What is Alchemy?

[SECOND PAPER.]

ELIPHAS LEVI affirms that all religions have issued from the Kabbalah
and return into it; and if the term be intended to include the whole
body of esoteric knowledge, no advanced occultist will be likely to
dispute the statement. So far as books are concerned, it may, in like
manner, be affirmed that all modern mystical literature is referable
ultimately to two chief sources: on the one hand, to the wonderful
books on Magic which were written by Eliphas Levi himself, and of
which but a faint conception is given in the sole existing
translation; and, on the other, to the "Suggestive Inquiry Concerning
the Hermetic Mystery," that singular work to which reference was made
last month as containing the first promulgation of the spiritual
theory of Alchemy. This seems at first sight an extreme statement, and
it is scarcely designed to maintain, that, for example, the Oriental
doctrine of Karma is traceable in the writings of the French initiate
who adopted the Jewish pseudonym of Eliphas Levi Zahed, nor that the
"recovered Gnosis" of the "New Gospel of Interpretation" is borrowed
from the <I>Suggestive Inquiry</I>. But these are the two chief
sources of inspiration, in the sense that they have prompted research,
and that it is not necessary to go outside them to understand how it
is that we have come later on to have Theosophy, Christo-Theosophy,
the New Kabbalism of Dr. Wynn Westcott, and the illuminations of Mrs.
Kingsford. Everywhere in <I>Isis Unveiled</I> the influence of Eliphas
Levi is distinctly traceable; everywhere in the Recovered Gnosis there
is the suggestion of the <I>Inquiry</I>. Even the Rosicrucianism of
the late Mr. Hargrave Jennings, so far as it is anything but
confusion, is referable to the last mentioned work. It is doubtful if
Eliphas Levi did not himself owe something to its potent influence,
for his course of transcendental philosophy post dates the treatise on
the Hermetic Mystery by something like ten years, and he is supposed
to have accomplished wide reading in occult literature, and would seem
to have known English. As it is to the magical hypotheses of the
Frenchman that we are indebted for the doctrines of the astral light
and for the explanations of spiritualistic phenomena which are current
in theosophical circles, to name only two typical instances, so it is
of the English lady that we have derived the transcendental views of
alchemy, also every where now current, and not among Theosophists
only. At the same time, it is theosophical literature chiefly which
has multiplied the knowledge concerning it, though it does not always
indicate familiarity with the source of the views. It is also to
Theosophy that we owe the attempt to effect a compromise between the
two schools of alchemical criticism mentioned last month, by the
supposition that there were several planes of operation in alchemy, of
which the metallic region was one.
    Later speculations have, however, for the most part, added little
to the theory as it originally stood, and the <I>Suggetive Inquiry</I>
is in this respect still thoroughly representative.
    To understand what is advanced in this work is to understand the
whole theory, but to an unprepared student its terminology would
perhaps offer certain difficulties, and therefore in attempting a
brief synopsis, it will be well to present it in the simplest possible
manner.
    The sole connection, according to the <I>Suggestive Inquiry</I>,
which subsists between Alchemy and the modern art of Chemistry is one
of terms only. Alchemy is not an art of metals, but it is the Art of
Life; the chemical phraseology is a veil only, and a veil which was
made use of not with any arbitrary and insufficient desire to conceal
for the sake of concealment, or even to ensure safety during ages of
intolerance, but because the alchemical experiment is attended with
great danger to man in his normal state. What, however the adepts in
their writings have most strenuously sought to conceal is the nature
of the Hermetic Vessel, which they admit to be a divine secret, and
yet no one can intelligently study these writings without heing
convinced that the vessel is Man himself. Geber, for example, to quote
only one among many, declares that the universal orb of the earth
contains not so great mysteries and excellencies as Man re-formed by
God into His image, and he that desires the primacy amongst the
students of Nature will no where find a greater or better subject
wherein to obtain his desire than in himself, who is able to draw to
himself what the alchemists call the Central Salt of Nature, who also
in his regenerated wisdom possesses all things, and can unlock the
most hidden mysteries. Man is, in fact, with all adepts, the one
subject that contains all, and he only need be investigated for the
discovery of all. Man is the true laboratory of the Hermetic Art, his
life is the subject, the grand distillery, the thing distilling and
the thing distilled, and self-knowledge is at the root of all
alchemical tradition. To discover then the secret of Alchemy the
student must look within and scrutinize true psychical experience,
having regard especially to the germ of a higher faculty not commonly
exercised but of which he is still in possession, and by which all the
forms of things, and all the hidden springs of Nature, become
intuitively known. Concerning this faculty the alchemists speak
magisterially, as if it had illuminated their understanding so that
they had entered into an alliance with the Omniscient Nature, and as
if their individual consciousness had become one with Universal
Consciousness. The first key of the Hermetic Mystery is in Mesmerism,
but it is not Mesmerism working in the therapeutic sphere, but rather
with a theurgic object, such as that after which the ancients aspired,
and the attainment of which is believed to have been the result of
initiation into the Greater Mysteries of old Greece. Between the
process of these Mysteries and the process of Alchemy there is a
distinctly traceable correspondence, and it is submitted that the end
was identical in both cases. The danger which was the cause of the
secrecy was the same also; it is that which is now connected with the
Dwellers on the Threshold, the distortions and deceptions of the
astral world, which lead into irrational confusion. Into this world
the mesmeric trance commonly transfers its subjects, but the endeavour
of Hermetic Art was a right disposition of the subject, not only
liberating the spirit from its normal material bonds, but guaranteeing
the truth of its experiences in a higher order of subsistence. It
sought to supply a purely rational motive which enabled the subject to
withstand the temptation of the astral sphere, and to follow the path
upwards to the discovery of wisdom and the highest consciousness.
There the soul knows herself as a whole, whereas now she is acquainted
only with a part of her humanity; there also, proceeding by theurgic
assistance, she attains her desired end and participates in Deity. The
method of Alchemy is thus an arcane principle of self-knowledge and
the narrow way of regeneration into life. Contemplation of the Highest
Unity and Conjunction with the Divine Nature, the soul's consummation
in the Absolute, lead up to the final stage, when the soul attains
"divine intuition of that high exemplar which is before all things,
and the final cause of all, which seeing only is seen, and
understanding is understood, by him who penetrating all centres,
discovers himself in that finally which is the source of all; and
passing from himself to that, transcending, attains the end of his
profession. This was the consummation of the mysteries, the ground of
the Hermetic philosophy, prolific in super-material increase,
transmutations, and magical effects."
    It was impossible in the above synopsis, and is indeed immaterial
at the moment, to exhibit after what manner the gifted authoress
substantiates her theory by the evidences of alchemical literature. It
is sufficient for the present purpose to summarize the interpretation
of Alchemy which is offered by the <I>Suggestive Inquiry</I>.
    The work, as many are aware, was immediately withdrawn from
circulation; it is supposed that there are now only about twelve
copies in existence, but as it is still occasionally met with, though
at a very high price, in the book-market, this may be an
understatement. Some ten years later, Eliphas Levi began to issue his
course of initiation into "absolute knowledge," and in the year 1865
an obscure writer in America, working, so far as can be seen, quite
independently of both, published anonymously a small volume of
"Remarks on Alchemy and the Alchemists," in which it was attempted to
show that the Hermetic adepts were not chemists, but were great
masters in the conduct of life.  Mr. Hitchcock, the reputed author,
was not an occultist, though he had previously written on Swedenborg
as a Hermetic Philosopher, and no attention seems to have been
attracted by his work.
    The interpretation of the <I>Suggestive Inquiry</I> was spiritual
and "theurgic" in a very highly advanced degree: it was indeed
essentially mystical, and proposed the end of Mysticism as that also
of the Alchemicad adepts. The interpretation of Eliphas Levi, who was
an occultist rather than a Mystic, and does not seem to have ever
really understood Mysticism, may be called intellectual, as a single
citation will suffice to show.
    "Like all magical mysteries, the secrets of the Great Work possess
a three-fold significance: they are religious, philosophical, and
natural. Philosophical gold is, in religion, the Absolute and Supreme
Reason; in philosophy, it is truth; in visible nature, it is the Sun;
in the subterranean and mineral world, it is most pure and perfect
gold. It is for this cause that the search for the Great Work is
called the search after the Absolute, and that the work itself passes
as the operation of the Sun. All masters of the science have
recognised that material results are impossible till all the analogies
of the Universal Medicine and the Philosophical Stone have been found
in the two superior degrees. Then is the labour simple, expeditious,
and inexpensive; otherwise, it wastes to no purpose the life and
fortune of the operator. For the soul, the Universal Medicine is
supreme reason and absolute justice; for the mind, it is mathematical
and practical truth; for the body, it is the quintessence, which is a
combination of gold and light."
    The interpretation of Hitchcock was, on the other hand, purely
ethical. Now, as professedly an expositor of Mysticism, THE UNKNOWN
WORLD is concerned here only with the first interpretation, and with
the clear issue which is included in the following question:- Does the
literature of Alchemy belong to Chemistry in the sense that it is
concerned with the disintegration of physical elements in the metallic
order, with a view to the making of gold and silver, or is it
concerned with man and the exaltation of his interior nature from the
lowest to the highest condition?
    In dealing with this question there is only one way possible to an
exoteric inquiry like the present, and that is by a consideration of
the literature and history of Alchemy. For this purpose it is
necessary to begin, not precisely at the cradle of the science,
because, although this was probably China, as will be discussed later
on, it is a vexatious and difficult matter to settle on an actual
place of origin; but for the subject in hand recourse may be had to
the first appearance of Alchemy in the West, as to what. is
practically a starting-point.
    It is much to be deplored that some esoteric writers at this day
continue to regard ancient Greece and Rome as centres of alchemical
knowledge. It is true that the Abbe Pernety, at the close of the last
century, demonstrated to his own satisfaction that all classical
mythology was but a vesture and veil of the <I>Magnum Opus</I> and the
fable of the Golden Fleece is regarded as a triumphant vindication of
classical wisdom in the deep things of transmutation. But this is
precisely one of those airy methods of allegorical interpretation
which, once fairly started, will draw the third part of the earth and
sea, and the third part of the stars of heaven, in the tail of its
symbolism. Neither in Egypt, in Greece, or in Rome, has any trace of
Alchemy been discovered by historical research till subsequent to the
dawn of the Christian era, and in the face of this fact it is useless
to assert that it existed secretly in those countries, because no
person is in a position to prove the point. All that is known upon the
problem of the origin of Alchemy in the Western Hemisphere is to be
found in Berthelot's <I>Collection des Anciens Alchimistes Grecs</I>,
and the exhaustive erudition which resulted in that work is summed up
in the following statement:- "Despite the universal tradition which
assigns to Alchemy an Egyptian Origin, no hieroglyphic document
relative to the science of transmutation has yet been discovered. The
Graeco-Egyptian Alchemists are our sole source of illumination upon
the science of Hermes, and that source is open to suspicion because
subject to the tampering of mystic imaginations during several
generations of dreamers and scholiasts. In Egypt, notwithstanding,
Alchemy first originated; there the dream of transmutation was first
cherished;" but this was during and not before the first Christian
centuries.
    The earliest extant work on Alchemy which is as yet known in the
West is the papyrus of Leide, which was discovered at Thebes, and is
referable to the third century of this era. It contains seventy-five
metallurgical formulae, for the composition of alloys, the surface
colouration of metals, assaying, etc. There are also fifteen processes
for the manufacture of gold and silver letters. The compilation, as
Berthelot points out, is devoid of order, and is like the note-book of
an artisan. It is pervaded by a spirit of perfect sincerity, despite
the professional improbity of the recipes. These appear to have been
collected from several sources, written or traditional. The operations
include tinging into gold, gilding silver, superficial colouring of
copper into gold, tincture by a process of varnishing, superficial
aureation by the humid way, etc. There are many repetitions and
trivial variations of the same recipes. M. Berthelot and his
collaborator regard this document as conclusively demonstrating that
when Alchemy began to flourish in Egypt it was the art of
sophistication or adulteration of metals. The document is absolutely
authentic, and "it bears witness to a science of alloys and metallic
tinctures which was very skilful and very much advanced, a science
which had for its object the fabrication and falsification of the
matters of gold and silver. In this respect it casts new light upon
the genesis of the idea of metallic conversion. Not only is the notion
analagous, but the practices exposed in this papyrus are the same as
those of the oldest Greek alchemists, such as pseudo-Democritus,
Zosimus, Olympiodorus, and pseudo-Moses. This demonstration is of the
highest importance for the study of the origines of Alchemy. It proves
it to have been founded on something more than purely chimerical
fancies- namely, on positive practices and actual experiences, by help
of which imitations of gold and silver were fabricated. Sometimes the
fabricator confined himself to the deception of the public, as with
the author of Papyrus X (i.e., the Theban Papyrus of Leide), sometimes
he added prayers and magical formulae to his art, and became the dupe
of his own industry."  Again: "The real practices and actual
manipulations of the operators are made known to us by the papyrus of
Leide under a form the most clear, and in acccrdance with the recipes
of pseudo-Democritus and Olympiodorus. It contains the first form of
all these procedures and doctrines. In pseudo-Democritus and still
more in Zosimus (the earliest among the Greek alchemists), they are
already complicated by mystical fancies; then come the commentators
who have amplified still further the mystical part, obscuring or
eliminating what was practical, to the exact knowledge of which they
were frequently strangers. Thus, the most ancient texts are the
clearest."
    Now, there are many points in which the occultist would join issue
with the criticism of M. Berthelot, but it is quite certain that the
Egyptian papyrus is precisely what it is described to be, and there
is, therefore, no doubt that the earliest work which is known to
archaeology, outside China, as dealing with the supposed transmutation
of metals is in reality a fraudulent business. This fact has to be
faced, together with any consequences which it rigidly entails. But
before concluding this paper it will be well to notice
(I.) That it is impossible to separate the Leide papyrus from a close
relationship with its context of other papyri; as admitted by
Berthelot, who says:- "The history of Magic and of Gnosticism is
closely bound up with that of the origin of Alchemy, and the
alchemical papyrus of Leide connects in every respect with two in the
same series which are solely magical and Gnostic."
(II.) That, as Berthelot also admits, or, more correctly, as it
follows from his admissions, the mystic element entered very early
into alchemical literature, and was introduced by persons who had no
interest in the practical part, who therefore made use of the early
practical documents for their own purposes.
(III.) That the Leide papyrus can scarcely be regarded as alchemical
in the sense that Geber, Lully, Arnold, Sendivogius, and Philalethes
are alchemical writers. It neither is nor pretends to be more than a
thesaurus of processes for the falsification and spurious imitation of
the precious metals. It has no connection, remote or approximate with
their transmutation, and it is devoid of all alchemical terminology.
In itself it neither proves nor disproves anything. If we can trace
its recipes in avowedly alchemical writers, as M. Berthelot declares
is the case, then, and then only, it may be necessary to include
alchemists in the category of the compiler of this papyrus.

***
Scanned from the periodical "The Unknown World", No. 2 Vol. 1; Sept.
15, 1894. Formatted and corrected by hand.