The Generation of The Stone

[BeautifulEvil]

73. The generation of the Stone is made after the pattern of the Creation of the World; for it is necessary, that it have its Chaos and First matter, wherein the confused Elements do fluctuate, until they be separated by the fiery Spirit; they being separated, the Light Elements are carried upwards, and the heavy ones downwards: the light arising, darkness retreats: the waters are gathered into one place and the dry land appears. At length the two great Luminaries arise, and mineral, vegetable and animal are produced in the Philosophers' Earth.

This the basis of the generation of the stone. Please refer to Genesis chapter 1 & 2 for further information. I would past the text, but its rather lengthy. You may find the information here.

67. The Stone is exalted by successive digestions, as by degrees, and at length attaineth to perfection. Now four Digestions agreeable to the four above said Operations or Governments do complete the whole work, the author whereof is the fire, which makes the difference between them.

68. The first digestion operateth the solution of the Body, whereby comes the first conjunction of male and female, the commixtion of both seeds, putrefactium, the resolution of the elements into homogeneous water, the eclipse of the Sun and Moon in the head of the Dragon, and lastly it bringeth back the whole World into its ancient Chaos, and dark abyss. This first digestion is as in the stomach, of a melon colour and weak, more fit for corruption than generation.

69. In the second digestion the Spirit of the Lord walketh upon the waters; the light begins to appear, and a separation of waters from the waters occurs; Sol and Luna are renewed; the elements are extracted out of the chaos, that being perfectly mixed in Spirit they may constitute a new world; a new Heaven and new Earth are made; and lastly all bodies become spiritual. The Crow's young ones changing their feathers begin to pass into Doves; the Eagle and Lion embrace one another in an eternal League of amity. And this generation of the World is made by the fiery Spirit descending in the form of Water, and wiping away Original sin; for the Philosophers' Water is Fire, which is moved by the exciting heat of a Bath. But see that the separation of Waters be done in Weight and Measure, lest those things that remain under Heaven be drowned under the Earth, or those things that are snatched up above the Heaven, be too much destitute of aridity.

Here let slight moisture leave a barren Soil.

70. The third digestion of the newly generated Earth drinketh up the dewy Milk, and all the spiritual virtues of the quintessence, and fasteneth the quickening Soul to the body by the Spirit's mediation. Then the Earth layeth up a great Treasure in itself, and is made like the coruscating Moon, afterwards like to the ruddy Sun; the former is called the Earth of the Moon, the latter the Earth of the Sun; for both of them are beget of the copulation of them both; neither of them any longer feareth the pains of the Fire, because both want all spots; for they have been often cleanseth from sin by fire, and have suffered great Martyrdom, until all the Elements are turned downward.

71. The Fourth digestion consummateth all the Mysteries of the World, and the Earth being turned into most excellent leaven, it leaveneth all imperfect bodies because it hath before passed into the heavenly nature of quintessence. The virtue thereof flowing from the Spirit of the Universe is a present Panacea and universal medicine for all the diseases of all creatures. The digestions of the first work being repeated will open to thee the Philosophers secret Furnace. Be right in thy works, that thou mayest find God favourable otherwise the ploughing of the Earth will be in vain; Nor:-

Will the expected Harvest e'er requite
The greedy husbandman.

There are four digestions that the stone needs to go through in order to attain perfection. These relate to Genesis chapter 1 & 2 & Revelations.

With these four digestions and the four operations (the first is Solution or Liquefaction; the second is Ablution; the third Reduction; the fourth Fixation.) the whole work is completed.

For more information on the forth digestion, you may want to read The Revelation To John (The Apocalypse). Here.

I hope this will help some of you with your journey to gold!

[deviadah]

It is interesting. I have heard of many various number of steps like four, seven, nineteen (I think it was) and others... One has to find what fits best I guess... personally I like seven because it has the 3 + 4 = 7.

Four elements + the trinity!



And the final step is of course the eight = 8 (as in the snake that is biting its own tale), but one does not really count it as it is the Gold itself.

[LadyHydralisk]

for the Philosophers' Water is Fire, which is moved by the exciting heat of a Bath.

During the process which I endured for Ningishzidda over the past few months I was instructed to bear through the processes of extreme stillness where I had hardly a pulse by taking scalding hot baths. So this is assuredly one of the steps to be taken. Oddly enough, I got this out of a children's book on Dragonology, and not at all from traditional alchemy texts, which I tend to ignore mostly anyways - The Emerald Tablet was enough for me.

The way to hatch a dragon of course, is to apply strong heat every 6 hours or so.

I did end up giving birth to a dragon of sorts which was EXTREMELY WEIRD.

I used a alchemical formula I stumbled over on Occult Forums which nearly fried my brain, to invoke fire. Whee that was amazing. More thoughts later, as I discern....

[BeautifulEvil]

What an odd process you describe LadyHydralisk.

[Gunderic Mollusk]

The Water of Fire/ Fire of Water paradox has been one that has bothered me, yet I suppose that's the intent of said paradox. Chemical reaction embodying universal solvent? We could continue many comparisons and contrasts, yet what intrigued me was, stumbling across the Icelandic Rune Poem, a startling reference to many forms of those symbolisms in the poem for the first rune, Fe:

Wealth
Strife of Kinsmen (in sources that I can't exactly remember, I've heard references to Sun and Moon battling each other during the nigredo phase, and their coital union and marriage in later stages.)

and fire of the sea (Eh?)

and path of the serpent (Northern European mythology had its own analogue to the Orouboros, the Midgard's Wyrm, or Iormundgandr. Also, at the base of the World Tree lives a dragon Nidhogg, who chews on said tree's roots.)

Now, perhaps I might be inferring too much, but Iormundgandr reminds me a mite like the Alchemical Orouboros, and Nidhogg's upard path and presence "underneath" with hunger seems a bit reminiscent of Kundalini, whence Shakti's form begins as a coiled serpent bade to travel upwards through each chakra, to the heart, whence she becomes the divine consort.

Bear with me, I'm a true cad when it comes to citing sources. Although this might have little to do with the Stone implicitly, perhaps it can shed some further perspectives on the other attributes described in this thread.

[deviadah]

Nidhogg is great (named my blog after it too). And I agree it does bring to mind the Kundalini.

You have the energy of the sun in you, but keep knotting it up at the base of your spine. - Rumi, a Sufi mystic

But strange combinations is there to make you think, like Fire and Water... even yin-yang is a strange mix if you think about - but in the end any mixture of two opposites will result in One Thing! Now if that one things is great or a big fucking mess that's another issue.

[Gunderic Mollusk]

Speaking of Kundalini and Stones, has anyone found any empirical truth to the "crystal" that forms somewhere around the pineal gland whence a person has excessively exercised magical thoughtforms? I wonder.

[siatris]

But strange combinations is there to make you think, like Fire and Water... even yin-yang is a strange mix if you think about - but in the end any mixture of two opposites will result in One Thing! Now if that one things is great or a big fucking mess that's another issue.

Well, symbols joining two opposites do make you think. The hexagram, the Yin/Yang, Baphomet, they are all splendid examples of opposites joined together. One think I myself have noticed when working with lower alchemical forces, is that poeple generally prefer working with Fire/Water or Earth/Air, which is strange since they are complete opposites. One might even suspect that it has something to do with human nature

[Gunderic Mollusk]

One of the reasons that I feel that many people enjoy working with the quartet of elements in contrast is the resolution of paradox. The spiritual, psychological, and symbolic differences of these show two poles of a single line, and often that line becomes bisected by the other pair of elements, with that intersection being Quintessence, Ether, Life, Love, or perhaps even Roast Turducken, all depending on the student. The stasis and gravity of Earth in comparison to the insubstantiality of air acts as one pole, and the active fire to the passive water, yet these are small indications of where those contradictions may take place.

[LadyHydralisk]

What an odd process you describe LadyHydralisk.

LOL, yes, I suppose it is. It was just one of those things, what happens when you mix Southeastern Tantra with the I Ching, geometry, the emerald tablet and horrible taste in anime...

You know, the usual...

[LadyHydralisk]

One of the reasons that I feel that many people enjoy working with the quartet of elements in contrast is the resolution of paradox. The spiritual, psychological, and symbolic differences of these show two poles of a single line, and often that line becomes bisected by the other pair of elements, with that intersection being Quintessence, Ether, Life, Love, or perhaps even Roast Turducken, all depending on the student. The stasis and gravity of Earth in comparison to the insubstantiality of air acts as one pole, and the active fire to the passive water, yet these are small indications of where those contradictions may take place.

We enjoy a display of this same quartet in our own brain, anatomically speaking. There's a lot to be learned from gazing at the nerve pathways in the cranium and how they interact with each other and the body. The neurosciences are all very closely tied with magic itself, since it touches on the very machinery that causes us to realize, to be aware. As for the gravity of the earth, I would like to take a moment to point out Anibis's work he does over at Abrahadabra. The Thoth count calendar, designed to follow the movement of mercury around the sun. I went through this process and I must say it is very interesting moving from being Earth-centric to becoming Sun-centric. Now it feels like I am moving my consciousness away from the planet and into space, which has become my natural home (once more, if I may say so.)

The difference between earth and sun is grand, and elementally speaking, could be compared to lead and gold, at least in my case, I think this may be so. There are over 300 planets and moons in the solar system, and not one of them is golden colored, with the exception of Saturn, Venus and the Sun. Saturn is associated with lead much of the time so that's a bit interesting to me. If you look at the associations with death in the occult, it is sort of a liberating exercise, and in Tantra, there is a practice called Chod "cutting through" which is exmplary of the process I try to undergo, due to my own tastes and sensibilities - I love thinking about my own death. Anyhow, something struck me about Saturn as odd - the planet gives off more heat than it recieves from the sun. In the macrocosm, where these planets dwell, it seems Earth is less than ideal for achieving the status of enlightenment and awareness as Saturn would be, and we see this on the Devil card too, where the man and woman are chained to the throne of the Devil, or on Death, where the reaper is stripped of all extraneous crap, save for his Hermit's robe (haha!) and scythe, along with some animal companion - the horse, the sacred dog (also reflected on the fool.)

Love, Death and Kingship, anyone?

I meditated on Saturn for years trying to unlock the puzzle to Hell, and I think that this is a possibly the most intriguing mystery to any occultist - the integration of the entire solar system, properly - moving out of earth based time and earth based centricity, and into space, and beyond that, the galaxy. (galaxies)

Well, symbols joining two opposites do make you think. The hexagram, the Yin/Yang, Baphomet, they are all splendid examples of opposites joined together. One think I myself have noticed when working with lower alchemical forces, is that poeple generally prefer working with Fire/Water or Earth/Air, which is strange since they are complete opposites. One might even suspect that it has something to do with human nature Wink

And we notice the same thing in theology as well, no regard for opposing forces except to be treated as adversaries. Personally I want to consume or absorb all of these opposites into myself, so I have a general regard for devil and god in any form, as something to be approached rationally and integrated, before one is able to ascend to absorb macrocosmic principles. In Tibet this is referred to as the "Lords of Time", Mahakala is one good example....

tra la la....

[Aunt Clair]

FYI the numbered quotes are taken from this source;:

The Hermetic Arcanum

The secret work of the hermetic philosophy
Wherein the secrets of nature and art concerning the matter of the philosophers' stone and the manner of working are explained in an authentic and orderly manner.
The work of an anonymous author, penes nos unda tagi.

The Hermetic Arcanum

The Water of Fire/ Fire of Water paradox has been one that has bothered me, yet I suppose that's the intent of said paradox. .

Do you mean this line ?

97. Philosophers call their Water, Fire, because it is most hot, and indued with a Fiery Spirit; again Water is called Fire by them, because it burneth the bodies of perfect Metals more than common fire doth for it perfectly dissolveth them, whereas they resist our Fire, and will not suffer themselves to be dissolved by it; for this cause it is also called Burning Water. Now that Fire of Tincture is hid in the belly of the Water and manifests itself by a double effect, viz., of the body's Solution and Multiplication.

The water of the Tree of Life is the fire of kundalini .The Sunstone is an energy storage centre of Fire and at its core is the opposite element which is Water . Similarly , the Moonstone is an energy storage centre of Water and at its core is the opposite element which is Fire .Water energy cleanses all stones removing impurities and separating the energies but heating a alloy does not separate the metals without dissolving some .

[harveydent]

Before their was light their was darkness and upon the creation of light a great void was rift, the angels of darkness fled to the abyss, however they where not destroyed by the light, they hid within the darkness to bide their time, until the time of their return come's to fruition.

[Aunt Clair]

73. The generation of the Stone is made after the pattern of the Creation of the World; for it is necessary, that it have its Chaos and First matter, wherein the confused Elements do fluctuate, until they be separated by the fiery Spirit; they being separated, the Light Elements are carried upwards, and the heavy ones downwards: the light arising, darkness retreats: the waters are gathered into one place and the dry land appears. At length the two great Luminaries arise, and mineral, vegetable and animal are produced in the Philosophers' Earth.

I was re reading this and thought this reminds me of a method of projection to the higher planes i.e .

Fire lifts the mystic to the higher planes after the heavy elements of water and earth are dropped , Then the fire which within the sunstone which is the seat of the soul and the mystic mind t which is in the moon rise to the heavens .

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