Esoteric Coffeehouse

Like all things of Hermetic extract, alchemy hails from Egypt, and its recorded origins can be traced back to the late antique world. The etymology of the name ‘alchemy’ is not clear – it may have referred to Egypt as the “black land” (chemia) or perhaps to the first stage of the alchemical work, nigredo (blackness) (1, 2). The beginnings of alchemy are shrouded in mystery, but it is known that, by 300-400 AD, Greek alchemists such as Pseudo-Democritus, Zosimos and Synesius were writing about the process of gold-making in mystical, obscure terms.

Alchemy has survived throughout the centuries based on a few fundamental concepts, which I have summarized as:

1. the tradition that viewed gold as the highest, and purest of metals.

2. the belief that matter was not inert, but continuously transformed itself into something ‘higher’. Thus all metals would eventually become gold, given enough time.

3. human beings could hasten the work of nature, transforming metals into gold by means of an intermediary substance called the Philosopher’s Stone. This Stone was seen as not only bettering metals but human beings as well, lengthening life and curing illnesses (3).

4. the process of going to the heart of matter and enacting its change was seen as something sacred or even mystical; thus there was a fundamental participation of the alchemist in the work resulting in an inner change as well as an outer one.

However, it is also vital to understand that, while revolving around these fundamental principles, alchemy came to mean different things in different periods of history. For instance, it seems that in early times the focus was on the actual work of making gold (4). In medieval times, Roger Bacon identified two alchemies, one practical and one more philosophical (5). For Paracelsus and his adepts making gold was less important than the associated idea that the Philosopher’s stone could yield an elixir curing diseases (6). Starting with the 17th-18th century, alchemy as a practical work became less and less popular, being replaced with a ‘spiritual alchemy’ that laid the focus on point no. 4, the sacred and mystical transformation. Eventually, this spiritualization of alchemy yielded something that may be called ‘psychological alchemy’ featured mainly in Jung, where alchemy was seen as a process of actualizing the self (7). Yet it is clear that at the core of alchemy stood a practical work that, mixed with the tenets of Greek philosophy, produced some key concepts that were re-used and re-interpreted throughout time.

The most important treatise of alchemy is undoubtedly the Emerald Tablet, reputedly produced by Hermes Trismegistus, the mythical author of Hermetic works. I have already talked about him in my previous articles on Hermetic writings and on the god Thoth. His Emerald Tablet was discovered in one of the alchemical works by Jabir (Geber) dated around 700 AD. Its main tenet is contained in the first line: “As above so below”, implying an essential kinship between the material and spiritual sides of existence (8). There is a continuum, a dynamic that makes transformation possible.

The destiny of alchemy took it from its probably Egyptian roots to mixing with Greek thinking, and then passing into Arabic tradition. Most scholars recognize the essential influence of Arabic thinking into alchemy through Jabir, Razi and Avicenna (9) . From Arabic grounds alchemy passed into the High medieval Europe, where it was taken up by famous authors like Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, Arnauld of Villanova, Nicholas Flamel and others. It was the legend of Nicholas Flamel, who reputedly transformed mercury into gold and was rich beyond measure, that made J.K. Rowling refer to him in her Harry Potter and the Philosophers’ Stone book.

Yet it was during the Renaissance that alchemy became more prominent and popular. A key contributor was Paracelsus, a Swiss doctor who was less interested in making gold than finding cures for his patients. In the process, however, he believed that knowledge of alchemy was paramount in effecting cures, thus commanding his followers to learn it. He furthermore enacted a radical change in alchemical concepts, of which I will talk about in a future chapter on the symbolism of alchemy. His focus produced a resurgence of interest in alchemical work, which became highly popular particularly at the Habsburg court in Prague, as well as in England and Germany (10, 11). It is now well known that Isaac Newton was a fervent alchemist and Hermetic thinker (12). Paracelsian alchemy had a tremendous influence not only on science but on modern esoteric currents, like Rosicrucianism, German Romantics, high grade Masonry and Theosophy ( 13).

Due to the weight of thinkers like Paracelsus and Van Helmont, the alchemical worldview receded only slowly in face of the rising mechanical philosophy of Descartes, Leibniz, Newton and others. Only in late 1700s the mechanical vision of Lavoisier replaced the Paracelsian – Helmontian alchemical tradition. By this time, alchemy became isolated from science and survived mainly as ‘spiritual alchemy’, Jungian alchemy or in spagyrics, plant alchemy. Alchemy has also had a key impact on the development of homeopathy as developed by Samuel Hahnemann at the beginning of the 1800s (14). That is not to say that there were not traditional alchemists still conducting work in the 1900s; Canseliet and Fulcanelli are proof of this.

The irony of the modern era is that science is becoming more and more in tune with alchemical principles. Subatomic physics has shown that transmutation of metals is not only possible but necessary for the existence of life. We now know that gold can be produced through a high energy production like the explosion of a supernova star or collision of neutron stars, which transmute lower elements (15). In giant underground accelerators like the one in Darmstadt scientists accelerated atomic nuclei to 10% of the speed of light to obtain gold, thus vindicating the conceptual basis of alchemy (16).

If you haven’t already, you can also read the article on Hermetic Writings and the one on the Egyptian god Thoth.

References:

(2), (13) Bonardel, F. (1992). Alchemical Esotericism and the Hermeneutics of Culture. Modern Esoteric Spirituality, ed. A. Faivre & J. Needleman. New York: Crossroad Publishing.

(14) Danciger, E. (1987).  The Emergence of Homeopathy. London: Century Hutchinson.

(12) Dobbs, J. T. (1991). The Janus Face of Genius: The Role of Alchemy in Newton’s Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  

(10) Evans, R. J. W. (1973). Rudolf II and His World. Oxford : Clarendon Press.

(1), (3), (4)  Holmyard, E.J. (1990). Alchemy. New York: Dover Publications.

(7) Jung, C. G. (1963). Mysterium Coniunctionis. New York, N.Y : Pantheon Books.

(11) McIntosh, C. (1997). The Rosicrucians. San Francisco: WeiserBooks.

(5) Roberts, G. (1994). The Mirror of Alchemy: Alchemical Ideas and Images in Manuscripts and Books from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century. London: The British Library.

(9), (16) Roob, A. (2003). Alchemy & Mysticism. Amsterdam: Taschen.

(8) Sacred Texts. (2008). Emerald Tablet of Hermes. Online. Available at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/alc/emerald.htm . Accessed on 25 Nov 2008.

(15) Science Blog.(2002).  Astronomers Discover Gold in Ancient Star. Online. Available at: http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2002/E/20023645.html. Accessed on 25 Nov 2008.

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Tags: alchemists, Alchemy, emerald tablet, hahnemann, harry potter alchemy, hermetic, history, homeopathy, introduction, newton, Paracelsus, spirituality

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