Alchemy

Both Mithras, the Persian Redeemer, and Serapis, the Egyptian God the Earth, are symbolized by serpents coiled about their bodies. This remarkable drawing shows the good and evil principles of Persia—Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman—contending for the Egg of the Earth, which each is trying to wrench from the teeth of the other. MPH

A Card from the Mantegna Pack

Among the more curious examples of playing cards are those of the Mantegna deck. The 50 subjects composing the deck, each of which is represented by an appropriate figure, are: (1) A beggar; (2) A page; (3) A goldsmith; (4) A merchant; (5) A gentleman; (6) A knight; (7) The Doge; (8) A king; (9) An emperor; (10) The Pope; (11) Calliope; (12) Urania; (13) Terpsichore; (14) Erato; (15) Polyhymnia; (16) Thalia; (17) Melpomene; (18) Euterpe; (19) Clio; (20) Apollo; (21) Grammar; (22) Logic; (23) Rhetoric; (24) Geometry; (25) Arithmetic; (26) Music; (27) Poetry; (28) Philosophy; (29) Astrology; (30) Theology; (31) Astronomy; (32) Chronology; (33) Cosmogony; (34) Temperance; (35) Prudence; (36) Fortitude; (37) Justice; (38) Charity; (39) Hope; (40) Faith; (41) the Moon; (42) Mercury; (43) Venus; (44) the Sun; (45) Mars; (46) Jupiter; (47) Saturn; (48) the eighth Sphere; (49) the Primum Mobile; (50) the First Cause. The Kabbalistic significance of these cards is apparent, and it is possible that they have a direct analogy to the fifty gates of light referred to in Kabbalistic writings. MPH

The Symbols of Abraham the Jew

From Flammel’s Hieroglyphical Figures

Robert H. Fryar, in a footnote to his reprint of the Hieroglyphical Figures by Nicholas Flammel, says: "One thing which seems to prove the reality of this story beyond dispute, is, that this very book of ‘Abraham’ the Jew, with the annotations of ‘Flammel,’ who wrote from the instructions he received from this physician, was actually in the hands of Cardinal Richelieu, as Borel was told by the Count de Cabrines, who saw and examined it." MPH

The Leaves of Hermes Sacred Tree

Redrawn from an original manuscript dated 1577

In his Key to Alchemy, Samuel Norton divides into 14 parts the processes or states through which the alchemical substances pass until ready as medicines for plants, minerals, or men:
1. Solution, the act of passing from a gaseous or solid condition into one of liquidity.
2. Filtration, the mechanical separation of a liquid from the un-dissolved particles suspended in it.
3. Evaporation, the changing or converting from a liquid or solid state into a vaporous state with the aid of heat.
4. Distillation, an operation by which a volatile liquid may be separated from substances which it holds in solution.
5. Separation, the operation of disuniting or decomposing substances.
6. Rectification, the process of refining or purifying any substance by repeated distillation.
7. Calcination, the conversion into a power or calx by the action of heat; expulsion of the volatile substance from a matter.
8. Commixtion, the blending of different ingredients into one compound or mass.
9. Purification (through putrefaction), disintegration by spontaneous decomposition; decay by artificial means.
10. Inhibition, the process of holding back or restraining.
11. Fermentation, the conversion of organic substances into new compounds in the presence of a ferment.
12. Fixation, the act or process of ceasing to be a fluid and becoming firm; state of being fixed.
13. Multiplication, the act or process of multiplying or increasing in number; the state of being multiplied.
14. Projection, the process of transmuting the base metals into gold.

A Table of Mediaeval Alchemical Symbols

From Valentine’s The Last Will and Testament

Hermetics used the curious symbols shown in this rare table to represent various chemical elements and alchemical processes. The characters concealing effectually within their own forms the occult secrets regarding the spiritual nature of the metals and elements which they represent. In their allegories the alchemists also used human, animal, and plant emblems: sometimes weird composite figures, such as the dragon, the winged serpent, the unicorn, and the phoenix. In almost every case they symbolized gold as a king with a crown on his head and often with a scepter in his hand. Sometimes they depicted him with the face of the solar disc surrounded by rays. Silver was personified as a woman, whom they called the queen. She wore no crown but often stood upon a lunar crescent, much after the fashion of the Madonna. Mercury was typified as a youth with wings, often with two heads, carrying serpents or sometimes the caduceus. Lead they symbolized by an old man with a scythe in his hand; iron by a soldier dressed in armor. To aqua fortis was given the curious name "the ostrich’s stomach," and to the attainment of the "Great Work" they assigned the symbol of the phoenix sitting upon a nest of fire. The union of elements they symbolized by a marriage, the process of putrefaction by a skull, antimony by a dragon. MPH

The Key to Alchemy according to the Egyptians

From Kircher’s OEdipus AEgyptiacus

The priests of Egypt not only used the scarab as a symbol of regeneration but also discovered in its habits many analogies to the secret processes whereby base metals could be transmuted into gold. They saw in the egg of the scarab the seed of the metals, and the above figure shows the path of this seed through the various planetary bodies until, finally reaching the center, it is perfected and then returns again to its source. The words in the small spiral at the top read: "The spiral progress of the mundane spirit." After the scarab has wound its way around the spiral to the center of the lower part of the figure, it returns to the upper world along the path bearing the words: "Return of the spirit to the center of unity." MPH

The Invisible Magical Mountain

From Philalethes’ Lumen de Lumine

On page 24 of Lumen de Lumine, Eugenius Philalethes describes the magical mountain as follows: "This is that emblematical magical type, which Thalia delivered to me in the invisible Guiana. The first and superior part of it represents the Mountains of the Moon. The philosophers commonly call them the Mountains of India, on whose tops grows their secret and famous Lunaria. It is an herb easy to be found, but [for the fact] that men are blind, for it discovers itself and shines after night like pearl. The earth of these mountains is very red and soft beyond all expression. It is full of crystalline rocks, which the philosophers call their glass and their stone: birds and fish (say they) bring it to them. Of these mountains speaks Hali the Arabian, a most excellent judicious author: ‘Go, my son, to the Mountains of India, and to their quarries or caverns, and take thence our precious stones, which dissolve or melt in water, when they are mingled therewith. Much indeed might be spoken concerning these mountains, if it were lawful to publish their mysteries, but one thing I shall not forbear to tell you. They are very dangerous places after night, for they are haunted with fires and other strange apparitions, occasioned (as I am told by the Magi) by certain spirits, which dabble lasciviously with the sperm of the world and imprint their imaginations in, producing many times fantastic and monstrous generations. The access and pilgrimage to this place, with the difficulties which attend them, are faithfully and magisterially described by the Brothers of R.C." (See accompanying letter.) MPH

Key to the Great Philosophical Secret

From Ashmole’s Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum

This plate, which is the key to mystic Christian alchemy, is missing from almost every copy of the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, a work compiled by Elias Ashmole and containing about a score of pieces by English poets treating of the Philosopher’s Stone and the Hermetic mysteries.
In view of the consistent manner in which the plate disappeared, it is possible that the diagram was purposely removed because it revealed too plainly the Rosicrucian arcana. Elias Ashmole’s plate shows the analogies between the life of Christ and the four grand divisions of the alchemical process. Herein is also revealed the teaching that the Philosopher’s Stone itself is a macrocosm and a microcosm, embodying the principles of astronomy and cosmogony, both universal and human. MPH

The Universe Created by the Dual Principle of Light and Darkness

From Fludd’s Philosophia Mosaica

The Supreme Deity is symbolized by the small globe at the top, which is divided into two hemispheres, the dark half representing the divine darkness with which the Deity surrounds Himself and which serves as His hiding place. The radiant hemisphere signifies the divine light which is in God and which, pouring forth, manifests as the objective creative power. The large dark globe to the left and beneath the dark half of the upper sphere signifies the potential darkness which was upon the face of the primordial deep and within which moved the Spirit of God. The light globe to the right is the Deity who is revealed out of the darkness. Here the shining Word has dissipated the shadows and a glorious universe has been formed. The divine power of this radiant globe is congnizable to man as the sun. The large central sphere divided horizontally into a light and a dark section represents the created universe partaking of the light and darkness which are in the nature of the Creator. The dark half represents the Deep, or Chaos, the Eternal Waters pouring forth out of the Deity; the light half, the power of God which animates the waters and establishes order in Chaos. The light half-circle containing the figure of Apollo represents the diurnal hemisphere of the world, which in the ancient Mysteries was ruled over by Apollo. The dark half-circle is the nocturnal hemisphere ruled over by Dionysius (Dionysos), whose figure is faintly visible in the gloom. MPH

An Alchemical Cryptogram

From Brown’s History of Chemistry

James Campbell Brown reprints a curious cipher from Kircher. The capital letters of the seven words in the outer circle, when read clockwise, form the word SVLPHVR. From the five words in the second circle, when read in a similar manner, is derived FIXVM. The capitals of the six words in the inner circle, when properly arranged, also read EST SOL. The following cipher is thus extracted: "Sulphur Fixum Est Sol," which when translated is: "Fixed sulphur is gold." MPH

An Alchemical Cryptogram

From Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer

Beginning with the word VISITA and reading clockwise, the seven initial letters of the seven words inscribed in the outer circle read: VITRIOL. This is a very simple alchemical enigma, but is a reminder that those studying works on alchemy should always be on the lookout for concealed meanings hidden either in parables and allegories or in cryptic arrangements of numbers, letters, and words. MPH

A Cryptic Depiction of Divine and Natural Justice

From Selenus’ Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiae

The first circle portrays the divine antecedents of justice, the second the universal scope of justice, and the third the results of human application of justice. Hence, the first circle deals with divine principles, the second circle with mundane affairs, and the third circle with man. On the throne at the top of the picture sits Themis, the presiding spirit of law, and at her feet three other queens—Juno, Minerva, and Venus—their robes ornamented with geometric figures. The axis of law connects the throne of divine justice above with the throne of human judgment at the bottom of the picture. Upon the latter throne is seated a queen with a scepter in her hand, before whom stands the winged goddess Nemesis—the angel of judgment.
The second circle is divided into three parts by two sets of two horizontal lines. The upper and light section is called the Supreme Region and is the abode of the gods, the good spirits, and the heroes. The lower and dark section is the abode of lust, sin, and ignorance. Between these two extremes is the larger section in which are blended the powers and impulses of both the superior and the inferior regions. In the third or inner circle is man, a tenfold creature, consisting of nine parts—three of spirit, three of intellect, and three of soul—enclosed within one constitution. According to Selenus, man’s three spiritual qualities are thought, speech, and action; his three intellectual qualities are memory, intelligence, and will; and his three qualities of soul are understanding, courage, and desire. The third circle is further divided into three parts called ages: the Golden Age of spiritual truth in the upper right section, the Iron Age of spiritual darkness in the lower right section, and the Bronze age—a composite of the two—occupying the entire left half of the inner circle and itself divided into three parts. The lowest division of the Bronze Age depicts ignorant man controlled by force, the central the partly awakened man controlled by jurisprudence, and the upper the spiritually illuminated man controlled by love. Both the second and third circles revolve upon the axis of law, but the divine source of law—Heavenly Justice—is concealed by clouds. MPH

The Mystery of the Macrocosm

Redrawn from Cesariano’s Edition of Vitruvius

Summarizing the relationship between the human body and the theory of architectonics, Vitruvius writes: "Since nature has designed the human body so that its members are duly proportioned to the frame as a whole, it appears that the ancients had good reason for their rule, that in perfect building the different members must be in exact symmetrical relations to the whole general scheme. Hence, while transmitting to us the proper arrangements for buildings of all kinds, they were particularly careful to do so in the case of temples of the gods, buildings in which merits and faults usually last forever. ...Therefore, if it is agreed that number was found out from the human fingers, and that there is a symmetrical correspondent between the members separately and the entire form of the body, in accordance with a certain part selected as standard, we can have nothing but respect for those who, in constructing temples of the immortal gods, have so arranged the members of the works that both the separate parts and the whole design may harmonize in their proportions and symmetry." MPH

The Mystery of the Microcosm

Redrawn from Cesariano’s Edition of Vitruvius

Herein is depicted the mysterious Word of Plato which was crucified in space before the foundation of the world. The anonymous author of the Canon writes: "The Logos or soul of the world, according to Plato, the Greek Hermes, and the Christ, according to the Christian Gnostics, are all one and the same as the Hebrew Adam Kadmon, who is the second person of the cabalistic triad. The Cyllenian Hermes, described by Hippolytus, so exactly resembles the lesser man found in Cesariano’s edition of Vitruvius, that they may be justifiably considered to be identical." After relating the figure to Dionysos because of the vine leaves wound in the hair, the same writer concludes: "Here we have clearly and distinctly a curious survival of the cosmic deity of Greece, copied and disfigured by the crude draughtsmen of the Middle Ages, but faithfully preserved, and recognizable to the last." Similar figures are to be found in Agrippa’s De Occulta Philosophia. Like Cesariano’s diagrams, however, the key given for their interpretation is most inadequate. Agrippa declares that, being a type of the lesser world, man contains in himself all numbers, measures, weights, motions, and elements. MPH

Jakob Böhme, the Teutonic Theosopher

From William Law’s Translation of The Works of Jakob Böhme

Jakob Böhme was born in the year 1575 in a village near Gorlitz, and died in Silesia in 1624. He had but little schooling and was apprenticed at an early age to a shoemaker. He later became a jouyrneyman shoemaker, married and had four children. One day while tending his master’s shoe shop, a mysterious stranger entered who, while he seemed to possess but little of this world’s goods, appeared to be most wise and noble in spiritual attainment. The stranger asked the price of a pair of shoes, but young Böhme did not dare to name a figure, for fear that he would displease his master. The stranger insisted and Böhme finally placed a valuation which he felt was all that his master possibly could hope to secure for the shoes. The stranger immediately bought them and departed. A short distance down the street the mysterious stranger stopped and cried out in a loud voice, "Jakob, Jakob, come forth." In amazement and fright, Böhme ran out of the house. The strange man fixed his eyes upon the youth—great eyes which sparkled and seemed filled with divine light. He took the boy’s right hand and addressed him as follows: "Jakob, thou art little but shall be great, and become another Man, such a one as at whom the World shall wonder. Therefore be pious, fear God, and reverence His Word. Read diligently the Holy Scriptures, wherein you have Comfort and Instruction. For thou must endure much Misery and Poverty, and suffer Persecution, but be courageous and persevere, for God loves, and is gracious to thee." Deeply impressed by the prediction, Böhme became ever more intense in his search for truth. At last his labors were rewarded. For seven days he remained in a mysterious condition during which time the mysteries of the invisible world were revealed to him. It has been said of Jakob Böhme that he revealed to all mankind the deepest secrets of alchemy. He died surrounded by his family, his last words being "Now I go hence into Paradise." MPH

The "Divine" Cagliostro

From Houdon’s Bust of Cagliostro

The Comte di Cagliostro is described as a man not overly tall, but square shouldered and deep of chest. His head, which was large, was abundantly covered with wavy black hair combed back from his broad and noble forehead. His eyes were black and very brilliant, and when he spoke with great feeling upon some profound subject the pupils dilated, his eyebrows rose, and he shook his head like a maned lion.
His hands and feet were small—an indication of noble birth—and his whole bearing was one of dignity and studiousness. He was filled with energy, and could accomplish a prodigious amount of work. He dressed somewhat fantastically, gave so freely from an inexhaustible purse that he received the title of "Father of the Poor," accepted nothing from anyone, and maintained himself in magnificence in a combined temple and palace in the Rue de la Sourdière. According to his own statement he was initiated into the Mysteries by none other than the Comte de St.-Germain. He had traveled through all parts of the world, and in the ruins of ancient Babylon and Nineveh had discovered wise men who understood all the secrets of human life. MPH

The Entrance to the House of the Mysteries

From Khunrath’s Amphitheatrum Sapientae, etc

This symbolic figure, representing the way to everlasting life, is described by Khunrath in substance as follows: "This is the portal of the amphitheater of the only true and eternal Wisdom—a narrow one, indeed, but sufficiently august, and consecrated to Jehovah. To this portal ascent is made by a mystic, indisputably prologetic, flight of steps, set before it as shown in the picture. It consists of seven theosophic, or, rather, philosophic steps of the Doctrine of the Faithful Sons. After ascending the steps, the path is along the way of God the Father, either directly by inspiration or by various mediate means. According to the seven oracular laws shining at the portal, those who are inspired divinely have the power to enter and with the eyes of the body and of the mind, of seeing, contemplating and investigating in a Christiano-Kabalistic, divino-magical, psysico-chemical manner, the nature of the Wisdom, Goodness, and Power of the Creator; to the end that they die not sophistically but live theosophically, and that the orthodox philosophers so created may with sincere philosophy expound the works of the Lord, and worthily praise God who has thus blessed these friends of God."