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THE “SPIRITUS UNIVERSALIS” – THE SECRET FIRE. In the book ” The Voice of the Silence,” the secret fire of the Achemists is described as “Kundalini” the ” serpentine,” or annular working power in the body of the ascetic. ” It is an electric fiery occult or Fohatic power, the great pristine force which underlies all organic and inorganic matter ” ; and in another place the author says:
Without which no alchemical experiment will succeed.
Johannes Tritheim, an abbott and alchemist, whose writings are plainer and more comprehensible than any other alchemical book, says :— All things have been made by the power of the divine word, which is the divine spirit or breath that emanated from the divine fountain in the beginning.
This breath is the spirit or soul of the world, and is called the ” spiritus mundi.” It was at first like air, and contracted into a fog or nebular substance, and afterwards became ” water” (Akasa).
This ” water ” was at first all spirit and life, because it was permeated by and made alive by the spirit. It was dark in the depths ; but through the outspoken word the light became generated therein, and then the darkness was illumined by the light, and the ” soul of the world ” (the astral light) had its beginning.
This spiritual light, which we call ” Nature,” or the soul of the world, is a spiritual body, which, by means of Alchemy, can be made tangible and visible; but as it exists in an invisible state, therefore is it called ” spirit.”
“This is an universal and living fluid diffused throughout the All of Nature, and which pervades all beings. It is the most subtle of all substances, the most powerful on account of its inherent qualities, penetrating all bodies, and causing the forms in which it is active to live.
By its action it frees the forms of all imperfections, and renders the impure pure, the imperfect perfect, and causes that which is mortal to become immortal by becoming fixed therein.”
“This essence or spirit has emanated from the centre in the beginning, and is incorporated into the substance of which the world is formed. It is the Salt of the Earth, and without its presence the grass would not grow, nor the fields be green; and the more this essence is condensed, concentrated, and coagulated in the forms, the more enduring will they become.
This substance is the most subtle of all things, incorruptible, unchangeable in its essence, pervading the infinity of space.
The sun and the planets are merely condensed states of this universal principle, and they distribute their abundance from their throbbing hearts, and send them into the forms of the lower worlds and into all beings, acting through their own centres, and leading the forms higher up on the road to perfection.
The forms in which this living principle becomes fixed become perfect and permanent, so that they will neither rust nor decay, nor be changed on being exposed to the air ; neither can such forms be dissolved by water, nor be destroyed by fire, nor eaten up by the elements of the earth.
“This spirit can be obtained in the same manner in which it is communicated to the earth by the stars; and this takes place by means of water, which serves as its vehicle. It is not the Philosopher’s Slone, but the latter may be prepared of it by causing that which is volatile to become fixed. “I admonish you to pay strict attention to the boiling of the water, and not to allow your minds to be disturbed by things of minor importance.
Boil it slowly, and let it putrefy until it attains the proper colour, for in the water of Life is contained the germ of wisdom. By the art of boiling the water will become transformed into earth.
This earth is to be changed into a pure crystalline fluid, from which an excellent red fire is produced ; but this water and fire, grown together into one essence, produces the great Panacea, composed of meekness and strength : the lamb and the lion in one.”
In H. P. Blavatsky’s book ” The Voice of the Silence,” the secret fire of the Achemists is described as “Kundalini” the ” serpentine,” or annular working power in the body of the ascetic. ” It is an electric fiery occult or Fohatic power, the great pristine force which underlies all organic and inorganic matter ” ; and in another place the author says:
“It is an electro-spiritual force, a creative power which, when aroused into action, can as easily kill as it can create.”
This point is the reason why the secrets of Alchemy are nor divulged to the curious, and why only those who have gained the power to control their own self will be told how that power can be aroused in man. In regard to this ” secret fire,” the Rosicrucians say :
The potentialities in nature are aroused by the action of the secret fire, assisted by the elementary fire. The secret fire is invisible, and is contained within all things. It is the most potential and powerful fire, with which the external visible fire cannot be compared. It is the fire with which Moses burned the golden calf, and that which Jeremiah hid away, and which seventy years after was found by the knowing ones, but which, by that time had become a thick water. (2 Maccab. 1 and 2.) Without the possession of this magic fire, no alchemical process can be accomplished, and therefore it is recommended in the ” Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians,” that the student of Alchemy should above all seek for the fire.
THE FOUR ALCHEMICAL RULES
- Follow Nature.
It is useless to seek for the sun by the light of a candle.,
- First know; then act.
Real knowledge exists in the triangle composed of seeing, feeling, and understanding.
- Use no vulgar processes. Use only one vessel, one fire, one instrument
The door to success lies in the unity of will and purpose and the proper adaptation of the means to the end. There are many roads leading to the celestial centre. He who follows the chosen path may succeed, while he who attempts to walk on many paths will be delayed.
- Keep the fire constantly burning.
If the molten metals are allowed to cool off before they are transformed into higher ones, they will become hard again, and the whole process will have to be recommenced from the beginning. Use the inextinguishable lamp. Its light will not go out unless it is driven away by force.
THE POWER OF THE PHILOSOPHER`S STONE
- Do not seek for the seed of the PHILOSOPHER’S STONE in the Elements. Only at the Centre of the fruit is that seed to be found.
- The substance of the Philosopher´s Stone is mercurial. Those that are wise are seeking for it in the mercury; the fool seeks to create it out of his own empty brain.
- The seed of the metals is in the metals, and the metals are born of themselves. The growth of the metals is very slow; but it may be hastened by the addition of Patience.
- Use only perfect metals. Crude mercury, such as is usually found in European countries, is perfectly useless for this work. Worldly wisdom is foolishness in the eyes of the Lord.
- That which is hard and thick must be made subtle and thin by calcination. This is a very painful and tedious process, because it is necessary to remove even the root of evil, and this causes the heart to bleed, and tortured nature to cry out.
- The foundation of this art is to reduce the. CORPORA into ARGENTUM VIVUM. This is the Soluho Sulphuris Sapientium in Mercurio. A science without life is a dead science; an intellect without spirituality is only a false and borrowed light.
The more the Lapis is nursed and nourished, the more will it increase. Divine wisdom is inexhaustible; the limitation exists only in the capacity of the form to receive it.
It is a mistake to confound Alchemy with Chemistry. Modern Chemistry is a science which deals merely with the external forms in which the element of matter is manifesting itself. It never produces anything new.
We may mix and compound and decompose two or more chemical bodies an unlimited number of times, and cause them to appear under various different forms, but at the end we will have no augmentation of substance, nor anything more than the combinations of the substances that have been employed at the beginning.
Alchemy does not mix or compound any-thing, it causes that which already exists in a latent state to become active and grow. Alchemy is, therefore, more comparable to botany or agriculture than to Chemistry; and, in fact, the growth of a plant, a tree, or an animal is an alchemical process going on in the alchemical laboratory of nature, and performed by the great Alchemist, the power of God acting in nature.
The nature of Alchemy is clearly explained by Johannes Tritheim, who says :— ” God is an essential and hidden fire in all things, and especially in man. That fire generates all things. It has generated them, and will generate them in the future, and that which is generated is the true divine light in all eternity.
God is a fire; but no fire can burn, and no light appear within nature without the addition of air to cause the combustion, and likewise the Holy Spirit in you must act as a divine air’ or breath, coming out of the divine fire an breathing upon the fire within the soul, so that the light will appear, for the light must be nourished by the fire, and this light is love and gladness and joy within the eternal deity.
This light is Jesus, having emanated from eternity from the Eternal Light of God. He who has this light not within himself is in the fire without light; but if the light is in him, then is the Christ in him, and takes form in him, and such a person will know that light as it exists in nature.
“All things such as we see are in their interior fire and light, wherein is hidden the essence of the spirit. All things are a trinity of fire, light, and air.
In other words, ‘Spirit, the ‘father; is a divine superessential light; the ‘son; the light having become manifest ; the holy spirit’ a divine superessential air and motion. The fire resides within the heart and sends its rays through the whole body of man, causing it to live; but no light is born from the fire with-out the presence of the spirit of holiness.”
To express this in other words we may say—All things are made of thought, and exist in the universal mind (the astral light), and within each is latent the will, by whose action they may become developed and their powers un-folded.
This takes place under favourable circumstances by the slow and unconscious action of the universal will acting in nature, and may be accomplished in a very short time by the aid of the conscious will of the alchemist ; but before the will of a person can accomplish such wonders in external substances, his will must first become self-conscious within itself; the light that shines from the centre of his own heart, must become living and bright before it can act upon those substances with which the Alchemist deals.
He in whom this divine light of the Christ (the Alma) has not awakened to life, is virtually asleep in the spirit, and can act upon spiritual things no more than a man can deal with material substances while he sleeps; but this fact will hardly be acknowledged or comprehended by the superficial scientist and rationalist, who imagine themselves to be fully awake, and therefore the secrets of alchemy are an inexplicable mystery to them, which can be disposed of in no other way than by being denied or laughed away.
Alchemy was known at the most ancient times. It was no secret to the initiates among the ancient Brahmins and the Egyptians; and the Bible, if read in the light of the Cabala, will be found to be the description of an alchemical process.
The ALEPH ℵ represent three fiery flames, nevertheless, it is only one letter. In Magic it means AOH, the Father, the one from which all the rest take their origin, the Alpha and likewise the Omega, the beginning and also the end.
As the air causes the fire to burn and to emit a light, likewise the Holy Spirit (without whose presence nothing can be accomplished) nourishing the divine fire with the soul, causes the living light of the Christ to become manifest.