I’ve read Jung I’ve seen some about Paracelsus and Heinrich Khunrath they were very heavy intellects very well read and intelligent but how would one of those guys try to access states of prophecy maybe that’s Cabala, you know maybe they do some kind of math with the bible like John Dee. Maybe like the super-intelligent Alchemists figured something out about computers maybe that’s a Philip K dickian thing something like that

Is alchemy just basically a sort of western tantrism ? Been studying 2 years and my conclusion at this point is that alchemy is the art of how to sublimate our lower instincts into our higher self.

I never understood why at the top of this seal there is Antimony instead of Salt. What is the relationship between the two, and why Antimony replaces Salt?

​

https://preview.redd.it/ocpkserrnzmc1.png?width=659&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ae296c96dead387ad4923a29db16a948177b384

https://preview.redd.it/mmhqghrrnzmc1.png?width=556&format=png&auto=webp&s=f43a431bf5cf2c94d4ef20e0906a8894607b0189

I understand that pelicans are the standard, but it seems like it would be easy to accomplish with some configuration of more typical glassware. Any recommendations?

For instance, John French says of one of his medicines that "it is most cordial and balsamic." He also sometimes refers to other medicines as cordial or in other cases as balsamic.

Hey. Currently, I'm writing a book and a small story arc of it will include alchemy. Mainly, I'm currently researching about the "Four Stages" of alchemy, being Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas, and Rubedo. Most of my research is coming from wikipedia which I'm pretty sure isn't the most detailed or accurate source, which is why I'm here.

Can someone please describe to me in detail what each stage is and what it represents/entails? Especially Citrinias, I have no clue what "Solar light" making the reflective "Lunar/Soul light" no longer necessary even means. Thank you.

P.S.: I'm mainly looking at the essential concepts and ideas of these stages and adapting it to fit my story, and because its a fantasy story the alchemy concepts will also be highly fantasized meaning it probably won't be accurate. In other words, I'm not confident enough to try to portray Alchemy completely accurately, so I won't try to, please don't flame me.

New Podcast Episode: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/inner-work-guide/episodes/Sustainable-Transmutations-Introduction-Part-2-e2gmv8f

​

https://preview.redd.it/2lwmihih6qmc1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f401cb37a28a14fb97069b3fb144d112a2359cb

​

A Triangle combined with a Square transforms into a Heptagram.

Using only a compass and a straight-edge the Circle, Triangle and the Square are easily produced but transforming them into the Heptagram requires the Art of the Geometer (as well as the compass and straight-edge!)

The key is an inscribed circle of the heptagon (7 sided regular polygon) in the centre.

​

​

https://open.substack.com/pub/blakeanderson/p/disarmament?r=2j977g&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

This text is probably one of the more clear ones on the subject.

It uses the traditional catechism method to explore it. I hope you like it.

​

https://preview.redd.it/lpp853esjimc1.png?width=250&format=png&auto=webp&s=768b2128d9a0eb8a0efecd64e3860a8699df8575

___________________________________________________________________

THE SECRET OF THE IMMORTAL LIQUOR CALLED ALKAHEST OR IGNIS-AQUA.

By EIRENÆUS PHILALETHES. Communicated to his Friend, a Son of Art, and now Philosopher. By Question and Answer.

THE SECRET OF THE LIQUOR ALKAHEST.

1. Question.—What is the Alkahest?

Answer.—It is a Catholic and Universal Menstruum, and, in a word, may be called (Ignis-Aqua) a Fiery Water, an uncompounded and immortal ens, which is penetrative, resolving all things into their first Liquid Matter, nor can anything resist its power, for it acteth without any reaction from the patient, nor doth it suffer from anything but its equal, by which it is brought into subjection; but after it hath dissolved all other things, it remaineth entire in its former nature, and is of the same virtue after a thousand operations as at the first.

2. Q.—Of what substance is it?

A.—It is a noble circulated salt, prepared with wonderful art till it answers the desires of an ingenious artist; yet it is not any corporal salt made liquid by a bare solution, but is a saline spirit which heat cannot coagulate by evaporation of the moisture, but is of a spiritual uniform substance, volatile with a gentle heat, leaving nothing behind it; yet is not this spirit either acid or alkali, but salt.

3. Q.—Which is its equal?

A.—If you know the one, you may without difficulty know the other; seek therefore, for the Gods have made Arts the reward of industry.

4. Q.—What is the next matter of the Alkahest?

A.—I have told you that it is a salt; the fire surrounded the salt and the water swallowed up the fire, yet overcame it not; so is made the philosopher's fire, of which they speak; the vulgar burn with fire, we with water.

5. Q.—Which is the most noble salt?

A.—If you desire to learn this, descend into yourself, for you carry it about with you, as well the salt as its Vulcan, if you are able to discern it.

6. Q.—Which is it, tell me, I pray you?

A.—Man's blood out of the body, or man's urine, for the urine is an excrement separated, for the greatest part, from the blood. Each of these give both a volatile and fixed salt; if you know how to collect and prepare it, you will have a most precious Balsam of Life.

7. Q.—Is the property of human urine more noble than the urine of any beast?

A.—By many degrees, for though it be an excrement only, yet its salt hath not its like in the whole universal nature.

8. Q.—Which be its parts?

A.—A volatile and more fixed; yet according to the variety of ordering it, these may be variously altered.

9. Q.—Are there any things in urine which are different from its inmost specific urinaceous nature?

A.—There are, viz., a watery phlegm, and sea salt which we take in with our meat; it remains entire and undigested in the urine, and by separation may be divided from it, which (if there be no sufficient use of it in the meat after a convenient time) ceaseth.

10. Q.—Whence is that phlegm, or insipid watery humidity?

A.—It is chiefly from our several drinks, and yet everything hath its own phlegm.

11. Q.—Explain yourself more clearly.

A.—You must know that the urine, partly by the separative virtue, is conveyed with what we drink to the bladder, and partly consists of a watery Teffas (an excrementitious humour of the blood), whence being separated by the odour of the urinaceous ferment, it penetrates most deeply, the saltness being unchanged, unless that the saltness of the blood and urine be both the same; so that whatsoever is contained in the urine besides salt is unprofitable phlegm.

12. Q.—How doth it appear that there is a plentiful phlegm in urine?

A.—Thus suppose; first, from the taste; secondly, from the weight; thirdly, from the virtue of it.

13. Q.—Be your own interpreter.

A.—The salt of urine contains all that is properly essential to the urine, the smell whereof is very sharp; the taste differs according as it is differently ordered, so that sometimes it is also salt with an urinaceous saltness.

14. Q.—What have you observed concerning the weight thereof?

A.—I have observed thus much, that three ounces, or a little more, of urine, taken from a healthy man, will moderately outweigh about eighty grains of fountain water, from which also I have seen a liquor distilled which was of equal weight to the said water, whence it is evident that most of the salt was left behind.

15. Q.—What have you observed of its virtue?

A.—The congelation of urine by cold is an argument that phlegm is in it; for the salt of urine is not so congealed if a little moistened with a liquid, though it be water.

16. Q.—But this same phlegm though most accurately separated by distillation, retains the nature of urine, as may be perceived both by the smell and taste.

A.—I confess it, though little can be discerned by taste, nor can you perceive more, either by smell or taste, than you may from salt of urine dissolved in pure water.

17. Q.—What doth pyrotechny teach you concerning urine?

A.—It teacheth this, to make the salt of urine volatile.

18. Q.—What is then left?

A.—An earthly, blackish, stinking dreg.

19. Q.—Is the spirit wholly uniform?

A.—So it appeareth to the sight, smell, and taste; and yet it containeth qualities directly contrary to each other.

20. Q.—Which be they?

A.—By one, through its innate virtue, the Dulech is coagulated; by the other, it is dissolved.

21. Q.—What further?

A.—In the coagulation of urine, its spirit of wine is discovered.

22. Q.—Is there such a spirit in urine?

A.—There is indeed, truly residing in every urine, even of the most healthful man, most of which may be prepared by Art.

23. Q.—Of what efficacy is this spirit?

A.—Of such as is to be lamented, and indeed may move our pity to mankind.

24. Q.—Why so?

A.—From hence the Dulech, its most fierce enemy, hath its original.

25. Q.—Will you give an example of this thing?

A.—I will. Take urine, and dissolve in it a convenient quantity of saltpetre. Let it stand a month; afterwards distil it, and there will come over a spirit which burns upon the tongue like a coal of fire. Pour this spirit on again, and cohobate it four or five times, abstracting every time not above half; so the spirit becometh most piercing, yet not in the least sharp; the heat which goeth out in the first distillation of the liquor, afterwards grows sensibly mild, and at length almost (if not altogether) vanisheth, and the second spirit may be perceived mild, both by the smell and taste, which in the former was most sharp.

26. Q.—What have you observed concerning the former spirit?

A.—If it be a little shaked, oily streaks appear sliding here and there, just as spirit of wine distils down the head of the alembic in streaks like veins.

27. Q.—What kind of putrefaction should the urine undergo that such a spirit may be got from it?

A.—In a heat scarce to be perceived by sense, in a vessel lightly closed, or covered rather; it may also be sometimes hotter, sometimes cooler, so that neither the heat nor cold exceed a due mean.

28. Q.—How may this winy spirit become most perspicuous?

A.—By such a putrefaction as causeth a ferment, and exciteth ebullition, which will not happen in a long time if the urine be kept in a wooden vessel, and in a place which is not hot, but yet keeps out the cold, as, suppose, behind a furnace in winter, where let it be kept till of itself a ferment arise in the urine and stirs up bubbles, for then you may draw from it a burning water which is somewhat winy.

29. Q.—Is there any other spirit of urine?

A.—There is; for urine, putrefied with a gentle heat, during the space of a fortnight or thereabouts, sends forth a coagulating spirit, which will coagulate well rectified Aqua Vitæ.

30. Q.—How is that spirit to be prepared which forms the Dulech of itself with a clear watery stalagma; and also that which dissolves the same?

A.—Urine putrefied for a month and a-half in a heat most like the heat of horse-dung will give you, in a fit vessel, each stillatitious stalagma according to your desire.

31. Q.—Doth every spirit coagulate the spirit of wine?

A.—By no means; this second spirit is observed to want that virtue.

32. Q.—What doth urine, thus ordered, contain besides the aforesaid spirits?

A.—Its more fixed urinaceous salt, and, by accident, foreign marine salt.

33. Q.—Can this more fixed salt be brought over the alembic, with a gentle heat, in form of a liquor?

A.—It may, but art and ingenuity are required.

34. Q.—Where is the phlegm?

A.—In the salt; for in the preparation of putrefaction, the salt, being putrefied in the phlegm, ascends together with it.

35. Q.—Can it be separated?

A.—It may, but not by every artist.

36. Q.—What will this spirit do when it is brought to this?

A.—Try, and you will wonder at what you shall see in the solution of bodies.

37. Q.—Is not this the Alkahest?

A.—This liquor cannot consist without partaking of the virtues of man's blood; and in urine the footsteps thereof are observable.

38. Q.—In urine, therefore, and blood the Alkahest lies hid?

A.—Nature gives us both blood and urine; and from the nature of these pyrotechny gives us a salt which art circulates into the circulated salt of Paracelsus.

Q.—You speak short.

39. A.—I will add this; the salt of blood ought so to be transmuted by the urinaceous ferment that it may lose its last life, preserve its middle life, and retain its saltness.

40. Q.—To what purpose is this?

A.—To manifest the excellency which is in man's blood above all other blood

whatever, which is to be communicated to the urine (after an excrementitious liquor is separated from it), whence this urine excels all others in a wonderful virtue.

41. Q.—Why do you add urine?

A.—You must know that to transmute things a corruptive ferment is required, in which respect all other salts give place to the strong urinous salt.

42. Q.—Cannot the phlegm be collected apart from the salt?

A.—It may, if the urine be not first putrefied.

43. Q.—How great a part of the water is to be reckoned phlegm?

A.—Nine parts of ten, or thereabouts, distilled from fresh urine are to be rejected, the tenth part (as much as can be extracted in form of liquor) is to be kept; from that dried urine which remains in the bottom by a gentle fire (which will not cause sublimation), let the salt be extracted with water, so that there be as much water as half that urine whence this feces was dried; whatsoever is imbibed by the water, let it be poured off by decanting; let it be strained, or purged, per deliquium; then filter it through a glass. Let fresh water be poured on, and reiterate this work till the salt become pure, then join this vastly stinking salt with your last spirit and cohobate it.

Guys I'm pretty sure that you heard about that famous book. I'm a bit curious if it is still available. Opinion?

Any recommendations for books to read for newcomers wantin' to learn about alchemy? More so of the basics, origins of alchemy & other things that you wont find just by searching google?!?! Thanks & appreciate if you decide to give me a lil somethin' somethin' to dalve into..

I’m not sure which one of these would be considered “consciousness”.

I’ve seen conflicting statements where some say mercury contains the “consciousness” and I’ve heard others that say sulfur is the “consciousness”.

Can someone give me a historical resource/reference/explanation that explains the difference to me?

https://www.inverse.com/culture/ancient-origins-of-glass

Is this how 'operative' Alchemy first began?

Certainly several metals of importance to us are involved, as well as trade in materials and ideas between Egypt and the Mid East (Babylon, etc).

Also it seems the knowledge of cold-plating metals to give them different colourations was known for many thousands of years. (Cold-plating involves solutions of metal salt ions coating metal cathodes without an electrical source, ie. not electroplating. Although having said that, Ancient 'batteries' have been found in Egypt and elsewhere with no adequate explanation of what they were needed for?)

Who knew glass-making was over 4000 years old?

I hope you're all well. I have a couple of questions relating to the name and contents of a few books, I was wondering if maybe someone could enlighten me?

I have read Manfred Junius' "Spagyrics: the alchemical preparation of medicinal essences, tinctures and elixirs" and see that Junius also has a "Practical Handbook of Plant Alchemy: An Herbalist's Guide to Preparing Medicinal Essences, Tinctures, and Elixirs" I wonder, is it the same book with another title, or is it another one?

My second question relates to "The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus" which seems to contain a lot of his work, although I was wondering if somebody knew if this contains specifically the "Four Treatises of Theophrastus Von Hohenheim Called Paracelsus"?

Thank you very much for your help!

Best,

Vincent

which is the polar opposite of sulphur: mercury or salt? and why?

I just learned some of the general ideas about alchemy and aside from the obligatory golden dawn project, I'm excited about trying to apply some ideas to my garden.

Composting seems like alchemy - speeding up that natural decomposition process by layering the right ratio of greens and browns in a pile, waiting, it heats up, transforms - a boxed-in version of what happens naturally on a forest floor.

It seems like it should be possible to take some rainwater, maybe let it sit in the dark for a while, and then distill it a few times, and maybe that would have some energy in it; but then I'd need some earth to put it in, so I was thinking biochar. I've got a bucket of it, and I'm thinking I should soak it in the distilled rain. Then I'll put some of that in the garden and see if it helps the plants, and I'll put some into a terrarium outside for a while, and maybe some in a jar and bury it with some manure. Who knows. Worst case scenario, I'm watering the garden. Best case, I've made terra preta. I don't know if it makes any sense to use biochar. My yard is red clay, so maybe I'll try some of that too.

Anybody here try anything like this?

I've never really done any alchemy before, but after ready the Red Lion I started reading some of Paracelsus's works and came across this. I think the main problems I'm having is that I don't know what a moiety is after looking it up. It doesn't seem like it's a measurement, so maybe this isn't something that you're physically supposed to make. Still, I wanted to get someone's opinion and be sure. Any help would be appreciated, thanks! Also, if you had any reading or practice suggestions that you think would help me I'd appreciate hearing those too

Greetings friends!

First, thank you all for the help and kind words in my previous post!

Finally, my spagyric tincture of Lavender is completed, after 7 weeks of work.

I will now work towards the creation of 6 other tinctures, one for each day of the week/ planet/ metal. Then, after that is done, i will begin working towards making the Minor Opus. Wish me luck!

I wont be posting the process too much, as they are pretty much the same from my understanding. I will, however, post them in their completed stage.

The good news is, even though one of my flasks broke, i discovered a uncle of mine is not only highly invested into alchemy (he is a psychologist specialized in Carl Jung's work), but also a high ranking free-mason. We have been chatting a lot, and he even offered to buy the herbs and resources needed to further my experiments.

If i didnt know better, i would call this level of synchronicity blind luck

All in all, im excited to continue down this path and share the milestones that i achieve sith you all! Once again, thank you for all you help and support!

i was wondering if anyone here can recommend sources (books, papers, journals) to look into alchemy from a purely philosophical/historical perspective?

im a philosophy student and its something ive been wanting to get into, ive looked at general book recommendations so i have a few starting points, but a lot of what ive seen has also been related to modern practices of alchemy in a more spiritual sense, which isnt something im interested in

ive also studied chinese philosophy, so im very interested in chinese alchemy, as well as arabic alchemy, though ive had difficulty finding non-western sources (although i could be looking in the wrong places), so if anyone has any recommendations there id be eternally grateful

thank you!

I am reading books too, but I need something to listen to at work. There have been many instances of opening a video that discusses alchemy or esoteric thought then finding out I'm in the intro to a men's rights "self improvement" masculinity wormhole. And for a practice that venerates the fluidity of gender, I've found SO FEW feminine perspectives.

I'm looking for anything and everything at this point. Historical perspectives, analyses of hermetic texts, spiritual alchemy, etc. etc.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Edit: I regret the title, and appreciate the heads up. Apprentice sounds so much less infantilizing. I hadn't even considered that when it made its way into my lexicon.