Real Alchemy: A Primer of Practical Alchemy

PREFACE

These days the word Alchemy is lumped together with psychic phenomena, ghost hunters, UFO sightings and other Dark Arts. Everyone has heard of such things but only a few know more of the details, especially those concerning alchemy.

A few years ago, my wife was in a class for Hypnotherapy certification and she happened to mention that I had an interest in alchemy. Everyone was intrigued. They asked if I would be willing to give a two or three-hour presentation on the subject.

My hesitant reply was, Yeah, I can do that. That first time, I talked for five hours. People were entranced and asked if we could have another class to continue. Before I could finish constructing an outline for the second class, I received a call asking if we could make the whole presentation three six-hour classes.

Since then, I've been teaching the classes each year. There is a real thirst out there for information on the practical alchemical arts.

This book is something of a transcription from those classes and will provide a short primer for those interested in exploring firsthand the Sacred Science and Royal Art which is alchemy.

REAL ALCHEMY

Now I will teach and describe the secret of the arts, which secret is at the heart of all secrets hidden in the art of alchemy; since one will here understand the wonderful works that God has accomplished in all things he has made out of the four elements... For I shall here teach you to know the spirits of herbs, trees, and all growing things; how to separate them from their bodies, and also how to purify the four elements and restore them to their first being and their perfect power; that is, that when the elements are purified, how they can be put together again and make a perfect and fixed body of them, which is then glorified and has a miraculous effect.

– Issac Holland, Opera Vegetabilia (15th century)

INTRODUCTION

Practical Alchemy

When we mention the word "Alchemy" most people think that means a now-discredited method of turning lead into gold.

Then we have the psychologists, after Jung, who tell us that alchemy, with its fantastic imagery, is only a metaphor -- that is to say, that alchemy is an allegory describing the processes of psychological reintegration. Many believe this is the new and correct interpretation of the alchemists' riddle. It's all Psychology.

Yet, if we look into the lives of the alchemists themselves we find they were indeed involved in laboratory work that appears to be similar to what we call chemistry today.

Alchemy has been described by many of the ancient masters as a sort of Celestial Agriculture. I like that definition.

It is amazing that alchemy, once called the Divine Art or Sacred Science, has fallen into such obscurity that it is now only remembered as the primitive beginnings of modern chemistry. And yet, alchemy lies at the root of every Western Esoteric tradition as well as many of the arts and sciences, including medicine and pharmacology. Alchemy has been called The Mother of all Science and Wisdom.

In a nutshell, alchemy is an ancient Art and Science concerning the Mysteries of Life, of Consciousness and its Evolution.

Currently there are many people who latch on to the word alchemy and attach it to any number of New Age transformative tools (such as alchemical massage or alchemical hypnotherapy) because alchemy is associated with the transmutation or transformation of something of little worth into something of great value.

In the following pages, we're going to explore alchemy -- the Real Alchemy. This means we will be exploring Practical Laboratory Alchemy. We will include here the history, theory, and simple practices that anyone can use to prepare herbal and mineral extracts in the ancient tradition.

Who am I? And where is this information coming from? I've been exploring alchemy since I was about twelve years old. I've had a laboratory of my own in one form or another since even before then.

In 1974 I began an intensive study of alchemy at the Paracelsus Research Society (PRS) -- later called Paracelsus College and located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The classes were taught by Dr. Albert Reidel, who preferred to be known as Frater Albertus.

Frater Albertus was one of the most well-known practical alchemists of the twentieth century. He also taught classes in Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand and Australia.

The classes took place on a small campus composed of a dormitory, a lecture hall, and a laboratory. Class size was limited to twelve students and contact with the outside world was not encouraged (no radios, TV, phones, or newspapers) so the student could fully immerse himself in the teachings. It was a Mystery School.

The classes ran Monday through Saturday, from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. (with homework and lab work that ran continuously) for two weeks each year over seven years. At the end of each two-week class, the students were given work to accomplish in preparation for the next year's class.

By 1976, I decided to return to a university where I could finish my degree in chemistry in hopes of one day working at Paralab -- the commercial offshoot of the PRS that would be opening soon.

Paralab offered a line of herbal and mineral preparations formulated along alchemical principles for research and alternative healthcare practices.

After graduation in 1979, I was appointed Chief Chemist at Paralab and remained in that position until its closure in late 1983. Frater Albertus passed away in 1984.

I have been a professional Chemist since that time and have worked on my own projects through the years. Being employed as a research and analytical chemist has allowed me to collect state-of-the-art analytical data on many products from alchemical experiments, and so begin to answer some of the questions modern science would ask concerning these materials.

Frater Albertus had a simple definition of what alchemy is about. He said that alchemy was about Evolution and Raising the Vibratory Rate. To understand that correctly requires some understanding of natural laws and some introduction to mysticism or occult philosophy.

The information being taught here is an ageless wisdom handed down for centuries by an oral tradition and later in a necessarily obscure language and symbolism. It is called the Hermetic Philosophy, after its legendary founder Hermes Trismegistus -- the Greek name for the Egyptian god Thoth (god of wisdom and inventor of all science and magic.) The ancient sages often referred to themselves as the Sons of Hermes or the Sons of Wisdom.

The earliest descriptions of alchemy link it to transformations in matter through the influence of light or spirit, or fire. It is the metamorphosis of matter orchestrated by spirit.

It is generally agreed that ancient Egypt is the birthplace of alchemy (as it is known in the Western World) and it is there that we begin our exploration.

CHAPTER ONE

A Brief History of Alchemy

The origins of alchemy are lost in history and theories abound as to where it might have originated:

God taught it to Adam and later to Moses.

Fallen Angels taught it to human women in exchange for sex.

It is a remnant of lost Atlantean technology.

Extraterrestrials taught it to our ancestors.

Whatever its true origin is, recorded history documents an esoteric tradition that has existed for several thousand years.

Mystery and magic permeate all that is ancient Egypt. From beginning to end, Egypt has been called a theocratic state, ruled by a very powerful priesthood. The priesthood was divided into various castes, each with specific duties -- such as scribes and astronomers. Of special interest to us are the priests, who worked with materials in ways we might describe today as chemistry. These priests, often working under an oath of secrecy regarding their art, developed skills in metallurgy, ceramics, medicine, mummification, and winemaking, to name just a few.

The study of the operative forces at work in the universe was the primary goal of the priesthood. They called these forces the Neteru from which we obtain our word, Nature. The Neteru are the forces of Nature.

From the small number of writings which remain to us, it is apparent that these priests were skilled healers who possessed a materials science, much of which is still a mystery to us. There were always two parts to these sciences -- one was mental/spiritual and the other physical. For example, the preparation of a medicine included the processing of a material accompanied by certain words, spells, incantations or rituals. And in prescribing, the patient was given the medicine with instructions to repeat a spell or prayer. The proper timing of these things was equally important.

In the Egyptian Mysteries, Man was composed of various spiritual and mental components as well as the physical component and each had its proper medicine.

These Secret Sciences advanced over time and tales of wondrous healing oils, life-giving potions, and imitations of gold and precious stones have survived even to our day.

When ancient tomb robbers would plunder a pharaoh's tomb, these precious oils were one of the first things to be stolen. They were considered to be as precious as gold and easier to carry and sell. Stolen gold was heavy and had to be melted down before you could sell it.

When Alexander the Great arrived in Egypt around 300 B.C.E., he fell in love with the whole culture, and the Egyptians welcomed him with open arms. This began the so-called Greco-Egyptian or Ptolemaic period of Egyptian history. The Greeks called Egypt Khem or Khemet. This literally meant The Black Land and is in reference to the thick layer of dark fertile soil deposited by the annual flooding of the Nile. Knowledge of Egyptian Secret Sciences made its way into Greece where it was called Khemia "The Black Art" and spawned a long line of Greek alchemists.

In Egypt, Alexander initiated a sweeping campaign of construction and restoration, including the city named after him -- Alexandria. The Great Library of Alexandria is legendary. It has been estimated that this library contained nearly a million volumes of the collected writings of the known world. Scholars from everywhere flocked to Alexandria and it became a melting pot of ideas and philosophies. If is here that the Hermetic Philosophy and alchemy congealed as a Path to Spiritual Attainment and its secrets were only revealed to initiates under an oath of silence.

By around 30 B.C.E., the Roman legions had swept the world and the last of the Egyptian Ptolemies had fallen to Roman rule. During this insurgence, a very large part of the Great Library was destroyed by fire. Initially, Rome was tolerant of Egyptian ways. In fact, the worship of Isis spread well into the Roman world with temples in Rome itself. As the early Roman Emperors became converted to Christianity, this level of tolerance dropped off.

In 290 C.E., the Emperor Diocletian feared that the influx of imitation gold produced by the Egyptian Art could disrupt the Roman economy. Fearing also that it would allow someone to gather enough wealth to form an army which could move against Rome, Diocletian passed an edict calling for the destruction of all texts and materials dealing with the manufacture of gold and precious stones. This order was carried out with great severity.

Great masses of information were indiscriminately destroyed as well as what remained of The Great Library. In 325 C.E., Rome officially became Christian and in 391 the Emperor Theodosius made heresy punishable by death and ordered the destruction of pagan temples. In the Roman world, which at the time covered quite a large area, you were either a Christian or you were exiled or killed.

Most of those practicing the Hermetic Philosophy fled the country and migrated east to Arab lands not occupied by Rome. The early Persian Caliphs were much more hospitable to the alchemists and the center of The Art shifted there, although in a much more guarded capacity. It was here that the Arabic prefix Al was added to the Greek Khemia to give us Al-Khemia, later to become Alchemy.

Scientific pursuits in early Christian Rome became dormant for centuries.

With the fall of the Roman Empire, the civilized world was thrown into chaos. Thus began The Dark Ages.

Beginning with the Islamic invasions around 800 C.E., knowledge of alchemy spread into Western Europe, largely through the works of Ibn Sinna (also known as Avicenna.) He formulated a medical system that was popular for several centuries. Another was Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayaan. Jabir had a very cryptic style of writing, designed to conceal alchemical secrets. It is from his name that we derive our word for Gibberish. They collected many of the ancient Egyptian and Greek alchemical works and translated them into Arabic, which were later translated into Latin in Europe.

In Medieval Europe, alchemy became very fashionable. By now, kings and rulers everywhere had heard of the wonders possible through alchemy, especially the turning of lead into gold. Alchemy, as a means