Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts Part 9

Ephesians II, 14 ff.: "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of part.i.tion between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto G.o.d in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby."

If we note the two contraries that are to be united according to the procedure of the hermetic philosophers with [Symbol: Sun] and [Symbol: Moon] [sun and moon, gold and silver, etc.] and represent them united with the cross [Symbol: +] we get [Symbol: Mercury with a sun]; i.e., [Symbol: Mercury], the symbol of mercury. This ideogram conceals the concept, Easter. All these ideas, as we know, did not originate with Christianity.

II Corinthians V, 1: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of G.o.d, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

John VII, 38: "He that believeth on me ... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

I mention right here that the hermetic philosophers do not pursue speculative theology, but that, as is clearly evident from their writings, they made the content of the religious doctrine a part of their life. That was their work, a work of mysticism. Everything that the reader is inclined to conceive in the pa.s.sages above, as probably belonging merely to the other life, they as Mystics, sought to represent to themselves on earth, though without prejudice to the hope of a life beyond. I presume that they therefore speak of two stones, a celestial and a terrestrial.

The celestial stone is the eternal blessedness and, as far as the Christian world of ideas is considered, is Christ, who has aided mankind to attain it. The terrestrial stone is the mystical Christ whom each may cause to be crucified and resurrected in himself, whereby he attains a kingdom of heaven on earth with those peculiar qualities that have been allegorically attributed to the philosopher's stone. Therefore the terrestrial stone is called a reflection of the celestial and so it is said that from lead, etc., the stone may be easily produced and "in a short time," i.e., not only after death.

At any rate in primitive symbolism there seems to be a religious idea at the bottom of the recommendation to use the sputum lunae (moon spittle) or sperm astrale (star s.e.m.e.n), star mucus, in short of an efflux from the world of light above us, as first material for the work of our illumination. [In many alchemistic recipes such things are recommended.

Misunderstanding led to a so-called shooting star substance being eagerly hunted for. What was found and thought to be star mucus was a gelatinous plant.] So it is in this pa.s.sage from John IX, 5, ff.: "As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world. When he [Jesus] had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam [which is by interpretation: Sent]. He went his way, therefore, washed, and came seeing." The transference of a virtue by the receiving of a secretion is a quite common primitive idea.

As Michael Maier (Symbola Aureae Mensae Lib. XI) informs us, Melchior Cibinensis, a Hungarian priest, expressed the secrets of the forbidden art in the holy form of the Ma.s.s. For as birth, life, exaltation, suffering in fire and then death were, as it were, ascribed to the Philosopher's Stone in black and gloomy colors, and finally resurrection and life in red and other beautiful colors, so he compared his preparation with the work of the salvation of man (and the "terrestrial" stone with the "celestial"

stone), namely, with the birth, life, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ. (Hohler, Herm. Phil., p. 156.) The making of the Philosopher's Stone is, so to speak, the Imitation of Christ.

Hitchc.o.c.k (H. A., p. 143) believes that Irenaeus Philaletha has clearly alluded in a pa.s.sage of his writings to the two mental processes, a.n.a.lysis and synthesis, which lead to the same end. "To seek the unity through Sol, I take it, is to employ the intellect upon the Idea of Unity, by a.n.a.lysis that terminates in the parts; whereas to study upon Mercury, here used for nature at large, is to work synthetically, and by combining the parts, reach an idea of the unity. The two lead to the same thing, beginning as it were from opposite extremes; for the a.n.a.lysis of any one thing, completely made, must terminate in the parts, while the parts, upon a synthetical construction, must reproduce the unity. One of the two ways indicated by Irenaeus is spoken of as a herculean labor, which I suppose to be the second, the reconstruction of a unity by a recombination of the parts, which in respect to nature is undoubtedly a herculean undertaking.

The more hopeful method is by meditation, etc."

Some of the writers tell us to put "one of the bodies into the alembic,"

that is to say, take the soul into the thought or study and apply the fire (of intellect) to it, until it "goes over" into spirit. Then, "putting this by for use," put in "the other body," which is to be subjected to a similar trial until it "goes over" also; after which the two may be united, being found essentially or substantially the same.

The two methods of which Irenaeus speaks are also called in alchemy (with reference to chemical procedures) the wet and the dry ways. The wet way is that which leads to unity through mental elaboration. The philosophy of the Indian didactic poetry Bhagavad-Gita also knows the two ways and calls them Samkhya and Yoga.

"Thinking (Samkhya) and devotion (Yoga) separate only fools, but not the wise.

Whoever consecrates himself only to the One, gets both fruits.

Through thinking and through devotion the same point is reached, Thinking and devotion are only One, who knows that, knows rightly."

Bh-G. V. 4ff.

"Samkhya" and "Yoga" have later been elaborated into whole philosophical systems. Originally, however, they are merely "different methods of arriving at the same end, namely the attainment of the Atman [all spirit]

which on the one hand is spread out as the whole infinite universe and on the other is to be completely and wholly found in the inner life. In the first sense Atman can be gained by meditation on the multiplex phenomena of the universe and their essential unity, and this meditation is called Samkhya [from sam + khya, reflection, meditation]; on the other hand, Atman is attainable by retirement from the outer world and concentration upon one's own inner world and this concentration is called Yoga."

(Deussen, Allg. Gesch. d. Phil., I, 3, p. 15.)

For the practice of alchemy a moral behavior is required, which is hardly necessary as a precondition of merely chemical work. The disciple of the art is to free his character, according to the directions of the masters from all bad habits, especially to abjure pride, is diligently to devote himself to prayer, perform works of love, etc.; no one is to direct his senses to this study if he has not previously purified his heart, renounced the love of worldly things, and surrendered himself completely to G.o.d. (Hohler, Herm. Phil., pp. 62 ff.)

The sloppers, who strive to make gold in a chemical laboratory often waste in it their entire estate. The adepts, however, a.s.sure us that even a poor man can obtain the stone; many, indeed, say the poor have a better materia than the rich. Rom. II, 11: "For there is no respect of persons with G.o.d."

Matth. XIX, 24: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of G.o.d." The alchemist Khunrath says somewhere, the cost of making gold amounts to thirty dollars; we understand this when we remember that Jesus was sold for thirty pence.

Ruland (Lex., p. 26) defines alchemy very finely: [In reference to Tab.

Smar., 9] "Alchemy is the separation of the impure from a purer substance." This is quite as true of the chemical as of the spiritual alchemy.

Why the hermetic philosophers write not literally but in figures may be accounted for in several ways. We should first of all remember that because of their free doctrine, which was indeed not at variance with true Christianity but with the narrow-minded church, they had to fear the persecution of the latter, and that for this reason they veiled their teachings. Hitchc.o.c.k notices also a further point. The alchemists often declare that the knowledge of their secret is dangerous (for the generality of people). It appears that they did not deem that the time was ripe for a religion that was based more on ideal requirements, on moral freedom, than on fear of h.e.l.l fire, expectation of rewards and on externally visible marks and pledges. Besides we shall see later that a really clear language is in the nature of things neither possible nor from an educational point of view to be recommended.

Still the mystical purpose of the authors of those times when the precautionary measures were not necessary appears clearer under the alchemistic clothing, although no general rule applying to it can be set forth. Other reasons, e.g., intellectual and conventional ones, influenced them to retain the symbolism.

Very clearly mystical are the writings of a number of hermetic artists, who are permeated by the spiritual doctrine of Jacob Boehme. This theosophist makes such full use of the alchemistic symbolism, that we find it wherever we open his writings. I will not even begin to quote him, but will only call the reader's attention to his brief and beautifully thoughtful description of the mystical process of moral perfection, which stands as "Processus" at the end of the 5th chapter of his book, "De Signatura Rerum." (Ausg., Gichtel Col., 2218 f.)

An anonymous author who has absorbed much of the "Philosophicus Teutonicus," wrote the book, "Amor Proximi," much valued by the amateurs of the high art. It does not require great penetration to recognize this pious manual, clothed throughout in alchemistic garments, as a mystical work. The same is true of the formerly famous "Wa.s.serstein der Weisen"

(1st ed. appeared 1619), and similar books. Here are some ill.u.s.trative pages from "Amor Proximi":

"This [Symbol: water] [[Symbol: water] of life] is now the creature not foreign or external but most intimate in every one, although hidden....

See Christ is not outside of us, but intimately within us, although hidden." (P. 32.)

"Whoever is to work out a thing practically must first have a fundamental knowledge of a thing; in order that man shall macrocosmically and magically work out the image of G.o.d, all G.o.d's kingdom, in himself; he must have its right knowledge in himself...." (P. 29.)

"Christ is the great Universal; [The Grand Mastery is also called by the alchemists the 'universal'; it tinctures all metals to gold and heals all diseases (universal medicine); there is a somewhat more circ.u.mscribed 'particular,' which tinctures only a special metal and cures only single diseases.] who says: 'Whoever will follow me and be my disciple (i.e., a particular or member of my body), let him take up his [Symbol: cross] and follow me.' Thus one sees that all who desire to be members of the great universal must each partake according to the measure of his suffering and development as small specific remedies." (Pp. 168 ff.)

"Paracelsus, the monarch of Arcana, says that the stars as well as the light of grace, nowhere work more willingly than in a fasting, pure, and free heart. As it is naturally true that the coa.r.s.e sand and ashes cannot be illumined by the sun, so the SUN of righteousness cannot illumine the old Adam. It is then that the sand and ashes [the old Adam] are melted in the [Symbol: fire] [of the [Symbol: cross]] again and again, that a pure gla.s.s [a newborn man] is made of it; so the [Symbol: gold/sol] can easily shoot its rays into and through it and therefore illumine it and reveal the wonder of its wisdom. So man must be recast in [Symbol: cross]

[Symbol: fire] [cross-fire], so that the rays of both lights can penetrate him; otherwise no one will become a wise man." (P. 96 ff.)

Beautiful expositions of alchemy that readily make manifest the mystical content are found also in the English theosophists Pordage and his followers, in particular Jane Leade (both 17th century). Their language is clearer and more lucid than Jacob Boehme's. Many pa.s.sages appropriate to this topic might be here cited; but as I shall later take up Leade more fully, I quote only one pa.s.sage from Pordage (Sophia, p. 23):

"Accordingly and so that I should arrive at a fundamental and complete cleansing from all tares and earthiness ... I gave over my will entirely to its [wisdom's] fiery smelting furnace as to a fire of purification, till all my vain and chaff-like desires and the tares of earthly l.u.s.t had been burnt away as by fire, and all my iron, tin and dross had been entirely melted in this furnace, so that I appeared in spirit as a pure gold, and could see a new heaven and a new earth created and formed within me."

Out of all this, taken in conjunction with the following chapter, it will be evident and beyond question that our Parable must also be interpreted as a mystical introduction.

Section IV.

Rosicrucianism And Freemasonry.

The previous chapter has shown that there was a higher alchemy-it was furthermore regarded as the true alchemy-which has the same relation to practical chemistry that freemasonry has to practical masonry. A prominent chemist who had entered into the history of chemistry and that of freemasonry once wrote to me: "Whoever desires to make a chemical preparation according to a hermetic recipe seems to me like a person who undertakes to build a house according to the ritual of Freemasonry."

The similarity is not a chance one. Both external and internal relations between alchemy and freemasonry are worthy of notice. The connection is partly through rosicrucianism. Since the Parable, which shall still be the center of our study, belongs to rosicrucian literature (and indeed is probably a later development of it), it is fitting here to examine who and what the Rosicrucians really were. We cannot, of course, go into a thorough discussion of this unusually complex subject. We shall mention only what is necessary to our purpose. I shall not, however, be partial, but treat of both the parties which are diametrically opposed in their views of the problems of rosicrucian history. It will be shown that this disagreement fortunately has but small influence upon our problem and that therefore we are relieved of the difficult task of reaching a conclusion and of bringing historical proof for a decision which experienced specialists-of whom I am not one-have so signally failed to reach.

Rosicrucians are divided into those of three periods, the old, who are connected by the two chief writings, "Fama" and "Confessio," that appeared at the beginning of the 17th century; the middle, which apparently represents a degeneration of the original idealistic league, and finally, the gold crossers and rose crossers, who for a time during the 18th century developed greater power. The last Rosicrucians broke into freemasonry for a while (in the second half of the eighteenth century) in a manner almost catastrophic for continental masonry, yet I observe in antic.i.p.ation that this kind of rosicrucian expansion is not immediately concerned with the question as to the original relation of freemasonry and rosicrucianism. We must know how to distinguish the excrescence from the real idea. Rosicrucianism died out at the beginning of the 19th century.

The rosicrucian degrees that still exist in many systems of freemasonry (as Knight of the Red Cross, etc.) are historical relics. Those who now parade as rosicrucians are imposters or imposed on, or societies that have used rosicrucian names as a label.

Many serious scholars doubt that the old Rosicrucians ever existed as an organized fraternity. I refer to the article Rosenkreuz in the "Handbuch der Freimaurerei" (Lenning), where this skeptical view is dominant. Other authors, on the contrary, believe in the existence of the old order and think that the freemasons who appeared in their present form in 1717 are the rosicrucians persisting, but with changed name. Joh. Gottl. Buhle, a contemporary of Nicolai, had already a.s.sumed that the rosicrucian Michael Maier introduced rosicrucianism into England, and that freemasonry began then especially with the cooperation of the Englishman Robert Fludd (1574-1637). Ferdinand Katsch warmly defended the actual existence of the old rosicrucian fraternity with arguments, some of which are disputed. He names with certainty a number of people as "true rosicrucians," among them Julia.n.u.s de Campis, Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, Frisius or Frizius, Comenius (Katch, p. 33). Rosicrucianism turned into freemasonry for practical reasons. As the most outstanding imposters represented themselves as rosicrucians this name was not conserved. The wrong was prevented, in that the true rosicrucians withdrew as such and a.s.sumed a different dress.

Generally we imagine a different origin of freemasonry. We are accustomed to look for its beginnings in practical masonry, whose lodges can be traced back to the fourteenth century. The old unions of house builders were joined by persons who were not actual workers but lay members, through whom spiritual power was added to the lodges. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the old working masonry was transformed into the spiritual symbolical freemasonry, but with a continuance of its forms. At that time in London the building lodges had diminished to four. These were united on June 24 (St. John's Day), 1717, and chose Anton Sayer for their grand master. That is the origin of Freemasonry as it exists to-day.

This derivation is and will be considered unsatisfactory by many, however much it may satisfy the merely doc.u.mentary claims. The attempt to make it better required an inventive phantasy and this was not always fortunate in its attempts. The rosicrucian theory cannot be dismissed off hand, especially if we conceive it in a somewhat broader sense. In agreement with Katsch, Hohler (Herm. Phil., p. 6) recalls how generally people were occupied in the 16th and 17th centuries in the whole of western Europe with cabala, theosophy, magic (physics), astrology and alchemy, and indeed this held true of higher and lower social strata, scholars and laymen, ecclesiastic and secular. "The entire learned theology turned on cabala.

Medicine was based on theosophy and alchemy and the latter was supposed to be derived from theosophy and astrology." Hohler, in one respect, goes further than Katsch and conjectures: "Freemasonry had its roots in the chemical societies of the 16th and 17th centuries, in which all those things were fostered that const.i.tuted the science of that day." This theory is incomparably more open to discussion than if one attempts to confine the origin to the insecure base of rosicrucianism. We shall learn to appreciate more fully the significance of the chemical societies.

In connection with the question, important for us, as to the position of the alchemy of the rosicrucians (whether they lived only in books or as an actual brotherhood), it is worth while to glance at the literature.

Joachin Frizius, whom some think identical with Fludd, writes in the "Summum Bonum, quod est verum Magiae, Cabalae, Alchymiae, verae Fratrum Roseae Crucis verorum subjectum" (first published in Frankfort, 1629):

"Aben (???) means a stone. In this one cabbalistic stone we have the Father, Son and Holy Ghost ... for in Hebrew Ab (??) means Father and Ben (??) Son. But where the Father and Son are present there the Holy Ghost must be also.... Let us now examine this Stone as the foundation of the macrocosm.... Therefore the patriarch Jacob spake, 'How dreadful is this place. This is none other but the house of G.o.d,' and rose up and took the stone that he had put for his pillow and poured oil upon the top of it, and said, 'This stone that I have set for a pillar shall be G.o.d's house, etc.' If therefore a G.o.d's house, then G.o.d is in that place or else his earthly substance. Here it was that the patriarch, as he slept on this stone, conserved something divine and miraculous, through the power of that spirit-filled stone which in its corporeality is similar to the relation of the body to the soul. But the spiritual stone was Christ; but Christ is the eternal wisdom, in which as the scripture says are many mansions, which are undoubtedly distinguished on account of the different grades of grace and blessedness. For blessedness follows wisdom or knowledge, the higher and more we know the farther we go towards the G.o.dhead." (Summ. Bon., pp. 17 ff.)

"Thereupon it clearly appears who this macrocosmic Stone Aben ... really is, and that his fiery spirit is the foundation stone of all and given for all (sit lapis seu petra catholica atque universalis) ... which was laid in Zion as the true foundation, on which the prophets and the apostles as well have built, but which was also to the ignorant and wicked builders a stumbling block and bone of contention. This stone therefore is Christ who has become our Cornerstone...." (Summ. Bon., p. 19.) "If we consider now the stone Aben in its significance for the microcosmos ... we shall soon be sure that as a stone temple of G.o.d it can have no less value for every outer man in so far as the Holy Ghost also reserves a dwelling in him forever." (Summ. Bon., p. 20.)