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Reflections About Alchemy and Laboratory Work
by Augusto Pancaldi
(1918 - 1986)
(Translated by Seigfried O. Hansch & Seigfried G. Karsten)
After completing the beginner's course all my friends asked as soon as the
word 'alchemy' was mentioned: 'When will you be able to make gold?' Even the
village priest asked this question and presumed that I would soon be able to
supply him with gold. I always answered:
'Perhaps in 25 or 40 years, and if not at that time then in the next life. Of
far greater import are other useful tasks, making a gold transmutation is
really a last consideration. People who wish to immediately take up the
production of gold are called 'prompters' and are not true alchemists. I am of
the opinion, however, that the red projection poeder can be produced in a very
short time.'
I began my alchemistical work with great enthusiasm, following Heinrich
Kunrath's words: 'Perseverando, orando, laborando'. I wrote on the first page
of my lab notebook the words from the 'Introitus Apertus ad Occultum Regium
Pelatium' by Eirenaeus Philalethes and recite every day before starting work
the following words:
'God, who alone knows the goodness of the heart shall lead me the right way to
the light, to honesty and make me an instrument if His work. May the Lord be
with me, because I alone am not able to produce wonderful deeds.'
My prayers express emphatic admiration of the Lord's creation and preservation
of every single individium, which therefore shall be subject to His divine
power.
'Oh my God full of goodness, how wonderful are thy works. These wonders that
appear before our eyes, you alone have brought about. I thank you, eternal
Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth. Amen.'
During my work with a group of Swiss Alchemists at Embrach in 1972, I became
acquainted with the Invocation of Paracelsus, which reads as follows:
'Oh Holy Ghost, inspire me and teach me what I alone am unable to do and what
I am not aware of. Preserve my five senses, wherein Thou shall act, and
shelter me with Thy heavenly peace, and lead me on the right path in dealing
with God and my neighbours. Amen."
I decide immediately to change my daily invocation. That of Paracelsus shall
represent the Spirit, that of Philalethes the Soul, and I myself shall be the
Body of the new invocation. My modification of the above consists of saying
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seven senses and talents and not five senses and talents, as stated in the
Paracelsus' original.
In the interesting book by Jacques Sadoul 'Le Tresor des Alchimistes', I found
the invocation of Nicholas Flamel, which reads:
'Oh Almighty and Eternal God, Father of Light, Author of all good things and
Giver of all perfect gifts, I implore you in your eternal compassion enlighten
me with your eternal wisdom which surrounds Your Throne and which creates and
preserves everything. Bless me with your sacred treasure and Your Lordly
splendour from Your Throne in Heaven, to dwell and to act within me in order
to master all heavenly and occult arts through inspiration, with knowledge and
intelligence. Patronise my course of action in the noble art that I have
consecrated myself, in search of the Stone of the Wise which is concealed from
the world but which can at least be found by Your selected people, so that I
may begin, continue, and successfully accomplish the Great Work that lies
before me here on earth, and that I may ever in contentment rejoice therein. I
ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, the heavenly stone,the Cornerstone of
miracles out of all Eternity whoch commands and governs. Amen.'
I am absolutely certain that the power of the word which manifests through
pronunciation of the invocation will help me to find the sought after quinta
essentia in the four manifested elements. The spoken word is really a force.
in the third verse of Genesis God is said to utter the famous phrase; 'Fiat
Lux' - 'Let there Be Light'. In John's gospel it is written that Jesus after
he wept over the death of Lazarus, called in a loud voice; 'Lazarus, come
out!'
Before I report on my laboratory experiences permit me to express some
thoughts for contemplation. We all know that animals as well as humans are
equipped with a group instinct, the so-called group soul. This group soul can
be unconsciously employed but by man can also become a conscious concentration
or effort. This group soul is more or less predominant in all sport teams. It
frequently occurs that one or other of the teams is reported to be in 'good
form' at the moment. This means that the group soul, or the Eggregore,
so-called by occultists, is well balanced and functioning successfully. It is
this Eggregore which leads the team to achieve its best results. The
achievements through such an Eggregore, or influence of higher intelligence,
can consciously be greatly increased.
Forming an Eggregore is called team work in scientific circles. Every team
should emphasise the development of an Eggregore; this will increase its
achievements far more than the combined qualities of every single member will
permit. For this reason everyone of us should voluntarily contribute to the
formation of a Paracelsus Research Society Eggregore. This would be of great
value for everyone individually and all of us collectively.
Our alchemistical work can be compared with a whole day, which consists of day
and night. The day symbolises the manual visible laboratory work. During the
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day we work in the Green Alchemy with plants, trying to separate, to purify
and to recombine. The real purpose of a day's work however is to be found in
the exact repetition thereof during the night, performing analogously the
separation, purification and the recombination within ourselves. Then the
meaning of the famous phrase 'Man, Know Thyself', which at one time appeared
in golden letters over the Temple of Delphi, will become a realisation.
Without a true perception of himself, without a understanding of the work
which lies ahead of him or of the functions of the body, man cannot act
consciously and therefore behaves like an unconscious object, subject to the
forces influencing him. This is why in all the ancient teachings the basic
condition for walking the PATH was; 'Know Thyself'. Contemporary mentality
recognises the purpose of this principle but only has a vague conception of
its true meaning. Contemparary man, even the philosopher and the scientist, is
usually not conscious of the fact that the axiom; 'Know Thyself', refers to
the necessity to know one's different bodies and to study the laws which
govern the structure and functions of the human organism. Swami Sri Juketwar
Giri writes in his 'The Holy Science';
'As long as man identifies himself with his coarse body, he places himself on
a much lower level than the fourfold URATOM and, therefore, is unable to grasp
it. However, when he elevates himself to the same level, he will not only
recognise this ATOM within and without himself, but will also be able to
perceive all of creation in its visible and invisible form.'
These reflections and facts clearly show that it is not unimportant if one or
the other part of the alchemistical work has been done. Everyone has to decide
for themselves with which phase they prefer to begin, but a clear concept
thereof is absolutely essential.
All of us who work in the Green Alchemy, should learn devotion and humility
from the plants with which we work. Humility should be written with an
especially big 'H' as we say in Italian, my mother tongue. Plants, with their
healing potentials, are always available to us without ever getting a minimum
of thanks from us. The healing powers of plants can be increased through the
spoken word. It is up to our free will to consciously utilise them, not only
for our body, but also for our soul and spirit. This, however, demands a
familiarity with the signatures of the plants. The art of reading the
signature of plants is similar to that of reading the book from which one
hopes to learn the potencies of plants. Just as a pharmacist labels his vials
with their contents, so nature also uses her hieroglyphs to label the forces
contained within the plants.(Schlegel) It would be worthwhile and definitely
very interesting to examine if this readiness occurs voluntarily in nature. It
is certain that our normal power of perception is incapable of seeing or
recognising such manifestations of consciuosness. We must always be aware of
our duties and should not hide behind man-made moral laws to shun our
responsibilities.
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Now to the technical part.
When I pick plants as well as during the procedure of making the seven
tinctures I always observe the planetary hour. The latter are produced by
maceration; three weeks of pressing, filtering, calcining and mixing in the
light-grey salt. Thus, the insoluble trace elements are preserved and the
salts of the ashes can be dissolved in the tincture.
During maceration I made the first error by using a 190 proof alcohol. My
tinctures thus became a pure alcohol extract which did not contain any of the
water soluble parts of the plants. By using a 90 proof alcohol, both
extractions can be made simultaneously.
In 1971, I produced the following tintures:
Monday - Linden flowers
Tuesday - peppermint
Wednesday - chamomile
Thursday - melissa
Friday - sage
Saturday - parsley
Sunday - rosemarin
This combination does not correlate with the planetary assignments of the
plants, but I thought of balancing between the active and the passive. In 1972
I made the following tinctures;
Monday - saxifrage
Tuesday - folia verbena oderata
Wednesday - dill
Thursday - green anise
Friday - virga aurea
Saturday - cow bells
Sunday - rosemarin
The circulation of rosemarin, fennel, anise, caraway and thyme caused some
difficulties. As the temperature rose over 75 C., there was a strong
ebullition of the salt in the erlenmeyer so that proper circulation was not
possible. The use of a round flask, waterbath and boiling stones failed to
help. Since I am not in possession of a vacuum device, I had to find another
solution. Finally by constantly stirring the tincture with a magnetized stick,
a perfect circulation was obtained. Basilius Valentine says that a perfect
separation functions only by way of fermentation. This means that a perfect
tincture can only be secured through such a process. Therfore, the production
of a Human Tincture should be based on fermentation. Our president of the
laboratory, Sepp Luthi, who discovered the Human Tincture, will report on its
process and value in his lecture.
Only through proper circulation can this Human Tincture be potentiated and
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magnetized; this is expressed as 7 X 7 X 7: 7 hours circulation, followed by 7
hours of rest, repeated 7 times, i.e. starting Monday morning at 7 am. and
ending Friday morning at 9 am. In the process of increasing the potencies of
plants, one should also consider the association of the bodily organs to day
and night. According to the Chinese clock of organs, the inner clock of man,
the main functions of the physical organs are spread out over a cycle of 24
hours. Some of the organs perform their main functions during the day, others
during, the night. For example, the kidneys, gall, lungs, liver, and the
circulatory system are ascribed to the night cycle, whereas the stomach,
heart, bladder, intestines, spleen, and pancreas are associated with the day.
The body is most sensitive, according to Sollbergh, at four o'clock in the
morning and in the afternoon, at which times digestion changes from
assimilation to dissimulation and vice versa. Proper dosing, is as important
as the proper procedures to be followed in the production of an exact
tincture. As Schlegel points out:
'The more exactly a remedy of nature corresponds to its ascribed disease, the
weaker the dose of the medication must be. Otherwise, positive damage could
result, brought about by a non correspondence between disease and medication.'
If no curing results are evident after a certain length of time, it will
indicate either an over or underdosing. Then another dosage must be tried. As
a guiding principle, let me quote a homeopathic saying: 'Chronic ailments
shall be cured with high potencies, acute ailments with low potencies.'
My practical experience, recommends calcination in three phases. During the
first calcination the corporeal body will be burnt almost black, after which
it should be ground in the mortar to a fine powder. The reason being to
enlarge the surface in order to speed up the cleansing process, thus the fire
can reach and eliminate the imputities more readily.
After the second calcination and grinding, the salt should be a light grey
colour. This second grinding should be well attended in regard to the
possibility of small carbon particles. The latter are undesirable when
leaching the salt of salt. If carbon particles are present, then another
calcination must be made. A homeopathic grinding usually takes four hours, but
after calcination, 10 to 15 minutes should be sufficient for our grinding.
After all the salt of salt has been extracted from the salt the third
calcination can begin, which should produce the white salt. Here only one rule
applies: Patience! My rosemarin salt has been calcining for more 300 hours and
is still not white.
The collection of dew:
At Ascona I found the ideal area for collecting dew, the golf course with it
pre-greens and greens. I have collected as much as five quarts within an hour
without difficulties.
Equipment:
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A piece of fine cotton cloth about four by four feet in size, an oval-shaped
bowl, a sieve and a bottle for the dew. Collection of dew; I take the cloth in
a wet condition from home, spread it out on the grass, then slowly pull and
roll it up sqeezing it out over the bowl. The dew is poured through the sieve
into the bottle. This procedure is then repeated. You will be surprised at the
amount of dew that can be collected in a very short time. At home, the dew was
filtered again and as quickly as possibly distilled. Pure dew can be gained by
further distillation.
Production of the essential oil. I produced 25 ml. of essential oil from
rosemarin in a simple manner without special equipment; an Erlinmeyer, 500 ml
of water. 130 gms. of rosemarin needles, a bridge, a cooler, and a receiving
flask. Let everything come to a strong boil for about 15 minutes until the
flask contains 150ml of fluid. After four such processes, this produced 600ml
fluid has to be distilled yielding about two to five ml of oil. This
proceedure is very simple but results in a 70% loss of oil. Several hours of
slow simmering until the required quantity of fluid has been accumulated would
yield better results. The apparatus for determining the contents of essential
oil is inexpensive, easy to handle and works well.
At the beginning of October, 1972 I spent my vacation on the Isle of Mallorca
where I was surprised to see Rosmarin still in bloom, probably for the second
time that year. I came home with 700gms. of half dried blossoms and needles
which I crushed in the Tourmix. The apparatus was set up with 400ml of water
and 120 gms. of needles:
1st run of 1&1/2 hrs of slow boiling resulted in 1.0 cm3 of oil
2nd run of 2&1/2 hrs of slow boiling resulted in 1.95 cm3 " "
3rd " " 4 hrs = 2.15 cm3
4th " " 3 hrs = 1.85 cm3
5th " " 3 hrs = 1.9 cm3
6th " " 4 hrs = 2.5 cm3
The oil obtained by this proceedure is fairly pure, however, it contains still
some fluid from the separatory funnel. Further distillation yielded the pure
oil. 700gms. needles secured 12 cm3 oil, i.e. 1.75%.
Fischers book on herbs mentions a result of of 1% to 2.5%. Therefore, this
proceedure is to be recommended. Besides, the apparatus once begun works
practically without having to attended.
Also of interest is the color difference of the various rosemarin oils. The
Spanish plants produced a beautiful light yellow, and those from Ascona show a
light green. This difference can presumably be explained by the degree of
purity of the oil, but also by the exposure to different sun rays; the Spanish
rosemarin also has a stronger aroma.
Utilizing the same proceedure I used about six pounds of fresh lavender
blossoms to produce 15cm3 of a wonderful golden-yellow oil in ten runnings.
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These processes averaged approximately three hours each. One runs yield was
lost because the separatory funnel's stopcock was left open. A result of 1%
from fresh plants is very good, since Fischer gives 0.8%. From 250 gr. well
ground calamus roots in the Tourmix, I procured 4.2 cm3 of a quite consistent
light brown-orange oil in six runnings. Dry plants expand a good deal and can
cause some undesirable surprises; dry plants should, therefore, first soak for
at least three hours. My result of 1.8% is nothing exceptional in comparison
with Fischer's of 1.5 - 3.5%.
In January of 1973 I produced 5.3 cm3 of oil from 250gr. of crushed calamus
roots, as available on the market with an average running time of ten hours.
This corresponds to 2.25% and is a good average.
With the production of these three essential oils I intended to make three
stones. The Rosemarin Stone would represent the Spirit, the Lavender Stone the
Soul and the Calamus Stone the Body. These three stones symbolize for me the
ideal plant stone.
In conclusion I would like to read a few thoughts, which I found in 'The
Hermetic Tradition' by Julius Evola, which will be of interest to every
alchemist providing him with food for contemplation. Evola writes,
'The hermetic art is actually a science of reality, wherein reintegration has
not a moral but a very concrete meaning. it could almost be called a physical
meaning in the sense that it might awaken para-normal abilities. Through the
latter the possibility could arise for a transmutation on metal substances,
when applied secondarily.
This from Jacob Bohme:
'There is no difference between eternal birth, reintegration, and the
discovery of the Stone of the Wise.'
'We should be aware of and recognize exactly the spiritual influence which is
manifested in the alchemistic tradition on the whole, when analyzing hermetic
alchemical texts. Every text has to be considered as a spiritual fact in this
way. A text, which is contained in another one, can be enlightening,
improving, and developing, apart from its origin or chronology.'
In addition, it should be noted, that Frater Albertus always says: 'It is
assumed that these texts were only written for Adepts and Initiates.'
The following is taken from a letter by the French alchemist Albert Poisson
who died in 1893 at the age of 24 from exhaustion.
'... I am happy that I was able to guide you in this sense. All you have to do
now is to select your path: the material way which ends with the transmutation
of metal, the spiritual one which will provide you with the elixer of long
life and magic power, or the divine path which leads by way of ecstasy to
direct contemplation of the Highest. Choose your path. But be assured that
when you have walked it a little the other two paths will be revealed by way
of analogy. Know, my friend, that there are two main types of fire. One is the
spiritual fire which is the life or Pneuma, the astral breath, the other is
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the vulgar fire which burns. Matter has to be alive. It must first be
enlivened by the Archee before it can be reached by the vulgar fire. Only then
is matter alive, only then can it be enclosed in the flask and be heated with
the vulgar fire, very slowly at first.
Or in the words of Ouspensky;
The meaning of symbols can only be conveyed to man if he has already reached a
certain understanding of them. This seems to be a paradox. However, the
meaning of a symbol and the unveiling of its essence can really be conveyed to
and grasped by that individual who already knows what such a symbol contains.
Then such a symbol becomes a synthesis of his knowledge and serves him as an
expression and transmittor of it just as it served the one who originated it.
True knowledge can only be conveyed in the form of symbols. The latter hide
the former like a veil which is transparent to those who are able to see and
to perceive it.
It is interesting how the well known French alchemist Fulcanelli, defines the
secret of alchemy;
There are special means to manipulate the material and the energy in order to
produce something, which contemorary science defines as a power cener.This
center of power influences the observer and places him into a privileged
situation in the Universe. From this privileged point he can visualize many
realities which are normally hidden from us through space, time, material and
energy. This is what we call the great work.
The Stone is described by Fulcanelli as follows;
The Philosophers stone appears in the form of a crystallike substance. It is
almost transparent, red in color, yellow after grinding, dense and easily
melts, however, fix at any temperature and its qualities make it striking,
glowing, penetrating, non - reducable and it cannot be calcined
Ouspensky made the folowing observations about alchemy;
'Alchemy views matter from the point of view of its functions, which determine
its position in the universe, and also in the light of its relation to man and
to the function of man.'
'An atom of a substance(as a simple or complex compound) refers to the
smalllest quantity of such a substance which still retains its, chemical,
cosmic, psychological and physical characteristics. The term atom has to be
applied not only to the element, but also to all complex matter which is
charged with certain functions in the universe or in human life. Under certain
conditions the water of an atom can be seen with the naked eye.'
And, according to Chiaivari from his Alchemy;
'There is no difference between God and the world. They represent two aspects
of the same nature; one is static, the other one is dynamic in its
manifestation. Therefore, it is possible to reunite with with God through
matter and to pursue the way of the Spirit embodied in matter. Christ said: 'I
am the way, the truth and life' After all, alchemy strives to reveal the
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principles of life given to and shared with each creature by God.'
And Evola again;
'The language of most texts is ambiguous. On the one hand we can consider them
as a chemistry sui generis which is partly absolutely real and which has
greatly contributed to vulgar chemistry. On the other hand, we can view it as
a language which provides the symbols of hermetic and alchemical knowledge
with much fantasy. It is up to us to recognise these two meanings.'
I believe there exists also a hidden third meaning to be discovered as a
synthesis of the other two.
Since an invocation should be said before the beginning of alchemistic work, a
word of thanks shouls also be said at the end of such work for the privelege
we had of engaging in true alchemy. This word of thanks symbolizes the true
meaning of the cessation of work and actually completes one cycle. We should
become more and more conscious of the fact that this represents an analogy of
beginning and end, day and night, life and death, spirit and material. If we
are able to realize this fully, then we no longer exist in the world of
appearances but in the world of reality. It is in this sense that I wish to
express my deepest thanks to God for the opportunity extended to me here to
express these few ideas. I hope my alchemistical friends can find something
useful in my words, and I heartily thank all of you for your attention and
patience. Amen.
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