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from Spiritual Symbols

Spiritual Symbols Book

Lapis

Alchemy and Philosophers Stone

According to alchemists, the Philosophers' stone (lapis philosophorum) is a substance capable of turning any metal into gold.  Also called, the Elixir of the alchemists, it carries the promise of immortality.

Many have tried to find this sacred substance, searching amongst stones, liquids, air, or deep within their soul.  The stone that turns metals into gold, the energy that transforms any fire into ‘living fire’, any flow into ‘Divine flow’.

Lapis ancient alchemy vitriol

What is Alchemy?

Lapis and VITRIOL

''Visita Interiora Terra Rectificanto Inveniens Occultum Lapidem' 

The alchemical motto is: 'Visit the interior of the earth and rectifying (purifying) you will find the hidden stone.' 

L'Azoth des Philosophes, Basil Valentine, Paris, 1659.

Alchemy was given a title of an ‘Art’ and alchemists were the supreme ‘Artists’ and many gurus and sages tried to decipher the Sacred Art’s higher meaning.

Seeking immortality, seeking perfection, Alchemists, Cabbalists, Taoists, Yogis, Mystics of our past experimented with physical manifestations, with their bodies, emotions, thoughts, offering formulas hidden within a vail of images, symbols, mantras, for mystics of the future to contemplate and follow.

They sum their knowledge of the 'Path' and the magic of VITRIOL within this sentence: ''Visita Interiora Terra Rectificanto Inveniens Occultum Lapidem'.

Jung, Introduction to the Secret of the Golden Flower

‘I know a series of European mandala drawings in which something like a plant seed surrounded by its coverings is shown floating in water, and from the depths below, fire penetrating the seed makes it grow and causes the formation of a large golden flower from within the germinal vesicle.

This symbolism refers to a sort of alchemical, process of refuting and ennobling;
darkness gives birth to light; out of the 'lead of the water-region' grows the noble gold; what is unconscious becomes conscious in the form of a process of life and growth. (Hindu Kundalini yoga affords a complete analogy.) In this way the union of consciousness and life takes place.’
 

 

lapis alchemy philosophers stone cupid light

Ancient Rome, Wisdom as Lapis

Within this beautiful Latin poem 'Verba Aristei Patris ad filium' 

a Roman nobleman Aristei talks to his son about the Art and its Magic Promise:

‘What is the use of wealth, when one is liable to be afflicted with human infirmities? Where is the advantage of treasures, when death is about to destroy us? There is no earthly abundance which we are not bound to abandon upon the threshold of the tomb. But it is no longer thus when I am possessed of this Key. Wealth is ever at my command, and I no longer want for treasures; weakness flees away from me; and I can ward off the approach of the destroyer while I own this Golden Key of the Grand Work. 

It is by the life that we discern the principle of things; the life of things is the Air, and by consequence Air is their principle. It is for this reason that Air corrupts all things, and even as it gives life, so also it takes it away. Wood, iron, stones, are consumed by fire, and fire cannot subsist but by Air. Now, that which is the cause of corruption is also the cause of generation. There has Nature stored up all her treasures, establishing therein the principles of the generation and corruption of all things, and concealing them as behind special and secret doors. To know how to open these doors with sufficient facility so as to draw upon the radical Air of the Air, is to possess in truth the golden Keys.'

alchemy secret of lapis, maria moon

The Secret of Lapis 

BY THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS: The Aurora of the Philosophers, 1659

'ADAM was the first inventor of arts, because he had knowledge of all things as well after the Fall as before

…they held these arts to be the highest philosophy, to be learnt by their chief nobles and priests. So it was in the time of Moses, when both priests and also physicians were chosen from among the Magi

Magic, indeed, is an art and faculty whereby the elementary bodies, their fruits, properties, virtues, and hidden operations are comprehended. But the cabala, by a subtle understanding of the Scriptures, seems to trace out the way to God for men, to shew them how they may act with Him, and prophesy from Him; for the cabala is full of divine mysteries, even as Magic is full of natural secrets. It teaches of and foretells from the nature of things to come as well as of things present, since its operation consists in knowing the inner constitution of all creatures, of celestial as well as terrestrial bodies: what is latent within them; what are their occult virtues; for what they were originally designed, and with what properties they are endowed.'

Lapis in Kabbalah, Taoism and Yoga

Lapis, philosophers stone and Kabbalah, Tree of Life The Esoteric practices of the West mapped within the Kabbalah’s Tree of Life were given to posterity in the form of Astrology and Tarot

Cabbalist Middle Pillar offers the direct path to Divine. The mystics practice various exercises that involve imagination, breath, and concentration, to purify and circulate the life force to be able to better reflect the cosmic energy forces.

In the East, yoga practices were designed to awaken ‘Kundalini’, the ‘Serpent Fire’ that sleeps within the bottom of the spine and in China, Taoist experimented with Tao, the Vital Energy, in an attempt to balance Yin and Yang energy manifestation within all the aspects of creation.  Taoists Qigong practices work with the human bodies to purify, and circulate the life force.

Whether Yogis, Cabbalists or Taoists, mystics of our past tried to manipulate the chemistry of a human body and reactions within the mind, offering variety of breathing exercises, yoga exercises, qigong exercises, using sound, symbols and signs, to reach Higher States of Consciousness.

alchemy lapis emerald tablet hermes modern interpretation

Lapis and The Emerald Tablet of Hermes

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes ‘Kitab Balabiyus’ is the earliest of all the alchemy works that survives.  Hermes, by the Greeks called Trismegistus, an Egypt’s King, most probably lived around 400 years before Moses, or around 1900BC. 

‘This prince, like Solomon, is highly celebrated by antiquity for his wisdom and skill in the secret operations of nature, … he is called the Thrice Great Hermes, having the spiritual intelligence of all things in their universal law.’

Mary A. ATWOOD, in her introduction to ‘Hermetic Philosophy & Alchemy’

The wisdom from the Tablet reached the Western Kings within a Syriac ‘Book of Treasures’ (9th century) and the 12th century Book of Advice to Kings ‘Kitab Sirr al-Asar’.  This unique and authentic stone engraved with sacred writings, might be all that has remained from Egypt of her Sacred Art.

Emerald Tablet of Hermes or Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis

The Golden Treatise of Hermes Trismegistus, Concerning the Physical Secret of the Philosopher's Stone, (Excerpts) Translated by A.E. Waite, 1894

"True, without error, certain and most true; that which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above, for performing the miracles of the One Thing; and as all things were from one, by the mediation of one, so all things arose from this one thing by adaptation;

the father of it is the Sun, the mother of it is the Moon; the wind carries it in its belly; the nurse thereof is the Earth.

This is the father of all perfection, or consummation of the whole world. The power of it is Integral, if it be turned into earth.

Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently with much sagacity; it ascends from earth to heaven, and again descends to earth: and receives the strength of the superiors and of the inferiors - so thou hast the glory of the whole world; therefore let all obscurity flee before thee.

This is the strong fortitude of all fortitudes, overcoming every subtle and penetrating every solid thing. So the world was created. Hence were all wonderful adaptations of which this is the manner.

Therefore I am I called Thrice Great Hermes, having the Three Parts of the philosophy of the whole world. That which I have written is consummated concerning the operation of the Sun".

Lapis and Purification

lapis, alchemy, what is alchemy, symbol of gold All of the Mystics recommend that practitioners must purify their emotional, mental, and moral forces.

Purifying, strengthening, and increasing Vital Energy brings a promise of health, wealth and lightness of being.

Check also Secret of Golden Flower

It is Male that is Yang, our Consciousness, that is Sun, Reason, Science, Law & Order. It is Feminine that is Yin symbolised by Moon, that is the Ocean of our Collective Sub-Conscious, it is symbolised by dragon and the snake, it is Life that creates and destroys itself.  

This is an Excerpt from Spiritual Symbols with Their Meanings Book (Alchemy of Love Mindflness Training Book #8) by Nuit

Spiritual Symbols (Alchemy of Love Mindfulness Training Book #8) by Nataša Nuit Pantović

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