Gold The king of metal, symbol of perfection, durability, and purity; of the real sun, the great masculine principle, the Father, the positive side of the solar cosmic life. Alchemists considered gold as being a deposit of solar light, regarding light as the emanative fire from the sun.

The gold of human nature, which has to be purified by fire from its dross, is manas, the self-conscious element, when purified from contamination with the dross of the lower principles and united with buddhi.

While divine alchemy seeks to purify the gold of human nature, physical alchemy seeks to derive gold by transmutation from baser metals. In contrast with gold, brass is mentioned as signifying the baser elements or the world of passional matter; and by another contrast, silver is the analog of the watery or feminine principle, whose planetary counterpart is the moon.

The first and purest of the four Hesiodic races in Greece was golden and gave the name to their age. In Hindu writings the world is evolved from a golden egg or germ (hiranyagarbha).

(See also: Gold, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Gold The king of metal, symbol of perfection, durability, and purity; of the real sun, the great masculine principle, the Father, the positive side of the solar cosmic life. Alchemists considered gold as being a deposit of solar light, regarding light as the emanative fire from the sun.

The gold of human nature, which has to be purified by fire from its dross, is manas, the self-conscious element, when purified from contamination with the dross of the lower principles and united with buddhi.

While divine alchemy seeks to purify the gold of human nature, physical alchemy seeks to derive gold by transmutation from baser metals. In contrast with gold, brass is mentioned as signifying the baser elements or the world of passional matter; and by another contrast, silver is the analog of the watery or feminine principle, whose planetary counterpart is the moon.

The first and purest of the four Hesiodic races in Greece was golden and gave the name to their age. In Hindu writings the world is evolved from a golden egg or germ (hiranyagarbha).

(See also: Gokard, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

shadow sound therapy (c) (SST, shadow therapy): Modality developed by Elide M. Solomont, Ph.D., composer, Jungian psychotherapist, sound healer, and author of One Day We'll All Be Together and You Are Who You Hate - The Alchemy of Dissonance: History, Theory, Self Reports, Practice for Therapeutic Purpose (Vantage Press, Inc., 1995). SST is a combination of guided imagery and music therapy.

According to its theory,

• if one listens to unfamiliar, unstructured, or inharmonic music, one will face one's shadow (a dark side that disappoints); and
• interpreting images of the unconscious can effect healing.

(See also: Shadow sound therapy, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Phosphorus phosphoros (Greek) Light-bringing; equivalent of Latin Lucifer (the morning star; a torchbearer, e.g., Hecate, a form of the moon). Satan, according to Christian legend, was once Phosphorus, the redeemer. Also a personified aspect of the astral fire and light in the anima mundi. Eliphas Levi speaks of the interior phosphorus, meaning the astral light.

In alchemy and chemistry, applied to any substance which emitted light, but was monopolized for the familiar chemical element first isolated by Brandt of Hamburg in 1669.

(See also: Phosphorus, phosphoros, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ens (Latin) (from esse to be, being)

According to scholastic philosophy, being in the most abstract sense, not necessarily existent, requiring the addition of a category to yield reality. Equivalent to the Greek ousia (essence), the essential nature of a thing; or the Hindu sat. In alchemy, an extract containing the essential qualities of a substance; e.g., primum ens melissae (the spirit of balm).

Used for the real or spiritual presence in universal nature, as signifying the Ever-being or Ever-existing.

(See also: Ens, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

ECLECTIC MAGICK: A form of Ceremonial Magick which  is Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits  and is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity. Eclectic Magick draws from these sources in addition to a variety of different sources including Enochian Magick, Thelemic Magick, Egyptology, Alchemy and Chaos Magick.

(See also: ECLECTIC MAGICK, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

WIZARDRY (Middle English, wis, “wise”): A term used in various periods of history for magicians, sorcerers or witches and is seldom in use today. The wizard as a high magician was an intellectual who pursued alchemy, the Hermetic wisdom, and the doctrines of Agrippa, Dee, Paracelsus and other Neoplatonic philosophers. In archaic use, a wizard was synonomous with wise man or wise woman.

(See also: WIZARDRY, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

ECLECTIC MAGICK: A form of Ceremonial Magick which is Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity. Eclectic Magick draws from these sources in addition to a variety of different sources including Enochian Magick, Thelemic Magick, Egyptology, Alchemy and Chaos Magick.

(See also: ECLECTIC MAGICK, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

SUN AND MOON

For the magician, the Self and the World are the same thing. When we try to separate them we get the errors of Science and Religion. The hieros-gamos (or "divine marriage") of alchemy is none other than the marriage of the Sun (the self in the world) and the Moon (the world in the self) -- Shining and reflection, projection and introjection, Yang and Yin. HPB suggests that the Sun and Moon stand for secret planets, but conventionally the Sun stands for revelation via self-expression.

(See also: SUN AND MOON, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

HEBDOMAD

(The sphere of the Demiurge, lower than the Ogdoad.) Seven divides perfectly into the elemental quaternity from the 28 days of the lunar month. Set of seven, as the seven planets, the seven metals, Shakespeare's seven ages of man. In Mithraism: the 7 ceremonial steps. The Ziggurat of seven-metalled planes. Stairway of Alchemy: Quicksilver, Copper, Iron, Tin, Lead, Silver, Gold -- corresponding to the successive triads of the Tarot. The Gnostics and others claimed that the elohim were the seven gods of Creation.

(See also: HEBDOMAD, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Roger Bacon. A Franciscan monk, famous as an adept in Alchemy and Magic Arts. Lived in the thirteenth century in England. He believed in the philosopher’s stone in the way all the adepts of Occultism believe in it; and also in philosophical astrology.

He is accused of having made a head of bronze which having an acoustic apparatus hidden in it, seemed to utter oracles which were words spoken by Bacon himself in another room. He was a wonderful physicist and chemist, and credited with having invented gunpowder, though he said he had the secret from "Asian (Chinese) wise men."

(See also: Roger Bacon, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

U - Letter U . - The twenty-first letter of the Latin alphabet, which has no equivalent in Hebrew. As a number, however, it is considered very mystical both by the Pythagoreans and the Kabbalists, as it is the product of 3 x 7. The latter consider it the most sacred of the odd numbers, as 21 is the sum of the numerical value of the Divine Name aeie, or eiea, or again aheihe - thus (read backward, aheihe) he i he a 5+1O+5+1=21

In Alchemy it symbolizes the twenty-one days necessary for the transmutation of baser metals into silver.

(See also: U - Letter U, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Cremer, John. An eminent scholar who for over thirty years studied Hermetic philosophy in pursuance of its practical secrets, while he was at the same time Abbot of Westminster While on a voyage to Italy, he met the famous Raymond Lully whom he induced to return with him to England.

Lully divulged to Cremer the secrets of the stone, for which service the monastery offered daily prayers for him. Cremer, says the Royal Masonic Cyclopedia, "having obtained a profound knowledge of the secrets of Alchemy, became a most celebrated and learned adept in occult philosophy . . . lived to a good old age, and died in the reign of King Edward III."

(See also: Cremer, John, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Busardier. A Hermetic philosopher born in Bohemia who is credited with having made a genuine powder of projection. He left the bulk of his red powder to a friend named Richthausen, an adept and alchemist of Vienna.

Some years after Busardier’s death, in 1637, Richthausen introduced himself to the Emperor Ferdinand III, who is known to have been ardently devoted to alchemy, and together they are said to have converted three pounds of mercury into the finest gold with one single grain of Busardier’s powder.

In 1658 the Elector of Mayence also was permitted to test the powder, and the gold produced with it was declared by the Master of the Mint to be such, that he had never seen finer. Such are the claims vouchsafed by the city records and chronicles.

(See also: Busardier, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Charnook, Thomas. A great alchemist of the sixteenth century; a surgeon who lived and practiced near Salisbury, studying the art in some neighbouring cloisters with a priest.

It is said that he was initiated into the final secret of transmutation by the famous mystic William Bird, who "had been a prior of Bath and defrayed the expense of repairing the Abbey Church from the gold which he made by the red and white elixirs" (Royal Mas. Cyc.). Charnock wrote his Breviary of Philosophy in the year 1557 and the Enigma of Alchemy, in 1574.

(See also: Charnook, Thomas, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Trismegistus (Greek) Thrice greatest; a title given to the mysterious personage after whom the Hermetic philosophy is named. In Egypt, he is equivalent to the god Thoth, but the title was also a generic name assumed by many ancient Greek writers on philosophy and alchemy. This title was likewise given to the supreme initiator in the ancient Mystery-system and therefore corresponding directly, both as regards function and position, to what in theosophical philosophy is called the mahachohan. The title, therefore, applies both to the divinity and its human representatives.

See also HERMES; PYMANDER

(See also: Trismegistus, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Sulfur, Sulphur In European medieval alchemy, a cosmic element of which the mineral sulfur was regarded as a manifestation or correspondence. In classical Latin, also used for lightning, and the Greek for sulfur is theion (divine); it was regarded as having a purifying, and protective power.

The alchemical division of nature and man into spirit, body, and soul shows sulfur as denoting spirit and the element fire. Sulfur and mercury are used as a means to physical longevity (IU 2:220-1). It is used as a purificatory agent in modern medicine, and popular usage has sanctioned its efficacy in the insoluble form of brimstone.

(See also: Sulfur, Sulphur, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

TETRAMORPH

Chayoth Ha-Qadesh: "Animals of the Sacred Place." The four-beasted figure surrounding the Wheel of Fortune (Man, Bull, Lion and Eagle), standing for the four Hebrew letters of the Tetragrammaton (IHVH) and mimicked by Xtianity in its attributions of these animals to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The tetramorph symbolizes the quaternity running through everything in both the manifest and unmanifest worlds.

The four principles of which the world consists are the four elements of alchemy, the four sacred words, the beasts of the Apocalypse and the four animals contained in the sphinx:

(See also: TETRAMORPH, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

SOUTH, MARY ANNE

Born in England, 1817. By marriage, became Mrs. Mary Anne Atwood. Author of A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, 1850. This is the book that enlightened Israel Regardie, once he had decided to plough through its opacities until by dint of sheer concentration he should finally fathom the secret of alchemy. No doubt, however, it was Regardie's simultaneous study of Jung's Commentary on the Golden Flower, that provided the key. Mrs. Atwood and her father were dedicated scholars of the occult who got cold feet once A Suggestive Inquiry was published and they tried to prevent its distribution. They felt that its secrets must not be made public.

(See also: SOUTH, MARY ANNE, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Solvent The universal solvent is an alchemical expression equivalent to the Philosopher's Stone and the Universal Agent of medieval alchemy.

It means a unity into which diverse elements can be resolved or from which they emanate or proceed; and has different applications according to particular planes. Thus "whatsoever quits the Laya State becomes active life; it is drawn into the vortex of MOTION (the alchemical solvent of Life)" (SD 1:258). One culmination of the "Secret Work" is the union of the three elements (sulfur, mercury, salt), the occult solvent in the world-soul; while on the material plane the solvent is hydrogen (SD 2:113).

(See also: Solvent, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Moyst Principle In the Egyptian Hermetic book, the Divine Pymander, the Moist Principle is the great deep; in ancient literature often spoken of as the waters of space, the Great Mother, or essential Mother Nature, or again considered as a more developed manifestation of Father-Mother, the Second Logos, the latter producing the first actual spatial differentiation in the cosmos manifesting itself.

In medieval European alchemy Mercury is the radical moist, primitive or elementary water, containing the seed of the universe, fecundated by the solar fires. In this system the symbol of Mercury is a cross, combining the horizontal and vertical lines.

(See also: Moyst Principle, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Tomaso Campanella. A Calabrese, born in 1568, who, from his childhood exhibited strange powers, and gave himself up during his whole life to the Occult Arts. The story which shows him initiated in his boyhood into the secrets of alchemy and thoroughly instructed in the secret science by a Rabbi-Kabbalist in a fortnight by means of notavicon, is a cock and bull invention.

Occult knowledge, even when a heirloom from the preceding birth, does not come back into a new personality within fifteen days. He became an opponent of the Aristotelian materialistic philosophy when at Naples and was obliged to fly for his life. Later, the Inquisition sought to try and condemn him for the practice of magic arts, but its efforts were defeated. During his lifetime he wrote an enormous quantity of magical, astrological and alchemical works, most of which are no longer extant. He is reported to have died in the convent of the Jacobins at Paris on May the 21st, 1639.

(See also: Tomaso Campanella, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )