What is or was alchemy?
Alchemy was both the science and medicine of the ancient world.

What was the goal of Alchemy? The ancient hermetic science was simply a study of nature with a focus on medicine.

The Theory of Alchemy.
Nature begets a mineral within the earth’s crust which is mentioned by the emerald tablet of Hermes to wit; it’s father is the sun, the moon its mother. It has its birth in the earth. It’s strength it doth aquire in the fire, and there becomes the stone of the ancient sages. all things come from this one thing by adaptation. In ancient as well as medieval alchemical imagery this matter is depicted as a cubic stone overseen by the face of the alchemist conducting the great work of the Magnum opus. Alchemists communicated through color coded images which symbolized their hidden secrets of alchemy hence the term a picture is worth a thousand words. Jesus Christ was rumored to have been an alchemist healing the sick by creating the elixir of life and using it to turn the water into wine, he was quoted as saying the great work of alchemy is signified by a series of color changes as opposed to being transmitted orally. “Or words to that effect”.

Concerning the Magnum opus Or “The Great Work” Alchemists believed that once the work of creating the philosopher’s stone began, a certain temperature had to be maintained from start to finish or all would be lost requiring them to throw their work away and start over. The color red typically indicated nearing the end which came after the colors of the peacocks tail.

The alchemical process in the realm of the metals which has been one of the main focal points or areas of interest drawing people to the ancient hermetic science over the course of thousands of years is threefold. The ancient sages at times indicated this in their alchemical manuscripts.
1. Calcination, or a trial by fire. This represents “our earth”

2. Imbibition, water as the farmer, symbolized by “sophic” mercury.

3. Multiplication. The seed of metals is then delivered into the “womb of the female” by the archeus of nature, the alkahest, the universal solvent, which is water. Thus multiplication begins to occur just as is indicated in the bible.

Genesis 1 : 24 KJV.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
An alchemical understanding of this is that “all things” multiply and grow in like kind, including the minerals and the metals.
The seal of Solomon represents the ancient alchemical formula of water and fire which represent two of the four elements commonly mentioned in alchemy; earth, wind, water, and fire. Three elements are the tools of nature working upon matter or “our earth” to produce a new substance or fifth element which the sages called the supernatural son of the sun. This represents the alchemical birth of the philosophical stone of alchemy.

The Great Work of alchemy was conducted in what was known in ancient times as an athanor or “tower of secrets” this is symbolized in alchemy tarot by the card marked “The tower”. Nicholas Flamel left images of his athanor in his alchemical writings. The alchemist Sir George Ripley (among other’s) was quoted as having indicated that he finally realized the secret of alchemy one day while sitting by his athanor. Thus we hold the tower of secrets to be a dear and indispensable tool in the great work of alchemy for these and other reasons which tend to become manifest to each individual over time through perseverance, diligence. and contemplation. The secrets of nature you may seek if you so desire to know them, but they however do not seek you.

The years of diligent study it takes one who chooses the path of alchemy also teach the student to respect that which he or she has earned and this is why alchemists maintain a code of silence about their secret art.

The holy trinity or “tria prima” of alchemy are often considered to be 3 parts of a substance in alchemical terms. These three things are called salt, sulfur and mercury which are philosophical names and not vulgar. They are not elemental salt sulfur or mercury. Mercury of the sages represents the watery aspect while sulfur incombustible represents “our earth” when these two subjects are recombine through the alchemical process which is called imbibition, or “multiplication” the “salt” is the offspring of this hermetical union. The supernatural son of the sun and moon, the Sal petrae or salt stone, the quintessence or fifth element, is created by the alchemist. This represents the four elements combined into one, earth, air, fire, and water, to form the fifth element, our sophic “stone”.

Article written by Steven School, Alchemist.

Proverbs 3 : 13
King James Bible
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

Proverbs 3 KJV.
Trust in the Lord

1My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

2For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

Alchemy And The Green Lion, The Truth Of The Philosophers Stone by Steven School.

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