Sexual Alchemy??

[carabric]

I don't mean to step on anyones toes, and will readily confess my naivety concerning all things related to the terms Sexual/Tantric Alchemy. Personally I find the use (or misuse) of the word alchemy with reference to these subjects a bit daunting and somewhat disheartening. While alchemy is a difficult maze to work through, I'm often left to wonder who had the impetus to intermingle the alchemical discipline with Tantric practices and at what point this tradition began. I do find sex to be sacred, and have no qualms that at times something genuinely profound can and does happen. It's just that I feel who ever proliferated this idea- only gave alchemy a tourists glance and took what parts they understood at face value (much to the chagrin of the alchemist suggested way of interpreting the text) instead of finding what's locked inside it's inner depths. I know it's a veiled art, but if anyone could give better verification from the historic text which backs these ideas more thoroughly, then maybe it would quiet my turmoil on the matter.

Below is a quote from the first source I found in relation to Sexual Alchemy. Again I claim no mastery over the subject, but feel I could readily debate it with reference from the source material, much the same way I could if it were compared to automotive repair. The husband and wife mentioned below I wholly believe to be nothing more then metaphor for mercury (female) and sulphur (male). Which are mentioned in their beginnings to be of a watery(mercury) and vaporous(sulphur) nature. Or as is said in the Only True Way :In the first place they call it "our mercury," by which they mean nothing but moisture, which begins to unite itself with the fire, and therefore may be compared to mercury. Again, they use the expression, "our sulphur," whereby they mean nothing but the fire itself, which lies hid beneath the water, or humidity, and is heated by the water to its highest degree. Then, again, they call it Hyle, or the First Substance, because all things are first generated out of water and fire. And though I suppose you could still apply the metaphors mentioned here to Tantric sex in certain situations, in what capacity can you remedy the various oils, stones, calcined dry earths, peacocks tail, and varied colors brought forth and elucidated in the many written texts.

The Secret of Alchemy

Alchemy is one of the cornerstones of the Gnostic Esoteric Work. In his writings, Samael Aun Weor unveils the secret of alchemy and discusses its importance in detail. The metals that the alchemists refer to are not things found in the world around us, but rather are substances found within our own bodies and psyches. The core of the alchemists' long and cryptic discourses, when unveiled, is a straightforward sexual concept. It consists of the transmutation of the sexual energies, or secretions, through the practice of the sexual act between husband and wife, but without ever wasting the sexual energies (i.e. never reaching climax or orgasm). The idea of intercourse without reaching orgasm may seem at first unusual, but if it is practiced correctly it gives us the ability to achieve self-realization.

What is not well-known, however, is that the authentic alchemists of the middle ages, such as Paracelsus, Nicholas Flammel, Cagliostro, Count St. Germain, Basil Valentine, and others, were using their alchemical language in a veiled manner. They had a secret knowledge which was to be revealed only to the initiated, and so they spoke and wrote about it in a coded form. They were very successful at hiding the true meaning of their secret, since almost any treatise on medieval alchemy is difficult to understand and almost impossible to decipher. This secret was known not only by the alchemists but also by all great mystery schools of the past, which also veiled the secret using their own particular symbolism.

Three of the five above mentioned alchemist which they cite as sexual alchemist either claimed or appeared celibate (Germain 1, Valentine 2, Paracelsus 3). Perhaps the alchemists are lying, or the sources I quote from which say contrary are misinformed. Either way I would like more then someones opinion with nothing to substantiate their claims, not outright misinformation that helps little to no one. This is already a difficult and arduous art, if ever I appear vehemently opposed to many contemporary notions it's only from the grief I endure from peoples inability to delve deeper into the source material. These words, again from the Only True Way, ring true to me and are what I feel when I see much in the way of contemporary thoughts on alchemy. Beloved friend and brother, under the name of this glorious Art there is to be found much false teaching which is put forward by pseudo-alchemists, whose writings are nothing but imposture and deceit, and are yet highly esteemed by people of the simpler sort. Please see this as a debate, and not an insult if you hold fast to these contemporary beliefs. I know this debate has happened before elsewhere, but I'd like to see what many here think on the matter.

1.The Comte de St. Germain by Isabel Cooper-Oakley
[1912]He never ate in public, was ambidextrous, and as far as anyone could tell, totally celibate.
2. source wikipedia: Basilius Valentinus, also known under the Anglicized version of his name, Basil Valentine, was a 15th-century alchemist. He was the Canon of the Benedictine Priory of Sankt Peter in Erfurt, Germany. (priest are generally celibate)
3 The Devils Doctor by Phillip Ball: He investigated the plague at considerable risk to himself, devised a "chemical diagnosis of madness" and, although celibate, wrote about "the diseases of women" at a time when medics turned a blind eye to their suffering.

[deviadah]

I think this is a valid topic (but more fitting in this area of the forums i.e. the move).

Anyway I hope someone will get this started...

I am at work now so it can't be I!



But there is a book that I thought of when reading this thread: The God of the Labyrinth by Colin Wilson

[deviadah]

There is also this thread:

Spiritual Sex in Alchemy and Tantra