Max Heindel
"During the course of his evolution, Man has become more and more enlightened concerning the mystery of Life; but nevertheless, it is only a few hundred years ago when life and liberty were endangered by the expression of opinions in advance of the commonly accepted views. It was for this reason that the alchemists who had studied more deeply that the majority, were forced to embody their teachings in highly allegorical and symbolical language.
Their teaching concerning the spiritual evolution of man, and their use of the terms SALT, SULPHUR, MERCURY, and AZOTH, so mystifying to the masses, were nevertheless rooted in cosmic truths, highly illuminating to the Initiate. The students of the Rosicrucian teachings who have learned how the world came into being and the process of gradual creation should have no difficulty in properly understanding every part of the alchemist's language.»
«This DUAL creative force thus expressed through the brain and larynx is the 'ELIXIR-VITAE' which springs from THE LIVING STONE of the spiritually hermaphrodite philosopher. The alchemical process of kindling and elevating it is accomplished in the spinal cord where the SALT, SULPHUR, MERCURY and AZOTH are found.
It is raised to incandescence by high and noble thought, by meditation upon spiritual subjects, and by altruism expressed in the daily life. The second half of the creative energy thus drawn upward through the spinal canal is a SPINAL SPIRIT-FIRE, the serpent of wisdom. Gradually it is raised higher and higher and when it reaches the pituitary body and the pineal gland in the brain, it sets them to vibrating, opening up the spiritual worlds and enabling man to commune with the gods.
Then this fire radiates in all directions and permeates the whole body and its auric atmosphere, and man has become a LIVING STONE, whose luster surpasses that of the diamond or the ruby. HE IS THEN THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE."
There are many other symbols and similes taken from the world of chemistry and applied to the processes of spiritual growth which eventually makes men living stones in the temple of God. But enough has been said in the foregoing to show what was meant by the ancient alchemists by such terms and the reason why they clothed their teachings in symbolical language.
The way of initiation is, however, and has always been open to anyone who really and truly seeks for enlightenment and is willing to pay the price in the coin of self-denial and self-sacrifice. Therefore, seek the temple door and you shall find it; knock and it shall be opened unto you. If you SEEK prayerfully, if you KNOCK persistently and if you LABOR manfully you will in time reach the goal and you will BECOME The Philosopher's Stone." [Freemasonry And Catholicism: by Max Heindel]
This page is an attempt to create a glossary of terms used in alchemical or hermetic writings by various authors.
ANGEL — Sometimes symbolises sublimation, the ascension of a volatile principle, as in the figures of the Viatorium Spagyricum. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
ANIMALS — General Rule: 1. Whenever two animals of the same species and of different sexes are found, they signify Sulphur and Mercury prepared for the Great Work, or also the fixed and the volatile. The male represents the fixed, Sulphur; the female represents the volatile, Mercury.
These animals are united to signify conjunction, (Figures of Lambsprinck); or fighting to symbolise the fixation of the volatile, or the volatilisation of the fixed, (Figures of B. Valentin). 2. A terrestrial animal facing an aerian animal in the same figure indicate the fixed and the volatile. 3. Animals may symbolise the four elements: Earth, (lion, ox); Air, (eagle); Water, (whale, fishes); Fire, (salamander, dragon). [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
APOLLO — Same signification as the sun. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
BATH — Symbol: 1. Of the dissolution of gold and silver; 2. Of the purification of these metals. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
BED — Symbol of the philosophical egg. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
BIRDS — Ascending: volatilisation, ascension, sublimation; descending: precipitation, condensation. When these two symbols are united in the same figure, they signify distillation. Birds opposed to terrestrial animals signify Air, or the volatile principle. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
BLUNT INSTRUMENTS — Symbols of fire. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
CHAOS — Symbol of the Unity of Matter and sometimes of the black colour of putrefaction. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
CHAMBER — When the king and the queen are shut therein, it is the symbol of the Philosophical Egg. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
Chariot - "Know the separate Self as the owner of the chariot, and the body as the charioteer. Know the mind as the charioteer, and the mind truly as the reins." [Katha upanishad]
CHILD — Clothed in royal robe, or simply crowned, it is the symbol of the Philosopher’s Stone, sometimes of the red colour of the Magisterium. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
CIRCUMFERENCE — Unity of matter, universal harmony. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
CROW — Symbol of the black colour, or putrefaction. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
CROWN — Symbol of chemical royalty, of metallic perfection. In the Margarita pretiosa, the six metals are at first represented as slaves, bareheaded at the feet of the king, but after their transmutation, they bear a crown. [From Albert Poisson’s "Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes"]
Dry - "All truth that is found in the Alchemical Art is to join the wet to the dry. By moist, we mean the liquid spirit freed from all impurity; and by dry means the perfect body, pure and calcined.
To dissolve is to transform the body into spiritual nature, but to coagulate is, on the contrary, to return the spirit to the corporeal nature so that what is fixed becomes volatile and what is volatile becomes fixed." [The Compendium Hermeticum, by Friedrich Herbort (Theodore a Silva)]
Earth
Ether
Fire
First Matter - This Awareness indicates that the First Matter for alchemist normally referred to as water, is that element known as urine.
The urine or First Matter, is sometimes described as Mercury and Sulfur; mercury because it flows in a liquid form, and sulfur because of the sulfur content in urine. [Philosophers Stone]
Goagulate - "All truth that is found in the Alchemical Art is to join the wet to the dry. By moist, we mean the liquid spirit freed from all impurity; and by dry means the perfect body, pure and calcined.
To dissolve is to transform the body into spiritual nature, but to coagulate is, on the contrary, to return the spirit to the corporeal nature so that what is fixed becomes volatile and what is volatile becomes fixed." [The Compendium Hermeticum, by Friedrich Herbort (Theodore a Silva)]
Gold
- Gold was Salt, Sulphur and Mercury.
- Gold in alchemy in the 17th and 18th centuries was a synonym for soul, it was that part of man's nature which combined the elements which we find today symbolically in the symbol of Mercury. [Hall]
Mercury
- This Awareness indicates that the First Matter for alchemist normally referred to as water, is that element known as urine.
The urine or First Matter, is sometimes described as Mercury and Sulfur; mercury because it flows in a liquid form, and sulfur because of the sulfur content in urine. [Philosophers Stone]
- Mercury or spirit, the principle of fusibility and volatility
- Mercury being a symbol of the binder
Moon
Philosophers Stone
Rebis
Salt
- Salt or body, the principle of non-combustibility and non-volatility
- Salt being a symbol of body
Sulfur
- This Awareness indicates that the First Matter for alchemist normally referred to as water, is that element known as urine.
The urine or First Matter, is sometimes described as Mercury and Sulfur; mercury because it flows in a liquid form, and sulfur because of the sulfur content in urine. [Philosophers Stone]
- Sulfur or soul, the principle of combustibility
- Sulphur being a symbol of spirit
Wet - "All truth that is found in the Alchemical Art is to join the wet to the dry. By moist, we mean the liquid spirit freed from all impurity; and by dry means the perfect body, pure and calcined.
To dissolve is to transform the body into spiritual nature, but to coagulate is, on the contrary, to return the spirit to the corporeal nature so that what is fixed becomes volatile and what is volatile becomes fixed." [The Compendium Hermeticum, by Friedrich Herbort (Theodore a Silva)]
Volatile - "All truth that is found in the Alchemical Art is to join the wet to the dry. By moist, we mean the liquid spirit freed from all impurity; and by dry means the perfect body, pure and calcined.
To dissolve is to transform the body into spiritual nature, but to coagulate is, on the contrary, to return the spirit to the corporeal nature so that what is fixed becomes volatile and what is volatile becomes fixed." [The Compendium Hermeticum, by Friedrich Herbort (Theodore a Silva)]
See Also
Alchemical Dictionary
alchemical symbols
alchemy
Alchemy - Most Sacred Science
aqua fortis