Alchemy (Magickal)

[Kirree]

Alchemy is a bridge between Earth and Heaven, matter and spirit, the solid and the fluid, the visible and the invisible, bringing the horizontal and the vertical together
- J. Ramsay

At the threshold of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the figure of the goddess of alchemy sits enthroned beneath the figure of Christ on the central pillar of the Porch of Judgment, her feet touching the ground, her head in the heavenly waters. In ancient cultures, the sky was associated with the waters of cosmic birth mother. In one hand, Alchemy holds a scepter, and in the other, two books - one closed, one open. Against her body rests a nine-runged ladder. You may have seen this image before: She is the High Priestess of the Tarot deck, who stands for mysteries revealed and closely guarded secrets. She is the goddess of initiation. She is the transformation of the soul. Alchemy is none other than the Greek Sophia, whose name means "wisdom," and who was worshiped by early Christians.

The Word

Some believe that its origin is Arabic: al kimia, sometimes translated as "the black soil art" or "the Egyptian art." This idea comes from the Egyptian word chem, meaning "black," and also the Greek word chyma, which describes the casting or fusing of metals. Others believe that the word is related to the Hebrew chamaman, which means "mystery" in the sense that something occult or secret is not easily revealed. Since we know ancient Egyptians, Greek, and Jews were involved in the practice of alchemy, any or all of these meanings could be correct. We also known that the idea of alchemy was present in ancient China before 2500 B.C., in India and in areas of the Far East. What all of this information tells us is that alchemy, like magick, was very much a part of the ancient world.

The History

There are two types of alchemy in the modern era, yet they are intricately related. The first kind of alchemy involves real science (think of the periodic table you learned about in school), which uses mathematical formulas and elements to create something interesting, like a chemical compound. In ancient times, the process of alchemy involved taking an element (a material thing like lead), purifying it, and then adding a bunch of stuff that turned the lead into something else entirely (like gold). It is thought that the early Chaldeans, Phoenicians, and Babylonians used this kind of science and did indeed manufacture real gold, but as we know with all things historical, there is always some debate, especially since our modern scientists have not admitted whether they have accomplished this fear or not. Some people believe that the ancients did discover how to turn a base metal (like lead) into gold, but that through history, the formula was lost. This type of alchemy, the science that studies elements and compounds, was practiced until the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the term "alchemy" was replaced by the word "chemistry." Historical references also indicate that some of the first and foremost alchemists were women, specifically a "priestess of Isis" who wrote on the subject; an early scholar calling herself Cleopatra; a woman named Theosebia; Mary of the Jewess (possible sister of Moses and sometimes called the Mother of Alchemy); and the female philosopher Hypatia (murdered in A.D. 415).

There were quite a few alchemists running around during the Middle Ages. Some sought science, some sought faith, and others just wanted the gold. Alchemists were attached to both churches and royal courts. Since the practice was expensive and time consuming, most of them went broke unless they were doing side jobs to indulge the royalty (like spying and other interesting activities). Many times, however, royalty were slow to reimburse for services or did not bother to pay their debts at all. Did anyone every turn metal into gold? Well, there is one that's a possibility. Nicholas Flamel (1330-1418) claimed he had done just that by following an ancient manuscript, supposedly written by Abramham Eleazar, which contained a number of fascinating but baffling illustrations with some obscure test, possibly Greek. What makes his claim more credible than any other is that not long after he reported his success, he became amazingly rich. So rich, in fact, that by the time he died, he had endowed fourteen hospitals, three chapels, and seven churches in Paris, France, alone, not to mention his work in Spain.

The second form of alchemy brings real magick into play, and I'm sure you've seen movies or read stories about wizards practicing alchemy. We call this kind of alchemy an esoteric study. Esoteric means "for the initiated only." So, an esoteric study is a course of learning for people who are required (at some point in the learning process) to experience a unique ceremony, and from this learning and ceremony find the divine truth meant only for them. Witchcraft often go through an initiation during their first year of study (depending on the group to which they belong) and, if they stick with it long enough, are transformed into better individuals because they have realized the divine truth as it is important to them.

Some people use the words divine alchemy to explain esoteric study. Divine alchemy comes from the Greek word dynamikos, meaning "energy in motion," which says that by using different techniques we can mix our mental abilities with the energy of Spirit (creating a special light/vibration) that affects matter and causes change in the physical world. In plain English it means using your belief in god/dess with your thoughts to change the world around you, and your certainty (faith) that the change is possible. Not exactly a religion in its own right, divine alchemy became a part of various mystery traditions over the ages (teachings that weren't given to just anybody), and traces of this kind of alchemy lured in secret societies. Moses, Roger Bacon, St. Germain, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Victor Hugo, to name a few, were all considered alchemists. Therefore, every magickal person who truly seeks to make themselves and the world a better place through their actions, studies, and thoughts is practicing a form of alchemy. You can tell how advanced they are by their actions and bearing - meaning that if they act like a jerk, are rude, or focus on hurting someone in thought, word, or deed, they are basically nothing but hot air masquerading as the real thing.

[Kirree]

Unlike today, with thousands of books flooding the market on how to mentally program yourself to reap the most benefits out of life, the alchemical symbols found in old manuscripts were not written to inform the world how to change thought into form. They were created to help initiates of secret societies focus on the spiritual realms by giving them a visual aid - think of magickal flash cards and you're on the right track. By meditating on the symbols and using them in ritual, the students learned how to be better people. This process of self-transformation was called the Great Work or Magnum Opus. The Great Work - your spiritual rebirth - has two part: learning to become a spiritual person, and then using what you have learned to effect change in the world. Modern Witchcraft is just such a process!

In the Craft you are expected to learn mastery over chaos (and it takes time). This chaos in alchemy is called prima materia, meaning "first matter." It is the essence from whence all things were born, and is the raw material from which you can create anything. It is the material of the mind. It is thought itself. If is the cosmic sea, the sub-quantum level. The second part of the Great Work involves taking that thought (or chaos) and fine-tuning it inward to create a pure body of light - your spiritual rebirth, from which you can transform yourself and the world around you. When a Witch Draws Down the Mood, he or she is taking part in an ancient alchemical ceremony geared to create change from within that will, in turn, change things without to match the Witch's desire. If the desire is not pure, then the process is fouled.

Studying alchemy (magick) requires practice, and the student must work slowly through several mental and physical purifying steps to reach a specific goal. Esoteric alchemical studies include breathing exercises, meditation, visualization, reading auras, astral projection, psychometry, telepathy, remote viewing, and more. The ultimate goal is to reach a mental place of pure power called the philosopher's stone, which is the key to turning thoughts into things in a controlled way. The philosopher's stone is the crossroads, the journey to the sub-quantum level of existence. To some, the philosopher's stone is not a real stone like you find in the ground, it is a mental key, a way of knowing how to think that makes things happen, literally turning thoughts into things. It is also believed that not only can you use your mind in directed, focused steps to create matter (such as gold and silver), you can also produce a universal medicine for all diseases. If you have read about quantum physics, then right about now you are seeing a major parallel.

Gold, then, was what the alchemist strived to create, definitely mentally and in some cases physically. It was believed that if you could penetrate the mysteries of space, time, and matter by unlocking the secrets of how a substance is put together, then you could reach conscious transformation as well. The body of light was considered the root of the universe, and if we could perceive the mystery of this light, we could change anything. (Again, quantum physics revisited.) To the ancients, gold, representing this body of light, was the symbol of the eternal, radiant light of the spirit, and the transformation through the colors of black (chaos), red (the dawning of information and change), white (purification), and gold (ultimate transformation) became the symbolic colors of the alchemist. Although at first we may think that the color black is bad, the symbology of the color is far from negative. Black, the color most often associated with wisdom in ancient cultures, represents the dark phase of the lunar cycle (a portion of the fourth quarter moon), where preparation is made for the coming birth of the next cycle. It is a time of looking within, of finding the wisdom one needs to build a bright future, the darkness of the womb of the Great Mother, and the place of germination of the greatest human ideas. Moving from black to red to white to gold speaks of the ultimate magickal journey. Watch a sunrise sometime and you might visually be able to understand what the alchemists were saying (depending, of course, on weather patterns and atmospheric phenomena). Every once in a while you will see a sunrise that bleeds from black to the reddening of the heavens, to pure white light, to a golden glow. This is the ceremony of the dawn.

The hexagram, caduceus, and the pentacle were among those symbols used to train these students of alchemy.

Today, each of these symbols still carries part of their original meaning.

If alchemy (magick) had not been for "the select few," history as we know it would not exist; indeed we, as humans, may (as a collective) have reached a more enlightened state by now. Then again, maybe not.

Although alchemy was well known in the Byzantine and Muslim worlds, Europe only experienced the practice in fragmentary form until around 1144, when Robert of Chester translated Arabic texts found in Spain to Latin. This presented the first alchemical documents to the European reader as a direct result of the Crusades, which was not exactly the best of times to bring occult knowledge to his fellow Europeans, given the struggles of the Christian church for world rule. This doesn't mean Europeans didn't work with the idea, but it certainly put a cramp in their style, and by 1317 Pope John XII presented yet another papal document condemning the practice. The goddess Alchemy reigned, however, moving subtly into the strength and power of the Christian Mary, and finding a seat on her very own throne in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. At the same time, a philosopher by the name of Ramon Lull introduced the words "first matter" (argent vivre) and related it to the four elements we find so familiar in magickal studies (earth, air, water, and fire). Lull added the fifth element, which he called "quintessence," meaning Spirit or Heaven. Unfortunately Lull was stoned to death by Moslems and when he arrived in Africa, much like Hypatia, who was stoned by the Christians almost 100 years before.

[Kirree]

Alchemy, Psychology, and Magick

Magick, in its own way, is a science of psychology because it uses the power of the mind to bring forth change in one's life. Interestingly enough, at the turn of the twentieth century, those who dabbled in psychology and matters of the mind were also those who were interested in the occult sciences (Fortune, Blavatsky, Regardi, ect.). At that time, psychology was a new suspicious interest to the world at large. It was Carl Jung who propelled the sciences of the mind into out daily lives and forced the scientists and medical people of the times to pay attention to this amazing facet of human nature. Jung believed that alchemists were projecting or seeing their own unconscious, and he wrote reams of material on dreams, human behavioral patterns, and the mind in general in relation to his own alchemical studies. Thanks to Jung's work, psychology is here to stay.

Magick Pictures: Alchemical Symbols

Many of the symbols used in current magickal practices are linked to alchemical designs of the past. Historians have found strong links between alchemy, astronomy, astrology, and magick. For example, long ago, only five planets were proven to exist (Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn) and two luminaries (sun and moon). I say "proven" because even in medieval astrology/astronomy there were ideograms (word pictures) that suggested there may be more planets in our solar system. Each of the five known planets were associated with an element, and each astrological sign (Aries through Pisces) spoke of an alchemical process. Sound familiar?

With the information you have already read, you now know that an alchemical process is a mental one that involves daily meditations, learning to focus (concentrate), and practicing magick and ritual regularly. Many magickal people today still use those alchemical symbols (magick pictures) to work magick. But what do all those pictures mean? In ancient alchemy, the sign of Aries, for example, meant to reduce something by the use of heat. Mixing the signs and planets together, the alchemists made symbols to represent chemical compounds and/or esoteric philosophy. On one hand, the pictures spoke of a chemical scientific formula. On the other hand, they meant a way of thinking. The symbols were a shorthand or code and, over time, the code became interchangeable between scientific alchemy (chemistry), astrology, astronomy, and divine alchemy (or magickal practices). Therefore, it isn't the symbol itself that carries the power to change, but how you use that symbol in your daily and magickal life. Symbols, whether scientific or magickal, represent formulas for change. Many of the symbols and philosophical ideals currently used in the Craft can be traced to the practice of alchemy, including many of the tools found on our altars.

Alchemical ideograms (symbols or drawings that illustrate an idea or concept) aren't the only signs or sigils you'll find in the Craft. Interestingly, the word symbol comes from the Greek word symbolon, and describes the practice of breaking a piece of clay into several pieces and handing a piece to each member in a group for safekeeping. Later, when the group reunited, they would match the pieces together to make sure that everyone present was actually a member of the original group. This practice was used by the ancient mystery traditions to ensure that nosy busybodies didn't sneak in with the serious students at important gatherings and rituals. Today, when we see people wearing the same symbol (cross, pentacle, Star of David), we know that they belong to a particular group of people (in this case, a particular religion). This means they belong to a group mind.

In the Craft community, various groups may design their own symbols, or put symbols together in a specific way to show that they all belong to an organization of like mind, or share a common magickal history. A few embroider the symbol (or set of symbols) on their ritual robes, on altar cloths, or paint (or sew) the symbol on a banner that hangs in the ritual room, at a Grand Coven event, or at Pagan festivals. These symbols are often ancient ideograms, and many find their roots in alchemy.

[Kirree]

Understanding How Alchemy Works: Alchemical Elixir of the Moon

In medieval times, the word elixir meant "catalyst," and when we hear the word today, we expect to see some sort of potion, or at least a liquid. In ancient times, however, an elixir didn't mean al iquid at all, it simply meant a method of change - a formula not of liquid, but of words or drawings. I'm sure you've heard the words "mathematical formula" in school. See? The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree. When used properly, an elixir can be a formula for change. The picture called the Elixir of the Moon is actually a model of our solar system, with the sun and the moon as the center-peice, and the various planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter) on the outside, circling around the moon/sun. This particular symbol is interesting because there is room for the three planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, discovered much later than the original drawing (which is thought to be designed in the fifteenth century).

When used for magickal purposes, the symbol is also called a talisman. When we use this talisman, we activate the powers of the sun (your will), the moon (your emotions), Mars (your ability to take action), Venus (your ability to love), Mercury (your ability to communicate), Jupiter (your faith), and Saturn (your ability to work within a stucture without hurting anyone).

Okay, you've started the divine alchemical process by associating thoughts and ideas to a symbol. What more do you see in that symbol? What does it mean to you? That is also part of the alchemical magick, or the process of change. Therefore, each magickal symbol you encounter can mean many things (not just what you preceive on the surface or what you are told). How you process the symbol in your mind is important too!

Any symbol, then, can be used on a variety of levels, some obvious and others not. Here, we can use the symbol of the Elixir of the Moon for any number of magickal operations, including requests for good health, healing, prosperity, protection, love, and so on. But what of the symbols in magickal writings that don't carry a full explaination of what they are for, and what you can do with them? My best advice to you is be a magickal detective! If you don't know what a symbol, or a deity, or a particular practice is for, or what its history entails, don't use it in your magickal work until you do. It is as simple as that. A guy or girl off the street doesn't walk into a hopsital, oogie down to the operating room a,d start cutting people open. He or she has sudied surgery, and mentall prepared him- or herself for the operation (we hope). You should think of yourself the same way. In the Craft, adults speak of being properly prepared. This is what they are talking about: think, study, learn, grow - that's all a part of the Witchcraft experience.

Source: The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation: Solitary Witch by Silver RavenWolf