The Quest for the Philosopher’s Stone

Spiritual Alchemy in the Middle Ages

Alchemy is a mysterious subject about which more is unknown than known, at least to the layman. In order to get a glimpse of the subject, one must sift through mountains of extraneous material, and then what he sees might still be a deception. This paper shall cover first the beginnings of alchemy and the difference between the spiritual and physical manifestations of alchemy. Secondly, there shall be a discussion of how alchemy came out of Gnostic beliefs, and how the Gnostics influenced numerous groups down through the centuries. Lastly, there shall be a discussion of how numerous spiritual groups and secret societies in the present had their beginnings in medieval alchemy or were descended from medieval groups.

When many people hear someone speaking of alchemy, the first thing that usually comes to mind is a picture of a charlatan or pseudo-scientist who seeks to transform lead into gold. Most see it as a form of study that was a relic of an earlier, more superstitious time, and that we have since grown beyond it. To a point they would be right, if that was all that alchemy ever was, but in truth alchemy was much more than that. Alchemy was and is used as a cloak for a set of spiritual beliefs and doctrines that go back to at least several centuries before the time of Christ, perhaps originating with the Zoroastrians in the eighth century B.C. [1]

The roots of alchemy lie with metalworkers. From early times, man has been obsessed and fascinated with precious metals such as gold and silver. Rev. R. Swinburne Clymer said that gold was representative of the end state sought in early alchemy, at least for the physical aspects. [2] Christopher McIntosh speaks of as strong of a mystique being attached to metalworkers as to alchemists, as mentioned by Mircea Eliade. He goes on to say:

-indeed in many cultures, the smith and the alchemist are the same person. In mythologies all over the world, there are smith deities…The work of the sacred metallurgist and the alchemist is everywhere based on the same concepts: a hierarchy of matter, a hidden perfection in nature, the pure waiting to be released from the impure. [3]

 Some modern groups who practice spiritual alchemy see Tubal-Cain, the son of Lamech, as the first alchemist since the Book of Genesis refers to him as being a master of working with metals. [4] According to the Book of Jasher, Tubal-Cain’s father killed him after he accidentally killed their forbear Cain. [5] Since some of these early metalworkers found that they could create alloys by mixing certain metals, many felt that the precious metals might themselves be alloys of more common base metals. It was believed by many that these metals could grow and develop just as a plant or animal grows and develops, except that with metals they felt that such growth could be manipulated by correct timing and pace by an alchemist. [6] Such knowledge, if discovered, would be quite lucrative to those who possessed it. This led many of the early alchemists to be as secretive about their work as their later counterparts. Alchemy taught that everything was made up of four elements. These were earth, air, fire, and water. [7]

Each of these elements was considered to be the opposite of another, and it was believed that all things were made by the interaction of these opposites, or “unity of opposites,” even that man himself was a combination of all of these elements. Paracelsus represented each of these elements with a creature known as an elemental, which was comprised of a single element. Paracelsus represented earth with the pygmy (or gnome), water with the nymph, air with the sylph, and fire with the salamander. [8]

To many, the spirituality of alchemy was the primal concern, even from the very beginning. Rev. R. Swinburne Clymer said of the origins:

The older Mysteries were dual in their object; that is to say, the Masters had two distinct purposes in view; it was a double doctrine. The first object was to draw man from his state of barbarity and civilize him and then take civilized man and instruct him toward his perfection; in other words, to lead man, who was universally believed to be lost or fallen, back to his first nature… The second object was to discover the means whereby gross matter could be raised to its first nature, which was lost to all but the very few. [9]

The two end states then are both spiritual and physical. The spiritual, however, is more important than the physical and must be the first and primary goal. “In the first division only the propensities were purified, the ‘man’ only was put through the crucible,” said Clymer. After this, “…the Neophyte was taught to search for that which led back to a new Golden Age, the Philosopher’s Stone of turning failure into success and the Elixir which not only prolongs life, but maintains health and well-being.” [10]

Spiritual Alchemy, then, is a quest to return man to his original state. The alchemist seeks to raise himself spiritually to the level of Adam in the Garden of Eden. John Granger of Peninsula College in Port Townsend, Washington, puts it this way:

Alchemy has been called stupid chemistry, fraud, witchcraft, and even a path into the subconscious mind. But for our purposes, alchemy can simply be defined as the transformation of something common into something special. If historians of religion and sacred art are to be believed (most notably, Titus Burckhardt and Mircea Eliade), alchemy was a spiritual path within the great revealed traditions to return man to his Edenic perfection. [11]

Clymer makes it clear that although physical alchemy was pursued, it was seen as something that could not be attempted until one mastered the spiritual aspects first. The two parts of mastery were divided into the Lesser Work and the Greater Work (his Magnum Opus). To achieve these works, man must master himself. Since man sought as the end result to bring himself into a closer relationship with God, it was believed that the best way to do this was to study man himself, since he was made in the image of God. According to Clymer:

To the Occult Initiates, the ancient injunction, Know thyself, as inscribed upon the temple of Apollo, attributed by some to Pythagoras, by others to the Greeks and yet by others to the Egyptians, was the ground and sum of all Wisdom. In this knowledge was found, as they believed, the knowledge of God, not that God is in man except as he is in all things, but the knowledge of God lies in the nature of man and not in the nature of any other thing in the universe. [12]

The beginning material, or the prima materia, was represented by lead. This was man in his basest form. The end goal was to bring this base or carnal man from the prima materia, transforming him through a Magnum Opus into gold, which is the Edenic state. There were three stages through which the alchemist was to pass in order to reach his exalted state, both in the Lesser Work and the Greater Work. The first stage of the Lesser Work is the nigredo, or black, stage. [13] This stage was also referred to as the dissolution stage, [14] and involved what the alchemists referred to as “mortification.” [15] Benner says of this:

This is the consciousness at its lowest stage of development. It relates to the thinking and passions of the material world, chaos. There is no understanding of spiritual things. The process needed to pass out of this stage is what the Alchemists called mortification, symbolized in the Bible by the death of the firstborn and the Passover of the Israelites. [16]

Alchemists taught that one of the ways in which an alchemist purifies himself is by abstaining from meat. Clymer said:

The spiritual reason for abstaining from the meat of warm-blooded animals may appear as a "dark mystery" to the profane, but we are not dealing with these. The present information is only for those seeking the Light and making an effort to become one with the Light. All Neophytes who have read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress are familiar with his animal symbols representing the carnal passions of man which must be subdued or transmuted to permit the Neophyte to advance spiritually. [17]

Many of the Gnostics also abstained from the eating of meat, and some other early Christian groups did as well, though perhaps not for the same reasons. The Apostle Paul said that Christians could abstain from meat that had been offered to idols so as not to give the wrong impression to other Christians, yet he made it clear that there was nothing wrong with eating meat. He said, “But meat commendeth us not to God: For neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak.” [18] The Apostle Peter was also told by God to eat animals that he considered unclean. He was told, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” [19]

The second stage of the Lesser Work is known as the gray stage. In this stage, according to Benner, the emotions are being elevated, so that in the final stage “…the carnal man is overcome and the elevated emotions or heart are free of the influence of the lower passions.” [20] The second stage is also known as sublimation, and has to do with the development of the soul’s receptivity, according to Benner. Once this is achieved the final stage can begin. The final stage is the white stage, also known as the albedo. “It follows the ablution, or washing,” says Granger, “which causes it to turn a brilliant white.” [21] The end result is silver, represented by the moon. Benner says of these stages:

This process is the spiritualization of the body. It is the result of faith. When completed, it is pure white; Luna; the glorified emotions or Heart, the feminine or Bride in the chemical marriage to come. Take special note of the symbols used in the process. In the first level the moon is beneath the cross, which represents man. This indicates that at this level, the emotions are subservient to the carnal man. In the second phase the moon is beside the cross, which indicates that the emotions are being elevated. Finally, in the third phase the carnal man is overcome and the elevated emotions or heart are free of the influence of the lower passions. [22]

An image that was representative of this raising of the man to a higher spiritual plane was that of Moses lifting the serpent on a pole. Since the serpent was generally seen as the lowest and basest form of life, they saw the lifting up of the serpent as being symbolic of the lifting up of man from his low, base existence to a higher state of being; one that was in communion with the Creator. Clymer said of the serpent illustration:

When this exaltation occurs, the serpent hitherto creeping in the dust of man’s debase nature is transformed into the Dove of Peace on the Tree of Life-symbolic of the Soul in its flight toward the infinite. Thus it is literally and dynamically true that, when the son of the flesh lifts up the serpent, the serpent changes both its nature and its form, becoming the Dove of Light, the Soul in Illumination, the Winged Globe-a perfect sphere; and thus it is, that the baptism by the Spirit, the flight into the realms of heaven, is attained. [23]

Once the lesser work was accomplished, the Initiate could move on to the Greater Work. There were three stages of the Magnum Opus, just as there were to the Lesser Work. The first of these was the yellow, which progressed to the orange, and then the red [24] or rubedo, a common symbol of which is a red lion. [25]

The yellow stage, represented by the symbol for copper, is the stage in which the man makes his first contact with the Holy Spirit. Benner said of this:

The Alchemists called this process crystallization. It is the birth of the Christ, the rising of the inward sun, which is only possible after the preparation of the Lesser Work. [26]

The yellow preparatory stage makes the Initiate ready for the orange stage. During this stage, represented by the symbol for iron, spiritual forces penetrate the body. This is known as coagulation. [27] This is the final preparation for the Initiate before reaching the apex of his spiritual journey.

Once the orange stage is reached, one can concentrate all his energies on reaching the final, or rubedo, stage. This stage is represented by the symbol for gold, and represents the completion of the spirit’s embodiment within the soul. Benner calls this the highest level of the intellect or masculine. She adds that the Sun or Spirit has now incorporated all aspects of the lower, material intellect. This is the red; the fire. The completion of the process is the Baptism by Fire, which is the Bridegroom and is symbolized in the Bible by the resurrection. Throughout the process and guiding it is the Will, represented by the symbol for Mercury, or Thoth. This symbol contains both the feminine Moon, horizontally across the top, the masculine Sun, in the middle, and a cross, which is one of the symbols for man, at the base. The implication is that Will is a combination of Thought and Desire. The sign of Mercury doesn't represent a stage of the work but is a key to the whole. There are seven planets represented, which are those that were known to the ancients, but there are six phases of the work. [28]

Granger calls the final stage the recongealing or perfection stage. Quoting Lyndy Abraham’s Alchemical Imagery, Granger says of this stage:

The purified matter is now ready to be reunited with the spirit (or the already united spirit and soul). With the fixation, crystallization or embodiment of the eternal spirit, form is bestowed upon the pure, but as yet formless, matter of the Stone. At this union, the supreme chemical wedding, the body is resurrected into eternal life. As the heat of the fire is increased, the divine red tincture flushes the white stone with its rich, red colour…The reddening of the white matter is also frequently likened to staining with blood. [29]

Having established what the stages of alchemy are, the goal now becomes tracing the origins of the teachings of alchemy.

Alchemy was practiced in the Far East from early times, but of more lasting importance to the Western tradition was a figure from Egypt called Hermes Trismegistus. Many have confused this individual with the Greek messenger god, and there is much speculation that he did not even exist or was a composite of several individuals, but at least forty-two alchemical works are attributed to him. His followers became known as Hermeticists and to his followers he might as well have been a deity. Some scholars have suggested that he may indeed have been a combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. [30] Whatever the truth of Trismegistus’ existence, there can be little doubt but that the writings attributed to him were greatly influenced by Gnostic beliefs.

The Gnostics were followers of the cosmology of Heraclitus of Ephesus, who was a Stoic Greek philosopher. Heraclitus taught that the universe was constantly dying and being reborn, a belief that is echoed by the secular humanist “Big Bang” theory today. A picture of a snake biting its own tail often represented the cycle of creation described by Heraclitus.  [31] This picture was often used by alchemists, and interestingly enough was also used by the novelist Robert Jordan to represent a cycle of creation he called the “Wheel of Time” in a fantasy book series of the same name. [32]

Another symbol of this duality, which has also been used by the alchemists, is the cadeucus. This is a variation of the snake on a staff that has already been mentioned. Benner says of this:

Sometimes the representation is that of two serpents; one red and one white. The red relates to the Masculine, Sol, and the white to the feminine, Luna. The two intertwined up the staff represent the harmonious union and balance of the opposites or dualities. They are always headed up the staff to indicate that they have been lifted up and spiritualized. [33]

The Gnostics tried to infiltrate the early Christian church and use it to spread their teachings. They were successful in attracting many followers, but were opposed by the Christian mainstream. In the third century, a group of Gnostics known as Manicheans became somewhat prominent, and even converted the young St. Augustine to their cause during his youth. He later compared their doctrines to the food one eats while dreaming. It seems real in the dream, he said, but a person is not fed with it because it is fantasy. [34]

Some of the alchemical knowledge of the Gnostic/Hermetic sects may have been preserved by a group known as the Nestorians following the splitting of the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman world. The Nestorians were persecuted in the Byzantine Empire, and many fled to Persia [35] and even as far away as China, where there may have been some mixing of their ideas with those of earlier Chinese alchemists. The Nestorians were almost totally wiped out by the Muslims after their rise to power, [36] but many of their alchemical ideas seem to have been used by the Muslims. Much of this may have been passed on to mystical Islamic sects such as the Sufis, however even though the Sufis shared many aspects of the Gnostic and Hermetic beliefs, they tended to shy away from the dualism that was inherent in those traditions.

Another group that was likely influenced by the Hermetic and Gnostic groups was the Jewish Cabbalists, though most Cabbalists believe that the study of the Cabbala has been around since at least the time of the Patriarchs, and was suppressed by the Sanhedrin. One group that may have been an early version of the Cabbalists was the Essenes. The Essenes were essentially a Jewish Gnostic sect. Josephus mentions the defenders of Masada as being Zealots, yet if one studies the wording of the speeches given by Eleazar, the leader of the Masada defenders, it seems likely that they were not Zealots but Essenes and hence Gnostics. [37]

The rebirth of alchemy in Western Europe seems to have taken place shortly after the First Crusade, and it seems likely that returning Crusaders brought it there. One common theory is that the order of the Knights Templar was involved, though there are numerous other possibilities. Many believe that the Templars were heavily involved in alchemy and mysticism, and there is no denying that their meetings were held in secret in the same manner as the Gnostics, but this alone does not confirm their involvement. One thing that does seem to be telling, though, is the fact that they had many friends among the mystical Islamic sects, including the Hashishim. Whether the Hashishim were themselves alchemists is unclear. They were mostly known of as drug taking assassins (in fact, we get the word “assassin” from this group), but they were also shrouded in mystery and it would not be entirely surprising to find that they had connections to the Sufis and other Islamic mystics who practiced the Gnostic and Hermetic mysteries as well as alchemy.

On Friday, October 13, 1307, members of the Knights Templar all across France (where they were most prominent at the time) were arrested. Some were killed outright, but others were tortured and forced to confess to numerous crimes. Most of these “confessions” were probably made just to avoid further pain, but one thing that many confessed to is very intriguing. Many confessed that in their rituals the Templar Knights worshipped “Baphomet”. It was believed by many at the time that “Baphomet” was either a false god or that it was a corruption of “Mohammed,” and that the Muslims had subverted the Knights Templar. A problem with this is that the Knights Templar were also believed to have used the image of a human head in their rituals, and this would not fit in with Islamic teachings.

In the 1980’s, Hugh Schonfield, a researcher who had worked with the Dead Sea scrolls, put another theory forward. Schonfield believed he had found a cipher based on the Hebrew alphabet, known as the Atbash substitution cipher. [38] By grouping the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet in two columns of eleven letters, one could encipher anything by switching each letter to the one next to it in the opposite column. Schonfield showed that if the word Baphomet was written with Hebrew characters and was then put through the Atbash cipher, the result was the word “Sophia.” [39] Sophia means “wisdom” in Greek, but perhaps more significantly it is a word that was commonly used by the Gnostics to refer to the so-called “divine feminine.”

Many people are confused by the term “divine feminine.” Some see it as simply goddess worship in the same vein as the worship of Aphrodite, Ishtar, or one of various other pagan goddesses. In reality, it is simply a term to refer to the female half of the divine. One of the concepts integral to the study of alchemy is what is referred to as the “unity of opposites.” This worldview, which could perhaps best be described as a form of pantheism, sees the universe and God as synonymous, rather than separate as in the traditional Judeo-Christian worldview. This concept of a duality of nature is common to many cultures of antiquity. The Chinese refer to it as the yin yang, and the symbol that is commonly used for this is even on the South Korean flag. The Zoroastrians of ancient Persia taught that a single creator called Ahura Mazda created the universe. Morality, however, was split in a dualism between Spenta Mainyu, representing progressive mentality, and Angra Mainyu representing evil or a repressive mentality. [40] The Jewish Cabbalists also taught and still teach that God has both male and female halves or attributes. Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame, a student of the Cabbala, said of the so-called “Vulcan” hand gesture and its relation to the Cabbala:

…this, of course, I introduced into Star Trek as a Vulcan greeting, but it actually comes from a religious experience I had when I was about eight or nine years old in the synagogue during the high holiday services when the priest of the Hebrew tribes, they’re called Cohanim, blessed the congregation…and it took me a long time to find out why you’re not supposed to look. I asked this question of our Rabbi, it must have been eight or nine years ago, and he said “You’re not supposed to look because the belief is that when they say that prayer and they use that gesture they are summoning the Shekhinah, which is the feminine aspect of God, and she comes into the sanctuary to bless the congregation… [41]

The Shekhinah is mentioned in the Old Testament, but is not mentioned as being feminine. The Shekhinah is referred to simply as the glory of God which filled the Tabernacle and later the Temple. The Cabbalists, however, do teach the Shekhinah to be the female aspect of God. The Cabbalists also teach that evil, called Sitra Ahra or the Other Side, comes from God just as good does. [42] The idea of a female half to God, as taught by Cabbala, is echoed in the Gnostic doctrine of the Sophia. The Gnostic Sophia is considered to be the feminine aspect of Christ, and is often represented in their writings in the form of Mary Magdalene.

In much of the writings known of as the Gnostic Gospels, the focus is on the person of Mary Magdalene. Instead of being a follower of Christ, the Gnostics believe she was his lover, that they had a child, and that this “holy bloodline” could even exist today. They believe that Jesus, instead of being the literal Son of God, was a Gnostic teacher who taught a path of enlightenment to his disciples. The Gnostics also looked with doubt on the resurrection of Christ. Elaine Pagels says:

But the gnostic Christians rejected Luke’s theory. Some gnostics called the literal view of resurrection the “faith of fools.” The resurrection, they insisted, was not a unique event in the past: instead, it symbolized how Christ’s presence could be experienced in the present. What mattered was not literal seeing, but spiritual vision. [43]

The Apostle Paul vehemently opposed such a view. Even during his ministry the Gnostics were starting to spread within the church, and he attacked them head on. In his first epistle to the Corinthians he said:

Now if it be preached, that Christ is risen from the dead, how say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead? For if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith also is vain…For if the dead be not raised, then is Christ not raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins. And so they which are asleep in Christ, are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable. [44]

The Gnostics did not see Christ as a person. To the Gnostic, the Christos was a divine spark present in all men, which the Adepts sought to bring to the surface. Clymer said, “In this new age we will know this perfected inner life as the Christification of the Soul; the personification of the soul as the Christisis.” [45]

This focus on dualism, the rejection of the resurrection, and a striving to attain a higher spiritual level was passed down through the centuries to various groups, as has been seen. After the destruction of the Knights Templar the story becomes a bit more muddled. Some believe and teach that the legacy of the Templar Knights was passed on through a group known of as the Priory of Sion. Although there is some doubt as to whether this group actually exists or ever existed, or whether it was the creation of Pierre Plantard, it is believed by some scholars that if it did exist, that it probably was in existence at the same time as the Knights Templar, and that it existed within the organization. According to William of Tyre, the Order was founded in 1118, but there may be evidence that it was in existence several years prior to this. Another interesting thing of note is that there had been a school for the study of the Cabbala at Troyes, the court of the count of Champagne (who was one of the early members of the Order). Furthermore, three of the nine founding members came from the same region of France. It seems, then, that the Order of the Knights Templar may have been involved in views that the church would see as heretical from the very beginning. [46]

Nicholas Flamel, the fourteenth century French alchemist of great fame, claimed to have found a book containing the secrets of the Cabbala known as the Book of Abraham the Jew, and sought for years to make sense of it. As Flamel tells it, he eventually found a man who taught him the secrets of the book. [47] The legend says that Flamel then was able to use the secrets to create the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life and then obtain immortality. This probably means simply that he became an Initiate Master and was seen as having traveled further along the alchemical path than his contemporaries. Some believe that he was actually the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. [48]

Many alchemists of this time period stressed the physical aspects of alchemy to such a point that many saw it as simply a quest to turn lead to gold, and this was by design, for the alchemists did not want their true teachings to be public lest they face the persecution the church was bound to bring against them. Many swindlers began using the so-called art of alchemy to carry off frauds and cheat others out of their money. In The Prologe of the Chanouns Yemannes Tale of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the Canon’s Yeoman talks of how they swindle people out of their gold by pretending to do alchemy:

For evere we lakken oure conclusioun

To muchel folk we doon illusioun,

And borwe gold, be it a pound or two,

Or ten, or twelve, or manye sommes mo,

And make hem wenen, at the leeste weye,

That of a pound we koude make tweye. [49]

Many early Freemasons, particularly of Scottish rite, saw themselves as carrying on the traditions of the Knights Templar. Many of the Templar rites and rituals were incorporated as rituals and rites within the Freemason organization. [50] These rituals continued within the organization of the Rosicrucian Order. The first writing that showed the existence of this order was published in 1614, and was called Fama Fraternitatis, Deß löblichen Ordens des Rosenkreutzes (The Declaration of the Worthy Order of the Rosy Cross). The Rosicrucian tracts Confessio Fraternitatis and Die Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreutz (The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz) followed this document in short order in 1615 and 1616 respectively. [51]

In The Chemical Wedding, the title character, ostensibly the founder of the Order, is introduced to various aspects of hermetic knowledge and lore by a character known as Virgo Lucifera, [52] a name that seems to be a variation of Lucifer or Satan. Some may find it strange that a group seeking to bring man closer to God would glorify the name of Lucifer, but it must be remembered that the Gnostics believe that the divine spark resides within man himself, and that knowledge is the key to achieving this godhood. Lucifer is therefore admired by the Gnostics for giving man the knowledge of good and evil. Lynn Picknett said:

Their sympathy for the Fallen One was similar to the ancient Greeks’ admiration for Prometheus…who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mankind…Admiring this altruistic anti-hero, and seeing in him true Luciferanism, Gnostic icons depicted Prometheus creating the first man out of clay- according to the Greek legend. Perhaps they saw behind the myth, for, like Lucifer, Prometheus, who gave Man the ‘fire’ of intelligence, was ultimately the loser. [53]

There seem to be links between the Rosicrucian Order and that of the Freemasons. Several degrees of the Scottish rite are part of the Rose Croix Chapter, and within that chapter the Scottish rite Mason of the 18th Degree is called a “Knight of the Rose Croix.” [54]

There are several different Masonic groups throughout the world today, and most consider themselves to have roots with the Templar Knights, though some claim earlier roots. [55] The Freemasons and the Order of the Rosy Cross are only two of the many groups that have roots in medieval alchemy; Another is the Transhumanists. The Transhumanists seek the same end result as the medieval alchemist using science as the means to reach it. Transhumanists teachings include the idea of the aura, which is similar to the Christosis approach of the Hermetic alchemist, except that the aura is described as being an energy field surrounding the body. In the late 1930’s a method was believed to have been discovered to photograph the aura of a person, and this was called the Kirlian photograph, but many remain skeptical, maintaining that the “aura” seen using this method is just “ultraviolet radiation arcing between the instrument, photographic plate, and subject.” [56]

Alchemy still has many secrets, and some may be lost to antiquity, but it has influenced history in a major way. From the Zoroastrians and Ancient Chinese, to the Muslim Sufis, to the Templars, Rosicrucians, Freemasons, and Transhumanists, alchemy has been a source of hidden knowledge for which its followers might have been killed had the authorities known of it. The quest for the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life was not a literal path to wealth and immortality as in popular fiction. It was instead an esoteric path to enlightenment, and a hidden secret.

[1] Rev. Bette Jo Benner, The Four Elements, 1999. http://www.denverspiritualcommunity.org/Wisdom/Alchemy.htm#anchor25049

[2] Rev. R. Swinburne Clymer, Hermetic Science and the Alchemical Process, 1938. http://www.denverspiritualcommunity.org/Wisdom/HermeticScience1.htm#anchor10479

[3] Christopher McIntosh, The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order (York Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998), 53-54

[4] Benner, The Four Elements.

[5]Anonymous,  The Book of Jasher (Muskogee: Artisan Publishers, 1988), 5.

[6] Peter Marshall, The Philosopher’s Stone: A Quest for the Secrets of Alchemy (London: Pan Books, 2001), 30.

[7] Benner, The Four Elements.

[8] Philip Ball, The Devil’s Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006), 305-307

[9] Clymer, Hermetic Science.

[10] Ibid.

[11] John Granger, Looking For God in Harry Potter: Is there Christian meaning hidden in the bestselling books? (Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005), 25-26.

[12] Clymer, Hermetic Science.

[13] Granger, Looking For God in Harry Potter, 30.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Rev. Bette Jo Benner, The Chemical Marriage, 1999. http://www.denverspiritualcommunity.org/Wisdom/Alchemy.htm#anchor1708653

[16] Ibid.

[17] Rev. R. Swinburne Clymer, The Benefits of a Non-Meat Diet, 1946. http://www.denverspiritualcommunity.org/Wisdom/NonMeatDiet.htm#anchor1230923

[18] The Holy Bible, I Corinthians 8:1-13

[19] Ibid., Acts 10:15

[20] Rev. Bette Jo Benner, The Lesser and Greater Work, 1999. http://www.denverspiritualcommunity.org/Wisdom/Alchemy.htm#anchor625194

[21] Granger, Looking For God in Harry Potter, 30.

[22] Benner, The Lesser and Greater Work.

[23] Rev. R. Swinburne Clymer, The Hidden Teachings of the Initiate Masters, 1957. http://www.denverspiritualcommunity.org/Wisdom/HiddenTeachingsChpt8.htm

[24] Benner, The Lesser and Greater Work.

[25] Granger, Looking For God in Harry Potter, 31.

[26] Benner, The Chemical Marriage.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Ibid.

[29] Granger, Looking For God in Harry Potter, 31.

[30] McIntosh, The Rosicrucians, 3

[31] Ibid., 2.

[32] Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World (London: Orbit Books, 1990), 27.

[33] Rev. Bette Jo Benner, The Androgynous Man, 1999. http://www.denverspiritualcommunity.org/Wisdom/Alchemy.htm#anchor3083560

[34] Augustine, trans. John K. Ryan, The Confessions of Saint Augustine (New York: Doubleday, 1960), 82-83.

[35] John Emsley, The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 3.

[36] Robert Spencer, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And The Crusades) (Washington: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2005), 166-169.

[37] Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail (New York: Delacorte Press, 1982), 349-350.

[38] Henry Lincoln, interview from The Knights Templar (New York: A&E Television Networks, The History Channel, 2005).

[39] Stephen Pincock, Codebreaker: The History of Codes and Ciphers, from the Ancient Pharaohs to Quantum Cryptography (New York: Walker & Company, 2006), 30-31.

[40] http://www.zarathushtra.com/z/article/overview.htm

[41] Leonard Nimoy, interview from Life Beyond Trek: Leonard Nimoy (Hollywood: Paramount Pictures, 2004).

[42] Daniel C. Matt, The Essential Kabbalah (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publisher, 1995), 8.

[43] Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (New York: Vintage Books, 1979), 11.

[44] The Holy Bible, I Corinthians 15: 12-14; 16-19

[45] Rev. R. Swinburne Clymer, The Power of Christisis Within, 1945. http://www.denverspiritualcommunity.org/Wisdom/ChristisisLesson1.htm

[46] Baigent, Lee and Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, 59-60.

[47] Nicholas Flamel, Hieroglyphical Figures: Concerning both the Theory and Practice of the Philosopher’s Stone (London: Eagle and Child in Britans Bursse, 1624), 3-8.

[48] Baigent, Lee and Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, 104.

[49] Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992), 497.

[50] Baigent, Lee and Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, 52.

[51] McIntosh, The Rosicrucians, xviii-xix.

[52] Johann Valentin Andreae, Die Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreutz, 1616. http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta40.htm

[53] Lynn Picknett, The Secret History of Lucifer: And the meaning of the true Da Vinci code (New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2005), 28-29.

[54] http://www.scottishrite.org/prospectives/aboutsr.html

[55] http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Freemasonry

[56] C.E. Lindgren, Capturing the Aura: Integrating Science, Technology, and Metaphysics (Nevada City: Blue Dolphin Publishing, 2000), 17-21.