| CHAPTER VII ALCHEMY-PART I |
What a weird yet strangely pleasing name the term Alchemy is. It is simple, yet so infilled and intermixed with the
possible verities of exact science and the philosophical speculations on the infinite and the unknown, as to elude our
mental grasp, as it were, by its own subtle essence, and defy the keenest analysis of our profoundest generalizers in
science. And yet, in spite of this self-evident truth, how fascinating the sound of the word becomes to the mystic
student's ear, and bow pregnant with awful and mysterious possibilities it becomes, to the immortal powers embodied
within the complex human organism termed man.
Words, if we but knew it, have the same innate, magnetic influence, and possess the same power of affinity and
antipathy, that the human family possesses; as well as all organic and inorganic forms and substances; and how sad,
to a developed soul, to witness the inharmony existing in our midst, caused by the misapplication of names.
Most human beings are very conscious of personal, or human magnetism, and its effects. But they stop right there,
and do not dream of the subtle, silent influences emanating from a name, a word, and the power existing in words,
when properly used. The human mind is so absorbed in Nature's manifestations, which are only the husks, that they
fail to see the true, hidden meaning and realities, concealed beneath the material shell.
We will first notice the meaning of the words which constitute our subject, viz., Alchemy, then give a brief review of its
physical correspondence, chemistry, and its true relation to its spiritual counterpart, Alchemy.
"Al" and "Chemy" are Arabic-Egyptian words which have much more in them than appears upon the surface, and
possess a far different meaning from the one which the terms usually convey to the average mind. Terms, and the
ideas we associate with them, vary according to the age in which we live. So with those, from which the word Alchemy
is derived.
Let us penetrate beneath the mere verbal husk with which linguistic usage and convenience have clothed them, and
which, in the course of ages, has become nothing but the dross of decomposed verbiage, and see if we can excavate
the living germ, that has become buried within. If we can do so, we shall, at the commencement of our study, have
attained unto a realization of the ancient meaning and real significance of the terms employed. And this will be no
small gain, and will form no unimportant part of the equipment in our present research.
The Arabians, who derived the whole of their Occult arcana from the Egyptians, are the most likely to render us the
most truthful and direct significance of the word, and so we find them. Thus, "Al," meaning "the," and Kimia," which
means the hidden, or secret, ergo THE OCCULT, from which are derived our modern term Alchemy, more properly Al
Kimia. This is very different from the popular conception to-day, which supposes that the word relates to the art of
artificially making gold by some chemical process, and viewing it only as some sort of magical chemistry, forgetting
that, the science of chemistry itself is also derived from the Kimia of Arabian mystics, and was considered as one and
the same thing by every writer of the Middle Ages.
At this time, the physical man was not so dense and grasping for husks; hence the soul and spiritual part had greater
control, and could impart the real, the alchemical side, of Nature to him; hence the Law of Correspondences was
understood, and guided the educated in their considerations, researches, and conclusions.
Do you ask why, if they were so enlightened, they have veiled their knowledge from the world at large?
The power of mind over matter was as potent in those days as now, and the masses were as correspondingly corrupt
as they are today. Therefore, to put this knowledge into the hands of the multitude would have been generally
disastrous. So they wrote it in mystical language, knowing that all educated students in Nature's laws, at that time,
would understand; yet they little dreamed how much their language would be misunderstood in the centuries to follow,
by those who look to their ancient ancestry for aid on subjects that have become at the present day so lost in mystery.
Having ascertained, beyond question, that Alchemy was, and consequently is, the secret science of Occultism--not the
philosophy, mind you, but the science; let us proceed, for, we shall find that these two aspects may often differ, or
appear to differ, widely from each other, though they can never do so in reality, for the latter produces and establishes
the facts, while the former occupies itself in their tabulation and deductions. The science constitutes the foundation,
and the philosophy, the metaphysical speculations, which rest thereon. If these important distinctions are borne in
mind, all the apparent confusion, contradiction, and other intellectual debris, will either disappear or resolve
themselves into their own proper groups, so that we may easily classify them.
It is at this very point, that, so many students go astray amid the labyrinths of science and philosophy. They,
unconsciously, so mix and intermingle the two terms, that nine-tenths of the students present only one side of the
question--philosophy, which soon runs into theory, if not supported by the science, which they have lost in their
volumes of philosophy.
You may say, one subject at a time. Yes, this may be true, if its twin brother is not absorbed and forgotten.
In this chapter, we shall deal especially with organic Alchemy.
Organic Alchemy deals exclusively with living, organic things, and in this connection differs from the Alchemy of
inorganic matter. These two aspects may, in this one respect, be compared to organic and inorganic chemistry, to
which originally they belonged; as astrology did to astronomy. Alchemy and astrology--twin sisters--were the parents of
the modern offspring, known in chemistry and astronomy as exact science. These latter, however, deal with shadows
and phenomenal illusions, while the former concern the living realities, which produce them. Therefore, there can be
"no new thing under the sun," saith Solomon.
First, let us deal with the most lovely form of our art, that which pertains to the floral and vegetable kingdoms. Every
flower or blade of grass, every tree of the forest and stagnant weed of the swamp, is the outcome of, and ever
surrounded by, its corresponding degree of spiritual life. There is not a single atom but what is the external expression
of some separate, living force, within the spaces of Aeth, acting in unison with the dominant power corresponding with
the type of life.
If science could only behold this wonderful laboratory within the vital storehouse of Nature, she would no longer vainly
seek for THE ORIGIN OF LIFE, nor wonder, what may have become of the missing link in scientific evolution, because,
she would quickly realize that, biogenesis is the one grand truth of both animate and inanimate Nature, the central,
living source of which is God. Science would also, further realize that, this biune life is ever in motion throughout the
manifested universe; circulating around the focii of creative activities, which we term suns, stars, and planets, awaiting
the conditions which are ever present for material incarnation; and under all possible combinations of circumstances
and conditions, conceivable and inconceivable, adapting itself to continuous phenomenal expression. Links, so called,
in this mighty chain of evolution, may appear to be missing here and there, and, for that matter, whole types may seem
to be wanting, but, this is only because of our imperfect perception, and, in any case, can make no real difference with
the facts, because, if such be a reality, if there be what we may term MISSING LINKS in the scheme of evolution, it only
shows that spirit, although associated with, is ever independent of matter.
But matter--what is to become of it? Is it independent of spirit? The kindness of the Divine spirit heeds not the
unconscious mind of matter and its boasted independence, and works silently on, and at last, accomplishes its
mission--the evolution of matter, the uplifting of the soul of man, as well as the universe. The blindness of man is
dense, and the saddest part to admit is that, they will so stubbornly remain so.
If, for one instant, the penetrating eye of the soul could shine forth through the physical orbs of vision, and imprint the
scenes, beheld behind the veil, upon the tablets of the brain of the physical organism, a fire would be kindled that,
could never be quenched by the fascinating allurements of the material, perishable things, of matter.
That development of the real atom of biune life can, and does, go forward, irrespective of the gradation of physical
types, needs no convincing proof, other than visible Nature.
MAN IS NOT THE OUTCOME OF PHYSICAL EVOLUTION, and produced by a series of blind laws, that lead him
upward from protozoa to man, as a child climbs up stairs, advancing regularly, ONE STEP AS A TIME. This latter
conception, we know, is the theory of exact science, but not of Alchemy, not of the science of Occultism. Man,
according to Wallace, Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndall, is what progressive stages of physical evolution have made him.
But the very reverse is true. The fauna and flora of past geological periods are what the human soul has produced, by
virtue of its gradual advancement to higher states and conditions of life, so that, so far from man being the outcome of
the planet's development, such material progress is the outgrowth of man's advancement, proving again that, matter is
not independent of spirit, neither can spirit be independent of matter for its expressions. They so interblend that, the
dividing line cannot be detected by the untrained eye of the exact scientist. But, that time is not far distant, when the
scientists will prepare and evolve their interior being to take up the spiritual thread, exactly where the visible thread
ends, and carry forth the work, as far as the mortal mind of man can penetrate, while embodied in the physical form.
God hasten this day is my prayer, for then man will become more spiritual and aspiring for advancement and
knowledge, thus, setting up vibrations that will create higher and loftier conditions for the physical man. Aye! then they
will know that, even the birth of the world itself, owes its primal genesis to the desire of the human atom for earthly
embodiment.
Here is where exact science, or the counterpart of Alchemy, becomes both profitable and helpful. Says Paracelsus:
"The true use of chemistry is not to make gold, but to prepare medicines." He admits four elements--the STAR, the
ROOT, the ELEMENT and the SPERM. These elements were composed of the three principles, SIDERIC SALT,
SULPHUR, and MERCURY. Mercury, or spirit, sulphur, or oil, and salt, and the passive principles, water and earth.
Herein we see the harmony of the two words, Alchemy and Chemistry. One is but the continuation of the other, and
they blend so into each other that, they are not complete, apart.
The chemist, in his analysis of the various component parts of any form of matter, knows also the proportional
combinations; and thus, by the Law of Correspondence, could, by the same use of the spiritual laws of Alchemy,
analyze and combine the same elements from the atmosphere, to produce the corresponding expression of
crystallized form. By the same laws, are affinities and antipathies discovered and applied, in every department of
Nature's wonderful laboratory.
Chemistry is the physical expression of Alchemy, and any true knowledge of chemistry is:--not the knowing of the
names of the extracts and essences, and the plants themselves, and that certain combinations produce certain
results, obtained from blind experiments, yet, prompted by the Divine spirit within; but, knowledge born from knowing
the why and wherefore of such effects. What is called the oil of olives is not a single, simple substance, but it is more
or less combined with other essential elements, and will fuse and coalesce with other oils and essences of similar
nature. The true chemist will not confine his researches for knowledge to the mere examination, analysis, and
experiments, in organic life; but will inform himself equally, in physical astrology; and learn the nature, attributes, and
manifested influences of the planets, that constitute our universe; and, under which, every form of organic matter is
subject, and especially, controlled by. Then, by learning the influence of the planets upon the human family; and that
special planetary vibration that influences the individual; he can intelligently and unerringly administer medicines to
remove disease in man.
A familiarity with the mere chemical relations of the planet to man, makes still more apparent, the mutual affinity of both
to the soil, from which they appear to spring, and to which, they ultimately return; so much so that, we have become
conscious, that, the food we eat is valuable or otherwise as a life sustainer, in proportion to the amount of life it
contains. We are so complex in our organization that, we require a great variety of the different elements to sustain all
the active functions and powers within us. Man, being a microcosm, or a miniature universe, must sustain that
universe, by taking into the system the various elements, which combine to make up the Infinite Universe of God.
Animal flesh is necessary to certain organized forms, both animal and man. When I say necessary, I do not mean an
acquired taste and habit of consuming just so much flesh a day; but a constitution, which would not be complete in its
requirements, without animal flesh. I am thankful such do not constitute the masses.
Science would say, you only require certain combinations of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, to sustain all the
activities of the physical body. Apparently, this is true. Upon the surface it is, but in reality it is not; because if it were
really true there could be no famines. Science could make bread out of stones, as was suggested at the temptation of
Christ in the wilderness. And yet, no one knows better than the academies of Science, themselve, that their learned
professors would quickly starve to death, if they were compelled to produce their food from the chemical properties of
the rocks. They can make a grain of wheat chemically perfect, but they cannot make the invisible germ by which it will
grow, become fruitful, and reproduce itself. They can reproduce from the stones in thestreet the same chemical
equivalents that go to compose gluten, albumen, and starch--the trinity which must always be present to sustain life;
but they cannot, by any known process, make such chemical equivalents of these substances, do the same thing.
Now, if not, why not? Science cannot answer this. A very mysterious shake of the head and profound silence is the
only answer.
Ask Science HOW THE PLANT GROWS, what causes the atoms of matter to build up root, stem, leaf, bud and flower,
true to the parent species from which the germinal atom came. What is there behind the plant that stamps it with such
striking individuality? And why, from the same soil, the deadly aconite and nutritious vegetable can grow, each
producing qualities in harmony with its own nature, so widely different in their effects upon the human organism, YET,
SO COMPLETELY IDENTICAL AS REGARDS THE SOURCE FROM WHICH THEY APPEAR TO SPRING. There must
be a something to account for this, and this something, ancient Alchemy alone can scientifically reveal and expound;
and, this knowledge lies just beyond that line which calls a halt to material scientists, and says: "You can go no farther;
this is beyond your purview. The end of the material thread has been reached, and unless you can connect it with the
thread of the next plane, your rese arches must stop."
Before entering upon and answering these vital questions, we must digress a little, and make ourselves perfectly
familiar with the ideas and revelations of advanced physical science upon the subject, and for this purpose no more
trustworthy guide can be consulted than the new edition of "The Chemistry of Common Life," by the late James F. W.
Johnson, M. A., England, and revised by Arthur Herbert Church, M. A. In chapter IV on page 56 of this work, upon the
anatomy of plant life, we read:
"How interesting it is to reflect on the minuteness of the organs by which the largest plants are fed and sustained.
Microscopic apertures in the leaf suck in gaseous food from the air; the surfaces of microscopic hairs suck a liquid
food from the soil. We are accustomed to admire, with natural and just astonishment, how huge, rocky reefs, hundreds
of miles in length, can be built up by the conjoined labors of myriads of minute zoophytes, laboring together on the
surface of a coral rock; but it is not less wonderful that, by the ceaseless working of similar microscopic agencies in
leaf and root, the substance of vast forests should be built up and made to grow before our eyes. It is more wonderful,
in fact; for whereas, in the one case, the chief result is that, dead matter extracted from the sea is transformed into a
dead rock; in the other, the lifeless matter of the earth and air are converted by these minute plant-builders into living
forms, lifting their heads aloft to the sky, waving with every wind that blows, and beautifying whole continents with the
varying verdure of their ever-changing leaves."
Further on in the same chapter, on pages 62-3, the same eloquent writer continues:
"But the special chemical changes that go on within the plant, could we follow them, would appear not less wonderful
than the rapid production of entire microscopic vegetables from the raw food contained in the juice of the grape. It is
as yet altogether incomprehensible, even to the most refined physiological chemistry, how, from the same food taken
in from the air, and from generally similar food drawn up from the soil, different plants, and different parts of plants,
should be able to extract or produce substances so very different from each other in composition and in all of their
properties. From the seed-vessels of one (the poppy) we collect a juice which dries up into ourcommercial opium; from
the bark of another (cinchona) we extract the quinine with which we assuage the raging fever; from the leaves of
others, like those of hemlock and tobacco, we distil deadly poisons, often of rare value for their medicinal uses. The
flowers and leaves of some yield volatile oils, which we delight in for their odors and their aromatic qualities; the seeds
of others give fixed oils, which are prized for the table or use in the arts * * * These, and a thousand other similar facts,
tell us how wonderfully varied are the changes which the same original forms of matter undergo in the interior of living
plants. Indeed, whether we regard the vegetable as a whole, or examine its minutest part, we find equal evidence of
the same diversity of changes and of the same production, in comparatively minute quantities, of very different, yet
often characteristic forms of matter."
From the whole of the foregoing, we observe the exact position to be the one we have previously stated. If such
wondrous things can be revealed to us through the physical science of chemistry, what think you must be hidden from
our physical sight and knowledge by the veil which hangs between matter and spirit? Think you not, it is worth the
effort to penetrate beyond that point where the atom disappears from the view of the scientist?
If plants produce such wonderful phenomena in their life and influence, what must the Divine organism of man have
concealed within his microscopic universe, to study and comprehend? Plant life is merely the alphabet of the complex,
intricate, and multitudinous processes, going on in the human body.
And, as the mechanical microscope of physical science cannot reveal the why and the wherefore, let us, for a brief
moment, disclose some of the wonders that declare their existence, when subjected to the penetrating alchemical lens,
of the inward spirit. The first thing that intrudes itself upon our notice, by virtue of its primary importance, is the grand
fact of biogenesis--life emanating from life. We perceive every external form to be the physical symbol of a
corresponding degree of spiritual life; that each complete plant represents a complete cycle, state, or degree of
interior existence; that it is made up and consists of countless millions of separate atoms of life; that these atoms of
spiritual activity are the real instigators of the life and motion of corresponding material atoms; that they ever obey the
Divine impulse of co-operative unity, in their chemical, as well as their spiritual affinity. Consequently, everything in the
form of material substance must be, and is, but the means for the phenomenal expression of incarnating spirit; the
organism of man, a tree, a plant, or an animal, being no exception to this Divine, omnipresent law of creative life.
To the true Alchemist there can be no mystery surrounding the wonderful phenomena mentioned in the work we have
quoted, in plants extracting from the same rocks, soil, and air, qualities so manifestly different--deadly poisons, healing
balsams, and pleasant aromas, or the reverse, from the same identical plant foods. Nothing is more wonderful or
mysterious, than, the same alchemical processes, which, are hourly being enacted within our own bodies. From the
same breath of air and the same crust of bread do we concoct the blood, the bile, the gastric juice, and various other
secretions; and distil the finer nervous fluids, that go to build up and sustain the whole of our mental and dynamic
machinery. It is the same ancient story of the atoms; each part and each function endowing the same inorganic
chemicals with their own spiritual, magnetic, and physical life-qualities, by what appears, to the uninitiated observer, a
miraculous transmutation of matter, but which is, in reality, the evolution of organic form from inorganic materials, in
obedience to the Divine law of spiritual progression. Who could stop with exact science? For, when we come to
consider the apparent mysteries of life and growth by the aid of this alchemical light, the shadows flee, and all the
illusions of Nature's phenomenal kaleidoscope vanish before the revelation of the underlying spiritual realities. We
know that the plant, being the physical expression upon the material plane of a more interior life, endows its outward
atoms with their peculiar qualities. THESE QUALITIES ARE NOT DRAWN DIRECTLY FROM THE SOIL; the soil only
becoming the medium for their complete or incomplete expression, as the case may be; i.e., supplying the necessary
inorganic atoms.
Hence, the deadly qualities of aconite, and the generous life-sustaining qualities of the nutritious vegetable, BEING
SPIRITUAL LIFE ENDOWMENTS, conveyed to the material substance, abstracted from the soil and withdrawn from the
atmosphere, are no mystery; their effect upon the human organism being exactly that, which is produced by their
spiritual affinity or antipathy, as the case may be. And this also shows and explains, why purely inorganic chemical
atoms, though they be exactly the same as the organic substances, from a strictly scientific standpoint, YET FAIL TO
SUPPORT LIFE, because such chemical equivalents lack the organic spirituality of the interior life, which alone, gives
them the power and function to support the same. They fail to fulfill the requirements of the alchemical law of life for
the support of life--in other words, biogenesis.
And, too, this inorganic life may be parted from the plant or vegetable, if it be too long severed from the medium which
transmits the spiritual life, from the inorganic world to that of organic matter. Vegetables, fresh from the ground, or
parent stem, retain this life if at once prepared for food, if not overcooked, which is so often ignorantly done. This is
the secret of sustenance from foods. Nature's perfected fruits and vegetables are overflowing with the life-giving
essences, and, if eaten direct from the tree or parent stem, that life is not lost, but transmitted to our organisms, and
replenishes the wasting system with a living life. Much less of such food is required to completely satisfy and nourish
the body than if the life had partly departed or been destroyed.
Briefly stated, then, everything within organic Nature is the expressional symbolic manifestation of spirit; every form
being a congregation of innumerable atoms of life, revealing their presence in material states; each organic form, or,
rather, organism, evolving under the central control of some dominating Deific atom or soul, which, by virtue of past
incarnations and labors in its cycle of evolution, from the mineral up to man, has achieved the royal prerogative to rule
within its own state. Man being the highest representative form--the grand finale in the earthly drama--sums up and
contains within himself everything below, and THE GERMS OF EVERYTHING BEYOND, THIS STATE. He is truly a
microcosm, and represents in miniature the grand Cosmic Man of the Heavens. Every living force beneath him
corresponds to some state, part, or function, which he has graduated through and conquered, and which, in him, has
now become embodied, as a part of his universal kingdom. Consequently, all things are directly related to him, in the
grand universal unity of spiritual life.
This cannot be realized and comprehended by the physical man, nor conveyed to his outer senses by the physical
sciences. He must bring into active use the inner man, the real being, which inhabits and controls the outer organism,
and through its instrumentality, understand the interior source and workings behind the phenomena of manifested
being. So we see that, exact science cannot take us far, yet, it is a mighty factor, in the evolution of the microcosm
Man, and in consciously relating him to the Infinite Macrocosm--God, Spirit, All.
possible verities of exact science and the philosophical speculations on the infinite and the unknown, as to elude our
mental grasp, as it were, by its own subtle essence, and defy the keenest analysis of our profoundest generalizers in
science. And yet, in spite of this self-evident truth, how fascinating the sound of the word becomes to the mystic
student's ear, and bow pregnant with awful and mysterious possibilities it becomes, to the immortal powers embodied
within the complex human organism termed man.
Words, if we but knew it, have the same innate, magnetic influence, and possess the same power of affinity and
antipathy, that the human family possesses; as well as all organic and inorganic forms and substances; and how sad,
to a developed soul, to witness the inharmony existing in our midst, caused by the misapplication of names.
Most human beings are very conscious of personal, or human magnetism, and its effects. But they stop right there,
and do not dream of the subtle, silent influences emanating from a name, a word, and the power existing in words,
when properly used. The human mind is so absorbed in Nature's manifestations, which are only the husks, that they
fail to see the true, hidden meaning and realities, concealed beneath the material shell.
We will first notice the meaning of the words which constitute our subject, viz., Alchemy, then give a brief review of its
physical correspondence, chemistry, and its true relation to its spiritual counterpart, Alchemy.
"Al" and "Chemy" are Arabic-Egyptian words which have much more in them than appears upon the surface, and
possess a far different meaning from the one which the terms usually convey to the average mind. Terms, and the
ideas we associate with them, vary according to the age in which we live. So with those, from which the word Alchemy
is derived.
Let us penetrate beneath the mere verbal husk with which linguistic usage and convenience have clothed them, and
which, in the course of ages, has become nothing but the dross of decomposed verbiage, and see if we can excavate
the living germ, that has become buried within. If we can do so, we shall, at the commencement of our study, have
attained unto a realization of the ancient meaning and real significance of the terms employed. And this will be no
small gain, and will form no unimportant part of the equipment in our present research.
The Arabians, who derived the whole of their Occult arcana from the Egyptians, are the most likely to render us the
most truthful and direct significance of the word, and so we find them. Thus, "Al," meaning "the," and Kimia," which
means the hidden, or secret, ergo THE OCCULT, from which are derived our modern term Alchemy, more properly Al
Kimia. This is very different from the popular conception to-day, which supposes that the word relates to the art of
artificially making gold by some chemical process, and viewing it only as some sort of magical chemistry, forgetting
that, the science of chemistry itself is also derived from the Kimia of Arabian mystics, and was considered as one and
the same thing by every writer of the Middle Ages.
At this time, the physical man was not so dense and grasping for husks; hence the soul and spiritual part had greater
control, and could impart the real, the alchemical side, of Nature to him; hence the Law of Correspondences was
understood, and guided the educated in their considerations, researches, and conclusions.
Do you ask why, if they were so enlightened, they have veiled their knowledge from the world at large?
The power of mind over matter was as potent in those days as now, and the masses were as correspondingly corrupt
as they are today. Therefore, to put this knowledge into the hands of the multitude would have been generally
disastrous. So they wrote it in mystical language, knowing that all educated students in Nature's laws, at that time,
would understand; yet they little dreamed how much their language would be misunderstood in the centuries to follow,
by those who look to their ancient ancestry for aid on subjects that have become at the present day so lost in mystery.
Having ascertained, beyond question, that Alchemy was, and consequently is, the secret science of Occultism--not the
philosophy, mind you, but the science; let us proceed, for, we shall find that these two aspects may often differ, or
appear to differ, widely from each other, though they can never do so in reality, for the latter produces and establishes
the facts, while the former occupies itself in their tabulation and deductions. The science constitutes the foundation,
and the philosophy, the metaphysical speculations, which rest thereon. If these important distinctions are borne in
mind, all the apparent confusion, contradiction, and other intellectual debris, will either disappear or resolve
themselves into their own proper groups, so that we may easily classify them.
It is at this very point, that, so many students go astray amid the labyrinths of science and philosophy. They,
unconsciously, so mix and intermingle the two terms, that nine-tenths of the students present only one side of the
question--philosophy, which soon runs into theory, if not supported by the science, which they have lost in their
volumes of philosophy.
You may say, one subject at a time. Yes, this may be true, if its twin brother is not absorbed and forgotten.
In this chapter, we shall deal especially with organic Alchemy.
Organic Alchemy deals exclusively with living, organic things, and in this connection differs from the Alchemy of
inorganic matter. These two aspects may, in this one respect, be compared to organic and inorganic chemistry, to
which originally they belonged; as astrology did to astronomy. Alchemy and astrology--twin sisters--were the parents of
the modern offspring, known in chemistry and astronomy as exact science. These latter, however, deal with shadows
and phenomenal illusions, while the former concern the living realities, which produce them. Therefore, there can be
"no new thing under the sun," saith Solomon.
First, let us deal with the most lovely form of our art, that which pertains to the floral and vegetable kingdoms. Every
flower or blade of grass, every tree of the forest and stagnant weed of the swamp, is the outcome of, and ever
surrounded by, its corresponding degree of spiritual life. There is not a single atom but what is the external expression
of some separate, living force, within the spaces of Aeth, acting in unison with the dominant power corresponding with
the type of life.
If science could only behold this wonderful laboratory within the vital storehouse of Nature, she would no longer vainly
seek for THE ORIGIN OF LIFE, nor wonder, what may have become of the missing link in scientific evolution, because,
she would quickly realize that, biogenesis is the one grand truth of both animate and inanimate Nature, the central,
living source of which is God. Science would also, further realize that, this biune life is ever in motion throughout the
manifested universe; circulating around the focii of creative activities, which we term suns, stars, and planets, awaiting
the conditions which are ever present for material incarnation; and under all possible combinations of circumstances
and conditions, conceivable and inconceivable, adapting itself to continuous phenomenal expression. Links, so called,
in this mighty chain of evolution, may appear to be missing here and there, and, for that matter, whole types may seem
to be wanting, but, this is only because of our imperfect perception, and, in any case, can make no real difference with
the facts, because, if such be a reality, if there be what we may term MISSING LINKS in the scheme of evolution, it only
shows that spirit, although associated with, is ever independent of matter.
But matter--what is to become of it? Is it independent of spirit? The kindness of the Divine spirit heeds not the
unconscious mind of matter and its boasted independence, and works silently on, and at last, accomplishes its
mission--the evolution of matter, the uplifting of the soul of man, as well as the universe. The blindness of man is
dense, and the saddest part to admit is that, they will so stubbornly remain so.
If, for one instant, the penetrating eye of the soul could shine forth through the physical orbs of vision, and imprint the
scenes, beheld behind the veil, upon the tablets of the brain of the physical organism, a fire would be kindled that,
could never be quenched by the fascinating allurements of the material, perishable things, of matter.
That development of the real atom of biune life can, and does, go forward, irrespective of the gradation of physical
types, needs no convincing proof, other than visible Nature.
MAN IS NOT THE OUTCOME OF PHYSICAL EVOLUTION, and produced by a series of blind laws, that lead him
upward from protozoa to man, as a child climbs up stairs, advancing regularly, ONE STEP AS A TIME. This latter
conception, we know, is the theory of exact science, but not of Alchemy, not of the science of Occultism. Man,
according to Wallace, Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndall, is what progressive stages of physical evolution have made him.
But the very reverse is true. The fauna and flora of past geological periods are what the human soul has produced, by
virtue of its gradual advancement to higher states and conditions of life, so that, so far from man being the outcome of
the planet's development, such material progress is the outgrowth of man's advancement, proving again that, matter is
not independent of spirit, neither can spirit be independent of matter for its expressions. They so interblend that, the
dividing line cannot be detected by the untrained eye of the exact scientist. But, that time is not far distant, when the
scientists will prepare and evolve their interior being to take up the spiritual thread, exactly where the visible thread
ends, and carry forth the work, as far as the mortal mind of man can penetrate, while embodied in the physical form.
God hasten this day is my prayer, for then man will become more spiritual and aspiring for advancement and
knowledge, thus, setting up vibrations that will create higher and loftier conditions for the physical man. Aye! then they
will know that, even the birth of the world itself, owes its primal genesis to the desire of the human atom for earthly
embodiment.
Here is where exact science, or the counterpart of Alchemy, becomes both profitable and helpful. Says Paracelsus:
"The true use of chemistry is not to make gold, but to prepare medicines." He admits four elements--the STAR, the
ROOT, the ELEMENT and the SPERM. These elements were composed of the three principles, SIDERIC SALT,
SULPHUR, and MERCURY. Mercury, or spirit, sulphur, or oil, and salt, and the passive principles, water and earth.
Herein we see the harmony of the two words, Alchemy and Chemistry. One is but the continuation of the other, and
they blend so into each other that, they are not complete, apart.
The chemist, in his analysis of the various component parts of any form of matter, knows also the proportional
combinations; and thus, by the Law of Correspondence, could, by the same use of the spiritual laws of Alchemy,
analyze and combine the same elements from the atmosphere, to produce the corresponding expression of
crystallized form. By the same laws, are affinities and antipathies discovered and applied, in every department of
Nature's wonderful laboratory.
Chemistry is the physical expression of Alchemy, and any true knowledge of chemistry is:--not the knowing of the
names of the extracts and essences, and the plants themselves, and that certain combinations produce certain
results, obtained from blind experiments, yet, prompted by the Divine spirit within; but, knowledge born from knowing
the why and wherefore of such effects. What is called the oil of olives is not a single, simple substance, but it is more
or less combined with other essential elements, and will fuse and coalesce with other oils and essences of similar
nature. The true chemist will not confine his researches for knowledge to the mere examination, analysis, and
experiments, in organic life; but will inform himself equally, in physical astrology; and learn the nature, attributes, and
manifested influences of the planets, that constitute our universe; and, under which, every form of organic matter is
subject, and especially, controlled by. Then, by learning the influence of the planets upon the human family; and that
special planetary vibration that influences the individual; he can intelligently and unerringly administer medicines to
remove disease in man.
A familiarity with the mere chemical relations of the planet to man, makes still more apparent, the mutual affinity of both
to the soil, from which they appear to spring, and to which, they ultimately return; so much so that, we have become
conscious, that, the food we eat is valuable or otherwise as a life sustainer, in proportion to the amount of life it
contains. We are so complex in our organization that, we require a great variety of the different elements to sustain all
the active functions and powers within us. Man, being a microcosm, or a miniature universe, must sustain that
universe, by taking into the system the various elements, which combine to make up the Infinite Universe of God.
Animal flesh is necessary to certain organized forms, both animal and man. When I say necessary, I do not mean an
acquired taste and habit of consuming just so much flesh a day; but a constitution, which would not be complete in its
requirements, without animal flesh. I am thankful such do not constitute the masses.
Science would say, you only require certain combinations of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, to sustain all the
activities of the physical body. Apparently, this is true. Upon the surface it is, but in reality it is not; because if it were
really true there could be no famines. Science could make bread out of stones, as was suggested at the temptation of
Christ in the wilderness. And yet, no one knows better than the academies of Science, themselve, that their learned
professors would quickly starve to death, if they were compelled to produce their food from the chemical properties of
the rocks. They can make a grain of wheat chemically perfect, but they cannot make the invisible germ by which it will
grow, become fruitful, and reproduce itself. They can reproduce from the stones in thestreet the same chemical
equivalents that go to compose gluten, albumen, and starch--the trinity which must always be present to sustain life;
but they cannot, by any known process, make such chemical equivalents of these substances, do the same thing.
Now, if not, why not? Science cannot answer this. A very mysterious shake of the head and profound silence is the
only answer.
Ask Science HOW THE PLANT GROWS, what causes the atoms of matter to build up root, stem, leaf, bud and flower,
true to the parent species from which the germinal atom came. What is there behind the plant that stamps it with such
striking individuality? And why, from the same soil, the deadly aconite and nutritious vegetable can grow, each
producing qualities in harmony with its own nature, so widely different in their effects upon the human organism, YET,
SO COMPLETELY IDENTICAL AS REGARDS THE SOURCE FROM WHICH THEY APPEAR TO SPRING. There must
be a something to account for this, and this something, ancient Alchemy alone can scientifically reveal and expound;
and, this knowledge lies just beyond that line which calls a halt to material scientists, and says: "You can go no farther;
this is beyond your purview. The end of the material thread has been reached, and unless you can connect it with the
thread of the next plane, your rese arches must stop."
Before entering upon and answering these vital questions, we must digress a little, and make ourselves perfectly
familiar with the ideas and revelations of advanced physical science upon the subject, and for this purpose no more
trustworthy guide can be consulted than the new edition of "The Chemistry of Common Life," by the late James F. W.
Johnson, M. A., England, and revised by Arthur Herbert Church, M. A. In chapter IV on page 56 of this work, upon the
anatomy of plant life, we read:
"How interesting it is to reflect on the minuteness of the organs by which the largest plants are fed and sustained.
Microscopic apertures in the leaf suck in gaseous food from the air; the surfaces of microscopic hairs suck a liquid
food from the soil. We are accustomed to admire, with natural and just astonishment, how huge, rocky reefs, hundreds
of miles in length, can be built up by the conjoined labors of myriads of minute zoophytes, laboring together on the
surface of a coral rock; but it is not less wonderful that, by the ceaseless working of similar microscopic agencies in
leaf and root, the substance of vast forests should be built up and made to grow before our eyes. It is more wonderful,
in fact; for whereas, in the one case, the chief result is that, dead matter extracted from the sea is transformed into a
dead rock; in the other, the lifeless matter of the earth and air are converted by these minute plant-builders into living
forms, lifting their heads aloft to the sky, waving with every wind that blows, and beautifying whole continents with the
varying verdure of their ever-changing leaves."
Further on in the same chapter, on pages 62-3, the same eloquent writer continues:
"But the special chemical changes that go on within the plant, could we follow them, would appear not less wonderful
than the rapid production of entire microscopic vegetables from the raw food contained in the juice of the grape. It is
as yet altogether incomprehensible, even to the most refined physiological chemistry, how, from the same food taken
in from the air, and from generally similar food drawn up from the soil, different plants, and different parts of plants,
should be able to extract or produce substances so very different from each other in composition and in all of their
properties. From the seed-vessels of one (the poppy) we collect a juice which dries up into ourcommercial opium; from
the bark of another (cinchona) we extract the quinine with which we assuage the raging fever; from the leaves of
others, like those of hemlock and tobacco, we distil deadly poisons, often of rare value for their medicinal uses. The
flowers and leaves of some yield volatile oils, which we delight in for their odors and their aromatic qualities; the seeds
of others give fixed oils, which are prized for the table or use in the arts * * * These, and a thousand other similar facts,
tell us how wonderfully varied are the changes which the same original forms of matter undergo in the interior of living
plants. Indeed, whether we regard the vegetable as a whole, or examine its minutest part, we find equal evidence of
the same diversity of changes and of the same production, in comparatively minute quantities, of very different, yet
often characteristic forms of matter."
From the whole of the foregoing, we observe the exact position to be the one we have previously stated. If such
wondrous things can be revealed to us through the physical science of chemistry, what think you must be hidden from
our physical sight and knowledge by the veil which hangs between matter and spirit? Think you not, it is worth the
effort to penetrate beyond that point where the atom disappears from the view of the scientist?
If plants produce such wonderful phenomena in their life and influence, what must the Divine organism of man have
concealed within his microscopic universe, to study and comprehend? Plant life is merely the alphabet of the complex,
intricate, and multitudinous processes, going on in the human body.
And, as the mechanical microscope of physical science cannot reveal the why and the wherefore, let us, for a brief
moment, disclose some of the wonders that declare their existence, when subjected to the penetrating alchemical lens,
of the inward spirit. The first thing that intrudes itself upon our notice, by virtue of its primary importance, is the grand
fact of biogenesis--life emanating from life. We perceive every external form to be the physical symbol of a
corresponding degree of spiritual life; that each complete plant represents a complete cycle, state, or degree of
interior existence; that it is made up and consists of countless millions of separate atoms of life; that these atoms of
spiritual activity are the real instigators of the life and motion of corresponding material atoms; that they ever obey the
Divine impulse of co-operative unity, in their chemical, as well as their spiritual affinity. Consequently, everything in the
form of material substance must be, and is, but the means for the phenomenal expression of incarnating spirit; the
organism of man, a tree, a plant, or an animal, being no exception to this Divine, omnipresent law of creative life.
To the true Alchemist there can be no mystery surrounding the wonderful phenomena mentioned in the work we have
quoted, in plants extracting from the same rocks, soil, and air, qualities so manifestly different--deadly poisons, healing
balsams, and pleasant aromas, or the reverse, from the same identical plant foods. Nothing is more wonderful or
mysterious, than, the same alchemical processes, which, are hourly being enacted within our own bodies. From the
same breath of air and the same crust of bread do we concoct the blood, the bile, the gastric juice, and various other
secretions; and distil the finer nervous fluids, that go to build up and sustain the whole of our mental and dynamic
machinery. It is the same ancient story of the atoms; each part and each function endowing the same inorganic
chemicals with their own spiritual, magnetic, and physical life-qualities, by what appears, to the uninitiated observer, a
miraculous transmutation of matter, but which is, in reality, the evolution of organic form from inorganic materials, in
obedience to the Divine law of spiritual progression. Who could stop with exact science? For, when we come to
consider the apparent mysteries of life and growth by the aid of this alchemical light, the shadows flee, and all the
illusions of Nature's phenomenal kaleidoscope vanish before the revelation of the underlying spiritual realities. We
know that the plant, being the physical expression upon the material plane of a more interior life, endows its outward
atoms with their peculiar qualities. THESE QUALITIES ARE NOT DRAWN DIRECTLY FROM THE SOIL; the soil only
becoming the medium for their complete or incomplete expression, as the case may be; i.e., supplying the necessary
inorganic atoms.
Hence, the deadly qualities of aconite, and the generous life-sustaining qualities of the nutritious vegetable, BEING
SPIRITUAL LIFE ENDOWMENTS, conveyed to the material substance, abstracted from the soil and withdrawn from the
atmosphere, are no mystery; their effect upon the human organism being exactly that, which is produced by their
spiritual affinity or antipathy, as the case may be. And this also shows and explains, why purely inorganic chemical
atoms, though they be exactly the same as the organic substances, from a strictly scientific standpoint, YET FAIL TO
SUPPORT LIFE, because such chemical equivalents lack the organic spirituality of the interior life, which alone, gives
them the power and function to support the same. They fail to fulfill the requirements of the alchemical law of life for
the support of life--in other words, biogenesis.
And, too, this inorganic life may be parted from the plant or vegetable, if it be too long severed from the medium which
transmits the spiritual life, from the inorganic world to that of organic matter. Vegetables, fresh from the ground, or
parent stem, retain this life if at once prepared for food, if not overcooked, which is so often ignorantly done. This is
the secret of sustenance from foods. Nature's perfected fruits and vegetables are overflowing with the life-giving
essences, and, if eaten direct from the tree or parent stem, that life is not lost, but transmitted to our organisms, and
replenishes the wasting system with a living life. Much less of such food is required to completely satisfy and nourish
the body than if the life had partly departed or been destroyed.
Briefly stated, then, everything within organic Nature is the expressional symbolic manifestation of spirit; every form
being a congregation of innumerable atoms of life, revealing their presence in material states; each organic form, or,
rather, organism, evolving under the central control of some dominating Deific atom or soul, which, by virtue of past
incarnations and labors in its cycle of evolution, from the mineral up to man, has achieved the royal prerogative to rule
within its own state. Man being the highest representative form--the grand finale in the earthly drama--sums up and
contains within himself everything below, and THE GERMS OF EVERYTHING BEYOND, THIS STATE. He is truly a
microcosm, and represents in miniature the grand Cosmic Man of the Heavens. Every living force beneath him
corresponds to some state, part, or function, which he has graduated through and conquered, and which, in him, has
now become embodied, as a part of his universal kingdom. Consequently, all things are directly related to him, in the
grand universal unity of spiritual life.
This cannot be realized and comprehended by the physical man, nor conveyed to his outer senses by the physical
sciences. He must bring into active use the inner man, the real being, which inhabits and controls the outer organism,
and through its instrumentality, understand the interior source and workings behind the phenomena of manifested
being. So we see that, exact science cannot take us far, yet, it is a mighty factor, in the evolution of the microcosm
Man, and in consciously relating him to the Infinite Macrocosm--God, Spirit, All.
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The Light Of Egypt: Chapter 7