FraterUFA

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When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Way better :-)

Three layers, different yet not separate. Just as your "ghost" is inside you and part of you, a part of your being and a linkage between still finer parts of you that you hardly suspect. The various parts of what you think of as being yourself exist along a spectrum. Yes. One way to think of it is as like a hierarchy, with the Unity being at the very top. This Unity divides, further and further. At each level there is a relationship to that which came "first" and that which comes "later". Another way to think of it is as inner (superior) to outer (inferior). Inner and outer are but one, but the outer is "governed" by the inner. This has a philosophical meaning as well as a practical one. In this worldview, man is near the very top of the hierarchy, (but below God) and thus governs all things in this world. What is interesting to think about is that that as you get closer to Unity ("superior"), the many different "things" you are familiar with become fewer and fewer. This philosophy implies many things that will fly in the face of common beliefs. For instance, your HGA probably isn't just "yours". As I said before, it is a spectrum but the Hermeticists also think of them as being the physical/objective world, the inner/intellectual world, and the spiritual world. "Above" that is Unity. You are certainly familiar with two of these worlds, which are really one. Isn't that interesting? I think of this as being along the lines of power, influence, or the flow of energy/matter/information. When the source of this virtue is cut off, the inferior dies, disintegrates into its components, and transitions from the perceivable world. Yes, it is very much this thing. Plato didn't introduce the spheres btw, this is a much older teaching which goes as far back as Sumeria. Yes. It is talking about removal of the barriers between ones physical self and their source. This is not something that the world wants you to do. Decent analysis. :-) Fr. UFA

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This is one of the saddest and most foolish things I've seen in a long time. Fr. UFA

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For me: 1) To know where one comes from 2) To know what one is not 3) To know where one is going

Consider that what science knows and can easily prove about matter versus that which science denies.

Hi Chris, Yes, agree completely and that's what I was getting at. The LPN/PON are no longer around so in the context of this thread, the lessons themselves aren't really ideal (I assume that the person who asked doesn't have a mentor). That's an interesting approach I hadn't considered. The way I think of it is that the "life force" isn't a real thing of itself. Rather, it's what manifests when the three principles are present. Dried herbs (absent seeds) will not sprout given the right conditions nor can they be induced to reproduce in any manner... they do not demonstrate the properties of life. And therefore, we have to ask ourselves... if life isn't present, then are all three principles present? The farmer, gardener and winemaker all know that the life of a plant is virtually gone after 24 hours of being cut. So it follows that these principles are greatly weakened after this time. Of course, in some small degree the body of the plant is still living, but not to the same degree that it was before. Yes, exactly... which is why statements that Dubuis made (again, I think he did this intentionally) like: "the Spirit is contained in the alcohol and is common to all plants", it is quite misleading. But this is as it should be, right? Elsewhere are hints and statements which contradict this one (and which are correct). So now we start getting into astrology. What is the proper role of astrology in alchemy? I certainly don't fully understand it and I believe very few do. But what is certain is that we've muddled it up beyond recognition for the most part and Dubuis certainly contributed to this. I believe that as far as astrology plays a role in alchemy, it is limited to the following: 1. The phase of the moon 2. The zodiacal sign of the sun 3. The time of day 4. The major aspects made to the moon Now what is quite interesting about this is that the first three of these have sound physiological reasons behind them. The fouth, I cannot explain nor can I prove one way or another at the current time (eg: it is a belief I currently hold). And whether these make any difference at all in the plant work is another question altogether. It remains to be seen :-) Balance implies polarity, so I would argue that this is the opposite of evolution in an alchemical sense. We can be perfectly balanced and unevolved at the same time. I think of evolution as being a measure of how close an individual is to the frontier of what the collective consciousness of their particular species has experienced. Under this paradigm, the quintessence of lemonbalm would possess properties that the quintessence of spearmint does not, such as the ability to rejuvenate human tissues. That is the theory and certainly a safe one for someone working on their own. But by no means is it a requirement. The application of the proper force to the physical body can do more in 60 seconds than months or years of this gradual and often imperceptible consumption of alchemical products. At least tinctures and elixirs, which I am familiar with. I question though this theory... Albertus popularized it and I am quite certain that what he revealed in public differed from what he revealed in private. Yes, I think we completely agree on this. I would but it is not mine to give! This is a good conversation. I am enjoying it. :-) Fr. UFA

Hi Chris, I provided a level of detail appropriate to the question that was asked. But seeing as you are asking for further detail... Like many alchemists (including Albertus), Dubuis put some blinds in his work. He gave enough to satisfy the arm chair alchemists and writes convincingly. But after a bit of hands on experimentation using his methods, one quickly hits roadblocks. I believe that those hurdles were intentional, designed for the purpose of encouraging true seekers to get in contact with his school (which is a pretty wise approach, if you ask me). The ineffectiveness of maceration extraction, use of Soxhlet extractors, and incomplete advice given with the solve et coagula method are three areas of technical misinformation that come to mind for starters. My favorite though is the part in the spagyrics lessons where he goes into why you shouldn't use store bought materials (I think he was referring to potassium carbonate, I don't have the lessons in front of me right now to confirm) and then 1-2 pages later instructs the student to go to the store and buy it. He also advises that dead plants can be used as the subject for the elixirs. And technically, he's right... the dead plants won't give any better results than using live ones! Someone reading with a critical eye will question this based on his discussion in S7 about cut herbs having lost their signature. And any gardener/farmer/enologist with a few years experience should instantly recognize the truth about the life force present in dried vs. live plants. Because it's a crude extraction that Albertus apparently invented for the purpose of teaching basic lab skills (and it is valuable in that regard). The theory behind it is nonsensical however. Take Mercury, for instance. How is ethanol the universal mercury of the plant kingdom when ethanol does not naturally occur in the plant kingdom, and furthermore, it is an animal by-product? Ethanol has its uses but it is not the universal mercury of the plant kingdom. Our stone is one thing, to which we add nothing, nor take anything away, only removing that which is superfluous. There are easier, faster, better approaches to producing plant quintessences. His theories about the correspondences (and subsequent practices) of the seven tinctures to the days, planets, and sephiroth. Are we really only going to have "water experiences" on Mondays? Martial experiences on Tuesdays? Hmmm... I mean, that is an interesting theory... but the Tree of Life is ultimately a model of the inner world. Like many occultists, Dubuis mistakes it for outer reality. This hasn't to my knowledge been satisfactorily proven by anyone (yet... though I know of at least one person investigating it). He takes it a step farther and claims a correspondence between dreams which occur on the same days of the week. Perform this exercise regularly for an extended period of time and ask yourself honestly if your experience confirms it. This is more of the typical French cultural tendency to take systems thinking to a absurd extreme and it is a reach. We could go into his advice on astrology as well, though I suspect people will start throwing tomatoes at me if I go into this one. An alternative to his model is the Paracelsian concept of the plant kingdom existing in a type of hierarchy, with certain plants being more evolved and having superior properties to others. This does have experimental support. The lessons are disorganized to an extreme. This is pretty much self-evident and it makes me question if you've actually read them seriously. An example: the first experiment is detailed in the early lessons (2-4, if memory serves). But Dubuis doesn't get into a discussion on this until lesson 26. Descriptions and variations of equipment are scattered throughout multiple lessons, often separate from information on the practical use of same. The various methods discussing the plant stone are shotgunned throughout many different lessons (24, 26, 29...) Lessons on the vegetable mercury are scattered throughout... 29, 31, and Minerals 7 just to name a few. Don't get me wrong. There is a lot of good info here. But the lessons seem to be constructed almost as if he transcribed them over time through someone else. A little editing and re-organization turns what is a mediocre effort into something truly magnificent. Seeing this ends all argument. This is a possibility I addressed elsewhere. Having recreated the elixirs under the eye of someone more experienced, it is far more likely that either: A) my vibration is already too high and so these elixirs don't have an effect on me, or... The Albertus/Dubuis basic elixir approach does not have an alchemical effect Again, I do recommend the PON lessons as a reference but my most blunt, honest assessment is that these lessons are not going to turn anyone into a genuine alchemist. Best, Fr. UFA

Knowing full well that without the key, he'd be spinning his wheels for years... But he didn't ask the right question now, did he? :-) Fr. UFA

Too hot. You need to keep it under 1000C, 750-850C is best.

> Jean Dubuis. Nothing more comprehensive out there. I have mixed thoughts about this. The PON lessons have a lot to offer for the beginner. But there is a lot that is misleading in there. Let's just take the whole concept of the seven planetary elixirs for instance. This is an interesting exercise (and a tedious one) but once you progress, you'll see that that this is a sledgehammer approach that probably doesn't achieve anything alchemical at all. I have seven elixirs and two of them maybe... maybe... have some minimal effect. And I might be imagining that. Dubuis was a typical Frenchman... he came up with lots of logical theories and did not bother to test them. And he's incredibly disorganized. You will spend a lot of time spinning your wheels on this material. Much better to go find a teacher. YMMV! Fr. UFA

Everything about this quote is accurate. The HGA is one's Higher Genius. The Guardian is the serpent force which has been commanded to keep us in bondage. How anyone could confuse the two, I do not know. Fr. UFA

I would be interested to see a Youtube video of this occurring. Can you post one?

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