Alchemists Garret

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A bullshit detector
How do you find the truth amongst all the garbage in
alchemy?
A full outline of alchemical trai
ning
A list of subject matter to be covered in a
full length training course in traditional alchemy.
Outline of Jungian Analysis
A very comprehensive overview of Jungian
Psychology - a must for any serious occultist.
Levi's paths
Levi's attributes of magickal powers to the paths of the Tree of Life.
Esoteric Grade systems
A look at the concept of Grading Occult development.
What makes a good student?
A quick look at the difficulties of occult learning.
The Alchemical Code
(Humor).
Tradition vs Pop occultism
A look at the mediocrity of popular occultism as
compared with the true hidden tradition.
Fulcanelli
A few comments on the identity of Fulcanelli by Joseph Caezza
.
The Mages Ethic
A copy of the Alchemist Guilds Ethical approach to magick and
alchemy.
An Alchemical Lexicon
For a greater understanding of specific terminology.
The Ancient Gods
A look at psychological archetypes and subpersonalities.
Astral projection
Also the astral body and the doctrine of the 4 elements.
Occult Fraternities
Some remarks for beginners.
How Does Ritual Work?
Some remarks for beginners.
Introduction To Qabala
A basic consideration of the subject.
Alchemy and Alchemists
What are they?
What is Alchemy?
Another paper describing the nature of alchemy is a spiritual
discipline.
Looking for a Tutor
Some remarks for new seekers.
History of Western Mysteries
Rough notes on important dates/events/persons.
Attitude
Some remarks about the correct attitude towards occult study.
The Gender Issue in Occult Training
A look at the differences in training men
and woman.
An Alchemical Bullshit Detector
When a student of alchemy, who is new to the art, reaches that point in his studies where he begins to
seriously contemplate the Great Work, one of the first questions that dawns on him might be … “how on
earth do you discover the true path from amongst the fakes in the writings of the classic authors?”
This question is not at all easy to answer, but here I present a few pointers that might help you make the
decision for yourself.
In trying to sort out the valuable information from the garbage belief, based on opinion or assumption,
which does not take into consideration the knowledge that contemporary initiates possess, is most often
way off the mark. Therefore the best place to start is to listen to the opinions of those who already had a
lot of experience with lab alchemy. This might be considered a logical approach by some, but I have met
many persons who claimed to have a serious interest in alchemy who were completely unaware of any
initiated view of the art. Essentially such people are relying almost exclusively on guesswork derived
from their personal reading of classic alchemical literature. Sometimes this is coupled with the claims of
other individuals who also have no access to initiated knowledge.
The first thing that any experienced practitioner will make clear to a novice is that the literature of
alchemy is extremely cryptic and will
never
be understood by someone who is not familiar with the
methods of analogy, metaphor and encryption used by the alchemists of old.
Once the serious student manages to find some way of listening to, reading and talking to modern
students of alchemy who have experience he might eventually become aware that there are varying
opinions about what constitutes a ‘true’ or a ‘false’ path to the stone. This understanding dispels the
often-held belief by the uninitiated that the search for the stone is a search for
one
secret recipe.
In general there are two mainstream areas of experiment in the Great Work that are investigated by
modern students. Within these two general approaches there are various opinions about the details of
practice. In fact there are so many opinions about the meaning of cryptic writings related to these two
paths that it would be accurate to suggest that there are as many beliefs about
meaning
as there are
students.
The two important things about this situation, where the eagerly searching novice is concerned, is that
(1) every experienced researcher loves to insinuate (or openly insist) that his understanding is the
definitive one, and (2) many students will change their opinion about what is accurate, based on new
enticing evidence, more than once in their career.
These two points are really the core issues when trying to make head-or-tail out of the facts where the
Great Work is concerned. How this situation came about is also helpful to understand.
The biggest producer of confusion where alchemical knowledge is concerned is without doubt the
tradition of being cryptic about passing on information, even within the tight ranks of experienced
students themselves. This kind of environment breeds assumption and unreliable guesswork. It also
encourages individuals to pass off personal opinion as fact and the insinuation that more is understood
than is possibly the case. The most frustrating behaviour that sometimes raises its head under these
conditions is the temptation to outright lie or spread misinformation.
Individuals who thrive on inflating their self-importance gain a lot of satisfaction from these conditions
because it is very easy to pass yourself off as something you are not. The problem is further exaggerated
by the fact that many novices perpetuate the abuse of the tradition of secrecy by regularly reminding
everyone that they believe the most credible alchemists are the ones who behave the most mysteriously.
Sometimes these abuses of a desire to adhere to the rule of secrecy are deliberate, but often they are
carried off unintentionally. It happens that many students of alchemy, living and working in a state of
relative information isolation, feel they are justified in arguing a particular point of view as being
correct, unaware that at least some of the individuals they are talking to have already been down that
particular avenue and know from experience that it is a dead end. In the meantime other individuals,
unaware of the inaccuracy of the information, and possibly believing the source to be reliable, are
waiting for their own opportunity to pass on what they believe is important, thus believing they are
increasing their own standing in the alchemical community.
Many alchemists believe that this entire situation is a healthy one, because it makes the novices attempts
at getting to the truth all that much harder. This, they feel, is a big part of the point in alchemy … the
struggle to separate the garbage from the pearls of wisdom. Of course, it would seem, that those who
encourage this immense confusion also believe they are already in possession of the actual facts about
the Great Work. While there are those, aware of their relative ignorance, who like to be seen
encouraging confusion, in the hope that someone who actually knows, will be impressed with their
respect from traditional secrecy and will toss them some tid-bit of knowledge.
I have noticed over the years that much of the arrogance (or delusion) that arises from a belief that one
possesses the key to the art is based in the idea that there is only one true recipe. This belief in turn arises
from the concept that there is only one chemical, or one combination of chemicals, that possess the
power of transmutation. The student who knowingly or unknowingly follows this ideology feels that the
entire struggle in laboratory alchemy is the search for the identity of that substance, or combination of
substances.
It is true that some classic authors have suggested this be the case. But this is not a universally claimed
fact. It is also true that respected authors often insist that we should never take the words of the past
masters literally. Nevertheless, many students of alchemy who are publicly vocal about their opinions as
to what is correct and what isn’t, base their claims on an insinuation (or insistence) that their path is the
only path. They do this in an environment where the active repression of information flow naturally
excludes every researcher from knowing what his peers are up to. It is also often self evident that, since
the demands of research into their own particular path often excludes them from having the time or
resources to investigate other paths, they are largely ignorant, by choice, of other approaches.
So if this confusing unreliable situation really exists, why should I suggest that it is important, or at least
helpful, to pay attention to the claims of contemporary experienced students?
I think the key to gaining some understanding of laboratory alchemy lies in the diversity of opinion, not
in claims of exclusivity. There is no doubt in my mind at all that the concept that there is one true recipe
with one true chemical, or combination of chemicals, is entirely false. I believe this to be the case firstly
because even a basic reading of a wide range of alchemical texts would lead even the novice to see that
more than one path is being discussed. Further, that amongst these various approaches many have
claimed to have had success.
The important lesson is not, therefore, to be found in the differences anyone might recognise in the
various claims, but in the similarities between approaches. What we are looking for is not one substance
or one recipe but instead a
condition
in nature that can be found in many places or which can be brought
about, in the laboratory, through any number of approaches, depending on the knowledge, imagination
and skill of the artist.
So what is the solution to the problem of all of this deliberate or unintentional confusion? I think the
solution is not an easy one to find. My first choice for advice is the easiest road to travel and that is to get
involved, closely, with someone who has a long history of both experience in the lab and of observation,
or better, interaction, with other experienced researchers. By ‘long history’ I suggest more than five
years involvement with the mineral work. The benefit of such a relationship with an experienced student
is that he might be in a position to offer some helpful advice about the opinions and history of his
contemporaries. Such advice can be invaluable.
My second preference for advice is to either establish, or join, a private group of experienced researchers
who, behind a veil of silence, are freely (or to some degree) openly sharing information about their
research.
I have had the good fortune to be involved in both kinds of situation in the last 15 years and have, by far,
found them to be the most productive in terms of learning. The least productive situation, on the other
hand, which I have found, is listening to individual students, with whom no intimate exchange of
information has been established, offering their opinions in public. I have found no value at all in that
kind of communication, as it seems that the first rule of that game is to hide more than you reveal and to
insinuate more than you know.
An Outline of the Full Work
The Prima or Herbal Work
One – The Equipment
A description of the old equipment
- The Furnace (sand, water and oil baths) and incubation
- The Alembic (ceramic, metallic, glass)
- The Retort (ceramic, metallic, glass)
- Receivers
- Crucibles
- Mortar and Pestle
- Filtration
A description of modern equipment and its relationship with the old
- Electric and gas elements (and incubation)
- Thermometers
- Retorts
- The Distillation train
- Soxhlet extraction
- Receivers
- Crucibles
- Mortar and Pestle
- Filtration
- Fermentation kits
-Storage Jars
Buying equipment (and dealing with lamp workers)
Care for equipment (heating, cooling, corrosion, washing)
Two – The Materials
Herbal lore (tradition and contemporary)
Theory:
- Alcohol (Mercury)
- Oil (Sulphur)
- Salts
Three – The Processes
Lab safety
The basic herbal spagyric tincture
The Theory of the practice
Astrology and energetics (theory and practice)
Geomancy (theory and practice)
The practice:
- Distillation of volatile oil
- Fermentation
- Filtration
- Maceration – Digestion – Circulation
- Distillation
- Calcination (black, white, yellow, red)
- Grinding
- Leaching
- Cohobation
The philosophy of the Practice
- The tradition, the old masters, ethics and secrecy
- The Qabalistic relationship between elements and principles
- The law of analogy (the relationship between mind and matter)
- The Qabalistic view of the intelligences of the elements and principles
- Spagyrics and Qabala
The yearly herbal work cycle (dealing with time economically and energetically)
The Circulatum
The theory and practice
The Herbal Stone
The theory of the practice, both wet and dry
The Primum Ens Melissae
The theory
- The principles and their attraction and repulsion
- Rejuvenation
The Practice:
- Preparation of tartar (winestone, calcination of herbs, commercial)
- The deliquescence of tartar (above and under ground and artificially)
- The herb Melissa, its preparation
- Maceration of Melissa in the oil of tartar (hot and cold methods)
- Filtration of the maceration
- The preparation of the alcohol
- The extraction of the ens (pressure method and simple method)
- Concentration of the oil and its ingestion
The Volatisation of Tartar
The theory of the practice
The practice:
- The preparation of the tartar
- The preparation of the oil
- The process itself
- Cohobation
- Ingestion
The Secunda - Metallic Oils
Four - The Equipment
he relationship between the herbal equipment and mineral equipment
Additional requirements
Five – Materials
Solvents (Mercuries)
The theory of the preparation and uses of:
- Kerckringers menstruum
- Vinegar
- Actuated vinegar (simple)
- Lye
- Mineral acids
The preparation of solvents for the mineral work. (practical)
Minerals (Salts)
Minerals vs Metals (in theory and practice)
Qabala and Metals (theory)
The selection and obtaining of minerals and metals for the work (theory)
Metalic oil (Sulphurs)
The Theory
Six – The Processes
Extracting oils from gems with (simple) actuated vinegar (theory)
Preparing minerals for the work – raw, roasted and calcined (theory)
- Sulphides
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