Scriptures

Gurdjieff: The Beginning of the Orgasm

2010-02-12T13:19:47Z

“Before continuing to relate how all this occurred, I must tell you in a little more detail about that sacred substance which is the final result of the evolving transformations of every kind of being-food and is formed in the presence of every being without distinction of 'brain system.' This sacred substance, elaborated in the presence of beings of every kind, is almost everywhere called 'exioëhary,' but your favorites on the planet Earth call it 'sperm.'

"Through the all-gracious foresight and command of our Common Father Creator and according to the actualization of Great Nature, this sacred substance arises in the presence of all beings, without distinction of brain system or exterior coating, in order that by its means they may consciously or automatically fulfill that part of their being-duty which consists in the continuation of their species. But in the presence of three-brained beings it also arises in order that they may consciously transform it for coating their higher being-bodies for their own being.

“Before the second transapalnian perturbation there, which the contemporary three-brained beings refer to as the 'loss of the continent of Atlantis,' in the period when various consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer had already begun to be crystallized in their presence, a being-impulse was gradually formed in them which later became predominant.

"This impulse is now called 'pleasure', and in order to satisfy it they were already beginning to exist in a manner unbecoming to three-centered beings, that is to say, most of them gradually began to remove this sacred being-substance from themselves [through orgasm] for the satisfaction of this impulse alone.

"Well, my boy, from then on most of the three-brained beings of the planet Earth were not content to carry out the process of the removal of this substance, which is continuously elaborated in them, only at those periods normally established by Great Nature for beings in accordance with their organization, for the purpose of the continuation of their species. Owing to this, and also to the fact that most of them had ceased to utilize this substance consciously for coating their higher being-bodies, it came about that when they did not remove it from themselves in ways that by then had become mechanical, they naturally experienced a sensation called 'sirklinimana,' a state they describe as 'feeling out of sorts,' and which is invariably accompanied by what is called 'mechanical suffering.'

"Remind me at some opportune moment about those periods fixed by Nature for the normal process of the utilization of the exioëhary by beings of different brain-systems for the continuation of their species, and I shall explain this to you in detail.

"Well then, they like ourselves are only 'keschapmartnian' beings, and when this sacred substance, continuously and inevitably formed in them, is utilized normally for the continuation of their species by means of the sacred process 'elmooarno,' its removal from their presences must be accomplished exclusively with the opposite sex. But these three-brained beings who by chance had escaped disaster were no longer in the habit of utilizing this substance for coating their higher being-bodies and, as they were already existing in a manner unbecoming to three-brained beings, when they were obliged to exist for several of their years without beings of the opposite sex, they turned to various antinatural means for the removal from themselves of this sacred substance, exioëhary.

"The beings of the male sex had recourse to the antinatural means called 'moordoorten' and 'androperasty' or, as the contemporary beings would say, 'onanism' [masturbation] and 'pederasty,' and these antinatural means fully satisfied them.

"But for the three-brained beings of the 'passive sex' or, as they call them, 'women,' these antinatural means were not sufficiently satisfying, and so the poor 'women-orphans' of that time, already more cunning and inventive than the men, began to seek out beings of other forms and accustom them to be their 'partners.' Well then, it was after these 'partnerships' that there began to appear in our Great Universe those species of beings which, as our dear Mullah Nasr Eddin would say, are 'neither fish nor fowl.'

Quoted from 'Beelzebubs Tales To His Grandson', chapter 'The Fourth Personal Sojourn of Beelzebub on The Planet Earth' (1924)

St. Francis: Holy Chastity

2009-11-01T13:32:59Z

Our miserable and weak human flesh is like unto the hog which ever delighteth to lie down in the mud and to befoul itself therewith, deeming the mud its great delight. Our flesh is the devil's knight; because it wars against and resists all those things which are according to the will of God and for our salvation. A friar inquired of Friar Giles and said unto him: "Father, teach me in what manner we may keep ourselves from carnal sin". Whereto Friar Giles made answer: "My brother, he who would stir any great weight or any great rock and move it into another place should study to move it more by skill than by strength. And so we, in like manner, if we would conquer carnal sins and obtain the virtues of chastity, may better obtain them by humility and by good and wise spiritual regimen than by our presumptuous austerity and violence of penance. Every sin troubles and obscures holy and resplendent chastity; for chastity is like unto a bright mirror which is obscured and bedimmed, not only by the touch of filthy things, but even by the breath of man. It is impossible for man to attain unto any spiritual grace as long as he continues to be disposed to carnal concupiscence, and therefore, turn and turn thyself again as thou wilt, never shalt thou find any other means whereby to attain to spiritual grace save only by subduing every carnal sin. Therefore fight valiantly against thy weak and sensual flesh, thy proper enemy, which would ever thwart thee by day and by night. He who shall conquer our mortal enemy, the flesh, may be certain that he hath conquered and discomfited all his enemies, and that he will soon attain to spiritual grace, and to every good state of virtue and of perfection." Friar Giles was wont to say: "Among all the other virtues I would give the first place to the virtue of chastity, for most sweet chastity path in itself alone some perfection; whereas there is not any other virtue which can be perfect without chastity". A friar asked Friar Giles, saying: "Father, is not the virtue of charity greater and more excellent than that of chastity?" And Friar Giles said: "Tell me, brother, what thing in this world is there to be found more chaste than holy charity?" Oftentimes Friar Giles sang this song, to wit: O holy chastity, lo! how great is thy goodness! Verily thou art precious, and such and so sweet is thy fragrance, that he who savoureth thee not, knoweth not how rare it is. Therefore the foolish know not thy worth. A friar asked Friar Giles, saying: "Father, thou that so greatly commendest the virtue of chastity, I beseech thee declare unto me what is chastity"; whereto Friar Giles replied: "My brother, I tell thee that that which is correctly called chastity is diligent care and continual watching of the bodily and spiritual senses to preserve them pure and immaculate for God alone".

Excerpted from a collection of legends about St. Francis (1181-1226)

Mahabharata: Restrain the Vital Energy

2009-10-27T22:53:43Z

Bhishma said, 'I shall now tell thee what the means are (for conquering the senses) as seen with the eye of the scriptures. A person, O king, will attain to the highest end by the help of such knowledge and by framing his conduct accordingly.

Amongst all living creatures man is said to be the foremost. Among men, those that are regenerate have been called the foremost; and amongst the regenerate, they that are conversant with the Vedas [scriptures]. These last are regarded as the souls of all living creatures. Indeed, those Brahmanas that are conversant with the Vedas are regarded as all-seeing and omniscient. They are persons who have become conversant with Brahma. As a blind man, without a guide, encounters many difficulties on a road, so has a person destitute of knowledge to encounter many obstacles in the world. For this reason, those that are possessed of knowledge are regarded as superior to the rest.

Those that are desirous of acquiring virtue practise diverse kinds of rites according to the dictates of the scriptures. They do not, however, succeed in attaining to Emancipation, all that they gain being those good qualities of which I shall presently speak. Purity of speech, of body, and of mind, forgiveness, truth, steadiness, and intelligence,--these good qualities are displayed by righteous persons observant of both kinds of religion. That which is called Brahmacharya [chastity] is regarded as the means of attaining to Brahma [God]. That is the foremost of all religions. It is by the practice of that religion that one obtains the highest end (viz., Emancipation). Brahmacharya is divested of all connection with the five vital breaths, mind, understanding, the five senses of perception, and the five senses of action. It is on that account free from all the perceptions that the senses give. It is heard only as a word, and its form, without being seen, can only be conceived. It is a state of existence depending only on the mind. It is free from all connection with the senses. That sinless state should be attained to by the understanding alone. He that practises it duly attains to Brahma; he that practises it half and half, attains to the condition of the gods; while he that practises it indifferently, takes birth among Brahmanas and possessed of learning attains to eminence.

Brahmacharya is exceedingly difficult to practise. Listen now to the means (by which one may practise it). That regenerate person who betakes himself to it should subdue the quality of lust as soon as it begins to manifest itself or as soon as it begins to be powerful. One that has betaken oneself to that vow should not speak with women. He should never cast his eyes on an undressed woman. The sight of women, under even indifferent circumstances, fills all weak-minded men with lust. If a person (while observing this vow) feels a desire for woman rising in his heart, he should (as an expiation) observe the vow called Krichcchra [fasting] and also pass three days in water [a sacred bath or mikveh]. If desire is entertained in course of a dream, one should, diving in water, mentally repeat for three times the three Riks by Aghamarshana [prayers; Christians can use The Lord's Prayer]. That wise man who has betaken himself to the practice of this vow should, with an extended and enlightened mind, burn the sins in his mind which are all due to the quality of lust.

As the duct that bears away the refuse of the body is very closely connected with the body, even so the embodied Soul is very closely connected with the body that confines it. The different kinds of juices, passing through the network of arteries, nourish men's wind and bile and phlegm, blood and skin and flesh, intestines and bones and marrow, and the whole body. Know that there are ten principal ducts. These assist the functions of the five senses. From those ten branch out thousands of other ducts that are minuter in form. Like rivers filling the ocean at the proper season, all these ducts, containing juices nourish the body. Leading to the heart there is a duct called Manovaha. It draws from every part of the human body the vital seed [semen] which is born of desire. Numerous other ducts branching out from that principal one extend into every part of the body and bearing the element of heat cause the sense of vision (and the rest). As the butter that lies within milk is churned up by churning rods, even so the desires that are generated in the mind (by the sight or thought of women) draw together the vital seed that lies within the body. In the midst of even our dreams, lust having birth in imagination assails the mind, with the result that the duct already named, viz., Manovaha, throws out the vital seed born of desire [resulting in wet dreams].

The great and divine Rishi Atri is well-conversant with the subject of the generation of the vital seed. The juices that are yielded by food, the duct called Manovaha, and the desire that is born of imagination,--these three are the causes that originate the vital seed which has Indra for its presiding deity. The lust that aids in the emission of this fluid is, therefore, called Indriya.

Those persons who know that the course of vital seed is the cause of (that sinful state of things called) intermixture of castes, are men of restrained lust. Their sins are regarded to have been burnt off, and they are never subjected to rebirth.

He that betakes himself to action simply for the purposes of sustaining his body, reducing with the aid of the mind the (three) attributes (of Goodness, Passion, and Darkness, the Gunas) into a state of uniformity, and brings at his last moments the vital breaths to the duct called Manovaha, escapes the obligation of rebirth.

The mind is sure to gain knowledge [Gnosis, Daath]. It is the mind that takes the form of all things. The minds of all high-souled persons, attaining to success through meditation, become freed from desire, eternal, and luminous. Therefore, for destroying the mind (as mind), one should do only sinless deeds and freeing oneself from the attributes of lust and darkness, one is sure to attain to an end that is very desirable.

Knowledge (ordinarily) acquired in younger days becomes weakened with decrepitude. A person, however, of ripe understanding succeeds, through the auspicious effects of past lives, in destroying his desires. Such a person, by transcending the bonds of the body and the senses like a traveller crossing a path full of obstacles, and transgressing all faults he sees, succeeds in tasting the nectar (of Emancipation).'"

Excerpted from The Mahabharata, Book 12: Santi Parva: Mokshadharma Parva

Proverbs 6: Adultery

2009-10-24T14:34:26Z

20. My son, keep the commands of your אב [Ab, father], and do not forsake the תורה [Torah, teaching] of your אם [Am, mother].

21. Bind them always upon your לב [leb, heart], tie them upon your neck.

22. When you walk, it shall lead you; when you lie down, it shall guard you, and when you awaken, it shall speak for you.

23. For a commandment is a candle, and the Torah is אור [Aur, light], and disciplining rebukes are the way of life;

24. to guard you from אשת רע [isha, ra: a polluted woman], from the smoothness of the alien tongue.

25. Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her captivate you with her eyelids.

26. Because a man is brought to a loaf of bread for a אשה זונה [isha, zanah: fornicating woman], and אשה [isha, woman] will hunt a precious נפש [nephesh, soul].

27. Can a man take אש [esh, fire] in his חיק [cheyq: bosom, breast, lap, or pubis] without burning his clothes?

28. Or can a man walk on live coals without scorching his feet?

29. So is he who goes in to his neighbor's אשה [isha, woman]; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

30. They will not despise a thief if he steals to sate his appetite, for he is hungry.

31. And if he is found, he will pay sevenfold; he must give all he owns.

32. One who commits נאף [na'aph, adultery] with a woman is devoid of לב [leb, heart]; one who would destroy his נפש [nephesh, soul] - he will do it.

33. He will find wounds and disgrace, and his reproach shall not be erased...

Zohar: Looking at Beauty

2009-10-23T18:10:41Z

We learned that the beauty of Adam came from the glow of the supernal knot of the brightness that shines, being the secret of the glow of Aba, since he had a Neshamah of the Neshamah of Aba of Atzilut. The beauty of Eve was such that no creature could look at her, since her Neshamah of Neshamah of Ima of Atzilut. Even Adam did not look at her until the time they sinned and their beauty was removed. Only then could Adam look at her and recognize her for the purpose of mating. This is the essence of the verse, "And Adam knew his wife again" (Genesis 4:25). He knew her in everything; he knew her through mating, that is, "knew," in that he recognized her and saw her.

We learned that is it prohibited for a man to look at the beauty of a woman to prevent him from acquiring bad thoughts and being torn into another thing, meaning that a drop of semen will be torn from him in vain. So did Rabbi Shimon behave when he came to the city. The friends followed him, and when he saw beautiful women, he lowered his eyes and told the friends not to look.

Whoever looks at the beauty of women during the day will have those thoughts coming to him at night. When those evil thoughts come upon him at night, he transgresses, because "nor make to yourselves molten Elohim." For the Klipot [empty shells] that nurture from this are called 'molten Elohim'. Furthermore, if he is mating with his wife when he has these evil thoughts, the children born are called 'molten Elohim' (Leviticus 19:4). Therefore, it is written: "Turn not to idols, nor make to yourselves molten Elohim." Rabbi Aba said: It is prohibited for a person to look at idols and women of the nations, to derive any benefit from them, or to seek a cure from them, as it is forbidden to look at a forbidden place.

Quoted from The Zohar 33. Kedoshim:10

Samael Aun Weor: Alchemy

2009-10-01T22:16:35Z

Although it may appear to be incredible, it is true and factually certain that the science of endocrinology is closely related to Sexual Alchemy. Endocrinology is bound to produce a true creative revolution. Scientists already know that the sexual glands are not sealed capsules. The sexual glands absorb and secrete hormones. The hormones of secretion are called “conserving,” because they perpetuate the species. The hormones of absorption are called “vitalizing,” because they vitalize the human organism. This process of hormonal absorption is transmutation; it is Alchemy: the transformation of one type of energy-matter into another type of energy-matter.

Trans • mutation: the change of one element into another.

Sexual Magic is intensified sexual transmutation. Through Sexual Alchemy, the alchemist absorbs, transmutes and sublimates the totality of the sexual energy-matter. The rich and abundant sexual hormones inundate the circulatory system of the blood and reach the different glands of internal secretion, stimulating and inciting our endocrine system to work intensely. Thus, with intensified sexual transmutation, the endocrine glands are super-stimulated, naturally producing a greater number of hormones that animate and modify the entire fluid nervous system.

As the planets of our solar system revolve harmoniously around the Sun, likewise the different glands of our internal secretion harmoniously revolve throughout our blood. This is how our glands hormonally and harmoniously stimulate and incite our metabolism to work intensely.

Endocrinology, studied through Alchemy, enters into the field of psychology and astrology. When the endocrine glands are super-stimulated, they naturally produce a greater number of hormones that animate the metallic (hormonal) planets of Alchemy within us.

If we see the order of the planets in a clear and Alchemical manner, we can then draw a perfect schematic diagram.

Observe carefully. Observe the order of the planets to try to understand what the work of Sexual Alchemy actually is. Above we see Saturn, and below we see the Moon.

Let us now establish an Alchemical order of the planets: above the Moon is Mercury; a little above that is Venus; then the king of the sky, the Sun; Mars, the planet of war is further up; then we continue with Jupiter, and immediately after that, as I have already stated, is the most elevated planet, Saturn.

If we carefully observe the order of the planets, we can see that the Sun is in the center. The Sun is the one that gives life to all of the planets of the solar system.

One can achieve marvelous transformations through Sexual Alchemy. As we study Alchemy, it is necessary to know that these planets have their exponents in our own seminal system and within our own physical organism here and now.

Within us, through Sexual Alchemy, Saturn, the Ancient of the heavens, converts itself into the Moon. Why? Because the two extremes mutually correspond to each other.

Through Sexual Alchemy, Jupiter, which represents our innermost Being, is transformed into Mercury (of the secret philosophy). For one to see his own Mercury before the mirror of Alchemy, is precisely the most interesting part of this great astrological, psychological, and endocrine work.

According to the great sages, this is when our own particular psychological Saint Thomas (which each person carries within) becomes confused and bewildered.

Therefore, Jupiter transformed into Mercury is something extraordinary. It is then that the Astral Body splendidly bursts forth, producing a magnificent change in our psyche.

Mars should be converted into Venus. That belligerent and terrible Mars that warrior and fighter that each of us carries within our depths should be transformed into the Venus of love.

Finally, it is the Sun that remains at the center, giving life to our entire inner psychic constitution. Therefore, those metallic planets are also found within our own metallic chaos. This metallic chaos is our seminal system, the Ens Seminis (entity of the semen).

It is astonishing indeed that venerable old Saturn is transformed and converted into a child of captivating beauty. This child has to be born within us. As the psychiatrists state, each person in his old age becomes a child, is converted into a child.

It is extraordinary that through Sexual Alchemy, thundering Jupiter, whose wife is Hera, the symbolic Sacred Cow, Devi Kundalini Shakti, the very essence of our sexual matter, is converted into the Mercury of the secret philosophy, into that Mercury that we come to see through the extraordinary mirror of Alchemy.

The great masters of Alchemy have stated:

Blessed be God, who has created Mercury, because without it,
the great work would not be possible for the Alchemists.

Mercury indeed astonishes us. Mercury is derived from the sexual hormonal transmutations, the transformations of the sacred sperm. Mercury is the outcome of Sexual Magic. It is like the vapor that rises from the will, like the cloud that rises from the metallic chaos.

This Mercury, however, possesses a sublime, ineffable type of intelligence. Indeed, this is how the lead of our personality can be transformed into that magnificent spiritual gold. Mercury can also be shown through our face. Mercury can be seen through the mirror of Alchemy.

If we think of Mars, the warrior, the Lord of Iron, if we think of those bellicose forces that we carry within our interior, if we think of those hard and terrible forces, we cannot but be astonished to see how, through Sexual Alchemy, they are transformed into the Lord of Love. This is how the Lord of Love is born in us.

This invites us to meditate on how the venerable Ancient of the Centuries converts himself into the child of affection that moves himself within the temples of the Universal White Fraternity.

The Alchemist is bewildered, amazed, when thundering Jupiter, this ineffable Third Logos, this Arch-hierophant and Arch-magician of which the famous Spanish writer Mr. Mario Roso de Luna speaks, is transformed into the Mercury of occult philosophy, into the God of Eloquence.

The Mercury of occult philosophy is transformed into that lucid form of Cagliostro or into the portentous form of St. Germain, or simply, into the apotheosis of our psyche during magnificent ecstasy. Indeed, this cannot but astonish us.

I, Samael Aun Weor, have been able to see my own Mercury reflected through the mirror of Alchemy. I give testimony of what I have seen, and indeed it is grandiose.

Mercury is not only the outcome of the transformations of the sperm into energy, and Mercury is not only the agent through which we are able to convert lead into gold. The last words about Mercury have not yet been said. The explanation about Mercury is complete when we state that this Mercury is more than a pure metallic agent capable of bringing about transmutations. There is something else in that Mercury, in that God of Eloquence, in that living genie who shines in the Astral Body of the Alchemist. Mercury, indeed, is the very Logos converted or transformed through Sexual Magic into the Son of Man.

Mercury is not, therefore, a mere gross substance, or merely metallic. It is not only that sacred material spoken of by Sendivogius, Raymond Lully, Nicholas Flamel, Paracelsus, Eltrevisano, etc., but Mercury is something more. Mercury is thundering Jupiter converted into a manifested genie, thundering Jupiter converted into the metallic planet of Mercury.

Metallically speaking, we can state that it is this status converted into that beautiful and perfect creature that wanders in the temples, among the Elder Friends of humanity.

It amazes us greatly, beloved reader, how Sexual Alchemy produces in us the permutations of the metallic planets, the transformations of the planets one into the other, the radical change that gives birth to a new transcendental psychological creature.

How can it be or in what manner can we cause these metallic permutations within ourselves? Obviously, without the sacred fire of Alchemy, without Sexual Magic, it would become impossible for us to make changes of this type.

As you are now realizing, dear reader, we are, through Sexual Alchemy, seeking to convert ourselves into something psychologically different, to become someone psycho-physiologically distinct. We attain it through the transmutation of the diverse chemical substances that are combined within our organism and are related with the diverse biomechanical or physiological functions of our endocrine glands. If so many catalytic and metabolic phenomena exist, if sugar can be transformed into alcohol, undoubtedly diverse Alchemical permutations can also exist. Indeed, these Alchemical permutations, through unending combinations, convert us into almighty, divine, and ineffable Beings. Obviously, the Sahaja Maithuna, Sexual Magic, is the living foundation of this Great Work.

Excerpted from the lecture The Seven Planets of Alchemy

Speculum Alchemie

2009-09-24T16:57:35Z

The principles of all the metals are: Salt, Mercury, and Sulfur.

Mercury, Sulfur, or Salt alone cannot give origin to the metals. However, when united, they give birth to diverse mineral metals.

Therefore, it is logical that our Philosophical Stone must inevitably have these three principles.

Sulfur is the fire of Alchemy, Mercury is the Spirit of Alchemy, and Salt is the Mastery of Alchemy.

In order to elaborate the red elixir and the white elixir, we inevitably need a substance in which Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury are found completely pure and perfect. This is because the impurity and the imperfection of the alloy is again found in the amalgam.

However, nothing can be aggregated to the metals except for the substances that are extracted from them. It is logical that a strange substance cannot serve us. Therefore, the raw matter of the Great Work must be found within ourselves.

We perfect the substance (the crude matter) according to the art. This substance is the sacred fire of our organic laboratory.

This substance, being semi-solid and semi-liquid, has a pure, clear, white, and red Mercury and a similar Sulfur.

Moreover, this substance possesses two types of Salt: one fixed and the other volatile.

This crude matter of the Great Work is the semen of our sexual glands.

With our science and by means of the fire, we transform this marvelous substance in order for it to be millions of times more perfect at the end of the work.

We elaborate the red elixir and the white elixir with this marvelous substance.

Excerpted from Treatise of Sexual Alchemy (1954) by Samael Aun Weor.

Golden Tractate

2009-09-24T15:57:21Z

Section I

Even thus saith Hermes: Through long years I have not ceased to experiment, neither have I have spared any labour of mind And this science and art I have obtained by the sole inspiration of the living God, who judged fit to open them to me His servant, who has given to rational creatures the power of thinking and judging aright, forsaking none, or giving to any occasion to despair. For myself, I had never discovered this matter to anyone had it not been from fear of the day of judgment, and the perdition of my soul if I concealed it. It is a debt which I am desirous to discharge to the Faithful, as the Father of the faithful did liberally bestow it upon me.

Understand ye, then, O Sons of Wisdom, that the knowledge of the four elements of the ancient philosophers was not corporally [physically] or imprudently sought after, which are through patience to be discovered, according to their causes and their occult [secret] operation. But, their operation is occult [secret], since nothing is done except the [sexual] matter be decompounded [transformed], and because it is not perfected unless the colours [that define its state of purity] be thoroughly passed and accomplished. Know then, that the division that was made upon the [sexual] water by the ancient philosophers separates it into four substances; one into two, and three into one; the third part of which is colour, as it were-a coagulated moisture; but the second and third waters are the Weights of the Wise.

Take of the humidity, or moisture, an ounce and a half, and or the Southern redness, which is the soul of gold, a fourth part, that is to say, half-an-ounce of the citrine Seyre, in like manner, half-an-ounce of the Auripigment, half-an-ounce, which are eight; that is three ounces. And know ye that the vine of the wise is drawn forth in three, but the wine thereof is not perfected, until at length thirty be accomplished.

Understand the operation, therefore. Decoction lessens the matter, but the tincture augments it; because Luna in fifteen days is diminished; and in the third she is augmented. This is the beginning and the end. Behold, I have declared that which was hidden, since the work is both within thee and about thee - that which was within is taken out and fixed, and thou canst have it either in earth or sea.

Keep, therefore, thy Argent vive [Mercury], which is prepared in the innermost chamber in which it is coagulated [your sexual glands]; for that is the Mercury which is separated from the residual earth [the body].

He, therefore, who now hears my words, let him search into them; which are to justify no evil-doer, but to benefit the good; therefore, I have discovered all things that were before hidden concerning this knowledge, and disclosed the greatest of all secrets, even the Intellectual Science.

Know ye, therefore, Children of Wisdom, who enquire concerning the report thereof, that the vulture standing upon the mountain crieth out with a loud voice, I am the White of the Black, and the Red of the White, and the Citrine of the Red, and behold I speak the very truth.

And know that the chief principle of the art is the Crow, which is the blackness of the night and clearness of the day, and flies without wings. From the bitterness existing in the throat the tincture is taken, the red goes forth from his body, and from his back is taken a thin water.

Understand, therefore, and accept this gift of God which is hidden from the thoughtless world. In the caverns of the metals there is hidden the stone that is venerable, splendid in colour, a mind sublime, and an open sea. Behold, I have declared it unto thee; give thanks to God, who teacheth thee this knowledge, for He in return recompenses the grateful.

Put the matter into a moist fire, therefore, and cause it to boil in order that its heat may be augmented, which destroys the siccity of the incombustible nature, until the radix shall appear; then extract the redness and the light parts, till only about a third remains

Sons of Science! For this reason are philosophers said to be envious, not that they grudged the truth to religious or just men, or to the wise; but to fools, ignorant and vicious, who are without self-control and benevolence, least they should be made powerful and able to perpetrate sinful things. For of such the philosophers are made accountable to God, and evil men are not admitted worthy of this wisdom.

Know that this [sexual] matter I call the stone; but it is also named the feminine of magnesia or the hen, or the white spittle, or the volatile milk, the incombustible oil in order that it may be hidden from the inept and ignorant who are deficient in goodness and self-control; which I have nevertheless signified to the wise by one only epithet, viz., the Philosopher's Stone.

Include, therefore, and conserve in this sea, the fire and the heavenly bird, to the latest moment of his exit. But I deprecate ye all, Sons of Philosophy, on whom the great gift of this knowledge being bestowed, if any should undervalue or divulge the power thereof to the ignorant, or such as are unfit for the knowledge of this secret. Behold, I have received nothing from any to whom I have not returned that which had been given me, nor have I failed to honour him; even in this I have reposed the highest confidence.

This, O Son, is the concealed stone of many colours, which is born and brought forth in one colour; know this and conceal it. By this, the Almighty favouring, the greatest diseases are escaped, and every sorrow, distress, and evil and hurtful thing is made to depart; for it leads from darkness into light, from this desert wilderness to a secure habitation, and from poverty and straits to a free and ample fortune.

Section II

MY SON, before all things I admonish thee to fear God, in whom is the strength of thy undertaking, and the bond of whatsoever thou meditatest to unloose; whatsoever thou hearest, consider it rationally. For I hold thee not to be a fool. Lay hold, therefore, of my instructions and meditate upon them, and so let thy heart be fitted also to conceive, as if thou wast thyself the author of that which I now teach. If thou appliest cold to any nature that is hot, it will not hurt it; in like manner, he who is rational shuts himself within from the threshold of ignorance; lest supinely he should be deceived.

Take the flying bird [mind, thoughts] and drown it flying and divide and separate it from its pollutions, which yet hold it in death; draw it forth, and repel it from itself, that it may live and answer thee; not by flying away into the regions above [mind] but by truly forbearing to fly. For if thou shalt deliver it out of its prison [mind], after this thou shalt govern it according to [divine] Reason. and according to the days that I shall teach thee; then will it become a companion up to thee, and by it thou wilt become to be an honoured lord.

Extract from the racy its shadow, and from the light its obscurity, by which the clouds hang over it and keep away the light; by means of its construction, also, and fiery redness, it is burned.

Take, my Son, this redness, corrupted with the [sexual] water, which is as a live coal holding the fire, which if thou shalt withdraw so often until the redness is made pure, then it will associate with thee, by whom it was cherished, and in whom it rests.

Return, then, O my Son, the coal being extinct in life, upon the water for thirty days, as I shall note to thee - and henceforth thou art a crowned king, resting over the fountain [of living water in thee] and drawing from thence the Auripigment, dry [completely transmuted] without moisture. And now I have made the heart of the hearers, hoping in thee, to rejoice even in their eyes, beholding thee in anticipation of that which thou possessest.

Observe, then, that the water was first in the air [mind], then in the earth [body]; restore thou it also to the superiors by its proper windings [up the spinal column], and not foolishly altering it [with desire]; then to the former spirit [your Innermost], fathered in its redness, let it be carefully conjoined.

Know, my Son, that the fatness of our earth [body] is sulphur [sexual fire], the auripigment sirety, and colcothar, which are also sulphur, of which auripigments, sulphur, and such like, some are more vile than others, in which there is a diversity, of which kind also is the fat of gluey matters, such as are hair, nails, hoofs, and sulphur itself, and of the brain, which too is auripigment; of the like kind also are the lions' and cats' claws, which is sirety; the fat of white bodies, and the fat of the two oriental quicksilvers, which sulphurs are hunted and retained by the bodies.

I say, moreover, that this sulphur [sexual fire] doth tinge and fix, and is held by the conjunction of the tinctures; oils also tinge, but fly away, which in the body are contained, which is a conjunction of fugitives only with sulphurs and albumninous bodies, which hold also and detain the fugitive ens.

The disposition sought after by the philosophers, O Son, is but one in our egg; but this, in the hen's [woman's] egg, is much less to be found. But lest so much of the Divine Wisdom as is in a hen's egg should not be distinguished, our composition is, as that is, from the four elements adapted and composed. Know, therefore, that in the hen's [woman's] egg is the greatest help with respect to the proximity and relationship of the matter in nature, for in it there is a spirituality and conjunction of elements, and an earth which is golden in its tincture.

But the Son, enquiring or Hermes, saith, The sulphurs [sexual fires] which are fit for our work, whether are they celestial or terrestrial ? To whom the Father answers, Certain of them are heavenly, and some are of the earth [body].

Then the Son saith, Father, I imagine the heart in the superiors to be heaven, and in the inferiors earth. But saith Hermes, It is not so; the masculine truly is the Heaven of the feminine, and the feminine is the earth of the masculine.

The Son then asks, Father, which of these is more worthy than the other; whether is it the heaven [masculine] or the earth [feminine]? Hermes replies, Both need the help one of the other; for the precepts demand a medium.

But, saith the Son, if thou shalt say that a wise man governs all mankind? But ordinary men, replies Hermes, are better for them, because every nature delights in society of its own kind, and so we find it to be in the life of Wisdom where equals are conjoined.

But what, rejoins the Son, is the mean betwixt them ? To whom Hermes replies, In everything In nature there are three from two: the beginning, the middle, and the end. First the needful water, then the oily tincture, and lastly, the faeces, or earth, which remains below But the Dragon [the power in nature] inhabits in all these, and his houses are the darkness and blackness that is in them and by them he ascends into the air, from his rising, which is their heaven. But whilst the fume remains in them, they are not immortal. Take away, therefore, the vapour from the water, and the blackness [desire] from the oily tincture, and death from the faeces; and by dissolution thou shalt possess a triumphant reward, even that in and by which the possessors live.

Know then, my Son, that the temperate unguent, which is fire, is the medium between the faeces and the water and is the Perscrutinator of the water. For the unguents are called sulphurs, because between fire and oil and this sulphur there is such a chose proximity, that even as fire burns so does the sulphur also.

All the sciences of the world, O Son are comprehended in this my hidden Wisdom; and this, and the learning of the Art, consists in these wonderful hidden elements which it doth discover and complete. It behoves him, therefore, who would be introduced to this hidden Wisdom, to free himself from the hidden usurpations of vice [lust]; and to be just, and good, and of a sound reason, ready at hand to help mankind [compassion], of a serene countenance, diligent to save, and be himself a patient guardian of the arcane secrets of philosophy.

And this know that except thou understandest how to mortify and induce [sexual] generation, to vivify the Spirit [your Innermost], and introduce Light, until they fight with each other and grow white and freed from their defilements [egos], rising as it were from blackness and darkness, thou knowest nothing nor canst perform anything; but if thou knowest this, thou wilt be of a great dignity so that even kings themselves shall reverence thee. These secrets, Son, it behoves thee to conceal from the vulgar and profane world.

Understand, also, that our Stone is from many things, and of various colours, and composed from four elements which we ought to divide and dissever in pieces, and segregate, in the veins, and partly mortifying the same by its proper nature, which is also in it, to preserve the [sexual] water and [sexual] fire dwelling therein, which is from the four elements and their waters, which contain its water; this, however, is not water in its true form, but fire, containing in a pure vessel the ascending waters, lest the spirits should fly away from the bodies; for by this means they are made tinging and fixed.

O, blessed watery form, that dissolvest the elements: Now it behoves us, with this watery soul, to possess ourselves of a sulphurous [firey] form, and to mingle the same with our Acetum. For when, by the power of the water, the composition is dissolved, it is the key of the restoration; then darkness and death fly away from them, and Wisdom proceeds onwards to the fulfillment of her Law.

Section III

Know my Son, that the philosophers bind up their [sexual] matter with a strong chain [willpower], that it may contend with the Fire [of passion]; because the spirits in the washed bodies desire to dwell therein and to rejoice. In these habitations they verify themselves and inhabit there, and the bodies hold them, nor can they be thereafter separated any more.

The dead [spiritual] elements are revived, the composed [solar] bodies tinge and are altered, and by a wonderful process they are made permanent [immortal], as saith the philosopher.

O, permanent watery Form, creatrix of the royal elements; who, having with thy brethren and a just government obtained the tincture, findest rest. Our most precious stone is cast forth upon the dunghill, and that which is most worthy is made vilest of the vile. Therefore, it behoves us to mortify two Argent vives [Mercuries, male and female] together, both to venerate and be venerated, viz., the Argent vive of Auripigment, and the oriental Argent vive of Magnesia.

O, Nature, the most potent creatrix of Nature, which containest and separatest natures in a middle principle. The Stone comes with light, and with light it is generated, and then it generates and brings forth the black clouds or darkness, which is the mother of all things.

But when we marry the crowned King to our red daughter, and in a gentle fire, not hurtful, she doth conceive an excellent and supernatural son [Christ], which permanent life she doth also feed with a subtle heat, so that he lives at length in our fire.

But when thou shalt send forth thy fire upon the foliated sulphur, the boundary of hearts doth enter in above, it is washed in the same, and the purified matter thereof is extracted.
Then is he transformed, and his tincture by help of the fire remains red, as it were flesh. But our Son, the king begotten, takes his tincture from the fire, and death even, and darkness, and the waters flee away.

The Dragon shuns the sunbeams which dart through the crevices, and our dead son lives; the King comes forth from the fire and rejoins with his spouse, the occult treasures are laid open, and the virgin's milk is whitened. The Son [Christ], already vivified, is become a warrior in the fire and of tincture super-excellent. For this Son is himself the treasury, even himself bearing the Philosophic Matter.

Approach, ye Sons of Wisdom, and rejoice; let us now rejoice together, for the reign of death is finished, and the Son doth rule. And now he is invested with the red garment, and the scarlet colour is put on.

Section IV

Understand, then, O Son of Wisdom, what the Stone declares; Protect me, and I will protect thee; increase my strength that I may help thee! My Sol [Sun] and my beams are most inward and secretly in me my own Luna [Moon], also, my light, exceeding every light, and my good things are better than all other good things. I give freely, and reward the intelligent with joy and gladness, glory, riches, and delights; and them that seek after me I make to know and understand, and to possess divine things. Behold, that which the philosophers has concealed is written with seven letters; for Alpha and Yda follow two; and Sol, in like manner, follows the book; nevertheless, if thou art willing that he should have Dominion, observe the Art, and join the son to the daughter of the water, which, Jupiter and a hidden secret.

Auditor, understand, let us use our [divine] Reason; consider all with the most accurate investigation, which in the contemplative part I have demonstrated to thee, the whole matter I know to be the one only thing. But who is he that understands the true investigation and enquires rationally into this matter? It is not from man, nor from anything like him or akin to him, nor from the ox or bullock, and if any creature conjoins with one of another species, that which is brought forth is neutral from either.

Thus saith Venus: I beget light, nor is the darkness of my nature, and if my metal be not dried all bodies desire me, for I liquefy them and wipe away their rust, even I extract their substance. Nothing therefore is better or more venerable than I, my brother also being conjoined.

But the King, the ruler, to his brethren, testifying of him, saith: I am crowned, and I am adorned with a royal diadem: I am clothed with the royal garment, and I bring Joy and gladness of heart; for being chained, I caused my substance to lay hold of, and to rest within the arms and breast of my mother, and to fasten upon her substance; making that which was invisible to become visible, and the occult matter to appear. And everything which the philosophers have hidden is generated by us. Hear, then, these words, and understand them; keep them, and meditate thereon, and seek for nothing more. Man in the beginning is generated of nature, whose inward substance is fleshy, and not from anything else. Meditate on these plain things, and reject what is superfluous.

Thus saith the philosopher: Botri is made from the citrine which is extracted out of the Red Root, and from nothing else; and if it be citrine and nothing else, Wisdom was with thee: it was not gotten by the care, nor, if it be freed from redness, by thy study. Behold, I have circumscribed nothing; if thou hast understanding, there be but few things unopened. Ye Sons of Wisdom ! turn then the Breym Body with an exceeding great fire; and it will yield gratefully what you desire. And see that you make that which is volatile, so that it cannot fly, and by means of that which flies not. And that which yet rests upon the fire, as it were itself a fiery flame, and that which in the heat of a boiling fire is corrupted, is cambar.

And know ye that the Art of this permanent water is our brass, and the colourings of its tincture and blackness is then changed into the true red.

I declare that, by the help of God I have spoken nothing but the truth. That which is destroyed is renovated, and hence the corruption is made manifest in the matter to be renewed, and hence the melioration will appear, and on either side it is a signal of Art.

Section V

MY SON, that which is born of the crow [Saturn, death] is the beginning of Art. Behold, how I have obscured matter treated of, by circumlocution, depriving thee of the light. Yet this dissolved, this joined, this nearest and furtherest off I have named to thee. Roast those things, therefore, and boil them in that which comes from the horse's belly for seven, fourteen, or twenty-one days. Then will the Dragon eat his own wings and destroy himself; this being done, let it be put into a fiery furnace, which lute diligently, and observe that none of the spirit may escape.

And know that the periods of the earth are in the water, which let it be as long as until thou puttest the same upon it. The matter being thus melted and burned take the brain thereof and triturate it in most sharp vinegar, till it becomes obscured. This done, it lives in the putrefaction, let the dark clouds which were in it before it was killed be converted into its own body. Let this process be repeated, as I have described, let it again die, as I before said, and then it lives.

In the life and death thereof we work with the spirits, for as it dies by the taking away of the spirit, so it lives in the return and is revived and rejoices therein. Being arrived then at this knowledge, that which thou hast been searching for is made in the Affirmation, I have even related to thee the joyful signs, even that which doth fix the body. But these things, and how they attained to the knowledge of this secret, are given by our ancestors in figures and types; behold, they are dead; I have opened the riddle, and the book of knowledge is revealed, the hidden things I have uncovered, and have brought together the scattered truths within their boundary, and have conjoined many various forms -even I have associated the spirit. Take it as the gift of God.

Section VI

It behoves thee to give thanks to God who has bestowed liberally of his bounty to the wise, who delivers us from misery and poverty. I am tempted and proven with the fullness of his substance and his probable wonders, and humbly pray God that whilst we live we may come to him. Remove thence, O Sons of Science, the unguents which we extract from fats, hair, verdigrease, tragacanth, and bones, which are written in the books of our fathers. But concerning the ointments which contain the tincture coagulate the fugitive, and adorn the sulphurs it behooves us to explain their disposition more at large ! and to unveil the Form, which is buried and hidden from other unguents; which is seen in disposition, but dwells in his own body, as fire in trees and stones, which by the most subtle art and ingenuity it behoves to extract without burning. And know that the Heaven is to be joined mediately with the Earth - but the Form is in a middle nature between tie heaven and earth, which is our water. But the water holds of all the first place which goes forth from this stone; but the second is gold; and the third is gold, only in a mean which is more noble than the water and the faeces. But in these are the smoke, the blackness and the death. It behoves us, therefore, to dry away the vapour from the water, to expel the blackness from the unguent, and death from the feces, and this by dissolution. By Which means we attain to the highest philosophy and secret of all hidden things.

Section VII

Know ye then, O Sons of Science, there are seven bodies, of which gold is the first, the most perfect, the king of them, and their head, which neither the earth can corrupt nor fire devastate, nor the water change, for its complexion is equalised, and its nature regulated with respect to heat, cold, and moisture; nor is there anything in it which is superfluous, therefore the philosophers do buoy up and magnify themselves init saying that this gold, in relation of other bodies. is, as the sun amongst the stars, more splendid in Light; and as, by the power of God, every vegetable and all the fruits of the earth are perfected, so gold by the same power sustainneth all.

For as dough without a ferment cannot be fermented so when thou sublimest the body and purifiest it, separating the uncleanness from it, thou wilt then conjoin and mix them together, and put in the ferment confecting the earth and water. Then will the Ixir ferment even as dough doth ferment. Think of this, and see how the ferment in this case doth change the former natures to another thing. Observe, also, that there is no ferment otherwise than from the dough itself.

Observe, moreover, that the ferment whitens the confection and hinders it from turning, and holds the tincture lest it should fly, and rejoice the bodies, and makes them intimately to join and to enter one into another, and this is the key of the philosophers and the end of their work: and by this science, bodies are meliorated, and the operation of them, God assisting, is consummate.

But, through negligence and a false opinion of the matter, the operation may be perverted, as a mass of leaven growing corrupt, or milk turned with rennet for cheese, and musk among aromatics.

The sure colour of the golden matter for the red, and the nature thereof, is not sweetness; therefore we make of them sericum - ie Ixir; and of them we make the enamel of which we have already without and with the king's seal we have tinged the clay, and in that have set the colour of heaven, which augments the sight of them that see.

The Stone, therefore is the most precious gold without spots, evenly tempered, which neither fire nor air, nor water, nor earth is able to corrupt for it is the Universal Ferment rectifying all things in a medium composition, whose complexion is yellow and a true citrine colour.

The gold of the wise, boiled and well digested with a fiery water, makes Ixir; for the gold of the wise is more heavy than lead, which in a temperate composition is a ferment Ixir, and contrariwise, in our intemperate composition, is the confusion of the whole. For the work begins from the vegetable, next from the animal, as in a hen's egg, in which is the greatest help, and our earth is gold, of all which we make sericum, which is the ferment Ixir.

finis

The Emerald Tablet

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It is true, no lie, certain and to be depended upon: the superior agrees with the inferior, and the inferior agrees with the superior, to effect that one truly wonderful work.

As all things owe their existence to the will of the only one, so all things owe their origin to the one only thing, the most hidden by the arrangement of the only God.

The father of that one only thing is the sun, its mother is the moon, the wind carries it in its belly; but its nurse is a spirituous earth.

That one only thing is the father of all things in the universe.

Its power remains perfect, after it has been united with a spirituous earth.

Separate that spirituous earth from the dense or crude by means of a gentle heat, with much attention.

In great measure ascends from the earth up to heaven and descends again, newborn on the earth, and the superior and the inferior are increased in power.

By this wilt thou partake the glory of the whole world. And Darkness will flee from thee.

This is the strength of all powers. With this thou wilt be able to overcome all things and transmute all what is fine and what is coarse.

In this manner the world was created; the arrangements to follow this road are hidden.

For this reason I am called Hermes Trismesgistus, one in essence, but three in aspect.

In this trinity is hidden the wisdom of the whole world.

It is ended now, what I have said concerning the effects of the sun.

Alchemists Prayer

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All true Philosophers of the natural or Hermetic sciences begin their labors with a prayer to the Supreme Alchemist of the Universe, beseeching His assistance in the consummation of the Magnum Opus. The prayer that follows, written in a provincial German centuries ago by an adept now unknown, is representative:

O holy and hallowed Trinity, Thou undivided and triple Unity!

Cause me to sink into the abyss of Thy limitless eternal Fire, for only in that Fire can the mortal nature of man be changed into humble dust, while the new body of the salt union lies in the light.

Oh, melt me and transmute me in this Thy holy Fire, so that on the day at Thy command the fiery waters of the Holy Spirit draw me out from the dark dust, giving me new birth and making me alive with His breath.

May I also be exalted through the humble humility of Thy Son, rising through His assistance out of the dust and ashes and changing into a pure spiritual body of rainbow colors like unto the transparent, crystal-like, paradisiacal gold, that my own nature may be redeemed and purified like the elements before me in these glasses and bottles.

Diffuse me in the waters of life as though I were in the wine cellar of the eternal Solomon.

Here the fire of Thy love will receive new fuel and will blaze forth so that no streams can extinguish it.

Through the aid of this divine fire, may I in the end be found worthy to be called into the illumination of the righteous.

May I then be sealed up with the light of the new world that I may also attain unto the immortality and glory where there shall be no more alternation of light and darkness.

Amen.

Excerpts from Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928) by Manly P. Hall