TALK ON ALCHEMY

Oswald Wirth

THE WORK OF THE SAGES

Operations. - Colors. - Airtight birds. Union of Sulfur and Mercury. - The Star of the Magi. The Rose-Croix.


The Philosopher's Stone is a purified Salt, which coagulates the Mercury, to fix it in an eminently active Sulphur.

The Work therefore comprises three phases:
Salt purification,
The coagulation of Mercury,
And the fixing of Sulphur.

But beforehand, it is necessary to obtain the Philosophical matter. This does not entail great expense, because it is very common and is found "everywhere".

However, it demands to be discerned. Not all wood is good for making a Mercury.

Nature offers us materials that cannot be used in the construction of the Temple of Wisdom. There are redhibitory vices which cause the profane to be discarded even before he is subjected to the tests.

Let us nevertheless suppose the artist in possession of a "matter" suitable for his projects. He will immediately hasten to clean it, in order to rid it of any foreign body which could accidentally adhere to its surface.

This precaution being taken, the subject is enclosed in the hermetically sealed philosophical egg.

It is thus withdrawn from any influence coming from outside: the mercurial stimulation is lacking to it; its vital fire therefore declines, languishes and ends up being extinguished.

This language would be quite disconcerting if, to understand it, one only referred to the translation that Freemasonry offers in its uses. The ritual prescribes stripping the Recipient of the metals he is carrying, then imprisoning him in the Chamber of Reflections, where he finds himself in the presence of funereal emblems, which invite him to prepare for death. Isolated, reduced to his own resources, the individual ceases to participate in general life: he dies and his personality splits.

The ethereal part emerges and abandons a residue henceforth "formless and empty" like the earth prior to its impregnation by the divine breath (Genesis I, 2).
Thus appears the philosophical chaos whose black color is represented by the Raven of Saturn. We can see in this bird the image of the darkness that was on the face of the abyss; he is opposed to the Dove, the symbol of the Spirit of God moving on top of the waters. Deprived of life, matter falls into putrefaction. All organic form is then dissolved, and the Elements merge in a disorderly hustle and bustle. But the putrefied mass contains a germ, the dissolution of which favors its development. This focal point of a new coordination begins to warm up, because of the energies that are stored there. The heat released repels humidity and wraps itself in a coat of dryness. Thus is reconstituted the earth's crust which serves as a matrix for Fire, which it separates from Water.

This separation of the Elements restores the vital circulation, which has the effect of subjecting the impure Earth to a progressive washing. Water alternately exteriorized then resorbed, makes the chaotic residue pass from black to grey, then to white, passing through the varied colors of the rainbow, represented by the peacock's tail.

Now, the symbol of whiteness is the Swan whose appearance Jupiter took to unite with Leda. The master of the gods represents in this the Spirit who fertilizes; Matter purified by successive ablutions. It is the airy breath which penetrates the Earth, to bring forth the philosophical Child. While the embryo develops in the maternal womb, the Earth is covered with luxuriant vegetation, thanks to the aerial humidity with which it is impregnated; it is the appearance of the color green, that of Venus, of which the Dove is the favorite bird.

From now on there is only the red color to be obtained, that which marks the completion of the simple work or Medicine of the first Order. It announces the perfect purification of Salt, which makes possible the rigorous harmony between the internal agent and its external source of action.

The individual Fire then comes to burn with an entirely divine ardor, and manifests the pure philosophical Sulphur, whose image is the Phoenix.

This marvelous bird was consecrated to the Sun and it was supposed to have scarlet plumage. It represents this principle of fixity which resides in the hearth of our central Fire, where it seems to be constantly consumed, to be continually reborn from its ashes.

To conquer this immutability, the particular initiative must no longer be exercised except under the direct impulse of the universal motor Center; it is the communion of Man with God, or the harmony fully realized between the Microcosm and the Macrocosm.

Arrived at this state, the Subject takes the name of Rebis, of res bina, the double thing. He is represented by an androgyne uniting virile energy with feminine sensibility. It is essential, in fact, to unite the two natures, if one wishes to achieve the coagulation of Mercury, in other words to attract the Fire from Heaven and to assimilate it. The victorious follower of elementary attractions possesses true freedom, because the spirit dominates in him over matter: he has become fully Man by overcoming animality. Just as the head commands the four limbs, a fifth principle must subjugate the Elements; it is the Quintessence, which is the very essence of the personality or, if one prefers, the entelechy ensuring the persistence of being.

This mysterious entity has as its symbol the Pentagram, or the Star of Microscome which, under the name of Blazing Star, is well known to the Freemasons. They have made it the characteristic emblem of their second grade, which one can claim only after having been successively purified by Earth, Air, Water and Fire. The initiatory ordeals are modeled in this on the operations of the Great Work; the four purifications relate to putrefaction (Earth), to the sublimation of the volatile part of Salt (Air), to the ablution of Matter (Water) and to the spiritualization of the Subject (Fire). The last test alludes to the conflagration which fills the being with an entirely divine ardor, as soon as its source of initiative is exalted by the heat of the Fire-Principle animating all things.

The Quintessence is sometimes represented by a rose with five petals.

In one of his figures, Nicolas Flamel thus shows us the Hermetic Rose emerging from the mercurial stone under the influence of the Universal Spirit. On the other hand, the Rosicrucian mystics combined the rose with the cross and saw in it the image of the Man-God that we carry within us. The Savior was in their eyes the divine Light which shines within the purified soul. At first it is only a spark, a frail child born of the celestial Virgin, in other words of this transcendent, immaculate, universal psychic essence, which is destined to invade us. This invasion represses what is inferior in us: thus the apocalyptic Woman crushes the head of the Serpent, seducer of our earthly vitality, while the Redeemer grows to deify us by illuminating us.

THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE SUN

Enlightenment. - Mastery. - Reintegration into Unity. - Philosophical gold. - Wisdom. - The Pelican. - The Star of Solomon.

According to the initiation rites, the blindfold of profane ignorance falls from the Recipient's eyes as soon as he has been purified by the Elements. This quadruple purification has the effect of making the earth's crust permeable and transparent; henceforth the exterior light can also be seen from within. But it is not enough for the Initiate to see the Light; it is up to him to attract it, to concentrate it on the radical focal point of his personality. This is called coagulating Mercury.

For this operation the inner Fire must first be exalted. The central ardor thus exteriorizes the psychic humidity, which transforms the individual atmosphere into a refractive medium,

suitable for collecting and condensing the diffuse clarity of the Azoth. Thanks to this refraction, the personality ends up being completely impregnated with coagulated Light.

It is then important to make permanent the state which has. known to be achieved. This can only be achieved by inducing a new and more transcendent vital circulation than that which takes place in the ordinary domain of the Elements. But the conquest of a higher life always presupposes a prior death. Now, this time it is no longer the Profane who perishes in the midst of darkness to be reborn in the Light, it is the Initiate who dies raised above the earth and nailed to the cross, in view of accomplishing the Great Work.

This death represents total self-sacrifice. It demands the renunciation of all personal desire. It is the extinction of radical egoism, and consequently the erasure of original sin. The narrow self disappears, absorbed into the self of Divinity.

Such absorption invests man with sovereign power. The being who is no longer a slave to anything becomes by this single fact master of everything. His will formulates only the very intentions of God and as such it imposes itself irresistibly.

But, by realizing the Christian ideal, the perfect sage can no longer indulge in any arbitrary enterprise. His mission of redeemer detaches him from all pettiness. There can be no question for him of manufacturing vulgar gold, likely to tempt the misers. When the philosopher's stone is projected on molten metals, it transmutes them into philosophical gold, that is to say into an inalienable treasure, the value of which is absolute and not mere convention.

This gold relates to the highest sum of perfection of which a being is susceptible from the triple point of view intellectual, moral and physical. This is how the philosopher's stone becomes the supreme medicine for the mind, soul and body. It provides perfect health and restores the fallen creature to the original rights of its creation.

But, to make others perfect, one would have to be perfect oneself. Now, who would dare claim perfection? Isn't it a model that we can follow, but never reach? This is so when we speak of absolute perfection. But it is not to it that the philosophical gold alludes, which only represents the degree of perfection compatible with the nature of each being. As soon as one has attained this degree oneself one can effectively fulfill the role of savior. The most modest light helps to dissipate darkness, and to heal others it is enough to be healthy.

A divine spark shines in every man. It most often suffocates under the thickness of the material. Initiation lightens this and kindles the sacred flame. In the human being it develops the Man-Principle by hatching the germ of the latent potentialities that we carry within us. Nothing more could be asked; for all construction is perfect as soon as it conforms to the plan designed by the architect. However, it is here about the sovereign Architect ordering of all things.

On the other hand, man is nothing by himself: everything comes to him from without; this is what allows him to participate in omnipotence insofar as he approaches his source. Now, to get closer to God, it suffices to do his will and to love him.
To do the will of God is to work for the realization of the divine plan and, as a determined task is assigned to each being, the whole duty consists in fulfilling it faithfully. The merit does not lie in the grandiose works, but in those which meet the requirements of general harmony. In the universal concert, the performers must apply themselves not to making a lot of noise, but to strictly providing the note demanded. Rigorously fulfilling his destiny, such is therefore the whole ambition of the wise man. Glory, honors, wealth, pleasure and satisfactions, nothing in his eyes can be of value. He sees in the world only a theater where the personalities The actors appear on stage decked out in borrowed outfits, and they play their roles with conviction,

Under these conditions, the character that one embodies matters little. Prince or beggar, hero or traitor, the main thing is to play well, responding exactly to the intentions of the author.

However, if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, mere docility is not the end. Submission and obedience are indispensable, but, on their own, they are not enough to raise us towards God: our elevation is proportioned to the degree of Love of which we are capable.

The Pelican is, from this point of view, the emblem of that charity without which one could only be a resounding brass or a resounding cymbal. This white bird feeds its young with its own blood. He is the image of the soul which devotes itself without reserve. It is in the sentiment which unites the individual to all beings that resides the supreme virtue, the "strong force" of all force.

The follower who burns with this infinite love obtains the Seal of Solomon. This sign of magical power par excellence, consists of two intertwined triangles, which are the alchemical symbols of Fire and Water. They represent more particularly here the human nature united with the divine nature.

The Hexagram or the Star of the Macrocosm is thus the emblem of theurgy, which is based on the alliance of the Will and the Feeling, whereas simple Magic is based on the sole Will of the adept brought to its highest power. His Pantacle is in this the Pentagram or the Star of the Microcosm. The magician develops his individuality, he exalts his Sulfur and becomes a powerful center of personal initiative. It is related to male or Dorian initiation, unlike the mystic, who conforms to the principles of female or Ionian initiation when he gives way to a power external to himself (Mercury). As for the theurge, his superiority consists in reconciling the activity of the magician and the passivity of the mystic. It is a link in the supreme hierarchy: