Key Principles
1 Unus est Omnia, Omnia est Unus. (Greek: Hen to Pan, Pan to Hen.) One is All, All is One. Represents the interdependent, reciprocal unity of the Macrocosm and Microcosm that emerges out of an origin of a monadic singularity or Absolute. Entails various corollaries such as the doctrines of Signatures and Sympathy.
2 The Hermetic Axiom.
As
Above So Below
As
Within So Without
As
Before So Again
Represents the three dimensions of reflexive interdependence, an important corollary of the first principle. “The lesser Sanctuary below is constructed on the pattern of the greater Sanctuary above.” (Thomas Vaughan)
3
Solve
et Coagula.
Analyze and Sythesize. Represents the basic alchemical process of
working with a base matter as given, then first separating the pure
ore from the impure matrix in which it is embedded, then
reconsolidating it after various purificatory steps into in a higher,
subtle, more conscious form.
“Following the adage 'solve et coagula,' the alchemist dissolves imperfect coagulations of the soul, reduces it to its materia, and crystallizes it anew in nobler form. This is accomplished in conjunction with Nature by means of natural vibrations of the soul, which awakens during the course of the Work and links the human and cosmic domains. Then Nature comes to the aid of Art, according to the alchemical adage: operis processio multum naturae placet.” (from Titus Burckhart Alchemy (1972.)
4 Coincidenta Oppositorum, Contraria sunt Complementa. The coincidence (interdependence) of opposites; opposites are complementary. Known more broadly in esoterism as The Law of Polarity, Duality, or Opposites. In Esoteric Psychology, one manifestation of this law is the separation of the personal from the impersonal, the differentiation of ego from nonego, or of False Personality from Essence, as a prerequisite for further psychoalchemical operations. A corollary, the Binary Law, allows for the construction of complex, subtle substances from the mere interaction of countless binary nanocosmic interactions. In the process of the interaction of opposites, the alchemical “fire,” i.e. useful inner heat or friction, is generated.
5 Fix that which is volatile and volatilize that which is fixed. A corollarly and further entailment of the law of opposites in alchemical operations involving the treatment of specific substances. Here “fix” means to make something stable or solid that is originally found in a volatile form or in flux.
In terms of Esoteric Psychology, this principle is reflected in the work of integration of the practitioner's consciousness, beginning with it as it is found in a relatively fixed, imperfectly crystallized state which requires first a step of volatilization (decrystallization), followed by the addition of conscious recognition of its intrinsic dynamic opposites in the unconsciousness. This intentionally volatized conflict between internal pairs of opposites is intensified as alchemical work progresses, until deeper awareness of their nature allows them to become reconciled by a higher, third perspective, manifesting as an emergent property out of the complexity of interactions, in accordance with the Law of Three (below.)
6 Enantiodromia and Ekstrophe. These two terms are psychological analogues and further entailments of the law of opposites. The first term represents a reversal of a force or substance into its chiral reflection, allowing for subsequent reunion or resynthesis of conflicting oppositions. The second term literally means “out-turning,” the operation of turning outward that which is found within, or making conscious what is normally unconscious in order to engage esoteric work with it.
7 Law of Three. Stipulates the existence of three primal forces, Active (Positive), Passive (Negative), Reconciling (Neutralizing), which are relevant and operative in many mundane and esoteric phenomena. Expressed abstractly in the philosophical dialectic of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, and instantiated concretely in the three Alchemical principles (see below) and in the elements of Fire, Earth, and Water. Also represented in the three evolutionary-developmental processes of Separation, Purification, and Recombination, representing a physical process in which constituents of the base material are analyzed, purified, and recombined into a purer substance which must then be assimilated into a new whole. Also represents the union of the individual practitioner with the Universal Force, a synthesis effectuated via the mediation of a third principle, a link between mind and matter, provided by Esoteric Magickal Work.
8 Three Alchemical Principles. Sulphur (principle of volatility and will, represented in the Emotional Center), Salt (principle of inertia, earthy vehicle-vessel containing the other two principles; represented in the Physical or Moving-Instinctive Center), and Mercury (principle of reconciliation represented in the Intellectual Center.) The quality of Mercury reconciles the opposites of Sulphur and Salt and serves as mediator between the firey volatility of Sulphur and the earthy fixity of Salt, initiating the potential for further conscious development.
9 Four Archetypal Substance-Energies. Components or phases of energy manifestation found in infinite various combinations in all material substances, represented symbolically as Earth (pure solidity or fixity), Water (pure liquidity), Air (pure vaporousness), Fire (pure volatility.) In Esoteric Psychology, these symbols are correlated with various strata of the practitioner's inner Centers: Earth with the Instinctive Center, Water with the Emotional Center, Air with the Intellectual Center, and Fire with the Moving Center. When the Instinctive-Moving Centers are considered as a single Center (sometimes called simply the Physical Center), Fire is correlated to the Will. Three of these factors (Fire, Air, and Water) also function as media conveying influence of the practitioner's Essence from Higher Centers to the interior depths of being (Earth.)
10 Quintessence. The Fifth Essence, occultly inherent in the four elements and the prima materia but separable from them when properly purified by subjection to the various alchemical operations. A constituent of the Philosopher's Stone, instantiating a verific unity synthesizing the Four Elements and the Three Principles in an ultimate conscious reconciliation.
11 Vitriol. Ancient alchemical formula, a Latin anagram for Visita Interiora Terrae, Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem: Visit the interior of the Earth, purify the Hidden Stone found therein. This formula is a crucial key to the Great Work of Esoteric Alchemy, encapsulating the essential aim of the Work: Learn how to contact one's Higher Centers and engage the precise, lengthy work of purifying them in order to discover the Real “I” therein.
12 Aurum habere ut aurum fiat. Literally, “one must have gold to make gold.” Implies that the alchemical practioner must first discover and consciously comprehend that interior seed, the quantum of initial primal substance-force inherent in one's own nature, in order to develop it to higher stages. A related alchemical aphorism states that “our gold is produced through our Art by eliminating superfluities and impurities.”
13 “IAO” (Ignis, Aurum, et Ora.) Represents three fundamental psychological concepts required for active and successful alchemical operations: Fire (inner friction, will, intellection), Gold (a modicum of pure personal essence) and Prayer (contemplation, meditation, invocation.)
Octave of Alchemical Transmutation
I. Nigredo: Black Phase
Initial dark, impure, alloyed condition; symbolized by the Raven. At the onset of operations, the Phial (Vial or personal Vessel) must be hermetically sealed against unwanted external influences so that the interior process may begin, analogously to the practitioner limiting external distractions to prevent loss of personal energy.
1 Calcination (Incineration): Saturn, Aries, lead
2 Dissolution (Solution): Jupiter, Cancer, tin
II. Albedo: White Phase
Subsequent
transformative phase; begins at darkest point of the black phase, at
the most intense point of “conscious labor and intentional
suffering” (in Fourth Way terminology); symbolized by the Swan.
3 Separation: Mars, Scorpio, iron
4 Conjunction (Congelation): Venus, Taurus, copper
III. Rubedo: Red Phase
Continuation of the purification process of White phase, resulting in progressively finer distillation of the contents of consciousness to progressively higher gradations. Symbolized by the Pelican; also represented by the Red King and White Queen.
5
Fermentation (Digestion): Mercury, Capricorn
6 Distillation (Sublimation): Moon, Virgo, silver
7 Coagulation (Recombination): Sun, Libra, gold
Effects of Each Stage
1
Contraction, discipline, potential
2
Expansion, initial development
3
Assertiveness, active force
4
Receptiveness, passive force
5
Transformation, light, mind, androgyny
6
Purification, subconscious, body-soul
7
End Result, higher consciousness
Further details of each stage of the Octave
1 Contraction is the initial operation of the entire process, entailing a focus of attention and force to enable the potential for transmutation and transformation, and entailing a constraining discipline of study and practice before any further, more advanced work can be undertaken.
2 Expansion is the second, opposing phase, where established personal discipline awakens recognition of the freedom and capacity to continue.
3 Separation is the first operation of the White phase, involving isolation and removal of remnants of the Black phase from the impure (alloyed) environment or matrix.
4 Conjunction is the second operation of the White phase to recombine purified essences of the Black phase into a new compound and a higher manifestation.
5 Fermentation is the first operation of the Red phase to revive static, fixed, unconscious material remnants of putrefaction. At its completion occurs the phenomenon of the “Peacock's Tail” representing the threshold of transition from this stage.
6 Distillation or Sublimation is the second operation of the Red phase, which purifies and concentrates the essences of fermentation (the Eagle) into progressively higher gradations of consciousness and awareness.
7
Coagulation or Recombination is the final operation, which produces
the Philosopher's Stone (Real I, Objective Consciousness);
represented by the Phoenix, the bird which periodically immolates its
old self (features of which have degenerated into fixed
mechanicalness and automaticity) in a self-generated fire or inner
heat of transformation, to be reborn in progressively higher form at
a higher gradation of consciousness.
Alternate
Sequences
Throughout its history, Alchemy has ever been a complex and manifold phenomenon practiced by diverse adepts in many different historical and cultural contexts, and thus there is no one single orthodox or universally accepted sequence of operations beyond the broadest outlines given herein.
In an alternate version of the alchemical tradition a fourth phase, Citrinitas (Yellow phase) occurs at the end of the White phase as that phase nears its culmination, manifesting a transitory phenomenon of light or “Golden Dawn” energy, a form of “influence from Above,” from one's own dormant Higher Centers, heralding the onset of the ultimate Red phase.
An expanded sequence of phases used by some alchemists expresses a quintuple division of major categories, adding a Green phase (Virido or Viriditas) to represent an early, still immature development in the transition between the White and the Red phases, and a final Gold phase (Aurumitas or Chrysos) which sets the final result (the Philosopher's Stone) apart from the Red phase for special concentrated focus.
If the Citrinitas (Yellow) phase is added to augment this fivefold sequence of phases, it should be inserted after the Green phase, as it heralds the onset of the ripe Red phase.
Thus, the expanded sixfold sequence is schematized as follows:
1
Nigredo (Decomposition of First Matter)
2
Albedo (Partially refined state of First Matter)
3
Virido (Early manifestations of development)
4
Citrinitas (Transitory light manifestation)
5
Rubedo (Maturity and ripeness of material)
6
Aurumitas (Final result, Philosopher's Stone.)
In this expanded sixfold sequence, the phases divide symmetrically into two groups of three (1-2-3 and 4-5-6), instantiating another representation of the Threefold Law interwoven with the Law of Opposition. In this schematization, the final three phases are interpreted as a higher reflection of the first three phases, and are a second operation of the Law of Three.
Key Tools and Terms
All alchemical tools are employed on both a literal, mundane level as actual physical implements for purposes of mundane “chymistry” and also as analogues and symbols of the practitioner's internal transformation and esoteric working process. Although it is feasible for a purely Esoteric practitioner to work with these tools on an exclusively interior or symbolic level, more substantive results are to be expected when actual tools are used in tandem with correct processes. Such embodied use anchors the practitioner's interior Work to exterior realities and takes full advantage of the Hermetic axiom asserting the interdependence of interior and exterior phenomena.
Fuel. A key component of all Alchemical working, often wrongly overlooked; without access to and proper use of the correct sort of fuel for a given process no consistent or reliable results can be expected.
Esoterically, fuel for interior work relates to the three “foods” used by what has been called the practitioner's “three-story factory”: literal and correct foods for sustenance and energization of the physical body (Moving-Instinctive Center), correctly managed and oriented emotions for the Emotional Center, and sensory impressions (including sound such as mantras and invocations, and proper imagery such as symbols and glyphs) for the Intellectual Center.
Exoterically, on the mundane physical level, alchemists traditionally used wood or charcoal for their furnaces, though various types of flammable oils were also used, with varying symbolic associations depending on the ingredients involved (type of wood or oil.)
Athanor. A specially designed alchemical furnace designed to provide uniform heating within a hermetically sealed environment. Esoterically, the practitioner's holistically conceived body-mind apparatus or “common planetary presence” (in Esoteric terminology), within which the entire alchemical endeavor and ultimately the Magnum Opus are instantiated. Like the exoteric furnace itself, it requires both proper fuel (the “three foods” for body, emotions, and intellect) and application of inner heat (“conscious labor and voluntary suffering” in Gurdjieffian terminology.)
Brazier. Open-topped bowl or other container in which to burn a solid fuel (most commonly charcoal), generally made of metal. Unlike the Athanor it is not hermetically sealed and may play a subsidiary role in alchemical workings, often used for burning incense or in other applications where allowing smoke or heat to escape into the air is desired.
Crucible. Open container for melting materials at high temperatures, usually made of clay or other heat-resistant ceramics. Often used for melting of metals and separating ore from a matrix. Requires application of heat from another source beneath it. In the operation of “cementation,” a closed crucible is used to contain the escaping vapors so that they may react with the other material in the vessel.
Mortar and Pestle. Bowl and rod for grinding dry materials into powder form for further operations.
Alembic.
Two-part distilling apparatus or beaker, with a heating vessel placed
underneath the still.
Retort.
Combined heating and condensation still.
Ergasterion. Literally “work place,” the practitioner's personal temple of operations. May be used for non-alchemical, general Esoteric work as well as specifically alchemical operations.
Oratory. Literally “prayer space,” a dedicated space for Esoteric work, ritual, and contemplation.
Laboratory. Dedicated space for mundane, physico-chemical operations.
Alchemeion. Dedicated space for alchemical work which may include within it the Ergasterion, Oratory, and/or the Laboratory. Usage of these terms varies among different historical authorities, and sometimes various terms seem to be used interchangeably.
Israel
Regardie on Alchemy
From Regardie's The Philosopher's Stone (Llewellyn 2013.) Parenthetical clarifications added.
The alchemist is a type of Esoteric Magician who acts as the subject of his own experiments, separating and analyzing various parts of the holistic self (Persona, Essence, Centers) in order to understand their nature and origin so that after lengthy and elaborate work they may be properly purified and recombined in renewed, higher form.
The basis is a process of solve et coagula, Separation and Reassembly, whereby the three alchemical Principles (Salt, Sulphur, Mercury) are separated from the First Matter, refined, and recombined in a more perfected state within the Alchemist. Through dissolution, crystallization of consciousness is broken into its component parts, and from this resultant its fundamental elements are reassembled on a new basis.
After separation, subjected to heat and light (inner friction and intentional directed suffering), the material is stimulated into further growth whereby it may exert its own essential nature and power by reformulating the vehicles through which it acts. The formulation of the Philosopher's Stone allegorically means consciously reorganizing the material of life in order to manifest Essence.
The process of psychic integration is continuous and recurring; the three stages of theurgic integration (purification, consecration, union) recur repeatedly on a variety of levels throughout one's lifetime.
Alchemists assert that benefit may come to those who merely study their writings; by assimilating the word of their wisdom, one awakens a reflection of the Magnum Opus, the Great Work.
Role
of Heat and Fire
“In the sealed Alembic of your Heart, through the action of the firey Athanor of affliction, may you come to behold the Stone of the Wise.”
(from the Golden Dawn Adeptus Minor ceremony.)
The application of consistent, controlled, and directed heat by means of the action of fire is a fundamentally critical operation in Alchemy. The effect of heat generated within the alchemical Athanor (furnace) and applied to the Alembic (hermetically sealed vessel) is allegorized on the level of Esoteric psychology with the positive effects of physical and emotional “friction,” referring to conscious effort, arduous work, and intentional beneficial suffering as explicated in Fourth Way teachings (see chapter on Esoteric Magickal Work elsewhere in this book.)
This interior fire must first be properly ignited and regularly stoked, then consciously applied to the practitioner's holistic self. This emergent, compound self is constituted of the various inner Centers (Physical, Emotional, and Intellectual Centers, along with minor subsidiary centers) and it functions allegorically as the alchemical “hermetically sealed vessel” of the work in progress. At length, the key effect of this operation is to dissolve the mechanically accumulated crystallization of the practitioner's False Persona, reducing its detritus to “black ash” in the phase of calcination or carbonization (symbolized by the glyph of Saturn) so that the further successive operations of purification and distillation may take place unimpeded. In terms of Esoteric Magickal Work, the success of each successive operation acts in the fashion of the application of a correctly applied Interval Shock or external influence upon the given material involved.
In the psychic realm, the interior heat and fire represents both the pure force expressed by the Emotional Center and the analytically reductive activity expressed by the Intellectual Center. These two key Centers must operate in tandem, in different degrees in different contexts, for successful results in the transmutation of the First Matter into the Philosopher's Stone.
The heating effect of this conscious fire entails an intensifying of the alchemical practitioner's consciousness which serves to awaken and separate out higher, interior factors and qualities from an alloyed ore of mixed, chaotic, fragmentary and conflicting components. By this means, a higher being-body is constructed by the force of influences from the Higher Emotional and Higher Intellectual Centers which is at length precipitated and condensed within the practitioner. The Philosopher's Stone is thus gradually crystallized through repeated application of the operation.
The interior, esoteric Furnace (Athanor) is initially heated by the alchemist's repeated practice of withdrawing attention from exterior distractions and focusing attention inwardly. Here, the Fire itself represents the act of redirecting attention to interior phenomena and processes, upon the contents of the practitioner's consciousness and unconsciousness by rigorous, disciplined contemplation, meditation, and invocation of Magickal formulae. The psychic contents of consciousness serve as the fuel to be calcinated (carbonized) by the heat of the attention within the hermetically sealed Alembic vessel of the adept such that the further progressive operations of purification and distillation may properly take place, as noted earlier.
Success in the Great Work entails true transmutation of the self and development of one's Essence toward higher gradations of Objective Conscience and Consciousness, and requires both interior and exterior friction to gradually transmute the practitioner. In terms of Esoteric Magickal Work, as previously described, this external heat is analogous to an Interval Shock or Influence from Above, an unpredictable cosmic force that can catalyze further growth if it is recognized as such and if the practitioner possesses the knowledge, capacity, and will to properly make use of it. Practices such as Alchemy and other forms of Esoteric Magickal Work provide one with the necessary qualities to open oneself to Higher Influences and to make productive use of them when they appear.
Solve
and Coagula Formula
The first half of this formula, represented in the Black phase (Nigredo) of the Octave of Alchemy, refers to an analytical process, a dissolution and decoction of the First Matter and discharging of its impurities as the alchemist's mechanical crystallization is gradually broken down and separated from the inner Essence. The elements in their naturally found state must be analyzed (divided) because they are chaotically adulterated and alloyed with each other; esoterically, this represents the practitioner's initial lack of true will or integrated Being. The dissolution can be experienced as a painful process, but is a necessary prerequisite for further progress in the Great Work.
The second half of this formula, represented in later phases of the Octave of Alchemy, is the opposite of the first half and pertains to the reconstruction, coagulation, and final fixation of the volatile results of the first process. Esoterically, this means that after successful completion of the dissolution process, the practitioner must reassemble the elements of his Being on a renewed, integrated pattern for further development.
The analytical method is employed to induce dissolution of crystallized conceptual automaticities in the practitioner's consciousness in the energy of that consciousness itself, by immersing such impure crystallizations in the energetic matrix from which they originally emerged. This extended process of dissolution decrystallizes mechanicalities and makes their useful, purified constituents available for further work. Freed and purified at length, the Essence gradually reforms itself by means of what modern scientists call (in a more mundane physical context) a process of complex adaptive autocatalysis, or what the ancient alchemists would have known as autopoesis (self-creation.)
This deliberate breaking-down of crystallized constituents of the personal sphere also has the property of spontaneously releasing the force latently entrapped in them. This is a process akin to psychological sublimation, which effectuates the transfer of force from a grosser, superficial, or dysfunctional level to a more subtle, profound, and constructively creative interior level.
The
Philosopher's Stone
In strictly alchemical terms, the Philosopher's Stone represents the union of Mercury (consciousness) and Sulphur (will) with Salt (the planetary or earthly physical form) as their basis or vessel-vehicle. In terms of Esoteric Magickal Work, the purified Stone represents several different concepts such as Objective Consciousness or “Real I,” and is produced after the successful accomplishment of the various operations of the Alchemical Octave as outlined above. The Stone is a core constituent of the Higher Emotional and Intellectual Centers, as it already contains these principles in latent but alloyed form.
Production of the Stone is a process analogous on the Microcosmic scale to the formation of the Cosmos out of an eternally preexistent chaos (prima materia, protohyle) on the Macrocosmic scale. This process is grounded in the Hermetic axiom of multidimensional fractality, by which the Macrocosmos is duplicated in the Microcosmos by the effective operations of the Alchemist or Magician. In this fashion, Alchemy recreates within the practitioner the phenomena of creation and evolution manifesting on the cosmic scale.
In additional to actual material operations, alchemical work also requires intensive regular study and contemplation of its Esoteric principles based on a rational framework. Alchemy, like other Esoteric Magickal Work, is distinguished from exoteric spiritual systems in that it necessitates a combination of systematic rational inquiry as well as nonrational methods of inquiry to fully develop the practitioner's knowledge and understanding of the teachings in a harmonious, holistic manner.
(END)
