ALCHEMY AND CATHEDRAL

Alexander von Saenger

Major principle of all alchemy: "Solve and Coagula".
(Dissolve and coagulate).

Know that the end is only the beginning and that death is the cause of life; life is the beginning of the end. See black (at birth), See white (like life) and See red, (for a new reincarnation). Hermès Trismegistus, THREE TIMES GREAT.



A BRIEF HISTORY. The term of alchemy also called, the "Great - Work" by its followers, comes from the Arabic word Al-kïmyâ, derived from "khem" the black country, name which designated Egypt. The Egyptian god "Thoth", whom the Greeks assimilated to their "Hermes", was scribe of the Gods. He is the author of the famous definition of the divine: a “Circle whose center is everywhere, the circumference nowhere”.

Alchemy began by being practiced for centuries in China and India, then in Alexandria in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Carried by navigators, it was collected by the Arabs and transmitted to Europe.

Christian Hermeticism was able to favor the birth of a new Western alchemy at the beginning of the 12th century. Flourishing between 1550 and 1650, it withered at the beginning of the 18th century. It was not until the 19th century that it reappeared. It experienced, shortly after the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, a great resurgence in theosophical circles, and great popular misunderstanding.

CG Jung analyzed it in his work “Psychology and Alchemy” (1944) and demonstrated that it had striking analogies with visions and dreams. Alchemy aroused in Christian theosophists the very deep desire for a Gnosis. Transmitted from one generation to another, it was subjected to a first systematic codification around 1677 with the publication of the "Bible" of the alchemists, the "Mutus Liber", (the Silent Book).

Alchemy is dualistic. It is the reflection of matter and spirit, of the visible and the invisible, of good and evil. Resonator of the soul, his Manichaeism is expressed by two approaches, by two distinct and complementary ways:

- the so-called way of reason, intelligence, rationality, objective, also called "the dry way"
and another,

- the way of the senses, of the irrational and of the heart, called “the wet way or cardiac way”.

This conference will therefore be the mirror of this duality. All Alchemy is a search for a "Quest for the Holy Grail", in close connection with the imaginary, the divine. The first part is a somewhat technical overview of alchemy, the second, more sensitive, will appeal to alchemy and religiosity, whose relationships are intimate.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF ALCHEMY? To tend to purify matter and by "osmosis and sympathy" - in the hermetic sense of the term - the spirit. To do this, use the elements of nature - Psychic and Physical - by imitating and accelerating the operations of transformation of the phenomenology of natural life.

We can divide the "Great Work" into three main branches:

- Spagyria, whose creator was Paracelsus (1) and which represents for many an archaic chemistry. This science deals with the world of dualistic phenomena of purification and transformation of matter.

- Archemy, which describes is the phase of the transmutation of metal alloys. Our modern iron and steel industry is in principle its heir.

- Alchemy, an entirely esoteric and initiatory science devoted to the transformation of "Lead", the coarse being into a resplendent spiritual "Gold".

We will deal in this conference only with alchemy, principle of resonance of the soul, in the cathedrals of the world. Like magic its derivative, or astrology, it must be considered as a science or more exactly a traditional "Knowledge". She often called herself into question according to the structures and values ​​of the societies of her time, whether Eastern or Western.

The Alchemical Sciences are based on the observation of the relations and interactions between a structured matter, the visible and the invisible where the transformations of our mental space take place. (Spatio-temporal space). This is where our consciousness is formed, which somehow connects us to the divine. This consciousness is the reflection of the collective and universal soul of the invisible world.

It is by Alchemy that will be delivered, progressively, the spirit of the matter and the matter of the spirit.

Talking about alchemy in our time brings to mind the image of a somewhat mad and lonely old man, bending under the weight of the ages. Solitary, he devotes himself in his underground and secret laboratory, near his Athanor (2), this magic furnace of the alchemists, to one of the craziest human adventures: changing lead into gold. This image is false because chemistry does not derive from alchemy, but from “spagyria”, of which it is only the principle.

Failing to understand the true nature of the alchemical quest, contemporary public opinion has often called alchemy the "Crazy Mother of a Normal Girl" (chemistry). The 20th century, steeped in conquering materialism, discredited this traditional science which fell into the most complete obscurantism.

The alchemists of the Middle Ages took up the old Greek theory of Empedocles (died around 490 BC) of the four elements which did not designate the concrete and material realities whose names they bear, but "States", beacons, symbolized by matter. They are :

- the Earth, support of the solid state
- Water, support of the liquid state
- Air, support of the volatile state
- Fire, support of light and heat.

To these four elements are added three "Principles" that Paracelsus popularized by the famous alchemical tripartite division. Salt (or Arsenic) binds the two opposite principles that are Sulfur and Mercury and forms with them the three constituents of man: Body, Soul and Spirit,

- the Body is salt,
- the Mercury Soul,
- the Spirit sulfur.

Salt is the binder of the body, vehicle of the soul and the spirit. Mercury is the volatile principle of soul and spirit. Mercury is the volatile principle (because the soul is insecure and changeable), it is related to the mobile elements that are water and air. Sulfur is fixed to it because the spirit is related to the Seven primary metals contained in the earth (matter). It is in the fire element which transmutes these metals.

Experienced alchemists were not fooled by their symbols. If “Lead” meant for them the profane, vulgarity, heaviness, lack of intelligence, and “Gold” precisely the opposite; the initiates, in the acquisition of a wisdom of life, gradually lost interest in perishable goods, ordinary metals which fascinate the profane. Because for them, the lead is really transmuted into a completely spiritual gold.

Alchemy borrows its principles from the symbolism of a cathedral, a temple, a synagogue, a mosque, a pagoda etc. (or all the sacred spaces), resulting from verticality, vegetable and mineral kingdom. It foreshadows the magic forest where the trees are the columns, the choir, the clearing - completely druidic - where people dance around the big fire, at the foot of a large oak tree. This ritual symbolized the sanctuary, the stone of the altar, being the focal point of all energies.

Like the churches, its floor is a mosaic pavement, this duality which prefigures good and evil, night and day, suffering and joy, this path full of trials are so many obstacles which lead to the heart of perfection, having conquered the world of manifest combat. The stones are like ribs, points of tension, where the keys of the vault, perfectly tuned, convey the perfect sound. In these two notions of tension and resonance is contained the state of vibration of matter.

Alchemy has within it, like the vase of the Grail, a "Spiritus Mundi", a spiritual dimension, an immense faith, the soul of life and the order of the principles contained in this adult child that is man. . To the duality of the world of phenomena is grafted a ternary, a hypostatic trinity which is symbolized among Christians by Father - Son - Holy Spirit.

This triple face of a single divinity is found in cathedrals as a ternary rhythm of the creative spirit. The crypt, the ground, the roof are located on three levels and form an immense "Mandala" (Tibetan), a veritable cosmogram which metamorphoses and transcends the images of the world.

In alchemy, the cross (3) has enormous symbolic and mystical value. Represented on the ground by the nave and the bottom of the transept, the cross becomes a dynamic element which, by its orientation in relation to the four cardinal points, punctuates with the round of the seasons, and the mystical alternation of solstices and equinoxes.

This completely terrestrial cardinal cross supports its reflection, a celestial, vertical and polar cross that one. This three-dimensional cross sums up any alchemical approach, in the upward dynamic of the spire located at the crossroads of the transept.

It is in this point of intersection that the center is found, the focal point of the energies, the heart of Christ for the Christian, “the original Egg, all the Primordial principles and the Philosopher's Stone”, the germ of the world. The large rose windows of the cathedrals are so many "Mills of light" which polarize, filter and transmit the color spectra. Its colors are in average harmony with the Three Stages of the Alchemical Work.

These steps are:

- The Black Work.

The world of origins. (The North column). Birth, becoming. In the cathedrals the rose window of the North, the darkest. Everything starts with an origin. It is midnight in the Yin-Yang. In the disorganized and opaque impure matter emerges a clarity: it is the Work in Red (the southern column). Living forces allow man to embark on a creative path. A spark springs up again and it is the Black Work (The West) contained in this dark rose window, to the North of any cathedral. It is also the transitional fracture between the visible and invisible world, from the moon, this feminine duality, towards its luminous, masculine reflection. The sun that opens in seven rays like a goose palm or a scallop shell.

- The Work in White.

The adult world. The manifested world. The midday rosette, the clearest. It is flourishing. The South, but also the South, the sun being at the Zenith, opposite to the North, the Work to the Black its progenitor. It is its principle of fertility, but it is also the victory over the always cyclical and circular wear of time, from left to right; walking direction of pilgrimages in the Middle Ages from where the entrance by the North portal. The ambulatory and the exit through the southern portal symbolize a regenerating immersion in faith, in harmony with the Laws of the universe. The spark has become a great flame, and it is the Work of the White, contained in a rose window resplendent with clarity, centered towards the eternal cycles of life, the radiant fertility of nature...

- The Work in Red.

The death. The world in dissociation. The process of putrefaction. The west rosette is the reddest. A new consciousness has developed through the journey of these alchemical steps. Equipped with this primordial Fire, with this transmuted flame of man, the sun reaches the West, the last station of the cycle, where in the starry sky, it merges into the Cosmos, like "Abraxas". , this oh so magical gem, surrounded by the “Ouroboros” the great serpent of the Universe. It is the Work in red, the color of this last rosette.

The 3 Alchemical Works thus marking the 3 cardinal points of the cathedral, the East, the 4th point, bringing the source of Light (ie Fire) to accomplish the Great Work.

Because the East, or Orient, is the major point of transition between night and day, between the hidden and apparent duality of dawn, it is the dissociation between the chaotic and cosmic order. Moment of stabilization and balance, lit by a luminous transept, it is the sanctuary, the great Throne of Christ - King creator. Ark of alliance between the spiritual and the temporal, starting point of the differentiated world, the spark becomes consciousness, the light is mastered.

These 4 energetic ends of the cross, but also the 4 cardinal points of the Universe energize 2 major axes, formed by this horizontal cross, a reflection of any cathedral architecture: (or sacred space),

- That of the East - West, axis of all birth, of the Light, the incarnation then its transfiguration. It pivots on the North-South axis and “tilts vertically” to the rhythm of days and nights. Thus alternate the lunar and solar forces to bring to the 3 Works the energy essential to any transformation. Any vault of a cathedral is then a celestial boat, a ship, keel in the air, which plows the starry firmament.

- The other axis, that of North - South, is the axis of the motionless and passive origin of matter (the Black Work) which passes to a much more active state of blooming, of fertility, the White work. This axis does not tilt, but serves as a "pivot" to that of Light and transfiguration that we mentioned above.

The Three Stages of the Alchemical Work, in their multiple transformations, have a “Horizontal” unfolding. They are in constant quest, like a vast athanor, in search of a purified truth.

In the Middle Ages, the direction of walking in any cathedral was clockwise. From West to East. That is, in a dextrocentric sense.

All “Sacred Space” represents a vertical axis of the world around which evolves the samsaric whirling of the human condition, until the Illumination stops its rotation: it is then that the circumference merges with the center.

Having finally found the "Philosopher's Stone" after a long labor, the quintessence of all the wisdom of the world, the initiate, master of his destiny can, then thanks to the magic of the spirit, in a vision of love, take awareness of his own immortality.

He received the “Gift of God”, an alchemical term marking the overcoming of the apparent duality of things. He is able to unite in spirit with the immeasurable consciousness of Reality, coming from the origins. He has crossed the threshold which is the ultimate realization of being. Because through it, the mutation of the physical body into a glorious body takes place. The initiate, freed from the contingencies imposed by spatial-temporal constraints, can manifest himself in the regions in which the immortals reside.

Sage or mage, he can choose his way. Leaving the shores of the world in which duality reigns, he can work to perfect other dimensions, his personal evolution, or serve humanity by working within it.

Supra-conscious, he will then know how to take the form that suits his action. Knight of the spirit, he will stretch out a fraternal hand to those who know how to recognize his radiance.


Notes:

(1) Philippus Aureolus Theophastus BOMBASTUS von HOHENHEIM, (1493-1541), said Paracelsus, Swiss, magician and father of hermetic medicine, claimed to have possessed and experienced the elixir, "the Homunculus" which gives an immortal spring

(2) - The cooking of the material (often antimony and rosé) was done in the Anthanor according to the formulas of Hermes, this hermetist, to obtain the Philosophical Egg. This cooking was done in a crystal carafe closed "hermetically".

(3) The Cross is a binary and quaternary symbol, having a very important metaphysical and emotional charge. The 2 branches, one horizontal, the other vertical are the schematized man. (The 3 other primordial symbols are: the Circle, the Center and the Square).