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Cracking The Philosophers Stone - Origin PDF
Cracking The Philosophers Stone - Origin PDF
THE
PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE
Origins, Evolution and Chemistry
of Gold-Making
__________
J. Erik LaPort
&
Roger Gabrielsson PhD
Quintessence
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ........................................................................ i
Foreword ................................................................................... iii
Author’s Preface .......................................................................... v
Editor’s Preface ......................................................................... xi
Introducing the Stone ............................................................... xiii
Chapter 1 – Sophic Substances ............................................... 1
Chapter 2 – Moses and the Golden‐Calf .............................. 69
Chapter 3 – Maria Hebrea’s Tincture ................................. 115
Chapter 4 – The White Stone of Hermes ............................ 167
Chapter 5 – Stephanos’ Chrysopœia .................................. 217
Chapter 6 – From Chrysopœia to Al‐Kīmyāʼ ...................... 259
Chapter 7 – Paracelsus and the Alkahest ........................... 299
Chapter 8 – Labors of Hercules .......................................... 357
Chapter 9 – The Chemical Wedding ................................... 395
Chapter 10 – Powder of Projection ...................................... 415
Chapter 11 – Aurum Potabile ............................................... 477
Chapter 12 – Universal Medicine ......................................... 551
Appendix A – Timeline of Developmental Alchemy ................ 573
Appendix B – The Scorpion Formula for Gold‐making ........... 583
Appendix C – Alchemical Imagery Index ................................ 593
Afterword ............................................................................... 599
FIRST PREFACE
During early 2009, Roger and I were researching novel a gold compound,
when it occurred to me while browsing through 16th and 17th century
literature on the development of gold salts, that the legendary
Philosophers’ Stone of alchemy was perhaps a type of gold‐salt. Delving
a little deeper into the alchemical literature, it became clearly apparent
that many famous writers on alchemy specifically stated that the
Philosophers’ Stone was nothing more than gold in its finest state,
whereas other sources were adamant that the Philosophers’ Stone was
indeed a salt. One thing was certain; all these alchemical authorities
treated the Philosophers’ Stone as a genuine compound synthesized in a
laboratory. After a cursory study, I concluded that the chemical identity
of the Philosophers’ Stone remained an unsolved mystery that would
potentially yield its secrets. I was immediately captivated and initial
curiosity quickly gave way to sheer obsessive and compulsive research
into the matter. It was an honorable riddle pursued by great minds
throughout history and I immediately regarded the quest as a worthy
endeavor.
I knew that I could not do this alone and harangued my good friend and
mad scientist‐genius Dr Roger Gabrielsson PhD into collaborating with
me as the chemistry consultant and co‐author. I am deeply indebted to
him for his help and unfailing encouragement. I knew that he would not
decline because it was Roger who once explained to me that any question
of chemistry was valid as far as he was concerned and that there was no
such thing as an absurd or unimportant chemistry question, as long as it
was not framed in terms of unicorns and rainbows. The result of that
collaboration and years of passionate research is this treatise – Cracking
the Philosophers’ Stone.
This book is divided into three sections. The first is a general introduction
to the Philosophers’ Stone, its origins and historical development in
Alexandria, Egypt during the pre‐Islamic period. The Stone’s composition,
applications and cultural value are presented in historical context and
explored in detail. Section 2 describes the preparation of the basic
alchemical ingredients, overall chemistry and confection of the
Philosophers’ Stone, along with accounts of reproducibility experiments
performed in our laboratory. Section 3 examines the traditional
applications for the Philosophers’ Stone and expands on the notion of the
alchemical process as a workbench wisdom tradition.
Any exploration of history and this is especially implicit concerning
alchemy, is that a conclusion is primarily a work of interpretation. The
purpose of this book is to present just such an interpretation, which
ultimately leads to a working hypothesis, or more accurately, a series of
hypotheses to explain the phenomenon of the Philosophers’ Stone, its
origins, evolution, chemistry, valuations and applications. We repeatedly
stress plausibility statements throughout the book that are not to be
construed as statements of fact, but rather address plausible, possible or
most likely scenarios for the subject at hand. This serves to stimulate
future research efforts and to advance current understanding while
leaving the subject fully exposed to alternate hypotheses and scenarios.
We have attempted to remain unbiased with regard to any particular
school or system of alchemy, focusing our concerns throughout on
numerous scenarios that we felt made most sense given several factors
and substantiating evidence. This was not always easy and often the only
evidence available was scanty or circumstantial in which case we plainly
state as much in the narrative.
We began the journey of decoding the Philosophers’ Stone from the dual
premise that 1) the stone was an actual chemical compound, and 2) that
it had manifested as various diverse products at different times in history.
Research into the matter has confirmed both, yet a dangling question
remained. What was the original archetypal Philosophers’ Stone and
could it be rediscovered and reestablished today? The attempt to answer
these questions brought me into contact with some wonderfully
intriguing and insightful people on a journey through history, traditions
and practices that broadened my understanding of the alchemical
process in unpredictable yet very welcome ways, least of which was
developing a profound admiration for alchemal traditions.
One might assume that the chemistry would prove the greatest
challenge. It was actually the language of alchemy however, that
presented an almost insurmountable yet ironically marvelous obstacle to
writing this book. A tremendous amount of data and a robust conceptual
framework lie just below the surface of every cover‐name and cover‐term
encrypting alchemical substances and processes. I realized that if I were
to decode alchemical abstractions, it would be of tremendous value to
approach someone fluent in the arcane language of alchemy for
assistance. After several attempts at collaboration with authorities in the
field, followed by snubs, polite responses to the negative or no reply at
all, I realized that I was on my own in this regard. I began to self‐study the
etymology and history of each cover‐term, which exposed a fantastic
world of imagery, historical context, mythology, and trade‐jargon, which
upon being understood, revealed that each cover‐term was far from
haphazard, encrypting substances and processes in many layers of subtle
and interconnected meaning. Indeed some terms were truly multi‐
cultural with their practical use spanning millennia. Learning the language
of alchemy was as difficult as learning any other – bits and pieces at first,
crude phrases later, before becoming fluent in alchemy’s dialects and
sophisticated abstractions.
vii
The research process was arduous. Upon decoding a cover‐name or
terminology, we then embarked upon a detailed study of each
corresponding substance or process. We attempted to find the earliest
record of each, its discoverer and its various applications, which were
often at odds with established scientific literature. If it were a substance,
we attempted to glean whether it may have been used in a chemical
technology prior to the accepted scientific date of discovery, then
searched for a body of evidence to support an earlier date. Each time we
felt close to understanding a substance or process fully, we then
consulted numerous traditional alchemical texts and compared those
accounts to what we observed in the laboratory. A primary consideration
was that perfect reproducibility may prove challenging on the basis that
adepts were artisans and extremely skilled at their art. It could take one’s
career to develop the skills possessed by an adept‐alchemist. As any
chemist knows, it can take innumerable tries before a reaction happens
in an expected or optimal manner. Only after ensuring that historical and
alchemical texts accorded with our lab results and observations, did we
feel confident to present the hypotheses herein.
The entire book project took over four years to complete, thousands of
hours of research, entire libraries of books and journal articles, ancient
and modern, scoured and scrutinized for helpful information. Library
efforts were combined with laboratory frustration and elation before the
book reached its final form. I began to understand that an Alexandrian
alchemist was more an artisan and philosopher than proto‐chemist, yet
alchemists would go on to assume many roles throughout alchemical
history such as pharmacologist and experimental chemist of later
alchemical traditions. It also became clear that much of the existing
research into Alexandrian alchemy was based on Pseudo‐Democritus and
his Persian‐Babylonian approach to chemical technologies, reinforced by
works such as the Leyden and Stockholm papyri that typified this
tradition. The Philosophers’ Stone however originated with Maria Hebrea
and her Judeo‐Egyptian school or alternately a Hermetic Greco‐Egyptian
school – these being completely dissimilar in every manner to the
Pseudo‐Democritan type. The challenge was to elucidate this long‐held
misunderstanding in regards to Alexandrian alchemy beyond a
reasonable doubt.
J. Erik LaPort
Q’era‐Tech Research, Thailand
ix
EDITOR’S NOTE
As the editor of this book, I am one of its first readers. When Erik LaPort
asked me to edit his tome, I initially had very little idea of the weight of
what he had actually set out to do with this publication. This is not merely
an attempt at giving a chronological account of the development of
alchemy. It is rather the work of a practising alchemist (although he
asserts that he isn’t) who sets forth an incredibly exciting new theory of
what the Philosopher’s Stone really is, and what it has been through the
ages in the Middle East, in Europe, and elsewhere.
This book contains daring new ideas and surprising twists, but none that
may be described as myth making. Meticulous details in the language of
chemistry support historical and textual research. The scholarship behind
this book is massive, but the language is still accessible to the enthusiast
as well as the advanced student of alchemy.
Before I read LaPort’s text, I was convinced – by Carl Gustav Jung actually,
whom he of course references – that alchemy was first and foremost
metaphorical and its real relevance was limited to the depths of the
human soul. Those ways of reading alchemical texts remain and LaPort
emphasizes how rich alchemy’s cultural and philosophical tradition really
is. He presents an entirely plausible hypothesis that allows for the
practical use of alchemy, rooted in tradition but relevant to today’s man.
I am sure that many a reader will experience the kind of excitement that
I felt reading this book.
Adam Mayer
Webster University, Thailand
Introducing the Stone
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered;
the point is to discover them.
Galileo Galilei
T racing the development of most sciences from their ancient origins
– and this is particularly true regarding pharmacy and chemistry –
ultimately leads to alchemy. For millennia, the beating heart of alchemy
was a legendary substance that was believed to confer wealth, power and
immortality to anyone who could unlock the secret of its confection. This
substance was called the Philosophers’ Stone. The recipe to create this
substance dates back to the Bronze Age in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the
Levant. Because of the numerous sources, there seems to be very little
doubt that this substance actually existed – the real mystery lies with the
secret of its confection. The quest to rediscover the Philosophers’ Stone
has spanned numerous cultures over thousands of years until the present
day.
The Philosophers’ Stone was the source of two interrelated products: the
universal medicine, believed to confer unnatural longevity to all who
ingested it; and the powder of projection that transmutes copper, lead or
mercury into alchemical gold. The promise of immortality and unlimited
wealth earned the Philosophers’ Stone special status as one of the
greatest mysteries to captivate early scientists, physicians, philosophers,
nobility, and con artists throughout history.
The quest to reveal the process for confecting the Stone exposed one to
many unique dangers of the period, among the worst being self‐
poisoning, madness, torture, or execution. Despite ever‐present perils,
LAPORT & GABRIELSSON
the promise of rediscovering the secrets of the Philosophers’ Stone
served as the proverbial carrot‐on‐a‐string that played a large role in
driving the donkey cart of scientific pursuits of ancient and mediæval
times into the modern age of advanced science and technology.
The philosophers
The Philosophers’ Stone dates back thousands of years to a time in
history when science, philosophy, magic, and mystery were synonymous.
Philosophers in former times addressed important issues such as the
nature of reality, forms of knowledge, social organization, technology,
and the human condition. These lovers of wisdom attempted to
understand and harness the forces of Nature through what might today
be described as a multidisciplinary holistic approach.
Alchemy began with the manipulation of minerals and metals for
medicinal and industrial purposes. It was an ancient science of matter
based upon trial and error. Early alchemists sought to discover a single
substance that would enable them to perfect matter. The Philosophers’
Stone fit the profile so well that, because of their attempts to reveal its
secrets, alchemists developed equipment and discovered new
substances and processes very relevant to modern science and
chemistry.
The secret of the Philosophers’ Stone – believed to be a key that would
unlock the mysteries of creation and change – played a central role in the
philosophical pursuits of all alchemical traditions. Success at confecting
the Stone was a rite of passage and a milestone accomplishment
passionately pursued by ancient alchemists and philosophers. Those who
attained success became legends, whereas others were led to absolute
ruin, madness and, in some cases, death arising from their obsessive
pursuit of the Stone.
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INTRODUCING THE STONE
The Philosophers’ Stone made its appearance in Europe around the 12th
century, remaining mainly within alchemical circles. By the time of the
Italian Renaissance of the 16th century, the legend of the Philosophers’
Stone and its power was so great that it rivaled the Holy Grail and the Ark
of the Covenant as an object of quest.
The Stone’s potential power was no longer secret, posing a great threat
to the Catholic Church and Europe’s ruling elite. They addressed this
threat by criminalising the practice of alchemy for all but court and
church sanctioned alchemists. In the frenzy to gain access to the Stone
and its power, even royalty were ensnared by the quest. Europe’s
powerful elite – such as the Medicis of Florence, King Charles II of Britain,
Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, and Queen Christina of Sweden, among
others – not only supported court alchemists, but also outfitted private
alchemical laboratories and actively participated in the search for the
Philosophers’ Stone.
Although Pope John XXII issued a papal bull against alchemy, the words
in his prohibition applied to ‘poor’ alchemists, meaning false ones. He
was reputed to have maintained a personal alchemical laboratory in
Avignon and was respected by skilled alchemists as a patron of their art.
Countless friars, monks, bishops, and archbishops practiced and
published alchemical treatises. Religious reformer Martin Luther,
through his support of alchemy, played an important role in inspiring
German alchemists to continue alchemical pursuits and advance
chemical technologies:
The Art of Alchemy is rightly and truly the Philosophy of the Sages of old,
with which I am well pleased, not only by reason of its virtue and
manifold usefulness, which it hath through Distillation and Sublimation
in the metals, herbs, waters, oleities, but also by reason of the noble and
beautiful likeness which it hath with the Resurrection of the Dead on the
Day of Judgment.
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LAPORT & GABRIELSSON
Great scientific figures such as Roger Bacon, Robert Boyle, Johann Rudolf
Glauber, and Sir Isaac Newton pursued the Philosophers’ Stone
enthusiastically. Even founding father of the United States Benjamin
Franklin took a keen interest in alchemy. Things appeared to change after
Robert Boyle published The Sceptical Chymist and Antoine Lavoisier
ushered in the age of modern chemistry.
However, the lore of the Philosophers’ Stone was kept alive by accounts
of colorful figures such as Giacomo Girolamo Casanova, Count Alessandro
di Cagliostro and the enigmatic Comte de St. Germain who consorted
with European aristocracy, providing elixirs and organising secret
societies in grand fashion. Comte de St. Germain initiated Comte François
de Chazal who passed on the Rosicrucian tradition to noted Swedish
adventurer and doctor, Sigismund Bacstrom. Bacstrom did much to
preserve the Rosicrucian tradition and the secrets of confecting the
Philosophers’ Stone.
The formula
The earliest account clear enough to identify the materials, methods and
application of the Philosophers’ Stone is found in the teachings of
Alexandrian alchemist and teacher Maria Hebrea (also known as Maria
Prophetissa) sometime between the 1stand 3rd centuries of the Common
Era (CE). In cryptic fashion, she lists the three ingredients and divulges not
only the archetypal method, but also reveals knowledge of an alternative
faster process to confect the Stone. In Europe these two methods would
come to be known as the Ars Magna (or Great Art) and the Ars Brevis (or
Brief Art) respectively.
Maria Hebrea also clearly explained that the application of the
Philosophers’ Stone was to change the properties of copper. This
important clue argues for a technology originating during the Bronze Age
and is important because, at the time of Maria’s Alexandria, bronze
technology was already considered a remnant of great antiquity that had
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reached an advanced level. Maria also implied that the Philosophers’
Stone was a legacy of the race of Abraham, yet disclosed nothing of its
origins.
The Stone’s value
In Alexandria, the art of alchemy was described by some as chrysopœia,
meaning gold making. This art of aurifaction involved changing copper to
a unique type of alchemical gold. This was in direct contrast with
established gilding technology of the period, which involved surface
treating bronze that resulted in what might be described as aurifiction
meaning falsified gold. Alchemists believed that they were harnessing the
powers of creating and transmuting inner properties, rather than merely
falsifying an outer appearance.
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LAPORT & GABRIELSSON
The mineral kingdom likewise showed signs of growth and regeneration.
Seawater crystallized into salt and cinnabar ore ‘magically’ produced
mercury and sulfur. Gold was a byproduct of stibnite mining. The
observation that sulphide ores, such as cinnabar and stibnite, commonly
occur in the presence of gold caused alchemists to determine that metal
ores and base metals were in an organic geological process of maturing
into gold.
From the perspective of an alchemist, the idea of transmuting a base
metal into alchemical gold was merely the act of assisting the quickening
of a natural process. If transmutation is understood to mean a change in
the properties of matter, it engenders a better understanding of the
alchemists’ mindset. The Stone’s ability to affect transmutation in base
metals, resulting in alchemical gold, was a very real primary power in the
minds of those in search of its secrets.
The Stone’s dual value is best described by 13th century Franciscan friar,
philosopher and early European advocate of the scientific method, Roger
Bacon. Bacon explained that alchemy:
… is the science which teaches how to make and generate a certain
medicine, called elixir, which when projected onto metals or imperfect
bodies perfects them completely at the moment of projection.
The second power inherent in the Philosophers’ Stone was that it could
extend human life to its fullest potential. This was mistakenly interpreted
by some to mean that one in possession of the Philosophers’ Stone had
access to potential immortality. Bacon addresses this property as follows:
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INTRODUCING THE STONE
Similar ideas occur in Chinese, Indian, Persian, and Islamic alchemical
traditions long before arriving in Europe. The idea that life might be
prolonged by centuries, or possibly to the extent of immortality, was
appealing to many who encountered descriptions such as these.
The ability to create gold would provide the alchemist or his patron with
unparalleled power through manipulation of local and worldwide
economies based upon a gold standard. It was viewed by the benevolent
as a weapon with the potential to topple unjust power structures. By
devaluing gold, some alchemists hoped to usher in an age of
enlightenment, as the Harvard educated American physician and
alchemist George Starkey, writing under the pseudonym Eirenæus
Philalethes, alludes to in the following:
I hope that in a few years gold (not as given by God, but as abused by
man) will be so common that those who are now so mad after it shall
contemptuously spurn aside this bulwark of Antichrist. Then will the day
of our deliverance be at hand … for then gold, the great idol of mankind,
would lose its value, and we should prize it only for its scientific teaching.
The incredible power attributed to the Philosophers’ Stone, and the
secret of its manufacture, obsessed many of the greatest minds
throughout the history of science and chemistry. The allure of a single
substance – created and held in the palm of one’s hand – which
embodied potentially unlimited wealth, power and immortality … this
proved such a difficult temptation to resist that it kept many seekers of
the Philosophers’ Stone spellbound.
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LAPORT & GABRIELSSON
Transmission
During the 12th century, alchemy and the Philosophers’ Stone were
making a three‐pronged arrival into Europe. Muslims settled in Spain and
Sicily in the western Mediterranean where Islamic literature was
translated into Latin. Muslims valued science and technology and,
according to their writings, held alchemy and the Philosophers’ Stone in
high regard. Crusaders returning from the East also imported alchemical
works from Constantinople and the Holy Land. It is primarily through
Arabic translations of original Greek, Egyptian and Hebrew alchemical
texts, along with a corpus found at Constantinople, that European
intellectuals were first introduced to alchemy and the Philosophers’
Stone.
Knowledge of the Philosophers’ Stone remained within tight circles, as a
mystery‐craft tradition, for approximately 300 years after arriving in
Europe. Tales of its power and eyewitness accounts increased its status
in Europe to the point where the quest for the Philosophers’ Stone was
on par with great mysteries like the Holy Grail and the Ark of the
Covenant. The Stone’s secrecy, yet alleged achievability, added to its
allure.
Much like masonry, glass making, metallurgy and art, alchemy was
considered a mystery‐craft whereby one learned through long
apprenticeship with a master artisan. The trade was passed on primarily
through oral teachings and physical work. Any written instructions or
records were encoded in images or symbolism intelligible only to those
initiated into the particular tradition being studied. Throughout
alchemy’s history, and in each culture that practiced it, transmission of
the art followed this manner. This approach allowed for the
communication of discoveries and new techniques, and a general sharing
of information between brothers‐in‐the‐craft without revealing any
secrets to outsiders. Doctor, Rosicrucian and alchemical adept, Sigismund
Bacstrom explains that:
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INTRODUCING THE STONE
… many wrote on this art, more for the purpose of showing to others
who possessed the secret, that the author also knew it, than from any
desire to communicate knowledge to the ignorant – and what is worse,
many wrote and published books who knew nothing whatever of the
subject.
This fact is what makes modern research into the Philosophers’ Stone so
challenging. The elaborate alchemical jargon – which has so successfully
encrypted the secrets of the Philosophers’ Stone – forms a complex
matrix of symbols, cover‐names, allegory, and emblematic art. For many
alchemists, the grand test or rite of passage was to decode the encryption
and rediscover the secret substances and processes necessary to confect
the Stone. Often only a fraction of the recipe or a few of the easier
procedures would be uncovered, revealing just enough to keep the
alchemist encouraged.
From the time of the scientific revolution up until fairly recently,
alchemical jargon had been derided as charlatanism, superstition and of
no relevance to modern scholarship. Glauber’s biographer, K.F. Gugel,
attempted to impress upon the reader that alchemical imagery was
actually the language of science for that era, comparable to the chemical
equations of modern chemistry, by declaring that:
Alchemists needed to be fluent in Latin and possibly many other
languages in order to read and compare various source works. John T.
Young explains that the scientific language of alchemy required
extraordinary talent and insight on the part of the alchemist in order to
interpret alchemical texts and create symbolic imagery to apply to new
discoveries:
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LAPORT & GABRIELSSON
Most important in the quote above is the mention of a master Key –
usually obtained by an initiate through direct transmission – which
allowed the would‐be adept to unlock the secret to confecting the
Philosophers’ Stone. It was this all‐important Key that was the most
guarded and greatest secret of alchemy.
And truly it is not our intent to make the Art common to all kind of men,
we write to the deserving only; intending our Books to be but as Way‐
marks to such as shall travel in these paths of Nature, and we do what
we may to shut out the unworthy: Yet so plainly we write, that as many
as God hath appointed to this Mastery shall certainly understand us,
and have cause to be thankful unto us for our faithfulness herein. This
we shall receive from the Sons of this Science, whatever we have from
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INTRODUCING THE STONE
others: therefore our Books are intended for the former, we do not write
a word to the latter.
By encrypting the details of their craft in this manner, alchemists
protected medical and industrial chemical trade secrets and ensured that
only the worthy would ever gain access to the Philosophers’ Stone. For
the uninitiated, alchemical research often proved to be a frustratingly
labyrinthine exercise. Modern private and professional research aimed at
decoding alchemy’s entire corpus of materials and methods remains
ongoing after centuries of effort.
Properties and Applications
The Philosophers’ Stone was not naturally occurring, but rather a
compound substance resulting from skilled artisanship. The alchemist’s
role in the Stone’s confection was to prepare the materials properly and
combine them in the correct proportions. Once prepared, sealed in a
vessel and fired at exactly the correct temperature regimen, the
Philosophers’ Stone was said to create itself by means of a self‐
synthesising process; attention need only be paid to the degrees of fire.
The deceptive simplicity of the process was enticing; yet discovering the
exact ingredients presented a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to the
uninitiated. Some alchemists became obsessed with rediscovering these
secrets, to the point of insanity.
When the noble metal [gold] was perfectly prepared, it made a fine
powder of gold, which is the Philosophers' Stone.
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LAPORT & GABRIELSSON
The primary ingredient in the archetypal Philosophers’ Stone recipe is
always alchemically prepared gold. George Starkey would echo Flamel
three centuries later, writing that:
Some Alchemists who are in search of our Arcanum seek to prepare
something of a solid nature, because they have heard the object of their
search described as a Stone.
Know, then, that it is called a stone, not because it is like a stone, but
only because, by virtue of its fixed nature, it resists the action of fire as
successfully as any stone. In species it is gold, more pure than the purest;
it is fixed and incombustible like a stone, but its appearance is that of
very fine powder …
It does not exist in Nature, but has to be prepared by Art, in obedience
to Nature's law. Its substance is in metals; but in form it differs widely
from them, and in this sense the metals are not our Stone.
Thus, you see that though our Stone is made of gold alone, yet it is not
common gold.
The above quotations clearly identify the primary ingredient as gold, yet
traditional descriptions of the Stone’s color, density, structure, and even
scent are at great variance with those of gold. The Philosophers’ Stone
has been described as a heavy vermilion powder; a ruby colored waxy
substance; a deep red translucent crystal; a saffron or yellow powder,
and even a golden colored liquid. It has been described as possessing an
odour of sea salt, or having no scent at all. Although descriptive accounts
of these indicators may at first seem contradictory, they are each quite
accurate in that what these depictions portray – a product at various
stages of refinement.
Depending upon the intended therapeutic or industrial application of the
product, the Philosophers’ Stone needed to undergo further refinement.
Alchemists used the basic Philosophers’ Stone product to create either a
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INTRODUCING THE STONE
Inherent Dangers
Confecting the Philosophers’ Stone was fraught with dangers, both inside
and outside the laboratory. The Stone required a laboratory, but due to
widespread prohibitions on alchemy, if one was not a court‐sponsored
alchemist it meant working in an illegal laboratory. Clandestine
alchemical labs, as well as many operating under court patronage,
featured built‐in charcoal furnaces posing the first obvious severe health
threat. The toxic nature of various chemicals and gases associated with
alchemy had not been fully understood, and alchemists handled these
substances with little or no protective protocols. Alchemists routinely
inhaled noxious fumes, such as mercury, and tested their products by
tasting or ingesting them; in effect acting as human guinea pigs.
In addition to severe health risks, alchemists also faced legal dangers. For
clandestine laboratories, the danger of being discovered was an ever‐
present source of concern. Hauling large daily loads of charcoal into small
private quarters – not to mention the noxious odours emanating from
such labs – would have attracted unwanted public attention. Desperate
characters suffering from disease also targeted alchemists, believing that
they possessed secret cures. The mere hint that an alchemist may be in
possession of the Philosophers’ Stone placed him in grave danger as
Starkey, writing as Philalethes, reveals:
It was only a short time ago that, after visiting the plague‐stricken
haunts of a certain city, and restoring the sick to perfect health by means
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of my miraculous medicine, I found myself surrounded by a yelling mob,
who demanded that I should give to them my Elixir of the Sages; and it
was only by changing my dress and my name, by shaving off my beard
and putting on a wig, that I was enabled to save my life, and escape
from the hands of those wicked men. And even when our lives are not
threatened, it is not pleasant to find ourselves, wherever we go, the
central objects of human greed …
I know of several persons who were found strangled in their beds, simply
because they were suspected of possessing this secret, though, in
reality, they knew no more about it than their murderers; it was enough
for some desperate ruffians, that a mere whisper of suspicion had been
breathed against their victims. Men are so eager to have this Medicine
that your very caution will arouse their suspicions, and endanger your
safety.
As will be detailed in subsequent chapters, alchemical gold differs from
genuine elemental gold. Nevertheless, the ruling elite would not
necessarily have fully understood the difference. A fundamental reason
for the prohibition of alchemy was the state’s belief that if the
Philosophers’ Stone was successfully achieved, alchemists could
potentially tap into an unlimited source of wealth and thus destabilize
currency markets and existing power structures. This attitude was first
recorded during the late 3rd century CE, in an edict by the Roman Emperor
Diocletian who feared that Alexandrian alchemical gold could pass for
genuine currency and thus empower those who opposed him. He
ordered all materials in the Empire “which treated of the admirable art
of making gold and silver” destroyed. Diocletian’s edict was the first, but
not final, criminalization of alchemy. During the 14th century, the
Dominican Directorium inquisitorum, the inquisitors’ directory, lists
alchemists among magicians and wizards.
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of the reasons for alchemy being patronized and pursued by Europe’s
ruling elite and religious figureheads. For this reason, court sponsored
alchemists achieved somewhat of a celebrity status. If unsuccessful,
alchemists risked punishment for either being a fraud or withholding
secrets. Far from guaranteeing protection, successfully achieving the
Philosophers’ Stone presented its own unique set of perils. If success was
even suspected, the alchemist in question faced interrogation, torture,
imprisonment, or even execution; those in power would stop at nothing
to acquire and harness the power of the Philosophers’ Stone. Greed
enticed con artists, charlatans and impostors to seek out the
Philosophers’ Stone and, upon inevitably failing, to use its reputation to
defraud enthusiastic yet unwary patrons. This resulted in a very
precarious and unstable environment for genuine alchemists operating
with good intentions and endowed with a refined skill set.
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The Rediscovery
The Philosopher’s Stone was an actual material substance; a tangible
product synthesized by an impressive number of well‐respected
historical personalities – alchemists, philosophers, physicians, and the
like. The question has never been whether the Philosophers’ Stone was
real, but rather what exactly is the molecular structure of the Stone
(considered in the light of modern chemistry, pharmacology and
industry) and how can it be reproduced?
This is not a treatise regarding alchemy per se. Rather, this study focuses
upon the reproducibility of a genuine Philosophers’ Stone substance
according to traditional processes. The primary goal was to synthesize the
exact substance traditionally understood to be the Philosophers’ Stone,
using materials and methods detailed in alchemical texts, and to analyse
the history and evolution of the chemistry involved.
The study was limited to alchemical authors that were generally
considered authentic – that is, the great adepts of alchemy in each
tradition. The methodology was to find a common denominator inherent
in the published syntheses of these alchemists and begin research from
there. To do so, required an alchemical approach – solve et coagula.
Hundreds of alchemical texts were examined for commonalities linking
Maria Hebrea’s descriptions circa 200 CE with those of European
alchemists writing between the 12th to 20th centuries. It was a quest for
an archetypal materials list and methodology profile that stood the test
of time. The search resulted in the identification of the standard
ingredients and chemical reactions common to most recipes:
1. Gold – featured as the primary and most obvious of the three basic
ingredients; the gold described is always refined to a high purity, then
reduced to the finest particle size possible before being used;
2. Antimony – occurs naturally as a sulphide ore today called stibnite; in former
times stibnite was called antimony, whereas purified metallic antimony was
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called regulus and, earlier in history, flowers of antimony; both stibnite and
purified antimony are used at specific stages in the archetypal recipe;
3. Flux / Menstruum – the final constituent was far more difficult to
distinguish; it is a substance with the capability of dissolving gold without
violence or corrosion, yet has the additional capacity to crystallize, congeal
or coagulate under the right conditions; described as being metallic in
nature, yet translucent and viscous.
The primary challenge was to identify the flux / menstruum. Gold and
antimony are considered by alchemists to be related. The flux /
menstruum is described as being intimately related to, and having the
same nature as, both gold and antimony. The greatest and most guarded
secret to confecting the Philosophers’ Stone is the identity of the flux,
more commonly called the universal solvent. Complication arises because
different substances were used at different periods throughout history.
These substances ranged from a unique salt during the Alexandrian
period, to the salt‐saturated urine of Islamic alchemy, to the unique
chemical compounds developed and utilized throughout European
alchemy. Put simply, the flux / menstruum is the Key to the whole art,
and knowledge of it unites brothers in an invisible fraternity of adepts
spanning centuries.
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coagulation of a vast body of arcane data, sourced from centuries of
alchemical literature, into a coherent narrative of the evolution of the
chemistry associated with the creation of the Philosophers’ Stone and its
valuations and applications.
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