Alchemy: The Lost Science

[pohaikawahine]

I think the concept is not equating alchemy or the cross with sex, but with energy .... when we run the inner energy within our bodies we can move it as either sexual energy or spiritual energy (in a broad sense) .... and therein lies a meaning within a meaning .... the level of actual sexual energy is not the deepest level of this knowledge, but it is a level .... the deepest level is related to spiritual energy .... within the body it must move up the spinal column into the center of the brain to open the mind to visions and revelations .... this is spiritual energy ....


the cross is a symbol of many things .... one is the meeting of heaven and earth which is the symbol of the human body itself .... when we stand with our arms outstreatched to each side .... when we are successful in connecting the whole inner system, metaphorically we have reconnected our heads to our body and we are whole again or we have the symbol of the meeting of heaven and earth (we have created this) .... this movement of energy within the body into the brain is part of the process of transformation which is inherent in alchemy ....and also symbolized in the marriage of the sky father and earth mother ... or wakea and papa (in the hawaiian tradition) ....

the serpent is the symbol of the energy and two serpents intertwined is the symbol of the internal male and female energies (or our own DNA is another way to look at it) .... one way of reaching this place in the center of the brain (to open the door or gateway to the world of visions and revelations) is through great passion, desire and love (this in itself will produce chemical changes in the brain that move this process) .... so in a sense, all of the above by Thomas and Cela are both correct .... I believe that if we look at the inner meaning of the symbols we will all come out at the same place ....

gotta go .... love these postings they are filled with such insights .... aloha nui, poh

[Chela]

"Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: He who believes will not be in haste."
Isaiah 28:16

The orthodox interpretation of the above text in Christian tradition is always that the stone represents Christ, the promised Messiah, as is also the case in comparable texts, such as 'the stone which the builders rejected,' in the Psalms.

Yes, and Christ is on the Cross of Reconciling Opposites.

This symbolism of the stone was adopted from more ancient uses, however, and the latter may be the means of connecting it with the so-called Philosophers' Stone, especially as historical revelation will normally correspond to a universal and atemporal order.

It is worth noting that sex - as a gender determination, belongs to the cosmological (not universal) and temporal (not atemporal) order.

I disagree. Creation is sex. A baby is created through sex, a universe is created through sex. Sex, properly understood, is the action of creation. Sex is universal.

Thus, as I said, a full and orthodox interpretation of Christian symbolism references metaphysical First Principle, not subsequent determinations.

According to Greek myth Zeus let fly two eagles from opposite ends of the earth, and they flew towards each other and met over the town of Delphi, and this point at which they met was thus determined as the centre of the earth. The point was marked by the Omphalos stone in the temple of Apollo.

When Harmonia wove the veil representing the whole universe, she started with the Omphalos stone at the centre and from there worked outward.

The Omphalos was not only sacred to Apollo at Delphi but also marked the tomb of the slain and resurrected Dionysus. The Omphalos is also held to be the tomb of Python, the dragon that Apollo slew, and in the stone is often portrayed with a serpent coiled around it.

For the Pythagoreans, the Omphalso symbolised the Monad, the seed of the universe.

In Egypt their omphalos was the Ben-ben at Heliopolis, the theological centre of their culture, and prototype for the pyramids and the obelisk. Dedicated to the sun, the soul of the sun-god Ra, in the form of the Phoenix, would often alight upon it.

There is an Omphalos in Ireland, at Tara, the seat of the High Kings of the Gaels, and the Stone of Scone sat beneath the seat of the kings of Scotland.

Of course, there is the Dome of the Rock in Islam.

The idea of the Stone, as both centre and foundation, finds its expression in all traditional cultures.

Thus for the traditions the Stone was the expression of a substantial reality, which was called the Philosophers' Stone or the lapis, and a good many other things besides, such as the Unique (or One) Thing, the Divine Water, the Lion, and the Sodic Hydrolith. Under this diversity of names it was not distinguished from the prima materia, of the scholastics.

Excellent!

The symbolism of the Cross, in Christianity, far exceeds its derivations and subsequent determinations in other traditions. It is the meeting of the finite and the Infinite, the temporal and the Eternal, the relative and the Absolute. Thus the symbolism of the Cross expresses not only a physical or substantial reality (as does the Stone) but the atemporal order directly.

I agree.

Again, to say that the meaning of the cross is sexual, is to miss the point entirely. It has a sexual interpretation, as it has its reference to all and every mode of being, but it supercedes them all.

God created the universe with the cross, the manifestation of the sexual-creative energy. To say that the cross is not sexual, quite frankly is ignorance.

I would say that equating alchemy with sex is on a parallel to saying that the 'real' object of alchemical practice is turning base metals into gold.

Perhaps that is because you are not an Alchemist?

How can one talk with authority about sexual transmutation if one has not experience with it?

I am interested with experiential knowledge, not theoretical knowledge.

The 'chemical wedding' can be equated to the bride and groom in Christian symbolism, the marriage of soul and spirit - male and female are understood in their traditional and primordial aspects; physical gender and the sexual act is the most gross and material interpretation of the symbols.

Sex, in and of itself, is neither material nor gross.

[seattlegal]

Oh my, so much I can write, where to start? If this post is too freaky for you, please ask the Mods to delete it.

Originally Posted by Thomas

So we can discuss alchemy from the standpoint of Islamic Alchemy, Christian Alchemy, Hebraic Alchemy, et al. The point being that alchemy is a symbolic language encompassing a spiritual science determined by the doctrinal nature of the given tradition or culture in which it arises, the science 'altering' according to its doctrine.

How the spirit is perceived, its nature, its illness and its perfection are given, according to the tradition. Alchemy is subsequent to that, the danger in this instance being in assuming that alchemical interpretation has priority over doctrine. We can discuss the differences between Islamic and, say, Vedic alchemy (if such a thing exists) but we shall invite confusion when we apply Christian Alchemical process to the Vedic without a proper understanding of the doctrinal differences between the two traditions.

This is why I raised the issue of symbolic interpretation, the cross, for example, can be to do with gender difference, but to say the Christian symbol of the Cross is likewise to do with sex misses the mark entirely.

Very much agreed, especially when there are "two keys" mentioned. Confusing one key for the other in respect to the different traditions can lead to much folly. I have many different theories regarding the different traditions, and their meanings in regards to creation. I also agree with your point regarding the Christian Cross and sex. {Perhaps that is a good place to start.}

Originally Posted by pohaikawahine

the cross is a symbol of many things .... one is the meeting of heaven and earth which is the symbol of the human body itself .... when we stand with our arms outstreatched to each side .... when we are successful in connecting the whole inner system, metaphorically we have reconnected our heads to our body and we are whole again or we have the symbol of the meeting of heaven and earth (we have created this) .... this movement of energy within the body into the brain is part of the process of transformation which is inherent in alchemy ....and also symbolized in the marriage of the sky father and earth mother ... or wakea and papa (in the hawaiian tradition) ....

the serpent is the symbol of the energy and two serpents intertwined is the symbol of the internal male and female energies (or our own DNA is another way to look at it) .... one way of reaching this place in the center of the brain (to open the door or gateway to the world of visions and revelations) is through great passion, desire and love (this in itself will produce chemical changes in the brain that move this process) .... so in a sense, all of the above by Thomas and Cela are both correct .... I believe that if we look at the inner meaning of the symbols we will all come out at the same place ....

Originally Posted by Chela

God created the universe with the cross, the manifestation of the sexual-creative energy. To say that the cross is not sexual, quite frankly is ignorance.

Perhaps this might be of interest to you: exploring the connections between the ankh cross with t-RNA. If you look at the functions of t-RNA, and compare them to depiction of the ankh in Egyptian art, you will notice many interesting parallels...too many to list here.

[wil]

'alchemy: the lost science' .... because it is not lost, simply lying in wait for us to revive its essence .... alchemy is in its simplist terms the transformation of consciousness and the process for doing this takes place within the body itself .

has anyone read about connections between the alchemists formulae and the supposed hiding of Jesus's thought/words? That turning iron into gold is man into christ, earth consciousness into heavenly consciousness etc. That as the churches and inquisitions were burning every heretical book in sight...that the info could be hid amongst the alchemists as greed was powerful enough to have an interest in maintaining all those books?