To most of us the word ''alchemy'' calls up the picture of a medieval and
slightly sinister laboratory in which an aged, black-robed wizard
brooded over the crucibles and alembics that were to
bring within his
reach the Philosophers'' Stone, and with that discovery the formula for
the elixir of
life and the transmutation of metals. But one can
scarcely dismiss so lightly the science--or art, if you will--which won
to its service the lifelong devotion of men of culture and attainment
from every race and clime over a period of hundreds, or, indeed,
thousands, of years, for the beginnings of
alchemy are hidden in the
mists of time. Such a science is something far more than an outlet for
a few eccentric old men in their dotage.What was the motive behind the constant strivings, the never-failing
patience in the unravelling of the mysteries, the tenacity of purpose
in the face of persecution and ridicule through the countless ages that
led the alchemist to pursue undaunted his appointed way? Something far
greater, surely, than a mere vainglorious desire to transmute the base
metals into gold, or to brew a potion to prolong a
little longer this
earthly span, for the devotees of lchemy in the main cared little for these things. The accounts of
their lives almost without exception lead us to believe that they were
concerned with things spiritual rather than with things temporal.
Rather were these men inspired by a vision, a
vision of man made
perfect, of man freed from disease and the limitations of warring
faculties both mental and physical, standing as a god in the
realization of a power that even at this very moment of time is lying
hidden in the deeper strata of his consciousness, a vision of man made
truly in the image and likeness of the one Divine Life in all its
Perfection, Beauty, and Harmony.
To appreciate and understand these adepts'' visions it is necessary
to trace to some extent the history of their cult, so let us for a
space step back into the past to catch a glimpse of these men, of their
work and ideals, and more important still, of the possibilities that
their life-work might bring to those who to-day are seeking for fuller
knowledge and wider horizons.
More abstracts about the ALCHEMY REDISCOVERED AND RESTORED