the shown im ages, when oneself proceeds w ith working practically w ith the m atters, but it is a long process. W e w ho live on the treshold of the 21st century can hardly im agine, how people thought and reasoned centuries ago. T heir logic seem s to have been a com pletely d ifferent one than ours, and their chem ical sym bols, or rather im ages, seem to us both naïve and unfathom able. Are we to disclose what their sym bols m eant, then we have to rely on our own knowledge and then think backwards and com pare their processes w ith what we know today. W e can find out w hat m atters they used in those days, for they usually m ention how they behave and how a process w ould proceed. B ut we cannot rely on their term s, for these are alm ost always m isleading. If a m odern chem ist tries to duplicate the old alchem ical recipes and takes the term s for what they are, then nothing w ill succeed. T he greatest pitfall is the term “m ercury”-argentum vivum, as it w as called in latin. In french we still have the words argent vif and mercure, in english mercury.


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But m ercury is only m ercury, when spelled w ith a sm all “m ”. If it spelled w ith a capital “M ” it designates the vapour given of from a solvent. Sym bolically this vapour is shown as the m essenger of the gods, M ercur or Herm es, and som etim es as a bird or a frog. T he latter often apperas in old fairy tales as an allegorical anim al, it can be an enchanted prince or a m essenger, that is to deliver an im portant m essage. T hati si for exam ple the case in the tale of Sleeping Beauty, where a frog shows itself to the queen to bring her tid ings. T here is a good deal of pittfalls in the old alchem y books. In french books one often com es upon the term s “sel alcali fixe vegetal” And “sel de tartre”. T hey are about the sam e salt, nam ely potash, or potassium carbonate, as it is also called. C oncerning “sel de tartre” one m ight think it is about a salt of w ineacid, acidum tartaricum , w hose salts are called “tartrates”, but that isnt the case. As a curiosity it can be m entioned that “tartar” in english today m eans “P laque” or “toothstone”, but chem ically speaking it is som ething quite d ifferent. T he w ord can also m ean a salt of w ineacid, so also in our days there is a strange confusion in the term inology. As a final exam ple w e can m ention the term s: Azoth, N itre, Salt P eter, N itrum , and Sel N itre. O ne can alm ost guess that all the term s have som ething to do w ith nitrate and nitrogen com pounds. F or w e still have a rem iniscence of the term s in present day chem istry. F or exam ple “azo” com pounds are nitrogen containing m atters, and the term “azote” is som etim es used in english m eaning nitrogen. B ut in the m edieval age nitrogen com punds where m any things. T here could be different nitrates, for exam ple potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, or am m onium nitrate, and one didn’t alw ays discern betw een them . O r it could be about dew from the air, w hich in french scriptures som etim es w ould be called “salpetre”, som etim es “nitre”. B u the term s where quite striking, for the dew contained a saltpetersour salt, nam ely am m onium nitrit. T his m atter has a high content of nitrogen, and one can speculate how they arrived at such a conclusion centuries ago- w ithout know ledge af technical and chem ical analytic m ethods. O ne cannot avoid thinking w hether they knew som ething about N ature that w e don’t know today. P erhaps their know ledge w as based on a w isdom that we have lost.


14

A K ings V ision

F airy tales relate, that dragon are very old and alm ost invincible. T hey represent strong universal forces, and therefore it was a task for knights and crusaders to overcom e the m ighty dragon. Saint George fought against the dragon, and the unstoppable Jason stole the golden bough from the guard ing dragon. T here existed a dragon cult and dragon m ystery in the past, but what was the dragon, and what is the source of the fairy tale? T he secret is revealed in an alchem ical text, w ritten by the F rench king C harles the 6th , w ho ruled 1380-1422. T he king called his scripture Oeuvre Royale de Charles VI, Roi de France ( the royal w ork of C harles the 6th , king of F rance) . T he text has been reprinted by the publisher Jobert, P aris. C harles the 6th called him self a d isciple of philosophy and a scribe for the highest d ivinity. He says in his script, that he w ill reveal those secrets, that have been jealously guarded and hidden by the philosophers w ith w eird term s and undecipherable w ords. T hese secrets concern the m atters, flasks and other utensils, that are used in the workshops of the alchem ists. T he king now relates a fairy tale about a dragon, that has its dwelling in a m ountain. He relates that he w ill show what a tale of that kind really m eans, and how the tale cam e to be. It begins in this m anner: It was in the month of January. I was travelling in the orient, and there i saw a very large dragon, that was at least five thousand years old. The big strong dragon had his wife with him. She was pregnant and soon to give birth. The dragon opened a hole in the mountain before me and disappeared into it with his wife. I went after them, and saw, that the cave in the mountain was round and clad with stones all over. It was very deep and extended beneath the dwelling i occupied during my stay. Therefore i wondered how i could protect myself from the dragons poison. The night fell on. i stood up, and went into the mountain to investigate it closer. Then i saw that the dragon and his wife slept. I walked around and discovered that there was a small opening at the topmost part. But now the dragon started to move, and it also seemed that his wife was soon to give birth. I pondered how i could lock them in. I found some appropriate stones, and while i assessed the dragons strength, i began to close up the cave. When that was done, i returned to my dwelling, and laid down to sleep. A Sunday morning, some time later, when i opened a window in my chamber, i saw a giant, red snake, and it was much older than the dragon, for it was its father. But the snake was weak for it was very old. It approached the place where the dragon and his wife was. It could smell the dragons presence, so it snaked around to find an entrance. But the snake couldn’t get in, for I had


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closed all openings. The snake got angry, and spewed out its venom, but it couldn’t open the mountain, for it was old, and its poison weakened. Yet the snake kept spewing its venom over the mountain, and after three months it finally penetrated the closed entrances. Then the dragon awoke from its deep sleep. It smelled its fathers toxic breath and arose. The dragons wife got scared of the poison, and gave birth from sheer panic. The snakes venom drew closer, and they all tried to get out. They spread out their dragon wings and flew repeatedly up against the ceiling, but it was closed with the stones I had set there. I saw how their attempts at escape turned into fumes of a lemon yellow colour. Then they attained a sheen of gold and soon after they resembled ruby red gems. Then the fumes turned green, blue and violet, and sometimes completely black. I went up on the mountain, opened the hole in the top and looked down. The dragon, his wife and son, had all turned into a splendid white mass, and i was very happy and satisfied. I took a small amount of the white matter, threw it on some quicksilver, and this became the most resplendent silver. The snake was still full of poison. It was bloated, furious, and much stronger than before. Then I went home to my dwelling, to await what would further happen. A Saturday morning at Easter time I opened my window, and saw that the snake was dead. It had turned into grey ashes. I hurried over to the cave, opened all entrances, and saw that the white mass of the dragon and his family had turned into a deeply red matter. I took a thousandth of it, threw it upon quicksilver, and i got splendid gold. I then thanked Jesus Christ, who had allowed me to partake in the secrets of nature. There upon i travelled home to France to serve the Lord. After this fairy tale the king explains, that the whole tale describes a process in alchem y, nam ely the one that leads to the P hilosophers Stone, the powder that can transm ute quicksilver and other vulgar m etals into gold. In the beginning of the story there is a m ountain, w here the dragon enters w ith his w ife. T his “m ountain” is the oven or fireplace w here the process takes place. It is often called “athanor”. Inside the oven there is a glass vessel, and that is the dragons cave. T he dragon itself is the metal gold - le Soleil, the Sun, it is told in the text. O nly by killing the gold in its original form can one arrive at the P hilosophers S tone. T he dragons w ife is called la Lune, the M oon, and she is the m atter, that dissolves the gold. T he son to w hom she gives birth, is the new gold, that is even m ore splendid than the old . T he red snake, that slithers around the cave and seeks to enter, is the fire. In alchem y the fire m ay not touch the gold directly, but only heat up the surroundings, until the gold


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solution begins to give of fum es. T hese fum es becom e stronger, the m ore the snake, or the fire, slithers around and gains pow er. T he tim e that m ust pass is long, the tale starts in January and ends at Easter tim e, w hich is three m onths later. T he F rench king inform s us about several things in his tale. F irstly about the m atter, which is gold, the old dragon. It is dissolved by another m atter- the dragons w ife, and together they give b irth to a son, w hich is a deeply red m atter. T he king also relates, that the fum es, which are sym bolized by flying dragons, m ay not com e out into open air. T hey m ust be kept sealed up, until they fall down as a white pow der, that gradually turns red . T he red dragon is fire, says the king. It is the dragons father, so they are relatives. Sun and fire are both a sym bol for gold, but fire is the oldest, because it is one of the four elem ents, nam ely fire, air, earth and w ater. O ne is also inform ed about the “m ountain”, w hich is the oven and its (indretning, furbishing) . It is clad w ith stones inside, so it can m aintain an even heat. All entrances should be closed, and only at the end of the process is one allowed to open up and have a peek. So C harles the 6th , was an alchem ist, and he was not the only one am ong the aristocracy, w ho w as seriously engaged in alchem y. And this science is indeed often called “the royal art”, and perhaps we can here find a hitherto overseen or ignored explanation of the enorm ous w ealth of certain noble fam ilies in olden days. C harles the 6th undoubtedly frequented his tim es m ost talented alchem ist, the P arisian N icolas F lam el. T his m an started out as a public scribe in a sm all sidestreet in inner P aris, but in 1382 reached the pinnacles of w ealth in cooperation w ith his w ife, P ernelle F lam el. T hese tw o later gave m oney and property in and around P aris to its less fortunate citizens. In relation to their life work, alchem y, one cannot avoid thinking of another P arisian couple, nam ely M arie and P ierre C urie from the beginning of this century. B oth these research couples w ere involved in investigating subatom ic processes, but N icolas and P ernelle called the proceedings transm utation of m atter. T he C uries called the phenom ena radioactivity. In both cases w ork w ith the atom ic nucleus w as the sub ject. Slightly later, during the reign of the follow ing F rench king, C harles the 7 th , w ho ruled from 1422-1461, the extrem ely rich Jew ish m erchant Jacques C oeur m ade his presence felt on the m oney m arket. He was the kings silverm aster and carried the title “Grand Argentier de C harles V II”. Jacques C oeur was also an alchem ist, and the saying went, that he could produce m ore silver than he could consum e. Jacques C oeur erected noble m anors, one after the other, and lent m oney to noble fam ilies all over Europe. It is said that these loans were m ediated by that tim es rem arkable fem ale beauty, Agnes Sorell. She w as Jacques C oeurs confidant and link to the king of F rance and other European noble houses. Around this tim e the waves of F rances alchem ical workshops reached the shores of D enm ark. T his could have caused the D anish king, Erik of P om m ern- w hile Jacques C oeurs reputation and m erits were on the rise- to establish a law , that im posed strict control w ith precious m etals on all gold and silver traders in the country. T he sam e law


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w as im posed on the gold and silver sm ith (fraternities?) , and it w as actually in effect up to 1932, w here control w as passed on to a state (establishm ent?) . T his could indicate, that in the 14th century there m ight have been so m uch “artificial” precious m etal in circulation in Europe, that the D anish king becam e suspicious. T his is an issue, that no traditional historian seem s to have considered seriously, because the accepted opinion is that no one can m ake gold or silver. T hey are elem ents, and therefore cannot be m ade. Y et m uch points to the possibility, that at least som e of the old physicians, chem ists and m any noblem en w ith tim e to spare m astered such a process. T hey even w rote very lengthy w orks about the procedure and thereby passed so m uch of their know ledge on, that others could get started. If these others could read that is, and if they knew the chem ical language and sym bols of that tim e. Because they were reserved a few initiates. Just about all contem porary researchers and w riters say about alchem y, that its chem ical nom enclature is totally undecipherable today. Som e w riters even go as far, as saying that alchem y is only to be und erstood in an abstract and allegorical way. T his is for exam ple the view of C . G. Jung, the D r. and psychiatrist from this century. An interpretation of that kind is not the whole truth, but likely a side of it. T he chem ical part of alchem y dem ands working w ith the m atter, and a certain (living in? feel) for the sym bols in order to translate the old term s into a contem porary language. So one has to personally work w ith the m aterials. At the sam e tim e it happens that one, little by little, realizes what it w as for m atters that the alchem ists w orked w ith. B ecause they often gave hints to a m etals or a m inerals character. O r they described how a certain m atter reacted w ith other m atters. All sm all bits and pieces, that could help solve the jigsaw puzzle. A good exam ple of an alchem ical riddle, that is a hard nut to crack, is the legendary unicorn. In English its called “unicorn” in F rench its called “licorne”. T he unicorn was a horselike, friendly and beautiful anim al, that had a long horn on its forehead. At the sam e tim e it had a bushy liontail. T hese two things, the long pointed horn, and the lionlike tail, contain its secret in unison. F irstly, that it posessed a penetrating pow er, sym bolized by its horn. Secondly, that it has a connection to Leo in the “other end”, as show n by its tail. T he lion tail is a connection to the m etal gold. T he U nicorn is m entioned in greek literature already 400 B .C ., and it is told about it, that its horn contains a m atter, that neutralized all poisons. Here w e have the key to the riddle of the unicorn. At the sam e tim e there is a parallel to the horned cattle from M utus Liber, the silent book of alchem y. In both cases the m atter is som ething that could be extracted from the anim als horns. T his m atter is what we nowadays know as “hartshorn” or am m onium carbonate.


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W ith this salt one can neutralize aqua regis, the strong “poison” that w as used to d issolve gold. W hen the poison is neutralized, the gold is precipitated as a very fine and pure 24 karat gold pow der. T he sam e effect can be had w ith potash, also know n as potassium carbonate. P otash has its ow n fairy tale, C inderella, and it is one of the finest alchem ical fairy tales know n. F urther: Im age of the double dragonsnake, Solom ons Seal? W ith davids star, and the seven planets, M asonic tools etc. C aption: The flying dragons of alchemy is a gold solution, that like the dragons in fairy tales spews poisonous fumes. The upper dragon has a crown on its head, because it is symbolic for gold, king of metals. Finally it looses its wings, falls to the ground and eats itself, whereby it is turned into a deep red powder.


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T he R ed Spring

Alchem ists call iron for the first, prim itive m atter am ong m etals. It belongs under the first active spring sign, Aries, and is dedicated to the w ar god M ars. Astrologers say the sam e, but where does such a view of iron com e from ? W as alchem y and astrology part of a very ancient science? Som ething could indicate this, for both astrology and alchem y are form s of philosophy and gnosis, that extend furthest back in tim e. Already the old Egyptians were involved w ith these sub jects, and the sam e d id B abylonians, arabs, and jew s, long before our ow n era and religion. S ince the daw n of tim e there has been iron on this planet. It cam e from space as a victorious w arrior, a dem on and a curse, that through a bom bardm ent of m eteors, asteroids and loadstones, took this planet into possession. At the sam e tim e water cam e to earth, for it was encapsulated in the iron lum ps in the form of crystal water. B T W one can extract this ancient water from in the form of a pure clear liquid, w hen one heats the stones to 800 degrees C elsius. T herefore there m ust be, or have been, w ater present som ew here out there, and that is m ost inte resting. T he iron lum ps that from heaven fell, d issolved over tim e, coloured the soil red and ran in blood red stream s out into the oceans that slow ly w ere form ed. W e are still living under the iron rule. It is everywhere, and has left its red tracks in sand, clay, m inerals and even in sem iprecious stones like turm aline and hem atite. Iron is also an im portant part of ourselves, w e have it in our blood, and the sam e goes for our fellow creatures, the anim als on land and the fish in the sea. Iron is also the m etal of w ar. It is the m etal of violence and destruction, and w e are bound to it as a P rom etheus to the cliff. W ith iron bound to the haem aglobin in our blood our destiny is a tight bonding to the m etal of M ars, the god of w ar. U nless w e can free ourselves! It is on such a philosophy that alchem y is based. T he goal of alchem y is to transform everything vulgar and evil into clean pure gold. Both literally and allegorically, and it is possible w e are told. Iron cam e from space, and the gods from heaven, the legends relate. B ut w here d id m an com e from , and are the legends of creation true? T he w ord Adam or Adam us m eans “created of red earth”, that is, clay w ith a high content of iron oxides. T he red colour dom inated on this planet, long before green and blue arrived. A rainbow has the red colour as the first. T hen com es the yellow , green, green, blue, and, finally, violet. T his colour is also the true ethereal colour of gold, and one encounters it in practice, w hen one has precipitated absolutely pure gold. T his w ill appear violet when highly diluted. It is interesting, that iron can also becom e so pure, that it appears w ith a violet colour. T he violet band of the rainbow is the sym bol for the developm ent that everything, m etals, anim als, hum ans, has to go through.


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T he Sum erian m yths are about 6.000 years old and tell about “the F lood”, that flooded everything, and which is likely a historic fact. T hese m yths also relate, that the first hum ans, that the gods created, w ere defect, and unusable as field slaves. T he m yth reveals an interesting detail, for w e are told, that the gods w ere drunk, w hen they created the first hum ans (Middle Eastern Mythology, S . H . Hooke) And what was it for “slaves”, that the gods m ade from iron laden clay and (form of raw iron ore?)? F rom these m atters iron could be extracted for both weapons and tools, but the process was very difficult and required a knowledge, that com m on people didn’t have before m uch later in history. Another legend of creation arose on the M editerranean island C ypern, w hich already had an evolved culture 3.000 B . C . It was the legend of P ygm alion, that had m ade a statue of a wom an, that he fell in love w ith. B ut she did not com e alive before Aphrodite found (m ercy*) for him . She had the knowledge he lacked, but what was it? In other old legends it is told, that the gods had com e from space as victorious pioneers. T he sam e was the case w ith iron, that at the dawn of tim e poured down over this planet, so that anim als and m en could get red blood in the ir veins. Iron becam e a necessary factor for the life processes here on earth. W ithout iron in our blood we would perish, and we w ould not have been around in our present form . P erhaps there lies a sophisticated thought behind the legends, just as w ith the fairy tales. Here the acting figures are often allegoric beings such as anim als in disguise, things that can talk, or concepts that are personified. T he forces that brought life to this planet m illennia ago, cam e from iron. It not only brought along iron from space, but researchers today have also proposed the theory, that at the sam e tim e m icro organism s arose, that produced oxygen in the iron laden m ass. T he first hum an in the b iblical creation m yth (Genesis) w as called Adam . H is tale is a reconstruction of the m uch older Sum erian m yths, that had been adapted to the jews w ish for one, and only one, alm ighty, personal god. According to his nam e Adam w as “created of red earth”, that is, iron oxides, and from this m an learned to produce w eapons. Adam therefore represents the outgoing force and belongs under the war god M ars, that becam e synonym ous w ith iron. B ut the god m ars is lim p and is often portrayed as a warrior w ith a wooden leg. As such we m eet him in alchem ical im agery. B ut even if he has the prim itive iron in his blood, this iron can be turned into gold, the alchem ists say. T herefore the w ar god M ars is often depicted w ith a golden halo around his head. F or he can end up being a king am ong m etals just like gold. But it requires that he yields and becom es hum ble. In alchem y w e therefore m eet the dem and for spiritual transform ation, purification, and sublim ation. Iron m ust give up its leading role as conquering warrior and becom e a hum ble servant, And Jesus said som ething sim ilar som ew here. Iron cam e from space and w as perhaps the first “gods” or “fallen angels”- for they fell to earth in the m ost literal sense. W e are blood related to them , for w e have these gods iron


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in our blood. B T W w asn’t it Jesus that once said to his d isciples “Y ou are gods”, but they understood it nought. In the biblical version of the adam ic riddle is w ritten, that he got a consort (?) , Eve. She w as m ade from the ribs of Adam w e are told. T his has put grey hairs on the heads of m any theologians. O ne m ight rightly ask, if there isn’t som ething w rong here? P erhaps a faulty translation or a m isinterpretation. O r m aybe som ething com pletely d ifferent? Adam belongs in the sign of Aries, and after that follow s the sign of T aurus, the old earth sign. Here is the hom e of the fem inine bright red m etal, and V enus becam e sym bolic of it in alchemy. In the b iblical tale w e are told that it w as good for Adam to have a consort. So he got his Eve, and that settled the m atter in the b ible. B ut w hat do the alchem ists say? If we translate the b iblical tale to an alchem ical language, w e get a variation of it, w hich is that Eve, or copper, is created from Adam , w ho is iron. Here w e have established an analogy betw een the religious m yth and the alchem ical view of chem istry. W e can exam ine this closer by perform ing a little experim ent. W e need som e iron filings, som e copper chloride, a little (vinsyre, w ine acid, close to citric acid?) acid , and a heat resistant bow l. T he copper salt is blue, and in solution it has the sam e colour as the m editerranean ocean in sunshine. F ood for thought. B ecause from this area stem s the m yth of V enus(Aphrodite) , the w om an that w as born in a seashell on the blue ocean. Already in the year 3.000 B . C . copper was produced on the m editerranean island of C ypern, w hich m eans “copper island”. Here they also had, as previously m entioned, the legend of P ygm alion, that had his statue anim ated w ith the help of Aphrodite. B ut who was she actually, for she w as also called V enus, and w as synonym ous w ith copper in alchemy! T he iron filings that we are going to use, are the m asculine m etal. T hey are the ribs of Adam and have the sam e elongated form , w hen they are w hittled of the iron. Iron filings w ill, just like all other m atters that are w hittled of, w ooden (spåner, “filings”?) , have a slightly curved form , that resem ble a rib. Iron in itself has in pure form a whitish sheen, and its colour resem bles that of hum an skin or bones. T he blue copper chloride m ust now be d issolved in boiling w ater in the bow l. W e then get the blue “ocean”, from which V enus is to be born later. She is latently present in the copper salt. W e then add (w ine acid?) and iron filings, Adam s ribs. N ow the “ocean” begins to foam and bubble, and shortly after Eve is born, or V enus, in the form of brightly red copper, that rises up to the surface. T he danger w ith such an interpretation w as of course that believers and religious authorities could accuse the alchem ist for blasphem y and (god m ockery?) , because no


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one should dare to draw parallels betw een the w ork of God and chem istry. T he catholic church, just like so m any other authorities, was stiff, unforgiving, and totally lacking in hum our. T his resulted in theological nit p icking from the side of the m other church in R om e, and often the alche m ist had to either give up his own ideas and conclusions, or at least go in (landflygtighed, go abroad, loose his citizenship, alm ost like an outlaw , but not quite) . In relation to the experim ent w ith iron flings and copper salt, w e need no fairy tales in our day and age. M etallic copper is precipitated, because som e iron has gone into solution as an iron salt. “Adam ” got his “Eve”, but he had to pay for it. P erhaps there is hidden an experim ent behind m any legends, m yths, and fairy tales, that m ost didn’t understand, or was not to be revealed to the uninitiated. T his could be the case w ith Genesis, the m ost enigm atic legend of all. O ne of the great alchem ists of the past, Arnauld de V illeneuve, who was born around 1235 in F rance, presented som e ideas that astonishingly resem ble those of m odern nuclear physicists. Arnauld de V illeneuve issued a sm all scripture in 1303 about the origins of m etals. La chemin du chemin, T he R oad to the R oad, he titled it. T herein he says: “T here is only a single first m atte r of the m etals”, “F rench”, and he adds that everything depends on the influences from nature, whereby the m atter can take on different form s. F urther on in the text he says, that all m etals stem from one original, first m atter, w hich he calls “M ercure”, Mercury. All know n m etals can be reduced to this first m atter, and therefore is transm utation possible, he claim s. Alchem ys first and original m atter, from which all known m etals are form ed, is equivalent to what we today call a proton, that is, the nucleus of a hydrogen atom . F rom this our w hole present periodic system of elem ents is built up. B ut there had to pass 600 years before N iels B ohr presented the periodic system of atom ic num bers, starting w ith hydrogen, that has a single positive nucleus. S o it is not excluded that transm utation is possible, because a nuclear transform ation can take place by bom bardm ent w ith neutrons, that don’t have an electric charge, but high energy. But the alchem ists didn’t have access to a m odern nuclear physics lab. And they d idn’t need it, because they used natures ow n pow erful tool T im e, and the m atters naturally present, that is, the atm ospheres content of elem ents, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen. An alchem ist from the sam e period as Arnauld de V illeneuve, the F renchm an M orien has said the follow ing: O ur science can be com pared w ith the creation of m an. T he Seed, w hich w e call M ercury, unites w ith the earth, w ho is m other of all elem ents. In M oriens w ritings w e again m eet this “earth”, from w hich m an should have been created, and the m ysterious term “M ercury”, that is equivalent to the term “gods breath” in religion.


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According to the alchem ists, this breath penetrates everything in earth, w ater and air. It is an om nipresent natural force, and it is found under m any nam es and countless form s, as fairies, trolls, nym phs and sylphs. C . G. Jung calls it M erlin, the natural force and spirit of the great forests. Even if iron is the m etal of w ar, it can be transm uted and becom e both silver and gold, the alchem ists claim . D uring the reign of C harles the 7th (1422-1461) , lived the previously m entioned rich m erchant and alchem ist Jacques C oeur. He erected (precious, expensive, ?) buildings in and around Bourges in the center F rance. He also had the title of royal silverm aster, and it is told, that he also m ade som e of the silver for the kings needs. Jacques C oeur used iron as starting m aterial, and in the first place he converted it into a m ore aethereal form , then extracted the essence of iron. T his essence was called “le fer essesifie”. It could then becom e silver. T he contem porary alchem ist F ulcanelli in his books about the alchem ical sym bols and buildings (Les Demeures Philosophales) , tells us that the colour of this iron is violet. It is the sam e colour that absolute ly purified gold has. B T W Jacques C oeur is m entioned in the book Voices from the past by Jeffrey Iverson. T his is very apropos, w hen we are talking alchem y, because in alchem y rebirth or reincarnation is the red thread in the process. Each tim e a m atter is reborn, that is, d issolved and precipitated after the m otto “solve et coagula”, it gains a slightly better form . Each reb irth brings it a step closer to the P hilosophers S tone. Iron cam e to earth from space, and the sam e did the gods, the legends tell. Even the earths core is iron, because if this core is struck by a tidal wave, it rings like a fine m etallic churchbell. Iron has the atom ic num ber 26. T hat m eans that iron contains 26 positive charges, plus just as m any negatively charged negative electrons. If iron is to becom e silver, that has the atom ic num ber 47 , protons have to be supplied. Iron lacks 47 m inus 26 protons, that is, 21 positive charges in order to becom e silver, and these m ust be had from som ew here. It is very likely that these could com e from nitrogen, which has the atom ic num ber 7 . B ecause it is nitrogen and its com pounds that are alluded to again and again in alchem y, nitrous com pounds are the building blocks of nature. T hey m ust be present in the form of vapours, and it is these that in alchem y are a part of the concept M ercury. V apours give of energy to the m etal, and at the sam e tim e there is an increase in w eight, w hich in itself is quite rem arkable. B ut it happens slow ly, and only at a certain tem perature. At the beginning of the process the tem perature m ust be that, w hich in alchem y is called “nesting heat” (?) . T hat is the tem perature that a hen m aintains while hatching her eggs. O n im ages of alchem ical workshops one therefore often sees one or m ore hens hatching eggs. Iron is not just the prim itive, sim ple m etal, that is ruled by the wargod M ars. It is also the m etal of pioneers and inventors. T here are endless possibilities in iron and its com pounds.


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Iron is itself a creative m aterial, perhaps because it is m agnetic. That could be the reason why we have it in our blood - if one harbours the belief that there is a deeper m eaning to it all. Iron has show n its am azing qualities in the w orld of electronics, it is the basis for all com m unication technology and bring people closer to each other. Here it is not the w eapons speaking. In the so called m em ory circuits in com puters iron oxides are used, to w hich there can be added other m atters like barium , cobalt or nickel oxides. Iron is in reality the elem ent that has the greatest latent possib ilities. T hat is w hy in alchem y iron is the “halfgod” that is brother to the royal gold. Iron and the old Adam are still present in m an, but iron can be brought to show other sides of his being than those where present in the beginning- and still are- in the form of raw and aggressive forces. P hotoplanche 1. Iron and copper solutions.


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T he blue m oonm etal

Alchem y can appear like pure hokus pokus (m agic? O K?) even After m any years of working repeatedly w ith an experim ent. If one begins to work w ith silver, Luna, one w ill experience that m ysterious forces are at play. T he m etal and elem ent silver can be described in tw o w ays. T he one can be seen by looking into a textbook on chem istry, but that is not of m uch assistance, if one is to understand alchem y. T he other description of alchem y is found in the w ritings of the alchem ists of the past. F or them silver is m ore than just a m etallic elem ent. S ilver in alchem y represents the m oon, the ancient fem inine principle, that is behind everything m anifest in nature. It happened at the daw n of tim e in the great w aters. T he alchem ists of the past knew nothing about m odern evolutional theories, but (and) they could do w ithout, because they knew , that everything had its origin in a chaos of prim ary w aters, that strangely enough took form in the form less w ater. T he m oon, or Luna, rules over the w aters, and is synonym ous w ith liquids in alchem y. Everything cam e to be in a watery elem ent the alchem ists say, and therefore all m atter m ust be redissolved in a liquid , if it is to be brought into another form . T here is som ething “prehistoric (or ancient*) , dead and spooky about the m oons blue w hite light. T his sensation is real enough, for in reality the m oon doesn’t shine. It only reflects the light of the sun, and it is a com pletely d ifferent light that is reflected back to earth, for it is polarized. M oonlight vibrates in a different plane than sunlight, and it also has a com pletely d ifferent effect in nature. M oonlight has a dissolving effect on everything, that is to be broken down and becom e earth. T herefore, in alchem y, the m oon represents the liquid that dissolves m etals. W ithout this dissolution no growth takes place and no “procreation (bearing fruit or offspring, increase, augm entation, m ultiplication*) T he m etal silver belongs to the sign of C ancer, as in astrology the m oon has rulership of this sign. . So it w ould be quite natural to assum e, that silver (cam e into being, arose, m aterialized ) in the oceans and thereafter (separated, exuded, solidified, settled ) as a solid m atter inside the m ountains, w hen these arose from the (sea bottom , ocean bed ) . If one observes a piece of silver ore, the m etallic silver is alm ost always (seated, nested ) betw een a layer of a sand or claylike m aterial (m atter) , that is very com pact, as if it had been under pressure. T he silver looks as if it originally had settled (dow n) on the (sea bottom , ocean bed ) in layers of m ud and (dynd, m ush? S ilt? Sludge!) , and it m ust have happened in the ocean over a very long period of tim e. M aybe the silver is form ed by m icro organism s, parallel to those that suddenly began to produce oxygen billions of years ago. S ilver plays som e kind of, as yet not fully disclosed, role (part) in the organism of all living beings. W e need just a tiny w ee b it of it, but it is rarely m entioned in literature about trace


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m inerals. B ut those fam iliar w ith hom eopathy are aware of the value of silver salts, especially silver nitrate. It is used in an extrem ely high (fine) d ilution, and every chem ical trace of silver is gone. B ut w e need the radiations from silver, if our nervous system s are to rem ain intact, and if we w ish to avoid getting (“m oonsick”-lunatic, as it is called in English after the latin w ord for m oon, luna.) (this goes dow n the drain in an English text: instead ) , m oonm adness, Lunatic. T he m oon affects the oceans. It influences (affects, controls) the tides and the sea dwelling creatures, that (gyder, spout, caviar gushing, eggsplode!) their eggs in (regelm æssige, even spaced, regular, cyclic) periods. T he m oon creates (regulates) the oceans respiration, and we hum ans still have this respiration in us. T he so called (spinalm arrow respiration) m ust be a rem nant of our connection w ith the ocean, in a prehistoric age, where we didn’t have lungs. T his prim ary respiration, as it is also called, is a rhythm ical pulsation in the (brain-backbone-spinal m arrow fluids) closed tubular system , and has a period of about 8-12 B P M (beats per m inute) , that is, very slow . W e are still bonded (tied to, have a pact w ith) w ith (to) the (ur, germ an for ancient, prim al ocean) and the m oon, m ostly during sleep or m editation. In these instances it is very likely that heartbeat and respiration (resonate, synchronize) w ith the (spinalm arrow respiration) , so that our nervous system s are built up (recharged ) to handle the (challenges, tasks, arduous work) of the follow ing day. Indeed nobody really knows why we have to sleep, but w e know w e are recharged (refreshed ) T he great oceans contain tons of silver in an extrem ely (extraord inarily) high d ilution, about 10 m illigram s in a ton of seawater. T he silver is so finely divided, that it is not econom ically feasible to extract it. B ut a lot of sm all anim als, that build (snailhouses) , conches and shells, do so. T he m ost beautiful of them have (viol (a flow er) blue) , rosy red, and violet m other of pearl layers, that coat the rough (kalk, chalk, calcium ) shell in fine layers. T he m any colours stem from the silver in the ocean water, and likely also from gold, of w hich there is alm ost just as m uch (present) . B ecause both these m etals w ill appear w ith the sam e violet and rosy red colours in certain com pounds (connections) . S o it is not ord inary m etal (anym ore) , but (fine m icroscopic, m icrofine, colloidal?) m atters, that these beings have (secreted, exuded ) onto the (chalk, calcium ) shell w ith stoic calm (through, over) m any years. T here is alm ost no calcium in seaw ater, and one can then w onder about, how these creatures have m anaged to get the raw m aterial for their (houses, housings) . It is quite (likely, probable) , that the calcium has been (invocated, procured, brought forth) through a transm utation of other m atters, for exam ple potassium , because according to contem porary researchers and alchem ists, nature is an expert at doing just that. T he greek philosopher P lato, who lived 427 -347 B C , w as fam iliar w ith alchem y through his teacher Socrates. P lato had know ledge of m any alchem ical processes and has said , tat there is gold in (ordinary, com m on) sea salt, but it rem ains spiritual until it is precipitated in visible form . T his (piece) of inform ation is found in a w ork (of, from the hand) of J. R . Glauber, that w as published in P aris 1659 (Des Navigants pp. 22-23)


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P latos and Glaubers statem ents are interesting, because w e today know that gold and silver form (chem ical , com pounds, connections) w ith the elem ent chlorine, of w hich there is a lot in ocean w ater, about 19%. Gold also (gangs up, team s up, form s com pounds) w ith sodium chloride, of w hich there is a lot in the ocean, and form s an orange yellow com pound, sodium gold chloride. All the salts of gold have beautiful red , orange, blue and violet colours, and the sam e goes for silver salts under certain conditions. W e w ill investigate this closer in a m om ent (by, through) a (little, sm all) experim ent. T he anim als that live in (snailhouses) and conches, suck in seaw ater and d igest the m atters, they com e in contact w ith. T hey thereby absorb the m etal salts from the ocean together w ith the organism s on which they (thrive, subsist) . Little by little, they (excude, excrete) the fine (subtle) organic silver and gold (com pounds, com plexes) , for they cannot utilize them . T hese violet and rosy (pink) coloured m atters are totally destroyed, if one treats them as m etallic com pounds, that can be d issolved in acids. W e can prove that the colours stem from the oceans silver reserves, because w e can (im itate, reproduce, copy) the process, and (have, m ake) those colours appear, that these beings produce (fabricate) from sea salt, calcium and silver, plus som e nitrate, w hich they get from the organic m atters they (absorb, take in) . B efore w e proceed w ith the experim ent, w e w ill m ention, that the conches and shells of the ocean w ere used in the m edieval age, as a sym bol of natures riches. T he previously m entioned alchem ist and (great, grand ) m erchant, Jacques C oeur, decorated his (palaces, m anors, posh upscale dwellings)w ith ornam ents, in which the shell alw ays w as used as a m otif, on the (faces, outer surfaces) of the (houses, m anors) . He was born in 1396 and accum ulated great silver treasures through his life, and the saying goes, that he used iron as the raw m aterial for this. B ut one m ight also suspect that he got the silver from the shells of the ocean, and that he had found a working process. He went the sam e w ay as so m any other alchem ists. He w as (deported, banned from the land, expatriated ) and d ied on the coast of asia m inor, 60 years old . Lets proceed w ith the experim ent w ith silver, the m oons ow n m etal, Luna. M ost silverw are contains copper, that has been added to m ake the silverw are m ore durable. P ure silver is very soft, but it is the pure silver and its salts, that are used in alchem y. In laboratories and goldsm ithies (goldsm ith w orkshops) silver item s are d issolved w ith nitric acid . It is done under (in) a so called fum e hood, because som e very bothersom e and toxic nitrous oxide fum es are given of, especially if the tem perature is over 16-17 degrees C elsius. T he process can becom e so violent, that the contents flies in the air, and one m ust then hastily (quickly) d ilute w ith w ater. B ut he problem can be avoided. S ilver is a “cold” m etal, and belongs to the night and the m oons cold light. If one wants to avoid the violent reaction between silver and nitric acid, one m ust extend the (reaction) tim e by lowering the tem perature. T hese two things relate to each other, because at low tem perature all natural processes (tim e is long, are slow ed dow n) .


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S ilver was probably form ed in the great oceans and then brought up on dry land, when the ocean beds rose and began to form m ountains. Inside of these the silver w as then (exuded, excreted, precipitated ) in a very slow pace, at about 4 degrees C elsius (* see note 1) T his corresponds to the principle that Saturn represents in astrology. Saturn contracts, solid ifies and hardens, and this takes place in the cold and through long periods of tim e. Saturns influence is com plem entary to the m oons, because it rules the sign of C apricorn, which is in opposition to the sign of C ancer, house (hom e) of the m oon, and w here silver belongs (has its hom e) . T he best tim e to dissolve silver is in the late autum n m onths or the early spring m onths, and this is also m entioned in literature about alchem y. O ne now puts the silverware, perhaps folded together or broken into pieces, in a glass, it could be an em pty jam jar, and places it into a box of sand under a (halfroof?, lean too?) in a shed, or on a (one of those platform s on a house, w ith no w alls or roof?) . T hen one pours nitric acid over it, and not m ore, than the silverw are is just covered. At low tem perature there is hardly any nitrous oxides given of, but som ething is happening in the silver just the sam e. It takes on a yellow ish colour, and som etim es one can sm ell very faint acid fum es. T he process takes tim e, so one lets the glass sit quite undisturbed for a week or two. At the sam e tim e one m ust assure that solution sits (stands) in a place where it cannot accidentally be toppled over by cats, porcupines, or other anim als. O ver tim e the silver is dissolved, and if there is copper in it, the liquid turns blue. O ne them d ilutes w ith a little w ater and can take the glass back indoors. O ne now has a solution consisting of silver nitrate plus a blue copper salt. T he silver nitrate can now be precipitated as white silver chloride, and this is easily done w ith com m on table salt, sodium chloride. So m uch salt is needed as to ensure that all silver is precipitated, that is, salt in excess, and it m ust be d issolved in w ater. As the whole now w ill take up m ore volum e, it is advisable to pour the silver nitrate w ith its copper content into a large glass bowl, before one proceeds to add concentrated salt water. As soon as the salt w ater com es in contact w ith the silver nitrate solution, the liquid turns m ilky w hite. It is silver chloride that now precipitates, and it resem bles lum py (sour m ilk, thick m ilk) . C uriously enough silver chloride is com pared to (sour m ilk, thick m ilk) or (cheesem ass, raw cheese) in all the conventional text books on chem istry. D id these authors ever give it a thought, that silver is a m oon m etal, and that the m oon happens to have an influence on the lactation and (breastfeeding) of anim als in nature? O ne sets the bow l w ith silver chloride aside and lets it sit for about an hour. T hen one can carefully decant the blue copper laden liquid of, that stands above the precipitate. T he blue liquid can be stored in a separate glass and then precipitated as copper later on. T his can be done w ith iron filings, the m asculine m etal in alchem y. T he iron slow ly d issolves and a brow n pow der of m etallic copper is precipitated.


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W hen it is w ashed, dried, ad ground to a fine pow der, one has an excellent paint (base, pigm ent, colour) . If one adds (“purified” gasoline) or a b inder to this copper pow der, it can be used on w ood, (stucco, gypsum ) , cast iron and cem ent (m ortar?) . T he paint covers com pletely and dries fast, and the painted ob jects take on a beautiful golden bronze colour. T he w hite precipitate is now (rinsed, w ashed, flushed ) once w ith w ater, and then the bow l of silver chloride is set aside w ith abundant w ater. Som ething very strange w ill now take place. T he white silver chloride w ill, in the course of som e hours form coral like form ations of snow y w hite branches, m oving from the bottom upw ards. T he long fine branches som etim es resem ble thin icicles w ith flow ers, and they gradually take on a violet sheen. Som etim es they (hang down) from the surface of the liquid as thin needles w ith (rim frost, “icefeathers”, think of an icy w indshield) on them . Here w e have an exam ple of silvers cold, m oonlike character. F low ers are form ed, that resem ble the w inter nights m agic w ith the growths of nature. T he process continues for som e hours, and when no m ore crystals are form ed, they all slow ly sink dow n to the bottom of the bow l. C hem ically seen, the crystals form at a certain (acidity level, P H ) in the liquid, after the original nitric acid had been diluted w ith salt water and then (washed, flushed9 once w ith water. I m easured the P H value, that is, the acidity, in the water wherein the crystals grew . It was betw een 0,5 and 1,0, still a strong acid , but d iluted w ith w ater. T he beautiful white coral branches of silver chloride can only be form ed, if they get tim e and calm (if they can take their tim e) , and one w ill not get to see them in a m odern laboratory, w here tim e is a factor, one doesn’t like. W hen the silver chloride crystals have settled to the bottom of the bowl, one (rinses, flushes) several tim es w ith water and set the precipitate aside in a m oist state. T he silver chloride, that was white to begin w ith, now becom es m ore and m ore violet. T he colour is as that of (forest “viols” (a flower) ) , and if the silver chloride is left in the bow l in a m oist state, and (s)lightly covered, so it w ill not be exposed to d irect sunlight, the colour w ill last alm ost indefinitely. It is this blue violet colour that alchem ists call the “soul” of silver. It has (though?) the m oons (shifty, changeable) nature and is so im pressionable, that it can becom e both rosy coloured and com pletely red. J. R . Glauber has said the follow ing about silver in a scripture from 1659: There can be no doubt, that the inner of the moon (silver) contains more colour (tincture) than the sun (gold), because the moon is completely red inside, while the sun is blue, this one should note.- (D e L’oeuvre M inerale, p . 60) So the blue white silver chloride can becom e (rosy, pink) and red, and som ething sim ilar happens (takes place) in the oceans conches and (snailhouses (w rite shells?) ) . How they accom plish this nobody seem s to know , but w e can im itate them (m im ic their art) to a


30

certain degree, by using the m atters they have at their d isposal, and that is (com m on) salt, (chalk, calcium ) , silver and a little b it of (sm all am ount of) nitrate. O ne begins w ith a bag of pure white sea salt. A portion of it is poured into an enam elled pot or a heat resistant glass bowl. T he salt is then dissolved in (lots of, sufficient, m ore than, abundant) boiling w ater and reduced (cooked dow n, in) until a dry salt rem ains. T his is ground and pulverized, w here after it is again d issolved in boiling w ater. T he process is repeated several tim es, and one finally has a fine, light powder, that at the sam e tim e has lost the (ram m e, harsh, sharp?) salt taste. – By the way, this product w ill m ake a fine base for a (great) (spice, gourm et, salt) ! T he salt is now to be m ixed w ith about half the am ount of (m elkalk, chalk, calcium flour) or w ith crushed, pow dered sea shells. I have tried both, and there doesn’t seem to be any d ifference in the end product. W hen these tw o things are m ixed, boiling w ater is added, until a thin porridge has form ed. It is then reduced (cooked in) until its dry. T hen one pours a large am ount of boiling w ater over, and lets the m ixture sit(rest) for aw hile. In the m eantim e one can place a funnel in a bottle or over a bowl. T he funnel is to be lined w ith (heavy kitchen “roll”?) or filter p aper. T hen the m ixture of salt and (chalk, calcium ) is poured through the funnel. It is best to let the water slowly flow down the sides of the funnel, to avoid m aking a hole (rupturing) in the bottom of the paper. W hen the salt water has run through, the paper is set aside, because the chalk isn’t needed anym ore. O ne then again reduces the salt, and adds a new portion of chalk, again approxim ately (about) half the am ount of the salt. T his process is repeated about three tim es, and one finally has a portion of salt w ater, that has taken in som ething or other from the chalk. I is this salt that is now to influence the w hite or bluish silver chloride. W hen the salt w ater has been reduced to a thin porridge, approx. (about) the sam e am ount of silver chloride is added. T hese tw o are m ixed and heated until alm ost dry. It is then left to cool dow n. T hen a very sm all am ount of nitric acid is added. T he liquid now fizzles, because there is always a (rem nant?) of chalk left, and this gives of carbon dioxide. T he silver chloride now becom es (strongly, deeply) violet. T his is a strange reaction, and is, as far as I know , not m entioned anyw here else, than in alchem ical literature. T he silver chloride is w ashed once and then poured into a heat resistant bow l. It is then heated to dryness several tim es, and betw een each (reduction, dryness) boiling w ater is added (dropw ise) . T he silver chloride w ill now gradually change colour. Som e tim es pink, som e tim es dark violet or indigo coloured. If one continues heating and add ing boiling w ater, the colour finally turns into a beautiful chocolate brow n. (see P lanche 2) T he sam e colours are to be seen in the sea shells and conches. T he largest and oldest of them have had tim e enough to form both pink, blue, violet, and brown colours, and the latter are usually on the outside of the shell.


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I first read about the silver salts ability to change colour in a collection of alchem ical scripts (tracts) , that had been published in the 17 00 eds on the D uke of O rleans’ private (book printery) T he collection consists of various anonym ous alchem ists experiences, and all the books recipes are very detailed and (precise, concise?) . T he book, 292 pages, that has been reprinted in its original form w ith the title: Traite de Chymie, philosophique et hermetique (Jobert, P aris) In the anim als inside the conches, a natural slow digestion, of those sm all anim als(organism s) and m atters, that are present in sea water, takes place. If its (the ocean) polluted w ith heavy m etals, the colours on the (sea(shells w ill loose their beautiful (hues, shades of colour) And becom e m urky. So there has w ithout doubt been m any m ore beautiful conches and sea shells in the past than in our days, and that could be another explanation of w hy they w here such a popular motif am ong (by the) alchem ists. F ulcanelli in his Les Demeures Philosophales, describes how silver can be brought to show , that in its innerm ost it is com pletely (skarlagensrødt, a royal red?, a certain hue of red ) (vol. 1, 190-191) T he experim ent he m entions is exciting, but treacherous, and it confirm s that silver, or Luna as it is called in alchem y, lives up to its nam e as a (lunefuld, launish, shifty, unreliable, treacherous) m etal. O ne begins w ith the white silver chloride. As already stated, it is precipitated in the form of a (cheeselike) , heavy precipitate, when one pours a concentrated salt solution onto silver nitrate. S ilver chloride is w ith three tim es as m uch am m onium chloride, and (is) placed in a w ide necked flask that can w ithstand heat. The m atter m ay only occupy the bottom of the flask, and over its (m outh, opening) is placed a sm all bow l of ice cubes. T he m ixture is now to be heated, until the am m onium chloride rises up (sublim es?) , and settles on the bottom of the bowl, as a white sub lim ated m atter. It is scraped of and d issolved in a bow l of d istilled w ater. O ne w ill now see, that on the bottom of the bow l is a (highly red ) fine pow der. It com es from the silver and has been draw n along w ith the am m onium chloride. So the inner core of silver is highly red , and J. R . Glauber said the sam e in his (tract) from 1659. F ulcanelli says the experim ent is (treacherous) and (unreliable) , because the flask often cracks when the heating (sublim ation) has taken place for som e tim e. O r it can happen that the silver chloride m igrates into the glass (w alls) , colours them red, w here after it d isappears into open air. I have done the experim ent m yself, and that was just what happened. T he m ost interesting thing in (connection, context) w ith the red colour in silver is, that it ow es its appearance to the am m onium ion - natures jester(trickster) , that is capable of (alm ost, a little of) anything. As we have already seen, it can be form ed in water that evaporates in the open. T his was proven by the D anish researcher Schønbein (in the) last century. According to alchem ists the influence from the air is especially powerful at full m oon, and it is (all in all) am azing, how m uch am m onium salt, that can be form ed in the w ater.


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T he largest am ount, that I have gotten up to now (hitherto) , was two nights in January, while the full m oon was in the sign of C ancer, the m oons own sign, and that does give food for thought. T he sea shell, especially the (Jacobs shell) , “La M erelle”, was an often em ployed (applied ) sym bol of the m edieval alchem ists. F ulcanelli m entions it in his book Les Mysteres des Cathedrales (xxx) , p. 202, and he m entions, that the rich F rench m erchant and alchem ist, Jacques C oeur, (beautified, ornam ented, bejewelled) his house facades, w indows and niches, w ith the sea shell. But w hy one m ight ask, and w hat is the explanation? Som e sea shells and conches have as already m entioned, pink and blue violet, m other of pearl like colours, that the shell itself produces(brings forth) . T hese colours on the shell w e can ( invoke, conjure, bring forth) ourselves, by placing w hite beach shells or conches in a glass bowl of water, to which there has been added a few grains of the m ysterious substance called the P hilosophers S tone. T his (unusual, w eird , ) m atter is a gold or silver com pound, and w ill be described later. After a few days, the white shells w ill begin to take on pink and violet hues (colors) just like the natural ones. T he colours are identical. If one leaves the shells in the water for som e weeks, the colours w ill becom e even stronger, and fine purple pow der w ill form on the bottom of the bow l. O ne can now take the shells up and then stir along the sides of the bowl w ith a glass rod, until the pow der has (converged ) in a heap in the m iddle of the bow l. If one doesn’t get it (gathered ) there, it w ill stain the sides of the glass bow l. Sam e phenom ena occurs w hen w orking w ith pure fine gold pow der, and it w as a sim ilar technique, glassm akers of the past used for m anufacturing (purpur) coloured church w indows and glass item s. (stained glass) W hen the water in the bowl has becom e totally clear, he liquid is decanted and reduced to dryness. O ne w ill then see, that there is a little calcium present from the sea shells in the powder. It is seen as white spots and can be d issolved w ith acetic acid . Again stir along the sides of the bow l, and w hen the liquid is clear, decant it. T he purple pow der is w ashed w ith pure w ater, and finally reduced to dryness. T he (m ysterious, strange) thing about this process is, that the purple pow der is a gold com pound, and there is even m ore, than w as originally added. Sea shells and conches have always been a sym bol of wealth, (procreation, m ultiplication) and abundance. T he oil com pany Shell uses it as w e all know in our days, and m any catholic churches the (baptizing fonts) and (d ip your finger in holy w ater and do the cross containers) are m ade in the (shape, form ) of a sea shell. T he classic horn of (plenty, abundance, superfluidity) , the “cornucopia”, is shaped as a conch, from which flows fruits and flow ers in abundance. Here I think w e have a pointer to w hy the sea shell w as such a (popular, beloved ) favoured m otif (them e, sym bol) (w ith, by) the alchem ists of the past. T hey got the gold to (procreate, m ultiply, have offspring) , and the new gold m atter had a violet colour.


33

T his violet colour can by the way be (im itated, copied, reproduced) w ith ordinary fine and com pletely pure gold pow der, that has been d iluted and (opslem m et, m ixed, beaten into like an om elet, or sauce, blended ) w ith w ater, and the sam e goes for silver chloride. O n w arm er beaches than ours (Scandinavia) one can find conches w ith a porcelain like brow n and w hite spotted (blank, shiny, sm ooth, polished, not rough) shell. If one looks inside them , one finds that they are violet inside. It is (m ore obscure, not so apparent, lies in the dark) why sea shells also where used as sym bolic elem ents in churches and cathedrals. P erhaps religion and alchem y (once had, have) a com m on point of origin. W e w ill return to this later. T ranslators rem arks: W here I w rote rosy, I guess it should be pink N ote 1. 4 degrees C elsius is the tem perature at w hich w ater has its highest density. W hen w ater is cooled dow n, it w ill becom e denser and denser, until it com es dow n to 4 degrees, it w ill then expand slightly, and then, as w e all know , expands about 10%, w hen going from a liquid to a solid , from w ater to ice. M ost natural springw aters should com e forth from their springs, at that exact tem perature, 4 degrees. S ee the w orks of V ictor S chauberger, the W ater W izard , if one w ants to know m ore about the m ysteries of w ater. F . x. that a spring can d ry up , if its “spout” is sub jected to d irect sunlight, if its shade giving surround ing trees and vegetation are rem oved and m uch m ore.


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T he R ose and the C ross

T he alm ost surrealistic com bination of tw o (com pletely d ifferent, unrelated, d isparate) (things, sym bols) becam e the sym bol of the O rder of the R osy C ross, and it happened som etim e around the year 1459. B ut behind the sym bols (lays, lies) a long and bloody (hi)story, and it begins in southw est F rance, in P rovence D e Languedoc, in the 12th century. Early in the m edieval era religious sects and brotherhoods had form ed all over Europe, and they had in com m on, that they w ith m ore or less (covert, hidden) m eans fought against the often very evil and greedy society they lived in. T hey weren’t on good standing w ith the rom an catholic church either, because their beliefs in m any w ays deviated from the churches. T hese sects and brotherhoods had on their agenda to help and their prosecuted and poor fellow m en( hum an kin) - product of the (prevailing, persisting) (strife, fights) (am ong, between) the ruling classes. T he sects consisted of true hum anists. T hey seldom took a nam e and lived anonym ously and Spartan. T hey where against a long row of the churches (doctrines, dogm as) and especially the theological m achinery of (the) (P opedom , papal rule) . T hey preached a christian teaching, but it an a form , that they insisted was (in tune w ith) the original intention of C hristianity, love, tolerance and hum bleness. In the years 1100-1200, this belief and life style becam e visible(was openly displayed) by th cathars, also called the (albigensers)- the purified and white-, and this w ould (show out to) be d isastrous. T he cathars (hung out, stuck around, had their stronghold, were seated, centered) In south w estern F rance, and had possibly m igrated from countries south or east of the M editerrranean Sea, from w here they brought a Gnostic belief, the essence of w hich w as (basic idea) , that only the soul is created by God. Everything m aterial, including the hum an body, w as the w ork of the D evil. T he cathars attitude to everything living was, thou shallt not kill. So they w ere vegetarians and (subsisted, sustained them selves) on the “fruits of the earth”. At the sam e tim e (their wom en had equal rights, the genders were fully equalized) , and they had a liberal and understanding attitude to(w ards) d ivorce. But the y had the catholic church against them , and it d idn’t get any better w hen they (put into office, inaugurated?) fem ale priests. T he cathars were skilled craftsm en. T hey (erected ) paperm ills, and it turned out to be a good business. T hey also produced the sought after copper salt, vitriol, which originally was called “verid is aeris”. T his em erald green copper salt was utilized as both a pigm ent in paints, and a necessary (m atter in, ingredient of) alchem y. T he cathars produced it by layering copper strips betw een pressed grape (shells, pressings, m ush) . T hereby the m etallic copper oxid ized and united w ith the acids from the grapes, to form the sought after green salt.


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At the sam e tim e m any cathars travelled around Europe as m erchants, troubadours-(song singers, m innes sangarna)- and preachers, and began to gain som e influence, but on a d ifferent base than the rest of (the) m edieval society. T he F rench historian and author, D éodat R oché, claim s, that the O rder of the R osy C ross (stem s, originates) from the cathars. (Because) these people were the only ones that were w holly dedicated to the O rders at once sim ple and exclusive life style (L’eglise romaine et les cathares albigeois) . T he germ an m ystic and philosopher, Jacob B oehm e, w ho lived 157 5-1624, w as a rosi crucian w ith the cathars beliefs, but in our days he is term ed “pantheist”- a m uch to narrow and (fluffy, airy, im precise9 designation for such a w ide spanning personality. T he south F rench cathar m ovem ent w ith its (altruistic) attitude to hum ans created the first rosy crossers already in the 12th century, but this order w as only to actually get (its, this) nam e som e hundred years later after the germ an m onk C hristian R osenkreuz, who is believed to have been born in the year 1388. Around this figure there always has been a certain aura of m ystery. H is nam e was likely at once a pseudonym and a sym bol for an alchem ical process. Because R osycross, das R osenkreuz, la R ose-C roix, etc., w as (unbondable, unbreakably tied to) the greatest secret of alchem y. T he cross itself had equal sized arm s, contrary to the rom an catholic, whose m iddle arm w as long(er) . B ehind all religions lies the principles of both religion and alchem y: to separate the pure from the im pure, and to find (the) truth, that is, the (core, essence) of everything. In alchem y it is sym bolized (w ith, by) gold. T he process of purification w as a “crucifixion”, and thereby the cross cam e to signify (purification, redem ption, cleaning) of m atters through a process of d issolution and elim ination of the im pure in alchem y. F or exam ple, the equal arm ed cross signifies acetic acid in alchem y. In the 12 hundreds (13th century) the cathars deviating beliefs and hum ble brotherhoods becam e to m uch for the catholic church. Its m ighty (chief, leader, “overhead”) , P ope Innocens the III, launched a cruel crusade against them in 1209 and then later again in the sam e century. O ne of the w orst m assacres took place in 1244, but m ore w ere to follow . T he cathars finally (succum bed, bent over, gave in) to the violence. T housands were burnt on the pyres or (w alled in w ith bricks, im m ured?) alive, until they d ied. So ended the first (faith, religion, ideology) , that could have given Europe its first dem ocracy and the first declarations of (equality, of the sexes, equal opportunity) and hum an rights. T he cathars actually (w ere out9 (on the scene) 7 00 years (too early, ahead of their tim e) . B ut w ith all this the m ovem ent d idn’t com e to a final end. After the blood baths (perform ed, had been carried out) on the cathars-the rom an churches greatest m istake ever-the B rotherhoods of Europe becam e m ore secretive, And the(ir) anonym ous m em bers becam e even m ore invisible (less visible, out of view ) . An esoteric em pire arose.


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B ooks (cam e out, w ere published ) under pseudonym s, and the contents had w ords and phrases, that couldn’t offend the clergy. F airy tales and legends w ere (designed, constructed, created ) that apparently had a (com m on, w orldly, “vulgar”, secular!) content, but w hich (alluded to, aim ed at) religion and alchem y, that w ere (inseparably bound ) together. O nly the initiated understood, w hat the tales w ere (based on, truly m eant) . In England (arose, appeared) the (tale, legend, m yth) of R obin Hood (tr.note: R obbing da Hood, hehehe!) , that took from the rich and gave to the poor. He already appeared a few decades after the m erciless butchering of the cathars, that is, already before the year 1300, and to this day we are not finished w ith R obin Hood. He is (still going strong, alive and w ell) . In Germ any the “m inne singers” had (appeared, stepped forw ard ) w ith their love poem s. M inne m eans love. O ne of the best know n Germ an “m inne singers”, w as W alther von der V ogelw eide, w hose rom antic and political songs w here based on the south french troubadour songs. W alther von der V ogelweide lived until about 1230. He had w itnessed the (unfortunate, unhappy) circum stances that (oppressed, crushed ) the cathars, and in one of his (cam ouflaged, allegoric, m etaphoric) (“M ood poem s”) he sings: “U ns hât der w inter geschât überal”- “T he w inter has harm ed us everyw here”. P recisely this poem is (influenced by, typical of, bears the m ark of) south F rench troubadour style (Karl Heinz Schirm er: D ie strophic Walthers von der Vogelweide) . Som e of the m inne singers also reached D enm ark, and that w as at a tim e, w here the m urder of king Erik Glipping in 1286 was still fresh in m em ory. A lot of m ystery surrounded this (kingsm urder, royal slaying) in T he barn of F inderup, and it is still not solved. T he m urder took place Saint C ecilias night the 22 N ovem ber 1286, but the identity of the m urderers is not know n for sure. P erhaps it w as a ritual (m urder, killing) , or there could be circum stances involved that we cannot im agine (understand) today. P erhaps the perpetrators w here sw orn enem ies of the catholic church and its (henchm en, assistants) B ecause the reform ation and M artin Luther w ere still 300 years in the m aking, but m any people were already ready for (a) change in the 12 hundreds. It all began w ith the cathars (freem inded, openm inded?, liberal) and liberal attitude to religion and hum ans, but they w ere (out too early, ahead of their tim e) . Any (change, transform ation) in a society as w ell as (in the single hum an being, in each m an) corresponds to the alchem ical principle: to separate the pure from the im pure and to “crucify” the terrestrial m atter, so that the divine soul can be released (freed) . T his is and was the cathars (royal thought, central them e, pivotal point) , because they considered this earth and, not (the least, less) the catholic church to be the (w ork, doings of) Satan, because is deeds confirm ed (it, this view ) . A contem porary F rench (sculptor) has created a sym bol in stone, (sym bolizing, illustrating) the liberation of the soul from the body, in the shape of a b ird . W hen the suns rays (fall) through a bird shaped opening in the stone, the (ray of) light resem bles a (x? another term for vibrating, quivering?) and vibrating bird, that is about to (release itself, liberate itself) from the hard terrestrial bonds (bands) .


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T his rem arkable m onum ent is placed in the center of the old cathar area, P rovince de Languedoc, and the artist has in an inspiring way (m ade, created) a clear connection betw een the old Gnostic religion and alchem y (see planche 3) T he bird corresponds (to, w ith) the liberated soul in both alchem y and the old religions. N e m eets the b ird in the Egyptian B ook of the D ead, that w as in use thousands of years before our era (AD ) . It was the (thought, idea) of the Egyptians, that after death the soul leaves the (earthen rem ains, m ortal coil?) in the shape of a b ird , that rises up. In an illustration from the Egyptian B ook of the D ead (see planche 3) the (deceased, deads) body is seen as black silhouette against the light. In alchem y w e m eet the b ird again and again. It corresponds to the vaporized m atter, that rises up during the process, and flutters up and dow n, as a b ird that bashes its w ings. In our day (and age) w e find it hard to understand the (w ay of) thinking in the past (m ode of thought) w ith its fairy tale like, colourful concepts. T hey appear to us as a naive and (sim plem inded, sim pleton) language. W e are som ehow m ore com fortable w ith (fam iliar w ith) the m odern sterile m athem atical-physical sym bolic language, that does not lead the thoughts tow ards irrelevant (item s, ideas) of (a) religious or m ythological origin. W e m ake sharp dem arcations (d istinctions) betw een (areas, dom ains) . B ut can this be done w ithout violating som ething essential? T he alchem ists say no, and so do the antroposophers (R udolf S teiner d isciples) and rosycrucians. (By, w ith) the latter m e m eet the alm ost unfathom able sym bol, the R osy cross. (F irst of, at first sight) one could associate it w ith a detail in a piece of surrealistic art or perhaps som e m ysterious dream sym bol. B ut, nevertheless, the rosy croos is one of the cornerstones of alchem y. T he perfect rose is rosyred, and this colour is seen in the alchem ical process, after the raw gold, “the body”, has been crucified in the solvent, and then precipitated as an (endlessly, exceedingly) fine pow der. T he solvent, that is, the acid, has its own sym bol in alchem y, the cross. It is the sam e cross in the sam e shape, as the sym bol of the rosycrucians. F ulcanelli relates in his (M ysterious cathedrals) , that the cross is a hieroglyph in alchem y, and it corresponds w ith the latin (term , w ord ) Crucibulum, w hich m eans crucible. T his w ord, (as is know n) can also in our day and age be used in d ifferent (contexts, m eanings) , one (of, am ong these) being to designate a radical transform ation of a m atter or a hum an. B efore the raw gold, the “body” of gold, turns rosyred, it is first w hite or blue violet. T hese colurs are stages on the way to the final m atter, T he P hilosophers Stone, or the Holy Grail, and the cup of C hrist w ith the red w ine. T he white rose is a sym bol for the V irgin M ary. T he blue rose is the (fruitful, pregnant) M ary, and the red rose is the (Jesus the child, the son of God, the R ock of Ages) . W hite, blue and red rose are still seen in the stained glass w indow s of m any old cathedrals, and


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on fresco (es, paintings) , but traditional historians do not have an eye for the occult significance of the three roses and their (relation, connection) (to, w ith) alchem y. T he white, blue and red rose are real phenom ena in the alchem ical process. T he three colours are (the) d ifferent hues of the purified gold, and a proof, that the gold has been totally (purified, cleansed) (of, from ) im purities and is (of) 24 karat. W ith this m atter the process leads to the P hilosophers Stone, which transm utes (vulgar, unnoble) m etals into gold. T he red rose has the colour of C hrists blood. T herefore the priest hands a (cup, beaker) w ith red w ine to the m em bers of the congregation, that w ish for a spiritual transform ation. So the (cup ) of red w ine is sym bolic of the sam e as the red rose in alchem y and the rosy cross. So the rosy cross is a deeply occult, religious and alchem ical sym bol, and (exactly, precisely) this cross, m ore than any other, show s the connection betw een religion and alchemy.


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F airy tales and alchem y

T hese two things are bound together in an alm ost occult and (not understandable, im ponderable, unpenetrable) w ay. B ut there are certain things w hich d istinguish those fairy tales that are about alchem y, or contain fragm ents of it. T here is often a sorcerer, w ho gives him self of w ith sorcery and other m agic arts. U sually he lives in a rem ote abode or on a castle, and in this there is a secret room , than no one m ay enter. T he interior consists of weird instrum ents, flasks and retorts, and there are sculls and skeletons. Som etim es there are also birds, that flutter around in the corners, or snakes and lizards, that creep around in the dark. T he (whole) scenery (atm osphere) is (horrific, horrifying, gloom y) T he (point. M orale, issue) in that kind of fairy tales w ith alchem ical content is salvation from the dem onic and a kind of resurrection to a life w ith a new (cognition, gnosis, consciousness) . A good exam ple of that kind of fairy tale is the one (related, that follows) below . It stem s from a collection of tales from the B rothers Grim m w ith the title: “F ünfzig K inder- und Haus-m ärchen”. T hese two germ ans from the 19th century were experts in draw ing the essence out of “folk” beliefs and m yths, and one cannot avoid to get (draw n in, m oved) by the sim ple, straightforw ard style, that is spiced w ith graphic effects and strong undercurrents of horror. It has often been said, that the B rothers Grim m fairy tales are not for children, and in a w ay they are not. T he tales are rather (aim ed at, directed at) people that seek a key to som ething deeply subconscious or archetypical. (F or, to) som e these tales can be a door to that enigm atic universe, w here alchem y has its origin, and that adds another d im ension. B rothers Grim m have a tale about a (w itch m aster, sorcerer) , that lives (far out, far in, deep) in a forest. It begins such: There once was a sorcerer, who disguised himself as a poor beggar, and went from door to door with a (tornister, a back pack, just call it sack or bag?) on his back. It occasionally happened, that a young girl opened the door, looked the beggar over, and offered him a piece of bread. Then he made her jump into the (tornister) on his back, whereupon he quickly left. Nobody ever found out, what happened to the girl, for she was never seen again. One day the sorcerer came to a house, where three girls lived together with their father. The oldest daughter opened the door and looked at the beggar. Then she offered him a piece of bread, and he immediately made her jump into the (tornister). Then he left with hasty steps and went out into a big forest. In the middle of the forest stood a house, and inside the house there was countless riches of silver and gold. The sorcerer told her she could have everything she wished for, but that there were(was?) certain conditions.


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Some days later he said, that he had to go away for a few days, and that she was to be alone in the house. He gave her the key to all rooms in the house and told her, that she could go (enter?) everywhere, but not into a certain room. He also handed her an egg and told her to take good care of it, and to have it with her (at all times. All the time). If it broke, an (accident, unhappy, unfortunate event, disaster) would befall her. She (took, accepted) the key and the egg, and the sorcerer left. When she was alone, she surveyed the house and all its riches of gold and silver. (at last, Finally) she came to the room, that she was not allowed to enter, and she hesitated for a moment. But (her) curiosity was too great. She stuck the key in the door lock, and immediately it sprang open. She (had a great fear, became mightily scared), because inside the room there was scattered chopped of heads and bodies, and there was blood all over. An axe on a (chopping block) stood among all the dead bodies. She lost the egg, that she was supposed to take care of, and I rolled into a puddle of blood. She quickly picked it up, and tried to rub the blood of the shell, but the stain immediately appeared again. Some time later the sorcerer came back, and he immediately asked for the key and the egg. Shakily (shaking all over), she handed him the items, and he immediately saw, that she had been inside the forbidden room. “You have entered the room against my will”, he said, “therefore you must die!” He dragged her of to the room, and chopped her head of, so that the blood splashed (all) over the floor. The sorcerer now decided to pick up the other sister and departed. He came to the house, and the sister opened the door. When she gave him a piece f bread, she also had to jump into the (sack) on the sorcerers back. Then he went back to the house in the forest, and when he some time later again was to go away for some days, he gave the girl the key and the egg. This girl didn’t fare better than the first, because she was also curious and opened the door to the forbidden room. When the sorcerer came home, she had her head chopped of and her body thrown on the floor next to all the others. Then the sorcerer decided to pick up the third sister. When he came to her house, she opened the door, gave him a piece of bread and had to jump into the (sack). They came back to the house in the forest, and when the sorcerer was to leave again, he gave her the key and the egg. But this girl was clever and cunning and hid the egg. She then surveyed the house and finally came to the forbidden room. She went in and saw her two sisters lie in a puddle of blood. She (bent over, kneeled down) and began to assemble all the bones, until they all fitted together.


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When all parts of the bodies had been correctly assembled, the sisters came back to life, opened their eyes and smiled at her. All were jubilant and hugged each other. Shortly after the sorcerer came home and demanded to have the key and egg. As there were no traces of blood on (n)either, he said: “You have passed the test, and therefore you must be my bride!” But the sorcerer had lost his (power, hold) over the girl. Now she was the one who made all decisions, and he had to do her (bidding, as she demanded). She then said, that he should bring a basket full of gold to her family, and the sorcerer had to (do as told, follow her bidding). Before he left, she hid her two sisters in the basket and covered them (in, with) gold. She then whisperingly told them, to have their brothers and relatives avenge the terrible misdeed, that had been towards them by the sorcerer. He went on the way, but the basket was terribly heavy, and several times he had to set it on the ground. But each time there was a voice that said: “Go on!”. He thought it was his coming bride back in the house, that was yelling after him. Finally he came to the girls home, where he delivered the heavy basket. In the meantime the third girl went about in the house in the forest and arranged everything for the coming wedding between her and the sorcerer. She invited all his friends and then took out a (deaths head, scull). She then placed a (ring, band of flowers) around its brow and placed it in the window. When everything was set, she smeared herself all over with honey, where after she (cut, sliced) up the (feather filled cover) from the bed and rolled herself in the feathers. She now resembled a fabulous bird, and nobody would be able to recognize her. She went out into the forest and on the way she met the wedding guests she had invited. But they didn’t recognize her, because they thought she was a bird. Finally she met the sorcerer , but he didn’t recognize her either. When the sorcerer came back to his house, he saw the (deaths head) with the (flower band) in the window. He nodded and smiled to it (at it?), because he thought it was his bride. Then he entered the house, where all the wedding guests were assembled. In the meantime the brides brothers and relatives had also arrived, and they hastily closed of all doors and windows and set the house (on fire, ablaze). In this manner the sorcerer and all his friends perished in the flames. T his fairy tale is one the finest there is, in relation to alchem y (alchem ical transm ittance, “handed dow n” through the ages) . T he story (the “action” of it9 is coloured by (the) alchem ical (m ood, line of thought) , and during the progress(ion) of the tale all the m ysterious ingredients that belong to alchem ical process are interw oven. If one translates the (tale, story) into alchem ical term s, it starts out w ith a sorcerer, the alchem ist, w ho is looking for suited m inerals and m etals for his (work, labours) . T he two first sisters are two com m on, vulgar m etals, perhaps lead and tin, and these he decides to


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“kill”, that is, d issolve, so that they later can be transm uted and becom e gold. And they do so over tim e, but first after a long and (arduous, d ifficult,) (“not the shortest path”, the longer road) , where his “apprentice”, the third sister, finishes the work for him . T hen there is no m ore need for him self. T he egg that m ay not be broken, corresponds to the alchem ical glass flask (vessel) that contains the im portant ingredients. Here the flask is called an egg, because it needs the sam e constant tem perature as hens egg. It m ust have “nesting heat”, and therefore the girl m ay not let go of it, but has to “carry it w ith her”. It is related in the tale, that the egg, that the two first sisters dropped on the floor, was stained w ith blood in the ghastly cham ber, and the stain couldn’t be rem oved w e are told. T his is a very (concrete, factual) piece of alchem ical inform ation, because the “blood” is the gold elixir, that colours (tinges) all m atter, that it touches. Gold can in this state enter (penetrate into) anything, and this is m entioned in alm ost all w ritings about alchem y. T his detail is found in m any fairy tales and has been the cause of m uch superstition, because a stain that cannot be rem oved, has to be (pure sorcery, m agic) . T his detail also gives reason to assum e, that alchem y in the dawn of ages, was science that was reserved the few , and was totally incom prehensible to m ost (people) . Instead the fairy tales (arose, came to b e) T he tale of the sorcerer also contains the legendary deaths head, w hich in alchem y is called “caput m ortuum ”. In place of it one often encounters a whole skeleton. Both are a sym bol of the dead m atter that has lost its spirit and soul. T hese rise up from the bottom of the flask influenced by the heat, and the vapours are pictured as a bird w ith white w ings. T hat’s why the third sister rolls herself in the feathers from the cover. S he becom es a b ird and d isappears into the forest. T he (decisive, om inous, heavily destined ) w edding, that she invited to, is an allusion to the “Great W edding” the final phase in alchem y. Here the groom is killed, the raw gold, so as to later (rise again, be resurrected ) w ith a purified body in the from of the purest gold. It is this that becom es the P hilosophers S tone and the elixir of life. A sim ilar tale, but m uch longer, w as told by the Germ an m onk, C hristian R osenkreuz. It w as issued for the first tim e in 1616 w ith the title: Chymische Hochzeit ( English, The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz (I think?) ) . In this tale we also encounter the (ghastly, horrifying, gory, grim ) killings, and It is about a real chem ical process. T he w ord “chym isch” is an old Germ an spelling and m eans chem ical. T he word was spelled with a “y” just as in the F rench w ord for chem istry, “chym ie”, and the latin “alchym ie”. In the gospels it is often m entioned, that it is necessary to die in order to be reborn. Som e people take this very literally and are counting on a rebirth, a “reincarnation” on this w orld. O thers believe it is a psychic rebirth in the present body. T here m ight be other interpretations, but the truth m ight be, that we are not able to com prehend them w ith our terrestrial logic. T he R ussian philosopher and scientist O uspensky claim s, that m atter can only be called dead, when its atom s have ceased to vibrate. Such m atter is not to be found on this planet, he says, and no terrestrial science can achieve this artificially (In Search of the Miraculous p.318)


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But if nothing on this planet can die com pletely, then what is it, that is (going to take place, is to be changed )? T he bible says, that the disciples of Jesus slept, when he prayed in the Garden of Getsem ane for the last tim e. Also the old Sum erian creation m yths tell us, that the hum ans “sleep”, and that they even had been blinded by the gods. S tones and m inerals also sleep, and only an external stim ulus can aw aken them . It is this that alchem y is about. T he sleeping m atters on earth and the sleeping beings are to be aw akened and becom e as they w ere before “T he F all”, that is, purified and brought back to their original form and state. N othing can d ie, only assum e another form . C ountless fairy tales revolve around this them e, and in the follow ing w e have a fine exam ple of such an aw akening from a sleeping state. T he old tale about Sleeping Beauty from the brothers Grim m collection is a wonderful alchem ical fairy tale, and on top of that, (a truly yum m y yum thing, a tender m orsel( for a m odern psycho analyst. T he tale is about a king and a queen, they represent gold and silver in alchem y, the king and queen of m etals. According to m ost alchem ical texts these two m etals are the only ones needed, to m ake either the red or the w hite elixir, that can transm ute other m etals into either gold or silver, and w hich also can give perfect health and a long life. T he tale of Sleeping Beauty begins w ith a king and queen, that want to have a child, but cannot. O ne day, w hile the queen is bathing-an alchem ical m etaphor for purification of a m etal- a frog appears. T he frog is a sign of change in alchem y. It speaks to the queen and says: “your w ish shall be fulfilled. B efore a year is over, you w ill bring a daughter into this w orld” T he alchem ical process is set in m otion, and before the year is over, the child is born. T hereupon the king and queen invite tw elve guests to celebrate the occasion. T hey only have tw elve gold plates, so for that reason they cannot invite m ore guests, the story goes. D uring the festivities a person steps into the gathering. It is a (sorceress, w itch) , and she hasn’t been invited, so she is envious. She yells: “T he royal daughter shall in her 15th year (sting herself, get stung) on a (ten, pointy spinning thingy) and drop dead.” T he w itch d isappears and all are horrified. B ut now the 12th guest steps forw ard . S he is a (seeress, fortuneteller) , and she says: “It shall not be death for the royal daughter, but a deep sleep, that shall last a hundred years.” Here we have an alchem ical allusion to, that m inerals and m etals are in a deathlike state, when they are dissolved. B ut they are not really dead, because they can be awakened and enter another (a d ifferent) state. B ut the king becom es very frightened because of the sorceresses (prophecy, spell ) and sends ou the m essage that all (tens) in the w hole country are to be burnt, and so they are.


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T he day the princess turns fifteen, she is alone on the castle. She goes around in the m any halls and by coincidence she com es to a steep (spiral stairway) , that leads up to an old tower. S he ascends the stairw ay and com es to a door, w herein there is a large rusty key. T he princess turns the key, the door (jum ps, springs) open, and she looks into a sm all (tower room ) . In there sits an old lady (actually a “Hag”, but not w ith any negative connotations, perhaps just w om an?) by a (spinning w heel) and spins. T his detail, the tow er room , the old lady, and the spinning w heel, are allegoric pointers to som ething im portant in the hum an consciousness and psyche. T he tow er room , the (topm ost, highest positioned) room in the castle, is sym bolic of the princesses physical brain and her consciousness that is present there. T he spinning w heel are the thoughts that spin and spin their endless (threads, yarns?) continually through life. W e are told that the key is rusty. T his tells us that the princess hasn’t used the key yet, to gain an understanding of her own m ind. T he old wom an is herself, or, m ore precise, her ow n eternal soul, that is as old as (creation, the w orld ) . T he princess now greats the old w om an and asks w hat she is doing. “I am spinning”, answ ers the old (w om an) . “W hat is it for a thing that jum ps around so (easily, frolicking, in a happy m ood)?” asks the princess and touches the (ten) . Hardly has she touched it, before the (spell, prophecy) is fulfilled. She stings herself on the (ten) , and im m ediately falls into a deep sleep. P icture: “What is it for a thing that jumps around so (easily, frolicking, in a happy mood)?” N ow , strangely enough, the princesses sleep spreads (to, over) the whole castle. T he king and queen that have returned, fall asleep together w ith all the servants. Y es, even the horses in the stables fall asleep, then the hounds in the yard, the doves on the roof and the flies on the wall. Even the fire in the fireplace settles down. T he w ind (lies down) and not a leaf is m oving on the trees. T his is an interlude in the alchem ical process, where the m inerals are (hibernating) . T hey have been dissolved and are later to form new com pounds. T his takes tim e, and therefore the sleep lasts a hundred years. T hen the tale proceeds w ith a (tjørnehæk, thorny hedge) grow ing up around the castle. It gets higher year by year, and finally envelopes the castle, so it cannot be seen. T his detail shows, that the alchem ical w ork is hidden from (the surrounding w orld, observation) . T he process takes place in a kind of (borg, burg, castle) , w hich in alchem y is called an “athanor”. N obody m ay enter while the work proceeds. It is now rum oured all over the land, that there is a beautiful princess behind the (thorny hedge) . T herefore m any (guys who want to propose m arriage) try to penetrate through the hedge, but it is im possible. Everybody gets stuck on the thorns, and d ie a (jam m erlig, pitiful, aw kw ard, un noble) death. T his trait show s that m any have tried to solve the riddle of alchem y, but had to give up. A hundred years later a prince com es to the land. He hears an ld m an ell about a throny hedge around a castle, in which there is a beautiful princess by the nam e of S leeping


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Beauty. T he old m an also tells that, that m any (guys who want to propose m arriage) have trie to penetrate the hedge, but that all died in the attem pt. T he prince says that he fears nothing and that he w ants to see the beautiful princess. T his part of the tale show s, that one cannot shorten or interrupt the alchem ical process, before the tim e is ripe. T im e stands over all things, and the process requires its own m aturation tim e. But now the hundred years, that the (prophesy, spell) had predicted have passed. Just then, the young prince arrives, so tim e gives its perm ission for that he castle m ay be opened. W hen the prince com es to the thorny hedge around the castle, it stands in full bloom w ith beautiful flow ers. T he hedge w illingly opens up for the prince, and lets him slip through. T he prince enters the castle and sees, that everything is sleeping right from the m king and queen to the fire in the fireplace. Everyw here there is a (deep) silence. F inally he com es to the tower room , where he sees the sleeping princess. She is so beautiful, that he cannot help giving her a kiss. In that instant Sleeping Beauty awakes, opens her eyes and sm iles at him . It is worth noting, that the old wom an is gone. She has becom e the awakened and conscious princess. T hen the prince and princess go together back to the king and queen, w ho have aw oken in the m ean tim e and together w ith them , the horses in the stables, the dogs in the yard, and the doves on the roof. T he fairy tale ends in traditional style, w ith the prince and princess getting m arried in a (m agnificent, “prancy”) w edding, and they live happily ever after to the end of their days. T his story is both an archetypical fairy tale and a description of an alchem ical process. T he point in alchem y is, that not even silver and gold are com pletely (noble, precious) m etals, before they have been through a long and radical process. F irst then they are so pure, that they are able to transm ute the (sim ple, com m on, vulgar) m etals. P icture: Snow Whites first meeting with the evil queen- symbol(ic) of the deadly poison in alchemy Alchem y spins its golden thread through m any fairy tales. T his also happens in the tale of Snow W hite, w ho apparently lies dead in a glass coffin, after she has been poisoned by the evil srep m other. T he poison in alchem y is the universal solvent, also called “M ercury”, whose staff is (slung around) by a snake, from whose (gap, m outh, fangs) the poison drips. W hat is essential in these tales are the persons, or “m atters”, that (are part of, participate,) in the story. T hey are allegorical figures while they at the sam e tim e serve as pure entertainm ent. P icture: In the fairy tale about Snow White there are seven dwarfs, who each day work(toil?) deep in the mountains. These small beings are the natural forces, that are at


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play inside the mountains, and who create minerals, crystals, precious stones and noble metals. Therefore they belong in a tale, where the theme is transformation, death and resurrection. In another tale, the one about C inderella, w e again m eet the ingredients, that m akes the story a hidden tale of alchem ical processes. At the sam e tim e, the storyline is in itself so entertaining, that the tale is one of the m ost popular ever. T he poor girl in the tale is nam ed (called) C inderella. Her nam e directly refers to a necesarry ingredient in alchem y, potash. (C inderella and potash are synonym ous, they m ean the sam e. In D anish C inderella=Askepot=potash) P otash is known by m ost, as the baking powder, that is used for m aking brow n cakes at C hristm as tim e. In F rance it is used to bake a certain type of cake around “T he three Holy M en” (‘s day?) January the 6th . T raditions around this cake have their roots in alchem y. F ulcanelli m entions it in (M ysteries of the C athedrals?) P icture: The alchemical glass vessel is equivalent to the glass coffin in the fairy tale of Snow White and the seven dwarfs. The bodies are in a deathlike state, but they are not really dead, because they are brought to life again. From: Philosophia Reformata, J. D. Mylius, 1622 C hem ically speaking potash is identical w ith potassium carbonate. Earlier one got this m atter from the ashes, that w ere scraped out of the fireplace, w hen the fire had gone out. In that state it is a grey and (not highly regarded, alm ost despised ) w aste m atter, that w as thrown directly on the com post heap. B ut the alchem ists utter as w ith one m outh: people should only know w hat it is they d iscard. T hey step on it and count (consider) it for nought. T he nam e C inderella com es from the word cinders, which m eans com busted m atter from the fireplace. In F rench she is nam ed Cendrillon , again form ed from the word for ashes: cendre. T he point (essence) in the tale about C inderella is, that this girl is the only one, that fits the golden slippers, that are w orthy of a future queen. T his m ight at first seem quite fanciful (im aginary) and illogical, but things fall into place, w hen one know s, that alchem ists used potash to precipitate gold in a fine and alm ost ethereal form . Here the golden slippers enter the picture. P otash is (basisk, opposite of acid, dam m it whats that in English?) in aqueos solution. W hen it is added to a goldsalt in an acid ic solution, the gold w ill precipitate as a very fine dust, that settles on the bottom of the bowl, in which the solution is. T his dust is com pletely pure 24 karat gold. J. R . Glauber called it “atom ized gold”, and one needed to know how to prepare it, if one w anted to produce the P hilosophers S tone. B ecause this product consisted of extrem ely fine gold particles, so tiny, they could penetrate into all existing m atter. T he m ethod of using potash to precipitate gold is, as far as l know , com pletely unknown in our days, and I have not been able to find it m entioned in any of the traditional chemistry books. B ut the m ethod w orks, and the gold one gets, is so fine, that it seeps into the even the sm allest crack in a glass or ceram ic bowl. T he bowls surface takes on various colour


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hues, from red violet to rosy red to purpur. It w as this fine gold, that was used to produce the beautiful red and purpur coloured church w indow s in the m edieval age. T here are countless fairy tales, where alchem y plays a part in an occult and alm ost (in penetrable, non transparent) way. B ut if one has worked practically with alchem y, one discovers, b it by b it, w hich (elem ents, pieces) that have been used to (construct, build up) a fairy tales (storyline, coruse of events) and point (m orale, essence) . T his m akes them in a way even m ore interesting, as it leads the thoughts back in tim e, because alchem y m ust be older than the fairy tales, that are (built, form ed) (around, upon) them .


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T he P hilosophers S tone

Alchem y is at once a science, a craft, and a m agic art. M uch also indicates that it could be a forerunner of religion, or at least has developed parallel to the religions. Because the core of alchem y is the b irth of a “royal son”, w hose father is the d ivine sun, and w hose m others is the virginal m oon, w ho affects the seas and w aters, w herein all life began. T he R oyal Sun is the P hilosophers Stone, and it is known in m any languages. In English it is called “T he P hilosophers Stone”, In F rench “N otre P ierre” or “P ierre P hilosophale”, in German “U nser S tein” or “D er S tein der W eisen”. In D anish “D e V ises S ten”, etc… T his strange “stone”- w hich in fact is a pow der- is m entioned in countless books, and it is said about it, that it can transm ute com m on (vulgar) m etals into gold. At the sam e tim e it can give (m an, us, hum ans) perfect health and not the least a higher consciousness and m ore intelligence. T hat is quite a b it indeed, but w hat is it actually for a kind of m atter? In our days we find it hard to accept old esoteric explanations, we dem and a (sober, factual) and logical explanation of things, and w hat they are. According to the m any descriptions that have been given of the P hilosophers S tone, chem ically speaking it m ust be a com plex, as yet unknow n gold com pound, w here the gold itself exists in a very com pact com bination w ith elem ents, that can easily be absorbed by the body, for exam ple sodium , potassium , nitrogen and chlorine com pounds, plus hydrogen and oxygen. T he P hilosophers Stone can appear as either a powder or a liquid. As a powder it is a very heavy, orange red and crystalline m atter, w hose single grains appear needle like and glassy. T he pow der sm ells like sea salt, and som e also say, it has an iodine like sm ell. It can be d issolved in absolute alcohol, that is, ethanol. B ut the alchem ists say, it should be d issolved in w ine spirits, that is a better product than technically m anufactured alcohol. In solution the P hilosophers Stone is a clear red liquid. It should only be taken drop w ise in w ine spirits as an elixir. In larger am ounts the m atter can be deadly. B ecause its radioactive and m ight cause, that one looses hair and nails, and even the teeth m ight fall out. B ut they grow out again, and it is said , that one is in this w ay totally rejuvenated. Nobody has, as far as I know , had this strange stone analysed in our tim e. Y et it is now and then described so thoroughly, that one would think, there existed som e knowledge about its chem ical com position. B ut those w ho know som ething, hide their know ledge and (conceal, put up a sm okescreen) around the way this m atter is produced. T hey justify this, by claim ing hum anity is not m ature enough (yet) to deal w ith such a m atter, and they m ight be indeed be right. Apart from this, m ost countries (F D A, health authorities) would probably send out (w arnings, banns, propaganda) against the (preposterous, “how dare they”) producers of radioactive (“health supplem ents”) . W ealthy m edical corporations w ould do everything in their power to have an item like this rem oved, and M D ’s would unite in the effort to have the alchem ist (stam ped, branded, labeled ) as a quack.


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So there are enough reasons for not being outspoken about alchem y, if one is engaged w ith it. It could end up w ith really b ig trouble. In the preface to his two volum e work, Les Demeures Philosophales, the M aster F ulcanelli w rites that only an “adept”, that is, an initiated alchem ist, know s how far he can go, and w hat m ight threaten his existence. In spite of this, m any have (begun w ith, gotten going w ith alchem y. M aybe: “have em barked on the alchem ical path”?) P artly because they find it fascinating, partly to find out if there is som ething to it (the tales) . Is there really a m atter, that can transm ute, (say, f. x.) lead or tin into gold? And if there does, how can one find out about it? W here does one begin, and w hich books can one (take advice from , confide in)? T here have been w ritten thousands of large and sm all books about alchem y. Both contem porary and old ones from the m edieval age. Before that there were Arabic, Egyptian and Greek m anuscripts. T hey were translated into Latin, and then into other languages, especially F rench. T he oldest one I have m yself, was translated from Latin around year 1150 under the title Turba Philosophorum , later published in F rench under the title La Tourbe des Philosophes (Jobert, P aris) In this book there is a large num ber of interesting pieces of inform ation and (“cue words”?) about alchem ical processes. I w ill m ention som e of them , because they form an excellent foundation to build upon. T he book is built up as a num ber of d ialogues betw een philosophers and alchem ists, and the various participants take turns at giving their ow n explanations of how the P hilosophers S tone can be m ade. T he first to speak is the M aster La T ourbe. He refers to the Greek (w isem an, philosopher) P ythagoras. He had said, that one should find a red m atter, that turns w hite w hen heated, and then turns red again. T his m atter was im portant to get hold of, because it was used to m ake the tincture, that gave eternal health. T he red m atter, that P ythagoras m entioned, is a gold salt. Because if one dissolves com pletely pure gold in royal water, one gets a yellow liquid, that by a very gentle and gradually (rising, increasing) heat changes colour and finally ends as a red pow der. O n (planche 4) is seen the yellow liquid , w herein the pure gold is d issolved. T he red pow der, that is produced, can by repeated d issolutions and precipitations (tr. solve et coagula) becom e com pletely white. It w ill turn red again, when heated ve ry gently. T he next speaker in the book d iscloses som ething about the liquid , that the original m etal is to be d issolved in. He calls the liquid “the perm anent sea w ater”. So it has to be a (chlorinated, contains chlorine) liquid, nam ely the one, that in earlier tim es w as called “spirit of salt”. T his corresponds to (HC L, hydrochloric acid ) in our days, and the alchem ists produced it from sea salt and clay. W hen hydrochloric acid and nitric acid are m ixed in the (relation?) three to one, chlorine is released, and if there is gold present, gold chloride w ill form . T his m atter varies in colour from yellow over orange to red .


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T he sam e speaker tells, that one m ust carefully reduce the liquid (by, w ith) a gentle heat, until one has a syrupy, (“thick flow ing”, very viscous?) m ass, that finally becom es a red powder. He calls the powder for “sunflowers”- Fleurs de soleil . W ith this nam e it is revealed that it is about gold. F or the sun is synonym ous w ith the m etal gold in alchem y. It is fam iliar to astrologers, that the sun rules the sign of Leo and has to do w ith the m etal gold. Som ething sim ilar w as the case in old Egypt, w here the cat w as a sym bol of the royal and elevated. A king w as often m entioned as the “cat”, and he w as equipped w ith a death m ask of gold. C ats were also em balm ed, and considered holy anim als. No one was allow ed to kill them . T he difficulty in reading the old alchem ical texts, lies in breaking the code, that (covers over) the different m atters. T he code can be words, pictures or allegories, but w ith a little know ledge of chem istry it is possible to break the codes, so the texts can be translated. F or exam ple the m edieval alchem ists called their m etallic raw m aterial for “the body to be purified”, or “the king to be bathed”. W hen this king then rises from his bath, his body is all red, w hich again reveals, that w e are dealing w ith gold, that is d issolved in “royal w ater”. O ne m eets, over and over again, com parisons or w ordplays, that are alm ost im possible to (see through, penetrate) . A good exam ple is the m ysterious “green lion”, that figures in all alchem ical literature. O n the illustration ( picture of a ferocious lion, devouring the sun, the m oon is to be seen in the waters beneath) , we see a lion in a strange situation: it is devouring the sun. In such m anner the alchem ist J. D . M ylius perceived the green lion. It is to be seen in his work Philosophia Reformata from 1622. T he stars on its fur tell us that it represents gold. T he sam e stars are often seen around the head of M ars, the warrior god, and they suggest, that even iron can be elevated to a noble m etal. O n another picture one sees the Lion in the process of swallow ing a red liquid, that com es from the sun. T he Lions fur is green on the original picture, for it is said that it signifies a stadium in the alchem ical process, w here the w ork begins, and here the gold is still im m ature. Later the lion turns red, but first it m ust eat (drink) the suns blood, that is, com pletely pure gold (see planche 5) B ut where does the strange designation com e from , and how did it (“com e about”, arise, stem from )? I think the explanation lies in the F rench term for the “Green Lion”, which is “le Lion vert”. O ne doesn’t find a logical explanation in (neither) the English expression “the green lion” or in the Germ an “der grüne Löw e”. O ld Latin alchem ical scripts w here usually translated into F rench first (initially) , because a rom an language was m ore closely related to Latin than the other European languages (tr. N ote 1) . T he designation “le Lion vert” contains a clever(subtle, tricky) wordplay, because the ad jective “vert”, green, is pronounced in the sam e m anner as the substantive “verre”, w hich m eans glass. It com es from the Latin expression “oleum vitri”, which m eans oil in glass. P ronounced in F rench “oleum ” w ould sound som ew hat like “Lion”. T hen the Latin w ord “vitri” (genitiv of


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vitrum, glass) , becam e the F rench w ord for glass, nam ely “verre”. T hereby a w ordplay (arose) , because “verre” sounds like “vert”. So the picture of the green lion could have (arosen, originated as a result of a deliberate m anipulation w ith words, to hide what the process was about. At the sam e tim e it fulfilled the m edieval urge for graphic instead of scriptural expression. T he Latin designation “oleum vitri” represented the oily liquid, that appeared, after the green Lion, the im m ature gold, had been dissolved and reduced to “vitriol”. W hen that had taken place, the Green Lion could becom e a red pow der, w hich w as called the “R ed Lion” (see planche 6 and 7 ) Picture: Lion “diving” headlong into a flask, at the bottom of the flask is a lunar crescent. From J. D. Mylius, Philosophia Reformata, 1622. T he above picture show s the lion on its w ay dow n into a flask to be d issolved, and it is actually an incredible hum our, that lies behind such an idea (picture) . T he alchem ists probably (w ere royally entertained, had a royal laugh) . T he m edieval age w as full of fables and fairy tales. T hey w ere behind that tim es architecture as a (carrying- founding-basic idea,) , and they m ade up the exterior and interior decoration of village churches and cathedrals. T hey appeared in delicate fresco paintings and (crude, rough) (everyday, com m on, popular) art. T hese areas w ere a true (cornucopia, the horn of plenty, of overflow ing) of colourful m onsters and ghosts, kings and queens, devils and angels. W e have becom e poorer in our day(s) , w ere they are gone. T he Green Lion is a central figure in alchem y. It isn’t “m ature” yet and can only becom e perfect, if it is nourished by a m atter, w ith w hich it is related. T he related m atter is, as the picture show s, the “blood” that com es from the sun, that is, pure gold. T he Am erican w riter Israel R egardie w rites in the book The Philosophers Stone: “F eed them w ith the flesh of their ow n species” (p. 111) . T his m eans that gold m ust be fed gold. and silver m ust have silver. B ecause the P hilosophers S tone could also be m ade of silver, and in that case all (com m on, vulgar) m etals w ere transm uted into silver. F rom the early m edieval age w e have the previously m entioned book La Tourbe des Philosophes. Here one reads about the sam e relations betw een m atters, but w ith another choice of w ords. It says that the groom s sister, w ho w as beautiful and w hite, w as (show n to him , displayed to him , led to him ) , where after the “Great W edding” took place, and they gave b irth to a son, the P hilosophers S tone. T he (im age, idea of) of a royal couple, that are related w ith each other, leads the thoughts to the ancient Egyptian religion, where the GodKing couple, Isis and O siris also were sister and brother. In the ancient religion lies the origin(s) of alchem y, which is also what the great alchem ists through the ages have claim ed. T herefore it is m entioned, over and over, that the w ise Herm es T rism egistos, T he God T hoth, w as the creator of alchem y. According to him all alchem ical m atters m ust be brought back to the natural state, in which they originally w ere. T his m eans that they at the sam e tim e are to be as untainted beings w ithout gender. In the alchem ical im age w orld such a being is show n as a herm aphrodite containing both genders.


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O n the follow ing three pictures are show n three d ifferent im ages of this herm aphrodite being. T hey com e from J. D . M ylius’ Philosophia Reformata, O n the first, this m an w om an stands on a Lunar crescent, and that ind icates, that the m oon has a power, that is necesarry for this unification. T he sam e inform ation we got from the Mutus Liber im ages. O n the second, the herm aphroditic being is seen lying on a coffin. T here are clouds above them , and it is raining. T his water from heaven is a part of the solvent, the natural spirit, that is to assist, that the tw o in union can give b irth to new life. O n the third im age, the unisexual being has tw o faces. O ne show s the sun, and the other the moon. O ver them flies a black b ird , that is ready to tear them apart. T he b ird is a sym bol of the vapours from the acid , in w hich they both are to give up their life. T he gordian knot in alchem y is the ”universal solvent” for all m etals. In m ost texts it is called ”M ercur”. It is to be found everyw here in nature, the alchem ists say, and it costs nothing. T he peasant in the country side has m ore of it than the city dwellers, but they value it not. So one reads in the old R osy cross scripture Wahrer alter Naturweg. T he author states Herm es T rism egistos as the true originator of the w ork. He him self rem ains anonym ous. In this book the process starts w ith the preparation of the solvent. T he alchem ist calls it for ”der astralische Geist, ohne w elche keine V erw andlung der Körper erfolgen kann”- the astral Spirit, w ithout w hich no T ransform ation of B odies is possible. In other parts of the text we m eet the designation ”M ercur der W eisen”- M ercury of the W ise. T he text relates that it has a penetrating power, and that it is a vapour, that can rise up, condense and descend as rain. M ercury is som etim es depicted as a bird, what we have just seen on the picture of the sexless being, that is laying on a coffin. By the way, m any fairy tales happen to use the (m otif, m otive) w ith the coffin. F or exam ple in the tale of Snow W hite and the seven dwarfs. T he seven sm all m en are a kind of nature spirits, that fit w ell into the alchem ical w orld. In Wahrer alter Naturweg is an illustration that shows a bird. Here the process has com e to a point (stage) , w here the gold is d issolved and has becom e a skeleton. T he b ird , that is, the vapours, is on its way toward the ground, or the bottom of the flask. If the skeleton is to com e alive again, the b ird is to be united w ith it, but this w ill only happen, w hen the bird has flown up and down countless tim es. P icture: b ird d iving headlong into a circle, that contains a skeleton that is laying on the ground. C aption: The bird is the white fumes, that are to be united with salt on the bottom of the flask. In this way the skeleton is “resurrected”, and finally is formed a deep red powder, which is the Philosophers Stone.


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T he alchem ist T heophilus P hilaletha from the 17 th century calls the vapourlike astral spirit Mercurius Vitae- M ercury of Life. F ulcanelli C alls it “Lune herm etique”, the herm etic m oon in Les Demeures Philosophales. It is apparent, that there is a long list of designations for the solvent, that can be grouped under the term M ercury. He is the m essenger of the gods, but he is also a sorcerer, a m agician, a nature spirit. He is the restless w anderer M erlin. C . G. Jung describes him in his (b iography, or autobiography) Erinnerungen, T räum e, Gedanken. He says that the secret of M erlin (lays) in the alchem ical M ercurius! T he legend about him originated in the 12th century, but (com m on, vulgar) people d idn’t understand w hat it w as about. T hey feared him as the devil. In reality he is a nature spirit, Jung w rites. He is M ercury or Herm es, and is he the (sought after, yearned for) “Spiritus M ercurialis” of the alchem ists. In Europes great forests he was known as “Grünhütl”, who w ith his green hat hunted w ith wolves in the night. He was alw ays alone, and often one heard his scream for (forløsning, erlösung, release, redem ption?) - “Le cri de M erlin” - as Jung calls it. It is this nature spirit, that form s the base of alchem y. It is a passive and androgynous elem ent when alone, but it can appear as a being of both genders, and it w illingly unites w ith all m atters. O nly thereby can a living nature arise. T his spirit is the quick, all present M ercury w ith his C aduceus. Som etim es one sees the goddess of hunt Artem is w ith her bow and arrow instead of M ercury. S he is also a m essenger of the gods. O n the illustration from Altuses Mutus Liber Artem is is seen on the low er left. T he goddess of hunt w ith the bow hands a flask w ith a red liquid to a m an, that together w ith his w ife, presum ably, are occupied w ith d istilling som ething in large flasks and vessels. O ne sees that Artem is has a halo around her head. It shows that she is no ordinary m ortal, but a m essenger of the gods like M ercury or Herm es. F ulcanelli calls her “m other of all living”- m ere des vivants”. P icture (M utus Liber) : Artemis, below, was the untainted goddess, that roamed freely about in nature with bow and arrow. Any m atter can be d ivided into three parts the alchem ists say. T hat is “sulphur”, “M ercury” and “Salt”. S ulphur is the soul, and in gold it is red as blood. It is inside the gold pow der one gets, when gold has been dissolved and precipitated as com pletely pure gold dust. O ne doesn’t see the soul in this phase, because here the gold is a brow n pow der. In English literature the soul is called “Sulpher”. In F rench scriptures we m eet the term “L’âm e” (soul) or “soufre” (sulphur) . In Germ an w e have the term “T inktur” or “Öl” (oil) .


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T here is a general agreem ent in various languages as to what soul is. It is m uch m ore difficult to find agreem ent on what M ercury is. It is described in m any ways, even though all agree, that it is a kind of spirit. In English texts it is called “the spirit” and in F rench “L’esprit”. In Germ an scripts it is called “M ercurius sophicus” or “Essig der W eisen”- vinegar of the w ise. In Wahrer alter Naturweg M ercury is described in a way, that gives an idea about what we actually are dealing w ith. Here one reads that M ercury is solvable in w ater, and that it etches all bodies w ith its acid- “weil unser M ercur, wenn er in W asser solvirt worden, alle Körper m it seiner äzenden Säurn zerstöhret” It is this penetrating, toxi acid, that explains the origin of the two snakes that w ind about the Herm es staff. T his acid is able to both kill and bring alive- “zu tödten und lebendig zu machen”- as is w ritten in Wahrer alter Naturweg. S o, the core of alchem y is M ercury, the solvent. O n this depends the course of the w hole process, for if one doesn’t use the right solvent and in the right way, nothing w ill (succeed, go right) . Apart from the way of using the solvent, there is nothing strange about it. All alchem ists and chem ists know it, and know it consists of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid , “spirit of salt” and “azoth”, as it w as called earlier. T he term azoth is still used in connection w ith the so called azo-com pounds, that are nitrous com ponents in technically produced chem icals. T he Arabic alchem ists had at an early stage in history, found out how to the m ixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid was to be m ade. O ne got the ingredients from the dung of cam els and goats. T his was full of am m onia and sodium chloride, com m on salt. W hen the dung w as dried and then ignited, it gave of am m onium chloride, and it collected on the lid of the oven in b ig cakes. T his m atter was so highly esteem ed, that there was special god- Am m on- for it. He sym bolized the value of this am m onium chloride, or Sal Ammoniacum , as it w as called in form er days. B yt the w ay, it w as this m atter, that w e in the chapter about sliver used to bring forth the bright red soul of silver. W hen am m onium chloride w as d istilled together w ith potassium nitrate- salpeter, sal petri, or sal nitre- as it w as called, on got a strong solvent for gold and silver. N ow if one lets the vapours from this solvent act on pure gold over a long tim e, the gold w ill little by little absorb som ething from the solvent, w hich also contains som e w ater. T he gold gradually grows heavier. It changes colour and becom es white as a skeleton, then yellow , and finally orange red as poppy flow ers. Som e alchem ists the com pare the colour of gold w ith the red -yellow ring in the narcissus(flow er) . W hat happens chem ically speaking, when the gold becom es heavier, is not known. But it is possible, that the weight increase com es from the water vapours in the solvent, perhaps hydrogen. B ecause som ething happens to water, that boils for prolonged periods. F irstly it tastes different, and it probably also has a different chem ical com position. At least this is what he


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now deceased D anish researcher, D r. P hil. Em il R asm ussen, claim s. He says that w ater that has boiled for a long tim e contains m uch m ore “heavy water” than norm al water. Em il R asm ussen has never been accepted by established chem ists or physicists. T hey said his theories w ere “unscientifically” based. In 1933 cam e a book by Em il R asm ussen. Its title was My Atomic Teaching, an exhaustive w ork on 227 pages. T he publisher at that tim e probably had no idea about, that a D r. P hil like Em il R asm ussen later w ould be labelled as an unbelievable fantast by other academ ics. After My Atomic Teaching cam e out, it was discreetly kept aw ay from all (centers of higher learning) in the country. B ecause Em il R asm ussen claim s that the physicists have never succeeded in understanding nuclear processes. T hey have only found a theory that explain the processes they m ention. B ut the theory is false, he m aintains. About w ater Em il R asm ussen says, am ong other things, that it is a false doctrine, that w ater can be (broken) into oxygen and hydrogen. T here is w ater, that neither contains oxygen nor hydrogen, but in their place, one or other elem ent, that is a gas. P ure rainw ater is a very com posite m ixture, m ade of 15 different w ater m olecules, com posed of d ifferent gasses, that are neither oxygen nor hydrogen. If one boils this water for m any hours or days- and this is w hat happens in alchem y- one ends up w ith having a large portion of heavy w ater. W ater that has boiled for a long tim e, contains som e gasses, that chem ists and physicists don’t know exist, says Em il R asm ussen. So this m eans, that the chem ical form ula for water is not H2O , but a com posite of various unknow n gasses. Em il R asm ussen proves his theory on the fact, that all m atters crystallize in a very definite form , dependent on its chem ical com position. T his is as known chem ically correct. O ne can use recrystallization to separate different m ixtures, precisely because different m atters crystallize d ifferently. Snow crystals, that consist of w ater, crystallize in m any d ifferent (shapes, patterns) , and there are just as m any different (form s of) crystals as there are elem ents in the crystals. If water only was oxygen and hydrogen, all snow flakes would look alike, claim s Em il R asm ussen. He says (p. 57 ) : “N ature itself has taken it upon her to teach the doubters through a (clearly) (visible, graphic, self evident) (m ode of) teaching , that any child can understand, and w hich by the w ay is non refutable.” B elow is show n an exam ple of 8 of the 15 different snow flakes one can encounter. T he one in the lower left corner, is the snow flake that only contains oxygen and hydrogen, and w hich corresponds to the chem ical form ula w e have learned in school. T he other snow flakes are com posed of com pletely d ifferent gasses. C hem ical textbooks inform us that “ordinary water” contains a m inute am ount of deuterium , which is a hydrogen isotope. D euterium is tw ice as heavy as hydrogen and in ordinary water there is a sm all am ount of this heavy water- D 2O , about 1 part in 5000.


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T hat m eans, if one has about 18 gram s of w ater (1 gram m ol) , there is only 3,6 m illigram s of heavy w ater in it. B ut of this heavy w ater there becom es m ore by boiling, says Em il R asm ussen. After several hours of boiling there is neither oxygen nor hydrogen left, but instead som e gasses, that correspond to those w e find in stellar (“fogs”, nebulas, “dust”) in outer space, for exam ple in the (“fog”, “D ust”, nebula) of the stellar constellation the Sw an. It could be som ething sim ilar, that happens in alchem y, because the (w ater containing) solvent is b rought to cook, evaporate and condense again and again for countless hours. T he receiver of the heavy w ater w ith the unknow n gasses are the very fine gold particles, that thereby undergo a transform ation. Alchem ists call this process “m agnetic”, and here lies a proof for, that the gold attracts som ething from the surrounding vapour, but it happens at a slow pace. In the alchem ical process one m ust give N ature tim e to apply her own laws. N othing m ust be forced, because N ature w orks slow ly. It does its work in one way at night tim e, and in another way at daytim e. D uring the night its sends its building blocks dow n over the earth from the m oon and starlight. In the day tim e it builds its houses from the m aterials, that the dew and celestial light have arranged for it during the night. P artly on grass and plants, partly in w ater and on soil. All this takes place before the sun rises. N othing can sprout under the suns strong light, and this goes for alchem y too. T herefore the process m ust be shielded against light. It can be difficult to unite the various som etim es m ythological, som etim es philosophical accounts of the m atter “M ercury”. W e find it hard to accept m yths and allegories, when we would rather have a chem ical explanation of it all. At least that is how I felt years ago, but I d iscovered over tim e, that our deep roots in the past, our ow n origins, have to be taken into account, if ones to form an idea of w hat alchem y is based on. If one has som e astrological knowledge, it som ehow becom es easier to understand. In astrology the planet M ercury sym bolizes the m entally enlivening, the all present intellect and the quick and often (incalculable, un accountable) elem ent in the horoscope. W ithout M ercury a horoscope cannot be understood, because here we find the key to the intellects possib ilities and strivings. M ercury w ill always be close to the sun in a horoscope, because it is the sun- the gold - it seeks. Gold is as said before the “m agnet”, that m ercury is attracted by, and they m utually influence each other. M ercury can in astrology play either a m asculine or fem inine role dependent on in which sign it stands. T herefore the m essenger in alchem y can be either M ercury or Artem is. T he im portant solvent and especially the water that is in it, are affected by the character of the air, the m oon and the starlight at m ight tim e. It is the “fire” from heaven that transform s all m atters, it is aid in alchem y. It enters all things and m akes them grow and m ultiply. It is an inner fire and not a com m on fire as in a fireplace. O f the com m on fire the alchem ist in Wahrer alter Naturweg says: “Es ist der T od aller D inge”- it is the death of all things.


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In eastern religions the inner fire is called “kundalini”, and it can be brought into action in such a w ay, that m an is spiritually reborn. T he kundalini force is show n as a snake, that can rise up the spinal colum n. T his corresponds to the snake around Herm es staff, so here is a correspondence between alchem y, esoteric know ledge and astrology. In relation to how alchem y should be handled practically, there are not m uch inform ation to be found in the various scripts. In Wahrer alter Naturweg the process is described som ewhat thoroughly, because there are som e bits of chem ical inform ation. W e are told how the m atter is to behave during the process, and how the solvent behaves, that is, like a strong acid . T here is m uch to be found in F ulcanelli, but his data com e are spread out in the texts, d ispersed over several hundred pages. T he point in alchem y is to get the gold, one starts out w ith, precipitated in an extrem ely fine form . T his is as said before, done w ith potash in an aqueous solution. T he royal w ater is only to be just neutralized w ith the alkaline potash solution. T he liquid is neutral, when no m ore carbon d ioxide fizzes of. After som e tim e and after thorough stirring w ith a galss rod one can add a little acetic acid to rem ove excess potash. T his part of the process is sim ple com m on chem istry, apart from using potash to precipitate the gold w ith. It is not taught in the chem ical text books. Gold can also be precipitated w ith the m atter, that is found in the legendary unicorns horn- if one can m anage to catch one, for it is very shy. O nly a virgin could gain power over it, the m yths say. T hese often contain a truth, and in this case the hidden truth is, that from its horn am m onium bicarbonate could be extracted, also called (“hjortetaksalt”, “deer antler salt”, “hartshorn”) . T he sam e salt is to be found in the horns of deer, goats and bulls. T hat is w hy these anim als are shown on the im ages from Mutus Liber by Altus, and it is a very im portant inform ation. T he gold is to be precipitated several tim es after the m otto: Solve et coagula- d issolve and solidify. T hen it is to be w ashed m any tim es and left to stand in d iluted(w ith w ater) w ine spirits, until it gradually turns rosy red. T he alchem ists relate, that the final process, w hich is also the last “solve et coagula”, is very lengthy, and that it requires “nesting heat”. T herefore this stage is shown as a hen, that is laying on eggs. T he flask is to be herm etically sealed, as it is called after the sage Herm es T rism egistus. And no light m ay enter the vessel, so one has to find a way of shielding it. T his can in practice be done w ith tin foil (tr.: now a days its alum inium foil ?) , that is w rapped around the flask. T he flask itself m ust be so large, that the gold m ass only takes up the bottom of it, because there m ust be room enough for the vapours, the “bird”, that during the heating begin to ascend.


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O ne shouldn’t heat for so long, that one “burns” the gold. T he heat should be as a “the sun on a hot august day”, one reads. T hat w ould be an august day under w arm er straits than the N ordic, and that is a strong heat. T he gold w ill gradually change colour from yellow to red. At the sam e tim e the m ass becom es m ore and m ore com pact taking up less and less space. It becom es heavier. It is in this part of the w ork, that the nature spirit “M ercury”, consciousness, does its tricks and m agic arts. W hat takes place in the flask is unexplainable, but w hat happens, is w hat in alchem y is called “the great wedding”, the unification of the king and the queen, that give b irth to the P hilosophers S tone. T he vapours in the flask give of som ething to the gold and thereby loose their pow er. T he “b ird” drops to the ground and d isappears. W hat takes place, could m aybe explained as a nuclear process or a fusion. T he alchem ist and chem ist J. R . Glauber said in the 16th century, that it w as a “fusion of salts”. T he theory of fusion at room tem perature, is, as we know , in strong focus these years. R esearchers try to get deuterium atom s to fuse together, by electrolysis of heavy w ater or ordinary tap water. T he two electrodes in the electrolytic cell are platinum and palladium , and it is on the latter, that energy is generated in the from of heat. Here we have a principle, that resem bles what takes place in the alchem ical flask. In this there m ight take place- as an effect of the long heating tim e- a nuclear fusion, and the alchem ists say it happens at “nesting heat”. In reality this heat is m ore like the tem perature of the w ater that runs through a radiator, around 7 0-80 degrees C elsius. T he energy that is generated, seem to go into developing a com pletely new product, the P hilosophers Stone. It is a heavy, glassy, poppy red m atter. It has so m uch energy, that it can penetrate into m etallic elem ents and transm ute them into gold. B ut the process leading to T he P hilosophers S tone takes a long tim e and m ay not be shortened. It is T he P hilosophers Stone, that crusaders and knights, tem plars and troubadours have m entioned and sought through all ages. It has been called “the holy Grail”, “Blood of C hrist”, “R osa Herm etica”, “the R ose on the C ross” and countless other nam es. It is also the m atter, that all religion deals w ith on a spiritual level. Note 1: Latin IS a/T HE R om an language? I thought the F rench (or w hatever they w ere called then) used to speak Gallic, Gaelic, Ghoulish, Garlic, C eltic, C im m erian, C im brian, C atharic, B ritish, B retonish, M erovingian or som e other barbaric, today alm ost obsolete and extinct language , until the R om ans learned /forced them to speak a civilized language, the rom an=latin? F urther: T he translator found a copy of D r. Em il R asm ussens My Atomic Teaching. It is quite interesting read ing it. Gold is not an elem ent, but a com position of other elem ents. T he one elem ent that d istinguishes gold from so m uch else is a gas. Am ber consists of only one pure elem ent. He has tables over the com positions and variations of various elem ents accord ing to his teaching. M ost of w hat w e call elem ents are com posed of 4,5,6, or m ore elem ents, in R asm ussens view . He lists a num ber of “new ” elem ents, elem ents that he has given nam es.


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T o m ake an honest and exhaustive assessm ent of his rather radical theories, one should read his previous book The Radiations of Elements, as this is the basis for his atom ic teaching. Haven’t found this book yet, but the royal library has it. W hat I deduced was, that he believes that a pure elem ent can only have O N E resonant frequency/vibration. If it has m ore, it is a com posite of elem ents. Som eone w ith a better knowledge of spectral analysis and the like m ight have a better foundation for evaluating D r. R asm ussens w ork. In R asm ussens atom ic world there are no transm utations possible, only rearrangem ents of his elem ents. So, in his view , there would be no alteration of water that boils in a herm etically sealed vessel, unless som e of his gasses could penetrate/escape glass. In any case, the m ain point is that H2O , is a gross sim plification of w hat w ater is. Schauberger extends the form ula to be either som ething like HC O , or HC N O (the basic building blocks of organic life) , if I rem em ber correctly, as w ater readily absorbs som e carbonic acid from the air, and also nitrous com pounds as w e have seen proven elsew here. C om pletely pure H2O does not exist, unless m aybe in som e super duper high tech lab. W ord I m issed/lacked: origins, originated, for future correction.


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T he elusive sm ile of the Cheshire C at

O ne of Englands m ost fam ous scientists is Isaac Newton. He was born in 1642 as single child of a Lincolnshire (farm ing) fam ily. In spite of d isease in his childhood and plagues, wars and civil uprisings in the country during his life, he got to becom e 84 years old and very fam ous. N ewton is today best known as his tim es m athem atical-physical genius, w ho d iscovered, that solar light consists of m any colours, and that there is an em piric and m athem atically based law of gravity. W hat m ost don’t know , is that N ew tons studies of astronom y and m athem atics only form ed a part of his sphere of interests. M uch of his tim e he devoted to studies of theology, history and especially alchem y. B ut this first really cam e out in the light of day after his death in 17 27 , and caused a (m ighty rum ble) in learned circles. As the years went, the gossip d ied down, because N ewton was first of all a scientist, so they said . B ut w as he? O n the fam ous Sotheby auctions in London, m ore than hundred alchem ical m anuscripts were (offered for sale, put up for b idd ing) in 1936. they w ere all w ritten by N ew ton, and belonged to a descendant oh him . T he m anuscripts w ere bought by a certain Lord Keynes, who had interests spanning from (“horse production”) to m agic (The Foundations of Newtons Alchemy, B . J. D obbs, C am bridge U niversity P ress) N ewtons interest in alchem y had its roots, in his conviction that, by experim ental way, one could find the way back to a lost w isdom of the ancient cultures. B ut he was less a philosopher than an experim enter and working chem ist. So he tried to reduce the ancient esoteric sym bols of alchem ical term inology into chem ical form ulas. N ew ton w as a practically oriented m an. He w anted to transfer the law s of attraction and repulsion of bodies to alchem y, like w ise the law s of gravity and the significance of d istance. In other w ords N ew ton tried to integrate alchem y in a m echanical law fullnes, but later it show ed out, that this w as not possible. He continued to be convinced that the P hilosophers S tone could be m ade, but he never succeeded in producing the fabled m atter. It was just as elusive as the sm ile of the fam ous C heshire cat. Isaac N ewton was extrem ely laborious and endurant, but when it cam e to alchem y, he apparently ended on the w rong track. T he reason could have been a very sm all, but extrem ely im portant detail. T his detail is m entioned in F ulcanellis book about the secrets of the cathedrals. Here is shown a stone figure from the N otre D am e in P aris. It depicts an alchem ist(L’Alchim iste, p. 34, Les M ystéres des C athedrales) T he alchem ist, who has a strange pointed hat on his head, leans out from the church wall, w hile his gaze is steadily and continuously fixed on that, on w hich he is w orking. He know s he is a part of his ow n experim ent. P recisely this relation, the observers significance in an experim ent, has slow ly gained acceptance in m odern nuclear physics. It seem s as if the presence of an operator or


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researcher seem s to have an influence, that form erly was not taken into account. B ut why it is so, seem s to be beyond any kind of logic or reason. B ut it is not necessary to go as far as nuclear physics lab. T o confirm the role in an experim ent. Anyone can do so w ithout any m ayor efforts. I first read about the phenom ena in a book by the American T revor Jam es C onstable, titled: The Cosmic Pulse of Life. T he author had experienced, that the hum an eye, or rather (its, the) gaze, contained som e kind of power, that could m ake a cloud on the sky dissolve and disappear.. He called the phenom ena “cloud -busting”. T o disperse a cloud, so that it d isappears, just w ith ones gaze, sounds unbelievable, but its true, and I have tried it several tim es. B oth alone and together w ith friends. T he experim ent proves, that experim ent and experim enter m ake up a w hole, and cannot be separated. O ne could alm ost say, that there is a (short. Like in an electric short. Zapp!) . the experim ent is quite sim ple. O ne goes out under open sky, when there is not m uch w ind, and there are little clouds in the sky. O ne then selects a cloud, and it is best to start w ith a sm all one, until one is fam iliar w ith the procedure. O ne concentrates ones gaze on the cloud and lets the visual ray, as T revor Jam es C onstable calls it, wander back and forth over the cloud. T hen one drills the gaze into it, traces its edges, and then into it again. It doesn’t m atter if one blinks, as long as one doesn’t look anywhere else. After 3-4 m inutes the cloud yields, and a few m inutes later it is com pletely gone. T his experim ent succeeds every tim e, but no one, w ho hasn’t tried it, believes it. T here is only one thing to do: “Go out and do it!”, as T revor Jam es C onstable says. T he author believes, that the gaze em its som e kind of m icrow aves, and one can even feel them , if one is not to insensitive. If one for exam ple lets ones gaze, or “m icrowaves”, run up and down over a (“curtain” w ith horizontal ad justable “flaps”, w indow shades?) or a fence in the garden, one can feel how the ray from the eye- the visual ray- as the author calls it, hits the (“flaps”) or the (fenceboards) . It feels like w hen one lets a finger slide lightly over the teeth of a com b. About the phenom ena “cloud -busting”, it is a reality, and it is even easy to do. T he gaze is sim ply to be fixed on the cloud steadily and attentively. It could be a detail of this kind, that caused, that the industrious and incredibly intelligent Isaac N ew ton d id not achieve his aim s in alchem y. T here probably cannot be any doubt, that Newtons attitude to alchem y was m ore (rather) intellectual than intuitive. He w as a m athem atical talent and could perhaps not envision, that the process that leads to T he P hilosophers S tone w as extrem ely sim ple, w hen one first finds the point. It is like seeing a (fixer billede, a hidden im age em bedded, these were popular in the 1800s, like D alis “Sw ans reflecting as elephants”, or other surrealistic double im ages, or


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the picture that at once portrays an old hag and a young w om an) in a forest full of entangled branches. S uddenly the picture is there. N ew ton w anted to fit alchem y into the scientific m old w ith which he already was fam iliar. So if a transm utation of (un noble, vulgar, com m on) m etals into gold w as possible, it had to be because there w as a chem ical law behind (underlying?) it all, and it had to be calculable as all other (natural) (“law fullnesses”, law s) B ut the alchem ists say som ething else, because alchem y is an integrated chem ical-b iological-physical phenom enon, that am ong other factors is dependent on how each alchem ist treats the m atters. T he alchem ists say, that their work runs parallel to what takes place in the N ature. Here we can find confirm ation of the elem ents not being as stable as one m ight believe. T ransm utations take place. An exam ple is experim ents perform ed in the U SA, where it has been found that hens(chicken) could form eggshells, calcium , even when their fodder contained no calcium . T he chickens can, by absorbing potassium , another elem ent, transm ute this, so calcium is form ed. It happens during digestion, but how , is not known. Initially it was thought, that they got the calcium from their ow n bones, but it show ed out not to be the case. Also in the atm osphere an alchem ical process and natural transm utation continually takes place. C arbon 14, or C 14, is form ed in the atm ospheres (topm ost) layer through the action of cosm ic rays upon nitrogen atom s, and just as m uch C 14 is newly form ed, as (“decom poses”, decays) in plants and anim als. B ut w hy is it so one m ight ask? Is there a law , that regulates this balance, or is there a thought in the universe, w ith a plan w e cannot fathom ? T houghts, as w e all know , cannot be caught or calculated. T hey are just as hard to get a grip on as the sm ile of the C heshire cat. T he cat pops up again by the nuclear physicist Erw in Schrödinger, w ho was a good friend of Albert Einstein. Schrödinger created a series of m athem atical riddles, that apparently disproved the fam ous quantum theory. In these riddles the m ain actor, or factor X , was a cat, that all the tim e either w as there or w asn’t there. It appeared, but then d isappeared again w ithout a trace. It w as called “Schrödingers cat” am ong researchers and w as portrayed as a cat w ith a hum an face. Albert Einstein w as very fascinated by these riddles about the cat, that apparently proved, that there existed a hidden param eter in quantum theory- a kind of invisible hand, that had a finger in the gam e. It is the sam e in alchem y. T here is an incalculable factor, that plays a role in the process that leads to T he P hilosophers Stone, and this factor is, and w ill rem ain a riddle. T herefore no one can reveal it, because no one really know s w hat it is. It is a factor X . T here is another fam ous cat in this world. It is the Sphinx on the Gizeh plateau in Egypt. Just like Schrödingers cat it has a hum an face and the body of a cat. Is it possible, that it has som ething to do w ith an ancient science?


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T he Enigm atic S phinx

O ne of the worlds strangest and m ost spoken about m onum ents is the Sphinx on the Gizeh plateau in Egypt. T he core of this colossus is the (cliff) on which it rests. N ow and then it has been buried beneath the desert sand, but is still in good shape despite the wear and tear of thousands of years in the elem ents. T he S phinx appears as a (fable, m ythic, allegoric) being, com posed of a lions body and a hum an face. It has an alm ost M ona Lisa like sm ile on its lips, while its gaze is (turned, pointed) to the east w ith an attentive and (awaiting) expression. T he Sphinx does not sleep. It is like a cat ready to pounce. W hat m akes the Sphinx different from m ost other allegoric beings, is, that it has a hum an face on an anim al body. B ecause m ost of hat kind of sym bolic beings have an anim al head on a hum an body. T he S phinx is d ifferent, and it expresses som ething else, but what? T hrough the ages there have been countless attem pts at solving the riddle of the S phinx, but it still (conceals, hides) its secret. Is it at all possible to find out what it m eans, and why it was placed close to another enigm atic m onum ent, the Great P yram id- T he Kheops pyram id? T here could be a solution to the m ystery, but it is to be found in a hitherto over looked area. O ne knows from sources about the oldest Egypt, that the cat, the little lion, was a holy anim al. It w as often em balm ed like kings and other high ranking m em bers of society, and w hen a cat d ied , its ow ner shaved of their eyebrow s to show sorrow (grief?) . T he cat w as a sym bol of royal pow er and w isdom . It w as also a sym bol for gold and the sun. T hat is w hy the king got a death m ask m ade of the noble m etal. At the sam e tim e he w as “son of R a”, the sun god, and in the “thousand yeary” (thousands of years old, it m ust have been?) Egyptian Book of the D ead, R a was portrayed as a cat that could speak. B ut the Sphinx, this unification of a royal anim al and a hum an- what does it m ean? O ne can get closer to solving the m ystery w ith assistance from the B ook of the D ead. T he English Egyptologist W allis B udge translated the Egyptian B ook of the D ead into English at the beginning of this century. It w as titled Book of the Dead. According to W allis Budge the Book of the D ead was in use by the Egyptians from the beginning of the old dynasties, that is, possibly as early as at the tim e of king Sem ti-Heseps reign about 4266 B C . (B ook of the D ead, chapter 64) T he book w as found in a grave in Sakkarah together w ith P haraoh U na’s m ortal rem ains. B ut the texts in the book are not of Egyptian origin says W allis B udge, because content and phrasing show signs of having been translated from m uch older m aterial, that was difficult to understand . T he job of the Egyptian scribes w as to reproduce the content of the original texts. B ut m uch indicates, that they didn’t always understand what it was they were copying.


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P erhaps the sources for the Egyptian Book of the D ead were of Sum erian or Arabic origin, says W allis B udge. O ther, m ore untraditional researchers, think it w as based the even older T ibetan Book of the D ead. Both books are a kind of (roadm aps, guides?) for the soul of the dead in the (beyond, afterlife?) . In any case the Egyptian B ook of the D ead had com e from the east. An invasion by a foreign (people, culture?) had taken place in Egypt, who brought w ith them new bronze weapons, a new culture and (art of building) , and, not the least, new thoughts. T he people from the east got to (im print) Egypt in a decisive m anner. It happened at an early stage in the lands history, because according to the Book of the D eads own (inform ations) culture and religion were established at a point (point of tim e) , that would correspond to about 4000 B C . In com parison w e can m ention, that D avid w as king in Israel around 1580 B C , that’s about 2000 years later. D ecisive for the Egyptians religion was, that the new people brought along a belief in (re arising, resurrection) of (hu)m an after death and an eternal life. T he belief was based upon, that the god(hum an) and king O siris had suffered death by d ism em berm ent, but he re arose (w as resurrected ) . And w ith this the Egyptian B ook of the D ead, w hich is thousands of years older than the b ible, carries the sam e basic m essage. K ing O siris is m entioned for the first tim e in the B ook of the D ead in the so called P yram id text. O siris is called the “king of heaven” but he was at the sam e tim e the “m oongod”, because he only lived for 28 years, that is, as m any years as the days the m oon takes to com plete a cycle. W allis B udge has w ritten a book about O siris, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, and there he states, that O siris sym bolized the m oons regenerative pow er, because in its em anation there was som ething, that enlivened hum ans, cattle, and everything that grew on the ground. W ith this piece of inform ation we have a parallel to an im portant point in alchem y. It is clearly seen in the tw o previously m entioned plates (p. 15 and 17 ) in Mutus Liber, the silent book of alchem y. Here the m ain them e is the m oon lights enlivening influence on the dew on the ground, and on the water that stands (sits?) in the bowls under the m oons rays. T he two hum ans in M utus Liber collected dew from the field in the early m orning, because in it w as a m atter from heaven, that they needed. O siris is often depicted in the vignettes of the Book of the D ead and accom panying illustrations together w ith his w ife, Isis, w ho also w as his sister. T he kinship between O siris and Isis corresponds w ith som ething, which is the basic thought (idea9 in alchem y. Here the P hilosophers Stone and the elixir of life can only be produced from m atters, that are related and of the sam e blood. T his (dem and, precept?) is often repeated in alchem ical literature, and it sounds very strange. B ut if we take a practical exam ple of such a kinship, it is quite obvious. F or exam ple iron and iron sulphate are related, and the sam e goes for gold and gold chloride. T hey belong in the sam e “fam ilies”. Isis was the “untainted virgin” just like M ary in the C hristian religion. So there m ust be a com m on idea behind both the Egyptian and the C hristian religion, and it could be som ething, that stem s from an entirely d ifferent area than religion.


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T he Egyptian Book of the D ead relates, that O siris was resurrected from the dead. B ut before this happened- while he was still dead-, O siris and Isis had a son. In scripts from the 6th dynasty one reads, that there cam e a shining from the m oon, and that this light fell upon Isis, so she becam e pregnant. T his corresponds, as earlier m entioned, to a relation in alchem y, because here the enlivening and regenerating m atter from the m oon is needed. Exactly this m atter participates in creating T he P hilosophers S tone. In the so called P yram id texts in the B ook of the D ead, apart from O siris, the sun king R a is also m entioned. F rom early on the kings used the title “P harao”, which m eans “son of R a”, god of the sun. T his god is often depicted as a cat, that sim ultaneously w as king. In the Book of the D ead, chapter 17 , we read: “the m ale C at is R a him self, and he is called M au”. T he word M au has two m eanings. It m eans “equal w ith” and “cat”. T his m eans that the sun god R a is equal (to, w ith) a cat. Here w e m ight have the beginning of an explanation for the catlike part of the S phinx, but m ore is to follow . In the B ook of the D ead chapter 17 the d ivine C at, w hich is also king says: “I am the C at which fought hard by the P ersea tree”. B ut what was it for a battle that took place, because the cat is fighting w ith a snake (see ill. Above. C hpt. 17 p. 103)? T he alchem ist and graphic artist J. D . M ylius created a series of fantastic im ages of the alchem ical process in the 17 th century, one of them is on the follow ing page. T he lion, that is, the gold, is finishing of the snake by eating it. T he snake is the poison which in alchem y s called “M ercury”, and w hich perishes in the process. T he lion stands in front on the picture. T his m eans it “stands for” or sym bolizes the king w ho is seated behind the table. He is w inged and therefore no m ore a terrestrial being. T he tw o figures seated beside him are not terrestrial either, but sym bolize Sun and M oon. Each of them shows a “side” of the king, and therefore they are seated to the left and right side of him . He is a herm aphroditic being in a wedding between his own sun and m oon. In our days this w ould correspond to the term s “anim us” and “anim a”. T he alchem ical technique of illustrating graphically what things “stand” for, or to which “side” the progression goes, is both ingenious and (“spidsfindigt”, kinda like sly or cunning, lets call it subtle) . T hese graphic tricks also show how (plastisk, flexible) and (m angfoldigt, has m ore m eanings than one, m anyfold?) a language and its term s are, w hen the visual space is taken along. In the foreground of the picture stands a person, who is pointing to a furnace. T he explanation is sim ple, because the king, the lion, is going into the fire, w hen he has eaten the snakes poison. T he Egyptian cat and king fought w ith the snake by the P ersea tree, so is w ritten in the Book of the D ead. T his tree grew in Heliopolis, and here was found the tem ple, where the


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initiated priest T hoth served under the oldest dynasties. By the way the city is now a suburb of C airo, and its nam e m eans “C ity of the Sun”. T hoth w as considered the father and founder of alchem y, and he later got the Greek-Egyptian nam e Herm es T rism egistos. T he P ersea tree is he sam e as the alchem ical oak, that is depicted w ith a golden crow n around its trunk. Am ong the branches of this oak lurks a challenging snake, and it is interesting, that the sam e snake figures in the bible, w here it was poised in a tree in the Garden of Eden. Here w as also a m an and a w om an present just like in alchem y, and the tw o w ere to go through the sam e (m elting crucible) as sun and m oon in alchem y. O ne is tem pted to som etim es speculate, w hether the story about the snake in the garden of eden is a fairy tale, that is based upon alchem y. B ehind all fairy tales lies a code that is to be broken. T he idea of a snake, that alters the course of events, is the sam e in alchem y and religion, but w hat cam e first, alchem y or m yth? C raft or fairy tale? T here seem s to have been a very abstract and alm ost sophisticated line of thought am ong the Egyptians and the first alchem ists. O ur ow n contem porary (square, squarish, how about “linear”?) logic often show s to be inadequate, and w e have m ore and m ore lost the ability to think in im ages. It only happens in dream s, and that’s why we cant understand them . T he alchem ical im ages are at the sam e tim e true archetypical sym bols, but only few have discovered this. It is also a “hard nut to crack”, w hen one in the B ook of the D ead’s chapter 7 2 reads that: “the one w ho is dead is the double lion god”. But the old alchem ists were not in doubt about what the double lion god m eant. It was known all over Europe and sym bolized the union of m an and wom an. O n the illustration on the next page is seen the double lion, and it “stand for”, that is, stands in front of the wedding couple. Above them is seen the b ird , w hich sym bolizes the vapours from the solvent, that liberates their souls. In T he Egyptian Book of the D ead we are told, that the souls are R a and O siris united (see chapter 17 introduction) . Here stands: “T he double d ivine Soul is the soul of R a and the Soul of O siris.” T he form ulation is quite explicit, so this double soul of the cat R a and the god(hum an) O siris united in one body m ust be the Sphinx. It has its gaze pointed to the east, because that’s w here sun and m oon rise up. T his double soul corresponds to the herm aphroditic being w e encounter in alchem y, w hen sun and m oon are united. W e have seen this m an-wom an laying on a coffin w ith a halo of sun and m oon around their heads. Also in our ow n religion w e there are allusions to such a herm aphroditic being. In the gospel of T hom as- that theologians avoid as “the cat around the hot porridge” (D anish proverb, the m eaning of which should be quite clear) - is to be read: “not before m an becom es wom an, and wom an b ecom es m an, shall they enter the kingdom of God.”


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Such a d isgusting verd ict w as just a little too m uch for the clerical authorities, so they sw ept the gospel of T hom as of the table, just like they d id w ith other just as m ysterious gospels, as for exam ple the gospel of P hilip(filip ) . In T he Book of the D ead we are told, that R a and O siris em brace each other, and that d ivine souls are born in the d ivine tw in gods: “T here the one god em braces the other and divine souls spring into being w ithin the divine tw in gods.” (quoted in english in the original, therefore the repetition) T his is a description of w hat actually takes place in alchem y. T he gold, corresponding to the sun, unites w ith the liquid , that contains the regenerative pow er of the m oonlight. W hen heated, w hite vapours are given of, or “souls”, that w here described as b irds. O n the next illustration we see R a’s and O siris’es souls in the form of birds. Such concepts continued in a long row of European fairy tales, and b irds cam e to form a base for (signs, forebodings, w arnings. T he raven=jeopardy. the ow l=disaster) and superstition am ong the peasants. B ut none of us can say w e are com pletely free from these kinds of thoughts, and for som e strange reason there is som etim es som ething to it. O ne m ight finally ask: if the Egyptian religion and alchem y w here connected from first on, why was this connection expressed in the form of a Sphinx? If it only was about the m ystery behind alchem y and religion, it would have been easier to just w rite it all down- or would it? T he sage P ythagoras has been quoted for saying: “I know truths that nobody would understand!” T his Greek philosopher lived from 500 years before the C hristian era, and he founded his doctrines on the old Egyptian religion. H is pupils called their m asters teachings the w isdom of Herm es or herm etic w isdom from w hich stem s our expression for som ething that is sealed of and inaccessible. T his relation is not strange, because the S phinx in the desert is also a sym bol of a d ivine consciousness, that arises, when Sun and M oon are united after a long death process, w hich in alchem y is called “the great w edding”. C onsciousness corresponds to “M ercury”, m essenger of the gods and the w inged spirit. Also this sym bol is concealed in the Sphinx. O siris w as the m oon god in Egypt already 3-4000 years before our era. H is sym bol was the new m oon, that in the southern sky looks like a boat on the sea: “sym bol” (lunar crescent) . T he sun god and the cat R a’s sym bol w as the sun: “sym bol” (solar circle) W hen these tw o are united w ith a cross in a “crucifixion”, one gets the sym bol of M ercury, that represents consciousness: “sym bol” (the astrological sym bol for M ercury) . So the Sphinx m ight also m ean, that a divine consciousness first arises, when the m utable m oon forces in m an are united w ith the eternal inner fire, the sun. T houghts of this kind probably were too m uch for the com m on Egyptian, but they spread out over Europe w ith alchem y and the teachings of the w ise Herm es T rism egistos.


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T he equal arm ed cross becam e the sym bol of the cathars, but they w ere persecuted by the rom an church and as good as exterm inated in the 13th century. So there is reason to assum e that the rom an-catholic authorities feared both alchem y and the esoteric thoughts, that w here to be found in the old Egyptian religion. W e now also have the final explanation of the Gordian know in alchem y, the term “M ercury”, that no one w ould reveal. B ecause it is first com es to be, w hen the gold has been dissolved in the “M oon”, natures ow n solvent. T hey both then becom e one m atter, the herm aphroditic being, w hile the soul is liberated in the form of vapours, “the b ird”. In alchem y the equal arm ed cross designates the acid that d issolves the m atters. Its Latin nam e is “crux”, and from this we have the word for (m elting crucible) “crucibulum ”. It is this (m elting crucible) , that a soul m ust pass through to get to the higher consciousness and cognition. T here is an interesting parallel betw een he Sphinx and the rom an-catholic church. T he Sphinx is worked directly out of the (cliff) , on which it rests and therefore bonded to. T he (cliff) becam e the sym bol of the rom an church. It becam e P eters church, and P eter m eans (cliff. I guess it should have been rock instead? O r?) , it com es of the Greek “Greek letters”. In our won sceptical and doubting age one m ight ask: what if everything that was w ritten and told about T he P hilosophers Stone, about crucifixion and resurrection, about (lutring, purification) and (frelse, to be saved, redem ption?) , and so on, only is a colourful fanciful m yth, that w as born of M ans (afm agt, pow erlessness, despondency?) and hope? If this was the case, we would wake up to a horrible insight, because then our own religion com es tum bling down. T hen there is nothing to build on, because it is the sam e principles that govern religion and alchem y. If one is w rong, then so is the other, because the contents is the sam e in both. T herefore the legend of T he P hilosophers Stone m ust be true, but the point is, that each individual m ust find the w ay to it on his/her ow n. O ne even m ight ask oneself, if T he P hilosophers S tone exists and can be m ade, it could be, that alchem y alone represented the secret underlying everything. T hen m aybe religion w as built upon it like a fairy tale, just as all other fairy tales in the w orld. In that case m an would truly be on his own left to rely on his own inner powers. M aybe this is the real truth about behind it all, and m aybe that w as the actual and original reason for the rom an churches persecution of the alchem ists. B ut this required that at least som e of the popes understood the m essage of alchem y, and realized the danger it represented. In the year 389 the precious library in Alexandria was totally devastated by the (nidkære, zealous?) C hristian em peror T heodosius. Great collections of books from the ancient w orld ended in the fire, and alchem ists w ere killed or driven out. T here m ight be yet another explanation for the churches intolerance towards alchem y. T he popes knew very w ell that religion w as a pow er factor, that not only enslaved its sub jects, but also am m ased great riches to the church. B ut alchem y m ade m en free and independent from the church.


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And this presented a danger to the rom an church, because deviants of that kind could not be controlled. T hey w here their ow n M asters in a very real w ay. In Egypt there had been a slow and gradual of what O siris sym bolized. He was forgotten as a m oon god, and ended up being synonym ous w ith other gods such as tree gods, grain gods, or gods for dom esticated anim als and reptiles. It w as a refined culture, that ruled in the upper class of ancient Egypt, W allis B udge tells us in his books about O siris. B ut in contrast the com m on folks were cruel and superstitious, and they even w ere cannibals, that devoured their dead . T his barbaric bent w as practised up to our ow n tim e, says W allis B udge, and m aybe still exists here and there. In a papyrus from about 4000 BC it is w ritten, that a priest, that was to (perform , stand for) a funeral, should be pure in m ind and body. He w as not allow ed to eat m eat from neither anim al nor fish. In other words a priest should be a vegetarian. T his attitude to our fellow creatures on earth was continued by the cathars in southern F rance, and also this was thorn in the eye of the church, w hose attitude to anim als w as a quite d ifferent one. T he old Egypt w ith its aura of gold descended. It had culm inated w ith the erection of the great pyram ids on the Gizeh plateau, of w hich the m ost fam ous is the pyram id of Kheop’s or Khufu. Both the p yram id and the guarding Sphinx still hide secrets, that we never m ight know . I is as if the greatest riddles about ourselves and our origins m ust be held secret at any cost. T hat’s w hy the sage P ythagoras said : “I know truths that nobody can understand”. M aybe they are so cruel, that w e w ouldn’t be able to bear them if w e knew them . T r. N ote: w hen to use: w ere or w here is not clear to m e, sorry. T r. N ote: S trange is a w ord I lacked earlier in the tr.! S trange I d idn’t com e up w ith it then.


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T he ancient m atter clay

If clay could talk to us like the anim als in the fairy tales, it w ould tell us of a w orld of unfathom able age and w ith landscapes, w here nothing w as, as it is today. If one digs a m eter (yard?) down into the ground, one goes about 7 000 years back in tim e, but it is still an earth, that contains rem nants of m anm ade history. B ut the clay itself bears w itness to a nature, that existed long before m an was around. C lay w as originally mountains and cliffs (rocks?) of granite and (gnejs) , feldspat, quartz and glim m er (m ica?) , that had slowly eroded and fallen together under the influence of heat, cold and w ind. It took m illennia to form the clay. It very slowly becam e a (plastisk, resilient, form able?) soft m atter, w here all the original elem ents: alum in(i) um , silica, potassium , sodium , calcium etc. w ent into a kind of sym biosis, that again w as held together by w ater. T here has been tw o things in hum an history that had a decisive im pact, and they are already m entioned in the oldest m yths. T hese two things cam e from the “red earth”, from w hich m an w as form ed according to the m yths. It w as clay and iron oxide. T hese two things really “created” m an, because clay becam e the m aterial, that form ed the base for security in life. C lay was m anufactured into dwellings, pots, cooking vessels, deities and am ulets. B ut iron w as to play an opposing role. It becam e the seed and cause of insecurity, aggression, fights and w ars. W hen m an learned to extract iron from (m yrem alm , a com m on type of iron ore, easily w orked, also found in stream s in D enm ark, w ho has no ore m ines) and other iron containing ores, they could expand their territories, dom inate and kill. Iron was m ore suited for that job than both flint axes and bronze w eapons. T he hum ble clay had becom e m ans slave at an early stage, but m an becam e the slave of iron, because w hen it once had been taken into use, the snow ball w as rolling and dem anded even m ore w eapons. W hen the god of w ar M ars entered the stage in the form of iron, w as neither m an nor anim al holy. B ut the w ar god is lim p, and as such he is portrayed, because iron is like a boom erang, it strikes back. And here w e still stand today, and in reality nothing has changed. T he paradox in this context is, that iron according to the alchem ists can be transm uted into gold, but it is m an him self, that has to perform this process. It has alw ays been the thought of the alchem ists, that things w ere connected in just this m anner, and their tracts bear w itness to it. In alchem y clay is used as slave, that perform s a piece of w ork, to be d iscarded after it has done its duty. T he Germ an chem ist J. R . Glauber from the 17 th century has told, how clay is used as an interm ediate in alchem y for breaking dow n and rebuild ing m atters, so they take on a new


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form and new action. T he clay is only present as a base for the process, and afterw ards it is d iscarded . Glauber used clay to produce “spirit of salt”, w hich in our days corresponds to hydrochloride or chloride vapours in water. O f various reasons he had m any of his works published abroad, and one of his m ost fam ous works was issued in Am sterdam in 1651. It was Opus Minerale, the w ork of m inerals. It w as issued in F rance in 1659 together w ith another script, carrying the title La Consolation des Navigants (C onsolation of the “sailing” (water travelling, sailors, cruisers?) . T his script describes, how “spirit of salt” is m anufactured w ith the aid of clay. It is called “esprit de sel” in the text, because it escapes from the clay in the form of a spirit or vapour, that rises up. Hydrochloride contains the elem ent chlorine, and so does com m on salt. W hen this com es into contact w ith clay, it gives of its chlorine, and this takes place via the follow ing process: O ne d issolves a good portion of sea salt in boiling w ater and reduces it to dryness. T he salt is then to be d issolved and reduced again som e tim es. It has then changed consistency and has becom e soft, and it does not crackle w hen it is approaching dryness. O ne then takes a lum p of clay, abut thrice as m uch, as there is salt. T he clay is shaped into little balls, the size of a doves egg. T hese are put in the oven and dried at about 100 degrees centigrade. T he balls give of w ater and becom e greyish and dry. T hey are then put in a concentrated w atery solution of the salt one has m ade. W hen they have soaked up saltwater for about an hour, they are taken up, and put on a piece of paper to drip of. N ow one needs a d istillation set up of the type that has a closed (collector, receptacle) above the still flask. B ecause the vapours that are given of by the salt and clay m ixture sm ell extrem ely unpleasant and also m ust not be allow ed to escape. O ne puts the clay balls in the lower flask and pours a little wate r in the upper one. T his w ater is to absorb the fum es given of by the clay balls. O ne then begins to heat, and after som e tim e vapours w ill rise up, that are absorbed by the water in the collector. T his water now contains som e hydrochloric acid and som e (hypochloric acid?) , w hich is a w eaker acid than the hydrochloric acid . T his liquid is to be placed in the low er flask and d istilled again, and Glauber suggested, that one should put sm all crushed flint pieces in the flask to prevent the liquid from (stødkogning, “pulse” boiling) . O ne then heats, and watery vapours w ill be given of, that are condensed in the upper flask. T hereby the “spirit of salt” is condensed, and one gets a liquid that is the m ayor constituent of “royal w ater”, that is used to d issolve gold . R oyal w ater consists of 3 parts hydrochloric acid and one part nitric acid , and this can be m ade in sim ilar m anner, by using clay and potassium nitrate.


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T hrough m any years of alchem ical labour one cannot avoid experiencing both this and that, and accidents are usually caused by thoughtlessness or ignorance. In m edieval scriptures there are often w arnings against such states, and it is said straightforw ardly, that accidents during lab w ork is caused by stupid ity. T hey w ere probably m ore (brash) in those days. I w ill give som e exam ples of w hat not to do, if one w ants to avoid accidents, or at least keep ones kitchen intact, as m ost do not have a laboratory at their d isposal. If one is to d issolve m etals in acids, this is best done outdoors and at low tem perature. O ne then avoids the w orst fum es, but it takes longer tim e. If one uses nitric acid, this m ay never get into contact w ith organic liquids, like for exam ple turpentine. O nly a drop is needed, before the contents explodes. And one should never m ix nitric acid w ith som ething one does not know w hat is. In a book about alchem y, w ritten by a m odern Am erican w riter, is a description of how an explosion took place, but unfortunately we are not told which two substances were m ixed (Alchemy, pre-Egyptian Legacy, edited by R ichard Grossinger) T he alchem ist in the book m ixed som e substances, that gave of flow erlike scents, one reads. B ut at a point a violent explosion took place, and the scents spread all over the house. W hat happened w as probably that the alchem ist had m ixed nitric acid w ith pure alcohol. B ecause this form s a so called “ester”, and it is (fleeting, volatile) and pleasant sm elling. It is actually a kind of perfum e, and the flowers in nature use alm ost the sam e ingredients. T hey produce them as w e all know n their ow n, they use w eak acids and alcohols, and as the num ber of com binations are so great, there is a rich variety of scents. Each flower has its ow n scent. B ut if we replicate the process w ith nitric acid and alcohol, the contents m ight explode. It also happened for m e som e years ago. I had closed the flask w ith a glass stopper, and the result was an over pressure, that m ade the flask explode. Glass stoppers are in general unfit, because they can get so stuck, that they cant be rem oved again. An alchem ist who w rote under the nam e Eugenius P hilalethes in the 17 th century, d ied from an explosion in his laboratory. T he cause m ight have been, that he m ixed am m onium nitrate w ith am m onium sulphate, w hich under certain external influences can explode violently. Am m onium nitrate is used a lot in alchem y, because nature herself produces it, so it doesn’t cost anything. And it w as the substance that the tw o persons in M utus Liber got from the dew on the m eadow . In dew there is am m onium nitrite, but it is easily converted into am m onium nitrate. B y the w ay it is a treacherous m atter, for it can be ignited and burns w ith a hissing flam e.


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It is quite interesting, that the dangerous substances are the ones used by alchem ists, such as nitrates, chloride com pounds, sulphur or sulphates. F rom these m atters highly explosive com pounds are m anufactured, and nature in reality does the sam e, because these m atters w ork through their ow n inner (punching pow er) . It could also happen that an alchem ist accidentally inhaled fum es, that m ade him unconscious. If he heated am m onium nitrate and inhaled the vapours from it, he could easily loose consciousness for som e tim e. B ecause when am m onium nitrate is heated, (nitrous oxide? T he dentist has it, its fun!)- also called “laughing gas”- is form ed, and this is used today as a m ild (anaestethic?) T he am m onium ion, that is, am m onium com pounded w ith an (acid rem nant, leftover. C hem o guys, whats it called?) , is one of natures strongest tools. T he am m onium ion has also been called the Jester of N ature, and in the world of alchem y it is a part of the solvent “M ercury”. It corresponds to the legendary w izard M erlin, natures restless w anderer in the great forests. T he am m onium ion can handle alm ost anything, just like the w izard M erlin. It can even handle the alm ost un dissolvable asbestos of our days. Asbestos can be com pletely d issolved w ith a m atter that has been used for centuries in alchem y, am m onium sulphate. O ne d issolves it in w ater, about 500 gram s (approx. 1 pound ) in 4 liters (approx. 1 gallon) of water. T hen one can either d ig a hole for the asbestos in the ground and water it w ith the solution, or one can put the asbestos in the w atery solution of am m onium sulphate. It w ill slow ly be d issolved and becom e a harm less com pound of salts.


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P ostscript- another w orld

Judging by all the old F rench, Germ an and English scripts that can be found about alchem y, one m ight get the im pression, that it w as an art, only practised in countries beyond our own borders (this is a D anish book) . B ut that was not the case, because alchem y had its practicioners everyw here, but in our country the alchem ists w ent m ore quietly w ith it. O n R osenholm castle by Hornslet in Jutland resided the alchem ist Erik R osenkranz in his day and age. H is nam e itself seem s to suggest the red, w hite and blue roses of alchem y, and perhaps that w as no coincidence. W e don’t know w hy the fam ily actually got that nam e. T he alchem ists workshop was probably located in the old “castle kitchen”, because it w ould have been a suitable fram e for this kind of activity. It can still be seen on the castle and is absolutely w orth a visit. R osenholm C astle w as erected by Joergen R osenkrantz betw een 1559 and 1567 , and the saying goes, that both Erik R osenkrantz the alchem ist, and the learned Holger R osenkrantz som etim es spook in the castles halls and (aisles) , often accom panied by a w hite dressed lady. So there are ghosts on R osenkrantz castle. (Lens-baronesse, county-, shire-, baroness) C arin R osenkrantz is fam iliar w ith her fam ily spooks, but as m ost m em bers of the (nobility, aristocracy) now and then, she has accepted that there is m ore betw een heaven and earth….. An explanation of the hauntings on old (estates, m anors) and castles might be, that there is som ething to com e back to- even for a ghost. Here the (“gust of w ing flapping” of history. W inds of tim e/history?) is not dead yet, because the roots to the past have not been severed yet. Here we still m eet the traces of another world, and we need them , if we are not to loose our souls to an age of concrete and technology. Here w e also find the right settings for the m agic and sorcery of alchem y and even one of its practicioners now and then. P erhaps the alchem ist wants to let us know , that the Q uest for T he P hilosophers S tone is not ended, and that there is a w ork that has to be finished.


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alkymiens mysterier - merelle[1]

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