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1234 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT skillful musician. Probably the reader is or has been acquainted with many such individuals. It is the same with Occultism. The former represents the natural born magician, the latter the average lover and student of occult science. The former can obtain his knowledge di¬ rect from the great storehouse of Nature, the latter only from a long study of the writings of others. But, there is also a third class to be considered in viewing the ranks of the occult, viz., those who occupy a midway plane between the two above noted. It is for this middle class alone that this work was prepared.
2The celebrated alchemist, Paracelsus, speaking of the astrological aspects of his science, says in Paragranum I, “If I have manna in my constitution I can attract manna from heaven. Melissa is not only in the garden, but also in the air and in heaven. Saturn is not only in the sky, but also deep in the ocean and earth. What is Venus, but the Artemisia that grows in your garden, and what is iron but the planet Mars;” that is to say, Venus and Artemisia are both products of the same essence, while Mars and iron are manifestations of the same cause. “What is the human body but a constellation (microcosm) of the same powers that formed the stars in the sky? He who knows Mars knows the qualities of iron, and he who knows what iron is, knows the attributes of Mars. What would become of your heart if there were no sun in the universe? What would be the use of your “vasa spermatica” (latent astral germs of subjective life forms) if there were no Venus? To grasp the invisible elements, to attract them by their material correspondences, to control, purify and transmute them by the ever moving powers of the living spirit, this is true alchemy.”
3The student will not fail to understand the true nature of al¬ chemical science when he compares the above extract from Paracelsus with the previous teachings given in this and other chapters. The man who is dominated by the Martial element and knows it, and then devotes his commercial energies to the realms of Mars, by trading and speculating solely in iron and its products; the Saturnine individ¬ ual controlled by the earthly trigon, who consciously invests his money, time and abilities in coal mining and trading in lime, clay, bricks and stone: these men, I say, are a long way ahead of those who devote their time and their money to studying and experiment¬ ing with the musty old formulas of “Sandivogius,” so far as the true al¬ chemy of Nature is concerned, because they have obeyed the comALCHEMY, THE STARS AND MAN 235 mands of true science upon the physical plane. They are using the spiritual and magnetic affinities implanted by Mother Nature within them, to successfully attract to them, their natural correspondences on earth; and then, by the aid of commerce, transforming such base products into the shining yellow gold. Salt, sulphur, mercury and azoth, exist in the human body as well as in the bowels of the earth (the one implies the other), and so does the coveted elixir which re¬ solves all things into their original elements and confers perpetual youth. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1234 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT skillful musician. Probably the reader is or has been acquainted with many such individuals. It is the same with Occultism. The former represents the natural born magician, the latter the average lover and student of occult science. The former can obtain his knowledge di¬ rect from the great storehouse of Nature, the latter only from a long study of the writings of others. But, there is also a third class to be considered in viewing the ranks of the occult, viz., those who occupy a midway plane between the two above noted. It is for this middle class alone that this work was prepared.
2The celebrated alchemist, Paracelsus, speaking of the astrological aspects of his science, says in Paragranum I, “If I have manna in my constitution I can attract manna from heaven. Melissa is not only in the garden, but also in the air and in heaven. Saturn is not only in the sky, but also deep in the ocean and earth. What is Venus, but the Artemisia that grows in your garden, and what is iron but the planet Mars;” that is to say, Venus and Artemisia are both products of the same essence, while Mars and iron are manifestations of the same cause. “What is the human body but a constellation (microcosm) of the same powers that formed the stars in the sky? He who knows Mars knows the qualities of iron, and he who knows what iron is, knows the attributes of Mars. What would become of your heart if there were no sun in the universe? What would be the use of your “vasa spermatica” (latent astral germs of subjective life forms) if there were no Venus? To grasp the invisible elements, to attract them by their material correspondences, to control, purify and transmute them by the ever moving powers of the living spirit, this is true alchemy.”
3The student will not fail to understand the true nature of al¬ chemical science when he compares the above extract from Paracelsus with the previous teachings given in this and other chapters. The man who is dominated by the Martial element and knows it, and then devotes his commercial energies to the realms of Mars, by trading and speculating solely in iron and its products; the Saturnine individ¬ ual controlled by the earthly trigon, who consciously invests his money, time and abilities in coal mining and trading in lime, clay, bricks and stone: these men, I say, are a long way ahead of those who devote their time and their money to studying and experiment¬ ing with the musty old formulas of “Sandivogius,” so far as the true al¬ chemy of Nature is concerned, because they have obeyed the comALCHEMY, THE STARS AND MAN 235 mands of true science upon the physical plane. They are using the spiritual and magnetic affinities implanted by Mother Nature within them, to successfully attract to them, their natural correspondences on earth; and then, by the aid of commerce, transforming such base products into the shining yellow gold. Salt, sulphur, mercury and azoth, exist in the human body as well as in the bowels of the earth (the one implies the other), and so does the coveted elixir which re¬ solves all things into their original elements and confers perpetual youth. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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