Mutus Liber plate 11
Contents
Iron in the Blood p.41
Alchemistical Compositum p.45
Questions and Answers p.57
p. 41
By Frater Albertus
When children refuse to eat spinach, it is because of a peculiar taste sensation in their mouth, especially on their teeth, where an abrasive feeling is noticed. Parents, telling the child that spinach is good for them, usually cannot answer the question: "What is good about it?"
The reason for this taste sensation is iron. Spinach absorbs not only inorganic iron but other minerals as well. Some plants seem to have a special need or storage facility for certain minerals, not quite known and understood by man. The fact remains that some plants are a depository of mineral contents out of proportion to their own needs. Whether Nature has intended this for its next higher species, the animal, is not known but may be assumed to be the case.
Other plants besides spinach show a similar tendency towards iron absorption. Inorganic minerals lack carbon and it is the plant which, with the help of carbon, brings about a metamorphosis of the inorganic substance into an organic. When converted into organic iron it still is iron except that carbon has formed a bond with the mineral. This makes assimilation in the animal body much easier since carbon is the body fuel. Without heat no digestion is possible. The plant relies on solar or artificial warmth for its sustenance. In itself it does not generate enough heat to keep it alive. The body of man creates by constant putrefaction (fermentation) his own heat and in this manner extracts in his own laboratory, the essentials from the food to nourish his blood. A plant produces also heat by putrefaction, but when doing so, dies. Not so with man. He may continue for a long period of time with this inner fermentation process and survive.
The blood needs iron. It cannot function properly in the body if there is an iron deficiency. The best and simplest way is to take what nature provides with an iron abundance so that the body may supplement its needs. Among other plants besides spinach, the red beet is known to contain a considerable amount of iron.
A recent special report on the concentrated beet in powdered form, says:
There are many valuable elements in the beet. When people can take enough concentrated beet either in the form of juice or better yet, a juice which has been carefully dehydrated by a spray-dry process, they obtain all of the valuable elements in the beet. When the beets are grown
in rich organic soil that contains all of the necessary humus and minerals including the valuable trace minerals, one taking the powdered beet will obtain many of the vitamins, minerals and trace minerals known-because the beet has a quality of picking up something of everything available.
"It is well known, of course, that the beet is a wonderful food which contains a high iron content. The beet contains also much potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, calcium, sulphur and iodine. The beet also contains many trace minerals which seem to be very valuable for the human body. We suspect that cobalt, gold, silver, vanadium, all have some function. Many other foods contain iron and yet it is well known that the human body assimilates iron from the beetroot more easily than from almost any other known food. Researchers suspect that there is some catalyst in the beetroot which helps utilize the iron available. This is not true of many other rich sources of iron.
"In the concentrated beet are nucleic acids which nourish the cell so that when the cell divides, healthy cells are born. These nutrients offered in the beet have the special ferments that are needed for cell respiration.
"In addition to the minerals and trace minerals mentioned above, research has shown that because the beet contains ample amounts of silicon the mesenchyme cell is activated.
"The big factor in the beet is the Anthocyan which influences the metabolism of the cell. The Anthocyans seem to have another function and that is to have a favorable influence on the intestinal milieu. This means that it will be easier for the individual to re-establish his friendly bacteria through the use of the acidophilus milk and acidophilus concentrations plus the use of lactobacillus bifidus in viable form.
"The beet in concentration also tends to help the proper pH factor of the intestinal tract which means the proper acid-alkaline balance. The red beets have a pH factor of from 5 to 6."
From an alchemistical point of view this is important. When the dried beet is used as an iron supplement, only one of the three essentials is available. Two other essentials, sulphur and mercury are not separated, purified, and added to the purified mineral. Suppose, then, one were to undergo the process known as spagyric. The end product would be a beet concentrate with its three separated and purified essentials, enabling the blood to absorb these blood builders much easier and faster, because the digestion process is not required anymore to separate the essentials.
This in itself would indicate an emergency measure, because of lack of iron in the daily food intake. In severe cases of pernicious anemia a more rigorous treatment would be required, not to mention leukemia where the red blood cells, (the iron carriers) are subdued by the white bloodeells.
Paracelsus was already aware of this half a thousand years ago, when he advocated a source much more potent that would help in the restoration of iron deficiency in the body. He was referring to native iron. In the process he recommended the separation of the three essentials similar to the vegetable process. Today, science says this cannot be done, so it administers sulphates, phosphates, or chlorides of iron. It should be remembered that such are again only the mineral contents of inorganic iron. The other two spagyric essentials of its spirit and essential oil, or alchemical sulphur, are missing in the preparation of these salts. Such a salt-let us take an example the well known Ferrum Phosphate (phosphate of iron) as found in Dr. Schuessler's cell salts or other remedies-is prepared by using pure iron wire over which phosphoric acid is poured. When the iron wire is dissolved, the phosphoric acid is washed out and the remaining iron wire, now iron salt, is taken medicinally. This is not only a procedure used centuries ago, but presently employed as well in our modern pharmaceuticals. When blood donors are about to leave the place where blood was given they receive a tiny capsule. This, they are told, will help to replenish their blood. Its contents are iron sulphate, made by pouring sulphuric acid over iron wire and then treated, as described, with phosphoric acid.
In the method of Paracelsus, the father of our present chemotherapy, we find that not only the salt but its other two essentials have to be freed. This, science is presently not able to accomplish. In the spagyric way, it is possible to derive a tincture of mineral iron, which is not a solution of the iron salts, but an extraction therefrom. It is in such extracts that the potency of iron as a blood builder can be found. It will be assimilated much more easily in the blood stream, than by the digestive process in the stomach.
Why do people drink fruit or vegetable juices and discard the pulp when in need of the food supplements? Because the vital (vitamins) substances are found in its tincture (juices). Strangely enough, when one looks at a bottle of vitamins, it usually reads "Supplemented with the following minerals for daily requirement, etc." A clear indication that deficiencies within the body are not properly supplied by vitamins only. The reason is: vitamins have to be taken continuously, instead of starting the metabolism to extract its own vital essences from the food intake, so that from then on the body can recharge and regenerate the system by itself. It does not matter so much what man eats or drinks, but when he insists that he has to have it, he is addicted to it, whether alcohol, tobacco, coffee, coke, vitamin tablets, or what have you.
Only when man is able to take or leave what he wants (or better, has need for), is he free. This means freedom of body, soul, and spirit.
Alchemists, since time immemorial, have advocated the spagyric way, as the sensible and truly natural-way to perfect health.
Spagyrically prepared supplements contain all three essentials. These are the main building blocks and preservatives for our existence.
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p. 45
By
Saint Dunstan
The following treatise attributed to St. Dunstan, of whom very little is known, is of interest to alchemical students because of its references to mixtures of various substances with which he worked. The brevity of the sections may not be sufficient to enlighten the reader who gives them only a cursory examination, but our students should find in them some important additional clues. We refer especially to Section IV, which brings to mind the work of the contemporary French alchemist, Armand Barbault, who extracts a valuable essence from the virgin earth with dew.
A careful perusal should give alert students many valuable
hints.
-Frater Albertus
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I
Take of the best red transparent ore of gold as much as you can
have, and drive its spirit from it through a retort: this is the Azoth and the Acetum of the Philosophers, from its proper minera, which openeth radically Sol that is prepared.
II
Take the minera of Venus or Saturn, and drive their spirits in a retort; each of these dissolveth gold radically, after its purification.
III
Take pulverized ore of Saturn, or vulgar Saturn calcined; extract its salt with Acetum or its antinae (? anima); purify it in the best manner, that it may be transparent as crystal, and sweet as honey, and be fluid
in heat like wax, and brittle when cold. This is the tree which is cut off, of unwholesome fruits, on which must be inoculated the twigs of Sol.
IV
Take of that earth which lieth waste in the field, found everywhere in moorish grounds, into which the astrals ejaculate their operations, being adorned with all manner of colors, appearing like a rainbow; extract from
it its purest and subtilest. This is the universal menstruum for all; and is all in all.
V
Take of the ore of Sol and Mercury a like quantity; grind each very well; pour on it the spirit of Mercury, that it stand over three fingers deep. Dissolve and digest it in a gentle warmth.
VI
Take of the best vitriol, or of the vitriol of Venus; drive their spirits in a retort, whiteand red. With this red spirit, being rectified and sweetened, you may ferment and imbibe the subtle gold calx, and with the white spirit you may dissolve it after it hath been purified.
VII
Take quick Mercury; purify and dissolve it so long in alcolisated spirit of wine, till its impurity he separated from it, and become into its extreme, transparent, easy, fluid essence, like unto the white gluten of the eagle, and capable to receive the blood of the Red Lion.
VIII
Extract the salt of the crude and white calcined tartar; purify and clarify it often, till it be as bright as the tear of the eye, and can be brought no higher; therewith you may sharpen its own spirit of wine, which dissolveth Sol and Lune.
IX
Take of the rank poisonous matter or stone, called kerg swaden, exuviae, or husk of the metals; drive its spirit very circumspectly; receive it so that it may turn unto water; it reduceth all metals to a potableness,
X
Take of the air or heavenly dew, being well purified, ten parts, and of subtle gold calx one part; set it in digestion, dissolve, and coagulate it.
XI
Take the urine of a wholesome man, that drank merely wine; make of it, according to art, the salt of microcosm; purify it very well, which doth so much acuate the spirit of wine that it dissolveth Sol in a moment.
XII
Take of the best ore of gold; pulverize it very well; seal it with Hermes his seal; set it so long into the vaporous fire till you see it spring up into a white and red rose.
XIII
This last experiment he calleth the Light. Take, in the name of the
Lord, of Hungarish gold, which hath been cast thrice through antimony
been laminated most thinly, as much of it as you will, and make
with quick Mercury an amalgam; then calcine it most subtily, with flowers of
sulphur and spirit of wine burnt, so often till there remaineth a subtle
gold calx of a purple color. Take one part of it, and two parts of the above
mentioned red matter; grind it very well together for an hour on a warmed
marble then cement and calcine well by degrees for three hours in a circle
fire. This, work must be iterated three times; then pour on it of the best
rectified spirit, that it sand over it three fingers deep. set it in a gentle and
warm digestion, for six days to be extracted; then the spirit of wine will be
tinged as deep as blood; cant off that tincture, and pour on another as long as it will
tinge it. put all these tinged spirits of wine into a vial so that the fourth part only be
filled, and seal it hermetically; set it on the vaporous fire of the first degree; let it be
of that heat as hot as the sun shineth in July; let it stand thus for forty days-then you
shall obtain your wish.
The author recommendeth this last experiment very highly, affirming upon his experimental practice that this Aurum Potabile is the highest medicine next unto the universal, and, being taken in appropriated vehicles, cureth all diseases without causing any pains at all.
Item.-With. this Aurum Potabile is Antimony prepared, so that it purgeth only downward, and carrieth forth all ill humours without molestation, and is called the purging gold.
It is prepared also by the aid of antimony into a diaphoretic gold, to
expel by sweating all malignant humours; and Mercurius Vitae is made also
with this Potable Gold (if it be kept in a long digestion) ; their dose is
according to the quality of the person.
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P.57
ALCHEMY
Q. Since we talk of the four elements being within all things, what are these in relation to plants, animals, etc.? What parts of? There is a fifth element, Akashic. Is this the Quintessence?
A. The four elements are always the same in essence: Heat, air, liquid, solids or fire, air, water and earth. These are found, no matter in what proportions, in all substances. The fifth element is found within the four but it is not one of the four, but one of the three essentials. This is explained in the P.R.S. curriculum. Akasha is what is found as part of SuperConsciousness.
Q. Is coal similar to tartar since it is formed by organic material? Could it be used as this bridge between the vegetable and mineral world?
A. Coal is primarily carbon. Tartar may contain carbon as in potassium carbonate. Carbon as such is the bridge between inorganic and organic substance. Carbon contents in the plant world distinguish it from the inorganic mineral which contains no carbon.
Q. Is anything lost by allowing Sb203, to boil before pouring?
A. Only its sulphurous and arsenic fumes.
Q. Do we have no use for the commercially prepared potassium carbonate in the making of the tartar menstruums?
A. Yes, you may use it.
Q. Would an extract made by using acetone as the menstruum give a fixed extract, seeing that acetone gives an acid reaction to litmus?
A. Not necessarily. We know of two types of acetone, one is the commercial, the other prepared alchemically over antimony.
Q. Would taking the tincture of juniper berries be more beneficial than taking 7 berries a day? If so, about how many drops should be taken?
A. We would say the tincture is more beneficial because some of the essentials within the juniper berry have been separated and are easier to assimilate. As to the dose, that is for your doctor to decide.
Q. Can the alkahest be used medicinally?
Yes.
ASTROLOGY
Q. Do the planets absorb all the rays except the special ray by which they are known?- Or do they absorb the one ray by which they are known and reflect all others?
A. They absorb what they need for their sustenance and give off any excess of their needs.
MISCELLANEOUS
Q. Many occult traditions have given various interpretations as to who and what the Christ is. On the one hand, there is the conception given forth by the Theosophical Society via eadbeater and later Alice Bailey that the Christ is not a being but an office in the Spiritual Hierarchy of this planet-this office being held successively for long periods by greatly exalted souls (the present One sometimes called the Lord Maitreya), and that the One holding this office is always known as the World Teacher. According to this tradition, it is the World Teacher who overshadows or inspires the various Avatars (descending ones) which incarnate at critical times for the welfare of mankind, i.e., Jesus, Krishna, Zoroaster, Hermes, and others.
On the other hand, there is the Esoteric Christian tradition emanating from Rudolph Steiner and also Max Heindel which teaches that the Christ is a great Sun Being who ages ago, of His own free will, made the great sacrifice of descending step by step into physical incarnation for three years through the vehicle of Jesus of Nazareth. This was the one and only time this Being had descended so far into dense matter and this incarnation occurred at a turning point when the earth needed a special impetus for an upturn in its spiritual evolution. For it was not so much what the Christ taught, this tradition says, but what He gave. This was His Body and Blood by which the whole earth was regenerated. The Gnostics, again, in the early centuries of this era taught that the entire Biblical Christ story-the birth, baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion, and ascension-was only an allegory depicting the various stages of man's spiritual progress. Christhood or being Christed was the enlightenment or illumination attained upon the fulfillment of one's spiritual evolution or unfoldment.
None of these views seems complete in itself. Is it presumptuous to ask if there is a Christ Being? Who and what is He?
There is a beautiful invocation which says the Lord of Life is approached through the Christ. Why must the approach to the Lord be made in this way?
A. According to the law of polarity any mental concept can be conceived only within the three essentials. No matter how subtle a substance may be it will have to have the spirit (life) within it. These two, body and spirit, are imbued with consciousness (soul). Therefore, a Christ has a being as a Being.
Q. B. L.
Q. Should Daath be used in the Tree of Life pattern? Some do, others don't.
A. It is said.that Daath refers to a fallen angel. All angels on the Tree of Life end their names with "EL' meaning God. Thus Ra-fa-el pertains to the sun (Ra). In the case of Daath (death) its former name was said to be Te,-uf-el (German Teufel means devil) where our English devil-de-vi-el-comes from. This son of the heavens (planet) fell from Grace. It is supposed to be now the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, the remnants of this destroyed planet. That is why the Devil is called a destroyer, having destroyed his physical being and is now eager to have its intelligence incarnate or substantiate itself in matter of any form in order to be active. Only when embodied can the devilish life (spirit) by way of its great degree of intelligence (consciousness) be felt. When entry in matter (body) is denied that, which is formerly of Te-uf-el, or devilish, cannot operate. It is then bound within its own domain (doomed).
Q. How do the writers of the Bible account for the life span of individuals to be 500 years or better?
A. Their calendars and ours differ. Also, a conscious reincarnation
considered a prolongation of the same life span here on earth.
Q. In the beginning all was void. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. The light was divided from the darkness. Therefore the light must have been a part of the darkness. If this is true, then there is no darknessif this light was divided from the darkness then there must be darkness left. Does this darkness contain light? The Rosicrucians say light came not from darkness because darkness is the absence of light. Please explain.
A. Absence of light does not necessarily refer to that conceived by optics. We also speak of an inner light. This light within is found in the outer darkness. At night one can see "in his mind's eye." Darkness, absence of optical light, does not conceive of light, but has within it darkness, to conceal temporarily the inner light. This is necessary to distinguish between inner and outer light, just as day and night are in essence found within one day.
PARACHEMY CONTENTS
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