For most of us, the word “alchemy” conjures up the image of a medieval and slightly sinister laboratory in which an old magician dressed in black meditates on the crucibles and stills that must bring the Philosopher’s Stone within reach, and thus discovered, the formula of the Elixir of Life and the Transmutation of Metals.
But science – or art, if you will – can hardly be dismissed so lightly that it has earned in its service the lifelong devotion of men of culture and achievement of all races and climates over a period of thousands of years, for the beginnings of alchemy are hidden in the mists of time. This science is much more than an escape valve for some old eccentrics in their old age.
What was the motive behind your constant efforts, your unfailing patience to unravel mysteries, your tenacity of purpose in the face of persecution and ridicule through the countless eras that led the alchemists to fearlessly follow their appointed path? Something much bigger, to be sure, than a mere boastful desire to transmute base metals into gold, or to brew a potion to prolong this earthly extension a little longer, for devotees of alchemy generally cared little for such things.
The accounts of their lives almost without exception lead us to believe that they were concerned with things spiritual rather than temporal. They were Beings inspired by a vision, a vision of Being made perfect, of Being free from disease and the limitations of both mental and physical warrior faculties, appearing divine in the realization of a power that even at this very moment in time is hidden in the deeper layers. depths of consciousness, a vision of Being truly made in the image and likeness of the One Divine Mind in its Perfection, Beauty and Harmony.
From Alchemy – or the “art of curing all ills” as it is also known – a set of various sciences was born over time, such as astrology, numerology and even allopathic medicine as we know it today.
Furthermore, it is wrongly understood that Alchemy has as its objective “the transmutation of lead into gold”. But this is just a metaphor about the transformation of the imperfect, ignorant and sick human being – lead – to a divine, happy and healthy being – gold. In other words: the death of the corporeal state, dense and ephemeral, by the rebirth of consciousness and light of the spirit.
Alchemists always preferred to leave their formulas and ideas engraved in symbols, as they believed that a symbol is worth a thousand words. Knowledge about the four elements and the biochemistry of the body, the zodiacal belt with its archetypes and influences in the macro and microcosm, the arcana of the Taro, the mythological figure of the Phoenix that lives its transformation process when reborn from the ashes, the Sun and Moon stars and the alchemical couple, which represent the male and female, among other representations such as the ocean in the background, the masked person and the one with the hare.
Through the processes of transformation of matter, we can also know the individual process of transformation of the human being. Through the study of the history of alchemy, we find that its practice began in antiquity, passing through different periods. It was studied and practiced by different people, namely: scientists, philosophers and curious people, among others like Isaac Newton. It was spread in different countries and in different ways. Some regions focused more on the art of transmuting metals into gold, others on philosophy itself, seeking the metaphorical sense of transforming the impure individual into pure. Some others used the chemical part in the transmutation of substances, in the production of elixirs that were used in the treatment of physical disorders.
Alchemy in the past had different strands, so some alchemists sought the secret of the philosopher’s stone and others the elixir of long life. , the transmutation of metals into gold. The elixir of long life would be the elixir that would prolong human life. Due to this probability of alchemists obtaining the transmutation of metals into gold and their practices being considered dangerous, they were the target of espionage and persecution because of the great greed for gold. In order to protect alchemical knowledge and alchemists, the alchemical language was purposely difficult, called “Hermeticism”.
But what does hermeticism mean?
Hermeticism is a philosophical and religious tradition based mainly on pseudoepigraphical texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.
Hermetic theory had a decisive influence on several philosophical, religious and esoteric currents, as well as in art, mainly in literature, music and painting, having great importance during the Renaissance and the Reformation tradition claims to be descended from a theological prism, the idea that there is a simple and true theology, which is present in all religions and was given by God to man in ancient times.
There is no part of the occult teachings possessed by the world that has been so well guarded as the fragments of the Hermetic Teaching that have come down to us over the tens of centuries that have passed since the life of its great founder, Hermes Trismegistus, the “scribe of the gods,” who dwelt in ancient Egypt in the days when the present race of men was in its infancy. Contemporary with Abraham, and, if the legends are true, an instructor of that venerable sage, Hermes was, and is, the Great Central Sun of Occultism, whose rays have served to illuminate the countless teachings that have been promulgated since his time. All fundamental and basic teachings embedded in the esoteric teachings of all races can be traced back to Hermes. Even the oldest teachings in India undoubtedly have their roots in the original Hermetic teachings.
In ancient Egypt inhabited the great Adepts and Masters who were never surpassed, and who were rarely equaled, during the centuries that took their processional flight from the days of the Great Hermes. In Egypt was located the Grand Lodge of Lodges of the Mystics…among these great Masters of Ancient Egypt, there once dwelt one of whom the Masters hailed as “The Master of Masters”. This man, if he really was “a man,” lived in Egypt in the early days. He was known as Hermes Trismegistus. He was the father of the Hidden Wisdom; the founder of Astrology; the discoverer of alchemy… The best authorities regard him as a contemporary of Abraham, and some of the Jewish traditions go so far as to claim that Abraham acquired some of his mystical knowledge from Hermes himself.