Lead to gold - any guide books out there?

[Rara]

I've read a lot about alchemy and want to practice. Am I right in thinking that working on transmutating is a good physical practice to accompany the mental?

 

If so, as a beginner, are there any "how to" books out there? (For lack of a better word)

[FraterUFA]

Hi Rara,

 

There are no guide books. Well, there are but if what you propose could be taught in that manner, there would be millions of people out there doing it.

 

Alchemy is advanced practice. What is your background and experience?

 

UFA

[Michael Sternbach]

I was looking for a good introduction to advanced practical alchemy for quite some time, and the best one I found overall so far is Robert A. Bartlett's The Way of the Crucible.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Way-Crucible-Robert-Allen-Bartlett/dp/0892541547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432757390&sr=8-1&keywords=bartlett+crucible

 

I am quite sure that some others here will be quick to highlight any shortcomings and imperfections the book may have. I for one am not particularly interested in another tedious discussion about the "true way", however. My only aim here is to contribute my $ 0.02 to Rara's query.

Edited May 27, 2015 by Michael Sternbach

[soaring crane]

I've read a lot about alchemy and want to practice. Am I right in thinking that working on transmutating is a good physical practice to accompany the mental?

 

If so, as a beginner, are there any "how to" books out there? (For lack of a better word)

 

Hi Rara - what does "transmutating" mean? Are you asking if experimenting with converting one metal to another is good for the development of the mind?

[Michael Sternbach]

I would express it like this: The process of bringing matter into a higher state such as represented by the Philosopher's Stone is paralleled by an internal process that you could think of as Ascension.

 

The Philosopher's Stone that you will have attained by then on the physical or external level supposedly has at least three powers: to cure any physical or psychological ailments; to prolong life (some say, indefinitely); and to bring base metals to the exalted state of gold.

[Nungali]

For me, the value is not primarily those three or any 'thing' in itself actually. It is the process and stages.

 

They can be applied to those three and really, with insight, can be applied 'all over the place' ; personal / spiritual development, 'laboratory work'  ( where the 'lab' is 'external' as opposed to 'internal' , as in some forms of 'alchemical tantra' )  and , my favourite - in agriculture.

 

Of course, in many cases some things vary, change or a rearranged according to the field of application.  I dont work at 'transmuting metals' nor do 'lab work' as such.   I did work in a lab with the 'agricultural alchemy' .... but a very different type of 'lab' .... a very natural and 'earthy' one. It was part indoors in a shed made from and only containing 'proper materials' - no 'Ahrimanic' substances ... and partially outside (but here one needs protection against curious and attracted wildlife ).

 

I have no pics of it handy, but here are some others;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[idiot_stimpy]

Doesn't the philosophers stone point to something inside of us, and when it points to something outside, it is just a diversion?

[FraterUFA]

Doesn't the philosophers stone point to something inside of us, and when it points to something outside, it is just a diversion?

 

Believing that the Stone points to something inside of us, or alternatively, that it points to something outside of us, are both diversions.

 

UFA

 

[noonespecial]

For me, the value is not primarily those three or any 'thing' in itself actually. It is the process and stages.

 

They can be applied to those three and really, with insight, can be applied 'all over the place' ; personal / spiritual development, 'laboratory work'  ( where the 'lab' is 'external' as opposed to 'internal' , as in some forms of 'alchemical tantra' )  and , my favourite - in agriculture.

 

Of course, in many cases some things vary, change or a rearranged according to the field of application.  I dont work at 'transmuting metals' nor do 'lab work' as such.   I did work in a lab with the 'agricultural alchemy' .... but a very different type of 'lab' .... a very natural and 'earthy' one. It was part indoors in a shed made from and only containing 'proper materials' - no 'Ahrimanic' substances ... and partially outside (but here one needs protection against curious and attracted wildlife ).

 

I have no pics of it handy, but here are some others;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I dont know whats going on but i like it.

[Rara]

Hi Rara - what does "transmutating" mean? Are you asking if experimenting with converting one metal to another is good for the development of the mind?

Yes...I guess by doing this, if I succeed, it would help me understand the way the mental process works...

[Rara]

Hi Rara,There are no guide books. Well, there are but if what you propose could be taught in that manner, there would be millions of people out there doing it.Alchemy is advanced practice. What is your background and experience?UFA

Perhaps this thread might help me still. I have no experience, other than meditation. I have just developed an interest in alchemy along the way.

[Michael Sternbach]

Doesn't the philosophers stone point to something inside of us, and when it points to something outside, it is just a diversion?

 

During the process of raising physical matter to its most exalted form (called he Philosopher's Stone), the Alchemist is exalting themselves to an ascended form of being. In its use of a laboratory as an external "mirror", laboratory Alchemy resembles meditative ways based on creating a mandala or a flower arrangement.

 

It is true that Alchemy does not necessarily satisfy itself with purely spiritual attainments, rather it seeks to turn spirit into matter, and matter into spirit. The Alchemist, unlike mystics of some other varieties, does not seek redemption from the physical world but the bridging and unification of opposites like body and soul.

[Rara]

@FraterUFA I should add that The Kybalion was handed to me to read a couple of years ago and towards the end, it did say, now that I have inherited the information, it is a duty to myself to put it in to practice...

 

So I seek to begin with the material. I feel it will help the spiritual/meditative side.

[FraterUFA]

The Kybalion is a good book and shows you are on the right track. One of the unknown authors was Paul Foster Case, btw. Perhaps that will be an interesting thread to pull.

 

UFA

[blue eyed snake]

For me, the value is not primarily those three or any 'thing' in itself actually. It is the process and stages.

 

They can be applied to those three and really, with insight, can be applied 'all over the place' ; personal / spiritual development, 'laboratory work'  ( where the 'lab' is 'external' as opposed to 'internal' , as in some forms of 'alchemical tantra' )  and , my favourite - in agriculture.

 

Of course, in many cases some things vary, change or a rearranged according to the field of application.  I dont work at 'transmuting metals' nor do 'lab work' as such.   I did work in a lab with the 'agricultural alchemy' .... but a very different type of 'lab' .... a very natural and 'earthy' one. It was part indoors in a shed made from and only containing 'proper materials' - no 'Ahrimanic' substances ... and partially outside (but here one needs protection against curious and attracted wildlife ).

 

I have no pics of it handy, but here are some others;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

these pictures are from biological-dynamic farming. Several component are mixed and stirred and buried in the earth and will later on help to produce good crops. Alchemy indeed. ( when i remeber whell the crystal is powdered and mixed with other ingredients. Then the mixture goes into the cowhorns and gets buried. After that it can be used for making  prreparations. These things, the powdering/mixing  burying and stirring are done at moments that are good according to cosmological influences, it's an art that i don't know but when asked, I will stir 

 

an association popped up with me:

Last summer i was stirring such a preparation, think of it as an homeopathic mixture to help our grapes being strong.

 

We were stirring with three people, one of them said: it's strange, now that we've done it for a while, it seems to be easier. ( it has to be stirred really long...and you stir a while with the clock, and then against the clock, and then with the clock etc.)

 

 

so i told her: first, by stirring in this controlled way, you give structure to the water, then after a while when you stir, the structure you gave to the water is carrying you while you're stirring.

Her mouth, and that of the third participant fell open 

 

Now...it makes me think, this is about what's happening to me, first it was very hard work for me, staring qigong and meditation, by now, i  am carried by the 'structure' i've build for my self, and that will carry me further. And i do not mean the structure that comes from doing it on regular times, though that helps too. it's something else..something inside(?) something energetic.

 

And that same structure that we stirred in the water, gave structure to the grapevines, helping them against fungi.

 

and this is where we grow those grapes:

 

But I would like Nungali to tell me about his last picture, the others i recognize but the last doesn't ring a bell.

[Nungali]

Did you notice the different sound the vortex makes in the water after about 10 mins of stirring? I notice that the normal 'water vortex' sound starts to become deeper, echoing , and tearing like noise ( when you change direction, and yes, it becomes easier and 'slippery' , easier meaning, at first it takes a few stirs to  form a good vortex  ( ... or  reverse geyser    )   after a while, one or two circular stirs and the vortex forms ... right to the bottom.

 

Many say this is no type of alchemy , and nowadays, many try to show actual changes in the physical BD substance ... but if one reads the literature Steiner's original 'Agricultural Lectures' it is quiet clear the intent is to 'capture' the spiritual essences of substances.

 

Eg. 501, no matter how fine the powder  quartz crystal is, it will not dissolve in water. it remains as a fine and gritty substance within the water - that is absolutely deadly for rubber spray equipment seals, so it has to be finally filtered out. You are left with water.  I was told to be very careful around native trees with it and to wear a hat when I use it .... pssshhh! 

 

Well I was a bit care;less and did let some spray drift towards my prize bottle tree.  It still has two dead branches on it from the 'burn'       ... I dont have any explanation for that.   I have heard some , but they dont make much sense. 

 

As a grape grower  is it for wine - vinyards were some of our best customers?  501, used rightly, greatly improves wine - so they tell me, I am not a wine taster - the terrior  apparently   -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terroir   - boy, did I have some of them go off at me on the phone when the mail held up their delivery and they thought they were going to miss the Saturn Moon application period !  

 

'Cosmological moments' are worked out using 5 basic the Moon cycles,  ;  Full-New Moon , Moon opposition Saturn , Ascending-Descending Moon, Moon Nodes , Perigee-Apogee, Moon in Zodiac Constellations (which actually uses the constellation element / plant part usage element  ).

 

The last pic is one of the compost preparations.  The idea is to 'capture' or extract the 'spiritual essence' or 'signature' energetically of a substance -  Steiner seems to be saying he could see these things 'astrally', he had a habit of scribbling on a chalk board during the Ag lectures 

 

carbon

 

 

 

Moo-cow

 

 

the compost preps are made from combos of herbs and animal organs and parts - some people find this 'off' ...  but when one lives on a farm ... even one that does not eat or produce meat, animals die ..... why waste their hides, bones, etc. ? 

 

It also seems 'gruesome' to some - the organically pure 'non Ahrimanic' aura of the 'lab'  ... with blood and guts .

 

But guts are not 'gruesome' in nature .... in some cases they are delicious fertilisers.  ... so, thats enough warning.

 

Those are stag's bladders hanging in the tree, this preparation needs to 'cook' in the air and a light environment, they are filled with yarrow. 

 

Other preps are buried in the earth for cooking and maturing or ... one is left in a swamp where it can 'fecundate' and be exposed to periods of  under and out of water.   That one is oak bark packed inside a  fresh cow's  skull. 

 

[ I have to repeat this .... me and the Israeli guy at work had to make a whole batch of this (and the others)  for the coming years supply  ( we were the main suppliers for Australia ... and even people that make the manure preps do not want to make this! ) .... we  took the work ute down the coast to the abattoir and got a load of cow heads  ( the guys were nice .... they 'trimmed' them for us ) .  So now we are driving along with a ute full of cow heads in the back .... Israeli guy wants to stop for food , look at this, look at that , hey! let's go to the beach while we are here  

 

'Man ! the sun is on the cow heads ... we gotta get back to work - its 200km back up the coast. So we stop at a garage and start buying bags of ice and throwing them in the back ... the guy at the garage is       ....      ... and everyone we passed ... or stopped at ... then, of course, eventually, a police breatherlizer roadblock ....   

 

ahem, back on topic ...    here is the rest of them

 

http://biodynamics.net.au/about-biodynamics/what-are-the-biodynamic-preparations/

 

I have a thread around here somewhere showing how the 'unusual language' of some old alchemical writings can seem to be directly applicable to many BD practices.

 

Some poo-pooed it of course ,  but IMO there are some very clear comparisions.

 

I mean, people had a trick or two before the advent of artificial  fertilisers. BD is not wholly Steiner, some of it is very old farming practice ... like the stirring and adding clay to the water and sprinkling it around pastures in a homoeopathic dose (clay is the 'mediator' between the 500 / 501 :  summer / winter : fire / water :  mineral / manure polarity ....   the 'Mercurial mediator' between Mars and Venus ) ,  tonsanger  clay singer ... with  this process  you use a big barrel so you can stick your head over the opening; stir one way and sing a tome rising in notes, then the other way and descend the notes ... its fun too 

 

I am sure you are familiar with Victor ?  I think this article references clay singing

 

http://www.lightnet.co.uk/frontier/viktor.htm

 

this is a good one too - changing water structure for use in forest industry efficiency

 

http://watercalendar.com/2013/april/

[Apech]

Nungali,

 

That was one fucking weird post.  Thanks.

[Nungali]

Flattery will get you everywhere   

[blue eyed snake]

thanks, you know far more of it than I,

i'll have a look at the links you gave

 

it's my sister who had an organic farm, not me.

 

and last year i helped on the vineyard, helping them out and getting well at the same time.

When i feel better i will go back to that again, its a nice place! 

When they let me stir again i will see if i can hear the soundchange

[Nungali]

We did some chromatography on it as well;

 

 

 

 

http://www.biodynamics.in/chrom.htm

 

 

http://sustainablesmallholding.org/chromatography-soil-fertility-biodynamic-agriculture/

[Kaspar]

The Golden Chain of Homer hides the key to alchemical initiation.

[Rara]

The Golden Chain of Homer hides the key to alchemical initiation.

Awesome

[Brian]

Vorticity and helicity are strange and wonderful things.

[thelerner]

Lead to gold - any guide books out there?

I have such a book.  I am willing to lend it out for 1.25 Trillion dollars in gold or lead. 

[Brian]

Will you take a check?