A Modern Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery

Part I: An Overview of Alchemy’s History and Theory

Chapter 1: Introduction to Hermetic Philosophy (Continued)

Alchemy in Rome and Alexandria

Rome, known for its wealth and military might, didn’t deeply explore the subtle sciences of nature. Still, some evidence suggests alchemical knowledge existed. Pliny recounts Emperor Caligula’s failed attempts to create gold, driven by greed, which yielded excellent but minimal results, causing financial loss. Poets like Virgil, Ovid, and Horace, along with architect Vitruvius, were rumored to dabble in the “black art,” though these claims often carried a negative stigma.

More compelling are the perpetual lamps, artifacts showing Rome’s grasp of chemistry and light’s hidden laws. Described by Pancirollus, these lamps burned without fuel for centuries. St. Augustine noted one dedicated to Venus in his time, unextinguishable. The most remarkable was found in 1500 near Alestes, in the tomb of Tullia, Cicero’s daughter. A farmer uncovered an earthen vessel containing a lamp between two cylinders—one gold, one silver—each filled with a pure liquid that likely sustained the lamp’s glow for over 1,500 years. Inscriptions credited Maximus Olybius, a skilled alchemist, for this feat. The larger urn’s verses read:

Plunderers, don’t touch this sacred gift to Pluto;
Its secret is beyond your grasp.
Maximus Olybius, with great effort, locked the elements within,
Crafted through hidden wisdom.
Two urns guard this precious liquid,
Preserving the lamp’s eternal light.

The smaller urn warned:

Thieves, keep away with your prying eyes!
Leave with your cunning Mercury, winged and wand in hand!
This mighty art, sacred to Pluto, endures forever.

These lamps suggest a sophisticated understanding of ethereal substances, possibly a divine or celestial “water” described by Hermolaus Barbarus and others like Democritus and Hermes. This water, a spiritual essence akin to the ether, was said to burn eternally without diminishing, as noted in ancient texts like the Apocalypse of the Secret Spirit of Nature.

Another enigma is the Bononian Enigma, a famous inscription that has puzzled scholars but is claimed by alchemists to describe their universal substance. Found in Bologna, it reads:

Ælia Lælia Crispis
Not man, not woman, not both,
Not virgin, youth, or elder,
Not chaste, not harlot, not modest, but all!
Killed not by hunger, sword, or poison, but by all!
Not in heaven, earth, or water, but everywhere!
Lucius Agatho Priscus
Not husband, lover, kin, nor sad, glad, or weeping,
Knows and knows not for whom this stands—
Not a monument, pyramid, or tomb, but all!
A sepulcher without a body, yet the body is the sepulcher!

Alchemists, like Michael Maier and N. Barnaud, interpret this as a riddle about the philosopher’s stone, a substance embodying all opposites, as we’ll explore later.

The Christian Era and Alexandria

In Alexandria, Christian Platonists and theologians engaged with alchemy. St. John the Evangelist is said to have used it to help the poor, creating gold, silver, and gems, as noted by St. Victor. Greek Catholics honored this in a hymn for St. John’s feast day:

He mended broken gems,
Gave them to the poor,
Turned rods to gold,
Made gems from stones,
An endless treasure.

Early Christians embraced alchemy’s powers, rooted in sanctity and faith. The apostles established rituals using water, oil, salt, and light, symbolizing real spiritual forces. However, reformers later dismissed these as superstitions, reducing regeneration to mere belief. Meanwhile, some Catholics turned these symbols into idols, missing their deeper meaning and adding their own rituals, leading to division. True understanding, as Thomas Vaughan’s account of early Christian missions to Ethiopia suggests, came from demonstrating faith’s power through healing and transformation.

Alexandria, a hub of philosophy after Christ, hosted thinkers like Plotinus, Philo-Judaeus, Proclus, Jamblicus, Julian, and Apuleius, who explored theurgic arts and Hermetic principles. Hypatia, a brilliant philosopher, taught Synesius, who later became a Christian bishop but remained devoted to alchemy. He wrote a commentary on Democritus and other works, carefully guarding these mysteries from the uninitiated. Heliodorus, Zozimus, Athenagoras, and Archelaus also contributed treatises on the philosopher’s stone, blending mysticism with practical knowledge.

The Arab conquest of Alexandria in 640 CE scattered its scholars, and Caliph Omar’s destruction of its library—burned to heat baths for six months—fulfilled parts of the Asclepian prophecy. Religious fanaticism, both Christian and Muslim, replaced intellectual zeal with dogma, leading to a decline in sacred knowledge. Priests, abandoning conscience, misused mystical powers, causing chaos. The mysteries, no longer holy, were banned, and pursuing the “religion of intellect” became punishable by death. A few wise souls hid their knowledge, preserving it in obscurity.

Alchemy in Arabia and Europe

Alchemy found fertile ground in Arabia, producing figures like Geber, possibly the greatest alchemist after Hermes. His works—Investigation of Perfection, Sum of the Perfect Magistery, and Testament—are revered by adepts like Albertus Magnus and Raymond Lully, though modern chemists often dismiss them as “gibberish,” a term derived from Geber’s cryptic style. Unlike today’s chemistry, Geber worked with a living, universal essence, not lifeless elements, in a laboratory of the human spirit. His writings, deliberately obscure, guide those on the right path while misleading the unprepared.

Rhasis, another Arabian alchemist, gained fame for public transmutations. Roger Bacon, a 13th-century English friar, drew on this tradition, mastering theology, medicine, and metaphysics. He reportedly produced gold by multiplying light through nature’s universal spirit. Persecuted for his discoveries, Bacon hid the practical details, believing such knowledge was too dangerous for the unworthy. His works, like Speculum Alchimiae, carefully veil the art’s secrets, reflecting his later regret for delving into forbidden realms.

Other medieval luminaries included Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Scotus Erigena, Arnold de Villanova, and Raymond Lully, all confessed alchemists. Their works, like Albert’s De Mineralibus and Aquinas’s Libellus de Alchimia, describe the philosopher’s stone with precision, emphasizing rational inquiry over greed. Later figures like John Reuchlin, Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Spinoza, Alain de l’Isle, Merlin, John Trithemius, and Cornelius Agrippa blended alchemy with Neoplatonism and Kabbalah, pushing boundaries of knowledge.

These philosophers, driven by faith and curiosity, transcended ordinary limits, unlike those who faltered before nature’s barriers. Their legacy, often misunderstood by biographers, suffered from skepticism, yet their pursuit of truth through the Hermetic art remains a testament to their vision.

Many seek alchemy, both true and false;
The false are countless, rejected by their greed.
Among thousands, scarcely three are chosen
For this sacred knowledge.
— Thomas Norton, Ordinal of Alchemy

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