Christian Alchemy: Christ the Stone
Johannes Tritheim
CONTENTS
God is the all-essential and hidden Fire in all things, especially in living things. That Fire generates all things. It has generated them, and will generate them in the future, and that which is generated is the true divine light through all eternity. God is a Fire; but no fire can burn, and no light appear within nature without the addition of air to cause the combustion, and likewise the Holy Spirit in you must act as a divine Air or breath or inspiration, coming out of the divine Fire and fanning the Fire within your soul, so that the Light will appear, for the Light must be nourished by the Fire, and this Light is love and gladness and joy within the eternal deity.
In Christianity, this Light is Christ, having emanated from eternity through God. He who does not have this Light of consciousness within himself is in the Fire without Light and lives in darkness and hellfire. But if the Light is in a person, then is divine consciousness in him or her, and takes form in him or her. Such a person will recognize that Light as it exists in nature. All manifested things are in their interior Fire and Light, wherein is hidden the essence of the spirit. Therefore, all things are a trinity of Fire, Light, and Air. In other words, the Great Spirit, the father, is a divine super-essential Light; the Light having become manifest; the Holy Spirit is a divine super-essential Air and motion. The Fire resides within the heart and sends its rays through the whole body of man, causing it to live; but no light is born from the Fire without the presence of the spirit of holiness from which it sprang.
So all things have been made by the power of the divine Word, which is the divine spirit or breath that emanated from the divine fountain in the Beginning. This breath is the universal spirit and is called the Spiritus Mundi. It was at first like Air, then contracted into a fog or nebular substance and afterwards became Water. This Water was at first all spirit and life, because it was permeated by and made alive by the spirit. It was dark in its depths, but through the outspoken Word, Light became generated therein, and then the darkness was illumined by the Light, and the soul of the world (the Anima Mundi) had its beginning. This spiritual Light, which we call Nature or the soul of the world, is a spiritual body, which by means of alchemy can be made tangible and visible. But since it exists in an invisible state, therefore is it called spirit.
This is a universal and living fluid diffused throughout all of Nature that pervades all beings. It is the most subtle of all substances and the most powerful on account of its inherent qualities, penetrating all bodies and causing the manifested forms in which it is active to become alive. By its action, it frees the forms of imperfections and renders the impure pure, the imperfect perfect, and causes that which is mortal to become immortal by becoming fixed therein.
This essence or spirit has emanated front the center in the Beginning and is incorporated into the substance of which the world is formed. It is the “Salt of the Earth” and without its presence, the grass would not grow nor the fields be green; and the more this essence is condensed, concentrated, and coagulated in the manifested forms, the more enduring will they became. This substance is the most subtle of all things — incorruptible, unchangeable in its essence, pervading the infinity of space. The sun and the planets are merely condensed states of this universal principle, and they distribute their abundance from their throbbing hearts and send them into the forms of the lower worlds and into all beings, acting through their own centers and leading the forms higher up on the read to perfection. The forms in which this living principle becomes fixed become perfect and permanent, so that they will neither rust nor decay nor be changed on being exposed to the Air; neither can such forms be dissolved by Water, nor be destroyed by Fire, nor eaten up by the matter of Earth.
This spirit ran be obtained in the same manner in which it is communicated to the earth by the stars; and this takes place by means of Water, which serves as its vehicle. It is not the Philosopher’s Stone, although the latter may be prepared from it by causing that which is volatile to became fixed. “I admonish you to pay strict attention to the boiling of this Water, and not to allow your mind to be disturbed by things of minor importance. Boil it slowly, and let it putrefy until it attains the proper color, for in the Water of Life is contained the germ of wisdom. By the art of boiling, the Water will became transformed into Earth. This Earth is to be changed into a pure crystalline fluid, from which an excellent red Fire is produced. But this Water and Fire, grown together into one essence, produces the great Panacea, composed of both meekness and strength: the Lamb and the Lion united in one. The Lapis of the alchemists, the Philosopher’s Stone, is the Son of God
The Tablets of Moses
The creation of the Biblical tablets was an alchemical event in which the Word of God was written in matter.
But are the Ten Commandments that have been passed down to us really an exoteric interpretation in terms of Man’s law?
According to some sources, the original Emerald Tablet was given to Miriam, the sister of Moses, who hid it in the Ark of the Covenant.
Psalm 19
(The Alchemical Psalm)
1: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2: Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3: There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4: Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5: Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6: His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7: The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8: The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9: The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10: More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11: Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12: Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13: Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer
