Frater Albertus - Alchemist%27s Handbook.pdf - ezoteryka - leakk

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

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Drei NoveIlen (German) 1932

The Alchemist's Handbook-First Edition 1960

From One to Ten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. 1966

Praxis Spagyrica Philosophica

1966

The Seven Rays of the Q.B.L.-First Edition

1968

Praetische Alchemie irn Zwanzigsten Jahrundert

1970

(Practical Alchemy in the 20th Century-German)

Der Mensch und die kosmischen Zyklen (German)

1971

(Manual for Practical Laboratory Alchemy)

Men and the Cycles of the Universe

1971

Von Eins bis Zehn (From One to Ten-German)

1972

El Hombre y los Ciclos del Universo (Spanish)

1972

Die Sieben Strahlen der Q.B.L.

1973

(The Seven Rays of the Q.B.L.-German)

FRATER ALBERTUS

SAMUEL WEISER

New York

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface to the First Edition

Preface to the Second Revised Edition

Chapter I

Introduction to Alchemy

Chapter 11

The Lesser Circulation

Chapter III

The Herbal Elixir

Chapter IV

Medicinal Uses

Chapter V

Herbs and Stars

Chapter VI

Symbols in Alchemy

Chapter VII

Wisdom of the Sages

Conclusion

Alchemical Manifesto

Samuel Weiser, Inc.

740 Broadway

New York, N.Y. 10003

First Published 1960

Revised Edition 1974

Third Printing 1978

Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.

ISBN 0 87728 181 5

100

120

ILLUSTRATIONS

Printed in U.S.A. by

NOBLE OFFSET PRINTERS, INC.

NEW YORK, N.Y. 10003

On the Way to the Temple

Soxhlet Extractor

Basement Laboratory

Essential Equipment

Qabalistic Tree of Life

Alchemical Signs

ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING AT PARACELSUS RESEARCH SOCIETY

... out of the mists of doubt and despair emerge the twelve symbolic human types.

On their way to the temple of wisdom, to receive their initiation into the mysteries,

are they contemplating the new responsibilities awaiting them. It is the beginning of

a new phase of life eternal is The entry into the Sanctum Sanctorum Spiritii of the

Alchemists. . . .

FOREWORD

metals and the elimination of sickness and disease from the human

race, but he affirmed that Alchemy as Science and Art provided both

a means to synthesize all the other sciences and a training of the

intellectual and spiritual faculties.

The fascination that Alchemy has always held over mankind has

surely been tainted in that rarely were there higher institutions of

learning where promising students might study the ancient Art. Or

where the proper techniques and methods might be learned as with

other arts and sciences. No doubt, after the manner of the mysterious

seventeenth century Rosicrucians, individual disciples were selected

and trained by a master alchemist. We know that they had assistants

and apprentices-for who would have kept the fires stoked in the

furnaces, and washed the unending stream of glass and clay utensils

employed in calcining, separating and distilling? Or who would have

done all the thousand and one menial things that are so easily per-

formed today that we barely have to think about them? But whether

or not these assistants were ever encouraged to learn or to acquire

the requisite disciplines and procedures-this is problematical.

In the vast literature on the subject, there is nothing that I have

ever found that even pretended to demonstrate fundamental principles.

Traditional alchemy, with its emphasis on piety, secrecy and allegory,

is admittedly obscure. Over the years, I have met many men who

could talk a good line about alchemy, but nothing practical ever

emerged from them. Nor did anyone volunteer to demonstrate its

basic truths in a laboratory or over the kitchen stove. Not one-until

I met the author of this Manual some years ago. Not one-until I read

the first limited edition of this Manual which literally is worth its

weight in gold.

Incidentally, a few years ago I wrote something in recommendation

of this manual, yet expressing criticism of its literary style, its form

of expression, the innumerable typographical errors. This was silly

and arrogant. For even if, theoretically, the book were written in the

worst possible style, it would still be unique and a genuine masterpiece.

Had it not been written and published, we would be the losers by

far. It teaches with clarity, simplicity and accuracy the technical

means whereby the lesser circulation may be accomplished. It should

be a revelation to those who have not previously been introduced to

this method of dealing with herbs. The Great Work is said to be

This is the age of "how to do it" books. There is one on almost any

subject you can think of. Since they fill a variety of needs, they have

proven a boon. From them you can learn to paint, sew, plant a herb

garden, build a brick barbecue in the backyard, become an interior

decorator, and re-wire your own home. Almost every imaginable topic

has been covered by these books. So if you assumed that this Manual

falls in this category, you would be right-save for the simple fact

that it is a great deal more.

Alchemy has exerted a strange fascination over mankind for cen-

turies. The underlying philosophical theorem was that if the Divine

Will had originally acted upon the prima materia to produce the

precious metals and all else, why should not the alchemist-purified

in mind and body, and an expert in the then known laboratory

techniques-seek to emulate the same natural process in a shorter

span of time? One has only to read a good history of chemistry,

or to peruse a little of the vast alchemical literature, to become

aware of its awful seductiveness. Men have left homes and families,

squandered fortunes, incurred sickness and disease, gambled away

prestige, social and other positions in quest of the goals perceived in

the alchemical dream-longevity, perfect health, and the ability to

transmute base metals into gold.

One must not be deluded by superficialities here. The alchemical

adepts were patently dedicated and God-fearing men, holding the

highest spiritual ideals conceivable. It is too bad more practitioners

of the art did not perceive these goals.

Only recently, a journalist wrote that the Paracelsus Research

Society which sponsors this Manual, offered to teach alchemy in

two weeks. How could one be so myopic? Or illiterate?

In the early fourteenth century, Bonus of Ferrara spoke of Alchemy

as "the key of all good things, the Art of Art, the Science of Sciences."

Not only was the alchemist to be concerned with the purification of

Frater Albertus - Alchemist%27s Handbook.pdf

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