Hegel’s Dialectics

The basic tenets of alchemy:

1. The universe has a divine origin. The cosmos is an emanation of One God. Therefore All is One.

2. Everything in the physical world exists by virtue of the Law of Polarity or Duality. Any idea can be defined in relation to its opposite, such as: male-female, light-dark, sun-moon, spirit-body, and so on.

3. Everything in the physical world is composed of Spirit, Soul, and Body: the Three Alchemic Principles. (In alchemy, these are called Mercury, Sulfur, and Salt.)

4. All alchemical work, whether practical laboratory work or spiritual alchemy, consists of three basic evolutionary processes: separation, purification, and recombination.

5. All matter is composed of four archetypal energies—the four elements of Fire (thermal energy), Water (liquid), Air (gas), and Earth (solid). The knowledge and skillful use of these four energy types is an essential part of alchemical work.

6. The Quintessence, or “Fifth essence,” is contained within the four elements but is not one of them. It is one of the three essential Principles, also called the Philosophic Mercury.

7. Everything moves toward its preordained state of perfection.

Israel Regardie, The Philosopher’s Stone: Spiritual Alchemy, Psychology, and Ritual Magic

Akali Sikh warrior wearing the distinctive Akali turban, India, 1860. 

The Color of Pomegranates (Նռան գույնը) , 1969

The very notion of culture is an artifact created by bracketing Nature off. Cultures — different or universal — do not exist, any more than Nature does. There are only natures-cultures, and these offer the only possible basis for comparison. As soon as we take practices of mediation as well as practices of purification into account, we discover that the moderns do not separate humans from nonhumans any more than the totally superimpose signs and things.

[…] Absolute relativism presupposes cultures that are separate and incommensurable and cannot be ordered in any hierarchy; there is no use talking about it, since it brackets off Nature. As for cultural relativism, which is more subtle, Nature comes into play, but in order to exist it does not presuppose any scientific work, any society, any construction, any mobilization, any network.

—Bruno Latour, We Have Never Been Modern

Symbols of Transformation

C. G. Jung

The Arbatel De Magia Veterum (Arbatel: On the Magic of the Ancients) is a grimoire of ceremonial magic that was published in 1575 in Switzerland. It was likely edited by Theodor Zwinger, and published by Pietro Perna. The actual author of the text remains unknown, but scholars suggest Jacques Gohory as a possible candidate.

The Arbatel mainly focuses on the relationship between humanity, celestial hierarchies, and the positive relationship between the two. The Olympian spirits featured in it are entirely unique to this grimoire. Unlike other grimoires, the Arbatel exhorts the magus to remain active in their community (instead of isolating themselves), favoring kindness, charity, and honesty over remote and obscure rituals. The teachings of Swiss alchemist Paracelsus greatly influenced the writing of this work, though it is also deeply rooted in classical culture, Ancient Greek philosophy, the Sibylline oracles and the philosophy of Plotinus.

Originally written in Latin, these selected ten pages come from a later German translation of the work, dated to 1686.

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