Asmo

Hi! There is a reason why Aryeh Kaplan lists only 54 permutations. Look at the 81 permutations and imagine them as a flowing dynamic, like your example above. To have a flow, you need an imbalance. There has to be a higher/lower difference. The middle pillar is the pillar of balance, so from a flowing dynamic viewpoint it does nothing. Therefore you have to take the 81 permutations and substract the middle pillar tetragramms (3*9). Hope this helps Have a nice weekend! Chris

If i remember correctly, you can find the answer in Franz Bardon's Initiation into Hermetics - Step IV.

What finger ? What Moon ? Who's asking ?

In my opinion you're to focused on details. Try to see the bigger picture, the whole process that led to the situation and beyond, don't get fixed on one single moment alone. Karma is the law of cause and effect and every effect itself is the cause for another effect etc. Isolating events and analyzing them makes only sense in retrospective, to learn from your mistakes etc. Speculating about hypothetical events doesn't make sense because you are missing the whole context that led you there. Yin and Yang are not seperated, you could say they work in unison if you want, altough that's also not really correct. If you really want to understand the Taijitu (Yin/Yang Symbol) you have to live it, not intellectually try to understand it. Take up Tai Chi and start doing Push Hands lots of it Depends on what you are trying to achieve. Stepping aside and never train again with her is an option but very limited. Let me try to give you an alternative viewpoint. (Please don't take it personally it's only a possible way of looking) Life in form of your Sije gave you the task of building a relationship in form of Push Hands with someone. You took the challenge, judged her beneath you but in the end you were hurt. There is so much you can learn from her don't throw away this chance. She has willpower, focus and awareness, maybe misguided by inner conflict but that's irrelevant. Don't become a "guiltmover" , she is the one who was rough and sneaky and always wants to win etc. If you knew all that and crossed hands with her, who is to blame ? Her intention was clear to you , what was your intention and thinking ? Only you can say that, but "maybe" you thought her so much beneath you that it is ok to take you awareness away from her... I sincerely hope you understand what i'm trying to say and please bear in mind it's not personal only a different viewpoint! Stand up to the challenge that life is throwing at you and learn Best whishes Chris

I like that !

*irony on* So you are talking from a standpoint of profound experience and insight ... *irony off*

What do you want to learn/achieve ?

Nice Post Deci ! I once showed someone a simple hand scrawled diagram that changes from a pentagram into a pyramid before your eyes, and his only reply was “What does it mean?” I'd like to see that diagram handscrawled or mspainted if possible ;D Best whishes Chris

Horse riding Stance

Hi FraterUFA, It like revivifying dead metal with fresh life, metal also holds the signature. For a "weak" veg. tincture you can use only the dried plant. for a veg. stone you need fresh plants. Or you reintroduce life into your dried plants The 3 principles are always present everytime everywhere. Dried herbs cannot sprout because the don't have enough life force to reproduce aka build seeds but do you know grafting ? Where you cut the stem off of one fruittree (cutting their life force) and implant it on another tree, reenableing the flow But small plants decompose too fast for that method. The animal real decomposes even faster. I cannot claim to really know Dubuis intentions, but everything i know of this man makes me believe that he did it with the best intentions for his students. As soon as someone picks up one of the more classical (philosophical) books on alchemy, like the before mentioned Aurea Catena Homeri, they should realise that we are not working with physical parts but metaphysical principles applied to physical parts. As there is only one root (imho ) wheter you call it Source, God, Tao, Allah or whatever else and everything sprouts from it everything has an impact on everyting to different degrees at different times. There is one major key in the 3 principles and 4 elements you can also find it in the post heaven bagua. Compare pre heaven bagua with post heaven, both have polarity but one is perfectly balanced while the other is not and therefore is allowing change and therefore evolution. As long as you are not at the source you will have polarity everywhere, balance it, balance it so perfectly that it "transcends" it Being perfectly balanced and unevolved was a long time ago when this whole thing started imho. Hmm i'm doing a type of QiGong where i'm advised to only do about 5 to 10 minutes twice a day. As i'm notoriously curious i tried it longer, resulting in what we call overcleansing. The amount of energy was not the problem but my body simply couldn't cope with the release of blockages and i got ill for a few days. Today that won't happen. Afaik Dubuis advised to take the vegetable stuff for 18months before switching to metallic or mineral ones. If a beginner does nothing else beside alchemy i think it's sound advise. Maybe you could ask :D Me too! Chris

Hi FraterUFA, The blinds he put in there are deliberately and he wrote about that iirc in vol 2 of spagyrics. Originally these whole scripts where a distance study course for LPN members. You could see who is doing the work because they would hit roadblocks and ask or they would find a solution depending on their depth of understanding. There was a kind of master student relationship embedded in this way. If it would have been a book, i wouldn't I like his approach Can't remember what he wrote exactly either. Those who do the work all by themselves will gain better knowledge and understanding. It's a little bit like seperating the wheat from the chaff. Imho , they don't lose their signature, the difference lies in a living plant radiating it's signature outward and a dead plant retaining it. It seams that this is a simple question when actually it is not Ethanol is the carrier of the principle of mercury never the mercury in itself. It doesn't have to occur naturally, nature takes a less pure way to do the work. The art takes a shortcut in seperating and purifying the principles. We have (to stay at the current example of the universal mercury of the plant kingdom) the volatizing and the fixing mercury in every plant. But only the mercury of grapes is universally usable. No we don't only have water experiences on Mondays The Etz Chiim is the simplest Glyph but its everexpanding. It may be correct to say that on a Sunday morning in the first hour the influence of the sun is at it's peak and it maybe a good idea to take a tincture/elixir at this hour because it may be easier to get an awareness of this energy. But it's only a dominating factor for a short amount of time. I won't throw anything at you More evolved should mean more in balance. Grapes should be the most in balance therefore you can take the mercury from grapes and use it on the whole plant kingdom. That serves a purpose imho. I'm looking for the right Allegory here but i don't know a good one -.- Let say you want to purify and strenghten Tiphareth. Lets look at a few availablve alchemical options. Veg. Tincture Veg. Elixir Cirrculatum Minor Vegetable Stone Metallic. Tincture etc etc etc. If you take a veg. tincture the effect is minimal but it's there. You proceed through the ranks and everything gets more purified and strengthend. If you don't do it that way you can seriously hurt yourself in the process. I know what you are meaning, think of it that way. If i would write a book where i state everything no secrets. (Obviously i'm not able to do that.) How many would work their way through it and how many would skip to the last chapter ? The information maybe not in a neat order but in a way that sows the seeds and let them mature before new information is added to it. A reorganized version would be great for someone who actually did the work. For students in a distance learning course not so. Btw if you have a reorganized version i'd really like to have it :D Actually very possible that you are purified enough for the next step As everything we take in has an alchemical effect (not necessarily a purifying) i can assure you they work but not in the most efficient way possible and that's for good! Best whishes Chris

balance

@BKA Keep it simple, get an iron bbq put the wood in it and let it burn. You can use the time and meditate on the fire element. You don't "make" the salt, salt is one of the three principles. You seperate and purify them in Spagyrics in Alchemy you also help them in their evolution. You can have a finished product that is wholly composed of distilled water and there is still "salt". . Using manure is a cheap and easy way to a constant heat source. The 2nd principle There are determined Mercury and undetermined. You can make the determined Mercury from the specific plant you like to use. Chris

@Michael "Did I say I am? Would I have started this thread if I were?" Actually Michael, your first post implied that you're a beginner, paraphrased by your question "Where do I start? " I gave you the information how to start and enough material for the next few years. In your next post you tell us that you already have knowledge and only need a few details on the most advanced work in Alchemy. I sincerly believe that my first post was nicely formulated and helpful for a beginner in this art. My second post aka. 'my smudgy remarks' were simply brutal honesty. From "Where do i start" to questions about aquiring the red stone ? if you are honest with yourself you can't really blame me for my honesty you digged your own grave. Concerning the books and your experience with Spagyrics. Let me tell you a story about Bob. Bob is a very intelligent guy. He read a lot of books about driving he also loves the experience as co-driver. So he concludes he must be ready for HighSpeed Racing ... I hope you got a driving license and understand this allegory. You are trying to learn an art here, so please go to driving school first. If you have any question ask, i will do my best to give you an helpful answer. But let me give you a last warning, if you're proceeding with metallic work the chances that you will create something are very slim, if you actually manage to create something the chances that it is either toxic or will get you in to serious trouble are very high. Chris

Hi! Sooo, you've read many books but couldn't grasp it. You also read books, written by guys who themselve where no Alchemists. Sorta like "Alchemy for Dummies by Dummies" ? "However, as far as I figured out so far, there are two major methods employed by a substantial number of advanced practitioners:" You are neither! It looks like you're looking for a recipe on how to make the stone in simple terms. Doesn't work that way, you have to do practical fundamental training and not advanced (metallic) work. If you take the available literature you can categorize them roughly: Philosophical and Theoretic - Full of Allegories and Symbols, if you are an Adept everything will be clear, as a beginner reading them is like sowing seeds. Do it long and often and maybe something will grow. If you think you understood something you need to test it, only Knowledge + Experience will show you the way. Old Practical Books: These are often simple recipebooks, but if you don't know ho to cook how would you prepare a meal ? and what makes you think you can cook a 5 Star 4 course menu ? New Practical Books: These are mostly about Spagyrics and enough Theory is embedded to give you everything you need. Doing metallic work without sound knowledge is like giving an untrained person a Desert Eagle .50 Cal. I hope you understand what i tried to tell you. Best wishes Chris