On a more humorous note are encounters with alchemy’s long standing best friend, the young and ambitious chemist that knows it all: One evening out with friends, my work became the topic of the conversation. A young chemist started to attack fiercely, declaring that alchemy was a total fraud and that I was deluding myself at best. A girl at the table came to my rescue and related that my gem elixir of Amethyst is the only product she knows of that clears her headache instantly after a night out with too much booze. It was fun to watch the 180 degree turn of the young man who did not want to contradict the cute girl: someone will surely reverse-engineer my products and then offer them for less, he countered.
Little does our young man seem to understand that it might just be the very mindset he exhibited that tends to prevent people from ever coming close to real alchemy, let alone to “reverse-engineer” it.
Practical laboratory alchemy is accessible today, as little or as much as it ever was. It encompasses much more than white gold, which is merely a starting point. What follows is my overview on what laboratory alchemy stands for, what its stages or levels are and why someone would want to get involved. But be forewarned. This path is not for everyone, and on a material level, basics in food preparation and herbalism are needed for working with plants. If you want to go beyond preparing herbal extracts, a working knowledge of minerals, ores, metallurgy, assaying, smelting and good laboratory practices is needed. Add the substantial costs of laboratory equipment, reagents, and the need to equip the lab to conform to environmental standards and it becomes apparent that practical alchemy is a gargantuan task. To make it even more challenging, there is no guarantee for success with the Great Work whatsoever. Sir Isaac Newton, who succeeded in distilling the so-called incalescent mercury, paid a high price: he apparently died of mercury poisoning.[i]
Having said that, let’s return to the practical side of alchemy. Where do we start? And why would we want to get started at all? Let’s first of all review the basic concepts of applied alchemy, to gain an understanding what alchemists have been seeking throughout the ages. In Western alchemy, humans are said to be a book with seven seals. These seven seals or energy centers are the same as the chakras of Indian literature. In Western alchemy, as well as in Ayurveda, the seven hermetic planets, or their archetypal God-forms or energies are considered to rule the seven seals, which in turn rule particular organs.
Here are the Western correspondences from the head to the bottom: the moon rules the brain and head, and is represented by the metal silver. Mercury rules the nerves and the lungs and is represented by quicksilver. Venus rules the veins and the kidneys and is represented by copper. The sun rules the heart as well as the arteries and is represented by gold. Mars rules the gall bladder and is represented by iron. Jupiter rules the liver and is represented by tin. Saturn rules the spleen and is represented by lead. In addition, Earth rules the medulla oblongata and is represented by antimony.[ii]
The influence of the moon upon the head is modulated by the two nodes of the moon: The lunar north node, called Dragon’s Head or Rahu in
India
, is represented by zirconium and has a secondary effect upon the synchronization of brain functions. The lunar south node, Dragon’s Tail or Ketu, is represented by beryllium and has a secondary effect upon eyesight and psychic abilities.
Furthermore, humans are said to carry within them the archetypal energies of the twelve signs of the zodiac, from Aries ruling the head all the way down to Pisces ruling the feet. Contemporary books on healing with gemstones list correspondences, some of them I could confirm but very many of the claimed correspondences simply do not agree with my own findings: The making and taking of alchemically manufactured gem elixirs allows a sensitive person to experience first-hand what zone or part of the energy body is affected by the single gem elixir.
I am aware that many Westerners will look at the above list of correspondences with skepticism and possibly with cynicism. And yet, based upon this system, alchemists of the Middle Ages have performed the miraculous,
[iii] and Ayurvedic practitioners today carry the torch of incorporating alchemical substances along these lines, which more often than not make the decisive difference between success and failure of a natural healing regimen. This system of correspondences is expressed in the concept of the human being as a microcosm or miniature representation of the formative forces of the greater universe or macrocosm. It is this understanding that gives alchemy its
raison d’être: Laboratory alchemy aims at producing pharmaceuticals on the basis of this concept, substances that address a specific zone or area of the human energy body and fortify the particular area, thus inducing a transformation of the human. Depending upon how skillful the preparations have been made, an immediate and strong effect or a vague and miniscule effect on the corresponding organ is noticeable. An instant change in brain wave patterns as recorded on an electroencephalograph gives eloquent testimonial of the efficacy of alchemical elixirs and their primary effect on the mind.
