The Philosopher’s Stone Dennis William Hauck, Ph.D., FRC Dennis William Hauck is the Project Curator of the new 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 , 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 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, (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. 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 (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 “,” 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 , 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 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 . 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 . He reported he had successfully created gold by “transmutation” passive energy of soul. The triangle is in the later years of his life. When Magnus the cipher for Fire, which is the agent of died in 1280, the miraculous object was transformation in alchemy. In this drawing, passed on to his student Thomas Aquinas, the triangle integrates the masculine and who is also said to have made many feminine energies into a third thing, successful transmutations using it. which the alchemists sometimes referred Another credible report of the to as the “Child of the Philosophers.” creation of the Philosopher’s Stone comes This is the Quintessence of consciousness from the sixteenth-century Swiss alchemist that unites the functions of thinking, Paracelsus. He discovered what he called feeling, sensation, and intuition in a new the “Alkahest,” a single substance from embodiment of body, mind, and soul now which all the elements (Fire, Water, Air, fused together in the fire. Finally, human Earth) were derived. This substance was consciousness achieves a divine union with the chief ingredient he used to create his the One Mind of the universe, signified by Philosopher’s Stone. He demonstrated its the greater circle encompassing all. power by creating a homunculus he showed The Philosopher’s Stone exhibited to some of his colleagues. the peculiar property of having a variable Preparation of the Philosopher’s Stone weight. Sometimes it was as heavy as a piece of gold and other times light as a feather. According to alchemical literature, Its primary ingredient was an equally there are two ways to create the mysterious element known as “carmot.” Philosopher’s Stone: the “Wet Way” and Carmot may have been a mythological the “Dry Way.” The Wet Way (or Humid substance, since no mention of it exists Way) uses natural processes and is more outside alchemy, and it does not appear in gradual and safer than the Dry Way, any list of modern chemical compounds. which relies on intense heat and powerful However, there is a tradition among chemicals to achieve the Stone in a shorter French alchemists that the word “carmot” is time. a secret anagram for “marcot.” Specifically, Even in spiritual alchemy, there is a Wet the process is called “marcottage,” a method Way in which natural inspiration builds of plant propagation in which black soil is gradually in the initiate to reach the fervor tied around a branch stripped of a ring of necessary for personal transformation. And bark. The new branch that grows is called there is a spiritual Dry Way in which the the marcot. initiate attempts to ascend on a direct path Interestingly, black dirt has been to divine knowledge. The Wet Way works associated with the First Matter since with the “slow, steady fires of nature,” Page 21 while the Dry Way works with the “raging reduction reactions. This was symbolized fires of our lower nature.” by the Phoenix rising from the fire. The rapid spiritual ascent of the Dry In the Wet Way, the final phase is sometimes Way is very dangerous for unprepared ini- signaled by the appearance of a reddish tiates and can result in a loss of personal swirl of oil or pink globules on the surface identity or even madness. Tantric alche- of the matter. This was symbolized by the mists of India follow the direct path by try- Pelican, which sometimes can be observed ing to release and control sexual energies, regurgitating a meal of freshly killed fish while the Dry path of shamanic alchemy for its young. The mother’s white breast consists of the use of powerful plant allies plumage is often stained with red blood and psychoactive drugs. There is no doubt during the feeding process. that some medieval alchemists made use of such preparations. The alchemists were the The Cipher of the Stone first chemists and were very much aware of the psychological and spiritual effects The most powerful cipher in all of of the plants and compounds with which alchemy is a rather odd-looking glyph that they worked. looks like a little stick man. It is a symbol In the laboratory, the Dry Way begins of the Philosopher’s Stone, and it is said with roasting and heating in an intense to incorporate some of the powers of the fire that may only last a few hours. The Stone whenever it is drawn. In other words, Wet Way begins with slow digestion and the cipher is said to carry its own spirit or putrefaction of the matter that can go on intelligence, which is evoked every time it for many months. In both methods, this is written down or constructed. The name is known as the Black Phase in which the of the cipher is the “Hieroglyphic Monad,” matter blackened as it was reduced to its and it was created by British Rosicrucian basic essences. Dr. . The Black Phase gives way to the Dee was a true Renaissance man who White Phase in which a purification of achieved world renown as a mathematician, the matter takes place and the essences are mapmaker, cryptographer, alchemist, separated away from any contamination. magician, philosopher, and astrologer. His In the Dry Way, this appears as a white library was one of the largest in England crust formed by dried matter carried by with over 4,000 rare texts and manuscripts, gases bursting in bubbles on the surface and his alchemical laboratory rivaled any of the material. Sometimes the crust puffs in the world at the time. up and releases a cloud of white vapor into He entered Cambridge College at the the flask, which is called the White Eagle. age of 15 and began a five-year regimen In the Wet Way, a white layer of digest- of sleeping only four hours a day, so ing bacteria forms on top of the putrefied he could devote more time to studying material, which is called the White Swan. Hermetic philosophy and alchemy. “I was During the ensuing Red Phase, the so vehemently bent to study,” said Dee energies released in the previous opera- of his time at Cambridge, “that for those tions are captured in a solution or powder. years I did inviolably keep this order: only In the Dry Way, this is indicated by the ap- to sleep four hours every night; to allow to pearance of a red coloring on the surface of meet, eat, and drink two hours every day; Rosicrucian Digest the molten material or in the ashes, which and of the other eighteen hours all were No. 1 is caused by high temperature oxidation- spent in my studies and learning.” 2013 Page 22 Dee grew into an imposing figure symbols, Dee’s efforts crystallized in a clear with a very commanding presence. vision of the Stone. In just thirteen days Biographer John Aubrey described his in January 1564, he completed a step-by- physical appearance in his manuscript step mathematical proof called the Monas Brief Lives (1693): “He had a very fair, Hieroglyphica (The Hieroglyphic Monad). clear, rosey complexion and a long beard In his proof, Dee used the ancient as white as milk. He was tall and slender, a ciphers of alchemy as geometric figures very handsome man. He wore a gown like and applied Euclidean geometry to reveal an artist’s frock, with hanging sleeves, and their deeper meanings and relationships. a slit. A mighty good man was he.” Dee said his proof would “revolutionize Dee was a close confidant of Queen astronomy, alchemy, mathematics, linguis- Elizabeth, who issued him a license to tics, mechanics, music, optics, magic, and practice alchemy and make gold. As a favor adeptship.” He even urged astronomers to to the Queen, it is said, he “controlled the stop peering through their telescopes try- Elements” and cast a ing to understand the spell on the Spanish heavens and instead Armada by causing spend their time med- bad weather to thwart itating on his Monad. the invasion of Eng- Dee believed he land. He became the had proved the exis- model for “Prospero” tence of the universal in Shakespeare’s The Monad, which ac- Tempest and is also cording to Pythago- said to have been ras, was the first thing the inspiration for that came into exis- Goethe’s Faust. tence in the universe. With an intense It can be described purity of intention as the One Thing, or and motive, Dee em- the spiritual atom or barked on a systemat- egg that gave birth to ic plan to discover the the whole cosmos. To Philosopher’s Stone. the Gnostic philoso- He viewed it as much phers, the Monad was a philosophy as a physical object. For Dee, the single higher spiritual being (the One the Stone was “the force behind the evo- Mind) that created all the lesser gods and lution of life and the universal binding elemental powers. In Jungian terms, the power which unites minds and souls in a Monad is the first archetype that contains human oneness.” While most alchemists all the other archetypes. Today, we might of his time sought the Stone for its abil- look at it as a mega computer that contains ity to transmute base metals into gold, Dee all the software of the universe. wanted to possess it to transmute his soul In describing the power of Dee’s cipher, into a more perfect state. Hermetic researcher Tobias Churton wrote Before long, Dee realized that all in The Gnostics: “If one can imagine a great the powers and characteristics of the ocean of First Matter, then we are seeing Philosopher’s Stone could be represented the beginning of the universe. If a hand in one magical symbol. After seven years of were to, as it were, drop the cipher of the intense study and meditation on alchemical Hieroglyphic Monad into that ocean of Page 23 infinite potentials, the First Matter would The bottom and the top of the cipher immediately start forming itself into the are connected by a cross known as the universe we imagine we know today.” Cross of the Elements. It is here that the When the alchemists depicted the workings of manifested reality play out. In Monad, they often added the Latin caption this section of the Monad, all the glyphs In Hoc Signo Vinces (“In this sign you will of the seven planets and their associated conquer”). All the coded ciphers of the metals (Saturn/Lead, Jupiter/Tin, Mars/ alchemists were thought to be pieces of the Iron, Venus/Copper, Mercury/Quicksilver, Hieroglyphic Monad and, as we shall see Moon/Silver, and the Sun/gold) intersect. in the next section, this is geometrically By tracing the connecting lines and arcs quite true. in different ways, one can locate all the The frontispiece of the Hieroglyphic symbols of these five planets and thereby Monad is a succinct explanation of the reveal the invisible forces behind Nature. cipher itself. It was considered so important The merged planetary ciphers are in Elizabethan times that it became known arranged left to right and top to bottom around the world as the “Greater Seal of around the Cross of the Elements. London.” According to Dee, by placing the planetary At the center of the frontispiece ciphers in their proper relationship, the (shown above) is the Monad cipher within astronomical symbols are imbued with an inverted egg filled with embryonic immortal life,” allowing their coded fluid. This is known as the Hermetic Egg meaning to be expressed “most eloquently and the fluid is representative of the First in any tongue and to any nation.” In this Matter. The yolk is depicted as a circle and arrangement, the Sun is the only symbol point at the center of the figure. The circle that is always the same, and in that sense, with a center point is the cipher for gold incorruptible like gold. No matter which and the Sun. way the Monad is turned – upside down, The lunar crescent symbol of the left to right, right to left, or its mirror Moon intersects the upper part of the image – the cipher of the Sun and gold is yellow yolk of the Sun. Thus the Sun and always exactly the same. Moon are united in gold at this level, The heart of the Monad and the one which represents perfection or the end cipher that encompasses all the others of the Great Work. Within the frame is Mercury. In alchemy, Mercury stands surrounding the Monad can be found the for the principle of transformation itself. Four Elements and the Three Essentials of As can be verified in the geometry of the Sulfur (the Sun on the left pillar), Salt (the Monad, Mercury is part of all the metals Moon on the right pillar), and Mercury and elements of alchemy and melds them (within the center symbol). together as one. Dee embedded the spirit of At the bottom of the Monad are Mercury at the heart of his master symbol two rounded lunar crescents or waves and believed he had successfully captured representing the Water Element. They the essences of the archetypal elements and come together to form the ram horns of the metals. sign of Aries, which signifies Fire. Aries is Dee stated that his Monad carried the first sign of the zodiac and is associated the secret of transformation of anything with the burst of life force in the Spring, that existed in the universe, but he never Rosicrucian at which time the Great Work begins. “To spoke of its precise workings publicly. He Digest begin the Work of this Monad,” wrote felt the Monad was much too powerful No. 1 2013 Dee, “the aid of Fire is required.” to share with the uninitiated. His only Page 24 public summary of the basic operation of inventory list of his massive library was a the Monad was this cryptic phrase: “The description of that book. However, Dee’s Sun and the Moon of this Monad desire secret book on the Monad was destroyed that the Elements in which the tenth when a mob of Anglican fundamentalists proportion will flower, shall be separated, broke into his home and burned his entire and this is done by the application of Fire.” library. But Dee privately told other alche- According to Dee, his commentaries mists that his symbol described not only on the Monad were not necessary to the exact interrelationship of the planetary grasp its power. “He who devotes himself energies but also showed the way to the sincerely to these mysteries,” he said, “will transmutation of the metals, as well as the see clearly that nothing is able to exist spiritual transformation of the alchemist. without the virtue of our hieroglyphic His symbol, he told them, was the true Monad.” But he also gave a strong warning Philosopher’s Stone. to anyone who would attempt to master Dee even wrote a private unpublished his proof: book explaining in detail the workings of “Whoever does not understand his Monad for his fellow alchemists. In the should either learn or be silent.”

This article is taken fromThe Complete Idiot’s Guide to Alchemy (Penguin 2008) by Dennis William Hauck (www.DWHauck.com). A copy of Dee’s Hieroglyphic Monad can be downloaded from www.AlchemyStudy.com/public/Monad-Dee.pdf. Page 25