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Alchemy 101, The Basics.

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    Alchemy 101, The Basics.

    After a discussion of essentials I decided it would be best to clear everything up in a thread of it's own. To start, I'm going to explain exactly what Alchemy is and it's basic processes. First let's clear up a couple issues:

    Alchemy is not chemistry.

    Every branch of science or scientific process today comes from a base of Alchemy.

    Alchemy's earliest known history is from Ancient Egypt.

    "The Black Art" or Khemia as named by the Greeks, comes from ancient Egyptian secret sciences. After the Romans came into control around 30 B.C.E most of the information was destroyed in the destruction of the Great Library. The remains who practiced Hermetic Philosophy migrated to Arab lands, where the Arabic Prefix Al was added to the Greek Khemia, giving us Al-khemia later to become Alchemy. Now we have an understanding of were the name comes, let's discuss the definition and principles of the Great Art.

    Alchemy has many definitions, being called the Sacred Science or Celestial Agriculture. By definition to the non-occult world, Alchemy is a protoscience that lead to chemistry and medicine. To us who have a greater understanding that our world is more than that, Alchemy is the Great Work, the inner and outer perfection of ones self and relationship with the divines. It is a broad spectrum to cover, from mineral to vegetation and animal, also known as the Three Kingdoms. Every Alchemist or anyone who studies it has their own definition based on how they interpret it.

    The Basics- As we know there are four basic elements, Fire-Earth-Air-Water. Next is the Tria Prima -or the three prime's. In alchemical principles they are the three essentials, the sulfur, the mercury, and the salt. The alchemical salt, or the body provides the matrix where the sulfur and mercury can act. A passive medium, subject to the fixed energies of Water and Earth. The alchemical sulfur, or the soul of a thing, conducts the volatile principles of Fire and Air expressing the "true will" or personal fire. The alchemical mercury, or the spirit of a thing, is the vital force or life force and predominates the elements of Air and Water. It forms a bridge for the higher forces of sulfur and the lower body of salt.

    The three basic Alchemical Transformations are as follows:
    Nigredo-"blacking"
    Albedo-"whitening"
    Rubedo-"reddening"

    *Solve et Coagula* meaning to "dissolve and coagulate"

    Fundamental Principles- SOL and LUNA. Hopefully I shouldn't have to explain to much with these, just as in any form of magick the Sun and the Moon play direct part in when and how something should be done when working with any alchemical process.

    Astrology and Alchemy, *As Above So Below*

    Being one of the three hermetic pillars, astrology and alchemy are intimately linked. Sol and Luna have direct effects on everything you do, as do planetary energies of the other five main planets noticed in alchemy.

    Seven Planetary Metals-
    Gold- dominated by Sol
    Silver- dominated by Luna
    Copper- dominated by Venus
    Iron- dominated by Mars
    Tin- dominated by Jupiter
    Quicksilver( mercury)- dominated by Mercury
    Lead- dominated by Saturn

    In the next post I will go more in depth with Planetary Energies and explain Spagyrics in a full extent, as well as go over the twelve main alchemical operations and the importance of the zodiac, and possibly the four degrees of fire if I can find all my notes on that subject.

    #2
    Re: Alchemy 101, The Basics.

    Planetary Energies- When working with alchemy, each stage should be done on the astrological configuration to that specific operation. Each planetary sphere has it's own energetic expression and qualities, such as gems, herbs, color, parts of the body or musical tones. These correspondences are used to aid various aspects of the work on all three levels. The Zodiac comes into to play here as we examine the planetary energies we must understand our own energy to fully benefit from working in the correct configuration. The following is classically listed operations with the zodiac:

    Aries-Digestion
    Taurus-Fixation
    Gemini-Distillation
    Cancer-Separation
    Leo-Calcination
    Virgo-Congelation
    Libra-Sublimation
    Scorpio-Dissolution
    Sagittarius-Incineration
    Capricorn-Fermentation
    Aquarius-Multiplying
    Pisces-Projection

    If anyone is more interested in planetary energies or their own energy, an in depth study of planetary magick and the birthchart will provide more specific information relative to what your looking for.

    Spagyrics
    "Everything which is generated of its elements is divided into three, namely into Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury. Learn the form which is peculiar to these three. One is liquor, and this is the form of Mercury; one is oiliness which is the form of Sulfur; one is alkali, and this is from Salt." - Paracelsus

    Spagyrics is derived from Greek words meaning to separate and reunite. The general process is: Separation, Purification, and Cohobation.*(most of the time spagyrics is referring to herbal alchemy, but you can use this method on other substances)* We must first separate the herb into it's tria prima: take your herb and cut it finely as small as you can, put this into a flask with a little water to make a paste and let it stand a bit, next we distill it by injecting steam into our paste and capturing it in a condenser, the water inside will have a layer of oil on top which is the alchemical sulfur. Once we have the sulfur separate we let the plant residue in the paste ferment, after this we distill the liquid and have two parts, the liquid containing the alchemical mercury, and the mush left over containing the alchemical salt. Now we have our tria prima, we can purify them. The sulfur and mercury are redistilled several times until they are highly refined, the salt is burned down into a clean white ash which we dissolve in water and the liquid is evaporated leaving a crystalline salt. After our tria prima have been purified we can begin Cohobation, first we take our salt and saturate it with the sulfur, and mix in the mercury and let it sit in a period of digestion, our spagyric elixir is complete. This is a very basic way to use and explain the spagyric method. *Note- During any point after separation any of the three essentials can be purified and used on their own*

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      #3
      Re: Alchemy 101, The Basics.

      I'm not sure you're aware of this so I thought I'd just state the obvious.

      We already have an introduction to Alchemy on the boards. Perhaps you should begin there, with your particular strain. Yes?





      *at the moment, I am unable to perform any duplicate thread merges, since I'm on a less-than-suitable cell phone*




      "Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it." - Ayn Rand

      "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." - Marcus Aurelius

      "The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice." - Mark Twain

      "The only gossip I'm interested in is things from the Weekly World News - 'Woman's bra bursts, 11 injured'. That kind of thing." - Johnny Depp


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        #4
        Re: Alchemy 101, The Basics.

        ^ Does it really make a difference? Not like the other alchemy discussion is active.

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          #5
          Re: Alchemy 101, The Basics.

          Originally posted by Aeran View Post
          ^ Does it really make a difference? Not like the other alchemy discussion is active.
          Chain and I discussed it last night. At the moment, we're gonna leave the two threads separate. There are occasional benefits to combining similar topics (hence Chain's post above) but it's not always necessary and in this case we're gonna leave them separate atm.
          life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

          Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

          "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

          John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

          "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

          Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


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