Re: Philosophical Magnets for Capturing the Secret Fire

[theFool]

Experiment:

1. Food grade carbonate (pure white) was left for months on open air. It went through cycles of collecting dew at night and evaporating the water at the day.
2. After ~4 months it was calcined in a stainless steel vessel. It got a green tint and after calcination, it became orange-brown.
3. 0.5 gr of it were dissolved in 60ml of deionised water.
4. After ~6hours, a precip formed. Its behaviour and appearence are similar to the purified precip obtained by sea salt (m-state) but the colour was brown.
5. The precip was washed 3 times and left to evaporate to dryiness on a heat plate.

Upon testing with magnet, no magnetic behaviour was observed.
Some HCl drops were put on it and it fizzed, just like one would expect from carbonate to do.

A possible explanation for the colourings is that the K2CO3 etched the stainless steel vessel I used for calcination liberating Fe ions (FeCO3 green?). Then, after calcnation iron oxide was left behind (rust, brown).
However I would like to do some more tests because I have a lot of the material left aside. If this "secret fire" theory is correct, the carbonate should be full of it. Any ideas welcome...

[BeautifulEvil]

Pretty interesting experiment. I believe the PON courses mentioned something like this. They left potassium carbonate out to deliquesce multiples times and after 10 cycles it started to obtain a blue tint. They mentioned it could've been a faulty experiment (the color might've been from chemicals leeched from the container).

Before calcination did you add water to fully dissolve the carbonate and see if anything settled out of solution? This would check for any pollen or dust.

I suppose the potash could've reacted with the iron vessel during calcination. Iron carbonate isn't very soluble at all (rust being completely insoluble). You mentioned something settled out of the carbonate solution. This could be iron carbonate and/or rust.

A possible explanation for the colourings is that the K2CO3 etched the stainless steel vessel I used for calcination liberating Fe ions (FeCO3 green?). Then, after calcnation iron oxide was left behind (rust, brown).

That's a pretty good explanation. It's also what I came up with.

However I would like to do some more tests because I have a lot of the material left aside. If this "secret fire" theory is correct, the carbonate should be full of it. Any ideas welcome...

Unfortunately that's the kicker. I don't know of any REAL method to check for the secret fire. Heat is also an enemy of the secret fire, and if your calcination temperature was too high you might've lost it.

[solomon levi]

Contemplations:
Is heat an enemy of secret fire, or of the bodies which carry it?
Is secret fire related to sulphur and that which is incombustible?
Only incombustible when fixed?

Questions about magnifying lenses:
If they concentrate sunlight, is the fire concentrated?
Is calcining with lenses/light better than calcining with fire?
Does the fire from the lense enter the calcined body or merely
act on it?

Some physicists have claimed that matter is condensed light
or gravitationally trapped light. And we know light is the first thing god
created and therefore relevant to the first matter of alchemists.

[BeautifulEvil]

Contemplations:
Is heat an enemy of secret fire, or of the bodies which carry it?
Is secret fire related to sulphur and that which is incombustible?
Only incombustible when fixed?

Ideally, the secret fire cannot be destroyed by heat (it is incombustible), but the body can. So it's quite possible the body looses its ability to hold the secret fire when heated past a certain point. Of course, the secret fire is by its very nature quite volatile. It only becomes "fixed" in the body by means of the magnetic ability of the salt.

Good questions, I must confess that I've never really considered it too much.

----------

Questions about magnifying lenses:
If they concentrate sunlight, is the fire concentrated?
Is calcining with lenses/light better than calcining with fire?
Does the fire from the lense enter the calcined body or merely
act on it?

These questions are a little too advanced for me to answer. My answers may not be very good.

Calcining with sunlight is very alchemical. I've read that it adds weight to substances without any known mechanism. I've heard that the sun is the source of the secret fire, and thus the secret fire should occur alongside sunlight. I would assume the light from the lense enters the body, and the heat produced from the light acts on the body.

----------

Some physicists have claimed that matter is condensed light
or gravitationally trapped light. And we know light is the first thing god
created and therefore relevant to the first matter of alchemists.

I am on par with this. Matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. Light was the first thing God created, but darkness or void pre-existed. So I would say the true "first matter" was darkness or maybe "dark/negative energy." The first matter of the alchemists was black. I could be barking up the wrong tree with these meanderings though.

[Dizardos]

Some physicists have claimed that matter is condensed light
or gravitationally trapped light. And we know light is the first thing god
created and therefore relevant to the first matter of alchemists.

I am on par with this. Matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. Light was the first thing God created, but darkness or void pre-existed. So I would say the true "first matter" was darkness or maybe "dark/negative energy." The first matter of the alchemists was black. I could be barking up the wrong tree with these meanderings though.

Good discussion. Finding the truth is nothing but asking questions. I however wish you to reconsider light as the first thing that was created. Where does light stem from? Light always has a source. It does not appear out of nothing. Light can be traced back to its origin without difficulty. Follow its path to its origin and what do you find? Light is but an effect of the freedom of the true power that is behind everything.

[pierre]

Hi, everyone.

Some physicists have claimed that matter is condensed light or gravitationally trapped light.

Is physically verified that light can exert pressure or force on a mirror, for exemple; almost imperceptible, but concrete. And it can be measured ...Anyway it is not direct sunlight, which we need, but the sunlight polarized. Sunlight is very strong for a tender matter as a magnet can resist. (Ah..., sorry my bad English, please!)

Is heat an enemy of secret fire, or of the bodies which carry it?
Is secret fire related to sulphur and that which is incombustible?
Only incombustible when fixed?

I agree that the secret fire is a noncombustible fire. Only the body that contains it is corruptible, and when it gets corrupted, the spirit escapes. If we do not have a body fit to catch the spirit ¿how we retain it?
Heat is not the only enemy of S.F. but the strong wind, the sky overcast...

And the sulfur is the spiritus mundi materialized in minerals. It is a kind of S.F. specified in the metalic kingdom.
The sulfur is indestructible, even harder to fire. It is a principle of immortality in the minerals. The sulphur is not combustible. You can not burn it. Exists even in the ashes of burnt metal ... ¿Remember this words of Fulcanelli?

At least that is how I interpret this whole issue ..

[BeautifulEvil]

Good discussion. Finding the truth is nothing but asking questions. I however wish you to reconsider light as the first thing that was created. Where does light stem from? Light always has a source. It does not appear out of nothing. Light can be traced back to its origin without difficulty. Follow its path to its origin and what do you find? Light is but an effect of the freedom of the true power that is behind everything.

Light or energy is the first real "manifestation" of the Godhead. I do not deny the divinity of the light. That would indeed be folly.

However, I must state that I subscribe to the dogma of the Hermetic Qabalah.

Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetic_Qabalah

These emanations arise out of three preliminary states that are considered to precede creation. The first is a state of complete nullity, known as Ain (אין "nothing"); the second state, considered a "concentration" of Ain, is Ain Suph (אין סוף "without limit, infinite"); the third state, caused by a "movement" of Ain Suph, is Ain Suph Aur (אין סוף אור "limitless light"), and it is from this initial brilliance that the first emanation of creation originates[4].

The dark/negative energy I mentioned might've been a little misleading. I would rather define it as nothing.

Please keep in mind that this forum is here for us to share knowledge. Our path is our own, and we are all at different points of the journey. I do thank you for your intentions though. They are indeed noble.