What is the Goal of an Alchemist?
Elsewhere in the website, all the previous studies and workings in Alchemy have been described, up to the present time. There were a lot of things that needed saying however, that didn’t fit into the context previously, for instance, what would one be looking for that would motivate them to the study of Alchemy? Most people think of Alchemists as "gold makers", probably because of the great Masters testimonies as to the transmutation abilities of the Philosophers Stone.
Those reports seem so sincere that they motivate us to press on with the study and practice of Alchemy. But we see the transmutation as not the end of the work, just as the proof of the Universal Medicine. This is the main reason for our quest, as you will see.
That which we look for is not the transmutation of Mercury or Lead as described by Philalethes or Flamel in the Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King and in Le Brèviére. In this day and age, it would only make sense to make the Gold in great amounts as Flamel describes in Le Brèviére, or in a way that makes Alchemy a fact of science.
«So, if you intend to do a lot of gold, dear nephew, what it is never advisable for the that can bring of inconience and damage damage, puts a hundred thousand ounces of the quicksilver in an iron big boiler to strong fire. When it is hot to fume, has already been prepared an ounce of scarlet powder of the fourth imbibition, involves it with wax as a small ball and throws it on the said fumed quicksilver. The fume will disappear quickly. Activate the fire and soon it will change, part in mass and part powdered of yellow gold, that you will melt in a crucible. You will drain on mass or ingot and you will extract of this whole mercury about 99.170 ounces of pure gold, of unbeatable quality, that will use as you find better. Here are you, dear nephew, much richer than all the kings, because you will possess more than they and than they can dispose in its entire mundane kingdom. But you don't produce gold or else little by little, with prudence, without revealing anything to anybody and without trusting never to the other ones.»
Make a transmutation with 100.000 ounces (3.300 kg) of Mercury? I am not able to comment on this because we don’t really know what happened then, and have no way to believe in what Flamel wrote. It seems to be an exaggeration, but it would be very difficult to check out the truthfulness of this statement as it was written.
Such an amount of gold, at that time, would have been very difficult to pass undetected, and the owner of it would be facing many dangers including capital punishment – as Philalethes tells us in the Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King, chapter XIII:
«Men are so eager to have this Medicine that your very caution will arouse their suspicious, and endanger your safety. Again, if you desire to sell any large quantity of your gold and silver, you will be unable to do so without imminent risk of discovery. The very fact that anyone has a great mass of bullion for sale would in most places excite suspicion. This feeling will be strengthened when people test the quality of our gold; for it is much finer and purer that any of the gold which is brought from Barbary, or from Guinea Coast; and our silver is better even than that which in conveyed home by the Spanish silver fleet. If, in order to baffle discovery, you mix these precious metals with alloy, you render yourself liable, in England and Holland at least, to capital punishment; for in those countries no one is permitted to tamper with the precious metals, except the officers of the mint, and the licensed goldsmiths.»
These days, gold can be sold in small ingots without this sort of problem. As long as it has been duly analyzed and certified as to its purity, there will always be an interested buyer.
To illustrate, I once wanted to sell a little over 250 grams of gold (in nuggets) that was purchased in Angola around the time of its independence. I went to a shop that was recommended to me, but I was told that they could not buy it until it had been analyzed for its purity, and gave me a reference to a firm that could do this. I was able to personally help an employee there melt the gold with gas and oxy-acetylene torches.
He put the nuggets into a small crucible and applied the heat for 20 minutes or more. When it was melted completely, it emitted a dry, cracking sound. I thought this to be quite wonderful, and asked why it did this, he answered: "it is the song of purity fine gold sings when melted". It was truly beautiful to see and hear.
When it was well liquefied, he poured it carefully into small moulds to prepare ingots. After it was cooled, he weighed it minutely in my presence and gave me a document, certifying its purity, in that he was qualified to do so. The other day I found the certificate, the gold was reckoned at 99.8%, just two tenths of a percent from pure gold.
I went back to the previous shop to sell it, and the proprietor (apparently quite a profiteer) said that he would buy it to do me a favor. I did a little calculation on his offer, and knew that he was really trying to take advantage of me. I told him that he needed to pay me the market price, discounted by the two tenths of a percent. He quickly considered that I must be ‘inside the business’ and agreed to the price. He did, however, want to pay me in bank notes, which are a bit dangerous when traveling – but after some discussion on the matter, I got him to pay by check. This increased his admiration, because he usually bought gold from people who are in need of fast money, but this was not my case.
I just told this story to let you know how these days, you can always find a buyer, if you just go through the formality of certification, and have proper identification.
In the case of the modern Alchemist, it would just not make sense to make gold by transmutation, because the Philosophers Stone has other much more interesting characteristics, and is actually more valuable than gold.
Let us see how Fulcanelli describes those characteristics in Dwellings of the Philosophers, Archive Press, page 137 and 138:
«The masters of the art teach us that the goal of their labours is triple. What they seek to realize first is the universal Medicine or the actual philosopher's stone. Obtained in a saline form, whether multiplied or not only be used for the healing of human illness, preservation of health, and growth of plants. Soluble in any alcoholic liquid, its solution takes the name of Aurum Potabile (although it does not even contain the lest atom of gold) because it assumes a magnificent yellow colour. Its healing value and the diversity of its in therapeutics make it a precious auxiliary in the treatment of grave and incurable ailments. It has no action on metals, except on gold and silver, on which it fixes itself and to which it bestows its own properties, which, consequently, becomes of no use for transmutation.»
«Finally, if we ferment the solid, universal Medicine with very pure gold or silver, through direct fusion, we obtain the Powder of Projection, third form of stone. It is a translucent mass, red or with according to the chose metal, pulverizable, and appropriate only to metallic transmutation.»
Here then, we see in the writings of a modern Master that they, and probably our old Masters, did not see gold as the main purpose. Their search was for the Universal Medicine that would allow a human being to live in perfect health and extend the lifespan.
Today, with the degradation of the environment and rampant disease, this Universal Medicine would be more valuable than all the gold in the world!
Rubellus Petrinus