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The Elements of Alchemy

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The Elements of Alchemy THE ELEMENTS OF ALCHEMY Cherry Gilchrist, a graduate of Cambridge University, is well-known as an author and a singer who specializes in baroque and early music. She has written many books and articles on alchemy, astrology, mythology and social history, and has worked in various capacities in publishing books on these subjects. She lectures widely and gives workshops centred on these themes. The Elements of is a series designed to present high quality introductions to a broad range of essential subjects. The books are commissioned specifically from experts in their fields. They provide readable and often unique views of the various topics covered, and are therefore of interest both to those who have some knowledge of the subject, as well as to those who are approaching it for the first time. Many of these concise yet comprehensive books have practical suggestions and exercises which allow personal experience as well as theoretical understanding, and offer a valuable source of information on many important themes. In the same series The Aborigine Tradition Islam The Arthurian Tradition Judaism Astrology Meditation The Baha'i Faith Mysticism Buddhism Native American Tr aditions Celtic Christianity Natural Magic The Celtic Tradition Numerology The Chakras Pendulum Dowsing Christian Symbolism Prophecy Creation Myth Psychosynthesis Dreamwork The Qabalah The Druid Tradition Reincarnation Earth Mysteries The Runes The Egyptian Wisdom Shamanism Feng Shui Sufism Gnosticism Tai Chi The Goddess Taoism The Grail Tr adition The Tarot Graphology Visualisation Han dreading World Religions Herbalism Yoga Hinduism Zen Human Potential The I Ching � the elements of alchemy cherry gilchrist Shaftesbury,Dorset • Rockport, Massachusetts • Melboume, Vidoria ©Element Books Limited, 1991 Text© Cherry Gilchrist 1991 First published in Great Britain in 1991 by Element Books Limited Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 BBP Published in the USA in 1991 by Element Books, Inc. PO Box 830, Rockport, MA 01966 Published in Australia in 1991 by Element Books and distributed by Penguin Books Australia Ltd 487 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood, Victoria 3134 Reprinted 1994 Reissued 1998 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronical or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the Publisher. Cover illustration: Images Colour Library Cover design by Max Fairbrother Typeset by Selectmove Ltd, London Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn British Library Cataloguing in Publication data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data available ISBN 1-85230-205-4 CONTENTS Preface vii 1. What is Alchemy? 1 2. The Search for Transformation 11 3. Dreams and Revelations 23 4. Emblems of Knowledge 35 5. A Mirror of the World 68 6. Alchemy as a Spiritual Discipline 83 7. Applied Alchemy 99 8. The Phoenix: Alchemy in the Twentieth Century 113 References 127 Select Bibliography 130 Index 132 PREFACE When I was first asked to write on the subject of alchemy, about seven years ago, I agreed to do so with a carefree spirit. Little did I realise what complexities awaited me. My grounding in subjects such as the Cabbala, astrology, Christian mysticism and mythology was a solid one; I had actively and practically studied in this fi eld for quite some time, and assumed that my brief excursions into alchemical literature could be padded out with no trouble at all. This was not to be. I was both dazed and amazed by the profusion of alchemical texts, the discrepancies between them, the cryptic nature of their utterances, and the fact that no two writers on the history of alchemy ever agreed with one other. I soon came to a decision that, since I did not have a lifetime to complete the project, I would have to formulate my own way of working. This meant choosing texts of quality, according to a sense of their individual worth, and picking a new path through the jungle of alchemical history. In other words, contact with alchemy throws you back upon your own resources. So it has always been; the alchemical seeker had to work out his or her own solution to the riddles posed by the quest for gold. Like the aspiring alchemist, I was able to make use of available studies on the subject, but, ultimately, had to draw my own conclusions. The main intention of this current book is to clarify the aims and history of alchemy, and to relate it both to other spiritual and esoteric practices, and to the arts and sciences that it influenced. In the latter category, new discoveries are frequently being made, and it is exciting to see how the symbolism and language of alchemy has affected mainstream culture. My own explorations into the links between alchemy and Baroque music form one chapter, and I have been pleased to draw upon the researches of authors like Charles Nicholl, who relates alchemy to theatre, elsewhere. My early optimism that I would penetrate to the heart of alchemy with no problem was perhaps founded on a strong sense, which is still with me, that alchemy is in our life blood. Somehow its powerful symbolism holds a place in the collective psyche; its images occur in the dreams and fancies of people who have never read an alchemical text. In my own case, I had had experiences of dreams and spontaneous 'visions', which were revelations of the alchemical process, at a time when my own formal acquaintance with alchemy was very slight; various people have related similar experiences to me. (The great psychologist, C.G. Jung, found the same phenomenon, which intensified his interest in alchemy as a means of psychic transmission of archetypes.) As a child, I took great delight in making an 'Aladdin's Cave' (as I thought of it) in our coal fire, a glowing cavern into which I tossed little scraps of every different kind of burnable substance I could find, making a kind of fiery garden full of different coloured little flames. Unfortunately such early experiments in aesthetic alchemy were soon banned by my parents. To my mind, alchemy is not just some quaint but outdated practice, only of historical interest. The terms by which we know it, as a tradition of lengthy laboratory work, may no longer apply, but the inner life, the dynamic process of alchemy delineated by image and symbol, can still be tapped to enliven and illuminate a number of both spiritual and practical enterprises - meditation, holistic healing, music, psychology and art, to name but a few. A study of alchemy opens up possibilities; the spirit of it still resides in human consciousness, and when we become acquainted with its language again, we can use it in our creative endeavours. Bristol, May 1990 1 · WHATIS ALCHEMY? Alchemy is the art of transformation. The work of the alchemist is to bring about succeeding changes in the material he operates on, transforming it from a gross, unrefined state to a perfect and purified form. To turn base metals into gold is the simplest expression of this aim, and at the physical level this involves chemical operations performed with laboratory equipment. How­ ever, this is only one dimension of alchemy, since the 'base material' worked upon and the 'gold' produced may also be understood as man himself in his quest to perfect his own nature. Mainstream alchemy is a discipline involving physical, psychological and spir­ itual work, and if any one of these elements is taken out of context and said to represent the alchemical tradition, then the wholeness and true quality of alchemy is lost. For several reasons, it is not an easy tradition to under­ stand. Firstly, the chief medium of alchemical expres­ sion is through the use of mythological symbols, which are the perfect means of conveying information that can be interpreted at both a material and a spiritual level, but which defya single and precise definition. Secondly, alchemy's claims to produce extraordinary results in the physical world are hard to assess object­ ively. By the laws of science as normally understood today, it is not possible to convert other metals into gold, 1 THE ELEMENTS OF ALCHEMY except by nuclear fission. But since alchemy encom­ passes mental as well as physical participation it inevi­ tably goes beyond the realms of material science in its scope and may be able to produce effects on the physical level that cannot be accounted for by normal chemis­ try. Additionally, as we shall see, the gold produced is usually said to be quite different from ordinary gold. Thirdly, alchemy has a history stretching back for at least two thousand years and has been practised in East­ ern, Arabic and Western societies. It would be surprising indeed if it showed a uniform tradition of practice. Like any study, it has attracted many types of people with widely differing motivations. There have always been alchemists who were out-and-out materialists, greedy to try and make themselves rich by mastering the se­ cret of creating gold. Some were merely gullible, oth­ ers fraudulent, performing fake transmutations and get­ ting their gold from the pockets of their spectators and prospective pupils rather than through any success in the laboratory. Even among the sincere and dedicated alchemists, the emphasis of approach could be very different. Some were interested more in the chemical techniques of alchemy, others in the philosophical as­ pects. Some saw alchemy as a path to the true meaning of Christianity, while others saw in it possibilities for producing subtle and potent medicines. The knowledge and aim that each practitioner brought to alchemy Coloured his attitude to it, and to some extent defined his mode of operation.
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