Article & Translation selections by John Ransom Bridge | Notes by H.P.B.
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In a most excellent little work on Alchemy and Alchemists, anonymously published by a gentleman in St. Louis, and now out of print, and of which this paper is really a review, there is cited a chapter from “Secrets Revealed,” by Eyrenaeus. It treats of “the Regimen of Sol.” I quote it, with the explanatory remarks of the author of Alchemy, as a good specimen of the extent to which some of the Alchemists carried their symbolical mode of writing:
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“But if thou do proceed warily in this Regimen, thou shalt meet with these notable things (experiences, symbolized, of an entrance into the higher Light or Life): first, thou shalt observe a certain citrine sweat to stand upon thy Body; and after that citrine vapour, then shall thy Body below be tinctured of a violet colour, with an obscure purple intermixed. (When these works were written, physicians were in the habit of judging of the condition of their patients by the appearance of a certain water, a citrine colour indicating a healthy condition, . . . here intended to signify the moral condition of the matter of the Stone: . . . violet is the symbol of Love, and purple of Immortality1 . . . which are beginning to dawn upon the man in this stage of work: . . .
1. Would not “thy body below be tinctured of a violet colour” rather refer to the Linga Sharira which corresponds to the violet colour as a compound of red (Kamarupa) and indigo dark blue of the upper Manas—the “purple” becoming obscure, meaning simply the beginning of the purification of the lower Quaternary?—Ed. [H.P.B.]
“. . . ‘But when they arise or ascend,’ says Artephius, referring to the Soul and Body of the one man, ‘they are born or brought forth in the Air or Spirit, and in the same they are changed, and made Life with Life, so that they can never be separated, but are as water mixed with water. And therefore it is wisely said, that the Stone is born of the Spirit, because it is altogether spiritual.’2 . . .
2. That is to say, the “Soul (Manas) and Body of Man” (Body standing for the astral man) assimilate Spirit (Buddhi); are made “Life with Life” (or merge into the one life). In other words the mysterious process of the transformation of lead (personality) into gold (pure, homogeneous Spirit) is here meant. Verily the Stone is born of the Spirit.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
“Then expect a sudden end, which within three days thou shalt see; for thy matter shall convert itself into grains, as fine as the atoms of Sol, and the colour will be the highest Red imaginable, which for its transcendent redness will show Blackish,3 . . . like unto the purest blood when it is congealed. . . .
3. The transcendent red or golden orange of the Sun. This must not be confused with the scarlet Kamarupan redness. Have in mind the colour of the Yogi-robes, the colour of which is symbolical of the sun of life and of human life-blood.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
. . . The author of the above wrote a Commentary upon Sir Geo. Ripley’s Compound of Alchemy, expressly, as he tells us, that the reader might have the testimony of two combined. In this Commentary may be found the following passages:
“. . . Thus, they who sow in tears shall reap in joy; and he who goeth forth mourning, and carrying precious seed, shall return with an abundance of increase, with their hands filled with sheaves, and their mouths with the praises of the Lord.4 . . .
4. By “Lord” the Higher Self is here meant—“that self which is the Redeemer of man” whether it be called Christos or Krishna.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
. . . In the Commentary upon the Fifth Gate of Ripley, the author, taking up the work in its more advanced state, says:
“Thy Earth (meaning Thyself, addressing the Seeker), then being renewed, behold how it is decked with an admirable green colour which is then named the Philosopher’s Vineyard. This greenness (the indication of Spring), after the perfect whiteness, is to thee a token that thy matter (thyself again) hath re-attained, through the will and power of the Almighty, a new Vegetative Life: observe then how this Philosophical Vine (thyself still) doth seem to flower, and to bring forth green clusters;5 know then that thou art now preparing for a rich vintage. (Col. i. 10.)
5. This “philosophical Vine” is the lower Manas merged at last and reunited to its higher Alter Ego, when it begins to bring forth the green clusters of the “true Vine” for the Husbandman, the “Father” or Higher Self (Atma Buddhi), vide Gosp. St. John xv.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
“Thy Stone (thyself) hath already passed through many hazards, and yet the danger6 is not quite over, although it be not great; for thy former experience may now guide thee, if rash joy do not make thee mad. . . .
6. This “danger” comes from the Antaskarana, the bridge of communication between the Personality and the Individuality not being yet destroyed. Vide Dvivedi, “Shri Vakya Sudha or the Philosophy of Subject and Object, Raja Yoga: Practical Metaphysics of the Vedanta, 1885, page 3, 1st note.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
“For in a short time thou shalt find that this green will be overcome with azure;7 and that, by the pale wan colour, which will at length come to a Citrine; which Citrine shall endure for the space of forty-six days.8
7. The green of the lower Manas, the Animal Soul, will be “overcome with azure” or the reflection of the Higher, (which is Indigo) into their aura which is blue, when pure.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
8. The cycle of the 46 Fires, the period between death and new rebirth, on Devachan. The cycle of the 49 Fires is the period between two manvantaras. The members of the E. S. will understand it better than the F. T. S.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
“Then shall the Heavenly Fire descend, and illuminate the Earth (thyself) with inconceivable glory; the Crown of thy Labours shall be brought unto thee, when our Sol shall sit in the South, shining with redness incomparable.9
9. The Higher Self will shed its radiance on the heart (the chamber of Brahma) of even the still living Man.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
“This is our true Light, our Earth glorified (or body translated into Spirit): rejoice now, for our King (the inner man) hath passed from death to Life,10 and possesseth the keys of both death and hell,11 and over him nothing now hath power. (Rev. i. 18.)
10. From the death in matter into the Life in Spirit.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
11. Man becomes a Christos, the Master and custodian of “death and hell,” i.e. of Earth, Matter and of the physical body of Senses.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
“As then it is with those who are redeemed, their Old Man (the physical man of flesh) is crucified, wherein is sorrow, anguish, grief, heartbreaking, and many tears; after which the New Man (the true inner Man or the Ego) is restored, wherein is joy, shouting, clapping of hands, singing, and the like; for the ransomed of the Lord shall return with songs, and everlasting joy shall be on their heads: even so it is after a sort (the author means, precisely after this sort) in our operations; for first of all our Old Body dieth and rots, and is, as it were, corrupted, engendering most venomous exhalations, which is, as it were, the Purgatory of this Old Body, in which its corruption is overcome by a long and gentle decoction. And when it is once purged, and made clean and pure, then are the elements joined,12 and made one perfect, indissoluble Unity; so that from henceforth there is nothing but concord and amity to be found in all our habitations.
12. All the “Principles” in Man merge into one “Principle”—Atma Buddhi, the grosser terrestrial elements of the lower body being of course destroyed.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
“This is a noble step, from Hell to Heaven: from the bottom of the grave to the top of Power and Glory; from obscurity in Blackness, to resplendent whiteness;13 from the height of Venenosity, to the height of Medicine. O Nature! how dost thou alter things into things, casting down the higher and mighty, and again exalting them from lowliness and humility! O Death! how art thou vanquished when thy prisoners are taken from thee, and carried to a state and place of immortality! This is the Lord’s (our Higher Self’s) doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.” (Ps. Cxviii. 23.)
13. It is hardly necessary to render this more clearly. With the ancient Mystics and even the modern Occultists, the physical body was ever called “the grave” and “the Hell,” while the Spiritual man was referred to as the Heavenly Power, etc.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
The author then proceeds to illustrate the necessity of alternate action upon natural Bodies, before they can be prepared for a change of nature: they must be exposed to “heat” and “cold,” must be “dried” and “watered” (prospered and saddened),14 in order to be made pliable and yielding, &c., &c., all of which must be done with one Fire, which he immediately calls the “Spirit proper to it,”15 and then tells us that the wise men have called it their Venus, or Goddess of Love . . .
14. Man rises to glory through suffering in order to be made “pliable and yielding,” or impervious to the emotions and feelings of his physical senses.—Ed. [H.P.B.]
15. This “Fire” is that of Alaya, the World-Soul, the essence of which is Love, i.e. homogeneous Sympathy, which is Harmony, or the “Music of the Spheres.” Vide The Voice of the Silence, 3rd Treatise, page 69.—Ed. [H.P.B.]