Plans and lessons (31-HP Day 14)

Dear Brother of the Art,

Question of redemption

Read the trestle board
Dance the cards and stars
Adam Primus
So Above, So Below
Build the Tree within
Climb up from the Kingdom
Upwards to the Crown
Rung by rung
Step by step
Day by day
Hour by hour
Gather Mercury, Sulphur
And Salt
Grind and distill
Until the Great Work
Is completed
Strive to be
More than Human

Sincerely, an Adept

Of the Rosy Cross

Oh goody Purification

Hi and welcome to this stop on the Autumnal Equinox Tarot Bloghop. If you are a hopper, you probably came from Christiane's post. If you are one of my regular readers, you are probably coming here from the Big Bang Burger Bar where you nourished yourself on the veal burger...hey, it could be true.

Today's topic is purification...and to a lesser extent, the Tarot and alchemy.

On my property, there are currently three compost piles. And at least one of them is about to grow larger as I rake more leaves into it. This year was not a good year for my compost piles--it was just too darn hot and dry for them.

One of the things that non-gardeners may not realize is that a compost pile requires a delicate mixture of ingredients. It has to be the right temperature, the right moisture level, the right mixture of organic material, the right amount of circulation; otherwise it either burns or stinks to high heaven.

Even when it looks like it is going ok, things can still be wrong. For instance, I have a black walnut tree on my property; a black walnut tree produces a chemical that many other plants find toxic (for instance, rose bushes do not like black walnut trees), so I have to be careful where I use the results of the decomposing black walnut leaves.

Having a compost pile really puts you into direct contact with the process of purification. If you do it right, you end up with something that your garden will thrive on. Do it wrong, and all you made is a big old mess.

Now, in my profession--I am a writer by trade (woe be me)--there is a stage in the process (or at least, my personal process) where everything that one has written reads like pure sewage. One needs to leave the writing sit for awhile when it gets to that point to create some form of distance between oneself and the writing, especially if one is hoping to wrestle the good bits out of the rubbish of your latest draft.

While dealing with compost piles and my horrible drafts, I tend to think about the process of purification. Especially now that I am doing make-up work on the subject. It is the closest that I get to lab alchemy--I have cats and a god-daughter; I am not about to use dangerous chemicals around them.

Now, one of the modern things that occultists have done is attempt to associate alchemy with the Tarot. There are many ways to do this. But I am a Golden Dawn member, so I have to work with the Golden Dawn version of this arrangement. Now, the best known version of Tarot to alchemy is Pat Zalewski's version--perhaps merely because he actually published his version.

Now in his version of alchemy to Tarot correspondences, he uses a 3-7-12 system. Therefore, the process of alchemy is not assigned to a single card.

On the three scale, purification is assigned to Last Judgment. On the seven scale, it is assigned to the High Priestess.

The twelve scale is touch more complex--for purification is divided into three parts: Separation (Filtration and Distribution) assigned to the Lovers; Circulation and Digestion assigned to the Chariot; Fermentation and Corruption to Death.

So we end up with five Major Arcana that could indicate purification if they came up in a reading...more if we open the door to other assignment systems. Of course, given the fact that Tarot reading is such a personal art, I lean towards two cards over the rest--Judgment and Death. I might remember that the High Priestess is also involved, but I better have a muse whispering in my ear to remind me of that fact.

Then again, I need a muse to remind not to dump fresh cut grass into my compost pile, and not to shred my rubbish drafts.

(For the one person who will be curious--no, I do not have one of these composting barrels; I want one--I just can't afford one at the moment.)

For those of you who are continuing with the Mabon Tarot Bloghop, the next step is Joanne Sprott's blog.

How many mortar and pestles do you need?

I think a bigger problem is that you actually own a mortar and pestle.

A couple of weeks ago, in the daily Woot email (which I read for the monkey jokes), they made a mortar and pestle joke. "I hope none of the guys notice that I only have one mortar and pestle." Really? Are the guys coming over to watch the football game also members of your coven? Because otherwise, just the presence of a single mortar and pestle is going to make it a fun-filled evening for you.

But this does bring up the question--How many mortar and pestles does a person really need?

My answer is Four.

One for herbs that you can eat--basil, thyme, sage, etc. Basically, this mortar and pestle can do double duty both in your circle and your kitchen, If it is safe to eat, you grind it in your "food safe" mortar and pestle.

The second one is for plants that you should not be eating--nightshade, wormwood, belladonna, etc. Basically, you want to keep your poisons away from anything that you might be ingesting.

The third mortar and pestle is for resins--frankincense, myrhh, etc. I prefer this one to be smooth bottomed because resins tend to get into the grooves and never come out.

And for those who are doing alchemy (other than the plant variety--which a lot of people insist is "not really alchemy"), you need a fourth mortar and pestle for metals and other stuff. This mortar and pestle often needs to be made of stone or metal (depending upon the school of alchemy you are working in).

So there you have it, you need four mortar and pestles.

(If you really need a mortar and pestle for the first two types and live in the United States, consider buying one from my wife--Celtic Soul Jewelry and Pottery.)

The Tarot of the Holy Light (Tarot Review)



Queen of Wands from The Tarot of the Holy Light.

Awhile back, a friend of mine sent me a copy of The Tarot of the Holy Light (Christine Payne-Towler & Michael Dowers--Noreah/Brownfield Press). Upon opening it, I realized that it would be perfect for an Adept Major game--Can you identify the source of the alchemical imagery in this card?

As my regular readers will not be surprised to learn, this deck was slow to start for me. Why? Simple, my mind got caught up with trying to understand and remember the sources of the alchemical emblems used in the artwork of this deck. After all, I am the person who really needs to take an Alchemy 101 class, often struggling to to read the simpliest of alchemical emblems.

The deck works much better, at least for me, once you set aside your rational mind and forget trying to intellectually decipher the symbolism. I am not sure if my last Inner Order mentor, VH Frater QA, would be pleased to hear that or not (he insisted that I took six months off to study the basics of alchemy--a task I still haven't gotten around to doing, thanks to the horrors of finishing up the final two semesters of my undergraduate degree, well, actually two degrees {the University of Colorado at Denver rules say that I have so many credits that it is two Bachelor degrees, and not a double major}--one hopes that he understands how Senior Seminars trump studying alchemy for the moment).

Of course, given this mode of working (forget knowing exactly what the emblem is supposed to say and going with my gut reaction), and the mash-up of the alchemical symbols drawn from multiple sources, I imagine that this Tarot deck is going to offend the more serious-minded alchemical students and masters. I am quite sure that they will label it "New Age Alchemy." The fact that it is more suitable for a student of psychological alchemy, and less useful for the student of traditional lab alchemy, will automatically offend the student who thinks that only lab or initiated alchemy is worth studying.

For the rest of us, The Tarot of the Holy Light will be more favorably looked upon. Especially for us, who are trying to link the symbols of alchemy to the events of our daily lives. Or at least, those of us who really could care less what the one True and Correct reading of alchemical emblems is.

Basics of ciphers and codes

Page from Polygraphia bearing the GD Cipher.

The student at this point of the discussion about the Cipher Manuscript needs to know a few basics about codes and ciphers. In the Bast Temple version of the Zelator (1=10) initiation ritual, the initiate is presented with several examples of codes and ciphers in the additional third part of the ritual.

(The third part of the Bast Temple Zelator ritual is so irregular from the viewpoint of other Golden Dawn Orders. It was inserted into the ritual to allow the ritual introduction of geomancy to occur during the Zelator initiation, rather than forcing the student to wait until Theoricus (2=9) where the traditional Golden Dawn Orders ritually introduce the system to the initiate. To flesh out rest of the third part, several other subjects were also introduced, including codes and ciphers. One of the results of this minor change in the ritual is that Bast Temple students get to study the Neophyte and Zelator sections of the Cipher Manuscript while in Zelator without someone frowning at them about studying material beyond their Grade.)

One of the ciphers presented to the Zelator is "Thee Cipher," the cipher that was used in the foundational (DNA) document of the Golden Dawn---the cipher of the Cipher Manuscript. The cipher dates to before 1518. The source of the cipher for Frater C was probably from Johannes Trithemius' Polygraphia (original edition 1518). The above pictue is the page that the cipher is found on from the 1561 edition.

The text roughly reads in Old French (according to Wikipedia):

Fifth Book.
Another alphabet, by which Honorius, a. k. a. Thebanius occultly describes the rules of magic.
{Theban alphabet cipher}
Another alphabet, by which some alchemists wanted to secretly use & describe rules & secrets of their science; making this science look more estimable than it deserves.
{GD alchemical cipher}
Usually alchemy is accompanied by several servants, familiars and domestics, who...

(Before you ask---no, I do not know how Trithemius finished that sentence.)

Trithemius' Polygraphia was in circulation among the members of fringe masonry in 19th century England (though to what extent is uncertain). Both Kenneth Mackenizie and Wynn Westcott had copies of this book in their libraries. A common assumption is that Frater C was very much into the use of ciphers. This may be true; it is known that Mackenzie (one of the possible creators of the Cipher Manuscript) was rather fond of ciphers. Another common assumption is that because Westcott had a copy of the cipher key, all his stories about how hard it was to "translate" the document are more to impress the listener than actually accurately relay information.

Exactly how hard is it to work with a known cipher?

An message to decipher...if you want to try, that is.

For instance, take this example. It is 58 words and it took me 30 minutes to sketch with a pencil, and another 15 minutes to ink it. So forty-five minutes to encipher a single page.

I am not sure how long it would take someone to decipher it even with the use of the key provided earlier. Frater C modified the symbol for the letter Y, and created a new symbol for the letter W. In my example, two additional symbols were created for the letters J and V. While I made an attempt to make sure that the spaces between one word and the next are clear, I am not so sure that they are completely clear now that I step back and look at the sample. Furthermore, Frater C, like myself in the sample presented, uses Hebrew letters as numbers. My Hebrew letters always get comments from the peanut gallery. Someone who examines my example will also notice that I considered something important enourgh to "write in the clear"---after all, my handwriting is terrible, even without the added burden of writing in a strange alphabet.

During the course of writing up the example, I caught two mistakes as I was engaged in the creation of the sample. These I corrected before inking. How many more I made without noticing will be something that I will learn later. This is important as we will later see when we look at pages from the Cipher Manuscript---mistakes complicate the deciphering process.

Now for those who would like to hear some gooblygook, the Golden Dawn "Thee Cipher" is what is known as a "simple alphabetic substitution script." In other words, the letters of the English alphabet are substituted for symbols, with each symbol only representing a single English letter. There are other forms of ciphers---some that take several steps to encipher and decipher.

You may also like to know that there is a difference between ciphers and codes. Ciphers focus on the letter level of the language. Codes, on the other hand, focus on whole words to attempt to disguise the information context from those who do not have the proper key. It is also probably interesting to the more nerdy readers that given a large enourgh sample in a language that one knows and enourgh brainpower (in the form of people, steam-powered differantial engines, or computers), any code or cipher can be broken. Complicated codes and ciphers merely slow the process down.

Of course, with the Cipher Manuscript, even with a complete cipher key, there are things that will slow the process of reading the document down to a crawl---for more on that, I suggest consulting Carroll "Poke" Runyon's Secrets of the Golden Dawn Cypher Manuscript.

Adopt a Secret Chief human edition

JC made a comment about expecting this sets of posts (Adopt a Secret Chief) to be about adopting cats; and I so understand why they would expect that--heck it felt wrong to write what I did without mentioning cats. Nevertheless, there are times when you have to talk about the Secret Chiefs in their human form.
And this post is one of those times.

One of the recent things that has boiled out of the stew of the Golden Dawn fora and blogosphere lately is the idea that there are only two ways to think about the Secret Chiefs and their connection with Isis-Urania #3.

One way is that you believe that the Secret Chiefs are real, and that Mathers and Westcott had contact with them, and that the system is built from older material and the only way to gain a deeper understanding of the material is to gain access to the hidden Order that served as their Secret Chiefs. This school of thought insists (more or less) that any modern material and ideas about Golden Dawn are automatically wrong.

The other way of looking at the concept of the Secret Chiefs is that the Secret Chiefs were merely a lie told by Mathers and Westcott to disguise the fact that their Order was a completely brand new thing in a time period where the only "real" Orders were thought to be secretly hundred, if not thousands, of years old. Because no Secret Chiefs were involved in the creation of Golden Dawn, the school of thought reasons that there is no reason to seek out the Secret Chiefs and the odds are that anyone claiming to make contact with the Secret Chiefs is lying and running a scam.

Please note that this black and white description is actually a simplification; one needs a scorecard to figure out what some people actually believe. Which brings me to the point of this blog post.

There is a third school of thought concerning the Secret Chiefs. And that school of thought is that it does not matter either way whether the Secret Chiefs existed, was in contact with Mathers and Westcott or not, still exist or not...none of this matters.

Now there are several ways to end up in this particular school of thought, most of them accidential. You end up being driven into this school of thought---it is not like you wake up one morning and say, "I want to be a heretic and hated by both of the major Golden Dawn camps"---no you find yourself painted into a corner and discover that you agree with a litttle bit said by this side and little bit said by the other side, and that either side wants you to belong to their side.

In my case, there are three major reasons why I find myself in this outcast school of thought.

One, I have been asked to leave by every strict observance Order that I have ever been a member of. I have a habit of talking back to people; I tend to question the leadership of groups. Opps. With my track record, I am guaranteed to be banned by any Order that claims contact with the Secret Chiefs long before gaining access to anything that would make the additional trouble involved worthwhile. Therefore, it does not matter if an Order has contact with the Secret Chiefs or not, it is not like I am going to be a member long enourgh to benefit from such contact. I am the last person in the world that will ever have a (human) Secret Chief show up on my doorstep.

Two, I am in a situation where I do not have the resources to spare. Being a poor undergraduate (and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is me actually applying for the grad program), I do not have the money, energy, or time to devote to any particular Order beyond my local lodge. For instance, an Order that emphasizes alchemy (to any significant extent) is not a good option for me at this time. I do not have the money to buy a decent alchemy lab setup, nor the room to use it, nor the time and energy necessary to pursue the work. Other subjects being emphasized also have the same problem, including any system where I would have to travel for instruction or initiation. This is one of those conditions that end up with one not caring if the Secret Chiefs are real or not; and furthermore, not caring if someone actually has contact with them.

Three, this is the worst of the lot and the one that automatically gets me loads of hate from both sides, I am working with very specialized sections of the tradition--unless the Secret Chiefs focus on these areas, they can't help me in the first place. For instance, one of the things I have read is that the Secret Chiefs did not approve of Mathers going hogwild with certain aspects of the system, and are busy rebuilding the system to what it was supposed to look like---these disapproved areas are exactly the areas that I am most interested in and the areas where no help will be forthcoming anyways. Given the fact that I do not have an interest in pre-1888 magic and initiation, it does not matter if I believe in the existence of the Secret Chiefs or not, they can't help me advance in my areas of interest. The areas I am interested in, the Secret Chiefs do not provide support for---then again, most of the other camp do not provide support for these areas either, hence the hate from both sides of the system.

(For the record, I believe that the instant that the Secret Chiefs cut support to an Order that the Secret Chiefs no longer have any rights in that Order and that Order never has to submit to the Secret Chiefs ever again. This is especially true when the system no longer confirms to their original vision. It is opinions like this that gets me banned from groups.)

Therefore for me, and whole bunch of people, it really does not matter if the Secret Chiefs exist or not, and it does not matter if Westcott and Mathers were lying or telling the truth, for we are automatically banned from benefiting from their existence or lack thereof. If you are denied membership or are unable to benefit from the contact, then it DOES NOT MATTER if the Secret Chiefs exist or not.

Of course, this is why I think it is such a neat idea to Adopt a Secret Chief. It is like playing fantasy football or Dungeons and Dragons, it is neat to consider what weirdness would result if a different set of Secret Chiefs had been involved. It does not matter if the Secret Chiefs exist or not, Mathers or Westcott was telling the truth or not, or if anyone is currently in communication with them or not. It is not like it matters to some of us either way. We have NO STAKE in the game---we are allowed to think about the "what ifs." Of course, this annoys both parties---it is nice that they can agree on something, even if it is only to agree that some people shouldn't be in the system for being opinionated and loud-mouthed.

(Please note that this post is not completely true: I know people on both sides who think that I might actually make a decent member of the Golden Dawn tradition...someday, that is.)

One Lone Nut in a Mixed Bowl of Nuts

I mentioned briefly in a previous blog post that Pat Zalewski wrote his latest Golden Dawn book, Alchemy and the Golden Dawn, for a single student. (Maybe "student" is the wrong term, maybe "friend" would be a better label---I am just not sure.) Then I got mail. It happens.

Yes, Zalewski wrote his alchemy book with a single student in mind. It is not just marketing hype. There is actually a student out there who was responsible for this book being written. A single student.

Hathoor Temple had a saying that even a Neophyte could function as a Secret Chief. I think that aphorism is related to my father theory that all it takes is one "bad" neighbor to start mowing their lawn and putting in a flower beds to get an entire neighborhood to fix itself up. Or maybe not.

All I know is that I have seen changes in the esoteric community before that could be traced back to a single member of the community.

Should we thank this student or condemn them? I am not sure. Time will tell.

So why hasn't this student weighed in with their opinion of the book? (Really?! I am surprised that someone asked this question.) It is the height of brilliance that this student has kept their mouth shut about their involvement. If it was you, would you admit to it?

I know that there are people just dying to know who this person is---just so that they can use this person's inexperience against them. You know that they are going to get a mailbox full of invites from groups and teachers worse than Pat's once their identity is figured out. "Gee, if you needed Pat's book, then my group is just perfect for you also."

Besides, one of the facts that is oath bound is the identity of the tradition's membership. If this person does not want to admit that they were involved, they do not have to. Even when you are a known member of the tradition, you do not have to tell all about your memberships. Personally, there are a couple of groups that I held memberships in that I would never publically admit to---though in all fairness, the groups would prefer me not to mention being a member either.

And yes, I actually know the student in question. It is a small tradition.

And no, I am not responsible for guiding this person to better teachers, friends and groups. They are free to associate with whoever they want to. Just like they are free to read whatever they want to. It is their time, energy and money; they can spend it however they want to.

They are a lone nut in the big bowl of mixed nuts that is the Golden Dawn community.

Now that I have answered my mail about this, I still have one more comment to make.

David Griffin mentioned in a comment to the blog post in question that he wished that Pat would have just gave this person the manuscript and left it unpublished. But let's be honest, David. No one forced you to read the book; you could have saved your money and time. Other people have reviewed the book without reading it---you could have done the same.

And seriously, I am not sure that it is your duty to protect the whole Golden Dawn tradition. People get exactly the type of instruction that they are ready for. It is part of being human. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, "It is all a matter of life experience." Sometimes people need to experience certain teachings and people, so that they can grow.

Putrefaction is an ugly, smelly, disgusting process. But it is necessary. Trying to avoid it, just slows down the acquistion of...well, the important stuff. Take for instance, my compost pile. It is ugly, it is smelly (sometimes), and there are bugs, worms and noisy birds that fed there. I am sure that my neighbors are not fond of my compost pile. Yet I need to have it if I ever hope to restore the soil of my garden without having to use expensive (and ultimately toxic) fertilizer every year.

Pat Zalewski's book serves a purpose. Eventually, its readers will move onto a better understanding of alchemy; it is a necessary way-station in their alchemical understanding. Trust the process, and take comfort in the fact that people get exactly the type of teachers they need to match their level of development. Embrace the putrefaction.

Is Nicolas Cage an Alchemist?

Nicolas Cage has been around for a long time, hasn't he?

For those of you who missed it, last week a photograph went up for auction on eBay. It was a photo that was found in an album of civil war era pictures (1870s), complete with an unusual number of death shots (whatever that means to a non-historian). It was the only photo that did not identify the person in the shot. But never fear---the eBay seller jack_mord knows who it is.

It is Nicolas Cage.

And how is this possible? How could a picture of Nicolas Cage exist in an album of civil war era pictures. Simple, according to jack_mord, Nicolas Cage is "some sort of walking undead/vampire, et cetera, who quickens/reinvents himself once every 75 years or so. 150 years from now, he might be a politician, the leader of a cult, or a talk show host.”

There are just a couple of problems with this vampire theory. One, the photo itself---ain't vampires supposed to be invisible to film? Two, Nicolas Cage has been out and about in the daytime---shouldn't he be a little crispy and deep fried after being exposed to sunlight?

So alas, Nicolas Cage is not a vampire.

But never fear, the Amazing Golden Dawn Newshound that I am knows the truth about this photo.

Nicolas Cage is an alchemist who has been kicking around since before the civil war.

My proof for this theory is the fact that a few years ago, Nicolas Cage admitted on a late night talk show that he was interested in 17th century German philosophy. We all know what that means---Nicolas Cage has been studying the Rosicrucians and their amazing life-extending alchemical techniques.

I guess that Nicolas Cage forgotten the first rule of being an immortal alchemist---do not allow any records to exist that proclaim your immortality. The Third Order is obviously upset---the photo with its million dollar asking price has been removed from the listings on eBay.

And Nicolas, if you are reading this, you are always welcome to sit in lodge with me.

Green Alchemy

Can you use hops in green alchemy?

Today, on one of the Golden Dawn forums that I occasionally read, Steve Nichols asked if there was a way to substitute renewable substances for the toxic chemicals that are typically used in most of external lab alchemy.

Now, my long-time readers know that me and Steve do not get along. It is a combination of the fact that I am a card carrying member of Golden Dawn (honest, I carry cards that says that I am involved in the tradition) and the fact that I do not value his work with Enochian Chess and other esoteric games systems as highly as he does. In other words, it is for strictly business reasons that we do not get along; we are both writers working in conflicting areas of philosophy and magical practice---of course, we can barely stand one another.

But Steve is asking something that I have wondered about for years. Can we make alchemy more green and less toxic?

Honestly, I do not want to risk poisoning myself, the cats, or my wife. Nor do I want to worry about my god-daughter sneaking into my lab. There is also the little fact that the local police department (as well as the Feds) periodically do raids on meth labs and suspected terrorists---a mineral alchemy shopping list looks a hell-a-lot like a bomb or making list.

(It brings a whole new meaning to the term "turning lead into gold" when you stop and look at the bomb and meth "puffers," doesn't it?)

Now, I like to think that I do a certain amount of green alchemy already. I occasionally work at making plant tinctures. I typically use whatever herbs I can get to grow in my yard. I am forced to work with lemon balm a lot. Lemon balm might be a weed.

Of course, I am not a real alchemist because the lady who taught me my basic tincture making skills is not a card carrying alchemist who can trace her lineage back to the Ancient Egyptians. Therefore, my opinion that plant alchemy is green (planet friendly) alchemy is completely wrong. But it is my opinion.

Now, if I could only figure out something alchemical to do with the hops that doesn't end up tasting like beer.

QoD Armand Barbault on alchemy

Currently reading Armand Barbault's alchemy book, "Gold of a Thousand Mornings" (1975) ["L'or du Millieme Matin" (1969)]. Started to notice that some of his section headings and "takeaways" could be read as a short alchemy text all on their own. ("Takeaways" for the non-journalist crowd are these sentences you see enclosed in boxes to highlight the important stuff from magazine and newspaper articles.)

The Dawn of the Magicians begins at daybreak on a Spring morning.

The twelve Signs of the Zodiac hold the secret of Nature.

Astrology is only one step from Alchemy, Alchemy only one step from Medicine.

The Adept who reveals all he knows about the First Matter is not betraying any trust, for the means by which it is obtained remain very personal, linked to nature and to the Alchemist's own individual preparation.

A repeated series of operations should bring the Matter to the state of Leaven, the state conductive to the "opening" of gold.

Our preparation is produced by following the philosophic process which deal with the "first part" of the Great Work as described in traditional alchemy.

The Tradition represents the great work as consisting of Three Parts.

[Quoting from The Twelve Keys of Philosophy] The pure is freed from the impure...Corruption of one and generation of the other...All flesh born of the earth shall be destroyed anew and shall be returned to the earth. In as much as previously it was earth, new generation of the salt of the earth is produced by the breadth of celestial life.

[Another quote from The Twelve Keys of Philosophy] A salt is most effectively extracted by fire if the body in question has been previously been brought to putrefaction...the true, natural tartar to be dissolved is hidden in the ash. When this tartar has been dissolved, the mighty lock to the King's apartment may be unfastened.

The Emerald Tablet and the Mutus Liber provide all the essential alchemical knowledge in symbolic form.

All the evidence points to the conclusion that the liquor of gold----which according to all normal systems of physical and chemical analysis contains no gold----constitutes a new state of matter.

In addition to vegetabilised gold, the alchemist can, within the framework of first-degree medicine, prepare tinctures of such metals as silver, antimony, copper and tin.

The three basic Tinctures are those of Gold, Silver and Antimony.

The way of the second order is even more mysterious. The alchemist may embark on it once he possesses First Matter which has reached the first degree of perfection.

QoD Raymond Abellio makes a wish

It is high time that activities such as astrology and alchemy, which are wrongly termed 'occult', provoked some reaction other than the customary blind acceptance or sarcasm. I feel it is necessary to point out to those deep thinkers who have shed all their illusions without having gained anything else in the process, that to denounce the charlatanism of certain 'seers ' or the naive attitude of 'believers' is not a sufficient investigation of these secular disciplines. One wishes that orthodox scholars would bring to bear judgements based on practical knowledge and would at the very least agree to learn the rules of the game. Instead , they oppose on principle arts of which they have no knowledge and about which they fabricate quite fantastic ideas.

   ---Raymond Abellio

Current project Splendor Solis coloring page

The project that I am currently working on is a set of coloring pages based on the alchemical text Splendor Solis. The picture is a rough draft of one of the pages. I am not sure how many changes are going to occur between now and when I get the project finished. Nor am I sure of the form that the final stage is going to take; I am thinking an ebook (pdf), and possibly a pod (print on demand) book. The idea for this project came from the work that I am currently doing (studying the Splendor Solis) and the Tarot work I have done in the past (I found coloring the Keys to be very useful).

Talking about alchemy in Christian cant

On one of the forums I occasionally read, I ran across someone talking about the fact that the mysteries, Orders, and alchemy are warped by the fact that they have been poured though a Christian matrix. And I just rolled my eyes.

I have read comments by this person before. They have an ax to grind. Basically, if you do not completely abandon the material of the last couple of thousand of years and go directly back to ancient Egypt, then you are doing it wrong.

For them, Golden Dawn is a step backwards. I can only read so many of their posts before I start to mutter, "Why is this person posting on a Golden Dawn forum?"

But this is the type of person who in two hundred years are going to be complaining that the mysteries, Orders and alchemy ended up being filtered though a pagan/Wiccan matrix in our time period. It does not matter if we are warping the system or not---what matters is that we are not worshipping and working in the Golden Age mode that they believe was the height of perfection. They believe that at some point in time, the mysteries were perfect and everything done since that time is a corruption of the mysteries.

Where is a time machine when you need one? I would like to send people like this back to their Golden Age.

Now I will admit that they do have a point. The times of a magician does color how they describe things. So yes, the mysteries, Orders and alchemy have ended up being described in Christian terms. Give us a few years, and initiates will be talking about these things in terms of paganism and Wicca, and someone will be upset because of that.

And it will not matter one bit. At the core of these disciplines are certain constants and it does not matter how you clothe them. That is one of the reasons that they are called mysteries. The body of the mysteries does not matter (except to the individual tastes and background of the magician); the spirit remains the same.