<Imajicka> Intro: Good evening and welcome to the class tonight. There will be time for discussion after the presentation so please keep in mind any ideas that come up during the class and we will discuss them after we finish up.

<Imajicka> I don't claim to be an expert with many years of study for the topic that is being discussed tonight but I think that anyone with a mind and the will to read can make themselves knowledgable about anything that they desire.

<Imajicka> I have spent a few weeks looking over all the material that I could lay my hands on and have found out some interesting things that I did not know before I did the research.

<Imajicka>I highly recommend that if you have further questions once we are done here tonight, please go out and find the material and read until the questions are gone or at least until you have

<Imajicka> a whole new set of questions that need answering. It is a wonderful endless cycle.

<Imajicka> Tonights subject is Alchemy. I'm sure most of you have had at least a cursory study of the subject but like me had never really delved into it before now.

<Imajicka> I am not going to give you a comprehensive treatment of the topic since that would take more time than we have and would require many years of study and research to do properly.

<Imajicka> What I would like to do is to give you an idea of where Alchemy came from, it's major tenets, some of it's more notable practitioners and where it might be heading in the future.

<Imajicka> This is more to whet your appetite and to motivate you to explore this subject further on your own and if that happens then I will feel like I have accomplished what I set out to do with this class.

<Imajicka> Lets begin with a simple definition of the word as offered by a dictionary off my shelf. Alchemy: 1. The chemistry of the middle ages concerned primarily with the transmutation of base metals into gold.   Any power or process of transmutation.

<Imajicka> Sort of a straight forward definition and pretty much what most people think of when they hear the word alchemy. Now lets look at another definition with a little different slant. Alchemy:

<Imajicka> 1. Literally, an ancient art of transmutation and the precursor of modern chemistry and metalurgy.

<Imajicka>Symbolically, a mystical art for the transformation of the consciousness. The true purpose of the art is the psychological and spiritual transformation of the Alchemist.

<Imajicka> What I would like to look at tonight is a brief tracing of the history of Alchemy and a short look at the spiritual implications of this transformation of the Alchemist.

<Imajicka> It is generally believed that Alchemy had it's beginnings in Egypt and via legends it has been attributed to Hermes Trismegistus who it appears was a form of the Egyptian and Greek Gods of magic and wisdom, Thoth and Hermes.

<Imajicka> Alchemy is also referred to as the Hermetic art and so that is where the name originated, with Hermes. Egyptians developed one of the basic ideas of Alchemy.

<Imajicka> That idea being that the divine force in the beginning created all things out of something referred to as "prima materia" or "first matter" or "prime matter". The principle that this idea represents is that all matter is derived from this "first matter" and that with the proper manipulation of characteristics one could conceivably turn lead into gold.

<Imajicka> Both elements it was believed were composed of the same "prime matter" but arranged in a little different way. Earth, Air, Fire and Water were the first products of this "prime matter" and thus formed the building blocks of all that came after.

<Imajicka> So the early Alchemists sought to reduce elements to their "prime matter" through the process of "solve et coagula" which is to say "disolve and combine".

<Imajicka> The combining of opposites was what Alchemists sought to do with this process. Also during this time period it was believed that there existed something called the Philosopher's Stone.

<Imajicka> The Philosopher's Stone was a substance so charged with mystickal potential that it could transform lesser metals into gold.

<Imajicka> As to whether such a substance ever existed, only a few have ever claimed to have seen it and fewer still claim to have seen it produce gold from base metals.

<Imajicka> Alchemists were also looking for or trying to concoct the Elixir of Life. It was thought that this Hermetic knowledge could possibly lead one to create a formula that would make one immortal.

<Imajicka> For the most part nature was seen to be evolving and elements were no exception to this rule. Perfection was the goal of this evolution so it was naturally assumed that gold was the highest form of element in it's purity and it's ability to resist corruption.

<Imajicka> Lead was evolving towards gold and an Alchemist was merely helping the element move towards it's ultimate goal. Perfection.

<Imajicka>Alchemists did not see a differentiation between animate and inanimate matter. It was all composed of "prime matter" and hence was subject to the same rules.

<Imajicka> All things had a spark of life within them, or as modern Alchemists might say all things are composed of energy. So the process was thought to be the same for all life.

<Imajicka> First the element is stripped of it's outward form which in essence kills it. This allowed the spark of life to be released that was within it.

<Imajicka>This mirrors humans where death is thought to release the soul that dwells within the body. The life spark of the metal is then recombined with First Matter and a metallic "embryo" is produced.

<Imajicka> This embryo would have a natural inclination to become gold since as I said earlier "nature strives toward perfection." Nourished in the proper way the "embryo" would emerge from the Alchemists furnace as pure gold.

<Imajicka> Gold was looked upon by ancient Peru as "the sweat of the sun". The Hindus saw it as a token of "divine intelligence" and the Greek poet Pindar in the 5th century BCE called it "the child of Zeus".

<Imajicka> Around the 4th century CE Alchemy had assumed it's historical form and once established began to replace the mystery religions that tried to explain the very things that Alchemy was based upon.

<Imajicka> During this time many great texts were written about Alchemy and the processes that were used by the Alchemists to achieve their goals. Many of these texts were stored at Alexandria in the great library.

<Imajicka> Around 643 CE the city fell before the invasion of Islam and most of the writings were carried off to Islamic strongholds.

<Imajicka> For the next 5 centuries much of the serious work concerning the Hermetic Arts would take place in cities like Baghdad and Damascus. The 8th century CE saw the rise of the father of Arabic Alchemy.

<Imajicka> His name was Geber. A side note concerning Geber is that from his name came the word gibberish.

<Imajicka> Most Alchemists wrote in cryptic language so that those who were not adepts or students of the Hermetic arts would be unable to understand things that they were not ready to handle.

<Imajicka> I would like to say at this point that many Covens, Groves, Magickal groups etc. still use this kind of reasoning concerning the teachings that they convey to those who come seeking wisdom.

<Imajicka> The language of Witchcraft or Magick would be confusing to those who had not studied for any period of time. Widdershens, Deosil, Calling the Quarters, Watchtowers, Athame, Boline, Skyclad etc. etc.

<Imajicka> Words that we take for granted but outside of our groups would hold little meaning for those who had not received the training or who had not taken the time to study the Path.

<Imajicka> So perhaps our Books of Shadows would look much the same to an outsider who happened upon it as did the writings of the Alchemists whose work was difficult to understand if you were not an Adept.

<Imajicka> Around the 11th century CE Europe began to recover it's bearings after having survived what has been called the Dark Ages. Europeans turned to the Arabic texts that had been progressing for many years and drew inspiration from them concerning philosophy and of course the Hermetic Arts.

<Imajicka>These texts were then translated into Latin by the monks and the friars.

<Imajicka> The University of Montpellier near the foothills of the French pyreness became a major learning center for European Alchemy and a great many of the adepts of that time period seemed to have studied there.

<Imajicka> Two names many will recognize came from this University. Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. The latter being the star pupil of the former. Both were Dominican Monks.

<Imajicka>Albertus was in his youth during the 13th century to give you an idea of the time frame. Roger Bacon was the next on the list of distinguished Alchemists.

<Imajicka> His work more than any other became the basis for the scientific method that is still used in laboratories to this day.

<Imajicka> Bacon wrote, "Through experiment the scholar gains knowledge of the things pertaining to nature, and medicine, and alchemy, and all that is in heaven and all that is in the earth beneath."

<Imajicka> He was the first to make a very sharp distinction between book knowledge and knowledge gained through practical experience.

<Imajicka> Alchemy was viewed with equal parts of skeptisism and awe I believe. Many who followed this path were risking the church calling them heretics and possibly imprisoning them.

<Imajicka>Those who had studied Mathematics, philosophy, music and the other arts were sometimes ashamed to be associated with this upstart field of study.

<Imajicka> In my reading I learned that Sir Isaac Newton was a closet Alchemist and that it did not come out until later when some of his private works were auctioned off by collectors that he had indulged in this field quite often.

<Imajicka> And of course as with any study that could conceiveably make onesself rich there were the charlatans who professed the ability to turn lead into gold and proceeded to prove it using a variety of shams to lead the gullible astray.

<Imajicka> It is no wonder that some who had reputations to protect would not endanger them by professing publicly to believe in these Hermetic arts.

<Imajicka> I am going to stop there for the history because as I said before there is no way that I would be able to cover the entire history of Alchemy in a single session. So for now I will leave you with these last thoughts about the history of Alchemy.

<Imajicka>Needless to say Alchemy continued on in this same fashion for a few centuries more and finally ran into the road block of Science and some facts that shed some bad light onto the whole field.

<Imajicka> It was then relegated to the realm of a pseudo science which was not to be taken as a pure science anymore.

<Imajicka> This fall from grace did not last forever though because Alchemy rose once again from the ashes where it had fallen to live again.

<Imajicka> This time the Alchemists combined the spiritual with the scientific in their search for the ever elusive idea of lead into gold.

<Imajicka> Study of atomic structures, molecules and the reaction of these with a blitz of high velocity neutrons created the new Alchemists.

<Imajicka> Associated with the Golden Dawn organization and with Harvard University. As you can see the path of Alchemy weaves in and out of history in some very unlikely places but it has survived into this century and will probably be here long after we are gone.

<Imajicka> As I mentioned before I also wanted to cover the other aspect of Alchemy that usually gets missed by those who see it strictly as an attempt to change lead into gold.

<Imajicka> The lead into gold was also an analogy for the spiritual condition of the Alchemist as well. As all of nature evolves towards perfection so does the soul of mankind evolve toward that same state of perfection.

<Imajicka> To me the journey has always been from a state of unenlightenment to that state where things suddenly change and understanding descends upon your mind. The very same principle of lead into gold.

<Imajicka> It has been said that the Great Work of Alchemy and magic is to become God/ess. After all we are, according to the ideas of Alchemy, made up of the same material as the God and the Goddess.

<Imajicka>There is a saying that some say originated with Alchemy but for the most part can be found in Pagan, Wiccan, and magick belief systems, it says "What is below is like that which is above, and what is above is like that which is below".

<Imajicka>A goal of many religions to this day is the spiritual perfection of the spirit. Reincarnation being the furnace that purifies our spirit through many journeys through this world until we reach the point where we are no longer the base spirit that we were when we started but have become the divine spark of life that existed in our soul.

<Imajicka> In Alchemy as in most religions, the practitioner is transformed by the very disciplines that they practice. The observing of the experiments and the movement of the metals toward a state of purity.

<Imajicka> This mirrors the inner journey of the Alchemist as they begin to understand how the soul is purified in the same manner by the application of knowlege and the movement from one level of understanding to the next.

<Imajicka> In some of the Alchemical traditions that practice today visualization is used to internalize the processes that make it possible to transmute metals and make them apply to the spirit and it's transmutation.

<Imajicka> One visualization that I read was a rather effective one. Briefly let me explain it.

<Imajicka> As metal is usually purified with fire in a furnace until all the impurities can be drained away off the top, so the image applies to inner spiritual work as well.

<Imajicka> What you need to do is to picture in your mind a crucible. In that crucible you will place your spirit or your essense. The crucible is open so that things can be put in as well as taken out.

<Imajicka> The thing that you need to visualize is a purifying fire that cleanses those things from your spirit that hinder its growth or keep you from being what you want to be on the path that you have chosen.

<Imajicka> As the heat increases you begin to see these "impurities" rise to the top and then burn off. This leaves you with a spirit that is free from those things which you have identified as being detrimental.

<Imajicka> It goes without saying that you should have a good idea of what it is that you wish to purify in yourself before you begin this little exercise.

<Imajicka> Another point I want to make right now is that this process like most things in life does not come quickly. This time of purification depends on how deep the things are that you wish to eliminate and how serious you are about spending the time in meditation and introspection to find and remove them.

<Imajicka> Even as all Pagans and Wiccans tend to approach their path in a unique way that is completely their own, so will the processes of Alchemy be unique to each practioner.

<Imajicka> Now that your spirit is free of the old impurities, you need to work on the second half of this equation. What do you want to replace the old habits with?

<Imajicka> The Alchemist's work was one of purifying and then recombining other elements into his purified specimen to achieve new metals and hopefully gold. The crucible is the ideal place to do this kind of exercise.

<Imajicka> Not only can you scoop away the dross that floats to the surface but you can very easily combine new elements into the mixture by simply lowering it into the molten mixture.

<Imajicka> Your spirit at this point is molten and maleable so once you reach that stage you want to mold it even as an ironworker molds the metal while it is still soft and able to be formed.

<Imajicka> Appealing to whatever higher powers to help you in this process is acceptable since they would know what you might need in way of characteristics that would help you along the path that you have chosen.

<Imajicka> If this is not a way that you want to follow then perhaps you know yourself well enough to be able to say exactly what needs to fill the holes left by the impurities that have been taken away.

<Imajicka> These characteristics can range from spending more time with family and enjoying their company to making habits out of study and cultivating a deeper spiritual awareness in your everyday life.

<Imajicka>It is up to the Alchemist to determine what way he/she wants to take the metal or their lives and then putting those choices into action. Remember the idea of Roger Bacon, that it is only through experiments that we gain knowledge of ourselves and of the heavens and of the earth beneath our feet.

<Imajicka> This translates into a very simple rule for those of us who wish to transmute ourselves even as the Alchemists of all ages did, you must constantly experiment with your life, adding here and taking away there until you find that mixture which produces the "gold" of your spirit.

<Imajicka> There are other visualizations but for tonight that one will do.

<Imajicka> It gives you the idea of how those we call Alchemists were both the experimenter and the material that was being experimented upon.

<Imajicka>It is difficult to study nature and it's intricate nature without that knowledge bringing about change in the person who studies it.

<Imajicka> So it was with the Alchemists.

<Imajicka> As you can see Alchemy is not simply about turning lead into gold but it is about moving yourself from lower planes of existence to higher ones.

<Imajicka> It is moving from walking through life with blinders on never seeing the whole picture to seeing the world through the lens of a panoramic camera in 360 degrees.

<Imajicka> Alchemy was the forerunner of modern chemistry because in the experimenting process they stumbled across secrets that they did not even know they were looking for.

<Imajicka> Compounds that were formed when they added a splash of this or a drop of that were unexpected benefits of the process itself. We too can continue to add a little of this or a little of that to our spirits and who knows what we might find as a result of stumbling around in the dark.

<Imajicka> Thank you for attending tonights class I hope that I was able to add a little dash of understanding to your minds.

<Imajicka>I know that it has been a lesson for me as well. Any questions or comments? I can't guarantee that I have an answer but maybe someone else might. Blessed be!

<RedDeer> Blessed Be!

<Imajicka> well that is all i have, and it was definitely a brief overview of the subject

<Imajicka> the study of alchemy is such a vast subject that i had not idea what to try to say and what to leave out

<Imajicka> the basic points being that it was a science to some and to others it was more of a spiritual transformation

<EricB> nod

<Imajicka> i tend to like the spiritual transformation part since i tend not to be a hard science kinda guy

<RedDeer> bottom line though is the ancient alchemists were right... you CAN transmute lead into gold, they just didn't have the technology!

<EricB> All was magical even science

<Imajicka> i did read about some current experiments with mercury i believe and they did actually extract some microscopic particles of gold

<Imajicka> i think that magick and science are very close cousins and that science eventually catches up to magick given enough time

<RedDeer> Imagicka... am not talking extraction, but nuclear transmutation...

<RedDeer> it is theoretically possible to alter nuclei so that lead becomes gold - even in mass quantities

<RedDeer> just not eco-techno feasible yet

<Imajicka> i see, that i had not read, guess i didn't get that far....:)

<RedDeer> 'tis nuclear physics... not alchemy (in terms of where it's written) <g>