UNDER the auspices of the
"Universite Libre des Hautes Etudes" of Paris, a Branch of
which has recently been established in America, we publish the
first volume of a series of classical works whose study constitutes
the foundation of the teaching of the “Faculte des Sciences
Hermetiques.
It is not without reason that
we have chosen Pernety to inaugurate this series. Of the three
thousand volumes composing the bibliography of ALCHEMY, those of
Dom Antoine-Joseph Pernety are the only ones in which the theories
of the Artificers are exposed with method: he is the first and only
writer who has endeavored to present a short, concise and complete
system of the Magnum Opus.
Those valiant defenders of the
mystic Faith, to whom we are indebted for the present universal
awakening of Idealism, have not failed to recognize the important
role which Hermetic Philosophers have played in the preservation
and transmission of the sacred tradition regarding the rapports
existing between God, Man and Nature. Unhappily they have found
themselves face to face with the Sphinx, unable to solve the
enigma; they have lost their way in the inextricable labyrinth of
apparently contradictory symbols and signs, and in the darkness of
their ignorance, they have been incapable of distinguishing Truth
from the rubbish that surrounds it, or of separating pure physical
facts from mere mystical speculations. Having a vague intuition
that Hermetism was not solely concerned with the transmutation of
metals, but also with the spiritual emancipation of Man, they have
profited by a few analogies which presented themselves, and have
created a mystical Alchemy in which the inner man is the
exclusive subject. But while such interpretation may, in many
instances, be applied to alchemical symbolism, and while we may
believe that in this we follow the traditions of the Rosicrucians
(who founded a system in which Alchemy and Kabbalah were
indissolubly blended), modern commentators, borrowing the jargon of
the Alchemists - who are never more obscure than when they appear
to express themselves plainly[1]
- have drawn analogies which a mere acquaintance with the
fundamental principles of Physical Alchemy would suffice to cause
to be rejected as utterly devoid of appropriateness.
Rosicrucians were indeed mystics, but their studies were above all
of a purely physical and experimental character; their association
of mysticism and chemistry was founded upon analogies the truth of
which could be demonstrated in the laboratory and duly
verified by the physical senses. No metaphysical proposition was
accepted by them which could not be fully confirmed by scientific
demonstrations, according to the practice of Roger Bacon, the
father of the experimental method.
Alchemists acquired the knowledge of Divine operations by the study
of human arts and the observation of natural phenomena. Hermetism
begins with the study of the operations of Nature, and ends with
the knowledge of the Divine Principle. None, however, must hope to
behold the secret Sun of this Royal Art while he remains in
darkness regarding the fundamental principles of physical
Hermetism, or Alchemy.
The Spagyric Art is a dead science; it has long since uttered its
last word; nothing remains but a few tracts, fragments of its outer
vestment, and a multitude of worthless lucubrations by
pseudo-adepts; the secret is lost, for future generations to
recover; but, in order to be freed from the trouble of ransacking
dusty old books and manuscripts, and of reconstituting, word after
word, this science in its integrity by patient research; in order
to avoid the tedious work of deciphering the hieroglyphic pentacles
and of restoring the secret meaning of the mutilated tracts of the
Masters which have reached us through the centuries, one is not
permitted to invent a new Hermetism, to enlarge it, or to
attribute to it a signification which, most probably, it never had.
Hermetism is what it is, and we must accept its teachings for what
they are worth, without trying to reconcile them with the
assertions of modern science, or to give to them any signification
that may suggest itself.
Hermetic Philosophy has long since been rejected by the School, and
scientific means of investigation are here of no practical use,
even XIXth century chemistry offers no clue; for the ideas of the
Spagyric Art are absolutely the antithesis of those of official
chemistry. The student must make use of other means; but let him
guard against preconceived ideas, against his ardent desire to
verify, in the obscure symbols of medieval Artists, his own
suppositions. Let him remember that Symbols prove everything, and
that the signs chosen to defend the affirmative of any proposition,
may also be used successfully in demonstrating the negative of the
same proposition; symbols are the expression of the
Absolute which is neither positive or negative, but
positive and negative, according to the point of view from which
one judges.
Thus, in order to distinguish the right way, “which leads to the
Elysian Fields,” from that “which borders Tartarus,” the assistance
of a trusty guide is indispensable. Unfortunately such guides are
few, and if, perchance, one is found, the student, ninety-nine
times in a hundred, far from being willing to follow in silence,
prefers to choose his own way. If the student depends upon his
supposed willingness to obey his Initiator, let him shut this book
and renounce his plan of lifting the veil which covers the arcana
of Hermetic Philosophy, for unprepared as he surely is, he will
either fall a victim to impostors, or fail to acknowledge with
gratitude the heavenly gift of a Mentor.
There is but one method whereby one may succeed without a
Master in reconstituting, in its completeness, the Lost Science,
and this method which we take pleasure in revealing, as plainly as
possible, is infallible in its results. It constitutes the most
potent operation of the Ars Magica: the EVOCATION. We
shall describe it under its general aspect, referring the Reader to
the special works on Transcendental Magic for full details:
Evocation consists in causing departed spirits to manifest their
presence before the Conjuror. But as spirits can only appear
immaterially - and as influences rather than
individuals - it goes without saying that these beings
cannot manifest themselves in tangible form, (susceptible of being
photographed), unless appeal is made to our own semi-material,
semi-spiritual principle, to our Astral Body; this, however,
constitutes the Great Operation to which it is neither necessary
nor advisable to have recourse, so much the more that the
Evocation, such as we recommend, differs from the Great Operation
in that it is of longer duration, practically permanent; whilst the
latter is dependent upon the powers of the Conjuror; moreover the
Great Operation is possible only for the Initiate in Theurgy,
whilst the simple Evocation, as here described, can be performed
with success by any one who possesses the pass-words of the First
Degree of Initiation: PATIENCE and WILL-POWER.
The Evocation, or Operation of the lesser Mysteries, consists in
recreating the atmosphere in which the departed lived while on
earth. It is therefore important that the choice of an invisible
Master be made intelligently from the long list of
Hermetic Philosophers. The Operator must know the biography of that
Master and obtain a correct impression of his exterior appearance;
he must know the history of the time in which that Master lived,
the geography of the country in which he resided, the topography of
his city, the plan of his house, the disposition of his laboratory.
Helping himself by whatever informations books, monuments or
tradition can furnish, the Neophyte will assemble and classify
every detail concerning the home-life, customs, daily vocations,
etc., so as to reconstitute, in the imaginative world, the life of
the selected Guide. Place him amidst his disciples, either in his
laboratory or at the amphitheatre of the school where he taught;
gather all the works most probably known and studied by him, read
and re-read them; write from memory the very works of that Master,
especially his most obscure passages, for the soul of a writer can
always be found in his words, ready to convey the true
interpretation to the one eager to discover it. Collect
objects contemporaneous to that Master, especially books,
instruments and works of art. All this constitutes the restoration
of the most material part of the atmosphere that will serve as the
vehicle for the true magnetic force which shall be the bond uniting
the soul, or influence, of the invisible Master to that of the
Conjuror. This true magnetic fluid must be established between the
mind of the Operator, which now is active, and that of the Master,
which is passive; when the rapports are at last established, the
mind of the Guide becomes the positive pole and that of the
initiate the negative pole of this intellectual battery. To
generate the magnetic fluid the student must place his intellect on
the same level as that of his chosen Preceptor: he must learn to
know and to ignore that which the Master knew and ignored;
he must believe that which the invisible believed, when on earth,
whether modern science accepts or rejects these beliefs; he must
think over the same thoughts of the Master, speak his own words,
use the same expressions, recite the same prayers, practice the
same religion, acquire the same habits, perform the same acts of
virtue, live the same life; in a word, he must place the heart and
the mind in a thoroughly sympathetic condition, in a perfect unison
with the heart and mind of his Mentor, so as to attract the latter
into his own atmosphere again, of which he will become the
intellectual center, as formerly; he will incarnate
himself in his disciple whose mind, now a plastic clay, will
acquire in its highest degree the faculty of receptivity,
and will become susceptible of receiving the least impressions from
the outer world. The Influence of the being thus evoked, thus
brought back into the world by an irresistible magnetism, will then
unite with the Operator and continue, through the latter's
instrumentality, the work which death interrupted. It is thus that
Hans de Bulow, who lived among the souvenirs, the works and the
relics of Beethoven, consecrating his entire life to the study of
this Master, succeeded in giving that traditional expression
established by the composer for the interpretation of his Sonatas
and Symphonies.
In order to really possess a Master and perform his works
as the author himself imagined them, we must prepare within
ourselves a temple fit to receive him; we must place all our mental
faculties under his control, we must become a docile instrument
into his hands. But, by the law of reaction, this complete
submission on our part soon becomes the manifestation of our
absolute independence, of our absolute intellectual freedom.
This is the course which we recommend to all our students, and it
is to instruct them concerning the scientific opinions of the
Hermetic Philosophers that we publish this work of dom Pernety. The
opinions herein expressed may not be in accordance with the
teaching of scholastic knowledge, but we do not present this work
as a substitute for classical Physics and Chemistry. The theories
exposed by Pernety were those of the Alchemists! For the mystic,
for the seeker of the Universal Panacea, or Philosopher's Stone,
the science described in this Treatise is all that is required;
nay, it is the sole one to be accepted, regardless of its
differences from the results of modern investigation which, for our
purpose, are utterly worthless. Just as it is indispensable for the
pupils of Edison and Tesla to base their studies upon the latest
works on Natural Philosophy, however erroneous the science of
tomorrow may prove them to be; it is indispensable, for those who
do not recognize the impossibility of transmuting metals, to base
their investigations upon the science which was sufficient to
Arnaud de Villeneuve, Nicolas Flamel and Paracelsus.”[2]
The present work which we have entitled TREATISE ON THE GREAT ART
is composed of the introductory remarks preceding the principal
works on Alchemy of the savant dom Pernety, especially his
“Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques devoilees et reduites au meme
principe ”, (a Paris, chez Bauche, 2 volumes in I2,
I758). This work is almost the sole source from which modern
expounders of Alchemy have derived their informations, forgetting,
of course, to give due credit to this author, excluding his works
from the bibliographical lists terminating their compilations and
even going so far, in some instances, as to mutilate his name, when
compelled to quote extensively from his works. The publication of
this TREATISE constitutes as much a work of justice and restitution
to the learned French monk, as an effort to contribute to the
renaissance of a Science containing within itself the germs of the
most important and unexpected discoveries and offering a sure guide
in the maze of obscure symbols of this most obscure of all Occult
Sciences.
Antoine-Joseph Pernety was born in Roanne, France, in 1716; and
died at Valence (Dauphine), in 1801. At an early age he joined the
Benedictine Congregation of Saint-Maur and there devoted his life
to these patient studies for which Benedictine monks are justly
famous; he published numerous works on theology and fine arts,
geography and mythology, philosophy and mathematics, but he became
celebrated for his researches in the realm of the hidden Sciences.
His explorations into forgotten lore led him to the creation of the
“Academie d’Avignon” a sect of Illuminati whose
influence in Freemasonry has long been felt: the most famous, if
not the most important, degree introduced in the Masonic
nomenclature by Pernety is the Twenty-eighth of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite, known as Knight of the Sun, or
Prince Adept; and a considerable part of his rite is still
preserved in other masonic systems, such as the Martinist
Order.
The work which we present to the public is the result of a
comparative study of the writings of the Spagyric Philosophers of
all times, schools and nationalities, and not merely a summary of
the author's personal ideas on the subject; it is a monument of
patient research, representing over a quarter of a century of
investigation. The writer has carefully analyzed the classical
compositions of the Masters, preserving with religious care the
dogmas upon which they all agree, and setting aside their
contradictions, basing himself upon the axiom that Truth, when once
discovered, is the same for all, while error only offers
opportunity for discussion.[3] Pernety, following the example
of Trevisan, has compared with an extreme attention the Greek,
Alexandrian, Arab, French, German, Dutch, English, Kabbalistic,
Rosicrucian and Islamic schools of Hermetism, presenting the
synthesis of their doctrines in the lucid manner so characteristic
of the French savant, by nature the mortal enemy of all that which
is obscure and incomprehensible.
The present work is divided into three parts: an Introductory
Discourse, an Expose of Natural Philosophy according to Hermetists,
without which all attempt to understand the Art of Transmutations
is impossible, and the Theory and Practice of the Magisterium, or
Royal Art, briefly, but completely presented.
The editor of this translation has preserved in the text
the notes of Pernety himself, and has introduced, as foot-notes,
annotations borrowed from other works of Pernety, from Albert
Poisson, the Champollion of Alchemy, Dr. Papus, Jollivet-Castelot,
de Guai'ta, etc., in the very few places where the text seemed to
allow a complementary explanation. These annotations are always
followed by the name of the author to whom the translator is
indebted.
The work contains also a table of Alchemical Characters which are
so frequently met with in spagyric works and a short Dictionary of
Hermetic Symbols, compiled by the lamented Albert Poisson for his
“Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes,” which will afford great help in the reading
of alchemic pentacles.
E. B.