"Besides physical alchemy, there is also spiritual transmutation. God is the philosophers' gold. The divine power digested into human nature by faith becomes the life of the soul. Truth digested into the human mind by will and imagination becomes the life of the intellect. In the ultimate, the physical, mental, and spiritual life are one essence manifesting differently in the three orders of the world. It is possible to create artificial gold by nurturing or feeding the seed of gold which is present in all bodies.
The German mystic Jakob Boehme made use of the Paracelsian concept in his symbolism of the soul tree. He described the seed of the soul as planted in the human heart. When the light of the spiritual sun touches this seed, it germinates and releases its power. The seed grows into a tree when it is nourished by the spiritual and mystical aspirations. All spiritual things grow if they are fed spiritualized vitality. Paracelsus believed that metals grow in the earth and that the veins of the precious substances spread through the rocks like the branches and twigs of a growing plant.
Some years ago I had the privilege of examining a gold plant growing in a sealed retort. It had slowly increased in size until it was about an inch and a half high and resembled in texture a delicate fern. Paracelsus learned from the miners that gold and silver replenish themselves in some strange way, appearing in considerable quantity where a few years before they did not exist. Later alchemists wrote extensively on this theme.
One of the most fantastic of the Paracelsian speculations concerned the creation of a homunculus, an artificial human being which could be fashioned by alchemical means. It would require forty days to generate the homunculus in a glass phial. The creature must be nourished with human blood, and after an appropriate time in its glass womb, it could be released to develop like an ordinary child. It is especially noted that the physical education of a homunculus requires extreme care and attention.
Of course, the story of the homunculus is a philosophical fable. But Paracelsus insisted that all fables which exist according to art and nature are possible as physical operations."
"An ancient formula says, "That which is formed by nature is perfected by art." The homunculus is the philosophical adept; it is the product of the spagyric disciplines. The fable is intended to convey the spiritual end for which the alchemical arts were conceived. The alchemist must nourish the homunculus with his own blood; that is, the soul must be fed by the vital substances of the body." [Pathways of philosophy by Manly Palmer Hall, c. 1947]
"Master Lu-tsu said, "In comparison with heaven and earth, man is like a mayfly. But compared to the great Way, heaven and earth, too, are like a bubble and a shadow. Only the primal spirit and the true nature overcome time and space".
The energy of the seed, like heaven and earth, is transitory, but the primal spirit is beyond the polar differences. Here is the place whence heaven and earth derive their being. When students understand how to grasp the primal spirit they overcome the polar opposites of light and darkness and tarry no longer in the three worlds. But only he who has envisioned human nature’s original face is able to do this.
When men are set free from the womb, the primal spirit dwells in the square inch (between the eyes), but the conscious spirit dwells below in the heart. This lower fleshly heart has the shape of a large peach: it is covered by the wings of the lungs, supported by the liver, and served by the bowels. This heart is dependent on the outside world. If a man does not eat for one day even, it feels extremely uncomfortable. If it hears something terrifying it throbs; if it hears something enraging it stops; if it is faced with death it becomes sad; if it sees something beautiful it is dazzled. But the heavenly heart in the head, when would it have moved in the least?
Dost thou ask: Can the heavenly heart not move? Then I answer: How can the true thought in the square inch move! If it really moves, that is not good. For when ordinary men die, then it moves, but that is not good. It is best indeed if the light has already solidified into a spirit-body and its life-energy gradually penetrated the instincts and movements. But that is a secret which has not been revealed for thousands of years.
The lower heart moves like a strong, powerful commander who despises the heavenly rule because of his weakness, and has usurped the leadership in affairs of state. But when the primal castle can be fortified and defended, then it is as is a strong and wise ruler sat upon the throne. The eyes start the light circulating like two ministers at the right and left who support the ruler with all their might. When rule in the center is thus in order, all those rebellious heroes will present themselves with lances reversed ready to take orders.
The way to the Elixir of Life knows as supreme magic, seed-water, spirit-fire, and thought-earth: these three. What is seed-water? It is the true, one energy of former heaven (eros). Spirit fire is the light (logos). Thought-earth is the heavenly heart of the middle dwelling (intuition). Spirit-fire is used for the foundation. Ordinary men make their bodies through thoughts. The body is not only the seven foot-tall outer body. In the body is the anima. The anima adheres to consciousness, in order to affect it. Consciousness depends for its origin on the anima. The anima is yin (feminine), it is the substance of consciousness. As long as this consciousness is not interrupted, it continues to beget from generation to generation, and the changes of form of the anima and the transformations of substance are unceasing.
But, besides this, there is the animus in which the spirit shelters. The animus lives in the daytime in the eyes; at night it houses in the liver. When living in the eyes, it sees; when housed in the liver, it dreams. Dreams are the wanderings of the spirit through all nine heavens and all nine earths. But whoever is in a dark and withdrawn mood on waking, and chained to his bodily form, is fettered by the anima. Therefore the concentration of the animus is brought about by the circulation of the light, and in this way the spirit is maintained, the anima subjugated, and consciousness cut off.
The method used by the ancients for escaping from the world consisted in melting out completely the slag of darkness in order to return to the purely creative. This is nothing more than a reduction of the anima and a completion of the animus. And the circulation of the light is the magical means of reducing the dark, and gaining mastery over the anima. Even if the work is not directed towards bringing back the Creative, but confines itself to the magical means of the circulation of the light, it is just the light that is the Creative. By means of its circulation, one returns to the Creative.
If this method is followed, plenty of seed-water will be present of itself; the spirit fire will be ignited, and the thought-earth will solidify and crystallize. And thus the holy fruit matures. The scarabaeus rolls his ball and in the ball there develops life as the result of the undivided effort of his spiritual concentration. If now an embryo can grow in manure, and shed its shells, why then should not the dwelling place of our heavenly heart also be able to create a body if we concentrate the spirit upon it?
The one effective, true human nature (logos united with vitality), when it descends into the house of the Creative, divides into animus and anima. The animus is I the heavenly heart. It is of the nature of light; it is the power of lightness and purity. It is that which we have received from the great emptiness, that which is identical in form with the primordial beginning. The anima partakes of the nature of the dark. It is the energy of the heavy and the turbid; it is bound to the bodily fleshly heart. The animus loves life. The anima seeks death.
All sensuous desires and impulses of anger are effects of the anima; itisthe conscious spirit which after death is nourished on blood, but which, during life, is in greatest distress. The dark returns to darkness and like things attract each other according to their kind. But the pupil understands how to distil the dark anima completely so that it transforms itself into pure light (yang)."
"According to the law, but without exertion, one must diligently fill oneself with light. Forgetting appearance, look within and help the true spiritual power! Ten months, the embryo is under fire. After a year, the washing and baths become warm.
This picture will be found in the original edition of the Leng-yen-ching. But the ignorant monks who did not recognize the hidden meaning and knew nothing about the embryo of the Tao have, for this reason, made the mistake of leaving this picture out. I only found out through the explanations of adepts that the Julai (Tathagata) knows real work on the embryo of the Tao.
This embryo is nothing corporeally visible which might be completed by other beings but is in reality the spiritual breath-energy of the ego. First, the spirit must penetrate the breath-energy (the soul), then the breath-energy envelops the spirit. When spirit and breath-energy are firmly united and the thoughts quiet and immobile, this is described as the embryo. The breath-energy must crystallize; only then will the spirit become effective.
Therefore it is said in the Leng-yen-ching: "Take maternal care of the awakening and the answering". The two energies nourish and strengthen one another. Therefore it is said: "Daily growth takes place". When the energy is strong enough and the embryo is round and complete it comes out on the top of the head. This is what is called: the completed appearance which comes forth as an embryo and begets itself as the son of the Buddha." [The Secret of the Golden Flower (T’ai I Chin Hua Tsung Chih) Translated by Richard Wilhelm, c. 1931]
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