Alchemy: The Egyptian Connection

Alchemy, or Al-Kemi, is said to be derived from Arabic or Egyptian meaning either divine chemistry or possibly black earth referring to the silt deposits from the annual flooding of the Nile river.

However, regardless of where the word alchemy began, it has come to mean a very special form of spiritual development. From Plato's Greece to the European Renaissance, ancient Egypt was held to be the land, if not the origin, of all things mystical. The Egyptian god Thoth, called Hermes by the Greeks, was said to be the father of all magical arts and sciences, with numerous books on the laws governing creation being attributed to him. These books became the basis of most Western occult teachings, and are known as The Hermetic Corpus or the Body of Hermes', which refers to the total collection of works attributed to the scribe of the gods. The teachings and practice contained in these writings are called Hermeticism', and in the Renaissance came to include aspects of Jewish mysticism (kabbalah), alchemy, the use of ritual, and communication with super-celestial beings, or angels.

It is important to remember that in the ancient world and until the end of the Renaissance (16th century), magic was seen not as superstition, but as a logical and coherent means of understanding the universe and controlling one's destiny. Magic, imagination, and magnetism are all related, both through their root -mag, as well as how they are seen through the mind of the magician or alchemist.

For the magician, or even the alchemist, the universe is perceived as a reflection of the imagination of the Godhead. Its laws are consistent and logical, and if we are created in the image of the Creator, then we can also create as the Creator has, through the power of imagination. Intense imagination creates a stress on the fabric of the universe, drawing to it magnetic power, thus bringing our images to fruition. The fundamental ideas of Renaissance magic and alchemy are also found in Eastern yoga, and are the basis for the New Age movement, as well as hypno-therapy, guided visualizations for mental health or cancer treatment, affirmations and an assortment of other psycho-spiritual practices. Until the last half of this century, though, most of these spiritual practices were kept secret or hidden, mostly out of fear of political or religious persecution.

Hence, they became known as occult or hidden'. Since many of them used the same signs, symbols, and literature as contemporary religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the hidden, occult, or Hermetic arts and sciences became known as esoteric or the secret meaning behind exoteric or everyday religious practices and dogma. This fear of imprisonment or death, limited instruction in esoteric practices to a trusted few, and only through a process of slow, careful, symbolic rituals and cryptic teachings known as initiations. Each of these initiations symbolized a step, or grade, in a student's inner journey towards illumination. During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries dozens of initiatic orders and societies were established across Europe for the dissemination of spiritual teachings, the most prominent of them being the Rosicrucians, Freemasons and Knights Templar. Some of them taught their members through moral instruction, such as the Freemasons. Others, such as the Rosicrucians, taught practical mysticism, the use of ritual, the structure of the universe through kabbalah, as well as laboratory alchemy. Many of these organizations exist in Europe or the United States in some form today.

In alchemy, however, each of its steps or phases, represents not only a interior awakening (initiation) but also a physical, practical technique performed in the laboratory. The physical, laboratory work becomes a means of verifying spiritual and psychic expansions in consciousness. Alchemy, it is said, is an initiatic system in which you have no delusions. It is the only initiatic path where there is an objective control in the laboratory. So if your experiment shows you've gone beyond the ordinary material laws of the universe, it shows that you're an alchemist that has had an interior awakening, and that corresponds to the rule which says, You will transmute nothing if you have not transmuted yourself first.