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The Philosopher's Stone

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The Philosopher's Stone The Philosopher’s Stone Dennis William Hauck, Ph.D., FRC Dennis William Hauck is the Project Curator of the new Alchemy Museum, to be built at Rosicrucian Park in San Jose, California. He is an author and alchemist working to facilitate personal and planetary transformation through the application of the ancient principles of alchemy. Frater Hauck has translated a number of important alchemy manuscripts dating back to the fourteenth century and has published dozens of books on the subject. He is the founder of the International Alchemy Conference (AlchemyConference.com), an instructor in alchemy (AlchemyStudy.com), and is president of the International Alchemy Guild (AlchemyGuild. org). His websites are AlchemyLab.com and DWHauck.com. Frater Hauck was a presenter at the “Hidden in Plain Sight” esoteric conference held at Rosicrucian Park. His paper based on that presentation entitled “Materia Prima: The Nature of the First Matter in the Esoteric and Scientific Traditions” can be found in Volume 8 of the Rose+Croix Journal - http://rosecroixjournal.org/issues/2011/articles/vol8_72_88_hauck.pdf. he Philosopher’s Stone was the base metal into incorruptible gold, it could key to success in alchemy and similarly transform humans from mortal Thad many uses. Not only could (corruptible) beings into immortal (incor- it instantly transmute any metal into ruptible) beings. gold, but it was the alkahest or universal However, it is important to remember solvent, which dissolved every substance that the Stone was not just a philosophical immersed in it and immediately extracted possibility or symbol to alchemists. Both its Quintessence or active essence. The Eastern and Western alchemists believed it Stone was also used in the preparation was a tangible physical object they could of the Grand Elixir and aurum potabile create in their laboratories. The idea prob- (“drinkable gold”), remedies that would ably originated with the observation that regenerate the human body. It addition, it some precious metals could be obtained was used to restore a plant or animal from from the ores of base metals. For instance, its ashes in a process called palingenesis silver is often obtained from galena, the (“retrieval of the soul”). Because the ore of lead. Also, the preparation of metal Philosopher’s Stone carried the purified alloys and chemicals that imparted the life force, it could also be used to create characteristics of gold to other metals sug- artificial living beings called homunculi. gested there might be a single agent that The idea of the Philosopher’s Stone would perfect any metal. originated with Alexandrian and Arabian Another inspiration for the concept alchemists and soon captured the imagina- of the Philosopher’s Stone came from tion of people around the world. By the the theory of the Four Elements and the Middle Ages, the Philosopher’s Stone was possibility of changing one element into not only the key to transforming base met- another by manipulating their qualities. Rosicrucian als into gold but also held the secret to For instance, Water (with the qualities Digest eternal life and spiritual perfection as well. of moist and cold) could be turned into No. 1 Since the Stone would turn a corruptible Air (steam) by changing its qualities into 2013 Page 18 moist and hot through boiling. Or Water mative realm between energy and matter, could be turned into Earth (solid ice) by suspended in the twilight between what transforming its qualities into cold and dry exists and what does not exist. “Receive by freezing. this Stone which is not a stone,” said the The Fifth Element and most elevat- Alexandrian alchemist Zosimos, “a pre- ed form of matter was a subtle substance cious thing that has no value, a thing of known as the Quintessence. The source of many shapes that has no shape, this un- the other elements, the Quintessence was known which is known by all.” latent in all things and thought to be the In Latin, the Philosopher’s Stone was substance of heavenly bodies. Paracelsus called the Lapis Philosophorum (Stone of described it as the “star” in objects, an in- the Philosophers) but to the Greeks it was ner image that gave things their primary known as the Chrysopoeia (the Heart of shapes and characteristics. Gold). It was also referred to as the Mag- The spiritual significance of the Phi- isterium (the Magistry), Spiritus Mundi losopher’s Stone probably originated in (Spirit of the World), as well as “Azoth,” the Egyptian belief in the perfection of “Alkahest,” “Etherium,” “Universal Medi- the soul and the creation of an immortal cine,” and “Grand Elixir.” golden body. The mystical doctrine of the The eighth century Arabian alchemist regeneration of the human soul is part of Jabir did much to popularize the notion of most religions, and the Philosopher’s Stone the Philosopher’s Stone among alchemists. became the physical manifestation of our He reasoned that the transmutation of one fundamental desire for perfection. The metal into another could be accomplished parallel is most obvious in Christianity, by the rearrangement of its basic qualities, where Christ is the physical embodiment and the transformation would be expe- of God who offers us salvation and eternal dited by a magical touchstone made from life. In fact, in the liturgy of the Middle a hidden etheric substance that is distrib- Ages, Christ was sometimes referred to as uted throughout the universe. the Lapis or Stone. The Arabs referred to this agent asAl- Many religious scholars believe the Iksir (“from the ashes”), because it could Philosopher’s Stone is synonymous with be isolated through fire and concentrated the symbol of the stone found in many in the ashes of substances. Al-Iksir is the spiritual traditions, such as the Old Testa- origin of our word “elixir,” the alchemical ment stone that Jacob rests his head upon, medicine believed to prolong life indefi- the New Testament rock Christ lays as the nitely and also change metals into gold. foundation of the temple, the Holy Grail or cup of Christ, the Yesodic founda- What the Philospher’s Stone Looked Like tion stone of the Kabbalah, and the Cu- bic Stone of Freemasonry. In some ways, Much has been written about the the Philosopher’s Stone also resembles the Philosopher’s Stone, and there are scores forbidden fruit of Genesis and symbol- of recipes for its preparation. One example izes knowledge that human beings are not is the seventeenth-century Mutus Liber meant to possess (or Silent Book), which is a symbolic The power of the Philosopher’s Stone instruction manual of fifteen illustrations to transform anything lies in its fundamen- showing how to concoct the Stone. tal ability to connect through all levels of Surprisingly, we know quite a bit Above and Below, spirit and matter, light about what the Philosopher’s Stone looked and darkness. The Stone exists in the for- like. It was dark red in color and resembled Page 19 a common irregular stone or glass crystal. Masculine and Femine, the archetypal The material of which the Stone was made King and Queen. was the same red powder of projection so A third cipher for the Phi- prized by the alchemists. The blood-red losopher’s Stone first appeared color of the Stone was its chief physical in the early Renaissance. It de- characteristic and showed up in many picts the Squaring of the Circle, alchemical drawings as the Rosy Cross, the which is a formula for the creation of the Red King, and the Red Dragon. All these Stone. The recipe for it was first revealed in represent the Philosopher’s Stone. the Rosicrucian text Rosarium (1550): The oldest cipher for the Make a circle out of a man and wom- Philosopher’s Stone is also the an. Derive from it a square, and from sign for cinnabar. It originated the square a triangle. Make a circle and in the Middle Ages and depicts you will have the Philosopher’s Stone. the cross of the elements raised This symbol is actually another depic- to their highest level. Cinnabar tion of the Sacred Marriage in alchemy. is a naturally occurring mineral that unites sulfur and mercury (mercury sulfide HgS). It often appears as a red stone (above left) or in a beautiful trigonal red crystal that forms on white crystalline dolomite (above right). If you heat the stone in an open fire, drops of pure mercury metal sometimes ooze out from the cracks. The name “cinnabar” probably originated with the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, who was born around 370 BCE. Another cipher for the Philosopher’s Stone looks like the Sign of Solomon. It The square is a symbol of masculine probably originated in the late consciousness and signifies earth and Middle Ages and depicts the the Four Elements. It is the four-square union of the elements Fire (the mindset of logic and the aggressive energy upward-pointing triangle) and Water (the of spirit. The circle is a symbol of feminine Rosicrucian downward-pointing triangle). This is the consciousness, the unitary impulse to Digest Sacred Marriage in alchemy, the merging contain and nurture. It is the all-inclusive No. 1 of Fire and Water, Below and Above, mindset of intuition, empathy, and the 2013 Page 20 ancient Egypt. In fact, the word “alchemy” is derived from the Arabic Al-khemi, which means “from the black dirt of the Nile delta.” This all seems to imply that the Stone grows from the First Matter that has been raised to a higher level in the Work. Many reports of the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone exist among Arabian and European alchemists. One of the most credible is from the revered alchemist Albertus Magnus.
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